Teton Country Anthology by Robert W. Righter


My rating: 5 of 5 stars
"There is no greater wonder in mountain scenery on the continent, than the tendency it has to shorten the distance to the eye and lengthen it to the foot." This quote is from Nathaniel Langford who wrote in the 1870s, when writers did not limit their sentences to 140 characters.

Other contributors to this anthology are: William A. Baillie-Grohman, The Associated Press, William Owen, Owen Wister, Theodore Roosevelt, Major Sir Rose Lambert Price, George Bird Grinnell, Grace Gallatin Seton-Thompson, Stephen Leek, Olaus & Margaret Murie, and Fritiof Fryxell.

Two of my favorite essays are from the section named Seeing and Settling the Country.Fannie Kemble Wister wrote about her summer of 1911 at a dude ranch and Frances Judge wrote about her Gram and Gramps who were 1892 pioneers to the valley. These add to my empathetic imagination for human perspectives to Teton Country.

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Armchair travel to Alaska's Inner Passage

Alaska's Inside Passage by Kim Heacox


My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Four essays and 117 color photographs are great for armchair traveling whether you have seen this for yourself or dream of doing so.

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Desert Light by Dean Lee Uhlinger


My rating: 4 of 5 stars
The photographs from this book can be an introduction to armchair traveling and the text can be an introduction to storytelling from the cultures of others.

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Sights of Columbia, SC

Statue of Strom Thurmond.

Statue of Civil War General Wade Hampton

Statue of George Washington

Never Bust by Blue Sky

I Don't Think Those Yankees Are Kin

When I spell out our surname and insist there is no t in the middle, I am occasionally asked if we are related to Mary Chesnut, the author of A Diary from Dixie which is used as primary source material for many historians of the Civil War/War Between the States.
"Oh yes, I know who you mean: Mary, the wife of cousin James. We are going to her house for a visit in the summer of 2009."

When I made the reservation for our one-night stay at Chesnut Cottage Bed & Breakfast, I told the host, Gale Garrett, he knew how to spell our last name.

"Are you related?"

This time, as a serious family historian and amateur genealogist, I admitted I had not been able to yet document the familial relationship. If my husband is related to her husband, the relationship is no closer than a fourth-cousin, many-times-removed.
We walked around historic sites of Columbia SC. A short, rain shower only raised the humidity and heat for which Columbia, SC is famous so we returned to our room for an afternoon nap.

An hour into our nap, I heard a rattling of the glass in our room door, as if someone were shaking the door or a wind gust blew against it. By the time I got to the door, no human was on the other side. In my drowsy state, I muttered to whatever spirits might still linger in any old house, "Thanks for letting us stay here. I appreciate it."

At our breakfast the next morning, Gale Garrett told us of the unexplained noises he heard during the renovation of the house and of the photographed cat who did not appear in printed pictures. Now I can imagine my experience was the spirit of our Southern lady declaiming, "I do not think those Yankees are kin."

Snowfall Dec. 19, 2009

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Originally uploaded by hikerdee

The First Snowfall of this Season

The first snowfall of the year brought just enough snow to remind drivers we live in the Midwest and how many of those drivers forgot how to drive in slippery conditions.

I read for entertainment

Her Royal Spyness by Rhys Bowen


My rating: 3 of 5 stars
I prefer the author's Molly Murphy series to the first book of this series and yet I will read all three books of this series. A too-quick resolution by way of arrest of the villian was the reason I gave this 3 stars instead of my usual 4 or 5 for this author.

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Please read as supplementary material

End the Fed by Ron Paul


My rating: 3 of 5 stars
I don't know if I can recommend this book to people who have opinions contrary to me without them thinking this book is only Paul's opinion. Paul does seek to educate mis-informed people about the history and consequences of the actions of the Federal Reserve since 1913. Sometimes his logic takes leaps of faith as he tries to prove his point quickly and in simple terms. To those readers who would open this book while holding a contrary opinion, I just ask them to hold this question in their mind, "What if the author is right about this?"

For those readers willing to devote more than 210 pages of reading on this subject please follow this link, my family porch: Lords of Finance for another recommendation.



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Eleven years old and still a good reference book

Profiting from Emerging Market Stocks by Mitchell Posner


My rating: 4 of 5 stars
My rating of four stars is based on this book being 11 years old. Much has changed during that time.
This book is worthy of being a reference because it still has many good checklists for information necessary to have before committing your investing funds. One such checklist is for determining political risk and another 5-page checklist is given for selecting emerging market stocks. These checklists may be useful to check the fundamentals of our domestic stocks too.
This book is worth the reading time.

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