Gulp – Mary Roach

This book is about the entire alimentary canal – mouth to end. If you’re the kind of person that’s squeamish about any part of this, this book is not for you. However, if you want a whole lot of interesting things about the process of eating and digestion thrown at you, this is the book to read.

The author has a great voice – I’d definitely be interested in reading more of her books. She easily made this material approachable, and let’s face it, some of this gets a little gross. Anyone that can make digestion interesting definitely deserves to be read widely.

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Crescent Beach State Park- Cape Elizabeth, ME

Garden Notes

Well, with the exception of a few pots of herbs at home, both gardens are put to bed.

It was a really good year, and I’m already really stoked for next year.    I’m so looking forward to expanding what I can do in the community garden plot, now that I have a better handle on how the space works, and I’ve got some ideas of what’s really important to keep closer to home.

Chew Volume 2: International Flavor – John Layman and Rob Guillory

So, we’ve got a police procedural mixed with Robocop Lite, possible alien fruit, and a vampire that’s made himself look like a vampire to scare people, but is actually pretty scary because he absorbs other people’s abilities by eating them.

This series is so far so completely random, I love it.

Knitting Notes

I may be cutting this a bit close, but I’m making an American Girl doll sized cardigan for elder niece this year for Christmas.   The pattern is Comfy Cables by Liese Brouwer, and the yarn is Premier Yarns Serenity Sock.

I had to cast this on three times.    For some reason, the set up was just not making sense to me the first two times.     Fortunately, it took for the third time, because I was about ready to go find another pattern, and I hate having to give up on patterns I paid for.

Garden Notes

This year’s tally from the one tree yard: fifteen bags.    We definitely benefited from the October storm here.    I’ll probably have another half a bag’s clean up to do a little later.

I had these bagged up and half of them over to my mother’s house on Saturday morning.   The rest were over to the community garden by 2:00.   I then had one of the better naps I’ve had in recent memory.

CSA

Playing a little catch up here – three weeks ago was Romaine lettuce, baby bok choy, fava greens, and micro greens.

The next week was the final meat shipment, which was veal stew meat, chicken quarters and pork chops.

This Tuesday was the final greens delivery, which was Savoy cabbage, Swiss chard, leeks and pea shoots.

A Study in Sable – Mercedes Lackey

Continuing with the Elemental Masters series, we’re now back in England (after having been in Germany for the last couple volumes), and are looping Sherlock Holmes into this magical version of our world. Or really, the Watsons, who are Elemental Mages, and take the cases that Holmes won’t take, since he’s skeptical that magic actually exists.

In the mix are series regulars Nan and Sarah, and their birds, Grey and Neville. Lord Ashcroft has asked them to help the Watsons, and they’re finding they make a good team. Until Sarah is contracted by a famous German opera diva, who’s having a haunting problem. Magdalena is starting to draw Sarah away from her friends, and Nan, the Watsons, and even Sherlock Holmes will have a difficult time winning her free.

The cover is a bit misleading – the story really isn’t that Holmes heavy, but it’s still satisfying. Some of the side jobs that happen before the big showdown at the end are particularly interesting- nice local color for this version of England.

 

Knitting Notes

Pattern: Snowflower by Heidi Kirrmaier
Yarn: Quince and Co Lark, in the Barolo, Maple, Petal, Belize and Aluetian colorways
Needles: Size 7 and 8 circs and DPNs

Here’s my fortieth birthday sweater.    It was a fun a knit, though a bit slow through the summer.    Thing definitely ramped up once it cooled down here.   It’s a great pattern – fairly easy, and good instructions to modify it for a custom fit.

Love the yarn – it’s a good worsted weight staple.

 

Saga, Volume 1 – Brian K. Vaughn and Fiona Staples

Back to a new (to me) graphic novel series – I wanted some quick distraction, and the BF was happy to hand me a few of his recent favorites to check out. He described this book as Farscape on steroids, and I’ll agree with that.

Two soldiers in a long standing galactic war have run off together, and actually had a baby together. She’s the narrator of this story, and it starts with her birth. There’s already a fascinating cast of characters, and you can tell they’ll be going all sorts of places while they’re on the run. This is one of BF’s favorite recent graphic novels, and I can totally see why.