Saturday in the Garden - Toad Abodes and Bug Hotels

OUTSIDE
I'm sitting cozy in my living room listening to the rain fall outside punctuated by thunder.  It's been a fairly productive day so its quite peaceful.  I just hope it is not coming down so hard it's beating the crap out of my new sproutlings.  (The peas and carrots made their appearance this week.)  Looks like it is coming down just hard enough to give everyone a nice drink.

I was able to do some field work this week and got some more nice views of the bison on Dunn Ranch Nature Preserve.

Finally this BBC wildlife video was floating around this week making me smile.  I love David Attenborough and the BBC is doing some of the most spectacular wildlife/nature film making that exists right now. 

LIFE

I'm teaching a class next weekend on Landscaping for Wildlife. It's a 3-4 hour class I do every year and I always incorporate some kind of crafty project into the class.  For the last 5 years I've done Toad Abodes.

They are simple, easy and fun but it was time for something new.  So I've been scrambling to see if I can get my act together to do Insect Hotels with the one pictured below being close to what I'd like to emulate.  Part garden art, part Insect hibernaculum.

Source

The problem is?  I'm not crafty AT ALL.  I have no natural talent or instinct for making things with my hands and being creative in that way.  Every time I try something I just get frustrated with how poorly it goes so I don't practice a lot either. (This lack of handiness is also why it wasn't the brightest idea I've ever had to buy a 120 year old house. But I really like old houses - none of this open plan B.S. for me, lol!)  Basically there is no way I am going to be able to put together 18 wooden shadow boxes by next Saturday. Nope.  Not going to happen.  That's why I spent some time today at the recycling center digging through a bin picking out milk jugs and getting the side-eye from the other folks dropping off recyclables.    My idea is to cut the milk jug in half and use the bottom as the container for all the hibernation materials.  I'm trying to think of some way to make it more attractive but in the end I'm just hoping it at least stimulates the folks in the class to think about the benefit of having insects in your garden and landscape and not just reviling them as pests. Yay bugs!

WATCHING, READING and BLOGGING

First things first - it was one of my favorite bi-annual events this weekend! The library book sale!  For $7, I got all the treasures below.

Peter Lovesey is an older mystery writer I just discovered who I really like so was excited to find a couple of his books as well as another intriguing older mystery.  Also some good fantasy and sci-fi, a Barbara Pym and a favorite MN DNR publication on landscaping for wildlife!

Continuing with books, I did finish two this week despite feeling pretty uninspired by reading at the moment.  I finished my re-read of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling.  I also finished Fingersmith by Sarah Waters.  I totally get why there is so much love for this book but I didn't love it entirely and sadly I think part of that is just my mood at the moment.  Is it fair to judge and review a book when you hit it at the wrong time?  I made some progress in The Fall of Hyperion by Dan Simmons today and picked up a couple of middle-grade books to replace the books I finished: Gregor the Overlander by Suzanne Collins and The Mysterious Howling by Maryrose Wood.

My watching this week has included a couple of movies which was a bit of novelty at least lately.  I watched (and review -see link below) Interstellar directed by Chris Nolan and Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy directed by James Gunn. I had astronomically huge expectations for Guardians so it not surprisingly didn't live up to them but it was definitely fun. Also Netflix has gotten the rest of the seasons of M*A*S*H so I've been meandering through season 6.  Radar's gone for a big chunk of it which sucks.  Frank Burns is also gone which is okay but definitely changes the dynamic. 

On the BLOG LAST WEEK:
SUNDAY: Re-reading thoughts on Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.  The start to this series is really almost perfect.
TUESDAY:  TOP TEN TUESDAY - Literary Quotes.  I completely ignored the "inspirational" part of the instructions from The Broke and the Bookish but I was inspired to list the quotes that I did:).
THURSDAY: Review of Interstellar directed by Christopher Nolan.  I liked it!

On the BLOG NEXT WEEK:
SUNDAY:  Review of The Last Detective by Peter Lovesey
TUESDAY: The Top Ten Tuesday topic is all-time favorite authors.  Yikes! Hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.
THURSDAY: The Tough Traveling Trope of the week is The Ace - that character that is good at everything.  Jerk.

I may throw in another post or two in there but this promises to be another week of insanity schedule wise sooo.... we'll just see.

Hope y'all have had a good week tending your garden!

Let the rain kiss you. Let the rain beat upon your head with silver liquid drops. Let the rain sing you a lullaby.

Langston Hughes

MOVIE REVIEW: Interstellar (2014)

Directed by: Christopher Nolan
Starring: Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, Jessica Chastain, Michael Caine, Matt Damon plus a bunch of other famous folk!
My Star Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars
Running Time: 169 Minutes (WOWZA!)

I've actually watched a few movies recently!  I've gotten so that I really prefer the medium of TV (I'm not sure how I feel about that but a discussion for another time) but I've been in a mood lately for some cinematic hijinks and drama.  I had heard only the briefest things about Interstellar - that it is Sci-fi and that people generally really liked it.  Seriously that's all I knew and I think that's a pretty great way to go into the film so I will try not to reveal too much.

Synopsis for context's sake: The Earth is toast.  A group of people head out into space to try and find a new home for the human race.  It has lots of consequences and also serves to reveal quite a bit about human nature in the process.

I really liked it though it wasn't what I expected at all.  I think I expected a solid space adventure, which it is, but it also has a very personal touch.  While it sometimes becomes unbalanced and the schmaltz takes over, I think this mixing, when it's in the right proportions, is what makes the movie standout and is why I liked it.  I loved Cooper and Murphy's Father/Daughter relationship so much and it gave the movie a heart and helped propel the urgency and add to the complexity of the mission. The movie is thoughtful and emotional and not always in the ways I expected.

It also has some seriously tense moments.  There are some scenes on a watery plant that are terrifying.  The movie plays around a LOT with time and relativity and that kept me stressed out for most of the movie.  It definitely pushed my buttons in the way that it is supposed to.  It also surprised me a few times with the directions it takes which is refreshing and great.

The visuals are spectacular which is exactly what you want in a movie in outer space.   The cast also does a spectacular job. 

Negatives?  It is a bit too long, I think.  In some ways I like that Nolan took his time and gave every piece it's due but I was antsy by the end even so.  As I hinted at above, sometimes the personal/sentimental side of the movie becomes a little over wrought.  The ending is also perhaps not quite right.

Taken as a whole though, the film really worked for me and it's nice to see a character/relationship based sci fi movie that has intelligence and the thrill ride you might expect from a space exploration film.

FINAL VERDICT:  If you are looking for an emotional and thrilling Sci Fi adventure that will also exercise the old gray cells, give Interstellar a whirl.  I really enjoyed it!

Have you seen this movie?  What did you think about it?  I could totally see this movie not working for everyone so I am interested to hear if anybody did not like it at all?

Top Ten Tuesday - Literary Quotes

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme for bloggers who like books and lists.  It's awesome and is graciously hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.

Not sure these are the top ten quotes that have profoundly changed my life but they are quotes that spoken to me at some point. 


1) Gandalf from The Lord of the Rings had a number of wise things to say but my favorite is:

2) Holla to all my fellow introverts.  From Smilla's Sense of Snow by Peter Hoeg.

“I feel the same way about solitude as some people feel about the blessing of the church. It's the light of grace for me. I never close my door behind me without the awareness that I am carrying out an act of mercy toward myself.”

3)   This is Logen Ninefingers mantra throughout The First Law trilogy by Joe Abercrombie.

“Once you've got a task to do, it's better to do it than live with the fear of it.”

4) From Memory by Lois McMaster Bujold, one of my favorite installments in the Vorkosigan Saga.

 “Some prices are just too high, no matter how much you may want the prize. The one thing you can't trade for your heart's desire is your heart.”

5) I have never read anything by Miriam Waddington and after searching I'm not even sure what work this quote comes from but I came across it on Goodreads and love it so hard.

“keep bees and grow asparagus.
listen to the wind
instead of the politicians,
make up your own stories
and believe them if you want to live
the good life”

 6) From Wild Comfort: The Solace of Nature by Kathleen Dean Moore.

“There is wild comfort in the cycles and the intersecting circles, the rotations and revolutions, the growing and ebbing of this beautiful and strangely trustworthy world.”

7) Because no list of quotes is complete without one of my heroes Aldo Leopold. From Round River.

“The last word in ignorance is the man who says of an animal or plant, "What good is it?" If the land mechanism as a whole is good, then every part is good, whether we understand it or not. If the biota, in the course of aeons, has built something we like but do not understand, then who but a fool would discard seemingly useless parts? To keep every cog and wheel is the first precaution of intelligent tinkering.”

8) From Jackaby by William Ritter.

“Jackaby, I was rapidly discovering had a way of opening that corner of my brain. It was a quiet little corner in which I had lived when I was younger. It was a corner in which anything was possible, where magic was not an improbable daydream, but an obvious fact-if still only just out of reach. In those days I had known there must be monsters in the world, but I would happily accept them, knowing that, by the same logic, there must also be wizards and wands and flying carpets. I had never really closed that part of my mind, just slowly stopped visiting it as I grew older. I had left it unlocked like the jumbled treasure room upstairs, waiting for someone to come poking about.”

9) Because I'm re-reading Harry Potter (By J.K. Rowling)...

"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good!"

10)  And to end on a bitter note... From Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn. 

“Men always say that as the defining compliment, don’t they? She’s a cool girl. Being the Cool Girl means I am a hot, brilliant, funny woman who adores football, poker, dirty jokes, and burping, who plays video games, drinks cheap beer, loves threesomes and anal sex, and jams hot dogs and hamburgers into her mouth like she’s hosting the world’s biggest culinary gang bang while somehow maintaining a size 2, because Cool Girls are above all hot. Hot and understanding. Cool Girls never get angry; they only smile in a chagrined, loving manner and let their men do whatever they want. Go ahead, shit on me, I don’t mind, I’m the Cool Girl.

Men actually think this girl exists. Maybe they’re fooled because so many women are willing to pretend to be this girl. For a long time Cool Girl offended me. I used to see men – friends, coworkers, strangers – giddy over these awful pretender women, and I’d want to sit these men down and calmly say: You are not dating a woman, you are dating a woman who has watched too many movies written by socially awkward men who’d like to believe that this kind of woman exists and might kiss them. I’d want to grab the poor guy by his lapels or messenger bag and say: The bitch doesn’t really love chili dogs that much – no one loves chili dogs that much! And the Cool Girls are even more pathetic: They’re not even pretending to be the woman they want to be, they’re pretending to be the woman a man wants them to be. Oh, and if you’re not a Cool Girl, I beg you not to believe that your man doesn’t want the Cool Girl. It may be a slightly different version – maybe he’s a vegetarian, so Cool Girl loves seitan and is great with dogs; or maybe he’s a hipster artist, so Cool Girl is a tattooed, bespectacled nerd who loves comics. There are variations to the window dressing, but believe me, he wants Cool Girl, who is basically the girl who likes every fucking thing he likes and doesn’t ever complain. (How do you know you’re not Cool Girl? Because he says things like: “I like strong women.” If he says that to you, he will at some point fuck someone else. Because “I like strong women” is code for “I hate strong women.”)”

 I think that's it for me.  I do feel bad ending with such a cynical quote but I do think it's pretty brilliant, if mostly unfair to the male sex.  I love quotes and look forward to seeing everybody elses' lists!

RE-READING: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

This won't be a proper review but I wanted to note down some general thoughts about my re-reading of the first book in the Harry Potter series AND about re-watching the movie.

First of all, I was surprised at how really perfect this first book is.  With trepidation, I admit that I was ever so slightly disappointed in the latter installments in the series, particularly the last book, and it was that taste that was most recently on my tongue.  I love the series but my relationship with it was one of many years of association; where there is love but also a recognition of faults.  I had forgotten what the first flush of the relationship was like:0).  Also, one might expect that the first outing, the debut, might be a bit shakier then those written by the practiced veteran, but actually it is perfect in almost every way. Sure, the actual plot only fills a quarter of the book and the rest is pretty episodic but those episodes are the perfect vehicle for being introduced to the world and to Harry, Hermione, Ron, Hagrid, Snape, Dumbledore etc....

Some other thoughts:
1) I'd forgotten how middle-grade this first book is and having realized that I have decided that what Rowling did with the series was utterly brilliant.  In each successive book she aged it up with her characters and her initial audience.  Has any other author done this with a series?  I've said it before, I am most sad that I was not of an age to grow up with these books (I was older) and I am hugely jealous of the cohort who did get to do that!

2) I've mentioned this before on the blog but I really appreciate an author, particularly one writing a series of books, with a plan.   Rowling definitely had one and I love how things build and how you can see the initial sparks in this book.  She does trip up from time to time though.  I was surprised to hear Hagrid say, in the first or second chapter, that he borrowed the flying motorcycle from Sirius Black.  As we know from two books later, that would have been difficult considering that Sirius was in Azkaban and presumed to be a servant of Voldemort.

3) Harry has very little personality at the start of the book and really throughout this first book.  His childhood with the Dursleys has made him kind of a blank slate  - his personality has been completely repressed.  One of the joys of the book and the series is to watch him flower into such a strong individual.

4) I'd forgotten how funny Fred and George are.  My favorite exchange is after they've received sweaters from their mum with an F and G embroidered on them, speaking to Ron: "You haven't got a letter on yours,' George observed, 'I suppose she thinks you don't forget your name. But we're not stupid – we know we're called Gred and Forge."  Dumbledore is also pretty hilarious with his first speech being: "Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! Before we begin our banquet, I would like to say a few words. And here they are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak! Thank you."  The best thing is those are some totally wicked cool words:0)!  Point being I laughed out loud several times.  I'm not sure any of the rest of the books is quite this funny.

5) I listened to the audio by Jim Dale which is really excellent BUT I am dying to listen to the British versions of the audio books narrated by Stephen Fry.  There is apparently a great and heated debated on the internets about which narrator does better, encapsulated I think in this summation on Book Riot.  It appears that it is very tricky for someone in the States to get their hands on a Stephen Fry narration though *grumble, grumble*.

THE MOVIE!

I'm just going to come right out and say it - this movie is kind of terrible.  If the book improved upon my memory of it the movie did the opposite.  I think at the time it came out it was just so exciting seeing all the magical things from the books and to be fair the visuals for the most part really work. The casting was also pretty excellent or, at least, would end up working out.  Robbie Coltrane as Hagrid is great, Maggie Smith as McGonagall, and Alan Rickman as Snape are particularly great. 

The main issue with the movie is the acting by the three main children, made worse by the stiltedness of the script and the removal of a lot of the humor I mention above as well as some of the more interesting scenes from the book.   As for the acting of the three main children, I don't entirely blame them - I think they were inexperienced, but they were also directed poorly.  The forced and completely unnatural dialogue between them is jarring throughout.  I've since watched The Chamber of Secrets and it's amazing how much they've improved as well as how much they've grown up.  They become bearable to decent in movie two but this first one is kind of a mess.  That said, Emma Watson and Daniel Radcliffe do grow up to be how I imagine Harry and Hermione.  Rupert Grint as Ron is okay for me but isn't exactly how I pictured Ron and I'm not sure he ever captures Ron's humor. 

To Wrap Up:  The book is a five star read for me and is nearly flawless.  I've always thought of Goblet of Fire as my favorite book in the series but I'll be interested to see if that holds up as I continue to re-read. I am all googly with admiration for this book right now. The movie.... was a disappointment. 

Give me all your thoughts on this beginning of a classic series!  Gimme Gimme!  I want them all!

Saturday in the Garden - Sprouts and Burnout

OUTSIDE

It was a gray and drizzly week in Iowa so no field work.  Despite that, the Asian greens and radishes have sprouted.  This was also despite an attack by my garden nemesis - the fox squirrel.  They like to come through after I've direct sowed seeds and dig it all up.  Half the time they don't seem to eat the seed or anything  - they just like to dig.  Little buggers.

Squirrel Havoc

Asian Greens

I directed planted some mustard and flax in the herb garden and investigated climbing roses to plant in there as well.  I think I'm going to go with Graham Thomas.  They are supposed to be good climbers, tolerant of partial shade AND hardy in zone 4/5. And they're named after a dude. 

LIFE

I am officially in burn out mode at work and it's seeping into the rest of life as well.  I've got  a couple more weeks to get through and then I can take a break.  For some reason this viral Facebook post by Anne Lamott really spoke to me yesterday, probably because #3 really caught my eye: "Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes, including you."  First world problems I know but looking forward to taking a break and puttering around the house and in the garden.

WATCHING, READING and BLOGGING

Watching has been haphazard.  Picking and choosing Stargate SG1 episodes and lately the Harry Potter movies.  Needing comfort watching that doesn't demand too much.

Reading has also been haphazard.  Almost everything I am reading right now, besides my car audios is grim with a side of a little grimmer.  Fingersmith by Sarah Waters and Fall of Hyperion by Dan Simmons are both excellent but I am not in the mood for either of them.  I want light rainbow colored fluffity fluff - cozy mysteries that involve animals, or a Regency romance with large doses of humor.  Because I don't want to drop the current books to pick up new books I am just not reading except in the car where I am re-reading Harry Potter and The Chronicles of Narnia.  I finished The Magician's Nephew this week and picked up HP and the Chamber of Secrets.

Blogging has unfortunately been sucked into the general burnout malaise, I'm afraid. 

LAST WEEK:
SUNDAY: Review of Zenn Scarlett by Christian Schoon.  This is a YA Sci Fi book about a girl studying to be an exoveterinarian taking care of large alien creatures.  It had some problems but all the stuff about being an exovet was super cool!

TUESDAY: Top Ten Tuesday: Where are They Now with Literary Characters.

NEXT WEEK:
No idea.  I may post everything in the world.  I may sleep all week.  It'll be a surprise. 

So how does your garden grow?  And yes I mean that in a symbolic sort of way. Unless you have a garden, in which case do tell about that as well!

Top Ten Tuesday - Where are They Now with Literary Characters

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme for bloggers who like books and lists.  It's awesome and is graciously hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.

This week's Top Ten Tuesday is about those characters that you would really like another glimpse at to see what they are up to after their printed story has been told.  I could pretty much list every fairy tale character ever because who isn't curious about what happens after the happily ever after? I expected making this list to be easy but it was really rather difficult, not least because there are a lot of series with characters I love that I am still in the middle of.  I definitely feel like I am missing MANY and look forward to seeing others' lists!


1) Mark Watney from The Martian by Andy Weir

This was my most recent book boyfriend and I am curious how Mark adjusts to life back on Earth as a celebrity botanist and astronaut.  It likely would not be as exciting a story as his sojourn on Mars but you never know and I for one would be happy to listen to him wax lyrical about various plants and wisecrack.

2) Poppy, Widget and Bailey from The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

I loved these three young characters from the book and would be interested in what happens to them and the circus as they become adults.

3) Flavia DeLuce from the mystery series of the same name by Alan Bradley

It is no secret that while I admire 12 year old Flavia she also annoys the crap out of me.  Would LOVE to meet her as an adult and hope she would be as interesting as she is as a child and not quite as irritating.

4) Mildred Lathbury from Excellent Women by Barbara Pym

In both books by Barbara Pym that I've read she has employed a vague foreshadowing type of ending  - only hinting at what might be in store for her main characters.  I really connected with Mildred and would like to know exactly how her life continues after Excellent Women.

5) Julian Kestrel from the mystery series of the same name by Kate Ross

This is one of my favorite historical mystery series which is set in regency era England.  Julian is an enigmatic nobleman/amateur sleuth who has four adventures before his author sadly died very young.  I have a feeling she had lots in store for Julian and I would definitely have loved to read about it.

6) Frances Crawford and Philippa from The Lymond Chronicles by Dorothy Dunnett

At the end of the Lymond Chronicles do these two crazy kids stop being 16th century international spies and settle down to a life on the old estate?  Surely not:).

7) Every Single Character from Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling

Duh!  We get a little peek at the kids' futures but it was almost cruel because it was brief and skipped so many intervening years. 

8) Cassandra Mortmain from I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith

Cassandra is one of my favorite narrators of all time and we leave her at the end of I Capture the Castle with her having just made the transition from child to adult and learned a little about the reality of life.  It would be interested to see how she carries on and if she find happiness.

9) Sunshine from Sunshine by Robin McKinley

I love Sunshine as a character and would love to spend more time with her, hanging out while she made cinnamon buns.  

I think I will stop there.  Now to check out all the characters I missed!  Any you would have included?

REVIEW: Zenn Scarlett by Christian Schoon

Zenn Scarlett by Christian Schoon

Original Publication Year: 2013

Genre(s): YA, Science Fiction

Series: Zenn Scarlett # 1

Awards: None

Format: Ebook - owned

Narrated by: NA

As soon as I read the blurb for this series – that it was about a girl training to be an exoveterinarian, someone who cares for alien creatures – I was excited to read it.   Exoveterinary medicine drew me to the book and I did in fact love everything to do with the description, treatment and care of alien creatures, however, it also had a number of elements that didn’t quite click.  So overall I only liked the book, didn’t love it – 3 star book.

When she was still a child, Zenn’s mother who was an exoveterinarian, was killed while working inside an enormous alien creature.  Despite this, Zenn has always known she wished to follow in her mother (and uncle’s) footsteps. She is studying to do so at her uncle’s cloisters (I don’t think it is ever explained why it’s modeled on a monastery) on Mars, where she is the only student, and is entering the latter part of her schooling which requires her to pass some practical tests in order to go on to the next level.  It is difficult for her to concentrate on her tests however because the other colonists on Mars aren’t fond of the school/exovet clinic or really anything that didn’t originate from Earth and she suspects them of causing trouble with the animals. On top of that she has started to experience a weird phenonmenon where she thinks she can see inside the animal’s minds; see what they see and feel what they feel.  It’s making her clumsy and is jeopardizing her chances to move forward with her studies.  She must figure out what is going on, in order to get her life back on track.

As I mentioned above, I loved the idea behind this book and Schoon displays his imagination in dreaming up the alien creatures, many of them immense, and the veterinary techniques that must be used to treat them.  Everything related to the care and treatment is realistically portrayed and was completely fascinating.  To fix internal issues in some of the large creatures, the vet must enter the creature’s body and travel around its systems in a small capsule.  This whole component was by far my favorite part of the book and also the best done in my opinion.

Zenn is a fine character; she’s believable and for the most part makes a good protagonist.  I like how driven and ambitious she is and her policy on making friends (don’t) makes sense considering her isolated upbringing and the death of her mother.  She’s not too perfect; she’s a snob about the other colonists (who are painted as ignorant yokels) and a bit of a know-it-all.  I appreciate that instead of hiding her strange communing with the animals and her suspicions of sabotage as might be done in other YA books, she actually does tell people, including her uncle and nobody believes her.  This book did fall into my adult-reading-YA centric complaint of holding up a teenager as wiser than the adults.  Zenn’s uncle Otho is criminally clueless, obstinately so, about her and the situation on the planet throughout the book mostly as a plot device to set up unbelievable situations.

Unfortunately, there were also a number of weaknesses that ended up getting in the way of me loving the book.  The tone is a little uneven.  The issue of xeno-phobia is a major theme of the book and it is presented with all the subtlety of a sledge hammer.  It was made painfully and simplistically obvious which I didn’t think was necessary for a teen audience so it occasionally read much younger.  All of the other characters outside of Zenn were cardboard cut-outs particularly the yokel villagers.  They were clichés and not interesting at all.  The “romance” had zero chemistry between Zenn and her love interest which seem more like acquaintances, so nothing that happens between them had any emotional resonance for me. This may be something that is developed more fully in book two.  Finally I thought this book would have been more enjoyable with the addition of some humor but Zenn is very serious minded so everything is a bit dire and humorless.  This was especially disappointing as the author lists his writing influence as Douglas Adams. 

FINAL VERDICT:  It was a book that had some great potential but fell down in some key areas so that for me it ended up being just okay.  On the fence about reading book two. 3 out of 5 stars.   

Read Harder Challenge #4 - A Book Published by an Indie Press