May 2009
Home Again
I'm back home again after what turned out to be an
excellent conference in Halifax. A lot of good people
from across the country and some excellent
presentations.
I didn't get any writing done, however. Too much to do at the conference, too much to do in Halifax.
So I've come home exhausted and looking forward to a quiet (apparently rainy) weekend to recover in time to get back to the office on Monday.
I am still trying to think of ideas for an Abigail Massey novel. My visit to Halifax prompted me to wonder if perhaps that's the direction I should go: have Abigail and her pals go to 1943 Halifax for some reason, perhaps to greet a war brides ship or a hospital ship. I'd like to get them into Pier 21 since my mother's family arrived there about 10 years later and I find it an interesting and quite dramatic place.
As usual, I'm worried about the research but there does seem to be a massive amount of information on Halifax available so I hope it would not be too hard.
While in Halifax, I had the chance to see and hear both Lawrence Hill, highly respected author whose most recent novel, The Book of Negroes, was recently named winner of the Canada Reads competition for 2009, and Halifax poet and singer Shauntay Grant, a performance artist whose poem "Up Home" is now a highly successful children's book by the same title.
As any of you who have read this blog in the past will know, I was not overly impressed with one of Hill's earlier efforts — Some Great Thing. My review of that book appears in an earlier post. Hill in person, however, is exceptional. A warm and welcoming man, his presentation proved a wonderful kick off to the conference. And he read an abbreviated version of the first chapter of The Book of Negroes during that presentation, prompting me to go out and buy the novel. I've just started reading it and am very impressed.
Grant, on the other hand, closed the conference
with an energetic, passionate performance of several
of her poems, including "Up Home", a memoir of her
childhood in North Preston, one of several Black
communities in and around Halifax. Grant's
performance was entrancing and her poetry has a
lovely quality to it that I find hard to put into
words. I don't know if the book, Up Home, is
available widely across the country but it is worth
looking for. It's published by Nimbus Publishing in
Halifax and includes some truly spectacular artwork
by Halifax artist Susan Tooke, much of which was on
exhibition at the Nova Scotia Art Gallery when we
were there.
Meanwhile, my garden is showing very healthy rows of green now, all of which popped up while I was away. Exciting times!
I didn't get any writing done, however. Too much to do at the conference, too much to do in Halifax.
So I've come home exhausted and looking forward to a quiet (apparently rainy) weekend to recover in time to get back to the office on Monday.
I am still trying to think of ideas for an Abigail Massey novel. My visit to Halifax prompted me to wonder if perhaps that's the direction I should go: have Abigail and her pals go to 1943 Halifax for some reason, perhaps to greet a war brides ship or a hospital ship. I'd like to get them into Pier 21 since my mother's family arrived there about 10 years later and I find it an interesting and quite dramatic place.
As usual, I'm worried about the research but there does seem to be a massive amount of information on Halifax available so I hope it would not be too hard.
While in Halifax, I had the chance to see and hear both Lawrence Hill, highly respected author whose most recent novel, The Book of Negroes, was recently named winner of the Canada Reads competition for 2009, and Halifax poet and singer Shauntay Grant, a performance artist whose poem "Up Home" is now a highly successful children's book by the same title.
As any of you who have read this blog in the past will know, I was not overly impressed with one of Hill's earlier efforts — Some Great Thing. My review of that book appears in an earlier post. Hill in person, however, is exceptional. A warm and welcoming man, his presentation proved a wonderful kick off to the conference. And he read an abbreviated version of the first chapter of The Book of Negroes during that presentation, prompting me to go out and buy the novel. I've just started reading it and am very impressed.
Meanwhile, my garden is showing very healthy rows of green now, all of which popped up while I was away. Exciting times!
A Week Away
24/05/09 22:11 Filed in: Writing
After a very pleasant weekend which mixed pleasure —
a whisky tasting club Friday evening and an afternoon
at the driving range on Saturday — with work around
the house (including mowing and edging our rather
large, uneven yard), I am now preparing for a
five-day conference in Halifax, leaving on Monday.
I like Halifax a lot and am really looking forward to seeing the city. I hate to admit but I'm a little bit ambivalent about the conference itself: don't tell any of my colleagues that!
It was really good to have re-read the Abigail Massey stories the other day. The process of reviewing them has served to bring the characters and setting all vividly back into my mind. As I said in my previous post, I should start looking for a way to publish the stories.
To that end, I am starting to wonder about trying to write a longer story — a novel or at least a novella — to serve as a core piece for a published book. I'm a bit nervous about the prospect of doing enough research into 1940s New Brunswick to do it effectively but I think that central group of girls (Abigail, Martha, Jenny and Alice) provides an interesting set of characters who could carry a longer work.
I'll continue to give this idea some thought as I visit Halifax this week. I will also be bringing with me my working copy of The Silent Goodbye so perhaps, while I wile away the evening hours in my hotel room, I will find the time and energy to move that novel forward. I might also find the energy to look up the word "wile" to see if I've spelt it correctly in that previous sentence!
Or maybe I'll just wander around beautiful downtown Halifax! Either way, you won't be hearing from me until next weekend.
I like Halifax a lot and am really looking forward to seeing the city. I hate to admit but I'm a little bit ambivalent about the conference itself: don't tell any of my colleagues that!
It was really good to have re-read the Abigail Massey stories the other day. The process of reviewing them has served to bring the characters and setting all vividly back into my mind. As I said in my previous post, I should start looking for a way to publish the stories.
To that end, I am starting to wonder about trying to write a longer story — a novel or at least a novella — to serve as a core piece for a published book. I'm a bit nervous about the prospect of doing enough research into 1940s New Brunswick to do it effectively but I think that central group of girls (Abigail, Martha, Jenny and Alice) provides an interesting set of characters who could carry a longer work.
I'll continue to give this idea some thought as I visit Halifax this week. I will also be bringing with me my working copy of The Silent Goodbye so perhaps, while I wile away the evening hours in my hotel room, I will find the time and energy to move that novel forward. I might also find the energy to look up the word "wile" to see if I've spelt it correctly in that previous sentence!
Or maybe I'll just wander around beautiful downtown Halifax! Either way, you won't be hearing from me until next weekend.
Baby Steps
23/05/09 10:20 Filed in: Writing
This is a very slow process. I am trying very hard to
give myself the time I apparently need to recover
from my mother's death last month and get back to my
writing. Step one occurred last week, when I started
to read through and perform some minor editing on my
Phillip Gold novel, The Silent Goodbye.
Step two is upon me. I have just taken several hours to read through the many Abigail Massey stories posted on this website and perform the same sort of polishing work on them. I fixed up some typos, dealt with a couple of consistency issues and changed the ages of the four major characters from 18 to 16, to bring them more in line with their attitudes and behaviour. I think the stories work better this way.
Once again, however, I find that I truly and honestly enjoy my own writing. And that's not a good thing. First, I get so caught up in the story I am not actually able to spot the errors and stop to fix them. Second, I don't have the kind of objective eye I need to see what is not working on a more macro level and make the stories better. I find myself simply reading for enjoyment.
I like these stories. I like the characters and find them both well-crafted and, by the end of 12 stories, fairly well established. Abigail and Martha have a nice relationship and I quite like Jenny and, to a lesser extent, Alice, who is the least developed of the four. Miss Pierce has emerged very nicely as a person of several levels and I think I've succeeded in portraying her as a stern manager who, because she is dealing with stuff in own life, cannot often show "her girls" how she really feels about them.
Both Mr. Fitzpatrick and Gilles LeClerc are also, I think, reasonably charming and nicely developed. I am even quite happy with how the budding romance between Gilles and Martha is coming along.
Like I said, I'm not the most objective reader.
I'm not sure if I'll write any more of these stories, at least not soon, but I do think I should start making a plan to market them. I'd like to believe they're good enough for public consumption beyond this webpage! Maybe as a collection of stories or even as the basis for one of those sweet Canadian period dramas for the CBC!
Step two is upon me. I have just taken several hours to read through the many Abigail Massey stories posted on this website and perform the same sort of polishing work on them. I fixed up some typos, dealt with a couple of consistency issues and changed the ages of the four major characters from 18 to 16, to bring them more in line with their attitudes and behaviour. I think the stories work better this way.
Once again, however, I find that I truly and honestly enjoy my own writing. And that's not a good thing. First, I get so caught up in the story I am not actually able to spot the errors and stop to fix them. Second, I don't have the kind of objective eye I need to see what is not working on a more macro level and make the stories better. I find myself simply reading for enjoyment.
I like these stories. I like the characters and find them both well-crafted and, by the end of 12 stories, fairly well established. Abigail and Martha have a nice relationship and I quite like Jenny and, to a lesser extent, Alice, who is the least developed of the four. Miss Pierce has emerged very nicely as a person of several levels and I think I've succeeded in portraying her as a stern manager who, because she is dealing with stuff in own life, cannot often show "her girls" how she really feels about them.
Both Mr. Fitzpatrick and Gilles LeClerc are also, I think, reasonably charming and nicely developed. I am even quite happy with how the budding romance between Gilles and Martha is coming along.
Like I said, I'm not the most objective reader.
I'm not sure if I'll write any more of these stories, at least not soon, but I do think I should start making a plan to market them. I'd like to believe they're good enough for public consumption beyond this webpage! Maybe as a collection of stories or even as the basis for one of those sweet Canadian period dramas for the CBC!
Cardinal Sin
18/05/09 13:16 Filed in: Writing
I've committed the cardinal sin of writing: I've
fallen in love with my own work. I finally took the
brave step this morning of starting to re-read the
first 60 or so pages of The Silent Goodbye
with the intention of dong some hard rewrites and
adding some character stuff on Phillip Gold (you
know, some physical habits, habitual phrases, etc.).
Instead, I ended up just reading and enjoying.
I think it's really good.
Which means, of course, that I'm in trouble. If I like it too much, I can't edit it. I can't see the holes, the problems, the weak spots.
I made some small changes here and there — mostly word choice issues or tightening up descriptions — but nothing really major. I like this book.
So now I'm writing again, which is a great step, but I'm too uncritical of my own work, which is not so great. I think I need a writer's group. Where are you, Ross and John?
On the bird front, I forgot to mention in yesterday's post that, not only does the Princess-Point area of Hamilton now boast a bald-eagle's nest, it has also played host to a small flock of pelicans (of all things!). Amazing stuff. I feel so sad that my Mom is no longer around to see it. She would have loved both the eagles and the great white pelicans.
This morning, Patti and I took our puppy out for a walk in the UNB Woodlot and had the great good fortune of seeing a yellow-bellied sap sucker, up close. I had finally managed to bring my binoculars on one of these walks and, this time, they weren't needed. There he was, plain as day, about 10 feet above us on a tree trunk. Beautiful. Yellow on his belly (surprise surprise) and nice patches of red on his head. Too bad I didn't have my camera!
Any way, I'm at least toe-deep in my writing and will push on from here!
I think it's really good.
Which means, of course, that I'm in trouble. If I like it too much, I can't edit it. I can't see the holes, the problems, the weak spots.
I made some small changes here and there — mostly word choice issues or tightening up descriptions — but nothing really major. I like this book.
So now I'm writing again, which is a great step, but I'm too uncritical of my own work, which is not so great. I think I need a writer's group. Where are you, Ross and John?
On the bird front, I forgot to mention in yesterday's post that, not only does the Princess-Point area of Hamilton now boast a bald-eagle's nest, it has also played host to a small flock of pelicans (of all things!). Amazing stuff. I feel so sad that my Mom is no longer around to see it. She would have loved both the eagles and the great white pelicans.
This morning, Patti and I took our puppy out for a walk in the UNB Woodlot and had the great good fortune of seeing a yellow-bellied sap sucker, up close. I had finally managed to bring my binoculars on one of these walks and, this time, they weren't needed. There he was, plain as day, about 10 feet above us on a tree trunk. Beautiful. Yellow on his belly (surprise surprise) and nice patches of red on his head. Too bad I didn't have my camera!
Any way, I'm at least toe-deep in my writing and will push on from here!
Birds Birds Birds
17/05/09 13:39 Filed in: Birds
I'm still working my way back toward writing but
haven't gotten there yet. The garden is calling me
but we're expecting frost in the next few days so I
can't get to the planting yet either. So, for the
past little while, it's all been birds birds birds. A
lovely subject, to be sure.
Patti had our camera so unfortunately I couldn't get pictures of the three lovely newcomers to our backyard feeders: a yellow-rumped warbler, a purple finch and a savannah sparrow. It was great to see them, though. And on our walks through the various parklands around Fredericton we've seen many other new species but I'm just not good enough yet to identify them!
Gavin and Lynn, meanwhile, report that they've been inundated with orioles and hummingbirds in their backyard. Gavin has suggested the possibility of setting up a webcam to show the backyard feeders all day, which I think would be a great idea. He's got a webcam showing Lake Ontario from their house (for the surfers!) so he'd have no problems setting another camera up in his backyard. Gavin's website is here: http://gavinf.no-ip.com/~Gavin/surf/Blog/Blog.html.
Meanwhile, my friend Madeleine from Hamilton and I have finally linked up as Facebook friends and her backyard birds photos are part of her FB page. Amazing! I don't know how she gets such amazing birds to her feeders! I don't know how she gets such amazing photos of the birds! Her collection is really impressive. The latest is a chestnut-sided warbler. In the past she's had brown creepers, purple finches, three kinds of woodpeckers, inidigo buntings, orioles, scarlet tanagers, eastern towhees, redbreasted nuthatches, rose-breasted grosbeaks, and many more. It's a little overwhelming.
What I really can't get over is how great the photographs are. Very beautiful, all in focus and quite close up. Wow.
So now I'm envious. And determined. I'm going to improve both my menu of winged visitors and the quality of my photos. The gauntlet has been thrown down!
Patti had our camera so unfortunately I couldn't get pictures of the three lovely newcomers to our backyard feeders: a yellow-rumped warbler, a purple finch and a savannah sparrow. It was great to see them, though. And on our walks through the various parklands around Fredericton we've seen many other new species but I'm just not good enough yet to identify them!
Gavin and Lynn, meanwhile, report that they've been inundated with orioles and hummingbirds in their backyard. Gavin has suggested the possibility of setting up a webcam to show the backyard feeders all day, which I think would be a great idea. He's got a webcam showing Lake Ontario from their house (for the surfers!) so he'd have no problems setting another camera up in his backyard. Gavin's website is here: http://gavinf.no-ip.com/~Gavin/surf/Blog/Blog.html.
Meanwhile, my friend Madeleine from Hamilton and I have finally linked up as Facebook friends and her backyard birds photos are part of her FB page. Amazing! I don't know how she gets such amazing birds to her feeders! I don't know how she gets such amazing photos of the birds! Her collection is really impressive. The latest is a chestnut-sided warbler. In the past she's had brown creepers, purple finches, three kinds of woodpeckers, inidigo buntings, orioles, scarlet tanagers, eastern towhees, redbreasted nuthatches, rose-breasted grosbeaks, and many more. It's a little overwhelming.
What I really can't get over is how great the photographs are. Very beautiful, all in focus and quite close up. Wow.
So now I'm envious. And determined. I'm going to improve both my menu of winged visitors and the quality of my photos. The gauntlet has been thrown down!
Star Trek Hangover
13/05/09 20:51 Filed in: Star Trek
Star Trek conversations abound in my life, even on my
Facebook page. Why didn't the Vulcans attack the
drilling platform themselves? Why did Kirk let the
red-shirt carry the explosive charges? Is the new
version of Chekov really just a Wesley Crusher clone?
A colleague down in Saint John supports the Spock/Uhura romantic entanglement on two fronts: first, Uhura sang a love song to a grinning Spock in "Charlie X", an early TOS episode, and second a lot of the fan fiction involves the science and communications officers getting it on. Interesting.
Trekkies coming out of the wood work all over the place.
So far I've rewatched the first nine of TOS episodes in the order they aired. I've been watching them on my seven-inch portable DVD player to better simulate what it must have been like with a small 1960s-era TV set. Interesting to see them again. A lot of sexuality. A lot of helpless women being taken care of by strong strong men. So maybe the new movie has it right!
Still not feeling well, though. Marlee seems to be getting better but not so much me. Soon, I hope.
And I saw my first real live purple finch. Wow. Bright red head, with the colouring bleeding strongly down onto the body. Now that I've seen a real one, I'll never mistake a house finch for a purple finch again. The house finch, while still pretty, is nowhere near as spectacular.
A colleague down in Saint John supports the Spock/Uhura romantic entanglement on two fronts: first, Uhura sang a love song to a grinning Spock in "Charlie X", an early TOS episode, and second a lot of the fan fiction involves the science and communications officers getting it on. Interesting.
Trekkies coming out of the wood work all over the place.
So far I've rewatched the first nine of TOS episodes in the order they aired. I've been watching them on my seven-inch portable DVD player to better simulate what it must have been like with a small 1960s-era TV set. Interesting to see them again. A lot of sexuality. A lot of helpless women being taken care of by strong strong men. So maybe the new movie has it right!
Still not feeling well, though. Marlee seems to be getting better but not so much me. Soon, I hope.
And I saw my first real live purple finch. Wow. Bright red head, with the colouring bleeding strongly down onto the body. Now that I've seen a real one, I'll never mistake a house finch for a purple finch again. The house finch, while still pretty, is nowhere near as spectacular.
Tough Month
12/05/09 08:45 Filed in: Writing
Yesterday's blog entry set a record for one-day
traffic to my website. I mentioned on my Facebook
page that I was opining on the new Star Trek
movie and 28 people came to visit in one day. That's
a record for me and my site. Gavin enjoys reminding
me that his site gets hundreds of visitors a day,
especially on windy ones, but I think 28 is pretty
good. So thank you, everyone.
That being said, my run of tough luck continues. We won't go all the way back to the sad events of April. We need only look at May. First, I put a great big gash in my finger. Then I crunched my thumb with a hammer. Now I have some fairly nasty flu-like symptoms that are keeping me home and unhappy. And that's just my own health. Did I mention that Marlee Marie is also experiencing "flu-like symptoms" and then, to top it all off, ran into a skunk yesterday?
Helpful that Patti left for Ontario last night for six days. Great timing. Actually, she's heading back to celebrate both her god son's confirmation and her sister's graduation from a graduate program in education so I guess those are pretty good reasons to leave her two sick loved ones behind.
Underneath all of my suffering, however, I am starting to feel some energy return. I hope to get back to working on Phillip Gold soon and I am starting to contemplate writing an Abigail Massey novel, either by stitching together some of the existing short stories or with a fresh new plot. I may also revisit the original stories to do rewrites; I dashed them all out pretty quickly so I have no doubt some polishing could be done.
And, of course, as a result of the Star Trek movie and the conversations I have been having since, I have started watching all of the episodes of the original series in order again. Just to get back into it.
What about the Harry Potter Concordance and The Way Forward, as it appears on this website? Well, we'll see what the future brings.
That being said, my run of tough luck continues. We won't go all the way back to the sad events of April. We need only look at May. First, I put a great big gash in my finger. Then I crunched my thumb with a hammer. Now I have some fairly nasty flu-like symptoms that are keeping me home and unhappy. And that's just my own health. Did I mention that Marlee Marie is also experiencing "flu-like symptoms" and then, to top it all off, ran into a skunk yesterday?
Helpful that Patti left for Ontario last night for six days. Great timing. Actually, she's heading back to celebrate both her god son's confirmation and her sister's graduation from a graduate program in education so I guess those are pretty good reasons to leave her two sick loved ones behind.
Underneath all of my suffering, however, I am starting to feel some energy return. I hope to get back to working on Phillip Gold soon and I am starting to contemplate writing an Abigail Massey novel, either by stitching together some of the existing short stories or with a fresh new plot. I may also revisit the original stories to do rewrites; I dashed them all out pretty quickly so I have no doubt some polishing could be done.
And, of course, as a result of the Star Trek movie and the conversations I have been having since, I have started watching all of the episodes of the original series in order again. Just to get back into it.
What about the Harry Potter Concordance and The Way Forward, as it appears on this website? Well, we'll see what the future brings.
Star Trek Lives
10/05/09 18:27 Filed in: Films
My thoughts on Star Trek (2009), the new
re-booting of the Star Trek franchise,
directed by J.J. Abrams.
Executive Summary
While I was watching and immediately thereafter, I loved the movie. Every minute of it. It was exhilarating, interesting, fun, neat, cool, wowee. I came out of the theatre breathless. Since then, however, little things have started to bother me. Thoughts have occurred, concerns have been raised, worries have arisen.
Disclaimers
I am a Trekkie. Or a Trekker. Or a nut, a geek, a weirdo. I am committed to Star Trek (The Original Series that is, hereinafter referred to as “TOS” to differentiate it from later TV iterations) and the films that flowed from TOS. The Kirk/Spock/McCoy stories.
I have watched the 79 TOS episodes enough times that I am pretty confident in my knowledge and understanding of them. I can answer most trivia questions, as long as they are not too inane or petty (I can’t name the planets visited in each individual episode, for example). I could probably recite a pretty close approximation of the dialogue from most of TOS movies, especially II, III, IV and VI, to the point where I annoy the heck out of my partner and any one else who might watch one of the movies with me.
I don’t particularly like Star Chat: The Next Conversation, Star Trek: Deep Sleep Nine or Enterprise. Voyager had its moments. I believe that Brannon Braga and Rick Berman destroyed Star Trek by straying immediately and significantly from Gene Roddenberry’s original vision as soon as he died and I do not support their contention that TOS’s optimism would not play to a 80s or 90s audience. I think it was their commitment to making Star Trek “real” by making it dark and pessimistic that drove audiences away.
Star Trek (2009) as a Movie
This movie has it all and is well-deserving of the praise being heaped on it by professional and amateur reviewers across North America. It moves, from the first frame to the last. It features well drawn characters and surprisingly good acting performances across the board.
People who are new or fairly new to Star Trek will have no problem following the very simple plot: bad guy attacks, new recruits get called into action on an understaffed ship to repel the bad guy, people die. Lots of action, lots of funny bits, not too heavy on the message.
People who know Star Trek, once they get over their initial aversion to the new actors in well-loved roles, will like it because, while it truly re-starts the whole Kirk/Spock/McCoy story on a new track, the characters and their relationships are, for the most part, true to the original.
And it’s a darn good, entertaining story.
Actors and Roles
Simon Pegg’s Montgomery Scott is the only real miss among the re-casting of the roles. It may not be Pegg’s fault. It may just be the writing. But I can find nothing in the Montgomery Scott of the original series that suggests the laugh-a-minute character Pegg portrays.
In the cases of all the other roles, the re-casting and reformulating work for me. I like Spock as a passionate young man, caught between the two worlds. This is a Spock who still struggles with the decision to join Star Fleet and upon whom the dire events of this movie have the most significant impact. In light of his new reality, it should not surprise us that this Spock shows more fire. And Zachary Quinto is more than up to the task of this new, fiery Spock.
I very much liked how Spock's relationship with his father is consistent with the series — Sarek's absolute disdain for Spock's decision to forsake the Vulcan Science Academy for Starfleet comes through beautifully in early scenes — yet is affected in a realistic and believable manner first by the death of Amanda, Spock's human mother, and second by the destruction of the planet Vulcan and about six billion of its inhabitants: in this case, the relationship between father and son is appropriately strengthened, the anger over Spock's decision quickly vanishes, and Sarek allows his own emotional side to show much much earlier in this new reality than in the original series.
Chris Pine as Kirk works well too. Pine has that youthful arrogance, that brash confidence that Shatner’s Kirk seemed to lament losing in the movies. I can see Pine as the younger version and I think he captures the essence of James T. Kirk well.
Karl Urban is, in my opinion, slightly less effective as Leonard McCoy. His first appearance on screen comes across a bit “over the top” but he settles in nicely into the role of the folksy doctor, not entirely comfortable with technology nor with military power structures, who pledges his loyalty early to Kirk and the gang.
Zoe Saldana is a revelation as Uhura. I always liked Nichelle Nichols and her portrayal of the efficient communications officer but Saladna is given more to work with and she works it well. She’s like the uber-Uhura: smarter, more capable, more confident, sexier even. Too bad they reduce her to the trophy by the end of the movie.
John Cho does a heck of a job with the part of Sulu, another of my faves from TOS. George Takei was amazing in the role and Cho carries the torch well. As Takei did way back when, Cho plays his scenes with the big boys as an equal and he compares favourably with them. More Sulu, please.
The final regular role picked up from TOS is Anton Yelchin as Pavel Chekov. Well, to be honest, it really is Anton Yelchin as a Chekov/Wesley Crusher blend. I don’t mind Yelchin in the part but I just don’t like the part. Leave Wesley out of it, please. We don’t need a smart-alecky teenager on the bridge!
Star Trek (2009) as Star Trek
This section is not for the faint of heart nor, probably, for non-Trekkers.
First, Star Trek (2009) is Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan re-done with new actors, better effects and a brighter ship. It’s that simple. Same basic plot, similar gang of rookies, same outcome.
Second, while I accept fully (and actually embrace) that the arrival of the villain from the 24th Century on the date of Kirk’s birth in the 23rd Century changes the timeline irrevocably from that date onward, I cannot understand how the script writers could completely and totally erase Kirk’s older brother, George Samuel (see TOS episode “Operation: Annihilate”) who would have been born before the time line changed. As a result, he would exist in the movie world and should at least have been dealt with somehow (how’s that for Trekkie pickiness?).
Third, I like very much that the writers incorporated so many references and homages to TOS episodes and movies. It helps the new movie feel right. From the explanation for McCoy’s nickname to the original Spock greeting the new Kirk with “I have been and ever shall be your friend” to “I’m a doctor not a…” to Scotty crooning about coaxing more power out of the engines, there is a lot there that the Trekkie could love but that would slip right past the casual viewer. There is even a scene between Kirk and Spock that, in goal, tone and flavour, is lifted right out of TOS episode “This Side of Paradise”. And the last look we have of Christopher Pike has the great captain in a wheelchair, an interesting foreshadowing of his future fate. All good stuff.
Fourth, I agree with several critics who complained that the Enterprise is almost invisible as a character in this movie. The ship looks great but the audience is rarely treated to a full shot of this beautiful spacecraft. I am willing to admit to a certain feeling of awe as the new-look Enterprise rose majestically from the rings of Saturn halfway through the movie but that was about it for wow shots of the ship.
Fifth (and final, I promise), I like the fact that the villain, Nero, is just your average Romulan (well, just your average Romulan whose appearance resembles the villain from Star Trek: Nemesis, who wasn’t even Romulan, rather than any real Romulan we’ve ever seen). Nero is the run-of-the-mill commander of a run-of-the-mill drilling ship. In the 24th Century, he’s really a nobody. When he accidentally finds himself in the 23rd Century, however, suddenly he’s in command of the most modern ship around. It’s the technology that makes him scary, not any particular trait of his own. In fact, he’s quite banal as a person and the filmmakers don’t try to make him anything more. A refreshing change and I think a reference back to such TOS episodes as "Charlie X", "The Squire of Gothos", and even "Devil in the Dark", where the villain is just an average, flawed being trying to cope with the life he, she or it has been presented.
One Last Issue
It bothers me that Star Trek (2009) is completely lacking in strong female roles. We counted a grand total of five speaking roles for women in the entire movie: Kirk’s mom, Spock’s mom, the green woman, the Starfleet officer on the shuttle early in the movie, and Uhura.
Kirk’s mom gives birth, then disappears both from Kirk’s life and from the movie. Spock’s mom emotes, then disappears as well. The green woman is portrayed as a dim-witted sex-pot; the officer on the shuttle puts McCoy in his place and then disappears.
Even Uhura, who gets a distinct bump up in her role and expertise over TOS, ends up being little more than a prize in the on-going competition between Kirk and Spock.
It’s scary. I wondered for a while whether this seemingly deliberate choice was intended to be ironic – a send up of the lack of representation of women in leadership roles in TOS and even in TNG and the other series. I wish I could believe it. The fact of the matter is, Star Trek (2009) is a very male film. Male in flavour, male in attitude, male in on-screen representation. It’s sad, really.
Executive Summary
While I was watching and immediately thereafter, I loved the movie. Every minute of it. It was exhilarating, interesting, fun, neat, cool, wowee. I came out of the theatre breathless. Since then, however, little things have started to bother me. Thoughts have occurred, concerns have been raised, worries have arisen.
Disclaimers
I am a Trekkie. Or a Trekker. Or a nut, a geek, a weirdo. I am committed to Star Trek (The Original Series that is, hereinafter referred to as “TOS” to differentiate it from later TV iterations) and the films that flowed from TOS. The Kirk/Spock/McCoy stories.
I have watched the 79 TOS episodes enough times that I am pretty confident in my knowledge and understanding of them. I can answer most trivia questions, as long as they are not too inane or petty (I can’t name the planets visited in each individual episode, for example). I could probably recite a pretty close approximation of the dialogue from most of TOS movies, especially II, III, IV and VI, to the point where I annoy the heck out of my partner and any one else who might watch one of the movies with me.
I don’t particularly like Star Chat: The Next Conversation, Star Trek: Deep Sleep Nine or Enterprise. Voyager had its moments. I believe that Brannon Braga and Rick Berman destroyed Star Trek by straying immediately and significantly from Gene Roddenberry’s original vision as soon as he died and I do not support their contention that TOS’s optimism would not play to a 80s or 90s audience. I think it was their commitment to making Star Trek “real” by making it dark and pessimistic that drove audiences away.
Star Trek (2009) as a Movie
This movie has it all and is well-deserving of the praise being heaped on it by professional and amateur reviewers across North America. It moves, from the first frame to the last. It features well drawn characters and surprisingly good acting performances across the board.
People who are new or fairly new to Star Trek will have no problem following the very simple plot: bad guy attacks, new recruits get called into action on an understaffed ship to repel the bad guy, people die. Lots of action, lots of funny bits, not too heavy on the message.
People who know Star Trek, once they get over their initial aversion to the new actors in well-loved roles, will like it because, while it truly re-starts the whole Kirk/Spock/McCoy story on a new track, the characters and their relationships are, for the most part, true to the original.
And it’s a darn good, entertaining story.
Actors and Roles
Simon Pegg’s Montgomery Scott is the only real miss among the re-casting of the roles. It may not be Pegg’s fault. It may just be the writing. But I can find nothing in the Montgomery Scott of the original series that suggests the laugh-a-minute character Pegg portrays.
In the cases of all the other roles, the re-casting and reformulating work for me. I like Spock as a passionate young man, caught between the two worlds. This is a Spock who still struggles with the decision to join Star Fleet and upon whom the dire events of this movie have the most significant impact. In light of his new reality, it should not surprise us that this Spock shows more fire. And Zachary Quinto is more than up to the task of this new, fiery Spock.
I very much liked how Spock's relationship with his father is consistent with the series — Sarek's absolute disdain for Spock's decision to forsake the Vulcan Science Academy for Starfleet comes through beautifully in early scenes — yet is affected in a realistic and believable manner first by the death of Amanda, Spock's human mother, and second by the destruction of the planet Vulcan and about six billion of its inhabitants: in this case, the relationship between father and son is appropriately strengthened, the anger over Spock's decision quickly vanishes, and Sarek allows his own emotional side to show much much earlier in this new reality than in the original series.
Chris Pine as Kirk works well too. Pine has that youthful arrogance, that brash confidence that Shatner’s Kirk seemed to lament losing in the movies. I can see Pine as the younger version and I think he captures the essence of James T. Kirk well.
Karl Urban is, in my opinion, slightly less effective as Leonard McCoy. His first appearance on screen comes across a bit “over the top” but he settles in nicely into the role of the folksy doctor, not entirely comfortable with technology nor with military power structures, who pledges his loyalty early to Kirk and the gang.
Zoe Saldana is a revelation as Uhura. I always liked Nichelle Nichols and her portrayal of the efficient communications officer but Saladna is given more to work with and she works it well. She’s like the uber-Uhura: smarter, more capable, more confident, sexier even. Too bad they reduce her to the trophy by the end of the movie.
John Cho does a heck of a job with the part of Sulu, another of my faves from TOS. George Takei was amazing in the role and Cho carries the torch well. As Takei did way back when, Cho plays his scenes with the big boys as an equal and he compares favourably with them. More Sulu, please.
The final regular role picked up from TOS is Anton Yelchin as Pavel Chekov. Well, to be honest, it really is Anton Yelchin as a Chekov/Wesley Crusher blend. I don’t mind Yelchin in the part but I just don’t like the part. Leave Wesley out of it, please. We don’t need a smart-alecky teenager on the bridge!
Star Trek (2009) as Star Trek
This section is not for the faint of heart nor, probably, for non-Trekkers.
First, Star Trek (2009) is Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan re-done with new actors, better effects and a brighter ship. It’s that simple. Same basic plot, similar gang of rookies, same outcome.
Second, while I accept fully (and actually embrace) that the arrival of the villain from the 24th Century on the date of Kirk’s birth in the 23rd Century changes the timeline irrevocably from that date onward, I cannot understand how the script writers could completely and totally erase Kirk’s older brother, George Samuel (see TOS episode “Operation: Annihilate”) who would have been born before the time line changed. As a result, he would exist in the movie world and should at least have been dealt with somehow (how’s that for Trekkie pickiness?).
Third, I like very much that the writers incorporated so many references and homages to TOS episodes and movies. It helps the new movie feel right. From the explanation for McCoy’s nickname to the original Spock greeting the new Kirk with “I have been and ever shall be your friend” to “I’m a doctor not a…” to Scotty crooning about coaxing more power out of the engines, there is a lot there that the Trekkie could love but that would slip right past the casual viewer. There is even a scene between Kirk and Spock that, in goal, tone and flavour, is lifted right out of TOS episode “This Side of Paradise”. And the last look we have of Christopher Pike has the great captain in a wheelchair, an interesting foreshadowing of his future fate. All good stuff.
Fourth, I agree with several critics who complained that the Enterprise is almost invisible as a character in this movie. The ship looks great but the audience is rarely treated to a full shot of this beautiful spacecraft. I am willing to admit to a certain feeling of awe as the new-look Enterprise rose majestically from the rings of Saturn halfway through the movie but that was about it for wow shots of the ship.
Fifth (and final, I promise), I like the fact that the villain, Nero, is just your average Romulan (well, just your average Romulan whose appearance resembles the villain from Star Trek: Nemesis, who wasn’t even Romulan, rather than any real Romulan we’ve ever seen). Nero is the run-of-the-mill commander of a run-of-the-mill drilling ship. In the 24th Century, he’s really a nobody. When he accidentally finds himself in the 23rd Century, however, suddenly he’s in command of the most modern ship around. It’s the technology that makes him scary, not any particular trait of his own. In fact, he’s quite banal as a person and the filmmakers don’t try to make him anything more. A refreshing change and I think a reference back to such TOS episodes as "Charlie X", "The Squire of Gothos", and even "Devil in the Dark", where the villain is just an average, flawed being trying to cope with the life he, she or it has been presented.
One Last Issue
It bothers me that Star Trek (2009) is completely lacking in strong female roles. We counted a grand total of five speaking roles for women in the entire movie: Kirk’s mom, Spock’s mom, the green woman, the Starfleet officer on the shuttle early in the movie, and Uhura.
Kirk’s mom gives birth, then disappears both from Kirk’s life and from the movie. Spock’s mom emotes, then disappears as well. The green woman is portrayed as a dim-witted sex-pot; the officer on the shuttle puts McCoy in his place and then disappears.
Even Uhura, who gets a distinct bump up in her role and expertise over TOS, ends up being little more than a prize in the on-going competition between Kirk and Spock.
It’s scary. I wondered for a while whether this seemingly deliberate choice was intended to be ironic – a send up of the lack of representation of women in leadership roles in TOS and even in TNG and the other series. I wish I could believe it. The fact of the matter is, Star Trek (2009) is a very male film. Male in flavour, male in attitude, male in on-screen representation. It’s sad, really.
Stunning Success (If I Do Say So Myself)
09/05/09 20:26 Filed in: Garden
Another Saturday of hard work paid off today with a
finished garden that, I must say, looks great. Ready
for seeding once we're beyond the possibility of
frost.
First step was a bit more raking, then lining the edges (using a thumb-hungry hammer, mind you) with some of the stones I pulled out of the plot. Next I used more of the stones I dug up, plus a number of nice red bricks from our front garden, to create three "walk ways" or, perhaps better, "weed ways" that sectioned the area off into four separate beds. Finally, off to Kent to get bags of "Black Earth", which were on sale at 50% off, to fill up the sunken beds.
I followed my sister's advice and used more
stones to section off the herb bed into four parts
again, thus creating what I think is an interesting
visual impact for the garden as a whole. With the
Black Earth in, the lighter coloured stones stand out
better and the whole garden looks very nice. I'm
pleased with the outcome, even if my thumb is still
throbbing!
Sore muscles, weary bones, but a pretty good result, I think. I'll be seeding before the end of May, I think, and we'll see what grows.
And maybe I'll start writing again too.
In the meantime, got my first picture of a cardinal (a lovely female in the tree above the feeders) the other day; it's proudly displayed on the Backyard Birds section of this website. Be sure to have a look. And we picked up a couple of other plants for the backyard that are supposed to attract different kinds of birds, including hummingbirds, so we'll hope for results from that too.
Star Trek tomorrow. Quite the buzz around it. I'll give you my thoughts once I've fully digested it.
First step was a bit more raking, then lining the edges (using a thumb-hungry hammer, mind you) with some of the stones I pulled out of the plot. Next I used more of the stones I dug up, plus a number of nice red bricks from our front garden, to create three "walk ways" or, perhaps better, "weed ways" that sectioned the area off into four separate beds. Finally, off to Kent to get bags of "Black Earth", which were on sale at 50% off, to fill up the sunken beds.
Sore muscles, weary bones, but a pretty good result, I think. I'll be seeding before the end of May, I think, and we'll see what grows.
And maybe I'll start writing again too.
In the meantime, got my first picture of a cardinal (a lovely female in the tree above the feeders) the other day; it's proudly displayed on the Backyard Birds section of this website. Be sure to have a look. And we picked up a couple of other plants for the backyard that are supposed to attract different kinds of birds, including hummingbirds, so we'll hope for results from that too.
Star Trek tomorrow. Quite the buzz around it. I'll give you my thoughts once I've fully digested it.
Eagles Nesting
The Hamilton Spectator carries an article in
its on-line edition today that says there is now a
Bald Eagle nest at Princess Point. Wow. Fabulous
news. They don't know if the birds are actually
planning on laying eggs or if they are just "playing
house" but, either way, it's an amazing sign.
Princess Point was one of Mom's favourite places to walk and see the birds. I don't think either of us ever dreamt we'd see Bald Eagles there. It took a whale-watching adventure on the Bay of Fundy last summer to allow me to see my first Bald Eagle and now I find out that there's a nest back in the old stomping grounds. So amazing. And then, of course, the Peregrine Falcons are back at it at the Hamilton Sheraton Hotel, this time with four eggs in the nest.
How is that a Steel City, an industrial town, can become home to such amazing bird activity?
So naturally I read the article on-line today about the Eagles and I think, neat, I should call Mom and make sure she's seen this. And then, of course, it hits me again that she won't be there to answer. A harsh reality in the shadow of Mother's Day, just four weeks after Mom drew her last breath.
Meanwhile, back in NB, the rain continues unabated: good news for the sod I moved and replanted, not so good for my wish to get back to the garden. My finger is healing, however, and I've decided to postpone beginning the grad program so life is improving somewhat. Work on Phillip Gold is still going on but only inside the chambers of my brain so far.
I know I'll get back to it but I seem still to be dealing with stuff. My sister reports she spends most of her evenings slumped in front of the TV knitting a blanket so I guess I'm not alone in my sluggishness.
Doesn't make for the most exciting web reading, though, does it?
Princess Point was one of Mom's favourite places to walk and see the birds. I don't think either of us ever dreamt we'd see Bald Eagles there. It took a whale-watching adventure on the Bay of Fundy last summer to allow me to see my first Bald Eagle and now I find out that there's a nest back in the old stomping grounds. So amazing. And then, of course, the Peregrine Falcons are back at it at the Hamilton Sheraton Hotel, this time with four eggs in the nest.
How is that a Steel City, an industrial town, can become home to such amazing bird activity?
So naturally I read the article on-line today about the Eagles and I think, neat, I should call Mom and make sure she's seen this. And then, of course, it hits me again that she won't be there to answer. A harsh reality in the shadow of Mother's Day, just four weeks after Mom drew her last breath.
Meanwhile, back in NB, the rain continues unabated: good news for the sod I moved and replanted, not so good for my wish to get back to the garden. My finger is healing, however, and I've decided to postpone beginning the grad program so life is improving somewhat. Work on Phillip Gold is still going on but only inside the chambers of my brain so far.
I know I'll get back to it but I seem still to be dealing with stuff. My sister reports she spends most of her evenings slumped in front of the TV knitting a blanket so I guess I'm not alone in my sluggishness.
Doesn't make for the most exciting web reading, though, does it?
Challenges
A nasty cut on my finger, a rainy forecast and a new
on-line graduate course are combining to make life
challenging for me and my plans.
The garden is on hold for at least a couple of days due to the rain and the injury. I did get some more raking and stone removal done yesterday before the knife leapt out and bit my finger. There are still more stones than I can count but I will soon move on to the edging and top soil. Once the weather and the ouchie improve.
As for writing, the finger also has an impact. It's quite sad to see myself trying to type this. So slow. So inaccurate. Lots and lots of mistakes that have to be corrected. The left hand still fully functional but the right reduced to thumb and index finger to protect the damaged third digit.
And the on-line course. Wow. What a nightmare. 90 students, 20 per cent of the mark for participation in on-line discussions. 480 messages to read and respond to in just four days. Interesting topic, sure, but this could soak up hours and hours and hours. If it were an in-person class, you'd have three hours per week plus reading and studying. Workable. But this...
It doesn't help that I'm old and not technologically inclined. So I have to learn the on-line learning environment as well. It took me, for example, an hour on the website just to find the first assignment. I can only trust that things will get better as I grow used to the format.
Gold is still in my mind, though. I'll get back to him. I just don't know when.
The garden is on hold for at least a couple of days due to the rain and the injury. I did get some more raking and stone removal done yesterday before the knife leapt out and bit my finger. There are still more stones than I can count but I will soon move on to the edging and top soil. Once the weather and the ouchie improve.
As for writing, the finger also has an impact. It's quite sad to see myself trying to type this. So slow. So inaccurate. Lots and lots of mistakes that have to be corrected. The left hand still fully functional but the right reduced to thumb and index finger to protect the damaged third digit.
And the on-line course. Wow. What a nightmare. 90 students, 20 per cent of the mark for participation in on-line discussions. 480 messages to read and respond to in just four days. Interesting topic, sure, but this could soak up hours and hours and hours. If it were an in-person class, you'd have three hours per week plus reading and studying. Workable. But this...
It doesn't help that I'm old and not technologically inclined. So I have to learn the on-line learning environment as well. It took me, for example, an hour on the website just to find the first assignment. I can only trust that things will get better as I grow used to the format.
Gold is still in my mind, though. I'll get back to him. I just don't know when.
Flickers of Life
My mind is slowly making its way back to my writing.
It's not a conscious thing: I'm not sitting around
forcing myself to think about Phillip Gold or Abigail
Massey or the Rowling world and what should happen
next to poor George. Instead, as I go about my
business, my mind is starting to go there on its own,
mostly to Gold and The Silent Goodbye.
I have been thinking about the character himself: Phillip Gold, the lone wolf, the lawyer turned investigator who does more for his clients than simply representing them in court. I like this character very much. Physically, he's based on my former law partner, Derek Fazakas, as handsome a man as you're going to find in the legal profession. Emotionally, he's more the Marlowe or Spade, a loner with his own sense of what's right and what's wrong, of justice and fairness and all that could be good in the world.
The idea for Gold sprang out of a thought I had about 15 years ago as I pondered Marlowe and Spade and the fact that it was so important to their success that they were alone in the world. I wondered to myself: has anyone ever written the story of how the loner found himself without friends, without family? As a result of that line of thinking, I sketched out a story, which eventually found the light of day as A Fleck of Gold, of how my newly minted character loses his last surviving family member, his mother, as a result of one of his own cases.
What has occurred to me recently is that I haven't done much to sketch out Phillip's current character, his interests and habits. He's not a whole person at this point, a rounded character in whom the reader can take a personal interest, can identify. I'm not asking myself to indulge in long-winded expositions on the man and his mind; I just feel I need to add a nugget of info here and there, a personal philosophy, a couple of habits, that kind of thing.
What does he do when he's nervous, for example? Does he tap his fingers, lick his lips, blink maybe? I'm not sure but my mind, at least, is working on it.
In the meantime, sore from the gardening work, I've taken time out to watch a couple of recent movies. Slumdog Millionaire first, then Marley and Me. I found Slumdog rivetting, with an interesting narrative structure based around the questions in the game show. Truly entertaining, with the opening of a suspense thriller and the finale of a romantic comedy. Neat. Marley, well, we're still trying to get through it. Owen Wilson is definitely a turnoff and the movie doesn't focus enough on the dog. We had it in the DVD player last night and have now taken two extended breaks (the second still on-going) in the middle. Clearly, we're either not that interested or we're in the wrong mood for this movie. Too bad, I was looking forward to it.
Meanwhile, my partner is helping to build the excitement around the opening of the new Star Trek movie this weekend. My brother-in-law and two nieces got the chance to see it at a sneak preview and loved it. The early reviews are all not just positive but absolutely glowing. I'm looking forward to seeing it this weekend.
I have been thinking about the character himself: Phillip Gold, the lone wolf, the lawyer turned investigator who does more for his clients than simply representing them in court. I like this character very much. Physically, he's based on my former law partner, Derek Fazakas, as handsome a man as you're going to find in the legal profession. Emotionally, he's more the Marlowe or Spade, a loner with his own sense of what's right and what's wrong, of justice and fairness and all that could be good in the world.
The idea for Gold sprang out of a thought I had about 15 years ago as I pondered Marlowe and Spade and the fact that it was so important to their success that they were alone in the world. I wondered to myself: has anyone ever written the story of how the loner found himself without friends, without family? As a result of that line of thinking, I sketched out a story, which eventually found the light of day as A Fleck of Gold, of how my newly minted character loses his last surviving family member, his mother, as a result of one of his own cases.
What has occurred to me recently is that I haven't done much to sketch out Phillip's current character, his interests and habits. He's not a whole person at this point, a rounded character in whom the reader can take a personal interest, can identify. I'm not asking myself to indulge in long-winded expositions on the man and his mind; I just feel I need to add a nugget of info here and there, a personal philosophy, a couple of habits, that kind of thing.
What does he do when he's nervous, for example? Does he tap his fingers, lick his lips, blink maybe? I'm not sure but my mind, at least, is working on it.
In the meantime, sore from the gardening work, I've taken time out to watch a couple of recent movies. Slumdog Millionaire first, then Marley and Me. I found Slumdog rivetting, with an interesting narrative structure based around the questions in the game show. Truly entertaining, with the opening of a suspense thriller and the finale of a romantic comedy. Neat. Marley, well, we're still trying to get through it. Owen Wilson is definitely a turnoff and the movie doesn't focus enough on the dog. We had it in the DVD player last night and have now taken two extended breaks (the second still on-going) in the middle. Clearly, we're either not that interested or we're in the wrong mood for this movie. Too bad, I was looking forward to it.
Meanwhile, my partner is helping to build the excitement around the opening of the new Star Trek movie this weekend. My brother-in-law and two nieces got the chance to see it at a sneak preview and loved it. The early reviews are all not just positive but absolutely glowing. I'm looking forward to seeing it this weekend.
Stony Ground
03/05/09 22:01 Filed in: Garden
I finished the digging this morning. What an amazing
feeling of accomplishment to stand back and look at
that big, rectangular patch of dirt. Odd, really,
considering it is just a big, rectangular patch of
dirt. But I made it. Me. No one else. Feels good.
Next step was to get a garden rake and go at
it, breaking the earth up, preparing it for the top
soil. My cheap little garden rake turned out to be a
real trooper. It turns out there's more stone than
dirt in there. Big huge pieces of rock, some flat,
some like cannon balls. The little rake finds them
and then, with a little muscle from yours truly,
yanks them out.
My neighbours tell me it is possible that my garden is going in exactly where an old stone wall used to stand. Part of the farmer's fields about 100 years ago when this was still farmland. Just my luck. New Brunswick is already the rockiest place in Canada and I have to put my garden in on top of an old stone wall!
At least now I have plenty of nice stones with
which to line the edges of the garden as well as a
selection of nice flat rocks to serve as paths
between the beds. I also have aching muscles up and
down my back, shoulders and arms (not to mention my
legs). I gave in after raking about two-thirds of the
bed. I'll do the rest tomorrow.
Next stop, top soil and seeding. Oh my!
Oh yeah, before I forget, I've put photos of two new birds on the "Backyard Birds" page. I'm not sure what either of them are because they're both small brown, speckled birds. If you can help me, please e-mail!
My neighbours tell me it is possible that my garden is going in exactly where an old stone wall used to stand. Part of the farmer's fields about 100 years ago when this was still farmland. Just my luck. New Brunswick is already the rockiest place in Canada and I have to put my garden in on top of an old stone wall!
Next stop, top soil and seeding. Oh my!
Oh yeah, before I forget, I've put photos of two new birds on the "Backyard Birds" page. I'm not sure what either of them are because they're both small brown, speckled birds. If you can help me, please e-mail!
Digging Life
03/05/09 07:46 Filed in: Garden
I spent a long, cool day outside yesterday, doing
something I have never done before: digging a garden.
A vegetable and herb garden. Our backyard is set up
such that the fence that keeps the dog in is located
about eight feet inside our property line, leaving a
nice strip of land outside the fence that is
available for gardening.
So I spent about six hours de-sodding a six-foot by 12-foot strip of land, preparing it for our new garden. I have the other half left to do today to make what now seems like a massive six-by-24 foot plot.
It was very slow work. I cut out each 8-inch by 1-foot patch of sod individually, using a long-handled shovel. I then moved and placed each chunk carefully on top of an extraneous section of gravel driveway to see if I can accomplish two things with one task: create a garden and re-sod the wasted driveway space.
The garden is going very well, if slowly. The driveway, well, we'll see.
Emotionally and psychologically, it was a very satisfying day. Slow, hard, repetitive work, with the results visible instantly. Most muscles involved somehow but my mind free to wander where-ever it wished to go. And it didn't stray far. Mostly I thought about how nice the breeze was, how good it will be to harvest arugula and chives, peppers and basil, all of that kind of stuff.
It would appear that I need these kinds of days. Marlee, our dog, was content to sit out in the yard, watching me from behind the fence. Friends came over with their long ladder to help me clear our eaves and replace a couple of light bulbs that hang high in our car port. We had coffee, then it was back to work on the garden.
I'll finish digging it today. Then we will line the edges with stones, create a couple of brick paths at intervals for weeding and tending purposes, then finally refill the area slightly with top soil or some such mixture. Finally, it will be planting time.
Challenging physically but mentally a holiday. Something I guess I need.
We'll see what grows from this weekend in all kinds of ways.
So I spent about six hours de-sodding a six-foot by 12-foot strip of land, preparing it for our new garden. I have the other half left to do today to make what now seems like a massive six-by-24 foot plot.
It was very slow work. I cut out each 8-inch by 1-foot patch of sod individually, using a long-handled shovel. I then moved and placed each chunk carefully on top of an extraneous section of gravel driveway to see if I can accomplish two things with one task: create a garden and re-sod the wasted driveway space.
The garden is going very well, if slowly. The driveway, well, we'll see.
Emotionally and psychologically, it was a very satisfying day. Slow, hard, repetitive work, with the results visible instantly. Most muscles involved somehow but my mind free to wander where-ever it wished to go. And it didn't stray far. Mostly I thought about how nice the breeze was, how good it will be to harvest arugula and chives, peppers and basil, all of that kind of stuff.
It would appear that I need these kinds of days. Marlee, our dog, was content to sit out in the yard, watching me from behind the fence. Friends came over with their long ladder to help me clear our eaves and replace a couple of light bulbs that hang high in our car port. We had coffee, then it was back to work on the garden.
I'll finish digging it today. Then we will line the edges with stones, create a couple of brick paths at intervals for weeding and tending purposes, then finally refill the area slightly with top soil or some such mixture. Finally, it will be planting time.
Challenging physically but mentally a holiday. Something I guess I need.
We'll see what grows from this weekend in all kinds of ways.
Bird Season
01/05/09 16:18 Filed in: Birds
Okay, so I'm not really writing much. But I am alive
to the excitement of spring and the return of a wide
variety of birds to our yard. If you go to the
Backyard Birds page of this site, you'll see two new
photos. The first is a Chipping Sparrow, a fairly
common bird but so clean and beautiful that I just
had to take a picture. The second is unknown,
although I think I'm just being too chicken to call
it a White-Throat like last year's version. I love
the little bits of yellow on its head.
We're also getting lots of gold finches, robins, chicadees and juncos to make the world a happy place. So nice to see them back.
Of course, the excitement at the feeders means I am constantly checking for new arrivals. Makes it hard to focus on anything else.
We're also getting lots of gold finches, robins, chicadees and juncos to make the world a happy place. So nice to see them back.
Of course, the excitement at the feeders means I am constantly checking for new arrivals. Makes it hard to focus on anything else.