I have read many books about pioneering women who set up homes from scratch and quilted for practical and soul-fulfilling reasons. Usually though, those women are long gone and we are left with rather dry details of their lives. The joy of this book is that the women whose words are recorded in it are living, breathing members of that pioneer group, and, even though their experiences were in the 20th rather than the 19th century,the issues and incidents are the same and they tell a vibrant story.
The book records conversations amongst Texas quilting groups, to which the authors were invited and the ladies seem eager to tell stories of their early days in dug outs and cabins, their families scaping a life from the soil and their role in that. None of them ever sound hard done by or as if they wish their lives had been different. And they are all keen to express the creative and fulfilling role that quilting has had in their lives.
If you are not a quilter, you will still enjoy the strength, friendship and nobility that run through these conversations - they are a link with a passed era, which I felt honoured to share as I read.

This book is facinating with it's history of American pioneer women. It contains real quotes from real people about the lives that they lived. If you have seen or been in the play you will be delighted to see that some of the show's monologues are word-for-word from this book! I't's a moving book and a moving play.

This book is a wonderful tribute to women...quilters or not. The book is filled with interviews, pictures, and descriptions that bring the joy and sorrow of daily living to life. If the simple things in life are indeed the sweetest.... then these women and their quilts tell the sweetest story ever...they tell our story... they are our history.

I love this book, it has become my gardening bible! If I have a question, it has the answer. It has made gardening organically much easier.
Last year was my first year to try to garden organically, and it didn't work out too well. But this year I actually know what I'm doing! I would definatly recommend it!

I really loved this book because it focused on organic methods first. Also, it goes though plant by plant and lists growth conditions, problems and many options for cures. It also goes through soil and garden development.

Spend less time reading and more time gardening with this quick-reference guide. The book is broken into five sections: Getting Started, Growing Vegetables, Growing Fruits, Growing Herbs, and Controlling Pest and Diseases. Each section is loaded with tips. In the Getting started section, you will learn about preparing a site, buying the right plants, and how to making Compost Tea. The Vegetable section, not only gives you a detailed write-up on over 30 different vegetables, but tells how to get 100 pounds of tomatoes from one plant. For the do-it-yourself group, there are instructions on how to build a homemade tomato cage.

The book devotes 100 pages to growing fruits. Learn how to make an aphid trap out of a milk jug or how to propagate berry plants and fruit trees. There are detailed care and maintenance write-ups on 12 of the most common fruits & berries.

The Herb section talks about controlling invasive herbs, companion planting, and how to perform a technique called layering.

The Controlling Pest and Diseases section points out beneficial insects and plants. The book also explains organic tricks for solving insect, plant deficiency, and disease problems. I love the way the book uses home products to solve common gardening problems in an easy to read format. This is my favorite gardening book.

Another great book by Patricia Rushford, with her talented keep-you-guessing-to-the-end style! This is the third in the relatively new Helen Bradley Mysteries series. Readers of the Jenny McGrady Mysteries series (originally written for young adults) will recognize Helen Bradley as the retired cop grandmother whom Jenny often went to for advice.

Now with her own series, Helen is a solid, well-balanced Christian woman who exemplifies all that God intended women to be. She's one of those lucky travel writers who just happens to come across mysteries along the way, much in the style of the popular Jessica Fletcher (Murder She Wrote) mysteries.

Readers, Christian and non-Christian alike, will enjoy this great book and the entire series showing good solid family values and women at their best!

I recommend this book and EVERYTHING I've read so far by Patricia Rushford. She'll keep you entertained to the very end!

Another Pat Rushford mystery novel that delivers. Set in the San Juan Islands of Washington state, the author blends features of several points of interest around the islands into one little gem, "Paradise." Helen, the heroine, is called to Paradise by her aging uncle - the wealthy owner of the luxurious resort he has resurected there - to help with a family crisis. The prospect of a reunion weekend with family is first shaken by ghostly happenings then shattered by murder. It's refreshing to have a female lead who isn't either a. trying to be more of a man than the men in the story or, b. constantly looking to take umbrage at anything and everything the males around her are saying or doing. Helen is a main character/sleuth who is at ease with who she is and what she beleives. Solid faith in God and family values are the bedrock of Helen's charactor. The author maintains this consistently in Helen's thoughts and actions - large and small - and the reader never has to overlook glaring faux pas in charactorization. I eagerly look forward to the next release in this series. Pity Mrs. Rushford can't write as quickly as I can gobble up her novels!

Romance plus a guide to some of Southern Califoria's most golden locations. Since I know the romance and beauty of the California coast locations were accurate, it made me want to fly away with my love and explore the romantic locations in London and Scotland. Definitely a guide to living the good life! Check out the list of music in the back of the book. Listening while reading could really add to the mood of each chapter, then curl up and escape. . .

While on a spy mission in Lebanon eleven years ago, Helen Bradley's spouse died during a terrorist act.For the next decade, Helen, a former police officer stayed single. However, now she is happily remarried, lives in Oregon, and loves her job as a writer of travelogues. While working on her latest book, Helen receives a call from an Irene Kincaid, asking for her help. Irene believes that her spouse, the renowned gerontologist, Dr. Paul Kincaid, was murdered because of his work on slowing down the aging process.

When Irene is shot to death, Helen decides to investigate by setting herself up as a target. She feels that someone at Kincaid Labs has secrets they want kept buried. To uncover them, Helen checks into Edgewood Manor, one of the top convalescent centers in the nation even as her son pleads with her not to become involved. Inside the idyll home, Helen learns that once she is there, she might not leave the place alive.

The first novel, NOW I LAY ME DOWN TO SLEEP, in the Helen Bradley mysteries is an interesting thriller that is highlighted by an interesting lead protagonist. Even though, the story line is relatively simplistic, to Patricia H. Rushford's credit, it remains a gripping suspense laden tale. This series will be well liked by readers of mystery.

Harriet Klausner

Academics generally make little money, so instead they live for their 15 minutes of fame. To obtain this, they try to stir up controversy about a chosen issue to gather attention to themselves, whether or not their claims are actually true. Such is the case with this book. With Slavery, Propaganda, and the American Revolution Ms. Bradley seeks to rewrite American history in a way that will draw more attention to herself. She does this by twisting the truth, taking quotes out of context, and sometimes resorting to making up "facts" that suit her thesis. This is a typical "bash-the-founding-fathers-book" focusing much on Adams. She attempts to portray the founding fathers as insensitive scum that care nothing of poor, suffering slaves. She fails to take into account society's ideals of the time and what was considered normal. She fails to recognize the fact that had the founding fathers put full support into anything as radical (at the time) as freeing the slaves they would have lost all support from the colonists and the American Revolution would have lost its momentum.

Stay away from this, it's not worth your time.

And if you are forced to read it for class, beware that it's hard to sell this thing. Nobody wants it. I have been to several different bookstores that won't touch it.

Thought provoking and controversial to be sure. Nevertheless, a scholarly piece of work from a critcal historian who is not afraid to expose truth -- even if it is uncomfortable.