The Windsor Knot, a favorite book with Queen Elizabeth II solving a murder

 

I loved every minute of reading this book and when it ended I had a warm feeling of happiness. I felt comforted by how The Windsor Knot's author, SJ Bennett, portrayed the central character. Queen Elizabeth II is close to 90 in this book and is written as kind, highly intelligent and perceptive as she attempts to solve a crime. A visitor is murdered in Windsor Castle. The Queen's love of dogs and horses and her quiet faith feature in this book, and she is brilliant in dealing with a mediocre intelligence man who tries to solve the case. It seems to me like Bennett knew the Queen well, which she did not in real life. I am giving The Windsor Knot a prime place of honor in my short list of best books I've ever read.

I am happy to learn that there is a second book in this series, All the Queen's Men. That is the title of the USA edition, I rather think I prefer the title of the British edition, A Three Dog Problem. Now you know those dogs must be Corgis or Dorgis, favorites of the Queen. Another in the series is to be published in 2024. I already bought All the Queen's Men.  Anyone else reading this new series?

My new exercise bike and a Heart Monitor for Me!

 Do you sometimes put off doing something? I've been thinking about buying a recumbent exercise bike for a long time, maybe a year, mentioning it to family and friends. 

Well I have one! On March 12 my sons surprised me with the gift of the above JeeKee brand bike, they brought it over and set it up. No more procrastination. It is in my living room and I can sit on it and read a book or watch TV. It even tells me my pulse rate and how far I've gone and how many calories I've burned. I think we all know it takes a LOT of exercise to work off the calories of ice cream for dessert.

So far I am using it a few minutes each day. It is completely silent and uses magnets so there is no friction to create noise. My main goal with it is to raise my heart rate a bit. Sauntering with my pup twice a day is good for body and soul, but pup likes to check and send his email/AKA pee mail so we stop along the way. Anybody else have an exercise bike and any tips on using it?

My Heart Monitor

I added this note on April 14 to this post and will post more soon in a new post. I will get a heart monitor next week, it sticks to your chest for about 2 weeks. The reason for this is that on April 7 while walking my dog I suddenly felt exhausted, it was hard to walk home and when I sat down at home my heart was pounding hard for about 10 minutes. My younger son drove me to the Emergency Room on Saturday where they did lots of tests which all show my heart is healthy. It was scary! So the heart monitor will gather more info. More later. Have you worn a heart monitor?

My sons and I were happy that we continued our Easter plans and went to church the next day. It was joyful, about 400 people, more people there since before Covid, and 16 people were baptized, from age 10 and up, with many in their 20s, 30s and 40s. This gives us hope for the future of the church, new young members. After church I rested and my sons prepared our Easter feast.

Happiest News, Easter Promise

 

He is not here

He has risen,

Just as he said.  Matthew 28:6

Yes, if you say yes to Jesus' offer to follow him he promises eternal life with him in heaven and on the new earth. That is a joy to know him and to know we will have happy reunions in heaven. 

Philippians 2:5-7 “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.”

I hope you all have a weekend of beauty and grace whether with family or friends or alone. There is much in this world of beauty.

Yellow and Purple for Easter week in my garden

Yellow and purple in my garden this Easter week. 

The yellow shrub is Leucospermum from South Africa, AKA Pincushion. I also planted an orange colored variety 'Sunrise'. I planted the Leucospermum and the purple Pride of Madeira in June 2019 and I love how they have grown a lot. The Pride of Madeira, Echium fastuosum, is now 6 feet tall and wide and the bees love it. The photo below of High Gold Leucospermum shows how they get their nickname of Pincushion.

These plants are in my front yard where all passersby can enjoy. In my previous post you can see the devastation caused by my next door neighbor's tree falling, which stood near these beauties. Happily my garden was not harmed, the main problem was the tree knocked out power to three homes. So I am happy to be able to share these photos of beauty with you.