The Next Dark Age
We're in it Now
An Ice Cold Grave and Grave Secret, by Charlaine Harris
Books 50 and 51
The Harper Connelly mysteries are such easy reads that I figured I would finish out the series. An Ice Cold Grave has Harper called in to find a missing teenaged boy. She finds that several such boys have gone missing and she finds them all buried in the yard of an abandoned house. Her first serial killer.
The cops are rather more helpful in this one, as the sheriff called them in to begin with. But I still pretty well had the villain pegged pretty early on. Then suddenly, the baddie was revealed. And I had chosen wrong. Then I realized I had an awful lot of pages left. SPOILER And there was a hint that the baddie had a partner. So I had it half right.
Who ever heard of a serial killer that worked with a partner?
Oh, yeah. And then there was a hook up.
Grave Secret has Harper and Tolliver back in Dallas, where their half-sisters live. They start with an average job, then Tolliver is shot by a sniper. Harper has to do some sleuthing all on her lonesome. There is much family drama. And Harper finally learns what happened to her sister, Cameron.
The baddie on the original assignment was no surprise. But the baddie in Cameron’s case sure was. So for the last (so far) Harper Connelly book, Charlaine Harris put one over on me.
More Postcards from Alex
Last weekend, my mother, Kay, went with my brother’s family to Ann Arbor to visit Aunt Bev. Alex sent me this postcard:
Sorry about the flash. This is what he wrote:
“Dear Aunt Anne: We drove past the stadium but it was closed. From Alex.”
I love that kid.
The Stranger, by Albert Camus
Book 49
File under “books everyone else read in high school”, so I will not worry about the spoilers.
Act One: We are introduced to our anti-hero. He lives in Algiers, lives in an apartment, vaguely socializes with some of his neighbors. His mother dies, he attends her funeral and hooks up with a girl shortly thereafter.
Act Two: Our anti-hero is sucked into the drama of a neighbor’s life and ends up shooting a man to death. I say anti-hero because he is decidedly unlikeable. The critics describe him as “amoral”, but I believe he has a moral code of some sort. For example, it doesn’t appears as thought he ever tells a lie – even when it will benefit him. And by “benefit” I mean save his ass.
Act Three: The murder trial. There is no question that our anti-hero shot a man to death. If I understood the legal stuff, it seems to be a question of where on the spectrum of Self-Defense-Murder Two-Murder One the act falls.
The novel is also referred to as “absurdist” or “existentialist” in studying the meaning of life and/or failing to find it. I find that particularly interesting because our anti-hero is so entirely lacking in self-reflection. As close as he comes is right at the end when he determines that he is about to lose his life because he failed to cry at his mother’s funeral.
Because I have so little interest in philosophy (not proud of that) I had two main observations:
- Bret Easton Ellis must have been a big fan, because the main character reminds of a lot of American Psycho in his emotional detachment.
- If this novel shows anything close to the reality of the French justice system, (after reading The Monster of Florence) I want no part of Europe. Incidentally, I doubt that it does.
I’m not sorry that I read this. In fact, when I am old and was to revisit philosophy, I might return to it. But I can’t say that I enjoyed it.
Pictures with Wanda the Witch
I am sure I’ve told you all that the best way to get me to attend your fundraiser is to have an event that involves my dogs. Today, The Buddy Foundation held a fundraiser at its facility in Arlington Heights where my dogs could have their pictures taken with Wanda the Witch. Here is some video from last year’s event:
My dogs were way worse than any of these dogs (or children).
It took an entire team to help us get this shot, and I was given a print rather than an e-mail after the fact. There was some pretty bad flash in their eyes, so I actually took a picture of the picture with my iPhone and played around a bit. This was the result:
Hounds of Hell and all.
Because my dogs wouldn’t behave, I didn’t take the time to tour the facility, but it looked lovely. I know at least one person that adopted from there and she was very happy. They seem to specialize in cats, but there are dogs available for adoption and we saw the Mastiff named Hank in what I think was a play room. He looked like a charming, friendly dog.
Thanks to the Buddy Foundation for giving me something to do with my dogs today. I hope you raised a lot of money for the animals!
Dorky Washington Story
Everyone and their dogs knew the President was passing through town to vote early. And yesterday, my Twitterfeed went insane with sightings of Marine One. I started to roll my eyes and think, “Seriously? …..” The thought didn’t fully form in my head before I smacked it down as being all hipster/bitch and… utter hypocrisy.
When I was in Washington a couple of weeks ago, I stood in C’s office looking out her window because she has a view (albeit obstructed) of the National Mall. I spotted four helicopters.
Me: C – why are there four helicopters flying across the Mall?
C: Because the President is in one.
Me: (thinking) Oh, sure. Decoy ship.
C: So be sure to shoot down the right one.
Me: (blinking hard)
Then S walked in the room.
Me: S, check it out. The President’s helicopter.
S: Be sure to shoot down the right one.
Now, I know for sure that at least one of these ladies is voting to re-elect, so this was not at all hostile. Must be some weird Washingtonian humor. But I felt icky. And all provincial midwestern. So I will not be mocking anyone that was all jazzed to see Marine One.
Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen
Book 48
Getting to the Jane Austen I hadn’t read yet. Mansfield Park was a later novel and some of the critics called it “more mature”. Austen has a formula: a young lady has little fortune but a few connections and spends some time with the upper classes. (OK, except for Emma.) There are generally horrid relatives and rakish fiends and opportunists of many varieties.
In Mansfield Park, Fanny Price is one of way-too-many children of a working class man whose sister-in-law married particularly well. Fanny is sent to live with them. Shy and kind and “amiable” blahblahblah.
I spent most of the story disliking her. She barely spoke and when she opened her mouth she sounded childish. However, by the end of the story I had realized that she was (MILD SPOILER) a tremendous judge of character. No Pride or Prejudice in that girl. She was also appreciative of the life she had – including her education – and listened to her own conscience when she had the opportunity to marry a nice looking guy with a pot of cash. And the entire family pressured her to do so.
If I could only have one Jane Austen novel for the rest of my life, it wouldn’t be this one. But I am glad to have read it all the same.
Splash Dog
In his last years, our dog Shadow had some pretty bad arthritis. Our vet, like many MDs treating arthritic people, recommended exercise in the water. It is pricey, but it really helped. Shadow spent a lot of time at Splash Dog, a hydrotherapy facility for dogs. As everywhere, he was very popular. His picture is still on their website:
On the long list of laments when he passed was that my mother, Kay, wouldn’t Amy and Traci anymore. Enter Gibbs.
Gibbs gets plenty of exercise and is ridiculously toned. But as everyone knows, he is a pain in the butt in new situations and with new people. It is hard to find “safe places” to take him – where he isn’t scared-to-barking-incessantly. So Kay thought of Splash Dog and made an appointment.
He was predictably anxious on his first visit – on a day that I had Fiona at a charity walk. But on Saturday, I was at yoga so Fiona tagged along on Gibbs’ appointment. They even let her in the pool room, which was particularly nice since she had been skunked the day before. Again.
They kept waiting for her to jump in, but she just paced around the edges. But you can see that the dog wears a life jacket and is guided through the exercise by a staffer that is also in the pool. I have also seen places that put a treadmill in the water and the dog walks on the treadmill, but I like this better. Appointments are 30 minutes.
Further shout out to Splash Dog because they support local rescue groups. They have personally adopted from Wright-Way Rescue and Fiona and I met Amy yesterday at the walk for the Puppy Mill Project. (Side Note: It was really scary to have a total stranger come up to me, look at my dog and ask: Is that Fiona?)
So. Consider Splash Dog recommended by Gibbs.
Farewell, My Lovely, by Raymond Chandler
Book 47
Our old pal Philip Marlowe is caught up in two different crimes – the murder of a bar owner and a jewel heist that ends in murder. As in most hard-boiled capers, you never know if the cops are good or bad and whether they will help or hurt the cause. There is always a beautiful and dangerous woman (or three) and our hero will always get his ass kicked a couple of times. Throw in a sunny city with a dark side, like Los Angeles and the formula is complete.
If I am going to judge mysteries on the basis of my ability to solve them, Farewell, My Lovely does well. It was very near the reveal before it even dawned on me. However. The characters are all so unlikeable. I wouldn’t be able to stand Marlowe himself if he didn’t come with Humphrey Bogart’s face. It sorta seems like Chandler was in a really bad mood when he wrote this. Or on a really bad bender.
Miles for Mothers – The Puppy Mill Project Walk 2012
Fiona’s weekend adventures began Friday night, when she had a rematch with a skunk in the backyard.
Skunk 2 – Fiona 0
My mother, Kay, had mocked me after the first battle, when I purchased an Emergency De-Skunker Kit (Read as: Two bottles of hydrogen peroxide and a spare box of baking soda) but lo and behold, two months go by and there it is.
On Saturday, Kay planned to take Gibbs to Splash Dog for a swim – more on that later – and since I was at a yoga class, Fiona tagged along for the ride. Very nice of Splash Dog to let her hang out. Then today we went to another charity dog walk – this one for The Puppy Mill Project.
I am not an active supporter of the group for a couple of reasons, one of them being – and I am not proud of this – that I just don’t like to think about puppy mills. I am already active in the rescue world with my time, my money and the pets in my house. I don’t need to be converted. However, I understand that there are a lot of uneducated people out there and The Puppy Mill Project sets out to educate them. I am grateful for the work they do and the least I can do for them is show up for a dog walk. And it was a big one:
I snapped this shot after finishing the walk, heading back to my car. There were so many people that after we had finished, stopped for water and chatting – people were still coming back.
The Dog Saving Network was onsite raising funds with a Spin the Wheel game. The wheel was spun by a dog. Several dogs, actually – they took turns. For $3, I was all over seeing that. And I won, thank you very much. A new toy for Gibbs.
We skipped the Halloween contest, but there were lots of dogs in costume. I liked the Corgi-Lobsters:
And Fiona found this pretty impressive:
It wasn’t a terribly long walk, but it was a lovely day and Fiona and I had a great time meeting people and dogs. So far, they have raised over $10,000 on the First Giving site alone. I also expect there were a lot of walk-ups today with the fabulous weather. And shout out to Wags on Willow, our favorite brick-and-mortar pet store. They sponsored the event in some way because I found their information in the goody bag!
If you would like to contribute to the Puppy Mill Project, my page is still live right here.
Blankets 65 – 73
I brought nine finished blankets to Project Linus at Starbucks the other night. Nine! And I still had one fleece left at home. In fact, these last two were finished and washed right before I walked out the door:
The big panel with the snake was a fabric experiment from Joann Fabric. I like the bright colors, but it looks like they didn’t fly because I picked up several on clearance. Red Heart yarn in Black. The purple animal print used Red Heat yarn in Soft White, or something like that. Next:
This one had a similar panel, with bumble bees on it. Red Heart yarn in White. The two solid pieces – also Red Heart yarn in White – have fleece appliques of butterflies and dragonflies and stuff. Love them. And on the seat of the couch is a Boyd Bear pattern with Red Heart’s Blue yarn.
Finally, the Scooby Doos:
On the left is the Scooby Doo pattern, edged in Red Heart’s turquoise yarn. On the right is a solid red with leftover pieces of the Scooby Doo fabrics sewn on and edged in Red Heart’s White yarn. In the middle is the brown solid fleece with pieces of a dinosaur fabric, edged in an off-white from Red Heart.
I need more black and more white yarn.
The Next Dark Age 