Funniest novel of the year

 The Wilder Widows
by Katherine Hastings

If you throw logic, reason, and believability to the wind, you can produce a whomping good novel. This one.  A newly widowed lady is lost and bewildered by her status in life--she has money, freedom and independence and not a clue what to do with it. Then a trio of neighbor widows come knocking on her door and ask her to join in the Widows Club of Wilder Lane. Ii made up that name) but it is true they all live on Wilder Lane and form a club of sorts. And off they go--to a friendly companionship based on afternoon get-togethers and knitting lessons.

Not for long, since three of the four of them hate knitting. Instead they get roaringly, deliciously drunk and decide to live out their wildest fantasies.

It's a hoot. With a lot of hooties, too.

No more travel so back to books...about travel

Don't Eat the Puffin:
Tales From a Travel Writer's Life
by Jules Brown

I'm very conflicted about how to review this. If I were traveling or spending a holiday at someone's house, and I needed a light, easy-to-pick-up, easy-to-put-down book to carry with, this would be perfect. The chapters are short, each dealing with the author's trip to a different destination. They are very amusing and sometimes very funny. But....

You knew there had to be a but coming, didn't you?  But I went ahead and reserved the sequel to this book before starting the first one. I was taking a trip and needed to fill up my Kindle with books before I left the home WiFi. So now I've finished the first book and am ready to start the sequel, but I'm not sure that I want to. The first one,  while amusing, just didn't grip me and drag me in like I hoped.

Later note: turns out, the sequel I thought I'd reserved was not one and wasn't even by the same author. So, I'm saved.

Mammoth Doesn't Go to Hawaii Day 8, 9 and return

Sunday 8/15 and Monday 8/15 (seem to have lost a day again)

We had a predictably boring and inexpensive McDonald's breakfast. Yahoo. And then headed out for our big tour of the Waimia Canyon, supposed to rival the Grand Canyon in grandeur.

Nope. And it was crowded and grew more crowded as the drive went on.  The views were indeed pretty awesome, and if you'd hiked the trails and gradually experienced the unfolding of the canyon expanse as you climbed ever higher, it might have been quite an experience. But just to drive up, marvel a minute, climb over all the other people to snap a selfie...not worth it.

After our drive, we planned to go swimming in the condo's lovely pool, but never managed it. It was cloudy and a little chilly that day. Instead we took a short walk around the neighborhood and ended up finding "Baby Beach", one that I'd seen in the guidebook as okay for snorkeling. It didn't look all that great, though, and probably even less protected from the waves as the one nearer the hotel.

But dinner was good. We cleaned out the last of the poke in a little grocery store's deli counter, and dined quite well on it. I made a cucumber salad out of the leftovers from a few days earlier, but only after I put olive oil and cheap balsalmic vinegar on it did I remember my leftover ranch dressing. I put that on, too. Yummy and fattening.

Some random fruit

Baby beach and some flowers

Tuesday 8/16
Was leaving day, and we were a little at odds about what to do and where to go. One place we had to go for sure--Ed's hat was missing and he was pretty sure he left it at Daddy-O's restaurant on Sunday. They were closed on Monday, so I couldn't check, and on Tuesday morning when I started calling they never answered their phone. So we packed up and headed back there.

And yay-oh-hey--there it was!  Hat in hand, we went to a different place for breakfast. It wasn't all that good, either, and certainly not worth the half-hour wait. We both had a "fish omelet," which was okay, white rice, a morsel of soy sauce (aside: what's the point of "giving" you soy sauce if you are going to waste a plastic container and only put a half teaspoon in it?  How much would it really cost them just to put a bottle on the table? For crying out loud!)

The waitress tried to be nice, but she kept trying to upsell me a half papaya. When she originally offered it, I said, "Well, I love papaya but how much does it cost?" she didn't answer, so I shook my head,.  You think she'd get the hint, but later as she was taking one past our table, she stopped to show it to me?  If there had been a language issue, I'd have thought she thought I was asking "what does it look like?" rather than "what does it cost?"  Not likely.

After that there was nothing to do but kill time until the plane left. We blew some bucks at a little clothing shop in Lihue. The lady there was really nice and gave us the key to the restroom, so we didn't begrudge the expense.

 

Returning the car at Avis in the airport was a nightmare. There was absolutely no signage or directional arrows telling you where to turn or what to do. Luckily, it wasn't all that big a place. We stopped and asked, but even after being told where to go we couldn't figure it out.

It turned out that the problem was that they were overloaded with so many returns that the lots were full up and overflowing everywhere. We did eventually get a helpful lady who could check us in.

The airport was tiny, of course, and we had no problem getting to our gate. it was so crowded that we ended up sitting a couple of gates further down, where Ed drank an enormous Starbucks Calorio-chino and I played on my computer. Then we took a walk.

Bye!

The flight was, unfortunately, delayed by about half an hour. My original ticket had about 1-1/2 hours layover in LAX. Plenty of time to get from anywhere to anywhere in your typical airport. But after a flight change or two (not by our request!) and the delay, we ended up arriving at Terminal 4 with about three minutes to make a thirteen minute walk along an underground passageway to Terminal 5.  We hoofed it, and ended up at Terminal 5 just as they started boarding the group a couple of numbers before ours. We had time to visit the restroom and that was all.

No meal on this fight, either. American's "Airbus" flights used for trips under about six hours do not include a meal. We had some beef jerky sticks and trail mix in our backpacks and that was about it.

We arrived on time, more or less, and so hungry that we stopped at McDonald's on the way home. Whew.

Good trip, but it could have been better. I should have booked a boat trip or two. But still good.

Mammoth Doesn't Go to Hawaii Day 6 and 7

 
Saturday 8/13 Day 6

Knowing we had to pack up and leave our north shore condo to go to a condo down south, we were unable to settle down and do much of anything. We did a do-over of The Spot for breakfast and it was better than the time before. I was going to get a different meal from before, but after looking over the menu several times during our half-hour wait in line, I decided on the same. This time the rice wasn't crunchy and the bowl was a little better put together.  All I could have wished was a little more spiciness and a lot more avocado.

Goodbye, North Shore!

x

Then we basically did nothing but pack up and leave.The drive took about an hour-and-a-half, circling the eastern edge of the island, and we ended up at a condo that looked like an old-timey motel converted into luxury apartments.  It was pretty decent looking on the outside--not new but very well kept up. It was about four stories tall, rectangular, with a row of rooms facing a park and another row facing the parking lot, pool, and the hotel complex next door. Luckily our room was on the park side and our little balcony had a sideways view of the ocean at one end.

The remodelers had gone all out with the decor and I had nothing to complain about except for the mirrors! Horrible!  Three entire walls were mirrored, and the fourth one would have been if there was any way to make a sliding glass door into a mirror. If I lived there I would remove all of those stupid mirrors and put in some nice, restful wallpaper decorated by pictures. Who wants to look at themselves in a mirror all day and all night long?

Luckily we got used to them quickly. And one had to admit, the rest of the decor was nice. There was really only one room with an interior wall protruding halfway to divide the space into a kitchenette on one side and a sink/closet on the other.  The rest of the space contained a king-sized bed and a tiny dining table, with an extremely tiny television screen on the top of the wall in a corner.  Nice use of space, but hopelessly cramped after our lovely little condo up north.

Nice landscaping

When we were settled in, we took a walk to check out the snorkeling beaches. Just across the street from the hotel beside our condo, there was a tiny, rocky beach with lots of people crammed into the space. We may have actually tried snorkeling that day; I don't remember. But probably not.

And I have no record of what we ate for supper. Odd. Oh, wait--we had pizza!  Very good and very overpriced pizza from a delightful little place a 20-minute drive to the west of our condo. Great ranch dressing for my salad, too.

 

Sunday

An avid search of the guidebook and google maps turned up a paucity of breakfast places on the south side of the island. Most seemed to be attached to golf courses or resorts, and the prices turned me away. We ended up driving all the way back to Lihue (only 20 minutes, this time) to eat at Daddy O's.

It was just your basic boring American breakfast. Nothing to recommend but nothing to complain about.

And then, I think, we went snorkeling at the hotel beach. It was rough getting in the water--waves would knock you off your feet if you weren't well anchored, and sitting down in the sand was impossible--you'd be putting on your fins and suddenly the waves would catch you unaware and next thing you know your bottom would have scooted up ten feet along a sandy shore and your buns were bouncing off rocks. Then the powerful suck would take you back again.

But once I got in, I immediately found some great fish!  All over, really. If a person was a confident swimmer and dared to go out closer to the rocks that protected the little bay, the waves wouldn't be so bad and the snorkeling was excellent. I didn't really dare, though, and a couple of times I found the current taking me places where I didn't want to go.  At first I stuck close to Ed, and that was good, but soon I lost contact with him and got cold feet, so to speak.

And cold hands, and nose, and fingers and toes. I was freezing!  after a little bit of good snorkeling, I came back out and found my hair had gotten caught up in the straps of my mask. That took a good ten minutes to untangle, and then I tried to go in again. but I'd lost my energy and only fought the waves for a little while before I realized I wasn't having fun anymore and gave up.

For supper, after reviewing and rejecting the few affordable options, I settled on a fairly pricey seafood restaurant--Keoki's Paradise.  It was trying very hard to be a trendy, gourmet kind of experience, but it failed.   it made me think the owner watched too many Top Chef episodes on Food Network and tried to make his cooks duplicate the experience.

They did at least have fresh local fish, of varieties that a native Hawaiian would probably recognize. I didn't, of course. And it wasn't overcooked, at least. But the preparation was bland and boring, and the accompanying vegetables kind of blah, too. I mean, I love me my veggies, but these did not go down with delight.

I guess if you "dined" with appetizer, wine and dessert, you might have enjoyed the experience. But the food would still have been so-so.

Mammoth Doesn't Go to Hawaii Day 5

 Friday 8/12

Having finally got it through our heads that we weren't going to find any better snorkeling beach than the one right beside the condo, that was our destination for the day. The trick, we decided, was to go early in the morning. The waves should be calmer then and the water clearer.

And they were! We had a great time snorkeling. I don't know that I ever saw anything exceptional, but I did see a lot of little fishes.

After we came in, probably around noon because the water was getting rough by then, we went to look at this place called "tunnels beach" which is supposed to the prime snorkeling spot on the island. But we could never get there--you would have had to park a long way away and then walk back to it and, not knowing exactly where it was, we gave up. We didn't have the snorkeling gear with us anyway.

I got in half of a jog--down to see Poseidon. I had to walk back, though.

For dinner I decided that I was tired of paying way too much money to eat poorly (or at least, not so greatly) prepared food. So dinner was going to be Foodland again--we chose a couple of tubs of poke and one little package of sushi, and I treated myself to one of their rather peculiar salads again. It consisted of stems, mostly--maybe bean sprouts?  I don't remember, but it was pretty good.  And the poke was excellent!

Mammoth Doesn't Go to Hawaii Day 4

 Thursday 8/11  Day 4

I'd made a 10:30 appointment to see the lighthouse and red-footed boobies that nest in the overhanging rocks. There were also tons of Wedge-Tailed Shearwater, nesting right under our feet beside the walk up to the lighthouse. It appears that Shearwater lay and hatch their eggs, then leave the chicks to sleep while they hunt all day. People were walking so close to the holes that they could reach in and touch the downy fluff of sleeping chicks, but most people didn't seem to notice them at all.

After that we went to see a somewhat disappointing waterfall. I don't remember what happened after that, but I do have a note that we ate halfway decent Mexican food at Monicos Taqueria. I'd been looking at restaurant reviews and noticed that this one had a remark, "We're from Texas, and we didn't think we'd find decent Mexican food in Hawaii."

 

Oddly enough, it was pretty good. No complementary chips and salsa, though. I had spinach enchiladas that weren't really any better than what I could make myself, at home, but they were very edible. And Ed's relleno was well prepared. We left the restaurant feeling just a little hungry, but that's okay--we had plenty of snacks back home.

Mammoth Doesn't Go to Hawaii Day 3

 Wednesday 8/10

This time we tried a breakfast spot called Saenz Ohana, and again had to wait in line to order. And again we took our food back to the condo to eat at the table in our lovely little lanai.  After all, why pay $3 for coffee when you have home-brewed coffee right there at the condo?

I don't remember liking or disliking it--I think I had a very large veggie burrito. It was good, but what they called a tortilla, I call a "wrap". A tortilla is soft, tastes like bread, and has a texture that is just a bit flaky. These wrap things were like edible plastic.  But the innards were good.

After that we went to Walmart to do shopping for teeshirts and gifts. We'd looked at the teeshirts in the gift shops at the little shopping area where the breakfast place was, and they were expensive and never seemed to have the right sizes. I really wanted a tee shirt with a picture of a rooster and the legend, Hawaii's State bird and Alarm Clock, but the only color shirt they had in my size was a darkish brown. It was pretty, but I'd never wear it.

So at Walmart we found the exact same shirts and many more, with all sorts of fancy Hawaii and Kauia designs on them. Ed bought seven or eight of them. I bought a welcome mat and one tee-shirt. (Hey--we don't go shopping much!)

So...here is where I totally lose track of the days and have to make stuff up. I think this was the day we tried snorkeling at our beach. I got in at the beach; Ed from the rocks. They were just too choppy and scary for me. But even at the beach I never got out far enough to enjoy it.

Later we went to check out a snorkeling beach that sounded good on reviews, but turned out to be a swimming  beach instead. So we swam. Actually, Ed swam--I just puddled around on the edge. It was beautiful and the waters very calm, for Hawaii.  After this I think we went back and swam in the pool for a bit, then turned our thoughts to supper.

After paying way too much for overcooked fish the day before, we decided to dine in house on salad, poke and sushi purchased at the Foodland deli counter. We bought way too much, but it was very, very good.  I didn't look at the receipt, but for what we got, it was ten times better than what we'd have paid at a restaurant. Yum!

Mammoth Doesn't Go to Hawaii Day 2

 Tuesday 8/9/22

The condo was on a corner of a high cliff with all the beautiful ocean at its feet. It was magical--windows on the bedroom and two corners of the living room looked out over a perfect ocean view, and the little Lanai felt like it was perched on the top of the world. There were a few palm trees scattered here and there, but mostly the world was wide open, with closely mown grass underfoot that rounded off rapidly onto a steep bank overgrown with low, closely matted bushes.  It looked like you could easily climb down--until you looked twice and saw how tangly the undergrowth could be.

I had complained about the lack of air conditioning, but really, we didn't need it. The wind blew constantly (we were on the windward side of the island) and kept us cool. I had to wear a hoodie in the mornings.  Every time we arrived back at the condo, we opened up all the windows and were breezy cool.  At night I aimed the floor fan at Ed and he seemed to have no trouble sleeping. I slept like a log, deliciously.

 There weren't a lot of sea birds to enjoy, but there were a few frigatebirds and white-tailed tropicbirds sailing around the cliffs. On the ground, a handful of chestnut munia came to visit us every morning along with the eternal chickens, Hawaii's alarm clock. On the first morning we were visited by Nene!!!  The Hawaiian native goose. They were nearly wiped out on Oahu and the big island by mongoose and feral cats, but they'd recently been introduced to Kawai (no mongoose here!) and were thriving. We saw them every day, especially on the golf courses.   Lovely little things, smaller than a Canada Goose and a lot quieter.

The guidebook recommended a breakfast place called The Spot, so we stood in line and got our food there. It wasn't a super long line, but it was the first of many, many lines we would stand in for the duration. But we were still on mainland time, so we both got up early and were there, waiting, when they opened at eight.

It was pretty good, too.  Not the fried rice I'd hoped for in Hawaii, but a bowl of brown rice with eggs, veggies, and avocado. the rice was a little crunchy, but overall it was nicely tasty.  A couple of chopped jalapenos would have made it better.

Walk to beach--wow. The beach trail was more of a steep climb down a jungle cliff. First you went down, then hiked a bit, then down to a building that was probably utility shed of some sort, then down through a jungle forest with distracting birds all over, then straight, then down some more, and at last scrambling across a rocky shelf at the bottom of the cliff...you arrived at a lovely little beach. The sand was freakishly coarse--it reminded me of Kosher salt with a brownish tint. There were only a few people there, but as we sat around for a rest before the climb back up, a couple of spear fishers came and put on their gear.

 

The little beach was somewhat protected by a reef (is that what they call it?) of rocks that were breaking the big waves and only letting the little ones in. I can't judge distance but I'd say the swim to the rocks would be easy-breezy for a good swimmer. Impossible for me, of course. But it probably never got deep enough that you couldn't have stood up anywhere--until a wave knocked you over.

We decided to try it anyway, but to launch off the rocks because Ed didn't want to get sand in his shorts. Next day.

Then we drove to Foodland, again, and hit a farmer's market down the road. We ate some really good shaved ice + ice cream at JoJo's.  The recipe was simple, but the results were splendid--a scoop of macadamia nut ice cream on the bottom, a mound of shaved ice with artificial flavoring syrup on top, and a "whitecap" of kahlua cream.

Then we had a not so great dinner at the Dolphin Restaurant--the poke appetizer was okay, nothing special, but the grilled fish was overcooked and dry. There is no excuse for a $30 serving of fresh fish to be dry. When we got the bill, we found that they accidentally put a sushi roll charge on it. Accident or error, I don't know, but a real bummer.  All this occurred after arriving a little after five, getting on a waiting list which they didn't even start processing until 5:30, then still waiting fifteen minutes more to be seated. It was not a dinner to remember.

Mammoth doesn't go to Hawaii

Monday 8/8/2022

This is not a tale of Travels with Mammoth Motorhome--in fact, poor Mammoth doesn't figure into it at all. We left it all behind.

We're in the airport waiting for the plane. Not crowded at all when we arrived--at 8:30 or so--but now it's getting awfully busy.  The flight boards at 11:05 and leaves at 11:50.

This trip was long anticipated, but at many times during the last week I was ready to call it all off. Leaving the house with malfunctioning air conditioning, for one, the dogs in boarding hell, for another. And the cats and the kids and the noise...oh, wait. Leaving the noise is a bonus.

LATER

Very long day. The plane trips were relatively painless, with a fearful few moments when we arrived in Honolulu with no idea where our gate was and no boarding passes to get on the plane. Ed finally ducked in a "Hawaiian's club" where some nice person looked up the gate and printed the passes. Very kind of them, and especially useful because our flight number had changed from what was issued with the tickets.  I don't know how they figured that out.

Didn't go here, but should have -->

We shouldn't have been so worried--the airport isn't all that large--but none of the ticket counters seemed manned. Maybe if we'd walked all the way to the security entrance we would have seen the kiosks and been able to self-serve.

But our car reservation was a pain. I'd originally expected to pick it up at about 5:30 so I'd reserved it for 5. With the flight change, we didn't get there in time. Picking up our luggage was remarkably fast, but by the time we got to the car rental it was after 6 and Avis, Budget, and some other rental companies had combined their "after hours" service into one, very overloaded, service counter. There were only two people working there for a line of 25 customers. Many of whom appeared not to have a reservation.

By the time we waited in line--interminably--got our car and got on the road, we started looking for fast food places to get dinner in. Passing up a Burger Kind near the airport, we headed to Princeville. Princeville, where our condo was, and fast food...well...there aren't any. There were two Subways, both of which closed at 8:00 or earlier. It was 8:30 and the whole town had pretty much rolled up its sidewalks and gone to bed.

There was absolutely NO food to be had.  It was either (a) drive back to the airport, about 30 minutes away, for McDonalds or Burger King, or (b) stop at the Foodland Grocery and see what they had left in their deli case.  We chose (b). They actually had a good bit of food there. The fried chicken looked old and the poke, sushi and fresh salads in the counter looked scary, but they had a good assortment of pre-packaged sandwiches to choose from. I had a vegan salad bowl with grain and some chunks of brown stuff; Ed had a roast beef sub. And chips. Sprite for Ed; water for me. And that made a meal.

When we finally got done eating and headed for bed, it was after 2am to our bodies' notion of time, but only 9 or 10pm in Hawaii time. No matter--my body was ready for bed.

There was no air conditioning and so neither of us slept well.

The condo, however, was gorgeous. Will rave about it tomorrow.

Might even be a good movie

 Where the Crawdads Sing
by Delia Owens

An audiobook that left me speechless. It's just so freaking beautiful!

Sad stuff happens, of course. A lot of it. And good stuff happens. And magical, wonderful stuff.  Wings fly through every page--and waves, and rustling marsh grasses in the wind, and frogs, salamanders, snakes and grass flowers and always the gulls overhead and the salt slough beneath. It made me want to plan a camping trip to South Carolina (or was it North?) immediately. But I wouldn't see what she saw.

Funny...I took a quick look at Goodreads to try and figure out where it was set and ran into a reviewer who diss'ed it severely. The reviewer had a few of what I'd call legitimate beefs--leaden dialog (I never noticed it), flat characters (yeah, but I let that pass). But then he or she bellyached that "even though it was set in the south during the civil rights era, it never touched on that subject." So? This is a work of <i>fiction</i>, not a textbook!   Civil rights didn't happen to fit into the story she was telling, but somehow she was supposed to cram some in just to make the book historically relevant?  Was it her job to tell the whole complete story of the Southern United States during the 1950s, or just a sweet little story about a young girl growing up in a swamp?  Was she supposed to bring in the Sputnik Launch--even though the girl didn't have a TV?  Maybe the author could have had her wander down the street and overhear it on a radio broadcast.

Sheez, what a doofus reviewer.  Please, people, keep your comments fair and review a book on what it's really about, not what you think it could have been about.

Aw, series over.

 Life, Revealed
Isabelle's Story

by SW Hubbard

Last, for now, of the Friendship Fiction series. This was better that the last in several ways. She gave a backstory to Isabelle, the real estate wizard. Apparently she grew up in a very broken and disfunctional home, and her brother ended up in prison at an early age. And stayed there for a lot of years. Now he's out and dealing with all that's changed, and she's there in the thick of it.

Her character become very interesting, but also her brother's. And of course the other women friends get to go on living their lives. But I found him the most interesting of them all. I wish she'd write a sequel from his life in the future--I'd read it in a snap. Of course...that's true of all her books.

A little RVing inspiration

Camper Chronicles Open Road
by Tracy Perkins

Heartfelt and honest story of a woman starting her RV full-timing adventure. Her biggest problem seemed to be herself, and she's honest about that. As I read on and on, and as she got closer and closer to giving up her job and taking the plunge into full-time RVing supported by Workcamping stints, I found myself wondering why she chose the lifestyle to begin with. She totally identified with her career. And she really didn't want to give up the security and self-fulfillment of the full time job. Time and again in this narrative, she was pulled back into work and left her husband to pick up the dream.

I'm not completely sure she ever fully gave up the thoughts of going back to work full time. I should sympathize--two years after retirement, I still find myself missing the daily grind. A little, and in limited ways. But still....

Ms. Perkins was much influenced and helped by the RV Dreams couple, whose blog I've been reading for three years. I found it cool to see Howard and Linda from the perspective of the people they influenced.  If you're not an RV Dreamer already, this book may make you become one.

Gardening In My Roots, Fall Begins

 Planted lettuce, spinach, broccoli, carrots, radishes, daikon radishes, and turnips.  More to come!

Life, At Last: Madalyn's Story
by SW Hubbard

If you've ever been inside the head of a woman who stays with a cheating husband, this is a good book to bring you out of it. She's past those days, but still stuck in a life that's all about helping other people, never herself. One of her kids is gone, but still so emotionally needy she might as well be right next door. One is stuck at home and unable to face the reality of growing up--job, self-sufficiency, and all that. And another is pretty functional on the autism spectrum, but after all those years of waiting and caring, Madalyn can't seem to back off and let her grow up.

I loved this book as much as I had the two before. And I had no complaints about the ending. On to the next.

More in the women's friendship series

 Life, Upended
by S W Hubbard

Continuing the them from Life, Part 2 and entering into the life of another character, SW Hubbard has done it again! She didn't exactly abandon Lydia, from the last book, but centered this one around her good friend Roz. Roz is a college professor who teaches English composition, and she really enjoys her job...until she gets saddled with a student and a situation that threatens to end it all.

I can't tell much more, except for a warning: the ending stunk. It was abrupt and pat and tied up all the loose ends into a airtight, unsatisfying package.  I wouldn't skip reading the book on account of the ending--the book was great--but don't expect a "smile of delight" finish.

A new series!

 Life, Part 2: Lydia's Story--The Second Chance


I picked this up because I liked the Another Man's Treasure estate sale mysteries so much, and this was a new series by the same author. It wasn't because of the mysteries that I liked them--those were just so-so, but the personalities and the storyline had kept me enthralled for all of the series so far. (I hope she's not ending it.)

But she branched out from the mystery genre into something that they label "women's friendship fiction."  She took a few of the side characters from Another Man's Treasure and started writing stories centered on them, and not mysteries at all. Just really good stories.

Especially this one. I was hooked from page one--what happens when a woman is newly widowed and trying to make a life for herself, only to discover so many forgotten hopes and dreams that she'd forgotten while making a life for her wealthy and much older husband.  This is a story of woman's discovery...of herself!