My Agatha Christie Reading Challenge

I picked up an Agatha Christie book last January after many years of not reading such and was enthralled again by her writing style and ability to stump the reader.  I challenged myself to read first all of the Miss Marple series which I did and duly noted here.  Then in May I started in on the Hercule Poirot series going in order better than I did with the former and duly noted here.  

I've just finished the third to last in that series and I have the last two checked out waiting to be read, hopefully before the close of this year.  That will leave only 32 more books of Christie's to be read in 2013 and I will have completed my challenge!

If you are a fan of mysteries I highly recommend these books to you!

1/1/2013 - I did it.  I finished the last two books before the New Year rang in.

SNOW!

It's unusual for Maryland to have snow in December but lucky for us we had it on Christmas Eve and then again today.

The birds are in a feeding frenzy as a result.

Joining Wild Bird Wednesday.

Christmas 2012

Twelve Days Before Christmas And ...

... this is how it looks here at my house.

Shared on Our World Tuesday

Holiday Hiatus

It's that time of year when there's so much going on inside but little happening outside, that I find myself at a loss at what to post here.  Time for a hiatus!  

But if you are just finding my blog and want to start at the beginning here's a link to my first blog and you can read from there.  Also check out some of the popular posts in the sidebar or visit some of the blogs I like to read that are listed there as well.

Happy Holidays - Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year - to you and yours.  See you again in 2013!

Harvest Monday

Look what I got out of the vegetable garden on Saturday: young mesclun, some spinach and three carrots for a nice salad for Sarah to take to a friend's house for dinner.  See other harvests at Daphne's Dandelions.

Friday Favorite - Squirrels

You have to love them.  They provide us so much entertainment and now that they don't bother the birdfeeders it's only right that I give them their own feeder.

I have a wind chimes hanging from this corn feeder so I hear them when they jump onto it.

It hangs from this small beech tree and they like to jump from the stump on the left to the feeder.

They don't stay on the feeder for long so I couldn't catch this one quite in focus before it was on its way to bury the corn kernel somewhere in our yard.  I always wonder if they really find what they have buried months later.

Such expressive faces and poses makes them a Friday favorite at this time of year.

RELIEF!

Our President has won a second term.  Let's all heed his words:

What makes America exceptional are the bonds that hold together the most diverse nation on earth. The belief that our destiny is shared; that this country only works when we accept certain obligations to one another and to future generations. The freedom which so many Americans have fought for and died for come with responsibilities as well as rights. And among those are love and charity and duty and patriotism. That's what makes America great.

My Vote is for Obama!

Whoever wrote this poster got it right.  That's exactly why I'm voting for President Obama to continue as our President.  I hope you will too.

Assateague Island National Park

During our weekend at the beach we spent the afternoon at Assateague Island which is a short drive from Ocean City, MD.  Dan was able to purchase his Golden Eagle pass so now we get into National parks for free!

We took the Salt Marsh Nature Trail and spotted some lovely egrets.  The bird above may be an osprey but that's the closest I could zoom in on it.

Above is my favorite shot.  Such a perfect reflection.

The trail is a board walk the whole way.

Here's the ocean at the park looking north to Ocean City.

And here's what the park is known for: wild horses.  The ranger is saying, "You can't stop."

Linking to Our World Tuesday and Wild Bird Wednesday.

Harvest Monday

Just picked this young lettuce leaf mix for dinner tonight.

And the last tomato that has been ripening on the counter will go on top.

You can see what else I harvested last week at this post.

You can see what others harvested at Daphne's Dandelions.

A Walk Around the Yard

Wednesday was the day to tackle the list of tasks that I've had on my to do list since September started. I've managed to get to some of them slowly here and there through the last month but I decided that yesterday was the day and if something didn't get done it could wait until spring.  So here are some things I checked off: cleaning the porch and packing up the knick knacks and cushions; moving garden art and hoses to the shed; transporting pots of plants I want to winter over to the vestibule; dumping out pots of annuals into the compost bin; and cleaning up the vegetable garden and planting the garlic.

When I was done it was time to walk around and admire the fall day.

I found lots of evidence that the deer are finding my yard again.  I stopped my Liquid Fence treatments in September so the deer are back.  They are nibbling the ratty hosta leaves that will soon be mush when a hard frost hits.

I don't mind.  It will fatten them up for my brother-in-law who is hunting on our property this fall.  Haven't heard that he's gotten one yet. I just have to be sure to start the Liquid Fence at the first sign of spring next year to break them of their habit of visiting me.

Here are some of the flowers still in bloom.

The vegetable garden looks good cleaned up.

Garlic has been planted here.

Some of what's growing: carrots,

lettuce, bok choy and spinach,

and more bok choy.

In cleaning up I found this cucumber and this handful of green beans.

I harvested these young bok choy for a soup for dinner.

I didn't have the heart to pull these marigolds still blooming profusely.

The blueberry bushes have their fall colors showing.

Beautiful time of year!