Happy Birthday to Mark Twain!

Still looking good and keeping me laughing at 167 years. 

It started with jello . . .

My mother used to make this salad, and she served it on her pink "button and bow" Depression Glass plate, just like the one above. She'd add nuts to anything she could, so I recall walnuts in this salad. 


The Salt Lake Tribune started all this. They have an annual haiku contest on the topic of jello. Since none of MY entries won, I thought I'd share some here. 

Thanksgiving staple

On Grandma's pink glass platter

Nuts, pineapple, bliss.

And here is the recipe: 

CARROT - PINEAPPLE SALAD

1 c. boiling water 3 oz. pkg. orange Jello 1/2 c. cold water 1/8 tsp. salt 1 can crushed pineapple in syrup, undrained (8 oz.) 1 c. shredded carrots Pour boiling water on Jello. Stir until Jello is dissolved. Stir in cold water, salt and pineapple. Refrigerate until slightly thickened. Stir in carrots. Pour into glass bowl or 3 cup mold. Refrigerate until firm. Garnish with salad greens if desired. source: Cooks.com

My mother would have been 88 today. I'm enjoying the memories.

Lorene Ethel Miller Craner

Book Review: The Assassination of Governor Boggs

This is part of a blog tour. Leave a comment and you may win a free book! 


Book Review: The Assassination of Governor Boggs by Rod Miller

Twenty-five years after the attempted assassination of Governor Lilburn Boggs, an outspoken opponent of the early Mormons, his son wants to know who the shooter was. The fact that the governor survived the four bullets that tore through his skull is remarkable; he lived another eighteen years, evidently with his wits intact.

William Boggs of Napa, California hires Pinkerton detective and Civil War veteran Calvin Pogue to find the answer, once and for all: who shot his father? Pogue takes the cold case and literally follows its trail from Missouri to Utah, interviewing anyone he can find who knows about the incident, including Brigham Young himself, and ending with Porter Rockwell, the fear-inspiring former bodyguard of both Joseph Smith and Brigham Young. Rockwell is also known as a renowed sharpshooter and drinker. Illiterate and a survivalist who could handle horses and cattle with ease, the loyal Rockwell was always considered the chief suspect but was never charged with the crime.

Brigham Young states that in his his opinion Rockwell's innocence is "a certainty- if only, for no other reason, that Boggs survived. Had Port fired the shot, that would not have been the case."

After exhaustive research and interviews Pogue concludes: "When confronted about the attempted killing by this investigator, Rockwell, as is his wont, neither admitted nor denied it directly. Instead he beat around the bush with vague declarations." 

Rockwell sums it up this way: "I never killed that man. And if ever I'd had the chance, I'd have done it again."

The dialogue and written correspondence sound true to the times. Each  character has a distinctive voice, and the historical notes and rich description draw the reader into the story immediately. The sly humor also catches the reader off guard in this lively historical novel. 

A bibliography would be helpful so readers can find actual accounts and articles about this still-unsolved historical mystery.  

At the end, most readers will still wonder "whodunnit." Which makes this book an entertaining and lively whodunnit. With a surprise at the end - --I never saw it coming!

Author Rod Miller describes himself as: poet, novelist, historian, biographer, journalist, essayist, reviewer, screenwriter." He's also an experienced rider and rodeo participant. A visit to his webpage reveals that Rod's work appears in "books and magazines, anthologies and collections, online and on the screen. From poems to stories to articles to opinion, he writes in a variety of styles for various media. His subject matter is, largely, the American West, and he writes about its people and its places, its past and its present."

·       Paperback: 224 pages

·       Publisher: Cedar Fort, Inc. (May 9, 2011)

·       Language: English

·       ISBN-10: 1599558637

Miller then

Miller now

• The Assassination of Governor Boggs
• by Rod Miller
• 
  
• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Cedar Fort, Inc. (May 9, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1599558637
• ISBN-13: 978-1599558639

Things you may not know about me

In order to accept this award I have to tell you a few things about myself that you may not know. So here goes: 

·       I once convinced our youngest son that my husband and I met at Woodstock (an out-and-out-lie, but one I won’t let him forget).

·       I have no sense of direction. My GPS is priceless, unless it gets mixed up, too.

·       “Glee” has really grown on me!

·       I’m still experiencing “Lost” withdrawl, after all this time.

·       I haven’t met a bagpipe I didn’t like.

·       I don’t play the bagpipe.

·       My high school debate partner and I were state champs.

·       My college debate partner and I weren’t.

·       I’m a huge fan of 60’s folk music. Baez, Peter, Paul and Mary, Kingston Trio, Judy Collins . . .

·       I’m the youngest of three girls. What did I know about raising three rowdy boys?

·       Each of my three sons son wore a cast on his right thumb at some point in time for one reason or another.

·       My husband’s hair is going silver, hair by hair. I think it’s gorgeous. He wants to try 
     Grecian Formula— you know, the hair dye for men that’s so gradual, no one will ever notice you’ve done anything to your hair.

·       I was once presumed drowned when I was snorkeling and climbed back into the wrong boat. The captain of “my” boat was counting heads and heading toward a coronary when I realized I was on a boat full of strangers.

·       A guilty pleasure: Watching “Toddlers and Tiaras” and yelling “Bad mom!” at the TV.

·       A place I’d love to visit: The British Isles. All of them. For an extended time.

·       I absolutely love living in a college town. The students are great.

·       I’m a non-drinker who went on a cruise and innocently sipped on a mimosa, mistaking it for a blend of fruit juice with one flavor I just couldn’t identify until I felt all warm and giggly.

·       I think Skype is a marvelous invention for grandmas.