Update On My Writing

     It has been over six months since I have blogged anything about my writing.  This past April I wrote about my WWI Nurses project and that blog can be found HERE.  I did want to update everyone about what I have been up to this year.   Earlier this year I wrote a biographical sketch about an ancestor who was a nurse midwife during the late 1700s and early 1800s in Pennsylvania.  Her name was Susanna Rohrer Muller and that article was published this fall in the magazine Mennonite Family History. It can be obtained HERE.  But most of this year has been spent working on a very special project. 

     Starting in the mid 1990s my aunt and I started taking weekend get away vacations that we called "Mary Rohrer Weekends".  We named them this because we shared the same maiden first and last names.  On one of these weekends, we began to talk about the idea of a family cookbook.  We chatted about our cookbook from year to year.  We wanted to honor the women we knew in the 1900s and the lives that they lived.  As a result, when we decided that 2019 was the year we were actually going to write the cook book, in addition to recipes, we included biographical sketches and descriptions of what home making was like during the 20th Century.  

     We finally completed the book and it is available on lulu.com.   A coil bound paperback  can be obtained HERE or and an ebook can be obtained  HERE.  

     Before this project, I had aspirations to write a book when I retire.  But after both of us have worked so hard all this year on this project I have decided that I don't want to work that hard in my retirement.  I would like to to continue to write biographical sketches and short articles about the women in my family history.   I do have research started to write a biographical sketch of my great great grandfather's sister and plan to write it early in 2020.  But the rest of this year I am taking a writing break!

A Gentleman In Moscow by Amor Towles

A Gentleman In Moscow

by

Amor Towles

     The November selection for my local library book group is A Gentleman In Moscow by Amor Towles.  I chose to listen to this book on audio and finished it up last night.  It is the fiction story of a Russian aristocrat, who after the Russian revolution, is sentenced to spend his life under house arrest at a fancy hotel.  While the story revolves around relationships within that hotel, the history of Russia under Stalin is unfolding out on the streets at the same time.   This book spans thirty years of a man's life.  There are a lot of things to ponder as comparisons are made between the United States and Russia during the mid 1900s.  The book says a great deal about relationships too.  And the main thrust of much of the book is that we are masters of our circumstances and it is our perspective not our situation that mandates our satisfaction.  The book is a beautiful and well written novel with a delightful surprise twist at the end.  Unfortunately I had a hard time with the amount of detail the author provides.  I feel like I should shoulder the blame that I could not remain focused but my mind wandered when the details became very profuse, which was quite a lot of the time.  Hopefully I zoned back in time to catch the story line. I must have because I feel I understand the book.   I did have to google who the mystery lady in the last paragraph was.  This book is not one I would recommend to everyone.  But I do have friends who I think would really enjoy this book.  Please click on the book title and author's name above to follow the links to more information and enjoy the video that follows.  

Lavender

     Almost everyone is familiar with lavender.  After using Young Living's Thieves hand sanitizer as a retail customer for over two years, I ordered a bottle of their vitality Lavender Essential oil.  I immediately knew I did not want to be without it.  It is this oil that caused me to realize I wanted to be a wholesale member of Young Living and order more regularly.  People use lavender for various reasons.  It is an ingredient that is, as an imitation fragrant oil, found in lotions and bubble bath in almost every venue.  Of course these items contain lavender that is made  from a synthetic process and not the plant derivative used to make essential oils.  For a general overview of uses and history of the lavender plant follow this LINK.   For a more scientific paper from the National Institute of Health about a study of the use of lavender for anxiety follow this LINK.  And of course enjoy the video at the beginning of this blog and the two videos at the end.  I find lavender supports my goal of a good nights sleep and I believe I have less general aches and pains while taking  lavender.  I put four drops of the type of lavender that is safely ingested in my senna and chamomile herbal tea at bedtime along with one drop of either rosemary or cinnamon.  If you wish to order lavender essential oil or any other Young Living product, either as a retail customer or as a wholesale member, from my page follow this LINK.