Ozarks Mystique

Ozarks Mountain Country | It Grows On You!

Lin Stepp — Tennessee In The Heart of Her Stories

Lin Stepp pleasantly takes a few different turns in the new novel Daddy’s Girl.

Stepp and her husband have written a beautiful guide book of the mountains around them…The Afternoon Hiker brings a whopping 110 hikes to readers and followers, taking steps through the great Smoky Mountains.  Their travels through the mountains and country round about provide foundation inspiration for Lin Stepp’s novels. She has currently written ten novels in the Smoky Mountain collection. These pleasant and inspiring novels are each a separate plot and scenario…they are not a serial collection. So much delightful description to give pleasure to all five senses!  Another book Lin Stepp offers is entitled When the Snow Falls under the author name Fern Michaels in a team including two other authors. The short novel is part of a Kensington (publisher) Christmas Anthology.

Lin Stepp’s newest release, Daddy’s Girl takes a view of family connection, friend connection and the way life goes so that sometimes the connections become tangled!

Sometimes the more things seem to change the more they seem the same!!

Olivia is my “main character” — she loves her home town, her home with the beautifully styled gardens — just like the formal gardens of English castles! I loved the descriptions of the gardens.

As Olivia’s high school graduation class plans a 10 year reunion, they each have to face their level of maturity. Some of that immaturity or maturity is connected and reflected by choices each made after graduation. The ‘hot clique’ cold issues still bubbled under the surface for all of them. Olivia had been a passive person, sometimes walking with both sides, but not defending ‘luzers’ in the face of ‘hot’ insults. When her true love from childhood returns, a ‘luzer/misfit/geek’ in high school who has become a successful young adult author, the chemistry and true friendship rekindles. The relationship doesn’t flame smoothly without struggle as each has to come to the fuller maturity they’ve been dodging for 10 years.

Olivia’s flaws along with those of the others make the story move along. With a Christian base, the book is not doctrinal, but follows life and life learning. We all show up in the faces of the characters, more in some than in others. This is the pleasant pattern that I’ve come to enjoy in Lin Stepp’s books. Inspiring and refreshing.

I received a copy of Daddy’s Girl as a gift from the author. I am not obligated to 1leave a review. The book showed up in my mailbox at the end of a stressful working week. Daddy’s Girl gave me a restful, recovery reading time! I told my husband this is one of the things that make me look forward to Lin Stepp’s books. With eloquent writing, she spins a moving story that make reviving pleasure reading for me. Incidentally, these are not ‘chick books’, the descriptions and dialog are frequently enjoyed by men!  We’ve reviewed Daddy’s Girl at Cardinal Bluff.com, at my Amazon account, Goodreads and BooksAMillion.

All done with quality description of beautiful country, towns and buildings AND without violence, erotica or vulgarity! That deserves another 5 stars

Uncle Rooster’s — We Choose Red Velvet Cheesecake

At Uncle Rooster’s in Seymour, Missouri,  last week for lunch. we heartily participated in the endangerment of catfish. It is just a good thing for the ‘finny’ critters that we don’t live nearby or the catfish strips on our plates could contribute to worse than endangerment for catfish!
Red Velvet Cheesecake at Uncle RoostersBest of all, we split a slice of the new recipe YUMMY red velvet cheesecake.  (We bought another order to go — split it after the first one had some time to wear off.  We chose a little drizzle of caramel topping and skipped the whipped cream.
We’re never disappointed at Uncle Rooster’s.  Along with the catfish strips, standard favorites for us include the special mashed potatoes and gravy, the Chicago Dog and sweet potato fries.  As you pass by on Highway 60 through Seymour, Missouri, treat yourself to some very good food, excellent service and artistic desserts.

Defying the Computer Chair In the Freezing Ozarks

Defying the computer chair at Bar JDOur neighborhood has been flirting with winter all during the typical cold months with unusually warm temperatures and extraordinary amounts of rain.

This week while other parts of the country prepare for some server winter weather, we have our first snow. The ground is barely covered — just enough to disguise the earlier freezing rain slippery surface.

Sandy and I still have to make our tours outside. We both need the steps, even though they are few at a time.

Those Steps in Defiance

I know that the computer chair, while one of my favorite places to be, is not good for me in long term doses. Our 4-5 trips outside every day, walking, meditating, plotting, breathing deep, maybe gardening are important to maintaining a healthy brain and body. When Sandy isn’t here, I do the walk-about on my own because it is a time when I re-arrange the brain cells and dwell on the projects at hand.

A simmer of beans or a tub of bread dough can promise a tasty lunch. They can be left on their own for the time I want to devote to computer work. This small dose of winter weather has inspired us to cook up a package of pinto beans. They’ve been turned into a savory chili con carne and sweet baked beans. Slow cookers in at least 3 sizes are BFFs for virtual professionals!A simmer of beans in the kitchen at Bar JD

The colder temperatures and breezes are easier for me to enjoy when I go ahead and put on a worm coat, gloves and hat. When the surface is this slick, I wear shoes with metal screws in the soles to give me some traction! This evening’s breeze made my eyes water and cheeks sting. It was nice to come in to a blaze in the fireplace and a hot cup to sip.



Technology Makes Virtual Possible

Working virtually enables me to be here for the projects of the home while applying an accumulation of skills to the marketing my clients need for their business. I was NOT born a century too late — I enjoy technology and tools which permit me to be ‘cloudish.’  You can learn more about my virtual practice at Bar JD and at the other places where I blog in addition to Ozarks Mystique.

BANK NOTES — The Mission Behind the Book — Addresses Prison Policy Reform

gavel-scaleReviewing  — Bank Notes:

Bank Notes came into being several years before the actual publication when Keith Giammanco made the extremely unwise decision to steal what he wanted from others without thought about that loss. That decision has been worried to pieces in the media and on reviews. Giammanco doesn’t defend his decision, although he does softly excuse it because of his perceived needs at the time. The catalyst decision is no longer an issue because the courts have decided a punishment plan and as the book says, Giammanco is serving a lengthy sentence in a Missouri Penitentiary. The expansion of that sentence through further charges locally after the federal charges had been answered are the subject of controversy throughout the book. Does the second prosecution violate double jeopardy conviction? I am not a legal expert; not conversant in the manipulations available to prosecutors which may not meet fairness measures, but aren’t illegal. It is a head scratcher as to the necessity of the second prosecution after the Federal courts had handed out a lengthy sentence. While the crime was despicable, it was non-violent and there had not been previous criminal issues.

The book ‘gently’ discusses the prison environment from inmate society to administration. This book is not about the inmate society except for the parts where Keith and Caroline are at various times at risk. There seemed to be more times when Caroline’s safety was more at risk from administration than inmates.

There is a mission involved in the story of Bank Notes. At first reading, one might think the mission is to get Keith out of prison, together with family and on with life. I’m sure this is one of the missions of the team, but exposing the sloppy and corrupt prison system is a greater mission. The conditions of the last encounter where Keith is moved to a different facility, but he and Caroline are denied visitation priveleges would seem to have personal motivations…”punish these people for getting together and speaking out” with a goal of separating them. As an observer/friend, i see this petty decision as having the opposite effect. Their connection is not infatuation, but more mature and solid. Being physically separated only brings them closer and more dedicated to the mission of reform.

Bank Notes end85gavelhas been criticized as being too sympathetic with Keith Giammanco’s actions. To that I say, “So what.” He admits he made extremely stupid choices and accepts the punishment meted out, even that which seems quite unfair. He’s used the time to make life better for others in the inmate community by helping with education. Part of the reform mission involves giving inmates different tools to use when they are back in society…tools that can help them become contributing members of the outside community where they have family who need them.

One thing about Missouri — it isn’t very good at being sneaky, invisible crooked. Those things happen right up front where they can possibly be addressed and see some rehabilitation such as that we might desire for prisoners. As the Giammanco family takes a stand about the flaws in the prison system, their intent isn’t to embarrass individuals, but to have a system that builds rehabilitation rather than mirroring criminality.

Author, Caroline Giammanco, is a contributor to Ozarks Mystique, an Ozarks native and blogger at BoonieHatBandit.com. And a friend of mine who crochets, teaches and enjoys puppies. The cause around the need for reformation in the Missouri prison system is being addressed through efforts at End85.com. There are other efforts out there, I am sure, but this is the one with which I am most familiar. The group moving through End 85% Law addresses the issues of government money (‘government’ translation = you and me) distributed to states for increased incarceration. This has become another bureaucratic albatross, abandoned even by the ones who developed it. They now say “Error — it costs too much.” Missouri has yet to join other states in abolishing the 85% minimum sentences served before being eligible to meet with the parole board.

Bank Notes Will Be Released in Coming Months

Bank Notes: The True Story of the Boonie Hat Bandit has been acquired by a publisher and will be released for purchase in the next three to five months!  Soon readers will have this fascinating book, which is more than a crime story, in their hands.

Once the release date is known, information will be posted regarding book signings and other promotional events.

Bank Notes takes readers behind the sensationalized headlines. Find out what would motivate a mild-mannered devoted father of twins to risk everything for a life of crime–a life he would hide for nearly a year.  Follow Keith Giammanco through his arrest and the dark corridors of the Missouri criminal justice system. Keith would learn that none of us have protection from Double Jeopardy, and that having a lawyer doesn’t mean he is working for you.

Find out what prison is really like–not the pop culture version we see on television–but the ugly, dysfunctional system that has very little to do with rehabilitating offenders.  Seen through the eyes of both an inmate and a staff member, Bank Notes gives a unique insight into a system shrouded in secrecy.

Grassroots activism and legislative reform are shown to be successful, even for topics that are uncomfortable for some to talk about.  Prisoners and criminal justice issues don’t make good poster children, and many would think that a conservative state like Missouri wouldn’t be a likely arena for reform.  However, on an issue that spans party lines, Missouri is recognizing the need for reform. It is the morally and economically feasible thing to do.

Bank Notes tells the story of one man, but this one story is a wake-up call for everyone. Are we protected by the Constitutional rights we grew up believing we had? Is the system truly geared toward public safety?