Image acquired from (multiple) Facebook postings
Published July 9, 1987 – Peanuts by Charles M. Schulz
Peanuts comics can be found here: http://www.peanuts.com/
(I could not find link to original strip on the website.)
Blog
Book Review: Terms of Enlistment
Book Cover from Amazon
Terms of Enlistment by Marko Kloos
BOOK BLURB ON AMAZON
The year is 2108, and the North American Commonwealth is bursting at the seams. For welfare rats like Andrew Grayson, there are only two ways out of the crime-ridden and filthy welfare tenements, where you’re restricted to two thousand calories of badly flavored soy every day:
You can hope to win the lottery and draw a ticket on a colony ship settling off-world, or you can join the service.
With the colony lottery a pipe dream, Andrew chooses to enlist in the armed forces for a shot at real food, a retirement bonus, and maybe a ticket off Earth. But as he starts a career of supposed privilege, he soon learns that the good food and decent health care come at a steep price…and that the settled galaxy holds far greater dangers than military bureaucrats or the gangs that rule the slums.
MY REVIEW
A solid military sci-fi read with good worldbuilding. Didn’t quite hit the “best of the genre” – which I reserve 5 stars for. Better than most and, dang, when is he going to write the next so I can see where the story goes? – is my reaction.
Not a happy world. And for the grunt on the front lines that can make for some unhappy times. Andrew (the main character) entered the military for one of the two reasons most people do (1) it is more relaxing and less work than home (people coming from a farming or boondocks background) or (2) it is safer than remaining at home (Andrew’s reason). Andrew is moving up in the world to safety and better food – even with the being shot at and blown up thing happening.
Flash: Sunset Ocean
freedigitalphotos.net (note – I changed the image from blue to red)
The ocean turned to blood and seethed as night fell. The gentle lapping waves of warm water, which had comforted Dylan’s feet as he followed the empty shore, transformed into crashing sprays hammering him and twisting currents sucking him into the heartless sea with each step. He had walked far from home, escaping meaningless condolences and unwanted sympathy. His own thoughts had chased him further than the five piers with the summer tourist traps, further than the sharp rock jetties built to protect expensive beach front properties from winter storms. To the end, where shore and sea fought the uneasy alliance man imposed on them elsewhere. A place neither earth nor water.
Black clouds were rushing in, their bottoms reflecting the setting sun’s crimson rage, gray streaks of rain and sleet underneath backlit by constant lightning. Deep thunder reverberated in his ribs.
Shelter was distant. Ease and comfort moreso.
Dylan had fled the house before lunch to avoid the next gathering. The morning’s activities surpassed his breaking point. He hadn’t been able to release the fist-full of dirt into the six-foot deep rectangular pit. The soil, now mud, still gripped in his right hand.
With a scream he threw the ball of mud into endless water.
Dylan shivered as wind pushed the dangerous storm closer. Stepping forward to embrace the front’s arrival, he accepted the just punishment of the fuming, foaming water against his unwelcomed intrusion. Each wave crashed higher on his legs. His jeans, rolled to his knees to keep them dry, swiftly saturated, bringing the cold raised from Poseidon’s depths to Dylan’s core.
He found the icy chill more truthful than the soothing warmth the sea had offered earlier.
The sun disappeared in a green flash, revealing the sea rising in a cone to meet a vortex descending from the clouds.
For a second, Dylan considered staying. And then a second more.
Only the thought of his passing inflicting this level of pain on another coerced him to retreat from the storm’s challenge and promise. To turn back from an ending.
(words 343; originally published 10/9/2013; republished 8/5/2018)
Other Cool Blogs: Magical Words June 14, 2013
Missing the Magic
It’s posts like “I’LL SHOW YOU NOT TELLING” by James R. Tuck which I miss most about Magical Words. Raw, unfiltered, spot-on writing advice – not sanded down and made pretty.
“Show, don’t tell.” has been stated so often the phrase no longer has meaning.
Until Mr. Tuck picks up the advice, shakes it in his teeth, tears off a bite, and spits out the rest. Looking at the mutilated NSFW mess the pretty phrase now is in, suddenly the words are more real than ever before:
“I know how we writers are. We feel like the reader needs to know all the back story to really understand what we are trying to write….the ins and outs of the plot, the history and texture of the worlds and characters we have created so lovingly.
It’s bullshit. … Don’t you dare TELL me that crap.”
Want to see Mr. Tuck’s “I’ll show you not telling”, go here: http://www.magicalwords.net/james-tuck-2/ill-show-you-not-telling-something-i-read-somewheres/
Art Project: Cooking – Rosewater
Recipe for Rosewater
(Created by Erin Penn)
Equipment
| Sink | Stove | Non-reactive pot (ceramic, glass, etc) |
| Pruning shears | Big Bowl | Stirring spoon |
| Funnel | Strainer | Container (non-reactive or plastic you don’t care will be rosy for the rest of its life) |
Ingredients
Roses (home grown if possible) – 2 bowls worth
Water
Process
- In morning before the heat: Cut a full bowl of rose blossoms – at least five or six
- Clean roses gently
- Remove the petals and place them in a non-reactive pot
- Cover with water
- Put pot over low heat and allow cook for 20-30 minutes – do not cover, let the steam out
- Stir on occasion to bruise the petals so they release more oil
- The roses should look white and the water a little pinkish, and you should have room for more
- Go out and cut another bowl of roses
- Clean, pluck and add these petals to the pot
- These will go white a lot sooner – just another 15 minutes
- When done, pull off heat and let cool
ADDITIONAL COOKING NOTES:
- Do not boil the water – if it starts to simmer, it’s okay to remove the pot from the heat
- You are looking for drops of rose oil on the surface of the water – too much heat and the oil will evaporate
- Get the final container, funnel, and a strainer to fit the funnel. Pour the cooled liquid into the container, straining out the petals
- Squeeze the petals to get all the liquid
- Use as needed for rosewater.
Comments
- After a heavy (2-day) rain, I made rosewater in the spring from my rose bushes. All foliage on the bushes is new since spring.
- I chopped the used rose petals and added them to a Ramen Noodle dish – worked very well. The petals are edible and can add fiber/substance to soups.
- The scent levels are no where near the levels found in store-bought rose water – but the color was much better. The scent did a slow permeation with any dish it was used in. Not noticeable at first, but over time – yes.
- I used the rosewater for a whipped cream dish and for pancakes.
Pictures
Roses grown in my yard. I’ve been working on them for two years now.
I’ve cut off two big bowl for the rosewater and still have tons left.
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