Book Review- The Work and the Glory: Pilliar of Light

The Work and The Glory was an excellent read. I found the characters interesting and the tension apt. Gerald N. Lund does an excellent job of introducing not only the beginnings of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, but also the lifestyle of the early 1800s. The discussions of the family on building a farm out of virgin forrest, what constitutes an honorable profession, and what niceties the characters desire provide a great insight to the demeanor of those who lived during that era.

I enjoyed the detail the author included about building the Steed farms (both Benjamin's and Nathan's). How the homes were built, the daily tasks each family member had, and what causes friction between the different family members.

I also appreciated how Lund handled sacred experiences, especially Joseph's reluctance to answer questions. This showed maturity in Joseph after the initial reactions he received when sharing his experience in the Sacred Grove. He held true to his calling to translate, but held his spiritual experiences in reserve for those who were ready to accept them.

There is a delicate balance of being too preachy and not covering the material about the church enough, and Lund does an excellent job of striking that balance. He still covers the history, but maintains his story line as spectators to those events. Information is dispensed in a conversational manner, rather than a "my way or the highway" attitude. Readers are also set at ease by characters not accepting everything at first encounter. Some characters are skeptical, while others are more accepting. I think this helps the reader to understand the turmoil surrounding the events he covers.

Overall I would recommend the first volume in the serries to anyone interested in early American lifestyles, love stories, or who have an interest in learing about the history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints without getting preached at.

Mother's Day Collages

Two collages I made for Mother's Day 2012. My wife found places online where these were selling for $50 and up. We figured we could do something similar for much less. It was really fun going around our hometown looking for natural letters in our surroundings. We ended up spending only about $6 per picture including the frames.

Of Cowbirds and Starlings

This morning as I was getting ready for work, I noticed several birds on my front lawn. Three in particular drew my attention. Two were brown and rather large, and the third was sleek black and about two-thirds as big. The smaller bird I identified almost immediately as a Starling, as it had the tale-tell yellow beak and yellow streaked feathers. The other two puzzled me for some time.

              
As I watched the trio wander around my front yard, it was obvious the Starling was hunting for food. The two brown birds were tagging along and, appeared to be bullying the Starling. It wasn’t until the Starling found a big juicy bug and rammed it down one of the other two’s throats, that I realized what was going on. The Starling was trying to teach these two juveniles to hunt, the problem? They were juvenile Cowbirds.

             

 Brown Headed Cowbirds lay their eggs in other birds’ nests and rely on the other birds to raise their young. This often involves the death of the host bird’s young, as the infant Cowbird takes an immense amount of time and food to raise. If the host bird rejects the Cowbird egg, the adult Cowbird may retaliate against the host’s nest or eggs by smashing or destroying them.

              
While I am not overly fond of Cowbirds, I am also not entirely thrilled about Starlings either. Starlings are one of the few invasive species that we can identify their introduction onto a continent. 60-100 Starlings were released in Central Park in New York City in the 1890’s. From there they took over the continent, and are known to be aggressive at taking over native birds’ nests. They are also known for unloading all their fecal matter before landing in their nests. While growing up, a pair nested in our garage and plastered my dad’s car every time they flew in. In short, most of the poop that pigeons get blamed for is actually the result of Starlings.

             
Knowing all this, I paused to reflect on these three birds on my front lawn. The Starling, an invasive species, was now being pressed by a Cowbird to raise her young. I didn’t know whether to be thrilled or disappointed at the predicament. Both types of birds cause damage and additional stress on their surrounding species. Both species force their way in and take over otherwise peaceful situations.


As a society I often wonder if we are not like Starlings and Cowbirds, imposing our will on those around us regardless of the consequences. Do we put our fellow men at a disadvantage by pushing our agenda without consideration for those who are already there? Are we destroying the traditional family by forcing the acceptance of an alternative lifestyle?


As an individual I am very protective of my family, I also believe in being as self-reliant as possible. After watching this scene unfold in my front yard, however, I stopped to examine myself. Do I force my will on the rest of my family? Do I accept input from my wife and my children when it comes to activities and how we spend time together? I know that I am not perfect, but that is no excuse for not trying to improve how I treat my family, my community, and my fellow man. 

Kendall Purser

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Book Review- The Freshman Detective Blues

The Freshman Detective Blues by P.J. Petersen

I was quite surprised at this one, I read it many years ago and I forgot a lot of the story. There is enough about relationships in the plot to keep girls interested. As the title implies it is written for high school age children, though I really enjoyed it as a twenty-something year old. Eddie and Jack discover a skeleton in the bottom of Muir Lake which opens up a boatload of questions about what happened at the marina nine years before. At the same time Eddie attempts to woo Wendy Westfall on a scrounger's budget.The character dynamics I found quite entertaining, and the descriptions of boating, scrounging, and tinkering accurate.

I read this for a better idea of how to write scenes that involve boating and docking in different environments.

Book Review- The Fireball Mystery

The Fireball Mystery by Mary Adrian

A good book for young readers. The main topic of the book is astronomy, although the plot does take place in a boathouse community, so boating is also a major theme. The two children (Tim and Vicki) who are the main characters have a canoe and their father purchased a nearby island which they visit regularly with their new friend Joey whose dad owns a rowboat which is terribly slow. The children are stargazing on the island when a small meteor strikes nearby. They return to the island to find that Tim's new telescope is missing, and so they embark on a number of investigations to find both the meteor and the thief, not to mention the source of the mysterious lights seen at night out on the island.

My main purpose in reading this book was to get a taste of how authors portray boating for a book that I am working on about a mouse who learns to sail (Voyages of the MS Rodent).

Journeyman's Tithe- Cover

I finished my cover design for The Journeyman's Tithe, I am currently waiting for feedback on my manuscript from my editor(ie- my dad). The cover is fairly simple, again this is an experiment in self-publishing an e-book, so I built it myself using GIMP. GIMP is my favorite free image editing software. It has been compared to Photoshop in functionality, and I can tell you that the same quality of images can be made with GIMP, you just have to learn the GIMP way of doing things.

Journeyman's Tithe- First Draft

I completed the first draft of "They Journeyman's Tithe" today. It was quite thrilling to get through a draft that quickly. Granted it is only 15 pages right now, but it was very satisfying. I will send a copy to my editor/family so that I can start getting feedback. I am planning on publishing this completed work on Amazon by the end of the year. Next up the cover design!