Gerrie Ferris Finger's Blog, page 13
May 8, 2011
MOTHERS DAY - NOW YOU KNOW
Cynic that I am, I believed that Hallmark created Mother's Day.No so according to sources that claim Mother's Day origins lie in antiquity. According to MothersDayCentral.com, the ancient Egyptians held ceremonies and celebrations each year to honor the goddess Isis. To the Egyptians, Isis represented motherhood and fertility, and was believed to be the mother of Horus, who was considered to be the mythological ruler of Egypt. Thus, Isis became the "mother of all pharaohs" and the celebration of Isis became a celebration of mothers. For many, this is the starting point of Mother's Day history.
It is believed that the Romans had their own Mother's Day, by holding an annual celebration for the goddess Cybele, the "Great Mother." Cybele originated as a Phrygian goddess, worshiped by the ancient Romans as the mother of a fertile earth.
The Greek, too, celebrated a Mother's Day of sort. Cybele's Greek counterpart was a goddess by the name of Rhea. The ancient Greeks would hold festivities over several days, usually in the spring, to honor this "mother of all goddesses." Games, festivals, fresh flowers and parades were all part of the early celebrations that could be considered part of the history of Mother's Day. More thoroughly documented is the medieval part of the history of Mother's Day. In the United Kingdom, Mother's Day is celebrated in the middle of the Lent season. According to the London Times, the British Mother's Day origin lies in Mothering Sunday, although the mothering is often though to symbolize churches rather than women.
Mothering Sunday was the day, "when local churches honoured their mother church and also an excuse for a little spree during the long period of abstinence running up to Easter," wrote the London Times.
By the 17th century, the holiday became one for young people working in domestic service to return home to their mothers with small gifts from their place of work.In the United States, even before there was an official Mother's Day, there were efforts to set aside certain days to honor mothers. According to World Book Advanced, in 1872, Julia Ward Howe suggested June 2nd be a day of peace, honoring mothers in the United States. She held an annual Mother's Day meeting in Boston for several years to celebrate the day.
Submitted by Gerrie Ferris Fingerhttp://www.gerrieferrisfinger.com/ The official Mother's Day, as recognized by an act of Congress, was the brainchild of Anna Jarvis, a school teacher who lived in Grafton, W.Va., with her mother also named Anna. Jarvis was devastated by her mother's death in 1905 on May 10.
"As it became clear that the florists were molding her 'holy day' to their own ends, Jarvis became increasingly angered and alienated," wrote Schmidt. Jarvis became a harsh critic of the way Mother's Day was being celebrated. She called greeting cards "a poor excuse for the letter you are too lazy to write." She urged people to wear celluloid buttons and not to buy flowers for their mothers.
The Mother's Day that we now celebrate is still a time to spend money. A survey by the National Retail Federation finds that consumers will spend an average of $138.63 for Mother's Day in 2008. "Total consumer spending is expected to reach $15.8 billion," said the federation in a press release. However, it would be a bit harsh to say that just because we spend $138.63 on flowers, cards and other gifts, we corrupt the spirit of Mother's Day. Most of us probably buy cards because they are not because we are too lazy to write. Many children make their own cards to give to Mom. Yes, they do spend money on the materials to make the cards, but that small loving gesture shows that despite the commercialization in the history of Mother's Day, the second Sunday in May still remains the "finest, noblest, truest Movements and celebrations known."
Lifescript.com 2007
It is believed that the Romans had their own Mother's Day, by holding an annual celebration for the goddess Cybele, the "Great Mother." Cybele originated as a Phrygian goddess, worshiped by the ancient Romans as the mother of a fertile earth.
The Greek, too, celebrated a Mother's Day of sort. Cybele's Greek counterpart was a goddess by the name of Rhea. The ancient Greeks would hold festivities over several days, usually in the spring, to honor this "mother of all goddesses." Games, festivals, fresh flowers and parades were all part of the early celebrations that could be considered part of the history of Mother's Day. More thoroughly documented is the medieval part of the history of Mother's Day. In the United Kingdom, Mother's Day is celebrated in the middle of the Lent season. According to the London Times, the British Mother's Day origin lies in Mothering Sunday, although the mothering is often though to symbolize churches rather than women.
Mothering Sunday was the day, "when local churches honoured their mother church and also an excuse for a little spree during the long period of abstinence running up to Easter," wrote the London Times.
By the 17th century, the holiday became one for young people working in domestic service to return home to their mothers with small gifts from their place of work.In the United States, even before there was an official Mother's Day, there were efforts to set aside certain days to honor mothers. According to World Book Advanced, in 1872, Julia Ward Howe suggested June 2nd be a day of peace, honoring mothers in the United States. She held an annual Mother's Day meeting in Boston for several years to celebrate the day.
Submitted by Gerrie Ferris Fingerhttp://www.gerrieferrisfinger.com/ The official Mother's Day, as recognized by an act of Congress, was the brainchild of Anna Jarvis, a school teacher who lived in Grafton, W.Va., with her mother also named Anna. Jarvis was devastated by her mother's death in 1905 on May 10.
"As it became clear that the florists were molding her 'holy day' to their own ends, Jarvis became increasingly angered and alienated," wrote Schmidt. Jarvis became a harsh critic of the way Mother's Day was being celebrated. She called greeting cards "a poor excuse for the letter you are too lazy to write." She urged people to wear celluloid buttons and not to buy flowers for their mothers.
The Mother's Day that we now celebrate is still a time to spend money. A survey by the National Retail Federation finds that consumers will spend an average of $138.63 for Mother's Day in 2008. "Total consumer spending is expected to reach $15.8 billion," said the federation in a press release. However, it would be a bit harsh to say that just because we spend $138.63 on flowers, cards and other gifts, we corrupt the spirit of Mother's Day. Most of us probably buy cards because they are not because we are too lazy to write. Many children make their own cards to give to Mom. Yes, they do spend money on the materials to make the cards, but that small loving gesture shows that despite the commercialization in the history of Mother's Day, the second Sunday in May still remains the "finest, noblest, truest Movements and celebrations known."
Lifescript.com 2007
May 7, 2011
HAPPY KENTUCKY DERBY DAY - and a tip of the hard hat to Dick Francis
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I grew up riding horses and have a fractured L4 because of my daring-do jumping skills. Throw in a little arthritis on creaky days and there goes my golf game.All that to admit I loved reading Dick Francis after mucking out the stable. ;-DIn honor of KDD, I'm reading NERVE about a jockey who seems to have lost his nerve. OR, could it be someone is sabotaging him through his mounts? From 1953 to 1957 Francis was jockey to Queen Elizabeth's Queen Mother. He retired after he rode Devon Loch in the 1956 Grand National race. The horse fell near the finish line. Francis wrote over 40 international best sellers before he died on February 14, 2010.
His work lives on because of his collaboration with youngest son, Felix Francis, a physics teacher who retired to research for his father and now continues the horse racing series.
[image error] Gerrie Ferris FingerTHE END GAMETHE LAST TEMPTATION due out 2012THE GHOST SHIP, June 2011HONORED DAUGHTERSWHEN SERPENTS DIEWAGON DOGShttp://www.gerrieferrisfinger.com/http://crimewritersblog.blogspot.com/
His work lives on because of his collaboration with youngest son, Felix Francis, a physics teacher who retired to research for his father and now continues the horse racing series.
[image error] Gerrie Ferris FingerTHE END GAMETHE LAST TEMPTATION due out 2012THE GHOST SHIP, June 2011HONORED DAUGHTERSWHEN SERPENTS DIEWAGON DOGShttp://www.gerrieferrisfinger.com/http://crimewritersblog.blogspot.com/
May 4, 2011
DEVIL'S PLAYTHING - a Carl Brookins Review
Devil's PlaythingBy Matt RichtelISBN: 978-1-59058-887-1
Released, 2011, 324 pgs,
Hard Cover.
This is a novel born of the twenty-first century. It is technology-rich,
abrupt, punchy, and filled with first-person pithy observations. It has a
modern complicated plot and some dark conspiracies worthy of flat-worlders
and those who still appear to believe the landings on the moon were merely
another government scam.
Blogger Nat Idle is drifting through life as a medical reporter and
occasionally paying attention to his rapidly aging grandmother, the only
member of his family in close proximity. When he and Grandma Lane are on a
casual outing in a San Francisco park, a mysterious stranger, apparently
driving a Prius, shoots at him, or her, or them. How could this gentle,
rapidly aging woman, with no apparent enemies attract an assassin? Not
possible so it must be Nat who was the target. After all, he was engaged in
a controversy with some San Francisco cops about Porta Potty corruption.
The novel uses a criminal conspiracy of immense possibilities and
proportions to raise questions about the rising dependence on technology to
replace our individual memories, and to sermonize about American society's
eagerness to shuttle its older generations into places where they can die
out of sight and mostly out of mind. Those shortcomings aside, the novel
develops and carries along an inventive idea that is highly fraught with
tension and believability.
Carl Brookinshttp://www.carlbrookins.com/, http://www.agora2.blogspot.com/
Devils Island, Bloody Halls, Reunion, Red Sky
more at Kindle, Smashwords & OmniLit!
April 27, 2011
WHERE DANGER HIDES - a Carl Brookins Review
Where Danger HidesBy Terry Odell
ISBN 978-1-43282-512-6
Five Star Mystery from Gale
May, 2011
The novel is a suspenseful thriller with a healthy dose of romance. Or
maybe it's a romantic thriller with a good deal of suspense that keeps this
moving at a sometimes alarming pace. "Where Danger Hides" is both, and it's
also a fantasy in particular in the way and the speed with which the two
principal characters are drawn together.
Miri Chambers is the caretaker and overseerer of a San Francisco shelter
primarily for abused women. Galoway House also manages to shelter and care
for a number of children and men, as well. There's a lot more to Miri
Chambers. She is adept at disguise, light-fingered and as prickly as one can
get. Two wrong words and she is liable to go off like a rocket. That
propensity for shoot-from-the-hip judgments and attitude may also be the
reason for her nearly unbelieveable hormonal response to the hunk she meets
on a clandestine foray into the home office of a wealthy art patron.
Her reaction to "just" Dalton isn't much different from his. He works for a
private security firm that has a large well-funded and mostly covert group
of operatives working well outside the usual legal limits. Dalton, one of
Blackthorn's elite black ops operatives has an appreciated eye for female
anatomy, wherever he finds it, including hiding under the desk of the
aforementioned wealthy San Francisco Art patron.
Dalton and Miri Chambers are all fire and sparks and hot sex throughout this
rollicking novel. The author has created a pair of characters who could
each carry the novel solo, but when you pair them, look out.
The action carries Dalton and Chambers from posh and elegant settings to
gritty exceedingly dangerous operations. Readers are not likely to predict
each succeeding move. One is required to suspend disbelief and recognize
from the outset that explicit play, both sexual andfirearms, is integral to
the story. Nevertheless, the plot is carefully and fully laid out, the
dialogue is mostly logical and the tension carries well through the entire
book. Gritty, tender, frustrating by turns I did feel that there were times
when both characters exhibited too obtuse attitudes and were slower on the
uptake than they should have been, given their life experiences.
Nevertheless, this is a fun read that makes several important points along
the way.
Carl Brookins
http://www.carlbrookins.com/, http://www.agora2.blogspot.com/
Devils Island, Bloody Halls, Reunion, Red Sky
more at Kindle, Smashwords & OmniLit!
April 21, 2011
Eggsceptional EGGSECUTIVE ORDERS - Happy Easter
EGGSECUTIVE ORDERS
Berkley, 2010
352 pages
If you like light reading, and who wouldn't at Easter time, give Julie Hyzy's award-winning culinary series a hop and skip through the pages as she prepares for the annual Easter Egg Roll at the White House.
Make no mistake this is cozy writing at its best with a series that began with State of the Onion (Anthony award winner).
In Eggsecutive Orders, a White House dinner guest has died. Was he poisoned? Suspicions point to Executive Chef Olivia Paras, the first female White House Chef, and her staff. Even her Secret Service lover, Tom, is no help because he's been told to keep her out of the kitchen, away from the first family's food. She must clear her name to keep her job and boyfriend, to say nothing of staying out of jail, or worse.
This wonderful souffle is funny and mysterious at the same time.
From Booklist
The ever-burgeoning culinary mystery subgenre has a new chef-sleuth. In her second adventure (following State of the Onion, 2008), Olivia Paras, the first female White House Chef, just wants to focus on her job: cooking for the president's family, preparing state banquets, and getting ready for the annual Easter egg roll. However, when one of the guests at a state dinner dies, everything changes: Olivia and her staff are banned from the kitchens. Her boyfriend, Tom MacKenzie, part of the Secret Service's presidential detail, has been assigned to keep Olivia from meddling in the investigation. Her mother and grandmother are about to arrive for their first visit to Washington, D.C., and tensions are rising among Olivia's staff and guest chefs. Hyzy does a great job of keeping us interested in all of these problems, and the back-stage look at the White House proves fascinating. Recipes are included for Eggcellent Eggs. --Judy Coon
Gerrie Ferris Finger
THE END GAME
THE LAST TEMPTATION out 2012
http://www.gerrieferrisfinger.com/
Berkley, 2010
352 pages
If you like light reading, and who wouldn't at Easter time, give Julie Hyzy's award-winning culinary series a hop and skip through the pages as she prepares for the annual Easter Egg Roll at the White House.
Make no mistake this is cozy writing at its best with a series that began with State of the Onion (Anthony award winner).
In Eggsecutive Orders, a White House dinner guest has died. Was he poisoned? Suspicions point to Executive Chef Olivia Paras, the first female White House Chef, and her staff. Even her Secret Service lover, Tom, is no help because he's been told to keep her out of the kitchen, away from the first family's food. She must clear her name to keep her job and boyfriend, to say nothing of staying out of jail, or worse.
This wonderful souffle is funny and mysterious at the same time.
From Booklist
The ever-burgeoning culinary mystery subgenre has a new chef-sleuth. In her second adventure (following State of the Onion, 2008), Olivia Paras, the first female White House Chef, just wants to focus on her job: cooking for the president's family, preparing state banquets, and getting ready for the annual Easter egg roll. However, when one of the guests at a state dinner dies, everything changes: Olivia and her staff are banned from the kitchens. Her boyfriend, Tom MacKenzie, part of the Secret Service's presidential detail, has been assigned to keep Olivia from meddling in the investigation. Her mother and grandmother are about to arrive for their first visit to Washington, D.C., and tensions are rising among Olivia's staff and guest chefs. Hyzy does a great job of keeping us interested in all of these problems, and the back-stage look at the White House proves fascinating. Recipes are included for Eggcellent Eggs. --Judy Coon
Gerrie Ferris Finger
THE END GAME
THE LAST TEMPTATION out 2012
http://www.gerrieferrisfinger.com/
April 1, 2011
AGATHA AND ME, WE AGREE
What would Agatha Christie say about Disney's plan to reinvent Miss Marple as a younger sleuth, played with an audacity that Miss Marple, that all-seeing, all-suspecting spinster of St. Mary Mead never had?
We can infer by her own words when Margaret Rutherford was cast as Miss Marple:
"Why don't they just invent a new character? Then they can have their cheap fun and leave me and my creation alone?"
Well said, Agatha.
Gerrie Ferris Finger
THE END GAME
THE LAST TEMPTATION release date 2012
http://www.gerrieferrisfinger.com/
March 25, 2011
HOW TO SURVIVE A KILLER SEANCE - a Carl Brookins Review
How to Survive A Killer Séance
By Penny Warner
Mass Market release in 2011
Obsidian, 290 pages.
ISBN:978-0-451-23279-3
Party planner Presley Parker is back. In another delightfully cozy murder mystery, she's got herself enmeshed with some high-roller, high energy, digital silicon-valley types who are nothing if not focused. The problem is they seem to have left everything resembling human values back at the starting gate. Compassion? Nowhere to be found. Fidelity? It is to laugh.
The women are sexy and high energy, the guys are bright and energetic, if often ill-tempered, and poor Presley is caught between some over-stressed corporate types, her own urges and career needs, and her flakey mother. It's easy to see where Penny gets some of her idiosyncrasies.
A wide range of characters? You bet. Unusual ideas and offbeat characters? Absolutely. This author fully understands what her readers are looking for and in spite of having already produced a huge number of enjoyable books, she continues to plumb her creative muse to write stories that satisfy a certain risibility and belief in the quirkiness of human nature.
A fast read, well-plotted, with a setting to die for, and characters that are distinct. This is yet another of Penny Warner's diverting, novels. Here there is no gloom or doom, just a murder or two in dark rooms, secret passageways, unreal emanations and a fast romp to a perfectly designed conclusion.
Carl Brookins
http://www.carlbrookins.com/, http://www.agora2.blogspot.com/
Devils Island, Bloody Halls, Reunion, Red Skymore at Kindle, Smashwords & OmniLit!
March 13, 2011
MARTHA CHEVES - STIR, LAUGH, REPEAT
A TITLE YOU GOT TO LOVE
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Find out why her food testers celebrate these all-too-often occasions in Stir, Laugh, Repeat. Following her passion for cooking and in hot pursuit of just the right taste, Martha Cheves composed one hundred recipes for cooks of all ages that are sure to satiate appetites of any kind. Try her quick and easy bacon, egg, and cheese mini pies for breakfast; rabbit food sandwich for a healthy, take-to-the-office lunch; mustard pork chops for a zesty twist that still satisfies the meat and potato man; and whip up her renown banana puddin as a sweet end to a satisfying day. Sprinkled amongst timeless southern dishes are practical tips to help any beginner baker cook like a pro while learning from Marthas tales of kitchen woes. Feast on Stir, Laugh, Repeat today and let your experimental imagination sizzle with delight as you try your hand at Marthas suggested variations. - Amazon
Martha says:
I've always loved to cook and used to dream of opening my own restaurant. But, as time went on and I got older that dream just didn't seem to be in the cards. Instead I wrote a cookbook. This idea came to me when my youngest daughter told me she couldn't bring deviled eggs to Thanksgiving dinner because she couldn't peel them without tearing them up.
Through the promotion of Stir, Laugh, Repeat I've had the pleasure of meeting some really wonderful Authors. Since I love to read as much as I love to cook I decided to create a site that would bring the readers and cooks together. Before accepting a book to review I tell the Authors the cost... One of Their Favorite Recipes. Thus was the creation of my site A Book and A Dish. I've had the pleasure of reading some really great books plus find out what the authors enjoy eating/cooking.
http://marthaskitchenkorner.blogspot.com/
I am happy to be one of those authors on her entertaining blog.
THANK YOU, MARTHA
Gerrie Ferris Finger
HONORED DAUGHTERS
WHEN SERPENTS DIE
WAGON DOGS
THE END GAME
THE LAST TEMPTATION release 2012
http://www.gerrieferrisfinger.com/
[image error]
Find out why her food testers celebrate these all-too-often occasions in Stir, Laugh, Repeat. Following her passion for cooking and in hot pursuit of just the right taste, Martha Cheves composed one hundred recipes for cooks of all ages that are sure to satiate appetites of any kind. Try her quick and easy bacon, egg, and cheese mini pies for breakfast; rabbit food sandwich for a healthy, take-to-the-office lunch; mustard pork chops for a zesty twist that still satisfies the meat and potato man; and whip up her renown banana puddin as a sweet end to a satisfying day. Sprinkled amongst timeless southern dishes are practical tips to help any beginner baker cook like a pro while learning from Marthas tales of kitchen woes. Feast on Stir, Laugh, Repeat today and let your experimental imagination sizzle with delight as you try your hand at Marthas suggested variations. - Amazon
Martha says:
I've always loved to cook and used to dream of opening my own restaurant. But, as time went on and I got older that dream just didn't seem to be in the cards. Instead I wrote a cookbook. This idea came to me when my youngest daughter told me she couldn't bring deviled eggs to Thanksgiving dinner because she couldn't peel them without tearing them up.
Through the promotion of Stir, Laugh, Repeat I've had the pleasure of meeting some really wonderful Authors. Since I love to read as much as I love to cook I decided to create a site that would bring the readers and cooks together. Before accepting a book to review I tell the Authors the cost... One of Their Favorite Recipes. Thus was the creation of my site A Book and A Dish. I've had the pleasure of reading some really great books plus find out what the authors enjoy eating/cooking.
http://marthaskitchenkorner.blogspot.com/
I am happy to be one of those authors on her entertaining blog.
THANK YOU, MARTHA
Gerrie Ferris Finger
HONORED DAUGHTERS
WHEN SERPENTS DIE
WAGON DOGS
THE END GAME
THE LAST TEMPTATION release 2012
http://www.gerrieferrisfinger.com/
March 10, 2011
TOMB WITH A VIEW - a Carl Brookins Review
Tomb With A ViewBy Casey Daniels
ISBN: 97804252355152010
Mass market release
Berkley Prime Crime
Pair one of our less interesting presidents, James A. Garfield, with a cute slender, sexually aware private detective, cum medium, and what do you get? You get this delightful cozy mystery, one of several in Casey Daniel's series of Pepper Martin adventures.
But be warned. If you don't like a bad pun or two, several tongue-in-cheek jokes and a huge riff on one of the presidents of these United States, this delightful novel isn't your cup of tea.
On the other hand, if your humor runs to the mildly risqué, you don't mind a self-aware sexy cemetery tour guide(!) who happens to be reluctantly channeling the dead President, and you enjoy fast-paced well-conceived criminally artful plots, this latest adventure of Pepper Martin is definitely a winner.
Around every prominent figure in history there swirls scandal and scandal attracts the greedy. If this author is to be believed, an incredibly audacious land swap plan was under way when anarchist Charles Guiteau fired the bullet that cut short what might have been a sterling presidential career.
That's all in the past. What's here and now, is a well-managed funny, and twisty story peopled with interesting characters, not the least of whom is one well-named, Pepper Martin.
Carl Brookinshttp://www.carlbrookins.com/
www.agora2.blogspot.com
Devils Island, Bloody Halls, Reunion, Red Skymore at Kindle, Smashwords & OmniLit!
February 17, 2011
CRITICAL CONDITION - a Carl Brookins review
Critical ConditionBy C.J.LyonsISBN: 9780515148688Mass Market, 300 page2010 release from Jove
Fourth and last in the Angels of Mercy series.
A hospital in Pittsburgh is under siege, both from within and without as a huge blizzard brings the city to a standstill. In the hospital, Dr. Gina Freeman is trying to cope with the problematical recovery of her fiancé, detective Jerry Boyle, suffering from bullet wounds. Elsewhere in the hospital, other capable if flawed women, Charge Nurse Nora Halloran, and student Amanda Mason, prepare to wait out the storm.
A vicious band of armed killers suddenly appears, looking for a doctor who happens to be out of the hospital. She, apparently, holds the key to the continued well-being of a powerful and wealthy political figure from the West Coast. The thugs demonstrate a frightening propensity for killing anyone who gets in the way and the bodies pile up.Written in an almost breathless, pell-mell style, the novel never sags for more than a page or two. Crisis lands on crisis almost as fast as the bodies pile up. Tension grows to almost unbearable levels and relationships become more entangled, setting up conflicts among the protagonists. In the end, the resolution results in a few more bodies.
An excellent novel of type. The characters are well-drawn and have sufficient differences to make them easy to keep track of, the ploys used to confound the gangsters are interesting and varied and appropriate to the venues. The dialogue is logical and understandable and it fits the scenery.
Carl Brookins
http://www.carlbrookins.com/, http://www.agora2.blogspot.com/
Case of the Greedy Lawyer, Devils Island,Bloody Halls, more at Kindle & Smashwords!
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