Bookmarque’s Padded Cell 2017 - Group Therapy Session 1

Welcome to another year of reading whatever I want whenever I want. No challenges, no goals and definitely no “reading harder”. Reading should be easy. A joy, a pleasure. Not a duty, a chore or a social crusade.

I read popular stuff. Obscure stuff. Fiction. Non-fiction. Old stuff. New stuff. I review a lot, but not everything and I have no problem abandoning what I don’t like.

To get an idea of what I read, check out my lists from previous years -
Books read 2016
Books read 2015
Books read 2014

Here is the list for 2017

For those of you new to the Undisciplined Reading Room, check out past threads -
2015 Part 1
2016 Part 1

I’m also a nature photographer and I post a lot of my pictures here. Just ‘cause I can. Like this one -



Anyway...that’s how I roll. Come on in, it’s a voluntary committal!

Lovely. So what will be the aim of the group therapy?

I'm following along, as usual. I don't view reading as a chore or a challenge either (although I do often choose challenging reading matter). Sometimes your wide-ranging choices make it over to my list.

And of course I am an admirer of your photography.

I'll be here as usual attempting to see the photos while dodging the hail of bullets.

I do like the lady bug photo! (Just for the record, you know, it's safest to assume that I'm always lurking about...You never know when I'll just blurt something out.)

>4 clamairy: Sounds about right.

>1 Bookmarque: My reading is about 75% easy, comforting escape and 25% out of my comfort zone (but not super challenging.)

Wishing you a Happy New Year and looking forward to seeing lots of new photographs and hearing about the amazing books that I foresee in your near future.

Happy New Year!

Beautiful picture.

Is Dr. Fell taking the sessions?

What Pete said.

Peter, is this the man in
"I do not love thee Dr. Fell
The reason why I cannot tell.
But this I know, I know full well:
I do not love thee Dr. Fell."

Happy New Year! I'm looking forward to following your reading and photography this year!

The very one. It is a great play.

Looking forward to the lovely photos and like everyone else searching for a nearby tree to hide behind when the BBs fly.

Muhahahaha!

Therapy is Latin translation for everyone!

heh. Thanks for falling into my trap. No, wait. Thanks for joining me in my lonely cell.

So I know the Dr. Fell bit from being just a little poem, but what play was it in, Pete?

I have some shots from Sunday waiting for some Lightroom work and when I get to the library next I'll have to post some. If any came out ok that is. It was funny though; I hadn't picked up my camera since I was in New Mexico at White Sands. The exposure setting for that location is exactly what it should be for winter up here. I stop overexposed. No adjustment required.

So...you guys want some stats? I got some juicy stats here waiting to go.

>13 Bookmarque: I Do Not Like Thee Dr. Fell by Bernard Farrell.

Interesting. What an obscure little epigram to incorporate into a play.

>15 Bookmarque: The play is very funny. It is about a group therapy session. The participants are locked into the venue overnight and Dr. Fell is leading the session. If you ever get a chance to see it you should. Apparently Liam Neeson was one of the cast for its first performance in 1979.

Ok. While I'm all in the mood here are my stats for last year. At least the big numbers. I have more, but let's start with this.

I read 172 books.

Yes. 172. Crazy. Here's how the months shook out.



And to put it in perspective, here is my yearly comparison -



My genre taste hasn't changed -



Some don't distinguish between mystery and thriller, but I do for some reason. The delineation falls on whether there is an investigation or not - and by a cop or private, it doesn't matter. A thriller is more when a person gets sucked up into some shady shenanigans and has to find a way out. Like Girl on a Train or Disclaimer. That kind of thing. Make sense? Well it does to me. lol

>17 Bookmarque: Wow. I've done statistics before. Major statistics. But I've never done graphics. I think I'm jealous. Great job!

Hey Morph. I just use Google docs to track my reading and so can make charts out of the data. Like this -

Instead of tracking my ratings, because they never really change from a standard bell curve, I decided to track where my books came from. Gift is anything I got for free (real present, Gutenberg, ARC or the airplane lady bonanza), bought is new or used (am tracking that this year and may see if I can go back for comparison's sake) and borrowed is from the library.



Here's the most equal split between genders I've ever had in my reading (and yes I know I'm one short, a book had both a male and female author so I left it out, neat though.) -



And over time -



It's not deliberate at all. I suspect some of it is the amount of front list I'm reading these days. It seems a lot of us wimmins are getting published with some decent marketing budgets.



That's it for now.

Still very cool. I record my books in Access so need to transfer to Excel before doing any pretty graphics. And because I haven't done any in 8 - 10 years, I'm all out of practice.

>20 Morphidae: At long last… I’ve finally encountered somebody else geeky enough to store their books in an Access database. :) You can do graphs in Access, actually. It’s one of the controls you can choose when you’re in design view on a report.

>21 YouKneeK: Ha! Not just books read but books TBR (by challenge and another for non-challenge books), movies TBW, authors (by series where applicable) TBR, to do list, meal list, blah blah blah...

Taking a break with the stats to bring you critter tracks!

This first one is a mouse or vole or similar. I love how it popped out and then decided that was far enough.



This is a coyote that was walking along in some tire tracks on a forest road, then abruptly took off up this hill which forms the side of a dammed spillway by the power plant. The sun was low in the sky (as it always is this time of year) and the colors reflected beautifully.



Winter is much more fun because of tracks like these. When I was out the same day I saw some cottontail and snowshoe hare tracks, deer, otter, turkey and grouse. So fun.

Today and the rest of the week it's in the single digits during the day and below zero at night so my critter tracking will cease. I did see a little weasel cross the driveway yesterday. So cute when they're all white with just a tiny bit of black on the tip of the tail.

I love your photos. I recently bought a DSLR. I really need to sign up for a class and learn how to use it properly.

Oh that's so exciting! What kind did you get? Hit me up if I can be of help. I've been shooting since I got my first 35mm in the 80s.

Here's a couple with the phone though. Bunnies!!


snowshoe hare


cottontail

>17 Bookmarque: I agree on differentiating, although some books seem to partake of both. Darn authors aren't considerate enough to clearly meet my criteria! I tend to think of a mystery as answering "what happened" and a thriller as answering "what will happen," although that's probably way too simplistic.

Love the footprint shots!

>25 Bookmarque: I purchased a Canon 80D. So far it's been a lot of fun taking photos of the cats :) It also comes with me on hikes, though my nature and landscape shots are nothing to write home about yet lol The first time I used it outside I over exposed every single photo. Afterwards I went online to see where I went wrong. I had managed to put the camera in night mode for my full daylight shots. Yeah, most of those were deleted. I have not gotten around to purchasing editing software just yet and have been focusing more on composition until I finally bite the bullet. Why haven't I yet? Because I'm mad at Adobe's new software licensing model for Photoshop. I need to start scouring ebay for an older copy that isn't too pricey, assuming that even exists. I'm pretty fluent in Photoshop use, though my skills are a bit rusty now as it's been 3 years since I touched it last.

>27 Narilka: I wonder if The GIMP might be a workable substitute for you? While it's not as full-featured as Photoshop, the pricing and licensing is quite friendly...

>27 Narilka:

Do you know about Photoshop Elements ? It will probably do 95% or more for photo editing as the full version, and the price is much better.

Bunnies!

>28 ScoLgo: >29 suitable1: Both good ideas.

I'm a Lightroom person. No other program really clicked for me before I started using it back around 2010. I'm up to v. 6.x? these days and it does everything I need. But yeah, the licensing is a pain these days. I live in an area with no high speed internet and so downloading the latest version was done at the library. Finding a download and not a subscription is tough, too. I don't need the whole Adobe universe, just Lr. I think they forget that there are areas of the country that don't have fat pipes yet. Maybe I can get them to underwrite it for my street! Maybe then they could tempt me with Illustrator or whatever. lol

>32 Bookmarque:

I believe that quite a few serious photographers use only Lightroom for editing.

Love the footprint photos and the chapstick for scale!

Thanks morph. I forgot my scat and tracks book which has a ruler so it was all I had that would survive the snow!

Put up a review today for a book I really liked Three-martini Lunch by Suzanne Rindell. It has a lot to do with the publishing world in the 1950s and just check out this cover -



How can you resist?? Review here - no spoilers

And I just downloaded another enormous Susan Howatch saga for $2.99. I liked the last one I read and so my TBR pile grows. Luckily this one is an ebook.

This one, however, isn't -


I really like Boyd, but this is the only book I have of his that is physical. Seems now most used books on Amazon are one cent and $4 to ship so I figure what the heck. It's a first edition and in surprisingly good shape, not that it matters much. It's a fictional autobiography, something he seems to do very well. What an 80s cover huh?

Loving the tracks in the snow. (And the lip balm for comparison!) One of my favorite things to do when walking in the woods behind my house is find (and guess) about the critter prints.

So, is it my imagination or are you reading even more in Wisconsin than you did in New Hampshire?

P.S. I am dying to buy myself a better camera. But every time I start to do some research I feel over-loaded with info.

I've learned a lot here in Wisconsin just by the tracks. Before I left NH, I actually took a session led by a naturalist who was an experienced tracker. It was fun and interesting and that's when I knew I needed a book. Didn't get one until I got here though. Funny.

I think I am reading more simply because I'm not working. If I had a job there'd be less time for it. Right now though, I can't settle to anything I've got on. I'm struggling to get into a book by a writer I like and I think I have a misplaced sense of loyalty about him because I liked other books. Do I need to finish it for that reason? I don't, but I feel oddly guilty about it.

Yeah, picking a camera is hard when you're not coming from a place where you know what you need and want. Ping me if you want any info/advice/thoughts/warnings.

Here are a few graphs that I forgot -

Not a lot of non-fiction last year. Funny, it felt like more.



Lots of physical books because of the library!



Here's how it looks compared to other years -

I love your pretty graphs.

Thanks MrsL.

Touchstones are making me so crabby these days that I don't post here a lot because of it. I know it's dumb, but dammit when is someone going to do something to make them work? Grrr.

Anyway. Deep breath.

I just read a most excellent second novel called The Heirs by Susan Rieger. Here's the link because it's useless to try to touchstone it. http://www.librarything.com/work/18772170/reviews

If you liked The Nest (oh look, The Time Traveler's Wife, that's such a close match, really), but wanted more depth and nuance, this is your book. It's not about a big money grab and family fight, but instead about how those characters interact and are viewed by one another. Surprising and elegantly done. I'm going to see what her first novel is like. I hope she continues to write well.

I also finished listening to A Life in Parts by Bryan Cranston (first touchstone...wait for it...The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn - oh yah, that's a perfect match on all points, at least the actual book was in the first 20 or so on the list). It's interesting, but thin. Cranston, as you'd imagine, does a fabulous job reading his own memoir and it's honest and insightful, but skims the surface. I don't know if I'd want deeper, but it's interesting. He is true to his own ideals. That's refreshing.

Also read the first of two books that I hope will expand into a series if the author can spread her focus beyond the psychological torture of WWI. The Return of Captain John Emmett is the first book featuring Laurence Bartram, a vet who is a bit adrift and gets roped into helping an old school friend's sister make sense of her brother's suicide. Its follow-up I read last year and liked it even more - The Strange Fate of Kitty Easton. Just look at the cover art, would you? Fab.





Currently I'm about 1/2 way through The Lost City of the Monkey God which is the true story of an expedition into deepest Honduras to find a fabled lost civilization. Unlike some other books I've read recently, this bunch does find a city, but it's still going to keep me out of jungles forever!

Is it really that much trouble to click on the "others" link to change the touchstone to the one you really want? For The Nest, the work that I think you want is sixth in the list.

Gah! I went and changed that one. It didn't stick evidently.

And it's not so much having to change it, but that sometimes it's overrun with false positives. Sometimes the book won't appear at all. The Heirs is a case in point.

Just try Laura by Vera Caspary. No problem if we could refine with an author name, but go ahead and wade through all that useless shit. It's fun, right?

Sorry. I'm just in a bad mood.

I found The Heirs by Susan Reiger on the second page. I find I don't have to hunt beyond the first 5 or 6 very often; only when the name is something really generic link The Heirs.

I swear I couldn't find it on multiple times yesterday. Maybe it's just my frustration with the mess touchstones have become.

Less crabby today although I did wreck my trapezius muscles doing pull ups today. Bah. Advil to the rescue.

Anyway, I just started the newest Nathaniel Philbrick book Valiant Ambition which deals with George Washington and Benedict Arnold during the war. I find Arnold a heartbreaking figure and look forward to reading more about him and what happened to change his mind.

That aside, I have to say the book itself is a joy. So many times with non-fiction titles, the important maps/diagrams/illustrations are sandwiched in the middle and difficult to refer to when you need them. Philbrick's books have many of those (like battle diagrams) in the text itself where the visual is important. LOVE that. Sure, there are a lot of pictures and things in big sections, but not everything is there and it makes for a much smoother reading experience. Anyone else come across non-fiction titles making this switch? At least it seems like a switch to me. The days of keeping sticky notes on important maps are over when it comes to this author.

>40 Bookmarque: I've got The Return of Captain John Emmett somewhere on the pile to be read - so I shall keep an eye for the sequel if that's even better.

Oh cool! I hope you like it. Introspective stuff sometimes. A lot of emotional turmoil as a result of the war.

I stopped by the library to pick up my hold stack today -


The Supernatural Enhancements by Edgar Cantero
Unless by Carol Shields
No One Knows by J.T. Ellison
A Suitable Vengeance by Elizabeth George

I can't start any of them yet, but it will be soon.

Over the weekend I finished Valiant Ambition: George Washington, Benedict Arnold, and the Fate of the American Revolution by Nathaniel Philbrick. My full review is up, but here's a bit of what I thought -

This book disabused me of my somewhat romantic idea of Benedict Arnold. Prior to reading it, he was a heartbreaking figure who gave up on the dream of independence after fighting so hard for it. Not quite. I also wish the repercussions on Arnold's actions would have been fleshed out more. What happened after Arnold’s plan went awry and the British spy was hanged? (oh yeah, a spoiler alert needed there, right?) There’s a little sketch about some battles and his moving to England after the war, but not enough.

Anyway, I have another Philbrick title on the TBR shelf and he certainly won't fade from my reading life, but this one could have been better.

>48 Bookmarque: Spoiler alert for Benedict Arnold: Maybe for U.S.Anians, but not for the "savages wot lives" at the other end of the world. I've heard of the name, but of context almost none, so anything you put into that paragraph would be news (at best; or incomprehensible) to me.

But what comes to mind when you hear Benedict Arnold? Anything or is it like Frank Brown?

Due to cross-talk with the name of a horrid egg dish, I get a mental image of a poached egg ...

Fair enough.

>51 hfglen: but.... Hollandaise sauce....mmmmm.....

>51 hfglen: Bwaa haa haa!!!!

Personally I adore a good Eggs Benedict once in a while. MMMMM

While we were in Belgium in '15 we found a restaurant where the owner made Bearnaise sauce for our steak just minutes before he served it to us. Was amazing. I also wanted to lick the little mayonnaise container clean because he had made that during prep.

Don't you hate it when you get a string of duds? Lately a lot of my reading has been pretty below average -

All the Dead Lie Down by Mary Willis Walker - I had fond memories of this series of books, but the Suck Fairy clobbered me with this one. I picked it up cheap from iTunes a while back. Wish I hadn't.

The Supernatural Enhancements by Edgar Cantero. Oy vey what a pretentious mess. Glad I didn't buy it.

No One Knows by J.T. Ellison - the up side is that I never need to read her again and that I got this one from the library.

I did have a bright spot though - The Atomic Weight of Love by Elizabeth J. Church is fantastic. It's about the changing roles of women in marriage and society during the 1940s through the 70s. We meet characters we like and don't like, but they affect the main character in ways that change her and make her better and stronger. It surprised me a good deal and I just love that Meridian studied corvids - crows specifically. I love corvids myself, especially ravens, and so that was unexpected and delightful. I think I might pick up a hard copy of the book since I have it as an audio. Does that make me weird? lol

>56 Bookmarque: Uh Oh. Might have taken a bullet on that one. Going to add it to my Amazon wishlist at least.

>45 Bookmarque: there are some books I'd pick up for good maps alone!

I love maps in books, too. Especially a floor plan or map of school grounds or something. So great. I especially love it when the librarian who preps the books tapes the cover in such a way that readers can still get to the map.

Clam - I don't think you'll be disappointed. I thought at first, that it might go in a way I've read many times before, but it didn't. Church has a light touch, but she seemed like she had definite goals for the character.

Yesterday I finished Unless by Carol Shields. I think it was her last novel before she died and boy was it good. Maybe not as cleverly constructed as Swann, but I loved it. I didn't expect such a heavy dollop of the feminist message, but it was done in a way that was very personal so didn't feel like preaching. I didn't return it to the library today so I could quote it in my review. That woman could write the walls down. I miss her and will probably get a copy of Unless for my collection (borrowed it from the library).

Anyway, I did go to the Wausau branch today and here's what followed me home -



Ways to Disappear by Idra Novey which features a book translator which is funny because that was a big part of Unless as well.
The Curiosity by Stephen Kiernan
The After Party by Anton DiSciafani
Version Control by Dexter Palmer

A good mix I think.

Yay for library books following you home!

MrMorphy has several of those for me each week.

Tears are still falling as I type. My last boy kitty died today. Thomas.



Oh how we loved you, you old ass. Who will crowd the bed now? Who will serenade us before we sleep? Who will jump up on the table to eat the flowers? Who will purr and cuddle and get things with the biggest, softest paws? Who?

Oh Thomas. I miss you already.

>62 Bookmarque: I'm so sorry. The spaces are so empty when they leave. {hug}

Thomas looks like a sweetie. I hope the good memories will help balance this horrible one.

>62 Bookmarque: I am so sad to hear your news. They leave a big gaping space.

Sorry to hear about Thomas

So sorry for your loss! There's nothing like them for worming their way into your heart and life, is there?

I'm so sorry for your loss!! Pets are family too.

>62 Bookmarque: I’m so sorry about Thomas. What a gorgeous cat he was!

>62 Bookmarque: I'm so so sorry. *hugs* :`(

My heart breaks for you. I have no words.

Thomas was a beautiful cat.

I'm so sorry! Thomas was gorgeous!

So sorry...

I'm sure the loss has shaken you and I'm so sorry. (((Hugs)))

(((((Bookmarque))))) Thomas sounds like a combination of our boys: Leo who occupies most of the bed, and purrs deliciously when cuddled; and Inky, who stands on the counter next to the fridge and tries to hook whatever we take out with a soft, gentle paw. Loads of sympathy.

Thanks guys. It was very sudden. Yesterday at this time he was fine, but around 9 something snapped and he had some kind of neurological issue that made him extra wobbly, which is what drew my attention to his behavior. He couldn't get down off the couch well and so I carried him to the litter box in case that's what he wanted. When he walked away he nearly crashed into a wall and moved like a drunk. He had a few sort of seizures, too, that scared him and me both. He'd lost all his grace and athleticism. This was all by 10 am. He was pretty zoned until we took him to the vet, then he seemed to perk up and actually started purring, but the prognosis was bad. He wouldn't get better and would have trouble getting to the food and the box. So he's gone. It was agony and I'm still processing my guilt over it even though I know it was the right decision. Here's another shot of him I love. I will miss those big paws so much.



On top of that today is my husband's hernia surgery date. And on Thursday I get my tooth implant drilled into my face. Pain, pain, pain all around. I know it's not the end of the world, but boy this will go down as a crappy week.

Oh and I changed my profile picture to one of Thomas and my bookshelf back in NH. This is also from when we lived there. A typical cat pose, what??

>75 Bookmarque: oh poor sweet boy. I'm sorry he had to go through all that.

Sympathy and good wishes to you and your husband in a painful week. I hope the physical healing proceeds smoothly and quickly.

An extremely difficult decision, and yet you follow your heart and do the best you know how. *hug* I hope your girls will give you some extra loves to ease the pain. Be ever so gentle to yourself this week and in the weeks to come. Healing comes slowly.

He's beautiful. And so fluffy! Was he part main coon? That is a very rough week ahead of you.

Thanks peeps.

Yes, I'm pretty sure he was part or maybe even all Maine Coon. He came from a shelter so I have no idea, plus he lost the tips of his ears to frostbite before we got him, so those wispy bits of fur didn't show up on him. His big fluffy feet, the ruff and the tail, not to mention his size were there though. Plus he was pretty mellow as Maine Coons are supposed to be as well. Only vocal in the last couple of years.

I'm so sorry to hear that you've lost your beautiful boy. Sending sympathy to you and your husband that you make it through this dark week and that the next is brighter.

He was a beautiful cat. It's so hard to make those decisions. We've had to make them twice. Once suddenly like that. Try to get to the point where you understand you made the best decision for your beloved boy. It's not like we can explain to them why they hurt or don't feel well. Or that they can tell us that they are ready to go. All you can do is look into their eyes and consider your wisest self. I'm sure that's what you did. *hugs*

That is such a hard decision to make! One of ours did something very similar a few years ago. He just stopped being able to use one side of his body. It was so hard to put him down.

And you have more going on! Be gentle with yourself.

>62 Bookmarque: I can't say anything more than what others have already said. Many of us have been there and know the pain, so all we can do is offer our support. We're here now, and we'll be here if you still need to talk about him even a month or a year from now.

He was absolutely gorgeous. Was he part Maine Coon by any chance?

(And I do hope you and your husband both have decent meds for the tooth & surgery pain!)

Thanks Clam. Yeah, every time I see a post about losing a pet, the stab comes again. I didn't expect to feel it so deeply as an adult, but I do. I think we all do. Yeah, he was mostly if not all Maine Coon. Check out msg 81. He was a shaggy old guy.

>86 Bookmarque: Ah, sorry. I stopped reading after I hit the photo in 76. He was such a beauty.

It's just as bad as an adult. Worse maybe even, as we were probably more easily distracted as kids. I've lost five cats and two dogs since we moved into this house. Two of the cats were ill for a while, and so with the sadness their was some relief knowing their suffering was at an end, and there was even a little comfort in knowing I'd been able to ease their passing. But when it's sudden like yours was, well... that's about as rough as it gets. :o( There is nothing to do but cry and wait for time to help ease the pain.

What a beautiful boy! Our young big girl looks a lot like him, and we also have an old fellow who is now heating up and weighing down my lap. We do our best to keep them happy and hold them close.

I feel all of my old cats and dogs around me, my life's special friends and great comforts. I'm sure you will feel that too.

So sorry about Thomas. I've just been through this recently and know how gut wrenching it is. You never appreciate how much of your heart they fill up until you feel their absence. I'm glad he lived his life where he was so loved.

Thanks peeps. He was a special little dude and so very handsome. I still wake up at night and instinctively move gently and deliberately looking for him so I don't kick him. He used to sleep next to me somewhere between hips and ankles - 12 years. Then I remember and it's sad. I wonder how many nights it will take before I stop that.

Am having a tough time concentrating on books right now (because of Thomas dying and two medical procedures, his and hers), so I’m trying to keep busy doing other things. Here’s my reading for January -



17 books read - wow
4 audio, 1 ebook, 12 physical books
4 non-fiction, 13 fiction
6 by men, 11 by women
6 by new authors, 11 by folks I’ve read before
The oldest was from 1963 and the newest from this year.

The worst book was The Supernatural Enhancements - it was a pretentious mess, it reminds me of Picasso’s work, first he had to learn the rules and paint from life and hone traditional techniques. Once you’ve done that, then you can go crazy breaking those rules. Someone needs to tell this writer that.

The best was a tie between The Atomic Weight of Love and Unless. Both were well-crafted with a deliberation you could discern, but that wasn’t distracting and didn’t take away from the story-telling. They both carry an uplifting feminist message, too, which is what I needed in a sense though it makes the going backwards harder to take. We’ll have to have the same fights over and over again to gain back any ground.

So very sorry about Thomas. They still our hearts, don't they?

They certainly do, majkia. I've cried more over pets than people who have died. Crazy.

I put up a review for Unless. No spoilers. http://www.librarything.com/work/439/reviews/138225515

Just managed to catch the sunrise in the backyard this morning. Even though things are crappy right now, things can still be beautiful to me.



So an update on my dental odyssey. The implant is in. That is the base that the crown will attach to a few months down the road. The procedure itself (you know, drilling into my jawbone) wasn't too bad, but there's a decent amount of pain right now. Not as bad as some earlier steps to get to this point, but enough so there needs to be constant ibuprofen. My surgeon is wicked happy though since the bone graft is extremely solid and dense - on a scale of 1-4 (1 being best) it is a 1. Normally grafted bone is a 3 at this stage. He said he had to drill longer than normal so he knew the bone was in great shape. I laughed when he commented to his assistant to "check out the blood vessels!" Great, I can grow good bone and have nice blood vessels. That's going on the old resume for sure! I also started laughing when he used a tiny little ratchet wrench to tighten the pin. I felt like a car being worked on or something. I needed 4mm in height and got 5 which is really amazing considering it's the lower jaw which is a harder spot to graft bone than the upper. The implant is very stable and I can probably have a tooth in May. It will be 3 1/2 years without a tooth at that point. Holy crap. There is light at the end of this tunnel.

>92 Bookmarque: Stunning photo! Thinking of you and hoping the pain from your implant subsides quickly.

>92 Bookmarque: Beautiful trees! We are privileged to see a place so far from home through your perceptive eyes.

Thanks guys. Most of the time the sky is gray in winter, but it makes for fairly decent light. We have stuff like this all over northern Wisconsin. Random little cabins set on the edge of nothing. I don't think this one is abandoned, but it isn't used in winter that I could tell (driveway not plowed).



And then there are the barns. I especially love this one which seems to be teetering between abandoned and useful life.



I got really lucky with the light!

It's such a treat to see your photos. Thank you for sharing them with us all.

Lovely sunrise.

I hope you heal fast from the dental work. My mom had implants done last year and she was in pain for a couple weeks after each procedure.

Lovely, as always! How much snow do you have? Just curious. (Good luck with the pain management.)

There's probably 10 inches on the ground. We got about an inch the other day and might get a couple more in the next day or so. Snowmobilers are happy. I went into town yesterday and they were everywhere.

On a bad note, the pain has struck with a vengeance and I've had to switch to vicodin. Can barely go 4 hours before needing more. It's vicious. I'm stoned, tired and can't really concentrate on much. How on earth do people do anything on drugs?

>99 Bookmarque: I'm sorry you are in so much pain. Have you tried hot or cold pads? Cold makes pain worse for me, but hot pads help some. Also, if you are in so much pain, you might want to consider calling them first thing in the morning. You might have dry socket. Are you keeping the area moist, i.e. drinking water and such?

Beautiful photos!

Sorry the pain has gotten worse. Vicodin is wonderful, although I agree with the being stoned part. I often wonder how people who are addicted are able to function as it puts me to sleep and/or upsets my system so much all I can do is lay in bed.

Hang in there!

Thanks guys.

There isn't a socket there anymore, Morph. Where the old tooth roots used to be is now bone and a titanium pin to hold the crown later on. I think this is just the normal level of pain with this kind of surgery. They offered me vicodin again, but I refused since I had some left over from the last ordeal. If this keeps up I might need a refill, but I'll see how it goes.

Bookmarque, I am really sorry to hear you are suffering with the pain. My dentist gave me a while to think about whether I would get a titanium pin implanted rather using a denture. I had more or less decided to keep the denture. Now I am definitely keeping it. I hope your pain subsides soon.

>102 Bookmarque: Is the blood clot still there?

I don't think there ever was one. I just have a metal pin in my jaw is all. At least I'll be prepared when the other side needs doing. There won't be as much damage or bone loss in that one though so it shouldn't be as bad or take so long.

I hope your pain soon eases up. It's impossible to focus on anything with that kind of pain. Feel better soon!

Is your husband recovering well?

He's doing good. Working from home this week.

Have switched back to ibuprofen - 800mg does the trick without making me stupid. Yay.

Sending healing wishes your way. Thank you for sharing the gorgeous photos. Even the harshest seasons can be beautiful.

>107 Bookmarque: I'm a big fan of ibuprofen and naproxen. I just have to be sure to take them with dairy. Sorry about your pain. :o(

That is a decent amount of snow! We're down to a few random patches, which is odd for this time of year. The big snowfall they had predicted for tomorrow is now expected to be mostly rain.

Thanks peeps. The pain continues to be quite bad. I cancelled a dentist appt to have an impression taken for another temporary bridge - I don't want anyone messing around in there. A call to the surgeon's office tells me that this level of pain is normal. I'm on a combination of vicodin and ibuprofen. This morning I was so stoned I could barely keep my eyes open. When I close them I don't sleep though; I just zone out. Can't move a muscle. I don't know what's worse.

Despite that, I've been reading. Finished a book that was a lot of fun. As a hard rock fan from the cradle (thanks mom!), I have a love of guitars. Loud, fast and heavy, that's how I like 'em. Play it Loud tells the story of the invention of the electric guitar. Fascinating stuff and not too heavy that I couldn't absorb it through my drug induced fog (maybe it helped).

Also put up a couple of reviews and hope they're coherent - The After Party by Anton DiSclafiani which was a novel about catty housewives in 1950s Houston. Not bad, but a bit too vague and didn't show a lot of deliberate craft. Also The Curiosity which was worse because the author pulled too many punches and created characters and behaviors that ruined any sort of suspense. Glad I borrowed them from the library.

>110 Bookmarque: I'm sorry you are in so much pain. Does heat (soup) or cold (ice water) make it feel better? Did the surgeon recommend *anything* other than meds to help?

Only drugs help. I can eat and drink like normal though. The doc hasn't suggested any other therapy. It's temporary, but seems endless.

>110 Bookmarque: Yeesh. I'm so sorry. :o(

Thanks clam. I won't die, but it is pretty stressful. Just took 4 ibuprofen. Maybe I'll sleep.

I'm surprised you can read. I don't enjoy reading when I don't feel well. I think because it's hard to concentrate. I hope the pain clears up soon.

>112 Bookmarque: As it is temporary, be gentle with yourself until its over. Enjoy the drug induced visions, if any, and otherwise, enjoy your reading so long as you are able. Here's hoping it goes away sooner.

I'm trying, MrsL. Went to the library today and only picked up one thing that was on my list, the rest I just found while peacefully browsing. I hope they are good. Concentrating is hardest with my vicodin on board. Funny though, during the day I take my husband's rx from his surgery since they don't whack me out like the ones prescribed for me (and he's not in pain anymore). It's weird. Mine have pink splotches on them and his don't. Pink splotches must make you stoned.

So here's my stack -

The Doll's House - Louise Phillips
Asylum - Jeanette de Beauvoir
The Accident Man - Tom Cain
The Ravens - Vidar Sundstol

Wow! Look at the size of that library! No wonder you can find so many more books than I do in the library.

Aww, thanks hugh. That's just a slice of our little Tomahawk branch. Actually, it's a pretty nice location. Not as big as some, but I like it. So far I've only visited 5 in the valley system.

I agree with Hugh. That library is bigger than anything in my county. I hope the pain soon subsides.

It does look huge! Glad you have found a pain reliever that doesn't make you stoned.

You make me want to quit reading all the books in my house so I can read library books again. There is something special about browsing the stacks and picking up whatever grabs your fancy.

>117 Bookmarque: I shall await your response to The Accident Man as that is sitting fairly close to hand on the TBR pile.

It is a tough dilemma, MrsL. One of the things I do when I'm browsing is look at the bottom shelves. I don't think they get a lot of love.

And I think the extra wide angle lens of the iPhone makes the shelf/hallway look longer than it is. It's just a small library in a town of 3000 people.

Actually, Peace2, it was the sequel's spine that caught my attention, but when I saw (thanks LT!) that it was #2 in a series, I went for The Accident Man instead. Lucky for me it was there since the other books aren't.

>124 Bookmarque: Very lucky for you.! For some reason our library seems to have a tendency to start collecting series at about number 4 or 5 in a series - I happened across the first in a series just recently (not in the library) and having enjoyed it and knowing that I have nos 5 & 6 of the series somewhere in the TBR pile, I figured the library might help out with 2 - 4 - oh no, their collection starts at number 7... In another series, I own 1, 3 and 4 - fortunately they had 2 (and 4). And it seems that on the rare occasions, when ours do get number 1, they don't continue - (The Rook springs to mind, as does Splintered and God's War and that's even looking across formats - audio, paper, hardback). Don't get me wrong - I love our library and I wish they had enough money that I didn't have to buy so many books myself. I recommend to lots of people that they use its services.

Yeah it was lucky. Most of the time only part of a series exists at one branch, but getting them from other locations isn't a big deal. It's how I'm getting through the Elizabeth George series. The system is surprisingly good for such a rural part of the state. Must be these long winters!

Ugh. 2 DNFs in a row. Lucky they were from the library. The first was Ways to Disappear by Idra Novey. You know when someone is going to tell you a story and they start with "Hold on, you gotta hear this, it's really funny" and then it isn't. It's pointing to its own hi-jinx and saying "there, isn't that funny?" I hate that. It's much, much harder to do humor than anything else, that much is clear. Plus the conflict that the author was setting up just felt really fake. I know that's a weird thing to say about fiction, but there it is. Finally she went out of her way to insult Sue Grafton. Really. Why? I don't read Grafton, but she's a successful writer and you just don't do that shit.

Version Control needs an editor, stat. There's a story in there somewhere, but there's too much about stuff that doesn't matter. Or if it does, there are no hooks or hints to make me stick with it. The missing son Sean was interesting for a time, but nothing else drew me in so I'm ditching it. Oh and it's so self-involved. The writer wants to dump in everything from religion to millennials and their impossible job hunting while being distracted by the internet to online dating to moving back into your parents house to time travel to lab dynamics to...well you get it, right? Oh how Iain Pears would have done this book. Sigh. When I'm skimming and outright skipping sections of a book before page 100 I know it's going to get ditched and so it has.

Onto my big library pile and my ER book which arrived today - Ill Will - but after thumbing through it for a bit I think I'll wait. It's got texting and other tech stuff as part of the narrative and I'm just not in the mood for that kind of thing just now. It either can work beautifully or be gimmicky. Not sure which way it will go with this writer so I'll opt for something a tad more traditional form my stack.

Thought the pain was lessening up today and let the painkillers drain out of me for too long and I was pretty sick for a couple of hours until they could build up in my system enough to be effective. Disappointing, but at least I don't feel like throwing up or cutting off my own head anymore.

Anyway...that's it for now.

>127 Bookmarque: You have just demonstrated one of the great advantages of library books, IMHO. First, it costs nothing if the book is a clunker, and then you don't have to house it.

Yup! It is one of the best parts of living here.

>127 Bookmarque: I think there are very few authors who could do that "Wait for this it's really funny" thing effectively. I'm also not a fan of "Wait for this you won't believe it" or any of the other ways authors use to tell you that something amazing or earth-shattering is coming.

The only writer who does it well (off the top of my head) is Carl Hiaasen. This woman was just too self-conscious with her writing. She didn't trust her natural sense of humor (if she has one) and forced it too much. But what do I care? What I don't like, I stop reading.

My latest ER book was a doozy. Full review (with spoiler hidden) is here - http://www.librarything.com/work/18465682/reviews/138786508, but I'll pull some thoughts out of there.

This book deals with the fallibility of memory, the stupidity of herd mentality, the damage it all inflicts and the seriously fucked up people it leaves in its wake. There isn’t any blatant cruelty or sadistic enjoyment of brutality or anything; it isn’t gory. But it is disturbing in many ways and bleak, jeez is it bleak. It's surprising, interesting and strange. The writer uses the physicality of words on a page to depict the mental state of a particular character and the hooks get deep to make you remember this book as I think I will.

The novel I picked up after this is disappointing me, but almost anything would have. I should have gone for a non-fiction title instead. Oh well.

Today I did the equivalent of skipping to the end to see who dunnit.

I began a series of books set in Minnesota on the northern shore of Superior. The first book started out well, there was an investigator, a crime, a set up, family tension, old secrets and a wrongfully accused. The second book was one long single scene with the investigator and his suspect. They were hunting and being brothers, used to hunting together with certain patterns, signals and roles. With that knowledge they turn to hunting each other. All well and good, but not for 300 pages with lots of internal moaning from the investigator. I skimmed the whole thing. The last book is nothing but tortured angst, dream sequences and psychological drivel. Plus a lot of agony over newly discovered Ojibwe heritage and what that might mean with the investigator's hallucinations of a dead Indian. Instead of trying to skim I just flipped to the end to see who the killer was. Ugh. Unsatisfying. But it’s over and done with. Lots of DNFs these days. Either I’m getting fussier or I’m just having a streak of bad book luck.

>133 Bookmarque: Possibly time for a reread of something you are sure of, to remind yourself that excellence exists?

>133 Bookmarque: Could be a mixture of both?

Ladies with wisdom and perfect timing! (post times)

I think it is both. I'm getting strict about not reading when I'm not enjoying it. And I think that the sheer number of books I get to gives me a wider pool for both greatness and suckitude.

Instead of re-reading, I've picked a Highsmith book I haven't read, but that I've owned for a long time - The Boy who Followed Tom Ripley and so far, so good!

>136 Bookmarque: I know what you mean. People ask me why I bother with reading 6/10 star books. Well, first it's sheer volume. I'm reading 300 or so books a year. There simply aren't that many 8/10 or more star books out there at that volume. Not unless I want to do more hours of research than I want to. And, second, I'm rating against the books I've already read. There are going to be average books. Not every book of the 300 books I read a year are going to be very good or excellent. If they were, then they'd all be average - by definition.

If someone reads 25 or 50 books a year, I can understand why they want them all to be 8/10 (4/5) stars. It's simply not realistic for me. Therefore, I don't have a problem with "average."

I think you've hit it. You read twice as much as I do so your 'error rate' must be high, too. And I don't expect perfection every time out either. Sometimes average is fine. I was listening to a bookish podcast yesterday where the host said he didn't like a book because it was 'pleasant'. He didn't find any glaring faults with it, but he wasn't wowed so he stopped reading it. A mistake I think because I quite loved the book, but to expect all highs all the time to the point of excluding the bulk of published books is stupid to me.

Also, I don't see how you can retain any sense of proportion if everything you read is amazing and you give up on everything else. How can you judge then if you rate everything as a 10? Very strange. But luckily I don't have to follow suit.

I think each year the bulk of my reading is composed of 3-star books. How sad I would be to not have read them. I hang on to the 4 and 5 star books, but I appreciated the others very much because they added to either my knowledge or my happy state. For me, Agatha Christie mysteries are 3 star comfort reads. This doesn't mean that I think there is anything wrong with them, they just don't move me like my Rex Stout, Ellis Peters or Dorothy L. Sayers mysteries. So much of it is personal opinion.

Now 1 and 2 star books are another matter. I will never finish a 1-star, and I'm pretty good about knowing which books to avoid so that I rarely if ever come across them. 2-stars may be books which someone else would enjoy, not necessarily bad in all aspects, but have fatal errors for my enjoyment. Even those add to my knowledge of what I do and don't care to read, so I don't resent them, I just don't waste time on them.

It sounds a bit like always eating in a star restaurant. I'm sure the food would be good, but after a while, I'd want some regular home cooking...

Same here, MrsL. If I finish it and enjoy it, with annoyances kept to a minimum I usually give it 3 stars. More annoying and I finish, fewer, less annoying, more stars. Just because something is average doesn't mean it isn't worthwhile or enjoyable. Funny, I just read a Christie and was annoyed at her sexism so it wasn't too comforting even if she did keep me guessing until the end.

I know what you mean zjakkelien, we only eat out at really good restaurants when we're on vacation and toward the end I just want to eat at home.

Hoping for a fun action thriller, but got another DNF. The Accident Man irritated me early with too much description (didn’t need to know the paneling was walnut or that diving gear got clipped to a D ring) and a walking cliche for a lead man (hell, at least his name wasn't Jack), but I let it go, reset my expectations and kept on. Another cliche walked in the door in the shape of the female lead I knew would come. Of course she’s gorgeous, just competent enough not to get killed right away and so I waited for the fucking to ensue. Right on schedule, complete with sharing of real feelings and some pillow talk. Bleah.

After that she became a girl despite being almost 30 (because one has to still be in their 20s to be desired by middle-aged men). And of course lots of bad guys get spun, slammed and thrown out of their keds by bullets, a thing that never happens (seriously, have you seen hunting videos of deer spinning around before dying from the hunter’s shot? Oy vey.). Then came some boring domesticity crap as our hero and heroine started up the whole romantic, getting-to-know-you schtick. Ugh. Gave up when she became just another object to be saved/won. A reward for good performance. Vomit.

>143 Bookmarque: Sorry to hear that about The Accident Man - Trying to decide at this point whether to just toss it on the going to someone else pile or shove it further down the TBR pile... or maybe I should give it a go so that I can get rid of it as a DNF.

You probably have way better stuff in your pile, so I'd avoid it.

So I replenished my stock at the library and here's my first outdoor stack photo of the year!



Sight Unseen - Robert Goddard - he's reliably good.
For the Sake of Elena - Elizabeth George - the next in the Linley/Havers series.
The Divorce Papers - Susan Rieger - I liked her second novel so am trying her first.
The Poison Artist - Jonathan Moore - can't remember where I heard of him or the book, but here it is.
Await Your Reply - Dan Chaon - just read his latest book and am now onto his backlist.

When I got home I heard a strange noise. Turned out to be 4 swans on the river. We have ice out today and so they were joined by 2 ducks. Wow. So early!

Oh, I forgot that I found this in the sale bin while I was at the library -



I love Rendell's early work and have a small collection of those books so this was a nice addition. It's a tiny book - a novella really and I think I may have read it 25 years ago or so, but it will be like new since it's been so long. Don't you love stuff like that?

>146 Bookmarque: I love the cover. I have never read a Rendell book before. What is her tone and genre?

Funny you should ask. I wrote a quick post about her on my blog a while back - http://thebookmarque.blogspot.com/2014/02/ruth-rendell-queen-of-psychological.ht...

She comes in three flavors basically -
Rendell writing the Inspector Wexford series of police procedurals
Rendell writing as herself stand-alone psychological thrillers
Rendell writing as Barbara Vine standalone psychological thrillers that have a longer arc and a bit more domesticity to them with less overt criminal psychopathy.

Phew. Her earlier works are better than her later ones in my opinion.

I read her Judgement in Stone -- which I believe is one of her early ones -- and thought it was quite intriguing. What else amongst her early stuff would you recommend?

One of the finest mysteries I've ever read is A Dark-adapted Eye. If you are one of those readers who needs everything wrapped in a bow, this isn't the book for you. I also loved A Fatal Inversion, A Demon in My View and The Brimstone Wedding. All for very different reasons.

ETA The Minotaur was good, too.

>150 Bookmarque: Thanks for the list. i note that of the five you list, at least three were published under her pseudonym, Barbara Vine. Is there a particular difference that you've noted between what she published as Vine and what she published as Rendell? I haven't read enough of her work to know.

Funny, I didn't realize that. The Vine novels tend to be a little more domestic, a bit softer, not quite so shocking or twisted. Like The Killing Doll was an early Rendell and I think it surprised a lot of people because of its depiction of madness and the forms it can take.

>148 Bookmarque: Thank you for that. I'm thinking there is a reason I've not read her, doesn't quite sound like my cup of tea. :)

She's brilliant most of the time and I'm sad she's dead, but she had a fantastic and long career.

In the vein that she pioneered so expertly, the psychological thriller, I recently read a book by a contemporary practitioner who did an excellent fooling me for a long time. The Poison Artist was a pretty great novel and I'm probably going to snag his latest from the library later today. I won't give everything away, but it's the story of a research toxicologist with a troubled past who is called as a witness in a murder. His friend is the medical examiner and asks him to check into some things on the QT because there's something suspect going on in the state lab. Then there's the mysterious woman the toxicologist meets in a bar who gets him hooked on absinthe and candlelight. I liked it a lot.

---

Haven't been out shooting much although I was in the woods the other day and will post pics later. Did some exploring out to the southwest of here and found this amazing abandoned cabin on a main county road right next to an occupied dwelling. Coming from the intense crowding of southern NH this still amazes me that buildings and whole farms are just left to fall to dust because there's so much room. People just ignore it and put up homes and stuff without the need to demo old stuff. I love it.



Anyway, I also recently added another gorgeous Library of America set to my collection - 6 wordless novels by Lynd Ward - - and like my other LOA set, it's beautifully made. I'm "reading" the first one God's Man right now and I love it. Ward first came to my attention when I bought a copy of Frankenstein from the sale shelf at B&N years ago. It was wrapped in plastic so I couldn't open it, but the outside had a few examples of Ward's woodcut illustrations and those sold me. They're reminicient of early German films - Cabinet of Dr Caligari, Metropolis, that kind of thing. Bold and spare, yet detailed and nuanced. The book is richly illustrated and I love it to pieces. Here's an example of the artwork (this is Victor) -


When I got the book home and looked inside I discovered a huge bonus - the forward was by Patrick McGrath who I love and own all his novels. It's one of the most treasured finds I have even though it isn't rare or valuable. It is perfect for me.

Anwyay...I'm done rambling for now. Dreary day in the north country, but tomorrow looks much better so I'm getting stuff done around the house so I can go out when the sun shines!

I am envying you the reading of that one. Truly.

The Ward collection? It's pretty fabulous. I know a lot of people eschew graphic novels because they think the pictures are for kids, but I disagree even though I don't read a lot of those books. These novels have no words at all, but the subtlety and nuance is definitely there. Ward was immensely skilled and had a specific vision for his tales. People say he only got better and so if this is his first book, I'm in for a real treat.

---

Since I haven't been out and shooting a lot this winter, I'll share a few images from Saturday when I went to Ripley creek which is about 8 minutes from my house. It's a wildly overgrown brook that empties into the Wisconsin. I've walked it before, but it is really difficult to photograph because the banks are steep and often choked with vegetation, downed trees and boulders. I will make more of an effort in spring I think. What led me here in winter was that I love winter brook shots and did a lot of that kind of thing in NH, plus we'd had very warm temperatures for about 2 weeks and I knew the flow would be high. It was. Enough babbling, here are some of my favorite pictures -



For that one I had to hand hold it because I just couldn't get the tripod into position. I was backed into the branches of a small hemlock and hoping my left foot was on the bank and not ice. It was the ice formations behind the boulders that killed me about this little scene (looking upstream). The current breaks up and slows and so the ice forms and you can see exactly where the speed of the water changes. I love this stuff.

The next two show you what I mean about the difficulty of the terrain. Precariously perched!





There are 4 bridges on the section of trail I walked so I had some more regular footing for the tripod. All the surface water here is VERY tannic. This is natural not pollution and the water here in Wisconsin is very clean. Tons of wildlife depends on it.





Ok. I'll stop. I just love doing stuff like that. One big difference between here and New Hampshire is that in the distance I covered on the brook, there would most likely have been at least one old mill site, if not more. I miss that a bit since discovering ruins is always a thrill. Just goes to show the technology change that happened between settling New Hampshire and Wisconsin. I've found Mill Roads, but never any ruins. Strange. They let everything else molder into dust up here.

Working on my February wrap up, too. But that will be later.

Love the photos. Can you see the creek at all once things start growing in spring?

Lovely photos, yet again. I especially love that cabin.
The snow looks beautiful too, but I'm glad that it's your snow and not mine. :o)

>156 Bookmarque: You always take such good water shots. It would be cool to see a seasonal series of photos of the brook.

The combination of snow, the trees and the brook winding into the distance make for wonderful images.

Thanks peeps. It was a satisfying outing on all fronts. I really didn't make much of an effort this winter and feel pretty bad about that. I will probably go out today since it's going to be nice. Just some exploring the local area. I have blind spots if you know what I mean.

And, I don't mind the snow Clam. It's winter and I want it to be really winter, not just cold and brown. When it's spring it can quit it. I like each season to be intensely that season if you know what I mean.

Here we go for February's reading wrap-up -

12 books read (ok, there are 13 pictured, but one I skipped to the end to find out who done it, so I don’t really count it)
5 by men, 7 by women
6 new to me, 6 I’ve read before
2 ebooks, 1 audio, 9 physical
11 fiction, 1 non-fiction



The best was Ill Will by Dan Chaon and the worst (that I actually read) was a tie between Asylum by Jeanette De Beauvoir and The Curiosity by Stephen Kiernan. Many cite the Chaon book as too “writer’s workshop-y”, but I enjoyed how he stretched the medium. The Asylum suffered from too high an implausibility quotient and The Curiosity was marred by character’s behavior not lining up with the book’s central conceit. They were diverting though.

Those who follow my photography have no doubt noticed my obsession with mushrooms. Of course I buy books about them and one touched on studying them (with an eye to identification) with a microscope. It was only a small section, but it got me to thinking and for the last few days I’ve been consumed by research into buying a home ‘scope so I can be nosy and look at stuff.

As a photographer I am easily seduced by premium optics, but since this is a new thing I’m going to go with a relatively inexpensive “Chinese microscope” and some basic supplies. Move over book people, microscope nerds are taking your nerd crown. Boy these people are obsessive and funny. I haven’t joined any fora or anything, but I’ve done a lot of reading. My initial opinion of what I need has been confirmed and so I have little doubt I’ll be getting the right thing - a compound ‘scope with up to 2000x magnification, a tungsten light source (for better color rendering) and a mechanical stage so I can move the slide in very tiny increments. I won’t be using the highest end as much, but some mushroom spores are really small so will need it sometimes.

Of course books are part of this and I think to start I’ll be getting a basic microscope operation and maintenance guide, a beginner naturalist book and some reprints of recent microscopy magazines. That should get me started. I’m most interested if I can find some “water bears” - one-celled organisms that live on moss and you know how I love moss. That’s also going to be one of the things that goes under my lens. Also the water from the Wisconsin in the backyard. It’s crazy, but I think a logical progression of my macro photography work.

And yes, eventually I’ll get into photomicroscopy as well. I just need to ease into it. Adapting my current rig shouldn’t be an issue, but I don’t know enough about it at this point. Focus stacking is surely in my future as it would be if I didn’t get a microscope.

Oh and a funny story. Everyone recommends buying some prepared slides to look at with your first microscope purchase. Makes sense and I LOVED these things when I was a kid with my toy ‘scope. Remember trying to get the mirror just right so you could see your bug legs or whatever? Anyway, so I’m looking at options for good mounted slides and I see this company, Triarch, recommended. They’ve been in business since the 20s and are on the third generation of ownership. Guess where? Wisconsin. Of course.

It’s kind of like Doc in Cannery Row - the company collects, preserves, dissects and mounts specimens for individual and wholesale use. Along with books to help me ID water creatures, I think this kind of thing will be very helpful, but it’s hilarious that the company is a couple hours away. Anyway, if there are any microscope nerds out there, let me know. This is going to be fun!

>154 Bookmarque: I love your picture of the abandoned cabin. I love how the snow blends into the page and it is difficult at first glance to detect the edge of the photograph.

>156 Bookmarque: Beautiful shots.

Thanks much! It's a lovely spot. And for Sylvia in 159 here's a section of brook in almost the exact spot as the 3rd picture in the group. It's from the fall of 2015.



No doubt another source of water critters for my amateur naturalist activities. lol

>166 Bookmarque: Nice! Thank you.

>163 Bookmarque: From our limited experience with a microscope, don't even bother with an inexpensive model. Our homeschool group tried them, they were less than useless, downright frustrating. One of our members sprang for an expensive ($500 range, I think) model and was kind enough to share. WOW, the difference was amazing. I'm sure with your optics knowledge, you will figure this out just fine. :)

Thanks MrsL. Can you tell me when that was?

I'm looking forward to seeing photos of what's on your slides! ;)

>168 MrsLee: Hmm, mid to late 90s? Or even early 2000s? By 2011 all my kiddos were graduated from home teaching.

Further to >168 MrsLee:, I wonder if it would be worth bookmarque's while to ask the local uni. biology school what they supply their undergrads in the way of microscopes? As I recall from way back when, first-year microscopes were unbearably tinny and research ones insanely expensive (more than a house), but somewhere in between is where I think you want to be. Like others, I'm looking forward to hearing how you attach the camera (could also be expensive) and seeing the results.

You may wish to check out USB microscopes for starters. The camera is already attached!

That might be an option if I were less lazy and nearer to UWI down in Madison. I'm fairly comfortable that optics have improved a lot and the trickle down to inexpensive models rapid. All my reading says that the one I have my eye on is a good way to get my toe in the water without a huge outlay.

Insofar as getting the camera attached, I don't think it will be too complicated, but I haven't looked into it very far.

I am clearing off my workbench, emptying drawers and shuffling around stuff to make room for things though. I even have my lab notebook ready although I have no idea how to really keep one.

This is on it's way - The Amateur Naturalist and I'm wondering if a biology textbook might be a good idea, too. But I'm getting ahead of myself, woo hoo!

Have I been keeping up with the Shelf by Shelf posts here? I don't think so. I'm so forgetful. But here's more of my Stephen King bookcase. He takes up more than just a mere shelf -


Link - http://thebookmarque.blogspot.com/2017/03/shelf-by-shelf-uncle-steve-1.html

I found another lovely cover -


The book is good, too!

That is very pretty. Glad the book lives up to it!

And weirdly while I was browsing at the library, I saw it on the shelf and looked for other books by her, but alas, none.

I went back to Ripley creek the other day and played in the water, but with very different results -







I had some new boots for winter hiking and they did a great job keeping my feet toasty without chemical warmers. Plus they were on sale. Sweet. It's always a challenge to do this kind of work and stay warm, but I think I've got it now.

>178 Bookmarque: Beautiful!

Now you have to figure out how to get that ice under your scope. I expect you'll find a way ;)

What a good writer you are!

>178 Bookmarque: Wow! All gorgeous!

Beautiful photos!

Those photos are amazing!

Love the photos! Also three cheers for toasty toes :)

Thanks everyone. Playing in brooks is one of my very favorite things, but cold toes make it tough. Problem is solved.

and nhlsecord - I'm not fishing for compliments here, but did you mean my ramble about getting a microscope? I like to think I can string words together, but I've never been told I could write. (blushes) thanks.

Well, you can certainly make the things you do interesting, even when it's everyday stuff. Your vocabulary is good and natural. And the pictures help too because we can see a lot of it. So, yes, you can string words together very well.

There are a lot of talented people here! It's a good place.

Aww, shucks. thanks much. And yeah, we do have a spangly set of folks who are good at so many things.

But on another note for those who are following my odyssey. I’m cursed by the dental gods for sure. Nothing too major I hope, but dammit if everything that could go wrong with my implant has gone wrong. This time I think the abutment has come loose and is flapping around in there, hanging on by gum tissue like a tooth you lost when you were 7. From what I gather the implant is one piece and screws down into bone. The abutment screws into that and keeps the gum tissue from closing over the implant. Only problem is when it’s on the lower left the tongue can unscrew it which I have managed to do. If it was on the lower right I’d have been tightening it. The abutment is necessary for the time between getting the implant and the crown, which in my case is sooner rather than later because the bone graft itself became really solid really fast.

So the upshot is that I have to get it put back. At least that’s what I hope. The assistant I talked to (my doc was on vaca) said that if the implant itself failed I’d have a lot more pain and likely an infection. I don’t have either of those so I hope it’s just the abutment. I’ll probably cancel my appointment with my regular dentist on Thursday since things will likely be a mess and I don’t want anyone in there taking impressions for a temporary bridge. As a matter of fact I think I’m going to put the kibosh on the whole temporary bridge idea. I don’t think I need it and with the tissue all in an uproar again I probably won’t be able to wear it long enough to make it worth my while.

Bah.

OOh and I found another terrific cover today -



Love it.

>174 Bookmarque: Insofar as getting the camera attached, I don't think it will be too complicated,

Geology was my subject at college and we used petrology microscopes that transmitted light through thin-sections of rock. These microscopes had attachments for attaching an SLR for taking photo-micrographs. Thins sections of rocks viewed through these microscopes and using polarised light looked beautiful. I always though some photomicrographs would make lovely LP covers.

>178 Bookmarque: Fantastic!

>189 pgmcc:

What's a LP? And why does it need covering?

lol. Yeah, I think they would, pgmcc. The first one that came to mind that actually uses something similar is
and yes, I do have this on vinyl!

It failed.

Am now drinking heavily.

>193 Bookmarque:

Major bummer!

>193 Bookmarque: Oh no! How discouraging. I hope you get things resolved soon, and don't have too much pain.

Miserable!

>193 Bookmarque: on my goodness! I hope it can all get resolved quickly! I hate mouth/teeth issues!

>193 Bookmarque: I am so sorry. Wishing you the strength to bear it.

Oh no, I'm so sorry to hear the bad news. I hope the dentist is able to help resolve the problem.

>193 Bookmarque: arrgh. that is frustrating. Drinking seems like a reasonable response - after all, alcohol kills germs. I hope they can give you something for the pain while they concoct a new plan.

>193 Bookmarque: I'm sorry. *hug*

>193 Bookmarque: Oh ouch :( Do you have to start all over with the implant thing?

Most definitely am cursed by dental gods. It’s been a week living with this crushing disappointment, but I can write about it now. Dr. P has never seen an implant fail in the way mine did so there are no answers. It went into very dense bone and came out with that bone adhered to the metal shaft. So at one point bone grew around the implant itself, but then fell apart and disgorged itself. He thinks it’s resorption. The bone bled both during the input and the output stages so it was getting a healthy blood supply. Not all the grafted bone is gone, but some is. If it continues to resorb I won’t have the bone to have another implant and I’m NOT going through the procedure to graft it again. That was a horror show and once was enough. If I’m left with enough bone to do another implant AND we can figure out why the first one failed, I’ll consider it. Otherwise it’s a bridge for me. I’m not a great candidate for a bridge because I had 8 permanent teeth pulled when I was an adolescent (for braces), but my other dentist says he can do it. In about 4 months I’ll have an xray done to see how much bone I have. Even if it has reduced, if I keep some it will make a better foundation for a bridge.

My fear is that due to its age and chewing exclusively on the right side for 3+ years, the opposite tooth’s root canal will fail in the same way. It was done at the same time as the one that I was trying to replace with the implant. There is already some bone loss we can see so it’s only a matter of time. I hope it stays strong until I have a permanent solution on the left, otherwise it will be very hard for me to eat if I have an extraction there, too. Joy.

Anyway, the emotional storm is mostly passed although if I think too much about the pain, suffering, time and money I’ve spent on this I get close to tears again. So frustrating to know it’s all been for nothing. But enough of that. Gotta stay out of that line of thought. Just thought I’d update you all since you’ve been hanging in this saga for so long.

oh and thanks for the well wishes, sympathy and kind words. I appreciate it. Besides my family, you're the only people who know about this situation.

Glad we can supply some sympathy and encouragement, since there's not much else we can do to help. Hope everything heals up well and the next solution works.

>203 Bookmarque: How devastated you must be. I'm sorry you are going through this. *hugs*

>203 Bookmarque: Oh man, that's terrible.

>203 Bookmarque: ah, gee, so sorry!

Thanks peeps. It's been a pretty rotten deal, but I'm coping. Went to the upper peninsula this past weekend to spend time with some waterfalls on the Black River. They're all on one stretch leading up to its confluence with Superior in the Ottawa National Forest and they all have nice parking lots, trails and viewing platforms. The platforms are nice, but don't make for creative photography, but it was a lovely day for it and I had a bit of an emotional reset. Here are some of my favorite shots -



The trees are mostly white cedar with some hemlock mixed in (the foreground branches above are hemlock). That is Potawatomi falls which is upstream from the start of some really steep gorges -



The sandstone is a deep pink color and it was tough finding walls where there wasn't a lot of ice flow. Also it was impossible to get down into the gorges to get more intimate views of most of the falls. Some were even impossible to photograph well from the platforms. But Sandstone falls was different. I could get right into the river itself -



Luckily I had the forethought to bring my spikes because the rocks were sheer ice and I wished I had a set for the tripod! I had the urge to play around with shutter speeds and quite like this one -



Anyway...that's what I was up to last weekend.

>209 Bookmarque: Gorgeous! I'm rather glad to have you climbing around in the ice water so I don't ever have to, and still see beauty like this.

I am sorry about your dental woes but I am delighted to see they have not diminished the quality of your excellent photography. Thank you fro sharing these pictures.

Wow! You do live near some stunning places. Thank you for sharing them with us.

So beautiful! Thank you for sharing!

Amazing photos throughout this thread. Thank you for posting them!

Thanks everyone! Northern Wisconsin is a pretty good place for a nature photographer. The UP, while attached to Wisconsin is actually Michigan, go figure.

I got outside again today to fool around with a brook. It snowed slightly this morning and so just made a few shots that after the snow melted you just wouldn't look twice at. I needed it because one of the dental techs called and said Dr. Mike wanted to talk about my situation and I started to cry and said I couldn't and that we'd talk when I came in for my cleaning in April. I know they all want to help, but they don't know how traumatic this has been for me. I swear, having cancer was easier.

>209 Bookmarque: As others have said, those are stunning, indeed prizeworthy, pictures! Much strength with your dental problems.

So sorry about your dental woes. :o(

As usual the photos are spectacular.

Those photos are amazing! I had no idea Wisconsin was so pretty!

I'm sorry about all the dental crap.

Love the photos. You live in a beautiful area.

Thanks you guys. Yeah, I'm glad that the place hubby got his new job (and promotion since) turned out to be beautiful and more suited to both of us. I'm more of an outdoors person than he is and there is plenty for me to explore. I have a trip to Door county booked for June to photograph wildflowers. It's the little peninsula that sticks out into Lake Michigan and has many nature preserves, one dedicated to native flowers with something like 10 different orchid species. I'll be spending one night so I don't have to rush.

Here's more of my very tall Stephen King bookcase - http://thebookmarque.blogspot.com/2017/03/shelf-by-shelf-uncle-steve-2.html



It gets into some of his early work and also the first King I ever read at the tender age of 13 or so. Hooked for life.

I just added a kinda long review of Other Minds: The Octopus, The Sea and the Deep Origins of Consciousness and someone was nice enough to give me BTU. Here it is - http://www.librarything.com/work/18540851/reviews/136681180 - as some of you might know, I love octopuses and a book I read last year about them, their intelligence and possible consciousness was one of my favorite books. Alas this one won't be. It's not horrible, but damn the guy just can't write worth a damn. Very interesting subject though and I learned a lot so all was not lost!

OMG the fictional universe is awash with gray eyes -

Corner Shop - Elizabeth Cadell
Well Schooled in Murder - Elizabeth George
A Suitable Vengeance - Elizabeth George
The Boy Who Followed Tom Ripley - Patricia Highsmith
The Poison Artist - Jonathan Moore
For the Sake of Elena - Elizabeth George
Don’t Look Back - Karin Fossum
Await Your Reply - Dan Chaon
Crash & Burn - Lisa Gardner

As I’ve just started another Elizabeth George no doubt there will be more, she seems to like them.

>209 Bookmarque: great pictures, and interesting that the names are similar to this area. There is a Pottawatami Conservation area nearby, and Ottawa, of course, in Canada. My native stepfather pronounced Ottawa as O-DAW-a, so I think of it that way. I have read of the travels of native groups through the lakes. It's amazing that places are closer than you'd think when you can travel by water.

I too am sorry to hear of your troubles. You went through a lot and were very strong. So frustrating for you!

I'm a fan of your wonderful photography and especially enjoy your winter scenes. After nearly 40 years in California, I still miss New England's seasons. You capture the experience of snow country in a way that evokes the feel and even the smell of it.

Yeah, nhlsecord, I think the people who lived here before Europeans were much more well traveled than given credit for. The trade routes were extensive. The language is a lot different than northeastern tribes though and I've had to learn new words and pronunciation.

Thanks meredy. No shortage of snow here in winter. It's all gone though and we're all pining for spring!

Whenever I see/hear the word "pining," I think of "pining for the fjords" from the Monty Python Dead Parrot sketch and smile.

>227 Morphidae: yes!!! In John Cleese's voice, incredulously exclaiming "PININ for the FJORDS?!?!"