Book Chat - 11/13/2025

Do y’all ever read books and then weeks, years later, you hear about a book that sounds good; so, you add it to your list of books you want to read - not realizing that you’ve already read it? Or is it just me?

It’s November! And I mean, it’s two weeks until Thanksgiving! Time is passing faster than my hair is growing around here. I have such a list of things to do, but here I am at the beach as if I haven’t care in the world. I’m acting like there aren’t only six weeks before Christmas. Yes, you read that correctly. Six weeks!!!

I won’t think about that today. I’ll tell you about the books. I read in July instead.

Death Row by Frieda McFadden

A woman has been convicted of killing her husband. She’s on death row and she’s losing all her appeals. Time is of the essence. One day, She sees a man who looks exactly like her dead husband, leading her to believe that he isn’t dead. So, who is the person she allegedly murdered? It was good.

A Sky Full of Love by Lorna Lewis

After being held captive for quite a while, a woman is returned to her family. Much has happened while she’s been away. Something has been kept from her that will likely have devastating effects when she finally learned about it. It was very engaging.

Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro

Sometime in the future, the world has advanced so that illnesses can be bioengineered out of children, and their friends are so powered entities. Klara is one such AF (Artificial Friend). While waiting to be adopted by human family, she is a keen observer of her environment. When she is adopted, she soon discovers that her human is ill. Klara makes it her mission to cure her. It was good.

Abscond by Abraham Verghese

A young teen with a promising future in tennis has to grow up quickly, following a tragic event. It was very good.

Back to my lollygagging.

MK out.

Movie Monday - 11/3/2025

I only watched one movie last week and it was This Is Spinal Tap - the 1984 film, in anticipation of watching the sequel that came out several weeks ago. The movie is a parody of the craziness surrounding heavy metal bands of the 1970s-early 1980s. It was clever. I enjoyed watching.

It is the beginning of prime movie watching season and the last couple of weeks of the birthday season; so, we will see what happens.

Until next time…

MK out.

Book Chat - 10/24/2025

People, time keeps marching on. I have been reading books fairly steadily, but how would y’all know? When we last talked about books, I had shared the ones I read in April and May.

Ha! I didn’t read any in May. I did read a few in June: 

Lola is Never Drinking Again by Maria Elena Sandivici

I loved this book because one of the characters is my beloved Galveston. Not really, it’s set on The G, but to me, it made The G come to life. A troubled woman returns to the island to help settle her newly deceased aunt’s affairs. She had to reckon with more than her past. It was good.

The House of My Mother: À Daughter’s Quest for Freedom by Shari Franke

I watched the documentary series, Devil in the Family: The Fall of Ruby Franke (and then promptly forgot to tell y’all about it) recently. The doc was about mommy blogger/Influencer, Ruby, and how she was convicted of child abuse. The book by her daughter tells us about how she escaped her mother‘s clutches and how she tried to save her younger siblings from their mother. It is a sad story.

Death Row by Frieda McFadden

This short story is about a woman who is awaiting her death sentence for killing her husband. It was very good.

I may tell you about the ones I read in July soon. I mean, it’s only the end of October…

MK out.

FO Friday - 10/11/2025

Hello everyone! I have two projects to show you:

This little blanky started out as part of a KAL (knit-a-long, for the muggles) hosted by Fifty Four Ten Studio. It was a gentle KAL - one did not have to complete the project by the deadline. Good thing - because I finished after the deadline. I finished this blanky in August. (And I’m just now showing it off - I know...)

The pattern is one of theirs called Summer Sidewalk. I had some skeins of Wool Ease lying around in purple. If anyone knows of someone with a baby coming and purple will fit into the color scheme of the nursery, please let me know.

AND

I made some bags to donate to the local children’s hospital on the G. The hospital fills them with books and art supplies and gives them to children who have undergone some sort of trauma.  

It’s an easy- peasy pattern. I lined mine, but it’s not a requirement. This bag is a good way to use up leftovers!

See y’all later!

/MK out.

Movie Monday - 10/13/2025

Lord have mercy! You’d think I’m just sitting on my couch, staring at the wall and eating bonbons. I can’t get anything done around here. And that includes watching movies. I did watch a few in the last few weeks though.

I had been wanting to watch Kajillionaire ever since it came out in 2020. Evan Rachel Wood, Deborah Winger and Richard Jenkins star in this quirky film. They play a family and their motto seems to be: “A family who crimes together, stays together.” It was good.

A cook to a group of fur trappers and a Chinese immigrant on the run become fast friends in First Cow. Set in the early 1800s, The pair steal the milk of a wealthy trapper’s cow in an effort to make some money baking treats for the town. I liked it.

I used to watch the Ed Salmon show when I was a young thing. Sunday Best is a documentary about how Sullivan could make people’s careers. I enjoyed reminiscing as I watched it.

Stupid Streamer:

The Hunting Wives - Netflix

That’s all for now!

MK out.

Movie Monday- 9/15/2025

The study of Led Zeppelin continues. There’s overlap of information between all the documentaries, but I still find everything fascinating:

In Led Zeppelin - The Original of the Species Unauthorized, People in the music industry, some who have worked with the band, tell about the origins of Led Zeppelin. They also cover the first two studio albums. There are concert clips as well.

In Led Zeppelin- Physical Graffiti: A Classic Album Under Review, again, people in the industry go through the tracks of the double album. It’s one of my favorites, but I am not alone. My favorite part is watching clips of the performing.

I have a couple more LZ things to watch. Hooefully, I will get to them soon.

Good Binge:

I just finished watching season 3 of Fisk on Netflix. It’s an Australian comedy. You can fly through a season quickly. The episodes are 30 minutes long. It is very much worth a watch.

Today is the start of the Birthday Season. I have some fun things planned.

MK out.

Movie Monday - 9/8/2025

Back in the day, when I was but a wee girl, Led Zeppelin was in the background of my life. Of course, the song Stairway to Heaven was big, and I owned some of the albums, but Led Zeppelin was just there. I didn’t think too much about it. I listened to their music, apparently more than I had remembered. In the last few days, I found their YouTube channel on which they’ve uploaded several of their albums in their entireties. As I listened to Houses of the Holy, I was surprised when I anticipated the first cord of the next song, without looking at the song list. It was the same with Physical Graffiti. Hmmm.

In the last couple of weeks, I’ve been watching different interviews with each of the remaining members of the band. It has been fascinating. And then, I found some movies and documentaries; so, here we go…

Led Zeppelin: The Song Remains the Same opens with an unexpected mob hit scene. Keep watching; you are in the right theater. Filmed live at the 1973 Madison Square Garden shows, but released in 1976, this documentary also includes fantasy sequences starring each band member. Up to them, there hadn’t been any footage of Led Zeppelin performances. The band members wanted to give their public what they wanted. 

The documentary, A to Zeppelin: The Story of Led Zeppelin, gives insight about how the band started from other musicians and people in the music industry that knew and worked with the principles wayback when.

Led Zeppelin IV is a documentary that goes through the songs on their fourth, untitled studio album. As with the previous films, there’s concert footage and some interview clips are interspersed throughout. I loved it.

That’s all I watched last week in my study of Led Zeppelin.

I also watched Happiest Season - Since Christmas is around the corner. In the film, we meet two women. Harper loves Christmas, but Abby has issues with it. Harper invites Abby to her family home where Christmas is big. Abby plans to propose without realizing that Harper hasn’t come out to her parents. I appreciated the levity. Kristen Stewart, Mackenzie DavisMary Steenburgen, Dan Levi, and others starred in this ensemble cast. It was cute.

That’s all for now, Peeps. I hope to be back soon.

MK out.