A writer's Random ramblings
Police Chief Callie Morgan and her society on Edisto Island return in Edisto Tidings. Author C. Hope Clark recently gifted me a copy of the Kindle version of the new installment. Callie never ceases to amaze me in the number of things she balances and handles within small time frames. This time, she deals with family, community, and two major cases all within a few days of Christmas. In so doing, she models how police keep the community safe through all seasons. Crime doesn’t follow others’ holidays, or does it?
Thanks to 2 investigations, she misses most of her own birthday party. We find out this occasion happens only a few days before Christmas, a new piece of personal information on the chief, which helps humanize her with the time of year. Most of those who matter most to her, from relatives to neighbors and colleagues, minus a skeleton crew to keep the department running, gather for her. We meet the new restauranteur in town, who hosts the bash at his place. Callie’s birth mother comes into town for this and Christmas. Throughout, Callie waits for her son to return from college for the holiday, then worries about how much work will allow her to be with him. She extends holiday invitations to some of her staff at the station, realizing they otherwise have no one. Unfortunately for visitors to the island, gifts begin disappearing. Local legend accuses the Edisto Santa. Apparently, this character pulls a string of Robin Hood style robberies. He or she walks right into unlocked homes, taking one gift from each family. Edisto Santa then re-gifts the items to those who have nothing. The visitors’ frustration at their gifts disappearing casts a pall over the holiday. The community rallies around them in many unexpected ways to find and return the gifts. This cooperation gives the police department a Christmas gift of its own in the form of help. Callie does most of the police work on this herself, showing incredible balance among her other responsibilities. She amazes me on this, with another simultaneous investigation plus the family and friends gathering for winter events. In typical mystery novel form, Edisto Tidings contains a suspicious death. This time, a high-powered local lawyer turns up dead. As in the real world, everyone connected to the man faces questions. The very fact of how and where the body turns up leads to many suspects and persons of interest. Everyone wonders if crime followed the holidays on vacation and happened here, or if there’s any chance of the death being from natural causes. The coroner takes a few extra days to make his determinations, then Callie takes over, checking the community’s timelines about where each person was in the time leading up to the death. The beginning of this investigation caused Callie to miss most of her birthday party, and many police folks try to make it up to her with meals and assistance in work afterwards. In these ways, the audience of Edisto Tidings can see how police work, community, and holidays come together. We see how bravely Chief Callie Morgan does her job and visits with others. We see how 2 major cases plus preparing holiday dinner can make one person feel. Callie shows probably more humanity in finding whether crime follows holidays as she navigates people.
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Recently, upon the invitation of a research company, I decided to test out PureHalo’s Ultra Pure Glycolic Acid 20% pads. These cleansing pads retail for $19.99 for a jar of 50 on Amazon.com. The label makes many claims often seen in the industry. Although its non-cruelty claim only comes through in the gentle nature on people, a short test will bear out other items on the list. It does not irritate even sensitive skin such as mine. Its included vitamins and other ingredients help all types of skin come clean, so it will work for everyone.
As the label states, these do a great job of washing one’s face. The formulation is very refreshing, with ingredients like with hazel to balance out the antioxidant vitamins. It has a very slight but refreshing scent that even my sensitive skin can handle. It also removes makeup very well. Since I tend to be allergic to many makeup formulas, my 9-year-old daughter graciously helped me test this. She applied makeup much as she would for a ballet recital and let it sit for about half an hour. Then, we used one wipe, textured side up, to scrub the makeup off. We followed that with the flat side to be sure, and lo and behold, all makeup came up on the wipe! At the same time, the product does a great job of degreasing the face. It states on the bottle that it unclogs pores and can help prevent or reverse acne. Although I did not get to try it long enough to test this, nor do I currently have an acne problem, I believe it would live up to this claim. The jar says to use one pad, either day or night, but those who sweat a lot may need to use one at each time. Out of my own curiosity, I tried using a wipe on eczema elbows to see what would happen. It cooled and calmed the itch. As it did, the wipe cleansed my elbows to where I could apply lotion without worrying about sealing in any dirt. For this reason, I would also recommend these pads in the absence of soap and running water to clean hands or other body parts. I can imagine the cleansers in these pads gently taking germs out of small cuts and scrapes as well. For these reasons, I highly recommend PureHalo’s Ultra Pure Natural Glycolic Acid 20% Pads. The price may look somewhat high at first, but the benefits are worth it in this case. The pads clean and comfort many people in several situations. They don’t bother even the most sensitive skin in doing what they are meant to do. |
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