Garden Tuesday: Flowering Cherry Tree

I was going to take a week of pictures of the cherry tree outside my breakfast room window blooming.  Alas, I got through 2 days, and then "crap" happened.  So here are last Sunday and Monday:

Happy Tuesday, everyone!

Thorsday Book Review: With No One As Witness

Are you a fan of Inspector Lynley?  We found him on PBS' Masterpiece Mystery some time back, and greatly enjoyed the Earl who drives a Bentley and is a cop at Scotland Yard.  So, when I found some of the Inspector Lynley books at a recent used book sale, I was absurdly pleased.

 WITH NO ONE AS WITNESS

by Elizabeth George

copyright 2005

 When the police find a murdered white teenager, Inspector Lynley, Barbara Havers and Winston Ngata are assigned the case.  It quickly becomes apparent that the acting Superintendent doesn't like Lynley, and Ngata is only assigned to the case so that he can appear as the token black man at press conferences, and Havers is on the case so she can fail and be fired.  Initial investigation indicates that this murder is the work of a serial killer, who has murdered three other boys, who were of mixed race, and who were left in different police districts.  A consultant who trained with the FBI to profile serial killers is brought in, and Inspector Lynley has difficulty keeping him away from the crime scene when yet another child is killed. 

Inspector Lynley seems not to be in the forefront of this book; Barbara Havers and Winston Ngata do much of the work.  This book was very long, over 600 pages, and I struggled as I read it, because it was an extremely dark book, with themes of a serial killer of troubled youths and pedophelia wound throughout really disturbed me.  It's too bad I chose this as the first of Elizabeth George's books to read, because while it was well written, I didn't like it.  I did take a look at reviews by others on Amazon, and it seems there were a lot of opinions like mine.  I actually read this 3 weeks ago, and it has taken this long for it to stop disturbing me to the point that I could write this review.  So with that in mind, I can only rate this book 3/5.

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On another note, if you happen to be a fan of the TV show "The Office", and I'm not, the series finale is tonight, and for the hour before the show, they're running a special which was filmed here in Scranton a couple of weeks ago.  Someone arranged a fan party, and many of the actors in the show were here, and NBC sent a film crew to follow the weekend long, city wide fan-fest.  If you've never wanted to visit Scranton, this is a way to fulfill that wish without expending airfare.

Happy Thorsday, everyone!

Wordless Wednesday

Mother's Day Presents:

Book Review: Blue Mermaid

Do you know Miranda, AKA The Blond Duck?  She's a writer of short stories and, now, two novels published by a small firm.  Her writing is very lighthearted and imaginative, so when she contacted me and asked if I'd read and review her newest novel, I jumped at the chance.  After all, how often do you know, even just remotely, a real author?

BLUE MERMAID
by Miranda Pike Koerner
c. 2013

 There's a legend that the oceans and seas were once ruled together by a King and Queen.  The Queen ruled the waves and wind and shallow waters, and the King ruled the stars, moon, tides and deep sea.  They quarreled constantly, but they got together one time, and the King scattered 13 stars in the sky, and the Queen scattered 13 shells in the sea.  When all the stars found all the shells, the King and Queen would rule together.

Or something like that.  I'm not as lyrical as Miranda.

A girl named Meredith, and called Mer-e-maid, is a few days short of her 13th birthday, and things are getting really weird.  She's the captain of her synchronized swim team, so obviously a great swimmer, but of late she has been waking up in her family's swimming pool.  Add to that dreams of black tentacles coming up out of the pool drain to grab her, and Meredith is rather distressed.  Then one morning she finds a talking dolphin named Blue in her pool.  He's there to protect and guide her, as is the old lady in the white gauzy dress with the long grey hair.  Strange things are happening all around Meredith, and even her best friend's support can only go so far.  When a new boy moves to town and is put on Meredith's synchronized swim team a few days before the final meet (which also happens to be her 13th birthday), everyone around Meredith is smitten, although she's horrified, certain that he's part of some sort of plot from which Blue is trying to protect Meredith.  Miranda writes great, detailed descriptions of characters and settings, which help the reader to picture what's going on, without the details going an overly long time and becoming oppressive or a hindrance to enjoying the book.

This was a lighthearted, nice book.  Since I had just finished a very intense, rather dark book (which I have yet to review), it was exactly what I needed.  It's a good read for a restful weekend (but probably not at the beach), and it's one that a young teenaged girl could read and enjoy, too.  (Pam in Oregon, I was thinking of you and your daughter both enjoying this book as I read it.)  5/5



Note: I received a copy of this book for my Kindle for free, but the opinions are all my own.

Wordless Wednesday: In Bloom

My weeping cherry tree bursting into bloom, starting with a rainy day and progressing for 7 days:

Tuesday:

Wednesday:

Thursday:

Friday:

Saturday:

Sunday:

Monday:

(Almost wordless, anyway.)

Garden Tuesday: Color!

A couple of days of rain followed by a couple of days of sunshine, and we have a riot of color!

The apple tree and mulberry tree had to be trimmed back after storm damage last fall, but no doubt they'll be even more prolific this summer and fall as a result.

Happy Tuesday, everyone!  Hope your yards are as colorful as mine!

Peanut Butter Pie

Do any of you get that food magazine in your paper the first week of every month?  I do, and usually it's not worth much.  But last Wednesday, they had a recipe for Peanut Butter Pie.  And it was warm at the end of the week, so a cold dessert seemed like just something my boys would love.  OK, I confess.  They'd enjoy it any time, warm or cold.

PEANUT BUTTER PIE

1 Graham Cracker crust
8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
1-1/2 cups confectioners sugar
1 cup peanut butter
1 cup heavy cream
1 tsp vanilla extract

Beat together the cream cheese and confectioners sugar until smooth.  Add the remaining ingredients and beat until smooth.  Pour into the graham cracker crust (or a chocolate cookie crust, if you prefer), and freeze for 2 hours before serving.  Cut very small slices, because it's very filling!  Serve with or without whipped cream, as you prefer.

I have a feeling this will be on the "much requested" list this summer.  And it's so easy that I'll have a hard time not honoring such requests!

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend!

Thorsday Book Review: An Innocent Client

Another Kindle book, snagged for free, which was absolutely good luck!




AN INNOCENT CLIENT
by Scott Pratt
c. 2012

Joe Dillard is a defense attorney in Northeastern Tennessee, with a wife and two teenaged children, who's tired of the law and saving to retire early.  All he wants, he thinks is an innocent client.

A visiting preacher was found murdered and castrated in a motel room.  The TBI finds a suspect, a dancer in a strip joint, and arrest her.  She maintains to Joe that she's innocent; her boss, the woman who owns the bar, corroborates her claim.  The story alternates between Joe's viewpoint and that of the TBI agent, and is really well done.  The author is clearly intimately familiar with East Tennessee (having spent some years around Knoxville, his descriptions of weather and locale rang absolutely true), and with both the law and the courthouses in which the story occur (his description of the jail upstairs from the courthouse, and the prisoners blocking up the toilets to make it "rain" in the courthouse is a hoot); turns out he is both a lawyer and from East Tennessee.  I'll be on the lookout for more Joe Dillard books, so that has to say a lot for the author and his skill.  5/5

Next week, I'll be reviewing The Blond Duck's new book.  Some of you will love it!

And, since it's Thorsday, pop over to visit Karin and read a nice story about her boxer, Phoebe, at The Ritz.

Happy Thorsday, everyone.

Wordless Wednesday: My Kitchen Window

This is a view of my kitchen window from outside - the other side of yesterday's pictures!

Happy Wednesday, everyone!

Garden Tuesday: Rainy Rhododendron

A weekend of sunshine and warmer temperatures followed by a couple of days of drizzle have made the rhododendron right outside my kitchen window start to bloom:

 It's a really tall rhododendron.  Here's what I see looking out my window on this gloomy day:

Hope you all have green and flowers surrounding you!

Oat Wheaten Rolls

One night last weekend, Ryan wanted soup and tuna sandwiches for dinner, and he enlisted his brothers in the campaign.  Of course, I complied; why would I not?  I needed good sandwich rolls for this dinner, and came up with these.

OAT WHEATEN ROLLS

1-1/2 cups warm water
2 tbsp yeast
3 cups white flour
1 cup white whole wheat flour
1 cup oats
1 tbsp powdered milk
1 tbsp salt
1 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp olive oil

Put the water in your bread machine bucket or mixing bowl; sprinkle the yeast over it and add the remaining ingredients in order.  Follow my bread making directions to make the dough.  Let it rise for 15 minutes after kneading, punch down, split into 16 pieces.  Roll each piece into a ball and place on a greased baking sheet.  Allow them to rise until doubled in size, about 15 to 20 minutes, while the oven preheats to 375F (350F for a convection oven).  Bake for 15 to 18 minutes, depending upon how dark you want your rolls.  Let them stand for a couple of minutes before you try to cut them!

These were really good.  The picture is the rolls that were left after dinner, so you know the boys liked them.  And those were gone the next day.  Best of all, no one guessed they're actually good for them!

Hope you all had a great weekend!

Book Review: Florabama

I got this book at the Library Used Book Sale last fall, and just hadn't gotten to it, although I don't know why.  This is a case of judging a book by its cover; I pulled it off the shelf because the title was intriguing, and took it without reading the dust jacket because I liked the picture on the cover.  Seriously, who wouldn't want a porch like that with the cute little doggy sitting there?  Not that I recall this porch being in the story, but still.

THE FLORABAMA LADIES' AUXILIARY & SEWING CIRCLE
by Lois Battle
Copyright 2001

Bonnie Duke Cullman's husband just lost $300,000 in bad investments, driving them into bankruptcy, and then left her for a younger woman.  She's on her way to Florabama, Alabama from Atlanta, where she will be starting a job at a small local college, helping the newly unemployed start college courses.

The Cherished Lady, a lingerie plant in Florabama, has just closed, leaving young, middle aged and old women, married, divorced and widowed, all looking for something to do.  The very unpleasant office assistant in Bonnie's new office, Mrs. Snopes, AKA Snoopy, decided to set up meetings for her starting the minute she walks into her office for the first day of work.  There's no great drama in this book; it's the story of many different women trying to start their lives over, and how they accomplish that.  It's the story of Bonnie coming up with an idea to help tide these women over while they restart (or, in some cases, start) their educations.  It's how some cope, and others flee.  It really is the story of life.

This book tied in neatly with my son's talk at the NYSE last week, on the effects of the closing of a major employer in a small economic market.  But there's more to it than just the evil company taking advantage of their workers.  As someone said in the book, if the ladies in Florabama cost $8 per hour to make the fancy unmentionables, and workers in Mexico will do it for $2 per hour, how can the garments made in Florabama compete in the stores?

As usual, I find more meaning in books than is necessarily written into them.  It's the curse of being me.  But I really did enjoy this book.  I loved some characters, despised others, and didn't much care one way or the other for some.  But that's real life, and that's what it takes to write a really good book.  5/5

Happy Thorsday, everyone!