South of Superior by Ellen Airgood

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Having traveled the UP in January and passed through many small towns that seemed far away from any of the attractions of a major city I was curious about this new book written by someone who grew up there. I haven't read the book but the premise of a young woman, recently living in Chicago, leaving to take up residence in one of these small places with a woman old enough to be her grandmother in order to care for yet another older woman, has me anxious to read it. If you've been South of Superior and are curious about what life in one of these towns might be like I urge you to check out the link above and enter the giveaway. Good luck, but actually, I want to win! LOL

The Mullah's Storm--a review

The Mullah's Storm by Thomas W. Young

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


If you have seen pictures of our troops stationed on the high mountains of Afganistan with nothing but mountain and rocks and dirt around them and were awed by the desolation and isolation and danger, you must read this book. A US plane is hit by a missle immediately upon take-off in a snow storm. It is leaving Afganistan with a full crew, a female Army interpreter, several CIA operatives and a captive,aged mullah who is being spirited out of the country to be interrogated. Many are killed, several are injured and the attackers are going to move in soon to regain their holy man. The commander orders one of the crew and the interpreter to take the mullah and escape. Reluctantly, the man obeys and the three take off on foot through that same desolate, isolated landscape this time in a blinding snow storm with little food and water, a radio, night goggles, and a GPS system and little else.



Unlike many books of this type there are no gigantic moments of heroic action with shootem ups and fast action. Instead, the realism of the narration has the reader as cold and frightened as the characters. The need to move through an area in which the enemy is hidden but all around, an area where the people one encounters may or may not be friendlies, an area where every path followed is boldly imprinted in the snow is what gets your heart racing. When the trio are captured the fear they feel and their expression of it is totally believeable. There are no romantic involvements, no big buddy relationships, just the business of survival and war. This is not to say that these characters are unfeeling robots--the narration is from the perspective of an airman who is a technician, used to flying, who finds himself as warrior and protector in a landscape he has only seen from the safety of a plane high over this terrain. How he feels about this change and how he conducts himself with this new mission is as gripping as the mission itself.



I think the ending had the most impact on me--the fact that after an intense sharing of danger and loss and injury and pain these characters go their seperate ways and will probably never see each other again. Yet they will always remember and so will we. I closed the book and thought I don't know how they can survive such situations and wonder, as our hero does at times, why they occur or how they can in a place so incredibly beautiful.



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Planned Obsolescence

Obsolescence---getting too old to cut the mustard!

When I was a young woman my Dad used to say that cars had planned obsolescence but I never noticed that particularly and kind of rolled my eyes, thinking--yeah, well, then there is just old and crotchety. Well, as is often the case, I, like so many before me and like many to come--can you say daughter?--, have become my parent!

In my kitchen is a Westinghouse toaster,NOT a White-Westinhouse, though it is white with these lovely multi-sized bubble like circles in silver and black scattered about its shiny sides. It was given to me 45 years ago last month--around Memorial Day in --what year (oh, math!)1966. It is a jazzy little thing--you put the bread in the slots and it automatically goes down with a lovely mechanical sound and when it is toasted it pops up joyfully with an even louder sound. It still works marvelously--although a couple of years ago it went through a spell where the lifter bar on one needed to be manually pulled up with an instrument with a wooden handle before it would automatically drop new bread down. It has since stopped its temper tantrum or sabbatical or whatever it was going through and once more works hummingly.

Why you ask am I extolling the virtues of this wonderful appliance, made in America by an American company that I think is now defunct or else masquerading as the same outfit but really located in the jungles of Asia somewhere a la the makers of Revereware--another wonderful company whose products I also own--same vintage as Ms Westinghouse although sorely tarnished on their lovely copper bottoms. How's that for a run-on sentence but perhaps this breathless tirade may give you some idea of the state of my mind at present.

I spent this entire morning in online chat with a lovely techie whose accent I could not hear, which at least kept my blood pressure at a reasonable level. One needs to give a bit of background here I think. When my daughter went off to college in 2004, being a good and with it Mom, I asked what computer she would like and whether she wanted a laptop or desktop model. She opted for a laptop but wanted the high end Applebook which I just wasn't going to pay for ( after all, we were shelling out for college !). Needless to say she wasn't willing to lay out that much moolah either. So off she went, computerless. I, in the meantime, decided I liked the look of the Dell Inspiron and bought one for myself. They were having a special on a gigantic printer-fax-copier so I got that as well, though I loved my Epson printer that had been attached to the grape iMac but it wouldn't work with the Dell. Never gave a thought to PO--just figured different platforms!( Of course the reason I was in the market for a new computer is because the old iMac no longer could access many sites such as Snapfish, which had updated their security!) Are you impressed with my knowledgeable use of techie terms? Daughter came home at Christmas, fell in love with the Inspiron, daughter left in January for Montana with the laptop under her arm. Mom called Dell and got a new laptop--same model--already improved. Still no thought about OP.

Flash forward to 2010--one day the Inspiron screen goes dark. The computer works but the display is shot! Not worth fixing--will cost as much as a new computer. Files not backed up!!!! Call Dell--they tell me that the computer lasted beyond its expected lifespan---6 years!!!!!!!! So I ask, okay--what have you got that is the same memory, capability etc as this dead fish with all my important favorites and pictures and documents/This wonderful machine that has traveled cross country with me three times, paying bills, blogging my trip to friends and sending them pictures.Almost another child--dead and unresponsive at the tender age of 6---kindergarten age for Pete's sake. They tell me and Best Buy is having a special. So I go see my local Geek Squad and for more shekels to retrieve my info and buy an external hard drive I purchase a new Inspiron 15.

I get the baby home and hook it up to that ginormous printer and it won't work. I manually upload the drivers from the disc that came with the printer and it won't work! So I call Dell---no that printer which I love--it prints beautifully and loads paper sensibly is not compatible with Windows 7 and there is no driver that will make it work. So now I have to buy a new printer. I decide this time I'll go wireless and they just happen to be having a special. I place an ad for my beloved printer and within a day a neighbor who is an author comes by and talks me down to $40 from $50--but, I rationalize, that makes the new one cost me $40 also and I'm getting a new printer, he's getting used--but loved!

So by December I have a new printer and it is hooked up and working--sort of. It loads from the back and so paper jams are common and a pain when you are a floor above the printer. Then after only about 47 printed pages--not all at the same time-- the ink isn't flowing properly so I do a head cleaning and get it going again. I think, boy the other printer's ink didn't dry up between printings. But, I thought, I'll have to make sure I use it more often. Then off we went for a seven week tour of the country with the new computer which did fine. Came back and sure enough had to get the ink flowing but it seemed to do okay. ( The old printer sat just as long in prior years while we traveled with no problem!) At this point I'm beginning to hate this printer.

Then on May 26 a new message appeared --there is a problem with the printhead. I removed it --I cleaned it as the manual showed--I reseated it--I changed the ink cartridges but could not do any other actions because I could not override the message. So began my first Dell chat session. After an hour and a half the tech had me finagle with buttons and plugs and when I did all I was directed to do the connection with the chat was dropped. I gave up.

Today I tried again--three and a half hours later they are sending me a new printer--the touchpad on my computer works again and I may buy some kind of Government level software for the computer. Here's hoping the new printer will be compatible with it--after all it is about six months old. Naturally, the techies and salespeople call the changes that are made in each model PROGRESS--I call it Planned Obsolescence. If these computer guys and gals are so bright they can make older models of printers and computers compatible with the new models. The thing is they are savvy and much brighter than the consumer so throw out the old and buy new.

Do you wonder why I don't have a cell phone, an iPod --if that is even the new thing, there is some larger gadget my brother in law has like a slate board, I haven't a clue what its name is--or a Nook or Kindle? I know how to dial a phone and turn book pages. Fortunately digital cameras aren't that different than film cameras so I can deal fine with them. But the rest of this technology? It will give me a stroke or heart attack due to high blood pressure long before obesity or cholesterol.

Now I'm going to go have a nice Thomas' English muffin toasted in Ms Westinghouse, brew a nice cup of tea and read a good book--I've done enough for one day!

If you like cheese and remember fondue,this is for you

Another giveaway by www.kayespenguinposts.blogspot.com


Lost and Fondue by Avery Aames


Paperback, 320 pages
Published May 3rd 2011 by Berkley (first published April 12th 2011)
ISBN 0425241580 (ISBN13: 9780425241585)
When Charlette Bessette, owner of Providence, Ohio's fancy cheese shop, Fromagerie Bessette, is asked by her friend Meredith to cater a fund raiser at the old abandoned Ziegler winerey, it is with some trepidation. For years rumors have abounded of buried treasures and possibly a few buried bodies at the winery. The fundraiser is to purchase the winery and turn it into a local college.

Check out A Parfait Murder giveaway

Review & Giveaway: A Parfait Murder by Wendy Lyn Watson"

at www.KayesPenguinPosts.blogspot.com

Looks like a parfait--perfect easy summer read!

In Memory

Somehow it is fitting that today is dreary and gray, rainy and humid. As I write this more men and women in Afganistan,Iraq and Libya are being written on the walls of the military fallen. We don't belong in those places in my opinion, anymore than we belonged in Vietnam or Korea but despite that men and women have answered our country's call to arms and we must honor their valor and devotion. For many of them it was the last voluntary act of their lives.

I grew up at a time when most of my uncles and my Dad and my brothers served voluntarily in the military, despite the fact that the draft still existed. Most of them were Navy but a couple of the uncles joined the Army and I can hear the joshing and teasing still among them. Some of the younger ones served in WWII but my Dad and a couple of the others were too old and had been too young for WWI. My Dad was going to reenlist in 1943 but he was told he'd be given a non- com rank that could be removed while he served and he could not afford to take such a chance financially with a wife and new baby back in DC so he did not go back. Fortunately, all came home and none were physically injured, nor to my memory severely mentally or emotionally injured.

Mom used to talk about her cousins and uncles who'd served during WWI--several of them died and one lost his legs. She used to speak of her young aunt who was to marry her soldier when he returned from war only to die in the influenza epidemic and be buried, instead, in her lovely wedding dress.

Of course the major war of which I was most cognizant was Vietnam. What a terrible time of protests and upheaval and men leaving the country,moving to Canada to avoid the draft. but many stayed and were drafted or enlisted and many came home disillusioned and emotionally spent. Some never recovered and took solace in the drugs that became so prevalent among the troops and in some quarters among the young back home. Others drank but many struggled with their demons and adjusted to life among the living while remembering the many they left behind dead on the battleground. I remember the horror the first time one of those dead was a name to which I could put a face. Younger than me--just about six months out of high school, the kid brother of a classmate. I was away at school when he came home and was buried but that summer I went and stood at his grave in disbelief. Another step in growing up--another step into adulthood, taken reluctantly and with tears because Bob would never get that chance.

After that whenever one of my students would come to school to see me after basic to strut proudly in his uniform, looking like a child to me still, but knowing he was no longer, something in me would remember Bob and pray, as I smiled and wished my student luck, that he would come back and grow up safely. Most of them did but a few did not and when I think of them I see them walking away so proud.

In our family on both sides the tradition of military service has died out. My brothers-in-law all served in Viet Nam and all are happily home and healthy. The war ended before my husband had to take his Naval commission after ROTC so he instead went into Peace Corps. Bill's cousin broke the Naval-Army tradition and served in the Air Force in Nam. None of the nephews or nieces have chosen the military, nor has our daughter. Many of our recent students have not gone and our school refused to allow any recruiters on campus during career day.

Attitudes have changed about the men and women who choose to serve. The big headline in today's paper is that a nearby town is celebrating agriculture this weekend. But one of Betsy's friends is in the Army--in intelligence --and she doesn't think she'll be sent into a war zone. I pray that is true. One of my friends has a son who has joined the Army--he hasn't been deployed as of yet. I think of him all the time and hope he won't be or that he will return safely in all ways if he is.

Today is a day of remembrance of those who have gone into battle and who have not returned. It isn't a day to remember those who are serving though I think of them daily and pray for our withdrawal from these lands in which we are bound and determined to have our democratic way. No, it is a day of mourning for the boys and girls who will no longer grow up and for their parents and siblings and wives and husbands and children who will never hold them again. In Memoriam--Thank you and Rest in Peace

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Didn't Burn Their Bras ( If They Even Wore Them)

She Wore a Yellow Ribbon: Women Soldiers and Patriots of the Western Frontier by Chris Enss

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


It is amazing to discover the number of women who defied society's restrictions to make their own way in a world in which the term women's liberation did not exist. Most of them were not of the affluent families of society and many of them were alone in the world to be sure but some were not renegades but women of principle and courage who could not stand silent despite the current concept of the proper place of women. This book provides condensed biographies of twelve such women. They are as diverse as any group living today and their exploits were as diverse as the paths taken by modern women. All of them in this book lived in the unsettled wilds of the American West populated by Natives, whom the US Government was determined to subdue.



The first three ladies were involved in the Mexican Wars to determine the future of present day Texas and New Mexico. One, a survivor of the Alamo, another a voice for the people both Texan and Mexican at Goliad, which a friend of mine says should be remembered more than the Alamo, the conditions and loss of life there being far worse than the mission in San Antonio.Each of these were Hispanic but the third woman was a wife of a cattle driver on the Santa Fe Trail and she traveled it with him and her brother-in-law, an American spy in New Mexico.



Another trio--these Native American --are also featured. Winema, a Madoc, who brokered peace among her tribesmen, other tribes in the area and the Army but died far from her native home;Lozen, an Apache shaman who rode with Geronimo; and Sarah Winnemucca, a Piute who helped the American Army subdue the Bannock Indians and went on to travel to Washington DC to plead the cause of her people with President Hayes and Congress.



Then there were Army wives, including Elizabeth Custer, never one of my favorite historical characters, but who must receive credit for earning respect for wives traveling with their officer husbands. Until her taking her place with Armstrong any wife who traveled with the Army was considered in the way and distracting to the mission, simply a camp follower.



One of the most interesting women was Charlie Hatfield who eloped at 14 and was widowed by a small time river rat and left with two children by the time she was 18 or so. She put her children in a convent school, dressed as a man and spent a large part of her life tracking down and killing her husband's murderer. She panned for gold in California, served in the Civil War, ran a bakery-saloon--interesting combination among other enterprises before returning to life as a wife and mother.



Of course, no book about stalwart Western women would be complete without mention of Calamity Jane. But here Jane is not the hard drinking, foul mouthed oxen team driver we are used to hearing about but rather a nurse to small pox victims in their isolated tents.



But, as interesting as these women's lives were, my two favorites are Cathy Williams, who, after emancipation, chose for her path the life of a Buffalo Soldier and Juliet Nichols who served as lighthouse keeper on Angel Island in San Francisco Bay and who, for 20 hours and 35 minutes used a hand held hammer to loudly tap 2 times every 15 seconds on the bell that would warn ships away from the trecherous rocks below.



I've read the works of Ann Seagraves about the Soiled Doves and other Women of the West in her readable series and I've read Vanished Arizona by the wife of an Army officer during the time of the Indian wars. This book certainly continues the stories they tell about women who, despite the possibility of being ostrasized and losing the respect of other women and men of the time, did what they deemed necessary to survive and succeed in harsh circumstances, often without any support from others.



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