It Is Just Not The Same

As a child, I remember the first Christmas morning I woke up after I knew Santa Clause was a big fat lie.  It was not the same.  A few years later,  I remember the Christmas I woke up after I had snooped and found all the presents ahead of time and knew what every one was going to get.  Talk about a flat experience.  Then as the years rolled by my Christmas mornings became the year that great grandmother was not there anymore making gooey soft sweet cinnamon rolls to dive into after gifts were open,  or later my grandmother's fudge and my great aunt's nut bread were suddenly missing.   After magical years of my own children's Christmas mornings suddenly they were no longer little ones.  And the holidays since my mom died have been the worst - I learned not only that there WAS a Santa after all, but she had the nerve to go and die on me.  So as the years have rolled on I have found the best strategy for me is to grab what joy presents itself at holiday time and scale back the expectations.  That is why last weekend was so special.  My daughter came to visit me and we made memories.  We started the weekend with Friday Evening at the OUTLET MALL.  On Saturday we watched a matinee on NETFLIX  

before we had a magical meal at The Golden Lamb.   It was a magical meal.  They seated us in a window seat and we could watch the throng of people down town along with  preparations for the parade that we later watched after doing some down town shopping in the historical little Ohio town of Lebanon.  

I was sad when my daughter headed home on Sunday about noon.  But that afternoon we had some laughs as we had tickets to go see Jeff Dunham at the Nutter Center in Dayton.

Although I started my work week this past week tired,  I have to say that 2015 has so far been a holiday season to add some memories to the memory bank.  And I wish the same experience to every one else.

The Christmas Train by David Baldacci

The Christmas Train

by

David Baldacci

The audio version of The Christmas Train by David Baldacci is delightful.  It is filled with train whistles and the sound of the locomotion moving along the track.  There is Christmas music included in the performance.   The story itself is a fun one. Although some what typical of Christmas stories in some ways,  it has some surprising twists and turns in the way we all have come to expect from David Baldacci.  The book would be considered a comedy romance.  A middle aged investigative reporter is banned from flying for two years for a physical altercation with air port security.  In order to get to a vacation at Lake Tahoe for the holiday he takes a train.  He meets an assortment of interesting characters on the train,  along with a woman that is a blast from his past.  Things get dangerous as a fierce winter storm derails the train and they begin to run out of fuel, food and water.  Amidst the twists and turns of the novel Baldacci has woven the history of trains in the United States,  interesting facts about the towns and countryside the train travels through between Washington DC and LA, along with antidotes from and about Mark Twain.  I would very much recommend this book as a fun read or listen to for every one's holiday season.  Be sure to click on the author's name and book title above to follow the links to more information.  And enjoy the video that follows.

I Am Malala by Malala Yousafzai

I Am Malala

by

Malala Yousafzai

The local library in my town this fall started a daytime book group.  The December selection was I Am Malala by Malala Yousafzai.  It is the autobiography of the young girl that was an activist for girls education in Pakistan and, as a result of her activism,  was shot in the face by the Taliban.  It was a timely selection with the current news in the world for many reasons.  Malala explains in the book the many types of Islam.  I couldn't help but think, as I read all the different groups that make up Islam,  that in much the same way,  Christianity has many denominations of protestants and orthodox churches, as the Muslim religion has many variations in beliefs.  Although currently there may not be any denominations in Christianity that are expressing their opinions violently,  they have a violent history too.  Just ask the women of Salem Massachusetts in the 1600s, the women in the middle ages in Europe, or Joan Of Arc.  But I digress.  Malala also explains some Pakistan history in her book.  For example,  when Russia was in power in Afghanistan,  the United States provided arms to the Taliban to fight against the Russian control.  So we armed the Taliban.  The book also  describes the infection of Pakistan with the Taliban belief system.  The media was used to fill the minds of the people with the violent poison and hate.  Radio broadcasts frightened the people into following the Taliban leadership in much the same way one of our presidential candidates and some of our news reports  are spreading hate and fear in our population.  This made me, once again,  realize the importance of critical thinking skills.   People need an education that teaches them how to think critically and draw conclusions based on reason.  The last part of Malala's book covers the events following her being shot.  As an RN, I found the medical care she received a very interesting part of the book.   This book has a lot to say to a lot of people.  The young people in the USA should be required to read this book so that they can realize how precious their education is.  I highly recommend this book.  Please click on the title of the book and the author's name above to follow links to more information.  And enjoy the video that follows.

The Walnut Tree: A Holiday Tale by Charles Todd

The Walnut Tree:

A Holiday Tale

by

Charles Todd

Driving home tonight,  I finished listening to The Walnut Tree by Charles Todd.   It would be considered a historical romance and while I prefer a historical novel with a little romance to a romance novel with a little history, nevertheless I enjoyed this book.  It is about a nurse during WWI.  As an RN, I enjoy hearing about what nurses experiences may have been like during various time frames.  This book is not a real long book and it would be considered light reading.  It is a good choice for this time of year as it has a Christmas scene in it.  It is the second book I have read by Charles Todd and I will probably read more when I need a break from heavier books.  The novel was entertaining and enjoyable.  Please click on the author's name and book title above to follow the three links to more information and enjoy the video that follows.  Also more photos of WWI nurses can be found HERE.  

Night in at the movies - Spy

My daughter rented this movie and we watched it when we were up there last weekend.  It is a very funny movie.  A little parental guidance needed due to foul language.  Never the less a belly laugher.

The Rose Of Sebastopol by Katharine McMahon

The Rose Of Sebastopol

by

Katharine McMahon

The Crimean War is not a subject I know a lot about.  I am aware of it being considered sort of the birth place of the professional nurse due to the work of Florence Nightingale and others.  And since reading this novel I am interesting in learning more.  Katharine McMahon deals with the developing medical practices during the Crimean War time period while keeping one on their toes with gunfire and romance.  The Rose Of Sebastopol bounces back and forth between 1844 and 1854/55.  It deals with four rather loosely related cousins who are privileged British kids.  They are children playing in the 1844 portions and by 1855 are all drawn into the area of the Siege of Sebastopol.  I found the 1844 references annoying at times but yet I understood the importance of laying that background of how totally disconnected the youths were from what they ended up dealing with.  One of the reviews of the book said that the author was drawing a parallel with today and how disconnected many of us are from what is happening in the Middle East at this time.   Regardless,  the large parts of the book that deal with the emerging advances in both nursing and medical practices were very interesting to me.  One of the cousins was also an accomplished seamstress and I found the descriptions of her sewing projects very interesting.   Overall,  I enjoyed the book very much and will be enjoying more of Katharine McMahon's books.  Please click on the book title and author's name above to follow the links to more information.  And enjoy the video that follows with back ground information on the Crimean War.  

Product Review With Food Prep Idea - Salad Shears.

Ever since Subway started serving chopped salads I have looked for a tool like they use.  Most of the time when I find one,  it is for sale in a package with a cutting board.  And since I have plenty of cutting boards I kept passing on the salad chopper.  A couple of weeks ago,  when I was purchasing an immersion blender,  I happened to double check and JC Penny had one on sale for almost half the normal price so I grabbed it.  This afternoon I used it for the first time and it worked fine.  I used half of one of those spring greens plastic bins you buy in the grocery.  I have been buying those in spite of the non environmentally friendly packaging because they stay fresh longer than when I buy the bags, while still offering more variety than a head of ice berg lettuce.   I added a half cup of quinoa cooked from one of those mixes that have the seasoning in them.  Since you add olive oil in the preparation of the quinoa box mix I do not find any dressing needed on my salad.  Then I added a cooked chicken breast patty.  I took a deep breath and left off grated cheese,  croutons and bacon bits.  In the bowl with all those ingredients I used my salad chopper.  It turned out just like the ones at subway.  Usually at subway I get either the turkey or the tuna chopped salad and I am looking forward to trying them both at home.  

In The Woods by Tana French

In The Woods

by

Tana French

Mystery novels are not my normal genre.  They tend to be cozy cutsie things that I have figured out by the second chapter.  I do intersperse an occasional mystery between long historical novels that are long enough to  be used as door stops,  just to break up the sameness.  I consider the occasional mystery to be a fluff book to rest the mind.   Never the less,  I was thrilled to discover my local library started a new book group that fits my schedule and not the least bit anything but pleased that the  book for the first month that I was aware of the group is a mystery.  One of the main purposes of reading groups is to stretch one out of their normal genre.  Besides,  Tana French's novel In The Woods is not a cozy mystery.  It is a challenging and mind stretching psychological thriller that kept me guessing till the last page.   I did think early on that the person who turned out to be truly responsible was involved  but I could not reconcile her alibi, so the book kept me guessing right up to the end.  I am a little disappointed that the mystery within the mystery is never solved in the story line but over all the book is an excellent novel.  I think the people in the book drank too much and did not take very good care of themselves but perhaps that is a realistic picture of young detectives in Ireland.   To recap the story some,  there is a crime that takes place in the early 1980s where three children are playing in the woods and two of them disappear.   The one boy who returns home can't remember what happened.   Years later,  he becomes a detective.  His parents had his name changed and moved away in fear that who ever had grabbed the other two children would come after him.  But he returns to the area as an adult with his new identity twenty years later.  A child is found dead in the same woods, he is assigned to the case  and the story takes off from there.   This book is a good escape and I would encourage others to read it.  Please click on the author's name and book title above to follow the links to more information and enjoy the video that follows.

Product Review - Immersion Blender

Many of the soup recipes I have been finding in the low cal diet books and sites call for a step that uses an immersion blender.  I had no clue what they were talking about so I googled it and found that there was a wide price range and different features listed for different ones.  Wanting to know more and see them hands on,  I stopped in JC Penny last Wednesday while I was mall walking on a rainy afternoon.  They had the Kitchen Aid one on sale for half price and I love my Kitchen Aid table top mixer so I grabbed the immersion blender.  While doing my food prep for this week today,  I made a soup that required the use of an immersion blender.  I found the one I bought easy to use and it did a fine job.  I have no complaints.  It feels like it is of good quality in my hand.  The recipe I made is on Weight Watchers so I assume it has a copy write.  HERE is a link to it but I do not think you will be able to view it if you are not a member.   It tastes really good and is only five points.  If you want to google for a similar recipe the name is Coconut-Curry Pumpkin Bisque.  I tried to find the same one but could not.  I did find a similar one that sounded good.  It can be found at THIS  link.  Again,  I am very happy with the immersion blender that I purchased. 

Product review with recipe ideas: Stuff-a-Burger

I bought a few kitchen toys last week.  One was from a middle school fund raiser.  It is called a Stuff-a-burger.  I used it for the first time at lunch today.  It is pretty cool.  I did have to disassemble it and not use it as one piece.  Two pieces worked better for me instead of the hinged lid part.  And while using the ground chuck for Bruce's burgers it worked better than when using my ground turkey,  I found for my ground Turkey I had to press the bottom part into the bowl part and up the sides with my hands and once that part was formed, I used the utensil to flatten the meat on top and seal the burger around the stuffings.   For the stuffing, in Bruce's ground chuck burgers I used chopped onion,  chopped mushrooms and grated cheddar cheese and he ate his on a hamburger bun.  In my ground turkey burger,  the centers had chopped onion,  chopped mushroom and a mixture I use for various things.  It is comprised of plain yogurt with dry onion soup mix and ranch dressing mix stirred in.  I use this mixture as a veggie dip,  as a spread in place of mayo and in this case I substituted it for the grated cheese.  I placed my turkey burger on a slimwich sandwich bun. Since we were out of propane on the tanks on the gas grill I cooked them in separate non stick skillets with no added oil.   This was the most moist turkey burger I ever have had.  Bruce said he liked his hamburger too. It was  fun to use a new kitchen gadget and the results were yummy.  I think it would be a good kid kitchen craft as the children could pick from various items what they wanted to stuff their personal burger with.  I feel it was well spent money that supported a good cause.  

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

Miss Peregrine's Home for

Peculiar Children 

by

Ransom Riggs

Each October I try to either read or listen to a book that is just a little bit creepy for Halloween.  This year I really hit the nail on the head with Ransom Riggs's young adult masterpiece Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children.  I was the perfect Halloween book for me.  I chose to listen to it on audio, which I do while driving my commute to work,  and was on the edge of my car seat more than once.  The book even caused me to miss my turn a few times.   It is a delightful story about a somewhat nerdy young man named Jacob who is the beloved grandson of a Jewish man who survived the holocaust.  When the book began I assumed, as did Jacob's father, that  the grandfather was having schizophrenic episodes expressed by  his behavior and stories.  The grandfather is mysteriously killed by wild dogs,  and Jacob finds his grandfather.  At the time he finds him he insists that he saw a monster in the vicinity of his grandfather's body and that his grandfather was killed by the monster.  Then the father (and the reader) assumes that Jacob had a hallucination from the stress of finding his grandfather's mutilated body.  After a couple years of therapy, Jacob convinces his parents to let him visit the Welsh island his grandfather used to tell his stories about.   His parents agree,  hoping it will help Jacob find closure to realize all the outrageous stories his grandfather used to tell were just nonsense.   The remainder of the book is on edge of the chair,  time traveling,  monster fighting fun.  The book ends a little abruptly and leaves the reader wanting more.  I sure hope the rumors of a sequel are true.  The book has also been made into a movie that is to be released March of 2016.  Please click on the author's name and book title above to learn more.  And enjoy the video that follows.  While this book is not my normal genre,  it is a great book to read and enjoy for "young adults" of all ages.    And besides,  there is two more days of October left.   Spending the time with this book would be a great way to finish up the month!

The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander

The New Jim Crow

by

Michelle Alexander

In a very articulate manner,  Michelle Alexander presents shocking facts about what is happening in our nation's poor neighborhoods between the covers of  The New Jim Crow.   This book is an important work that should be read by everyone.  I disagreed with some parts of the book.  For example I do not think that we arrived where we are today by a systematic plan by those in power.  And I have had personal accountability too ingrained in my psychic not to think that there are some choices made by at least some of the victims in this situation.  Nevertheless,  the facts remain and speak for themselves and splitting hair over fault or pointing accusing fingers does not solve our current crisis.  There are innocents caught up in the system and there are great costs in human potential that is being wasted.  One can't argue with the reality that, even though I think we arrived where are more of a result of an evolution of events rather than a plan,  our current economic system is tied to sending people to prison.  Many people are employed by our nations private prison system.  It is big business.  A great deal of federal money is poured into police departments as rewards for arrest numbers.  And property in the form of cars and houses  along with cash, are confiscated by police departments with the cost of getting them back exceeding the value, causing many to loose their property.  As a nation,  we have a lot of work to do to repair the damage being done and to dismantle the system that is currently in use.  With our current events in recent years involving events in our cities to not read this book and educate ourselves about this problem amounts to poor citizenship. As I indicated,  one does not have to agree with all parts of an opinion in order to learn from the facts presented.  Please click on the author's name and book title above to learn more.  And watch the video that follows.

Dinner And A Movie

Last pm I drove up to my daughter's home in Indiana and we went to the apple orchard in order to make apple crisp today.  When we got home from the orchard we made Taco Soup and Crab Quesadillas.   While we had dinner we watched a movie that I have been wanting to watch for quite some time.  I had stopped by Red Box more than once and it had always been checked out.  The Woman In Gold is a wonderful movie!  Enjoy the trailer that follows and do rent and watch the movie!!

The Paris Architect by Charles Belfoure

The Paris Architect

by

Charles Belfoure

En route to my daughter's last pm, I finished listening to The Paris Architect.  The author does a wonderful job of describing Paris during the German Occupation of WWII.   The characters created are believable and quickly become individuals one cheers on for the duration of the book.  The architect referred to in the title is a timid French man who is,  while designing munitions factories for the Germans,  designing hiding places in apartments and homes throughout Paris.  These ingenuous hide-a-ways were being used to conceal Jewish people while arrangements were made to smuggle them out of the country.  There are portions of the book where the Gestapo is carrying out torture for interrogations that were hard to listen to but these parts make the architect's fear real to the reader/listener of this novel.   This is a well written book that is about a favorite time period in my preferred  genre.  I highly recommend it to others.  Please click on the author's name and title above to learn more.  In the story,  the architect's mistress is a fashion designer.  Please enjoy the video that follows about the survival of the fashion industry in Paris during the occupation.  

Go Set A Watchman by Harper Lee

Go Set A Watchman

by

Harper Lee

Prior to listening to Go Set A Watchman I refreshed my memory by listening to To Kill A Mockingbird and I highly recommend to anyone that  it has been a while since they read To Kill A Mockingbird to re-visit the book prior to reading this one.  I did not read the reviews of Go Set A Watchman prior to enjoying the book and I am very glad I did not.  Some of the reviews are very critical.  I loved both books.  In fact,  I hesitate to admit it, but as an adult, I like Go Set A Watchman best.

The stories are set in the same setting but,  although Go Set A Watchman was written first,  it takes place 20 years later.   Scout is on vacation visiting her home town in southern Alabama from her residence in NYC.  Brown vs The Board of Education has been handed down by the supreme court and the white people in the south are angry.   A back lash is taking place and Scout finds her father on what she considers the wrong side of the argument.  For those of us who loved Atticus in Mockingbird it is a shock to see his idea of equality  has a separate but equal condition.   He falls off the pedestal for both the reader and for Scout too.  She is completely disillusioned with her father when she watches him participate in the local county Citizen's Council.  What follows that event is a breaking away for Scout of Atticus being one and the same as her conscious and the realization that she has her own belief system and opinions.  The title of the book is based on an Old Testament verse in Isaiah which is about setting standards in one's life.   

Please follow the links above by clicking on the book title,  author's name,  and colorized text above.  For those that know me,   you realize I re-discovered the following video recently and find it an especially good explanation of something my mother used to tell me.  She would say "One of the hardest parts of growing up is realizing that your parents are not perfect,  and then learning to love to love them anyway".    In this "coming of age" story Harper Lee is right up there with Betty Smith and her A Tree Grows In Brooklyn.  Go Set A Watchman is a great read.  Don't miss out.    

To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee

To Kill A Mockingbird

by

Harper Lee

Since I was unable to remember how long ago I had read To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee,  when her newly released book came out,  I decided that before I read it,  I needed to re-visit To Kill A Mockingbird.  I have been listening to it on audio and finished it on my way home from work tonight.     There was very little of the book that I remembered so I am very glad that I chose to "read" it again.   It is one of those classics that should be read by every American more than once.  It is the story of a family in the mid 1930's in Alabama that stand up to unfairness related to race.  It is a well written story that captures one's heart.  It was published in 1960 and made into a movie in 1962.  It has won awards and is so famous that I feel there is not a lot more I can say about it that has not been already said.  I am looking forward to it's sequel,  Go Set A Watchman,  even though the reviews say it will be upsetting.    Please click on the author's name and book title above to follow the links to more information.  And enjoy the video of the movie trailer below.

Labor Day Afternoon At The Movies

I have been waiting on the new Robert Redford movie to come out for months and was very excited when it was released last week.  Not only do I adore Robert Redford still - but I admire his environmental work.  And Bill Bryson is a favorite author.  In fact,  I totally enjoyed the book he wrote that this movie is based on.  I do not remember so much foul language in the book or as many sexual innuendos but the book was a belly laugher and the movie was rolling in the aisle funny.  We barely got in because the theater was sold out for the showing we went to.  Don't miss this movie.  It is great fun.

Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingsolver

Flight Behavior

by

Barbara Kingsolver

Barbara Kingsolver never disappoints me.  One of my goals is to read all her body of work.  Her novels capture not only my interest but also my heart.  Flight Behavior is no exception.   It is the story of a woman caught in a disappointing marriage in Appalachia.  The novel covers her struggles and her family's struggles but also her growing to know herself in a new and profound way.  Interwoven in the story are beautiful butterflies.  The book describes a fictional one time wintering over of the Monarch Butterfly in Appalachia instead of their usual winter home in Mexico.  I learned a new awareness of butterflies by reading this book.  This is a novel that I would like everyone to read.  It will surely make my top ten list this year.  Please click on the book title and author's name above to follow the links to more information and enjoy the video that follows.  This video shows Monarch Butterflies where they do really winter over in Mexico and visually shows what the book describes. 

Documentary - Lifting The Veil

The last few weeks I have been going through my book marks,  both on my MacBookPro and my Mac Mini, and saving the links that are still good to my Pinterest account.  I have been making boards and organizing the links in order to make it easier to find them.  In doing this,  I ran across a video that someone had asked me to take the time to watch.  I had book marked it and forgot about it.  Since I re-discovered it,  last week I took the time to watch it.  I am not able to post the video here on my blog due to copy write issues but to go watch the video click HERE.    It is far left stuff.  I am left of center in most of my opinions but cross party lines on some issues.   Even after watching the video, I am an Obama supporter.  Of course,  I do not agree with every choice our president  has made but I realize I am not going to agree on everything that anyone says.  This video has re-emphaisized to me that President Obama is a moderate.   As I watched the video,  it became clear to me once again that most of Americans are moderate.  Therefore any president elected is probably going to be a moderate.  I remember from my college level American History that our three branches of government are designed to be opposing forces to prevent our country from going too far off in any one direction.  Since the  president determines the Supreme Court,  it will be a mix of democratic or republican ideologies, depending upon when the nomination of the individual  occurs.   That leaves our House and Senate to be the place we can put people who are more in keeping with our particular side of the various issues.  In my opinion,  it is unfortunate that the more conservative voters have accomplished this while the more liberal voters have not stepped up to the plate.  We need to change our emphasis.   I am not saying the president doesn't matter,  but it is an office that will be by nature in the middle while the house and senate can be more one extreme to the other.  While I am sure I will most likely continue to vote democrat in the presidential election,  I intend to look more closely at where the various congressmen/women and senators stand on various issues.   But then,  maybe eery one else has already figured that out.

Between The World And Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates

Between The World and Me

by

Ta-Nehisi Coates

This book never would have come into my range of vision had I not been invited to join in with a group on Face Book called The Interracial Book Club.  I am kind of a sucker for book groups.  I miss the one I was in before I moved from NE Indiana to SW Ohio.  It was a library book group and when I arrived at  my new home I immediately attended the library book group here.  I went several times and it was nice, but before I could develop  friendships to the degree I had in my prior home, my work schedule changed and I could no longer attend the group.  So when asked to attend an online one I was glad to join in.  I am used to books in book groups causing me to stretch and read things that I would not have picked out to read otherwise.  But this is the first group that will be choosing more than one selection of the same topic so I am not sure how long I will participate.   Never the less,  they sure picked a good one to start out so it may be something I participate in longer than I first would have guessed.  And that brings me to the book in question:  Between The World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates.

This is a short book.  I listened to it on audio and while it was meaningful because it was read by the author, to really do justice to the discussion I should have chosen to read it on my kindle.   There is so much to think about that the book brings up that it is hard to keep one's mind on the book.  Images and memories kept crowding in.  This is a letter,  written to the author's son when the son was upset after the grand jury returned no indictment for the officer involved in the Michael Brown shooting.  This is not a book I feel comfortable in making any judgement about the content or conclusions drawn by the author for while as having the experience of being a single mom,  I can understand some of what it is like to to have children who are in the high risk group of becoming a statistic,  my experience is dwarfed in comparison.  And as I woman,  I can understand what it feels like to have obstacles between me and the world that men live in,  my experience is dwarfed in comparison.   What I can do as a review of this book is to say that it made me realize how ignorant I am in this particular current issue.  Reading it has made clear to me the need for cameras on our police officers, to not only protect them so that their judgement in situations be clear in investigations,  but to provide transparency to the citizens they are protecting.

Please click on the author's name and book title above to follow links to more information and enjoy the video that follows.  Please feel free to ask to join in on the book discussion of this book on Facebook.   And please take time to read the book.  It is only 160 pages long and involves a subject we need to dialog about in the United States right now.

The Ellis Island Immigrant Cookbook by Tom Bernardin

The Ellis Island

Immigrant Cookbook

by

Tom Bernardin

Historical cookbooks are a fascination for me.  One recent purchase I made was The Ellis Island Immigrant Cookbook by Tom Bernardin.  It is divided into nationalities and has six sections of  various areas of the world and each contains  recipes from the perspective  area. Following the chapters with recipes are sections of  information on Ellis Island itself and stories of memories of the immigrants.  In each  recipes units are memories of the immigrants descendants of the food they ate cooked by the immigrant in their family.  The recipe I chose to make from the book was very tasty.  It is on page 102 and is a  soup from Yugoslavia.  It is called Jechmik Soup.    I found it time consuming to prepare but very much worth it.  For those interested in family history and how our ancestors lived upon arriving in our country this book would be very much of interest.   Please click on the author's name and book title above to follow the links to more information.  And enjoy the video that follows which is of the author of the cookbook giving a tour at Ellis Island.

The Complete Guide to Aspergers Syndrome by Dr Tony Attwood

The Complete Guide To

Aspergers Syndrome

by

Dr Tony Attwood

As I finished up this book on my Kindle Friday night,  what struck me was the amount of information it contains.  I now have a much greater understanding of Aspergers Syndrome than I did prior to reading the book.  Even those that only have some of the traits and not a full diagnosis of Aspergers would gain insight from this handbook.  Dr Attwood is a British doctor who currently lives in Australia.  His expertise is in Aspergers Syndrome and he is not only knowledgeable,  he is able to explain the subject in a way that is easily understood by everyday people.  I highly recommend this book to not only people in the field of education and medical community but also to parents and spouses of people that are wondering about their loved one.  It is likely that this syndrome is more prevalent than is diagnosed.  Please click on the book title and author's name above to follow links to more information and enjoy the interview with Dr Attwood in the video below.

Wagons West - Oregon by Dana Fuller Ross

Wagons West: Oregon!

by

Dana Fuller Ross

Friday night I finished listening to the fourth book of the Wagons West series by Dana Fuller Ross.  It is the one called Oregon where they arrive in Oregon and set up their community.  It has been an enjoyable series and thought it goes on for many more books,  I am done reading it.  I would call them fluff books.  They are not particularly  historically accurate and the story line begins to get repetitive.  Never the less,  they are fun books and for someone who doesn't read to challenge their mind I am sure the stories would relax them.  Please follow the links by clicking on the high lighted words above.  The following link is to  a video that was filmed at the End Of Trail Interpretive Center by a man named Bradley Haertling.  I visited this center this summer in July and it was fun for me to watch the video and see the things I saw while there.  

Wagons West: Wyoming by Dana Fuller Ross

Wagons West:

Wyoming

by

Dana Fuller Ross

The third novel of Wagons West by Dana Fuller Ross is Wyoming.  I have been listening to this series  while driving for the last few weeks.  It is an enjoyable light reading type series.  I would categorize them as fluff books more than historical novels because the author takes a lot of liberties.  But they are fun books as long as not taken seriously.  Through out most of this book the wagon train is wintering over in a valley of the Rocky Mountains.  The pioneers not only have a doctor in their midst but he is a very progressive one.  There were some scientists that had ideas that there might be germs at the time this wagon train was traveling but Joseph Lister was only a child and he is the one that came up with the principles of cleanliness we are now familiar with in medicine.  But this wagon train doc cleans everything with antiseptic.  As long as one does not worry about the parts of the book that do not match with how things were then the story line is one to be enjoyed.  I will listen to one more book in the series before I move on to something else as they will get to Oregon in the next book.  Please click on the links above to follow the links to more information and enjoy the following video of some Wyoming Wagon Train Ruts that I saw on my vacation earlier in the summer.

 

The Mirror by Marlys Millhiser

The Mirror

by

Marlys Millhiser

Several months ago, one of my cousins on FB mentioned she was re-reading a book she had enjoyed in the past entitled The Mirror by Marlys Millhiser.  I looked it up and promptly added it to my Amazon Smile wish list so that I could download it to my kindle at a later date.   About a week ago I decided that day had come and I downloaded and began to read the novel.  Talk about a page turner!  This book is one of those "just one more chapter"  books that can keep you up too late at night.  It may well be considered young adult fiction.  It was written in 1978 so strikes a chord with me since I graduated from high school in 1975.   The book is divided into three parts.  The first part is about a young woman on the night before her wedding night who,  looking into an antique  mirror that has been in the family for generations,  is suddenly transported back to  her grandmother's time and into her grandmother's body the night before her grandmother's wedding.  The second part is about the mother of the girl in present times and the daughter of the grandmother in the early 1900s.  The third part of the book is about the grandmother who ends up in the grand daughter's body and time during the night before the weddings switch.  Each woman makes the best of the cards dealt to her and it is a book about what life styles women have dealt with through out the 20th Century.  I really enjoyed this book and would recommend it as good chick lit.  Please click on the title and author's name above to follow links to more information.  And  enjoy the video that follows which is about the town in Colorado that the grandmother in the story lives most of her adult life in.  

Girls Night Out At The Movies

I went to see the movie Inside Out with a friend this pm.  I had been told by a fellow nurse that her grade school age children did not like the movie.  They said it was not funny.  The young children in the theater tonight did not seem to get much from the movie.  And the friend I went with didn't think it made much sense.  But I loved the movie.  I cried a couple times and felt it really explained about how you need to have sadness along with joy and how if you let anger or fear get out of control it can be very destructive.  I felt it demonstrated how sadness can bring us through to a deeper joy and a more mature experience.  I think you have to have a mind that functions  a little abstractly to grasp a lot of the movie and most kids don't think abstractly according to Piaget before adolescence.   Therefore I have reservations about considering this a children's movie.    Never the less,  this 58 year old grandma really liked it and I would encourage people to go see this movie and judge for themselves what they think of it.

Wagons West: Nebraska by Dana Fuller Ross

Wagons West

by

Dana Fuller Ross

The second book in the Wagons West series is Nebraska and I finished listening to it on audio this afternoon.  As I noted on my review of the first book, Independence, the series is not historically accurate but it is an enjoyable read.  I would label the series good fluff reading.  For example,  in Nebraska there is a lot of confrontations with Native Americans but if one reads the diaries of actual Oregon Trail Pioneers there was very little contact with Native Americans and what there was did not involve any conflict.  That is not to say that no wagon train was ever attacked by Indians because there were incidents.  But they were few and far between while in the book there were several occurrences.  Also Fort Madison is in Eastern Iowa and not eastern Nebraska.  In the book the wagon train winters over in Eastern Nebraska at Fort Madison.  The wagon train in the story also starts out from Independence Missouri in the fall and by the end of the book they are preparing for their second winter on the trail.  In reality the pioneers started out from Independence early in the spring and made it their goal to be at Independence Rock Wyoming by fourth of July and in Oregon by fall.  It is a 2000 mile five month trek.  While I can see the first wagon train taking longer to take and entire season to cross the plains seems like taking a liberal view of history.  There are many such instances where the author digresses from the reality of the Oregon Trail experience.  Never the less,  the book has adventure, suspense and romance.  I am enjoying the series and recommend it as entertainment with a cautionary note about the lack of historical accuracy.  Please click on the book title and author's name above to follow the links to more information.  There is also one link to follow in the text.  In both the real world experience and in the book as the pioneers came to end of the great plains they came across rock formations suddenly jutting out of the plains.  It was an experience to have spent all those miles of no scenery and then suddenly see these major rock formations.  Earlier in the summer when I was in Western Nebraska I took some photos of a couple of these rock formations.  Enjoy the slide show I made that follows of photos of both Chimney Rock and Scotts Bluff National Monuments in Nebraska.

#Havana62 by Philip Gibson

#Havana62

by

Philip Gibson

This little book was free on my kindle a few months back and I was intrigued by it so I picked it as a download.  It is less than 200 pages long and packed full of information.  The author tells the story of the Cuban missile crisis as if there had been social media sites at that time.  It is informative and well written.  I now have a much clearer picture of everyone's point of view that was involved in the decision making at that time.  I do have to admit that it took me almost six weeks to read the book.  I have been really busy and overly tired when I finally got to bed at night and turned on my kindle.  I would read a very short time and fall asleep.  So the last several books I have reviewed I have listened to on audio while I was reading this one very sort book.   I really don' t think it was the book's fault.  I would recommend this book.  Students who are studying the various times in history that this author has written hashtag books about would do well to read them.  Please click on the book title and author's name above to follow the links to more information.  And enjoy the video that follows.

Wagons West: Independence by Dana Fuller Ross

Wagons West:Independence

by 

Danna Fuller Ross

Independence is the first book in a series of 25 Wagons West books written by Noel Gerson under the pen name of Danna Fuller Ross.  It is about a fictitious wagon train that the book  presents as the first wagon train to travel the Oregon Trail.  I can find no historical record of this wagon train or any of the people depicted to be on board.  I also can find no indication  of the story line in the book that the British or the Russians tried to sabotage any of our wagon trains.  Although  it is true that the British did not want to help the settlers to succeed once they got to Oregon.  The routine of the pioneers on the wagon train in the book also differs from what I understand the true routine that was followed to be.  But it is the Hollywood version of how things were on the wagon trains and it is a fun book.  So therefore while the author takes great poetic license when it comes to historical accuracy the book is a very enjoyable novel.  It has adventure and romance and is a fun and easy read.  In this first book of the series the wagon train starts out in Connecticut and travels as far as Independence Missouri, which is where the Oregon Trail actually began.  Of the 25 books the first four have to do with the Oregon Trail and I will probably finish those.  I doubt I continue on with the series after that.  The characters in the book are likable and the book is one I would recommend for light reading.  Please click on the book title and authors name above to follow the link to more information.  And enjoy the following video that I took of the wagon river crossing simulator at the National Park Interpretive Center in Casper Wyoming. 

Leaving Time by Jodi Picoult

Leaving Time

by

Jodi Picoult

Recently,  I was on a road trip with my daughter and son in law.  It was a very long road trip and we listened to a few audio books to help pass the time.  One author I felt I could trust our time to was Jodi Picoult and we chose her newest book.  We could not have made a better selection.  The novel is called Leaving Time and is about the mother/daughter relationship in both people and in the animal kingdom - specifically elephant moms.    A daughter is in search of her mother who became a missing person ten years before.  The daughter is aged 13 in the book.  The mother is a research scientist who studies the grieving patterns of elephants.  In this book Jodi Picoult has  woven a sit on the edge of your chair masterpiece.  If it doesn't make my top ten list for 2015 I will be surprised,  although I have enjoyed some really good books this year.  The book also has a shocker ending that I would not have guessed in a million years.  It is wonderful.  Also featured in the book is an elephant sanctuary in Tennessee that exists in real life.  You can read more about it HERE.  I was so impressed by the book and the elephants in the book that when I was looking for a way to say thank you to my brother in law for dog sitting my daughter and son in law's two dogs while we took the trip  I decided I would adopt an elephant in his honor at the sanctuary.  My sister and brother in law are so excited about their adopted elephant they are talking about taking a side trip to visit her during a vacation they will be taking soon that will  bring them near the sanctuary.  I would encourage everyone to not only read Leaving Time but to talk their book clubs into reading it also.  Please follow the links by clicking on the authors name and book title above.  And enjoy seeing my adopted niece,  Tange, in the following video.