Monday's random mutterings - May 11th 2015

To celebrate Spring, the quarterly reading challenge for the second quarter of 2015 - so, April 31st to June 30th 2015 - on one of the groups I'm a member of over on Goodreads was a Spring Scavenger Hunt!

All we had to do is to find and read a book for an item on the list.

These were the challenge levels:

1-3 Books: Budding Flower
4-6 Books: Patch of Clover
7-9 Books: Bright Sunflower
10-12 Books: Cherry Blossom Tree
12 + Books: Aspen Grove

This was the List:

-- Bee: A book that has yellow and black on the cover.
-- Butterfly: A book where a character goes through a metamorphosis of some type.
-- Bud: A book that has a baby or small child in it.
-- Mushroom: A book that either deals with or mentions illegal substances.
-- Ant: A book with a character(s) that are slaves, mindless drones, or working class.
-- Spiderweb: A book that "sticks" with you, or that you can't stop thinking about after you've read it.
-- Leaf: A book with a green cover.
-- Pond: A book that has a large body of water somewhere in the setting.
-- Snail: A book that moves at a snail's pace (or takes you a long time to read!).
-- A Nest: A book that focuses on family, or has a family as the main characters.
-- The Sun: A book that's warm and bright--very fun and happy.
-- Tree: A book that's at least 450 pages in length.
-- Acorn: A book that's less than 300 pages in length.
-- Bird: A book that features something that can fly. (For example, superheroes that can fly, a pilot, airplanes, etc.).
-- Flower: A book that has more than 3 different colors on the cover.
-- Cricket: A book that has some type of music mentioned in it.
-- Rain: A book that deals with depression or has a character who is depressed.
-- Clouds: A book that has dreams in it.
-- Squirrel: A book that moves at a very fast pace, or that doesn't take you long to read it.
-- Seeds: A first book in a series.

And these are the books I read, and which items of the list they were for:

-- Butterfly: Mary Anne Saves The Day (The Baby-Sitters Club, #4) by Ann M. Martin.
-- Bud:The Truth About Stacey (The Baby-Sitters Club, #3) by Ann M. Martin.
-- Mushroom: Deceived (Star Wars: The Old Republic, #2) by Paul S. Kemp.
-- Ant: Revan (Star Wars: The Old Republic, #1) by Drew Carpyshyn.
-- Spiderweb: Charlie Dead And the So-Called Zombie Apocalypse (Charlie Dead, #1) by Geoff Camphire.
-- Pond: Legacy Of Mist And Shadows (The Age Of Awakenings, #3) by Diana L. Wicker.
-- Snail: The Ix by Andrew P. Weston.
-- A Nest: Dawn And The Impossible Three (The Baby-Sitters Club, #5) by Ann M. Martin.
-- The Sun: Kristy's Big Day (The Baby-Sitters Club, #6) by Ann M. Martin.
-- Tree: The White Princess (The Cousins' War, #5) by Philippa Gregory.
-- Acorn: Claudia And The Phantom Phone Calls (The Baby-Sitters Club, #2) by Ann M. Martin.
-- Bird: The Black Fairy And The Dragonfly by Paul G. Day.
-- Cricket: Dance Of The Robin by Sue Taylor.
-- Rain: Anne by Carmen Stevens.
-- Clouds: The Dreamweaver's Journey (The Age Of Awakenings, #1) by Diana L. Wicker.
-- Squirrel: Sam Visits The Farm by Sheryl Tidlund.
-- Seeds: Kristy's Great Idea (The Baby-Sitters Club, #1) by Ann M. Martin.

I wasn't sure how many I'd end up doing, but managed to achieve the "Aspen Grove" level, since I did most of them. Actually, I may have done them all, but I decided not to worry about the ones where you need books with colours of certain covers; I never do those, since I can't see for myself what colour cover my book has, and don't think it's important enough to ask for help with.

That's why I'm posting this now, even though I technically haven't done every single one, and there's still more than a month and a half in which to do them; because I'm calling it quits at this point.

***

Speaking of reading challenges...

My Goodreads reading goal for 2015 was 175 books, but I increased it to 200 around the end of April, because at that point I was 51% done with the original goal. Changing it took me from 51% down to 45% at the time.

I'm now at 51% again, and still ahead of the goal, but I'm not going to increase it any more.

***

The weather's been strange.

First it's warm enough that we're glad of the breeze blowing in from the ocean, and then it's cold enough that we need to put the heating on. So, I never know from one day to the next - sometimes from one hour to the next, in fact - if I'm going to be wanting to curl up in a blanket nest, or wishing for air conditioning.

I like most types of weather - though, I admit, I prefer colder weather, since I love snow - so I don't mind really. It's just a bit frustrating when it goes from one extreme to the other in such a short amount of time, and then back again.

Oh well, at least it makes for some excellent storms for me to listen to.

The seagulls like the storms too, since bad weather tends to bring the fish to the surface of the ocean; I hear them calling excitedly to one another as they fly above the rolling waves, with their sharp eyes gazing longingly down at the water in hopes of being the first to spot a fish. I feel sorry for the fish, but fish are a better diet for the gulls than our garbage.