House Rules by Jodi Picoult

House Rules by Jodi Picoult

I still have a couple of more blogs to write about our vacation this year but I felt I needed a change. I have been keeping up with my book reading and in fact have about three books now that I need to review.

These were three books that I had picked up at the local book sale in the library. I needed books to read when I go on vacation and picked two good ones and one not so good!

House rules by Jodi Picoult is set in modern times and is a mystery and very suspenseful but it has unusual characters. The main character is Jacob Hunt an older teenager with Asp burgers syndrome. Now I knew nothing about this form of  autism but by the end of the book I felt I knew it well. Most interesting.
 Jacob's mother Emma has been responsible for taking care of Jacob ever since he was a baby when his father opted out of the marriage. His brother Theo suffers in the small family as all the attention has to be on Jacob and although he understands this , his resentment comes through.

Jacob is not good in social situations but is high functioning and intelligence and has a strange focus on crime scenes and solving crimes, mostly those he sees on TV. The young grad student Jess who has been tutoring Jacob to help develop his social skills, is found dead under suspicious circumstances. Jacob and his brother Theo knows something about the circumstances but did Jacob commit a murder?


I found this book to be most interesting and also most readable. In fact it was hard to put it down and I will certainly look for more books by this author.

Relaxing in Burlington

Relaxing in Burlington

 We were really pleased when we reach Burlington. It would be nice not to have to change beds for a few days! We have always made it a point when we go to Canada for vacation we stop off and visit with our friends Bernie and Jean. Last year Bernie died but we have kept in touch with Jean and she was happy to have us come to stay for a few days.

Mike was glad of a well earned rest from driving and loading and unloading the car as was I. Jean lives at the present time on the 10th floor of a high rise building in Burlington. It is a cozy little apartment and Jean always makes us feel very welcome. This time she apologized that everything was in slight disorder as she was moving soon to live with her daughter.

The proud father looks on as his son wins!

Mike and Jean both like sports and spent a good time watching both soccer and the Grande Prix on television. I tried to take some stills from the TV but it wasn't very successful!

The winners on the podium

I glanced out the window and saw that we had just missed a big storm so we had been very lucky in our drive to Canada.Usually you can see Lake erie from this balcony!

Bartonville Texas to Burlington Ontario, Canada

Canada Trip 2014  #2 A visit to a train museum.

A great painting on the wall of the Museum

So off we went bright and early in a very loaded van seemingly taking everything but the kitchen sink. It  was very full but we did have in the back two large canvas chairs plus all our luggage and other miscellaneous items that we were taking with us. The van was very comfortable and Mike found it easy to drive..

After a very pleasant drive heading north bordering the Mississippi river north of Memphis we then went along the Kentucky Parkway system and eventually toward evening got as far as Bardstown, Kentucky, a town we had visited before and enjoyed. 
As we passed through the town we noticed that there were many cars around and lots of traffic. The first hotel we came to had no vacancies as did the second one. When we inquired why this was, we were told that this was the week of the Bardstown Bourbon Festival. Bourbon is the main production of that whole area of Kentucky. Even the air smells of bourbon! We were directed finally  to a Comfort Inn closer to the main highway and fortunately found a room there. The Indian lady who appeared to be the owner was most accommodating and could see that we were tired and found us a pleasant suite on the ground floor.  We had a good nights rest there and a good breakfast to start the day.

The Kentucky Railroad and Museum. New Haven

Model train layout inside the museum

 The next morning the weather was very foggy but we had planned to visit the Kentucky Railroad and Museum about 12 miles south in a small town called New Haven. That part of Kentucky is very rural  with many rolling hills and the roads are curvy and winding.  The fog or probably I should say mist, was coating many of the valleys. Eventually we found the museum and got there just as it was opening. The museum and railroad appears to be run by mostly volunteers with a small staff and they seemed knowledgeable and very helpful. 

Inside the repair shed

We paid  our entry fee and then started to look around. The museum was full of interesting artifacts and items used by the railroad. There were even some model railroad layouts and specials toy railroads for children to play with .

 Mike enjoyed looking in the railroad sheds at all the other engines and coaches that were being prepared to be exhibited. The attendant said that the problem now is that  many old coaches and even engines are being given to them as donations but the volunteers to fix them were in short supply. Every year it gets worse as the older volunteers are no more and the younger volunteers do not have the necessary skills to fix the engines and carriages. Such a shame to see these old machines and carriages rotting away. 

An old carriage waiting for repair

And then we were on the road again following the River Road through Ohio until we came to  Erie in Pennsylvania and then on to Canada via the Niagara  Peninsula and our stay in Burlington..

Back Home After our Trip

Fall is already showing it's colors in Ontario, Canada

It was lovely to get back home after a trip to Toronto to see our son Russ and to visit old friends. It was a trip we had delayed for almost 2 years but this year we were determined to get there and to have a good time. We like to travel by car as we go different ways there and back and see a great deal of USA than we would if we traveled by air. Also on our trip we take much longer than most people would as we visit odd places that we see along the way.We are fortunate to have the time to do that.

In the next few days I shall be writing my blog about some of the things we saw and did and show you some of the photos that we took.

If there's a railway we will STOP!

The worst thing about coming back after a long holiday,- this one was almost 3 weeks long,- is doing the pile of washing of the dirty clothes that we collect on our way back. I must have washed five loads of clothes before I had complete finished with the laundry.

This had to be deleted ,- stuck lens cap!!
Sorry Bill

The other task that took some time was downloading the accumulated photos that I had taken, and then going through them deleting a great many and editing the rest.

Overall I think we can say that this was a good holiday and we saw all the people that we planned to see. caught up on everyone's news and enjoyed the lovely fall weather and the beautiful scenery on a trip.

Wine Country Painting Challenge

Wine Country watercolor, 8"x8"

This is a rather quick water color that I painted for the challenge  " Monthly Painters Challenge" on facebook. The title for the challenge was "Wine Country" and the artists are left to come up with their own painting using whatever medium they wish. I have only done 2 of these challenges so far and I am just amazed at the creativity and skill of the artists who join in.
This time I had to do the painting fast so I kept the size small and really felt this was more of a sketch  rather than a true painting.I was off on vacation and had to get it done so I could enter.
If you are an artist you might consider joining us and trying the challenge !!

That which is small

"That which is small"

I felt that I was needing a creative urge to start  painting again. This hot weather in Texas really makes you very lazy and so you tend to sit around when you should be doing something. 

I already belong to one challenge painting group  and this is in a blog format.
 PaintandDrawtogether http://paintanddrawtogether.blogspot.com/
 A challenge painting is set by the webmaster and then the artists are challenge to paint a work using a photo as a starting point. A set time is given, usually about six weeks and then as each artist finishes their painting during that time, the painting gets put on the blog. Each artist is encouraged to comment not only on their painting but on all the other painting that appeared during that time. It is more a way of seeing the different aspects of painting and drawing and the  creative work that will happen at the hands of different artists rather than a competition.

So I was very happy when I found another challenge group. This is called Monthly Painters Challenge and it is on Facebook as a page. 
This has a different format. A challenge title is set at the beginning of each month and at the very last day of the month, each artist posts their painting or drawing on the Facebook page. 
Again all the artist are encouraged to make their own comments about their own and the other paintings. Also the artists are asked to LIKE the paintings which really appeal to them. The painting which receives the most "likes" is the challenge painting of the month.  The artist of that painting gets to choose the subject/title of the next challenge.

These are fun to do as both challenges work in a different way.
 The challenge for August  on Monthly Painters Challenge was "that  which is small" and the artists came up with some very creative ways to paint the subject.

I felt that I had fulfilled the subject even though I didn't think the painting was very good, too rushed but when Mike looked at it, he thought it was a picture of sun flowers and didn't even then notice  the small ladybird that I had painted which was the subject of the painting.

Oh well on to the next challenge!

Memorial painting of Lucky

Memorial painting of LUCKY

As each of my pet have died I have tried to paint a picture of them as a memorial so that we would remember them. As we have had many pets over the years we now have pet paintings in many of our rooms. And now Lucky will be  joining them.

I knew when I started out painting  Lucky a black cat, that this would be a challenge as photographing black pet is difficult enought and painting them is equally difficult . So I selected a couple of photographs and chose two which I thought I could manage to make into a presentable painting.

I started out by doing two water color paintings to see how that would look and realized fairly soon that I would need to use acrylic paints to get the depth of color that I needed.

Water color just didn't get it !!

This painting shows Lucky when he was an adult cat a few years ago.
Every time I see a black cat, I still miss little Lucky.