Of All the Things I Have Lost, I Miss....

Above picture:  Dead Fish Hat.   Picture was from here .   Instructions are there, too.  So, let me tell you how I found out about these hats....  I have a big, awful birthday this month.  It is bothering me more than I thought it would.  I am used to catching my reflection in glass here and there and wonder who that older woman is.  She looks somewhat familiar.  I have gradually developed lumps and bumps and wrinkles and sages.  And, I have lost the ability to lose myself in a book for a long period of time.  I used to read for hours.  I was a fast reader and I could read several books a week.  These past few years, however, I have found that my mind wanders when reading and I just can't stay focused.  A few people recommended books by Patterson because the chapters are short.  That helped.  I have an Ipad with a Kindle ap and found out you can get e-books from the library.  Problem is they "disappear" magically at the end of the lending period and some are only good for a week.  Well, I just get about half-way through a book, and, poof!.  Gone.  Get on the waiting list again.  Wait.  Book is back, but I don't remember what the story was about, the characters, or where I left off.  Get about halfway.  Poof.  I got frustrated and bought the book on Amazon for $4.99.  Cheap therapy.  I have discovered that I can pay more attention if the books are mysteries, and, especially if they are "cozy" mysteries.  From Wikapedia "Cozy mysteries, also referred to simply as "cozies," are a subgenre of crime fiction in which sex and violence are downplayed or treated humorously , and the crime and detection take place in a small, socially intimate community. The detectives in such stories are nearly always amateurs and frequently women. They are typically well-educated, intuitive, and often hold jobs (caterer, innkeeper, librarian, teacher, dog trainer, shop owner, reporter) that bring them into constant contact with other residents of their town and the surrounding region. Like other amateur detectives, they typically have a contact on the police force who can give them access to important information about the case at hand, but the contact is typically a spouse, lover, friend or family member rather than a former colleague. Dismissed by the authorities in general as a nosy busybodies (particularly if they are middle-aged or elderly women), the detectives in cozy mysteries are thus left free to eavesdrop, gather clues, and use their native intelligence and intuitive "feel" for the social dynamics of the community to solve the crime.
The murderers in cozies are typically neither psychopaths nor serial killers, and, once unmasked, are usually taken into custody without violence. They are generally members of the community where the murder occurs, able to hide in plain sight, and their motives—greed, jealousy, revenge—are often rooted in events years, or even generations, old. The murderers are typically rational and often highly articulate, enabling them to explain, or elaborate on, their motives after their unmasking."  I especially like cozies that have to do with some sort of craft - sewing, knitting, cooking.  I was dashing into our local library to pick up a cook book that I ordered through inter-loan,  when, like a raccoon, something shiny caught my eye.  On the new book shelf was a mystery by Sally Goldenbaum, A Holiday Yarn.  A new Cozy!  It was an easy read, I was able to follow along.  Mentioned in the book were Dead Fish Hats that several of the characters had knitted for a local band.  Curious, I found out that there is a real pattern out there for these hats, pictured above.  I think one will be the next knervous knitting I will do.  I have checked out two more Goldenbaum cozies.  I hope the wandering mind won't be lost forever.  The cooking book?  Still not cracked open.  Jerilynn