Norms Bait and Tackle

[MaryPage]

I agree, Shirley.

My Dad was in the Army, and he fought in North Africa and Sicily, and then came back here and geared up, as it were, for the Pacific.  He was in the 1st plane to fly in to Japan after the surrender, and later was in the 1st train to go to Nagasaki to see the devastation of that 2nd bomb.  I had 4 uncles in the service, and my mother was a nurse in the Army Air Corps.  I went to live with an aunt, until she joined the O.S.S., which had just been formed.  It became the C.I.A. after the war.  I spent the rest of the war with my grandmother.  We knit sweaters for the Red Cross, rolled bandages for the same, made and put up blackout curtains, chatted with our air raid warden when he came around at night, and yes, I took a dime in my grubby little hand to school every Friday and gave it to my teacher in exchange for one more stamp for the even grubbier little book that would, when filled, buy a Savings Bond.

My grandmother studied pieces of white cardboard with the outlines of air craft in black.  She would sit in her chair at night and look and look and look at them.  Twice a week, she walked several blocks (no gasoline for cars) to the fire station and climbed up in their tower and scanned the skies for enemy planes.  She never saw one, but the skies over our town and all the others in the Shenandoah Valley and the nation were well guarded.  It was a different time and a different war from any we have fought since.  When the county decided to build a canning facility to help women put up food for their families (all canned goods in stores were rationed), they put it down on the school grounds, and they hired Grandma to run it, which she did for a couple of years.  It was in full operation several days a week, as I recall.  What was being canned would be seasonal. Everyone had "Victory Gardens." Sometimes I went down and helped.  I can remember having trays and trays and trays of cans that I had to put 2 tablets of salt in each of.  Yes, things are better now in myriad ways, but never in my lifetime have We The People pitched in as one loving family and tried our best to win a war, helping one another being a big ingredient of that.

[Marilyne]

Everything revolved around "The War", when I was a child in elementary school.  I turned 7 in August of 1941, and Pearl Harbor, happened in  December.  I remember that day very clearly, and also when my father was drafted one year later, and served in the Pacific for the remaining three years.   

We were on high alert here on the West Coast, for the entire four years of the war, because it was stressed that we were vulnerable to attack, spies, espionage, etc., so we were always on edge.  Enemy submarines were spotted off the coast, of Long Beach and Santa Barbara, and there were constant rumors of impending attacks, enemy planes overhead, and citizens who were arrested for suspected treason.  Our Japanese friends were rounded up and placed in internment camps.  Many of our fathers were drafted, and those who weren't, served as volunteer air raid wardens, or in the Civilian Coast Guard.

Along coastal California, Oregon and Washington, cities were completely "blacked out" at night. No outside lights, no street lights, etc.  No car headlights, or buses.  I don't know how they managed it in big cities like San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, etc., but they did?    How did emergency vehicles get around at night?  How did people get to work, who worked swing shift or graveyard shift?  Daylight Savings Time took effect year around, nationwide, to have as much natural light as possible for as long as possible, but that still left a lot of darkness.     

Our outside play included lots of "War" games, where we chose sides and leaders,  built  forts and "look out posts".  I remember our Girl Scout troop making scrap books to send to service men in hospitals, and also enclosed letters and cards.  We collected scrap metal, rubber, and newspapers,  and there were designated places there we dropped them off. Does anyone else remember "Paper Drives"?   Oh,  how patriotic we all were during those years!   We all planted Victory Gardens, because food was rationed.   Nobody had more than one helping of food at the dinner table! 

Mary Page - I agree with you on younger generations getting it all wrong, when it comes to writing books, directing movies, TV show, etc.  You had to be there!  I always tell people that if you want to know what life was like during the War Years,  don't bother with movies made in the years since 1950.  Watch the old black and white war movies like "They Were Expendable" or,  "The Longest Day".  For a good drama, with a lot of angst, read the book or watch the movie,  "From Here to Eternity".  For an accurate idea  of what life was like for returning Service Men after the war, watch,  "The Best Years of Our Lives".

[Sasha]

I was another who read my way into the adult side of the library while still in elementary school. Later I added Tolkien and T. H. White to my list of favorite authors. And I remember my 1st grade teacher giving me a copy of Pride and Prejudice. That one was tough.

There are four cats left here, and we won't take in any more. We had to rehome my MIL's cat and dog, and I refuse to have to bequeath an animal. We took three of ours to North Carolina, and happy was the day I let them out of their carriers back here. It was our fosterer who fed and watered the fourth cat while we were gone; Boomer is just too feral still to cart around the countryside.

[MaryPage]

The critics were very hard on him, but I liked Herman Wouk's books set in World War II.  He was in the Navy himself, and wrote of Pearl Harbor as if he were there.  I thought him very accurate, and also liked the movies made of his books.  Was it movies, or was it TV mini-series?  I honestly cannot remember.  Wouk lived to be over a hundred.

[patricia19]

I know what you mean, Sasha. I'll be seventy at the end of July, and with my health issues, I worry about Farrah. What I've been able to do is add her care to my will. One person will have physical custody while another uninvolved will arrange financial upkeep as is recommended.

MaryPage, Herman Wouk is one of my favorite authors. I actually started with Marjorie Morningstar, went on to the Caine Mutiny, and then The Winds of War and War and Remembrance; after that, was Youngblood Hawke.

Seeing the mini-series, while well done with Robert Mitchum, Polly Bergen, and  Ali McGraw, taught me that the printed page is always better. The actor who portrayed McGraw's Uncle in the film was excellent but don't recall his name.

Now I want to go and rebuy that series. When I was younger, I didn't save books, and I've had to go back at times to repurchase. 

[CallieOK]

Good Morning, 

All the specific memories of WW2 sound familiar but I don't remember participation in any of them.  My Dad was in WW1 but was turned down for service in WW2 because of some health issue from the earlier days.  I'm sure my mother took part in the women's efforts (except knitting socks; she could barely sew on a button  ) but that was probably while I was in school.

I'd forgotten that Herman Wouk wrote Marjorie Morningstar and Winds of War.  I enjoyed both of them - and loved the mini-series.
Patricia, I agree that the printed page is better. Sometimes the adaptation for screen just doesn't ring true - particularly when the characters don't fit the mental picture I'd gotten of them while reading.

I feel like the Rabbit in "Alice In Wonderland" (another favorite book) this morning.  Son taking me to eye doctor and family dinner with son-recovering-from-surgery. I've made two Dump Cakes (because one of the 2 cans of cherry pie filling I thought I had...turned out to be strawberry  ).  Also noticed that front flower pots badly needed watering - so have done that.
Not used to so much activity this early! 
Would rather be but need to be so I'll be ready when son gets here.

Wishing Everyfriend Everywhere an Enjoyable Day.

[patricia19]

Callie, I had wanted to see Winds of War primarily because of Mitchum but also because I had earlier seen Ali McGraw in a film with her then-husband Steve McQueen. However, the uncle in the series caught my attention and stole the film.

You said precisely what I was thinking, and it didn't jibe with my mental picture from the book.

I just received a notice that a construction company (with a maintenance man) representatives will be visiting all of the apartment balconies today and tomorrow, one side at a time. This is ahead of a planned renovation to begin later this month. Everyone is asked to have nothing on the said balcony and a clear pathway to it.

I'm glad I just finished cleaning and overhauling my apartment and two, I imagine they will be working from the outside, but it's not something to look forward to!

[Marilyne]

Good Morning everyone:
I agree with all of your comments on a book made into a movie. Usually I'm disappointed in the movie, after loving the book, but not always.  Sometimes, the casting of the movie is just perfect, and you aren't disappointed . . . plus they stick very closely to the story.  I would place, "The Caine Mutiny", in that category.  The cast was well chosen, the acting was great, and they followed the main points and details of the novel.

On the other hand, if you see the movie first,  then you read the book, you picture the characters as depicted in the movie.  That usually works out well for me - but I do have to admit, that I love both books and movies, and spend a lot of time on both.    I think I was a little too young when I read,  "Marjorie Morningstar"?  I don't remember much about I?  I did see the movie, and don't remember much about it either?    I didn't read, "Winds of War", but really liked the series!  I have to admit, that Robert Mitchum, is one of my favorites, and I think I've watched every film he was ever in. Sometimes he's the Hero, and sometimes he's the Villain.  A versatile actor for sure!

Callie - Thank you for reminding me of the Dump Cake!  I haven't made one in years, but it sounds like a really good idea.  I'll think about it, but don't guarantee it will ever happen!      I used to like the pineapple and cherry the best.    I hope you have a nice visit later today with your two sons, and that you enjoy the family dinner.

I must close out for now, as I have my final visit with the Hearing Aid Center, in about an hour.  My new hearing aids are working out really well, and I would recommend the Costco center to anyone who is thinking about getting some.  Excellent service, and follow-up.  While at Costco, I hope to get a new desk chair, and some food as well.  Maybe one of their famous $4.99 Rotisserie chickens! 

[MaryPage]

My all time favorite? I'm a Jane Austen nut. And I own a DVD of every movie ever made of every one of the six books.  Emma is my favorite, and I have a great granddaughter named for THAT Emma, which pleases me immensely.  Northanger Abbey is my least favorite; in fact, I don't really like it. Emma is the heroine I would most like to be, and Fanny, in Mansfield Park, is the one I am most like. More later, as I am also a news junkie, and it is time for the world news this very second.

[Marilyne]

Mary Page -
Jane Austin is one of my favorites too,  (I never tire of "Pride and Prejudice")!  However, I can't say that I have a favorite author?  There are so many, and they are all different.  Like most readers, I have to be able to relate to at least one of the characters, and I sort of become that person during my reading of the story.  That's why I never read psychological thriller books like,  "Gone Girl",  or  anything by  Ruth Ware, Connolly, Grisham, Patterson,  and all others who crank out a Best Seller, every month!    I can't relate to the characters in those stories, and find them to be distasteful and depressing. 

[MaryPage]

Wow, Marilyne, we are really on the same page. 

[patricia19]

That's interesting, Marilyne, because I don't often identify with the leads in a book. I tend toward either some historical angle to the story or nonfiction autobiographical. At one time, I was very interested in psychology or sociology nonfiction, to the point of taking classes.

I found a collection of Jane Austin's letters and correspondence was, for me, helpful to understanding her work.

I don't like horror, long stretches of buildup supposedly pertinent to the story, or true crime. I wouldn't say I like stories where someone dies by their own hand or ignores help, and it's termed heroic. I don't care for stories where the hero/heroine spends the majority belittling fate and little else. "Steel Magnolias" made me feel the female lead was arrogant and selfish. I'm not into anything wrapped in sports or gossip.

I liked James Mitchner but tended to skim his long buildups. I never cared for Danielle Steel,  Jackie Collins, or Harlequin-style romances. I do like science fiction and more if there is a history element built-in.

I have two nineteen seventies-era history majors, one in Medieval warfare and one in Medieval city-states, and how both shaped civilizations. Even if it's a more current time period, they tend to color what I'm most interested in. For example, Vikings often had more than Scandinavians in their crews, and women warriors were revered in the Eastern Steppes; Amazonians were supposedly adapted from these female warriors.

One interesting book was based on a true story. In long-ago plague-stricken England, a nobleman drove all those exposed into a church and set it on fire. One of the women managed to lead some of the villagers to safety in the woods, and they adopted the persona of gypsies as they were actually serfs bound to their lord and would have been returned to him. This was when women were not very highly thought of and often ranked intellectually with children and animals.

I suppose, besides, a type of historical connection, I'm drawn to conflict in a story, either personal or wider such as war, disease, or types of prejudge.

[Marilyne]

Patricia - My favorite genre is historical fiction - specifically a family saga, set against an actual historical event  such as,  The Civil War, WWII,  the Bolshevik (Russian) Revolution, the 1930's Depression, etc. 

My all time favorite is probably,  The Poisonwood Bible, by Barbara Kingsolver.  A missionary family - husband, wife and four daughters - go to the Belgian Congo, in the  1950's to bring Christianity to the natives.    They get caught up in the Revolution led by Patrice Lumumba, as the country fights to gain independence from Belgium.    The story follows the family and all family members from the time they leave for Africa, their time spent there, and what happens to them in the following years.

Another well known example would be,  Gone With the Wind - Follows the O'Hara family, and other Southern, slave owning  families, through the Civil War, Reconstruction, and for many years to follow.  I know it is frowned upon now, because of the way some of the black characters are depicted.   However,  keeping in mind that it was written in the mid 1930's, one should not expect PC stories from that era.

Others that I liked in the family saga genre are  A Tree Grows in Brooklyn,  by Betty White,  The Prince of Tides, by Pat Conroy,   A spool of Blue Thread,  by Anne Tyler, and most recently,   The Dutch House,  by Ann Patchett.

[Denver]

Checking in to say HELLO and see how you all are doing?

I finally got my call today for scheduling my shoulder surgery. It will be the 27th of August.  Ugh!  I was sure hoping sooner😩 Just so tired of the pain and thinking how long it will be until I can start my recovery time🤪

We finally could see some blue skies today.  It is still very Smokey but better than it has been.

Tonight has been 4 weeks since our Michele passed away😩 The time seems to be marching on pretty quickly.  We visited with the family late this afternoon and they all are doing well. 

It is late so I must say goodnight.  Pleasant dreams to all.

Jenny

[Vanilla-Jackie]

Jenny...has Michele's funeral taken place yet, and if so, did you and Bob manage to go to it, not sure of the distance...i cant recollect you posting of it...

[CallieOK]

Livestream boat cams apparently have a new url. Does anyone have a link?

[patricia19]

Today is Ernest Hemingway's birthday, one of my favored authors.

Here are a few quotes from his writings;

1. "Always do sober what you said you'd do drunk. That will teach you to keep your mouth shut." — Ernest Hemingway

2. "You know what makes a good loser? Practice. " — Papa: A Personal Memoir

3. "Never to go on trips with anyone you do not love." — A Moveable Feast

4. "I love to go to the zoo. But not on Sunday. I don't like to see the people making fun of the animals when it should be the other way around." — 1950s article in The New Yorker

5. "No, that is the great fallacy: the wisdom of old men. They do not grow wise. They grow careful." — A Farewell to Arms

6. "A man's got to take a lot of punishment to write a really funny book." — Ernest Hemingway Selected Letters 1917—1961

7. "The first draft of anything is shit." — With Hemingway: A Year in Key West

8. "No animal has more liberty than the cat, but it buries the mess it makes. The cat is the best anarchist." — For Whom the Bell Tolls

9. "Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know." — The Garden of Eden

10. "Once writing has become your major vice and greatest pleasure only death can stop it." — The Paris Review, spring 1958

Bonus Quote:
"You should only read what is truly good or what is frankly bad." — Gertrude Stein to Ernest Hemingway in A Moveable Feast

[Amy]

Patricia, love the quotes!!!

[Marilyne]

Patricia - There was a fascinating Hemingway Special on PBS,  this past year.  Very well done, with no commercials.  If you like Hemingway, I think you would enjoy this.  Lots of photos, lots of comments, both good and bad from friends and past wives.    I know you don't have a TV, but maybe you can access it on YouTube? 

I also like all those quotes . . . especially #3, and #5.

[patricia19]

Thanks, Amy, and thanks, Marilyne!

My favorite is #9 because that is so true. And considering he and a great number of creative people died from suicide, concerning.

I'll search for the special Marilyne and see what I find.

[Marilyne]

Oops - should have been #5 - old men,  and #8 - cats. 

[MaryPage]

I never liked Hemingway. Not the writer, and definitely not the man. I did like to think about his six-toed cats down there in Key West.

The critics liked the recent mini-series biography very much. One of my daughters & her husband enjoyed it, as well.

Lots of people are not having funerals these days: they are just too expensive, for one thing. Two of my 3 husbands chose not to have them. My 1st was a Catholic, and it was a must for his family. I bought a lovely tree and had the nursery I bought it from plant it for my 2nd. They dug the hole and left me alone with it and I put his ashes in it and had a quiet moment with him and than fetched them back to finish planting the tree. We had two different family wakes for him: one in his home state of Texas and one here. When Bob died, he too had stipulated no funeral. I took half of his ashes to Florida and had them put in the spot where his 1st wife's ashes lay in a Memorial Garden attached to a church down there they had attended. A small family contingent went down, as well. The priest led a small ceremony in that garden and the local VFW sent a color guard and several vets, including a bugler who played Taps. Again, we had a family wake. I have it right in my will that I am to have no funeral or service of any kind, but the family is encouraged to have a party. Just family, as it is they who will mourn me forever, as I do my husbands. With no outsiders, and let's face it, almost all of my friends are dead, and the few left cannot travel anyway, well, with only themselves, the family will cut loose and tell and embroider all of their favorite stories about me. I like that. I like it a lot. Sayin' & prayin' would be too dreary for my spirit!

[MarsGal]

Callie, Streamtime Live is doing maintenance on the web cams. So far, I've been able to get them all except for Marine City which appears to still be down.

Here is the StreamTime Live ship main page https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrtIIVfi-5tMlVXdMDzOMUA

The contractor was out today to work more on the porch renovations. Yet to be done are placing a few more stair rails and another set of stairs (by the kitchen door), and wrapping porch posts and placing railing.

[CallieOK]

Thanks, MarsGal.  I had seen a Chat message about the maintenance but misread and thought there would be a new link and I'd forgotten to make a note of it.  I had also seen on Chat that Marine City was "down".  The cam farther down from Port Huron that shows ships coming up and down the river "around the corner" from the PH bridge is now on BoatNerd.com.
 
Wonder how the regular "chatters" would react if they knew several "ladies of a certain age" are following the ships and discussing them? 

Marilyne, my mother had a 3rd edition of "Gone With The Wind" and I read it every summer during high school.  Also used to watch the movie every time it came on but haven't done that in a while.

Didn't Natalie Wood play "Marjorie Morningstar" in the movie?

Never quite got the gist of "The Poisonwood Bible" and am sure I read "A Tree Grows In Brooklyn" but don't remember anything about it. Don't think I've read "A Spool of Blue Thread" but I enjoyed "The Dutch House".

I hated the movie of "Prince of Tides"!  It was produced by Barbra Streisand, she played the lead female role and the entire thing was all about her and didn't even mention some of his relatives who were a major part of the book.

I've never cared for Ernest Hemingway, either, but did like "The Paris Wife" which is about one of his wives.

Right now, I'm reading some "chick lit" and a couple of "thrillers" by Steve Berry and Stuart Woods.

[MarsGal]

I think I read an Ernest Hemingway (forget which) long ago, probably something we had to read in high school. It sure felt that I was reading something way below my reading level.  It didn't suit me and perhaps is the reason I never read any of his others. However, even though I never read any of his other works, other that that one, I have, off and on, been curious about his For Whom the Bell Tolls. Also, I see he wrote several non-fiction books including one about a safari he and his wife took in Africa called Green Hills of Africa. Maybe it is time to try another of his books.

Callie, I have been spending some time with Boat Nerd's webcam at St. Clair, especially since the StreamTime Live cam at Marine City is still down.

One of the things I am interested in is water issues, especially where it has to do with aquifers. This morning I ran across one clip on YouTube about piping water from other states into California https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJZFC6rlZS8 and one about tapping the Great Lakes for water. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4Nsp96zV-E

[MaryPage]

When I state the fact I do not care for Hemingway, it is in no way a disdain of his great talent. There is no doubt he had a gift. It is mostly that I have never enjoyed the world view of macho men, and I found him one of the machoist. Basically, I graze in the world of history and completely relax in the world of cozy. I like my History well written and containing only verifiable facts and connecting a lot of dots. Biographies and autobiographies are my favorites. I occasionally read the most acclaimed historical novels, and thrill at the ability of some to really capture the atmosphere of the times, albeit it is actually my own imagination that grades the authors on that trait. I cannot bear to miss one such if it hits the number one on the best seller lists. When I feel a heavy burden of the ongoing grimness of History weighing me down like an incoming cold in the head, I turn to the lighter fluff of murder mysteries of the British type. The heirs of Agatha. I dislike American crime writers because they seem to lack a sense of Fun.  Charlotte MacLeod was an American cozy-writer who could make me laugh out loud, as could the several British writers of the Miss Seeton series. At the moment, I am about to finish "The Room Where It Happened" by John Bolton. I will cleanse my palate, as it were, with one or more of the hundreds, literally, of the paperback cozies filling my bookshelves. My very bad habit in bookstore-haunting days was to buy any and all such paperbacks as a guarantee against ever running out of something to read and because I sincerely wanted to read them one day. The mathematical truth is, I bought faster than I have ever read. Fortunately, I never shop anymore, but there is probably not enough time left in my allotted hourglass for me to dive into all of those still awaiting my attention.

[Marilyne]

MarsGal -  They say that reading and enjoying Hemingway, is an acquired taste. I still have time to "acquire" it, if I get busy and order a few books!    I also had to read one of his books as a class assignment when I was in high school . . . "The Sun Also Rises".  I was bored with the book, and had no idea what it was all about.  I only recall that the teacher tried very hard to drum up some enthusiasm, but it didn't work . . . we were too young.  I also read "The Old Man and the Sea", when it was first published, hoping I would like it.   I was still too young to appreciate the message.   I think I might give that one another look, as I think you have to be older, to understand the metaphor of the struggle with the fish.    After watching the Hemingway series on PBS, I really wanted to read,  "For Whom the Bell Tolls", but then promptly forgot all about it.   Hmmmmm - I once was too young for Hemingway, and now I'm afraid I'm too old? 

Callie -  I so agree about the movie made from the Pat Conroy novel, "The Prince of Tides"!   What a mess it was!!   Ordinarily I like Streisand, but she really ruined that wonderful book, by taking control, and changing the entire gist of the story.   

Also, I've been meaning to tell you that I have an icon on my computer for a pop music radio station, that I often have playing in the background while sitting here.  A couple of days ago, I heard the Andrews Sisters, singing, Three Little Sisters!   I immediately thought about you and your two friends, singing it for a school event.  It really is a cute WWII song, with  clever lyrics!   I remembered it from the long, long ago, and hope to hear it again on that station before long.       

[patricia19]

Good morning, sunny and smoky this morning in the Interior, heading back into the eighties. The Munson fire has increased from more than 36,000 to over 41,092 acres, and containment decreased from 16% to 8%. However, since the efforts to turn it away from populated areas and structures have worked and it's now burning in an unpopulated area of the boreal forest, they are decreasing the number of fire personnel. They are keeping the evacuation orders for the area in place.

"The 41,092-acre fire continues to spread and grow to the north and east, away from Chena Hot Springs and other values at risk. The bulk of the new growth is east of Far Mountain, where the fire is burning deeper into the remote wilderness and along the north side of the Middle Fork Chena River. Fire activity on the western perimeter closer to Chena Hot Springs Resort, cabins, and homes along Chena Hot Springs Road remains minimal." 

Now that my apartment is cleaned, decluttered, and in maintenance mode, I'm awaiting the state teams to evacuate and repair what needs to be repaired and to figure out what to bring for a cocktail and poker party planned for August fourth. Since everyone in our group has been vaccinated, we are resuming more of social life. As are many other places, we have increased covid cases due to the unvaccinated, so I'm still wearing masks and taking precautions.

[patricia19]

While I enjoyed Angela Lansbury's long career and when I owned a television, "Murder She wrote," I have never enjoyed either true crime or murder mysteries either British or American. Perhaps it's because you guessed the perpetrator less than halfway through the book? For light reading, I enjoy Jane Ann Krentz and Nora Roberts or Jude Deveraux or Christine Freehan.

I enjoyed Heminway's books, and I enjoyed Mitchner's, even if I may have disagreed with parts. I also love Jack London, "White Fang," "Call of the Wild," etc., and Oscar Wilde, Herman Melville, Edgar Allan Poe, Sojourner Truth, Stephan Crane, and others of earlier times.

The Poisonwood Diaries is about an overzealous Baptist minister who dragged his entire family to Africa on a quest to enlighten and baptize people who were perfectly happy in their own customs and didn't take kindly to being thought of as inferior.

South Africa's Bishop Tutu once said, "When the missionaries came to Africa they... When the missionaries came to Africa, they had the Bible, and we had the land. They said, 'Let us pray.'. We closed our eyes. When we opened them, we had the Bible, and they had the land."

[Amy]

Patricia, have you read any of Farley Mowat's, Never Cry Wolf, The Dog Who Wouldn't Be and No Birds Sang were some of his writings. Another great read is James Harriot for any animal lover. True stories of a vet and he tells it like it is. Be prepares to laugh out loud so pick your place to read. I was reading in a Drs office when I let a burst of laughter escape. I have all his books and sadly they will be no more as he has pasted. I did read Helter Skelter and it scared the bejeepers out of me. I was alone in a farm house off the beaten trail and of course ones mind plays trick's on them. Not Without My Daughter was another good read..can't remember the author. Grizzly Heart by Charlie Russell and Maureen Enns was another book you want to soak in and not let go till you're finished.