The Tobacco Wives- Book Review

 

The Tobacco Wives- A Book Review

This thought-provoking historical novel takes us to North Carolina in 1946.  We are introduced to a small town that is reliant on the tobacco industry and the pride the community takes in the industry. During the war the community survived by the women taking the place of the men who normally worked in the tobacco factories. We are also introduced to the wealthy women who are the wives of the tobacco company executives.

The Book on Amazon

The Story

We are introduced to the community of Bright Leaf by Maddie, a young girl who is brought to live with her Aunt Etta. Maddie has visited her aunt in the summers for several years and has learned from her how to be a seamstress.  This year, however, is different when her mother unexpectedly drops her off much earlier at a time when Etta is very busy sewing gowns for the wealthy women to wear to the annual Gala. When Aunt Etta suddenly falls ill, Maddie is tasked with being the lead dressmaker and in getting all of the gowns ready for the Gala.  

Maddie is enjoying her challenge as the dressmaker and even starting to feel comfortable working with the wealthy women of Bright Leaf till she discovers some of the secrets of the small town. She now has to worry about how much she should say and just who she can trust.

This book is a very interesting look at activism of women in the post war era and how the freedom they were given during the war years changes how they see life.    It is a book that shows the courage of a young woman and the challenges she faces.

My Recommendation

I really enjoyed this book and once I got started felt I could not put it down.  Maddie was such a delightful character who became real in the pages of the book.  I would highly recommend this book and also feel it would be a great book to read in with a book club.

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Prostormer Electric Paint Sprayer - Reviewed

Springtime is on the way, and with spring and summer weather comes many outdoor projects. One, in particular, is outdoor painting. Last year I took on the task of painting our deck.

We have a large deck on the back of our house, it measures 35 ft. x 12ft. deep. Our large deck along with good weather provides us with the perfect outdoor space for fun, and entertaining family and friends.

Last summer it was time to paint the deck for another season of outdoor fun. The first thing that I had to do was clean and remove all of the dirt and loose paint. For this, I used my Wholesun Electric Pressure Washer click the link to see my review of the pressure washer.

After cleaning the deck it was time to paint, so, I painted all of the railings with a brush and the deck floor with a roller. 

That only left the lattice around the outside of the deck. Lattice is the framework of crossed boards around the bottom of the deck as seen in the photo. 

The last time that I painted our deck I painted the lattice with a small brush. This was not only backbreaking but took a long time to complete as I have 35 ft. and 12 ft. deep on both sides to paint. 

I needed an easier way to paint the lattice so, I started looking for an electric spray gun. I've never owned a spray gun before and really didn't want to spend a lot of money. After looking through what Amazon had to offer and reading many of the reviews, I found this Prostormer 750-Watt Spray Gun.

The Prostormer was reasonably priced and easy to use. We followed the easy operating instructions to get it all set up and ready to go. While I continued to paint the deck, my grandson Tyler sprayed the lattice around the bottom of the deck with the Prostomer 750. 

What you get with this Prostormer Spray Gun:

• 1 Prostormer electric paint sprayer
• 1 1200ml tank
• 4 different size spray nozzles
• 1 Funnel to fill the tank
• 1 cleaning needle
• 1 cleaning brush
• 1 user manual

My new spray gun was also very helpful in between the deck boards. The roller or even a paintbrush didn't get paint in between the deck boards very well but, the sprayer did the job with ease.

Spray guns are a perfect option for fences, window shutters, furniture, ceilings, and hard-to-reach places with a roller or brush.

I'm very happy with my Prostormer spray gun, and as you can see it is a great price.

Prostormer Paint Sprayer, 750 Watt High Power HVLP Electric Spray Gun with 1200ml Container, 4 Nozzles, Easy Spraying and Cleaning for Home Painting

 

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A Review Of The Elaeagnus Shrub In The Garden.

Lets me introduce you to Elaeagnus. This is a shrub I would not be without in my garden, yet is not a garden plant that many of us would seek out. She is a very unassuming shrub but if we look closer really rather beautiful and very practical and valuable in the garden.

Many of us want gorgeous colourful flowers and impressive trees, maybe even exquisite alpines. They are so beautiful and often colourful, we would always want them in a garden.

However, it is easy to overlook the real workhorses of the garden, the plants that provide us long lasting green background, cover for birds and green in the depths of winter and a foil for all the other showy beauties. 

Such is the Elaeagnus shrub. She is a bold, beautiful, hardy, vigorous and easy to care for plant in the garden. 

We have an evergreen variety and I love the leaves which are thick and resilient dark green and an unexpected and striking silver underneath. This is particularly evident on a windy day when you can see the shrub waving in the wind and flashes of bright silver even on a dull day. 

I was very impressed with Elaeagnus in the drought we had last summer, 40 degree heat and fierce sunshine. She was one of the few plants whose leaves did not scorch and she survived with no watering at all. She even grew a good 3 foot this summer! 

I love that this shrub can be evergreen if you choose the right variety and if you choose a dark evergreen that other more showy flowers and roses look just beautiful against. 

She also provides shelter for other plants from the intense sun and the wind. As she can grow quite dense she also provided shelter from snow and cold this winter. 

All this is great in the garden but the real surprise comes when tiny white flowers, easy to miss appear on the leaves.

Before you even see the flowers you start to notice a beautiful scent in the air which smells to me like honey and sweet perfume and if you move closer and take in the scent of these flowers it is gorgeous. 

There are many varieties of Elaeagnus with slightly different needs, some evergreen, some deciduous, some one green colour, others variagated. Most have small insignificant flowers that have a gorgeous scent that can fill a small garden beautifully. 

Foliage colours also vary from dark green with silver or white undersides or silvery foliage, or golden with green. Pollinators seem to like these little flowers as well. 

Many are large shrubs but there are also dwarf varieties for a smaller garden or a container garden. 

Once it becomes a more dense shrub the birds like to hide and seek shelter in it. I am hoping that now our shrubs are larger, birds will nest in it. 

Care Of Elaeagnus

This is an easy-care vigorous and strong shrub with thick leaves. Most of the care is in the early years to keep it well watered. 

After that apart from pruning to the desired height and width it can take care of itself. An application of mulch each spring will be beneficial though I have to say I have not always done this and the shrub is doing very well.  

Ideally, plant a young shrub in autumn into the soil. However especially if you have a compact variety you can also plant it into a large container in free draining soil.   

Where To Plant

Many Elaeagnus shrubs ideally like to grow in full sun though I have one in part shade and she is perfectly happy. Check the varieties for what they most enjoy. 

They can grow in a variety of soil types though they do prefer well drained soil. However, our soil is heavy clay and our plants are growing very well. 

It copes with most weather from drought to cold very well and for me is a real workhorse of the garden and a plant I do not need to worry about. 

Pruning

Elaeagnus is a strong very vigorous shrub and grows rapidly. Although it does not need any pruning to be healthy, in a small or average size garden I would advise pruning at least once a year then it is easily done with good quality secateurs.

However, if you leave it too long or let it get too big, it will be a bigger and more arduous task needing more heavy duty tools.

With regular pruning, I find this shrub very easy to prune with secateurs after flowering as long as you do it from being a young plant. I never let it get so big that I need shears or a saw to prune it. 

It is very vigorous but I find it easy to keep to the height I want and in our conditions, which are less than perfect for this plant, it stays under control as much as any of our other shrubs.

National Plant Network Eleagnus-2 Piece Live Plant, Green-Silver-Brown Foliage

 

Propagation.

Once you have one shrub you can easily make more. I find that cuttings are very easy to take and grow on well. 

We just take 5cm semi ripe cuttings in the summer. These are stems that are soft at the tip and woodier at the base, growth that is from this year's current growth. 

As with most cuttings simply remove the lower leaves, leave a couple at the top then inset the cutting gently into a pot of well drained compost.

You can ideally cover loosely with a polythene bag so that the levels of humidity remain high, but I have found they take very well even without it.

Keep the soil moist and pot onto individual pots once they make roots. 

A Vigorous Shrub

Please note, this is a very vigorous shrub; in some conditions and countries, it can become invasive. I have found this to be fine in our garden and love having this shrub, but do check locally to see if it may be an issue for your garden. In some countries where conditions are different and more perfect and for some varieties, it is known as an invasive shrub. So if you are interested do check for your local conditions and seek advice as you do not want to plant an invasive shrub in your garden. 

If you are concerned that this shrub might be too vigorous or invasive in your garden growing a compact variety in a sturdy pot might be a good compromise and that will inhibit its growth as well.  

How To Use Elaeagnus In The Garden

• Grow as a very effective screening hedge or train as an elegant single plant as a standard. This is especially good if you choose an evergreen variety.
• Ideally, this is a shrub to plant in the soil but if that is not an option for you try growing it in a smaller pot first and graduating up to the largest pot you can find in good free draining soil. 
• Alternatively, simply buy a compact variety of this shrub which can then be grown and live its life in a container. 
• If you do want to grow it as a hedge allow the leaves to grow right from the base of the shrub to provide cover and density. Evergreen varieties are best for a hedge. 
• However, if you think the shrub will be too vigorous or invasive, grow it in such a way that you prune all the lower leaves away to expose the stem to make it more of a standard plant. In this way, you can control it better and even grow it in a large pot as a specimen shrub. 
• We grow ours in two ways one plant is grown as a hedge to screen off an area of the garden and the garage and the other is more of a standard plant next to a holly tree. 
• It is also a great shrub to grow near the bins to screen them off and provides a lovely scent when it flowers, It is good to grow near an area where you might sit in the autumn/fall so you can enjoy the scent when it flowers.
• Grow other colourful plants, climbers, perennials or annuals in front of it so that it provides an effective foil for them.  
• If you enjoy flowers in your home the strong cut stems of Elaeagnus are lovely to use when doing flower arranging and are long lasting for your foliage arrangement and in a mixed flower and foliage display.

Hedges and Living Boundaries (A Gardener's Guide To)

So while we enjoy and bask in the beauty and colour of the gorgeous flowers and bulbs, we spare a thought and a place in our gardens for the evergreen workhorses of the garden. These shrubs give us foliage all winter, cover for wildlife, screening and privacy for us and a perfect foil for all the pretty climbers, roses, flowers and joyful colours.   

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Book Review: Alaska by James Michener

Alaska is an epic novel by James Michener that spans an unimaginable length of time and describes Alaska and it's people from the beginning. From the formation of mountains and land masses to Mastodons to modern times. As soon as I pick up where I left off in the story I find myself surrounded by the people in the unique land that eventually became a U.S state.

Introduction by Steve Berry

Steve Berry explains how he came to read his first James Michener novel then goes on to tells us a bit about James Michener the man and author. Michener was reportedly an orphan, adopted by Mabel Michener. He lived in poverty in Bucks County, Pennsylvania for at least a portion of his childhood. Then as a young adult, he traveled the country by train (in boxcars to be more specific) and found odd jobs. James Michener wrote his autobiography in 1991 titled The World is My Home. He attributes his curiosity about people and their lands. I feel that his curiosity about people, their cultures, and their lands as well as his love of travel shines through his writing.

Fact and Fiction

Alaska is a historical novel. Fiction. But based in fact. The Fact and Fiction chapter explains some of the examples in which fact and fiction come together. For example, it is widely accepted that the order of the arrival of humans in Alaska was The Athapascans first, followed by the Eskimos then followed by the Aleuts (with the Tlinglits being offshoots of the Athapascans). But the time of their arrival is unclear and possibly somewhere between 12,000 B.P.E and 40,000 to 30,000 B.P.E.

Alaska by James Michener

This novel has me hooked. I am writing this before I've finished the novel but due to the length, I feel that's acceptable. 

Michener describes how the land was likely formed. How the collision of plates created the Aleutian Islands and the mountains of Alaska. How the Mastodons and Mammoths arrived, lived, and perished in the area. The arrival of humans. And how conflict begins as soon as different groups live in proximity of each other. As time moves on, we learn about the Russians who settle there under Tsar Peter the Great and how others such as Vitus Bering and Georg Stellar explore the area. The story goes on to include the introduction of different religions; Shamanism, Russian Orthodoxy, and eventually Christianity. The area transfers from Russian ownership to American. Then comes the Gold Rush and moves on to more recent places and events. 

I wish I could write the review this story deserves. I can't. Some online reviews describe the beginning of the book as slow and hard to get through. For me, I enjoyed thinking about the massive number of years that it took for the land to form over time, mountains being sent to great highs due to the movement of the plates and volcanos forming due to the geographical events that are beyond my comprehension. 

I am amazed that Alaska was settled at all. People walked to get there. They rode in tiny kayaks to hunt whale for survival and to change their location Conflict, war, and slavery occurred long before I had imagined. Larger ships began to move people up the Yukon and into the land but became frozen in the ice and stranded for months until the thaw. Humans have gone through a lot to find and keep a home.

The writing is beautiful. 

"And each one was formed by some segment of the Pacific Plate bulldozing it's way into the North American Plate, submerging along the edge, and causing such tremendous commotion and movement of forces that the great mountains erupted as a consequence. When one looks at the glorious mountains of Alaska he sees proof of the power of the Pacific Plate as it noses its way north and east... "

"The ten children were like a collection of colorful flowers, for the clothes they wore were varied in design and color. Some wore short tunics with stripes of white and blue, others long robes and heavy boots, but all wore in their hair some ornament, some flashing bit of shell or ivory" 

I find myself cheering on the adventurers, crying with those who have suffered loss, and booing the villains. All while learning how Alaska became a place where humans chose to call home.

I have two regrets with reading this book.  First, I regret that I don't have more time that I can dedicate to getting comfy in a chair and reading for days upon days. Second, I'm not sure that starting this novel during my winter holiday break was the best choice. My area was hit with a powerful ice storm that wrecked havoc in our county followed by an Arctic blast that was most uncomfortable. Choosing to read Alaska during that time frame was almost as bad as choosing to read Jaws before going to an ocean beach for the first time. Other than those two things, I am enjoying this immensely. 

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The first James Michener novel I read was Chesapeake. It was a wonderful read and I enjoyed the setting around the Chesapeake Bay.

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Discovering Your True Self: Reviewing A Workbook for Adults

Introducing the Latest Addition to the StumpedBook Collection: A Self-Awareness Workbook Featuring 196 Detailed Self-Evaluating Questions

Have you felt uncertain, confused, lost, or in need of clarity lately? 

I know several family and friends who are going through challenging times, so I decided to create a healthy tool to help us all navigate this crazy life. 

This latest addition to the StumpedBook collection is hot off the press: A Self-Awareness Workbook is now available on Amazon.

This Workbook Explores the Depths of Our Thinking

This in-depth journal asks 196 intense questions designed to help us review, reflect, and get to know ourselves better. 

Like a diary, this workbook is not meant for prying eyes or to be judged by others; it's simply a tool to help us privately sort out our thoughts and gain a deeper understanding of ourselves.

A Breakdown of the Chapters:

The Benefits of Self-Awareness are Immeasurable

We can potentially boost our self-confidence and resilience, deepen our understanding of our relationships, reduce stress and anxiety, and find greater happiness and fulfillment. 

With this guide by your side, you'll learn how to:

• Gain insight into your thoughts, emotions, and behaviors
• Foster self-acceptance and self-love
• Discover your actual values and beliefs for a clearer sense of purpose
• Cultivate mindfulness and live in the present moment
• Enhance your communication and strengthen your relationships

An Interior View of Chapter 1 - Each Chapter Introduces an Inspirational Quote

Gain Greater Clarity and Direction in Life

Designed to help us better understand ourselves and uncover the truth about who we really are, this personal workbook is meant to be a  tool to help us safely explore our values, beliefs, and motivations. 

Sometimes, we think we know ourselves well enough, but when asked in-depth questions about our experiences and beliefs, we often uncover a deeper sense of self-awareness.

A Look At Some Questions:

Each chapter features a list of questions about the chapter's topic. 

The book measures 8.5 by 11 inches, so there's plenty of room to write an answer for each.

If self-discovery is important to you or someone you love, you can also check out these additional journals in the StumpedBooks collection:

Books by the Author on Amazon Here

Disclaimer: Neither the book nor its author is a medical professional – The Self-Awareness Workbook is strictly for recreational journaling.

Note: The author may receive a commission from purchases made using links found in this article. “As an Amazon Associate, Ebay (EPN), Esty (Awin), and/or Zazzle Affiliate, I (we) earn from qualifying purchases.”

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