The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton

The Forgotten Garden is the June selection for the book club at our local library, and I hope other members find as much to like about this book as I did.
I love the pacing and plotting of scenes this authoress did to inform the reader while she plaited and braided the scenes from the lives of Eliza, Nell and Cassandra that kept me curious until the end of the book.
Two of my favoite quotes from the book are: "...the power of stories. Their magical ability to refill the wounded part of people." and
"That was the nature of history, of course, notional, partial, unknowable, a record made by the victors."

I gave this novel five stars for I may re-read it some day.

Phantom by Terry Goodkind



Tenth book down and one more to go!

View all my reviews >>

The Sierra Club Nature Writing Handbook: A Creative Guide by John A. Murray


My rating: 5 of 5 stars
If you enjoy reading from the genre of nature writing, this book is worth owning for its "Bibliography of Works Cited" and "Recommended Reading." I'm sure you would find some new favorites to inspire you.
At the end of each chapter are action items to help the aspiring writer practice the craft. While these items appear simple, they are not easy. They truly challenge you to improve. Perhaps his best advice came in the chapter about workshops, "Taking well-intentioned advice from the wrong source has destroyed or crippled many a work in progress."

View all my reviews >>

The Pallbearers by Stephen J. Cannell


My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Cannell's Shane Scully is a favorite of mine. For some good summer reading, grab The Tin Collectors and read all nine novels in this series for that way you can appreciate the character growth of our hero. On its own, The Pallbearers holds up as a mystery; but there is more to appreciate if you read the series. Cannell also does a good job of writing scenes/chapters to keep you turning pages!

View all my reviews >>

Half-Price Homicide by Elaine Viets


My rating: 4 of 5 stars


View all my reviews >>

The Weekend Novelist by Robert J. Ray


My rating: 5 of 5 stars
What if you I started the suggested preparations from this book, 21 weeks (early June) before November's NaNoWriMo? What if you I use NaNoWriMo deadlines to write the discovery draft? Sounds like an excellent opportunity to me!

View all my reviews >>

Kate: The Woman Who Was Hepburn by William J. Mann


My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Book club's May selection

View all my reviews >>

Old Town and Museums

We stopped at Isleta Casino and Resort for a quick look on the way back to Albuquerque. I had some quarters and nickels I was willing to play in a slot machine but it turns out I would have needed either bills or tickets to play. Thanks, but no thanks.

We found the Old Town area and did some sightseeing. I was not in the market for souvenirs or crafts. We were in the market for lunch, and we had a great experience, thanks to our server who was knowledgeable about the food, the wines, and the history at High Noon Restaurant. The building has been in this location since 1750, and it is on the Haunted Albuquerque tour. The three dining areas show the influences of the area: the Kiva Room for Native American, the Santos Room for the Spanish influence and the Old West Settler's Room. The presentation of the food was worthy of pictures. Don had the Rock Shrimp Enchilada, and I had the San Felipe cheese burrito. We had to save some room for the intriguing Chipotle Pecan Hot Fudge Brownie. Don enjoyed the house-specialty Carlita Margaritas, and I tried some of Albuquerque's Casa Rondena wines , Serenade Reisling and Sangiovese.

We walked to Albuquerque's Museum of Art and History for a self-guided tour among its displays.

We spent the remainder of the afternoon at New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science. We watched two movies in the Dynatheater: Wild Ocean and Mummies. A cool place for the heat of the day!

For more photos, click 13 May Old Town and Museums

Hot Air Balloon Ride

A favorite childhood poem conveys the joyous emotion of flight in the hot air balloon:

The Swing

How do you like to go up in a swing,
Up in the air so blue?
Oh, I do think it the pleasantest thing
Ever a child can do!

Up in the air and over the wall,
Till I can see so wide,
River and trees and cattle and all
Over the countryside--

Till I look down on the garden green,
Down on the roof so brown--
Up in the air I go flying again,
Up in the air and down!
--Robert Louis Stevenson

We want to thank David, Deeanna and crew at www.AliensAloft.com for the wonderful flight because this is a treasured memory. Many of these pictures were taken by them. We highly recommend them for their safety and service.

VIEW MORE PHOTOS, CLICK 13 May Hot Air Balloon Ride

Sandia Peak Tramway and Trails

The high wind warning ended at 8PM the previous day. We were ready for the first flight of the tramway. The elevation of the tram began at 6559 feet and 15 minutes later we were at 10,378 feet. In 15 minutes, we covered life zones similar to traveling from Mexico to Alaska. The Forest Service had displays interpreting these eco-zones: grasslands, pinon-juniper woodlands; Pine Oak woodlands; mixed conifer; Crest Alpine belt; and Riparian zones.

Some photos are from the decks that connect the tramway and the restaurant building.
We headed north for pictures along the North Crest trail. The views were breath-taking. I just was not too sure if my rapid breathing was from the anxiety I felt when a gust of wind made me aware of the narrowness of the trail on the ridge, or if I simply was not acclimated to the higher altitude.

The Nature Trail had frequent interpretive signs and much more snow in areas protected from the wind and sunshine. I finally had to put my camera away while I scampered over the snow by the large trees.

The South Crest trail had even more snow and we did not hike far on it. We settled for the few pictures of the ski trails.

We ate lunch at High Finance, the restaurant at the top. Beer-battered onion rings were the appetizer, and the salmon club sandwich was large enough to share. Grilled salmon was served on foccaccio and adorned with provolone cheese, avocado, and applewood bacon plus onion, pickles, tomatoes and lettuce. Don enjoys trying specialty margaritas, and I had a glass of Jekel reisling.

A western tanager provided us with some entertainment while we waited for the next tram. It caught a moth and then beat the moth against the pavement until a wing tore loose from the moth. The tanager flipped the moth over and repeated the process until the other wing fell off. Then the tanager ate the body of the moth. I have no pictures of this.

VIEW MORE PICTURES, CLICK 12 May 2010 Sandia Peak Tramway and Trails

Cibola National Forest, near tramway

We have been awake twelve hours, in order to fly from Indianapolis to Albuquerque. The weariness which comes with going through security checkpoints, waiting to board, sitting as still as can be in the middle seat and changing planes did not stop us from heading to the hills of the Sandia Mountains soon after our arrival. High wind warnings kept the tram closed on this Tuesday night. We walked on a Nature Trail in our Shape-up Skechers which is not easy to do when the trail has this much of an incline on sandy soil: I could not rock back on my heels on an incline without feeling off-balance!

VVIEW MORE PICTURES, CLICK11 May Cibola National Forest, near tramway

Across China by Peter Jenkins


My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Armchair traveling at its best: I could imagine riding in a truck driven by Parnelli Yak on a mountainous Tibetan road; I could imagine listening to the stories told to introductions of the members of the climbing team; I could imagine the relief of finding my interpreter-guide Ran Ying; I could imagine the frustration of being directed to what was allowed to be seen; and, I can imagine pleasure of the unique experiences Jenkins had when he met the people of Mongolia and China. And I did not have to eat the strange food, feel awkward while using the facilities, or rest in a hard sleeper on a train journey.

View all my reviews >>

Alburquerque by Rudolfo Anaya


My rating: 3 of 5 stars


View all my reviews >>

When Will There Be Good News? by Kate Atkinson


My rating: 2 of 5 stars
This is not the easiest book for listening as the scenes often changed without the visual clues that might be available in a hard copy.
I was also unaware this book is part of a series and I was confused by information that was missing to me. I stuck it out.

View all my reviews >>

Willa Cather : Later Novels : A Lost Lady / The Professor's House / Death Comes for the Archbishop / Shadows on the Rock / Lucy Gayheart / Sapphira and the Slave Girl by Willa Cather


My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I read Death Comes for the Archbishop before a trip to Albuquerque because I wanted to read about the history of New Mexico. Also, this is a book recommended to me more than 45 years ago by the town's librarian who had been my second-grade teacher. The descriptions of the land meant nothing to me, in my early teens, because I had only known the midwest of Ohio, Indiana and Michigan. A recent hiking trip to Big Bend National Park opened my imagination to the image of Jean Marie Latour who

had lost his way, and was trying to get back to the trail, with only his compass and his sense of direction for guides. The difficulty was that the country in which he found himself was as featureless--or rather, that it was crowded with features, all exactly alike....He had been riding among them since early morning, and the look of the country had no more changed than if he had stood still.

As a teenager, I still preferred a novel with a strong narrative form that kept me turning pages at the end of every chapter; I was not yet prepared for the enjoyment of an episodic novel such as this.
I'm glad I gave it a second chance.

View all my reviews >>