Game of Thrones

I read the Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin for the Once Upon a Time reading challenge. I finished it last week and I am still not sure if I liked it or not. It was not the story, or the writing style, I just could not get involved with most of the characters.

I am being vague on this, as I know there is a TV show being made, and I know some people actually will read the book so I am trying not to give to much ways.

Bran Stark - I don't feel sorry for, I find his Summer a much more likable character.

Catelyn Stark- I am still not sure about her, I don't know if I like her for going forward or hate her for leaving the wee ones.

Daenerys Targaryen- started out as a wimp, her character development is the best so far in the book.

Eddard Stark- I want to say that his character is the catalyst for the book, without him none of the story would move forward.

Jon Snow- I think he could be an interesting character, and he is one of the few I want to know more about. I am going to look at then next book to see if there is more on this character in them.

Arya Stark - She is like Jon one I want to know more about to see grow, and expand her story line.

Tryion Lannister- He is one of the most well written and thought out characters in the book. He has more sides to him than an octagon.

Sansa Stark - Oh dear gods she reminded me of Bella from the Twilight books. Just shoot me when I have to read about her Please.

In this book in the series the above are the main characters. I will read the rest of the books just to find out what happens to Jon, and Arya.

Honey really liked this one and maybe I can talk her into writing her thoughts on the book for here.

Next for the challenge we are reading The Name of the Wind.

The Weekend

My weekend started on Friday, I went shopping. Wooohooo. OK so that woohoo was sarcastic, unless I am shopping for books or food I hate shopping. It took me a hour to pick out some underwear. I went out to dinner with some great friends and ate way to much.

Saturday after going to the gym, and the store. I had a nap, the nap put me behind so I made a mad dash to pack for the weekend. Then a 2 hour drive to Portland.

This weekend was my cousins 33rd birthday, and his fathers 60th. There was a surprise party for my uncle, so I was told not to go to the house as he would know something was up. That was no big hard ship, I went to Powell's. I did not go to the one downtown, I went to the one in Cedar Hills, I had two boxes of books for them to go though and the parking there is better. Powell's ended up giving me $20 in store credit, and then I spent another $20 on top of that. Not a bad deal for the books.

I got:
The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss this is for the Once Upon a Time reading challenge
The Harp of the Gray Rose by Charles De Lint
Dingo by Charles De Lint both this one and the Harp of the Gray Rose were bought to fulfill the need to read and own everything written by De Lint.
The Man Who Loved Books Too Much by Allison Hoover Bartlett
Living Wicca by Scott Cunningham

After that enjoyable few hours, I went to my cousins because I did not know where the restaurant was located. We went to a place called Jopa Northwest Grill . The room was beautiful, the food was wonderful, I loved the cold asparagus, and the bacon wrapped scallops. I met the most interesting people there, I spent a lot of the night talking to an international attorney, he had just gotten back from Africa.

I spent the night and most of the next day with the family we had brunch at Hands On Cafe that is part of the Oregon College of Art and Craft. Ohh that food was yummy too.

In the afternoon, my aunt and I went to NCO where she volunteers. NCO is a great organization that I when I can take them things that they might be able to use. If you are reading this and live in Portland look into them.

When I got home, I was exhausted, but I had also not slept well for a few days. Today I more than made up for that. I slept all night, then went to the chiropractors came back and slept for another 5 hours.

Guess Who Is Who

Can you guess who is who? Remember Kelevra is the girl, Squeeker the boy.



Kelevra is the smart one. She tries to turn on the water, flush the toilet, and open doors.



Squeeker, he gets lost in the bathroom, the closet, and plays fetch.



So who is who?

 I know I have not posted pictures of the kittens in a while. They are getting bigger, and have very distinctive personalities.

SS$$cat

My cat's love to go behind the TV stand, I think they are looking for monsters. Last weekend they went back there and stepped on my surge protector, now my game console will not connect to anything wireless. As the console is how I watch Ne+flix I had to go out and get wired controllers again. A real bummer. Last night they were back there again. I went out a got a SS$$cat.

Most of the time if I need to get the cats off of something I just use a water bottle. I am not going to squirt water on my power cords, so I did a little research. The S$$cat is a motion sensor compressed air can that when the cats get close to it will hiss and shoot out a blast of air. It works quite well.

The first time it went off Kelevra shot out from behind the stand as if her tail were on fire. Then Squeeker went back there hehe, I watched him bolt behind the couch. Kelevra has not gone back. Squeeker had to try again, I watched as he did the sneak and tried to creep behind the stand. There was a blast. He jumped straight up in the air and three feet back.

The website says that this can be used to keep them off counters, out of rooms that they are not wanted in etc. The price is a bet hefty but when comparing to replacing a game system it is worth the price.

Poetry Month

This month is poetry month so I thought that I would put up some quotes, little snatches of poetry that I love. I am going to link up one of my favorite poems ever to here as well.

Some light hearted poetry.

I think that I shall never see

A billboard lovely as a tree.

Indeed, unless the billboards fall

I shall never see a tree at all.

                                Ogden Nash

And today the great Yertle, that Marvelous he

Is King of the Mud. That is all he can see.

                                     Theodor Geisel

Not drunk is he, who from the floor

Can rise alone, and still drink more;

But drunk is he, who prostrate lies,

With out the power to drink or rise.

                      Thomas Love Peacock

This is one of my favorite poems it is not light in anyway. The subject is dark, but the flow and the story line is amazing. This is from The Goblin Market by Christina Rosetti.

She Cried, "Laura," up the garden,

"Did you miss me?

Come and kiss me.

Never mind my bruises,

Hug me, kiss me, suck my juices

From the Cad Goddeu from the Llyfr Taliesin. I have read this one over and over sill never getting tired of the language or the flow.

I was in many forms

before I was set free

I was a narrow blood-spotted sword

I believed, when I was formed

I was teardrops in the air

I was a star-woven star

I have people tell me that I am strange for reading and enjoying poetry but I think they are missing so much. I hope that this post will get some others to read and explore poetry.

Green Chile Stew

Over at A Butch In The Kitchen, she had posted a recipe for White Turkey Chili that looks so yummy. I posted in a comment that I had made Green Chili Stew and she wanted my recipe so here it is.

Green Chile Stew

4 pounds chicken

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon dried thyme

1 teaspoon dried marjoram

1 tablespoon dried basil

4 ounces Hatch green chile peppers,roasted chopped

1 onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

5 carrots, chopped

5 stalks celery, chopped

1 (14.5 ounce) can stewed tomatoes (optional)

3 potatoes, peeled and cubed

corn starch
salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1.Put the chicken in a large pot over medium heat and add water to cover.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium low and simmer until chicken is done. Remove the chicken from the pot and allow it to cool.  Chop the chicken meat into bite-size pieces.

2.Return the chicken to the pot and add the green chile peppers, spices, onion, garlic, carrots, celery, tomatoes and potatoes. Simmer for 30 minutes, or until the potatoes and carrots are tender (or pressure cook for 10 minutes). In a separate small bowl, mix the some corn starch with some water and add to the soup, stirring well to thicken stew. Raise heat, bring just to a boil and remove from heat. Season with salt and pepper to taste and serve.

If Hatch green chilies are hard to find where you are Trader Joe's sells them canned in 4oz cans. Also the flavor of the stew changes if another pepper is used. Hatch is a very unique pepper from New Mexico. I was lucky enough that last year a local store had a supply of fresh Hatch come in, I spent about $40 on pepper. Then spent two days roasting and freezing them. I think I need to  make green chile hamburgers.

Book One Once Upon a Time Challenge

For the Once Upon a Time Challenge Honey and I have picked out a book for each of us to read that the other has read before, but will not re-read for the challenge. I picked for her The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper.

For me she picked The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman. I tried to read this book when I was a teenager and I could not get past the first few chapters. At that time I did not understand why I could not read the book. Then when the movie came out on DVD I watched it to see what all of the fuss was about. Needless to say I liked the Narnia move better.  This time around as Honey so liked the book I thought I would give it a try and finish it.

I picked the book up on Friday from the library and as it has only 351 pages in it I thought I would have it finished by Saturday night. Not so, it took me almost 4 hours to read 75 pages. I kept having to put the book down and walk away. It was not that it was badly written, or that the plot was not moving along. This book just made me uneasy. Reading it was like going to a concert and all but one of the instruments are in accord with each other. It felt as if something were just a bit out of tune or step with the rest of the book.

We are both going to read A Game of Thrones by George R.R Martin. Honey has already started this one so it is next on my list to read.

T.V or not T.V

When I was a little girl the T.V. was always on in the house. My mother watched soaps like it was a religion. I remember coming home from school to a house where if there was a T.V in a room it was on, even if no one was in the room. As the years progressed T.V viewing changed it went from bad soaps to worse talk show T.V. Mom watched them all, the ones that she missed she would ask others if they had watched. With the advent of the VCR that changed. She recorded the shows that she thought she would miss, and then watch them late at night or on the weekends.

At the time I moved out I was so sick of the thing that I did not have one for a few years. Then when I did buy one it was a small 13inch. My son and I would rent movies and watch what we wanted when we wanted. My mother hear about this and started taping shows and sending them to us to watch. Out of an eight hour tape there might have been one show on there that interested one of us.

When mom got sick and moved in with us we got cable, because she whined about how quiet my place was. It was a total waste of money. I paid $60+ a month and if I got to watch something that I might find interesting it was because she was not in the house. If she were not home when I got there I would turn on the radio, she would then turn the T.V on over the radio when she got home.

I do remember we got into an argument about what I watched. With my work I do not want to see "reality" crap. I deal enough with it on the job, give me a movie where giant pigs eat people, or frogs attack, or swarms of grasshoppers eat cars. Dragons, knights, anything not real unless it is a documentary on a historical figure.

When she left, cable went with her. I was never so happy to get rid of something. I now just have Netflix and love it. I watch what I want when I want. My patients ask who I want to win on a particular show, I get some strange looks when I tell them I don't own a T.V. and have no idea what they are talking about. Many of them look at  me like I have three heads, they cannot imagine a life without the constant bombardment of noise. I do not miss commercials, who won/did/did not do with who. I love the peace that I have, the ability to work on my cross stitching, reading, or going out. So for me the answer is not T.V

Once Upon a Time V

My Honey and I have decided that together we are going to do the Once Upon a Time Challenge. This will be my first year doing it and it looks like a ball. The Challenge is by Stainless Steel Droppings. The rules are with the link for those interested. Honey and I have decided to do Quest the First that is to read five books that fit within the Once Upon a Time criteria. That is reading books that fall into on of the four genres folklore, fairy tale, mythology or fantasy or a combination of any of them. We do not have all of out books picked out but what we are going to do is read four books together. The fifth book will be one that the other picks out and has previously read.

So I have picked out for Honey to read The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper. She has never read Susan Cooper and I do love the Dark is Rising books. For our first read together book we are going to be reading A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin. I have heard that someone is making this series of books into a TV show or a bunch of TV movies. I can't wait to get started on this reading.

I do know that I usually post Library Loot on the weekend however, I have not finished all of the books that I currently have checked out, and nothing that I have put on hold has come in yet. So I am going to be starting A Game of Thrones after I get it from the bookstore, and finishing up the Library Loot that I have on my to be read stack.

As we come up with or finish reading books for the Once Upon a Time challenge. I will put the badge art work in that post.

Movie Night

So Friday night was movie night. We had Asian food the chicken in the peanut sauce was good. Loved the cabbage veggie mix but that is not what I am here to write about.

1932 /33 the movie that won Best Picture was Cavalcade, however that movie is not out on DVD or on the inst que for Netflix. So we ended up watching She Done Him Wrong with the wonderful Mae West. Now I have seen some of her movies before but none of the other girls that come to movie night have. I have converted them. Not only was Mae hot, she was snarkey, sarcastic, flirty all around Mae West. West plays Lady Lou a woman with more men friends than she knows what to do with. Cary Grant plays a young man from the Salvation Army trying to save all of the lost soul at the bar/club that Lady Lou works at. This is a short movie only 66 min long. If it is a good sexy laugh ( and with Mae West it is sexy) this is a wonderful movie to see.

 It Happened One Night won for 1934. This movie also is a romantic comedy, staring Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert.  I honestly cannot talk about this movie, it is not that the  movie was bad and I love the acting skills of Claudette Colbert, I just cannot stand Clark Gable. There is something about that man that makes me want to slap him in the face. I think that my not liking Clark Gable is because one of the first movies that I watched was Gone With the Wind and I hate that movie.

Next month we will watch 1935 Mutiny on the Bounty, and 1936 The Great Ziegfeld.

Library Loot

So last week I did not go to the library it was not by my choice. A few weeks ago I sprained my back and my work put me on light duty. Light duty was OK but, it sure messed up my schedule. I usually work 3 days a week but on light duty I had to work 5 days a week. That not being bad enough I also had to work until 1630 the library closes at 1700. So this week I got to go to the library. My loot is:

DVD NCIS season 6

Mercy Thompson Homecoming by Patrica Briggs I love the Mercy Thompson stories and I love graphic novels so WIN!

Chobits Art Book Your Eyes Only by Clamp it is just the art of the Manga

Night Birds Reign by Holly Taylor The High King is dead. The land is in peril. A child has been born to save his people. But a traitor lurks with evil in his mind and murder in his heart, dogging the footsteps of those who protect the babe who would be king. But magic is at work, high magic. Gwydion the Dreamer awakes, screaming, from a prophetic dream of tragedy and loss, a dream peopled by kings of the past. From Powells

Into the Wild Nerd Yonder by Julie Halpern Things are changing fast. Jessie needs new friends. And her quest is a hilarious tour through high-school clique-dom, with a surprising stop along the way the Dungeons and Dragons crowd, who out-nerd everyone. D&D how could I not read this one. From Powells

I do still have some from the last week, but I should have all of this done soon.


Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted alternatively by Marg and Claire that encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library. If you’d like to participate, just write up your post-feel free to steal the button-and link it using the Mr. Linky (at Marg's this week) any time during the week. And of course check out what other participants are getting from their libraries

Library Loot March 12th

Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Claire from The Captive Reader and Marg from The Adventures of an Intrepid Reader that encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library. If you’d like to participate, just write up your post-feel free to steal the button-and link it using the Mr. Linky any time during the week. And of course check out what other participants are getting from their libraries! This week Marg has Mr. Linky.

Chobits: Volume 1 by Clamp I have always wanted to read these and was thrilled to find out that the library has them.

Eden It's anEndless World! by HIroki Endo Now the library had Volume 4 so I had to wait to get the first one.

The Hunter's Moon by O.R. Melling  I read a review of this book and it sounds like a good one.

Travellers in Magic by Lisa Goldstein I loved her book Walking The Labyrinth so much that I thought that I would look for another one of hers.

Witchblade: Talons by John DeChancie It looked interesting.

I just read the best book ever

Out of my library loot, I picked up a book called Walking the Labyrinth by Lisa Goldstein. This is a book that I did not want to end nor could I put it down. I sat in the car at Borders and finished reading it.

Molly Travers,  meets a P.I who says that he is looking for her Aunt Thorne, it is regarding an inheritance. There begins her adventure in to finding out who she is, who is telling the truth, and who is not. She comes across a family names Allalie. The Allalies are a vaudeville troupe of illusionists or are they. Is their magic more or less then what it seems.

Molly after talking to her Aunt Fentrice, Molly goes to England with the P.I John to a house called Tantilly. There they find a diary written by one Emily Wethers. This diary goes on to explain how she meets and then becomes a member of the Order of the Labyrinth. Emily joins the Order at the height of the Spiritualist movement, however she decided to use her power to get a widow to reenter life. In the basement of Tantilly the Lady Dorothy Westingate builds rooms and rooms to form a labyrinth. Where each room, what you see is not what others see. There is a bit of a Gothic feel to parts of the book, just enough that I liked it.

The Allalie family, is chaos, quirky, and one that I think would be better to get to know. There is one question that everyone in the family asks is "What have you learned?" What I have learned is that I want to read more of Ms. Goldstein's books.

Angelology

I read Angeloloy by Danielle Trussoni last week. It was not what I thought it was going to be, I was disappointed in the ending, and in several part of the plot. The book was longer where it should have been shorter, and shorter where it should have been longer. Most of the book is looking for a lyre, the first clue set in modern times take quite a while to figure out, and I don't even think it was figured out. After that it was almost as if the author handed the instrument to the ones looking for it.

I also thought that there would have been more Catholic mysticism in the book. I do think that this would have been a good book if I did not have other of this type of treasure hunt to compare it too.

The book was split up into current times and the 1940's. I would have liked to have had more written about the school and what had happened in the 1940's compared to the current times. Evangeline, the protagonist, I thought needed to have been more developed as a character. The fact that she did not question anything that was or had happened to her is not realistic.

This is not one that I would reread, nor would I recommend it to those who have an interest in mythological treasure hunts.

As for my library loot, out of the 10 books I picked up on Saturday, I have 4 left to read. Forced inactivity is good for something.

Library Loot

Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Claire from The Captive Reader and Marg from The Adventures of an Intrepid Reader that encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library. If you’d like to participate, just write up your post-feel free to steal the button-and link it using the Mr. Linky any time during the week. And of course check out what other participants are getting from their libraries!


So, for my loot this week, I went a little over board. This time about I got one graphic novel of short stories, on manga, and a bazillion works of fiction. So here goes:
 
Antique Bakery by Fumi Yoshinaga. When and old antique shop re-opens as the hottest new bakery in an unsuspecting neighborhood, there's no doubt that a few surprises are cooking.
 
Trickster Native American Tales. I read a review over at Books & other thoughts.
 
Emperor of the Air by Ethan Canin. whether his characters are struggling to save trees in their yards, their marriages or themselves.  I thought this sounded like a good book of short stories.
 
Child of Fire by Harry Connolly. Ray Lilly is living on borrowed time. He is a driver for Annalise Powless...... But because Ray betrayed her once, Annalise is looking for and excuse to kill him- or let someone else do the job.
 
Green Angel by Alice Hoffman. Left on her own when her family is lost in a disaster Green retreats only to destroy herself. With mysterious encounters with a mute boy and a ghostly white dog does Green learn to love and heal.
 
Walking the Labyrinth by Lisa Goldstein. Molly Travers a young woman living in San Fran finds out that she is the descendant of a family of vaudeville magicians, who in the ninetieth century preformed real magic with a group of occultists called the Order of The Labyrinth......The Labyrinth and the secrets it contains, will bring Molly face-to face with magic, murder, and mystery.
 
Strange Brew Edited by P.N. Elrod Short stories by Jim Butcher, Patricia Briggs and others.
 
Book of Shadows by Alexandra Sokoloff. Homicide detective Adam Garrett is a rising star in the Boston PD when he catches a horrifying cast that could make his career; the ritualistic murder of a wealthy college girl that appears to have Satanic elements...... All Garrett's beliefs about the nature of reality will be tested as he is forced to team up with a woman he is fiercely attracted to but cannot trust.
 
Nun in the Closet by Joanna Michaels (no link at Powell's) Vows of poverty and chastity shattered my murder? Anne Hollis the owner if a woman's bar has been charged with manslaughter in the death of a nun. Anne insists she is innocent- run off the road by another car- and appeals to probation officer Callie Sinclair for help. The case gets interesting when yet another nun is murdered and Callie discovers sex and money are involved. And she and Anne find themselves falling in love, a situation dangerous to them both as they close in on the killer.
 
The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters. This link has a video of the author talking about the book. One post- war summer in rural Warwickshire, Dr. Faraday is called to a patient at lonely Hundreds Hall. Home to the Ayres family for over two centuries, the house, once impressive and handsome, is now in decline. Its owners-mother, son, and daughter- are struggling to keep pace with a changing society, as well as with conflicts of their own. But are the Ayreses haunted by something more sinister than a dying way of life? Little does Dr. Faraday know how closely, and how terrifyingly, their story is about to become intimately entwined with his.

Movie Night

Friday was movie night. This time we watched 1931 and 1932 Best Picture winners Cimarron, and Grand Hotel.

Cimarron, a novel written in 1929 by Edna Ferber, in 1930 it was made into a movie by RKO. Both the book and movie are about settling in Oklahoma from the land rush up until the 1930's. That said the costumes were in keeping the the times and so was the language, beliefs. Reading the Wiki link it states that the movie is now considered racist. For us today yes it is, however if shown to a pioneer it would have been tame in their views of people.

In Cimarron, the lead male character Yancy Carvat played by Richard Dix. Kept leaving his wife and children to feed his wanderlust. Sabra Carvat played by Irene Dunne, was left to run the business, raise the children and hold down the fort. This would be a good movie for U.S history buffs to see. The opening shot of the land rush for the movies time was amazing.

Grand Hotel, had a list of stars that is longer than my arm. Greta Garbo, Joan Crawford, Lionel and John Barrymore, and many others. This film was a more contemporary film than Cimarron.

Grand Hotel had a more modern feel as the setting all took place in an art nouveau setting. The shots from the top floor down to the lobby show a beautiful hotel. I would love to see a place like that.

There is not just one plot but several. Business men trying to get a deal across, a stenographer wanting to be an actress, a Baron who is down on his luck, a ballerina looking for love and a career boost. A man who finds out he is going to die, who spends all he has for a last few weeks in the lap of luxury. While each plot is interesting and separate they are all interconnected. This is a good movie just for the interchange of plots.

Next month we are going to watch 1933 Cavalcade and 1934 It Happened One Night.

Library Loot

This week I just got one book out of the library as I have to work more this week and won't have time for a lots of reading. I got

Angelology by Danielle Trusson

I have heard that it is a good read, I have tried not to read reviews with spoilers. So tonight I start.

Happy Birthday

Jules Vern, the pioneer of science fiction.

I still love and think Journey to the Center of the Earth is an awesome book, and adventure. When my boy was little that was one of the books that I read to him. Around the World in 80 Days is a close second.

If you have never read any of his books and have just seen the movies, read the books they are much better.

I WANT

NOW!!!!

I don't care that it will grow up and eat the neighborhood kids. OK, that might be a good thing.

The Broadway Melody/ All Quiet on the Western Front

Bessie Love and Anita Page star in the 1929 Academy Award Best Picture winner The Broadway Melody. This is about two sisters Hank and Queenie who want to make it into show biz. When they are offered a chance at an audition it does not go well, and the man running the show only wants Queenie. Queenie tells them that she will not work with out her sister there, so Hank is offered a job as well. As the show advances it is made clear to Queenie that if she does not "play the game" her sister will be out. Hank cannot understand why Queenie is hanging out with the stage people, and tries to force her into better choices.

I did think that the best characters in the movie was the unnamed wardrobe maker, and a drunk that they kept calling Unconscious.

The movie was very sweet, funny, and the costumes were amazing. The movie shows how innocent the time was, the sisters show affection to each other in ways that today would be not sisterly. Yes, it was in black and white but I think that made it more real to the time.

All Quiet on the Western Front won the Best Picture at the Academy Awards in 1930. This movie amazed me for the fact that it won. The story follows German WWI solders from home to the front, back home, and ultimately to death. This movie was not about the characters, it was about the harsh conditions of the military, and the physiological affect that war has on the men. It is about pain, hunger, fear, death and the despair that follows the 19 year old who is the one being followed.

This movie was an anti war movie at a time when in nine years the world would again be at war. I know that there are talks of remaking this movie. The talk is that Daniel Radcliffe will be in it and that it will still be a WWI movie.

The book All Quiet on the Western Front and its follow up both written by Erich Marai Remarque were banned in Nazi Germany.

Our next two movies will be 1931 Cimarron staring Irene Dunne and Richard Dix, then 1932 The Grand Hotel staring, Greta Garbo, Joan Crawford, John and Lionel Barrymore.