Can you believe it is already fall? I can! Today, our high is way down: projected to only be 91*! Fall is in the air! I hope you all have great autumns/falls!

I just got out my autumn/fall candles, and am working on finishing up the summer/spring remnants I have been using. I know I have mentioned (more like complained about!) the fact that we don’t have four distinct seasons. One of the things that I do to help make it more “season-ish” is to use different types of scents in the house during the four different seasons.

I don’t enjoy baking, but I do enjoy the scents of traditionally autumn baking smells. So, during this season, I use scents like banana nut bread and warm apple pie. Of course, this is quite misleading to those who don’t realize it’s not an actual pie they are smelling…

During the winter I use a lot of evergreen scents and in the summer/spring I use clean, lemony smells. My daughter isn’t crazy about the scents, so I don’t use them when she is home… which, unfortunately isn’t very often. (Although, she doesn’t mind the evergreen during the holidays, when we have our artificial tree up.)

I haven’t decorated my computer desk in a while, and am thinking about doing so for this fall season. My computer desk is an absolute mess right now… with five piles of reminder notes I have written to myself. I should probably go through those piles before thinking about putting up some seasonal stickers. The things I do to get the seasonal feelings I grew up with!

Do any of you have certain things you like to do to celebrate autumn/fall?

I have considered Ruth Rendell one of my very favorite mystery authors for a long time. I have kept this particular Ruth Rendell paperback for a while, hoping that I could use these quotes in one of my entries. So, here goes!

Here is an author review on the cover of Ruth Rendell’s The Best Man to Die 1975 paperback:

The Boston Globe: “The best mystery writer anywhere in the English-speaking world.”

Here are the reviews from the inside cover of Ruth Rendell’s The Best Man to Die 1975 paperback:

Los Angeles Times Book Review: “Chief Inspector Wexford…is an erudite, thorough investigator….He is a compassionate man, who can put the screws on if need be.”

Kirkus Reviews: “The page-by-page storytelling-wry, superbly paced, full of arresting character details-is still unsurpassed in the mystery field.”

New York Daily News: “Ruth Rendell is the finest living practitioner of the mystery genre.”

The New York Times Book Review: “There aren’t many writers like Ruth Rendell who are highly prolific and yet maintain a consistently high standard….Miss Rendell is a plot prestidigitator who has mastered all the tricks of her trade. Including writing.”

Here are the reviews on the back of Ruth Rendell’s The Best Man to Die 1975 paperback:

The New York Times Book Review: “You cannot afford to miss Ruth Rendell?”

Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine: “For readers who have almost given up mysteries… Rendell may be just the woman to get them started again.”

Saturday Review: “First-rate entertainment.”

So, here is my question: Do reviews matter to you?

Thank you all for your very kind comments, and for your well wishes. My husband is back home, and will be taking it easy this week. This was his third bout with the same illness, and the shortest hospital stay he has had, so we are very pleased. His doctor says that he is an enigma of sorts… They have no idea what brings his illness on. But the good news is that he is now able to detect the symptoms as soon as they start, and the sooner he is admitted to the hospital, the shorter his hospital stay.

He had a single room… which he hasn’t had before. One time he shared rooms with a man who insisted on watching television all of the time (mostly cartoons), which my husband wasn’t too happy about.  But being the way he is, he never asked the man to at least to turn the TV down.

This time, my husband’s “hospital control” worked – as far as calling the nurse to let her know when his IV was empty, but the television portion of the control didn’t work. Fortunately, my daughter came up with a solution for this problem: We headed over to Walmart and bought a very cheap universal control which worked out great. He was able to watch a few football games when he wasn’t reading his Kindle. Between his Kindle Science News and an Ellery Queen mystery, the football games on television, and much needed bed rest, he was able to keep himself occupied.

Again, thank you all for the very encouraging comments, prayers, and well wishes.

 I’m glad he’s back home!