Mary E. Trimble

The Swan Keeper by Milana Marsenich, a novel placed in the 1920’s, is set in the rugged Montana Mission Mountains.

On her eleventh birthday, Lilly’s fondest desire comes true when her family picnics at her favorite place, the Cattail Marsh, to see the newly hatched cygnets. Lilly and her father love the trumpeter swans and faithfully watch their habits. But someone is killing the magnificent birds and great numbers of them are either dying of gunshot wounds or are poisoned by eating lead shot. Their celebration turns to tragedy when Lilly’s father is fatally shot and her mother critically injured. But the shooter, rather than escaping, attempts to revive her mother. Although Lilly sees it all and knows the truth, that it was intentional, no one believes her.

As Lilly struggles to cope with their terrible loss, she is determined to prove who the killer is, that there was a reason for her father’s hate and distrust of the man. She turns to Charlie West, the sheriff, who also runs a shelter for injured swans. Jerome, his son and her best friend, reluctantly helps Lilly in her attempt to bring the killer to justice.

Author Marsenich does a magnificent job showing the extremes of an eleven-year old’s anguish and frustration. The family lived a meager, but loving life. Now the father is dead and their mother gravely ill. Although neighbors help, the greatest burden to keep the family going is carried by Lilly’s fifteen year-old sister, Anna. Lilly is obsessed with proving the killer’s guilt and spends most of her time in the hills and forests tracking down evidence.

The young girl fantasizes a beloved swan protects her, giving her courage to carry on with her mission to fight for justice. Reality abruptly ends the fantasy when Lilly is face to face with the killer. Marsenich deftly takes the reader into the craggy Mission Mountains with its threats of extreme terrain, bears, and quickly changing weather.

The Swan Keeper is listed as a coming-of-age novel, but this gripping story would be of interest to anyone who loves nature and who strives for justice.

Olympic National Park’s Wild Coastline

Posted on August 6, 2018 by Mary

The expansive, diverse 73-mile shoreline of Olympic National Park offers constant delights with crashing waves, tidal cycles and spectacular views. Most of the beaches along this stretch are wide and sandy with superb hiking and beach combing.

Ozette, at the northwest tip of the park, can be reached along a three-mile boardwalk trail to either Sand Point or Cape Alava. A popular day hike is a nine-mile loop, which includes a three-mile beach walk.

One of our favorites, Rialto Beach, a two-mile stretch along Olympic National Park’s wild coast, offers smooth-pebbled black rocks, giant drift logs, pounding waves and magnificent views of offshore islands known as “seastacks.” It is also the start of the shoreline trail that leads to Hole-in-the-Wall, famous for the park’s best locations for tide pools. Rialto also has wide sandy beaches for easy walking.

Three beaches south of Rialto Beach are named First, Second and Third Beaches, and are worthy of exploration.

Kalaloch’s beach, at the south end of the park’s ocean coastline, was named by Seattle Magazine as one of the best ten beaches to winter storm watch. Visitors can spend hours here on wide sandy beaches, exploring tide pools, rocky cliffs and a myriad of driftwood ranging in age from new to ancient.

One of our favorite places to camp just three miles from Rialto Beach is Mora Campground, open year-round. With 94 campsites, we’re almost always assured of finding a site for a night or two. Mora has amenities such as fire rings with grates, accessible restrooms, water and bear-proof food storage. Mora also has a boat ramp and picnic area.

We think of summer as a time to camp, but with the right equipment, camping can be a year-round activity. If you’re not into camping, you’ll find lodging in nearby towns of Forks and Port Angeles. Winter storms along the Pacific Coast offer exciting views. Bundle up and try it.

On any of Olympic National Park’s coastline, you’re guaranteed an exciting outing any time of year.

Book Review: The Art of Fully Living

Posted on July 30, 2018 by Mary

The Art of Fully Living: 1 Man. 10 Years. 100 Life Goals Around the World is an amazing book about a man who did just what the book’s title implies. Author Tal Gur is a bucket list maker extraordinaire.

Gur, an Israeli, yearns to learn English and knows the best way to go about this goal is total immersion. He travels to Australia, learns the language and while there immerses himself in the culture, becoming totally involved with his surroundings. He goes on to complete an Ironman triathlon event in New Zealand. Gur pushes himself to achieve these successes—many times to the point of discomfort and exhaustion. He realizes his own strength and determination, and goes on to face his next life’s goal. He continues to travel the world and become involved in what each country offers. His journey isn’t without hardship and sometimes despair, but he learns to listen to his body and heart. He learns to view a negative situation from a positive angle, to reflect on what is important. Through flexibility and adaptability, he realizes that life is a balancing act.

Gur’s accomplishments through his world travels, his impressive achievements and the choices he made aren’t for everyone. But what is of value to everybody is learning how to achieve what is important to that individual. We each must have some type of goal in order to grow. Gur offers wisdom that applies to everyone:

– Stop accumulating “stuff.” The less stuff, the more freedom you have
– Declutter your life, curb excess buying
– Stay out of debt
– Embrace uncertainty. Let go of the need to control.
– Remember that the journey is more important than the destination

In this review I have attempted to cover the highlights, but in so doing realize there is so much more than reducing this book to these few points. I highly recommend The Art of Fully Living. It has something for everyone.

Book Review: Walk the Promise Road

Posted on July 23, 2018 by Mary

I could feel the dust and grime of the trail when I read Anne Schroeder’s Walk the Promise Road: A Novel of the Oregon Trail.

When Mary Rodgers’mother, father and little brother die from an influenza epidemic, she’s not only heartbroken, she’s alone in the world. She does have her cousin Philip, but he’s soon to leave Illinois to join his fiancé in Oregon. Mary, not quite eighteen, is determined to have a life, not be married off to someone she doen’t even love. She convinces her cousin that she could join him, that they could travel as a married couple. After all, they have the same last name. There would be no way a wagon train would take a young woman without a husband–it would be unseemly, and could cause trouble among the single men. Philip, not much older than Mary, could not be considered a proper escort. Philip resists, but Mary convinces him that it would not only work, but that she would be an asset on the trip, a helpmate.

It’s April, 1848 when they meet their travel companions in Independence, Missouri. The wagonmaster and Lucas Sayer, his half-Indian trail scout, assemble the 117 people and their 61 wagons and set out for the 2,000-mile journey. Mary and Philip’s secret seems to work, and they are known as “the Rodgers” and assumed to be husband and wife.

When Lucas begins spending time at the Rogers’ fireside, Mary struggles to keep their secret. Lucas is the most desirable man she’s ever known, and it’s obvious that he feels the same about her. Other travelers notice and tongues begin to wag.

I particularly appreciated Anne Schroeder’s realistic description of the hard journey west. I’ve always loved stories about the Oregon Trail and this novel is exceptional in its authenticity. It’s amazing that the west was ever settled. Emigrants constantly struggled to move forward, bone-tired and thirsty. Wagons broke down, stock died from exhaustion, people died of disease or lack of desire to struggle on. There were always those who prepared, like Philip, and those who did not and ultimately had to depended on others. For women and many of the older children, the journey was made mostly on foot, doing everything they could to lighten the load for the mules, horses or oxen that pulled the heavy wagons. There was either not enough water, or too much water. Heartbroken women left their treasures along the trail in order to lighten the load so the beasts wouldn’t die in their traces. Travelers bickered, some went their own way, often with disastrous results. It was a long, grueling journey and the lucky ones arrived in Oregon six long months later.

Walk the Promise Road is a journey to remember.

Book Review: Girl Warrior

Posted on July 9, 2018 by Mary

Carmen Peone’s novel Girl Warrior shows what determination and grit can do in the face of bullies and hard decisions.

Charnaye Toulou lives on the Colville Reservation in eastern Washington. She’s a high school senior now and has much to look forward to. Her family has had a hard time since her father was in a car accident which left him paraplegic. Charnaye’s mother, a teacher, is the only wage-earner in the family and they’ve had a hard time managing their ranch and household expenses.

Although Charnaye is a good student, her time at school is riddled with anxiety. Hagen, a bully, is relentless in his jibes about her dream of competing in the Omak Stampede’s Suicide Race. True, girls usually don’t participate in this rugged competition. The races, held over a four-day period, are tough on horses and riders, to say nothing of the grueling training required. Many of the participants, including Charnaye, are Natives and the race traditionally has been a male-only event, although there have been women competitors, including her grandmother.

Charnaye also competes in archery. If she wins the competition in that, she might earn enough money to help pay household and medical expenses. But if she could win the big event, the Suicide Race, she could earn a big cash prize.

Charnaye is nearly overwhelmed as tension builds with her school work, end-of-year senior activities, cruel bullying tactics, and her looming competitions. And to top it off, her dream of competing in the Suicide Race is dependent on somehow acquiring a horse that is up to the task. Her own horse, though reliable, is not sturdy enough to participate in that grueling race.

Girl Warrior is highly suspenseful and loaded with Native folklore and interesting facts about the Suicide Race. The novel aptly describes the angst many teens experience as they are about to enter the adult world.

Book Review: Me Before You

Posted on July 2, 2018 by Mary

I loved Me Before You written by JoJo Moyes, an English journalist and romance novelist. I’m not usually a romance reader, yet I found Me Before You a fascinating love story, funny, surprising, sometimes tearful, and certainly thought provoking.

The story takes place in a small English village known for Stortford Castle, a well-known tourist attraction. Louisa Clark is, by most standards, eccentric. At 26, she has held the most menial jobs, the latest working in a café. But she loves serving customers. Her dress style is…flamboyant, not with any particular style. Let’s say she dresses with a style of her own. Although she comes from a loving, close-knit family, she is often the brunt of their jokes. Her younger sister has the “brains of the family” and is a university student. Her father’s employment situation is precarious and the family relies on Louise’s income.

Will Traynor comes from great wealth; in fact, his family owns Stortford Castle. He has much to show for his own achievements. Will loved life, had a successful business and was known for his dare-devil lifestyle. When, as a pedestrian, he is struck by a motorcycle, his injuries are severe and permanent. He is instantly a quadriplegic and must rely on others for his existence. His life is broken beyond repair and he is not compliant.

When the café where Louise works goes out of business, she is left without a job, a frightening possibility for her and her family. She goes to the employment office and interviews for a job caring for Will Traynor. Louisa and Will couldn’t have been more different. But as their lives intertwine, something unexpected happens.

When Louise learns that Will has shocking plans for his own life, she sets out to show him that life is worth living.

From Me Before You I learned a few things, too, about the world of a quadriplegic and all that it takes to sustain life. The novel is rich with English tradition and lifestyle, which I enjoy.

Book Review: Ordinary Magic

Posted on June 25, 2018 by Mary

Ordinary Magic: Promises I Kept My Mother Through Life, Illness, and a Very Long Walk by Cameron Powell is an inspiring memoir about the sometimes rocky love between a mother and her son. On the day Cameron’s marriage ends, he learns from his German-born mother, Inge, that her cancer has returned. Incredibly, Inge wants her son to join her on the 500-mile walk of Camino de Santiago, a pilgrimage known in English as the Way of Saint James, located in northwestern Spain.

The two, mother and son, are joined by Cameron’s young cousin, Carrie, fifteen, and friends who act as guides in the first part of the walk, Julio and later, Ann Marie. They begin their journey in Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port in France, near the border with Spain.

The memoir, written mostly through Cameron’s journal and also includes thoughts from Inge’s journal, shows grit and determination along the often grueling journey. Inge suffers from not only from the effects of cancer, but also from infected feet. Cameron, too, has leg problems. At times one or the other rides a distance, but mostly they stick to walking up steep hills, as difficult to climb as to descend, and across barren or rocky land. They also trek through breath-taking lush landscapes. Accommodations are often uncomfortable with several people, and their assortment of snores, sleeping in a single room. Food is sometimes questionable, but they usually find nourishment along the way.

The 35-day trek ends at Camino de Santiago with visits to the magnificent Santiago de Compostela Cathedral in Galacia, Spain.

Cameron and his mother’s journey continues after they return home and Inge goes into her final agonizing journey with cancer. Cameron serves as her loving caregiver.

Ordinary Magic is often humorous with wry comments about life in general, and this walk in particular. It also contains many words of wisdom about living life to the fullest, embracing new experiences, and accepting sadness as a natural part of life.

Book Review: Unraveling Oliver

Posted on June 18, 2018 by Mary

A psychological suspense, Unraveling Oliver by Liz Nugent, is a well-crafted novel told from several narrative points of view.

The story begins in Oliver Ryan’s voice. It’s 2011 in Dublin, Ireland. Oliver is a successful writer of award-winning children’s fantasy; his wife Alice illustrates his enormously popular books. The novel opens with Oliver contemplating his unconscious wife.

Subsequent chapters include other voices, people who make up the fabric of Oliver’s life. His childhood was a horror of neglect, anguish and envy. As various people come into his life, Oliver’s quiet rage and hate grow, providing a unique look at how a person might become a psychopath. Oliver is never likeable—the reader is always aware of his self-serving attitude—yet people are drawn to him, especially when he turns on his charm.

This suspense novel is not a whodunnit, but rather a whydunnit. Unraveling Oliver is a highly suspenseful, intricately woven story of a man who apparently has everything; that is, until his shocking secrets are unveiled.

Book Review: Before We Were Yours

Posted on June 11, 2018 by Mary

Lisa Wingate’s riveting novel, Before We Were Yours, is based on true facts but written from the viewpoint of fictitious characters.

In 1939, Rill Foss, age 12, lives what she believes an idyllic life aboard a shanty houseboat on the Mississippi River. They move as the seasons change. The family never has much money but they have love, adventure, and freedom. Rill’s father leaves her in charge of her four younger siblings while he takes her mother to the hospital to deliver twins. While he’s gone uniformed “officials” wrench the children from their home, ostensibly to see their parents.

The children’s lives become a series of terrifying incidents through the notorious Tennessee Children’s Home Society, a true entity, and under the direction of infamous Georgia Tann, director of the adoption agency.

Alternating chapters with Rill’s story, Avery Stafford, a present-day federal prosecutor born into wealth and privilege, has a chance encounter with an older woman. A bracelet and an old photograph compel Avery to investigate what turns out to be her family’s long-hidden history.

Before We Were Yours is compelling, though troubling. The vivid characters and settings are believable. Knowing that the corrupt Tennessee Children’s Home portion of the book is based on fact makes for a chilling read. I highly recommend this novel, but it is not for the faint of heart.

Malheur National Wildlife Refuge

Posted on June 4, 2018 by Mary

Over the past many years we have enjoyed visiting Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, located 32 miles south of Burns in the high desert country of southeastern Oregon. A mecca for birdwatchers and wildlife enthusiasts, Malheur is a crown jewel of the National Wildlife Refuge System.

Malheur National Wildlife Refuge was established on August 18, 1908, by President Theodore Roosevelt. The newly established “Lake Malheur Reservation” was the 19th of 51 wildlife refuges created by Roosevelt during his tenure as president. This large refuge now consists of 185,000 acres that include Malheur, Harvey and Mud Lakes, numerous ponds in the Blitzen Valley, alkali flats, towering rimrocks and sagebrush-covered hills.

One of the highlights of the refuge is a museum with nearly 200 mounted bird specimens, giving visitors a rare close-up view of the great diversify the area has to offer.

The 43-mile self-guided auto tour route offers wildlife observations and photography opportunities. It doesn’t take long to immerse yourself in this wilderness atmosphere and to witness a great abundance of life. The sharp call of the killdeer, the gentle quack of a cinnamon teal gathering her fuzzy offspring, and the heron’s motor-like throbbing take-off remind you whose home you’re visiting. The sometimes dank smell of the marsh and even the buzz of mosquitoes demonstrate the importance of an uninterrupted food chain, sometimes uncomfortable for humans but so necessary for wildlife survival.

In January, 2016 Malheur was closed when armed militants seized the headquarters and continued to occupy it until law enforcement made a final arrest in February. The militant organizers were seeking an opportunity to advance their view that the United States Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and other agencies are constitutionally required to turn over most of the federal public land they manage to individual states. Unfortunately, the take-over caused significant damage to tribal artifacts, safes were broken into with money, cameras and computers stolen, a new road was bulldozed, mutilating the surrounding area, and a boat launch was damaged when militants used the area for firearms training. After the occupation, Malheur continued its closure to ensure all explosives and dangerous materials were removed, to clean up the resulting mess, and to restore the grounds. After several months of closure, the refuge is now fully open and operational.

Besides birds and waterfowl, 58 mammal species presently reside within Malheur National Wildlife Refuge.

The Visitor Center is open Monday through Friday from 8:00 am to 4:00 pm and is staffed most weekends by volunteers.

If you’re in southeastern Oregon, be sure to take time to experience this special place.