I Voted

My biggest accomplishment this week was getting out to vote. It’s weird not to have any ballot initiatives to vote on but since this is a super majority, gerrymandered state they’ve set it up so it’s nearly impossible for citizens to get anything on the ballot. I’m really hoping that this is the election that changes the composition of the State Legislature so that it becomes more balanced, and they actually have to listen to other voices.

I wish I could say how excited and thrilled that I was selecting a woman for every office I voted for, but I can’t. It was great, don’t get me wrong, but this feeling of hopelessness and dread is not going away. Thank goodness there are only 9 days left. I’m not sure my heart or blood pressure can take much more of this. I have been trying to stay off social media and not watch too much news, but I’ve not been entirely successful.

I have managed to get through several books, thanks partly to a very large project I have been assigned in my new job. I realize that sounds weird but this new job, which is actually an old job, is filled with many mind-numbing repetitive tasks which allow for listening to an audiobook while doing them. The bigger the project, the more time is spent on these types of tasks. This past week I spent most of every day doing these types of tasks, thus I was able to finish three audiobooks this week.

Sadly, or maybe fortunately, I am now finished with those tasks for this project and none of the others are so big so my audiobook listening while working is done for now. It’s been quite a change of pace, but I find I am grateful for how fast the days are going. I need these next 9 days to pass as quickly as possible.

I’m hoping now that I’ve voted and have done what I could, that I can let go of some of this angst. I have stuff to do with birthdays and the holidays coming and we’re running out of time for me to do homemade gifts if I don’t get cracking.

Book 90

“Yuletide Market Murder” by Victoria Tait

This is the last Dotty Sayers Mystery available on Kindle Unlimited. The next one won’t be out until January, so I’ve started her spinoff series about Dotty’s best friend Keya.

Books 91 and 92

“Earl Grey and Shallow Graves” and “Darjeeling and a Deadly Disappearance” by Victoria Tait

These are the first two books in the Waterwheel Cafe Mystery series where I get all the same lovely and quirky characters from the Dotty Sayers series except Dotty, though based on the timeline she will likely make brief appearances.

Book 93

“Track of the Cat” written by Nevada Barr and narrated by Barbara Rosenblat

I love this book series! Anna Pigeon is a wonderfully complex and imperfect character. This is the November selection for my online book club. I read it years ago and was happy to reread it for discussion. I had hoped that enough time and books had passed that I wouldn’t remember whodunit. Alas, I did remember about a third of the way in, however, I couldn’t remember how or why so that was good enough.

And as Barbara Rosenblatt is one of my favorite narrators, I found another series to start just because she’s the narrator.

Books 94 and 95

“You Slay Me” and “Fire Me Up” written by Katie MacAlister and narrated by Barbara Rosenblat.

Barbara does a great job at voicing serious characters like Anna Pigeon, but she is at her best voicing quirky characters where the author injects humor into the plot, scenes, and dialog. The first two books in this paranormal romance series about Aisling Grey are fun and the spicy scenes are pretty good. This is not high-brow stuff, but definitely fun.

Have a great week y’all and send positive vibes my way if you have any to spare. Or better yet send them to Kamala.