Book Review: Girl Genius

 The first webcomic strip I followed was Helen, Sweetheart of the Internet.  I found it in late 1997 and quickly caught up with her past posts. Helen is a literal genius with all things tech.  She is clearly attractive but isn't focused on that aspect of life.  This strip ran from 1996 - 2005.  I can't find an archive of this strip which makes me terribly sad.  However, without Helen I would never have found Girl Genius.

Girl Genius is an ongoing webcomic collaboration between Phil Foglio and Kaja Foglio. I consider it steampunk but they believe it should have the genre heading gaslamp fantasy.  I actually don't care what we call it, it's amazing.  A heroine who is a compassionate, funny, genius in a mad science world populated with interesting characters some of which are monsters and/or evil geniuses.  The Foglios have been putting out three strips a week (M,W,F) since 2005.  

Wikipedia simplifies the overall plot to:

"Girl Genius tells the story of Agatha Clay, a student and apprentice at Transylvania Polygnostic University whose experiments never work, until she encounters an electromagnetic pulse and is robbed of her locket.  This leads her to break free of an attempt to suppress her powers as a Spark, and to hide that she is the long-lost daughter of famous hero Bill Heterodyne and villainess-turned-good Lucrezia Mongfish. Agatha Heterodyne (whose surname is based on a real scientific concept) learns to mix scientific genius, a streak of true heroism and an obsessive possessiveness for what she considers her own in order to claim her monstrous heritage and birthright, even as the eyes of all Europa watch her carefully in case she turns out to be one of the monsters herself"

Eventually they started pulling the strips together and publishing graphic novels.  Yes I have all of them.  Now they're turning the plots into actual novels enhancing the world and the material in the strips with more detailed information without removing or twisting any of the comic strip plot points.  Gifted, they are super gifted to achieve this kind of coherence across multiple media venues.  

I highly recommend this series to anyone and everyone.  Start reading here: https://www.girlgeniusonline.com/

- Jenny

New Refrigerator

The new one

 I'd like to know why I have to keep replacing refrigerators.  Right after the divorce in 2012 the white refrigerator/freezer started dying. We could tell by the new noises it was making.   We were lucky in that we found a countertop depth scratch and dent modern model with a water dispenser in the door and a freezer drawer on the bottom.  It was so exciting to have such a great appliance.  That was until we started having difficulties.  It took a number of years, okay almost 9 and after paying for several repairs starting 4 years ago it finally just quit.   Well it quit in a weird way, first the freezer stopped functioning but the fridge was still moderately cold. I don't trust appliances. So, we packed the freezer drawer with ice and moved stuff out of the fridge part and moved the frozen stuff to the chest freezer in the garage.  

Then we went shopping.  We first looked for something new at Home Depot where the sales person tried to convince us that we knew someone with a truck who could deliver it for us.  This young person was clearly out of touch with reality. Not everyone has friends with trucks and even if I did know someone why not just have it delivered by the store?  Well, the reason not to was that it would take up to 10 days for it to be delivered.  That wasn't going to work.  We went to Lowe's

The new one

Lowe's was great and we found a refrigerator.  Unfortunately the size of refrigerators has continued to grow so they came to deliver it and couldn't get it through our front or back doors.  We have 29" wide doors.  Ummm this was not something we knew would be a problem.  We knew that we had to get countertop depth and we knew it couldn't be super tall.  But now we had a new measurement.  We sent it back and went back to the store.

In the meantime our existing refrigerator decided that the freezer should work and the refrigerator went warm which meant that all the stuff we had moved to our freezer to keep cold was now frozen.  WEIRDO refrigerator.  Well, we finally found something in-stock with the configuration we liked. It still has a water dispenser, but this time it's hidden inside the fridge.  Also it really is metal not brushed aluminum so magnets work on the front.  We're quite happy with this new fridge.  I guess we'll see if it'll last more than 9 years.

John & Bill Graduate

Shanna and I got to attend a graduation ceremony during this time of coronavirus. They had social distancing in place, zoom/pre recorded speakers/performances, and mandatory masking. It was very strange. The were able to do social distancing by limiting the number of people allowed to attend. Each student was given two tickets for audience members. It was still fantastic to watch these two guys graduate. They are amazing people and I am very lucky to have them as friends.

Socially distanced graduating students

Bill getting his MA in Art

John getting his BA in Art

Amy's Ice Skating Show

4/23/21
Amy's Skating Show
Logan UT

I've never tried to photograph ice skating before so this was super fun. I got to see my niece ice skate and try out more limits on non-flash, superfast photography.

I have a lot of great photos of young skaters, but since I don't have permission to use them in any way I didn't even load them onto Flickr. In the end I had something like 6000 photos and it's take a lot of time to find good ones.

Amy

I don't know who this is but the leap is awesome

I don't know who this is but I like the shapes

And I liked the shadow on this one

Amy - teamwork

Too much fun and I'm super happy that so many photos were in focus and in frame. Sadly it is very tricksy to get good ice skating is photos. There were all kinds of issues such as odd backgrounds, funny faces, and costumes that look great when moving but not so great as stills. Maybe if I had filmed it and then extracted stills...

Amy did a fabulous job. It was lovely to watch her. - Jenny

Review: Blown Away

 

Blown Away - Reality Television Show

In mid 2020 Melinda and I started watching tv together in different states. She lives in Texas and I'm in Idaho. We call each other and watch the same show as a social outlet. She came up with the great idea of including Shanna in an additional phone/tv session. We began this social experiment with the show Blown Away on NetFlix. Blown Away is a glass blowing competition reality show.  The experiment was and is a success.  We loved this show and have since added other series to our watched list.

Blown Away is produced in Canada and follows the standard format of challenge, judging, and one winner per episode and one competitor sent home. There are two seasons with 10 contestants competing in each. This competition has an international flavor with competitors coming from around the world.

If you like artistic pursuits and competition reality shows this is absolutely worth watching. Interestingly PBS ran two documentaries on glass blowing around the same time we were watching Blown Away. 

1. Pilchuck: A Dance with Fire about the creation and growth of the Pilchuck glass art school in Washington

2. Chihuly: River of Glass about the glass artist Dale Chihuly one of the founding members of the Pilchuck school and famed artist

In 2017 Shanna and I attended an Alton Brown concert in Salt Lake City. There was a Chihuly sculpture in the entrance hall.

Salt Lake City

In 2014 I was in Las Vegas for a conference and was able to visit a Chihuly installation and exhibition in the Bellagio Hotel.

Las Vegas

We now know so much more about glass art.  I am in awe of the artists who work in such a wondrous and scary medium.  - Jenny

My New Friend

I love my family. My siblings are all so supportive of each other it's really quite remarkable. If we ever need help or encouragement all we need to do is reach out to each other. I didn't realize how depressed I was but Nan figured it out.

I was still sequestered at home in order to avoid contact with people. The new vaccine was not available for me yet so it I was still unable to freely go and do like I want. I know I'm an introvert and staying home is always awesome, but at the one year mark I was tired and depressed. It's one thing to choose to stay home and it's another thing to be stuck at home because it's the only safe choice.

I got a mystery box from Amazon and upon opening found my new blue friend. He's so cute and soft and I love him. Nan clearly knows about my love of stuffed animals. He definitely lifted my spirits and he sat in my living room near my sofa spot until I was able to go back to work. Now he lives in my home office.

Thanks Nan. - Jenny

Review: Dinosaur Planet & Planet Pirates series

 

Aliens and dinosaurs, what's not to love?  

I found the first two books in this series shortly after the second one was published in 1984. Anne McCaffrey the legendary creator of the world of Pern is one of my favorite authors, and these books are awesome.  Her specialty is creating unique worlds populated with relatable characters.  The books are very character driven leavened with wonder at the world and humor.  

These are two related series. The first series frequently called Dinosaur Planet is a pair: Dinosaur Planet (1978), and Dinosaur Planet Survivors (1984).   This series begins on a spaceship then quickly moves planet side after an away party of people are assigned to investigate a planet.  

Turns out that aliens moved dinosaurs from earth to this planet.  Discord in the party having little to do with the dinosaurs brings real tension to the books.  This showcases Anne's magnificent talent at writing character centric books.  The action and tension are confined to a small group of people in the first book and a slightly larger group in the second.  

The second series frequently called Planet Pirates focuses on two of the minor characters from the first series. It consists of three books: The Death of Sleep (1990) with Jody Lynn Nye, Sassinak (1990) with Elizabeth Moon, and Generation Warriors (1991) with Elizabeth Moon.  

The first book Death of Sleep follows the life of Dr. Lunzie Mespil a minor character in the away party of the Dinosaur Planet books.  It is biography, adventure story, and travelogue all in one. The focus of this book is clearly centered on her and how she deals with many surprises/obstacles in her life. The timeline in this book ends at the same place as the first book Dinosaur Planet

The second book Sassinak follows the life and times of Sassinak the commander of a ship.  Her life is also full of difficulties.  She shows up only at the end of the Dinosaur Planet Survivors book.  This book picks up her story when she's a young teen and brings her forward in the timeline to the end of Dinosaur Planet Survivors.   

Because these two books (Death of Sleep & Sassinak) were written after the first two I recommend reading them in the order of publication.  These two characters are slightly different in the Dinosaur Planet books.

The final book in the series sets both Lunzie and Sassinak with the task of finding evidence to convict planet pirates.  Now the storyline breaks into pieces telling separate stories of our two heroines and a couple of subplots for other characters to try to find the evidence.  They intertwine and come back together for the conclusion. 

McCaffrey's cowriting books with talented authors starts at this point in time.  I find that the addition of these co-authors is a positive thing. It constrains her tendency to go off on new storyline tangents as new and interesting characters show up. The last few of her Pern books are full of this problem.  Instead of a consistent story from a few points of view we get yanked around to every interesting character that crosses paths with any other interesting character.    

In the Dinosaur & Planet Pirates series she sticks to the main stories, side stories contribute and are interwoven in interesting ways. Side stories show up frequently in the last book Generation Warriors.  However these are necessary diversions in order to create the climax/end of the book.

Unfortunately most of this set of books is unavailable on Audible.  

Happy reading - Jenny

Chicken Ravioli/Tortellini Soup

 

I have always made a lot of soup.  I grew up believing that you needed to use/eat and extend the foods that you have.  I would roast a chicken then if I wasn't going to make soup the next day I would stash the leftover carcass in the freezer.  Either way I could simmer it for several hours to create chicken stock.  Eventually I started freezing the chicken stock into ice cubes to use in my cooking.   I cook more chicken breasts than whole chickens now which means that I rarely have enough leftovers to make stock.  This change in my cooking has forced me to use boxed chicken broth and/or bouillon.  I always look for cartons that are low in sodium with no sugar added. If I have to choose I'd rather have no sugar.  

The problem I have with store bought stock is that it frequently lacks the true depth of flavor of my homemade stock.  To overcome this I add granulated onion and other herbs (or sauté ingredients in onion & herbs) depending on what flavor profile I'm aiming for.

You will need to determine your own proportions.  This is what I do:

• 2 boxes of chicken broth 
• 4 cups water and 4 tablespoons bouillon
• 1/2 cup granulated onion
• 2-3 tsp poultry seasoning
• 1 refrigerated container of ravioli or tortellini (usually cheese filled)
• 1 small head of cabbage chopped
• Additional canned or frozen veggies such as peas & carrots
• Leftover chicken roughly chopped

Bring broth, water, bouillon and seasoning to a boil.  Add pasta and chopped cabbage.  Bring back to a boil and then simmer for the amount of time suggested on the package of pasta.  Two minutes before it is done add any other canned veggies (or microwaved frozen) along with the chopped chicken.   This makes a LOT of soup.  You could cut it in half if you can find a smaller container of pasta.  I have made a smaller batch using 2 cups of the dried ravioli (1 cup dried to 1 box broth).   From start to finish this usually takes about 20 minutes.

Totem Animal for 2021: Bison

Yellowstone bison

I was surprised when the bison appeared as my totem animal for 2021. Every year I expect not to have a new animal but I wait for signs and nudges and inevitably they appear. In this case finding out that a new baby white bison had been born in Montana was a big sign but so was a fascination with a beautiful calcite carving I had recently acquired. 

Antelope Island bison

What does the bison mean to me? Well it has a huge physical presence and a calm demeanor until it isn't calm then it is willing to charge obstacles and mow them down. The baby bison are playful and adorable perhaps bringing some fun along in this coming year. The adults trudge through the trials of snow, water, frisking subadults, and other adversities. I think this year may require ongoing patience and putting one foot in front of the other. There is a Lakota (Teton) legend of White Buffalo Woman who came to the tribes bearing wisdom and gifts teaching sacred ceremonies and promising to return in time. She stopped as she was walking away and rolled over four times. As she rolled she changed first into a black buffalo, then a brown buffalo, a red one and finally a white female buffalo. - Handbook of Native American Mythology by Dawn E. Bastian and Judy K. Mitchell, 2004.   For me, I'm going to work on improving four aspects of my life: spiritual, physical, mental, and social.

White bison on the way to Victor

Evolution then could be another theme for the year, moving forward on different aspects of life. Recognizing the sacred, and being grateful for what I have is another. The wisdom of gratitude could help make this year bearable as the pandemic continues. 

Elk vs Bison in Yellowstone. Yes in the end the Elk got out of the way.

More about the new white bison: 

• Tribal members in Montana celebrate rare white buffalo calf https://www.greatfallstribune.com/story/news/2020/09/07/tribal-members-montana-celebrate-rare-white-buffalo-calf-spiritual-significance/5685919002/ 
• Sacred White Bison Born in Missoula, Montana https://www.distinctlymontana.com/sacred-white-buffalo-born-western-montana
• In June 2020, a white buffalo named ‘Faith’ was born at Bitterroot Bison in Lolo, Montana. She was moved to a sanctuary to be kept safe after discovering that she was blind." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_buffalo 
•  Faith https://www.facebook.com/bitterrootbison/videos/192979382096076/ 

Frisky baby bison

The Great British Baking Show

 I like reality competition shows.  After a year of fending off "you will love this show" I finally gave in and watched a season of the Great British Baking Show.  

Now one of the big reasons I did not want to watch the show is that I like to bake. I like to bake cookies, truffles, cake, pies, etc...  I am also diabetic so having a ton of sweets in my house is not a good thing. I was very afraid that watching this show would inspire me to bake.  Well, I was right and wrong.  It does inspire me to bake, but I can add self talk about how complicated their bakes are. How much work. And I'd rather go read.  For the most part this tactic has worked.  I've only occasionally broken down and baked brownies or cake after watching an episode. 

Shanna and I started by watching season 5 which was in reruns on my local PBS station.  I was immediately sucked in.  I loved it.  I love the complexity of the baking, the surprise of the technical challenge, the creativity the contestants display and most of all the reality of the people themselves.  They are so very human. Funny, talented, interesting and sometimes just a little nuts.  

After finishing this season with Shanna I found my sofa, grabbed my needlepoint and binge watched all of the other seasons via Netflix.  I definitely recommend this series.  - Jenny

Books: Stephanie Plum

 I blame Nanette.  She's the one who would not shut up about how funny the Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich books were.  I finally decided to try one.  I went to my local public library and they had abridged versions of the first three books on cd.  I checked them out and started driving.  I no longer remember why I was driving to Moscow ID, probably for an Idaho Library Association conference.  

In any case these abridged books were awesome.  I laughed and drove and laughed and drove and when I got home I knew these would be something I would look for.  Eventually I found a large portion of the series at a used book store.  Nan kept telling me that I'd like the unabridged versions better and she was right.  

Now I own all of them via Audible.  Audiobooks are my addiction of choice.  What's interesting is that I find the abridged versions to be really good so I have both editions where available.  The abridged versions are super funny and make good road trip reads for shorter excursions. Especially when I have people in my car who have never read one. 

There's a feeling of repetition of theme and content if you read them one right after another so I have found it to be better if I read one then read something else.  I read a lot of authors who set books in a series one year between each book.  These books make more sense if you think of them as taking only a few weeks inbetween.  It makes the romantic conundrum more sensible if it's only a few weeks not years.  

I love the characters, the situations (yes they are improbable), and the lighthearted romp of these stories.  They are lovely brain candy.  

Stephanie Plum Main Series

1. One for the Money (1994)
2. Two for the Dough (1996)
3. Three to Get Deadly (1997)
4. Four to Score (1998)
5. High Five (1999)
6. Hot Six (2000)
7. Seven Up (2001)
8. Hard Eight (2002)
9. To the Nines (2003)
10. Ten Big Ones (2004)
11. Eleven on Top (2005)
12. Twelve Sharp (2006)
13. Lean Mean Thirteen (2007)
14. Fearless Fourteen (2008)
15. Finger Lickin' Fifteen (2009)
16. Sizzling Sixteen (2010)
17. Smokin' Seventeen (2011)
18. Explosive Eighteen (2011)
19. Notorious Nineteen (2012)
20. Takedown Twenty (2013)
21. Top Secret Twenty-One (2014)
22. Tricky Twenty-Two (2015)
23. Turbo Twenty-Three (2016)
24. Hardcore Twenty-Four (2017)
25. Look Alive Twenty-Five (2018)
26. Twisted Twenty-Six (2019)
27. Fortune & Glory Tantalizing Twenty-Seven (2020)

Stephanie Plum and Diesel

• 8.5 Visions of Sugar Plums (2002)
• 12.5 Plum Lovin' (2007)
• 13.5 Plum Lucky (2008)
• 14.5 Plum Spooky (2009)

Happy reading - Jenny

My New Backyard!

Fall 2020

I've had a love hate relationship with my backyard. I've loved the space, the trees and the possibilities. But over the years the backyard has taken a beating. Trees dying, hot tub in then out, garden spaces in then out, shrubberies, the mystery of the city's missing sewer manhole and last but not least the 70 foot trench that had to be dug to replace the house's sewer line.

I've wanted to have it leveled and simplified for a number of years and this year, the year of the Coronavirus I finally had the money to make it happen. Nothing like being confined to the house for a number of months to reduce my travelling and increase my savings account.

I contacted several contractors but finally found the amazing team at Idaho Classic at: https://www.landscapingservicesblackfoot.com/

This team was great to work with. They communicated well and had great suggestions for improvements to my plan. They got the work done on time and on budget. I definitely recommend them to anyone who needs to improve their yards. They do sprinklers too.

Before photos:
You can see the non-grass covered remains of part of the trench

And the remains of the most recent garden attempt

Volunteer honey locust trees popping up where I don't want them and in the far right corner the mound of dirt leftover from the sewer line replacement.

Work in process


Such a lovely FLAT yard!!!

Finished
I know it doesn't look like much if you haven't been living with the mounds and debris of the past but this is stunning.


The lone planting bed planted with arborvitae, irises, tulips and other bulbs

Emotional Success: pt 1

I read Emotional Success by David DeSteno over a year ago and it stuck with me.  I would find myself thinking about how to incorporate more gratitude, compassion and pride into my core thought processes. How can I really leverage this big clue into real change.  Then there was a death in my family and grief washed me out to sea.   One year after the funeral I am back at square one battling  diabetes, weight issues, relationship issues, work issues, depression, and life.  I'm once again listening to my core and have started with short meditations, 15 minute walking breaks and listening to nonfiction in the morning.

I re-listened (I'm an Audible addict) to the first section of the book: Gratitude.  I am hoping to more fully understand how to incorporate this emotional concept and once I at least my fingers on the handle of it I will listen to the next section.  The first thing for me is to really start recognizing when I'm grateful.  I've tried posting my gratitude moment to Facebook, but my worklife has become quite complicated and I haven't had much time for Fbook, not even to post a gratitude moment.  I have started chanting about things I'm grateful for when I'm about to be tempted to buy dessert or treats, or when I'm in traffic. It is clear that when I do this my self control and attitude improves.  It's easy to forget to do it, but every step forward is a step forward.

I just need to make micromovements and eventually I will find myself in a better spot.  Like the ocean turning boulders into grains of sand, wash on, wash off.  -- Jenny

Emotional Success: The Power of Gratitude, Compassion, and Pride
by David DeSteno
https://www.amazon.com/Emotional-Success-Power-Gratitude-Compassion/dp/0544703103

"A string of bestsellers have alerted us to the importance of grit – an ability to persevere and control one’s impulses that is so closely associated with greatness. But no book yet has charted the most accessible and powerful path to grit: our prosocial emotions. These feelings – gratitude, compassion and pride – are easier to generate than the willpower and self-denial that underpin traditional approaches to grit. And, while willpower is quickly depleted, prosocial emotions actually become stronger the more we use them. These emotions have another crucial advantage: they’re contagious. Those around us become more likely to apply them when we do.

As this myth-shattering book explains, prosocial emotions evolved specifically to help us resist immediate temptations in favor of long-term gains. Originally, they enabled us to build lasting relationships with other people, and they still do that brilliantly. But they can also be adapted to strengthen our bonds with our own future selves – who will benefit most from the grit we need to succeed in life. No matter what our goals are, EMOTIONAL SUCCESS can help us achieve them with greater ease and deeper satisfaction than we would have thought possible." -- Amazon

Article: Gratitude, Compassion, and Pride: What Do They Have in Common?
By Katie Williamson
https://medium.com/in-rare-form/gratitude-compassion-and-pride-what-do-they-have-in-common-1946c5b820f9