Tuesday, June 20, 2017

Guilt and Paranoia is Behind The Breakdown by B. A. Paris:

B. A. Paris has followed up Behind Closed Doors with another Domestic Noir psychological thriller, The Breakdown

On a dark and stormy night, Cass Anderson dismisses her husband's warning to stick to the main roads and takes a short cut through a woods. She notices a stopped car and pulls over wondering if the driver needs help. Seeing no flashing lights or the driver getting out of the car, Cass drives on. The next morning she learns that the parked driver was found murdered in the car--and that Cass knew her.

Consumed by guilt thinking she could have saved a life, and unable to admit to her husband Matthew or best friend Rachel that she had driven by, Cass becomes obsessed and nervous. Then strange things happen and she wonders if stress is affecting her, or if she has inherited her mother's early onset dementia. Plus, an unknown silent caller rings all day when she is alone. Cass is certain the caller is the murderer.

Told in the first person, the bulk of the novel follows Cass's mental health breakdown into paranoia, curtailed only by powerful drugs that leave her stupefied, until by chance she discovers that it is not her own sanity that she should mistrust.

Personally, I liked this novel better than Behind Closed Doors. Although I early on guessed the villain, it was not from any intentional clues left by the author. Some readers may want the plot to move more quickly, but Cass's breakdown is presented in a very probable way. It is the psychological intensity and the expectation that drives the narrative. If I found anything to be slow, it was the method of how the chain of events is revealed, which although thorough, went on too long for this reader eager for the wrap-up.

I expect this to be a successful 'beach read' but I will warn you: you won't want to stop reading and may end up with a bad sunburn!

Read an excerpt at https://us.macmillan.com/excerpt?isbn=9781250122469

I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.

The Breakdown
B. A. Paris
St. Martin's Press
07/18/2017
ISBN: 9781250122469
336 Pages

Monday, June 19, 2017

Pioneer Quilts: Prairie Settlers' Life in Fabric, Over 300 Quilts from the Poos Collection

Following their best selling 2015 book Indigo Quilts, which featured thirty blue and white quilts from the Poos collection, sisters Lori Lee Triplett and Kay Triplett now share over 300 more Poos Collection quilts in their upcoming book Pioneer Quilts: Prairie Settlers' Life in Fabric.

The Poos Collection is named for Martha Poos, the Triplett's grandmother. It is one of the largest privately held quilt and textile collections in the world with an emphasis on quilts from before 1860, including white on white, chintz, red and green, and indigo quilts.

Many of the quilts are fragile and cannot hold up to display. So quilters and quilt historians are grateful for the series of books featuring this remarkable collection. Previous books include Red and Green Quilts from the Poos Collection and Chintz Quilts from the Poos Collection. All are currently available.

Pioneer Quilts evolved from a request for an exhibition on quilts that told the American pioneer story. The Introduction offers a brief history of the Westward expansion beginning with the 1803 Louisana Purchase. The authors turned to personal diaries to understand the experience of the arduous journey and life on the Plains. The authors have pioneer roots in Kansas and share their ancestral pioneer story. The quilts are presented through the story of a fictional pioneer woman, Esther Heinzmann.

This beautiful book full is full of color photographs that show the quilts in whole and in detail. There are gorgeous red, white, and green 19th c quilts including the appliqued Wagon Wheel and Oak Leaf (1860) and the pieced Delectable Mountains (1850). The Pomegranate with Star and Pot of Flowers Border, a circa 1860 quilt from Ohio, adds Cheddar to the red and green. The indigo and white circa 1850 Sunflower and Nine-Patch quilt is a stunner.

Pieced quilts include a circa 1880 Jacob's Ladder, Bear's Paw circa 1870, and Wild Goose Chase circa 1875. Tree of Life, Star of Bethlehem, various basket quilts, star quilts, and Log Cabin based quilts also appear.

Included in the book are five quilt projects in a variety of sizes and skill levels: Delectable Mountains (120" x 120"); Wild Goose Chase (72" x 83"); Cake Stand (57" x 70"); Red and White Nine Patch (85" x 85"); and Double Four-Patch Crib Quilt (34 1/2" x 42"). Each pattern includes everything you need to successfully complete your project, including step-by-step directions with illustrations.

An exciting  block of the month to recreated the gorgeous 1856 Friendship Quilt featured in Pioneer Quilts will be of great interest to quilters.

https://www.quiltandtextilecollections.com/blog/authors/lori-triplett
Pioneer Quilts, published by C&T Publications, will be available July 17, 2017.

From the publisher:
Storytelling quilts from the era of westward expansion
Join fictional character Esther Heinzmann as she narrates the journey through authentic, pioneer-era creations from the Poos Collection - each featured in full color on a 2-page spread. Ideal for traditional quilters and quilt history buffs, this robust offering of 30 antique quilts, plus 5 quilt projects that readers can recreate at home. Offering access to the authors' privately held family collection, this book gives an in-depth look at the importance of quilts to the pioneer life. As you view the quilts, you'll also read accounts of the Great Migration, including preparation for the long journey and a depiction of real life on the prairie. 
• Full quilt photos and detail shots allow you to appreciate the beauty of these handmade quilts up close• Remake history with included project instructions for 5 of the antique quilts• Learn about the authors' own pioneer ancestors

Learn more about the Poos collection, quilts, and even fabric at https://www.quiltandtextilecollections.com

I received a free ebook from the publisher in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.

Sunday, June 18, 2017

The Making of Jane Austen: The Creation of a Cultural Icon


Her novels were published anonymously when novels were still considered suspect, thought to arouse women's passions. She was presented as a spinster leading an uneventful life, with little knowledge of the world. The Victorians were not impressed by her and Charlotte Bronte detested her novels.

How did Jane Austen become the influential celebrity so important that the Bank of England will celebrate her 200th birthday by printing her image on 10-pound notes and the Royal Mint will portray her on a coin?

The Royal Mint described the novelist in its official statement as “a revolutionary romantic,” adding:“The Jane Austen 2017 £2 coin celebrates one of the best-loved authors in the world, 200 years after her death.

Jane died in 1817 after publishing four books; two more books were published posthumously. Her family idealized Jane as a pious maiden aunt.

Fast forward a hundred years and Suffragettes put Jane Austen on banners and feminists turned her into a role model.

Jump another hundred years and we have Jane Austen coloring books and fan fiction.
Pride and Prejudice Paper Dolls from Dover Publications
In The Making of Jane Austen scholar Devoney Looser traces how Austen was 'made' through her illustrators, the dramatization and adaptation of her novels in plays, movies, and television, the political employment of Austen, and finally through how her novels were used in education.

I became a Janite in 1978 in an honors class at Temple University. Guided by Professor Toby Olshin our small class read all of Austen's novels, juvenilia. letters, and the novels that influenced her. We came to understand Austen's social, material, and political world. Before taking this course no teacher had ever required me to read Austen and she had no popular culture representation.
Jane Austen Action Figure
I appreciated reading this book and enjoyed its approach showing how Austen became a culture heroine. I especially enjoyed learning about her early illustrators and how their choices impacted readers understanding. New to me was Austen's use in politics, a fascinating study.
Sense and Sensibility, 1913 Little, Brown and Company edition
copyright 1898 by Robert Brothers.
Illustration by Edmund H. Garrett
I have several sets of Austen's complete works, including a 1913 edition from Little, Brown, and Company. Illustrations by Edmund H. Garrett show period fashions for Austen's time. Many Victorian illustrators, and even the Laurence Olivier/Greer Garson movie version, put the characters in mid-19th c dress.
Sense and Sensibility,
1910 Little, Brown and Company edition
copyright 1898 by Robert Brothers.
Illustration by Edmund H. Garrett
Looser calls illustrator Hugh Thomson 'the Colin Firth of Austen-inspired book illustration." The Thomson edition ' is often called "Cranfordized," referring to the commercially successful novel Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell which Thomson also illustrated.
The Illustrated Pride and Prejudice Companion
illustrations by Hugh Thomson
Dover Publications
Detail from Pride and Prejudice Story Book Quilt
by Nancy A. Bekofske
I adopted a Hugh Thomson illustration from Emma
for Darcy's proposal 
Hugh Thomson illustration from Emma
Thomson picked up on the humor in Austen's novels and usually had the characters in social settings.

One of his competitors was Charles Brock. I adapted several Brock illustrations for my Pride and Prejudice Story Book Quilt.

Detail from Pride and Prejudice Story Book Quilt
by Nancy A. Bekofske.
She's tolerable... adapted from an illustration by Charles E Brock

Detail Pride and Prejudice Story Book by Nancy A. Bekofske.
Mr. Collins introduces himself to Darcy.
Based on an illustration by Charles E. Brock.
Charles Brock illustration
The Making of Jane Austen is a fascinating study. I would not recommend the book to the casual reader who wants entertainment over intelligent content. The Appendix includes Further Reading suggestions. The Notes and Bibliography are extensive.

I received a free ebook from the publisher through Edelweiss in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.
Pride and Prejudice Story Book Quilt by Nancy A Bekofske

The Making of Jane Austen
by Devoney Looser
Johns Hopkins University Press
Publication Date: June 25, 2017
Hardcover | 304 pages |
$29.95 USD, £22.00 GBP
ISBN 9781421422824, 1421422824
Regency Redwork, based on Pride and Prejudice
by Nancy A. Bekofske


Saturday, June 17, 2017

First Comes Love, Then Comes Marriage, Then Comes Seminary


Our wedding photo was taken by Mr. Rosen
my high school journalism teacher
June 17, 1972, was a beautiful day. The sky was blue. The roses were in full bloom. It was neither too warm nor too cold.
Morning of June 17, 1972, our wedding day.
Also known as the day of the Watergate break-in.
I read the paper in the morning and I have the photograph to prove it. Then my family and I prepared to be at St. Luke's Episcopal Church in Ferndale, MI. I was getting married.

My cousin Debbie Becker was my Maid of Honor. Our ushers were my brother Tom and Bruce McNab.
With my brother Tom and Bruce McNab.
Photo by Mr. Rosen.
Me and my second cousin Debbie Becker
photo by Mr. Rosen
During the wedding vows when Rev. French came to "richer or poorer" I laughed. Not just in rehearsal, but in the ceremony! My sisters-in-law had warned me that I needed a good career because Gary would never make any real money. I did not know much about being a United Methodist minister's wife, but I had been warned about the financial aspect.
With my parents. Photo by Mr. Rosen.
The church had beautiful roses.
With the Bekofske family: Gary's brother and best man Keith
and their father Herman Bekofske, Gary and I, Gary's brother
Carl, and their mother Laura. Photo by Mr. Rosen.
Photo by Mr. Rosen.

The reception was in my folk's new Clawson house backyard.
With Grandma Gochenour, Gary's grandmother 'Girl' Loretta Bekofske, and Grandma Ramer.
Photo by Mr. Rosen.

Grandma Ramer was cajoled into joining the unmarried gals.
She caught the bouquet and was married before a year had passed!
Our Beaupied neighbors from Houstonia had offered their cabin for our honeymoon. Gary took the opportunity to drive me all over Up North. He grew up camping in the Upper Peninsula and knew it well. I was always a good traveler and usually fell asleep in the car. Gary would wake me up and say, "LOOK, here's Houghton-Hancock," or "Copper Harbor Lighthouse coming up!" I would rouse and take a look. And fall asleep again.

When I saw the Sleeping Bear Dunes I had to go down. And come back up again. It was the first and last time I did that.

After our week away we returned to my folk's house and picked up what we would take to our new home. Most of our wedding and shower gifts were very practical: sheets, towels, cleaning supplies, a toaster, and such. Most other items, like the Fondue and chip and dip set, were left in boxes because our apartment was so small.
Our apartment  at METHESCO was under the portico, above the door, on the second floor
We had arranged to live in the METHESCO apartments. We had a living/dining area, a kitchen that amounted to a closet, a bathroom, and a bedroom. The bed, couch, and dining table and chairs were provided. The refrigerator could be in the bedroom or the living room. The kitchen had no countertop space but someone had installed a table top attached to the wall that could be propped up on a single leg.

Gary had a student pastorate at a mere crossroads in the middle of Ohio farmland. I was just twenty and a minister's wife! I taught Third Grade Sunday School. One day siblings came in and announced their family had slept in. "Daddy woke us up and he didn't have any clothes on and his thingy was hanging down," the boy told me. It was hard looking that man in the face after that.

A family had a St. Bernard with a dog house like a minibarn. It had a sign, "Mail Pouch. Treat yourself to the beast," a play on the barn ads.

When the women gathered in the church kitchen, everyone working like clockwork, I did not know what to do. I sat with the farmers and listened to them talk about the weather and crops.

People would leave fresh produce on the seat of our car, which we found after church service. A nice couple invited us to have Sunday dinner with them. They had a pump organ which I loved to play. Another lady, Ida Mae, became a friend.

My hope of taking classes at Ohio Wesleyan was crushed when Gary lost his student aid because he now had a 'breadwinner' to support him. First, I got a job in downtown Delaware at Apple's gift shop as a clerk. I spent a lot of time dusting the display cabinets. I bought a Chinese teapot and cups that I fell in love with.

Every day Gary's clock radio went off at 6:00 am and we woke to the theme song "Zipa-doodle-doodle-doodle, doodle-doodle-day" and Dick Zip's farm report.

In the fall I got a job at the North Electric Research Company. I spent nine months in Reproduction running a blueprint copy machine. It used ammonia and gave me horrible headaches. Engineers would bring me a Mylar blueprint and I ran it through the machine to print on paper.

I worked fast and needed more to do. I was sent to help out in the archieves and library filing microfiche and blueprints.

A position as an engineering clerk opened up and I left Reproduction. I was to update files on a computer and edit reports. This was way back when a black computer screen with green type would say "Hello" and I had to type in "Hello" back to get started. As the engineers changed their hardware I updated the files, replacing 6120112 with 6120118. Sometimes I was asked to keypunch. I even got to go into the computer room where huge machines lined up along the walls, churning their mag tape on reels.

Gary's parents had given us their old Buick but Gary missed his VW. We bought a 1972 orange VW Superbeetle without a radio because we couldn't afford one. It cost $65 a month. Gary chose a stick shift not knowing I had never driven one.

The first time I drove it home from work I was going down the highway at 50 mph and had to make a turn into the school. I put on the brakes but I did not know about downshifting. The car did not slow down. I went over the curb and nearly into the pond! Thank God, no one was on the road or I would have killed them. That night Gary gave me a lesson on how to drive our new car. I called the car Bernard, and we had a love-hate relationship for over ten years.
Feeding the ducks at the seminary pond.
This was how I usually got rid of my failed baking experiments.
I was bored and lonely. Gary was busy with classes and studying. I did not like staying home alone. So I started auditing classes, hanging with Gary at the library, and we found new hobbies.

Gary bought me a sewing machine for our first Christmas. I had always wanted to sew. I taught myself in the evening while Gary was studying and soon I was making most of my clothes. I had to settle for inexpensive fabrics. My favorite jumper was a big yellow and purple plaid in woven acrylic. I made Gary leisure suits.

A jacket I made Gary

Me with Nasty buns.
I made the robe, one of my first sewing projects.
We took our Euell Gibbons books to the surrounding meadows and woods and brought home delicacies to try, making candied violets and sauteed day lily buds. Our folks seriously encouraged us to get Food Stamps.

A park opened up down the highway and many a Sunday afternoon we went on wildflower and nature walks with the naturalist. We learned to identify all the Ohio flowers.

We took an Organic Gardening class and that spring participated in the METHESCO garden. It cost $20 to rent a plot.
I am helping weed the garden plot before rototilling
That spring there was a rabbit's nest in the garden. I volunteered to take the babies home. We contacted a local vet and I hand fed the bunnies every three hours.
Feeding the bunnies
When Gary went to Annual Conference at Adrian Collage we had to take our wards along. We made them a bed in a dresser drawer. When the bunnies were six weeks old we took them the woods on campus and let them go.

The garden was very successful. We harvested loads of vegetables and I canned tomatoes, tomatoes and zucchinis, and green beans. We bought fruit and made jams. We bought armloads of rhubarb for a quarter and made pies and sauce. In those days I sealed the jams with parafin wax.

One night we were awoken by a pop. One of my jars of canned food had exploded. Another time we noted the plum jam had a funny flavor. It had fermented.

Gary and I watched The French Chief and borrowed library cookbooks and learned to cook and bake. Soon we made all of our bread every Sunday. We bought a wok and a Chinese cook book. We both lost over 30 pounds from eating so well!
Our first Thanksgiving dinner.

That winter we bought a pet rabbit. Gary named her Nasturtium. We liter box trained her; she trained us to pet upon demand. We collected apple branches for her to eat, otherwise, she chewed on furniture and electric cords.

Soon couples all over campus had pet rabbits.

We would drive to Columbus and Ohio State University for cultural programs. We saw the First MOOG Quartet in October, 1972. The amazing traditional folk singer, Richard Dyer Bennet, was memorable not just because of his amazing voice but also because he taught us about the music he presented. I later bought The Richard Dyer Bennet Songbook and played his wonderful variations on piano. We also saw Leonard Bernstein's Mass in October 1974. Simple Song remains a favotire.

Gary and I sang with the Delaware Community Chorus, singing the Carmina Burana by Carl Orff and participating in a Lenten Vespers service. Roy Reed, a METHESCO professor, was the director.

One day I heard that the position of Bookstore Manager was opening up. I interviewed and got the position. After several months in training, I was in charge of the campus bookstore, with Gary's help. The job allowed me more flexibility in auditing classes. Gary would cover the store while I was in class.

The METHESCO bookstore
My first class at seminary was a theology class. It was like working in a different language. I had to memorize a lot of 'ologies', like Eschatology and Soteriology. I took one class each quarter. I read Reinhold Niebuhr, Paul Tillich, and Karl Barth. I learned about Post-Exilic Prophets, The Book of Romans, the Synoptic Gospels, and New Testament Parables and Stories. I had a class in Russian Church history. I participated in class but did not take tests or write papers. I also read Carl Jung.Our last spring I took two classes when a professor wanted to use my performance to judge what grade a student would get if they only attended lectures.

With the classes and working in the bookstore I felt a part of the community. People would hang out at the bookstore and talk. One boy would talk too long and be late for class. Once a student asked if they should wait for him and the professor said that waiting for him was like 'waiting for the Parousia'!

Gary would tell me what books the professors were talking about. We'd order them and that way increased sales. Students could place books on hold until they could pay for them. We also returned books that didn't sell for credit. In the spring I was called into a meeting with the president and other officials and told that for the first time in their history the non-profit bookstore had made a profit!

The job had its perks. We got a discount on housing, bought books at cost, and I had summers off. That meant that Gary bought a nice professional library. I got to look through catalogs for good deals. My copy of T. S. Eliot's complete poetry was one book I bought then.

I loved the Fortress Press salesman and their books always sold well. I placed so many orders I memorized their address: 2900 Queen Lane in Philadelphia.
At my parent's house at Christmas, 1973

At my parent's home 1973
I had cut my long hair. Some stylist gave me a goofy cut with a perm. The bangs and top looked like a French Poodle cut! I let it grow out.

After Gary left the student pastorate he worked in the MEHESCO library, was a student assistent to Prof. Devries, and in his last year he and another student co-taught a Hebrew class when too many students signed up for the professor to handle. When things got real tight he even stocked shelves at night in the local grocery store.

Sometimes in the quiet moments when the bookstore was empty, a poem would come to me.

Finitude

Who am I?
A small flame
sputtering
in a closed room
where no air flows

Brief light,
my gift a transitory
wisp of smoke

My world's boundary
is my shadow's reach.

Imagining

cool flowing air
infinite light
further sight

beyond 
the veiled window.

Another poem I wrote was far less serious:

I am an old Bic pen,
an empty tub of colorless plastic.
Bought cheap, used, discarded.
The consumer's whore.

We made many friends at seminary. Sometimes our floor in the apartment building would gather in the hallway, sitting against the walls, talking, singing with a guitar, and drinking tea.

Our neighbor Fred discovered he was a Shawnee Indian. He embraced his heritage and developed a wonderful outreach. His roommate Steve would sit in our apartment, Gary and Steve smoking their pipes, and we would drink tea and listen to Russian Orthodox Church music. Rich and Patti lived down the hall. Patti became the next bookstore manager. I had classes with Rich. Jim, who had been the means of my meeting Gary, was at seminary but graduated before Gary. (He did find that perfect minister's wife in another seminary student.)  And my first folk dance partner from Adrian was at seminary!

Gary and I in front of our apartment building on
his graduation day. I had made my dress.

METHESCO hoped Gary would stay for an advanced degree so I could continue to manage the bookstore. But I was eager to resume my education and Gary kept to his promise that after seminary he would support my returning to complete my education.

Some asked if I would go to seminary. I didn't even have my bachelor's degree! No way. I was going to be an English major and I still hoped to write. It was unusual for a married woman to return to college. Most wanted to start a family. I had waited for three long years. It was my turn.

I was concerned that the Bishop would appoint Gary too far from a university or college for me to complete my degree. The Detroit Conference extended along the Eastern side of Michigan and included the Upper Peninsula. One day we were in the coffee shop talking to Pro. Ed Meyer about this and he suggested we look at the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference.

After applying to the Eastern PA Conference Gary was told there were no openings for him. But later they contacted him. Rev. Hostetter's term as District Superintendent was ending and the church he was to serve needed to replace a pastor for Christian Education. Plus, the last pastor had conducted the youth choir and musical. Gary's degrees in MDiv, Christian Ed, and his courses in music and conducting at Adrian made him a perfect fit.

We drove to Philadelphia. It was memorable coming into the city on the Schuylkill Expressway and seeing Laurel Hill Cemetery on the far ravine, and then the city skyline. Going down the tree lined Ben Franklin Parkway to City Hall was so impressive with the museums, library, and Calder fountains, ending at the Second Empire City Hall.

I felt like I was coming home. I knew my Ramer ancestors had come to America through the port of Philadelphia.

We got lost and ended up on the Ben Franklin bridge, going to New Jersey. We were broke, so Gary made a u-turn on the bridge to avoid paying the toll!

While Gary went through the interviews I visited the Franklin Institute and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Standing on the steps of the PMA, looking toward Center City, I fell in love with Philadelphia.

When Gary was accepted into the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference we were thrilled.

Mom had always feared I'd marry and move to California. She had put her money on the wrong coast.

Mom, Dad, and Tom with Princess
After graduation, Gary drove our VW to Morrisville, PA to begin work. I had to stay behind, pack up, and turn over the bookstore to Patti. Everything we owned fit into a U-Haul trailer. Gary's folks came to drive me, Nasturtium, and the trailor to Pennsylvania. 

After three years at seminary, two at Adrian, and seven in Royal Oak, I was moving again.









Thursday, June 15, 2017

Icicle Days Top Finish & Other New Stuff

I finished the quilt top of my version of Anne Sutton's pattern Icicle Days, which is sold through her website Bunny Hill.




I did not make the wonderful pieced sashing on the original pattern. Because I used a fat quarter group which I won from AQS on Facebook there was not enough fabric to make the sashing as designed. I tried a scrappy version but did not like it. So I decided to just set the blocks side by side and add a scrappy inner border.

I also finished a quilt top made from vintage sheets. When I saw quilts like this some years ago I set out to collect sheets. The striped sheets were like what I had as shower gifts in 1972!


My Tuesday quilt group often brings in goodies to share. Recently I found these two 20th c designer handkerchiefs up for grabs!

 I don't recall seeing many handkerchiefs by Shelly, but I would guess it is from the 1960s.

I have seen this design from Monique, also from the 1960s.

I have won a number of books from Goodreads! I love 'real books' for late night reading, when my eyes are pretty burned out from reading on my iPad.

About 15-20 years ago I read Augustine's Confessions and look forward to reading a new translation.

I have read a few books by Nelson DeMille--not as many as my hubby, though. It should be a nice Summer read, plus my hubby and son will want to read it, too.


It's been a while since I read DeQuincy's Diary of an Opium Eater. Now I've won his biography I'll have to reread it!



I Won two books to arrive from LibraryThing, including The End of Men by Karen Rinaldi and Reading with Patrick by Michelle Kuo. Urbane Publications sent me the ebook Belief by Marcus Kline.

I'll try to have a post on quilting every Wednesday and on Saturdays I will continue to share memories.