Hi friends! How are you holding up?
It has been a stressful/scary couple of weeks and its seems it is is only the beginning. I hope you all are well and safe! 😊
It feels like March was super long, doesn’t it? 😣
In the beginning of the month I got to see Emma with dear-friend Samantha! 💕
We both liked it a lot more than expected. And it will definitely be one I add to my collection! 🙌🏼
And then after that…?? It has been all COVID-19 life. 😷
I’ve mostly been focused on adapting and making decisions for my business, (which is still open I’m happy to say!). We are just teaching all our lessons virtually. 💻🎹Something that is new for around 95% of teachers and students (including myself.) 😮
And as of Monday, Netherfield Nook also has become my new piano teaching room. 😝
Also, in case you didn’t see it on social media – this is my massive pile of unread books. 😧Bigger than 2019 for sure! But we will see how big a dent I can make in it during all these weeks of self-isolation. 📚#ChallengeAccepted
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Want to know what Austenesque fun I’m getting into this month?
…here is what’s on this month’s
Austenesque Agenda:
~ TO REVIEW ~
~ TO READ AND REVIEW ~
~ TO READ ~
(I anticipate having a bit of extra reading this month 😉, so I’m thinking I can fit in 2 books that I want to read, but don’t need to review.)
~ FEATURED AUTHORS VISITING THIS MONTH ~
Lari Ann O’Dell – April 6th
Rebecca May – April 10th
Monica Fairview – April 13th
Florence Gold – April 17th
L.L. Diamond – April 24th
Kara Pleasants – April 27th
Lucky you got to see Emma before the lockdown! Good luck with the virtual lessons (at least you should get much inspiration from your surroundings!)
Great selection of books and authors this month as usual.
I’ve read A Matter of Honor, Lost & Found, Falling for Mr Darcy and Undoing and I look forward to your thoughts on those and the others on the agenda.
Stay safe Meredith!
Lucky indeed…I think one week later and we would have had an issue.
Inspiration or distraction….must be careful that my eyes don’t wander over to the bookshelves, because my mind will surely follow!
Hope you stay well, sweet friend!
Another busy month! Keep up the good work. I love the pictures in your banner. Love! Happy reading from the PacNW…where there was an earthquake in Idaho yesterday and it tried to snow here at my house in WA this morning. (Step away from the Jumanji board.)
Thank you, I’ve been having some fun with them.
That is insane?! LOL! Time to stay in bed!
I love your pictures on your web page header. They always make me smile. You’re getting pretty creative in showcasing the books you are reading. Well done, also, hello to your Mr. Bingley. I’m sure he is missing music gigs too. Blessings to both of you, stay safe and keep healthy.
Thank you, Jeanne! I’ve been really happy with this feature…didn’t know how it would look until I started.
Yes, sadly no music gigs and no travels…it is a strange time.
Hope you stay well!
I can’t think past my husband’s birthday on Friday. I ordered something to make his cake special since I haven’t been able to shop, and it may not make it.
denise
Oh, I hope it arrives in time! And I hope you have fun celebrating your husband’s birthday. That is lovely that you are making it special!
It did, thank you!
That’s wonderful! I am so glad!
Thanks as always for your wonderful lists! It looks like you are doing Skype or Zoom or something of the sort too. 17 of my kids are doing Skype right now and 1 on Zoom. Some are waiting. Hopefully not to long. Love your stack of books. Happy reading and teaching. Jen ♫
Would you believe that most my students are doing FaceTime? Just a few on Zoom. It has been kind of fun…a good deal more work on my end. But I love seeing my students still and sometimes I get to see their puppers and kitties! Same here!
Hope you enjoy a lovely month!
I got to see Emma in the theater, too. I enjoyed it and want a copy for my collection. Neat that you’re able to adapt some of your work for home. Whew, that’s a towering pile. I won’t even share how big mine is. LOL Go tackle that pile!
Looks like some fun blog visitors coming.
Have a good April, Meredith!
So happy to hear that you enjoyed Emma in the theater and want it for your collection. 🙂
LOL! Thanks! I will see what I can do. 😉
Hope you enjoy a lovely April as well!
Hang in there Meredith!! I think it great you are able to teach virtually. My daughter is a teacher and is currently organizing and contacting and planning for virtual teaching starting April 6th with her students. I honestly don’t believe the kids will be going back to school until September. My workout studio is doing workout programs on Youtube now and I have been doing them every other day and walking when the weather is nice. Love your pile of books and I can only imagine what my Kindle tbr pile would look like!
You have a great line-up of visitors and books. I just read ‘Undoing’ and it was great! I can’t wait for Monica’s book to come out! You have two interesting Regency romance books for this month. I checked them out and just might add those to my pile too!
So stay safe. Stay healthy. Stay sane and read!
It hasn’t been too bad to adapt to teaching virtually…it is a little bit more work involved on my end – but totally worth it. I’m really have that all but 2 of my students are happy to do virtual lessons during this time. 😉
That is great to hear that you are enjoying walking and workout via Youtube (that is what I do for exercise too!)
So glad you are interested in the Regency Romance stories as well – it looks like I’m fitting in about one a month of those, so I’m excited. 😉
Great list of books! I just recently read “A Matter of Honor” and really enjoyed it, I think you will as well. I am in the DR and they it is looking like they will have a 24 hour lock down coming soon. We only have just over 1200 cases but their resources are not anywhere close to what the US has so they have to be more aggressive. So lots of time to read and study for an exam….just don’t know when I can take the exam now so it is an indefinite study timeline…so that means it won’t cut into my reading time…lol
I have been an online English teacher for 3 years so I have learned a lot, please feel free to reach out to me if you have questions. There are a lot of video tools that can make things super easy to use to help teach, lots of them free as well.
Thank you, Danielle! I am so happy to hear you loved A Matter of Honor – Abigail Reynolds’s books are always one I am excited to look forward too!
I hope you are doing well in DR and managing to find happiness and normalcy during the lockdown. And yes!! Hopefully being able to read a lot helps you adapt to the situation!!
Thank you so much for the kind offer of help! I am so far doing okay with it – most of my students are FaceTiming for their lesson, so nothing too fancy or unfamiliar. 😉
Hi Meredith! Thanks for keeping your blog in such times like these, it’s like trespassing a beautiful world with so many books, authors and the friendly community online! 😉
It’s like taking a breath of fresh air!
Your AR is full of plans as always, WOW
Your pile of books is awesome!
I’m glad you can still work and your piano room looks really smart.
As you are a piano teacher and love music, maybe you want to listen to a famous spanish song of the 60’s which nowadays has become the hymn against the covid: “Resistiré ” by the Duo Dinamico and the new version of it performed by 30 singers (you can listen to it on the official link on YouTube). I’m sure Mr Bingley will translate it for you ;). It’s a song about the power of the human beings when faced to obstacles. Although, now that I think, in USA you have the inspiring “I will survive ” by Gloria Gaynor so…what a good thing to sing these songs…and, of course, to read beautiful novels!
A big hug my friend and I wish you all a peaceful april!
Teresa, dear friend, I would be so lost without my blog right now! I could never not think of keeping it going!! I am so happy it is a place you like to come to!!! Thank you so much for being apart of this community and helping make it the friendly place it is!
I am ambitious this month, my friend! Might even try to do a little more!
Thank you for the song recommendation!! I love it!! It combines two genres of music I love – Spanish/Latin music and 80s music!! And I love the new version, what a positive and patriotic thing to do! It is things like this that do so much good at such a time! I’ve added both versions to my playlist! Thank you for sharing, Teresa! I don’t know if I would have discovered it otherwise!
Hugs to you!
Your April Agenda has already been hitting the ground running, but I still want to say YAY!!! Nice list. I’ve read several of the books above already and am looking forward to your ideas on them. The rest I’m not already familiar with looks really great this month, too.
Woo hoo! That is an impressive stack of books! So glad you are able to continue your teaching online, excellent for the student and pretty darned important for the teacher. Yes, this is all scary. Your blog helps me not to dwell on the scariness of it too much. Even with everyone mentioning it, it feels like a positive sharing, not a rant. So thank you, Meredith. Hang in there, and take care of yourselves.
Your posts always make me smile. I am so proud you are able to work from home and pray God’s protection over you and Mr. Bingley. Looking forward to all the books and authors you will feature this month!
My pastor has used ZOOM for Bible Study and for Sunday church service. The funeral parlor used it for my 99 year old father-in-law’s funeral as only the sons and their wives were allowed to attend. Grandchildren and great grandchildren watched on Zoom. I just finished reading Undoing and loved it. Already read and enjoyed A Matter of Honor, Lost and Found and Falling for Mr. Darcy. Please stay safe. Glad you found to way to continue with the lessons you give.