Hello everyone and a blessed Sunday to you all. I hope this post finds you all well. A wet week has passed and now let’s reflect on what we’ve been doing, reading and watching over that time.
Well it has thankfully been a much calmer week than last at school, because our headteacher has taken the cautious decision to slowly increase pupil numbers at school, based on risk assessments, social distancing and parent’s wishes, too; which I think is a good idea. So my small group of pupils has only increased by two. In other news, my cousin had her little baby girl on Wednesday (just call me Auntie Jessica) 👶; I enjoyed a well-needed fun Zoom catch-up with some Christian friends on Friday night 💻; and today is my birthday! 🥳
It has also been a great week of reading for me, where I finished reading the stunning historical-fiction, The Phantom Tree by Nicola Cornick: the gripping tale of the loves, losses and adventures of Alison Banestre and her cousin, Mary Seymour, which slipped between present day and 1557, and had a dash of the supernatural for good measure, too! 🌳 Now, I have just started reading the cosy crime caper, The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman, about a group of amateur sleuths in an upmarket retirement village. 🔎
Alongside these, I also finished dipping in and out of my new cookbook, The Green Roasting Tin by Rukmini Iyer, an interesting collection of vegan and vegetarian one tray recipes, which got me salivating and I am looking forward to trying some of them out soon! 🥘
While on the small screen, after a re-watch of series one, I moved on to the newly released series two of the supernatural drama, A Discovery of Witches, about a world where witches, vampires and demons live secretly among us, based on Deborah Harkness’s All Souls trilogy. 🧙♀️ So far, so good! I have also continued dipping in and out of Netflix’s travel and health documentary series, Down to Earth with Zac Efron, which I am continuing to find fascinating and well Zac Efron… I included a photo of him this time – You’re welcome! 😉
For now, that’s all folks! Today will be a quiet day of being pampered, reading, blogging and watching my church’s online service. I look forward to catching up with you all next Sunday. Where ever you are in the world, I hope you and your loved ones are well: staying healthy and happy. God bless and bye for now!👋🙏🙂
Now I’d love to hear from you: How you are? What you have been reading and watching? What nice things have happened this week for you?
I have linked this post into the weekly meme, The Sunday Post hosted by Kimberly @ Caffeinated Reviewer.
thebookwormchronicles.wordpress.com 
Happy birthday!
I’m glad that school is settling despite all the chaos in the world. We’re finally settling into the home school routine again and are wondering how long it’ll all last this time… I’m personally not convinced it’ll only be until Feb half term but I guess we’ll see!
I binge-watched S1 of A Discovery of Witches in a single day… I just couldn’t turn it off! I was captivated. I don’t plan on watching S2 until I can do the same again (plus, I’ll need to temporarily sign up for Now TV to watch it so I want it all available to minimise the cost, lol)
Thank you, Nicci 😊 and I am not going to be holding my breath that the current situations with schools will only last till February half-term either! 😉 Also great to hear you enjoyed a binge watch of series 1 of A Discovery of Witches and I hope won’t be too long till you can do the same with series 2. 🤞
Happy birthday! Congrats on becoming an Auntie, and good luck with school. Have a great week!
Thank you, Aj! 😁
Happy Birthday. I hope you’ve had a lovely birthday, even if things are a little different 😉
Stay safe and happy reading.
Thank you, Maureen 🙂
Happy Birthday! I am glad to hear it was decided to ease into school. It sounds like a smart move all around. Congratulations on becoming an aunt! I am so glad to hear you enjoyed The Phantom Tree. I hope to read that one someday. I hope you have a great week!
Thank you so much! 😁
Happy birthday! Hope you had a wonderful day. The situation at your school sounds positive and nice that they only added 2 kids. Hope you have a great week!
Hello Katherine, thank you for stopping by and commenting. Always lovely to hear from a new face and I had a nice birthday, thank you. 😊
Happy birthday! And congrats to your cousin! Hope things go well at school as well.
Your books sound good!
Be well this week!
Thank you so much, Greg 😊
Happy Birthday, Auntie Jessica! Sounds like a good week all round – hope you have a lovely pampering! 😀
Thank you, FF 😊
A belated happy birthday Jessica!
Thank you, Heather (although in UK time you managed to get your well wishes in still on my birthday) 😊
Happy birthday! What fun to open presents that are waiting for you.
Enjoy your books and your week, and thanks for visiting my blog.
Thank you so much, Laurel-Rain 😊
Happy Birthday, Jessica! I hope you’ve had a lovely day. I’m glad you enjoyed The Phantom Tree – I read it a few years ago and loved it!
Thank you, Helen 😊
Happy birthday Jessica ! Enjoy your veggie cookbook and those two novels, The murder club and The phantom tree, that I’ve already heard so much about and make me salivate. Have a great week !
Thank you so much! 😁
I really want to read ‘The Thursday Murder Club’. I’m on the waitlist at the library, but it’s like 245 days away. I might just end up buying it instead. Have a great week!
Oh no that is a long wait, I hope it doesn’t drag too much as you wait to get your hands on a copy of The Thursday Murder Club!! 🤞🙂
Happy Birthday, Jessica! Congrats to your cousin.
The Thursday Murder Club sounds like a book I would like. It’s on my wishlist.
I hope you have a great week!
Thank you, Yvonne and I hope it won’t be long till you get your hands on a copy of The Thursday Murder Club. 😊
Happy Birthday Jessica! May you be blessed in abundance this year!
I hope you enjoy The Thursday Murder Club so that you can tell me all about it. It’s on my TBR List!
We’ve watched the first series of A Discovery of Witches and it was quite good.
Have a good week and happy reading!
Oh and thanks for visiting us!
Thank you so much, Mareli and Elza 😊 Glad to hear you enjoyed the first series of A Discovery of Witches and I can report that so far I am thoroughly enjoying The Thursday Murder Club. 🙂
Happy Birthday, Auntie Jessica!!! 🎉🎁I hope the coming week is good to you.
The cookbook sounds good.
Thank you, Kelly 😊
Happy Birthday!
I do love a good cosy mystery and will have to check the Thursday murder club, it sounds really good. I am glad that you are one of the sensible Christians who are still attending online church services. Am I the only one who thinks having churches open during lockdown is a little crazy?
Thank you, Charlotte! 😊 and I am thoroughly enjoying The Thursday Murder Club, so I hope you will be able to check it out. As for church, I would dearly love to be able to attend, so can sympathise with those that are open, but thankfully the choice was taken out of my hands as our vicar chose to reclose the building when the numbers spiked again to protect our older members. We are blessed with lots of online services and groups to tide us over until it safe to open again.
Happy Birthday and congratulations!! What a celebratory week you are having! The Phantom Tree sounds divine and you know I share your passion for Discovery of Witches. Have a wonderful week, Jessica!
Thank you, Tessa – It certainly was a celebratory week! 😁 I hope we both continue to enjoy A Discovery of Witches and that you’ll get the chance to check out The Phantom Tree at some point, too.
I hope you have a really lovely birthday, Jessica! And glad that the situation at school is settling into some kind of routine – the children so desperately need a sense of normality… I hope the coming week is a good one for you. Stay safe:)).
Thank you so much, SJ 😊