company on a nice day and illegal leaf burning

I like my company, but hate being stuck inside on a nice day.  I went out to cut up strawberries for shortcake and discovered a terrible stench--the neighbors two doors down are burning leaves int heir cooker--raking them and throwing them in so it looks like they are barbecuing.  Grrrrr.  Stinking up the neighborhood, polluting the air and the leaves should be composted.  DUH!

tonight

Boo!

Happy Halloween!

Hope it's been good!

Happy Halloween!

Hot from the oven

Apple Bunbleberry pie, my second this week.

Make 2 crusts. (or buy them).

Lay one in bottom of pie pan.

I addedL 4 large apples, blueberries, raspberries and strawberries to
fill to slightly heaping the pan.

Add: 3/4 c sugar or brown sugar or some combination, cinamon, 3 T
flour, a couple bits of butter or margarine, put on top crust, make
slits or design for vent holes,

Bake about 30-45 minutes, keeping on eye on the crust so it doesn't
burn. Done when crust is browned and juice bubbles up.

I baked 10 minutes at 425 and then 35 minutes at 365. Serve warm or
cool with ice cream or cream or plain.

This for BB's birthday. He is 64 and I still love him ("Will you
still need me, will you still feed me?" Yup!)

The Cassandra COmpact

The Cassandra Compact by Philip Shelby


My rating: 4 of 5 stars
The Cassandra Compact, by Robert Ludlum and Philip Shelby

Jon Smith is sent to rescue Yuri Danko, who has called the secure line and asked to be extracted. Danko has a piece of terrifying news, but before he can tell Jon, he is cut down in a spray of gunfire by assassins. Smith deduces that someone is out to steal a sample of smallpox from the Russian cache of bioweapons and perhaps manipulate it to make it more virulent. This is a face-paced, exciting and scary book. Lots of action and shoot-em-up. Not exactly my thing, but I did enjoy it.

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Free Food for Millionaires

Free Food for Millionaires by Min Jin Lee


My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Free Food for Millionaires, by Min Jin Lee, 4+

Casey Han had a scholarship to Princeton; otherwise, she'd have been unable to attend. Her time at Princeton gave her "No job and many bad habits," and a hunger for a lifestyle far above that which she could afford or had been used to with her immigrant Korean parents who ran a laundry service in Manhattan. Through Casey's eye's we see New York as experienced by the poor and the rich. Casey is offered several divergent opportunities and has to choose between independence or indebtedness in different ways. She loves hats, clothes and shoes, and these get her into trouble. This richly textured narrative covers not only Casey's life, but the lives of her parents, friends and lovers, and all the complex interweaving of love, friendship, betrayal, heartbreak, and rekindling. This book that made me laugh and cry. It's touted as being about the "immigrant" experience, but I say it is about the HUMAN experience.. An excellent book. Close to a 5 in my mind. I really enjoyed it. finished 10-13-09

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Without my story, what would I be?

"Without my story, I would be a breath of breeze on a still lake, the faintest ripple, the reflection of wings passing, the great dome of blue, filling with mist. I would be emptier than a vacuum tube which sucks into itself the story of the world. I would be nothing, inside out."

for April Belle

my noon walk

I'm up in Harbor Springs for a Writing Retreat and took a walk at lunch.

The Wheel of Darkness by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child

The Wheel of Darkness by Douglas Preston


My rating: 3 of 5 stars
The Wheel of Darkness, by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child

Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child have written another exciting, spellbinding and upsetting book, one that I didn't want to put down from the beginning to the end. It was interesting engaging. Special agent Pendergast of the FBI and his ward, Constance Green are weary of the world after their last upsetting adventures, and go to a Tibetan Monastery to be healed. But someone has stolen the dangerous Agogen which could destroy the world, and the monks ask Pendergast to retrieve it. A simple assignment, it seems, until the thief is murdered and additional strange bizarre murders begin to occur about the maiden voyage of the huge cruise ship Britannica. I enjoyed the book, and was very interested in the meditative practices, but I was deeply saddened by a change that occurred in this book from all previous books. In every other book, I coudl trust two things: that at least Pendergast would survive and that whatever bizarre happening was occurring, their would be a logical explanation for it in the end. However, I began to suspect that that would not be the case in this book, and, disappointingly, I was correct. This means I can never trust them again to not go off the deep end.

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