Dew points continue in the “Seriously, this is Maine, not Florida!” range, so we’ve still got fog. The breeze is at least lovely right near the shore.
Month: July 2018
Redoubt – Mercedes Lackey
This is the fourth book in the Collegium series. Mags and his friends are really settling into life at the Collegium. Healer Bear has been able to do an operation that’s given their friend Amily the ability to walk again, and it’s absolutely changed her life, as well as deepening her relationship with Mags.
Mags is helping Herald Nikolas with his spying around Haven, when they run into a curious watcher that seems to be tracking Mags. They end up ignoring it when it does nothing, figuring it’ll go away, but one day, Mags wakes up after having been knocked out on the way home from the pawnshop they use as a front. He’s been drugged, and is all the way in Karse before he’s able to stay lucid.
The whole situation in Karse is a somewhat interesting re-conning of the situation with the true priesthood and the Fire Cats down there. It seems like we should have known that at least the Heralds know there’s more going on in Karse than meets the eye in the earlier books (set in later times), but that’s ok. It’s nice to see the Fire Cats make reappearance.
It also turns out the kidnappers know something about Mags’ heritage, and while it’s only touched on in this book, I hope there’s more in the next, because it’s an interesting tease.
Mackworth Island State Park – Falmouth, ME
We’re back to 70 degree dew points again. Which means there’s fog. So much fog.
Knitting Notes
It amuses me greatly that the above all came from the same skein of yarn. This is the last of the Jojoland Melody I used in the Tursas mittens. There was enough that I probably could have found something else to do with it, but the color is so variable I knew it would add a nice mix into the hexipuffs, so I used it all up for that.
I’m also working on another Honey Cowl – this on is for L. It’s using Silky Malabrigo in the Stonechat colorway.
Garden Notes
I’m nearly three weeks behind on garden goings on, which means all my actual pictures of the garden are out of date, and I’ll need to try and get some with the good camera this week.
The kale and cornflowers are going like gangbusters, and I’ve been managing to get small amounts of chamomile flowers that I’ve been dehydrating.
I also harvested the peas and the last of the turnips. The peas were pretty good, definitely not a super sweet pea (but those are generally hybrids), but definitely something I’d be happy to grow again. I think I’d like to try them as snow peas as well – never got around to it this year, but I think they’d work well that way.
The khuri squash has been doing well. I definitely need to remember to do a better support system for it next time, and have that ready to go when I first put it in the ground. I tried some half-hearted tee-pees, but it’s pretty much a lost cause this year. I’m only barely being able to keep it corralled into the space I want it in.
The tomatoes are setting fruit. The peppers have bloomed, but are not doing nearly as well as they did last year. And the eggplants plants look nice enough, but no flowers yet. Not entirely sure what’s up with that – I’m sure they were blooming by this time last year.
Look for Me by Moonlight – Mary Downing Hahn
This was just a classic 90’s YA vampire story. Cynda’s off to remote Maine to live with her father, step-mother and little half-brother, now that her mother is moving to Italy. They run an inn by the sea – an inn supposedly haunted by the ghost of a young woman who died there years ago.
Cynda naturally doesn’t want to to go to Maine, but she’s making the first tentative steps to fitting in when a mysterious guest rocks up to the inn in the dead of winter, and seduces her. Naturally, he turns out to be a vampire, and the ghostly young woman was his last victim. Cynda must save herself and her family from his spell.
This is a quick read – pure vampire/teen angst slock, but a nice diversion between other books.
Night Broken – Patricia Briggs
Adam’s ex-wife is back – she’s gotten herself into trouble with a man who’s now stalking her, and is apparently willing to kill the people around her. Adam takes her in because she is the mother of his daughter, and since he is an alpha werewolf, it is pretty much his job to protect people. Mercy doesn’t like it, but she also knows that most of the rest of the pack was really fond of Christy, and she’ll just look petty if she doesn’t go along with things.
Turns out Christy’s stalker is basically the spirit of a volcano, and he is really not going to be easy to take on. At the same time, Mercy needs to get in touch with Coyote, because he has something she gave to him that the local Fae have decided they want. When Coyote’s around, things tend to get really interesting.
I’m still not entirely sure what I think about this book. The whole subplot with Christy was a bit much – she’s pretty much a terrible person (who makes really horrid choices), and yet certain members of the pack seem to be right back under her thrall. The bad guy was an interesting addition – bringing in a whole other mythology (so far it’s been European Fae and Native American myths) was an interesting direction to take.
The North Wind and the Sea 