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Book Review: The Dressmaker’s Gift

9 Apr

Dressmaker is a term that is no longer in our contemporary vocabulary.  A century ago, it was a profession with formal training.

The American College of Dressmaking in Kansas City published The American Dressmaker textbook in 1906.  I assume this instruction became part of Home Economics curriculum some decades later.

I digress… the title The Dressmaker’s Gift understates the powerful story of women in Paris during WW2 resisting the domination and occupation of Nazi Germany.

From making custom dresses/gowns in Paris, to being held at a location for political prisoners (Fresnes), then transferred to Dachau…shocking!  In 2012, I was on the grounds for a walking tour.

Dachau Prison
Prisoner labels, Dachau, Munich 2012

The author accurately related the horrors of life in the concentration camp.

Read for yourself how it is possible to reconcile the trauma, not only for one’s self but also one’s children and grandchildren decades later.

 

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rock, paper, scissors

15 Oct

Or wood, steel

The tree won.
The tree won with “chain link” jewelry years after the chain was laid over a limb.

Book Review: The Winding Ways Quilt

26 Sep

 

I have had quilts all my life…gifts from both grandmothers and a bonus from Great grandmother Hall (photo on the “About” page).

Until I browsed the aisles of the Used Book Store in White Pine, TN I did not know there was a series of books on quilts and quilting.  I bought four of the series by Jennifer Chiaverini.  Jennifer is delightful…delving the reader in the process of quilt making, choosing fabrics, patterns and the network of friendships that develop along the way.

Other books by Jennifer Chiaverini:  An Elm Creek Quilt Sampler, An Elm Creek Quilts Album, Circle of Quilters, The Wedding Quilt, The Giving Quilt, The Winding Ways Quilt and The Aloha Quilt

Of course on my return trip to the Used book store I find two more authors…

Jan Cerney and Arlene Sachitano both with multiple titles.

 

White Pine Used Books, 1703 Main Street, White Pine, TN

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Book Review: A Drop in the Ocean

11 Aug

Jenni Ogden skillfully juxtaposes:  University based health care research scientists and Wildlife researchers in the Great Barrier Reef.

Perhaps one could say Jenni developed a matrix juxtapositions of scientists and researchers in settings of…

Island life where supplies are delivered every two weeks…no utilities or ground transportation in the Southern Hemisphere contrasting with one of the oldest communities in Europe…Unst, the northern most inhabited island in the British Isles.

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LOL! Look! See!

21 May

This Memorial Day weekend…perhaps in a cemetery near you…

I SPY a parking meter!

“EXPIRED”

Then there is the Navy Veteran…

There is a soul who loved his service.

God Bless You!

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Book Review: The Bookshop of Yesterdays

5 Mar

This is an amazing book!  The setting is LosAngelos, which didn’t appeal to me until the storyline developed fully.  Short quotes from classic books (of different genres starting with Shakespeare) expertly punctuated the narrative.  Cause of death and paternity was a mystery for Mira, who had been misled.  She also processed the enormity of inheriting a struggling bookshop 3000 miles from her new home and teaching career on the east coast…learning the financial record keeping, personnel/staffing, business cycles and plan to turn a profit.

Anyone involved with handling an estate with a significant number of books will appreciate this novel!

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Books Review: Seven Days in Utopia, Golf’s Sacred Journey and The Sequel

18 Feb

We saw the movie.  I knew I needed to read the book, bonus found the sequel.

The movie starring Robert DuVall and Lucas Black is warm, genuine and inspiring.  In my youth, I took golf lessons and followed tournament play.  As an adult, I played in a golf league after work.  I’m fond of movies about baseball…Field of Dreams, A League of Their Own, The Natural…  Frankly, it never occurred to me that there were great stories and lessons to be told about golf.  (I don’t count Caddy Shack.)

Seven Days in Utopia narrative differs between the movie and the book.  (Both are equally time well spent.)  The book has more details on honing technical golf skills.  There is an opportunity loss, if practice is dominated by driving range parameters.   Improving skills means practicing with up and downhill lies, behind trees, bare ground, deep grass…and more…

What is extraordinary about the lessons?  The originality, experiential and spiritual nature of the situations.  Watch or read for yourself.

 

 

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Book Review: The Alice Network

3 Oct

Brought to my attention by Qanon @llcoolja17.

 

Ladies, Ladies, Ladies:  The Alice Network by Kate Quinn is extraordinary, compelling, historical, revealing, healing…

The narrative of The Alice Network alternates between 1915 and 1944 chapter after chapter skillfully telling the story of female spies in WW1 and WW2 in Europe with an amazing amount of historical accuracy.  Europe did not have a chance to recover from WW1 before they were reliving the tragedy of another war.

My husband and I had the opportunity to go to four reunions with Marines who survived Iwo Jimo (with Dave’s Dad before he passed in 2018).  There are many layers to war stories.  It is personal for veterans.  To also have the insights of women patriots as told in the The Alice Network is a blessing.

As a second personal note, 2015 was the 100th anniversary of Allison Transmission where I worked for 36 years…2015 was also the 100th anniversary of Tennessee Tech University where I graduated in Industrial Engineering…2015 was also the 100th anniversary of the town of White Pine TN where my parents have lived for the past 40 years…2015 was also the 100th anniversary of the Norfolk Naval Shipyard near where we lived in the early 1970s.  Many enterprises, schools, communities, government facilities do not last 50 years (or lost their original identities).  

So… four entities I am very familiar with were all founded in 1915…that is before World War I.  What an interesting coincidence!  I added a web page with a tab above because I was unaware of this common denominator until 2015.

 

 

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Book Reviews: 2 in 1 This Present Darkness and Piercing the Darkness

17 Sep

Over 2 million sold.

 

Written in 1986 and 1989 respectively.  These novels are bold, elegant and powerful.  I much prefer these over Harry Potter books.  One reviewer described the books as “Christian thrillers.”  Smile 🙂  Each narrative is set in a small U.S. town with complex problems.

These books were brought to my attention in a Twitter post by Qanon EyetheSpy.

 

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Book Review: Origin, A Novel by Dan Brown

26 Aug

Book 5 of 5 featuring Professor Robert Langdon

I have been a Dan Brown fan for years.  I was delighted to find this at a used book store.  Was there no fanfare on the release?  If there was, I missed it.

The dramatic adventure set in Spain includes outstanding narrative of art, architecture, literature, history, science and technology.  I had 2 years of Spanish in high school and appreciated Spanish speaking characters speaking Spanish (English translations keeps one from getting confused).

Not only is reading Origin compelling entertainment, but it is also refreshingly educational as Dan Brown does so expertly.

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