Jigsaw Puzzles and Olympic Mayhem Are on the Schedule!

Hello everyone! I hope that you're all just fine this morning - I certainly am! :) Anyway, I just wanted to give you an update on how I'm doing so far.

So my birthday is coming up later this month, and Mareena told me that she has requested several books for me from my wish list. She has actually requested four books for me but she doesn't want to tell me what the titles are. Apparently, two books are on their way and two others have been accepted to be mailed out soon. I'm definitely not complaining in any way, but so much for my library-whittling abilities. LOL!!!

I actually wasn't planning on starting a new jigsaw puzzle for some time yet, but then another 1000-piece puzzle of a country fair caught my eye on Tuesday night, August 2nd. Since I finished my last jigsaw puzzle on Thursday afternoon, July 21st, I figured that I could squeeze in another puzzle if I really, really needed to - and I thought that I really needed to! ;) I started doing this jigsaw puzzle on Wednesday afternoon, August 3rd!

I must admit that Mareena and I don't really watch the Olympics that much these days. When Mareena was a little girl, she would watch the coverage non-stop. Although as she got older, she would only watch the events that she liked: the opening ceremonies, swimming and diving, gymnastics, and equestrian events.

We usually watch the opening ceremonies to see 'The Parade of Nations' - focusing on the United States and Ireland. Since the Olympics are in Rio de Janeiro this year - actually starting on Friday evening, August 5th - Mareena and I have been watching some of the pre-coverage. Apparently, there is a Zika outbreak in Florida, but since technically it's winter in Rio there doesn't seem to be too much worry about mosquito-born viruses. Nope, Rio's more worried about the air and water quality - oh, and the occasional body parts washing up near the Volleyball arena!

The athletes are being advised to not put their heads under the water or swallow any of it. Granted, the international swimming or diving teams probably don't have much to worry about since those events would take place in enclosed areas, but what about open-air water sports? Oh, and apparently several athletes have been mugged in the Olympic Village. Yikes!!!

So, I wound up watching the Tuesday night - early Wednesday morning, August 3rd - rerun of the first episode of 'The American Experience' on PBS. Mareena had wanted to watch it since it was about the 1936 Berlin Olympics. Since she missed it, I told her all about it: 'The Boys of '36' was all about the American Rowing team and how they were considered the 'underdog team', but they ended up winning the gold medal!

As regards my own reading, I've read a total of five books since I last posted this type of blog post on Thursday, July 21st: More Than You Know: A Novel by Beth Gutcheon took me five days to read; On the Street Where You Live: A Novel by Mary Higgins Clark took me three days to read; Knitting: A Novel by Anne Bartlett took me two days to read; Homework: A Novel by Margot Livesey took me two days to read. I had originally picked up Hell to Pay: The Unfolding Story of Hillary Rodham Clinton by Barbara Olson on Saturday afternoon, July 30th! Although the book certainly was interesting to me, I actually had to put the book aside for a while. So, I started reading Snow in April by Rosamunde Pilcher on Monday, August 1st!

I finished the book a day later - on Tuesday, August 2nd! Then, I immediately started to read The Phantom Coach: A Connoisseur's Collection of Victorian Ghost Stories by Michael Sims the next night - on Wednesday night, August 3rd! I really didn't get that far into the story until the next day, Thursday, August 4th! Technically, Mareena acquired this book for herself during her birthday visit to the Library Book Sale, but she has let me borrow it to read.

According to Goodreads - as of today, Friday, August 5th - I'm currently on page 28 of 320; or approximately 8 percent into the story. Since my own copy of The Phantom Coach: A Connoisseur's Collection of Victorian Ghost Stories by Michael Sims actually has 297 pages; reading 28 pages of the book means that I've read 9 percent of the story.

Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight