Month: April 2022

Book Review: Code Name: Lise

I started and finished Code Name: Lise this month and am still coming to terms with the gravitas of reading it and it boggles the mind this is a true story. I made it to the middle and laid the hardcopy down on my nightstand to sleep. However, the fate of the main characters wouldn’t let me rest until I finished it.

I started and finished Code Name: Lise this month and am still coming to terms with the gravitas of reading it. This book boggles the mind that is is a true story. Late at night, I had arrived at the middle and laid the hardcopy down on my nightstand to sleep. However, the fate of the main character wouldn’t let me rest until I finished it. Back on went the lamp and I continued on until nearly midnight to see it through.

Now that I have finished the read, I still feel a small lump in my throat thinking back on it. This is my first Larry Loftis book and I am really impressed at his ability to craft a gripping tale and robustly source it to high standards.  Odette Sansom’s name should be a part of World War II in history classes and when the history of secret services are discussed. Not just because she is a woman doing what was predominately a man’s job then, but because of her rare courage and success in a role that offered equal risk and danger to both genders.

-Summary-

Like many families having witnessed World War I, Odette Sansom possesses a perspective of living one’s life with honor and duty. Despite having a plethora of reasons to not involve herself in the war as a Frenchwoman living in Britain, she courageously ventures forward into the role of a secret agent against the enemy.

Despite being a woman, a mother, a wife and a civilian, she bravely takes on every assignment sent her with abandon. As her role requires the reliance on and use of relationships of all types, Code Name: Lise follows a web of individuals that become part of Odette’s story as she fights to win and later survive. The odds stacked so high as the story progresses, it is the kind of story few can fathom actually happening to a regular person. But such was the tale for many in war.

The full spectrum of the human experience is within the covers of Code Name: Lise: Love, honor, bravery, motherhood, war, leadership, luck, conflict, fear, world history and the will to survive on one’s own terms. Odette’s journey covers a geography and duration of insurmountable odds that defy expectations. Many accounts from World War II are raw and uncomfortable due to the atrocities of the worst of humanity, and Code Name: Lise is no different. But stories like these should be read, should be known and the lives of everyone who experienced them should be remembered generations later

Terminal Orchid Blooms

Orchid bloom alert! Earlier I posted here about a phalaenopsis orchid I purchased from a local store that had an odd leaf structure, which I later realized was a terminal orchid. And voila, she bloomed after all. In fact, this one bloomed so large and so fully, that I’ve had to stake the plant three times to continue to support the weight of all those blooms!

Orchid bloom alert! Earlier I posted here about a phalaenopsis orchid I purchased from a local store that had an odd leaf structure, which I later realized was a terminal orchid. And voila, she bloomed after all. In fact, this one bloomed so large and so fully, that I’ve had to stake the plant three times to continue to support the weight of all those blooms!

I’m not sure yet if I will try the methodology of using a growth paste for orchids to try to generate a keiki, but for now I’ll just enjoy the gift of blooms for as long as they last. I’m watching those additional blooms to come to see if I might have to add still additional support to hold this heavy spike up as the remaining blooms open.

Blog Spring Cleaning

Photo by Negative Space from Pexels

For the past week, I’ve embarked on what was envisioned to be a tidy-up of the blog site here and maybe a few tweaks. This ultimately resulted in a move to a different server, a change from WordPress.com to WordPress.org, and a theme template overhaul. Having not done any of this since 2015 (and some of it, never before), it was more of a project than I bargained for.

This new blog theme will use featured posts and excerpts on the main page. Since my prior template didn’t offer this option, the prior posts might look at little bare until the next few are added to continue the trend.

But here we, shiny and new! Thanks for your patience as I work out the last few kinks.

The Book and Bee – Hendersonville, NC

Tea and literary lovers unite, there is a food temple for our people in Hendersonville, North Carolina! On my last trip to the Tarheel state, my mother had been telling me about this little gathering place that served the most delicious meals and was buzzing with interest from the locals: It’s called The Book and Bee.

We arrived with the first snowflakes for brunch.

My mother, my sister, my niece and I decided to venture out in the cold to have a ladies’ brunch before the forecasted snow arrived that day. The fellas? They went to a hot dog restaurant, naturally. The flakes were starting to fall as we drove the short distance to the restaurant. Having seen the parking lot packed the day before, we got there early.

The stairs catch your eye right away like a beacon to bookworms everywhere: Come in, take a load off and be with your own kind. Being a warm-blooded creature though, I didn’t beat around the bush: I took the picture of the stairs and quickly navigated indoors.

The food smells were heavenly and the entire place is decorated with, and serving beverages from, teapots and tea cups galore.

The grilled cheese served with fruit and peach tea.

You may or may not be the biggest fan of tea served from actual china tea cups, but there is something cozy, maybe even a little magical, about sitting down with your gal pals (or buds) and being served your own personal pot of tea, complete with warmer, and little bee hive honey containers. All that was missing was my own personal recliner with a lamp and a pile of books by the fireplace in their main dining room. And yes, there is a big fireplace.

The Book and Bee is definitely not a gimmick eatery garnering interest on the décor and marketing alone. I ordered a grilled cheese and it was divine. I mean! I was admittedly and hopelessly lost in my own world of peachy warm tea, yummy mixed cheeses grilled perfectly on fresh bread along with fresh fruit.

Bookmark this one for me, I’m coming back on my next return trip.

And I’m ordering the grilled cheese.

Admin Update

Life By Lens and Laptop will be moving to new hosting servers and from WordPress.com to WordPress.org. I will be taking the opportunity to perform maintenance tasks as well during that time. Hopefully no significant downtime will result and you will not notice any disruption. If you find the site offline unexpectedly, your patience is appreciated.