Verdi Gilbertson was born September 7, 1923 on a farm in Mandt Township near Milan and Montevideo, Minnesota. During his ninety one years he has been a husband, father, grandfather and great grandfather. He counts his family as the greatest accomplishment he and his wife Agnes have. In their family are four children, ten grandchildren and four great grandchildren. This collection includes stories of his days as a farm boy during the drought and Depression of the 1930s and details about his Norwegian ancestors who immigrated to America in 1868. Verdi was in the Army infantry and served over 170 days on the front lines while in France and Germany in 1944 and 1945. There are excerpts from many letters written home to his family during World War II. He tells about his many day to day inspirations and motivations as he works on many creative projects including woodcarving, knife making, model airplane building and YouTube videos. As a means of including the whole family in working with this book, there are several travel adventure stories contributed by his kids, grandkids, great grandkids and extended family members. His first book, Verdi received many favorable comments that are shared in this book including several comments from his son Keiths international students. Verdi lives in Montevideo, Minnesota and spends much of his time working in his writing and woodcarving studio. This is his second book. Verdi was published in 2010.

May 7, 1945 Well, the war ended today. Tomorrow is officially V - E Day! All is quiet on the western front. Thank our Almighty God that at last we have peace over here. We cant really be happy as long as we have boys fighting on the other side of the world but it is also a big step towards ending the war over there too. We hope and pray that it ends soon. It looked like the 4th of July here tonight. The French civilians are shooting up flares and rockets of all colors. The soldiers are not celebrating very much though. The order to Cease Firing has come. I just cant help but thinking of our buddies who were left behind on the battlefields and never will hear the order.

Swahili Proverb Polepole ndiyo mwendo.Slowly is the journey Thank you for trusting my ability as a writer. Maybe someone will understand who we really are.... REFUGEEs...and why we need shelter. Beatrice Kaite Mbayo A collection of journey stories written by 61 students from the English as Second Language Program at Bluegrass Community College in Lexington, Kentucky. Many of our authors arrive in the United States as refugees seeking a safe place to live and prosper. Others arrive as immigrants and by means of a variety of visas. ESL students come to BCTC in search of a better life, education and opportunity. These authors are from 28 countries around the world. We are pleased and honored to share their words telling about struggles they have gone through to get this far and their dreams for the future.

A young pig's increasing popularity with the other farm animals causes resentment among his own siblings. His parents decide to have a talk with their children and begin by praying for better understanding. A pig with wings and a halo then rises out of the old mud hole and brings a cleansing cooling rain, followed by a rainbow, and leaves the pigs with a reminder that they should always love one another.

How long can you keep a secret to protect someone you love? Forever? That's what Angela Garrett promised the man in the dark. Estranged from his daughter, bronc rider Lanny Ray decides he'd better try to mend their relationship before it's too late. It is a dream come true for Angela when they roll out of Jewel, New Mexico, to travel the summer rodeo circuit. In spite of her reluctance to make new friends, Angela finally meets someone whose loyalty becomes a comfort to her. But she also encounters people whose cruelty frightens her. Her idyllic summer is shattered when Angela witnesses an evil, brutal act while waiting in the car for her father. The event catapults her out of childhood and changes her forever. Can family love hold her world together through the worst of times?

Provides articles covering children's literature from around the world as well as biographical and critical reviews of authors including Avi, C.S. Lewis, J.K. Rowling, and Anno Mitsumasa.

1. DESIRING NATURES -- 2. CONQUERING NATURES -- 3. SPIRITUAL NATURES -- 4. EROTIC NATURES -- 5. RISKY NATURES -- 6. RESTORATIVE NATURES -- Appendix : List of Contemporary American Adrenaline Narratives.

“You can almost taste the food in Bill Buford’s Dirt, an engrossing, beautifully written memoir about his life as a cook in France.” —The Wall Street Journal What does it take to master French cooking? This is the question that drives Bill Buford to abandon his perfectly happy life in New York City and pack up and (with a wife and three-year-old twin sons in tow) move to Lyon, the so-called gastronomic capital of France. But what was meant to be six months in a new and very foreign city turns into a wild five-year digression from normal life, as Buford apprentices at Lyon’s best boulangerie, studies at a legendary culinary school, and cooks at a storied Michelin-starred restaurant, where he discovers the exacting (and incomprehensibly punishing) rigueur of the professional kitchen. With his signature humor, sense of adventure, and masterful ability to bring an exotic and unknown world to life, Buford has written the definitive insider story of a city and its great culinary culture.

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Night Gardener, Peter Nimble and His Fantastic Eyes is the utterly beguiling tale of a ten-year-old blind orphan who has been schooled in a life of thievery. One fateful afternoon, he steals a box from a mysterious traveling haberdasher—a box that contains three pairs of magical eyes. When he tries the first pair, he is instantly transported to a hidden island where he is presented with a special quest: to travel to the dangerous Vanished Kingdom and rescue a people in need. Along with his loyal sidekick—a knight who has been turned into an unfortunate combination of horse and cat—and the magic eyes, he embarks on an unforgettable, swashbuckling adventure to discover his true destiny. Be sure to read the companion book, Sophie Quire and the Last Storyguard. Praise for Peter Nimble and His Fantastic Eyes “Auxier has a juggler’s dexterity with prose that makes this fantastical tale quicken the senses.” –Kirkus Reviews

Ten pickets later, we found ourselves on the roof of North America. Yeeeahhhh! I roared at the top of my lungs. I yelled so loud that I actually knocked the wind out of myself for five minutes. At that moment, we were the highest people standing on solid ground in the continent (excerpt from Denali report). The quest to reach the most expansive vista of each country and explore the most remote parts of the world motivated the Gilbertson twins to be the first to climb the highest mountain in all twenty-three North American countries. From the windswept glaciers of Alaska and the Yukon, to the tropical jungles of Central America, to the razor-grass-covered volcanoes of the Caribbean, Matthew and Eric share the stories and experiences that paved their way through their trip reports and itineraries. They were born and raised in Appalachian Kentucky and later educated at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where they joined its famous Outing Club. In this book, they share how they achieved their quest for the summits with both budget consciousness and strategic efficiencyin just nine trips! This book is for those who share a thirst for travel, the outdoors, and the mountains. It chronicles a subset of the Gilbertson twins overall goal to climb the 195 world country high points. Stay tuned for more books in the Twins to the Tops series coming soon. For more information, visit our website, http://www.countryhighpoints.com/. Advance praise for Twins to the Tops The Gilber-trons strike again! A great resource for mountaineering in North America (Dan Walker, former president, MIT Outing Club). Twins to the Tops is an inspiring read and an effort worthy of a world record (David Rush, 50+ time Guinness World Record breaker). Those boys never stop walking. I reckon these old Kentucky hills was a good place to start (Tony Smith, Appalachian author of These Old Hills).