Recent Reads

I’ve finished several new books lately ranging from new releases to older books, from young adult to adult. Some I’ve liked, some I haven’t.

Goblin Market

Jennifer Hudock

I had the pleasure of reading this book as it was being written and it was one of those you looked forward to the next chapter being completed because the characters were so engaging. The story is strong, but characterization is one of this author’s strongest skills. In the years I’ve been reading Jennifer Hudock’s work she has made me love characters, ache for them, cry for them and absolutely loathe them. One of her prior characters actually led me to have an overwhelming urge to slap the woman. The characters in Goblin Market are full, rich, relatable, and connectable. This one is highly recommended and is available from amazon.com for the Kindle and from Smashwords.com for other ereaders.

Blue Paradise

Anny Cook

Another trip to Mystic Valley is always a good thing. The heroine’s name was a bit unsettling at first, it almost seemed as if it would fit better with Cook’s Carnal Camelot series of stories which are absolutely hilarious and very irreverent. This is the story of one of the invaders to Mystic Valley that appear in the prior book finds herself in the sites as a potential mate of two of Mystic Valley’s handsome blue warriors.

White Nights

Jim Butcher

Another in the Dresden Files series of books, this one pits Harry Dresden against someone who is slowly picking off all of the magic practitioners in Chicago. Not full-fledged Wizards, the practitioners don’t have the protective skills needed to fight off the darker elements of the magical world. Worst of all for Harry, all signs point to the killer being his half-brother Thomas, the White Court vampire/incubus. This is much better than Blood Rites and Dead Beat before it. Butcher's hero has a whip snap sharp sense of humor and a tendency to make things around him explode, burst into flames

The Hunger Games

Suzanne Collins

This is an insanely popular YA book at the moment but after reading it I have serious concerns about the audience I often see with it. This book is not for the younger end of YA. Middle schoolers and tweens are not an appropriate audience for this book. The premise and the message are more complex than students that age can understand. The irony of using a book with horrific, and no I’m not over stating that, violence to try to show the dangers of desensitization to violence is not a subtlety that a 12-13 year old is going to get. The violence is truly extreme. A group of teenagers (ages 12-17) are pitted against each other in a gladiator type situation and must fight until only one remains alive. These children hack and slice and bludgeon each other, killing is brutal, up-close and personal and most take pleasure in the destruction they are inflicting. One girl plans to cut up the heroine slowly with a knife. The last opponent the “heroine” faces is slowly eaten alive over several hours by a group of wolf like creatures with the eyes and features of the children that have already been killed until the girl finally shoots him through the head with an arrow to put him out of his misery.

I Am Number Four

Pittacus Lore

The author’s name is a pseudonym to stage the book as if it is being written by one of the elders of the long dead planet of Lorien. The story has nine elite children who will grow up to have special gifts and talents, each with a guardian (not a parent) who are sent to Earth as the evil Mogadorians attack and destroy all life on their planet. Charmed to protect them, as long as they remain apart from one another, they can only be killed in a predetermined number. As the book opens, 1-3 are dead and the hunt for 4 is underway. Not a great story, but not bad. Slow moving for the most of the first portion of the book, the real problem is that the main characters, #4—or John as he’s now known, is what romance writers refer to as TSTL. Too Stupid To Live. Time after time he does things that guarantee he, and everyone els around him, will die.

The Other Queen

Philippa Gregory

This was an interesting take on the story of Mary, Queen of Scots. For once, she’s not shown as the inane innocent who is victimized by those around her, but as a woman very much fighting to control her life, even when her actions will eventually lead to her death. It also tells the story of Elizabeth of Hardwick, herself a force of nature and a survivor who was able to navigate the treachery of Elizabethan England and the power of William Cecil. Gregory shows a Mary who wasn’t innocent. Claiming evidence from documents she’d examined, Gregory claims that Mary was an active participant in the attempts to free her and the plots against Elizabeth I.

Winter Driving Lessons

(This intrepid driver could have used a few lessons in winter driving. So could the guy at this link. He managed to set his car on fire trying to get unstuck.)

There are many reasons I’m thankful for my stepdad, Danny. I wrote a couple of years ago about him making sure there was something from Santa under the tree every year, but today I’m thankful for more practical things he taught me. Having survived Ohio winters as a kid and North Dakota winters as a member of the K9 guard at an Air Force base, he knew a little something about surviving winters. These are some of the things he taught me.

1. Shovel early, shovel often. Don’t wait until the full several inches has accumulated in your driveway and walkways. Begin shoveling while it’s still falling and you’ll easily scoop away those half inches bit by bit. (I wish I’d listened to this last night.) If you wait, shovel in increments, a few feet at a time. It’s easier on the back and heart, and the snow isn’t going anywhere. Heart attacks are a big danger for even seemingly healthy people because snow shoveling is more work on the ticker than you’d think.

2. Driving in snow takes skill, driving on ice is stupid. Living in the south I often hear transplanted Northerners like me say they can drive on snow. Yep, they probably can. But when I hear them say they can drive on ice, I start deducting IQ points. No one can drive safely on ice. But there are some things that make it easier. Go slow. Wherever you’re going will be there when you get there, the important thing is to make sure you and those who ride with you are still okay when you get there. Leave a lot of room between you and the car in front of you. Turn into the skid—works for ice, snow or hydroplaning. You’re increasing the natural friction and it helps to stop the car. Try to stay in the groves of the car ahead of you. If it found traction there, you probably will too. Think ahead of where you are; ask yourself, "What will I do if..."

3. Be prepared for the worst. Have a safety kit with you. It’s actually very easy and can be put together from things at home. Start with a metal coffee can and poke holes in the sides. In the can put a candle, matches or a lighter, an extra pair of gloves, granola bars or a couple of chocolate bars, a small cup like a 1cp. measuring cup, a red rag and an unwound and folded up piece of a coat hanger. Keep this in the car, but way from heat sources like the floorboard of the front seat. Always carry a blanket with you and a small shovel/hand spade and a bag of deice, kitty litter or sand in the trunk of your car.

The de-ice, litter or sand can help you get traction after you dig out a bit of the slush and ice under your tires. If you can’t get out, make sure your tail pipe is clear so carbon monoxide doesn’t build up in and under the car. Now get back in the car and pullout your can. If your car won’t run and you can’t use the heater, you can hang the can from the rearview mirror with the wire and use the candle for light and warmth. You have a bit of a snack, a blanket, dry gloves and a cup for snatching snow up that you can melt to drink if needed. The red rag was for the days before cellphones. You tied it to your antenna or rolled it up in the window to signal for help.

Well, enough of that. I need to go back out and shovel some more snow.

Cold winter memories

Another forecast for winter weather and we’re all getting ready. We went to the grocery store and it was packed. Everyone was stocking up just in case. The odd thing was that there were no bananas. Banana? Really? So instead of that French toast igloo (milk, bread and eggs) you’re working on a banana-log house?

As we and everyone else stocked up--and with a forecast for 4-8” of snow in an area where there is maybe one snow plow per county and they’re usually on loan to the northern mountain area of our state it only makes sense, we noticed a lot of people buying fire wood as well. Our area is notorious for losing power to homes during winter weather or severe storms. All of this reminded me of winters back home in east-central Illinois. December, early January and March were known for ice storms while massive snow was usually in late January and February. And those winters are why I always want a fireplace or wood burning stove in my home…and a gas stove/oven.

When I was a kid, we had very little money. Not that I have much money now, but we make ends meet most months. Back then there was no cushion and the reality was that the money sometimes didn’t stretch. Cupboards sometimes ran bare. Bills were paid when they came on pink paper, cars were sometimes held together with coat hangers and duct tape, coaxed and nudged and rebuilt with hope and parts from a salvage yard. I’ve written before about how some Christmases, Santa found it all but impossible to get to our house.

I remember times when winter storms knocked out our power. Our furnace may have been gas, but without the electric powered blower, a gas furnace is all but useless. We didn’t have a fireplace in our trailers or in any of the houses we rented or the one my parents tired to buy with my step dad’s VA loan. So many winters’ days found us with blankets hung over the windows and doorways of the kitchen, blankets and pillows (or even couch cushions) scattered on the floor as we all used the heat from the oven trapped by the blankets to keep the room warm enough we didn’t freeze. Hot water bottles tucked in with us also helped to cut the chill.

Cold winters also meant frozen pipes. I remember a lot of winters where there was no running water and where one of my uncles or grandfather was under our trailer or in crawl space trying to unthaw water pipes with a propane torch or (later) a hair dryer. Heat tape is electric and not useful when there is not electricity. While we waited for a thaw, we hauled water from the Laundromat across the street or used the gas station bathroom. During one particular long spell, our toilet for number one was a Styrofoam ice chest that was poured into the toilet with a bit of precious water when it was full. Not exactly a happy healthy memory, but hey…it happened.

I look at a lot of my students these days, some the same age I was when much of this was part of my life, and wonder how they would handle adversity. I do think this current generation will have a better understanding of scraping, saving and self-denial than any generation has for a while. But I worry about the messages they are getting about what’s important. I know one 13 year old girl who still has her designer clothes and smart phone but told me how her family has lost their house. Another tells me how her dad is out of work, they have lost their house and she can’t afford to go on the field trip, but mom still drives a Hummer. I wonder if this will skew their priorities or if this generation will grow up rejecting the “me” status symbols of their parents. I sort of hope it will be the latter.

Mom's last Christmas Gift

As of 7:30pm tonight we’d had 2.7” of snow. Why is this a big deal? We live just outside of Atlanta. Georgia. In the Deep South. According to a local news source, Atlanta hasn’t had snow that stuck since the 1880s. This winter we had a trackable snow on the 12^th and now a full scale snow fall on Christmas Day. The first white Christmas in over 100 years. My son has been excited all day and nearly vibrating with interest in the cold white stuff.

Growing up in Illinois, you would think that white Christmases were the norm. They aren’t. Central Illinois doesn’t normally see more than a faint trackable snow in December. Trackable refers to the fact that if a rabbit ran through it, it would leave tracks you could follow. Our real snows don’t generally fall until January and especially February. So white Christmases were special for us, especially for my mother.

My mom loved all things Christmas. The weeks from Halloween to New Years were her favorite time of the year, culminating in Christmas. As a family, we women went shopping on Black Friday and it kicked things off for us. Christmas was very much about family and all things traditional Christmas. The tree went up on the Friday after Thanksgiving and came down New Years. Lights bedecked the house, indoors and out. Old movies such as Miracle on 34^th Street were playing in the background on a continuous loop. And snowmen were everywhere. She loved and collected Frosty in all his incarnations.

My mom loved snow. She always dreamed of taking a horse-drawn sleigh ride through the falling snow. Each year she watched for all the folksy indicators and focused on the nightly weather report waiting to see if we would have a white Christmas. When I moved south she would call every time they had snow to ask if we were coming up any time soon. Once my son was born she was especially interested to know if we were planning on coming up for the holidays and even more vigilant about the weather to see if he would have snow for our visits.

My mom passed away a few weeks ago. It snowed heavily the day she died and we had five inches of snow in Illinois for her funeral. The flowers that were sent by those who knew her all shared the Christmas theme in honor of her love of the season. The topiary we picked out from the grandchildren was adorned with a stuffed snowman. I didn’t take my son. He’d just turned two and we felt he was too young for the 9 hour trip plus he was too young to sit through the funeral and all the planning we would have to do.

Today is Christmas and I honestly believe we all received her last Christmas gift. All of her children and grand children (except the ones who live in Florida) have had a white Christmas. My son played in more snow than he’s ever seen and there will be even more on the ground for him in the morning. So tomorrow, along with all his other Christmas gifts, my son will get to play again with his grandma’s last Christmas present—something that will make all future white Christmases, rare or not, even more precious.

***Update Even the grandkids in Florida saw flurries. Mom must have been working hard.

Saddness among beauty

We recently took our son, Z, up to north Georgia to the lovely area around Helen. Helen is a tourist trap, but it’s a clean, nice place to be a tourist trap. We head up each year more to visit the stands that pop up along the roadside. They sell ciders of all types, apple, peach, muscadine, blackberry and many, many others. There are homemade apple fritters, apple butter, hand crafts and boiled peanuts K loves these, I detest them, even the smell makes me nauseous. Z watched the horses in the fields, the farm cats and dogs running about with wide eyes while we shopped and tasted.

Helen itself is a picturesque little Alpine style village in the North Georgia mountains. There are shops selling every little whatnot you can imagine, shirts, “old-time” pictures, real estate (buy or rent your own mountain cabin) and homespun art. One of our favorite places is Hansel and Gretel’s Candy Kitchen. They make the best goodies –salt water taffy, turtles, caramels, candied apples and more flavors of fudge than you could begin to imagine. The alpine feeling is enhanced by the horse drawn carriages that give rides to visitors. Z got to ride in his first carriage and feed the horse, Nelly, carrots.

While up there, we stopped at a place that purported to be a bear nature center, The Black Forest Bear Park. We expected to see one or two black bears (Georgia’s native species) in a nice tended area. We were horrified by what we saw. In this small building set off of Main Street, there are 16 adult bears in an enclosure that is smaller than half a football field. There are eight cement enclosures where half the bears are allowed out at a time. They look like the bottom of an empty swimming pool. We heard the guy on duty tell someone that the rest of the bears were in “dens” under the floor of the walkway that we were on. The walk way couldn’t have been 30 feet across.

Z was fascinated, but we couldn’t help look at each other in horror of how these bears were being treated. It was horribly sad to see these beautiful creatures humbled and humiliated into begging food from the visitors who tossed apples and slices of French bread. Sadly, the place isn’t breaking any laws. I can’t help but think that one day humanity will pay for it’s arrogance.

Creativity

A friend of mine made a statement on her blog that got me thinking. She said there is very little room for practicality in a creative person’s life. Now there’s not a lot that Jenn and I disagree on, oh a few things here and there that make each of us roll our eyes and shake our heads at the other, but this one stood out for me today in a big way.

I just finished my first “paper” for the class I’m taking to get my master’s degree. It has been a struggle this week to find the time to do homework and work and family and me. I’m not sure I managed all of it with any kind of finesse, but it all has gotten done…almost, we won’t look at the big pile of laundry or the stack of tests I still need to grade.

So did I do anything creative? Yes. I planned out the performance tasks and lesson sequences for the next section my students will be working on. I squeezed in some reading for leisure around the edges. My mind has been making changes to a manuscript I have in the works, nothing written, but it’s in my head. I took my son to a football game that required a car ride of 45 minutes.

What? These don’t seem creative to you? They are, I assure you. Let’s start with the first. I had to develop and outline the real-life task my students will perform to show that they understand and can utilize the information in the upcoming expository and persuasive units of study. Go on, try it. What is the goal, the role the student will fill, the audience, the real life situation the student will be experiencing and what is the actual performance task outline? Got one for understanding expository texts? Okay, now do it again for persuasive texts. Now figure out how to maintain the attention of 150 7^th and 8^th graders while you present the information. See what I mean yet?

No? Try the next one. Reading for leisure. This is an easy one, right? The story fills your head and you transport yourself into the situation and you live, breath and move with the characters in the story. You feel as they feel, you experience what they experience…no? Then you don’t really know how to read.

But let’s try again. Come up with a way to entertain a 21 month old in the backseat of a car while you drive in the front seat of a car for 45 minutes…each way. No, videos aren’t an option. Getting it yet?

It is my belief that we need to learn to see our creativity differently. I know this isn’t the point that Jenn was making, but it got me thinking. Instead of bemoaning the unfinished painting, manuscript, sculpture, composition, etc. that you have, begin celebrating and recognizing all the ways you do exercise your creativity on a daily basis. By doing that, and adding a bit of creative time management, you just may find yourself motivated to finish that project that has you feeling like a creative failure.

The beauty of candles

My sister-in-law has started a small home business making candles. You see, my sister-in-law was diagnosed some years ago with MS. She's a young mother with four small children and over the past few years the MS has eroded her ability to work at any structured job to help her husband support the family. So with her fledgling home business, she can work at her own time and pace.

I encourage you to drop by the facebook page or blog to see what they have to offer.