Friday’s Fave Five

Posted on January 31, 2014 by Barbara Harper

Welcome to Friday’s Fave Five, hosted by Susanne at Living to Tell the Story, in which we can share five of our favorite things from the last week, a wonderful exercise in looking for and appreciating the good things God blesses us with. Click on the button to learn more, then go to Susanne’s to read others’ faves and link up your own.

I almost didn’t do a FFF today – I wasn’t sure if I would have time, at least not until later in the day. It was a strange and off-kilter week with a dentist appointment that I thought was for a cleaning turning out to be for a gingivectomy I had forgotten about, Jim’s mom’s caregiver’s accident, a distressing day for his mom with getting confused and disoriented – nothing “favorite” about it really stood out at first. But sometimes it’s that kind of week when it is most helpful to actively look for bright spots. So here are some faves from this week:

1. Safety on the roads. I mentioned yesterday that my mother-in-law’s caregiver left early when it snowed on Tuesday, and ended up in a ditch that had some boulders in it. Thankfully she wasn’t hurt, and her husband picked her up, with AAA advising her to leave the car there since it was off the road, and they’d get to it when they could. Then, after they left, another car went into the ditch behind her and crashed into her car from behind. 😦 I’m just thankful she wasn’t still in it waiting for her husband when that happened. Then Jesse and Jim made it home safely – I was especially concerned about Jesse since he hasn’t had much experience driving in the snow.

I know some folks from up North get amused at us Southerners about dealing with snow, but they just can’t invest in all the snow plows and such here when they would only need them once or twice a year. In fact, I saw this on Facebook:

Be patient. We only have one snow plow.

🙂 Seriously, though, snow is slippery, and we truly don’t have the resources the North has to take care of the roads, and most people here aren’t used to driving in it, so all of that combined creates driving hazards.

2. Warmth. It’s been another bitterly cold week, and I’m so glad for central heating and the power not going out and pipes not freezing.

3. Pizza. My favorite pizza is from a local place that my husband doesn’t care for, so one night this week when he had a dinner he had to attend, I splurged and got pizza.

4. Helpers. I also mentioned yesterday that Grandma’s caregiver being away for a day and a half made me appreciate her all the more, since it was the first time I had had to care for Grandma alone for that amount of time. I was praying the time would go smoothly, especially as she’d had a distressing evening before, and God graciously answered. Then our weekend helper got a full time job and therefore quit her weekend one, and the service we use has been searching for someone to replace her. They sent someone to fill in last weekend, but we were hoping we wouldn’t have several weekends of fill-ins – Jim didn’t want to spend every weekend showing someone new the ropes. But a new person just applied and was hired this week, and she has been out a couple of times to train with the regular caregiver, so hopefully she’ll work out and be a regular.

5. The end of January. Someone that seems like a giant leap toward spring.

Bonus: The ladies’ newsletter for church coming together, especially during a week when so much else was going on. It’s interesting when I get started and I’m not sure what to put in the different sections, and then somehow God lays different things on my heart, and it all falls together. God answers prayer even about newsletters and caregivers and smooth days after rough ones.

A long, odd day

Posted on January 30, 2014 by Barbara Harper

We got our share of the Polar Vortex this week. Not only has it gotten down to 1 degree at night, but Tuesday we got about 4 inches of snow. The odd thing was that snow has been forecast several times without our getting any, but this time, there was no snow on the weather app I check in the mornings, but it started coming down around 9:30 or 10 a.m. Grandma’s aide was nervous about driving home, so she left about 11 – and ran into a ditch with boulders in it on her way home. She wasn’t hurt, but the front of her car was smashed in. She called her husband to pick her up and called AAA to get the car, who told them to leave it and go on home, because it would be a while before they could get out to it. So they did, and in the meantime another car ran off into the ditch and crashed into her car from behind. I’m glad she wasn’t in it at the time.

I didn’t know any of this was going on until later. Meanwhile, I was home with Grandma for the longest stretch I had ever been before. I also fed her lunch for the first time ever, and thankfully that went well.

For months now she has not been very verbal: she’ll answer questions, say something here or there, sometimes talk a bit more, but then fall silent again. But Monday night she kept giggling as we got ready for bed (we never did figure out what was so funny) and woke up talking off and on through the night. Tuesday morning she was in rare form, talking up a storm and laughing. By lunchtime she kept asking me if I had seen her daughter lately. Her daughter lives in ID and we’re in TN, so, no, I hadn’t seen her. By midafternoon she was asking if I knew where Jim was and if he could take her home. I tried to explain that she lived here now and had for five months, but we kept having the same conversation over and over. Finally I just started saying that Jim wasn’t home yet. By evening, she was wanting Jim to take her to her daughter’s. Instead of trying to straighten her thinking, he just kept telling her that it was snowing outside, so we were going to sleep here tonight. But again her mind kept running along the same track: when we tried to put her to bed, we couldn’t get to the door before she was calling out for Jim. Finally he positioned her so she could see the TV and turned on The Waltons, hoping to get her mind going in a different direction.

When we changed her Wed. morning, she kept saying, “How did you find me?” Jim teased, “I knew where to look!” and she laughed, but she kept running on that track for a while. Once the night before she asked if I had seen a blue pickup, and I said, “No, who owns a blue pickup?” She said, “My husband!” Jim said the blue pickup was from a long time ago, and then when she started asking about relatives who had passed away a long time ago, he realized that in her mind she had forgotten about moving here and having been in SC before we moved here. She asked at one point how in the world she ended up in TN. He got out a scrapbook a granddaughter had made for her of a get-together they had right before she left ID, and he talked to her about that and how we moved her to SC to live near us and then we all moved to TN. She seemed to understand.

Her aide wasn’t going to come in at all on Wed. both because she thought the roads would be icy plus she needed to take care of the details with her car. I was ~~a little~~ antsy about spending the whole day alone with Grandma in light of the tracks of thought she kept getting stuck in the day before, but Wed. she was back to being mostly silent. She had been awake much more than usual for two days, but Wed. she slept most of the day. Jim and I have been scratching our heads trying to figure out what caused the difference for a day or two and what caused things to revert back again afterward. We have no idea!

I was glad to learn by experience that I could take care of Grandma alone if need be. I don’t think I could have when we first brought her home – I was too intimidated. Though I appreciated her aide anyway, I really appreciated her after she was gone for a day and a half! When I was alone with Grandma, even when was sleeping, there was almost a constant pressure to check on her and make sure she was doing ok, and it’s nice, when the aide is here, to be able let that go mentally.

Thankfully everyone else in the family was safe on the snowy roads: I was concerned about Jesse coming home from school since he’s not used to driving in the snow, but he was fine, although it took him over twice as long to make it and he said he did slide a few times.

It’s supposed to get into the high 40s Friday, which will be very welcome. I’m about ready for winter to be over.

Luther on Music

Posted on January 29, 2014 by Barbara Harper

Photo Courtesy of morguefile.com

This may seem totally random (this blog is called Stray Thoughts after all 🙂 ), but I came across a quote from Martin Luther about music, and that got me searching for what else he might have to say about music. I found these quotes but couldn’t find their source – if anyone knows, please do enlighten me.

Beautiful music is the art of the prophets that can calm the agitations of the soul; it is one of the most magnificent and delightful presents God has given us.

Next to the Word of God, the noble art of music is the greatest treasure in the world.

My heart, which is so full to overflowing, has often been solaced and refreshed by music when sick and weary.

You will find that from the beginning of the world [music] has been instilled and implanted in all creatures, individually and collectively. For nothing is without sound or harmony… Music is a gift and largesse of God, not a human gift. Praise through word and music is a sermon in sound.”

This was balm to my own heart as music minsters to me in a unique way. My husband and I have had many discussions about music in church. He prefers congregational singing, partly because he feels like he is participating. I enjoy congregational singing most of the time, but I have a hard time keeping my mind on the words. I “feel” (I hate to use that word but can’t think of a better one) more worshipful when listening to someone minister in music (what we sometimes call “special music,” but some object to that term). Arrangements for an individual or small group usually allow for more expressiveness in style than a congregational song, and the musician’s giftedness can enhance the message. For some reason I can fully focus on a song that someone else is singing or playing better than I can when I’m singing with others.

But either venue can and does glorify God and and ministers to our own hearts in the meantime. I am thankful to God for it and for those who minister in that way.

What’s On Your Nightstand: January 2014

Posted on January 28, 2014 by Barbara Harper

The folks at 5 Minutes For Books host What’s On Your Nightstand? the fourth Tuesday of each month in which we can share about the books we have been reading and/or plan to read.

Usually I anticipate the Nightstand posts and have them ready, but for some reason this month I completely forgot about it until I saw Nightstand posts listed on several of my friends’ blogs in my Feedly! So I’m going to whip this one together.

It has been a good month for reading!

Since last time I have completed:

Unglued: Making Wise Choices in the Midst of Raw Emotions by Lysa TerKeurst, reviewed here.

Jennifer: An O’Malley Love Story by Dee Henderson, short review here.

Unspoken by Dee Henderson, reviewed here.

The Blue Castle by L. M. Montgomery, reviewed here. for Carrie’s January selection for her Reading to Know Classics Book Club her L. M. Montgomery Reading Challenge.

Lost and Found by Ginny Yttrup, reviewed here.

The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place: Book IV: The Interrupted Tale by Maryrose Wood, short review here.

A Study in Scarlet, the first Sherlock Holmes book by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, audiobook, reviewed here.

The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy, audiobook, reviewed here.

A Tale of Two Cities, audiobook, by Charles Dickens for Carrie’s Reading to Know Book Club for December.

Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy by Eric Metaxas was finished months ago but I just reviewed it here.

Two devotional books I read through last year were A Quiet Place: Daily Devotional Readings by Nancy Leigh DeMoss and One Year Christian History by E. Michael and Sharon Rusten, both reviewed just briefly here.

I also listed my top ten books read in 2013 here.

I’m currently reading:

Made to Crave: Satisfying Your Deepest Desire With God, Not Food by Lisa TerKeurst along with a online Bible study using Made to Crave hosted by Proverbs 31 Ministries. I will probably post a general review of the book here when I finish it, but I’m blogging about the individual chapters on my I Corinthians 10:31 blog under the label Made to Crave study.

Walking From East to West: God in the Shadows by Ravi Zacharias

Crowded to Christ by L. E. Maxwell

Ida Scudder: Healing Bodies, Touching Hearts by Janet and Geoff Benge

Next up:

The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins. I’ve never read him before but he was a contemporary of Dickens and all reviews of this book are high.

Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder for my Laura Ingalls Wilder Reading Challenge (more on that below).

Other than that I am not sure, but it will be something from the book challenges I am participating in here and here. Those challenges are really spurring me on!

I invite you to participate in the Laura Ingalls Wilder Reading Challenge which runs through February, where we read books by or about or somehow related to LIW. I’ll have a post up Feb 1. where you can share what you plan to read and check out what others are reading.

Happy reading!

Book Review: The Scarlet Pimpernel

Posted on January 27, 2014 by Barbara Harper

The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy is the forerunner of the heroes with a secret identity genre, at least according to Wikipedia. It was originally published as a play in 1903, then as a novel in 1905.

A scarlet pimpernel is a small red flower in England, and it’s also adopted as the name and sign of an English man who dons different disguises to help rescue those slated for the guillotine in France during the Reign of Terror of the French Revolution in 1792. He is rumored to have 19 men under his command, and his exploits have made him the talk of England, with everyone wondering about his true identity.

Citizen Chauvelin is an agent who has come from France specifically to find out the identity of the Scarlet Pimpernel and to stop him. He calls on an old friend, Lady Marguerite Blakeney, a Frenchwoman married to the very rich but very foppish English Sir Percy Blakeney. Chauvelin is convinced that in the circles in which Marguerite moves, she is sure to hear something that might be helpful to him. To ensure her cooperation, he threatens the safety of her brother with papers that show that he is in league with the Scarlet Pimpernel and therefore in danger of his life.

Marguerite wrestles with her conscience: she is as enamored of the Scarlet Pimpernel as everyone else and does not want to be the downfall of a brave man. Though she is French, she feels her countrymen have gone way too far in the Revolution. On the other hand, her she loves her brother dearly, and he is her only remaining family member.

She considers turning to her husband for help, but they have been estranged since the first days of their marriage, although they put up a good front for everyone else. Marguerite had once spoken out against the Marquis de St. Cyr, unwittingly causing him to be arrested and sent to the guillotine. Her husband can’t forgive her for that and doesn’t trust her. Besides, he’s slow, lazy, and dimwitted, so she doesn’t feel she can confide in him.

I’ll leave the plot there so as not to spoil it. I wouldn’t say Baroness Orczy is the best writer – there are places in the book that are tedious, other places a bit overwrought – but this is certainly an exciting book, with intrigue, suspense, danger, and everything we love about heroes in disguise.

I first came across this story years ago as a film starring Jane Seymour and Anthony Andrews (and a young Ian McKellen [Gandalf] as Chauvelin), which I loved. There is a good bit more swashbuckling and derring-do in the film than in the book, and the film shows the audience who the Scarlet Pimpernel is right off the bat, whereas the book slowly unfolds it. The film is based not only on the book The Scarlet Pimpernel but also Eldorado (which I haven’t read), which includes more about Marguerite’s brother and the rescue of the captive Dauphin. Many of the details are changed or in a different order, but they did keep the overall story arc the same, and they especially captured the angst of Marguerite and Percy’s love for each other that they each keep hidden at first because of their misunderstandings.

For those who would want to know, there is smattering of “damns” and “dems” and “demmed.” There are also what I did not recognize as minced oaths, but when I looked them up I saw that they were. I wish those weren’t there. But otherwise this is a fun story.

I listened to the audiobook read by a Mary Sarah, who was not the best narrator, but the book was still enjoyable.

(This will also be linked to Semicolon‘s Saturday Review of Books.)

This also completes one of my requirements for the Back to the Classics Challenge hosted by Karen at Books and Chocolate.

Laudable Linkage and Videos

Posted on January 25, 2014 by Barbara Harper

Here are just a few good reads from the past week, with more commentary than usual:

A Tale of Two Comparisons. Most times we get into trouble when we compare ourselves with others, and the Bible warns against the wrong kinds of comparisons that provoke jealousy, envy, discouragement, or discontent. But we can do so in a way that spurs us on to grow and to follow them as they follow Christ.

7 Do’s and Don’ts of Welcoming People to Your Congregation.

Gary Thomas’ ‘Sacred Marriage’: Not the Last Word on Marriage, HT to Challies. I kept thinking “Yes!” as I read through this. The author takes issue with the premise “What if God designed marriage to make us holy more than to make us happy?” by pointing out that marriage was created before the fall and its purpose is primarily companionship rather than sanctification (although God can use it in our sanctification, but I have read so many “holy, not happy” posts about marriage that if I weren’t married and read those things, I’d be discouraged from ever getting married, because they made it sound so dreary.)

Let Your Husband Love You, HT to Challies. “I get it. The kids have been climbing on you all day…you’re sick of being clawed at, sucked on, licked, punched, kicked, pulled, snotted on, cried on, spit up on, pooped on, and peed on….I know you don’t want to be touched and for some reason, an innocent compliment can offend you. But…” Excellent. She also responds here to some of the feedback she got from her post.

My friend Lou Ann has been conducting a survey of singles and shares some results of it in The Singles Survey: Introduction and Part 2. Very important. We so often unwittingly wound our single friends..

And here are a couple of short videos that made me smile:

Shared by my son, a little girl meets her father’s twin brother for the first time and gets confused. The look on her face is priceless.

And I clicked on this after looking at one The Story Warren shared about a camera shaped like an egg in a penguin colony. That was pretty neat, but this one was funny:

Have a great Saturday!

Friday’s Fave Five

Posted on January 24, 2014 by Barbara Harper

Another Friday, another opportunity to look back over the blessings of the last week. Here are a few of mine:

1. A gender reveal party to find out what our new grandchild is going to be. A friend of my son and daughter-in-law made this adorable cake:

The filling inside would be pink or blue, indicating girl or boy. And, it’s going to be…

A boy! I think all of us were thinking girl for some reason, so we’ve had to adjust our thinking. We got to see the latest ultrasound pictures and we’re very much looking forward to meeting this little guy in a few months!

2. Flowers. My daughter-in-law’s mom was here this last weekend and brought some flowers when she came for the gender-reveal party. I thought they were pretty but didn’t look at them too closely because I was getting things ready for the party. Then one day this week I walked by and caught a whiff of carnation, probably my favorite floral smell. Most flowers make me sneezy and sniffle if I smell much of them, but not carnations. And pink ones even! Having flowers in the house in January, especially, brightens up winter days.

3. A new car for my oldest son. He’s had his car for over 10 years and was saving up to replace it next year, but the car has been having one problem after another, has broken down and had to be towed several times just in the last few months, and he finally decided not to put any more money into fixing it. He and my husband and a friend did a lot of car shopping online and in both our towns, and he finally found one he likes and can afford with a high reliability rating. That’s such a big relief.

4. A call from a dear friend of 30+ years. It’s so good to touch base and catch up with each other.

5. Glad for things that didn’t happen. It has been bitterly cold this week, but thankfully no precipitation to make driving treacherous and no broken pipes. And they say these hard freezes kill off some of the bug population, so I’m happy there will be that fringe benefit this spring and summer. 🙂

Happy Friday!

Book Review: The Blue Castle

Posted on January 23, 2014 by Barbara Harper

Carrie chose as the January selection for her Reading to Know Classics Book Club The Blue Castle by Lucy Maud Montgomery of (Anne of Green Gables fame), which dovetails nicely with her L. M. Montgomery Reading Challenge also held in January. This book is one of the few LMM wrote for adults and the only one set totally outside Prince Edward Island. It was originally published in 1926.

The Blue Castle opens with a very depressed Valancy Stirling. It’s her 29th birthday, and she has no friends, has never had a boyfriend or anyone even remotely interested in being one, and she is surrounded by a large and eccentric family, including a domineering mother who goes into “fits” of silent treatment over the slightest perceived violation of her wishes. Her actions are hemmed in by what her gossipy clan would say and whether her uncle might cut her out of his will if she displeases him. With no hope of anything ever changing for the rest of her life, no wonder she’s depressed.

She gets just a bit of a respite by reading books primarily about nature by author John Foster (when her mother will let her), but usually she escapes to her blue castle, the place in her daydreams where she’s beautiful and pursued by handsome princes.

This 29th birthday isn’t helped by the fact that it is raining relentlessly, but that at least saves her from the anniversary picnic of her aunt and uncle. She has been having occasional pains in her chest, and she chooses this day to sneak out to a local doctor (not the family-approved one) to see about it. The doctor is called away on a family emergency just after her exam, but he writes her to tell her that she has angina, probably only has a year to live, and should avoid stress and strain. Thus changes everything for Valancy. No longer does she have to worry about being cut out of anyone’s will or following the same dreary, monotonous routine for the rest of her life. She begins saying exactly what she thinks and doing exactly what she wants, to the point that her family thinks she is losing her mind. Then when poor disgraced Cissy Gay, daughter of the town drunk, is dying, Valancy scandalizes her family by going to live with them to be a housekeeper, cook, nurse, and companion to Cissy. Worse, she takes up with that Barney Snaith, whom everyone is convinced has a sordid past.

When Cissy dies, Valancy does not want to return home, so she proposes to Barney Snaith, telling him she only has a year to live. She loves him but does not expect him to love her. He takes her up on her offer, and they move to his island, which reminds Valancy very much of her blue castle.

They spend the next year exploring the island, getting to know one another, and being very happy. The writing here sounds more like the LMM I know and love, with her descriptions of nature and their wanderings and their happiness at home.

Then, when a year is about up….well, I won’t spoil the story for you. 🙂 Let’s just say it takes an unexpected twist.

I had a hard time liking the book at first. The first part was so depressing, and then when Valancy started to assert herself, she went overboard (though that’s not entirely surprising considering how long and severely she was repressed). But somewhere during the time she went to take care of Cissy and then her marriage I started enjoying it more, and I really liked how it ended. I did guess who Barney really was earlier in the book, but his family connections totally surprised me.

There almost seems to be an anti-religious tone in the book, as all the Stirlings are upstanding church members despite their gossip and harshness (even their minister is harsh and judgmental), but Valancy does tell Roaring Able (Cissy’s father) that there are good people in both their churches, and she does find a little church back in the woods whose pastor is simple and sincere and interested in ministering to people. I’d disagree with Barney that their happy life on the island was “what it must be like to be born again,” at least not in the Biblical sense, but he probably meant it along the lines of springtime renewal.

Thanks, Carrie is for choosing this book for the Classics Book Club! I don’t know when I would have come across it otherwise.

(This will also be linked to Semicolon‘s Saturday Review of Books.)

This also completes one of my requirements for the Back to the Classics Challenge hosted by Karen at Books and Chocolate.

Made to Crave Bible Study

Posted on January 22, 2014 by Barbara Harper

Some months ago I saw that Made to Crave: Satisfying Your Deepest Desire With God, Not Food by Lisa TerKeurst was free or only a couple of dollars for Kindle apps at the time. I had seen many around the Internet say good things about it, so I bought it, and it lay languishing with all my other Kindle purchases. 🙂 But I saw a note on my friend Kim’s blog that the Proverbs 31 Ministries was hosting a Bible study using Made to Crave beginning this week, so I signed up for it as a way to motivate myself to get into the book.

Several years ago I started a different blog, I Corinthians 10:31, to deal with weight loss issues because I didn’t want that subject to take over here. I decided to post my thoughts or things that stood out to me in each chapter of Made To Crave over there, again, so it doesn’t take up so much space here (we’re doing three chapters this first week; I don’t know if we’ll keep that pace throughout). I will probably post a general review of the book here when I finish it, but if you’re interested in following along with the individual chapters, they’re there under the label Made to Crave study.

I don’t think it’s too late to join in the online Made to Crave study at Proverbs 31 Ministries if anyone is interested – we’re only on the second chapter today. I’m not sure if I will stay with the study there, as there is a little more hoopla than I like, but I know some people go for that. The “extras” – Twitter parties and such – are not required to participate in the study: they’re just there for people who want those extras. But whether I continue with that particular venue or not, I will continue with the book and jotting notes on each chapter at I Corinthians 10:31.

Book Review: A Study in Scarlet

Posted on January 21, 2014 by Barbara Harper

Some years ago in another town, the local radio station would play classic radio programs on Friday nights, and occasionally some of these would be Sherlock Holmes stories. I enjoyed them, but I was never inclined to read any of the books about him. However, over the past few years we’ve seen several film and TV adaptions or shows loosely based on the Holmes’ character, and I was curious to find out what the “real” (or maybe I should say original) Sherlock Holmes was all about.

A Study in Scarlet is the first Sherlock Holmes book written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. It was first published in a magazine, and it’s one of the few Sherlock Holmes stories to be made into a full length book: the rest are short stories.

The book is told from Dr. John Watson’s point of view and opens with his coming back to England to recover after being wounded as an army doctor in Afghanistan. He runs into an old friend and, after sharing that he is looking for someone to share living quarters and expenses, the friend introduces him to Sherlock Holmes, who is looking for a roommate. The friend forewarns Watson that Holmes is a bit eccentric, but Watson feels he can get along with him well enough.

Upon their first meeting Holmes tells Watson he perceives he has been in Afghanistan, but doesn’t explain how he came to that conclusion yet. The two move into 221B Baker Street, and as they get to one another, Watson discovers that Holmes knows very little about literature, astronomy, politics, and other subjects, but knows a great deal about chemistry and sensational literature and a bit about geology and botany. Holmes feels he only has so much room in his brain and only wants to put into it what will help him in his craft. Watson can’t quite figure out what Holmes does for a living until Holmes reveals he is a consulting detective. Watson doubts Holmes abilities until Holmes tells him all about a telegram deliverer by observation, and Watson has the opportunity to question the messenger about Holmes’s speculations which are, of course, correct. Watson then becomes Holmes’ biggest fan.

The telegraph Holmes receives concerns a case in which his opinion is wanted. Holmes invites Watson to come along to meet Inspectors Gregson and Lestrade at an abandoned house where a male corpse has been found. There is a bit of competition between Holmes, Gregson, and Lestrade, but of course Holmes notices clues and makes deductions that the others miss.

Just when Holmes has identified the killer (but hasn’t yet explained how he did so), the story abruptly shifts to a desert scene in America where the only two people left in a caravan, an older man and a young girl, are about to die from hunger and thirst. At first I thought maybe this was a book of short stories after all and this was the next story, but after a while characters pop up with the same names of some of the characters in the first part. The man and girl are rescued by a caravan of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) who are traveling to Salt Lake City, and they invite them to come along on the condition that they adopt the Mormon religion. Not having much choice, they do so, and the man, John Ferrier, adopts the girl, Lucy. Lucy grows and Ferrier prospers until Lucy falls in love with a man who works in nearby mines. The man in not a Mormon, though, and Brigham Young tells Ferrier that this is against Mormon rules and he has thirty days for Lucy to chose one of two other men, or something dire will happen. Each day a number is painted somewhere on Ferrier’s property, counting down to the 30 days.

Though at first I resented this time away from Holmes and Watson, the story about Lucy did get interesting and suspenseful. I won’t ruin it by telling what happened except to say that it does connect with the corpse in London that Holmes is investigating.

Then the story shifts back to Watson’s retelling of the arrest of the killer, his confession and his side of the story, and Holmes’ explanation for how he found him out.

I very much enjoyed this adventure with Sherlock Holmes and will probably delve into some of his other stories in the future. I listened to this story via an audiobook read very nicely by actor Derek Jacobi.

(This will also be linked to Semicolon‘s Saturday Review of Books.)

This also completes one of my requirements for the Back to the Classics Challenge hosted by Karen at Books and Chocolate.