The latest in etcetera with occasional SHOUTYCAPS
A little of everything in this last go-round.BooksOne Last Quest M. A. Ray. I bought this short on Amazon and gobbled it down that evening, but it's also being released as a serial on menyoral.com so I've been re-visiting it there. Because it's that good. If you have not yet ventured to the world of Rothganar, make plans now. (I really need to get better about listing the indie ebooks I read along with the print ones. Memory like a steel sieve, that's what I have.)Nature's God Matthew Stewart. Chewed through it. Dense, immense, packed with mind-blowing historical and philosophical material.The Royal Sentinel L Davidson. It's the sequel to the Redwood Rebel, which I reviewed on this blog ages ago. (obligatory link here) Royal Sentinel being released as a serial too. Follow it on the author's blog or on Wattpad.The latest in fluff: Lady Claire Is All That Maya Rodale, The Trouble With Dukes & The Heir Grace BurrowesSide note: I logged a bunch o' books into Goodreads. (go, organization!) I'm at 60% of last year's total already, and the year isn't half done. (35 books to last year's total of 50, for the numbers people.) Kinda highlighted for me how bad last year truly was. And how much time I was wasting on channel-surfing the internet. I mean, I knew, but...yeah. Doing more feels better. Yay.TV & MoviesMoana. Loved it. LOVED IT. So many quotable lines. I didn't even mind the songs. The song Shiny is a fabulous David Bowie homage. And Maui at one point says, "If you start singing, I'm going to throw up."Inferno. Based on a not-so-good Dan Brown novel. (like most Dan Brown novels, the plot pivots on a premise so flawed I cannot stomach the rest of it.) The movie? BADDER. SO BAD.Ben-Hur: The Remake. AKA Ben-Hur the Cliff's Notes edition with God voiceover, Ben-Hur the Pretty People version, Ben-Hur re-imagined by committee... It was horrible. The plot is less historically accurate, less theologically accurate, AND less true to the original book than the Charlton Heston movie, a feat I didn't think possible.Still watching Grand Tour with Spouseman. Episode 4 is the big winner so far. Silly, silly, fun. And Jeremy Clarkson admitted that Porsches are fantastic. So there.DetoursSpent a half-day off on a celebratory "Woo-hoo, Spouseman is done with radiation treatment" trip to the botanic garden. Results: many pretty pictures, fresh air, exercise and actual appetite, and (later) wipeout exhaustion. Deli overload celebration meal was also a success. I took zero food pictures, and the leftovers made for delicious lunches and dinners.Food!Spring means I start eating pickles with everything. I don't know why. I crave pickles and fresh mushrooms too, actually. Luckily Makes me glad almost any veggie can be quick-pickled (except greens. I would not recommend pickled kale. Or spinach.) ANYway. Green beans, peas, corn niblets, red peppers...all of 'em go in the fridge jar.Scones. I have made so many different kinds of scones lately. So. Many. Why haven't I made chocolate chip cherry ones yet? That will have to happen soon. <cue music>GARDENING!How I celebrate that it's almost Real Spring: I bought my summer bulbs. Dahlias and gladiolas, mostly. I know I could dig up glads and the dahlias in the fall and overwinter them, but...I never do. I picked up a big bag of mixed Asian lilies this year too. It's time to bump up the color variety. They come back every year, but every year more and more of them are orange. I thought I might be mis-remembering, but no. I checked old photos. Yellows and pinks and white. Last year. ORANGE EVERYWHERE. This year I am going for a bit more variety.And that's a wrap.Not tired of my words yet? You could always buy something I wrote. Check out this page to judge all my books by their covers. Or head straight to Amazon, if that's your preference.