Firstfruits

Our first cherry tomatoes of the season!

Reading: YA novels and mysteries

Photo taken 6/2/2009

The Apostates Tale by Margaret Frazer – Another Dame Frevisse mystery. Sadly, our library system doesn’t have all of the books from this series, so this might be the last one that I read for a while.

The Anatomy of Wings by Karen Foxlee – Ten year old Jenny has lost her singing voice. How she lost it is tied up in the story of her sister’s lost innocence and eventual death (that’s not a spoiler – you find out about her sister in the first few pages) and her family’s disintegration. The novel was beautifully written but rather depressing. Not exactly a “feel good” novel.

Rebel Angels by Libby Bray – I gave an unfavorable review in my last reading post for the prequel of this novel, and I didn’t enjoy this one any more (although I still like the cover art). The author made ample room for another sequel, but I probably won’t be reading it.

Graceling by Kristin Cashore – Katsa is a Graceling – someone who has an exceptional talent – except that her Grace is that of killing. Her uncle, the king of one of seven kingdoms, uses her as a deadly tool to do his will, and she goes along with it until she comes across Prince Po, whose fighting Grace is nearly equal her own. Their friendship results in her discovery that her Grace is not all that she thinks it is – and soon she must turn her skills to untangle a plot that has the whole of the seven kingdoms in danger. This was a beautiful and enjoyable novel – I loved it!

A Spoonful of Poison by M.C. Beaton – Agatha Raisin, the self-centered, middle-aged, easily-obsessed sleuth in M.C. Beaton’s mysteries, is back with a vengeance, investigating a poisoning that happens during a village fete that she’s in charge of while trying to impress a good-looking widower. As with the other Agatha Raisin novels, I alternated between wanting to strangle Agatha in frustration and laughing at her escapades.

Heir to Sevenwaters by Juliet Marillier – A long-awaited novel following the Sevenwaters trilogy, this one follows Clodagh, the daughter of Sean and Aisling (and thus the granddaughter of Sorcha from the first Sevenwaters book). The Fair Folk steal her baby brother and replace him with an odd child of leaves and sticks that seems alive only to her — and to the man who must share her quest to find her baby brother and bring him back. The dangerous journey that they make has the usual twists and turns in Juliet’s novels and was thoroughly enjoyable.

Foxmask by Juliet Marillier – A sequel to Wolfskin. Nessa and Eyvind’s daughter, Creidhe, is in love with Somerled’s son Thorvald. Thorvald goes on a quest to find his father and Creidhe sneaks along for the ride, only to find herself in a dangerous situation that could claim her life and those of her friends. Again, another rich novel by Juliet Marillier that I could barely put down to make dinner, take care of a baby, and work.

Trace by Patricia Cornwell – Another Kay Scarpetta novel.

Tales from the Dad Side by Steve Doocy – I’m finding that the “humor” genre just isn’t what I’m into. I enjoyed reading the jacket blurb and the first few pages but soon got tired of the wisecracks and ended up not finishing this book. I enjoy a dry wit and situational humor, but 224 pages of over-obvious comedy was more than I could handle.

Photo taken 6/10/2009

Edwin of the Iron Shoes by Marcia Muller – A new mystery series that I’m trying out and so far, have enjoyed. Sharon McHone is an investigator for a law firm, but turns to investigating a murder when one of their clients is killed.

The Midas Box by G.P. Taylor – I guess this is what you’d call a young adult thriller — sort of spooky, riveting page-turner, mixed with fantasy and myth. I had to quickly skim through it in an evening and morning because it was on hold and I couldn’t renew it – I’m glad I made the time for it.

Cruel and Unusual, From Potter’s Field, and The Body Farm by Patricia Cornwell – I’m finding that this is an unusual mystery series from what I’m used to reading in that characters can dramatically change from one book to the next as several years may pass from the events of one book to another. These earlier samples of Patricia’s books have been pretty intense – and the “bad guy” is not always apprehended by the end of the book. Now that I’m reading these in order, I’m enjoying them more

Reading: The Noticer by Andy Andrews

I’ve joined the Book Review Blogger program at Thomas Nelson, and as my first book, downloaded an ebook version of The Noticer by Andy Andrews. This short, fast read compresses common wisdom and live-your-best-life principles in a fictional tale of a man named Jones who mysteriously appears at critical moments of peoples’ lives to provide “a little perspective.” Jones’ advice enables the residents of the small town depicted in the novel — whether struggling with a broken marriage, loneliness, financial problems, or what-have-you– to understand why their lives are the way they are and what they can do to change them.

I suppose if you’ve never read The Five Love Languages by Gary Chapman or kept a gratitude journal, this book might be life-changing for the simplistic way it distills principles from many of the other self-help books out there. Overall, I found it a nice review of good-to-remember principles when it comes to living life and loving people, but the sermon-disguised-as-story and stereotyped, one-dimensional characters made this less than impressive fiction. All the same, the book was such a quick read — and a free review copy! — that I didn’t mind taking the extra time to compose a review.

Plants in the ground

I finally transplanted all of the pepper and basil seedlings into our planter boxes this past weekend and sowed a row of spring onions as well. The tomato cage is over the spring onions to discourage certain cats from using our planter box as a litter box.

The Golden Jubilee and Roma tomato plants are getting big, and there are several green tomatoes forming!

The Sweet 100 is getting ginormous!

Yesterday I spotted our first ripening cherry tomatoes:

And the rogue butternut squash are thriving as well. There are at least two tiny squash that have formed:

Finally, I planted one of our rogue Sweet 100 seedlings in the front yard planter box. We’ll see how it goes.

Expenditures from the past few weeks:

• New 100′ no-kink garden hose – ours burst open: $56.01
• Drip irrigation materials (another weekend project for the future): $38.32
• Another ultomato stake – $6.45
• Organic plant food – $6.44

Expenditures summary:

• One-time: $138.04
  
  • Herbs for front planter box: $10.37
  • Gear: Tools, hoses, tomato stakes, etc.: $127.67
• This season: $24.50
  • Plant starters and plant food: $8.58
  • Seeds and seedlings: $15.92

As beginning gardeners, our one-time expenses this season are getting pretty high. I’m interested to see how our expenses will compare next season.

Now, I need to figure out how I’m going to keep track of our production!

Reading: Many mysteries and more

Photo taken 5/20/2009.

Dead of Night, Immortal in Death, and Promises in Death by J.D. Robb/Nora Roberts – I think this might be the last of my “in Death” reading binge, as I’ve checked out everything available in our library system. (“Dead of Night” was a collection of four short stories by various authors, one of which was an “in Death” story by J.D. Robb.)

A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray – I liked the cover and thought the title had potential but was disappointed by this young adult book, with protagonist Gemma, sent to a London boarding school after her mother commits suicide in strange circumstances. A mix of boarding school drama, magical realms, evil people and creatures, and the mystery of how her mother was involved all of this plays out in the rest of the book. I thought the characters were shallow and not very compelling — or likable — and while I finished the book, overall found it a bit boring.

Among the Mad by Jacqueline Winspear – Another “Maisie Dobbs” mystery novel; this time, Maisie is hired by Scotland Yard to investigate some serious terrorist-type threats. Her investigations will bring her to the plight of the ignored remnant of soldiers suffering from post-war mental trauma; meanwhile, she tries to figure out how to help her assistant’s wife who has been slipping deeper into depression after the death of one of her children. This book continues the series with grace and sensitivity.

Predator, Postmortem, and All That Remains by Patricia Cornwell – Postmortem and All That Remains are the first two books in the Kay Scarpetta series, but I had picked up Predator first and found it much harder to jump into than the “In Death” books, so checked out the earlier books to get some background. Oddly to me, the earlier books were written in first-person from the viewpoint of Kay Scarpetta, the Chief Medical Examiner in Virginia, but the much later book was written in third-person. As an avid watcher of CSI, I liked reading these novels for the heavy involvement of forensics in the plots.

The Fortune Cookie Chronicles by Jennifer 8 Lee – That’s not a typo; the author’s middle name really is the number “8,” a lucky number for Chinese. A journalist for the N.Y. Times, her “adventures in Chinese food” started when she was intrigued by the multiple lottery winners who used fortune cookie numbers to win the jackpot. Jennifer uses her journalistic acumen to find out things like how authentic General Tso’s chicken really is (it’s not), who first came up with fortune cookies (the Japanese), and other things that I didn’t even know I wanted to know but felt hungrier after knowing them. Must read this book with plenty of Chinese take-out on hand.

Garden 2009 update

Oh boy, I’ve been dropping the ball on updates. Here are a few highlights from the past few months.

April

The seedlings grew nicely in my makeshift greenhouse.

We finally finished weeding out the planter boxes, tilled the soil, and mixed in compost from our compost bin. I picked up three organic tomato seedlings from the Farmer’s Market. The Sweet 100 went in the corner box and the other two went in the rectangular box.

• Sweet 100 cherry tomatoes – $2.50
• Golden Jubilee – $2.50
• Viva Italia Roma – $2.50

In mid-April, I added potting soil around the seedlings and put them outside to start to try to acclimatize them. Unfortunately I forgot about them… and by the time I remembered and brought them back in, a third of our seedlings had wilted and died. Quite sad, I started up more seedlings in another plastic tray. I think this one used to be an Oreo cookie tray.

May

Fast-forward a month. The seedlings are still inside, although I just started putting them back outside to get them used to the growing summer heat before I put them in the ground.

The two tomato plants in the rectangular box are doing great. We even have some mini roma tomatoes starting to develop.

To our surprise, some things have started sprouting from our compost that was mixed into the corner box. We think we have some rogue butternut squash coming up and have left a few to develop to see what happens. We also got some tomato seedlings that came from from last year’s Sweet 100’s, and I dug up some of them to give to our neighbors.

The Sweet 100 is flourishing – no surprise – and the start of cherry tomatoes can be seen on the bottom branches:

There is also a mystery plant behind the Sweet 100. Anyone have any ideas?

The only other expenditures this month was for the three “Ultomato staking systems,” at $19.36 for all three. We have two wire cages from last year that were too small for the massive Sweet 100, and I liked the customizable stakes and supports of the Ultomato. I’ve already snapped off the side rungs and replaced them a few times to give some of the branches more support as the tomato grows.

Reading: J authors

Completely unintentionally, I read books by authors whose first names all start with the letter “J”.

Photo taken 5/1/09

Daughter of the Forest, Son of the Shadows, and Child of the Prophecy by Juliet Marillier (The Sevenwaters Trilogy) – Juliet Marillier’s debut trilogy is fantastic. Each book is told from the point of view of a different character, starting with Sorcha in Daughter of the Forest, which is a retelling of the wild swans fairy tale. The other two books follow Sorcha’s daughter and granddaughter. Highly recommended.

The Spell Book of Listen Taylor by Jaclyn Moriarty – I’m often surprised by the dark themes in young adult books these days (I guess “young adult” books from my time are now considered “junior” books). This intriguing and slightly confusing books makes sense at the end and would be a good “discussion” book about infidelity, as that theme pops up often. Listen Taylor lives with her dad and his girlfriend, Marbie Zing. The Zings are an intriguing family with a “Family Secret” that causes them to meet every Friday night in their garden shed. Listen starts high school and inexplicably finds herself ditched by her friends. How her loneliness intersects with the life of an elementary school teacher, and what the teacher has to do with the Zing family secret, are things that will be revealed by the end of the book. I wouldn’t say that I “enjoyed” reading this book, although I finished it to find out what happened. The female characters used too many exclamation points for me to relate with them.

Salvation in Death and Origin in Death by J.D. Robb (Nora Roberts) – Still going through the “in Death” series.

The Abyssinian Proof by Jenny White – A sequel to The Sultan’s Seal, which I’d come across in the new books area as well, this one has a more “resolved” ending (in that Kamil Pasha actually finds out “who done it”) and a Da Vinci Code flavor with a small minority sect and religious artifacts that could “change the world.” Beautifully written again, but I’m not enjoying this series enough to continue to seek out new ones as they come, although I’ll probably pick them out if they appear in my line of vision on the new book shelf.

A month’s worth (or more) of reading

… and thus, this post is very long!

Photo taken March 18, 2009

Divided in Death, Intermission in Death, Purity in Death, Survivor in Death, Innocent in Death, Holiday in Death, Vengeance in Death, Naked in Death, Ceremony in Death, Loyalty in Death, Reunion in Death, and Portrait in Death by J.D. Robb (AKA Nora Roberts) – I’ve been flying through the books in this series. While I’d generally stay away from Nora Roberts books, bodice-ripping romance novels not being a particular genre of choice for me, I like the gritty main character, Eve Dallas, an NYPD detective in the year 2058 (and more). These “futuristic mysteries” have just a little unrealistic romance-novel-esque scenes thrown in, enough to keep me from recommending this to any nephews and nieces, but I’m finding that I have a taste for cheap, quick-to-read mysteries… especially when the author is prolific enough to keep me occupied for a month or two.

A Prisoner of Memory edited by Ed Gorman & Martin H. Greenberg – Collection of “best mystery short stories.” I picked it up because there was one by Michael Connelly, one of the mystery authors I follow. Nothing else in the book really caught my attention enough to cause me to want to look up the other authors.

Photo taken March 26, 2009

A Room Made of Windows and The Private Worlds of Julia Redfern by Eleanor Cameron – Julia is one of those classic “girl” characters that I grew up with, along with Anne [of Green Gables], Emily [of New Moon], Jo/Meg/Beth/Amy [of Little Women], Laura [of Little House books], and Sara [from A Little Princess]. Yet Julia has more flaws – and is more contemporary – than all of those heroines, and it’s partly those flaws that make her lovable and easy to relate with. I found that I enjoyed these books almost as much as I did when I first read them.

An Incomplete Revenge by Jacqueline Winspear – Part of the Maisie Dobbs series, taking place in a well-researched (or so it seems to me without having done my own research) early 1900’s. Maisie is a quiet, strong character, running her own private investigation business. In this book, she investigates odd crimes in a rural area and exposes secrets that have long been hidden.

Witness in Death, Imitation in Death, Visions in Death, Creation in Death, Judgment in Death, Memory in Death, and Remember When by J.D. Robb (AKA Nora Roberts)

Photo taken April 3, 2009

Midnight in Death, Conspiracy in Death, and Seduction in Death by J.D. Robb

The Novice’s Tale by Margaret Frazer – My first experience with the “Sister Frevisse medieval mystery” series. This is the first of that series. Dame Frevisse is a nun at the St. Frideswide cloister. One of the new initiates, Thomasine, finds herself accused of murder. It’s up to Frevisse’s dogged questioning to bring forth the truth. Good enough that I checked out more by this author.

The Private Life of the Cat Who by Lilian Jackson Braun – I was a dogged fan of Lilian Jackson Braun when the cat-who books first came out, but since then I only read them when I happen to come across them in the new book section. This short book of various “articles” written by James Qwilleran, owner of very special Siamese Koko and Yum Yum, relates various anecdotes that Cat Who fans will be familiar with.

Wildwood Dancing and Cybele’s Secret by Juliet Marillier – My first introduction to this fantasy author who is now one of my favorites. Juliet Marillier puts her own deeply fanciful, sometimes dark, but overall rewarding spin on the “Twelve Dancing Princesses” fairy tale in Wildwood Dancing, and tells a completely new tale with some of the same characters in Cybele’s Secret. Her style reminds me a little bit of Robin McKinley – if you liked Beauty, Spindle’s End, or The Blue Sword, you’ll probably like these.

The Magician’s Book by Laura Miller – This “skeptic’s adventures in Narnia” is mostly about Laura Miller’s experience as a lover of books. I would classify it “literary criticism wrapped in memoir,” as Laura tells about how the Chronicles of Narnia shaped her reading education, how she felt deeply betrayed when (as an agnostic) she discovered the Christian allegories in the books, and how she came to terms with them. Lots of snippets about C.S. Lewis’ life as well as Tolkein’s are included.

The Memorist by M.J. Rose – I didn’t realize that this is a sequel to another book, but I got drawn into the complicated and intriguing plot involving a woman who has weird memories from another time and place, a man planning to blow up a concert hall, and a special flute that was once in the hands of Beethoven.

Photo taken April 15, 2009

The Boy’s Tale, The Bastard’s Tale, The Sempster’s Tale, The Widow’s Tale, and The Clerk’s Tale by Margaret Frazer – As I read more of the Sister Frevisse series, I’m realizing that I should have tried to read these in order, as characters from previous books show up in later books. The books do stand alone, but I think that there is some helpful background information from the other stories that would have been nice to have.

Born in Death and Betrayal in Death by J.D. Robb

The Dark Mirror, Blade of Fortriu, and The Well of Shades by Juliet Marillier – Did I mention that Juliet Marillier has become one of my favorite authors? I’ll just throw that one out again. This trilogy is a comprehensive whole, yet each book has an individual narrative focusing on different main characters.

As a side note, Juliet Marillier has some of the most beautiful, sweet depictions of babies and infants (and their relationship with adults) that I’ve come across since being a mom. They aren’t by any means a focus of the book (I’m really just talking about a sentence here or there), but the detail in the phrases she uses (I’m paraphrasing, since I don’t have the books in front of me), like a baby making “small snuffling noises” as it searches for the breast, immediately painted pictures in my mind and made me want to steal the words for my own use.

Photo taken April 21, 2009

Rapture in Death and Glory in Death by J.D. Robb

The Squire’s Tale, The Traitor’s Tale, The Hunter’s Tale, and The Reeve’s Tale by Margaret Frazer

The Sultan’s Seal by Jenny White – I picked this one off the shelf because of the beautiful cover illustration. The narrative is split between Kamil Pasha, a magistrate in Istanbul at the end of the Ottoman Empire, and Jaanan, a young woman who seems to have nothing to do with the mystery narrative initially. The novel is beautiful, much like the cover, yet I found myself unsatisfied by the ending.

The Wee Free Men by Terry Pratchett – I haven’t read much… if any?… Terry Pratchett, although he’s one of those well-known sci-fi/fantasy authors that I keep seeing quoted on various book covers. This book was in the “young adult” area and looked like it had promise when I skimmed the first few pages, where gutsy 9-year-old Tiffany, armed with a frying pan, enters the world of the elves to rescue her little brother. It got rather surreal for me, and I’m not entirely sure I “enjoyed” the entire book. Maybe?

Wolfskin by Juliet Marillier – Set in the world of the Vikings, Eyvind – a good-hearted boy whose only desire is to be a “Wolfskin” – one of the special warriors of Thor – reaches out to a shy, strange boy and swears an unbreakable blood oath with him to assure him of his friendship. This oath will lead to a terrible conflict, however, when Eyvind finds himself on the verge of losing all that he loves.

More raves for Juliet Marillier – she has an absolute gift for painting characters that you love and root for, and then showing the shadowy fingers of destruction hovering over them. No one is “safe” in her books, yet all the endings are redemptive.

Gardening 2009

Last spring/summer, we had just moved into our house and dove immediately into amateur newbie gardening. We planted a Sweet 100 cherry tomato plant (with great success and production) and a Better Bush tomato (not as successful – the tomatoes had rot or some other strange fungal thing going on). We tried a few rows of unproductive corn (later determining that we didn’t have enough space to do it “right”), had several basil plants (most of which shriveled up and died except for one productive plant), and one pathetic pumpkin seedling that never got more than five leaves. In short: We ate lots and lots of cherry tomatoes and harvested a few sprigs of basil.

This year, armed with not much more knowledge but lots of optimism and a few gardening books, we’re trying the learn-as-you-go approach

So far, I’ve added some herbs to our front yard planter box, so we now have rosemary (planted last year), sage, oregano, lavender (came with the house), and curry plant (which smells like curry but isn’t actually what is used in making curry powder). I just picked up a thyme seedling which will go there, too. And that’s probably all you’ll hear about the front yard planter box for this season.

• Sage – 4 seedlings – $3.48
• Oregano seedling – $3.49
• Curry plant seedling – $3.4

Our back yard has two planter boxes – a triangular one which gets full sun except in the late afternoon, and a rectangular one which gets full sun except in the early morning. The triangular one is half-weeded, the rectangular one hasn’t been touched, as you can see.

I’m thinking this is a good spot for another Sweet 100 cherry tomato. Last year, we were unprepared for the immense dimensions of the plant, and it collapsed our 40″ wire cage. We ended up stringing it up to the fence and attempting to use various stakes to hold it up. There should be plenty of room for the tomato plant here (and we’ll probably buy a special extra-large tomato cage), and I’m thinking the basil plants can go in the front corners.

I haven’t really mapped out this one, yet. We’ll have one short row of bell peppers and one of jalapeno, if all of the seeds sprout, and a row of bunching onions – maybe two rows. I’d like a couple tomato plants (suggestions on good varieties for central California are welcome!). We’ll probably have room for two more rows of something else, but I’m not sure what, yet.

Expenditures for back yard garden

We have a few gardening tools from the previous owner of the house, but I went out and bought a hoe, too. I also purchased seed starter pellets and a few packets of seeds.

• Hoe – $7.53
• 25 pellets – $2.14
• Basil (Genovese) – $2.27
• Bell peppers (California Wonder) – $2.27
• Jalapeno Early peppers – $2.29
• White Lisbon Bunching Onion – $1.59

The onions will be directly sown, but I started the basil and peppers a week ago, and the basil is starting to sprout!

“Real” gardeners will laugh at the pitifully few seedlings I started — six basil, and three each of the peppers. I think most of our available space will go to tomatoes, and having never done peppers before, I wanted to just start with a few.

I made a mini-greenhouse using a “spring mix” salad container. Nothing like reusing before recycling! (The lid isn’t usually on so the plants get plenty of air.)

I think next year (or winter) I’ll venture into the realm of ordering from seed catalogs and use up the rest of my pellets; for now, I’m just excited that there are signs of life.

Updates will come.

Reading: Eon and more

Photo taken March 6, 2009

Eon: Dragoneye Reborn by Alison Goodman – Heard of this gem from Orson Scott Card’s review, which sums it up better than I can. All I’ll say is that this is one of the best fantasy books I’ve read recently.

Conrad’s Fate by Diana Wynne Jones – Jones has been one of my favorite children’s authors for years, although I’ve lost touch with some of her more recent books. This book delves back into the Chrestomanci world with a slightly older Christopher Chant (from The Nine Lives of Christopher Chant). I’ve liked all of the Chrestomanci books, and this one was no exception.

Strangers In Death by J.D. Robb (aka Nora Roberts) – I haven’t read any of the books from Nora Roberts’   mystery series before, and despite missing out several volumes’ worth of background information and history, found that I was still able to get into the story. I’ve since checked out all the other ones that I could find at the library; for now, let’s just say that these mysteries have some “adult” material so I wouldn’t recommend it to my nephews and nieces, and I’ll have more comments next time about the series in general.

Julia and the Hand of God by Eleanor Cameron – I’d read Eleanor Cameron’s children’s book A Room Full of Windows when I was younger, but I didn’t realize that she had a prequel with a younger Julia. Eleanor Cameron’s books are a treat; after reading this one, I went back to the library to check out A Room Full of Windows again as it’s been years since I’ve read it!

Helping Me Help Myself by Beth Lisick – I said last time that my genre of choice seems to be memoirs of people who do crazy things for a certain amount of time and then write about it. This falls into that genre, but it’s one of the few that I didn’t enjoy. Lisick chronicles her year of trying out different self-improvement programs from the major “gurus” of the day, including going on a Richard Simmons cruise (which is the highlight of the book). She writes with plenty of humor, but her journey into self-improvement just seemed shallow and pointless to me – as if it were written because of a book deal, instead of from the heart. I’m coming down on her book pretty hard; perhaps it’s because I enjoyed The Year of Living Biblically so much last time for A.J. Jacob’s mix of humor and humility. Lisick’s self-deprecating humor isn’t quite the same as humility, and her openness about her life isn’t the same as authenticity.

Chasing Harry Winston by Lauren Weisberger – I watched “The Devil Wears Prada” but hadn’t read it and was curious to try out a book by this author. I saw it through to the end but wished I had followed my instincts and given up after the first few chapters, because overall I didn’t like the characters or the storyline. My impressions: Shallow, incoherent, and unbelievable.

Come to the Table: The Slow Food Way of Living by Alice Waters and Katrina Heron (editor) – Short articles about specific farms (think organic, sustainable, quality) with plenty of beautiful photography and a collection of mouth-watering recipes at the end.

Amazing Baby by Desmond Morris – This was a really cool book with beautiful photography and fascinating facts about developing infants and toddlers.