Prairie Fires

Warning:  Do not read this book if you expect to be lulled to sleep with sweet stories of an idyllic life on the prairie.  That is not to say it is a book full of gratuitous or shocking details.  It is, however, an honest portrait of what the life of Laura Ingalls Wilder was really like.

Think about Pa.  He could never stay in one place for long. (The stops in Wisconsin, Plum Creek, Silver Lake, and Kansas, detailed in the famous books, only represent about half the places where the Ingalls family lived.)  Usually men who have difficulty putting down roots have a reason for that.  And one of the reasons Pa moved so often was that he was usually one step ahead of debt problems.  When Caroline finally said "Enough! she truly had had enough, and refused to follow Pa's wandering foot anywhere else.

That's just one example of the information in this well-researched biography by Caroline Fraser, winner of a 2018 Pulitzer Prize, information given here.

Since many reviews giving details are available about this book, I will only give my reaction as a reader:  I loved reading it.  I loved learning more about my favorite childhood author and her life, finding out many new details not available in the other books about Wilder.  And though the book is realistic, not glossing over the grittier details, at the same time it does not dash the reader's views of the Little House books entirely.

As one who greatly appreciates a well-researched and well-presented biography, I highly recommend Prairie Fires to anyone who enjoys reading about Laura Ingalls Wilder.

Friday's Fave Five, 5/26/18 - a day late~~

LINK to Friday's Fave Five

Big shock - Blogger let me on this morning!!  It has been three months since something happened, I don't know what, and I could not log on.  I have opened a WordPress account but had no time to learn how to use it.  But if I can continue to use Blogger, I prefer it.  So - even though this is a day late, here is a Friday's Fave Five!!

1. School is over.  Finished.  Done.  I have never been as tired at the end of the school year as this year - a combination of having major surgery during the year, having to add a sixth class due to the loss of a teacher, and extra activities at the end of the year.  It may take me a few days this year to get energy back.  But school is done!!

2. Because of barely making it to the finish line, I have had neither the time nor the energy to make strawberry jam this spring, and berries are about over here in the southeast.  But my mother bought, hulled, mashed, measured out, and froze the exact amounts for me to make three batches now that the school year is done.  I appreciate that so much.  My family thinks the world has come to an end if I don't have strawberry jam in the freezer; plus, it makes great small gifts.  So now all are happy.  

3. Mike is doing much better.  Two weeks ago he caught a bad cold; he was improving daily when he got very sick, very fast.  Fever (unheard of for him), wheezing, crackles, short of breath even without exertion.  I took him to the urgent care that night, where the doctor called it a bad bronchitis.  Based on his symptoms, and the fact that these things may not show up on x-ray right away, another doctor said it was pneumonia.  Either way, he was very sick, and it's great to see him up and around.  His shoulder is also improving greatly.

4. A new tropical bird.  We went to see a rare bird reported in the area that usually doesn't make its way further than Miami, Florida.  It was exactly in the location reported, and we got to see it.

5. Yesterday Mike had a doctor's appointment in Greenville, and we ate lunch at a new restaurant for us, Tupelo Honey.  It's called upscale southern cuisine.  Very good and a very nice lunch.

It's nice to be back!!

Makes No Sense

Well, I'm up early and doing some computer browsing.  I randomly decided to try to sign in to Blogger, which has told me for months that I am unable to sign in and need to get an administrator's assistance.  And it let me right in!!  Who knows what the problem is/was.  Anyway, if I can continue to get on here, I will continue using Blogger instead of going to WordPress, which so far does not seem nearly as user friendly as Blogger.  Either way - I hope to do more blogging this summer.