Inheritance

This weekend my family had their usual monthly get together. It was good to spend time with family. I'm glad that we get along, although that wasn't always the case when we were younger. I'm also glad that my kids get along with their cousins.

This month had some particular wonderful moments. My father and his brothers have been preparing my grandparents for sale. We we all arrived at my parents house, my father had stacks of books, music, and other miscellaneous ornaments available to us to look through and take home. It was an awesome opportunity to remember and pick something to remind us of our grandparents.

I think one of the coolest things was Grandmother's music supply. As Muscles put it, "I get black note syndrome just looking at this!" Grandmother was very good if her selection of music is any indication. I'd heard her play before, but nothing like what should could have played.

The most coveted mementos were Grandmother's collection of comics. She loved Calvin and Hobbs, For better or for worse, Zits, and Foxtrot. My father's youngest brother took half for his family, leaving us to pick through a measly collection of 25 different books of comics. That mean's we got five each - nobody is complaining.

All in all, it was fun to be able to find some things to remember the grandparents by. It got me thinking about what I'll pass on to my family. As I grabbed a book from the stack I realized that it had my great-grandfather's name on it. I wonder if it will survive to be read by my great-grandchild.

Simple Pleasures

This morning I had a brief moment of reflection as I was headed into work. I was going through my calendar for the day and thought about my workout time. The thought made me happy. I knew that afterwards I would be sore, out of breath, and a little smelly, but I was honestly looking forward to it.

At that point, I rubbed my face in an absent-minded fashion and thought about my shave that morning. It was just like shaving every other day, the only real difference being that I recently sharpened my razor. I reflected that to be "clean shaven" was to have a shave that leaves you feeling clean, fresh, or otherwise pepped up. I thought about how much I enjoyed that feeling.

I've also thought about my piano practicing last night. My teacher is having me learn key transitions and so I worked on transitioning between different songs that have similar themes. After stitching four songs together, I felt like I have accomplished something. It was nothing that a good arranger wouldn't have done better, but it was a fun exercise. That too makes me smile.

I've often acknowledged that in many ways I have a simple mind - because of my love of simple pleasures. I know that my mind is rather complex (like everybody else's) but I am very glad that I can find enjoyment in working out, or shaving, or practicing the piano. I will never be an Olympic weightlifter, a barber, or a professional pianist. I know this not because I lack the ability, but because I lack the desire. I hope to be healthy, well shaved, and play what I like - more is not necessary. I am content in this.

For whatever reason I have waxed philosophical I am grateful for a place where I can express myself in a medium that I enjoy. It is unlikely my blog will ever go viral. If it should I don't think I would change anything about it. I do this as much for myself as anyone else. I'm just glad that I have enough of a child's mind left to enjoy simple victories. Simple pleasures. Simple life.

Book Review - Dragon Spear by Jessica Day George

Well, I finished the last of the adventures with our seamstress heroine Creel, but not the last of Jessica Day George. I was glad that I could find this book at the library and complete the series. Like the previous one, it was a fun read and I finished it in just a couple of reading sessions. The characters remained true to the previous books (including Creel's aunt - the one that told her to be captured by a dragon). We had some good resolutions to the stories we cared about and our heroes were able to have a satisfactory ending. I wouldn't mind seeing more from this world, but I am also very pleased with the ending. As I alluded to in the first sentence, I'm looking forward to reading more of Jessica Day George, including her fairy tale adaptations. I haven't been disappointed by her yet and don't think I will be.

Plot: With the dragons safe from humans, Creel and Luka are finally making wedding plans. But Creel is not looking forward to it. Her future father-in-law doesn't like her, her aunt is telling her to take the servants "to hand", and she can't find time to work on her wedding dress. Fortunately she and Luka have a getaway planned to visit the dragons in the Far Isles. Bringing Creel's brother, Hagan, along for the ride they enjoy their trip and find the dragon's new home beautiful and captivating. But it turns out that the dragons aren't as safe as they thought they were. The pregnant queen, Velika, is kidnapped by a group of strange dragons who spirit her away to their homeland. It turns out that there was a schism generations ago that drew a group of dragons to a volcanic land where they have struggled to live. Their last queen dead they stole the current queen so she could rule them, a slave to their customs and the twisted culture they have built. It's up to Shardas, Creel, Luka, and Hagan along with many of our other dragon fiends to free not only the queen but these dragons that have misunderstood their history and traditions.

Personal favorites: I still love Jessica Day George's dragons. They are fun, with personalities and emotions. I was happy to get to know some of the other dragons better as well. The action was good and the plot had a couple of fun twists. I was curious what was going to happen with the dress - beyond it getting ruined. Creel continued to be a great character and it was fun to follow her for another story. The culture of the schism dragons was quite interesting as well. As I mentioned already, I also like the ending and the way that wrapped up the characters' stories.

Considerations: Like the last two, there was age appropriate peril and conflict. It is decidedly targeted at a young audience, but adults should find it pleasant as well. I'm looking forward to reading this to my children as it has both female and male leads who are good examples.

Again, a satisfying conclusion to the story and a good story. I'm looking forward to ready more by Jessica Day George and look forward to adding them to my library at home. The total length was 248 pages.

Week of no sleep

About six months ago I posted a picture of the mountains north of my house. Here is an updated version of that shot. Autumn has fallen, no mistake. I love this time of year and am glad to be listening to the rain as I write this.

This week has certainly been busy and has involved both early mornings and late nights. I was very happy to attend the national NACADA (National ACademic ADvising Association) on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. I also enjoyed having my brother-in-law, Leeroy, over last night as both our wives were at a party, dancing until midnight. We were up later than that having our own fun (LAN party), which is why I am going to bed early. Either way it's been a long week mostly because I have either arisen early or gone to her late four days this week.

As I mentioned I attended the NACADA conference at the first of the week. I decided to take the train into Salt Lake and so had to rise before five in the morning to catch it. Tuesday I was asleep before 9:30 pm that particularly strange for me, but I made up for it this weekend. The conference was wonderful and I was glad that I didn't have to worry about parking or traffic. I got to meet people from all over the county and met a women from London, Ontario. There were sessions on everything from humor in the office, nonverbal communication and use of social media. All in all, a fun time was bad by all. 

This weekend was the annual "Witches night" in SLC. Angel and her mother and sisters go every year and they stayed over a couple of night. Saturday Leeroy joined me and we put the kids down and enjoyed hours of solid gaming. We don't do it very often but when it does happen it's a beautiful thing. We were glad the kids room was literally on the exact opposite side if the house. We were excited. In the end this is why I'm falling asleep as I type this. I better sign off before I face plant into my device.

Applesauce

In addition to enjoying the General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints this week we put up 13 quarts of applesauce. It was a lot of work, but also a trip down memory lane. I have fond memories of helping my mom make applesauce using her hand-cranked processor she would let us turn the crank or use the plunger to push the boiled apples into the screw. 

The screw is designed to mush the soft boiled apple through the holes in processor while the skin and core get pushed out the end. It's a pretty slick unit and I was glad to be able to borrow it for our apples. We have three trees and we suspect that one is a Granny Smith and one is a gala, but we don't know what the third one is. We got about twenty pounds of apples and spent several hours in prepping and processing them. We had to use the bath canner as a stock pot because we didn't have anything else big enough. As soon as i lifted the lid of the pot and I could smell the apples i felt excited, the same way I felt when I was a kid helping out. Kanga helped us by mushing the apples down the processor. She did a great job, even when she got a gob of hot apple squirted on her face. Once we got all the apples processed we moved the stove to the garage for the canning part. I set up a table and we processed thirteen quarts, one bottle shy of two full batches. 

Again, it was a lot of work, but like my mother pointed out, you have a very real product left over. When we moved into this house and learned that we had fruit trees we were very excited. At the same time I was a little worried about being able to eat the fruit before it spoiled. I should also say that I was always nervous of eating fruit right off the tree. Mostly because I hate the idea of eating a bug. Berries, particularly raspberries, are nice in that regard. You can see if it's good or not immediately. I was really worried that we would have these trees and that the fruit would be wasted because of my hesitancy at eating it. I was also intimidated at the prospect of canning it. I remember what a process it was by asking my mother and was worried that I would do a horrible job. I'm glad that it worked out alright and in many ways the canning is easier than I thought. It's still a lot of work, but as my mom noted we have twenty three quarts of fruit that we grew ourselves. That is fruit we can use in the winter and fruit that we don't have to buy. I had to admit that sitting down to this...

was worth it. 

Book Review - Dragon Flight by Jessica Day George

I had to put this book on hold from the library the last time I went and was excited to get it this week. Like the last book in this series I finished it in good order and enjoyed it quite a bit. Jessica Day George does a good job of spinning a story that had both grand scale conflict and personal challenges. We're reunited with a number of familiar faces. All in all it was most enjoyable and I've been giving more and more thought to reading these to my daughter. I think she would like them despite being just 5 years old.

Plot: Creel and Marta have their own dress shop now and are quite happy working on the wedding clothes of the their future queen (a much better choice than the last one). Unfortunately, conflict arises in Citatie and Creel is called upon as the "expect" on dragons. It appears that the foreign kingdom is looking to destroy Feravel and anything that gets in their way. And the Citatien army is mounted on dragons - hence Creel's involvement. Problems arise as they find out that things are not what they appear. Then, after they defeat the foreign threat they return to find that not is well at home. Things are going from bad to worse and Creel is wondering if she will ever see her friends again.

Personal favorites: It was a fun read with plenty of action and I loved the way both the battle and the later conflict were resolved. Creel is a character I can really love - partially because she sees what she can do and she does it. I love how our humble (well, maybe not so humble) dress-maker is able to help make things better and use those skills she has to help solve problems. The other characters are delightful as well, particularly the dragons. The likelihood of some of the things working as they did was iffy, but I was willing and able to suspend disbelief quite easily and willingly in the necessary parts - not that there were many of them for me.

Considerations: This book is similar to the last one with elements of battle and consequential lose. Also like the last book, this is done with no graphic descriptions and very tastefully done for the age group. I don't have any qualms about recommending this book and look forward to reading them with my own children.

The book was worth waiting for and was delightful. Creel was just as delightful as in the first book. maybe this will be gift for my daughter for her next birthday. We'll have to see.

Audible Book Review - Armor and Blood by Dennis E. Showalter

This book came up on Audible's home page as a new release - it came out August of this year. I've always been a bit of a World War II history nut and have felt that the Eastern front (between the Germans and the Russians) was overlooked a lot in Western histories. Armor and Blood's sub title is The Battle of Kursk, the turning point in WWII and it does provide some decent evidence to that fact. I've personally argued that the battle of Stalingrad was the turning point against one of my former professors who cited the battle of Midway. After listening to this, I concede many points that Showalter brings ups and I have to acknowledge that while Stalingrad did destroy much of the German spirit and men the German Army was still a force to be reckoned with. Here is the link to Audible's page for the book. It was narrated by Robertson Dean who did a good job of it. As the book mentions at the beginning, the purpose of this work is to provide insight to a battle that many Westerners are not familiar with.

Plot: the battle of Kursk started on July 3rd / 1943 and went for approximately ten days. The German army had been driven back from their lose at Stalingrad earlier that year. While the Russian fought them across the steppes of southern Russia and pushed them into Ukraine the Germans sought to regain the initiative. Their war doctrine was based on flexibility and maneuverability and so they sought to form an attack in an attempt to be able to control the field. The Russians had pushed a large bulge (salient) into the German line centered more of less around the city of Kurst. The salient was quite large, over a hundred miles around its edge, and the Germans thought to separate it from the rest of the Russian line, encircling and eventually liquidating the forces left trapped. However, the Russian commanders saw this and an eventuality and layer defensive positions that rivaled and even surpassed some of the most heavily fortified fronts of WWI. Preparing fortified lines upwards of 20 to 30 miles deep the Russians laid minefields (some as dense as a mine for every square foot of ground), buried tanks up to their turrets for pillboxes, and laid over 500 miles of barbed wire. The Germans attacked on July 3/1943 and had moderate success due to the Tiger tank, a behemoth that sported an 88mm high velocity cannon with excellent optic sights. The only way for the Russian T-34s could destroy it was to engage at close range (<500 meters) and aim for side or rear armor. As the Tiger was capable of destroying T-34s at upwards of 1000 meters, this was very hard to do. The defensive lines fought well, but the Germans ultimately penetrated deeper and deeper into the Russian lines. However, this was done in narrow thrusts, likened unto an up-raised middle finger by the author. They were not able to break out into the Russian's rear areas. Nor were they able to stem the tide of Russian tanks and soldiers. Never mind that the Germans could destroy dozens of tanks with little to no loses to their own tanks, the Red Army kept throwing more and more at them. Also, the infantry of the Red Army no longer were scared of the German forces but would engage in close quarters fighting and often destroy German tanks with hand grenades or Molotov cocktails. There were several counter attacks that delayed the Germans and the weather, as always, favored the home team. In the end, with mounting offensives in other parts of the Eastern Front and with the American / British invasion of Italy, Operation Citadel, the German name for the offensive, was called off. With no more reinforcements the Germans ultimately retreated to the Dipper River and the Russian started moving towards the west in an attack that didn't stop until they stormed Berlin.

Personal favorites: Showalter gives the narrative of the battle without showing any real bias for either side. I enjoyed the scope of the book and its descriptions of both the action and the people and machines that fought in it. While the battle was not the "1500 tanks fight each other over one small town" version that has been circulated (and is one of the few known in the west) the actual details of the battle are impressive enough. It's amazing that the Germans were able to do so well against close to 7 to 1 odds and equally impressive that the Russians managed their own successes despite their equipment and lack of training. Showalter's conclusion was interesting as well. He proposes four reasons that the Battle of Kursk was a watershed and while I can't bring myself to accept everything he states on face value, I can't fault his logic. One particularly interesting thing was Showalter's analysis of Russian tactics reminded me of Red Storm Rising and the description of the tactics used there. Also, I liked the dry wit and humorous moments that Showalter slipped into the narrative.

Considerations: As a historical, military analysis there was no language or what might be deemed questionable material. With that said, the book is a historical, military analysis and may not be the kind of writing that many people enjoy. Also, it's necessary to learn the names of the different commanders to keep track of the different sides. This is because the narrative seems to jump from one side to the other it what seems to be the same paragraph. If you're not paying attention you'll find yourself listening to a description of the German side of the attack when you thought it was just talking about the Russians.

All in all, I was glad to get this book and enjoyed it quite a bit. A 2nd listen through wouldn't be bad as there was a lot of material to keep track of. It's amazing that such a large battle would be lost to history. As someone that claims to be more familiar with the Eastern Front, this was a must read. The total length was just over 10 hours.

Book Review - Storm Riders by Margaret Weis and Robert Krammes

The last time I went to the library one of the two books I really wanted, Storm Riders, was not there. I had to place it on hold and anxiously awaited to hear back from them. The call came sooner than expected and right as I finished my last print book. It is then fitting that on the same day I pick up the other book I reserved, Dragon Flight, I should finish Storm Riders. It was a satisfying read, as good as the first and exposing more of the story. I fear that the series will may extend for two or three more past this one, because it means that I've gotten myself into another waiting game. We I first got Storm Riders it was a new release. This means the next one will probably be out next year.C'est la vie, especially if you're a reader. It doesn't help that this book has a nice cliff hanger at the end with three major strands left unsatisfied. Although to be honest, two of those strands are moving towards each other.

Plot: We are reunited with Stepahno, the late captain of the disbanded Dragon Brigade; Dubois, the agent of the Grad Bishop; and Father Jacob, the swore protector of the church, as they strive to track down those responsible for colossal tragedy and destruction. The enemy is not from Hell, but somewhere just as bad. Stepahno, along with the rest of the Cadre of the Lost are having difficulty surviving but their hope grows as they befriend a trio of wild dragons. Unfortunately, Stephano is having dreams of rebuilding the Dragon Brigade and it may cause problems for him. Dubois meanwhile is on the scent of a strange new duchess in the court of Rosia. No one knows her background or who her young nephew is, but he's pretty sure that they are up to no good. Father Jacob, meanwhile is recovering from injuries sustained in the horrific destruction that the enemy wrought upon Rosia. People fear he is growing mad as he continues to talk to a saint who's been dead for centuries. What's more troubling is that she may be telling him to do things that would not only violate the decrees of the church, but might even rock it to its very core. What's more, we also get to see the intrigue that is taking place in the Rosian court where Stephano's mother, the Countess Cecile de Marjolaine, is the most powerful source of power and information. The problem is that Cecile is not sure what is going on to cause one crisis after another. Doing everything she can to keep things under control she is still unable to stop those who seek revenge on the nations of the world from accomplishing their plans. The world is literally falling to pieces and there is little that anybody can do about it. And what is Sir Henry up to all this time? What ever it is involves a lot of steal, a new boat, a pirate captain and talking to each one of the people who want him dead.

Personal favorites: Once again the characters were wonderful. The Cadre of the Lost went through some wonderful growing pains and Father Jacob was as delightful as previously. I thought the pacing was good and the action was well written. This book had more intrigue and let us get to know some of the other characters better. It was fun to see how the different sides found ways to work together, and the conflicts were well played. The story was well written and flushed out more of the world showing future potential for plot twists and turns. There was still plenty left unanswered, but the key elements were there. It was also curious to get POVs from our villian. It added a level of suspense the other one didn't have.

Considerations: Once again, the book did not have any language issues. I would say that the overall feel of the book was not as gruesome as the first. Because of more of a focus on intrigue there wasn't as much action. It also helped that the Warlock was on a tight leash. This is not to say that the book was completely clean of gore,  but I will say that it was minimal and I can only think of two minor scenes. I would have no problem recommending the book to anyone who read the first.

Now I'm officially entrenched in another series (I can think of four other unfinished series I'm working on). I was not disappointed in this book. It was well written and welcome anytime I could read. The book does enc . The total length was 510 pages.