Thursday, November 12, 2009
Silk and Secrets
**** Silk and Secrets by Mary Jo Putney. Historical romance.
Unfortunately, in my hit-or-miss approach to collecting Putney's backlist, I've once again found myself in the middle of a trilogy. Fortunately, it doesn't seem to have been a problem in enjoying the story.
Lord Ross Carlisle, the Marquess of Kilburn, has been married to Juliet Cameron since he was 21 and she was 17. The only thing is, he hasn't seen her for twelve years, since she inexplicably abandoned him after six months of marriage.
They're reunited in Persia, of all places, when his mother-in-law sends him to find out what happened to his brother-in-law (Juliet's mother and brother), a British army officer who disappeared in Bokhara.
It was a fascinating setting, and there was high adventure aplenty, the kind of story that you'd expect to see in an old movie. And watching Ross and Juliet fall in love again was fun. My only problem was that I didn't really buy the reason Juliet left him in the first place.
Definitely worth reading, and I'm looking forward to seeing the beginning and end of this trilogy eventually.
Categories: Books, 4stars, HistoricalRomance
Labels: 4 stars, books, HistoricalRomance
Friday, November 06, 2009
Friday Flashback
From November 2002:

Smoke in Mirrors by Jayne Ann Krentz. Gothic, romantic suspense.
Categories: Flashback, Books, Gothic, RomanticSuspense

Smoke in Mirrors by Jayne Ann Krentz. Gothic, romantic suspense.
It's been quite a while since I've read a romantic suspense---odd, since it's one of my favorite kinds of books to read. I fell into this one right away. It reminded me of Barbara Michaels' books, with the creepy house with all those mirrors, and I was hooked from there.I wrote a lot more about this book, but it's all in conversation form, including comments from Jayne Ann Krentz. Read the entire thread here.
Categories: Flashback, Books, Gothic, RomanticSuspense
Labels: books, flashback, gothic, RomanticSuspense
Tuesday, November 03, 2009
What Carnival Ride Are You?
You Are a Carousel |
![]() You are young at heart and a truly playful person. No one would ever accuse you of taking life too seriously. You are definitely in things for the fun. You find joy easily, and you are often building up anticipation for your next adventure. In relationships, you tend to want to be babied and taken care of. And while you may be a bit high maintenance, you are incredibly loyal. Your life is simple and satisfying. Each day you treat yourself to something you enjoy. You have a lot of emotional attachments, and experiences are extra vivid to you. You tend to be nostalgic and sentimental. The past is important to you. Comfortable around all living things, you have a special connection to animals and children. At your best, you are whimsical, free spirited, and creative. Even if your schemes seem a bit strange, they usually work out wonderfully. At your worst, you are spoiled, demanding, and impossible to satisfy. You've been known to act like a brat if you aren't getting your way! |
Babied??? High maintenance? Spoiled, demanding, impossible to satisfy brat?!!?? Maybe I should take this quiz again.
Still, I'm tickled it called me "whimsical."
Categories: Quiz
Labels: quiz
Monday, November 02, 2009
Monday Morning Meme
3's of You
3 names I go by
Darla
Mom
Darla Kaye
3 jobs I've had in My life
photoduplication clerk
preventive medicine specialist
tax accountant
3 Places I've Lived
St. Louis, Michigan
Seybothenreuth, Germany
Miesau, Germany
3 Favorite Drinks
jasmine white tea
diet A&W Cream Soda
Averna liqueur
3 Tv shows I watch
The Colbert Report
Dr. Who (on DVD)
Chuck (on DVD)
3 Places I've Been
Sleeping Bear Dunes
Prague
The Alamo
3 of My Favorite foods
Chicken Nurani at the Bombay Indian restaurant in Einsiedlerhof
Fish with red curry and coconut milk at the Orchidee restaurant in Landstuhl
buttered popcorn jellybeans
3 friends who will respond
no clue, and I really hate this question on all these surveys, so I refuse to answer it.
3 things I look forward to
going to the gym
Dagny, Curran, and Andrew coming for Christmas
sleeeeep. :)
Categories: Meme, AboutMe
3 names I go by
Darla
Mom
Darla Kaye
3 jobs I've had in My life
photoduplication clerk
preventive medicine specialist
tax accountant
3 Places I've Lived
St. Louis, Michigan
Seybothenreuth, Germany
Miesau, Germany
3 Favorite Drinks
jasmine white tea
diet A&W Cream Soda
Averna liqueur
3 Tv shows I watch
The Colbert Report
Dr. Who (on DVD)
Chuck (on DVD)
3 Places I've Been
Sleeping Bear Dunes
Prague
The Alamo
3 of My Favorite foods
Chicken Nurani at the Bombay Indian restaurant in Einsiedlerhof
Fish with red curry and coconut milk at the Orchidee restaurant in Landstuhl
buttered popcorn jellybeans
3 friends who will respond
no clue, and I really hate this question on all these surveys, so I refuse to answer it.
3 things I look forward to
going to the gym
Dagny, Curran, and Andrew coming for Christmas
sleeeeep. :)
Categories: Meme, AboutMe
Labels: about me, random memes
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Weekend Update
- So it's been two weeks since my last update, but there's not a whole lot to say.
- The big thing is that Camden came down with the flu. H1N1, we presume, since he had the flu shot a few weeks before he got sick. Poor kid was really sick for about three days, then miserable for another two. He's been back at school since Tuesday, but he still has a residual cough.
- Carl has a mild form, we think--he's got a cough and a low-grade fever. It was worst on Thursday, since Wednesday night he was at work until midnight because of a video teleconference with somebody back in the Pentagon on... (cue irony music) pandemic influenza. A lot of people were chastising him for going in to work on Thursday and Friday, and I have to say I see their point. He's the local subject matter expert on pandemic influenza, telling everyone to stay home if they're sick, but he goes in to work. Granted, he has an office to himself and can limit how much he exposes other people, but still.
- I, on the other hand, had one day when I had a mild temp and a scratchy throat, and that could have just been sleep deprivation. I'm trying not to be too proud of my immune system for fear that karma will kick me in the butt with a horrible case of flu. But I did read an article on Spark.com that said that people who exercised daily got sick less often. And it's been 7 weeks now that I've exercised daily, still going to the gym every other day and doing Callanetics on the off days.
I still haven't lost an ounce--in fact, I gained a pound--but I'm getting slimmer. The biggest thing I noticed was when I put on thigh-high hose. Instead of going up to mid-thigh, they went all the way up. And then there was.... if any of my kids are reading this, STOP NOW TO AVOID FURTHER TRAUMA!!! I definitely noticed a difference during sex. Okay, I'm not going to get into details. But it was very cool. I even had more stamina, and I was only up to six minutes on the dread elliptical. Talk about motivation! I've even noticed a lot fewer of the age-related aches and pains. It's not as difficult to get up and down from the floor, and (okay, what does it say about me that what follows is what embarrasses me?) I don't grunt anymore when I bend over to tie my shoes.
I realize I'm in danger of becoming one of those tiresome people who preach vigorous exercise to everyone, but just in case you're interested, it took six weeks of working out daily to get such noticeable results. Message: don't give up. - My mother-in-law did indeed have a gallbladder infection. They kept her in the hospital on IV antibiotics to get the infection cleared up, and then were going to operate on Monday morning. Unfortunately, they neglected to tell her that, and they neglected to tell the nursing staff, or her nurse made a mistake, one or the other, because they served her breakfast Monday morning, and she ate it. Of course, you can't have surgery with a full stomach. What's irritating is that the doctor was told that she refused surgery--sounds like the nurse trying to cover up her mistake. Anyway, she's back home and scheduled for surgery on the 16th.
- Halloween is going to be very laid-back this year. The brother- and sister-in-law and nieces won't be coming, because they're going out to dinner for a friend's birthday. I'm really rather peeved. It's not like we can postpone trick-or-treating for the kids, but mostly I'm offended that a last-minute dinner invitation takes precedence over plans we made with them a month ago.
They are coming over on Sunday, but now we have to come up with something to entertain them, rather than having the Halloween festivities to do so. I'm also annoyed that we're expected to be content with conversation and grilled burgers when we visit them, but that we have to provide some sort of entertainment for them to visit us. Argh. - Last weekend, we went to the play The Mystery of Irma Vep with Carl's boss and his wife (S&R, who I mentioned in the last Weekend Update). It was very funny, once I figured out what to expect. I felt really bad that Camden was too sick to attend--he'd have loved it.
Labels: about me, weekend update
Friday, October 30, 2009
The Tristan Betrayal
**** The Tristan Betrayal by Robert Ludlum. Action/adventure.
This is another of those authors whose books I generally enjoy, but I haven't gone out of my way to look for.
Stephen Metcalfe is a spy-turned-ambassador, and he's called on to help stop a coup--communist hardliners threatening to overthrow Gorbachev's new government. Along with the present day story, we get flashbacks of Metcalfe's life as a spy during the 1940s, with quite a few hair-raising adventures and near disasters.
The flashbacks were exciting, and made Metcalfe a more interesting and sympathetic character, even if he was a bit luckier than was easy to believe. Experiencing his past, though, gave the present story more depth. Plus, you don't often get to battle Nazis and communists in the same book.
Categories: Books, 4stars, ActionAdventure
Labels: 4 stars, action, books
Friday Flashback
From July 2003:

The Old Fox Deceiv'd by Martha Grimes. Mystery.
Categories: Flashback, Books, Mystery

The Old Fox Deceiv'd by Martha Grimes. Mystery.
Originally written in 1982, this is a good introduction to Martha Grimes's Richard Jury mysteries.Originally posted here.
I must confess that while Martha Grimes is a familiar name to me in the mystery genre, I'd never read any of her books until now.
This story is filled with the atmosphere of British mysteries, and features a mystery within a mystery--not only whodunit, but who-was-it-done-to.
A clever mystery with an engaging cast of characters, The Old Fox Deceiv'd has ensured that the next time I'm in the mood for a British mystery, Martha Grimes will be on my list of authors to look for.
Categories: Flashback, Books, Mystery
Labels: books, flashback, mystery
Thursday, October 29, 2009
TT #135
We also went to Prague this summer. Just a four-day trip, but we made the most of it. Dagny has always been the most tourist-y in our family--she likes to go places and see things, whereas Carl and I are perfectly content to go to Camp Darby every summer and visit the gym and the beach with a day in Pisa and a couple of evenings in Tirrenia. So we told her to go for it: we gave her a budget and told her to find a place to visit, and to make the arrangements, and we'd pay for it. This was the result.
It turned out really great, although Dagny was a little nervous the whole time because she was worried we wouldn't enjoy it. There are lots of pictures--this is just part one. Part two next week.... assuming I get to it.
The header is the poster advertising the Museum of Communism, one of the places we visited.
You can always click on the pictures to see a larger version.
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