Reviewing E-cloths for Easy Cleaning

E-Cloths

Have you discovered the magic of cleaning with microfiber cloths?  If not read on to discover this easy and inexpensive means to clean most everything in your home and car.

My Discovery of this Easy-to-Use Product

I have a wonderful little dog, but she sure leaves a mess on my glass sliding doors.  When she wants back in the house and I'm not right there, she will jump on the door leaving muddy little paw prints all over the back door.  I was constantly pulling out my window cleaning spray, a rag and some newspaper or paper towels and cleaning the doors.  I was complaining about all the work when my sister told me about E-cloths.  I first ordered the E-cloth window cleaning kit and was immediately impressed.  With just two cloths I could easily clean my glass doors, windows and mirrors.  All I needed to do was to wet the cleaning cloth and wipe down the glass.  I then took the polishing cloth and finished the job.  No cleaning products, no paper towels, just two cloths that can be rinsed and reused again and again.  When they get soiled they can be thrown in the washer.

 

E-cloths for More Cleaning Tasks

Another area where I struggled to keep them clean and shiny were my kitchen countertops.  I wondered if there might be an E-cloth that would handle this chore, so I checked out Amazon and was amazed at all the varieties of E-cloths available.  It seems there are E-cloths for every cleaning task you can imagine.  Here are a few that I noted:

• Deep Clean Microfiber Mop
• Toy and Nursery Cloth
• Shower Kit
• Kitchen Dish Scrubber Sponge
• Highchair Cleaning Cloth
• Pet Cleaning and Drying Cloths

There were also many different combination kits.  I selected a 5-pc Starter Pack and have been using it daily.  I have found that it is great for not only my countertops, but for all of the surfaces in my kitchen.  I also keep one of the cloths in each of my bathrooms for quick clean up jobs.  They are fantastic.  It has seriously saved me money because I no longer need as many cleaning products or paper towels.

Features of E-cloths

Here are some of the features you will enjoy with e-cloths.

• Washable
• Reusable
• No need for any cleaning sprays
• Use all over the house and in your cars
• Made of 89% Polyester and 20% Polyamide
• Clean in three easy steps (Dampen cleaning cloth, wipe clean and follow up with dry polishing cloth)

One of the places I really love using the cloths is for my bathroom mirrors.  I keep them handy in the bathrooms and with just a quick wipe and dry my mirrors stay clean and streak free.

I could go on and on about these great cleaning tools but I will leave you with one last thought.  They are very inexpensive, so "Try It-You'll Like It!"

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Reviewing Quail Ridge Park - Visit Missouri

 

Gazebo at Quail Ridge Park

I love exploring new parks and the St. Charles County Park system has a lot to offer.  On a beautiful day in mid-August, I was able to explore Quail Ridge Park with a photography group.  We had a great time exploring the park and taking a lot of nature photography.

Quail Ridge Park

Quail Ridge Park is located in Wentzville Missouri at 560 Interstate Drive.  Although it is only about 20 minutes from my house it is a park I had never visited before.  This park has many trails that can be used to explore the park.  There are over seven miles of both paved and natural trails throughout the park.  

The park features fishing lakes, ponds, playgrounds and shelters.  It also has a wonderful dog park where you can unleash your dog and let them run.  The park has an eighteen-hole disc golf course and is also home to the National Horseshoe Pitchers Hall of Fame.

Lodge and Gazebo

My group met in the parking lot of the lodge and then proceeded down the paved path for a walk around one of the lakes.  

Lodge at Quail Ridge

The lodge, pictured above, is a rustic cedar banquet facility that is often used for weddings and other events.  It will hold 180 people.  The gazebo, which is pictured in the opening photo is the first stop on the path leading down from the lodge.  One of the photographers that was with our group said it is a popular place for the bride and groom to have their photo taken for the wedding.

Walking the Paved Trail

From the lodge there is a paved trail that curves around past the gazebo, and then around the lake.  It was a beautiful day, and we took a leisurely stroll along this path stopping to take photos along the way.  Here are some of the photos I took.

Path Around Lake

Fishing Lake

Fishing Lake

 Blossoms, Butterflies and Moths

As we walked along the path, we stopped to photograph the wildflowers and butterflies that made their homes in the woods around the lake.  I also captured a moth on a wildflower across the path from the lake.

Missouri Wildflower

Lavender Wildflower

Swallowtail Butterflies

Butterflies

Flower on Edge of Prairie

Moth on Blossom

Purple Wildflower

Learn More About Missouri Butterflies and Wildflowers

Here are a couple of books where you can learn more about butterflies and wildflowers.

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National Bird Holidays and Awareness Days- 3rd Quarter

Bluebird of Happiness

 I love to explore designated bird holidays to find out more about these fascinating creatures that give pleasure to our lives.  For the third quarter of the year, I discovered three different holidays that I would like to write about in this post.

National Hummingbird Day

The first Saturday in September is designated as National Hummingbird Day.  These little birds have long fascinated people and as beautiful as they are, they are only found in the America's, especially North and South America.  The first recorded siting of a Hummingbird took place in 1557 in Brazil in by a French explorer.

Hummingbird at Feeder

Hummingbirds are very colorful little birds that are characterized by their ability to hover mid-air and rapidly flap their wings which make a "humming" sound. 

In my area of the country, we put out our hummingbird feeders in early April, hoping to attract these fascinating little birds as they migrate north.  

To find out more about hummingbirds and National Hummingbird Day check out this website. https://nationaltoday.com/national-hummingbird-day/

World Shorebirds Day

World Shorebirds Day is celebrated on September 6th and is a day to learn more about the birds that frequent our shores.  It is surrounded by a week where volunteers count the shorebirds in their area.

Blue Heron

Shorebird fishing on Rock

White Ibis

When we travel to the shore, I always enjoy seeing all the different shorebirds.  They are very different from the types of birds we see at home in the Midwest, and I enjoy trying to identify each bird.  The three photos above are shorebirds I photographed in Florida.

National Bluebird of Happiness Day

The bluebird is my favorite bird and I get very excited the few times each year when they visit my backyard.  I have my camera ready and delight in capturing these beautiful birds with my camera.

Bluebirds Enjoying a Drink

Bluebird of Happiness

There is much written about bluebirds, and you will find them on all types of cards and household decor.  On September 24th we celebrate National Bluebird of Happiness Day.  Here is a little history of the bluebird I found on the website. https://nationaltoday.com/bluebird-of-happiness-day/

For the longest time, it has been known that the bluebird is a harbinger of happiness. This notion was first held by the Chinese who saw the bird as immortal, a protector, and a symbol of the sun. Native Americans too were in deep awe of the bluebird. Navajos revered it as a spirit in animal form, and the Iroquois believed the bluebird’s song would make the harsh winters bearable. For the Russians, the bluebird represented hope.

Bluebird of Happiness Day will be a great time to spend some time learning more about these birds that bring happiness to so many people.

Reviews on Birds

Here are some reviews written on Review This about the birds listed in this review.

Bluebird Facts and Photography

Hummingbirds at Your Feeders 

Photographing Florida Birds

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Photographing Wildflowers in Missouri

 

Purple Coneflower

I love wildflowers and, in the spring and summer, they are abundant in Missouri.  It makes photographing them so very easy, I can find them in parks, along the sides of roads, on my neighborhood walks and even in my own yard.  When I am planning to go out specifically to take photographs, I usually bring my Sony mirrorless camera along with a 55-200 zoom lens.  It makes it easy to take pictures at a distance and also to zoom in for closer shots.  When I am taking my dog for walks in the neighborhood, I always have my iPhone handy, and I find that it takes great shots of the wildflowers I find in the neighborhood and at our park.

The photo at the beginning of this article was taken at O'Day Park in O'Fallon, Missouri. It is a purple coneflower, that is very popular in my area in the summer months.  It is one of my favorite wildflowers.  I took my granddaughters to the park and brought along my Sony to capture the wildflowers that were in abundance.  

O'Day Park Wildflowers

O'Day Park is a 57-acre park in O'Fallon that features a lodge, playground, camping and miles of paths and trails throughout the park.  Near the playground area, I discovered a paved trail that had lots of beautiful wildflowers along the sides.  They were in full bloom during our visit, and I was able to capture several different types of Missouri wildflowers. Here are some of my favorite shots.

Plains Coreopsis

Rough Blazing Star

Queen Anne's Lace

Purple Coneflower with Bee

Around the Neighborhood

The photos in this section were all taken on my walks in my neighborhood.  They were all taken with my iPhone.

Trumpet Vine

Purple Coneflower and Golden Alexander

Lance Leaf Coreopsis

In My Yard

As I was looking at lists of Missouri wildflowers online, I noticed that many of the flowers in my flower beds are considered wildflowers.  I know that all of them were started with a single clump given to me by and friend and all have spread like crazy.  They make a colorful bordered on the side of my house.

Primrose

Wild Geranium

Bottle Brush Blazing

Black-eyed Susan

Learn More about Wildflowers

There are many books to give you tips on photographing wildflowers.  Here is one I found on Amazon.

Other Articles I have Written on Flower Photography

I love to photograph all kinds of flowers.  Here are some other articles I have written over the years.

Spring Flowers 2023

Photographing Sunflowers

Nature Photography Tips

Remember the best Camera for Flower Photography is the One you Have with You!  

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Visit Missouri-Explore St. Louis - The Muny

Bandstand across from Muny

 

The St. Louis Municipal Opera, commonly called The Muny has been operating in Forest Park for more than 100 years.  It is America's oldest and largest outdoor musical theatre and is a real treasure for the residents and visitors to the St. Louis area.  

I have enjoyed many a delightful summer's evening watching Broadway style musicals at The Muny.  This year, I had the pleasure of introducing my youngest two granddaughters to The Muny when I took them to see a production of Beauty and the Beast.  They were delighted with the show, and it was wonderful to be able to watch it with them. 

We arrived at The Muny about two hours before the show started and enjoyed a picnic supper at one of the many picnic areas surrounding the Muny.  While enjoying our meal we were entertained by some of the pre-show entertainment.  On this evening there was a storyteller who delighted the children with stories and songs.  On other visits to The Muny I have enjoyed performances by some of the dance troops and singing groups before the show begins.   When it was about 30 minutes before the show we entered the outdoor theatre and made our way to our seats.  With time to spare we decided to get some ice cream from the refreshment stands to enjoy while we waited for the show to begin.  Here are Kate and Emily waiting for the show to start.

The production of Beauty and the Beast was wonderful, and the girls were on the edge of their seats the entire time.

History of the Muny

About the time of the 1904 World's Fair in St. Louis the dreams of a permanent outdoor musical theatre were formed.  It was 1916 before this dream was finally realized.  At that time a site was pick on a hillside in Forest Park between two large oak trees.  The first production held their was As You Like It.  It was picked to observe the 300th year anniversary of the death of William Shakespeare.  The production was seen by crowds of over 8000 per night and everyone was delighted.  This was the beginning of the 105 year history of The Muny.

Today the theatre has 10,800 seats.  The last nine rows (1456) are free seats and the rest of the seats are reserve tickets, with prices rising as you get closer to the stage.  The theater is built as an amphitheater and gently slopes downhill towards the stage at the bottom.

It is a true cultural treasure of St. Louis that has been enjoyed by residents and visitors over the decades.

More Reviews on Forest Park in St. Louis

I have written several other reviews on Forest Park venues.  Here are a few of my favorites.

Forest Park in the Fall

Forest Park and the Jewel Box

Find out more about The Muny

 

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Book Review of When the Rain Ends

 

AI Image Creation

I have read several books by Mary Ellen Taylor in the past and have always been moved by the way she develops her interesting characters.  This book was no exception.  It deals with a mother and daughter who have their life changed by a series of events and the way they manage the challenges that life throws their way.  A very interesting novel that has a lesson for all of us in dealing with life.

Book Summary

Dani Manchester is hit by two very challenging life events in a short time and it throws her into a very unsettling time.  Dani is an artist and seeing colors and shapes are important to her work.  When she learns that her eyesight is failing due to a genetic disease she is devastated and unsure where to go next.  Then her ex-husband and father to her teenage daughter dies and she feels everything that is important in her life is disappearing.

Dani and her daughter Bella live in the Outer Banks of North Carolina and Dani makes the decision to move to a small town near the Virginia border.  Here she wants to make a new start.  The property she buys has some silos on them that Dani is planning to renovate and open an art gallery.  This is a big move for the single mother and daughter and Bella is rebelling about the move.  

In this moving story we hear how they meet some new people who become important in their new lives.  They work through their grief and come out stronger.

As in her other books, Mary Ellen Taylor does a wonderful job of developing her characters and you find yourself wanting to turn the pages to find out what will happen next.  

The Book on Amazon

Other Books I have Reviewed by Mary Ellen Taylor

Here are links to two other books that I reviewed by the author and thoroughly enjoyed.

The Brighter the Light- Book Review (reviewthisreviews.com)

Book Review of Honeysuckle Season (reviewthisreviews.com)

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Book Review - Toes on the Dash

 

AI Creation

Sometimes life just calls for a "Cozy Mystery".  When I need a book to just relax and chill out I find one of these light novels fits the bill.  I was recently introduced to a cozy mystery writer that I really like.  Karen Whalen writes delightful cozy mysteries that I really enjoy.  The first one I read introduced me to a delightful character named Delaney.

Character Summary

Delaney Morran is a young woman (28) who, after a short career as a social worker is trying to decide what to do with the rest of her life.  Meanwhile she is helping out part time in her friend's coffee shop. 

When Delaney's estranged father dies in an accident, she is surprised to find that he has left her his tow truck and his towing business.   Now Delaney is a real girly girl who loves wearing a different pair of shoes with each outfit and is quite fond of spikey high heels.  This image doesn't quite seem to fit with a tow truck driver and Delaney has no idea what she is getting into, but she is up for the challenge.  Her somewhat nagging mother, however, thinks she should sell the tow truck.  Delaney has a lot to learn but she is a strong woman and feels she can make it as a tow truck driver and owner.

The book is full of twist and turns as Delaney finds her way in the business and gets the help from a fellow tow truck driver to learn how to operate her vehicle.  The book, which is set in Colorado, is full of laughter and a bit of romance as Delaney sizes up the young tow truck driver and the cute cop.  It also ends up with a murder mystery when a dead body is found in the trunk of her first tow.

 

I am looking forward to reading more books by this author.  You can find out more about her books on her website www.karencwhalen.com .

This book was recommended to me by author Teri M Brown.  You  can read a review I posted on one of Teri's book at An Enemy Like Me .

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Book Review - Lost Roses

 

AI Image

In this exciting prequel to Martha Hall Kelly's best-selling Lilac Girls, we follow the lives of Eliza (Caroline Ferriday's mother) and her two friends from Russia-Sofya and Luba Streshnayva.  Sofya and Luba are cousins of Tsar Nicholas II and although all three women have grown up in privilege, they all have a strong desire to help others.

Background

Like Caroline Ferriday from Lilac Girls the characters in Lost Roses are real people from history.  Martha Hall Kelly did meticulous research to make sure her facts were correct and then built a wonderful work of historical fiction around events from history.  This second book in the Lilac Girls series takes place in 1914 in the days leading up to and during the Bolshevik Revolution.

Plot Summary

The book begins as Eliza Ferriday from New York City is going to visit her good friend Sofya in St. Petersburg, Russia.  They had met years before in Paris and become good friends.  Even though it is 1914 and the world would seem to be on the brink of war, Eliza is excited for her trip and a visit with her good friend.  She arrives safely and all seems to be going well till there is word that they must flee the city because of the revolutionaries are nearby and are trying to overturn all the wealthy ruling class.  Eliza sails home to New York and Sofya and her family escape to their summer home in the countryside.

While they are in their summer home they hire a local fortuneteller's daughter, Varinka, to work in their household.  This turns out to be a very bad decision. As time goes on the revolutionaries kidnap the family and keep them captive in an outbuilding of the family's luxurious summer home.  The storyline continues and keeps us on edge as we wonder how the family will survive and will they escape to Paris as they hope.

As the story continues, we see the ways both Eliza and Sofya work in these troubled times to help those in need.

I found this book to be very interesting.  Martha Hall Kelly has a way of making her characters come to life and I found myself reading into the night to find out what would happen next.

Book One of the Series

The first book in the series, actually chronologically comes after Lost Roses.  It is set in a World War II time frame and features Eliza's daughter Caroline.  It too was a very compelling story that I had a hard time putting down.

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Review of Spring Flowers 2023

 I love photography and, in the springtime, flowers make particularly great subjects.  Each year I have been trying to post some of my favorite flowers from that year.  In this post I will highlight some of my favorites from 2023.  The photo above is of some daffodils in one of our city parks.  It was taken in early March when they were just starting to bloom and since it was a rather cloudy morning the blossoms were "bowing down" waiting to be warmed by the sun.

A Few Tips for Photographing Spring Flowers

• Cloudy days are great for showing off the colors in the flowers.

• Right after a rainstorm you can get some great photos including raindrops on the flowers.
• Be sure to get some closeups and some wider shots of a grouping of flowers.

• Look for unusual angles.
• Set your aperture to blur out the backgrounds.
  
  
  
• Don't forget to photograph the beautiful blossoms in trees as you see in the photo above and the one below.

• I like taking photos of the buds of a flower and then of the fully opened bloom.
  
  
  
  

Flowers around my Neighborhood

The great part about spring flowers for me is that I don't even have to travel far.  I can find lots of spring blooms in my own yard or on my neighborhood walks.

Enjoy the Beauty of Springtime!!

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Book Review - A Girl Called Samson

 

A Girl Named Samson (photo created in AI)

I love reading historical fiction, and although I have read lots of books from the World War II era, I had not read any from the American Revolutionary War period.  The title on this book is what first intrigued me to download this book.  What an amazing story!  It kept me interested from page 1 and now I feel I know a lot more from that period of history.

 

The Story

Deborah Samson was born in 1760 in Massachusetts.  When she was quite young her father abandoned her family, and her mother was unable to provide for Deborah and her siblings.  Deborah ended up being bound out to be an indentured servant at age 5.  She stayed with various people in her early years, but when she was 10, she was indentured to a young farmers family that had 10 boys.  It was Deborah's duties to help look after the boys.

The family was very kind to Deborah and from them she was able to learn a lot.  Although she didn't go to school herself, she had a thirst for knowledge and was able to learn from the boys as they were growing up.  She had a friend and mentor in the Reverend Conant and when she was 15, he gave her a journal for her birthday.  In this journal she would discover her longings through her writings.  The Reverend also put her in touch with his niece Elizabeth, who became Deborah's pen pal. Elizabeth was older and married and provided Deborah with advice and someone to share her ideas.

When the American Colonies were gearing up for war, each of the 10 boys in turn ended up enlisting in the Continental Army.  Deborah yearned for a life of freedom and equal rights for women.  She had learned much from the boys and could shoot a rifle with the best of them.  

When Deborah turned 18, she was free from her bounds and could go out on her own.  The family welcomed her to stay on with them, but Deborah wanted adventure.  She ended up dressing up as a young man and enlisting in the Continental Army.

The story now gets really interesting as Deborah works hard to maintain the secret of who she really is.  Eventually she falls in love in a surprising twist to the story.  

My Recommendation

I would highly recommend this book for anyone interested in historical fiction.  This story is loosely based on a young woman from history named Deborah Samson.  It is a great testament to the power of a young woman daring to chart her own way despite the circumstances.

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