At Home: Reading & Viewing

UPSTATE NEW YORK MYSTERY Hid from Our Eyes by Julia Spencer-Fleming My favorite mystery writers include Elizabeth George, Deborah Crombie, and Jacqueline Winspear, but I think Julia Spencer-Fleming is my most favorite.  Her mystery novels are so much more than crime procedurals and almost always insert a contemporary social issue into the mix.  Clare Fergusson is an Episcopal …

Tidy Tidbits: Filling Time

OUTLETS So, other than the routine activities such as our daily walk on the boulevard and the treadmill in the afternoon, what do we do to break the sameness of days?   The Chief Penguin has always been the household baker.  It used to be desserts, but since retiring, he’s dedicated himself to experimenting with different kinds …

Tidy Tidbits: Online Escape

VIEWING My recent screen viewing has run the gamut from social justice to World War II to Hasidic Jews.  None of them light pieces, but all a diversion from reading about COVID-19. Dark Waters (Amazon Prime) This film, starring Mark Ruffalo as an earnest, determined corporate lawyer who takes on the DuPont Company, has echoes of Jonathan …

Tidy Tidbits: Latest Diversions

WISHING AND HOPING…. Like the song, I imagine many of us are wishing and hoping that Covid-19 goes away soon.  But we’re probably in for a longer haul and so, it’s more books, more screen time, more curbside takeout, perhaps more cooking and baking, and definitely more walking for exercise. ON SCREEN Happy Valley (Netflix) Set in …