Ellie@Home by Nicole Kapise-Perkins

   Good Evening and Happy Memorial Day! This post is far later than I planned thanks to technical difficulties (sob, sob) but here it is, better late than never! The earlier version of this post was wry, witty, and weird, and I don’t recall any of it now on my THIRD attempt. So without further ado (or headaches) I’m going to dive in. I have 34 books for this summer’s list. Because I can’t order from my library, I scoured my shelves for books that I haven’t read or have not finished. I managed to come up with 28. I grabbed one of Josh’s books, and two of Liam’s, then on a whim treated myself to a copy of Caleb Carr’s The Alienist and Angel of Darkness for my Kindle. Then, just when I thought I had enough (plenty!) Henry Roi from HellBound Books kindly sent me a review copy of The Horror Writer: A Study of Craft and Identity in the Horror Genre compiled and edited by Joe Mynhardt. This is at the top of my reading list, partly because it sounds really interesting and informative, a

(I stole that from Hawthorne. Sorry Natty.)    Retold faerie tales are such fun to read. You get to experience the writer's thoughts on a traditional tale, sometimes told in a familiar manner, oftentimes as a completely new approach. I haven't read many novels of retold tales, but I have volumes of anthologies of them. Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling gave us these magnificent collections of tales: Snow White, Blood Red; Black Thorn, White Rose; Ruby Slippers, Golden Tears; Black Swan, White Raven; Silver Birch, Blood Moon; Black Heart, Ivory Bones . I bought Snow White, Blood Red when I was a senior in high school; it took me 25 years, but I now own the whole set. (I neglected homework for 3 days while I read the whole set back to back. It was a wonderful weekend.) Tanith Lee produced Red As Blood, or Tales From the Sisters Grimmer , giving her readers a heartbroken dying god as the Pied Piper and a woefully misunderstood queen in Snow White. Angela Carter started it all wi

    I've never been much of a TV person. Even as a kid I was more likely to pick up a book, unless Voltron, The Pirates of Dark Water , or The Mysterious Cities of Gold was on (anyone remember that one? No? Gods I'm old.) In middle- and high school I was a devoted fan of Robin of Sherwood , The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes , and The Highlander . Then I found La Femme Nikita , and then Witchblade and Dark Angel premiered (and then tanked after two seasons each. Much sadness.), and Kingdom Hospital only lasted one season...I'm seeing a pattern here.    I've been watching quite a bit of television lately; well, for me, anyway! Every Wednesday we pile on the couch with takeout and watch The Masked Singer . It looked like it was going to be a fun show, but it's even better than I expected. Family-friendly, funny, and with great music (mostly...Rob Gronkowski cannot sing!) Scrolling through On Demand one night Josh and I found the Showtime se

   I am so glad we had a good couple of days this weekend, because A: my apartment needed a good airing, and B: my back steps were looking really shoddy. Two beautiful almost-70 degree days went a long way toward resolving both issues.    Windows were pushed open, screens were popped in, and we left the back door open, much to the delight of the cats, intrepid explorers they. Watching my husband try to her a honeybee out of the kitchen while explaining to it why it didn't want to be in the house was definitely worth it. Liam and I planted strawberries and herbs in outdoor pots and I started my seed flat in the kitchen. This year's container garden attempt includes sweet peppers, a variety of hot peppers, five kinds of tomato, beans, cucumbers, mini squash, radishes, lettuce, and nasturtiums, plus a couple odd balls like cucamelons and jelly melons, because why not? These last two didn't sprout at all last year, but I also just direct-planted them outside. I think squirrel

   Hallo and Happy May! I hope you are all enjoying this lovely weather now that May seems to have shaken off the blues. Beltane was a few days ago, but it certainly didn't feel like Beltane: wet, dreary, COLD; today May is living up to her light and lively name, giving us sun, a gentle breeze, and a beautiful greening everywhere. Yesterday I spent far too much money at Home Depot and got everything I needed to start my seeds. (More on that tomorrow) Today I am reveling in the lovely air and making plans for the month which sadly do not include a Memorial Day trip to the seaside or canoeing on the Connecticut River as I want to keep my family and my ladies and gentlemen at work safe, but do include revising wedding plans and researching how to hand-wash a wedding gown. My beautiful girl AlysonRose is getting married on May 30 to a charming, kind young man who absolutely adores her, so I think Nikolas is a keeper. Unfortunately they have had to completely re-think their wedding