Quiet Sunday On The Porch

With no Cowboys game today it was a quiet Sunday on the porch. That is until the first picture was sneakily  taken....

Of course that led to several more ......

including my attempt, such as it was, at "Gangman Style" .....

kind of hard to style or strike a pose when you can't dance--with or without the cane.
 

Senior News--- November 2012 Column

For some time now I have been writing a monthly book review column for the Senior News newspaper. The Senior News is aimed to the 50 and over crowd with news relevant to seniors regarding various issues, humor pieces, and my review column among other things. The newspaper is a giveaway at doctor offices, stores, etc. and can be received by via a paid subscription. There are multiple editions across the state of Texas and therefore there is some fluctuation in content in each edition.

My column every month focuses on books of interest to the Texas audience. Therefore books selected for the column, fiction or non-fiction, are written by Texas residents, feature Texans in some way, or would have some other connection to the Texas based readership. At least two books are covered each month in the short space I am given.

Below is/was my November 2012 column with the addition here of the relevant book covers……

The Book Of Burger

Rachel Ray

Atria Paperback (Simon & Schuster)

ISBN# 978-1-4516-5969-6

Paperback (also available as e-book)

324 Pages

If you are looking for some variety with your burgers, Rachel Ray has the book for you.  While there are recipes for outside grilling, Rachel Ray thinks of burgers as a year around deal. The Book Of Burger isn’t just about burgers, despite the title.

The book covers burgers of all types as well as subs and other sandwiches. There is also a section on “Sides and Sauces” with various fries and tater tots, various potato salads, and ones for onion rings, devil eggs, and pickles as well as ketchups, dips, and gravies.

The Book Of Burger goes far beyond the title resulting in an interesting cookbook that features variety. You can use this book to make things as simple or as complicated as possible.  A definite drawback is the complete lack of nutritional information in the book.

Cowgirl Chef: Texas Cooking with a French Accent

Ellise Pierce

Running Press Books

ISBN #978-0-7624-4463-2

Hardback (also available as e-book)

336 Pages

Cooking has always been a part of Ellise Pierce’s life whether it was living back home in Denton, Texas or half a world away in Paris, France. With a relationship under stress and her freelance writing career tanked, she slowly found herself again by cooking. Gradually she built a cooking career by teaching home cooking for other ex-pats living in Paris. This and much more is explained in the introduction to Cowgirl Chef: Texas Cooking with a French Accent.

Along with plenty of cultural information and interesting facts such as the fact that jalapenos are not available in Paris, there are recipes. Recipes that blend French cuisine with her Texas heritage.  The detailed recipes are accompanied by pictures and information regarding Paris or France in general providing local color to the recipe being discussed. 

Despite the lack of nutritional information in the book, overall this is a very well done cookbook. In addition to the cooking side of things, the over 300 pages cookbook also provides a lot of culture and history information about Paris, France as well as the joys and sorrows of Americans living abroad. Cowgirl Chef: Texas Cooking with a French Accent is more than a cookbook. It is also a cultural awareness guide and inspirational regarding reinventing yourself and adapting to new situations and experiences.

Kevin R. Tipple © 2012

Medicare Appeal Deal

Medicare is seriously confusing. I wrote a couple of weeks ago about how I had applied for assistance with Medicare Part B and assistance with Part D.  Right now I have no part D (the drug part) and pay $100 a month for Part B. I talked about how I had filed out paperwork to get assistance. I had thought I was applying for help with Part B ---so that I didn’t pay $100 a month. Instead, I was applying for help with Part D and that was what had been denied.

Apparently help with Part B is up to the state of Texas which recently denied me saying I hadn’t filed out an application. Of course, one can’t fill out an application if one does not get one. But, that is a separate issue. Our food stamps have been cutoff due to another error by them so it isn’t surprising this is messed up as well.

After appealing the recent Social Security decision against me and providing Sandi’s paystubs again as well as her copies of her unpaid medical leave paperwork as requested by an office of Social Security up in Baltimore, I got the decision today. They have thankfully reversed course and finally approved me.

This means I am now approved for some sort of financial help to purchase the MEDICARE PART D deal. How much a month I have no idea at all, but anything will be a huge help.

So, now I have to spend some time working through government websites and trying to figure out which plan will work for me. Hopefully, I will be notified how much in assistance I am eligible for before the signup cutoff date of December 7.

I am also going to photocopy the Social Security approval letter and send it to the same state government people who denied me because I supposedly failed to fill out their application (one I never got) and see if anything can be done.

Kevin

Review: "Paradise City: A Joe Gunther Novel" by Archer Mayor

Paradise City: A Joe Gunther Novel is the latest in the series billed as featuring Joe Gunther, but is more and more about his team at the Vermont Bureau of Investigation. Their latest case begins at what is left of a multimillion dollar home on Tucker Peak. Thanks to moneyed interests, local politics, and other factors, the local commander of the Vermont State Police wants no part of the case and gladly gives the case to the Vermont Bureau of Investigation. That means Joe Gunther and his eccentric team of Sammie, Willy, and Lester have the case.

A case that also will eventually prove to have links across state lines and result in murder, stolen goods, and more. It gradually becomes clear that the stolen goods are being funneled to a sophisticated and clever fencing operation in Northampton, Massachusetts.  The fencing setup is “Paradise City” for some and deadly for others. The result is a complicated case with a couple of surprises in a read that shifts back and forth in point of view via all the characters--good and bad.

As part of that shifting in point of view, a secondary storyline involves Willy, Sammie, and their new baby Emma. Simplifying greatly, Willy’s world is no longer the button down controlled world with everything in its place that it used to be.  Love, a relationship, and a new baby change things and loner Willy is having a tough time dealing with it. In the hands of a less talented author, this storyline would easily have been very clichéd, but Archer Mayor makes it work and work very well.

Paradise City: A Joe Gunther Novel is a much more positive novel than the last one Tag Man. While Willy and Sammie have their own angst, Joe has moved on a little bit forward past the most recent personal crisis and accompanying depression. These days, while he still has the pain of loss, he is back in the world and life again. Family in terms of friends through work remains a key part of this complicated series and is a theme constantly at work here. So too is a complex mystery that throws in a few twists along the way to make this good read really interesting.

Paradise City: A Joe Gunther Novel

Archer Mayor

http://www.archermayor.com

Minotaur Books (St. Martins Publishing Group)

http://www.monotaurbooks.com

October 2012

ISBN# 978-0-312-68195-1

Hardback (also available as e-book)

320 Pages

$25.99

Material was supplied by the good folks of the Plano, Texas Public Library System.

Kevin R. Tipple ©2012

Author of the e-book short story collection Mind Slices available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Smashwords in a variety of formats.  Contributor to the Carpathian Shadows, Volume II anthology available in print and e-book.

E-Book Reading

My current e-book read is.....

FFB Review: SHARKS NEVER SLEEP (1998) by William F. Nolan --Reviewed by Barry Ergang

Hope you and yours had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Barry is back with another excellent review for Friday’s Forgotten Books hosted by Patti Abbott.

SHARKS NEVER SLEEP (1998) by William F. Nolan

Reviewed by Barry Ergang

The third book about "the Black Mask Boys" (Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, and Erle Stanley Gardner), in what was originally planned as a series but wound up as a trilogy, Sharks Never Sleep is narrated by Gardner. The year is 1937, by which time he has stopped practicing law, still writes for the pulps, especially Black Mask, and has become hugely successful because his Perry Mason novels have taken off with both readers and Warner Brothers.   

Gardner and his wife Natalie have been separated for some time. They still care for one another, but realize that their marriage will never work. Before giving up his law practice, Gardner had gotten deeply involved with Amy Latimer, who worked as his partner's secretary. After Amy met film and radio star Lloyd Hadley "Tink" Thompson and Thompson made a big play for her, eventually asking her to marry him, Gardner,  knowing he couldn't give her the lavish lifestyle Thompson could and feeling too guilty to ask Natalie for a divorce, nobly let her go.

He's shocked when he reads a newspaper article that says the Thompsons' three-year-old son died after falling down a flight of stairs, and sends a condolence card to them. A week later he receives a call from Amy, who asks if they can meet at Gardner's home that night. He readily agrees, and when she arrives, Amy tells him about her married life. She maintains that Tink Thompson is a philanderer and monster and not at all the virtuous family man he likes to portray himself as. She insists that Thompson married her and fathered a child simply to project an image, and further that he was directly responsible for their son's death. She wants a divorce, and wants Gardner's help in obtaining it. He doesn't hesitate to agree.

A day or so later, he reads that Amy Thompson is dead, that Tink came home and found her lifeless body on the sofa in the living room. Although there is no evidence of foul play, Gardner is certain Tink murdered her and is determined to prove it. An autopsy subsequently reveals that Amy had been poisoned with an oleander extract. Gardner becomes the chief suspect, as a result of which he enlists the aid of friends Hammett and Chandler to nail the real killer. When yet another murder occurs, the frame gets tighter and Gardner becomes a man on the run. Readers familiar with his fiction shouldn't find it a surprise or a spoiler to learn that the novel culminates in a courtroom sequence worthy of a Perry Mason mystery. 

Sharks Never Sleep, like its predecessors, combines action and cerebration and appearances by famous personalities of the period. As I mentioned in my review of The Marble Orchard, some of these "guest star" moments serve only to add color to the narrative and to fix the story in time, but are not directly relevant to the mystery plot. Thus, in Sharks, we have "cameos" featuring Mae West, Gloria Swanson, Walter Winchell and John Barrymore. On the other hand, legendary auto racer Barney Oldfield has an important role as the driver who, to assist their murder investigation, takes Gardner and Hammett on a wild event-filled trip to Mexico.  

There are also a number of passages that should interest anyone fascinated by the pulp magazine era in general and Black Mask in particular, as author Nolan provides historical information and scenes about people who actually edited the magazine and their different takes on writing for it.

Like The Black Mask Murders and The Marble Orchard, Sharks Never Sleep is a briskly-paced whodunit featuring a cast of colorful characters from a colorful era, brought to life by a pro who knows his material and, most importantly, knows how to tell a story. It's an easy one to recommend.

Barry Ergang ©2012

Sharks Never Sleep, as well as the other two Black Mask Boys mysteries mentioned in the review, are among the many titles Barry Ergang has for sale at http://www.barryergangbooksforsale.yolasite.com/. A Derringer Award winner, some of his work is available at Smashwords and Amazon.com.

Thanksgiving Funny

at least to me.......

Football on Turkey Day

My days of playing ball with the boys are long over. But, it is nice to see the Redskins back in town for the traditional game.

No offense to Romo, but would somebody please call Roger Staubach.....

Thanksgiving 2012

Happy Thanksgiving to one and all. Thank you for being part of our always seemingly chaotic lives.  Thank you for so many things it is impossible to convey or list. Thank you.

Among other things.....

Bill Crider's Pop Culture Magazine: The Next Big Thing

 Worth reading. I still have to figure out some answers.


Bill Crider's Pop Culture Magazine: The Next Big Thing: The Next Big Thing is a blog project designed to help writers get the word out about their latest works.  I'll be tagging five writers at th...

Medical Update--The Latest On Sandi's Feet

Sandi had another therapy appointment yesterday afternoon with the physical therapist and the news was not good at all. The therapist now believes Sandi has the exact same injury in her left foot and leg as she does in her right. Apparently the tendon on the left side is also now trying to pull away from the bone in her leg. While that left foot is not booted as of yet, the therapist believes that it needs to be. How she will walk at all around here with boots on both feet I have no idea.

The therapist was very blunt in his assessment yesterday and thinks it will be months before she can return to work. Of course he does not have the final say on any of this as that is up to the doctor. Her next appoint with the foot doctor is November 30^th when he will reevaluate her status.

Sandi was very upset and depressed about all this when she came back home yesterday. I kept trying to point out that a year ago she was coming off knee surgery and about to get a terminal cancer diagnosis so things could easily be worse. Been there and done that. So, as bad as this is, at least this year it is not cancer and she is home for Thanksgiving.

In the meantime, while watching TV and listening to me yell at football teams and curse politicians and news readers, she has been making things like crazy. That means she has been able to add some new product to her store on iOffer at: http://www.ioffer.com/selling/sanditipple
 

She does do special orders by request and has other things not shown on the site. So, if you don’t see what you are looking for ask here or contact her through her crafting projects blog at:

 http://lady-sandra.blogspot.com/

The pictures come from earlier this week when I finally convinced her she looked good and to let me take one so others could see.  Considering where she was a year ago and where she is now, I think she looks fantastic.  

Kevin

Not Listed

While today is my birthday, I did not make the celebrity birthday list.  

I also did not make the famous birthdays list.

Well, there is always next year....supposed to be a good one according to the various online horoscopes. I should pursue something creative apparently.  Gee, I wonder what that could be????

51 Years Later

and thanks to the posting of the below on Facebook a couple of weeks ago, I finally figured it out...

Thought This Was Funny

and I, for one, needed a laugh this evening...

 

Review: "Complete Allergy-Free Comfort Foods Cookbook: Every Recipe Is Free Of Gluten, Dairy, Soy, Nuts, and Eggs" by Elizabeth Gordon

When you or your child has been diagnosed with severe food allergies, it really comes down to two choices. You can either keep trying to make multiple versions of everything at meal time or you can choose to move everyone over to the allergy free side of things. Elizabeth Gordon faced that problem as she explains in the introduction to the recently released Complete Allergy-Free Comfort Foods Cookbook:  Every Recipe Is Free Of Gluten, Dairy, Soy, Nuts, and Eggs and went with the later decision. That resulted in this cookbook which also tries to help users deal with the high cost of such a diet.

After the introduction explaining how the book came about there is a six page dictionary of ingredients with detailed explanations. That is followed by a three page detailed explanation regarding various substitutions which is then followed by a conversion page for metrics. With the basics out of the way it is on to the recipes.

The recipes begin with “Breakfast Goodies” section that features 13 recipes. Beyond the expected suggestions for granolas of different types there are recipes for “Biscuits” (pages 6-7), “Jelly Donuts” (pages 10-11) and “French Toast” (pages 16-17) among others. Each recipe opens with a small anecdote, features detailed instructions along with the ingredient list, and in most cases has a tip of some sort regarding substitution, freezing, storage, etc. along with a color photograph of the dish. Unfortunately, there is not any nutritional information regarding fats, sugars, salt, etc. with any of the recipes in the book.

“Starters” begins on page 24-25 and features 11 recipes. “Italian Wedding Soup” (page 28) is here as is “Corn Chowder” (page 31) and “Buffalo Wings” (pages 32-33) among others. Some items, such as “Pigs in a Blanket” (pages 36-37) could do double duty as a breakfast item while “Nachos” (pages 38-39) definitely belongs here.

11 different types of “Salads” come next with Dijon Vinaigrette flavored “Potato Salad” (pages 44-45) starting things off. Also here are recipes for “Tabbouleh” (pages 48-49), “Pasta Salad” (pages 52-53) and “Coleslaw” (page 56) among others.

If you can’t eat eggs, most condiments are out of the question. Elizabeth Gordon shows you how to deal with this in “Condiments, Dressing, and Basics.” If you are looking for “BBQ Sauce” (Page 61), “Mayo” (page 62) or even “Croutons” (page 66) among other things this is a section to check.

“Main Courses” comes up next starting on pages 68-69 and features 33 recipes. In addition to several dealing with beef and chicken, there are recipes for “Corn Dogs” (pages 70-71), “Tamale Pie” (pages 82-83), “Sloppy Joe” (pages 86-87), “Chicken Soft Tacos” (pages 106-107) and “Pizza” (pages 114-115) among others.

You have to have “Sides” and you have them here. Whether you want “Hush Puppies” (pages 126-127), “Oven Baked Fries” (pages 132-133) or “Onion Rings” (pages 142-143) there is something here. The Onion Rings use the author’s “All-Purpose Breading” (page 66) used on several dishes scattered throughout the book.

One can’t forget “Desserts.” The 22 recipes in this section starting on pages 145-146 feature such delectables as “Mint Thin Wafers” (page 147), “Double Chocolate Chip Ice Cream” (pages 158-159) and “Cherry Pie” (page 162-163) among others.

The book closes with a five page section on where to shop for the ingredients, a one page acknowledgement, and a four page index. A one paragraph author bio completes the book.

Despite the lack of nutritional information regarding fats, calories, protein, etc., this is a well done cookbook. The photographs by Susan Byrnes provide a very nice touch to the wealth of information in the Complete Allergy-Free Comfort Foods Cookbook:  Every Recipe Is Free Of Gluten, Dairy, Soy, Nuts, and Eggs. Variety in the dishes is also present with many much easier than some others to make, but all are geared to please the maximum number of people possible.

Complete Allergy-Free Comfort Foods Cookbook:  Every Recipe Is Free Of Gluten, Dairy, Soy, Nuts, and Eggs

Elizabeth Gordon

http://myallergyfreelifestyle.com/

Photography by Susan Byrnes

Lyons Press (imprint of Globe Pequot Press)

http://www.LyonsPress.com

January 2012

ISBN# 978-0-7627751-8

Hardback

208 Pages

Material supplied by the good folks of the Plano Public Library System.

Kevin R. Tipple ©2012

Author of the e-book short story collection Mind Slices available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Smashwords in a variety of formats. Contributor to the Carpathian Shadows, Volume II anthology available in print and e-book.

Review: "Caddo Cold: A Bill Travis Mystery" by George Wier

The seventh in the series finds Bill Travis once again trying to help a client who has also become a friend. A familiar pattern in these novels and one that played out in the first book The Last Call. That resulted, among other things, in a marriage to Julie, and a number of children. Neither will happen with Travis trying to help Holt Gatlin.

When Holt Gatlin went off the roof of the defunct theater in Karnack, Texas he hit the ground hard.  Everyone knows he was lucky to not break his neck. What hardly anyone besides Bill Travis knows is that Holt is not only lucky he is also two million dollars richer thanks to a recent stock split and some fast stock trades orchestrated by Travis. It helps to have a man handling your bank accounts who knows what he is doing. Travis needs to update Holt and finally tracks him down to a hospital in Marshall where he learns the elderly man has a broken arm, broken wrist, and three cracked ribs, and a severely broken leg.

Holt is busted up pretty good and for good reason. That doesn’t explain the strange comments from Holt about something happening out at Caddo Lake fifty years ago. Something bad happened out there one night in 1960 and clearly it has haunted Holt ever since. Before Travis can find out what happened, Holt starts crying and ends the call by hanging up.

Before long Bill and his college bound daughter Jessica are headed towards Holt’s hospital room in Marshall to find some answers. As Christmas approaches, answers will be hard to come by in a case that moves along the shores and deep into Caddo Lake. It isn’t just the weather causing things to be cold and deadly.

“Caddo Cold” is the latest in a series that is part mystery, part thriller, and all adventure. Like in Slow Falling there is a definite pulp angle to the tale and a clear appreciation of them by author George Weir. As a result this is a book that is filled with missing bodies, secret scientific research, and secret military experiments. That along with a complicated mystery makes this another very good one in the series. While it certainly could be read as a stand alone, it is much better to read these books in series order starting with The Last Call.

Caddo Cold: A Bill Travis Mystery

George Wier

http://www.georgewier.com

Flagstone Books

April 2012

E-Book

(Estimated print length 167 pages)

$3.99

Material provided by the author in exchange for my objective review.

Kevin R. Tipple ©2012

Author of the e-book short story collection Mind Slices available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Smashwords in a variety of formats. Contributor to the Carpathian Shadows, Volume II anthology available in print and e-book.

Market News--The Death of Fictionwise

I first saw this mentioned on The Passive Voice yesterday regarding the coming death of Fictionwise. As detailed on The Digital Reader, everything connected to Fictionwise is shutting down on December 4, 2012. Download while you can because this deal is done.


Kevin

Children's Book Review: "The Penguin Way" by Scott Gordon

An inspirational story aimed at very young children, The Penguin Way tells the tale of a penguin that does things no matter the odds or his abilities. No matter what the activity is, the little penguin does it to the best of his ability. In so doing he remains true to his own self. Perseverance to the best of their ability is the penguin way in this charming and positive read.

While more than half the book is taken up by ads, what is here in this short book is a fun positive read aimed at a three to six year old audience. The illustrations are simple and clever. The clear text works well for the intended audience though some words may be a bit tough for the young readers. The core message of staying positive, perseverance, and self-reliance is a good message for kids of all ages. Like Scott Gordon’s other books for children The Penguin Way works well and is worth your time.

The Penguin Way

Scott Gordon

http://segordon.blogspot.com/

Kindle E-Book

August 2012

(Estimated print length 42 pages)

$1.25

Material picked up during the author’s recent free book promotion for my objective review. The Penguin Way was read via the free “Kindle for PC” program.

Kevin R. Tipple ©2012

Children's Book Review: "Bubble Gum Princess" by Scott Gordon

This charming children’s book tells the tale of a young girl who someday will be all grown up with her own family.  In the meantime, the young girl is the narrator’s everything and every moment is precious. Who knows how long it will be before her Prince Charming arrives to take her to his castle in the sky. Despite the changes as you grow older:

“You’ll always be my little princess;

The little girl who chewed bubble gum

and got it in her hair.”

Like other books from this author, approximately half the book consists of ads for other products.  The storyline is simple and straightforward fitting the targeted age group and the images are a nice touch. The princess images completely fit the storyline and age group and showcase a little variety.

This fun children’s book has received some criticism regarding cleavage in the illustrations. One wonders what the fuss is about because the comments do not really reflect the book in any way, shape, or form. This is a fun book filled with no deeper meaning or images than love.

Bubble Gum Princess

Scott Gordon

http://segordon.blogspot.com/

Kindle E-Book

April 2012

(Estimated print length 31 pages)

$0.99

Material picked up during the author’s recent free book promotion for my objective review. Bubble Gum Princess was read via the free “Kindle for PC” program.

Kevin R. Tipple ©2012

More reviews and news at ... http://kevintipplescorner.blogspot.com/

Food Bank Saturday

A big time thank you to the  SEVEN LOAVES ministry (food bank) in Plano for being there for us this month. Much, much appreciated by all of us.


Kevin