Mayhem at the Happy Valley Motor Inn and Resort: Review

December 4, 2021.Reading time 2 minutes.

Fellow blogger, Leslie Noyes (Praying for Eyebrowz) has a quirky style that often brings a smile, so I was curious when she published a book to know if I’d have the same response. I put Mayhem at the Happy Valley Motor Inn and Resort on my Amazon wish list and was excited when the 490 […]

Caring Lessons: A Review

January 5, 2021.Reading time 2 minutes.

I ordered Lois Hoitenga Roelofs’ book, Caring Lessons: A Nursing Professor’s Journey of Faith and Self, after having been a fan of her blog for several years. Lois writes with candour about her life challenges, and on the blog in particular, about her journey through her husband’s terminal cancer. It is the candour with which […]

“Next Year in Havana”: Review

November 18, 2018.Reading time 2 minutes.

In 1958, Cuba is experiencing political unrest. The Perez sisters, sheltered from the uprising by their social standing, look for opportunities to sneak out of the house. During one of these outings, nineteen-year-old Elisa meets a man who steals her heart. He is a revolutionary. Their forbidden romance heats up as the plots against the […]

“Before We Were Yours”: A Review

July 24, 2018.Reading time 1 minute.

Before We Were Yours, by Lisa Wingate introduces the shameful story of the Tennessee Children’s Home Society, an organization run by Georgia Tann, a woman who made money by abducting poor children from their homes and selling them into adoption. Wingate’s novel imagines what life would be like for siblings taken from their homes and […]

The Alice Network: a Worthy Read

July 13, 2018.Reading time 1 minute.

Charlie’s cousin Rose has disappeared, and refusing to believe she is dead, Charlie sets out to retrace Rose’s steps. Her investigation brings her to the door of Eve Gardner, a cranky woman, with deformed hands, a clear drinking problem, and a luger. Together, with the help of a Scotsman, with a shady past, the three […]

Monday Mood: Stretched too far

Saturday we packed up the garage (with help). Dusty, dirty, and exhausting. Sunday we attended and then hosted a farewell party for our Ukrainian roommate, who is going back to Ukraine despite all our protests. Yes, two separate gatherings. Heart wrenching. This morning, we visited our new apartment building to get set up with a […]

Let Me Sleep

Like an orphaned treeshivering in a coat of frost my soul wandersdreamless, alone a nobody, nowherein the pre-dawn chill. Beckoned by first lightbody twisting wakens Consciousness clingsto desolate slumber then, reluctantlyreality brings me home. (Image my own)