I apologize for my lack of blogging the last several days. Was in a bit of a funk due to the weather and overwhelmed with paperwork. Ernesto caused flooding and just plain old rotten weather in Eastern NC. This kind of weather makes every bone in this old body ache! So I spent lots of time curled up on the heating pad reading and working.

My good news is that I now having living room furniture. Took advantage of the Labor Day sales and bought a couch and recliner. I woke up to a horrible thunderstorm on Tuesday, the day the furniture was delivered. I worried every time the sky opened up and rain poured down that I would hear the delivery truck drive up. Thank goodness when they did arrive later that afternoon the rain had stopped for a bit. So now I can work on the the laptop and on needlework from a comfy chair. Now all I need is a desk in the second bedroom, which will be my office.

One of the books I read during my funk was The Braid, a historical verse novel by Helen Frost. She weaves together this tale of two Scottish girls as flawlessly as the girls' interwoven braid of hair they each carry a piece of as their lives take separate paths. It is the late 1800s, during the Highland Clearances, when entire families were forced from their homes and onto ships. When it is time for the family to leave Sarah hides so she can stay behind with her grandmother. They go to her grandmother's village on a tiny remote island, while Jeanne joins the rest of her family on a ship bound for Canada. Only Jeanne, her mother, and the baby arrive in Cape Breton. Jeanne must find inner strength to keep her little family alive, while Sarah is falling in love and dealing with island taboos. Frost describes the inventive poetic style she employs in creating the alternating narratives and connecting short poems. So very different from Keesha's House, with its seven different teen voices brought to life in narrative poems, but no less as well written.

I am actually in my new office as I write this blog. BRRR!! Need to get an afghan or something to use in here as it is quite chilly. We aren't allowed to bring in electric heaters as they are a fire hazard. Drinking ice cold diet Pepsi isn't helping any either. This is a Pepsi university. Need to get a little fridge so I can have my own Diet Cokes. But, I am waiting to see if I will get more book cases and where they will go in here as I have boxes of books sitting on the floor with no where to put them. And, many more on the way! I miss my floor to ceiling shelves at SHSU!

I did open a couple of packages from the publishers when I got here and and had to immediately sit down and read the Little Simon board book version of Mary Serfozo's Plumply, Dumply Pumpkin. This is a tongue twister of a fun read about young Peter the tiger who is in search of the perfect pumpkin - "Not a lumpy, bumpy pumpkin. Not a stumpy, grumpy pumpkin, but a sunny, sumptuous pumpkin." Once he finds it, what is he going to do with it? No pumpkin pudding! No pumpkin pie! A perfect jack-o-lantern, of course! Books like this make me miss those days of being a primary librarian with a class full of little one sitting on the floor mesmerized by a story.

On the sunny sumptuous side I do have grandchildren to read to - one of them begging to be born. Poor Monica has been in the emergency room 5 times already. As she says, the doctor wants little Kaydence to "bake" for a couple more weeks. :-) Can't wait to go up to KC and visit them, especially Allyson, who loves books as much as Gramma Ruth! And I can't wait for Mary to be far enough along that the amnio will show whether the baby is a boy or a girl. I am praying for a girl, but will be more than happy with another grandson to adore. Also can't wait to see their new house. Mary must have inherited her decorating gene from her father's side of the family because she sure didn't get it from me! Can't wait to see what she had done with a house since her apartments were always gorgeous.