JaneG

Please note: I'll be away in the middle of December. I promise to rate anything I receive as soon as I return.

Hello! I live in AZ with my husband and am mostly retired. I spent most of my working life in the book field: bookstores, a book distributor, and library assistant. As you can probably guess, I really like books.

I also really like to travel. For 18 years of my life I lived in England and was fortunate to visit many places in Europe. Now in my later years, I have become enamored by cruising. Annoyingly so. I will go on about it at length with little provocation. For me there's something incredibly exciting about being on a ship. This does not stop me from enjoying books, films, podcasts (Ship Hits the Fan) about shipwrecks.

I am also a huge fan of pole dance. Except at my age, I don't really do the dance part. I prefer the hanging upside down in a precarious position bit. I'm the oldest person in my pole class by at least a couple decades but I find it incredibly fun and always something new to learn. And with arthritis and osteoporosis, I found it is a great way to build muscle and strengthen bones. I'm inspired by Greta Pontarelli who, at the age of 73, is a 15x World Master Champion (she too has osteoporosis).

Quirky history, sea voyages and shipwrecks.

Scandinavian mysteries and good old fashioned ghost stories.

Folktales - especially those with unhappy endings.

Books with unreliable narrators.

Now with the holidays coming up, I've got a small pile of seasonal reading, including...

"The Christmas Guest" by Peter Swanson

"The Night Before Christmas" by Nikolai Gogol

"The Family Clause" by Jonas Hassen Khemiri

"Santa Cruise" by Mary and Carol Higgins Clark

"The Matzah Ball" by Jean Meltzer

To dance to - 1950's music.

To sing badly to - 1980's songs.

When I'm feeling wild - rockabilly.

When I'm feeling tired - mellow jazz.

In the dead of night - spooky murder ballads.

My public playlists on Spotify (by hauntedfondue-us):

Hearing Double - a wide array of cool covers

Killer Murder Ballads - just what the name says

Vintage postcards

black and white photos

book and music recommendations

folk art and folk tales

urban legends

old maps and travel ephemera

ghost stories

bookmarks

patches - especially of places like parks or attractions

I enjoy when the sender adds their own personal touch to the card, however they feel inspired.

Religious tracts

political pamphlets

advertisements

a photo of your uncle asleep after Christmas dinner

I've gotten into crochet and have started some Christmas afghan projects. I'm not terribly great at it, but I'm really good at long rows of colorful stripes.

I like to create things for my garden. I've made a retaining wall and mosaic stepping stones. Growing things in the garden is another story. Cacti and weeds seem to do best. I recently made a heart shaped raised flower bed in memory of my Mom. Not sure what will work in our AZ heat, but it's a satisfying project.

Currently I'm liking ...

Dark Histories

You're Dead to Me

Stuff You Missed in History Class

Radio Rentals

Snap Judgement - Spooked

Always open to suggestion for new history, ghost stories or weird science podcasts.