Lori (lkernagh) Gets Connected with Her 2021 Reading

Lori (lkernagh) Gets Connected with her 2021 Reading



Hi everyone! This will be my twelfth year participating in the Category Challenge. For 2021, I decided to go with a "connected" category theme. Each book read will lead me to my next read (with the odd exception), based on one of the following categories:

Book title - Book mentioned in the previous book.
Author name - Last, first or both names of author of the previous book. This category may also include authors mentioned in the previous book.
Location - City/town/county/state/province of the previous book setting. Geographical area can be expanded to include country, if necessary.
Time period - Set in the same year/decade/time period of the previous book.
Character - Character has either the same name (first, last or both) or same profession as a main character in the previous book.
Genre - For when I want to binge-read a genre and cannot make a category connection.
Shiny! - For the BBs and early reviewers books (LTER, NetGalley, etc) that do not fit into any of the above categories.

No overlaps allowed but I will be tracking stats as I am curious to see how many categories each book fits into. I will not be setting any minimum limits for the categories but still hope to strike a balance of numbers read for each category by the end of 2021.

ETA: I will reserve the right to be able to start new connections either quarterly or as required (some books don't lend themselves to a lot of options for 'the next book').

I am looking forward to following everyone's threads in 2021! Thanks for stopping by!

My Connected Reading 'tree(s)':
1. Gaudy Night by Dorothy L. Sayers

Character Category - Harriet Vine, mystery fiction writer

2. Busman's Honeymoon by Dorothy L. Sayers

Author Category - Dorothy L. Sayers

3. In the Teeth of the Evidence, Striding Folly and The Wimsey Papers, all by Dorothy L. Sayers

Location Category - England

4. Who Slays the Wicked by C.S. Harris

Time Period Category - 1814

5. Who Speaks for the Damned by C.S. Harris

Shiny! - NetGalley ARC

6. What the Devil Knows by C.S. Harris

Book title - Book mentioned in the previous book.


image posted to Wikimedia Commons by Uriel1022 (CC BY-SA 4.0)

1.
2.
3.

Author name - Last, first or both names of author of the previous book. This category may also include authors mentioned in the previous book.



1. In the Teeth of the Evidence, Striding Folly and The Wimsey Papers, all by Dorothy L. Sayers - (review)
2.
3.

Location - City/town/county/state/province of the previous book setting. Geographical area can be expanded to include country, if necessary.


image posted to Flickr by Marco Verch (CC BY 2.0)

1. Who Slays the Wicked by C.S. Harris - (review)
2.
3.

Time period - Set in the same month, year, decade or time period of the previous book.



1. Who Speaks for the Damned by C.S. Harris - (review)
2.
3.

Character - Character has either the same name (first, last or both) or same profession as a main character in the previous book.



1. Busman's Honeymoon by Dorothy L. Sayers - (review)
2.
3.

Genre - For when I want to binge-read a genre and cannot make a category connection.



1.
2.
3.

Shiny! - For the BBs and early reviewers books (LTER, NetGalley, etc) that do not fit into any of the above categories.



1. What the Devil Knows by C.S. Harris - (review)
2.
3.

Monthly CATs/KITs:



January:
February:
March:
April:
May:
June:
July:
August:
September:
October:
November:
December:

1. One-word title
2. By or about marginalized groups
3. Dark or light word in title
4. Character you'd be friends with
5. Arts & recreation
6. Title describes you
7. You heartily recommend - The Wimsey Papers by Dorothy L. Sayers
8. Nature or environment
9. classical element in title
10. 2 or more authors
11. Impulse read!
12. Contains a love story
13. Read a CAT or KIT
14. Southern hemisphere
15. Made you laugh
16. Suggested by another generation
17. New-to-you author
18. Set somewhere you'd like to visit - Gaudy Night by Dorothy L. Sayers
19. About history or alternate history
20. 20 or fewer LT members
21. Less than 200 pages
22. Senior citizen protagonist
23. Type of building in title - Striding Folly by Dorothy L. Sayers
24. About time, or time word in title
25. About or contains magic

Welcome to my 2021 challenge!

This looks like it's going to be fun, Lori. I did something similar for one of my categories a few years ago - the secret is to choose your first book wisely so it leads you off in an interesting direction. I will definitely be following along! :)

Wow! I look forward to seeing how this works for you. I tried the book mentioned in another book connection previously. I found I had lots of very short referenced chains.

It's a great setup, Lori. I toyed with a similar idea once and will be curious to see how it works for you.

Good set up! I'm still trying to figure my theme out!

Very interesting theme. I like your genre picture and am going to keep it in mind for when our book club picks a theme for next year.

>13 DeltaQueen50:, >14 Helenliz:, >15 MissWatson:, 16 and >17 dudes22: - Thanks Judy, Helen, Birgit, Jackie and Betty. I anticipate that my challenge theme may be a bit "challenging" so I might build in quarterly resets to start a new connection of books... mind you, that will probably have to happen every time I read a book for the "Shiny" category. ;-)

Love your theme idea, Lori! Even if it seems challenging, it sounds like great fun.

I like this! It's very intriguing!

Good idea to go down a reading rabbit hole and to give yourself the option to reboot quarterly!

I love this idea - so often I find myself wanting to read a book that is inspired somehow by the book before it. It's wonderful that your challenge is built around that.

"connected" category theme

What a great idea.

I like the idea of connectedness as a theme. Good luck with your reading in 2021.

Lori, I love this idea but how are going to indicate the connection from book to book and will you keep a running list as the year goes by?

What a great, creative idea!

A challenging, yet fun, theme for 2021! Good luck, Lori, and I look forward to your reads!

I love the theme and am excited to see all the connections you come up with!

Now that really is a challenge, Lori. Well done. I'm looking forward to seeing how you make the connections.

I love this idea! Very clever. Looking forward to following along.

>19 This-n-That:, >20 casvelyn:, >21 rabbitprincess:, >22 LittleTaiko:, >23 mnleona:, >24 hailelib:, >25 cyderry:, >26 Tess_W:, >27 mstrust:, >28 christina_reads:, >29 VivienneR: and >30 JayneCM: - Thank you This-N-That, casvelyn, RP, Stacy, Leona, Tricia, Cheli, Tess, Jennifer, Christina, Vivienne and Jayne for stopping by my 2021 thread! I admit, this 'connected' books theme may be a bit of a challenge... but won't know until after I get going with it. Of course, this may limit my participation in the various CATs, KITs and DOGs. That may occur more as happenstance than planned. ;-)

>19 This-n-That: - I am hoping that it is both a lot of fun and gets me reading books I probably won't pick up, other wise.

>20 casvelyn: - I like "intriguing". If you had said "daunting" I would have been a little worried. ;-)

>21 rabbitprincess: - Yes, I think the ability to reboot will be key to getting me through this challenge.

>22 LittleTaiko: - Glad to see I am not alone in wanting to read a book that inspired by the previous book read!

>23 mnleona: - Thanks! Here is hoping I don't find myself starting off with a book that has no built in connections. ;-)

>24 hailelib: - If I start off with a bang and go out in a whimper, I will still call it a success, so I am taking a "no-fail" approach to the challenge.

>25 cyderry: - I love your question, Cheli! I left >2 lkernagh: for tracking the connections. Personally, I would love to do it visually as a map or maybe in the style of a family genealogy tree... but I am not sure how I can do that and make it easy to update here (so, still pondering that). In the absence of any way to provide an easy visual, it will probably be just text, with "start' and 'stop' sections to show when one connected path ends and I start a new one, but my preference will be for something that makes it easy to visually easy to see the connections.

Question for all my lovely visitors: If anyone has any idea how I can do a web-based, public facing 'tree' or 'org chart' that will automatically update the image when I update the source page (based on the hyperlink used), that would be great to know!

>26 Tess_W:, >27 mstrust:, >28 christina_reads:, >29 VivienneR: and >30 JayneCM: - Thanks again! I am looking for 2021!

>31 lkernagh: I was just wondering if the blockquote would help in showing the connections for example

Marshmallow Malice Amanda Flower Author

The Language of Flowers - Title Character named Lily

Lily and the Octopus Title

>32 cyderry: - That is a really great suggestion! I like it, and so much easier than I was thinking. Thanks, Cheli, will definitely try this out.

>32 cyderry: - That's a good idea. I was wondering how she was gong to show the connection. Very ambitious.

>32 cyderry: That is a wonderful idea - makes it very clear.

It does look like it would work.

Will be following you! Very interesting plan.

A challenging theme that could take you in some interesting directions. Happy reading.

I love this idea - I look forward to seeing your journey!

BTW - your first picture isn't showing.

Welcome back! Looking forward to seeing how you fill your categories.

Your thread is going to be great fun to follow, I've never thought of doing anything like this! I hope it brings you some great reading!

What a great idea! I will look forward to following along to see where your reading whimsy takes you.

Dropping a star, Lori. Very fun categories - can't wait to see where your reading takes you.

This is a brilliant set-up, Lori! I'll make sure to stop by from time to time to see where your connections will lead you to. Have fun reading!

I love the "connections" theme! I've often thought of trying something similar but haven't done so (yet). I look forward to seeing how it works for you!

Happy New Year Lori! I love your theme, and happy reading!

Wishing you a year full of good reads, Lori.

>8 lkernagh: What a wonderful graphic. I snagged it for my LT image folder.

I haven't decided to start a 2021 thread but I starred this one, so that I can find it again. I have Covid burnout, I think.

I wish you well and stay safe. It is fairly alarming to hear of the ramp up in Victoria infections.

Hello Everyone! Time for me to now "officially" switch over to this 2021 thread. Time for responses to all my lovely visitors while I have been absent from this thread:

---------------------

>37 mysterymax: - Thanks, mysterymax! I am looking forward to checking out your challenge setup.

>38 pamelad: - Here is hoping that I haven't bit off more than I can chew, Pam! I did give myself an 'out' in that I can revisit and reboot the challenge if I find myself getting stuck for the next book to read. I am hoping that this setup will allow me to read: 1) more books of my TBR piles and 2) will take my reading to books that I might otherwise pass over.

>39 leslie.98: - I am so happy you love the idea, Leslie!

>40 dudes22: - Darn internet sourced pictures! Thanks for letting me know, Betty. I have replaced the previous picture with one that should not disappear.

>41 thornton37814: - Thanks, Lori! I am looking forward to my 2021 reading!

>42 clue: - Thanks, clue! I hope I don't head down too many rabbit holes but it should still make for some fun reading!

>43 markon: - Thanks, Ardene! I like the use of the word 'whimsy'... I think I can definitely use a year of whimsical reading. ;-)

>44 Crazymamie: - Hi Mamie! Thanks for stopping by!

>45 Chrischi_HH: - Thanks!

>46 katiekrug: - Hi Katie! I think it will be fun to find connections with my 2021 reading. Lovely to see you stopping by!

>47 lsh63: - Happy New Year to you, Lisa!

>48 MickyFine: - Hi Micky! Happy to see you found your way to my 2021 thread. Wishing you a 2021 filled with wonderful reading!

>49 SandyAMcPherson: - Hi Sandy. I totally understand Covid burnout. The island has seen an increase in Covid cases since November... so not great, but not nearly as bad as a lot of other places. I keep thinking of my family in Calgary and Toronto with the much higher Covid numbers. Thanks for letting me know that you have not set up a thread, yet. I will keep an eye out for when you do so that I can star it.

Off to go visit all the other threads that have joined the group since mid-October. In the meantime, wishing everyone a safe and fabulous New Year's Eve and a

Happy new year, Lori!

Ooh! I tried something like his in 2014 I think. Unfortunately, despite a promising start with The Map of Time (by Félix J. Palma), I ended up “blowing up my thread” and starting over. I think I just didn’t have the foresight to be able to jump start it with a new line of association and, had also limited the paths of association— so when I came to a dead end end, I grew frustrated.

Your thread looks extremely promising however and I’m looking forward to seeing how it all unrolls! 🙂

Happy new year! And good luck with your reading in 2021!

>52 Jackie_K: - Thank you, Jackie!

>53 Tanya-dogearedcopy: - I anticipate that I will be creating more than one connected books chain over the course of the year. I have given myself an out that I can swerve off course to read "Shiny" books, but that I need to return to when the connection left off. We will see how this works out. ;-)

>54 spiralsheep: - Thank you!

----------------------------------------

Happy first day of 2021! I hope everyone had a lovely New Year's Eve. For myself, I fell asleep at 9:30.... so not much to report except that I have never been much of a party girl, so the restrictions on events and gathering here in BC really did not impact me in any way. ;-)

I have two LTER books from 2020 that I was hoping to read to get off the deck before starting my connected challenge. Decided both books were just not holiday season reads, so I have shelved them for now. My current read - and the book that will start off my connected reading - is Gaudy Nights by Dorothy L. Sayers. I never did manage to find the time to read it last month with everyone else so it seems like a good time to 1) play catch up and 2) as good a book as any to launch my connected reading. ;-)

Happy New Year, Lori, I am looking forward to seeing where your reading is going to take you this year!

This is such an interesting idea and I'm looking forward to following your reading and seeing where the connections will lead you! Happy New Year!

Hello Lori! Happy 2021 and what a great way to bring in the idea of "connectedness" which we are all needing so much this year. I look forward to seeing how it all transpires for you.

>56 DeltaQueen50:, >57 MissBrangwen: and >58 threadnsong: - Thank you Judy, Mirjam and threadnsong for the Happy New Year wishes. It will be a lot of fun finding the connections for my reading. ;-)

-----------------------------------

Saturday was just a day long (and evening) downpour of rain. The weather is making me feel more stir crazy than the pandemic has, probably because I am not going outdoors as much this past week as I am used to for fresh air and exercise. Managed to find a respite in the rain this morning for a short walk through the neighbourhood, and got to take in a wonderful rainbow at the same time.



Back came the rain, so back indoors for me. For those who have followed my threads in previous years, you will know that I like to give myself a virtual walking challenge to motivate me to get exercising. I am thinking about setting up a new one for this year. Busy thinking about if I want to set up my own or join one of the many virtual challenges that have cropped up do to the pandemic. Thinking, thinking, thinking...

Fabulous photograph.

>60 pamelad: - Thanks!

Wow, that's a bright rainbow! Very cool.

>59 lkernagh: WOW! That is so vibrant. Thanks for sharing.

>62 scaifea: - One of the rare times when I was able to see the complete colour spectrum, too! It didn't last very long so rather happy I was outside when I was. ;-)

>63 Crazymamie: - Glad you like it, Mamie! Very vibrant colours, which was unusual to see. ;-)

A great rainbow picture!

>66 hailelib: - Thanks!

Lori's "Spine of Scotland" Walking Journey:
.

Yes, it is time for me to, once again, get motivated with my walking. While there are now a number of virtual fitness challenges available online, like theconqueror.com website, I like having my own challenge. I surfed around looking for something that was not too long (or too short) that could easily be tracked on a Google map. After tossing a couple of ideas around with my Scottish other half (he initially suggested walking around the Isle of Skye), we both decided that virtually walking Scotland's A9 seemed like the perfect challenge (or, as Goldilocks would probably say, "Not too long. Not too short. Just right").

Interesting facts about the A9 (courtesy of Wikipedia):
- At 273 miles (439 km), it is the longest road in Scotland and the fifth-longest A-road in the United Kingdom.
- Historically it was the main road between Edinburgh and John o' Groats, and why it has been called "the spine of Scotland".

Because I like to start my walking challenges at the waterfront, I will be starting this one at Scrabster Harbour, with the end goal being Edinburgh Castle. As with my previous walking challenges, I will probably find the time to post some facts/points of interest as I journey south. I will be starting on January 4th and will posting updates on a weekly basis. That is the plan.

Let the fitness walking begin!

>59 lkernagh: "The weather is making me feel more stir crazy than the pandemic has, probably because I am not going outdoors as much this past week as I am used to for fresh air and exercise."

Hello, brain twin! Good luck with your walking challenge. My friend's village swam to Australia in their local lido one year, then they kept going for another year and between them they swam around the world.

The A9 is a very very short walk from my house, so give me a wave when you get to the St Ninians roundabout in Stirling! :)

Hooray, I'm looking forward to walking with you around Scotland!

Yay a Scottish walking challenge! Love it :)

>69 spiralsheep: - Hi brain twin! So long as I can go outdoors, I can tolerate a lot of restrictions in the interest of public health and well-being. ;-) I love that your friend's village had a swimming challenge! What a sense of accomplishment they must have to have swam around the world!

>70 Jackie_K: - Hi Jackie, I will definitely give you a 'wave' when I reach Stirling! It has been years since I was last in Scotland, but I do have fond memories of Stirling and area. Our last trip to the Scotland, we stayed outside of Edinburgh in North Berwick.

>71 mstrust: - Glad to have you along with the walking, Jennifer!

>72 rabbitprincess: - Thanks RP, I am really looking forward to it! I am already getting my exercise mojo back.

--------------------------
The morning started out as another torrential downpour kind of day. UGH! I was determined to start my walking challenge today so was not looking forward to it being 'paused' on account of weather. I spent the morning getting some shopping done (and trying to not get too wet in the process). Luckily, at lunch time the weather cleared, and I managed to get in a 4.6 KM walk before the dark rain clouds once again took over the sky. Part of my walk was along the harbour walkway, which is where I took this picture:



On the reading front, I am still plucking away at Gaudy Night. Enjoying it. For some strange reason, I now have a hankering to revisit the Enid Blyton boarding school novels of my youth.... could the Oxford women's college setting have something to do with it? :-)

>73 lkernagh: That's so pretty! I love that you have set a new walking challenge for yourself - so fun to follow along on.

>74 Crazymamie: - Thanks, Mamie! I admit to feeling fortunate to have easy access to the harbour walkway system. Very relaxing and always something interesting to look at! Happy to see you will be following along my walking challenge. Weather forecast for tomorrow is back to torrential rains, so my first week on my walking challenge will probably have less 'clicks' than I would like. ;-)

Good luck with your reading this year.

Hi, Lori!
I love the idea of tracking your walking like this. I'm tempted to pick a route to follow, too, although I only do about 30 minutes on the treadmill everyday, so it'll be pretty embarrassingly slow going...

I *love* the picture of the harbour walkway - lovely!

I've enjoyed your walking challenges and will be following along and learning more about Scotland, the land of my ancestors on my dad's side. I'm an outside walker too and have been trying the last few months to consistently get in the proverbial 10,000 steps a day. My problem is that if I walk that much several days in a row my legs begin to complain so I'll just have to keep working at it. I live in the southern U.S. and during the winter I can walk most days, I've only missed one the last 3 months. I've got the gear to be outside including waterproof shoes so I have to really think hard to come up with an excuse not to be out there. Like you though, I love being outside. Good luck!

>73 lkernagh: - That looks like a really nice walk, Lori. Does it get really crowded in good weather?

>78 clue: - I can't say I usually get in 10,000 steps, Luanne, but I walk with a couple of other ladies every morning in the development. Our street makes a "U" off the main street and 4 times around is 2 miles. We take Wed off in the winter when it's dark so we don't have to dodge the trash trucks and sometimes a holiday. And if there's snow. It can be really cold some mornings but we at least try.

>73 lkernagh: Looks like a beautiful place to walk. I don't have any "beautiful" spaces, just miles and miles of dark, dreary pastures in the winter, but you have encouraged me! I live on a small u-shaped road off of a main county road. From one end (where I live) to the other and back is .9 miles. So depending upon how ambitious I am, I try to go around at least 2 times and sometimes 3-4. I don't go in the rain or blizzard conditions.

>73 lkernagh: That is such a pretty picture. And what an atmospheric place for a murder!

Happy New Year, Lori! Good to see you are keeping up with walking. Have a good year of reading too!

>73 lkernagh: Hi Lori, I am looking forward to following along on your tour of Scotland. I do know where that walkway is and I hope to be able to stroll along there one day when I can visit Victoria in the not too distant future!

I love the walking tour of Scotland idea- lots of wonderful historical places to "visit" on your journey.

I wish I had thought of the "shiny" category: that sums up perfectly my approach to new books!

Wishing you a great year of reading.

>76 lowelibrary: - Thanks April!

>77 scaifea: - Hi Amber! I think creating your own virtual challenge is a great idea! if it helps any, I will be lucky if I can average 30 minutes a day for my walking challenge, which is why I only update on a weekly basis (makes it look like I actually accomplish something). ;-)

It is a great little walkway that hugs the waterfront so a fair bit of path following natural bends and curves and rock outcroppings.

>78 clue: - Hi Luanne! Happy to have you following along with my walking challenges in the past and my new one! Well done on keeping motivated to make those 10,000 steps a day. Some days can make the walking seem like a chore, and having the legs complaining doesn't help. Smart move to have the waterproof shoes, especially if your area get the wet weather! Good luck with your continued outdoor walking. Fresh air is underrated. ;-)

>79 dudes22: - Hi Betty, yes the waterfront pathway can get rather busy, especially during the weekends and beautiful summer days. it is a rather narrow path so between the walkers, the dog walkers, the joggers, and the occasional cyclist (who are not supposed to be on the paths) its is interesting to watch the psychology/sociology of people sharing (and the occasional ones choosing to not be considerate of others). There are a number of park benches set up at intervals along the pathway so individuals with some limited mobility (or just want to relax and take in the view) can sit down.

I love your walking "loop". Such a great way to get in the exercise and still stay close to home base. That is something that I tend to do if storm clouds are threatening, and I forgot to bring my umbrella with me on my walk, I walk a circuit of the neighbouring streets. ;-)

>80 Tess_W: - Hi Tess. I do admit to having some good and as you say, beautiful areas near by where I can walk. As I mentioned to Betty above >79 dudes22:, walking a circuit closer to home is a great way to motivate your walking.... you can encourage yourself by saying "One more loop" as you near the end. I am not much of a rain/snow walker either, and definitely not in a blizzard! That is curl up in chair with cup of tea and a book kind of weather!

>81 mstrust: - LOL! You do realize that the next time I walk that path, I am going to be scrutinizing it for its murderous atmosphere? ;-)

>82 VivienneR: - Thanks Vivienne for both the reading and walking encouragement!

>83 DeltaQueen50: - Ha, I would have been very surprised if you did not recognize the pathway, Judy! I have my fingers crossed that you will be able to visit the island to see your mom and family soon. The vaccine rollout, while slower than many would want, will help! Glad to see you will be following my walking challenge.

>84 charl08: - Hi Charlotte, I know very little about the northern parts of Scotland. The farthest north I have been is Perth, so I am looking forward to learning more. Hard to not be attracted to new books!

-----------------------------------

Well, we did it. We survived the first 10 days of 2021. A promising start to the new year. think I mentioned that I would be 'sort of' around for my thread(s), but with work, RL projects (this weekend installed a new splashguard in the kitchen) and finding myself in the evenings being sucked into streaming TV shows, it is amazing how time just flies by. I am still working on my first book for 2021, Gaudy Night by Dorothy L Sayer. This must be the longest book in the Peter Wimsey series! Since I don't have a book review, how about I give post my first walking update?

Lori's "Spine of Scotland" Walking Journey:
.

The Goal: To virtually walk the A9 from Scrabster to my final destination of Edinburgh Castle. Goal to be accomplished - ideally - by August, to coincide with when the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo would typically be happening. Wish me luck!

Here is the link to my Google map where I am tracking my journey: https://tinyurl.com/y88helez

WEEK 1 UPDATE:
Kilometers walked this session: 26.04 km
Kilometers walked in total: 26.04 km
Currently walking through: County Caithness.
My current location on the map: Roughly half-way between Mybster and Achavanich.
Points of interest along the way: Communities walked through include Scrabster, Thurso, Banniskirk, Spital and Mybster.

Fun Facts about Scrabster and Thurso:
Scrabster:
- A small settlement on Thurso Bay, is the most Northerly port on the Scottish mainland
- An important port for the Scottish fishing industry.
- Scrabster provides regular ferry service to Stromness, in Orkney.
- Scrabster used to provide a weekly summer service to the Faroe Islands, but that was discontinued back in 2008.
- British royal connection to Scrapster: for several decades, Scrabster port was the port of choice for Queen Elizabeth and her family when they disembarked from the Royal Yacht Britannia every August to visit the Queen Mother at her Highland holiday home, the Castle of Mey (formerly Barrogill Castle):


Castle of Mey, originally posted to Flickr by jack-spellingbackon (CC-BY 2.0)

Thurso:
- Is the northernmost town on the British mainland.
- Thurso's history stretches back to at least the Norse Orcadian era of rule in the region.
- Thurso was a centre of Norse power before the Scots defeated the Norsemen in 1263 in the Battle of Largs.
- In Norse times, Thurso had functioned as an important port, later trading with ports throughout northern Europe until the 19th century.
- Thurso had a reputation for its linen-cloth and tanning activities.
- The ruined Old St. Peter's Church is one of the oldest churches in Scotland, dating to at least 1220:


picture posted to Wikimedia commons by Vclaw - author: Alex Liivet - (CC-BY 2,0)

------------------------

Good news: I have managed to get in a roughly 30-minute walk every day since starting my virtual walking challenge, so yes, this is helping me get my walking/steps in!

>86 lkernagh: I love traveling through you!

I really enjoyed following your walking challenge in previous years and I'm happy you chose Scotland for your next one, as it is one country that my husband and I hope to visit sometime in the future, once it's safe to travel again. In the meantime, I'll enjoy your photos and descriptions.

>87 Tess_W: - So happy to have you along for my virtual walking journey, Tess!

>88 mathgirl40: - Lovely to see you also enjoy my virtual walking updates, Paulina! I love Scotland and really hope to return when it is safe to travel once again. My Scottish other half has taken more interest in this virtual walking journey than my previous ones... I wonder why. ;-) Of course, I am terrible at pronouncing place names, so he is trying to teach me the proper pronunciations (he stills shakes his head every time I say Edinburgh).

--------------------------

Hello, hello, hello. Another week down and at what have I been up to? Some continued TV streaming binge watching. We are working our way through all of the Midsomer Murder Mysteries on Acorn TV. In the last 4 weeks we have gone from Series 1, Episode 1 to Series 9, Episode 4 (Yes, we are now on Barnaby's third detective constable). Took a detour this weekend to watch all 6 episodes of the BBC dramatization of A Suitable Boy. Loved this!!! Back in 2019 I did attempt to join the group read for Vikram Seth's novel. I didn't get very far - I will admit - in reading the print version, but I did get far enough (and remembered enough) to know that the first two episodes were very true to the story, so I am assuming this carried through for the parts I have not yet read. I highly recommend watching the series!

What else have I been up to? Coffee grinder went on the fritz end of last week - can use it but time for a replacement - so I have spend a fair bit of time researching a new grinder. After scouring numerous consumer reports and keeping in mind that I don't require extreme grind ranges (I don't - yet - drink Turkish or make espresso coffees) I have settled on the OXO Brew Conical Burr Coffee Grinder. Order placed.

Walking continues - thanks in part to favorable weather! - so walking update to follow. Even more exciting, I have Finally finished my first book for 2021!. What can I say, This is either an anomaly/carry over from 2020 or a sign of my reading pace for 2021. We shall see. Book review to follow.

.
Book #1 - Gaudy Night by Dorothy L. Sayers
Challenge(s): 75 Group, 2021 Category
CAT/KIT: N/A
Bingo DOG: "Set somewhere you'd like to visit" - Oxford
Category: N/A
Source: TBR
Format: ebook
Original publication date: 1935
Acquisition date: January 6, 2020
Page count: 458 pages
Decimal/ Star rating: 4.10 out of 5 /
Book description/summary: from the penguinrandomhouse.ca book listing webpage:

"The seedy underbelly of academia threatens to erupt into violence, if Lord Peter and Harriet Vane can’t put a stop to it.

Famous mystery writer Harriet Vane is asked to help when her alma mater becomes plagued by scandalous letters, threats, and vandalism. Fearing that things might escalate to murder, she asks Lord Peter Wimsey to assist her investigation, but his reentrance into her life brings to a head her uncertainty regarding love and marriage – and Lord Peter himself."

Review:
Without a doubt, the longest story (so far) in the Lord Peter Wimsey series, but not complaining. For a change, this story is focused squarely on Harriet, with Wimsey playing a much smaller (and yet still crucial) role. I love the Oxford setting and appreciate, as always, Sayers attention to detail. She presents a wonderful picture of Oxford academic life, including the wonderful follies of the younger student population. This time, Sayer provides a wonderful blending of mystery with women's fiction as a number of philosophical topics around love, work, family and the nature of humanity are examined in between the sporadic episodes of disturbing incidents. A nice change from the mystery puzzles of the earlier books in the series! As for the mystery - which really takes second place to the wonderful character development - this is one of those rare times when I had the suspect (the "who") figured out pretty early on. With the slow moving plot, it takes some time for the motivation behind the incidents (the "why") to surface, but I was so busy enjoying the other aspects of the story, I would forget that there was still a mystery to solve.

Overall, a gem of a story and I can understand why some reviewers consider Gaudy Night to be Sayer's best novel.

Lori's "Spine of Scotland" Walking Journey:
.

The Goal: To virtually walk the A9 from Scrabster to my final destination of Edinburgh Castle. Goal to be accomplished - ideally - by August, to coincide with when the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo would typically be happening. Wish me luck!

Here is the link to my Google map where I am tracking my journey: https://tinyurl.com/y88helez

WEEK 2 UPDATE:
Kilometers walked this session: 27.83 km
Kilometers walked in total: 53.87 km
Currently walking through: County Caithness.
My current location on the map: Due south of Ramscraigs, heading for Berriedale.
Points of interest along the way: Communities/areas of interest walked through (or near) this past week include: Achavanich, Crofts of Benachielt, Gillivoan, Latheron, Latheronwheel, Dunbeath and Ramscraigs.

I have been having a lot of fun 'researching' the locations that make up my virtual walking journey. Starting with Achavanich, this place intrigues me! According to Wikipedia, Achavanich (meaning "field of the stones") is an unusual megalithic horseshoe-shaped structure near Lock Stemster.

Part of Achavanich Stone Setting - Carron K (posted to geograph.org.uk) (CC BY-SA 2.0)

Estimated to be around 4,000 years old, this stone 'ring' was built of rock from the Caithness flagstone group. The purpose of the stone circle is unknown. Discovery of bones may suggest a purpose as a ritual site, but beyond that, pure speculation. What makes this structure unusual: The slabs (on average 1.5 metres in height) point towards the center of the circle, at 90' angles, and the stone circle remains open (like a U) with the open end at the south-east. Not Stonehenge, but as intriguing!

Also at Acavanich is a 4,250 year old Bronze Age cist burial site, were the incomplete skeletal remains of a young adult female were accidentally discovered in 1987 during rock extraction for road improvement works. DNA research has created a story that 'Ava' (as she has been named) was descended from what would have been recent North European migrants and has no or very few genetic connections to the local Neolithic population of the area. Newcomers! Roll out the welcome mat! A 2018 news article about Ava and what her DNA and other details have determined can be found here: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-6454345/DNA-reveals-18-year-old-...

Interesting fact: Caithness has more broch sites than anywhere else in Scotland. I had to look up what a 'broch' is. A broch is defined an Iron Age drystone hollow-walled structure. Okay. Got it. Loch Rangag's Broch, which really just looks like a rocky mound, is located on a peninsula that juts out into the loch. It is also known as Castle Greysteil. Interesting connection (or just happenstance): Greysteil is the title of a then-popular 16th century epic poem that was performed for both James IV and V of Scotland. The poem is about a notorious knight (Sir Greysteil) who is tainted by the black arts and eventually defeated by a magical sword provided by a powerful woman. One of those fun "is it legend or is it reality" kind of connections.

Latheron (from the Scottish Gaelic Latharn ='muddy place') is a small village and where the Clan Gunn Heritage Centre and Museum is housed in the old Parish Church build in 1734. Clan Gunn is reputed to be one of the oldest Scottish Clans, descended from Norse and Pictish Mormaers. Probably some fascinating history to be learned there.

Latheronwheel has an 'attraction' that would be right up my alley. The Latheron Fairy Walk is a walk through a glen that local volunteers have turned into a magical fairy glen, with designated areas such as Hobbitt Hill and Pixie Place and wonderful tiny door carvings and other natural elements to give the glen its 'fairy' appeal. More details (and pictures) here: https://www.ahighlandblend.com/nc500/fairy-glen-latheronwheel/

Dunbeath is a village in southeast Caithness and is known as the birthplace for author Neil M. Gunn, who wrote many novels set in the region, including The Silver Darlings and Highland River. As with other areas in Caithness, Dunbeth is rich in archaeology, with a number of Iron Age brochs and a medieval monastic site of Ballachly, centered around a hillock known as Chapel Hill. A published 2013 research paper about the monastic site can be found here: https://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/catalogue/psas/vol_143/143_0265_0302.pdf

Further along the coastline is Dunbeath Castle.



Dunbeath Castle - posted to Wikimedia Commons by Bill Henderson (original source: geograph.org.uk)(CC BY-SA 2.0)

First recorded on the rocky peninsula in 1428, and the first recorded laird was Alexander Sutherland. In March 1650, Dunbeath was attacked by the Royalist forces of James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrol during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, a series of wars that started with the War between Scotland and England, the Irish Rebellion of 1641 and the extension of the English Civil War into Scotland. Sir John Sinclair rode to Edinburgh to warn of Montrose's arrival, leaving his wife to defend Dunbeath against Sir John Hurry. She soon surrendered, and a Royalist garrison was installed. Montrose was defeated in April at the Battle of Carbisdale, and the opposition forces, under David Leslie, recaptured the castle. The present building is mainly of 17th century origin, with 19th century extensions.

>91 lkernagh: Wow, that's a lot of history. As a kid I went on family holidays to Scourie at the very north of Scotland - beautiful, isolated beaches (but so windswept!)

I love the Gaudy Night cover. Mine is a very battered 70s edition.

>89 lkernagh: Oh I love Midsomer Murders! My husband and I have watched all the seasons (it took us a year) and we are anxiously awaiting the new season. Loved Tom Nettles, didn't think he could be replaced, but we like Neil Dudgeon just as well. We have Brit Box and watch that one, Silent Witness, Shetland, and Vera. I limit myself to 1 hour of TV per day, so the going is slow. My husband also likes Death in Paradise, which I can take or leave, and usually leave it.

Again, the walk-along is fantastic. You are a great tour guide!

Don't feel bad about just finishing your first book - I've only finished two and one was a carryover from Dec. But I'll need to pickup the pace as a friend justy lent me a library book she was recommending, I got a notice I have one to pick up, and I'm reading two at the moment.

>91 lkernagh: "The slabs (on average 1.5 metres in height) point towards the center of the circle, at 90' angles"

Very interesting, and not a type I've encountered despite visiting dozens (hundreds?) of stone settings in the UK.

Hooray for your first book of 2021! I'm glad it was a good one. I haven't gotten to Gaudy Night yet but will.
Thanks for the Scottish pics and info. Seems every square inch has a history.
I believe I've seen just two episodes of Midsomer and liked it. I believe I can get the first season streaming now.

Another Scotland and Midsomer Murders lover over here! We are between seasons 7 and 8, but took a break to watch Lewis and Foyle's War. I'm looking forward to continuing Midsomer Murders already, though!

And these pictures make me ache to travel so much. Scotland is one of my absolute favorite places in the world and I can't wait to go back!

Congrats on finishing Gaudy Night. I thought that one went on forever!

>90 lkernagh: I love Gaudy Night! Not as much as Busman's Honeymoon, but still pretty fantastic. I think Gaudy Night showcases Lord Peter Wimsey's feminist awesomeness and of course that ciritical development in Peter and Harriet's relationship.

>89 lkernagh: and >93 Tess_W: Midsomer Murders has grown on me, and I have now become a regular viewer on PBS. I also love Shetland and Foyle's War. Haven't watched Vera or Silent Witness yet. I don't subscribe to any streaming services, but I've been mighty tempted between Acorn and Brit Box. Especially because I want to see stuff like Pie in the Sky. Which service do you like better and why?

>99 justchris: I've had both Brit Box and Acorn. I prefer Britbox as it has more of the show types we like to watch. I have loved Foyle's War.

>99 justchris: I use Acorn because I can get it through my public library for free. But I think Britbox has more shows I would like. On the other hand, Acorn also offers some really good Canadian and Australian shows, and I'm not sure if Britbox does.

ETA Pie in the Sky is one of my favorites! I used to watch it on PBS in the late 1990s.

Hi Lori, I am enjoying the tour of Scotland that you are supplying us with this year. I have always wanted to visit Scotland, it is certainly a beautiful country.

Adding to my appreciation of the Scottish tour! Even though I've lived here 15 years now there's still so much left to discover - I don't know the top end of the A9 at all!

If you want to have a better idea of what a broch looks like, the most famous ones are probably Mousa Broch on Shetland, and Carloway Broch on the Isle of Lewis.

>101 casvelyn: lol - I could have written this message, including the fact that I can get Acorn for free through my library :) Plus I also loved "Pie in the Sky" mystery series!

I have had BritBox in the past and liked it - I basically kept it until I had watched all the shows I wanted to see then cancelled. My advice, >99 justchris:, is to first see if you can access either of these services (or a PBS channel) through your library. If not, check out which has a larger library of shows/episodes you want to watch before subscribing. And keep in mind that you aren't signing a lifelong contract! Sign up for one or both, watch what you want and then cancel.

>100 Tess_W: and >101 casvelyn: and >104 leslie.98: Thanks so much for the input! It didn't occur to me that I might be able to access one of these services through my library.

I'm a relic and prefer the certainty of DVDs. Was thrilled to pick up the complete set of Foyle's War on discount. Likewise, I found seasons 1 and 2 of Pie in the Sky via DVD just last year and decided that I needed to see the rest of them, and probably streaming makes the most sense for that.

I do love the Australian shows at least as much as the stuff from the UK. Most recently, 800 Words, but also Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries, Doctor Blake Mysteries, The Brokenwood Mysteries, and back in the day Sea Change. But then so much good British drama: Call the Midwife, Doc Martin, Endeavour, Midsomer Murders, Inspector Morse, Death in Paradise, The Coroner, and on and on...all the great characters, wonderful dialogue, meaty plot, a sense of humor, and without excessive violence, which seems to be the US specialty in TV. Sigh.

Thanks for the excellent advice re: library access, shopping the service catalogs, and canceling once I've had my way with them.

>91 lkernagh: I agree with the others. You're doing a great job of selling Scotland as the place to go. Sorry none of us can actually go there at this time. But living vicariously through your walking tour is a good way to whet the appetite, commence the travel planning.

The walking tour is great with all the history and the pictures.

Gaudy Night and Busman’s Honeymoon are my favorite Peter Wimsey stories.

>92 charl08: - Hi Charlotte. There does appear to be a fair bit of history to uncover for this virtual journey. beautiful, isolated beaches (but so windswept!) Ha! That is what my Scottish other half has to say about the beaches. ;-) Your copy of Gaudy Night sounds like a well read copy.

>93 Tess_W: - Yay, happy to find a Midsomer Murders fan here, Tess! Just the right balance of gruesome murders with some light-hearted banter, and even better, all those wonderful homes and gardens to look at! I am looking forward to seeing Neil Dudgeon take on the chief inspector role, but I will have a little bit of difficulty at first.... will be too busy comparing him to his roles in some of the earlier episodes. ;-)

I have not signed up for Brit Box, yet, but I imagine I will need to scan their offerings to see what they have different from Acorn TV. I hear you on limiting yourself to just 1 hour of TV per day. If I did that, all I would watch is the news hours, so I find your restraint impressive!

Awe, sucks... thanks on the tour guide kudos.

>94 dudes22: - Glad to know I am (or probably 'was') in like company when it comes to a slow January for reading, Betty, but I am only reading one book at a time. Right now, I will consider it an accomplishment if I finish two book this month. *quickly looks at calendar and counts remaining days in the month*

>95 spiralsheep: - Glad to see you found that piece of information interesting! I did, too. And now, thanks to you, I know that it is not 'the norm' for stone settings in the UK.

>96 mstrust: - Thanks, Jennifer! I think I need all the reading encouragement I can get. ;-) Seems every square inch has a history. If I delve deep enough, I am pretty sure your statement would be accurate. I find Midsomer Murders to fit my idea of a cozy mystery: Not overly 'saccharin' and with some pretty decent murders. As I mentioned to Tess above, I also love seeing all the wonderful homes, gardens and villages for the shows settings.

>97 MissBrangwen: - Well, double the happiness, for both Scotland and Midsomer Murder love, Mirjam! It has been years since I watched Lewis (I was and still am a huge Inspector Morse fan). As for Foyles, what a fabulous show and my only grip is that they didn't make enough episodes! I hear you on the ache to travel. Virtual travel can only satisfy to a certain extent and does not beat the real thing for smell, taste and ambiance. ;-)

>98 thornton37814: - So glad you thought Gaudy Night seemed overly long, Lori! I failed to check the page count in my ebook before starting and even I started to wonder when the story would end.

>99 justchris: - Happy to see another Gaudy Night fan! As you have mentioned, Gaudy Night is an important story in the Peter and Harriet story. I am approximately half way through Busman's Holiday and I can already see the appeal of this last Harriet Vine story.

Re: question about streaming services, I only subscribe to Acorn TV at the moment (have not tried Brit Box yet) but I see that this has been answered further down this thread at >100 Tess_W: and >101 casvelyn:. I can chime in that I am a big fan of the Australian shows offered on Acorn TV, like The Heart Guy, A Place to Call Home and Acorn also carries the Miss Fisher Murder Mysteries.

>102 DeltaQueen50: - Hi Judy, lovely to see my virtual walking updates are generating such interest! I am learning so much. I would love to return to Scotland for a visit, once this pandemic thing is under control and we can get back to travelling. I have already told the other half what I would love to do: a walking holiday of the John o'Groats Trail (more info in my latest walking update, further down this thread). Other half is not quite as keen to join me - would see me off at one end of the Trail and then either meet me at the end of each stage or at the end of the Trail. ;-)

>103 Jackie_K: - Another appreciative fan! Thanks, Jackie! You sound like me.... I have lived on Vancouver Island for over 20 years and there are many places and things I haven't even seen or done, yet. Thank you for providing the names of a couple of famous brochs! This does help explain what a broch is. ;-)

>104 leslie.98: - Excellent advice, re: access through library system! It never hurts to check and see what your library card can give you access to before shelling out for your own subscription.... which reminds me, I should check and see if my local library has added any new digital offerings since I last looked. They tend to add stuff with little fanfare. ;-)

>105 justchris: - Was thrilled to pick up the complete set of Foyle's War on discount. I bet you were... what a find! LOL, Doc Martin is our "go to" when we need a laugh. Love that show! Thank you for your lovely comment re: selling Scotland. I think Scotland is just selling itself, as I am also keen to make a return visit to the country when we can commence traveling.

---------------------------
I hope everyone have had a wonderful week! What have I been up to? Let's see. Coffee grinder arrived so I am back with my favorite morning beverage, which is a homemade mocha (equal parts ground coffee and superior red cocoa brewed in French press, with a drop of honey for sweetener). Weather forecasters spent most of last week prepping us for possible snow this past weekend.... which, at sea level was just rain. Still watching Midsomer Murder Mysteries, now interspersed with episodes of Lovejoy for a change of pace. Reading continues - very Slooooooowwwly - but I do still have my fingers crossed that I will end January with at least 2 books read.

I am continue to have a lot of fun researching the places I am virtually walking through. Week 3 walking update below.

Lori's "Spine of Scotland" Walking Journey:
.

The Goal: To virtually walk the A9 from Scrabster to my final destination of Edinburgh Castle. Goal to be accomplished - ideally - by August, to coincide with when the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo would typically be happening. Wish me luck!

Here is the link to my Google map where I am tracking my virtual journey: https://tinyurl.com/y88helez

WEEK 3 UPDATE:
Kilometers walked this session: 27.50 km
Kilometers walked in total: 81.37 km
Currently walking through: County Caithness / Country Sutherland.
My current location on the map: Due south of Lothbeg (and The Wolf Stone), heading for Kintradwell.
Points of interest along the way: Communities/areas of interest walked through (or near) this past week include: Berriedale, Badbea, Ousdale, Helmsdale and Lothbeg.

Berriedale is a small estate village (a village wholly within and part of a private estate) along the coast in an area that is sheltered from the North Sea. Berriedale is located at the end of the eighth stage of the coastal John o'Groats Trail, a 235 km (147 mile) long walking trail from Inverness to John o'Groats. The trail is broken down into 14 stages, each walkable in a day, with all stages ending in a town or village that provides accommodation. The trail traverses back lanes, footpaths, shorelines and cliff tops, as well as some obstacles such as crossing barbed wire fences, river fording, boulder scrambling and walking through summer vegetation. Sounds like a fun and challenging walking holiday! Berriedale is also listed as the place of death on the death certificate of Prince George, Duke of Kent, the younger brother of King George VI. Prince George, who was on duty as an Air Commodore in the Royal Air Force on a mission to Reykjavik, Iceland was killed, along with 14 others, in the Dunbeath air crash on August 25, 1942.

Just south of Berriedale are the Berriedale Braes, a hillside area where the A9 sees a steep drop in gradient - from 150m (492ft) to 20m (65ft) - as the road enters the valley, before bridging the Berriedale and Langwell Water rivers and sharply rising again on the other side. The steep gradient and a rather nasty hairpin bend makes the braes one of the most challenging sections of the A9. Recent road work to remove this notorious hairpin turn has led to the discovery of a Middle Stone Age hunter-gather's camp with stone tools archaeologists believe date from 6,000 BC. Short article found here: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-49495139

Badbea, an area of rough, steeply sloping land, is accessed by a footpath from a lay-by on the A9 near Ousdale. Badbea is the location of the ruins of a clearance village and today is preserved as a tourist attraction and memorial to the Highland Clearances.


Badbea clearance village and 1911 monument - as posted to Wikimedia Commons by Richerman (CC BY-SA 3.0)

The village was settled in the 18th and 19th centuries by tenant farmers evicted from their homes when the river valleys of Langwell, Ousdale and Berriedale were cleared for the establishment of sheep farms. When families arrived at Badbea, they were given small plots to farm but they had the clear the land from the steep slopes and had to build their own houses from the stones they found. Given the lack of arable farm land, the men mainly worked as herring fishermen from nearby Berriedale. The women gutted the fish caught, and as most houses are reported to have had spinning wheels, they would also spin and card wool. It is said that the winds along the clifftop were so fierce that the livestock and even the children were tethered to rocks and poles to prevent them from being blown off the cliffs.


Badbea clearance village from above - as posted to Wikimedia Commons by Richerman (CC BY-SA 3.0)

Not much protection from the wind based on the above picture! The last inhabitant left the village in 1911, the same year David Sutherland, decendant from one of the tenant families, build the memorial (that stands to this day) out of stones from his father house.

Next along the route we come to the small settlement of Ousdale (called Ausdale in early citations). Ausdale was part of the Langwell Estate which belonged to the Caithness family of Sutherlands since the 17th century. At that time the settlement had a meal mill, an inn, a busy whisky distillery and a production farm with ample living for eight families. Ousdale Farm continues to operate today, in a different form, and the original stone buildings are gone. Ousdale is mentioned in the Orkneyinga Saga - a narrative of the history of the Orkney and Shetland islands - as the site of a confrontation in 1201 between William the Lion, King of Scotland and the Norse ruler of Caithness and Orkney, Harald the Elder.

Near Ousdale is the Ousdale Broch, the remains of an Iron Age drystone tower.


Aerial photograph of Ousdale Broch - as posted to Wikimedia Commons by the Caithness Broch Project (CC0)

The Ousdale Broch is classified as a 'second-phase' broch, dating to the 3rd and 2nd century BC. Originally excavated in 1892 by James Mackay, the highly intrusive excavation lead to the structure being unstable and, until recently, was in a state of disrepair. Conservation works overseen by the Caithness Broch Project since 2015 has now consolidated the structure and a number of its original features.


Interior of Ousdale Broch in 2020 following conservation - as posted to Wikimedia Commons by KM Lilley (CC BY-SA 4.0)

More information about the broch and the project can be found on this Caithness Broch Project blog post.

Moving on to Helmsdale. The village of Helmsdale was planned in 1814 to resettle communities that had been removed as part of the Highland Clearances. Helmsdale was once home to one of the largest herring fleets in Europe. As with a number of coastal areas, Helmsdale did, at one time, have a castle. Build around the 1480s, Helmsdale Castle was the property of the Sutherlands. I should mention that the castle ruins were demolished in the 1970s to build the A9 road bridge, but back to the story about the castle. As with most castles, there is a bit of notoriety associated with Helmsdale Castle. In 1567 John, the 11th Earl of Sutherland and his wife, countess Marie Seton, were both poisoned by Isobel Sinclair, a servant in the household. Isobel's motive and events play out like something straight out of a Shakespearean tragedy. Isobel's eldest son, John Gordon, was the next male heir in line for the earldom of Sutherland after Alexander, the son of the murdered earl. Unbeknownst to the servant who served it, Isobel's son consumed the fatal poison (potentially reserved for Alexander) and also died, while Alexander survived. Isobel, apprehended, send to Edinburgh for trial and condemned, died in prison before her execution could be carried out. Interesting twist to this drama: Isobel was a cousin to George Sinclair, the 4th Earl of Caithness. While never proved, speculation is that the real brain behind the plan was George, who had designs on seizing the Sutherland earldom.

...and, only because I do love a good gold rush connection, Helmsdale had its own gold rush that started in 1818 when a solitary nugget of gold weighing about 10 pennyweights (15 grams) was found in the River Helmsdale. It is claimed that a ring in the possession of the Sutherland family was made out of that discovered nugget, but the real gold rush started in 1868 when an announcement in a local newspaper lead to a rush of gold speculation and prospecting in the area.

Closing out this week's walking journey with The Wolf Stone, located south of Lothbeg.


The Wolf Stone, near Helmsdale - as posted to geograph.org.uk by Carron K (CC BY-SA 2.0)

The Wolf Stone is a commemorative monument where the last wolf in Sutherland - and presumably the last wolf in Scotland - was shot, around 1700. Official records indicate that the last Scottish wolf was killed in 1680 in Killiecrankie, Perthshire. There are reports that wolves survived in Scotland up until the 18th century, and may have been seen as late as 1888, but reintroducing the wolf to the Scottish Highlands was only first proposed back in the late 1960s. Renewed interest in the policy has grown since then, including support from landowners, but apparently this is still a rather contentious issue for some, with concerns the wolves would end up eating the livestock, or worse, attack humans. It is the worry of wolves attacking humans where I question some individuals understanding of 'co-existing' with wildlife, but not raising this as a topic for further exploration.

---------------------------------

Overall good news as I continue to manage to get in a minimum 30 minute walk every day, even when the weather is more conducive to curling up at home with a book. ;-)

>108 lkernagh: *stands and applauds* Brava! Such an excellent tour guide!

Thanks for the tour. And kudos to you for walking every day!

Learning lots of interesting stuff on your tour.

Loving your walking tour, Lori!

>109 justchris: - *gives a flourishing bow* So happy to see such an appreciative audience for my humble walking updates! I do have a lot of fun researching where I have 'virtually' walked. Very educational, as well as good for the health (the physical walking part, that is). ;-)

>110 MissWatson: - Glad you are also enjoying my walking updates, Birgit. This was the motivation I needed to get myself out the door, regardless of weather, for some exercise. Problem with the pandemic and finding myself working from home, it was easy to fall into a rut of not going outside, if I didn't need to (for groceries, etc). 2020 was 'couch potato Lori'. 2021 is getting me back to my physically active self, one virtual KM at a time. ;-)

>111 dudes22: - Hi Betty, happy to see I am not the only one learning interesting stuff as part of my virtual walking journey. I love sharing what I learn with the LT community!

>112 katiekrug: - Hi Katie. Lovely to see you chiming in!

----------------------------
So, it is official. Second month of 2021, here we come! It appears I seem to be on a 'once-a-week' posting trend for 2021. I am still juggling a lot of balls in the air in RL, but making sure to grab 'me' time at regular intervals. Trying to keep a nice balance, both body and soul, for 2021. While a lot of people got into nesting and home improvement last year, I am using 2021 to assign myself (and sometimes my other half) small projects, most of which can be easily handled over the course of a single weekend. We are also continuing to assess the possessions we have (Do we use it? Do we need it? Does it just collect dust and take up valuable space?). We are also abiding by a 'one item in, one item out" process to ensure that we don't add to the existing clutter in our home (the whole point is to declutter). So, some items being sold online through local used sites, other items still working but not worth selling being donated to local charity shops... you get the idea. January was a good month for getting some unused items out the door to new homes.

I am also starting to do some research into plant seeds that produce flowering plants that would be good for hummingbirds and bees. I am hoping to place an order in the next week or two with plans to plant the seeds in early March. My earlier experience with a hummingbird feeder was a bit of a disaster: our area is prone to intermittent periods of high winds and the sugar water mixture that spilled out of the hummingbird feeder lead to a bit of an ant infestation on our balcony... and we are on the 4th floor! So, no more hummingbird feeders. Looking for natural flowering plant solutions instead. If anyone has any suggestions of plants to consider, that would be most appreciated!

On the reading front, I did manage to finish a second book in January. Only two books read over the course of one month. I am kind of embarrassed by that. Will see if I can improve the number count in February. Book review and walking update to follow.

I hope everyone is keeping healthy and staying safe!

.
Book #2 - Busman's Honeymoon by Dorothy L. Sayers
Challenge(s): 75 Group, 2021 Category
CAT/KIT: N/A
Bingo DOG: N/A
Category: Character - Same name (Harriet Vine) and same profession (mystery fiction writer)
Source: TBR
Format: ebook
Original publication date: 1937
Acquisition date: January 6, 2020
Page count: 367 pages
Decimal/ Star rating: 3.70 out of 5 /
Book description/summary: from the wikipedia.org book listing webpage:

"Lord Peter Wimsey and Harriet Vane marry and go to spend their honeymoon at Talboys, an old farmhouse in Hertfordshire which he has bought her as a present. The honeymoon is intended as a break from their usual routine of solving crimes (him) and writing about them (her), but it turns into a murder investigation when the seller of the house is found dead at the bottom of the cellar steps with severe head injuries."

Review:
This was a very fun read. Yes, it gets a bit bogged down in poetry and other literary quotations (including correspondence that is only in French - my high school French is worse than just rusty, it is practically non-existent!), but otherwise, a cracking good country home murder mystery, IMO. I have to admit, as much as I like Bunter, my favorite character is Peter's mom, the Dowager Duchess. What a remarkable woman, even if her part is a very small one in this story! I do question if the suspect who confessed is really the killer, but this is something each reader will need to mull over on their own. Sad that this is the last story with Harriet Vine. *sighs* Yes, I am one of those readers who finds Busman's Honeymoon to be a bit of a letdown after reading Gaudy Night. I am kind of unsatisfied with how Sayers closes off both this mystery and the Harriet Vine/Peter Wimsey stories. Maybe she had plans to write a further story... we will never know, but this left some loose ends to upset my 'Happily ever after' notions. Maybe that was the point. A little dash of realism to wash away the fairy dust (of course, both Harriet and Peter are just too darn practical to allow rose-tinted glasses to colour their perception of things).

Overall, still a worthy story, but Gaudy Night is my favorite of the four stories with Harriet Vine.

Lori's "Spine of Scotland" Walking Journey:
.

The Goal: To virtually walk the A9 from Scrabster to my final destination of Edinburgh Castle. Goal to be accomplished - ideally - by August, to coincide with when the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo would typically be happening. Wish me luck!

Here is the link to my Google map where I am tracking my virtual journey: https://tinyurl.com/y88helez

WEEK 4 UPDATE:
Kilometers walked this session: 27.14 km
Kilometers walked in total: 108.51 km
Currently walking through: Country Sutherland.
My current location on the map: Due west of Skelbo (and Skelbo Castle), heading for Achavandra Muir.
Points of interest along the way: Communities/areas of interest walked through (or near) this past week include: Kintradwell, Clynelish, Brora, Golspie, Culmaily and Little Torboll.

Observing that there are a lot of brochs and castles along the route, I will only briefly touch on them during my walking updates, unless there is an interesting story to tell. First broch encountered on this week's walk, Cinn Trolla (or Kintradwell) Broch, an Early Iron Age to Early Medieval broch, with radiocarbon dates obtained from human skeletal material from within the broch.


Cinn Trolla Broch, Sutherland, Scotland - as posted to Wikimedia Commons by Bubobubo2 (CC BY-SA 3.0)

More information about this broch can be found here. I was most intrigued by the fact that the broch/tower was surrounded by an extensive settlement, with passages linking the buildings and the broch tower. Speculation, before full excavation, is that one of these passages may have given rise to a local tradition that a passage ran from the broch to Dunrobin, some 7 miles away. A smart defensive and military tactic, if this is correct (one should always have an escape route).

The only thing I could find of interest about Kintradwell is that it is the name and location of one of the oldest manor-houses in Sutherland. According to government records, this house was burnt down by George Mackenzie, 3rd Earl of Cromarty, while on his way to Caithness during the time of "Forty-Five" ("Forty-Five" referring to the 1745 Jacobite uprising). At the time of the Forty-Five, the Mackenzie clan was divided in its loyalties: Clan chief Kenneth Mackenzie, Lord Fontrose, supported the British-Hanoverian Government while his cousin George supported the Jacobites. George lead the Jacobite Mackenzies at the Battle of Falkirk, where they were victorious in helping to defeat British Government forces, only to have the victory go to their heads. They lay waste to the lands of the British Government supports (the Munros and Sutherlands), but in the end, George and his son were captured at Dunrobin Castle and the Earl of Cromarty titles were forfeited.

As a single malt Scotch fan, I would be remiss if I did not capture any distilleries on this walking journey. According to Wikipedia, Brora Distillery "was built in 1819 by the Marquess of Stafford, although it was known as "Clynelish" until the opening of the Clynelish Distillery in 1968, whereupon the name of the original Clynelish was changed to "Brora". Between May 1969 and July 1973, Brora produced a heavily peated whisky to supply for blending; this was done to cover a shortage of Islay whisky caused by a drought in that region. Most of the whisky produced as Brora after 1973 is in the lightly peated Highland style. In early 1983, production at Brora was stopped and the distillery was mothballed by its parent company, Diageo plc. The release of the 1972 Brora 40 year old in 2014 was the most expensive single malt ever released by Diageo at the time, with a retail price of £7,000." Rumour has it that Diageo has plans to re-open the Brora distillery, just don't know when that is going to happen, but I am not a fan of the heavy peat single-malts.


original Brora Distillery building - as posted to Wikimedia Commons by Andrew Wood (CC BY-SA 2.0)

For those interested, here is a wonderful article in Whisky Magazine about the history of Clynlish Distillery: https://whiskymag.com/story/a-distillery-seeped-in-history-clynelish.

... and we cannot leave Brora without a shout-out for golfing: Brora Golf Club, established in 1891, is recognized as being the 6th best golf course in North Scotland and one of James Braid's finest links courses in the Scottish Highlands. For those not in the know, James Braid (1870-1950) was a Scottish professional golfer (a Great Triumvirate) and a renowned golf course architect. In 1923, James was invited to visit the Brora Gold Club by the club committee. He did in 1924 and for the sum of 25 British Pounds (and travel expenses), James submitted plans for a redesigned 18-hole layout, which was largely implemented as per his plan and remains mostly unchanged to this day. FUN FACT (from Wikipedia): Braid disliked travel overseas, very rarely left the British Isles, and never traveled outside Europe. But he did design two 18-hole golf courses for the Singapore Island Country Club (a members only club in Singapore), using topographic maps to plan his layouts there, which were then constructed to his orders.

Carn Liath is another Iron Age broch, near Golspie. Notes of interest about this broch: it was first excavated in the 19th century by the Duke of Sutherland and initially thought to be a burial cairn. When the site was excavated again in 1986, it was discovered the site was occupied in the Bronze Age, before the broch was built, including discovery of a Bronze Age cist burial with a food vessel.

The big attraction, even today, at Dunrobin, is Dunrobin Castle, the family seat of the Earl of Sutherland and the Clan Sutherland.


Dunrobin Castle, as posted to Wikimedia Commons by John Haslam, originally posted to Flickr by Snowmanradio (CC BY 2.0)

A fantasy-like castle and billed as a "Jewel in the Crown of the Highlands", Dunrobin Castle is the most northerly of Scotland's great houses and the largest in the Northern Highlands with 189 rooms. Dunrobin Castle is also one of Britain's oldest continuously inhabited houses with the earliest part of the building dating back to around 1275. The castle was home to the Earls and later, the Dukes of Sutherland. Resembling a French château with its towering conical spires, the castle was used as a naval hospital during WWI and as a boys' boarding school from 1965 to 1972.

For those interested, a short 2 minute 30 second video of the exterior and garden can be viewed here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zzP-lVsFw_k

The village of Golspie was a planned village of the Sutherland family. In the early 1800s, the herring fishing in the North Sea (at that time known as the German Ocean) was in the hands of the Dutch and it was hoped that some means could be found of developing a similar trade for the benefit of the people of Sutherland. Elizabeth Leveson-Gower, 19th Countess of Southland and best remembered for her involvement in the Highland Clearances, oversaw the planned village through a series of visits. At least she saw to the building of a pier or jetty, using stones from the beach, albeit with the purpose of boats serving Dunrobin would have a safe landing place.

The Mound, or Fleet Mound is an embankment build between 1814-1818 to carry what is now the A9 road across Loch Fleet. This bridge has a unique feature: it has flap valves that act as a tidal barrier, allowing the river water out but stops the sea from coming in while sluices in the causeway allow salmon and sea trout to continue to migrate upstream to spawning areas (handy, that!).


Sluice gates at The Mound, as posted to geograph.org.uk by Andrew Tryon (CC BY-SA 2.0)

Loch Fleet, a sea loch located between Golspie and Dornoch, was designated a National Nature Reserve in 1998 and is managed by a partnership between NatureScot, the Scottish Wildlife Trust, and the Sutherland Estates. Over 100 bird species have been recorded at the reserve. At the south side of the loch one can find the ruins of Skelbo Castle.


Skelbo Castle ruins, as posted to Wikimedia Commons by Wojsyl (CC BY-SA 3.0)

The castle, a ruined early Norman fortress located near Dornoch, dates back to the 14th century. In 1529 the castle was bought by William Sutherland of Duffus. Skelbo was occupied by Jacobites during part of the first half of the 18th century and was occupied by the Earl of Cromarty and his Jacobite army in 1745 before they moved on to Dunrobin (and were captured). By 1769 the Castle was in ruins. The baronial title of Skelbo reverted to the Countess of Sutherland in 1804.

--------------------------
I broke my 30-day walking streak today. Too wet/rainy and it is okay to take a day off, every once in a while, from exercising. With the longer days coming, I am starting to add some after dinner walks to my week days to augment my lunch time walks so that I can stay on track with my walking goals and take the odd day 'off'. ;-)

>113 lkernagh: I live on the third floor at the top of my building. I put out a hummingbird feeder later in the summer and had no visitors--will take note of your problems caused by high wind.

To attract hummingbirds, you want red (or pink) flowers that produce plenty of nectar, especially those with a more conical/tubular form.

Here are some resources:
https://www.birdsandblooms.com/gardening/plants-and-flowers-to-attract-hummingbi...
https://smallbalcony.com/9-tips-to-attract-hummingbirds-to-your-balcony/

>115 lkernagh: I have a friend who hosts an annual whiskey tasting while camping. Not my thing, but glad she's found her people to share her love of peaty potables.

>113 lkernagh: I looked into plants that would attract hummingbirds a few years ago. One thing that I remember is that hummingbirds are attracted to the color red and to flowers that are tubular in shape. Here is a good resource for starting your research:

https://www.gardendesign.com/flowers/hummingbirds.html

>114 lkernagh: Yeah, the French passages are a bit of a pain! But just fyi, Sayers did write a couple of short stories that occur after Busman's Honeymoon - I think in Striding Folly but am not 100% sure.

I've visited Dunrobin Castle for a quick photo stop twice, as it was a stop on the organized minibus tours I took from Edinburgh when I was traveling alone and didn't want to drive. I never knew it was so large!!!

>113 lkernagh: It took my hubby and I about a year to go through every single room, closet, and drawer and declutter. We ae so glad we did---about 5 years ago. It's now time to go through the 2nd time. We are also abiding by the "one in, one out" rule and it sure has cut down on "frivolous" spending. Good luck with the weekend projects.

Lovely photos on your walk, Lori! I always meant to go back to Scotland after high school visits there, but alas. Kudos to your walking and staying in shape, as well as keeping your belongings within reason. I sometimes watch an ongoing reality TV show called "Hoarding: Buried Alive" and it is shocking to see how stuff just creeps into people's lives.

What was it William Morris said? "Do not have anything in your home that is not either beautiful or useful." Something like that. He made beautiful art and needlepoint uses a lot of his designs and they always intrigued me.

Lori, thank you for being such a wonderful tour guide! Your travelogue is so interesting. I loved Scotland every time I visited and would love to go back.

>116 justchris: - Thank you for sharing the resources! I hope you don't have any ant visitors. It is just not something I would have expected, being a fair distance off the ground floor. I can appreciate that whisky is not for everyone! I admit to avoiding the smoky/peaty malts and find it is more of an evening winter treat, for me.

>117 leslie.98: - Hi Leslie, thank you for providing the link. Good memory re: Sayers! I did finish reading all of the Lord Peter Wimsey stories in February, and you are correct, there were a couple of short stories that occur after Busman's Honeymoon.

>118 MissBrangwen: - How exciting that you were able to stop and visit Dunrobin Castle!

>119 Tess_W: - I can appreciate it took time to go through every space of the house while decluttering. Well done! Decluttering has slowed down a bit for us, due to weather conditions (February was terrible) and due to covid, we need to schedule when we drop stuff off at the charity donation centres, so we try to have a trunk full (or at least a couple of boxes) before we arrange the drop off.

>120 threadnsong: - Thank you! Sadly, my walking took a decided downturn in February, so I need to ramp up my dedication to getting my walks in. I have not watched any of the TV shows about hoarders, but I can only imagine that it must be filled with some shocking revelations.

Oh... I did not know William Morris works have been used for needlepoint designs! I finished my long-term needlepoint project in February (see my post below) and I am now on the hunt for a new project. I will keep this in mind and google search for some Morris needlepoint designs.

>121 VivienneR: - Thanks Vivienne! Now if only I could be a more diligent - or at least a more frequent poster here on LT - but it is just amazing how time flies.

-------------------------------
Hello everyone!

It is “Goodbye February, Hello March”. For such a short month, it is surprising how quickly the time went. This year is just flying by! How is everyone doing?

February was colder than usual. We had a cold snap on the island one week and then the snow arrived, just in time for the Family Day long weekend. I know, three days of snow is just a minor interruption, especially when compared with the weather the majority of North America experienced! The good news is the snowfall and the long weekend, gave me the time to finish my needlepoint project and mount it. Below are two pictures: Early days in the project and the finished item mounted on the wall:

.

I know it is only the first of March, but yesterday I planted a container of lavender and assorted wildflower seeds. My research into suitable flowering plants that would be good for hummingbirds and bees lead me to a local plant seed supplier, West Coast Seeds. They sell a hummingbird blend of wildflower seeds so that is what I am attempting to grow. The seeds are to be planted in early spring when there is still potential for overnight frost, so I have my fingers crossed I will have some lovely flowers in a month or two. I am planning a more extensive container garden this year, so that will slowly get planted over the month of March.

My walking has taken a bit of a dip, but my reading is up, so that is an interesting trade off. I am not fully caught up with my walking updates but will post two for now and more as I find time to prepare them.

Not much else to report at this point. I hope everyone is keeping well and staying healthy and safe.

...
Book #3 - In the Teeth of the Evidence, Striding Folly and The Wimsey Papers, all by Dorothy L. Sayers
Challenge(s): 75 Group, 2021 Category
CAT/KIT: N/A
Bingo DOG: Type of building in title - Striding Folly; You heartily recommend - The Wimsey Papers
Category: Author - Same name (Dorothy L. Sayers)
Source: TBR
Format: ebook
Original publication dates: In the Teeth of the Evidence - 1939; Striding Folly - 1939; The Wimsey Papers - article published between November 1939 and January 1940
Acquisition date: January 6, 2020
Page count: 307 pages
Decimal/ Star rating: 3.85 out of 5 /
Book description/summary:

A combination of 18 short stories and a series of fictional letters. Lumping these together as one book for the purposes of a book review.

Review:
In the Teeth of the Evidence is a collection of 17 short stories with two Lord Peter Wimsey stories, a handful of Montague Egg stories and the remainder are what I would categorize as random stories of miscellaneous characters. As you can probably guess, this is a mixed bag collection. The Wimsey ones are a bit of a let down (for me anyways) after finishing the Harriet Vine stories. As refreshing as Egg is after Wimsey, I have to say I am a little tired of his constant references to his salesman's handbook. Now that I have bemoaned the Wimsey-Egg stories, I admit I really enjoyed the stand alone stories as insightful glimpses into humanity, foibles, guilt and a human habit to leap to conclusions without all the facts being known. Personal favorites are "The Milk Bottles" and "The Cyprian Cat".

I recommend In the Teeth of the Evidence as a good book for a first time Sayers' reader to get a feel for the breadth of Sayer's writing.

Striding Folly is a 24-page short story that is included in The Complete Lord Peter Wimsey Stories omnibus. Not one of Sayer's best stories but it may appeal to fans of the game of chess and strategies. For me, kind of a ho-hum story.

The Wimsey Papers is a 54-page collection of articles written by Sayers. While the articles take the form of fictional letters exchanged between members of the Wimsey family and characters found in the Lord Peter Wimsey novels, these are really fascinating commentaries by the author of aspects of public life in the early months of WWII.

I can highly recommend The Wimsey Papers for anyone interested in social commentary re: England and the lead up to WWII.

....and with this, I have now finished reading the 4,041 page omnibus. it just took me 14 months. ;-)

Book #4 - Who Slays the Wicked by C.S. Harris
Challenge(s): 75 Group, 2021 Category
CAT/KIT: N/A
Bingo DOG: N/A
Category: Location - England
Source: GVPL
Format: ebook
Original publication date: April 2, 2019
Acquisition date: N/A
Page count: 302 pages
Decimal/ Star rating: 4.20 out of 5 /
Book description/summary: from the amazon.ca book listing webpage:

"When the handsome but dissolute young gentleman Lord Ashworth is found brutally murdered, Sebastian St. Cyr, Viscount Devlin, is called in by Bow Street magistrate Sir Henry Lovejoy to help catch the killer. Just seven months before, Sebastian had suspected Ashworth of aiding one of his longtime friends and companions in the kidnapping and murder of a string of vulnerable street children. But Sebastian was never able to prove Ashworth's complicity. Nor was he able to prevent his troubled, headstrong young niece Stephanie from entering into a disastrous marriage with the dangerous nobleman.

Stephanie has survived the difficult birth of twin sons. But Sebastian soon discovers that her marriage has quickly degenerated into a sham. Ashworth abandoned his pregnant bride at his father's Park Street mansion and has continued living an essentially bachelor existence. And mounting evidence--ranging from a small bloody handprint to a woman's silk stocking--suggests that Ashworth's killer was a woman. Sebastian is tasked with unraveling the shocking nest of secrets surrounding Ashworth's life to keep Stephanie from being punished for his death.

Review:
Always nice to have a good series to fall back on when in a reading slump! One thing I like about the Sebastian St. Cyr Mysteries series is that the author makes the assumption that a reader may pick up and read a story "out of sequence" or have a long lag-time between installments, so she includes key facts from earlier stories to give the reader the context they need. I am not suggesting that you just jump into the series and start with this one! The series contains a number of character arcs and backstories, so best to read in series order. For example, Sebastian has a rather complicated relationship with his family. While earlier installments have examined Sebastian's relationship with his father, aunt and sister, this time we learn more about his niece Stephanie and some of the secrets she has been keeping. I also love the historical details Harris brings to her stories. If that is not enough to entice you to consider reading this series, the stories have a gritty, atmospheric quality... and yes, Sebastian continues to find himself in dangerous, suspense-filled situations. Even the mysteries are not of the straightforward variety. While we continue to see a rather high body count, I appreciate that Harris does not always satisfactorily resolve each mystery. This time, we are left to ponder who may have killed one of the victims.

Overall, lovely to escape back into England's Regency period, filled with royal/political intrigue (this time with a Russian angle) and the darker, sinister traits of some members of "the Ton" (English high society). I love that Harris includes strong female characters in her stories. No shrinking wallflowers here! A cracking good read!

Lori's "Spine of Scotland" Walking Journey:
.

The Goal: To virtually walk the A9 from Scrabster to my final destination of Edinburgh Castle. Goal to be accomplished - ideally - by August, to coincide with when the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo would typically be happening. Wish me luck!

Here is the link to my Google map where I am tracking my virtual journey: https://tinyurl.com/y88helez

WEEK 5 UPDATE:
Kilometers walked this session: 30.22 km
Kilometers walked in total: 138.73 km
Currently walking through: County Sutherland and into County Ross, which interestingly, does not have a county flag of its own (but there is a Facebook initiative started a few years back to establish a flag for the county).
My current location on the map: Delny, heading for Tomich.
Points of interest along the way: Communities/areas of interest walked through (or near) this past week include: Achavandra Muir, Evelix, Clashmore, Cuthill, across the Dornoch Firth, Glen Morangie, Tain, Knockbreck, Calrossie, Ballchraggan, Kildary, Kilmuir and Delny.

This week walking journey took me virtually through a number of small crofting hamlets and the location of some well known whisky distilleries. Due east of Everlix and near the northern tip of the entrance to Dornoch Firth are two points of interest: The Royal Dornoch Golf Club and the Dornoch Aerodrome.

According to Wikipedia, golf has been played in Dornoch's extensive links land since the early 17th century. Expenses dated to 1616 covering the costs of a young aristocrat (John the 13th Earl of Sutherland)'s golf clubs are the earliest evidence of the sport's presence in the area. The current golf club was established in 1877 and was awarded royal status in 1906 by King Edward VII. The club has two 18-hole courses. While the club hosted the 1895 British Amateur Championship and the Scottish Amateur in 1993, 2000 and 2012, the club has never hosted any modern professional tournaments.

Dornoch Aerodrome was originally build in 1933 as a civilian airfield. From 1941 it served as a dispersal airfield for RAF Kinross, but was only used for a brief period of time as lack of suitable camouflaged places meant aircraft has to be parked in the open. The field was then used to store spare, damaged or obsolete Beaufighters:


Bristol 156 Beaufighter, as posted to Wikimedia Commons by RuthAS (CC BY 3.0)

After the war, the airfield returned to farm use, and was converted into a golf course before re-opening in 1967 as a airfield to provide services to Inverness and Wick. This services was discontinued in 1972. Today, the surviving grass runway (that is kept trim by a local golf club's greenkeepers) is used for private pilots who land at the unmanned aerodrome. According to this August 2018 BBC news article, safety improvements for the aerodrome have been sought, by the RAF, wanting to be notified of flights to and from the airstrip, given its proximity to the Tain Air Weapons Range. That makes sense to me!

Dornoch Firth is designated a national scenic area and a special protection area for wildlife conservation purposes. In 1991 the Dornoch Firth Bridge was completed, providing a shorter route between Inverness and Thurso. Interesting piece of history: On August 16, 1809, the day of the Lammas Fair in Tain and under clear weather conditions, the firth was the scene of the Meikle Ferry disaster where an overladen ferryboat sank with the loss of 99 lives. The disaster prompted the building of the Bonar Bridge in 1812. The Dornoch Bridge crosses close to the original ferry route. The Meikle Ferry continued operating until 1957.


Tain, Scotland, as posted to Wikimedia Commons by Postdlf (CC BY-SA 3.0)

Tain was granted its first royal charter in 1066 by King Malcolm III, making it Scotland's oldest royal burgh. While the burgh's name is derived from the nearby River Tain, its Gaelic name, Baile Dubhthaich, means 'Duthac's town', after a local saint also known as Duthus. Duthac is said to be an early Christian figure and a ruined chapel near the mouth of the river is said to have been build on the site of is birth. Duthac became an official saint in 1419 and by the late Middle Ages his shrine was an important place of pilgrimage in Scotland. it is reported that King James IV came on his own pilgrimage at least once a year throughout his reign. Tain is also home to the Glenmorangie whisky distillery, founded in 1843 by farmer William Matheson and his wife Anne. The Tarlogie Springs are the distillery's own water source and its most prized asset.

Kildary, a village located on the Balnagown River, is bordered by Balnagown Castle and the Balnagown estate.



Balnagown Castle is the ancestral home of the chiefs of Clan Ross. While there has been a castle on the site since the 14th century, the present buildings were remodelled in the 18th and 19th centuries. Since the 1970s, the castle has been owned by the Egyptian-born businessman Mohamed Al Fayed, the former owner of Harrods department store. Interesting tidbit about the Ross family history: Sir Charles Ross, the 9th baronet, inherited the castle in 1911. To prevent the seizure of Balnagown by the tax man, Ross had the estate declared a ward of the court of Delaware, and he was subsequently unable to return to Britain for fear of imprisonment. Among his accomplishments, Ross invented the Ross rifle, a straight-pull bolt action rifle that was manufactured in Canada from 1903 until 1918. While the rife was withdrawn from front-line service by 1916, many snipers in the Canadian Expeditionary Force continued to use the rifle until the end of the war, due to its exceptional accuracy.

Lori's "Spine of Scotland" Walking Journey:
.

The Goal: To virtually walk the A9 from Scrabster to my final destination of Edinburgh Castle. Goal to be accomplished - ideally - by August, to coincide with when the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo would typically be happening. Wish me luck!

Here is the link to my Google map where I am tracking my virtual journey: https://tinyurl.com/y88helez

WEEK 6 UPDATE:
Kilometers walked this session: 17.17 km
Kilometers walked in total: 155.90 km
Currently walking through: County Ross
My current location on the map: Due north of Adullie, heading for the Cromartie Bridge.
Points of interest along the way: Communities/areas of interest walked through (or near) this past week include: Delny, Tomich, Achnagarron, Invergordon, Dalmore, Evanton and Drummond, the majority of them being small hamlets. Even so, I did still manage to track down some interesting information for this week's virtual walk.

Tomich is a Victorian model conservation village and consists of privately owned properties that were originally created to serve Guisachan House, home of Lord and Lady Tweedmouth.


Golden Retriever, as posted to Wikimedia Commons by Dirk Vorderstrabe (CC BY 2.0)

You are probably wondering, why the picture of the dog? According to sources, the golden retriever was first bred in Guisachan by Dudley Majoribanks, 1st Baron Tweedmouth in the mid-19th century. It is said that wildfowl hunting was a popular sport but existing retriever breeds were inadequate for retrieving downed game from both water and land. The breed is thought to have originated from the now-extinct Russian tracker dog.

Another fun fact about Tomich... it has its very own Hobbit House! Check out this video of the house that Stewart Grant build.

Invergordon is a port town located on the coast of Cromarty Firth. Invergordon is known for the Invergordon Mutiny of 1931. The 2-day mutiny took place September 15-16 and involved 1,000 sailors in the British Atlantic Fleet. Their gripe: the new National Government's pay cuts for public sector workers, which for some workers would have amounted to a 25% pay cut. The mutiny caused panic on the London Stock Exchange and a run on the pound. It is said that the mutiny brought Britain's economic troubles to a head and forced Britain off the gold standard on September 21, 1931.

Interesting cultural fact about Invergordon: The town is the premier mural town of the Highlands and hopes to emulate the success of her mentor in Chemainus, a lovely seaside community on Vancouver Island and a short 80 km drive from where I live. Always fun to find a local connection on this virtual walking journey! Currently, Invergordon is adorned with a series of 17 murals that tell the stories of the local community.

Alness This is the small town that could! In 2018 Alness was crowned the Scottish Champion at the Great British High Street Awards, impressing the judges with its reinvention over the years to become a place with a diverse offering of businesses and services. The town is also home to two distilleries, Dalmore and Teaninich. While I have tried and enjoy the Dalmore whisky, it is the history of Teaninich which intrigues me. Founded and built in 1817 by Hugo Munro on his estate of Teaninich Castle. The distillery passed through a number of private owners before being sold to Scottish Malt Distillers in 1933. Today, Teaninich distillery mainly produces malts for blending.


The Fyrish Monument in December, as posted to Wikimedia Commons by Reg Tait (CC BY-SA 3.0)

Near Alness one can visit the Fyrish Monument. The monument was build in 1782 on Fyrish Hill, on the orders of Sir Hector Munro, 8th of Novar, a local lord who had served in India. The purpose of the monument: to keeps the locals who were being cleared off the lands they had worked for centuries, in work. Legend has it that Sir Hector even rolled stones from the top of the hill to the bottom, extending the amount of time worked and paying the labourers for the additional hours. The monument is said to represent the Gate of Negapatam that stood above the port city of Madras, India, a location that General Munro took for the British in 1781.

Just north of Evanton is Novar House. The lands of the Novar Estate were acquired by Clan Munro in 1589. While Noval House has a datestone of 1634 build into the side of the original building, the current house and estate was largely the creation of Sir Hector (the one that had Fyrish Monument built). Today the estate is still owned and run by the Munro-Ferguson family. Besides farming and forestry, the lands comprise of over 150 miles of paths and tracks, a hydroelectric scheme and the first wind farm in the Highlands.

Fun Fact: Assynt House, the dower house for Novar House, was where the 32nd US President Franklin D Roosevelt and his wife Eleanor spent part of their honeymoon. Today, Assynt House operates as a luxury holiday house for private rental.

You’ve found some really interesting facts for your walking tour.

>123 lkernagh: I'm always torn on an omnibus edition. Yes, it's nice having them all in one place but they can be intimidatingly large books!

That is a spectacular tour! Thanks for all the lovely pics.

Hi, Lori!
Wow, thanks for the walk through so many Scottish locations! And who knew the golden retriever exact creation, very interesting.
>122 lkernagh: I planted a container of arugula in January and have enough strong leaves that we had a few in a salad. They are growing still, and my container of forget-me-nots have sprouted to about three inches tall but have a way to go before they bloom.

Thanks for giving us such a great tour of Scotland, Lori!

Loved the pictures, Lori! Thank you for brightening my day.

I've enjoyed the tour, and learnt loads too! I'd never heard of the Fyrish monument, what an interesting story.

I always find something interesting on your walks. And love the pics that go along with.

Lovely to see your walking updates from Scotland. You always find beautiful pictures and interesting facts, Lori. I am walking a lot myself, but keep it to logging the distances to further motivate myself. Your method is definitely more entertaining! :)

Scotland was beautiful!

Great walking updates and photos! And congrats on finishing your needlepoint, well done! My crafting mojo has disappeared entirely.

>124 lkernagh: A BB for me!

>126 lkernagh: Lovely info and pictures as always! In the end of January, I read a book about the dolphins of the Moray Firth and the Cromarty Firth.

>127 hailelib: - Thanks! It was a lot of fun researching that leg of my journey. ;-)

>128 Helenliz: - I agree! At least, as an e-book I didn't have to worry about the heft or weight of the book as I worked m way through the stories, but as you have pointed out, it is intimidating (and a little draining) so nice to reading it in 'chunks'.

>129 MissWatson: - So happy you enjoyed it, Birgit!

>130 mstrust: - Thanks, Jennifer. Congratulations on your arugula container garden! I do enjoy 'fresh from the garden' greens in salads.... something I am really missing these past few months. ;-) Looks like you are well on your way for some colour with the forget-me-nots!

>131 DeltaQueen50: - My pleasure, Judy! *dips a bow*

>132 LadyoftheLodge: - Happy to see my posts have brightened your day!

>133 Jackie_K: - Hi Jackie, Happy to share my "Scottish education" here with everyone. Even my Scottish other half is admitting to learning a few things he did not know before.

>134 dudes22: - Glad to see you are enjoying the tour, Betty. It is amazing what one can discover on a virtual, or a real walk. Today I went for a short walk in my neighbourhood. Walking down the same side street I have walked hundreds of time, I noticed for the first time today an older house with a false front over part of their house (looks like where a one car garage has been converted into the entrance to a secondary suite). The owners have added a second story front on this section of the house - window and window box for plants - to match their two story house but it is only a facade. There is just open air behind that wall/window. I really should pay more attention when I walk in my neighbour. ;-)

>135 Chrischi_HH: - Glad you are enjoying my virtual walking updates and good for you for getting your walking in!

>136 Tess_W: - I agree, Tess. A beautiful country!

>137 rabbitprincess: - Double thanks, RP! I can understand re: losing the crafting mojo. My needlepoint project took 3 years mainly because I would binge-work on it for a month or two and then put it away for 6-8 months. I am not ready to start a new project, just yet. Maybe in a couple of weeks.

>138 MissBrangwen: - Mirjam, you are in for a treat with the Sebastian St. Cyr Mysteries! I got a bit behind with the series so I am playing catch up as I have an earlier reviewer copy of the installment that will be coming out next month. ;-)

Dolphins fascinate me! I have never seen any dolphins in the waters off Vancouver Island but my other half has when his out sailing.

--------------------

I hope everyone has had a wonderful week. Our weather has been steadily improving, which means I am managing to get in some more walking time.... and a good thing too hot cross buns have hit the shelves. I do enjoy the spiced and candied fruit yeast buns... especially sliced in half, lightly toasted in the toaster oven and buttered. Good thing they are a seasonal item. ;-) Do any of you have a seasonal favorite food items that you look forward to each year? Besides hot cross buns, I also love mince tarts.

A walking update - I am still a bit behind, but will be more or less caught up with this post - and a book review.

Wishing everyone a wonderful week ahead.

Book #5 - Who Speaks for the Damned by C.S. Harris
Challenge(s): 75 Group, 2021 Category
CAT/KIT: N/A
Bingo DOG: N/A
Category: Time Period - 1814
Source: GVPL
Format: ebook
Original publication date: April 7, 2020
Acquisition date: N/A
Page count: 296 pages
Decimal/ Star rating: 3.90 out of 5 /
Book description/summary: from the amazon.ca book listing webpage:

"It's June 1814, and the royal families of Austria, Russia, and the German states have gathered in London at the Prince Regent's invitation to celebrate the defeat of Napoléon and the restoration of monarchical control throughout Europe. But the festive atmosphere is marred one warm summer evening by the brutal murder of a disgraced British nobleman long thought dead.

Eighteen years before, Nicholas Hayes, the third son of the late Earl of Seaford, was accused of killing a beautiful young French émigré and transported to Botany Bay for life. Even before his conviction, Hayes had been disowned by his father, and few in London were surprised when they heard the ne'er-do-well had died in disgrace in New South Wales. But those reports were obviously wrong. Recently Hayes returned to London with a mysterious young boy in tow--a child who vanishes shortly after Nicholas's body is discovered.

Sebastian St. Cyr, Viscount Devlin, is drawn into the investigation by his valet, Jules Calhoun, an old friend of the dead man. With Calhoun's help, Sebastian begins to piece together the shattered life of the late Earl's ill-fated youngest son. Why did Nicholas risk his life and freedom by returning to England? And why did he bring the now-missing young boy with him? Several nervous Londoners had reason to fear that Nicholas Hayes had returned to kill them. One of them might have decided to kill him first."

Review:
Another wonderful installment in this historical mystery series. Not as great as the previous one, IMO, but don't get me wrong. Harris continues to bring to life a gritty, atmospheric Regency England where London streets are filled with people just trying to eke out an existence any way they can while the upper crust go about attending flamboyant banquets and parties held in honour of visiting royalty. Against this backdrop of "haves" and "have nots", this story takes the reader down a labyrinthine path of ruinous manipulation, greed, hypocrisy, control and long-held secrets. There are a number of subplots to this story - including an interesting East India Company angle! - along with a handful of powerful, uncooperative suspects that are determined to stonewall Sebastian at every turn. Now, I like Sebastian as a character, but lets be honest: he is no Edmond Dantès (from The Count of Monte Cristo). This story, with its abundance of moral depravity to wade through, really calls for full on Dantès-style tactics. Even so, Sebastian, with his moral compass intact, still manages to rattle his suspects, get attacked (more than once) AND infuriate Hero's father, Lord Jarvis (which is always a bonus, IMO).

Overall, another good Regency England mystery to escape into.

Lori's "Spine of Scotland" Walking Journey:
.

The Goal: To virtually walk the A9 from Scrabster to my final destination of Edinburgh Castle. Goal to be accomplished - ideally - by August, to coincide with when the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo would typically be happening. Wish me luck!

Here is the link to my Google map where I am tracking my virtual journey: https://tinyurl.com/y88helez

WEEKS 7 and 8 UPDATE:
Kilometers walked this session: Week 7-11.30 km; Week 8-10.48 km = 21.78 km walked
Kilometers walked in total: 177.68 km
Currently walking through: County Ross and Cromarty
My current location on the map: The northwest outskirts of Inverness.
Points of interest along the way: Communities/areas of interest walked through (or near) this past week include: Ardullie, Cromarty Bridge (over the Cromarty Firth), Black Isle, and North Kessock.

Cromarty Firth is an arm of the larger Moray Firth.



Given its shape and size (with an inland depth of 30.6 km/19 miles and an average width of 1.6km/1 mile), it is no surprise that Cromarty Firth is one of the safest and most commodious anchorages in the north of Scotland. At one time, the firth was a major base for the Royal Navy's Home Fleet, and as mentioned in the Week 6th walking update, was the scene of the Invergordon Mutiny in 1931.

After crossing the Cromarty Bridge, we enter the Black Isle. The Black Isle is the name for the peninsula that is surrounded on three sides - by the Cromarty Firth to the north, the Beauly Firth to the south and the Moray Firth to the east. There does not appear to be any definitive explanation for the name Black Isle. One theory is that it is a corrupted translation of the Gaelic for "Land of the Black Danes", while a more commonsense explanation is that snow does not lie on the ground in winter, making the area look black while the surrounding country is white.

In researching the name, I found myself being drawn down a fascinating rabbit hole of information. Local legend alludes to the name having to do with the activities of Seer Brahan. So, who the *bleep* was Seer Brahan, you might ask? Apparently, he is known as the "Scottish Nostradamus". Seer Brahan, Kenneth the Sallow (his Gaelic name being Coinneach Odhar) was born Kenneth Mackenzie around the start of the 17th century. He was gifted with the Second Sight - the ability to see both this world and another world at the same time. Second Sight has never been considered witchcraft in Scotland. It is seen more as a curse. Seer Brahan would look through a small stone with a hole in the middle to see his 'visions'. Like Nostradamus, a number of his predictions have come true. Of course, it all comes down to interpretations of what was said, examined through a more modern lens, but I have to agree that the prophecy "A black rain will bring riches to Aberdeen." does seem to allude to North Sea oil, while the prophecy "The sheep shall eat the men." has been interpreted to refer to the Highland Clearances, when families were driven from their farmlands which were turned into grazing lands for sheep. It is unclear how Seer Brahan died. It is unknown if he was caught up in a witchhunt (and suffered the same fate of being burned in a spiked tar barrel) or if something else lead to his demise. A more sensational theory is that Isabella, the wife of the Earl of Seaforth, had him thrown head first into a barrel of boiling tar after he prophesied that her husband, in Paris at the time, was with another woman. He further prophesied the end of the Seaforth line, with the last heir being deaf and dumb. No wonder Isabella was incensed! Apparently, his prophecy of the end of the Seaforth line did come true: Francis Humberston Mackenzie, deaf and dumb from scarlet fever as a child, inherited the title in 1783. He had four children who died prematurely and the line came to an end.


Brahan Seer Memorial - as posted to Wikimedia Commons by Colin Smith (CC BY-SA 2.0)

A stone slab by the lighthouse at Chanory Point near Fortrose (see image above) is said to mark the spot where he died. While the truth will probably never be known, people continue to respect his prophecies, including his prophecy that if the stone in Strathpeffer - call the Eagle Stone - fell three times, then Loch Ussie would flood the valley below so that ships could sail to Strathpeffer. The stone has fallen twice. It is now set in concrete.

... and yes, there is a book: The Prophecies of the Brahan Seer by Alexander MacKenzie who collected oral stories told in Gaelic, translated them and recorded them for posterity. No idea if Alexander is a descendent of the Seer of just shares the same last name.

Back to the Black Isle. Because I am always excited when I stumble across a Canadian connection, it was interesting to learn that Alexander Mackenzie - who crossed Canada overland in 1793 and gave his name to the Mackenzie River (the longest river system in Canada) - is buried near Avoch on the Black Isle. The peninsula is known for a wide variety of wildlife, and is particularly known for the chance to see bottlenose dolphins! It is reported that the Black Isle had it's own unique dialect of Gaelic, spoken amount the fishing communities in Avoch and Cromarty. Sadly, the dialect has been declared extinct when the last native speaker died in 2012. The peninsula is home to a number of castles, in various stages of ruin or restoration, including Kilcoy Castle, Cromarty House (which stands on the site of former Cormarty Castle and is built in part from the castle's reclaimed stones and timbers) and Kinkell Castle. Other castles in the area are:


Castlecraig - as posted to Wikimedia Commons by Jrimas (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Castlecraig - The 16th century fortification - now a ruined tower house - may have been used as a residence by post-Reformation Bishops of Ross. Fun Fact: The New Zealand geologic formation of Castle Craig Rock (located south of Kawhai Harbour in the Waikato region of New Zealand) is named for its similar appearance to Castlecraig.


Redcastle, Black Isle - as posted to Wikimedia Commons by Dr. Julian Paren (CC BY-SA 2.0)

Redcastle - Historically known as Edirdovar and Ederdour, is a medieval castle first constructed in 1179 by William the Lion, King of Scots from 1165 to 1214. Redcastle is said to have been the earliest inhabited house in the north of Scotland. The current castle, now in a state of ruinous disrepair, is dated to 1641 and incorporates earlier rubble and ashlar masonry. The castle was requisitioned by the army during WWII and was finally vacated and partially stripped in the 1950s.

>141 lkernagh: Predicting the future is such a hazardous business. Poor Kenneth!

>141 lkernagh: You should write a book! This is all just very interesting, especially for a historian!

>122 lkernagh: Suitably impressed by your mounting prowess, Lori. And I am also applauding your photos and bits of history and legend of Scotland.

Oh, and your reading, too, of course!

Redcastle looks so pretty!

>142 MissWatson: - Good point, Birgit! I would not want to be the one to provide any 'predictions'. Best to steer clear of that line of work. ;-)

>143 Tess_W: - Ha, hardly, but thank you for the compliment, Tess! I love researching, and then sharing what I learn with others, but too much pressure to publish.

>144 threadnsong: - Thank you, on both counts! *sketches a curtsy*

>145 rabbitprincess: - Redcastle is very impressive looking, even if it is now a "mouldering pile". I do like the red stone. Very distinctive!

----------------------------

Hello! Yes, I have popped in to visit my own much neglected thread. *poor thread. I am a terrible owner/host*. What can I say except that March has been just busy, busy, busy and I have been pretty much none existent on social media. While I have been able to continue with my walking, walking updates will have to wait until some time in April when I hope to have more available time on my hands. I hope everyone has been keeping well and that a shift in the seasons is occurring for you - whether it is a shift to Spring for the Northern Hemisphere or to Fall for the Southern Hemisphere. Today I took advantage of a day off with lovely spring weather to plant half of my container garden. The other half of the container garden (basically my herb garden) will have to wait for a week or two. I have a lovely 4-shelf wrought iron plant stand I use for the herb garden that I am in the process of repairing. Years of weather exposure has necessitated replacing the woven rattan shelf bases with something 'more durable'.

One the reading front, I did manage to finish one book and started another. Sad to think I am averaging only 2 books a month this year. Fingers crossed with the warmer weather I may find more reading time. In the meantime, I do have one book review ready for posting.

Book #6 - What the Devil Knows by C.S. Harris
Challenge(s): 75 Group, 2021 Category
CAT/KIT: N/A
Bingo DOG: N/A
Category: Shiny!
Source: NetGalley
Format: ebook
Original publication date: April 6, 2021
Acquisition date: N/A
Page count: 282 pages
Decimal/ Star rating: 4.10 out of 5 /
Book description/summary: from the amazon.ca book listing webpage:

"It's October 1814. The war with France is finally over and Europe's diplomats are convening in Vienna for a conference that will put their world back together. With peace finally at hand, London suddenly finds itself in the grip of a series of heinous murders eerily similar to the Ratcliffe Highway murders of three years before.

In 1811, two entire families were viciously murdered in their homes. A suspect--a young seaman named John Williams--was arrested. But before he could be brought to trial, Williams hanged himself in his cell. The murders ceased, and London slowly began to breathe easier. But when the lead investigator, Sir Edwin Pym, is killed in the same brutal way three years later and others possibly connected to the original case meet violent ends, the city is paralyzed with terror once more.

Was the wrong man arrested for the murders? Bow Street magistrate Sir Henry Lovejoy turns to his friend Sebastian St. Cyr, Viscount Devlin, for assistance. Pym's colleagues are convinced his manner of death is a coincidence, but Sebastian has his doubts. The more he looks into the three-year-old murders, the more certain he becomes that the hapless John Williams was not the real killer. Which begs the question--who was and why are they dead set on killing again?"

Review:
Another wonderful instalment in Harris' long-running Sebastian St. Cyr mystery series! While some series start to fall into a rut after this many instalments, Harris continues to keep thing fresh, giving readers another satisfying and suspenseful whodunit. I do like a good mystery to ponder over, and Harris really delivers with this one! Based on the Ratcliffe Highway murders - which I admit I knew nothing about before reading this book - Sebastian stirs up trouble while he investigates a growing number of recent murders and looks for possible connections to horrific murders that occurred three years earlier. Harris does her research and is able to present a realistic picture of the time period, while seamlessly blending fact with fiction. For those of you not familiar with the author or the series, this not light fluff escapism reading. With themes of social injustice, greed, corruption and revenge, there is a lot of substance to this story. Between the author notes at the end and the interviews Hero (Sebastian's wife) conducts with the less fortunate members of society, I always come away from these stories with a little more knowledge about England of the time period.

Overall, another wonderfully atmospheric murder mystery set in Regency England.

Thank you to NetGalley, Berkley Publishing Group and the author for the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Hello Lori. Just popping in to say hi and see how you're doing. April has passed, May is here, and I am (like you) carving out some time to catch up on LT.

Happy Spring! And loved your stitched pieces! The heart was incredible with the tones and shades changing as they did. Quite artistic.

Hello everyone (as I quietly peek into the thread I last visited back at the end of March). I hope everyone is keeping healthy, happy and in a good place emotionally, physically and spiritually.

2021 has been quite the year, and one I will be glad to see the backside of. I am now 13 months in doing both my job and my colleague's job while they remain out on medical leave. They are doing well, but no return date on the horizon, as yet, so double duty continues. I 'thought' I could just soldier on but reality finally hit me early April that I cannot be all and do all without suffering burnout, so I backed away from social media (apologies for not letting everyone know my plans in advance). Anyways, it has been quite the year here in BC, what with the heat bomb in June and the extreme lack of rain over the summer months, only to get slammed by a series of atmospheric rivers, causing severe flooding and damage, this past month.

After taking a break from reading, I returned to books in July. While I have not had much energy to engage in crafting, I did find it therapeutic and relaxing to crochet a chunky afghan for the sofa this fall and, after a two year break, I did create my own Christmas cards this year and got those mailed out two weeks ago.

So, what have I been reading, you may be wondering? Summary below (sorry, no reviews, just some random thoughts and observation). :-)


Abandoned Book - The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton

I love the premise and the shifting narrative with a kind of "Agatha Christie meets Groundhog Day" feel to it, but I just could not keep my mind focused enough to follow the intricate plot. Shelving it for another attempt another day.


Book #7 - Bad Moon Rising by John Galligan -

Third book in Galligan's Bad Axe County series and Galligan continues to grab my attention with is fast paced, gritty crime thriller with a kick ass female sheriff and a seedy underside one would not expect to find in the Wisconsin dairy farm land community. Here is hoping that Galligan is working on book #4 in the series.

....
Books #8 - 26 (including 3 short stories)
Captain Lacey Regency Mysteries Volume One by Ashley Gardner (pseudonym used by Jennifer Ashley)-
Captain Lacey Regency Mysteries Volume Two by Ashley Gardner (pseudonym used by Jennifer Ashley) -
Captain Lacey Regency Mysteries Volume Three by Ashley Gardner (pseudonym used by Jennifer Ashley) -
Captain Lacey Regency Mysteries Volume Four by Ashley Gardner (pseudonym used by Jennifer Ashley) -
Captain Lacey Regency Mysteries Volume Five by Ashley Gardner (pseudonym used by Jennifer Ashley) -

I purchased this series back in early 2020 and happy I did, as it provided me with some delightful escapism reading during the summer and fall months. Some of you will know that I raved about C.S. Harris' Sebastian St. Cyr Mysteries series. This Captain Lacey series has a lot of similar elements - a well connected society protagonist who places honour and integrity first (while ruffling the feathers of Regency England's elite), strong female characters, gritty crimes and an atmospheric setting. If I had read this series before reading the Sebastian St. Cyr series, I would probably rate the Captain Lacey series higher, in fact, I probably should, given that in reviewing the publication dates for both series, it appears that the first three books in the Captain Lacey series were published before the first book in the Sebastian St. Cyr series. Both series are worth reading, IMO, if you like Regency murder mysteries.

Currently Reading:

Wilful Blindness by Sam Cooper

I don't usually gravitate towards non-fiction reads, but I am starting to take book suggestions from my 85 year old father. He found this to be an interesting read. I am currently 120 pages in and can see why. Written in first person narrative from a journalistic POV, this is a timely read for British Columbians (and Canadians) given the Cullen Commission inquiry into money laundering in British Columbia.

Books in the Reading Queue:
.
Nothing But the Truth by Marie Henein
"Indian" in the Cabinet by Jody Wilson-Raybould

I am looking forward to both of these reads. Henein is a high profile Canadian defense attorney who has defended both former CBC radio broadcaster Jian Ghomeshi and now retired Vice-Admiral Mark Norman in two very public court cases. As for Wilson-Raybould, she was the Justice Minister and Attorney General for the Canadian government until she was expelled from caucus in 2019 for refusing to intervene in the SNC-Lavalin criminal case. I am learning that non-fiction can be just as gripping and intriguing to read as fiction. The Wilson-Raybould book is one my dad is reading for a second time, so I am hoping to be able to discuss it with him at some point (I am in the hold queue at the local library for the ebook). :-)

---------------------------------

While I might peek into LT from time to time, I have decided I will not set up any threads next year. Just too hard to gauge how busy I will be. I will keep my reading up to date on my profile page and in my LT library.

Wishing everyone a wonderful Holiday Season and best wishes for 2022!

>148 threadnsong: - Thank you for visiting my thread and your lovely comments re: my embroidery project! Apologies for the delay in responding... I have been MIA for most of 2021 from my social media sites.

>149 lkernagh: I wondered where you'd disappeared to! Glad you are still reading.

>149 lkernagh: That is indeed more than one person should have to shoulder for such a long time. I hope next year will treat you more kindly.

>149 lkernagh: - It's nice to see you here and hope things improve for you soon.

>149 lkernagh: Take care, we'll welcome you back whenever that may be. Good reading in the meantime!

>149 lkernagh: Sorry to hear about your tough year, and I hope things improve for you soon! Also, I'm glad to hear you liked the Captain Lacey books, as I have a few of them on my e-reader. Speaking of Regency mysteries, have you read the Julian Kestrel books by Kate Ross? There are sadly only four of them, but they're great!

Lovely to see you briefly back - I hope 2022 is much calmer for you!

Great to see you, Lori! Take care of yourself and stop by the threads any time -- the guest room is always open on mine ;)

It does sound like a very tough year. Take care and do come back when things are more or less normal again.

Thank you for checking in and letting us know that you are well, Lori. Take care of yourself and hopefully, you will be back with us at some point.

Oh hello Lori! I am so glad you are well and so sorry it has been such a tough year for you. I do wish you a less-busy 2022 and hope that you continue with your reading and your crafting.

Sorry to hear that you've been having a tough time of it. Glad to hear that you've been able to take comfort in crafting. Hope 2022 improves for you.

Sorry to hear your year has been challenging. I'm glad you're still reading! It will be good to have you back once life calms down for you.