Book Review: Maids of Misfortune

Maids of Misfortune: A Victorian San Francisco Mystery

By M. Louisa Locke

This book and I got off to a rough start. I loved the title. I loved the premise. I love San Francisco, and I love historical/period mysteries and strong female leads. Seems like we should have been a match made in heaven.  

Annie Fuller is a young widow living in San Francisco in 1879. Her late husband had squandered her fortune before committing suicide a few years earlier. She owns and manages a boarding house to make ends meet, and also supplements her income as Madame Sibyl, a well-known clairvoyant. 

When one of Annie’s clients is found dead, all signs point to suicide, but Annie isn’t so sure that that’s the case, and she winds up doing some amateur sleuthing to try to determine what really happened. She butts heads with Nate Dawson, the deceased’s family lawyer who is also trying to learn the truth, and to her horror, begins to fall for him.  

This book does have a few entertaining moments, and the historical detail is apparent throughout, but the flow of the story was too slow for my personal taste, and I came perilously close to giving up on it more than once. I can be stubborn, however, and so kept on reading, in hopes that something interesting would happen.  

While I do appreciate details, especially in a period mystery, it felt to me like there were far too many details that were not relevant to the story. I didn’t like Annie for most of the book, although the flirtation between Annie and Nate was kind of sweet, and I must doff my cap to Nate’s investigative skills.  

I cannot wholeheartedly recommend this book, but the ending of the mystery itself was nicely done, and I could just picture the scene in my head where the tables were turned on the killer and the killer was incapacitated in time for the police to arrive.




All opinions are my own. No compensation was received for this review.

When You Thought I Wasn't Looking

Came across this lovely poem by Mary Rita Schilke Korazan that I thought you might enjoy. It's a message every adult should read because children are watching you and doing as you do, not as you say.

When You Thought I Wasn't Looking

When you thought I wasn't looking,

I saw you hang my first painting on the refrigerator,

and I wanted to paint another one.

When you thought I wasn't looking, 

I saw you feed a stray cat,

and I thought it was good to be kind to animals.

When you thought I wasn't looking,

I saw you make my favorite cake for me,

and I knew that little things are special things.

When you thought I wasn't looking,

I heard you say a prayer,

and I believed that there was a God to talk to.

When you thought I wasn't looking,

I felt you kiss me goodnight,

and I felt loved.

When you thought I wasn't looking, 

I saw tears come from your eyes,

and I learned that sometimes things hurt,

but it's alright to cry.

When you thought I wasn't looking,

I saw that you cared,

and I wanted to be everything that I could be.

When you thought I wasn't looking,

I looked....

and I wanted to say thanks for all the things 

I saw when you thought I wasn't looking. 

Different Drummers

I came across this excerpt from David Keirsey's book, Please Understand Me II, in an old email today and thought I would share it with you. 

These words resonate pretty strongly with me at the moment as I try to understand the beat of another's drummer and they similarly try to understand the beat of mine. It can get pretty hairy sometimes because we can both be stubborn, but there are lessons in the words below that I will endeavor to take to heart in my less stubborn moments. 

Different Drummers

If I do not want what you want, please try not to tell me that my want is wrong.
Or if I believe other than you, at least pause before you correct my view.
Or if my emotion is less than yours, or more, given the same circumstances, try not to ask me to feel more strongly or weakly.

Or yet if I act, or fail to act, in the manner of your design for action, let me be.
I do not, for the moment at least, ask you to understand me. That will come only when you are willing to give up changing me into a copy of you.


I may be your spouse, your parent, your offspring, your friend, or your colleague. If you will allow me any of my own wants, or emotions, or beliefs, or actions, then you open yourself, so that some day these ways of mine might not seem so wrong, and might finally appear to you as right -- for me. To put up with me is the first step to understanding me. Not that you embrace my ways as right for you, but that you are no longer irritated or disappointed with me for my seeming waywardness. And in understanding me you might come to prize my differences from you, and, far from seeking to change me, preserve and even nurture those differences.


Amen.

How Dogs Think vs. How Cats Think

A bit of pet humor for you today

Soooo true....

Give Everyone An A: The Art of Possibility

In recent weeks I have been employing a little trick I learned from the conductor of the Boston Philharmonic, Benjamin Zander with great success. In his book, The Art of Possibility, Mr. Zander takes a decidedly positive approach to personal and business relationships and, among many other lessons, asks you to give everyone you meet an A right off the bat. They don't have to earn it, you just give it to them with your whole heart, and see what magic unfolds. 

It has been some time since I read the book, but the lesson of giving everyone an A has stuck with me and proven extremely helpful with a difficult working relationship. I will read the book again and write a more in-depth review a bit later, but in the meantime, here is a video I found on YouTube to whet your appetite. He is a delightful man and I hope you will be moved to learn more about him and his work.

Benjamin Zander - Giving An A

Book Review: Waking the Dead

WARNING: MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS!

Heather Graham's latest book is a well-crafted tale of a murderous painting by a talented, but minor artist named Henry Sebastian Hubert. 

During what was referred to as the Year Without a Summer in 1816, Hubert rented an ancient Swiss castle with a dark and sinister past. Among those joining him for a time were Lord Byron, Claire (Lord Byron's former mistress), John Polidori, and Mary Shelley. Lord Byron and company challenge Hubert to join them in their madness to create the penultimate ghost story. Hubert would paint his ghost story, while the others would craft their stories in words. 

The painting that results from that challenge, Ghosts in the Mind, is a masterpiece study in perception and deception. The characters appear to be one thing, and then another, more sinister scene is perceived, leaving the viewer decidedly unsettled and fearful. The painting then begins its infamous and murderous history. Hubert is found dead in the castle, in front of his painting, an apparent suicide. 

The painting passes to his widow in England, who has no love of it and orders it to be wrapped up and stored away where it lay quiet until her death. Upon her death the painting begins to change hands and mysterious deaths follow wherever it goes. 

Modern day New Orleans: the painting is purchased by a very wealthy widow. Almost as soon as it arrives, nearly an entire family is butchered with no sign of the killers left behind. Private Detective Michael Quinn is called in by his former partner in the New Orleans Police Department to assist him with this especially baffling case. 

Before long, Quinn's girlfriend, Danni Cafferty, who owns a curio shop and is no stranger to the paranormal, begins to assist Quinn with the case, along with occasional help from a Voodoo priestess, a Roman Catholic priest, and Billie and Bo Ray, and, of course, their fiercely protective, perceptive, and loyal dog, Wolf. 

As the body count rises, their investigations take them through the troubled and deadly history of the painting, to a modern day direct descendant of the artist, and even back to the castle itself to try to unravel the secrets of the painting and what really happened that summer in 1816.

Overall I really enjoyed the book. The author did a fine job of building suspense around the painting. I haven't decided whether it's good or bad in this case, but I was able to figure out part of the ending before the actual ending, with still a bit of a surprise waiting for me at the very end. Heather Graham fans should enjoy this latest body of work. 

All opinions are my own; no compensation was received for this review.

Sidewalk Chalk Art Competition - Part 2

This is the last of the photos I wanted to share from the sidewalk chalk art competition in Winter Park yesterday. Since most of the competitors were under age, I've erased their names from the photos I've posted but I retain the original photos with the names intact.

Sidewalk Chalk Art Competition - Part 1

While strolling around Winter Park today, I came across a sidewalk chalk art competition. Several different schools were competing, and some adults. Below is a sampling of what I saw today. Since most of the competitors were under age, I've erased their names from the photos I've posted but I retain the original photos with the names intact.

Stay tuned tomorrow for the rest!

A Politically-Correct Dictionary for Dogs

This came from an old issue of a gem of a magazine called Going Bonkers?  The self-help magazine with a sense of humor.

Please enjoy "A Politically-Correct Dictionary for Dogs."

Archaic                                         New
Dog                                              Domestic Partner
Hound                                          Canine Companion
Person                                         Quadrupled-impaired
Pet                                               Roommate
Master                                          Master chef
Owner                                          Automatic door opener
Command                                    Suggestion
Pot roast                                      Dog food
Groomer                                      Spa
"Accident"                                    Self-expression
Barking                                        Discussing
Discipline                                     Assertiveness training
Obedience                                   Self-actualization program
Shedding                                     Self-renewal
Digging through trash                  Recycling
Dog pack                                     Fraternal organization
Guard dog                                   Defense chief
Sheep dog                                   Agricultural mgmt.                                                                                     professional
Lap dog                                       Personal advisor
Stray                                            Explorer
Kids                                             Assailants
Bath                                            Obsolete

Book Review: To Bless the Space Between Us

Just finished this lovely book of poetry, To Bless the Space Between Us, by the late John O'Donohue. I first came across his poetry a few years ago and I have loved his work ever since. 

The book is divided into major life categories with poems within each chapter that cover pretty much anything you can think of.

Chapter 1: Beginnings

Chapter 2: Desires

Chapter 3: Thresholds

Chapter 4: Homecomings

Chapter 5: States of Heart

Chapter 6: Callings

Chapter 7: Beyond Endings

While I liked almost all of the poems (some I just could not make heads or tails out of at this point in time), some of the ones that spoke the most to me were A Morning Offering, For A New Beginning, For A New Home, For Freedom, A Blessing of Angels, For Longing, For the Traveler, For A Mother-To-Be, For a Friend on the Arrival of Illness, For a Parent on the Death of a Child, To Come Home to Yourself, Before Sleep, For Courage, For An Exile, For Solitude, For Grief, For the Interim Time, For One Who is Exhausted, For A Nurse, For the Time of Necessary Decision, For Citizenship, For a Leader, On the Death of the Beloved, and For the Dying.

O'Donohue's poetry touches my soul on a personal level. I would have loved to have known him in person, but the perception I have of him through his poetry is that he seems to have been a very intuitive and kind man who sought to give everyone who crossed his path kind words and comfort on the journey of life. Definitely a must-read for any of his fans. Be sure to check him out on YouTube, too!


All opinions are my own. I am not receiving compensation for this review.

Ten Feet Tall!

Today would have been my dad's 72nd birthday. 

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

My dad at about age 2

His enlistment photo

With me

Mom and Dad

I spent some time visiting with my dad's family out of state recently and had an opportunity to visit his grave after many, many years. Days like today are hard as I remember my dad and certain childhood memories.

One memory that really stands out for me is when my dad stood up for me when I told him about a bully at the bus stop who always gave me a hard time. He would push me out of line to get on the bus and make me go to the back of the line, and he called me horrible names. I put up with it for a long time out of fear before finally telling my dad about it. 

My dad called the boy's father immediately and got things straightened out. The very next morning, that same bully was the most apologetic and gracious kid I'd ever seen and I never had another problem with him. My daddy was 10 feet tall that day! ♥

Happy Birthday, Daddy! I miss you!

Love, 

Peanut

Happy Halloween, Boys and Girls...

Hope you get all the sweets you can handle! Sleep tight...

if you can.

When Death Comes

When Death Comes

by Mary Oliver

When death comes
like the hungry bear in autumn;
when death comes and takes all the bright coins from his purse

to buy me, and snaps the purse shut;
when death comes
like the measle-pox

when death comes
like an iceberg between the shoulder blades,

I want to step through the door full of curiosity, wondering:
what is it going to be like, that cottage of darkness?

And therefore I look upon everything
as a brotherhood and a sisterhood,
and I look upon time as no more than an idea,
and I consider eternity as another possibility,

and I think of each life as a flower, as common
as a field daisy, and as singular,

and each name a comfortable music in the mouth,
tending, as all music does, toward silence,

and each body a lion of courage, and something
precious to the earth.

When it's over, I want to say all my life
I was a bride married to amazement.
I was the bridegroom, taking the world into my arms.

When it's over, I don't want to wonder
if I have made of my life something particular, and real.

I don't want to find myself sighing and frightened,
or full of argument.

I don't want to end up simply having visited this world.

For Courage

For some friends and for myself on occasion when life seems so very dark. I hope you will find comfort in these words by the late John O'Donohue.

******************************

For Courage

When the light around you lessens

And your thoughts darken until

Your body feels fear turn

Cold as a stone inside,

When you find yourself bereft

Of any belief in yourself

And all you unknowingly

Leaned on has fallen,

When one voice commands

Your whole heart, 

And it is raven dark,

Steady yourself and see

That it is your own thinking

That darkens your world,

Search and you will find

A diamond-thought of light,

Know that you are not alone

And that this darkness has purpose;

Gradually it will school your eyes

To find the one gift your life requires

Hidden within this night-corner.

Invoke the learning

Of every suffering

You have suffered.

Close your eyes.

Gather all the kindling

About your heart

To create one spark.

That is all you need

To nourish the flame

That will cleanse the dark

Of its weight of festered fear.

A new confidence will come alive

To urge you toward higher ground

Where your imagination

Will learn to engage difficulty

As its most rewarding threshold!

morningstar mini-storage

There is a local mini-storage facility in my town that employs somebody with a good sense of humor to write sayings for their sign out front. It's always good for a chuckle and I take a picture whenever I get an opportunity. Here are a few that were posted recently. Hope you enjoy them.

I'm one of them, lol.

Taken this past spring.

My Norwegian friends enjoyed this.

Not sure if they meant to say Adobe, rather than Abode, 

but either way, it's pretty funny. Heaven knows how

many times Adobe updates their stuff.

Answers

Here are the answers to yesterday's photo quiz...

Playing with photo software...

Any guesses as to what the original photographs were?

Miracles

The Journey of Life

Here is another lovely poem by Terah Cox. Hope you enjoy it!

Measure of a Man

Found this lovely poem by Terah Cox that I thought you might enjoy.