Kate’s 2¢: “The widow Washington: the life of Mary Washington: by Martha Saxton

“The widow Washington: the life of Mary Washington: by Martha Saxton

Kate’s 2¢: There is a plethora of in-depth biographies of authors and reviews of their books, that state the title, author, published date, and genre; as well as,     describing what the book is about, setting, and character(s), so, Kate’s 2¢ merely shares my thoughts about what I read.  I’m just saying…

Throughout the book, Saxton spends an inordinate amount of time describing in detail  the number, sex, age, origin, and condition of slaves owned by Mary’s wealthy father, and those she inherited. I have no doubt this represents the culture of the time, yet, it seems her tone (or is it the interpretation of the reader?) is condescending, judgmental, and meant to be inflammatory to today’s citizens.

You might want to start a family tree or chart to keep all the relatives straight.

“…Mary’s status in those formative  years as a slave owner  at or before her third birthday and her daily intimacy with her independent mother contributed to her air of her command. Slave ownership became integrated early into who she was…”

When Mary married Augustine Washington, she had Anglican values and moral guidance from the several small books she had and she stressed stewardship rather than power to her children, George being the eldest child.

Unfortunately, Mary’s ‘golden years’ were severely tarnished. Her end-of-life was rife with strife, poverty, and breast cancer.

From Wikipedia:

Martha Saxton is an American professor of history and women’s and gender studies at Amherst College who has authored several prominent historical biographies.

In 2003, she wrote Being Good: Women’s Moral Values in Early America.[4] The TV film The Jayne Mansfield Story featuring Loni Anderson and Arnold Schwarzenegger was based on her book Jayne Mansfield and the American fifties.[5]

She also published findings of a classroom experiment on Wikipedia’s inclusion of women in historical articles.[6] She is a recipient of the PEN New England Award.

From NLS/BARD/LOC:

The widow Washington: the life of Mary Washington DB97696

Saxton, Martha. Reading time: 12 hours, 43 minutes.

Read by Laural Merlington.

Biography

Bestsellers

U.S. History

An account of the life of Mary Ball Washington, the mother of George Washington. Discusses her family and her childhood as an orphan, her marriage and family life as an adult, her contentious relationship with son George, and her impact on the principles by which he lived. Unrated. Commercial audiobook. Bestseller. 2019.

Kate’s 2 Cents: Paranoid

“Paranoid” by Lisa Jackson

Kate’s 2¢: There is a plethora of in-depth biographies of authors and reviews of their books, that state the title, author, published date, and genre; as well as,     describing what the book is about, setting, and character(s), so, Kate’s 2¢ merely shares my thoughts about what I read.  I’m just saying…

Very well done. I see why Jackson, aka Crose, has so many best sellers. Although, I identified who the “patient” was, I sure didn’t figure out just how convoluted the ending would be. The reviewer was right. This was an OMG story.

From www.lisajackson.com:

With more than 85 romance and suspense novels published, Susan Lisa Jackson (better known as Lisa Jackson) has over twenty million copies in print in twenty languages. Jackson also writes under the name Susan Lynn Crose. Born in Oregon in 1952, she also grew up in the state and attended Oregon State University where she studied English.

“The title of Lisa Jackson’s latest, Paranoid, is pretty apt, considering it will have your nerves frayed before you’re even halfway through reading it.” —Popsugar LIAR, LIAR “The author’s managing of the past and present separately is an effective method of clue dangling to keep readers in the dark until the huge OMG reveal.

From NLS/BARD/LOC;

Paranoid DB97205

Jackson, Lisa. Reading time: 13 hours, 12 minutes.

Read by Kristin Allison.

Romantic suspense fiction

Suspense Fiction

Mystery and Detective Stories

Twenty years ago, high school student Rachel accidentally shot and killed her half brother Luke during a game with their friends. Now a series of violent incidents occurs within the group, beginning on the anniversary of his death. Violence, strong language, and some explicit descriptions of sex. 2019.

Downloaded: March 21, 2020

Conrnucopia: Breast Cancer Surgery

May 11, 2020, Monday:  We were up and at ‘em by 7:10AM to go to the drive through Covid-19 nasal testing location on S. Clinton Avenue for a 7:50AM appointment. We were a bit early, but they were ready for us and efficiently  administered the test. A slender stick with a gauze sleeve on it was put into my nose up to the rhinitis area above the bridge of my nose. It was uncomfortable for a second and withdrawn. We were back home in no time. The results were e-mail to the University of Rochester Medical Center “My Chart” the following day. The results were also sent to my Primary Care Physician, Dr. Jenifer Jerome-Roberts. The results were negative. I do not have the Covid-19 virus.

May 12, 2020 Tuesday: Our first challenge was to find a parking space at Highland Hospital. We went around the building once and found lots of exit signs. On the second go-round, we found an entrance to a parking lot. It was a handicapped parking slot. We pulled up our face masks and went to the main door.

At 8:00AM we entered the Main Lobby, screened and went toward the Pre-surgery Center. We were again screened and handed hospital masks and guided through a maze of hallways to the Pre-Surgery Center. I signed in on the little electronic box after it had been wipe with a sterile square. Every other stiff-backed, arm  chair had been taped off to keep people 6-feet apart. When the nurse called “Kathryn” we found out that there were two Kathryns in the waiting room. She was Kathryn B. and I was Kathryn C.

Originally, I was scheduled to have the guiding wire inserted at 7:30AM with surgery at 12:30PM, but that got changed to 8:30AM wire and 3:00PM surgery. It was going to be a very long day.

Eventually, I was called. I knew it was a wheelchair, but not like any I’d ever imagined. The nurse said to sit down, then swing my feet around. Huh?  As it turned out, that the foot rest was immovable. the side arm went up to let you sit, then you swung your legs toward the front to rest your feet on the foot rest.  If they’d told me the big picture first, I might not have been so awkward entering the chair.

Off we went with Dave trailing behind. Due to the Covid-19 Virus, only patients were allowed in the hospital, however, I listed him as my sighted guide/assistant and he was allowed everywhere with me except wire insert, radiation injection, and lumpectomy surgery.

Dave sat in a narrow, arm chair while I was wheeled into the mammography room to have a titanium wire inserted into my left breast to guide the surgeon to the cancerous lump. One of the nurses was great. She let me feel the contraption she’d use to mark the location of the mass. The guide had lead numbers along one axis and lead letters along the other axis. During the needle biopsy a month ago, a titanium chip had been inserted to show where the nips had been taken out. The nurse today kept saying it was a clip. She decided to compromise and call it a ship and that she was going to play Battleship, using the numbers and letters to pinpoint the mass. Although, they didn’t not know what metal the wire was, it was most likely titanium, as that is the metal of choice for medical items.

Once the wire had been inserted and firmly taped to my breast, we wheeled over to radiation. The nurses switched my hospital gown opening to the back, to keep me decent flying through the hallways. Dave found a wooden bench to perch on while I went into the inner-sanctum. The doctor injected a saline solution containing a radioactive substance into the edge of my areola. It was a very slender needle and I felt very little, which surprised me. The surgeon will use a Geiger counter to tract the radiation from the breast to the sentinel node(s). The tech said he had ten patients that morning and I was number two.  As he retired my gown, I asked him if he did back rubs, too. He chuckled and handed me my long, white, cane.

My transport came and we went back to the Pre-Surgery Center and into a cubicle. The gurney was comfortable, especially when the aid put a warmed blanket around my shoulders. Dave patiently sat on a small, plastic chair as we waited.

Nurse Jennifer came in to confirm my history. Highland is part of the University of Rochester Medical Center, but they also have their own protocol charts on a computer in each cubicle. Any time a nurse came in, she tapped something into the computer. The surgical oncologist, Dr. Kristin Skinner, came in shortly after 10:00AM to initial my left breast, presented me with the tiny lavender, water based marker,  and confirm I was ready. Then, we waited.

We’d brought bottled water and apple juice to keep us hydrated, and a crossword book to help while away the time. The book got wet from the sweating water bottles and besides, the Pre-Surgical Center was filled with bells, bongs, dings, and people talking. It was too noisy for us to do a crossword puzzle.

The camaraderie within the sisterhood of nurses was wonderful to hear. They were cheerful, helpful, and competent. Even the beleaguered secretary, Janet, never lost her cool, professional voice as she tried to find nurses to staff the increase in patients, organize work areas in the newly re-opened building, and put files in locations easily accessible to the doctors.

Around Noon, Dave went down to the cafeteria to eat the peanut butter and jelly sandwich he’d brought from home. I hadn’t eaten anything since 6:00PM Monday evening. He didn’t want to tease me with the aroma of his pb and j. I dozed off and on, while he calmly observed from his little, plastic chair.

As the afternoon wore on, we heard a nurse say that the breasts had backed up.  Apparently, Dr. Skinner’s  first surgery was due to start at 12:30PM, but had gotten pushed to 2:30PM. That made my 3:00PM surgery bumped to 5:00PM. Stoically Dave sat on his little, plastic chair as I dozed off and on with an occasional brake to walk me to the bathroom or say when a visitor had come. He did make the comment that with my lenses painted with daisies on a green background and the blue hospital face mask, I looked like an exotic bug.    Interestingly enough, the nurses would say hi and their name so I knew they were there. The doctors never did say hi or their name. The nurses were also very apologetic about the delay, but we assured them that it wasn’t their fault and that if I were in trouble during surgery, my doctor would stay with me until I was out of danger.

At 5:30PM, Dave went to another waiting room as they rolled me up to Operating Room 13, my mother’s favorite number. I maneuvered myself from the gurney to the operating table with plenty of assistance. There were arm rest angled out to left and right, I hoped it wasn’t a new type of crucifixion. Dr. Hoffman was the anesthesiologist and was alarmed at my blood pressure of 225/95. He administered something to bring it down as I was telling him that was sky high for me, but, that it would come down to tree top level soon enough. That was the last I knew. The operation began.

Dr. Skinner called Dave on his cell phone at 7:00PM to tell him I was in the recovery room. She’d found the cancerous matter appeared to be a small, localized tumor that she completely removed, along with one sentinel node. The node, too, appeared to be healthy and would be sent to pathology to be sure. Nothing was said about the clinical trial for Axillary Reverse Mapping.

The next sensation I had was of violently shaking as they put another warm blanket on me. Dave said the nurses had put him in one of the Pre-Surgery Center cubicles to stoically sit on another small, plastic chair. I was still out of it when they rolled me in on a gurney to his cubicle. I woke up soon after that, so, Dave went to bring the van to the front lobby door. The nurse helped me to dress and she commented that I had on a pretty, little sport’s, aka post-surgical, bra on. All its ‘seams’ were Velcro: sides with slits for tubes, if needed; shoulder straps; and front closure; plus two rings on tabs under each breast, presumably to hold bags of fluids in and/or out . The nurse pushed my wheelchair out of the hospital to Dave and our waiting Odyssey van at 10:30PM. Fourteen and a half hours  from the time we entered the hospital front door to when we left out of the front door!

To add insult to injury, McDonald’s was all out of crispy chicken sandwiches.  We went home hungrier than the “Very Hungry Caterpillar”.

I nominate my husband as the Husband of the Decade!

Kate’s 2¢: “Victim 2117 a Department Q novel” by Adler-Olsen and Frost

“Victim 2117 a Department Q novel” by Adler-Olsen and Frost

Kate’s 2¢: There is a plethora of in-depth biographies of authors and reviews of their books, that state the title, author, published date, and genre; as well as,     describing what the book is about, setting, and character(s), so, Kate’s 2¢ merely shares my thoughts about what I read.  I’m just saying…

It is the apparently disparate beginnings of a story that intrigue me. Well, I guess that is what it is supposed to do…hook the reader.

What I like is to figure out how and when the three threads are, eventually,  woven into one.

While there are several gruesome descriptions of man’s inhumanity to man, it is a gripping story.

From NLS/BARD/LOC:

Victim 2117: a Department Q novel DB98723

Adler-Olsen, Jussi; Frost, William.   Reading time: 14 hours, 17 minutes.

Read by Graeme Malcolm.

Suspense Fiction

Mystery and Detective Stories

The newspaper refers to the body only as Victim 2117–the two-thousand-one-hundred-and-seventeenth refugee to die in the Mediterranean Sea. But the death sets off a chain of events that throws Department Q, Copenhagen’s cold cases division led by Detective Carl Mørck, into a deeply dangerous–and deeply personal–case. Translated from Danish. Unrated. Commercial audiobook. 2020.

Downloaded: May 1, 2020

Kate’s 2¢: “Chances Are…” by Richard Russo

“Chances Are…” by Richard Russo

Kate’s 2¢: There is a plethora of in-depth biographies of authors and reviews of their books, that state the title, author, published date, and genre; as well as,     describing what the book is about, setting, and character(s), so, Kate’s 2¢ merely shares my thoughts about what I read.  I’m just saying…

I like the way Russo presented the  biographies of the three boys, now  66, each in their own tern. Of course, the narrative arc begs to lead us to wonder what the heck happened to Jacy  44 years ago. Eventually, the conclusion is revealed  during this reunion of three of the  four Musketeers.

From Wikipedia:

Russo was born in Johnstown, New York, and raised in nearby Gloversville. He earned a bachelor’s degree, a Master of Fine Arts degree, and a Doctor of Philosophy degree from the University of Arizona, which he attended from 1967 through 1979.[1] The subject of his doctoral dissertation was the works of the early American writer, historian and editor Charles Brockden Brown[2]

Russo was teaching in the English department at Southern Illinois University Carbondale when his first novel, Mohawk, was published, in 1986. Much of his work is semi-autobiographical, drawing on his life from his upbringing in upstate New York to his time teaching literature at Colby College (subsequently retired).[3]

His 2001 novel Empire Falls received the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. He has written seven other novels, a collection of short stories, and a memoir (Elsewhere). His short story “Horseman” was published in The Best American Short Stories 2007 edited by Stephen King and Heidi Pitlor.

Russo co-wrote the 1998 film Twilight with the director Robert Benton. Benton adapted Russo’s Nobody’s Fool as a 1994 film of the same title, starring Paul Newman, which he also directed. Russo wrote the teleplay for the HBO adaptation of Empire Falls, the screenplay for the 2005 film Ice Harvest, and the screenplay for the 2005 Niall Johnson film Keeping Mum, which starred Rowan Atkinson.

Russo and his wife, Barbara, live in Portland, Maine,[4][5]and spend winters in Boston.[6] They have two daughters, Kate and Emily.

From NLS/BARD/LOC:Chances are… DB95855

Russo, Richard. Reading time: 11 hours, 19 minutes.

Read by Fred Sanders. A production of the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, Library of Congress.

Suspense Fiction

General

Real estate broker Lincoln, tiny-press publisher Teddy, and musician Mickey gather on Martha’s Vineyard for Memorial Day weekend–as they have since 1971, when the woman they all loved, Jacy, disappeared. But this weekend reveals the secrets each man has kept. Unrated. Commercial audiobook. 2019.

Downloaded: April 18, 2020

Cornucopia: My Mon, The Pumpkin-Head

My Mom, The Pumpkin-Head

By Kate Chamberlin

After being graduated from college with my teaching degree, I lived at home and taught Third Grade for two years at the Gidney Avenume Memorial School, Newburgh, NY. My Mother, a high school graduate with six months of Secretarial School experience, and avid crossword aficionado, became my at home, unofficial aide.

She thrived on grading the various math papers, spelling tests and short essays. It freed up time for me to research new ways to teach more in-depth for the faster students, techniques to encourage those who needed more time to grasp concepts, and to write lesson plans. Mom would give me a complete run-down on each student’s homework, to keep me up to speed on which student needed a little more assistance in which areas.

My Third Grade students were awesome. When it came time for us to present a program for the whole elementary school, we incorporated our usual studies of math, science, art, and much more into a space skit, written by the students. It had dialogue, science and humor and lots of stage lighting effects. They closed the program with a wonderful presentation of “Doe, A Deer”, complete with children popping up when they sang out their tone and scooching down until it was their turn again.

Mother, of course, attended the performance and I introduced her to them. One of the memorable comments I heard was, “Miss Holmberg has a Mother?”

Apparently, I appeared too old to still have a mother!  Mother felt quite flattered.

When Halloween came around, my parents and I planned a mini-haunted house for our trick-or-treaters to experience in my home. I let the students and their parents know about the special event, so we expected a good turn out to our Balmville home.

Our modern home had been built on a small portion of a much larger estate. The family in the manor house had a male and a female Rhodesian Razorback hounds. A breed that was originally used to hunt lions. We’d had some run-ins with those two dogs ganging up on our friendly Golden Retriever, Nicky. We had no idea how the  Rhodesian Razorbacks might re-act to ghosts, goblins, and hobos.  We kept a sharp eye out for the dogs, but, fortunately, they must have been penned in for the night. It did manage to add some tension to the evening, though.

The weather was perfect for our many visitors. Mom would direct them to go around to the back of our home, where they’d enter via the laundry room door. Walk down a short hallway with creepy things and odd sounds  to enter our family room. When I heard them turn right to go past the tent, under which I was hiding, I rattled chains and moaned a horrible sound.

That made them hurry toward the front exit door, however, they first had to go passed the closed door to the basement. When my colleague heard them near, he’ pound and scratch the door, begging to be let out. More than once, we heard someone say, “Ooh, I gotta pee!”

In the front vestibule, Mom would give them their candies as they went out the front door.

I should tell you that my Mom really threw herself into the Halloween project. She cut off the bottom of a large pumpkin, scooped out the innards, and carved a face into it. She put a folded towel on her head, then, lowered the pumpkin over her face. She wore a black turtle neck sweater, black slacks, and her signature three-inch spiked heels. Voila! Madam Pumpkin-head as your Halloween hostess.

Needless to say, the evening was a smashing success. All my students were talking about Miss Holmberg’s haunted house and the Pumpkin-Head Lady!

Thanks, Mom. You’re the best!

Kate’s 2¢: “The Chestnut Man” by Søren Sveistrup

“The Chestnut Man” by Søren Sveistrup

Kate’s 2¢: There is a plethora of in-depth biographies of authors and reviews of their books, that state the title, author, published date, and genre; as well as,     describing what the book is about, setting, and character(s), so, Kate’s 2¢ merely shares my thoughts about what I read.  I’m just saying…

The prologue is supposed to lure you into the story; to start you salivating to read more. This prologue does the trick and from then on, the web of mystery is woven in and out of red herrings until the prologue makes perfect sense.

Being a romantic, I’m hoping that Hess returnes to marry the lead dectective to unite her daughter and the orphaned boy. Well, there’s a lead-in to the sequel.

From the web:

Søren Sveistrup is a writer and producer, known for Forbrydelsen (2007), The Snowman (2017) and Der kommer en dag (2016) and The Chestnut Man)

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6925115

Sveistrup is an internationally acclaimed scriptwriter of the Danish television phenomenon The Killing which won various international awards and sold in more than a hundred countries. More recently, Sveistrup wrote the screenplay for Jo Nesbø’s The Snowman.

From NLS/BARD/LOC:

The chestnut man DB97654

Sveistrup, Søren. Reading time: 15 hours, 11 minutes.

Read by Peter Noble.

Suspense Fiction

At each bloody crime scene a Copenhagen serial killer leaves a “chestnut man”–a doll made of matchsticks and chestnuts. Examining the dolls reveals fingerprints belonging to a government minister’s young daughter who had been kidnapped a year ago. Translated from the 2018 Danish. Violence, strong language, and some explicit descriptions of sex. Commercial audiobook. 2019.

Downloaded: May 1, 2020

Kate’s 2¢: “Frontier America” by Johnstone, William; and Johnstone, J.A.

“Frontier America” by Johnstone, William; and Johnstone, J.A.

Kate’s 2¢: There is a plethora of in-depth biographies of authors and reviews of their books, that state the title, author, published date, and genre; as well as,     describing what the book is about, setting, and character(s), so, Kate’s 2¢ merely shares my thoughts about what I read.  I’m just saying…

In my dim and distant past, I recall a story with Preacher in it. I was pleasantly surprised to remember him when I read “Frontier America”. It was like meeting up with a long lost friend.

I do enjoy tales of the wild west way back when! There is so much fact and fiction, action and descriptions of natural beauty in the landscape and environs.

From his website:

William W. Johnstone was born in Southern Missouri, the youngest of four children. Raised with strong moral and family values by his minister father, and well-tutored by his school teacher mother, Bill quit school when he was fifteen. He was kicked out of the French Foreign Legion for being under age and joined the carnival. But still valuing his education, he returned home to finish his high school education in 1957.He went on to work as a deputy sheriff, did a hitch in the army, and began a career in radio broadcasting, where he worked daily on his verbal and storytelling skills for the next sixteen years on the air. Much of his knowledge of the early frontier began from listening to family experiences told to him by his Grandparents.

His love of animals is displayed in many of his books as well as finding several Huskies and Malamutes roaming freely around his home. As an avid gun and knife collector, hours of research are devoted to the types of weapons commonly used during the eras of his writings

One little known fact, is his love for music … from “rockabilly to classical”. Bill has written and recorded several songs which may be released for his fans in the future.

He started writing in 1970, but it wasn’t until late 1979 when The Devil’s Kiss was published that William W. Johnstone became a full-time writer. Since that time he has written over two hundred books in a variety of genres including action, suspense, western, science fiction, and horror. Two of his books, Eagle Down and Dagger, were written under the pen name of William Mason.

From NLS/BARD/LOC:

Frontier America DB96745

Johnstone, William W; Johnstone, J. A. Reading time: 9 hours, 48 minutes.

Read by J. Rodney Turner.

Western Stories

The mountain man known as Preacher and the Scottish clan rancher Jamie MacCallister join forces during a conflict between newly arrived settlers and the Crow Nation. Unrated. Commercial audiobook. 2019.

Kate’s 2¢: “The Eight master lessons of nature: what nature teaches us about living well in the world” BY Gary Ferguson

“The Eight master lessons of nature: what nature teaches us about living well in the world” BY Gary Ferguson

Kate’s 2¢: There is a plethora of in-depth biographies of authors and reviews of their books, that state the title, author, published date, and genre; as well as,     describing what the book is about, setting, and character(s), so, Kate’s 2¢ merely shares my thoughts about what I read.  I’m just saying…

Ferguson’s vivid descriptions throughout the book are colorful and wonderful, evoking many memories and feelings that we had a children, but, have probably lost amidst growing up with laptops, cars, and rote learning.

I take exception with the statement “…Traditional cultures helped us realize our blind spots…” I would prefer Ferguson use a term that better describes what he means, such as ‘ignorance’ or ‘areas of which we no connections’.  The word ‘blind’ should not denote a negative; just that the eyeballs have no sight.

I agree when he states, “Growing our connections to nature will allow us to push past the mere intellect to embrace sensory experiences of emotions, intuitions…” As a person, who is totally blind, I do use all of my other senses more efficiently.

“Many of the qualities we’ve developed as individuals and communities have flowed not from us to the animals, but  the other way around…Those who have made it thus far,  whether dressed in feathers or fur or blue jeans, did so  not by luck, …but by astonishing levels of resiliency.”

The beauty of Nature can take us out of ourselves to heal us within.

I’m surprised Ferguson didn’t extole the virtues of encouraging beavers to revitalize the land and chastise us for spoiling it in the first place.

From his website  and Wikipedia:

Gary Ferguson (born 1956) is an American writer. Ferguson is the author of more than 20 nonfiction books. His books have won awards from the Society of American Travel Writers, the High Plains Book Festival, and the Montana Book Award committee.[1][2][3] His book Hawks Rest was the first book to be named Book of the Year by both the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association and the Mountains and Plains booksellers association.[4]

As a nature writer, his books focus on issues of ecology and conservation, with a particular focus on how people interact with nature. Gary is co-founder – along with his wife, social scientist Dr. Mary M. Clare – of “Full Ecology,” an initiative meant to help people break down the barriers between the human psyche and the natural world.

Gary Ferguson grew up in South Bend, Indiana, and graduated from the University of Indiana in 1979. He worked as an interpretive naturalist for the U.S. Forest Service before embarking on his career as a freelance writer.

Ferguson’s early career included hundreds of magazine articles as well as outdoor guidebooks such as Sawtooth Mountain Fun. He gradually shifted to more contemplative and research-oriented works such as Through the Woods: A Journey through America’s Forests and The Great Divide: The Rocky Mountains in the American Mind. He has written frequently about Yellowstone National Park, with books such as Walking Down the Wild, Decade of the Wolf, and The Yellowstone Wolves: The First Year. He lived for a summer in the most remote spot in the continental United States to write the book Hawks Rest.

Ferguson was married for more than 20 years to the former Jane Stewart, whom he met at the University of Indiana. Jane died in a canoeing accident in Ontario’s Kopka River in 2005.[5] Ferguson wrote about the experience and his grief in the memoir The Carry Home.

Ferguson lives with his second wife, cultural psychologist Mary Clare, in Red Lodge, Montana, and Portland, Oregon.[6]

Significance[edit]

Author Rick Bass called Ferguson “one of the preeminent historians of the American West, and of the place and value of wilderness within that history.”[4] He’s been lauded by writers including Pam Houston,[7] Mark Spragg, Tim Cahill, and William Kittredge.[4]

From NLS/BARD/LOC:

The eight master lessons of nature: what nature teaches us about living well in the world

Read by Gary Ferguson.

Science and Technology

Guide to rediscovering and cultivating a connection with the natural world. Lessons include mystery, loss, the fine art of rising again, how animals make us smarter, and how the planet’s elders make us better at life. Unrated. Commercial audiobook. 2019.

Download The eight master lessons of nature: what nature teaches us about living well in the world

Kate’s 2¢: “The pot thief who studied Pythagoras” by J. Michael Orenduff (Jess Michael)

“The pot thief who studied Pythagoras” by J. Michael Orenduff (Jess Michael)

Kate’s 2¢: There is a plethora of in-depth biographies of authors and reviews of their books, that state the title, author, published date, and genre; as well as,     describing what the book is about, setting, and character(s), so, Kate’s 2¢ merely shares my thoughts about what I read.  I’m just saying…

I found the humor in this story very enjoyable. Almost a spoof on the mystery murder genre.

From the Web:

Michael Orenduff is an American mystery writer from New Mexico. He once claimed that the house he grew up in was so close to the Rio Grande, that if he wanted, he could have tossed a tortilla Frisbee style, right into Mexico, a practice frowned upon by his mother.” That must be how he makes Albuquerque, New Mexico come alive in his Pot Thief series.

Newt Gingrich, in his book, To Renew America, called Orenduff A hero to the American People for his pioneering work in distance education. After taking early retirement from higher education, Mike embarked on a new career as a fiction writer.

From NLS/BARD/LOC:

The pot thief who studied Pythagoras DBC10390

Orenduff, J. Michael, (Jess Michael). Reading time: 7 hours, 22 minutes.

Read by Patricia Jonietz. A production of New Mexico Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped.

Mystery and Detective Stories

A shady character offers Hubert Schuze $25,000 to steal a centuries-old pot from a museum. He figures it can’t hurt to check it out but he figured wrong. After finding the place impregnable, he returns to his shop where a BLM agent accuses him of stealing the rare pot. He stages a hoax to get the pot out of the museum and solve two murders, with complications and twists!