Book Five: The Angel of Darkness by Caleb Carr

I enjoyed reading The Alienist, and this follow-up is even better. A year following the events in The Alienist, Dr. Laszlo Kreizler and his team are working on a new case--the infant daughter of a Spanish diplomat has been kidnapped. The investigation leads to a woman suspected to be a serial killer of children. 

The Angel of Darkness is narrated by Stevie Taggert who was saved from the streets by Kreizler and worked as his carriage driver. Stevie is a great choice to show us the street life that he escaped. His habit of hinting of bad things to come at the end of chapters helped build suspense. 

I liked the interactions of the characters with historical figures Theodore Roosevelt, Clarence Darrow, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Darrow in the courtroom scenes was fascinating.

It's Opening Day: LGM!

It was great to see a real game again with the regular line-up except for injuries. It didn't end the way I wanted, but the Mets had their chances. Especially in the top of the ninth, bases loaded and nobody out. Well, it was exciting for a minute. I had been thinking about how I'd write here about their loss, then how their great their comeback was, and no, that didn't happen. 

Tune in tomorrow. 

First Daffodil in the Wild

I bought two bunches of daffodils last week and have seen several daffodil sprouts and buds around the neighborhood. Yesterday, I saw my first bloom on the walk with Jace in front of the hospital's old cancer care entrance on Stevens Street. 

I stopped to take two photos, but they were too blurry to post here. I blame Jace for pulling the leash and me. I actually argued with him about it. 

Luckily, I'll see more daffodils in the near future. 

TV Talk: What We're Watching

It's been a few months since I've posted about TV. So, here it is.

Outlander: Jeff got a special promotional price for a year of Starz, so we finished Season 7.  My main issue with the show is that I don't care much about some of the younger characters. I'm ambivalent about Brianna and Roger. I was intrigued by the Jem kidnapping, but that fizzled out. I like Ian, but his wife Rachel does nothing for me. I dislike William Ransom, Jamie's son. I have no interest in the sex scenes of Roger and Brianna and Ian and Rachel. 

Squid Game: I had trouble getting into Season 2 until they returned to the actual game. This time, a group of players tries to stop the games, but there's a traitor in their midst. 

Nobody Wants This: We've been fans of Kristen Bell since Veronica Mars. I also heard or read that this was a good show. We agree. Bell is a sex podcaster dating a rabbi (Adam Brody.) It's cute (though I hesitate to use that word) and funny.

Only Murders in the Building: Again, we heard or read that this was good, so we tried it. We just started the fourth season. 

Matlock: I like Kathy Bates, and we tried this on a whim. It has a similar structure to that of Veronica Mars: a season long mystery with cases of the week. I'm enjoying both the weekly and seasonal stories. 

I've been watching a few things on my own.

The White Queen: Another Starz series and a re-watch from 2013. I've always been into the Tudors, but the Plantagenets are fascinating on their own. 

Miscellaneous Tudor history series. These shows have historians discussing the various people and places with actors dramatizing some scenes. There tend to be three episodes per show. The first, The Private Life of the Tudors, focused on Henry VIII. 

Another Henry VIII series was called something like, Man, Monster, Myth .A third I just started was about the King's men--the men who influenced Henry VIII. One name (so far) surprised me--Anthony Plantaganet. He was Henry's mother half-brother. The historian made a point to mention twice that he was illegitimate. I also saw a program about Lady Jane Grey. (Why don't they call her Queen Jane, anyway?) 

in my viewing, I learned something about Jane Seymour. Male doctors were allowed in the confinement chamber when she gave birth to Edward. A historian believes Jane may have died because the doctors didn't have experience in delivering children. They should have listened to the mid-wives. 

A Family Holiday

Our great niece Daphne turned one today. I even got our presents to her early (not like she'd know.) I was happy with the gifts we sent. Got a nice text from our nephew about the photo. It made me feel good.

Today is also the 23rd anniversary of when Spike came to live with us. Spike was a wonderful dog. No wonder we got two beagles after him. 

We love you, Spike!

A Cold Vernal Equinox and Random Thoughts

Yesterday--the first day of spring was foggy, damp, raw, and cold. It felt like winter was giving us the finger. But I'm thankful that Jace and I got a nice afternoon outside on Wednesday.  

Jeff and I went out to lunch twice this week--which is very unusual. It was Sedona Tap House for St. Patrick's Day and Tengda Asian Bistro today with our friends Elaine and Marti. Jace wasn't happy with us for leaving him. He is spoiled.

Feeling overwhelmed--again--with all the things I have to do. Recently I've taken to worrying when I wake up to pee sometime in the early morning hours. Lately, I've been worrying about things related to moving. 

Our decluttering efforts have been going well. As Jeff reminds me, we're not downsizing--we'll be moving into a larger place. We still have too much stuff. We've been working on clearing out our storage bin. We still have three large storage boxes to go through. Two are of Halloween costumes. That surprised me: I thought we only had one. Oh well, easy enough to get rid of that stuff. 

Jeff's been on a low sodium diet for four years. We had to give up some of our go-to meals. I especially missed rotisserie chicken. Our regular store's chicken has 20 percent sodium. I recently discovered that Stew Leonard's chickens have only 4 percent sodium. Made my day. I bought two Stew's chickens yesterday. We had chicken for dinner and I'll be making broth tomorrow.

It's going to be a homebody this weekend. Cleaning, making broth, going through emails and paperwork. And I'll be starting out behind the eight ball because I left a few dishes in the sink. I better get a good night's sleep.

Just One More Day

I started counting a month ago. We made it to the first of March, the beginning of Daylight Saving Time, Pi Day (we had a triple berry pie) and Saint Patrick's Day (we went out for lunch and had Guinnesses.)

Spring begins tomorrow at 5:01 AM. 

We got a preview this afternoon. I had to drive up to Danbury to pick up our income taxes. I took Jace with me, and we visited Danbury Dog Park. I didn't see any dogs in the large dog area, so I got an okay from people in the small dog area for us to join them. (A sign limited the area to dogs under 20 pounds.)

It was sunny and warm; we were there for over an hour. Spike did a little running so that was good. And he got to smell new smells and meet new dogs. 

One woman there said snow is predicted for Friday. Apparently, there's a chance of snow somewhere in Connecticut, but not near here. I don't think I could bear it.