Not that I am addicted to this site, but I have written several extra blogs to "cover" the time I will be away. My daughter and I are taking a trip to the New York/Washington D. C./Canada area… and, since I have post-dated this particular blog for the 28th… We left a couple of days ago!

My husband and son took a trip last summer, and since this is the very first summer that my daughter hasn’t been in some type of internship (since she was in the ninth grade!), we decided that the girls would venture out on their own. The car trip we had planned to take a month ago fell through, so we were especially glad that we had already signed up for this particular tour of the Northeast.

In the past, I have written a few blogs about car trips, and how easy our technology has made them. Today’s GPSs and cell phones make hotel arrangements almost obsolete. Last summer, I flew out to California so that I could join my daughter on her drive home from her summer internship, and I couldn’t get over how easy the trip was. We were able to locate hotels with the GPS, and then call  home so that my husband could Google the phone numbers we needed to make our reservations.  I can still remember rushing to make the 6:00 hotel check-in times only fifteen years ago! Or, driving around to find a telephone booth so that we could call the hotel and make sure they didn’t give our room to some other road-traveller at 6:01 pm.

Now, it seems, my biggest "headache" for our trip involves deciding which books I am going to take!  My husband has made it possible for me to download my audible.com books right onto a tiny, little MP3 player. I have to select my top 20 UNabridged books that I want to take with me. I can honestly tell you that for someone who was born in 1955, this is absolutely mind-boggling! Can you imagine taking 20 (physical) books with you on a flight where you are limited to the amount of luggage you can take?

Since I am making my way through the Brother Cadfael books (by Ellis Peters), I am definitely taking (or should I say "I have taken…"? since I have already left! ) the next five of those… The books are quite a bit different than the television shows, but just as enjoyable. Ellis Peters is by far one of my favorite authors for historical mysteries… and she’s quite cozy, at that! I tried reading some of her Inspector Felse novels, but didn’t enjoy them. I know that a major down-fall I have as a cozy mystery reader is that if I like one series by a particular author, I usually don’t like their other works. There are a few exceptions to this absurd feeling of mine, so, once I finish the Cadfael books I will definitely try an Inspector Felse’s book, again.

Also in my carry-on bag…my last few Dalziel and Pascoe books (by Reginald Hill), and although I have already read them, some Markby and Mitchell books (by Ann Granger)… The Markby/Mitchell series is a good series to follow… if you haven’t already. Markby is a Chief Inspector and Mitchell is a diplomat. I know that traditionally, cozies aren’t supposed to have professional sleuths… but since Mitchell does a lot of the sleuthing… and since there is no superfluous sex or violence, they qualify as cozies to me!

Well, I’m off to download the books that I have, at the time you are reading this, already downloaded. (I will be posting a few more post-dated blog entries while I am away.) 

Friday was my housework day… That’s right, when I’m not tending to the store (or in this case… the site) or writing my blog, life goes on. As much as I would love to sit here writing, surfing, interacting, etcetera-ing, I still have drudgery-types of tasks that have to be done around the house.

I know that I have blogged about this tedious task of housework before, so bare with me…

I really don’t know how I performed those awful, yet necessary chores before I started listening to my books! Don’t get me wrong… as much as I enjoy listening to my mysteries, dusting and vacuuming are still just that, dusting and vacuuming.

BUT…

Listening to Colin Buchanan read my current Dalziel and Pascoe book by Reginald Hill  (unabridged, of course!) ALMOST makes pushing the vacuum a cinch.

Listening to Lisette Lecat read my current  Mma  Ramotswe, Mma Makutsi, and Mr. J.L.B. Mate-koni book by Alexander McCall Smith, with all of the wonderful Botswana stories and happenings ALMOST makes my Swifter dusting a little swifter.

Listening to Davina Porter read my current Isabel Dalhousie novel, which not only includes Isabel’s sleuthing, but also her  “Review of Applied Ethics” articles  ALMOST makes cleaning the bathrooms a snap. 

Listening to Stephen Thorne engross us with Ellis Peters‘ stories about twelfth century Brother Cadfael, as he discovers herbal clues and   basic forensic details that others around him miss ALMOST makes scouring the kitchen sink a piece of cake.

As I said before, I know that I have blogged about the virtues of listening to books on tape before, but once you have tried it, you will see just how much of a chore it takes out of your chores. Unless you have the luxury of having someone else clean your home for you, you really owe it to yourself to try listening to one of your favorite authors/books on tape. Remember……. most local libraries carry lots of different books for your reading… or should I say listening… pleasure.

More information about Alexander McCall Smith‘s four (currently!) series.