Gravel Road Musings

Prejudice: what place does it have in your life?  Tamera brings out the prejudices present in the 1800's in Nashville, TN against the Irish and the former slaves.  The story was based shortly after the Civil War and slavery had come to an end.  It's easy to glibly say, "Oh, I don't have any prejudices. God made us all equal." But do we always live like that or can we tend to look down on people who we think don't measure up to the bar we have set? I'm not talking just skin color or nationality either; this could include education level, personality, social skills, etc. etc.  Do we truly look at each person as being in God's image and accept them for who they are regardless?  It's a challenge for me. This is the story of a marriage of convenience to start with: Cullen marries Margaret and becomes owner of a farm. Margaret agrees to the marriage and she gets to keep the farm which otherwise was going to go to auction.  Of course, they fall madly ...

I know Father's Day isn't toted around like Mother's Day, but it is a special day nonetheless and I wonder if Dad's wouldn't feel more loved and respected if we wouldn't make a bigger deal out of it. Or maybe I've had my head in the sand all these years and it really is a big deal. But today is Father's Day and you know that saying: "You don't fully appreciate what you have until it's gone."? That's how I'm feeling today.  Actually I'm not sure I'm even feeling at all, but if I could feel I think that is how I would feel.  I didn't buy my father-in-law a Father's Day card this year; I told D if he wanted to send him one, he needed to go pick it out. I did get Amber's Daddy a Father's Day card (Ssshhh don't tell, he hasn't gotten it yet), but I went and only looked at the kiddy looking cards. I didn't want to see any nice flowery words that gave great attributes to a great Dad.  Wasn't i...

Ah, I found this a fascinating, refreshing story.  I enjoyed the book the whole way through and then when I got to the end and realized that it was actually based on a true happening and the author had visited with one of the brides and retold her story while making up the other four brides' stories, it was an even better read. This is the story of 5 room mates back in the 50's who went shopping together one Saturday on a whim.  Something they likely had never done before or after and they found this amazing wedding dress. They pooled their resources and bought the dress and each one wore it to their wedding. The last one to get married got to keep the dress and it passed on down through at least two more generations. Eva definitely flipped back and forth a lot to keep up with all the characters, but I thought she did a pretty good job of holding it all together. I was able to follow it very well.  The thing I didn't really like is that as soon as they were married,...

Yogurt: I like yogurt. It's a great breakfast food by itself, with granola or with fruit. I like to make yogurt though I haven't for awhile.  To me the cover image of this book does not inspire warm, fuzzy feelings about yogurt. That is not something I really think even looks good, but that being said, the book description intrigued me and so I asked for a review copy. What the book did do is inspire me to make my own yogurt again and when I make it to take the time to drain it and make a thicker yogurt. It inspired me to try it plain without sugar or gelatin added and to experiment with add ins like coconut, fresh fruit and maybe some choice nuts. The book gives recipes and ideas for breakfast, soups, meats, desserts, etc.  Some of them I have no intention of trying, but some of them intrigued me like the Harissa-Roasted Chicken with Sweet Peppers or Yogurt with Mango, Tasted Coconut and Cashews. If the only thing the book does for me is gets me to make yogurt again and...

"Peace does not dwell in outward things, but in the heart prepared to wait trustfully and quietly on Him who has all things safely in His hands."  Elisabeth Elliot The book grabbed me from the start with this quote, a quote I would do well to remember at this point in my life when peace, trust, and quiet feel elusive. I have read a couple other Janice Cantore books and thoroughly enjoyed them even though mystery, cop books are not my normal reading genre.  Janice used to be a police officer in Long Beach, California where the story takes place.  This is the story of a homicide detective whose parents were murdered 27 years prior to the story line.  She is determined and obsessed with finding the killer. It intertwines other crimes into the story and in the end, the few people who had info have committed suicide so there are no real answers to the questions, but she (Abby) is learning to be okay with that. She is trying to learn not to obsess about this case. ...

Inspired by Jeanna Young & Jacqueline Johnson Pictures by Omar Aranda This is the second book like this I have reviewed and my thoughts are basically the same.  The book is beautiful: the nice shiny pink front cover, 50 reusable stickers and activities on every page. I appreciate the book's modest attire. The characters are Cinderella styled, but with long lovely gowns on. The thing I don't like as much is again, there is only one page that has a spot for the stickers and there is no real story line.  Princess Joy is having a birthday party and the activities are all centered around that. There are pictures to color, a find a word, a maze, a note the differences between the two pictures and a find the hidden objects page.  It's definitely a fun book and while it's a regular sized book, it is small and would easily slide into a bag without taking up a lot of room. The book is geared to 4-8 year olds and while I don't have a lot of experience I would say th...

Okay, let me veer away from the dark and deep side of life and talk a bit about this book.  I got this book to review because I already at the first in the series and if we are getting free books, let's keep the series going, right? This book was about Shannon Wilde and starts out pretty wild as well.  Mountain man Matthew Tucker falls down a mountainside because he's being chased by a grizzly bear and then Shannon grabs him and hurls him over the edge of cliff straight into the Slaughter River which has never been known to give out a man alive at the other end, but of course, they are rescued part way down, etc. etc. They fall in love even though Shannon has been pretending to be a boy. They are forced to marry by the Parson who thinks there may have been some indiscretions during their five days to rescue.  Okay, I could on and on but then I would be giving the story line away, so let me move on to the point I want to make from this book. At the end, Matthew is te...