Hello Friends – I hope you are all doing well and if you celebrate Halloween that you are enjoying some treats and no tricks! I’ve been super busy at work the past couple of weeks so I’ve been a bit drained and haven’t had the energy to blog. I took a week off work the first week of October and since I returned to work I feel like I’ve been in catch up mode.

We are doing well here. My mom has made small improvements and I’m very happy about that but I’m still helping her with many daily tasks. Basically just not a lot of extra free time.

Anyway, October was a good reading month. I read 5 books (technically four but I will finish one book tonight). I read The Silence in the White City by Eva García Sáenz; Silence for the Dead by Simone St. James; Ghost Stories of an Antiquary, adapted by Leah Moore & John Reppion; I Love You, Call Me Back by Sabrina Benaim and The Death of Jane Lawrence by Caitlin Starling (to be finished tonight).

I’ve enjoyed most of the books but the one I’ve yet to finish has been a bit of a struggle. However all of this to say that I did complete my R.I.P. reading challenge. Yay.

Speaking of reading challenges I know November usually brings several and of course part of me would love to join all but I need to be realistic. I don’t want to put any added pressure on my reading. So I have some thoughts but I’ll try to do a quick post on those in the next day or so.

I hope you had a great reading month. Any changes to your reading plans for the last two months of the year? Can you believe Christmas will be here in no time? Yikes. Take good care and have a wonderful start of the week!

I hope you are all doing well. I can’t believe the last two weeks of September flew by but I’m so glad to be welcoming Autumn. Granted, here in central Texas Autumn it is still quite warm and we don’t see a lot of changing leaves, but to me it still feels a bit like a beginning. I get excited about holidays, cozy evenings and time out in nature.

Speaking of time in nature, I am taking a week off of work to relax a bit. I wish we could travel but with my mom’s situation it’s still not possible for my husband and I to take off but we are acting like tourists in our city and going out and about. First thing though was to hit the trails at McKinney Falls State Park. We took pictures, listened for birds and saw some interesting bugs. We packed a picnic and relaxed under the trees’ shade too cool off after our walk. I did a bit of journaling and reading while my husband dozed off. Let me tell you a morning trail walk is the best way to start the day!

Of course this time of the year I’m also really into spooky books. I only completed two books in September and I’m carrying over a couple of titles from last month but I wanted something more atmospheric. So I started reading Silence for the Dead by Simone St. James and it’s so good so far. Just what I wanted to read.

The rest of the week I’m planning on a bit of shopping, bookstore visits and coffee shops to catch up on reading and journaling. I hope you are all having a lovely week and I’ll be back with more book talk soon.