Tuesday, October 14, 2025

The Best Things I've Ever Baked






I am a baker.

It's in my blood.

Both my grandmas were bakers.


I love to bake.






I am hoping that my g-kids will carry on with the baking tradition.



Here are my favorite blog posts about the best things I've ever baked...





















The Last Year I Decorated Christmas Cookies With My Mom


Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together. Each Tuesday That Artsy Reader Girl assigns a topic and then post her top ten list that fits that topic. You’re more than welcome to join her and create your own top ten (or 2, 5, 20, etc.) list as well. Feel free to put a unique spin on the topic to make it work for you! Please link back to That Artsy Reader Girl in your own post so that others know where to find more information.     

Saturday, October 11, 2025

The Sunday Salon: I am Officially Happy

 





Welcome! I am very glad that you met up with us here at the 
Sunday Salon

What is the Sunday Salon? 

The Sunday Salon is a place to link up and share what we have been doing during the week. It's also a great opportunity to visit other blogs and join in the conversations going on there. 







It was a busy October week for me. It was Banned Book Week, and lots of activities were held to remind people of the perils of banning books. Last weekend was busy with a tea on one day, and a trip to the Alley Theater in Houston to see The Da Vinci Code. Monday was my writing class. On Tuesday I had my last session of my Happiness Habits class. Our naturalist group's Fall Field Day was held at the Gulf Coast Bird Observatory on Wednesday. On Thursday, I enjoyed getting together for breakfast with one of my book groups to discuss Ron Rash's book, The Caretaker, and then I went to lunch later the same day to celebrate a friend's birthday. I began to participate in the citizen science project, the Texas Pollinator Bioblitz, on Friday, and I will post pictures of pollinators on iNaturalist until the event concludes on October 26. 

And now I'm headed up to East Texas where I often have spotty Internet, so bear with me while I attempt to visit your blogs away from home this next week.







What I Read Last Week:

How to Train Your Dragon by Cressida Cowell (Kids' Fantasy)

The 1619 Project: Born on the Water by Nikole Hannah-Jones and Renee Watson 
(Picture Book; Banned Books Week)




What I'm Reading Now:

Seraphina by Rachel Hartman (YA Fantasy)

Butterflies of Houston & Southeast Texas by John & Gloria Tveten (Nonfiction)






Banned Book Week challenges censorship and celebrates free expression here in the US. This year Banned Book Week is October 5-11. 

Here are the thoughts of naturalist/scientist/author Robin Wall Kimmerer about banned books:








What I Posted Last Week Here at Readerbuzz:







I began to list 3 Good Things every day during the pandemic. Now I've established a regular routine of writing down my 3 Good Things. Here are 3 Good Things from last week:


Good Thing #1:

I went with my friend 
early in the week
to a fun tea party at her church
and reconnected with lots of my old friends.





Good Thing #2:

This week I learned that 
I won this monocular telescope
last weekend.




Good Thing #3:

I finished my Happiness Habits class
sponsored by the nonprofit, Action for Happiness.
I am officially happy.




Weekend linkup spots are listed below. Click on the picture to visit the site.

        

I hope you will join the linkup for Sunday Salon below.


Friday, October 10, 2025

The 1619 Project: Born on the Water by Nikole Hannah-Jones and Renee Watson: Book Beginnings on Fridays, First Line Friday, The Friday 56, and Book Blogger Hop

 





Today's Featured Book for Banned Book Week: 

The 1619 Project: Born on the Water (Picture Book)

written by Nikole Hannah-Jones and Renee Watson

illustrated by Nikkolas Smith

Genre: Historical Fiction

Published: November 16, 2021

Page Count: 48 pages

Summary: 

A young student receives a family tree assignment in school, but she can only trace back three generations. Grandma gathers the whole family, and the student learns that 400 years ago, in 1619, their ancestors were stolen and brought to America by white slave traders.

But before that, they had a home, a land, a language. She learns how the people said to be born on the water survived.





 


BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAY is hosted by Rose City ReaderWhat book are you happy about reading this week? Please share the opening sentence (or so) on BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAY! Add the link to your blog or social media post and visit other blogs to see what others are reading.

Happy Friday and welcome to the FIRST LINE FRIDAY, hosted by Reading is My Superpower! It’s time to grab the book nearest to you and leave a comment with the first line.

My teacher gives us an assignment. "Who are you?" she asks. "Trace your roots. Draw a flag that represents your ancestral land."


Hannah-Jones, Nikole; Watson, Renée. The 1619 Project: Born on the Water (p. 1). Kindle Edition. 






THE FRIDAY 56 is hosted by Anne of Head Full of Books. To play, open a book and turn to page 56 (or 56% on your e-reader). Find a sentence or two and post them, along with the book title and author. Then link up on Head Full of Books and visit others in the linky. 


How to Make Home  

After a long day’s work plantig tobacco in the fields,  after brutal treatment, after nothing to show for their hard work,  sadness would come, a longing for Ndongo,  for the mommas, for the daddies, for the friends  they could no longer hug and talk with under the warm sun.  We are in a strange land, they said.  But we are here and we will make this home.  We have our song, our recipes, our know-how.  We have our joy. We will love, laugh, sing,  and hug our children as tight as you can hold a child.  We wil survive because we have each other. 


Hannah-Jones, Nikole; Watson, Renée. The 1619 Project: Born on the Water (p. 72). Kindle Edition. 









To mark Banned Book Week, I reread a wonderful children's picture book first published in 2021, The 1619 Project: Born on the Water by Nikole Hannah-Jones and Renee Watson. It begins with a question I remember asking first myself and then my parents and grandparents when I was a child: Who are you? We all want to know where we came from, I think, who our people are and were, and what brought us to where we are today. Looking at the truth of the past is the first step in moving forward into a future of living with others in a world where all are equal under the law. 



Velshi Banned Book Club: The 1619 Project: Born on the Water takes a thoughtful look at banned books, and especially notes the importance of not banning books for children.






The purpose of THE BOOK BLOGGER HOP is to give bloggers a chance to follow other blogs, learn about new books, and befriend other bloggers. THE BOOK BLOGGER HOP is hosted by Ramblings of a Coffee Addicted Writer   

October 10th - How often do you enter Goodreads' Giveaways? And how many have you won over the years? (submitted by Elizabeth @ Silver's Review)

I am not interested in entering giveaways for books. I want to read the books I want to read, and I would rather buy or borrow the books myself.


Tuesday, October 7, 2025

Satisfying Book Series

I'm not much of a series reader.

Still, there are some series I have loved...

The Lord of the Rings


No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency


Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich


A.J. Jacobs attempts to live a year following a guideline


Hank the Cowdog 


Edward Eager's Tales of Magic


Elephant & Piggie by Mo Willems


Marilynne Robinson's Gilead series


The Poldark series (first three books)


All Creatures Great and Small series


The Oz books


Have you read any of these?
Are any of these series your own favorites?


Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together. Each Tuesday That Artsy Reader Girl assigns a topic and then post her top ten list that fits that topic. You’re more than welcome to join her and create your own top ten (or 2, 5, 20, etc.) list as well. Feel free to put a unique spin on the topic to make it work for you! Please link back to That Artsy Reader Girl in your own post so that others know where to find more information.