Reading, Writing & Pondering

    Nothing Short of Wondrous by Regina Scott tells of the beauty and wonder of Yellowstone Park in the 1880s. For sure, it would have been wonderful to see it in that era and Scott does a nice job with describing the beauty of the area.   In Nothing Short of Wondrous , Lieutenant William Prescott enlists the aid of local hotel owner Kate to help him navigate the park so he can better track down poachers and other troublemakers. Kate is a widow with a seven-year-old son who is doing her best to work hard and protect the park. They try to help each other. There is a lot of good in this book but I was somewhat disappointed in Nothing Short of Wondrous . I struggled to get in to the story and enjoy the characters. The back of the book indicates that a big part of the plot is that Kate's son is kidnapped by a poacher who wants the boy to guide him. Will and Kate will then work together to rescue him. I kept waiting for this action to happen and it does not occur until the la...

In 1933  President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal helped employ young men through the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) to give them a hand up through the Great Depression. Nate Weber was one of the recruits in Karen Barnett's historical fiction novel, Ever Faithful . He is one of the older young men in the first group to come to Yellowstone from the cities out East. What a change for these young men in so many ways. Ever Faithful is set in Yellowstone National Park and is the third in her Vintage National Park novel series. (Each of these books is set in a different park and can stand alone.) Elsie Brooks is a ranger's daughter and spent much of her growing up years in Yellowstone.  The past few years she has worked in the park's hotels as a maid saving up for her college tuition to become a teacher. In Ever Faithful , Elsie gets some early teaching experience as she teaches the young men in the CCC camp and gets to know Nate. They also work alongside other you...