Book of the Week: Old Time Gardens (from 1901)

The black and white pictures in Old Time Gardens by Alice Morse Earle were the ‘hook’ for me. The Internet Archive has if you are willing to read it online; it’s the way I perused it - primarily for the pictures. There is also a version of the historical book published in 2005 and 'in print' from Amazon

Early on there is a photograph of the gardens at Mount Vernon (George Washington’s home) and I knew I would want to look all the way through. I found myself checking to see if some of the named gardens/locations still existed as gardens. One was a farm that was going through restoration - although the house was mentioned more prominently than the garden.

The other thoughts I have when looking at books of this vintage are historical. The book is a perspective of what the world was like for our great grandparents or great - great grandparents. It is heartening to understand that gardens in 1901 are something that gave joy then and the same types of places today are still pleasurable.

Road Trip Preparation - Reading

I am planning an extended road trip that will involve driving more than half way across the US and back. Along with plotting routes, checking info on the internet, and making hotel reservations, I’m doing some focused reading to prepare myself for the journey. Building up my knowledge about what the natural world holds has always been an interest of mine and a theme for much of my traveling.  Here are the favorite books I’ve collected through the years and am referencing now.

• Roadside Geology Series. This series of books came out in the 1980s and offers geological notes by mile marker along major highways. For the first half of the trip, I’ll be on my own so won’t be able to reference the books while I drive. Still – I’ve perused them enough to observe the geology along the highway crossing the Appalachians then the Mississippi River; skirting the hot springs of Arkansas then onto the relative flatness of a prehistoric seabed in Texas; climbing to the Edwards Plateau passing sand dunes of silicon then gypsum; crossing the Rio Grande rift.  On the way back, I’ll have a sidekick and the person not driving can provide geological commentary as we move along the interstate highway.

• Audubon Field Guides. The one I am looking at the most right now is the Field Guide to the Southwestern State. This well formatted book with lots of illustrations gives information on habitats, flora, invertebrates, and vertebrates. This is not the optimal time of year for botanizing….but whatever there is to see, I’m primed to see it.

• Field Guide to the Birds. The Field Guide to the Birds of Texas and Adjacent States by Roger Tory Peterson is the one I am looking at now. The copy I am referencing is probably over 30 years old --- used frequently in the past and still worth taking.

• The Off the Beaten Path series of books is also on my bookshelf but I’m not referencing them much this time since I am sticking to the interstates to get to my destination as quickly as possible; maybe they’ll be a primary reference when I can spend more time off the main highways.

Have you done this kind of theme reading before a trip? If so – what was your theme and favorite book?

Kindle Fire - Week 1 Review

One week ago, an early Christmas present from my husband arrived – a Kindle Fire, Full Color 7" Multi-touch Display, Wi-Fi. PCs and Blackberries are old hat for me, but touch screens are new. I’m going to write blog items over the next few weeks about my journey to use it effectively. My successes so far:

• The first thing I did was put in the info to allow the Kindle into my home wireless network. It took less than a minute…and has worked flawlessly since.
• I successfully downloaded and read a Kindle book from my public library - Diane Mott Davidson’s Chopping Spree (Goldy Bear Culinary Mystery). For this kind of text, the narrower line length was preferable. I even found an old acrylic bookstand to use for the kindle so I could read while I was exercising. The highlighting feature will take some getting used to; getting my finger positioned to start the highlighting was the most challenging for me.
• My husband and I looked for a grocery list app and settled on OurGroceries. It wasn’t on the Amazon app store but my husband got the app on his Droid phone; then we used the PC and AndroXplorer to move it to the Kindle. It works fine. We can create a list that our PCs, his Droid phone, his iPad, and my Kindle can all share. We’ll see how my Kindle works when I shop for groceries this next weekend.
• Email worked almost immediately. The only challenging part was my finger putting in my email address and password the first time. It is already easier.
• Web browsing is easy enough if the links are not very closely spaced on the page. I have learned to enlarge the page before I attempt to follow a link.
• My blog looks great on the Kindle. It was one of the first sites I took a look at.
• One frustration so far is that the cases for the Kindle Fire are still pretty expensive and there is not much selection. I want something that will protect it while I am using it (like when I am grocery shopping) – not a bag or sleeve. Hopefully, more will come out soon.
• Finally, I took a look at a PDF file – Protecting our Chesapeake from the National Park Conservation Association. This file was easier to read with the long line length the 7 inches provides. I got lots of practice moving around in the document since it was formatted with double columns. The pictures displayed well.

All in all, I’ve been pleased with the Kindle Fire so far. I’ll continue the report on my journey next week!

Book of the Week: The Power of the 2x2 Matrix

I enjoyed being reminded of the 2x2 analysis method in the book The Power of the 2 x 2 Matrix: Using 2 x 2 Thinking to Solve Business Problems and Make Better Decisions  this week. Probably the most famous 2x2 maxtrix from the past 20 years was from Stephen R. Covey’s The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People  that used importance and urgency to help us analyze our activities in those dimensions. It turns out that the seemingly simple 2x2 is great for analyzing all kinds of things….and that it isn’t necessarily always simple.

The book provides details of a reliable path of pre-work prior to actually using the tool which is good basic problem solving 101:

• Name the problem
• Describe the ideal end state
• Brainstorm the list of what is important…difficult…required
• Cluster the list
• Rank the clusters
• Look at the top 2 or 3 and pick 2 to try for the 2x2 matrix

Once you have designed a 2x2, you can understand pretty quickly if it works to provide perspective and insight to the problem.

So – this is a good book to encourage you to use a pretty intuitive tool once you learn how to perform the pre-work to hone its formulation. This book can help you do that!

Book of the Week: Sweet Revenge by Diane Mott Davidson

Diane Mott Davidson was mentioned in another book I was reading…I was intrigued enough by the concept of murder mysteries with the ‘Sherlock’ being a female caterer (luscious food) and set in Colorado.

The first one I picked up was Dark Tort (Goldy Culinary Mysteries, Book 13) . It was entertaining and I learned how to make homemade croutons (and there is a Journey Cake recipe too).

Now I’m reading Sweet Revenge. I’m already half way through but am wonderfully entertained – again – and am in sync with Goldie’s (the sleuth’s) idea that eating chocolate for breakfast (fudge with peppermint candy chunks!) is a very good way to start the day.