June, Glorious June

 

Rocky Mt Penstemon in the Native Garden

Garden Notes

The June-gloom that started the month meant lots of rain for the emerging garden. Here are two views of the native garden I put in last year--almost eveything came back with just a few bare spots that a trip to the Denver Botanical Gardens annual plant sale enabled me to fill in. The pollinators have been working hard in the garden already, and today I saw two Swallowtail butterflies stop by for a drink.

I grew just about all my flowers from seed this year, with a few pots with Mother's Day offerings. I have a blue garden that I am slowly filling in, and the raised bed veggie garden is looking promising.

Books, Books, Books

What I Ate in One Year, by Stanley Tucci - after months on the library wait list, I finally got to listen to Stanley Tucci read his latest memoir. I loved his earlier book, Taste, which was about his early life, family, acting career, and, of course, food. I also loved the CNN show, Searching for Italy, and was so disappointed when it was cancelled. This book, as the title screams, is a year in the life and chronicles not only what he ate and where and what he cooked and why and who for, but is the year leading up to the taping of his current food travelogue on National Geographic, Tucci in Italy. I've watched the first three episodes (new ones drop on Sunday nights), and it is wonderful. I love Italian food, I love Italian history, I love visiting Italy, and Stanley Tucci is passionate about what he loves. A fun read!

The Third Gilmore Girl, by Kelly Bishop - Gilmore Girls is such a favorite. I've watched it multiple times over the years, and it never gets stale. Kelly Bishop was the perfect Emily Gilmore, so it was a no-brainer to get on the library waitlist to listen to her talk about her life and career. 

Coincidently, Kelly was born in Colorado Springs, my hometown, and was the same age as my sister, although my parents didn't move there until she was in first grade. She moved to Denver with her family and studied ballet. At nineteen, she headed for NYC--rejected by the American Ballet Theatre, she worked as a dancer on Broadway for years and was the original Sheila Bryant in A Chorus Line, for which she won a Tony in 1976. She transitioned to acting as dancers' careers have an expiration date. Her first major-ish role was as Baby's mother in Dirty Dancing, and she had lots of roles in TV, movies, and plays on Broadway until she hit the jackpot with Gilmore Girls. The show's creator, Amy Sherman Palladino, did the intro to the book, and they were and remain fast friends.

I loved hearing about Kelly's career and the life of an entertainer. Definitely a fun book to listen to.

The Shell House Detectives, by Emylia Hall - Kathy at Reading Matters recently posted about this book, and since it sounded like something I would definitely enjoy, I promptly got it from my library and devoured it. Set in Cornwall in a small town, two unlikely people find themselves working together to solve the case of the disappearing trophy wife. Jayden is a former Leeds cop who has relocated to his wife's hometown after the death of his partner, and Ally is a widow grieving for her police sergeant husband who died about a year earlier. The other townfolk include Saffron, the cafe owner, Tim, the bumbling local cop and his boss, as well as the nasty rich newcomer and his boorish brother. I loved every minute I spent reading this book--first in what promises to be a good series. The characters and setting were marvelous, the writing decent, and the plot interesting. Thanks, Kathy, for a great recommendation. 

The London House, by Katherine Reay - I really wanted to love this one, and I did in parts, but I also had some issues. The basic idea is that Caroline, an American with a rich English father, goes to London to discover the truth about her great aunt. An old boyfriend of Caroline's who is now a historian is writing a story about how Caroline's aunt defected to the Nazis while living in Paris during WWII, and Caroline and her father are distraught at the thought of the world knowing this. The London House is Caroline's father's ancestral home (one of two actually) -- Caroline's mother, now divorced from her father, is living there and gives Caroline stacks of letters and diaries that the disgraced aunt's twin sister saved.

If this sounds like a soap opera, hang on...there's more. There's a love triangle between the twin sisters (i.e., Caroline's great aunts), there's misplaced pride and guilt that wreaked generations of marriages and parent/child relationships, and there's the mystery of why the old boyfriend and Caroline stopped being friends. 

I really enjoyed the history part of this book, and the multiple timelines, and the research that the contemporary characters did. I really enjoyed visiting London and Paris with the modern characters. And, I enjoyed the fashion angle during World War II in Paris, especially since I watched The New Look about Christian Dior and Coco Chanel so hearing about Schiaparelli's fashion house was super interesting, especially that Wallis Simpson's Lobster Dress from the 1937 collection.

I think this novel would have worked much better if the author hadn't succumbed to the idea that every story needs to be a love story. And, families that are as damaged as Caroline's can't heal as fast as this one did. Finding out the truth about Caroline's great-aunt fixed everything--the coldness that had presumably destroyed her parents' marriage and that shrouded her in a cloak of self-doubt and anxiety was suddenly gone and everything was rosy and happy. I don't mind happy endings, but a little reality check seemed to be called for here.

Ross Poldark: A Novel of Cornwall, 1783-1787

NewsFlash: The Ross Poldark Blog Tour Update

The Ross Poldark Blog Tour has concluded but there is still time to leave comments and enter the giveaway contest until 11:59pm PT, August 10, 2015. And, there is exciting news. PBS has contributed a DVD of season one of Poldark to our list of prizes! Here is the updated prize list with it included:

• (1) DVD of season one of Poldark

• (2 ) Old Britain Castles Pink Pottery Mugs by Johnson Brothers

• (1) Twelve-inch Old Britain Castles Pink Pottery Plater by Johnson Brothers

• (1) London Telephone Box Tin of Ahmad English Breakfast Tea

• (1) Jar of Mrs. Bridges Marmalade

• (1) Package of Duchy Originals Organic Oaten Biscuits

• (2) Packets of Blue Boy Cornflower Seeds by Renee’s Garden Heirloom 
• (1) Trade Paperback Copy of Ross Poldark and Demelza, by Winston Graham

And now...here's my review of Ross Poldark: A Novel of Cornwall, 1783-1787

I am so happy to be part of The Ross Poldark Blog Tour, and I'm reviewing the first book in Winston Graham's popular Poldark Saga, Ross Poldark: A Novel of Cornwall, 1783-1787.

Reading the first book in a series is sort of like a first date...you know there might be the potential for a long-term relationship (there are 12 books in the Poldark Saga!), but you don't want to commit before you know what you're getting into.

There's the initial attraction - I really enjoy historical fiction, and I'm intrigued by the setting: Cornwall, late 18th century.  And, I knew that BBC/PBS was airing a new mini-series adaptation this summer, and I'm a read-the-book first type-of girl, so I said 'Yes!"

All our friends say we are perfect for each other.  It's amazing how many of my reading friends whose taste I admire popped up to say how much they loved Captain Ross Poldark once the mini-series remake was announced.

There's the getting-to-know-you conversation--I admit I had a few second thoughts when the book opened with the deathbed scene of Ross's father, who is not a very likeable sort.  It's important to know what kind of a family Ross if from--an old family with a respectable name that is facing financial troubles--but I think the screenwriters were smart to skip the prologue and dive straight into Ross's service in the American Revolutionary War (on the side of the Redcoats, of course).

Once we got the backstory out of the way--Ross is heir to a crumbling estate, responsible for a motley crew of household workers and tenant laborers, was jilted by his sweetheart who married his cousin as soon as he returned home from America and the wars--I was hooked.

Ross is a hero without being a paragon of virtue, which makes him a perfect hero!.  He has a big heart, a strong sense of justice and fairness, but has a weakness for burying his troubles in a bottle and being jealous and moody and autocratic.  Thankfully for the plot, he also is usually socially blind, which means he gets entangled in situations that he should've foreseen but didn't.

Case in point, Ross rescues a young female waif, Demelza,  from village louts and an abusive father, takes her home and makes her his kitchen wench.  He cleans her up and makes her a general companion and helpmate, and then is surprised when his neighbors assume he is sleeping with her.

It's this naivete in the face of his military service and rough-and-tumble life that makes Ross so attractive as a main character.  He is just fun to read about.

I also enjoyed the rest of the characters and their stories and how they fit into the life of Ross, especially Demelza.  She is an absolute joy--I was thrilled to discover that book 2 in the series is called Demelza, which is a very good sign indeed.  She has grit and nerve and pluck, but is shy and tender and loyal.

I also loved the setting.  Everything I know about Cornwall, I've learned from Doc Martin and Daphne du Maurier.  So, it was interesting to learn about Cornwall's mining industry and the smuggling (some of which I knew from Frenchman's Creek) tradition.  I loved hearing the regional names and looking them up on Google maps.

As a fan of Jane Austen, it was also really interesting to read about the timeframe during which she was a child--the economic issues, the political issues, and the social issues that were causing the Old Regime to weaken and start to totter.

I am definitely reading book 2 in the series, and I expect you'll be seeing me review the entire Poldark Saga on this blog as time goes by.  I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship!