Autism Linky

Hey Washington Residents at long last the Able Accounts for Washington State have launched - Check out your options

Dear School; Stop Calling Me to Pick Up My Kid

Grocery Worker lets Autistic Teen Help Stock Shelves

Coding and Autism

This Optical Illusion Could Help Scientists Detect Autistic Traits

Senators: Do More To Help Disable Americans Be Employed- more on Able accounts and letting more people able to have these accounts

Calendula's lots of Calendula's

I decided to order some different varieties of Calendula's from Floret Flower Seeds.  I already grow the orange variety of Calendula's thanks to Nonna for sharing her seeds.  I tried "Pink Surprise". I didn't realize it was variety that is just tinged with a pink color.

I also tried "Bronze Beauty". So far this is one of my favorites.  This is also pretty prolific as well.

Lastly I tired " Ivory Princess"

What I Read August

I am linking up to Modern Mrs Darcy's Quick Lit.  Check out what everyone else is reading.

Yes, it is a Danielle Steel book - Fall From Grace.  Sometimes I need predictable and this one had a decent story line about a return to work widow trying to get back into the fashion industry.  When my life gets stressful I just want to read something easy and doesn't require to much work on my part.  Anyone else like that?  I guess I am an escapist. IS THIS A LITERARY SIN?

The Book of Essie has had a lot of buzz.  Essie, the main character,  is part of reality show based on her religious family.  But is the show really reality especially when Essie becomes pregnant out of wedlock.  Will she expose her family secrets?  I admit I kinda enjoy watching Counting On and Bringing Up Bates and there is some food for thought in there about these kinds of shows as well. I thought it was an interesting read.

The Last Suppers by Mandy Mikulencuk
This was an impulse pick up at the library. It is about the cook,Ginny Polk, who serves the last suppers for the inmates on Louisiana Death Row in the 1950s. This is a work of total fiction.  There is a lot about complicated relationships with her mother, father who had been a prison guard and the current warden. I thought it was a quick interesting read.  It had some surprising twists. 

Wordy Wednesday

Here was my latest letter board message

Summer Linky Love

Rolex Watch Lost 20 Years Ago Recovered by a Geocacher

A Small House Designed by Frank Lloyd Wright for Sale - Wouldn't be cool to own this place

Brain Study Finds People Dumber During a Heat Wave - this explains so much

Wordy Wednesday

I just realized I haven't been sharing my letterboard messages.  So here are the last couple.

What I Read in July

I am linking up with Modern Mrs Darcy. Check out what everyone else is reading.

My reads this past month were on the heavier side with two non fiction books and 1 historical fiction. The very slim commonality between the non fiction books is both involve National Parks and National Park Rangers. This could almost be a book flight.

Pilgrim's Wilderness

True story about Papa Pilgrim and his move to a homestead with his 15 children located in a National Park.  The book talks how Papa Pilgrim's beliefs conflicted with the National Park Service and the stand off he had with the park service.  Papa Pilgrim has a dark past and later the abuse of his family members is revealed.

The Big Burn by Timothy Egan is our local county's all read - Whatcom Reads.  I don't know if I would of picked up this book on my own.  I found it a fascinating history about the formation of the National Parks and the struggle in the beginning to manage large amounts of land by few rangers and specifically this details the fire of 1910 that swept through Washington, Idaho, and Montana. The author really did a great job of profiling Gifford Pinchot, Chief Forester and Teddy Roosevelt and their vision of National Parks and Conservation.  The fire of 1910 was devastating to the forest and mountain communities. The books does cover specifically what rangers and firefighters did to stay alive during the fire.  I admit I had a few dreams/nightmares about fires while reading this. It also details the heroic efforts the rangers or Little G.P.'s made during the fire including the efforts of a ranger named Pulaski which centered around the town of Wallace, Idaho.  There is a fire fighting tool that Pulaski created after the fires that still in use to today.  It is called the Pulaski which is a head on a handle that contains the axe and hoe (adze) Roosevelt and Pinchot were the first to use the word conservation and believed the forest were for the people not the timber barons. Roosevelt and Pinchot firmly believed with enough rangers and firefighters they could control wildfires .  Later the National Parks Service came to believe , " Fire is neither good nor bad . It just is." Jack Ward Thomas, Chief of the Forest Service. Leading to the policy that some fires would be allowed to burn and others would be actively put out. I did enjoy this book better than some of the selections for Whatcom Reads.  It was not an easy read for me and I ended up renewing so it took me a good 4 weeks to get through. I think it was worth it.  It seems so topical as there are currently fires raging in California and Colorado.  I think it was also helpful that I had ridden the Hiawatha trail in Idaho as the book talks a lot about the fire and its effect on Wallace Idaho and how some people escaped on the train.

Carnegie's Maid by Marie Benedict

This is a fictional book that imagines that Andrew Carnegie had a budding romance with his mother's ladies maid.  The maid Clara Kelley may have spurred Andrew into becoming a philanthropist. This well research book was a great summer read. I read Marie Benedict's book, The Other Einstein by Marie Benedict and I also enjoyed it. Interestingly I read The Other Einstein July 2017.