Wednesday, February 7, 2018

TV watching

Working through Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman on Amazon Prime, since I was getting a little tired (shock!) of re-watching Flashpoint.  I'm just starting Season 6, and remembering a lot of things I forgot.  Like how much of an ass some of the townspeople were (Jake, Hank, even Loren at times, but most especially Preston the Jerk Banker).  How sad it was when Dorothy had to burn the book she wrote about Cloud Dancing, to keep the soldiers from getting it.  (I wonder if she kept the first draft?)  I'd forgotten that Myra left Horace, and that he attempted suicide.  That Mr. Rogers had a guest role as a preacher. 

Tuesday, February 6, 2018

Read Harder challenge - January update

After one month, I've completed 8 of the items for the Read Harder challenge.  So far, most of my books have fulfilled more than one item.

  1. A Bollywood Affair - for #5 (a book set in or about one of the five BRICS countries).  I'm not a big romance fan, but this one was pretty good.  Fairly quick read, sort of a beach book.  Also, lots of descriptions of food.
  2. RanMa 1/2 - for #4 (a comic written and illustrated by the same person), #15 (a one-sitting book), #16 (first book in a new-to-you YA or Middle grade series), and #18 (comic not published by Marvel, DC, or Image).  I actually read the first two books in the series.  My first manga, this one is about Ranma, a boy who fell into a cursed pool while training with his father.  Now, when he's splashed with cold water, he turns into a girl.  His father, who fell into a different cursed pool (it was the Area of 1,000 pools, and apparently they were all cursed), now turns into a panda when he gets splashed.  A splash of the other temperature water turns them back to their original form, so it's all good.
  3. Firefly: Those Left Behind - #15 (a one-sitting book), and #18 (comic not published by Marvel, DC, or Image).  The first in the Firefly graphic novel series.  I've had it for years, but never read it yet.  And I still miss Firefly.
  4. Magnus Chase: The Sword of Summer - #16 (first book in a new-to-you YA or Middle grade series).  First book in Rick Riordan's Magnus Chase series.  This time, instead of descending from Greek gods as in Percy Jackson, Magnus is the son of the Norse god Frey.  But his cousin Annabel is the daughter of a Greek god, so I guess the pantheons intermingle.
  5. Pietr the Latvian  - #19 (a book of genre fiction in translation). The first of the Maigret novels, translated from French.  This was a fairly recent translation, so I wonder how an older translation done closer to the original date would be different.
  6. Aunty Lee's Delights - #21 (mystery by a person of color or LGBTQ+ author).  First in another series, this one set in Singapore, where an older-but-not-elderly widow cooks food, owns a restaurant, and solves crimes accidentally.

She sells seashells by the sea shore

Went to Goodwill today to return the Slik tripod from last week.  I've got a "real" tripod and 2 Gorillapods now, so the extra tripod wasn't really necessary.  And, $6 is $6.  While I was there, I of course had to look around.  Not much to speak of, until I saw a big seashell misplaced amongst the furniture.

 Bigger than my hand, in really nice shape, and only $3.

And, it was sitting next to a bag of shells, also in lovely shape, also $3. 





 
So, I didn't come home with $6 more than I left with, but I've got some gorgeous shells, and can at least pretend I've been shell-hunting at the beach. 

Sunday, February 4, 2018

Estate sales 2/2/18 and other shopping this week


Only one estate sale in town this weekend.  It was in an older neighborhood, where the streets were definitely not laid out in any sort of grid.  One street name actually jumped streets here and there - three sections of street, not connected to each other directly, with one name.  Very confusing.

I bought a carroms board set for my mother.  Missing some of the game pieces, but vintage.


A neat pair of crocheted Christmas ornaments, similar to the trio of pandas I found a few months ago.  These have "Made in China" stickers.


A handful of china animal figures.  There were more the first day, but I missed seeing them and they sold before I went back on day 2.  I did buy a horse (marked Germany), a trio of bone china swans made in Japan, a Hagen-Renaker dragon with a missing tail tip, and a Hagen-Renaker Canada goose.  Wish I'd bought the frog and pair of chickens.







Earlier this week, I checked out the local Goodwill.  It was a good day - a full-size tripod for $6 (although I may return that, since we have one tripod already), a large-ish Joby Gorillapod for $3 (score!), two like-new manga books for the Burrito, and a French copy of The Little Prince.  Oh, and two sets of battery-powered "sno lites" that won't be used for snow around here. 

In illogical Goodwill fashion, the manga were $1 each because they apparently aren't "comics" or "childrens books" (I'd dispute both of those, although realizing that manga aren't always for kids), but Le Petit Prince was considered a 50-cent kiddie book.