I have not participated I think at all for this and plan on working on two different projects for a little while over this month's IHSW weekend. I am not sure how far I will get but I figure any progress is better than nothing. I haven't worked on any cross stitching for quite a while, mostly been working on a quilt that I have posted in my previous posts. Since I am not sure how much I will get done I do not plan on showing anything previous pictures of my current works in this post, although I will probably take some and if I get quite a bit done, post them in my progress post. Tonight. I do not believe I will get any stitches completed mostly because I will be watching a football game as well as watching the premiere of Doctor Who. As anyone knows these two items are really action packed so stitching is out of the question. Do you plan on participating for this month's IHSW?
I am reviewing this book Outlander by Diana Gabaldon for the Chunkster Challenge, which in case you do not know for this challenge is a book that has to have at least 450 pages, this book Outlander surpasses that and has over 800 pages. A little history about this book, it was originally written in the early 90's and I had read three of the books by the late 90's (there are now eight in the series) but at the time the author took five years in between books, so I ended up forgetting about this series. This has now been made into a TV series, which I do not have the channel it is on, but have gotten to see the show through Amazon and it is very good. Anyways, by now you are probably wondering what this book is about and not wanting to read my ramblings. Claire Randall has recently reconnected with her husband after a five year absence due to WWII. Claire was a nurse while her husband, Frank, was involved in intelligence, and in order for them to reconnect they go on a second 'honeymoon' to Scotland. Frank mostly wants to visit the Highlands because of his ancestor who served in the British Dragoons as a Captain in the 18th century before the Scottish Uprising (in which the Highlanders were trying to have Bonnie Prince Charlie take over as King). Claire just seems to tag along and not necessarily care about her husbands ancestors, she is more interested in the ancient druids and superstitious stories. At one point Claire gets sent back in time to 1743 in the Highlands and she meets her husbands 6x grandfather who was alive and in Scotland at this time named Captain Jonathan Randall otherwise known as Black Jack. Their first meeting doesn't go well and Claire is 'rescued' by members of the Clan MacKenzie. Claire meets Jamie Fraser who is nephew to the Laird, Scottish version of Lord, of the Clan MacKenzie and who is also a member of the Clan Fraser. Both Jamie and Claire have their own secrets, some that they share with each other eventually and others they keep to themselves, that will end up in various disastrous results for both parties. Both of them are trying to stay away from Black Jack and the English. Throughout the book Claire meets some interesting people and tries a few times to get back to her own time. She makes a few friends but she is seen with suspicion as a English Spy or otherwise known, as the English are called by the name of "Sassanach" by the Highlanders. Claire has various adventures and dangers at the hands of both Highlanders and British Dragoons. As Claire is a nurse during her "previous" time and has 'healing powers' that others don't some are superstitious as to how Claire has these abilities. There are a lot of action and drama throughout this book and it doesn't fit in one genre; it has romance, time travel, witchcraft (or what others think it is), historical, politics, justice, etc. The author does a good job in being very descriptive of the way of the life of the Clans and the scenery of the Highlands. I did like that this author was realistic in some historic aspects as I think quite often authors seem to romantic certain aspects of history, and in this book we see the brutality of "justice" or not "justice" being served during this time. We also see that sometimes people had to make choices based on practicality as well as necessity. I no doubt am not the best at explaining this book as I do not want to give anything away. I rate this book a four out of five. 
I found this show earlier this year playing on PBS and love it. In this show they make breads, pies, tarts, biscuits, cakes, pastries, etc. They just started airing, at least in my area, the second series on PBS that is on Sunday nights. I missed the first episode and the second episode that aired this past Sunday the contestants made various types of breads. The contestants make three different items with a similar theme in each episode, some of which are of their own making and other items they are given a rough recipe to follow per the judges. At the end judges decide which contestant should leave, and they originally start with twelve people. One thing I like about this series is to see each persons personality and clips of what the people do besides baking. Next weeks episode will be about desserts. On PBS website they do list some of the recipes for free from the bakers themselves. I love to get more inspiration of what to bake and ideas.
I had gotten this book for free from Blogging For Books in exchange for an honest review per FTC. I thought that would love this book as I am a huge fan of history and diaries, etc. Emma of Aurora by Jane Kirkpatrick is based on the real life of Emma who was part of religious colony in Missouri. She has her eyes on a man who she wishes to marry and then the leader of the colony decides that they need to travel west. This book is based on historical documents, diaries, etc. This book is actually three in one and is almost 1,200 pages. I got partway into the second book. I just couldn't stand the character or at least the way it was written. She seemed highly immature and after she got married complained why her husband didn't seem to share her affections, opinions, etc. I am thinking perhaps this is because they didn't really know each other and she was the one who pushed for a marriage in the first place. On the trip to the West it was only worse, and while I did have some sympathy when they started to try and create a new colony it only lasted so long. I only got to the part where she was constantly fighting with her in-laws that had arrived. The book from the part I read was really slow and very drawn out. I really wished that I could have liked this book, and after trying several times to continue reading I had to finally give up. I only give this book 2 out of 5 stars.
