Don't Be Afraid of the Dork: SATURDAY IN THE GARDEN

OUTSIDE

It's a lovely if cold day today. I had to cover up the garlic last night because of a freeze warning. Then, This morning I was contemplating dead trees.

They are pretty cool to contemplate and look at really and they are a paradise for many species of wildlife. This tree at the dog park had several impressive holes drilled by woodpeckers and some lovely looking cavities for nests. It was also likely hosting a horde of insects, protected from the colder temperatures by it's cellulosic embrace. If you've got a dead tree and it's not a danger to anyone, leave it standing to rot naturally. It's one of the best and easiest things you can do to support wild critters! Yay dead trees!

LIFE

I had a couple of very early mornings this week; up at 4 am, driving by 5. This does not come naturally to me but I actually, once I'm awake, really appreciate being up that early. It's a great time to watch wildlife (which was why I was up that early in fact) and it's also peaceful and beautiful, watching the horizon lighten, the sun come up and the world wake up. It's made me really wish I was a morning person! Or really someone who didn't love to sleep as much as I do. I'm a must-have-7-8-hours-a-night-pretty-consistently sort of person and even that doesn't lead to me leaping out of bed with a song in my heart at the first tones of the alarm. I always wonder if this is a genetics thing or if I could change my sleep habits with a special routine of habits. Or something. I know people who sleep 4-5 hours a night and are productive as all get out, bless 'em. And kind of hate 'em.

What kind of a sleeper are you? You got any thoughts on waking up at the crack of crack?

WATCHING, READING and BLOGGING

Watching

I finished watching season two of The 100 this week and I am still very much in love with this show. The second half of season two was maybe a smidge disappointing but I was still pretty happy. Then I went online and *sound of disgust*. The overall feeling about season three is that the quality is slipping, the spoilers I read, I hated and there are rumors that the behind the scenes atmosphere on the show is toxic and contentious. This is why I shouldn't read the internet. I don't like real life interfering with my fiction which is why books are pretty well superior to TV. Despite my squirrelly feelings about what's in store for the future, I think I will go back and re-watch from the beginning and do some blog posts. Because while I always get angry with myself for reading things about a favorite show on the internet I have no problem adding to the content about the show on the internet. I'm complicated, okay! Leave me alone!

Last night I watched Becoming Jane with Anne Hathaway and James McAvoy for the 3rd or 4th time. This movie was pretty well panned by critics but I have to say I like it quite a lot.

Reading

Finished Last Week:

Whose Body? (Lord Peter Whimsy #1) by Dorothy L. Sayers: The first volume in a classic mystery series. Being a little ways in I feel like I may have read (or perhaps watched) it before.
Saga Deluxe Edition, Volume 1 by Brian K. Vaughn and Fiona Staples: This. Was. Fan-frickin-tastic. Really good! Super Good! This version combines the first three volumes or 18 issues.
Clouds of Witness (Lord Peter Whimsy #2) by Dorothy L. Sayers: In this second volume Peter's family is under suspicion when his sister's fiance' is discovered dead by their brother. Exciting! The mysteries in these books are really quite novel and interesting.

Currently Reading:

One Magic Square by Lolo Houbein: A gardening book about maximizing food production in a small space. An ARC from Netgalley (though I think it's an older title).
The Round House by Louise Erdrich: I started this in D.C. on my kindle and it pretty immediately sucked me in despite the brutality of the subject matter (violent rape against a minority).
The Incarnations by Susan Barker: I heard about this book on the All The Books podcast and it sounded really interesting. Follows the lives of two soul-mates through several re-incarnated lives in China. I am DNFing because I am avoiding listening to it and hence holding up a bunch of other books waiting in the wings behind it. I don't know if I'm just not in the mood for this book, which is heavy on the misery porn, or if it's not for me. I do like books with a heavy dose of misery, witness my never-ending devotion to Joe Abercrombie and George R.R. Martin, but I think, for my taste, it needs to be balanced out with a cracking plot and/or really fascinating characters. This book has a really intriguing premise but rather than a propulsive plot, it feels more like loosely connected novellas/short stories and it's just not grabbing me. Also, despite spending a lot of time in contemporary times Wang's head, I still feel pretty distant from him and don't find him very interesting.
The Colonel's Lady by Laura Frantz: This is a Christian romance novel - quite a bit out of my comfort zone but I have my reasons and I am enjoying it, mostly.
A Darker Shade of Magic (Shades of Magic #1) by V.E. Schwab: I've been wanting to read this for ages. Yay me!
A Fatal Grace (Inspector Armand Gamache #2) by Louise Penny: This was a mystery series I discovered last year and loved.

Added to the TBR:

This is a list of books that I have added to my Goodreads TBR list this week. It helps to burn the books I want to read a little more firmly into my mind, maybe get them on some other folks TBRs and gives me a chance to recognize a lot of the awesome bloggers that add stuff to my TBR!

No One Knows by J. T. Ellison: A twisty thriller mystery that sounded very intriguing on Book Riot's All the Books podcast.
Rush, Oh! by Shirley Barrett: Also from the All the Books podcast, this is a new historical fiction release that takes place in an Australian whaling town. I am a little nervous about the whole whaling thing but the way it was presented, it will not be too much present in the book? I'm willing to give it a try.
A Study in Charlotte by Brittany Cavallero: A YA novel spin off of Sherlock Holmes featuring Holmes and Watson's descendants in boarding school. Can't remember where I heard of this one but it sounds fab, don't it?
Drown by Esther Dalseno: A retelling of The Little Mermaid which was brought to my attention by Tiara over on The Bibiolsanctum. The Little Mermaid is my favorite fairy tale, tragic and gruesome as it is, so I get very excited by any re-telling.