The Blue and the Gray

We have had lots of rain the past 1 1/2 days; more could come tomorrow and Monday. We needed the moisture, just not all at once. The lawns are greening up some, but my flower plot next to my patio does not drain well so the plants are in pooling water. 
The sun came out about noon today and lasted for 20 minutes. Now we are back to gray skies.

Yesterday before the winds and heavy rain arrived, I picked a hydrangea from the side of the house. I also cut a wee rose off the front bush to add to the two I already had in the bud vase. I was afraid the blooms would be beaten down by the storm.

I did buy 5 pounds of blueberries at the grocery store. I may have misquoted the price in my previous blog. With my Martin's card, the box of berries was $9.99, limit of one box. Regular price $11.99. I spent this morning washing and sorting. In the box were a few dried-up berries, some stems, no leaves or twigs, and best of all no bugs. A few of the berries were smooshed. I disposed of them in the most efficient manner: popping them in my mouth.

 I think these Michigan berries have a deeper flavor than the ones we picked.  I am pleased with the quality of the berries. They were picked and packed in South Haven. My husband is already hinting that maybe next year we should just buy the blueberries from the grocery store. We'll see. I think the berry picking is a nice diversion from our routine day as long as it isn't hot and humid or rainy.

I had already removed and processed berries from the above box; it was fuller before the photo. With more berries than we usually pick, I will have to get out some of the recipes I saved these past few years and bake something or make my blueberry sauce. Many of the recipes can use frozen berries. 

I had a gift of $100 to the Grace Village library. Yesterday I went on a spending spree, ordering 22 books from Better World Books and from ebay. I am starting to like ebay for buying books now that the sellers don't charge shipping and offer buy it now option. You can even add books to a cart if you have more than one from the same seller. I received 10 per cent off after I bought more than 4 books from one seller; another had buy 2, get one free. It makes the money stretch further. I spent almost $82. Most of the books were listed as "very good" condition. I get annoyed with Better World Books sometimes because it is hard to tell if the book is regular or large print. When the email confirmation came, it showed 2 of the books as large print which is good for the library, but not what I would want for my own personal library. It should be more obvious in the description what the print size is. 

By the end of next week to the middle of the following one, books should start arriving. I will be busy. I now have 16 books on my series gap list to find; I started with over 150. Real progress was made in the past 2 years because of generous monetary gifts. I have also used some of the money to buy non-series books.

Since April, Wall Street Journal has been offering to its subscribers one free e-book a month through BookShout. I downloaded the app to my ipad. Usually there are 3 book choices. This month was Magpie Murders by Horowitz, a book my husband borrowed from the public library and is currently reading. This is only the second book I have added to my ipad from them via WSJ offer. Normally, these books would have a fee if not subsidized by WSJ. I have to log in with my WSJ ID and password to get the free book. I browsed BookShout and found a free book I also added. I will save Magpie for my cruise reading.