That Day

Where were you on "That Day?" May we all be ready for "That Day" to come!

Source: tatertotsandjello.blogspot.com via Melissa on Pinterest

No Place Like Holmes

You could probably judge my reading progress as a child by the mysteries I read. The summer right before I turned 10, I could read two books a day - Bobbsey Twins. Then I progressed to Trixie Belden and the Three Investigators (the last ones looked really creepy, but weren't much worse than Belden) :) And does anyone remember Encyclopedia Brown? I still love a good mystery (like the Royal Tunbridge Wells series), but I'm not really into anything graphic. However, I do love a good children's book! I think the charm of a children's mystery, is that the author can focus on the story without feeling the obligation to sensationalism (such as gore or language etc...) that they feel necessary to include to make it a viable "adult" novel.

Thus, I was excited to receive "No Place like Holmes" by Jason Lethcoe to review. I enjoyed the book! I have been an admirer of Sherlock Holmes especially listening to the stories on Old Time Radio. I always thought it interesting how Sherlock would pick up on the smallest detail, and of course, that one detail would solve the mystery! Griffin Sharpe is a young boy with observation skills much like those of the fictional Holmes. He observes the most minute detail and comes to (mostly accurate) conclusions. The summer he is twelve, he is sent to spend time with his uncle in London. While there, he of course, finds himself deep into mystery.

 I am a little confused about the book, however. Tommy Nelson has it listed as a non-fiction book. According to the author, Griffin Sharpe, was a real private investigator. However, in the story, Griffin has one on one dealings with Sherlock Holmes (who lives in the apartment above his uncle) and Holmes' arch enemy Moriarty who are both fictional characters. When I researched Griffin Sharpe, I found next to nothing other than what the author has put on his blog. Maybe the author will clarify this in the sequel.

I thought the book was well written, and I like how the author blended the story with Griffin's faith. He treats his uncle with respect even when he has been mistreated and misunderstood. He treats clients with respect and compassion when his uncle is focused merely on solving the mystery. A fun read for those young persons (and older ones too!) who like a mystery. Some fun extras are in the back, like a recipe and a few mini-mysteries.

Thomas Nelson provided the book to me free of charge in exchange for my honest review.

Aboretum Visit

Last week we "girls" took a trip the a local aboretum. It was an absolutely beautiful day - wonderful for enjoying the outdoors.


On the grounds is this historical dogtrot home/museum. These houses are fascinating to me - imagine having to go outside to get from one room to another.



I did fall in love while I was there... is this not the cutest chair?? with cherries!!? :)


Hmmm... think I could handle a wheel like this?

It's a different method than I'm used to. You can see a "great wheel" demonstrated here. Funny... whoever was playing with that yarn obviously did not know how a wheel works. Actually the yarn does not connect to the bit "wheel" at all - a drive band would connect the big wheel to the part to the left.

The back of the house from the garden.

Not many flowers in bloom yet, although there were quite a few daffodils. But it looks like it will be quite lovely in a month or so. The very back of the house is the kitchen and dining room.


Aren't we glad to no longer need facilities like this?

This one seems a bit breezy... :)

The Revolutionary Paul Revere

Have you ever heard of Apollos Rivoire? I hadn't until I read this book. Apollos Rivoire is the father of Paul Revere. In 1715, at the age of 13, Apollos was put on a boat to escape the persecution of the Huguenots in France. After arriving in America and learning English and the silversmith trade, he changed his name to Paul Revere, a name he later passed on to his son. The son is the one who is so famous for his Revolutionary ride. However, this ride wasn't Paul's only effort for the Revolution and for America. In his book, The Revolutionary Paul Revere, Joel J. Miller gives us a good description of the life that Paul lived for his God, his family and his country. That night ride wasn't the only one that Paul took, he made several journeys delivering letters for the cause. Not only did he serve as a delivery man, but he also was one of the lead "Indians" at the Boston Tea Party. He constructed a powder mill to provide gunpowder for the war effort as well as commanded the fortifications at Castle Island. Quite the busy revolutionary! After the revolution, Revere continued to be quite the visionary. He was a success in many different efforts - even supplying copper sheeting to a young inventor named Robert Fulton.

I enjoyed reading about Paul Revere. It was interesting to read more about this time in history. I liked the size of the book - not a huge tome and not too intimidating to read. The book is also a lot more "reader friendly" than many historical books. It was well researched; I was interested to see the notes telling what books the author used for his research. I did, however, find the author's sometimes frequent use of metaphors and similes a little distracting - such as "After repeal of the Stamp Act, Parliament was up Debt creek without a farthing." (page 96) and "Like seeds cast down in bloody soil, the dead sprang up as thorny brambles all throughout town." (page 112) ummm. Okay. But all in all, an excellent read. Would I recommend it? Certainly! It has enough depth to interest a more in-depth history "person" - like me! but it is not so academic to intimidate a more casual reader. Thumbs up!


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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Texas History Part ???

What happens when two history buffs decide to have a little anniversary getaway? They end up visiting historical sites, of course! Seriously, it is great to have a husband that enjoys history as much as I do - sometimes even a little more! :)

Sadly, we didn't get any pictures on our actual anniversary. Strange, huh? We did a little shopping and after supper we watched our wedding dvd. (Wow. A lot has changed in 5 years!) :)

Saturday was our fun day - starting with some Blue Bell (for Mark - a little early in the day for me.)

Gotta love the self timer! :)

We saw some absolutely beautiful countryside!!

The picture doesn't do it justice - especially through a car window!

Here are a few more pictures of the church you got a peek at on Monday:
Outside:

Inside:

Sam Houston's initials carved in the pew in front of his:

And in the museum part:
Sam Houston's table - the top was worn very smooth.

These were done by a local painter - Heroes of Texas independence. He is going to try to get them hung in the Alamo.

(There were a few more as well.)

After Independence, we went on to College Station to visit the Bush Library and Museum. Mark's first time to see it. (This was my second visit - to see a few more pictures of the inside check out this post from last year.)

So nice of Mr. Bush to stop for a little chat!

This is the little family cemetery out back of the museum - the Bush's daughter is buried there. She died of Leukemia at age 3.

Hope you enjoyed our little trip. We sure enjoyed getting away together for a couple of days.

Memorial Day

O beautiful for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!

O beautiful for heroes proved
In liberating strife.
Who more than self their country loved
And mercy more than life!
America! America!
May God thy gold refine
Till all success be nobleness
And every gain divine!


from America the Beautiful
by Katharine Lee Bates

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Mark and I returned Saturday evening from a quick Anniversary trip. We enjoyed taking in a little Texas history. :) This pew is in the church that Sam Houston got saved in. That is his pew. There is so much to see in just that little area. I wish we would have had more time.

I hope in all your enjoying of today, that you take a moment to pause and remember those who have given their lives for our freedoms.

Road Trip: Part Two

March 18, 1937.

For many people this was a normal day during the Depression. East Texas was one of the richest parts of the nation because of the oil boom. New London Independent School District was the richest ISD in the world. In 1933, the new upper campus (grades 5 - 11, 12th grade was added later) opened for classes. East Texans were proud of the beautiful new building.

However, on March 18, 1937, around 3:00 in the afternoon as classes were finishing up for the day, the silent killer natural gas that had built up in the crawl space underneath the building was ignited by a spark in the machine shop. Almost 300 children, teachers and visitors were killed that day or died from injuries soon after.

As sad as the story is, it is one that needs to be heard. These people should be remembered. As a result of the explosion, within weeks the Texas Legislature had passed a law requiring odor be added to the scentless natural gas. Now when there is a gas leak we smell a definable odor and know to check it out.

Two years later, this cenotaph was erected in memorial to all those that died. Each name is listed on the monument, at least all that are known.

For years, the people of New London didn't talk about the disaster. All the emotions, all the grief was bottled up inside. The one year anniversary remembrance ceremony was canceled. It has been in the past 20 or 30 years with reunions and the founding of the museum that healing has started coming about to the members of the community.

Last Tuesday, we visited the museum for the first time. It has been a hard thing to process. This has been a hard post to write, but the story is something that needs to be heard, needs to be remembered. These people, these children should not be forgotten.

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Whew. I know this has been a heavy post. It's not the way I usually write. However, I believe that history is very important. Many times our lives have been shaped by events that we don't even know about. Tomorrow - back to "regular" programming and Finished Object Friday. :)

Road Trip: Part One

We have really been enjoying having Grandma for the last few days. Last week was spring break around here, and we took some time off to do some things around East Texas. On Thursday, we visited Mission Tejas State Park. This park was one of several built during the 1930s by the CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps). Mission Tejas was the first Spanish mission built in Texas in 1690. In 1731, the mission was relocated to San Antonio and became Mission Espada.

This miniature Texas history lesson has come at no extra charge.

There is now a neat little park with nature trails and camping areas.

We took a picnic and enjoyed nature for a little while.

There is a little playground with things for kids of all ages...

Mom, Angie and I enjoyed a "hike" around the pond.

We enjoyed the wildlife we saw...

No, not Angie... this wildlife:

(don't you see that luna moth on the tree?)

We visited the reconstruction of the church:

(you didn't know you were getting a sneak peek yesterday!)

And an old cabin that was moved to the park.

Mom and Dad are enjoying the breeze in the dog run.

It was a very relaxing time. The park is off the beaten path and it was very quiet this time of year. A very nice place for a little day trip like ours. :)

Sunday Blessing

A mighty fortress is our God, a bulwark never failing;
Our helper He, amid the flood of mortal ills prevailing:
For still our ancient foe doth seek to work us woe;
His craft and power are great, and, armed with cruel hate,
On earth is not his equal.

Did we in our own strength confide, our striving would be losing;
Were not the right Man on our side, the Man of God’s own choosing:
Dost ask who that may be? Christ Jesus, it is He;
Lord Sabaoth, His Name, from age to age the same,
And He must win the battle.

from A Mighty Fortress Is Our God
by Martin Luther

It's been almost 500 years since Martin Luther changed history... yesterday was Reformation Day!

Adventures in My Garden

This has been a rather busy gardening morning! I've been wanting to start a compost bin for quite a while. I like the idea of trash can composting. So Saturday Mark brought me home a bin. Yesterday, he got the holes drilled and I started my compost today. :)

I've been keeping my kitchen compost scraps in a container in the freezer - a tip I read in a magazine... it helps keep the bugs out of my kitchen. :)

In other gardening/fertilizing news, my nice trash men dropped some great fertilizer by my mail box - little fish - about 20 or 30 of them. Rather nasty! But they were pretty much baked on the hot road and I just scraped them off and buried them in my flower bed, Squanto style. If my little rose bush starts growing by leaps and bounds, we'll know why! :)

Speaking of the rose bush, I found what has been eating my blooms - a cute little inch worm. It made me think of the song - although this inch worm didn't get very far. :) (You can listen at right.) It's a great gardening song, anyway.

Thanks for coming along on all my gardening adventures! I hope you all are having a great Wednesday!

Well traveled....

My sock has become well educated. I hope it doesn't hold such knowledge over it's mate... although in theory, the mate will be just as well educated because the yarn goes right with the sock! :)

The sock learned about Texas' history as an independent country. (The sock wonders why Texas didn't stay that way?) :)

The sock met some other socks.

These socks weren't quite as fancy, but the sock is not prejudice that way and has great respect for the elderly.


The sock was quite in awe of the knitted coverlet. He is hoping his mate will be finished sometime this year... neither of us can imagine the time it would take to knit something that covers a whole bed!

The sock was quite in awe of the Texas sized map of Texas.

It's hard to tell from the picture, but the map is 8 feet by 8 feet!


The sock enjoyed learning about the 41st president of the U.S.


Sadly, this museum was deficient in yarn, but the sock enjoyed seeing the presidential limo...


visiting the "White House"...


and seeing a part of the Berlin Wall.


Though he enjoyed all this travel, the sock is very glad to be home and proud to say he is growing, slowly but surely!