Thursday Thirteen

Today, for my TT, I am going to talk about monsters. Specifically, kinds of monsters.

1. Politicians. One of my least favorite monsters. These monsters run around ruining lives by spouting out anything on their pea-brains and then expecting accolades and laws based on their verbosity. They can be members of any political party and any race or gender. They all have very large mouths and blood-sucking tendencies.

2. Giants. Giants in mythology went to war with Zeus and friends for control of the world. The Giants sprang from Gaia via the blood shed from Uranus's manhood (or godhood) when Cronus castrated his father. The Giants were essentially spawn of gods, but they were not friendly with the Olympians. Gaia urged them to turn on Zeus (her grandson) and so they did. The Giants hurled boulders and flaming trees at the sky. Zeus and the other Olympian gods fought back, though in the end they required Heracles to win the day. The days the Giants are sports teams and they are not very scary.

3. Ogres. These are humanoid monsters that eat villagers. Shrek and his ogress are lovable monsters in that they don't seem to really eat anyone. One might also apply this term to Wall Street CEOs and find it accurate.

4. Children. A few of these actually grow up to be politicians; they are the scariest kind. Monster children run around with crayons, scream in the stores, have jelly on their faces, and create havoc in their wake with each step.

That's me! Wasn't I scary?

5. Vampires. These blood-suckers have a new mystic in this world in that they are immortal, sexy, romantic and heroic. Vampires of old were rather nasty villains who wanted the creamy-white throated maiden and their immortality. Some vampires want to destroy the world and others want to save it. The most famous vampire is Dracula, but he has been lost to the charms of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Twilight, True Blood and various and sundry other stories about the living dead.


6. Bigfoot. Also known as Sasquatch, these humanoid creatures are ape-like beings that haunt the forests of the United States and Canada. They could also be your hairy uncle on a bad hair day.

7. Dragons. These reptilian creatures are generally huge, scaly and fire-breathing. Puff the Magic Dragon lived by the sea but was eventually forgotten.

There is also a dragon in Shrek and numerous other movies.

8. Banking officials. Bank officials rate up there with politicians in that they talk a good game but are sinisterly working to make you grovel and writhe in pain in order to take away your assets. They like to make you sign on the dotted line, too. Banking officials come in all shapes and sizes, but are almost always found lounging in bank offices.

9. Changeling. This is a creature left in place of a human child who has been kidnapped by another fairy creature. The changeling is usually sickly. Parents often continued to raise the changeling but treated it poorly if they could not swap it back for their real youngster. This could lead to ill-raised children en masse. See #4 for consideration on how often this might actually be occurring in present day.

10. Radio talk show personalities. These are among the most fierce of monsters, threatening lives and endangering entire civilizations with their hatred and vile-spewing venom. They can be known by their large size, beady little eyes and red faces. Truly hideous to look upon.

11. Not your mommy, mummies! Read closer. Mummies are another kind of living dead (except for the living part for real mummies) in that they are dead bodies wrapped in white strips of cloth that somehow come to life. Bram Stroker, who also created Dracula, gave us mummies as well in the novel The Jewel of the Seven Stars.

12. Ghosts. More dead things. Humanity has a real fascination with life after death, eh? Ghosts are spirits that continue on after the body has passed away. The belief in ghosts has been around forever and is as old as religions. Some famous ghosts include Casper (I used to read those comics when I was young), the three spirits in Dickens' Christmas Carol, and Patrick Swayze's ghost in Ghost.

13. Lastly, there are aliens!



Thursday Thirteen is played by lots of people. See a list of other participants here. This is number 141 for me.

Big Doin's

It's a big day at our house!

Today we are having our windows replaced.

I will have a before and after photo later, probably Friday.

The windows we are replacing were installed in 1987, when we built the house. Our house is a Timber Truss house, which is kind of like a kit. The windows came with it. I have no idea what name brand these old windows might be, but they have needed replacing for a good 10 years.

Last year, with so much snow, wind and cold, the drafts, along with sky-high heating bills, became nearly unbearable.

We decided it was time to spend some money and take care of this problem. Our bones are older and we're not quite as young as we used to be. Drafts make knees and backs and elbows and pretty much everything else ache these days.

That said, I must mention how much I love windows. I love being able to look out at the farm and see the trees and grass. I love watching the deer, squirrel and birds. I enjoy looking at the sky and watching the clouds roll past.

I never worked well in a cubicle, those times when I worked in cubicles. Cubicles and work spaces sans windows should be against the law, if you ask me.

Let's hope the work goes smoothly.

Positive Thinking

So I went looking for my "positive thinking" in recent days, because I was missing it and it seemed lost.

I peeked under the sofa.

I peered inside several books.

I hunted for it on Google and all over the Internet.

I ventured outside but it was raining.

I sought it in the car but all I found were old candy wrappers, which reminded me of days before diets.

There was no "positive thinking" in my filing cabinets.

Nor in the dust in the laundry room. Or amongst the clean clothes, for that matter.

I looked into my husband's eyes and I saw a glimmer of it there.

He reminded me to look in places I had not yet thought to check.

"Where did you see it last?" he asked.

I confessed it had been some time since I saw the real "positive thinking," though a fake version of it had been in place for a while.

So I looked again. In my desk I found bits of poetry and straggling words, leftovers from days gone by.

In my rocking chair I found two quarters and a dime and a little solace.

The kitchen brought an apple, a dish of strawberries and some celery.

Finally, I wondered if I would find it back on a college campus. And that reminded me of the Hollins University motto:

Levavi Oculos

How could I forget?

Psalm 121

I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.
My help cometh from the LORD, which made heaven and earth.
He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: he that keepeth thee will not slumber.
Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.
The LORD is thy keeper: the LORD is thy shade upon thy right hand.
The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night.
The LORD shall preserve thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy soul.
The LORD shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore.

The Poop Scoop?

I received an email from someone purporting to belong to a "fashion" community. The email said "I saw your septic tank advisor blog and was impressed by it. Please join our community to talk about fashion."

Um. My septic tank advisor blog, which is really my husband's on my account, is just an aggregate blog with links to news articles about septic tanks. It has no original content. It definitely doesn't talk about clothes. It links to articles about septic tank regulations, new productions, and problems people have with solid waste disposal.

So what does that have to do with fashion? Am I supposed to give fashion tips on porta-potties? The best apparel for bathroom visits? Don't wear heels so your knees won't be too high when you sit down? Wear skirts with no hose or panties for fastest relief? Watch your zipper, skipper, or you'll lose your you-know-what in the zip-up?

Sheesh.

My Lucky Day

Saturday the weatherman called for rain and so my husband and I decided we'd head to Roanoke after lunch.

In Daleville, we stopped off at Lord Botetourt High School for the 50th anniversary open house. I didn't know we were going by so I did not have my camera, unfortunately.

The school had been cleaned and spruced up for the big event. It's a much larger building than it was when my husband and I attended. He graduated in 1977 and I graduated in 1981. They built on sometime after I finished.

The attendance was not spectacular at the event, perhaps because it was pouring rain, but I had a nice time touring the halls and looking at five decades of photos.

I also saw two of my favorite teachers, Dee Sheffer and Sue Obenshain whose last name is now Goodpasture. Ms. Sheffer taught me English and Ms. Obenshain taught math. I am quite fond of them both and so I was very glad to see them. My husband visited with a few of his former teachers, too.

He then spent time looking at FFA (Future Farmers of America) displays. He was very active in that when he was young.

From there we headed to Roanoke. While we were in a store, I won't say which one, I turned down an empty aisle. In the middle of the aisle lay a sealed bank envelope. There was absolutely no one in sight, so I swiftly knelt and picked up the item.

I could tell from the feel of it as I put it in my pocket that there was a good deal of money in this envelope. I rushed over to my husband and told him I needed to go to customer service right away. "I found a lot of money," I whispered.

We headed for customer service. As we hurried, we passed several store employees and I stopped to ask for a manager. One of them spoke up and said he was a manager. I told him what I had found and he ushered me over to customer service.

Together we watched the clerk count out the money and then take it to a safe place. I won't say exactly how much it was or in what denominations, but it was in the hundreds.

The manager thanked me for being honest and turning in the money. "I am sure someone will be looking for this," he said. I did not leave my name or anything and I wonder in retrospect if I should have. Oh well.

I have never in my life found such a large amount of cash. In fact, I think the most I have ever found was a $5 bill in a parking lot once. Maybe it wasn't so much my lucky day as someone else's. At least I hope so. I do hope they get their money back.

This event discombobulated me a little bit. I was very nervous handling this cash that did not belong to me, even though I was doing nothing wrong. After we left customer service we went back to the area where I found the money, thinking we might see someone frantically searching, but we did not.

After that, we spent several hours shopping, ending up at Sam's Club where we had a very long wait in line. Sam's is never a good idea on a Saturday but sometimes you just can't help it.

As we headed to dinner, I decided to call the answering machine at home and check messages.

"Hi, this message is for Anita. This is Vicki at the Vitamin Shoppe. We had a raffle drawing today and you won a prize! Please come by and get it. We will hold it until Wednesday."

Well! I don't win things very often - about as often as I find envelopes full of money. This was turning into quite an eventful day. We weren't far from the Vitamin Shoppe (which recently opened near the IHOP at Valley View) so after we ate dinner we headed over there.



The clerk handed me a bag full of goodies. Inside I found a cup, several mixes of a milk shake for women, a personal lubricant (hmm...hmm) acidophilus pills, DVDs about health, and natural sleeping pills.

While this was not quite as exciting as the greenbacks, it seemed like a nice way to end the day.

But since I was having a lucky day, we decided to go three for three. I stopped at Food Lion and purchased a lottery ticket.

What did I win?

Well, so far only $1 on a scratch ticket. But one of the tickets is for a drawing that has yet to be held.

Maybe my luck will hold!

Like a Rose

under the May rains . . .



smells as sweet . . .



full of thorns but still a thing of beauty . . .

Thursday Thirteen #140

Today I offer you quotes about writing. If you're a writer, you might see yourself here. Or not.

1. Writing is a socially acceptable form of schizophrenia. - E.L. Doctorow

2. And by the way, everything in life is writable about if you have the outgoing guts to do it, and the imagination to improvise. The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt. - Sylvia Plath

3. Substitute "damn" every time you're inclined to write "very;" your editor will delete it and the writing will be just as it should be. - Mark Twain

4. The wastebasket is a writer's best friend. - Isaac Bashevis Singer

5. Easy reading is damn hard writing. - Nathaniel Hawthorne

6. The story I am writing exists, written in absolutely perfect fashion, some place, in the air. All I must do is find it, and copy it. - Jules Renard

7. If my doctor told me I had only six minutes to live, I wouldn't brood. I'd type a little faster. - Isaac Asimov (note: I always thought this quote said six months, not minutes.)

8. Storytelling reveals meaning without committing the error of defining it. - Hannah Arendt

9. Writing is easy: All you do is sit staring at a blank sheet of paper until drops of blood form on your forehead. - Gene Fowler

10. Being an author is like being in charge of your own personal insane asylum. - Graycie Harmon

11. Every writer I know has trouble writing. - Joseph Heller

12. Writing is a struggle against silence. - Carlos Fuentes

13. I think it's bad to talk about one's present work, for it spoils something at the root of the creative act. It discharges the tension. -Norman Mailer




Lots of people play Thursday Thirteen. Read more about it here and check out the works of others who participate in this meme. Enjoy!

Creeping Close to the Crane

Saturday I spied a new bird over at the pond. We have always called this bird a crane.



In all my years of taking pictures, I had never been able to get close enough to a bird like this to take a decent photo.



I crept as close I dared and was rewarded.



I was not able to find a picture of this exact bird in my Audubon field guide. I still think it is a crane of some kind but I suppose it could also be a heron. Anyone have a positive ID?

Young Farmer's Expo

Saturday, a beautiful day if there ever was one, we hauled ourselves over to New Castle to see what was going on at the Craig County Young Farmer's Expo.

New Castle is the seat of Craig County, which lies west of Botetourt. It's a very rural and somewhat remote community.



The event took place at the old fairgrounds, which is a lovely site. Craig County used to have a rollicking fair, complete with "hootchie cootchie girls," I've been told. All the men would stand around and chew tobacco and watch the women. I went once or twice as a child but don't remember much about it, to be sure. The idea of it has always caused me to raise an eyebrow.



This is a piece of fire apparatus. The brigades are all volunteer in Craig County.



Ann Harrell of Creekside Creations takes pictures and does a little writing for The New Castle Record, which is a newspaper for which I used to write. She had nice nature photos and has a line of cards she prints off on card stock.



These are old engines. My husband said they used to run washing machines, ice cream makers, and the like.



This is an old farm tractor that someone did a nice job of restoring.



The event had a lot of crafters with wares ranging from photos to doodads to clothing. I saw one woman who self-publishes books. I think I inadvertently offended her by asking if she had much trouble with Publish America, which was the self-publisher she was using. Publish America bills itself as a traditional publisher but from everything I have read it is really a form of vanity press. I have read a lot of bad things about PA and I was most unimpressed by the one book I had seen previously. However, this lady's books did not look bad at all. Perhaps it is all in the editing?

Wherefore Art Thou, Short Stories?

When I was growing up, short stories were everywhere.

You might remember them, too. Fictional short stories of a point in time and space where some hero or heroine had an epiphany. Women's magazines printed them in each edition, from Family Circle to Redbook to Ladies Home Journal.

Some of these magazines had contests to find the best short story writers.

My mother brought home magazines full of short romance stories. True Story and True Confessions. I read them just I read everything else that came before me. Intently, with concentration, inhaling the words.

Some writers, like Sherwood Anderson, Virginia Woolf and Kurt Vonnegut, are well known for their short stories.

Who are the short story writers of today? Who are the contemporary short story writers?

Locally I only know of one famous short story writer, and that is Kurt Rheinheimer, editor of The Roanoker magazine. His short stories, which I understand are often about young men and baseball, have been printed in numerous anthologies.

But most people . . . particularly those who purchase their reading material at Krogers . . . don't pick up anthologies. So the best short story writers are going unread.

I have never been a story snob. I can get as much pleasure from a short story in a romance magazine as I can from a well-written piece in an anthology. I can get as much pleasure from a genre book as something pronounced "literature," for that matter. Which is not to say some things are not better than the other - they are. I am probably remiss for lumping them all together, anthologies with romance stories.

But where has the short story gone, regardless of content? True Story is still available - I just looked it up - but I haven't seen that magazine on the stands around here in 20 years. Occasionally a short story appears magically in Red Book or some other women's magazine, but not often.

Some time ago I delved into the world of "fan fiction" and discovered many short story writers there. These authors take a character from TV or movies and then go on to write stories about them. You've seen this happen with books, too - those lines of Star Trek novels, or Buffy the Vampire Slayer, or whatever. Characters whose existence continues in the minds of others.

I wonder if the Internet has eaten the short story? The form seems suited for online reading - not too long, able to read it all in one sitting before your bottom goes number. But are people reading them online?

A short story that I remember from my past that I especially liked was Faulkner's A Rose for Emily. You don't read things like that anymore. We read many short stories in school when I was a teenager. Do they still teach short stories? I don't know.

If you have short story author recommendations, I'd love to have them.

The Black Swan - Still Here!

The black swan appears to have taken up permanent residence on the farm.



I have been told by neighbors that occasionally s/he is joined by a white swan, but I have yet to see it.



Watching him/her at the pond makes me feel calm, but sad. I believe this bird is missing a mate, and that makes me want to cry.

Roses 2010

My roses are in bloom for the spring.



I've had trouble with aphids and beetles already. That usually doesn't happen quite so soon.



This little orange rose below has only bloomed once or twice in nine years. My friend gave it to me for my birthday a year after my mother passed away. It bloomed then but otherwise never did well. It was in the front yard. This year I dug it up and moved it to the back yard with my other roses. It seems to be doing much better.



This rose bloom was so heavy the stem could not hold it up.

Thursday Thirteen

Today I give you: Life Lessons from The Sims!

The Sim (2) is a video game where you control the lives of your little Sim people. I try very hard to keep mine happy and satisfied so that they don't cry or kill themselves, but sometimes stuff happens that is beyond your control, like a job loss.

Anyway, here goes:

1. Fulfilling needs is one thing, fulfilling wants and desires is something else again.

2. Happiness is a full belly, a nice environment, not having to pee, well-spent leisure time, not being too dirty, and spending time with friends and family.

3. A house that is too big takes too long to walk through. A good size house is about 1,500 square feet.

4. Once one of your needs go unmet, it is difficult to regain your balance. It can take a long time to find your equilibrium.

5. Death by flies should be avoided at all costs.

6. Deceased loved ones can still be your friends.

7. Ghosts can be playful and/or malicious, and if you see one you will pee your pants.

8. Stargazing is an admirable past time.

9. Use of outside space is important.

10. Exercising keeps you thin. It also makes you sweat.

11. Always have a sink and a trash receptacle in the kitchen, along with a smoke detector above the stove.

12. A good bed makes a big difference in how you sleep.

13. Don't scrimp on your education, and don't waste time or skills you don't need.

Regular readers are probably wondering if I am currently involved in avoidance behavior which includes playing video games instead of doing what I am supposed to be doing. You may very well be right.

Thursday Thirteen is played by many people; you can learn more about it here. This is number 139 for me.

My Ficus Tree

This is my ficus tree.

I received it when it was a very small plant in an arrangement in 1989. I was in the hospital for surgery and the law firm where I worked sent it.

I transplanted the 10" little tree and it has grown too big for my house. I have decided it is one of the 50 Things I should let go.

I moved it to the garage several years ago because it no longer fit in the corner where I had it. It is very difficult to kill and it needs very little care and attention. It seems to thrive on neglect, actually.

It would look great in an office or in a larger home with high ceilings. Surely you have a corner where you could use a tree, don't you?

Offering it for sale is my first course of action. If anyone is interested in buying it, please email me.

Post 1200

According to the blogger count, this is my 1200th post in this blog.

If each post were only 250 words, and we all know my posts are not that short, that would be 300,000 words. I expect it is more like 750,000.

If that is the case, then that's a lot of words. That's ten 75,000-word books, which is what 300 pages of double-spaced manuscript amounts to. That's your basic mystery right there.

I began this blog on August 5, 2006. It is not my first blog; I originally started one in 2003 to protest the war in Iraq. That lasted about six months. Then in 2004 I switched over to AOL Journals and wrote there until AOL went nuts and I felt a change was in order.

I began blogging because it was a different outlet than the writing I had been performing for pay. It also helped hone skills I felt were in need of work, in particular reaching out to an audience in a more personal way and in finding my own opinions and voice. It served as a creative release, a different mode of storytelling, and a light journal (I try very hard not to be gloomy online as I don't need those deep dark moments preserved in the wayback machine forever and a day.)

I am surprised that I have been doing this for so long. In a few months it will be four years. That's enough time to have received a diploma at a college.

Occasionally I have thought of stopping but I enjoy the writing. The relationships I have made via this blog have stunned me. I have met a number of my local readers in person and befriended others on Facebook as well as on my blog. Some of the local readers have become real life friends, people I would not otherwise have met. It gives me shivers.

There is no money in this particular exercise, at least not yet. I have ads on here from google but let's face it, if I were depending on that for income we'd be pitching a tent and eating nuts and berries from the National Forest. I most recently added Amazon ads not because I expect people to buy the books I review but because google made it easy to do that and I wanted to be able to add the pictures without having to look things up. For me it was a time saver.

I have seen a number of folks come and go. Most recently Beth over at Blue Ridge Blue Collar Gal announced she would no longer blog because she needs to devote her time to finding a job. I respect that and certainly understand it, having found that the Internet has devalued my work tremendously. No one wants to pay a writer for their time, technique or knowledge anymore. Everyone thinks they can do it themselves, and the Internet and the business world is full of crap writing. It's a dumbing down of the worse kind but it's what happens when people reach for the lowest common denominator instead of striving for the best.

Even so, there is value in something like this that cannot be measured by the George Washingtons. I cannot put numbers on the friendships, the inspiration, the communication, and the ideas that have been bandied about on my blog and others. For someone like me, who values love, beauty and truth above all else, I fear something like this blog is priceless.

This anniversary of sorts has come at a great time. It is absolute proof that I can stick to something long-term. Somewhere along the way I got it in my head that I could not stick with a long project, most especially not novel-writing or weight loss. Those two in particular have escaped me time and again and I have always shrugged them away with that particular label. I don't know exactly where it came from, this idea that I am a will-o-the-wisp who dances and vanishes, but obviously it is not true. One doesn't blog for four years, or take eight years to finish college, stay married for 26 years, or freelance for 15 years and make decent go of it for most of that time without a little something of the swan in the soul.

So this idea that I cannot stick to a long term project must go. It is one of the 50 things I am throwing out of my life. I can do whatever I set my mind to, no matter how long it takes, if I take it just one blog entry at a time.

Thank you, blog friends, those I know and those I don't, for reading, commenting, and hopefully enjoying my work. I appreciate you very much, even those silent ones who come and go without a word. You make the world a little sweeter, and that's a very good thing indeed.

Books: Throw Out 50 Things

Throw Out Fifty Things
by Gail Blanke
270 pages
Copyright 2009

I mentioned this book recently but I had not read it. Now I've read it so here's the book review.

This is a great book. The author goes room by room and suggests certain items that all of us have - shampoo bottles under the sink or in the bathroom, old medicine bottles, magazines, etc. She considers piles of items to be one item, so if you toss out 500 magazines it only counts as one thing. I imagine one could consider that two if it were really that many!

After  clearing the clutter from the home and the office space, she moves on to internal clutter. Her pop psychology is very good and offers up a quick way to clear cobwebs, if nothing else.

I read the book through without doing any of the exercises but I will now go back and do those. Even if I don't, I have been inspired to rid myself of a few items that have been taking up space and which really do not need to be here. I have a small house and it's not like I have the room to spare.

First on my clean-out list, I think, will be the sock drawers. They generally get an annual cleaning anyway and I just this morning went to the store and returned with 20 new pairs of white crew socks for each of us. Yes, we are rednecked to the core.

After that I have a few big items in mind, some of which I will list here and maybe on Craig's List in hopes of selling and/or giving to a worthy home. If nothing else I see a yard sale in my future. We shall see how it goes.

If you have clutter, either external or internal, do yourself a favor and take a peek at the website link for this book, if nothing else.

Key to the book is to write down what you're throwing out and she has a workbook online that can help you with that. So I am off to start my list!

Thursday Thirteen

Today I present to you 13 reasons for using a community bank!



1. Community banks are not "too big to fail."

2. The government didn't give community banks any bail out money.

3. Community banks use real people and not automated phone systems that keep you on hold forever and a day. (Press 1 for English. Press 2 to hear your balance. Press 3 to transfer money. Press FU to tell us where to go.)

4. The real people know your name if you bank with them. Sometimes know who you are before you even introduce yourself, particularly if you're a local mini-celebrity.

5. The community banks are run by the local millionaire and not the big fat cat CEO who makes multi-millions.

6. The loan officer knows how to pronounce things like Botetourt (body-tot), Roanoke (Row-Noke), and Catawba (Cat-awe-ba).

7. Community banks approve a loan with just your tax returns and do not require a DNA, stool and urine sample.

8. The tellers don't ask your mother's maiden name because they already know it.

9. You receive a warm chocolate chip cookie if you bank on Fridays.

10. Community banks have customer appreciation days several times a year featuring hot dogs and soft drinks, and they sponsor local events like Art on the James and the Fincastle 5K run.

11. Loans in small amounts are welcome and the loan officer doesn't tell you to "just put it on your credit card."

12. You can still open up a Christmas Club account at a community bank.

13. You're helping your neighbors keep their jobs!



Thursday Thirteen is played by lots of bloggers. You can read more about it here. This is my 138th time to do this meme!

Eyes on Iris

The iris is one of my favorite flowers.



The yellow iris came from a deserted homestead in 1988. The place was on land my parents had recently purchased next to their farm and my mother gave me permission to dig up the flowers and move them.



The purple flowers came from my mother's collection around her home.



A line of iris separates the yard from the woods. These are generally slow to bloom, perhaps because of the lesser amount of sunlight.



I love to watch them dance in the breeze.



They make me feel calm.

Books: The Dragon of Despair

The Dragon of Despair
by Jane Lindskold
Copyright 2003
754 pages

This is the third book in Lindskold's Wolf series, the first being Through Wolf's Eye and Wolf's Head, Wolf's Heart.

The books center around Firekeeper, aka Lady Blysse, a feral child raised by "royal wolves" in a western and unexplored area of a new world settlement. She is about 16 and in book one she was returned to civilization to be exploited by a noble who tried to pass her off as the granddaughter of the king through a son who had split with his father and settled in the wild country.

Firekeeper has a magical talent in that she can speak to animals. This is fantasy without high magic; very little conjuring. But magical talents lay latent in the people. Some heal, some fight well, at least one controls minds. The people in all but one of four lands dislike magic and shy from it.

In book three, we find Firekeeper at odds with herself. Is she human or wolf? Does she stay to protect her wolf family from another encroaching settlement or do as the king asks and go to the east to stop a sorceress? In the end she goes east because the king agrees to stop the settlement and she trusts his word.

In the east, Firekeeper and her friends (she has a lot of friends; while the books are about Firekeeper, they are really ensemble books with many heroes. I was mostly interested in Firekeeper, however.) must face off against a land that doesn't like foreigners as well as the sorceress, who is from their own land.

The book is quite detailed and being very long there are many plots and descriptions. I would call this political fantasy as opposed to just straight fantasy as there is a lot of intrigue and political maneuvering in these tomes.

There are two other books in this series but I think it will be a while before I read those. Time to move on to something new. I did not dislike this book but I am somewhat ambivalent about it and while I would welcome the other books I am in no hurry to read them.

Revenge of the Locust

The locust trees are in full bloom here. Every tree has blossoms hanging from each twig. I don't know that I have ever seen the locust bloom so much.

I am, of course, highly allergic.



The tree in the yard in full bloom.


A little closer look!



Even closer!



Another locust tree on the other side of the fence all decked out in white finery.



What I wouldn't give for a good hard rain to knock those blooms away! Achoo!