Pickled Jalapenos and Book Mystery

Last week my husband pickled jalapenos out of our garden using a standard recipe from the Seattle Farmers Market Examiner and a sweet recipe from Garden Web.

I hid away from the kitchen to avoid the natural pepper spray in the air. (Yeah, I'm a tough Texas girl... or not.)

In other news -- have any of you seen this children's book from the 1960s/70s? I can't find any copies for sale: Patchwork Puppy.

"The Fire" by Jennifer Walker

Today I got into the second short story in the

Elements of the Soul anthology, "The Fire" by Jennifer Walker.

Plot Summary: Heather has planned a relatively calm summer day. She is responsible for "ranch-sitting" for her riding instructor, but figures she can take care of the horses and still have time for a dip in the pool. Her friend Christine even volunteers to help her out. Everything seems to be going smoothly -- until she sees the smoke on the horizon.

Instead of relaxing with her friend, Heather must get 4 frightened horses to safety on her own before flames reach the ranch.

Bottom Line: Excellent (although I would like one of the loose ends tied up -- I suspect a happy ending for that one would be too unrealistic, though).

Short Story Mondays are hosted by John at The Book Mine Set!

How to Lose a Client by Becky A. Bartness

This is the third mystery for Kate Williams, Esq. (Don't let that scare you away, though. I hadn't read any of the others before this -- although I want to go back and do that now.)

Summary: Here's the summary of this mystery / comedy / thriller from the author's Murder Mysteries L.L.C. website:

Kate Williams, Esq., has just started her own criminal defense law firm in Phoenix, Arizona, when Katherine Paar aka Tangerine, a new client, walks in and proposes a lucrative deal to bring Kate on as her attorney. Things get complicated and events unfold quickly when the body of Tangerine's ex-lawyer is discovered and Tangerine disappears. Kate, aided by MJ, her tattooed, pierced, and fashion challenged paralegal, Sam, her sometimes cross-dressing investigator, and a cast of characters straight out of a John Waters movie try to unravel the bizarre mystery and save Tangerine's life.

The action is fast and fantastically funny, and Ms. Bartness proves once again that you can laugh at death.

Reaction: I know -- I've said before that I don't usually read lawyer books and here I go again reviewing another one. This is such a fast-packed romp, though, it doesn't really have anything do to with the paperwork and memos I deal with on a daily basis. (It did make me kind of want to open a one-woman firm, though -- well, other than the near-death experiences.)

In terms of pacing and humor revolving around crimes, this book reminded me of the Janet Evanovich books. The novel is set in Phoenix, where Becky Bartness has practiced law for years (rather than New Jersey) but they have the same level of zany fun. Because of that attitude and the Southwestern location, I'd say this is a perfect, light summer read.

I loved the main character. Her associates weren't as well defined in this book (maybe because they'd been introduced in the prior two) but the descriptions of Tangerine and her "employees" were also fantastic. I'm curious to see how these characters will interact and develop in other books in the series.

Bottom Line: I hadn't heard of this author before, but will now be keeping an eye on her. Lots of summer reading fun!

(Thank you to the publicist for this review book.)

Night-Blooming Birdhouse Gourds

You can check out more Wordless Wednesday and my current walling hanging quilt progress at TexasRed Quilts, too.

"Jasper" by Lucinda Gunnin

Still a bit behind on my Monday goals, but today's review is of "Jasper" by Lucinda Gunnin, which is part of the

Elements of the Soul anthology, edited by Michelle Devon at Twin Trinity Media.

This story is a bite-sized action film.

Plot Summary: Carrie, our main character, got her dog, Jasper, as part of the safety precautions her uncle recommended when she moved to the city as a graphic designer. He's been a great pet for her, but never forgot his years as a K9 unit police dog.

When he gets agitated at 5am one day, Carrie thinks it's just because there's a stranger dumping trash in her apartment complex's dumpster. It turns out to be something far more dangerous.

Bottom Line: My heart is still pounding. Great work!

Short Story Mondays are hosted by John at The Book Mine Set!

The Source of Miracles by Kathleen McGowan

My plan was to read this book during Advent and Christmas of 2009. I did start it at that point, but this is a book about prayer and spiritual disciplines, not something I could go through quickly. I've been thinking about it ever since.

Summary: Kathleen starts her book by talking about the Lord's Prayer (Jesus's prayer that starts "Our Father..." and is recorded in the Bible in Matthew and Luke) and her experiences at the Chartres Cathedral with its mosaic-designed "rose" design in the floor. This experience begins her study on the symbolism of the six-petaled rose and how it has been connected in Christian theory with the Lord's Prayer.

Here's the summary from the Simon & Schuster website:

"The real secret to creating and sustaining an abundant, joyous, and fulfilled life has been hiding in plain sight -- in the power of the prayer that unites two billion Christians worldwide, the prayer that each one of them knows by heart.

True happiness and success can't just be wished for. The real secret to fulfillment lies in using the Lord's Prayer as part of an ongoing spiritual practice that leads to real and lasting change in the soul -- change that will manifest itself in earthly, tangible ways. Each chapter in The Source of Miracles is a guide to one of seven steps in that process, corresponding to a primary teaching of the prayer: faith, surrender, service, abundance, forgiveness, obstacles, and love. Each chapter also includes meditations, affirmations, and other activities designed to help readers work through life's challenges.

In her bestselling fiction, Kathleen McGowan has popularized the world of Christian esoterica, a unique place where New Age and Christianity meet, making ancient teachings new and powerful. The Source of Miracles harnesses the wisdom of those traditions at a time of great material and spiritual uncertainty, when the need for signposts on the road to success has never been more acute."

Reaction: I think the emphasis on the ideas in the Lord's Prayer (such as faith, service, forgiveness, etc.) is fantastic. I also appreciated having these ideas broken into separate sections (each represented by part of the Chartres rose). I have a tendency to be a little (ok, often a lot) single-focused in my prayers. (As in, if I'm praying for a friend's situation, I'm not usually doing much thanking God or other praise.) It's a good challenge for me to have a reminder of all of the spiritual concerns I need to be addressing -- and also how my prayer life should be reflected in the rest of my regular life.

One of the themes in this book that I had a hard time with is the idea that each of our souls decided before we were born what our life's work would be and we just need to re-discover that path. That doesn't impact my appreciation for the things Kathleen says about the Lord's Prayer, but did cause some dissonance in that she and I are not coming from a same base point understanding of the universe.

Another issue that The Source of Miracles raised for me is the conflict I have with abundance theology. Kathleen does point out that prayer is not just a magical genie that will grant all our wishes for money and physical comforts. Still, I think there are some implications in this book that if you have the right spiritual discipline, only good things will happen in your life. That concept doesn't jive with what I read in the Bible and causes a concern for me that people having difficulties could suffer a second burden of feeling that they are guilty of something to "earn" such a situation. (It reminds me of the disciples asking Jesus about a disabled man -- basically whether he or his parents had sinned to cause the disability and Jesus saying "neither.")

Bottom Line: I'll read this again and keep working through these spiritual disciplines, although I don't buy in 100% to everything the author says.

(Thank you to the publicist for this review book.)

Prairie Dog Toys

He's been reduced to actually playing with his toys occasionally. Poor thing!

You can check out more Wordless Wednesday, too.

Squash Pickles

Love this squash pickle recipe: Field and Stream. Preserved about 6 pounds of summer squash this weekend.

Teaser Tuesday -- Soul Catcher by Leigh Bridger

Today is Teaser Tuesday. Teaser Tuesdays are hosted by MizB at Should Be Reading.

It asks us to:

(1) Grab our current reads.

(2) Let the book fall open to a random page.

(3) Share two (or three) teaser sentences from that page somewhere between lines 7 and 12 (avoiding spoilers).

We're also supposed to share the book title and author so others can find the book themselves.

Here's my teaser for today from Soul Catcher by Leigh Bridger.

"When you two are done with your quest, come back this way. Just walk into the casino and look on a table in the lobby. I'll leave a room key there for you. You can be my guests! Safe and sound and no worries. I'll protect you as long as you want to stay here... After what you'll have seen on your journey you'll need the rest, I expect."

Nibble and Kuhn by David Schmahmann

I warned the publicist for Nibble & Kuhn that I would be a tough reviewer for this book. I'm a lawyer in my pay-the-bills job, so wanted to give them the heads-up from the beginning. Fortunately, even from that perspective, I only have good things to say about this book.

Plot Summary: Derek Dover is an associate at the law firm of Nibble & Kuhn. The senior partners will be deciding within the year whether or not to offer partnership to Derek, so he's trying to keep in everyone's good graces.

At the same time, he's trying to figure out where things are headed with his sometimes-girlfriend Maria Parma, who also works for the firm. Unfortunately, Maria has an "understanding" with her Spanish family, which has resulted (in effect) in plans for her future arranged marriage.

Also complicating matters are the building move / reorganization of the law firm and the Erin Brockovitch-style case Derek "inherits" from a partner who leaves the firm to become a judge (after spending all the budget and creating a mess of useless files).

Reaction: I liked the love story between Derek and Maria, overall, although there were places where their struggles were just frustrating. (Much as I can imagine they would have been for friends of either one who were hearing the story but not allowed to comment on bad decisions.) The environmental contamination legal battle was also interesting (although, to me, mostly as a way to better understand Derek's character).

My favorite storyline, though, was the description of Nibble & Kuhn becoming the type of large law firm I've always worked for (highly organized staff departments, lots of policies, etc.). It was fun for me to read about how someone who started in a small Boston firm might react to these changes. (I could definitely tell that the author is an attorney who practices law in Boston.) It was especially fulfilling to see how Derek responded to these changes.

Bottom Line: This was worth breaking my "no legal fiction" rule!

(Thank you Academy Chicago Publicity for this review book.)