Sandra Nachlinger's Blog, page 8

Cougar Mountain / Coal Creek Falls - #SaturdaySnapshots

I've explored Cougar Mountain Regional Wildland Park three times with the Auburn Senior Activity Center group, and each experience has been different. We always hike for a couple of hours and then stop at Coal Creek Falls for lunch in beautiful surroundings, but we take different trails and the hikes are never the same.

For example, here are the falls in April, 2016. We'd had a dry winter and there was a lower-than-normal snowpack in the Cascade Mountains. The result: the danger of wildfires increased and water available for crop irrigation declined. 


Here are the falls during my April 20, 2018, hike. Much more dramatic!

This year, quite a few trails were closed. Our recent rainfall had turned some paths into streams--slippery and unsafe for hikers. We slogged through a few muddy patches and skirted mud puddles, but the trails we explored were fine. That day I logged eight miles on my Fitbit. (That included walking the grand-dog around our neighborhood.) A good workout. 
My previous posts about Cougar Mountain (located in the "Issaquah Alps") are HERE (2016)  and HERE (2017) . 

Saturday Snapshots is hosted by West Metro Mommy Reads. To participate: Post a photo that you (or a friend or family member) have taken then leave a direct link to your post in the Mister Linky on West Metro Mommy Read's website (link: HERE) Photos can be old or new and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see. How much detail you give in the caption is entirely up to you. Please don't post random photos that you find online.
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Birthday Party at the Little #Gym - #SaturdaySnapshots

When a terrible cold struck my son and daughter-in-law several months ago, I was called in to take my granddaughter to a birthday party at The Little Gym in Covington, WA. Here's a photo of one of the party's activities.






Saturday Snapshots is hosted by West Metro Mommy Reads. To participate: Post a photo that you (or a friend or family member) have taken then leave a direct link to your post in the Mister Linky on West Metro Mommy Read's website (link: HERE) Photos can be old or new and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see. How much detail you give in the caption is entirely up to you. Please don't post random photos that you find online.
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Goodbye to the Blues - #TeaserTuesday / First Chapter / First Paragraph / Tuesday Intros

    I love a good series, and one of my favorites is the Karen Grace trilogy written by Lynne Morgan Spreen. The characters are mature - "older" but not "old" - and I can definitely relate to them. There's friendship, romance, drama, humor, and even a little danger in their stories. The relationships between the women ring true. Today I'm featuring excerpts from Book 3 - Goodbye to the Blues. FYI: I posted excerpts from Key Largo Blues, the second book in the series, HERE.
    ⭐By the way, when I contacted Lynne and told her I planned to feature Goodbye to the Blues on my blog, she offered a giveaway - an audio version of Key Largo Blues. If you'd like to enter, just include your email address in your comments on today's post. I've also invited Lynne to respond to comments and questions.

First Paragraph:
Chapter 1 - Fern and Belle
     My New Year's resolution - yes, only one - was to go through my mother's recipe cards and make every single dish. I'd tried a few - fleischkuecle and Round Steak Supreme and Walnut Walkaways, although the information wasn't always that clear. For example, one recipe for chicken stew started this way:
     "Take an old rooster. Wring neck early in morning so meat can cool..."
     I didn't plan to try that one.

Teaser (from 47% on my Kindle):
     When we were introduced, he stuck out a sweaty paw and grasped my hand all the way up to my wrist. I would have had to been wearing a whalebone corset for my breasts not to jiggle.
     I loathed him instantly.

Genre: Contemporary Women's Fiction
Book Length: 314 Pages (Trade Paperback)
Amazon link:  Goodbye to the Blues
Disclosure: I received an advance copy of Goodbye to the Blues as a beta reader. Then I bought a copy of the final version for my Kindle.

Synopsis (from Amazon):
     Every woman needs a friend like Karen Grace. In this third book in the series, Karen travels from Palm Springs to Newport Beach to Denver reuniting with friends, all of whom struggle with matters of the heart. In Palm Springs, longtime couple Fern and Belle are on the verge of breaking up, but everyone knows they were meant for each other. Now in their late seventies, will Fern accept the truth about their relationship before it’s too late? In Newport Beach, Rita, a fiercely independent trucker, must choose between the call of the open road and her devotion to Grady, who needs her now more than ever. In Denver, Jessie has managed to keep her troubled mother at arm’s length, but Sandy is desperate for reconciliation. While Jessie fights to protect her family, her marriage hangs in the balance.
     Caught up in the drama, Karen fears repeating her own mistakes. When she returns home to North Dakota, husband Curt drops a bombshell that threatens to tear them apart. Goodbye to the Blues is an upbeat testament to the power of love in all its forms.


Teaser Tuesday is hosted by The PurpleBooker. Post two sentences from somewhere in a book you're reading. No spoilers, please! List the author and book title too.
Link up  HERE



First Chapter/First Paragraph/Tuesday Intros is hosted by I'd Rather Be At The Beach. To participate, share the first paragraph (or a few) from a book you're reading or thinking about reading soon.Link at  I'd Rather Be At The Beach
Twitter: @SandyNachlinger
Facebook: sandy.nachlinger

Foothills Trail - South Prairie Trailhead - #SaturdaySnapshots

I've been on portions of the Foothills Trail before (blog post here), but this was my first time on the newly-opened section between the South Prairie and the Buckley Trailheads. We walked three miles along a paved surface, then turned around and retraced our steps on this easy hike. 

According to a Pierce County, Washington, website (here), the Foothills Trail sits atop an historic railroad bed. Another great rails-to-trails project.

This daunting sign greeted us as we set out on our hike. I asked myself: How fast can you run? (FYI: If you look closely, you'll see that someone corrected the sign to read "its" instead of "it's" by removing the apostrophe. That makes the grammar nerd inside me smile.)



An elevated portion of the trail overlooks farms and country roads...


... and crosses rivers and creeks.



When I saw the structure pictured below, the word "springhouse" came to mind. The stream ran right through it! After the hike I looked up that term and found this on Wikipedia: 
A spring house, or springhouse, is a small building, usually of a single room, constructed over a spring. While the original purpose of a springhouse was to keep the spring water clean by excluding fallen leaves, animals, etc., the enclosing structure was also used for refrigeration before the advent of ice delivery and, later, electric refrigeration. The water of the spring maintains a constant cool temperature inside the spring house throughout the year. Food that would otherwise spoil, such as meat, fruit, or dairy products, could be kept there, safe from animal depredations as well. Springhouses thus often also served as pumphouses, milkhouses, and root cellars.In settings where no natural spring is available, another source of natural running water, such as a small creek or diverted portion of a larger creek, might be used. In addition, some people put jars of milk in a bucket suspended by a rope in an "open-mouth" well during hot weather.
Could that be a springhouse?




FYI: Sasee Magazine published my personal essay "Happy When I'm Hiking" in its April edition. You'll find it HERE if you're curious about why I love hiking so much. 





Saturday Snapshots is hosted by West Metro Mommy Reads. To participate: Post a photo that you (or a friend or family member) have taken then leave a direct link to your post in the Mister Linky on West Metro Mommy Read's website (link: HERE) Photos can be old or new and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see. How much detail you give in the caption is entirely up to you. Please don't post random photos that you find online.

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Mrs. Pollifax - Three Complete Mysteries - #BookBeginnings on Friday and The #Friday56

Hard to believe I'd never read a Mrs. Pollifax cozy mystery. Well, now I've read three. While recovering from the "crud" that's been going around my part of the country, all I did was read and recuperate. Mrs. Pollifax was good company and didn't seem to mind my coughing and sneezing. My only complaint is that this three-book, hard-backed tome was heavy!

The three books are: The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax, The Amazing Mrs. Pollifax, and The Elusive Mrs. Pollifax. My favorite was the "Unexpected" one, which is the first in the series.
Genre: Cozy MysteryLength: 554 Pages (almost two inches thick)Amazon Link: Mrs. Polifax X 3I have had this book on my shelf for years--probably bought from a Friends of the Auburn Library sale.
Opening of "Unexpected":     The nurse walked out of the room, closing the door behind her, and Mrs. Pollifax looked at the doctor and he in turn looked at her. He was a very nice young man, with black hair, very white teeth and horn-rimmed glasses that he removed now, placing the stem of the earpiece between his teeth. "Well, Mrs. Pollifax," he said pleasantly, "I don't know how you manage it, but for a woman of your age you're in fantastically good health. I congratulate you."     "Oh," said Mrs. Pollifax flatly, and the doctor glanced at her with such a peculiar expression that she added brightly, for his benefit, "Oh!"
The Friday 56 (from page 56 of my hardback book): Even the homes that showed briefly in the glare of the headlights looked inhospitable, their rooftops barely seen over the tops of high walls that surrounded them. The walls were guarded by huge gateways with iron-studded doors--clearly not a trusting neighborhood, thought Mrs. Pollifax--and then they had left the town behind.
Synopsis (from Amazon): Here in one volume are three Mrs. Pollifax novels by the incomparable Dorothy Gilman. So curl up on the couch or in your favorite chair and follow the world's most unlikely secret agent on three missions filled with intrigue, danger and fun.

              


Anyone can participate in Book Beginnings on Friday and The Friday 56.
Click HERE to connect to other Book Beginnings posts (sponsored by Rose City Reads) 
Click HERE to join other Friday 56 bloggers (sponsored by Freda's Voice)


Twitter: @SandyNachlingerFacebook: sandy.nachlinger

"Happy When I'm Hiking" @ Sasee Magazine

Check it out! My personal essay "Happy When I'm Hiking" is featured in Sasee Magazine's April issue.

Here's the link: HIKING

Auburn #Art - #SaturdaySnapshots

I took advantage of a brisk sunshiny day to check out some of the public art in downtown Auburn, WA. The city displays sculptures that change annually, most of them along Main Street, along with several permanent installations. (I previously posted photos of some of the permanent sculptures  HERE .) More info about these creations (as well as links to the artists) are on the city's website. I've included descriptions of these works beneath each picture. Click on photos for a closer look.


Artist: Jenny Ellsworth
Title: Hoppy
Medium: Old metal shovels

Finding nature's form in recycled material is Jenny Ellsworth's passion. "Hoppy" was created with over 80 shovels. The piece also lights up at night!  (FYI: Hops were a major crop in the Auburn/Kent area of Washington in the past.)
Artist: Sharon Agnor
Title: Living Water
Medium: Cast glass and stainless steelThis sculpture is a contemplation of our dependence on water for life. It is also a celebration of water’s life giving properties, abundance, and the spiritual renewal it can bring.  Subjecting glass and steel to extreme heat brings changes to the materials that enhance their beauty. Agnor enjoys the undeniable parallel between this process, and the effects life has on us as we move forward.


Artist: Ben Dye
Title: Icarus
Medium: Stainless and steel"Icarus" is another step in the artist Ben Dye’s exploration of "form". The biggest challenge in working with flat plate is to give it shape. Dye’s approach to this challenge is to quilt the exterior of the sculpture.


I couldn't find anything about this specific "story pole," but I believe the artist is Garth Edwards. 
Because this artwork was located on street corners, I found it difficult to separate the sculptures from the busy backgrounds. I need to do more experimenting with my camera to learn how to blur the background and focus only on the subject. Regardless, taking these pictures was a fun excuse to get out of the house on a beautiful day.

Saturday Snapshots is hosted by West Metro Mommy Reads. To participate: Post a photo that you (or a friend or family member) have taken then leave a direct link to your post in the Mister Linky on West Metro Mommy Read's website (link: HERE) Photos can be old or new and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see. How much detail you give in the caption is entirely up to you. Please don't post random photos that you find online.
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The Butterfly's Daughter - #TeaserTuesday and First Chapter / First Paragraph / Tuesday Intros

I enjoy books where I learn something while being engrossed in a good plot. In The Butterfly's Daughter, the subject was monarch butterflies. Mary Alice Monroe takes readers on a young woman's journey to fulfill her recently-deceased grandmother's wish for the two of them to go to Mexico. The granddaughter's quest parallels the flight of monarch butterflies in their annual migrations south. This is also a coming-of-age story. 

The book begins with a prologue, in which the grandmother tells an ancient fable to her 21-year-old granddaughter. Each chapter also begins with brief factual information about the monarch butterfly's migration. The action in Chapter One starts like this:

First Paragraph(s):
    Esperanza Avila had told the story so many times over the years that it was accepted as truth--even by herself. She'd meant only to blanket her granddaughter's frightening loss, not to mislead her. She saw the story she'd created as a safe, happy cocoon for her to grow up in.
    But in the end, she'd created a lie. Now she was caught in her own trap of deception. The only way out was to tell Luz the truth, no matter how painful that truth might be.

Teaser (from page 256 in trade paperback):
There were moments in the past three years of recovery when she felt such despair that she didn't think she could make it past another day without using. Moments like now. At these low points when her hands shook and her gut roiled, she'd go to the garden and put her hands deep into the earth. 

Genre: Contemporary Women's Fiction
Book Length: 382 Pages (trade paperback) plus a reader's group guide.
Amazon Link: The Butterfly's Daughter
I picked this up from the book exchange shelf at the senior center. It was published in 2012.

Synopsis: Every year, the monarch butterflies - las mariposas - fly more than two thousand miles on fragile wings to return to their winter home in Mexico. Now Luz Avila makes that same perilous journey south as she honors a vow to her beloved abuela - the grandmother who raised her - to return her ashes to her ancestral village. As Luz departs Milwaukee in a ramshackle old VW Bug, she finds her heart opened by a series of seemingly random encounters with remarkable women. In San Antonio, however, a startling revelation awaits: a reunion with a woman from her past. Together, the two cross into Mexico to await the returning monarchs in the little village Abuela called home, but they are also crossing a border that separates past from present . . . and truth from lies.

Teaser Tuesday is hosted by The PurpleBooker. Post two sentences from somewhere in a book you're reading. No spoilers, please! List the author and book title too.
Link up  HERE



First Chapter/First Paragraph/Tuesday Intros is hosted by I'd Rather Be At The Beach. To participate, share the first paragraph (or a few) from a book you're reading or thinking about reading soon.Link at  I'd Rather Be At The Beach
Twitter: @SandyNachlingerFacebook: sandy.nachlinger

Plants and Flowers - #Kauai, #Hawaii - #SaturdaySnapshots

Continuing with our recent trip to Kauai, today I'm posting pictures of plants and flowers from that beautiful island. Even though a few springtime bulbs are beginning to emerge at home in the Pacific Northwest, it was such a pleasure to see so many things in bloom during our vacation. I'll do my best to identify the flora I photographed.
(Click on photos for an even closer look.)

I think this could be Pandanus tectorius, AKA "screw pine" although it
looks nothing like a pine or a screw! Several of these small trees were planted on the grounds of the resort where we stayed. The fruit is about eight inches in diameter. Hibiscus everywhere in every color imaginable. Clusia rosea AKA "signature tree" or "autograph tree." People scratch love notes, messages, etc., on the tree's rubbery leaves where they stay for months. We had some of these rugged trees in our yard when we lived in Miami. The autographs don't seem to harm them.
Codiaeum variegatum AKA "croton" - The sap from these plants can be toxic,
but they sure are striking. They formed a hedge along one side of our home in Miami. It was fun to see familiar (and unfamiliar) tropical plants. I haven't been able to identify this plant. Some kind of lily? It's obvious where the Bird of Paradise (Strelitzia reginae) got its name.
This is the only one I saw in bloom during our trip.I started to include photos of palm trees, but there are too many varieties. Maybe next week...






Saturday Snapshots is hosted by West Metro Mommy Reads. To participate: Post a photo that you (or a friend or family member) have taken then leave a direct link to your post in the Mister Linky on West Metro Mommy Read's website (link: HERE) Photos can be old or new and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see. How much detail you give in the caption is entirely up to you. Please don't post random photos that you find online.
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Slightly South of Simple - #TeaserTuesday and First Chapter / First Paragraph / Tuesday Intros

I expected the characters in this book to have more of a Southern "voice" (it takes place in Georgia) but they didn't. That's okay. I still enjoyed the story. My big complaint was that it ended a little too abruptly for me. However, it's the first book in a series, so maybe that's why everything wasn't as neatly tied up as I wanted.

First Paragraph:
    I still have dreams about that yellow-and-white striped bikini, the one I was wearing the night I met Jack, my first bona fide summer love. I was fifteen going on sixteen, the perfect age, when your hair tints that summer blond that hairstylists become super-stars for emulating. You have filled out enough not to be gangly but not so much that you can imagine a one-piece being in your future.

Teaser at 83% on my Kindle (I stretched the excerpt to three sentences instead of just two):
    I knew already from having children and grandchildren that time moved quickly; the days were long, but the years were short. And I knew for certain that no matter how many fights they had or how many times I had to change sheets or clean up dirty dishes or babysit all day for one grandchild after I'd been up all night with another, I would look back on these months of having my children home with me, back where they belonged, with incredible joy and wistfulness. These were the good times, even when they were hard.

Genre: Women's Fiction
No. of Pages:  479 Pages
Amazon Link: Slightly South of Simple
Copyright: 2017

Synopsis:
     Caroline Murphy swore she’d never set foot back in the small Southern town of Peachtree Bluff; she was a New York girl born and bred and the worst day of her life was when, in the wake of her father’s death, her mother selfishly forced her to move—during her senior year of high school, no less—back to that hick-infested rat trap where she'd spent her childhood summers. But now that her marriage to a New York high society heir has fallen apart in a very public, very embarrassing fashion, a pregnant Caroline decides to escape the gossipmongers with her nine-year-old daughter and head home to her mother, Ansley.
     Ansley has always put her three daughters first, especially when she found out that her late husband, despite what he had always promised, left her with next to nothing. Now the proud owner of a charming waterfront design business and finally standing on her own two feet, Ansley welcomes Caroline and her brood back with open arms. But when her second daughter Sloane, whose military husband is overseas, and youngest daughter and successful actress Emerson join the fray, Ansley begins to feel like the piece of herself she had finally found might be slipping from her grasp. Even more discomfiting, when someone from her past reappears in Ansley's life, the secret she’s harbored from her daughters their entire lives might finally be forced into the open.
     Exploring the powerful bonds between sisters and mothers and daughters, this engaging novel is filled with Southern charm, emotional drama, and plenty of heart.


Teaser Tuesday is hosted by The PurpleBooker. Post two sentences from somewhere in a book you're reading. No spoilers, please! List the author and book title too.
Link up  HERE



First Chapter/First Paragraph/Tuesday Intros is hosted by I'd Rather Be At The Beach. To participate, share the first paragraph (or a few) from a book you're reading or thinking about reading soon.Link at  I'd Rather Be At The Beach
Twitter: @SandyNachlingerFacebook: sandy.nachlinger