Saturday in the Garden | Winter Says 'What the Hell' and Crashes the Party

OUTSIDE

Winter has finally punched jolly old Autumn in the face and made an appearance this week in Iowa.  We had temps under 10 degrees Fahrenheit this week and, as you see, a little snow.  I also had my first white knuckle drive last Monday morning as I made my pre-dawn way a couple hours to the west for work.

Here's the thing.  I appreciate winter. I'm glad I live somewhere with distinct seasons. I will even grudgingly admit that as long as I don't have to scoop it or drive anywhere - snow can be very nice and peaceful.  But other than that it just sucks. I know there are places way worse than Iowa  - way colder, way more snow but I DON'T KNOW WHY ANYONE WOULD LIVE THERE. 😳  Besides the two hour anxiety attack driving on a slippery road this week there was also the matter that it took me 15 minutes to get bundled up to go outside and walk the dogs every morning this week and once bundled up I feel like I'm encased in one of those Sumo wrestling suits.

Me, in Winter

I suppose I should be grateful.  Living in Iowa has introduced me to such exciting weather phenomena such as thunder snow (like a thunder storm but with a butt ton of snow instead of rain) and freezing fog (fog that not only renders visibility impossible but also freezes the road, the car and sometimes you).

Nope. Not grateful.

So help me stop being grumpy!  What do you like about winter?  I like this guy.  His name is Hans.

WATCHING, READING and BLOGGING

Watching 

I finally bit the bullet and continued watching season 4 of Arrow and the bad thing happened and it was indeed awful and made me gnash my teeth in frustration.  It's one of those scenarios where they can't make the hero/main character of the show a jerk so they throw another character under the bus instead, even when it is not consistent with that character.  Then another terrible thing happened and now I've taken another break, lol.

I also watched Hairspray Live which was pretty good! My one criticism was that I didn't love Harvey Fierstein as Edna (Tracy's Mom).  Maddie Baillio (Tracy) was a complete newcomer and she did a great job though I will always love Nikki Blonsky the best I think.  Did you watch Hairspray Live?  What did you think?

Reading 

Finished Since the Last Time I Posted

• Clean Sweep (Innkeeper Chronicles #1) by Ilona Andrews: The Kate Daniels series author is one of my very favoritest Urban Fantasy and this book was on sale at Audible.  It was great, of course and pretty original in its concept which is kind of a Sci-Fi, UF blend.
• The Case of the Left-handed Lady (Enola Holmes #2) by Nancy Springer: The second in a middle-grade series featuring Sherlock Holmes' 14 year old sister.  
• The President's Vampire (Nathaniel Cade #2) by Christopher Farsnworth: I read the first in this series ages ago and liked it enough that I wanted to continue but obviously wasn't in any hurry.  Anyway, this was very fun and the audio was narrated by Bronson Pinchot.  It's based on the premise that the U.S.  has a top secret Vampire that answers to the President and takes care of all the national security things no one else can.  I thought I'd post some scenarios from the book on Facebook and see if people believed them.

Currently Reading:

• Avatar: The Last Airbender - Smoke and Shadow by Gene Luen Yang and Gurihiru:  The graphic novel continuation of my beloved Avatar The Last Airbender television series.  
• Crime and Poetry by Amanda Flower:  A cozy mystery set in a magic bookshop in a charming New York Village minutes from Niagara Falls.  
• Silence for the Dead by Simone St. James:  A historical, supposedly horror, novel (nothing creepy's happened yet) that takes place at an isolated mental hospital in England for soldiers suffering from PTSD after World War I.  

Added to the TBR:

This is a list of books that I have added to my Goodreads TBR list this week.  It helps to burn the books I want to read a little more firmly into my mind, maybe get them on some other folks TBRs and gives me a chance to recognize a lot of the awesome bloggers that add stuff to my TBR!

• Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi:  This is one of the literary fiction titles that was Book Riot's best of list that looks really interesting to me.  It is the story of two half-sisters - one sold into slavery and the other married to a British slaver - and their descendants. 

On the BLOG LAST WEEK:

TUESDAY: Top Ten Tuesday | Favorite New-To-Me Authors in 2016
FRIDAY: REVIEW | The Palace Job (Rogues of the Republic #1) by Patrick Weekes

Creepy Ghost Dog Lurking in the Corner

Live Like You're in a Japanese Horror Film!