Hey, it's spring! Here's a little catch-up....

 

Hey there, book friends!  Hope you are doing well in your part of the world and enjoying some good reading and maybe a bit of spring.  I'm going to try to be back posting again.  Thought I would do a short catch-up and then get back to maybe once-a-week what I've been reading or doing.  Also want to begin sharing my 'Waiting on Wednesday' posts beginning next week.

I had said when I took my break that I would try to share some wildflower pictures soon.  Well, there are wildflowers around in our part of the world, but honestly, this year's pollen, both winter and spring, has been pretty awful.  We had temps that seemed very warm for February and so the winter pollen continued.  Spring stuff came right along though and the seasons have overlapped more than usual.  For pollen sufferers, it's not been fun at all.  They are still being able to get cedar pollen counts here in April and those normally end in early March.  So, that means I have been having allergy issues weeks beyond what I usually experience.  No spending much time outside for me yet.

The flowers I am sharing above were from a visit my husband and I took to the Desert Botanical Garden in the Phoenix, Arizona area in March.  We spent at week in Scottdale and enjoyed the Garden, golf, walking, and two events at the Poisoned Pen Bookstore.  It was a really nice trip and we had a great time.  The picture that will be at the end of my post was one I took as I set off to walk each morning around that lake area with plenty of sidewalks, fresh air, and books to listen to.  

I was able to attend two book events at the Poisoned Pen.  I saw Sujata Massey and Naomi Hirahawa and loved hearing about their new books.  Sujata's was The Star From Calcutta, the 5th book in her Perveen Mistry series.  Naomi's book was Crown City, 3rd in her Japantown mysteries.  I really enjoyed hearing both of those authors.  And I was lucky enough to get to see Sandra Brown as well.  Her new book is Bloodlust.  Sandra has been writing for many, many years and it has been a really long time since I read one of her stories.  However, she's from Texas and I took advantage of the opportunity to hear her speak.  No pictures from the events unfortunately.  I kind of forgot to take any - ha!

Otherwise, life has been busy with some family events and volunteering.  Also had some annual doctor check-ups.  Stuff like that.  My reading has been a bit slow all the way around this year, but I'm hoping it will improve.  I've had to miss some book groups because of travelling or other things.  However, I'm hoping to not miss more of them in upcoming days. 

Guess that's all I'll share today.  I've been trying to keep up with reading your blogs and commenting a bit.  As I said, I plan to be back fulltime next week.  Hope you all have a great reading week and will have some beautiful spring flowers in your area.  Take care!!