Image: whaling ship in the grey, cold rain

Shawn and I have made this trip to Connecticut (and back again) five times. Once to move Mason in, and then four times now to move him out. We have never, ever been able to see anything more off the coast of Connecticut than mist. I was pretty sure that the whole fog-of-nothingness/evil was supposed to be a Stephen King thing for Maine, not Connecticut, but here we are, our fifth trip, and there is clearly NO OCEAN OFF THE COAST. It is all greyness and LIES.  

But, we managed a fun sight seeing trip anyway. 

We went to Mystic, CT, bringing along with us both Mason and his partner Jas. 


Mason, our grad, (left) and Jas (right) at the Black Sheep in Nantic, CT. 

The Seaport Museum was probably an interesting choice given the foul weather, and, honestly, I would have hoped that pouring rain would mean that we'd have the place to ourselves. No, every school group in the history of school groups were all there, making trying to get into the litttle faux village shops somewhat of a crapshoot. It was a lovely little space, though. Mason and I explored the whaling ship and I got inspired to do a better job explaining how cramped berths on sailing ships (in my case space ships) can be.  

I'm going to say, however, that my favorite thing was seeing a family of geese and their three little goslings. 

And getting to see Mason hanging out with the person he calls "love."

We did not get any packing done today, but the four of us got very moist and a little cross, so it's back to the AirBnB for us. Clothes are in the dryer and my wet toeies are tucked under the covers. We are giving up for the day, with only dinner out for plans. I wish we'd had better weather, but we had excellent company and that's what it's all about.

 Shawn and I have arrived in Connecticut for our son's graduation FROM COLLEGE (I know. I also don't know where the time went.) I will detail the entire trip, but per usual and since it is Wednesday, I will first bore you with my reading.

This week was slower than last, but I finished up what is currently available of Nghi Vo's Singing Hills Cycle: Mammoths at the Gates and The Brides of High Hill. Of the two, I think I enjoyed Brides a little bit more because it flips the classic horror story of the imperiled bride and adds fox spirits. Plus, while Brides has all the magical Chinese-influenced characters and mythos, it has a slightly more Western storyline? The plot is plotty in the ways that Western readers, like myself, are familiar with. I loved all of these novellas, to be clear, but I think the people for whom When The Tiger Came Down the Mountain has been a favorite, this one should also work for them in a similar way.  

Then, because I was unable to download one of the murderbot books I hadn't read yet (Exit Strategy) right away, I started on an audio book from 2016 which kind of fits the vibe of the current crop of Hugo nominees, davidlevine 's Arabella of Mars. It's a Regency SF book in the same way that A Scorceress Comes to Call is a Regency fantasy. It's a shame, in a way. I think that David was ahead of his time. This book (which I'm only 34% of the way into) is to science fiction what romantacy is to fantasy. It's kind of high personal drama, low stakes and I'm super into it. 

Okay, so the rest of my life....

We set off on the road on Sunday. Sunday was our big push across country to Valparasio, Indiana. Shawn still has some remaining relatives in Indiana, namely her stepsiter Karen and her husband Don. I was not looking forward to dinner with them because we had been assaulted by dozens of pro-Trump signs as we drove across country and Don is... at BEST a libertairan of the sort who listens to Rush Limbaugh. But, he was mostly on good behavior, I think due to being exhausted from an extended bout of pneumonia. But, we still managed to have one interaction that was typical of him. Don is from the Chicago area originally and Catholic, so thinking this had to be a safe subject, I asked him what he thought of the new pope. He said, "Fine, except he's a Communist." I gave him my best "??" face and then said, "Uh, isn't that the point of Catholicism? What with the feeding of the poor and sharing of loaves and fishes?" Which, did, at least, give him pause. 

Monday we drove from Valparaiso to Youngstown, OH. On this trip we did a bit of sightseeing as is our wont. Shawn picked up a brochure that suggested that there were some things to be seeing in Amish country, spectifically Middlebury and Shipshewana, IN. We never actually made it to Shipshewana, as it happened, because we found a lot to explore in Middlebury, specifically this lovely little park called the Krinder Gardens



Image: Me (left) and Shawn (right) all smiles in the gardens


This little garden was genuinely charming, and I always love getting off road to see something new and/or interesting. 


Image: Lovely, weird bird sculpture in the garden

This being spring, we also got a chance to see a ton of lovely flowers in bloom.


Image: these one flowers I love (which I also grow in my own garden), but whose name I have blanked on.

So, that was fun. We saw a lot of horse drawn buggies, of course. My favorite thing about those was watching the horses very expertly knowing which stalls belonged to them in various parking lots. We even saw one buggie go into a... gas station??? (Shawn noted that the driver got out to fill a gas can, so probably fueling a generator or something. Not, as I'd hoped, gassing up the horse.)

We ate a rather boring meal at a place that advertised itself as Amish-inspired. Alas, it was only SLIGHTLY inspired. But, still, it was nice to have a sitdown meal before heading out for more hours of driving.

Yesterday, we drove from Youngstown, OH to Milford, PA. The very Milford where Daimon Knight used to hold his famous worskhop, where we spent the night in an actual MOTEL. The lady behind the counter there was a little bit... "Are you sure you don't want an extra bed?" but I refrained from pointing out that we'd hardly be sinning in that bed since we're quite legally married. But, the motel was actually very charming and I think attracts a lot of queer folks? There were some men on motorcycles who were extra friendly to us in a very 'family' way, if you know what I mean. I'm sure that lady behind the counter has a lot of disapproving to do. 

Then, this morning we did the rather short hop between Milford and Middletown, CT, where we will be for the next several days as we pack up Mason's dorm and watch him get his diploma. I shall try to post pictures and such BEFORE next Wednesday, but I guess we'll see how well I manage that.

What about you all? Do anything fun this week? Read anything new, exciting, or good? 

Image: white lilac

I'm at least always reminded on a Wednesday that maybe I should go on over to DW and at least drop a line about what I've been reading. As has become typical of me, I will also attempt to catch you up on the rest of my life. But first, since it's probably the least interesting, I'll start with my reading.

This has been a banger week for me.

I finished Nghi Vo's The Chosen & The Beautiful, which I probably would have appreciated more if I were a fan of The Great Gatsby, which I am not. I didn't hate Vo's book, however? I liked the magic far better than any of the people, but I'm pretty sure, given what I know about The Great Gatsby, that was likely by design. Then, I have been absolutely CRANKING through The Singing Hills Cycle, which is Nghi Vo's loosely connected series of novellas about the wandering scholar-priest Chih, whom I adore. This week I listened to The Empress of Salt and Fortune, When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain, and Into the Riverlands. I have Mammoths at the Gates queued up and ready to listen to! I don't even know how to explain how awesome these novellas are, but if you are at all a fan of C-Dramas I guarantee you will *love* these. I could not be happier to see that another in this series is up for a Hugo this year. Thank all the gods my friend naomikritzer is up in a different catagory or I'd have a real connundrum on my hands.

Also, because there was a day when I could not get the next Singing Hills novella, I listened to Remote Control. another novella, this one by Nnedi Okorafor. I have to say? These two hour audio versions of stories are amazing--like popcorn for the brain! 

The rest of my week has been a lot. Much of it fun stuff, but a goodly chunk of it being preparation for heading East to watch Mason graduate from college. (I know! It doesn't seem possible to me, either!) To be fair, Shawn is doing most of the actual planning. But my job is often to do much of the fetching, as it were. Plus, with this crazy heat (it's been all the way up to 90 F / 32 C), I've been trying to keep the ground moist for my baby seedlings that are coming up in the boulevard garden. My bouelvard, like anywhere that I attempt to "grow" grass, is an absolute nightmare. I would be summarily kicked out of any gated community for my inability to keep grass of any sort alive. However, I am attempting to make up for that this year by having a stunning boulevard garden. So in amongst the perrenials, I dumped a literal ton of "butterfly garden" seeds. Things seem to be emerging? Of course, we are also poised to be out of town for a week and a half. So, I may come back to a lot of dead things. 

Which I guess also goes with the grass aesthetic, I guess. 

Sigh.

At any rate, the fun thing I did this week was spontaneously go on a "Midwestern hanami" with the above-mentioned Naomi. I have long told her how jealous I am that the Japanese actually make a holiday out of flower viewing (which is what hanami translates to--actually technically it's just "flower" and "to see.") In Japan, of course, what people go out to look at are cherry blossoms. We could do that here, but cherry blossoms bloom when it's still a bit "nippy," as we say here in Minnesota, plus there just aren't a ton of cherry trees to be had. Lilacs--even though lots of other things are in bloom--are really to the Midwest what cherry blossoms are to Japan. Like in Japan, lilacs are not native... but you wouldn't know it. Also, people plant them EVERYWHERE and when they bloom, you can smell them on the air. Just like in Japan, you can, if you know where to find them (and I do,) walk through a kind of tunnel of lilacs in bloom.



Image: On Summit Avenue, there exists a secret tunnel of lilacs two blocks long....

Naomi and I have long talked about doing a lilac hanami, so we finally did. On Tuesday, we set off to Summit Avenue just east of Lexington where exists a lovely, two-block long tunnel of lilacs. It was a perfect spot, actually. Public, but still a little private. 


Image: A silly otaku (me) enjoying a picnic under the lilacs.

We spent the time snacking on sushi and fantasing about a Minnesota where everyone has the week off when the lilacs come into bloom. We imagined all sorts of lilac "flavored" treats people could sell, including some "Minnesota State Fair"-inspired things like a corndog with lavender/lilac-colored mustard artistically droozled to look like a lilac. It could be a thing!

Minnesotas could all wander around with phones and camera out, trying to get the perfect quintessential lilac shot.