BOOK REVIEW: The Lost Hours

The Lost Hours

by Karen White

After a long life, Annabelle has died and Piper Mills, her granddaughter, now is determined to get to know the woman who raised her. Piper was orphaned at age six and raised by her grandparents. Now that they are gone, she regrets that she never took the time to get to know her grandmother.

Piper traces her grandmother’s life to a time in the 1930’s when Annabelle and her two best friends, Lillian and Josie, shared all their hopes and dreams and secrets. Why did these three young women end their friendship? What took place in the secret attic room in the house in which Piper lived for so many years but never knew existed? Why did a newspaper clipping from that time about a black infant found floating in the river resurface (pun intended)?

Piper’s quest to solve these mysteries brings her to Lillian’s home where Piper is a tenant with fictitious identity. There her life quickly intertwines with Lillian and her descendants. Piper’s history as an equestrian champion and Olympics hopeful is exposed and horse riding becomes a secondary theme to the book.

The story trotted along, seldom moving faster than a child’s pony ride. The horse story was uninteresting to me. If its purpose was to convey the symbolism of the importance of getting back on a horse after a fall, frankly I do not see its application in this story. From the title, the only lost hours I could detect were those that passed while moving from cover to cover.

Overall interesting subject, good mystery, and a lot of potential, but it seems to lose its focus.

Menu, Please

Being the creatures of habit that we are, we enjoy lunch out on Fridays. We head to our favorite Middle Eastern restaurant. There we are always greeted warmly by the owner and his staff. We are directed to the best seats available and are given prompt attention.

We talk about what we are going to order while we are on our way to the restaurant. We like to share our food so that we get to sample more of the things we love instead of limiting our meal to just one menu item.  We plan which favorites to enjoy, keeping in mind portion sizes. We do not want our dining out times to cause us to overeat or overindulge.

However, before we place our order, we are frequently presented with complimentary food by the owner himself. For instance, he might place a plate of Baba Ghannouj in front of us, with some pita, of course, or soup, raspberry lemonade, mint tea…the list goes on. Baba Ghannouj is very similar (although different) to humus so we do not need both. Both would also be a lot of extra food. If we were planning on humus, we must then change our order plans, and eliminate the humus which I happen to prefer.

Last week we decided to order lentil soup, stuffed grape leaves, and a chicken shawarma sandwich, all to share. The owner was not around when we entered and we realized we were happy about that. On this day we would order what we want! He arrived just a few minutes later, however, and within seconds, brought over a plate of Baba Ghannouj and some pita, without knowing that we had already ordered, or what we had ordered. Not to be insulting, we ate it all. Too much food!

Sadly, we must move on. We must look elsewhere for our Friday lunches, a place where we get to decide what we will eat. All the complimentary food turns out to be too much of a good thing!

The Death Penalty

Jodi Arias murdered her ex-boyfriend. She stabbed him 29 times, then slit his throat from ear to ear, and then, just for good measure, she shot him in the head with her grandfather’s 25-caliber gun. She eventually admitted to the murder but claimed it was self-defense. The dead man, a man without a voice, was accused of domestic violence and so she says she had to kill him. She, however, walked away without injury, without remorse, without even a care. 

After more than four months of trial, on Wednesday, a jury in Arizona announced their unanimous verdict of murder in the first degree, premeditated. Jodi Arias, her sentence not yet determined,  could face the death penalty.

I am opposed to the death penalty. I do not believe the death penalty serves as a deterrent to crime. It takes many years for the punishment to be carried out and in that time thousands upon thousands of dollars are spent on appeals and legal shenanigans.

Yet I want Jodi Arias to get the death penalty. I do not want her to actually “get the needle,” but I do want her to sit on death row, at least for the next 20 years – the time she would probably spend on death row as the course typically plays out.

If Jodi Arias gets life in prison, or even a designated number of years whatever number that may be, she would be among the general prison population. She would do well there. In fact, I believe she would thrive in that setting. She is a master manipulator. She is willful, commanding, domineering, fearless, conniving, deceitful. She is smart, just not smart enough to put her brains to good use.

Yes, I want Jodi Arias to get the death penalty. I want her to sit alone in a 7’ x 9’ cell, isolated from other inmates, alone with her thoughts and her memories, on death row all the days of her natural life.

 

I Am a Ripping Fool

Knitters call it frogging. Rip it! Rip it! Frogs say it and knitters do it. Hence the knitting term. And rip I do!

A few months ago I was overcome by a sudden urge to knit. Thinking my eyes would never tolerate such fine work, I turned to loom knitting. I bought looms and yarn and watched youtube video tutorials and went to work. Every project was not quite right for one reason or another.

I then turned my attention to crochet. Again I was inspired by youtube and educated by google. Again, each project was not precisely what I wanted. Some lacked the stretchiness of knitting, others were too bulky.

I next turned to needle knitting. Loom knitting is easy on the eyes and is great for achieving an evenness of stitches. Sizing is more limited for both yarn and stitch gauge, however. More complicated stitches were very time-consuming. Needles provide freedom. Here, to my amazement, I found my passion. The surprise is that my eyes allow it.

And so I continue. I knit one project, crochet another. There is so much I want to create! But each project, for one reason or another, ends the same way – waiting for the Grim Ripper!

The hot pad on the left is the wrong yarn type. The hot pad on the right has inferior design.

This crocheted scarf is too bulky.

This crocheted dishcloth is also too bulky.

A work in progress. It used to be the dishcloth pictured above.

I think I now know why so many yarn-crafty people spend endless hours knitting and crocheting gifts for others. Friends and family love and cherish these homemade treasures without regard for that perfect color, texture, or design. Ah, the satisfaction.

Book Flub

A few months ago, I learned of a website for book lovers – BookBub.com. Their mission is to round up information on free and deeply discounted “bestselling” downloadable books available through Amazon for the Kindle. I promptly subscribed. Ever since, I have received a daily email with details of the day’s deals.

I have downloaded several books since January when my subscription began. The two that I read have proved to be disappointments. Although not promoted by BookBub as “inspirational” literature (books of a religious nature), they did prove to be so. Even more disturbing to me is the unusually large number of print errors. (Please see my review of  The Twelfth Child here for specifics.)

Today I received an email from Amazon. A free Kindle book that I downloaded recently has been updated. Amazon is encouraging me to download the updated version.

An updated version of your past Kindle purchase of SEVEN-X (A Psychological Suspense-Thriller-Horror) by Mike Wech is now available.

The updated version contains the following changes:

• Typos have been corrected.

• Significant editorial changes have been made.

An admission of errors – a first step. The best step? Getting books from the public library and reputable book stores and quality publishers.

In the Hands of the Jury

The Jodi Arias murder trial is coming to a close.  Today was the last day of testimony and several witnesses took the stand. In Arizona, where this trial takes place, after the attorneys have questioned a witness, jurors can ask questions. In one instance, one witness was asked well over 100 questions by jurors.

Dr. Kevin Horn, ME

Today Dr. Kevin Horn took the stand for the third and final time.  Dr. Horn is the Maricopa County (Phoenix, Arizona) medical examiner. His job is to perform autopsies. He performed the autopsy on the victim in this case, Travis Alexander. After listening to the prosecutor’s questions, the defense attorney’s cross examination and the prosecutor’s redirect examination, jurors had a question for the medical examiner:

“Would you agree that 100% of the people you have seen with frontal lobe trauma are deceased at the time of your examination?”

And Dr. Horn’s response? “I hope so.”

The Language of Crochet

Crochet patterns are written in a language of their own. Although I had first found a pattern for a trivet written in Norwegian and I thought the Norwegian language presented a challenge greater than my abilities, I have since learned that it was not the Norwegian language that was the problem. Instead, it seems the language of crochet is equally as foreign to me.

I found another pattern for a trivet (or hot pad) that pleased me.* It purported to be written in English, although it is also available in French, in case that helps. Understanding the pattern instructions is my newest challenge.

Miraculously, I also found a video demonstration for the very same pattern on youtube. Using scrap yarn I had on hand, I was able to follow the written pattern instructions, relying heavily also on the video demonstration.

I am very pleased with this hot pad.  Next step is to acquire cotton yarn in my choice of colors and start all over again. Practice is done. Now on to the real thing.

*Crochet Hot Pad Instructions:

• Note: Ch 2 does not count as hdc in 1st to 3rd rnds. With MC, ch 4. Join with sl st to first ch to form a ring.
• 1st rnd: Ch 2. 10 hdc in ring. Join with sl st to first hdc.
• 2nd rnd: Ch 2. 2 hdc in each hdc around. Join with sl st to first hdc. 20 hdc.
• 3rd rnd: Ch 2. 2 hdc in each hdc around. Join with sl st to first hdc. 40 hdc.
• 4th rnd: Ch 2. (1 hdc. Ch 1. 2 hdc) in same sp as sl st. *Miss next 2 hdc. (2 hdc. Ch 1. 2 hdc) in next hdc. Rep from * around. Join with sl st to top of ch 2.
• 5th rnd: Sl st in next st and ch-1 sp. Ch 2. (1 hdc. Ch 1. 2 hdc) in same ch-1 sp. *(2 hdc. Ch 1. 2 hdc) in next ch-1 sp – shell made. Rep from * around. Join with sl st to top of ch 2.
• 6th and 7th rnds: Sl st in next st and ch-1 sp. Ch 2. (2 hdc. Ch 1. 3 hdc) in same ch-1 sp. *(3 hdc. Ch 1. 3 hdc) in next ch-1 sp. Rep from * around. Join A with sl st to top of ch 2 at end of 7th rnd.
• 8th rnd: With A, ch 2. *8 dc in next ch-1 sp. 1 sc in sp between 2 shells. Rep from * around. Join with sl st to first dc.