The Castle
The manatees in the Mammal Hall
This dedication left me a bit teary.
The "Field of Stars"
Close-up of the stars
The fountain and Atlantic side from the Pacific
The fountain at night
The Capitol looking very cool in the morning light.
The White House from the base of the Washington Monument
The Washington Monument
The Lincoln Memorial and Reflecting Pool
There are signs like this at many of the memorials asking people to refrain from throwing coins in the fountains or not walk on the grass. They all use this sort of language, emphasizing showing respect for those being memorialized.I finally got around to continuing with the Twilight series, which was recommended to me by both Stephen and Sylvie. New Moon by Stephenie Meyer is the second book in the, so far, insanely readable series. Standard spoiler warnings apply especially if you haven’t read Twilight.
New Moon picks up in the fall after Twilight left off, on Bella’s eighteenth birthday. After a near miss involving a paper cut and Edward’s “brother” Jasper, Edward decides that Bella will be better off without him and his family around. He leaves and she is devastated. After a few months of nonstop moping, Bella begins spending time with Jacob Black and is rejuvenated by his friendship, until he begins to change.
I did not enjoy New Moon as much as Twilight. The best part about Twilight was Edward and Bella’s relationship and that was absentee for most of the book. The mythology of the series continues to be interesting. We have the addition of werewolves to the “monsters” involved. Jacob, whose information about his father’s beliefs helped Bella to figure out what was up with Edward, turns out to be descended from a line of werewolves who function as the protectors of their tribe. Again Meyer rejects common lore having the werewolves change as the result of anger instead of the moon. The idea of the werewolves coming into existence as a result having vampires in the vicinity is clever. We also learned more about the vampires, meeting the “royal family” the Volturi. Many of them have special gifts like Edward and Alice, although Bella seems to be immune to their powers, like she is Edward’s.
The book is structured as a loose allegory of Romeo and Juliet, with Edward and Bella playing the iconic couple and Jacob filling in as
The continuation of the mythology was good, but it could not save the story which was really subpar. As in Twilight most of the “twists” were obvious from a mile away and waiting for Bella to figure it out was annoying. I did not have much of a problem with Bella in Twilight, but I some trouble with her character in New Moon. She did some truly idiotic things, which is explained away by her desire to hear Edward’s voice cautioning her when she puts herself in danger and like so many heroines who have been dumped by the leading man for their own good; she actually believes that he doesn’t love her anymore. However my big problem with her (aside from having a female protagonist who is so entirely defined by her relationships to men) came at the end of the book. Am I truly supposed to believe that someone who is ready to give up everything and become a vampire to stay with the man that she loves and join his family has a problem with getting married to him? Really?
That said I did generally enjoy the book and once again couldn’t put it down. There is something compulsively readable about the series and some willful suspension of disbelief should take care of most of my problems with the book. There were good moments, such as the beginning when Bella dreams of being an old woman with a still youthful Edward. I hold out hope for the rest of the series and certainly won’t be stopping now.
Lies Across America: What American Historic Sites Get Wrong by James W. Loewen is a book that I’ve been meaning to pick up and read for quite some time. I recommended and lent my copy of his other book, Lies My Teacher Told Me, to Amy a couple of months ago so it seemed like time to get on it. Lies Across America is a study of selected historic sites and markers across the country. Loewen looks at the information given for and about the sites, points out incorrect or misleading information and makes suggestions for how they might be corrected. The featured markers and sites are from all 50 states, but the majority deal with either the slavery and the civil war or European settlers and the treatment of Native Americans.
Reading the book brought up some interesting questions in my mind. The chapter on Amerst, Massachusetts, which was named for Lord Jeffrey Amerst who historians say authorized the idea of giving blankets infected with small pox to Native Americans, suggests that it would be a good idea to change the name to no longer honor him. I agree that he is not someone who necessarily deserves to be honored, but I can understand the logistical difficulties of actually changing the name.
As someone who grew up in the South I was particularly interested in the sections on the Civil War. I was fascinated and saddened by the chapter on the Union League Club, which exemplifies the abandonment of the cause of civil rights by the Republican Party in the years following the war. The Union League was begun to “combat the pro-secession sentiment that dominated
Is there a bias at work here? Absolutely, but that does not change the fact that all over the country there is misinformation being disseminated. There are monuments and sites mentioned where the argument is purely bias, but Loewen still makes some very good points.
I’m departing a little from my usual books and pictures theme because I had an inspiration yesterday. Strangely enough it came from the Sex and the City movie. There was a scene on the
So I decided to sit down and write my own “Things I Should Do Before I Leave
Walk across the
From the Living Room
From the Bedroom
Desie enjoying the view
I had jury duty earlier this week so I was in need of a good, entertaining book. I picked up Twilight by Stephenie Meyer on the recommendation of Stephen and Sylvie, both of whom indicated that they couldn’t put it down. It turned out to be the perfect choice to get me through two days of enforced sitting around.
Twilight is about Bella, a seventeen year old girl, who moves from
Spoilers
Edward and his family are a group of vampires who all hunt animals instead of humans.
Bella and Edward’s relationship was very fun to read. It was very sensual, and exactly the sort of story that I would have loved as a teenager. I was impressed with Meyer’s ability to bring to mind what it felt like to be sixteen and in love for the first time. She was also able to treat a typical star-crossed relationship without lapsing too much into teen angst and whining. While Edward spends a lot of time telling Bella that he is dangerous, once they truly begin their relationship there is a refreshing lack of “How can a human and a vampire have a relationship?” moments.
The only real complaint I had about the book is that the adventure story section felt a bit tacked on and unnecessary. The tracker came after Bella and manages to manipulate her into coming to him by threatening her mother. Still for some reason Bella’s whole self sacrificing moment did not feel as trite as it should have. It was predictable and obvious, but I wasn’t particularly annoyed.
I’m interested to see where the story goes in the remaining books in the series. I like Edward and Bella and their relationship. Hopefully it will be fun to see where it goes.
While we were in The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time is told from the perspective of a 15 year old autistic boy named Christopher. When he finds his neighbor’s dog dead he decides to investigate and to write a book to chronicle his investigation. Throughout the book he introduces the reader to his world and the various rules by which he governs his life.
Christopher is a very well drawn character. Haddon has does an excellent job of having Christopher explain himself without making it feel contrived. The explanations of his outlook on life are interesting, such as his philosophy of what the numbers of yellow and red cars he sees on the way to school mean.
Spoilers
While Christopher’s quirks are interesting, the best part of the book is the affect that he has on the people around him, namely his parents. His relationship with his father is beautiful and heartbreaking and only becomes more so as the story continues and the truth is revealed about
I really enjoyed this book, first as an interesting look at living with autism and later as a character study looking at the affects of autism on Christopher’s parents.
I saw this memorial/shrine on the street near our apartment. What I really found interesting about it is that that bottle in the middle is a bottle of vodka, not to mention the two bottles of beer off to the side. Memorial? Shrine? Offering? I don't know. My gut and the flowers say that it's a memorial that someone has messed with by adding the alcohol, but who knows?
For some reason I was very amused by the combination of various shoes and socks across from me on the train this evening. This is another phone camera shot so please excuse the poor quality.
Thanks to Todd and Brooke's garage sale we have added a third Buddha to what can now be called our collection. We have acquired Buddhas in Boone, Tijuana, and Bedford!
Clay goes to batting practice.
This was on the wall by the dugout. I like how the horseshoe itself is just not enough.
Clay and Stephen in the Dugout
Clubhouse!
I didn't take this one, but it's awfully cute.
