Five Things

Is mowing the lawn exercise? Yes! The actual amount of calories burned depends on your weight and the type of mower but this is comforting news. I suspect all my bending to pick up sticks and branches is more valuable fitness-wise than pushing the mower but you never know.

My favorite striped petunias on the front steps

Perhaps this week’s moral lesson is NOT to buy Talenti Gelato unless it is on sale. I was brought up to know better and I am punished for too quickly grabbing a pint of Sea Salt Caramel which, upon arriving home, turned out to be Coffee Chocolate Chip Gelato, a flavor I don’t like. I would like to give it to someone if I could deliver it unmelted.

The Spider's Web

When I was about eleven, my mother and I came across a radio broadcast of what seemed to be a children's book, appealing but completely unknown to us.   We were fascinated.  For some reason, the show's signal was very weak, and it would disappear periodically - particularly at the point where the narrator might have told us the title or author!  There was a boy and a garden and time travel, all of which we invariably enjoyed.  In those pre-Internet days, there was no way of finding out what the book actually was.   I think we might even have called the local PBS station without success but what I especially remember is being in our kitchen in Newton at dinner time and straining to hear what was coming from the radio.   The show was The Spider's Web and the book was eventually revealed to be Tom's Midnight Garden (1958), a delightful fantasy about a lonely boy, recuperating with relatives, who finds a mysterious playmate in their garden at night.  Author Philippa Pearce wrote several other books, which I own, but this was her masterpiece.   It won the Carnegie Medal which is the award for Britain's best children's book.

Once we finally caught the title, we raced for the library and the copy we found had this very cover. We didn't always remember but it became a game with us to turn on the radio and see how long it would take for us to identify the book.  Usually, we did know them: I seem to recall Joan Aiken and Lloyd Alexander (and turning it off when it was The Wind in the Willows, one of the few English classics we disliked), among others.   Frances Shrand was the narrator and there was a catchy tune at the end, which some helpful person has posted:

There's a web like a spider's web 
Made of silver light and shadows 
Spun by the moon in my room at night 
It's a web made to catch a dream 
Hold it tight 'til I awaken 
As if to tell me my dream is all right 

Does anyone else remember this show from the 70s?

The Garden Plot (Book Review and Giveaway)

Title: The Garden Plot
Author: Marty Wingate

Publication Information: Alibi, Random House, 2014, ISBN 978-0-8041-7770-2 (ebook original)

Genre: Mystery     Setting:  England

Plot: 50ish Pru Parke has always dreamed of living in England, her mother’s country, so after a failed relationship, she moves from Dallas to London hoping to get permanent work as professional gardener.  Giving herself a year to find a full time position, Pru makes ends meet through small projects so is pleased when she is hired by Vernona Wilson to tidy up a garden.  But when Pru finds a body in the garden shed, she is plunged into a police investigation.  Although intrigued by Detective Chief Inspector Pearse, Pru can’t help following up a few leads on her own, even though the handsome detective warns her she might put herself in danger…

Audience: Anglophiles, gardening fans and fans of cozy mysteries.  Remember that you don't need to own a Kindle to read an ebook.

What I liked: This is a charming debut mystery with an appealing heroine whose melancholy is understandable in someone basically alone in the world and living in a new city.  One yearns for Pru to alleviate her loneliness by making more friends, and DCI Pearse’s interest seems like more than enough reason for Pru to extend her sojourn in England.  There aren’t a lot of books about women of a certain age which is another plus for what I hope is the beginning of a new series.

Each chapter begins with a letter declining her services from one of the gardening positions Pru has applied for – I wish my job rejections were that funny (not that Pru is amused).

What I disliked:  I know a plot involving an amateur sleuth requires that she pursue her curiosity but I get tired of heroines who withhold information from the police and gratuitously put themselves in danger. It works better if there is some plausible reason other than pique to pursue leads on one’s own.   This was a good read although the whodunnit seemed a bit obvious.

Source: I received this book from TLC Book Tours (via the publisher and NetGalley) and urge you to stop by the Garden Plot tour.   This tour includes a giveaway for a Grand Prize of a $30 egiftcard to the ebook retailer of the winner's choice, and a First Prize Mystery Prize Pack of three mystery mass market paperbacks and a gardening title from Random House.
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The Garden Plot Tour

 Monday, April 28th:  5 Minutes for Books

Wednesday, April 30th:  Reading Reality

Thursday, May 1st:  Patricia’s Wisdom

Monday, May 5th:  From the TBR Pile

Monday, May 5th:  Kelly’s France Blog 

Tuesday, May 6th:  Sharon’s Garden of Book Reviews  

Wednesday, May 7th:  A Chick Who Reads

Thursday, May 8th:  Bibliotica

Monday, May 12th: Under a Gray Sky

Wednesday, May 14th: A Bookish Way of Life

Thursday, May 15th: Joyfully Retired

Friday, May 16th:  Kahakai Kitchen

Tuesday, May 20th:  Serendipity Reviews

Wednesday, May 21st: Mom in Love with Fiction

Thursday, May 22nd:  Stitch Read Cook

Thursday, May 29th: No More Grumpy Bookseller