Review of Life in the Left Lane (Paperback)

No typical tourist guide is this. Emy Thomas provides a refreshingly frank account of life in St. Croix. She deals directly with the pleasant the beaches, the people, the pace of life and the sometimes unpleasant hurricanes, and occasional crime.

Emy Thomas has found her own way to enjoy this island paradise. Hers is no superficial experience. She enjoys St. Croix in all its richness. Not for her an imposing mini castle in an expatriate enclave. She goes out of her way to live modestly yet comfortably. She knows some creole, and is deeply involved in local social initiatives. She seems to blend and integrate with the majority West Indian population much better than could be expected of the stereotypical New Yorker.She joins the locals in laughing off the perpetualGovernment inefficiencies, rather thangetting upset. But her journalist background is not entirely forgotten. She still manages to take a few swipes at local politicians.

If you know St. Croix already, you will readily identify with Emy Thomas perspectives and sense of humor. If you ever wondered what a Caribbean retirement would be like - read this before you decide. It will prepare your mind, and most likely will make you want to do it even more.

Product Description
A short and lively non-fiction book about what it?

About the Author
Emy Thomas spent her first thirty-three years following a typical middle-class path, growing up in Connecticut, graduating from prestigious schools in the northeast, and working as a journalist in New York City. Then she discovered the tropics and has embraced the islands and their laid-back lifestyle ever since. For over a dozen years home was a sailboat, when she cruised throughout the Caribbean and Pacific with a typical 'yachtie,' who made wandering a way of life. They visited scores of island paradises. When it was time to leave the boat and settle down the author chose St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands as her permanent home. She built her dream house on a hillside overlooking the Caribbean Sea and finally found her true calling as an author. Her first book, Home Is Where the Boat Is, was published in 1993. Life in the Left Lane is her second book.

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Review of Super Simple Guide to Creating Hawaiian Gardens: For Kama`aina and Malihini (Paperback)

The author has submitted the following review of her book:
"Super Simple Guide to Creating Hawaiian Gardens" is far more comprehensive than any other Hawaiian gardening guide! Barbara Fahs offers unique and perfect solutions to the question `How?' often asked by newcomers and residents in Hawai`i. She outlines the essentials of organic gardening in Hawai`i (an important point), and includes easy-to-grow edibles and ornamentals, native, Polynesian and medicinal plants. Super Simple Guide also emphasizes land stewardship: plants not to grow, `weeds' to encourage, and gardens without poisons. I heartily recommend this book for both healthy living and an awareness of Hawai`i's diverse environment."
--Angela Kay Kepler, PhD, award-winning author of numerous books on Hawaiian plants.

Product Description
"What? Grow endangered native Hawaiian plants in my home garden?" What a concept, but the natives are simple to grow because they belong here! For many, the dream of owning a home in Hawai`i is becoming a reality. Hawai`i has some of the fastest-growing areas of the United States, because the weather is warm year-round, the pace of life is more relaxed than on the mainland, prices are still affordable in many areas, and the spirit of aloha abounds. This book will help readers develop their properties, from clearing the land of invasive plants while maintaining native vegetation, to planting trees, vegetables and more. "This is a very useful book with a gardener's joy shining between the lines. It's chock full of new ideas and old ones worth repeating. It's refreshingly written without a know-it-all approach. Instead, it's by a humble novice with her curiosity intact. Her grateful attitude includes a sense of wonder at what nature provides in return for a bit of hard work." David Orr, Coordinator of Botanical Programs, Waimea Valley Audubon Center, Oahu. "Super Simple Guide to Creating Hawaiian Gardens is far more comprehensive than any other Hawaiian gardening guide! Barbara Fahs offers a unique and perfect solution to the question 'How?' often asked by newcomers and residents in Hawai`i. She not only outlines the essentials of organic gardening in Hawai`i (an important point), but includes easy-to-grow edibles and ornamentals, native, Polynesian and medicinal plants. Furthermore, Super Simple Guide emphasizes land stewardship: plants not to grow, 'weeds' to encourage, and gardens without poisons. As a long-time kama'aina and keen gardener, I heartily recommend this book for both healthy living and an awareness of invasive plants, which can easily spread into Hawai`i's diverse natural ecosystems."Angela Kay Kepler, PhD, award-winning author of numerous books on Hawaiian plants

About the Author
Barbara Fahs writes the popular column "The Healthful Herbalist" for Hawaii Island Journal. She is also the owner and creator of Hi`iaka's Healing Herb Garden near Hilo, on the Big Island (www.hiiakas.com). Formerly, she was a technical writer and editor in the high technology industry of Silicon Valley, California. She was inspired to write this book because many of the visitors to her garden ask, "how did you build it?" As a California certified Master Gardener (1994), she has built many organic gardens, but never one like this, which she forged from solid pahoehoe lava and transformed into a lush, green sanctuary that specializes in threatened Hawaiian medicinal plants. Even before her move to Hawai`i in 1998, Barbara had the vision of creating a healing garden. She was motivated by the Pele family legend, and especially by Pele's youngest sister, Hi`iaka, who was a gardener, an herbalist and a healer. Barbara first visited Hawai`i and the South Pacific in 1968, after completing her BA in cultural Anthropology from University of California, Santa Barbara. It was then that she knew she would someday live on a Pacific island. Terry Lee is a multi-media artist who divides her time between the Big Island and southern Oregon, where she owns the Wild Iris Gallery. In addition to her illustration talents, she is a sculptor of clay and stone and a painter in different mediums, primarily watercolor and acrylics. She also designs fabric and clothing and has been a popular fixture at Big Island farmer's markets with her colorful and whimsical sarongs. She loves to design and build homes and currently has one in progress in Hawai`i. Terry says, "My purpose in life is to create and spread beauty. My inspiration and therefore my art are a gift from a higher Spirit."

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Review of Your Home is Your Castle: Homeowners Association Management (Paperback)

Very useful as an introduction to HOA.Would recommend this book for anyone who has never lived within one and who wonders what that might be like.

Product Description
Your Home is Your Castle was written by Richard Blumenfeld as a manual for those interested in the management of residential homeowner associations. Years ago, developers saw homeowner associations as troublesome components of their primary function to build and successfully sell housing. The popularity of homeowner associations forced developers to rethink their philosophy and include associations as a part of their offering. Unfortunately, many do not understand the complexity of homeowner associations. Developers take shortcuts and the results are often disaster. Homeowners feel secure that their homeowner association will protect their home's values and enhance their quality of life. However, they seldom understand their responsibilities and the work that goes into making an HOA a success. Homeowner associations must be operated as a business, and there is no room for personal agendas. Understanding of case law applicable to homeowner associations is mandatory. Do owners read their Declaration of Covenants and do they understand the bylaws of their community? Do developers strive to create a set of HOA documents that are appropriate for their homeowners? Your Home is Your Castle is a common sense road map that can be followed by developers, homeowners, management companies, and those considering entering the HOA management business.

About the Author
Rick Blumenfeld is among the rare breed who came to the big city with no job, big dreams and $50.00 in his pocket. He survived hard times and prospered. While living in Atlanta, he has been active in most every aspect of residential real estate. His company, Township Residential, Inc. marketed and sold over $100 million of residential real estate. They served as asset manager for banks, insurance companies, federal agencies and off-shore corporations. His firm developed single-family and multi-family housing, and owned construction companies in two states. Rick has been involved in the management of residential homeowner associations since 1980 including owning one of the largest homeowner association management companies in the Southeastern United States. He has also completed all case work for a Certified Property Manager designation. Your Home is Your Castle was written as a road map for those interested in homeowner association management. It is the author's hope that this book will be read by management companies, developers and board members and that their skills will be enhanced by their reading. Mr. Blumenfeld is in the process of forming a new company that will provide financial management services to homeowner associations. His collaborators include a respected CPA firm, an HOA software provider, and one of the most active banks in the United States, formed exclusively for homeowner associations. It is his contention that most associations still under the rule of developers should be self-managed as well as many community associations under the control of homeowners.

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Review of Home is Where the Boat Is (Paperback)

How many people sail because they love to sail. And then again, how many sail only because they love a person who loves to sail. This is Emy Thomas' story. How she overcame the fear, and the deprivation to be with the man she loved. She sailed with him in the Caribbean and Pacific for thirteen years and came to love sailing too.
Many sailing books are maintenance and navigation encyclopedias. Others are cruising logs - the chronology and itinerary of the voyage. Emy's book is neither of these. Her book answers the very simple question - "what was it like?" It is arranged by topic to addresstypical concerns and inquiries - do you get seasick, how does the laundry get done, what about storms and hurricanes, and theft, how do you keep all those nautical terms straight, how do you keep in touch with folks at home, how hard is the work, what sort of people do you meet, what do you do with your garbage?
Emy had lived more comfortably before. She and her sailing mate scraped by for thirteen years, stopping to pick up casual jobs when the money got low. But you get the feeling she would have had it no other way. They were accepted in many of the poorer islands they visited and had a richer experience as a result, not because they had a fancy yacht bristling with electronics, but because they didn't.
This book is an easy read and highly entertaining for anyone who likes sailing or has fantasized about cruising the oceans. If someone you love is trying to drag you off to sea you will want to read this book. Then, you'll probably say "okay, let's do it".

Product Description
Home Is Where the Boat Is is and entertaining and informative report on the lifestyle of adventures who cruise the oceans in small sailboats. Written for sailors and laymen alike and for anyone who has ever dreamed of sailing off into the sunset, it is a lively and honest account of the pros and cons of cruising. Chapters include getting food and water, doing laundry, making a living, meeting the natives, surviving storms and sickness. The book is also a love story about the author, a journalist, and the typical "yachtie" with whom she spent 13 years sailing halfway around the world, visiting scores of tropical paradise.

About the Author
Emy Thomas grew up in Connecticut, attended excellent schools and was a journalist in New York City when she discovered the tropics. She moved to the Caribbean, fell in love with a man who was sailing around the world and embarked on along, idyllic cruise. For 13 years they sailed the Caribbean and Pacific, and home was where the boat was. The author now lives and writes in St. Croixin the U.S. Virgin Islands. Home Is Where the Boat Is was her first book.-She is also the author of Life in the Left Lane, about what it's like for expatriates to live in paradise.

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Review of Half Way Home From Kinderlou: The Happy Childhood Memories of a Grandfather (Paperback)

I grew up a 'white boy' in Washington, DC. during the same years James Edward grew up in southern Georgia. The difference is now, 60 + years later, as plain as "black and white". James' description of family and school life in the black, segreated south tells me that he enjoyed relationships within his family and community that never existed in mine.
I thoroughly enjoyed this man's writings and only hope he follows through with more of his memories in later editions. And, I also hope he finally wound up with a copy of Black Beauty that he could call his own!

Product Description
Through a collection of short stories, a grandfather describes his happy childhood in the small town of Valdosta, Georgia. It was a simple time when children played simple games with simple toys. Those were the days when failure of a child to say "yes ma'am" and "yes sir" to grown folks was considered an act of disrespect which brought swift rebuke and punishment from the disrespected adult and the child's parents. Most homeowners in his neighborhood only dreamed of indoor plumbing, electric lights and home telephone service. Despite the prevailing social order, dictated by racial segregation which choked the advancement of some of his neighbors, little James Edward was often permitted broader liberties to expand his borders simply because all of the adults encouraged his growth. His timing was right. Colored adults nourished his self confidence as though vicariously rekindling their own aspirations. White adults saw a fast moving innocent youngster with a cautions and keen intellect, so letting him roam was a gift to a child which did not threaten their prerogatives. So adults of both races sought ways to assuage the harshness of segregation for little James Edward by smothering him with affection and special attention. The effects of this esteem is reflected in his pleasant memories of the post depression years and other events of that time.

About the Author
JAMES EDWARD ALEXANDER, ESQ. In 1951, on his 17th birthday, he entered the U. S Air Force. He was initially trained as a medical technician, but when the Air Force observed his communications skills he was further trained in journalism and broadcasting. Following his assignment as Station Manager of an Armed Forces Ratio/Television station in Greenland, in 1965, he was assigned as a senior instructor in broadcasting at the prestigious Defense Information School. In 1969, after 14 years of persistently attending military and civilian schools wherever he was stationed, he qualified for a one year leave of absence from military service to complete his college education. Alexander chose Indiana University, where, in 1970, he received his Bachelor of Science Degree in Broadcast Management, he says, "With the support of my former spouse and our four children." Following his retirement from military service in 1971, he held management and sales positions with Time Life Broadcasting Company, McGraw-Hill Broadcasting Company, Combined Communications, Press Secretary for the re-election campaign of a U.S. Senator, and videotape operator for the ABC Network. He says, "At the age of 52, I felt the urge to complete a list of personal objectives. My path led me to the Whittier Law School, where, with the help of my present wife, I prepared to pass the California Bar Examination, on the initial attempt, at age 56." From 1991 to 2003, he was a partner in the law firm of Adams and Alexander, with law offices in Pasadena, and Beverly Hills. He is a member of the Bar of the Supreme Court of The United States, United States Circuit Court of Appeals (Ninth Circuit), United States District Court (Central District of California), and the State Bar of California. James Edward Alexander, and his wife Toian, live in Bluffton, SC.

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