HOLIDAYS CAN BRING ON THE BLUES…CHASING THEM AWAY…

My Rainy Days and Mondays blog was created in August 2009, more than ten years ago.  It began “life” on the Blogger site, and I then transferred to WordPress in 2013.  The themes were the same:  Mondays can make us blue; books chase away the blues; and I smile whenever I go to this site.

I am also reminded of the Carpenters’ song:

Talkin’ to myself and feelin’ old
Sometimes I’d like to quit
Nothin’ ever seems to fit
Hangin’ around
Nothin’ to do but frown
Rainy days and Mondays always get me down

***

But…Mondays are no longer blue days for me, as I have retired and am reading and blogging.  Happy days!  My symbols for the site showed up in my blog headers.  Books, rain, and sometimes the girl on the right side in the current banner:  she looks pretty blue.

***

I checked out my archives to see what I was writing about when I first celebrated a holiday season here on WordPress. (December 2014):

I love Mondays!  Seriously, I do.  But I used to hate them.  Which is one reason that I am now celebrating, via this blog, the absence of Blue Mondays.  Post-retirement, I relished being able to wake up on Mondays, or any day, and do what I wanted.  And read all day every day.

Chasing Away the Blues (through reading) is our antidote to the blues.

But some Mondays can seem blue, even now.  Like the Monday of a holiday week, with many blogs quiet and memes missing.  Yes, the bloggers need a break, too!  What does this say about me that I am so glued to my laptop and my online world?

Am I addicted?  Dependent?  Or at loose ends because I just miss those connections?

Meanwhile, however, the books, those trusty friends, are close by…

***

I have changed the header several times over the years.  Here is one I had a while back:

***

Now I am closing, with thoughts of rainy days…and Mondays…and books.  What are your favorite themes on your blog(s)?

***

A RAINY DAY FRIDAY…

Rainy sidewalks greeted me this morning.  Now the sun has returned, and the rain has gone away.  But I love that we had a glimpse of rainy days ahead.

I want to go out later today, since I have not gone anywhere this week, except for the spontaneous shopping excursion.  Those occasions were quick and methodical…and back home to read and watch movies.

I want to enjoy a meal somewhere, while reading my book.  Currently, I’m loving Sleep Like a Baby, by Charlaine Harris.

I haven’t read any of this author’s books, but I’ve loved the Aurora Teagarden series on Hallmark.

***

What am I contemplating for the weekend?  No movies that I want to see…so it will be another one watching TV shows, movies, and reading.

What are you eager to do this weekend?

***

WEEKLY UPDATES: RAINY DAY READING…

Good morning! Today’s post will link up to The Sunday Salon, The Sunday Post and Stacking the Shelves, for weekly updates.

**Mailbox Monday is hosted at the home site: Mailbox Monday.

And let’s join Kathryn, our leader in It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?, at Book Date.

 

We had quite a bit of rain again this week, and yesterday it pounded so hard that I kept checking the skylight in the kitchen…so far, so good!  It was a good week for reading, though, and I read and reviewed FOUR books.  I have now added THIRTEEN BOOKS to my Read the Books You Buy Challenge.

Today I am going to find a place to have a new passport photo taken…the ten years have gone by, and it’s time to renew!  How did that happen?  It seems as though I just got it.

I settled down last night to watch some Netflix, but kept skipping from show to show, not finding anything I wanted to binge-watch…and then I remembered my Amazon Videos, some of which I added this week.  I started watching Z:  The Beginning of Everything, and several hours later (1:00 a.m.) I had finished!  Whew.  Since it is based on the novel Z:  A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald, by Therese Anne Fowler…I grabbed my iPhone and ordered it!  Yes, I am impulsive like that.  I’ve read other “Zelda” books, but none that were set in the early years.  Looking forward to reading it!

 

***

But I woke up late this morning, as a result…and I’m not yet fully caffeinated.  Here’s a photo that might help!

 

***

Let’s look at the past week….

LAST WEEK ON THE BLOGS:

Monday Sparks:  Musing About Books…

Let’s Curl up with “Pretty Little World”

Tuesday Potpourri:  Celebrating with Books…and a Martini?

January Wrap-Up:  A Great Reading Month

Hump Day Sparks:  A Delightful Week So Far…

Bookish Friday:  “Rainy Day Women”

Coffee & Family Moments:  Savoring Them…

Weekend Potpourri:  A Switcheroo…

Review:  The Red Car (e-book), by Marcy DermanskyReview:  The Dry (e-book), by Jane HarperReview:  Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk (e-book), by Kathleen RooneyReview:  The Bad Things (e-book), by Mary-Jane Riley

***

INCOMING BOOKS:  (Titles/Covers Linked to Amazon)

Nothing in my mailbox this week…but I downloaded four books.

A review book came on Saturday!

Slightly South of Simple, by Kristy Woodson Harvey (Author Review Request)

 

 

 

***

 

***

Downloads:

 

Right Behind You (e-book), by Lisa Gardner

 

 

***

Behind Her Eyes (e-book), by Sarah Pinborough

 

 

***

My Husband’s Wife (e-book), by Jane Corry

 

 

***

After She Fell (e-book, Alex Devlin Book 2), by Mary-Jane Riley

 

 

 

***

Now…what’s up next?

Currently Reading:  Pretty Little World (e-book), by Melissa DePino & Elizabeth LaBan

 

 

***

Then….who knows?  Maybe one of these…

 

The Princess Diarist, by Carrie Fisher

 

 

***

Rainy Day Women (e-book, Book 2), by Kay Kendall (I love this cover!)

 

 

***

That was my week…what did yours look like?  Here’s a tease from midweek….a breakfast at Mimi’s…with a Bloody Mary and an omelet.

 

***

RAINY DAY READING & BOOKISH THOUGHTS

It’s Monday, so let’s head on over to A Daily Rhythm, where Jen has prompted us to discuss bookish topics:

 

• I’m currently reading…
• Up next I think I’ll read…
• I bought the following book(s) in the past week…
• I’m super excited to tell you about (book/author/bookish-news)…
• I’m really upset by (book/author/bookish-news)…
• I can’t wait to get a copy of…
• I wish I could read ___, but…
• I blogged about ____ this past week…

THIS WEEK’S RANDOM QUESTION: Is a rainy day likely to inspire you to read?

***

Currently Reading:  I am totally engaged in an ARC from Amazon Vine:  Pretty Girls, by Karin Slaughter.  This is my first book by the author, but already I can tell she will be another favorite.

 

 

 

Sisters. Strangers. Survivors.

More than twenty years ago, Claire and Lydia’s teenaged sister Julia vanished without a trace. The two women have not spoken since, and now their lives could not be more different. Claire is the glamorous trophy wife of an Atlanta millionaire. Lydia, a single mother, dates an ex-con and struggles to make ends meet. But neither has recovered from the horror and heartbreak of their shared loss—a devastating wound that’s cruelly ripped open when Claire’s husband is killed.

The disappearance of a teenage girl and the murder of a middle-aged man, almost a quarter-century apart: what could connect them? Forming a wary truce, the surviving sisters look to the past to find the truth, unearthing the secrets that destroyed their family all those years ago . . . and uncovering the possibility of redemption, and revenge, where they least expect it.

***

I like the question about whether or not a rainy day is likely to inspire me to read…and yes, I love to read with the sound of rain on the roof.  As long as it isn’t a storm with thunder and lightning and power outages.  Those aspects of a storm make me hide under the covers!

A nice rain is just what I need right now, as my reading has slowed a bit…also due to house guests on and off throughout the summer.  See a nice rainy day (below).  This photo was captured in April.

 

***

What are your bookish thoughts today?  What inspires you?

***

RAINY DAY FRIDAY: BLISSFUL!

Some of you may know that we have a drought going on here in California, so rain is welcome.  Yes, I know that my blog name suggests that “rainy days make me blue,” but that is no longer true when you are in drought country.

And, just as reading takes the blues away, what better kind of day to curl up and read?  With a cup of tea, perhaps?

 

 

 

 

I knew I should have cleared the leaves off the patio when the Weatherman kept predicting rain.  He actually said “storms,” though, and that hasn’t happened yet.

So here is my patio now:

 

Pretty sad, huh?  But now the dust is gone from the patio table, at least.  I am hopeless when it comes to keeping up the patio during the fall and winter, since I don’t go out there to read.

Today I’m reading this book:  Unbecoming, by Rebecca Scherm.

 

 

After finishing Walking on Trampolines late yesterday (click for review), I was too tired to read much.  I finished the first chapter and then went to sleep.

 

 

 

The Thursday TV line-up is not conducive to staying awake, (Grey’s Anatomy and Parenthood are on hiatus), but I did record Mom and Two-and-a-half Men on my DVR.

Does anyone love Stalker?  I am a big fan.  That one is on Wednesdays, of course.

What do you love to do on a rainy day?  Reading and tea springs to mind for me, but maybe you have other ways to spend those rainy hours?

***

My car license plates read:  IM4RAIN.

This suggests that I love rain, of course, and that’s what most people think when they see the plates.  But there is more to the message.  Can anyone guess?

***