The Latest Doings & Goings-on
Reading:Court of___________ series. Sarah J Maas. Three books & a novella with more on the way. I gobbled them all up like potato chips and have moved on to the author's other series, the name of which I have misplaced. Good, solid European/Celtic-based fantasy but with some quirks that may or may not rub a reader wrong. (1) There's a definite romance feel to the relationship developments and the physical descriptions, and although the books are published by YA Bloomsbury, um...there are full-on sex scenes too. Which I like but was not expecting. (2) The characters refer to people as males and females...that one starts to grate after a while. I know, the rationale is that there are Fae and fairies and arguments are made about man/woman only applying to humans, but...I respectfully disagree and dislike the reductiveness of it nonetheless. (3) There's a subtext of "marriage & family is everything," with romantic love complications being the only driving motivation for nearly every character's development.Me, I didn't mind them, and the books are wildly popular, but...still. These are things I notice.Viewing:Avengers: Infinity War. (Sorta spoilers?) I enjoyed it right up to the end, which wasn't an end OR a cliffhanger and has left me with...mixed feelings. It's worse than if I'd gotten to the last page of The Two Towers and was told I couldn't read Return Of the King for a year, because reading even the most visual of books is not as visceral and immediate as viewing a movie. The choice of a total downer endpoint (and the painfully problematic nature of some choices leading to that point) pulled me out of the story, and that was disappointing. I wanted to be excited about anticipating the next part. Now I'm merely hoping it isn't a huge letdown. Oh, well.Winchester. A delicious old-fashioned haunted house story, complete with a cast of flawed protagonists, loads of mysterious supporting characters, family failures and secrets, and tons of jump scares. The historical elements—including the magnificent sets & costumes—made for wonderful atmospherics. It’s beautifully produced, crisply modern, and yet it sets a retro 70’s horror movie ambiance in the best way.Baking:I have discovered that if I add an extra 1/2 c of greek yogurt and extra sugar to my cherry drop scone recipe, they taste a lot like cherry cheesecake. Next experiment: sub in some almond flour to see how it affects the texture.And I've perfected the recipe I call "why buy teeny boxes of Boursin when I have goat cheese and yogurt plus herbs & spices from my kitchen & garden?" It's delicious on lots of things, and so easy I can make it in a bowl with a fork. Yum.Yarding:Spring has finally sprung. We’re still at half the average growing degree days for this point in the year, but with the summery days, we’re catching up fast. I got the shrubs in need of shaping cut back just in time, before they leafed out practically overnight. And since Spouseman has enough energy back to join in the yard fun & games again this year (YAY!) the bindweed & dandelions in the beds are getting properly annihilated.Most of the things I planted last year came back. I’ve added a few new perennials and moved around some that have been propagating. On the annuals side, cucumbers, tomatoes and peppers are in, serendipity seeds have been scattered. Still to come: basil, more rosemary & lavender plants for pots and beds (maybe I can keep the pots alive this year...) and some geraniums for color.And I need to buy more dirt. (Just writing those words makes me giggle—buy dirt?!—but it’s true. I harvest enough from the beds each year that I need to replace biomass. Because SCIENCE!)And since you've made it this far, Writing:My last post had the mopey details. The happy big thing is, I have met some fantastic folk at a sorta-local reading series. Gumbo Fiction Salon happens on second Thursdays at the Galway Arms in Chicago. There are a couple of featured readers every month and open mic. Genre-friendly to the max, but not restricted to science-fiction/fantasy, or even to prose. Supportive, audience of other writers 7 writing adjacent folk. Good food, good company, good times. What's not to love?It's only sorta-local because I'm near Chicago, not in Chicago. Near-ish. Like, it takes an hour to get there.) ANYway. It's well worth the public transit adventure.I'll be there again tonight, reading from Rough Passages if I get a mic slot. I'll definitely be reading in July, I'm a featured reader that month.