Sunday Post: The derecho and a return to blogging

Weekly meme to talk about books plus a little about our personal lives

Sunday-Post

Kimberly hosts the Sunday Post each week. I like to take part because it gives me an opportunity to look back at last week and forward to next week in both my personal life and my blog and book life! I also love to see what other people are doing and what books everyone is reading.

Personal life

I started blogging again this month and am still trying to get into the rhythm.

The derecho
  • The split tree
  • Half of the tree still standing–brown leaves are from Japanese beetles
  • My husband cutting off limbs

I live in Iowa and a derecho (an intense widespread wind storm) blew through the state a couple weeks ago. Iowans are still trying to recover. Many trees were blown down since the winds topped 100 mph. One city in the state had winds of 140 mph. People have described it as a hurricane on land! And lots of farmland was damaged throughout the state. Plus western Iowa is in a drought right now.

Compared to so many other people throughout the state we are very lucky. We lost power for about 3 days, but some Iowans lost power for more than 10 days…ugh. We lost a huge linden tree in our back yard. We were lucky it didn’t hit our house. The tree split in half and my husband has been cutting up the branches so the City will take them from our curb. However, each morning most of the wood is gone since people are cruising the streets looking for firewood!

Blog Life

I’m trying to get back up to speed with my blog after a five month absence. It’s taking some time since WordPress made some updates to the Block Editor (Gutenberg). I was using Gutenberg before I stopped blogging, but have had a difficult time finding some of the menu items since I returned. I’ve had to do some searches to figure out how to do stuff!

Reading

I’ve done a lot of reading so far this year and am about 25 books ahead of my Goodreads goal. That’s a good feeling! However, I’ve started over 10 books this year only to decide I didn’t want to read them. A couple of books I read over 50% of the book and then decided to quit.

Last few weeks
Next week
  • Can’t Wait Wednesday
  • Sunday Post

My books

What I’m reading

I just finished a couple of books and have a DNF book so haven’t decided what to read next.

What I read recently
Books I got recently

What have you been doing? What are your plans for next week?

Author: Jan

I love to read--especially mysteries, science fiction and fantasy. I also love blogging, photography, gardening, playing Mah Jonng, reading with a cat on my lap, throwing a ball for a dog, creating cards to send to family and friends, reading book blogs, using my computer.

17 thoughts on “Sunday Post: The derecho and a return to blogging”

  1. Thats the first time I’ve heard the word derecho, and I’ve been worried about everyone in Iowa. I’m glad you are OK! Here in California we are dealing with wild fires. Its always something, isn’t it?🙁

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  2. Oh, Tammy, those wildfires in California are terrible. I grew up in Oregon and we had a fire quite close to our house once. Very scary. And now the fires in the West just keep getting worse. And you’re right it’s always something.

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  3. Sorry about the derecho and the loss of half your linden tree. Glad other folks have managed to make use of the wood, though. And delighted to see you back, blogging! Also delighted to see you have got hold of The Green Man’s Silence – I love this series! I’ll be interested to see what you make of High Flyght as I’m enjoying the series – though I’ve only read the first two books so far. Have a more peaceful week, Jan.

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    1. Thanks, Sarah! I’m looking forward to The Green Man’s Silence. I’m enjoying The Flyght series. I think I found it first on your blog! It good to be back blogging!

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          1. I need to catch up! I’ve got a bit overboard with Netgalley arcs this year – but it’s one of those series I’m determined to get through before the end of the year as I’m thoroughly enjoying it.

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  5. I’m sorry to hear you lost a tree, but relieved the damage wasn’t worse. I’ve seen pictures from parts of Iowa that were hit pretty badly, and you’re right; it looks like a hurricane went through. Scary.

    I’m also glad you’re back! And your blog looks great — very clean and streamlined.

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  6. Hi there! I’m from South Africa, so words like derecho are completely foreign! We’ve also had a bit of extreme weather here. From snow to going to the beach. Crazy!

    Welcome back to blogging. I’ve been absent for 3 years and I’m only back for about two months now. Still getting used to it again. I use blogger and they also had a new interface and it actually works better for me! Yes, WordPress have some beautiful and highly interactive templates, but I sooooo love my fluffy white kitten!

    Hope you will have a good week!

    Elza Reads

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    1. I had only heard about a derecho a few times so it’s not known much here in the U.S. either. It seems like so many places are having strange weather these days.

      Welcome back to you, too! I hope you’re enjoying being back to blogging.

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  7. I was glad my friends there are ok. One of them lives in Marian and was lucky power was the major issue. My Mom is in Waverly and they were ok. I’m so happy you are back and it looks like you are reading some interesting books! I know I am much more picky about books than other years

    Anne – Books of My Heart Here is my Sunday Post   

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    1. Our family in eastern Iowa were all okay though they lost quite a few trees. It’s sometimes taking me a long time to decide on which book I want to read.

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