Weekly Update for March 19, 2023


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Weekly Update at Introverted Reader

Welcome to my weekly update for March 19, 2023!

We had another quiet week here, just watching the rain pour down.

I’m going to share pictures from a portion of our February drive from Las Cruces, New Mexico here to Escondido, California. We know that Las Cruces can be downright cold in the winter but we were shocked to wake up and find snow on the ground!

Slideshow:

  • Snowy Mountains in the Desert
  • Snowy Mountains in the Desert
  • Texas Canyon
  • Imperial Sand Dunes behind a manmade canal

All images ยฉ Jennifer G. at Introverted Reader 2023

  1. Snowy mountains and desert, somewhere along Interstate 10, near the New Mexico-Arizona border
  2. More snowy mountains and desert in the same area
  3. Texas Canyon, which is in Arizona
  4. Imperial Sand Dunes National Recreation Area in southeastern California, as seen from Interstate 8. The juxtaposition of the sand dunes and the manmade canal intrigued me.

Posted:

The Screwtape Letters by C. S. Lewis: Book Review ๐ŸŒŸ๐ŸŒŸ๐ŸŒŸ

Ten Books on My Spring 2023 To-Read List

Singled Out: The True Story of Glenn Burke by Andrew Maraniss: Book Review ๐ŸŒŸ๐ŸŒŸ๐ŸŒŸ๐ŸŒŸ

Read:

I have an affiliate relationship with Malapropโ€™s Bookstore/Cafe in beautiful Asheville, NC. I will earn a small commission at no additional cost to you if you purchase merchandise through links on my site. 

Thirteenth Childย (Frontier Magic #1) by Patricia C. Wrede ๐ŸŒŸ๐ŸŒŸ๐ŸŒŸ๐ŸŒŸ

Lore Olympus: Volume Twoย by Rachel Smythe ๐ŸŒŸ๐ŸŒŸ๐ŸŒŸ๐ŸŒŸ

Hidden Palaceย (The Golem and the Jinni #2) by Helene Wecker, read by George Guidall ๐ŸŒŸ๐ŸŒŸ๐ŸŒŸ๐ŸŒŸ

Currently Reading:

Complete Fairy Tales of Oscar Wilde

European Travel for the Monstrous Gentlewoman by Theodora Goss, read by Kate Reading

Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in Americaย by Ibram X. Kendi

Up Next:

My husband is on call at the hospital where he works all weekend so we will be lying low again. I should be able to make some good progress on these books. I haven’t even started the first two as I’m writing this on a blissfully warm, sunny Friday afternoon. We’ll be stuck inside again early in the week as more rain is in the forecast though.

What did your week look like?

Hosts:

Deb Nance at Readerbuzz hosts The Sunday Salon and Kimberly at Caffeinated Book Reviewer hosts Sunday Post. Kathryn at Book Date hosts It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?


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This Post Has 44 Comments

  1. Helen Murdoch

    Lying low for the weekend sounds wonderful. I hope you got some good reading and relaxing in.

  2. Sara

    I’ve been wanting to read The Complete Fairy Tales of Oscar Wilde! I hope you love it!

    1. I’m about halfway through and they’re all sad. This is two collections published together so I hope the second collection is a little more hopeful.

  3. Snapdragon

    Those pictures look amazing.
    Have a great week.

  4. Kathy Martin

    Great photos! I know all about snow and am getting really tired of it. Enjoy your reading this week. Come see my week here. Happy reading!

    1. I am sure you’re really tired of snow by now. I’m just tired of rain. There’s no real comparison but I’m complaining all the same!

  5. Nicole @ BookWyrmKnits

    Lovely photos! I’ve been to that area of New Mexico (dated a guy from Las Cruces back in the early days of internet dating) but it was late spring so it looked quite different. It’s a neat area, though.

    Happy reading! I hope you enjoy European Travel for the Monstrous Gentlewoman. I thought it was a nice sequel for that series.

    1. We’ve passed through Las Cruces several times but always in January or February. We only had time to explore once, and that wasn’t much. We went over to White Sands and then into Mesilla for some Mexican food. I’d love to spend more time there.

      You’re the one who reminded me about the Athena Club series. It had gotten buried in my TBR.

  6. Jody @ I'm Into Books

    Beautiful pictures. I use to live in California when I was 18, so that has many moons ago for me. I loved how it could be so darn hot but no humidity. New Mexico is also a beautiful place to visit. Have a great Monday ๐Ÿ˜Š

    1. I know people laugh when Southerners complain about humidity but it really makes a difference! We wish we could spend more time in New Mexico. We seem to always just be passing through, though we have made it to White Sands.

  7. We have been to New Mexico several times in the summer to hunt for rocks; I always think of New Mexico as hot. Your pictures are lovely.

    I hope you got a chance to do some solid reading. You’ve got some great books lined up.

    1. Since we seem to always pass through in January or February, I always think it’s cold, or at least cool!

  8. WordsAndPeace

    Great pictures, and I need to check quite a few of your books here. Have a great week

  9. Marg

    Great pics! Have a great week!

  10. Kathryn

    Wow those photos are amazing and the opportunity to travel through them. Enjoy your reading while your husband works.

  11. Jinjer

    Love seeing these beautiful pictures, especially since *I* will be traveling that route soon myself!!!! So excited! I’ve been that route before, but I was a kid, doped up on Dramamine, so this will be my first time appreciating the landscape as an adult.

    1. Will you be driving I-10? We’ve been through that way several times. Texas can get a little boring in places but the rest of the way west, I just keep snapping pictures out the window!

      1. Jinjer

        Our main driver and trip planner, Stefie, keeps changing the route up but right now weโ€™re taking the Little Rock to Dallas to Phoenix to Joshua Tree routeโ€ฆso yes, I think so. Lol

  12. Vicki

    I love the photos from New Mexico and California. I’ve been to New Mexico and lived in California, both are beautiful!

    I worked most of the week but on Friday my daughter and I went and saw Jesus Revolution and we both loved it!

    1. I would like to spend more time in New Mexico. We always seem to be passing through. But at least we have managed to make time for White Sands National Park and Carlsbad Caverns.

  13. Cindy Davis

    Love the pictures! I hope you enjoy all of these. Have a great week!

  14. I love the desert photos! I’m always tempted to move to a desert because I love them, but I know I’d die in the summer. I hope you have a great week!

    1. We’ve never visited any desert-ish areas in the summer. I like heat but I think I would die in that kind of heat. We’ll just stick with the off season!

  15. What is warmth? I am unfamiliar with this concept…. we need some better weather where I am! Lol. Enjoy your books!

    1. I’m sure warmth is a very distant memory for you up there in the northern wilds! ๐Ÿ™‚

  16. Mae Sander

    Driving from Las Cruces to near San Diego sounds great. Weโ€™ve been in both areas fairly recently โ€” a couple weeks ago in San Diego we had a lot of rain and windy days, and I gather thatโ€™s continuing. Nice photos!

    bestโ€ฆ mae at maefood.blogspot.com

  17. Mark

    I’m sorry your time in “sunny” southern CA includes so much rain. I’m ready for some sun and warmth as well. We needed the rain, but it’s time for some sun again.

    1. This pounding, destructive rain just doesn’t seem good for anything. It does seem to be helping with the drought conditions, so we’ll look for the silver lining in all these clouds.

  18. Greg

    Beautiful pics! Especially the first one. Hope you have a great weekend! It’s 23 here and we got a blizzard, so I imagine it’s nicer there ๐Ÿ™‚

    I did watch The Rings of Power, BTW. I loved it! I thought visually it captured the feel of Middle- earth, and while it may have taken some liberites with the source, I thought on balance it was great!

    1. No thank you to the blizzard!

      We liked Rings of Power as well. I’m not familiar with that source material at all (Is it The Silmarillion?) but we appreciated it for what it was. Though some of the scenes were so dark, we were looking at each other like, “What on earth is happening?” That seems to be a terrible trend in shows lately.