The Living Is Easy...But Hot and Humid

Some summer reading:

 Twisty doesn't begin to cover Sarah Alderson's psychological thriller.  A home invasion goes wrong, leaving Ava's daughter fighting for her life.   Loads of secrets that lead to complication after complication.   Along with Ava, I suspected almost every character.  

The timeline shifts occasionally to the earlier events, filling in a little background, but we are still misled in many cases because some of the information remains missing.

Book 10 in Joy Ellis' Nikki Galena series, which I read like gum drops with each new entry.

Dark Greenborough is a traditional festival celebrated much like Halloween with ghost walks, haunted houses, and people dressed as zombies, monsters, and other creepy characters.  But this year, a note arrives telling the police that the festival this will be dangerous.  The reality is even worse.

from the description:  Throughout World War II, in the conflict fought against Japan, Navajo code talkers were a crucial part of the U.S. effort, sending messages back and forth in an unbreakable code that used their native language. They braved some of the heaviest fighting of the war, and with their code, they saved countless American lives. Yet their story remained classified for more than twenty years.

Although this is a fictional account, Code Talker: A Novel About the Navajo Marines in World War Two by Joseph Bruchad is well-documented with bibliographic research, not only of the war in the Pacific, but with the cultural background of the Navajo code talkers. 
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Needle and Thread

Several years ago, I made a bunch of these white on white squares and rectangles (thanks to Karen Ruane's inspiration and online class) with the intention of putting them all together.  Ha!  Didn't happen.  So last week, I took out one of the squares and made a pillow.  My stitching is better than my stuffing and the color is too yellow, but anyway....  

Now, I'm looking at my other square and rectangle pieces and thinking pillows.  This one is  a thank you and a retirement from teaching gift.  I included one of the Lost Words postcards I ordered when I ordered the book.  The painting is by Jackie Morris,

and one of Robert Macfarlane's poems is on the back.

Garden

At about 6:30 this morning, the temperature was 80 degrees, 87% humidity, and a heat index of 88.  Ugh.  I did some weeding, deadheading, and added blended kitchen scraps to the compost pile.  That's it for the day.  

The obedient plant is coming into bloom.  The name comes from the ability to bend the stems and have them stay that way.  That's as far as obedience goes--I've kept them under control until this year, and they've tried to take over the bed.  I'm going to have to do some serious culling after they finish blooming, but they are pretty from late summer into fall.  Late summer is a little earlier this year.  Mid-summer is the new late summer, I guess.

Newest interest?  Worm farming.  I've been reading about it for years, but have never made one.  When I turn my compost heap, though, I see so many worms that I'm considering the possibility again.  I would need to order red wrigglers because they are best for composting and still be happy for my regular garden variety earth worms which are good for soil aeration.  

My interests are varied, my follow-through haphazard. :)