Saturday, May 16, 2026

Sunday Post #338

 


The Sunday Post is hosted by Kimberly @ Caffeinated reviewer book blog, and is a post to recap my bookish and non-bookish things from the last week. I'm also linking up to The Sunday Salon hosted by Deb Nance @Readerbuzz.

Happy Sunday!

We've been having some nice weather, 70s-80s. I'm still on a catch up with review books since I overbooked April and May. At least I've been enjoying all my reads. 

We went to a historical talk at a local restaurant on Wednesday. It was on the history of the Narrow Gage Railroad that came through our area back in the 1800s-1900s. It was interesting! We're going again this Wednesday with the topic of the Donner Party Rescue Mission, which took place not very far from where we live. 

I got a picture of our birdbath and part of our rose/vegetable garden. 

Birdbath

Rose and Veg Garden. Yes, still needs a lot of weeding!

Eden, one of our climbing roses.

American Wisteria in the front

1000 Piece Puzzle Completed: Jayson Sparkin' by Charles Wysocki Hasbro 2003
This was a hard one! All those white clouds. Took me forever!
Puzzle 26 of 2026

1000 Puzzle Piece Completed: Blue Harbor by Werkshoppe
Puzzle 27 of 2026

Read:

The Last Mandarin by Louise Penny & Mellissa Fung
An Ordinary Sort of Evil by Kelley Armstrong
The Anniversary by Alex Finlay
I, Spy by L.M. Kemp

The Last Mandarin by Louise Penny & Mellissa Fung-3.5 Stars
An Ordinary Sort of Evil by Kelley Armstrong-4.5 Stars
The Anniversary by Alex Finlay-5 Stars
I, Spy by L.M. Kemp-4 Stars


Received:

Our Perfect Storm by Carley Fortune

Our Perfect Storm by Carley Fortune

Thank you to Berkley, Penguin Random House Publishing and Libro.fm!



How was your week?




23 comments:

  1. Love the garden, so pretty. It is still cooler in NH, and we had a frost this past week so no plants in the ground yet.

    My Weekly Post - https://cover2coverblog.blogspot.com/2026/05/building-book-pile-517.html

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    1. It's been cold here the last couple of days, too. We got down to 38 degrees last night!

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  2. The garden looks great! It's nice they have those talks. I always learned so much about where I lived when someone came to visit and I did tourist things. I suppose I don't appreciate what's in my backyard enough.

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    1. Thank you! Since we've moved here 4 years ago we've tried to explore and learn more about where we live, but I know what you mean.

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  3. I spent the weekend doing a puzzle purge...my shed was overflowing with them and a lot of the easier ones my mom bought because those were the puzzles she enjoyed doing the most...so now I have room to buy new puzzles. Because, like books, you can never have too many, can you? ;D

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    1. Yes! You can never have too many puzzles or books! I hope you get some new ones that you really enjoy working! :)

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  4. Your garden looks lovely, and the wisteria is gorgeous.
    Thanks for sharing your week

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  5. Love seeing your garden and flowers. We were having a nice run of 70-80 but this week will be mostly 90ish. At least the humidity hasn't been too high yet. Great reads you had!

    Anne - Books of My Heart This is my Sunday Post

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    1. Thanks, Anne! I'm loving the garden right now. I still have a ton of weeding to do, though. We heat up a bit this next week, but it's been cold these last couple of days!

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  6. The restaurant history nights sound really fascinating. Love seeing your wisteria in bloom. Oh yeah, I had so many early spring releases that I got behind, too.

    Have a great week, Rachel.

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    1. I'm more excited by the upcoming event covering the Donner Party rescue! There were a lot of releases this season that I couldn't say no to! Hope we both get ahead, Sophia!

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  7. Those historical nights sound really good! You are getting lots of puzzles done too. Hope you have a good week!
    https://lisalovesliterature.bookblog.io/2026/05/17/weekly-wrap-up-may-17th-2026/

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  8. The Donner Party is one of my rabbit hole fascinations for some reason. But I guess it intrigues a lot of people! Those talks sound so neat.

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    1. Me, too, Erin! I've sat and read a bunch of articles. More since we've moved to Northern California and only about an hour away from the location!

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  9. Your roses are beautiful! And I'm fascinated to see a photo of your American wisteria. While the leaves are very similar to our English version, the flowers look slightly different - lovely shade of purple! The narrow gauge railway would intrigue me - Himself is a train driver and it's fascinating how quickly rail travel took hold in Victorian England. Have a great week:).

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  10. Love the birdbath, where did you get it? We are looking for one too. The roses look splendid - so many in bloom. And I can imagine those clouds in the puzzle would be very hard, argh. I'd still be on it.
    The Donner Party should be a good talk ... I have finished various books over the years on that horrific survival tale. I hope you'll share how the talk is next time. I'm curious! cheers!

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  11. I would love to have some wisteria, and I have to tell you that the birdbath is lovely. Good luck with all of your reads this month.

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  12. Those roses and wisteria are gorgeous and I would find the historical talks on the Narrow Gage Railroad and the Donner Party Rescue Mission so very interesting!

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