San Diego Plans

We've booked a trip to San Diego for a week in early March, hoping to visit some art museums and do some light hiking in the foothills.  I had wanted to do some desert hiking in New Mexico, but because of the full moon (we always travel on or near a full moon, so as not to interfere with my astronomy observing program), and the limited time remaining to get physically prepared, we postponed that trip until October.  The highlight in San Diego will be seeing a new (for us) painting by Pieter Bruegel, one of only four in North America.  After that, only the one in the Met in NYC remains to see in person, and we'll get there in 2021.  Of course we are still missing a few (not many) in Europe.  Maybe someday, though no plans at present to cross the pond again.

I managed to play through my entire program three different times for different (small) audiences.  Though none of the performances were terrible, (a few sore spots were, though), I did improve each time I played.  Time now to choose new pieces, and hopefully get started on them this week.

It's medical week here at the Homestead.  Today I went for the 2nd part of my shingles vaccination.  Except for the after effects, which should begin any time now, I am all done with that!  I can expect about 24 hours of being very achy, like having a mild to moderate flu.  I've got books piled up beside the bed, including new music to look through.  I have currently begun reading the 4-vol. Hawkmoon series by Michael Moorcock, which also includes another related trilogy following the first series.  So far I am enjoying Book 1, The Jewel in the Skull.

And speaking of books, here is a very brief report on my January reading.  I read ten books last month, nine of which are part of my Avon/Equinox authors project.  I began with Spinrad, another epic, this one called The Druid King.  Spinrad did the screenplay for a very bad European film, and then wrote this novel afterwards, since the script had been butchered so badly.  Though it was by no means a bad book, mostly based on the writings of Julius Caesar, having so recently read Harry Harrison's vastly superior Stonehenge: Where Atlantis Died, I gave the Spinrad 3 *s out of 4.

I read book 2 of Christopher's Tripods series, where the main character actually enters the city of the Tripods.  So far, it is an enjoyable series, and I am looking forward to part 3 later this month.   I also read book 2 of Piers Anthony's incomparable Tarot series, certainly, along with his Cluster series, which is related, one of the best reads I have ever enjoyed.  A wonderful mix of religion and fantasy, coupled with Anthony's incredible mind, which I can only compare to that of Frank Herbert.

Harry Harrison' Star Smashers of the Galaxy Rangers is an hilarious spoof of SF pulp writing, and much of it made me laugh out loud.  Harrison is a very funny man, and always makes a nice change when I come across another of his best.  I read the 3rd book in Kenneth Bulmer's Keys series.  The Key to Venudine was pretty decent, after the let down of the 2nd book.  Still, the first book has been the best of the bunch.  I think there are 6 or 7 books in the set, all published as Ace Doubles, with a different author on the back.

Century of the Manikin by E. C. Tubb had an interesting and fun premise, as a woman from the 1970s is awakened from cryogenic sleep after 100 years.  Though I don't think the author made the best use of the premise, the book does bring up all sorts of interesting questions and possibilities, and would have made a decent series, even for TV.

Jack Williamson's early stuff is hot or cold.  I enjoyed Dragon's Island, a truly bizarre tale of a developing human super race trying to outlive the hatred and fear shown to them by normal folk.  No punches are pulled as women and children are slaughtered (off camera, so to speak), and we sense the desperation and fear they have as they try to escape their pursuers.  There are some questionable science ethics displayed in the story, which is essentially a man's adventure magazine type of story, but there is a very good female lead character, at least.

Mission To Guemo is another incredible story by S. B. Hough, alias Rex Gordon.  This one sounded dull, as a man tries to infiltrate a Nazi camp in post war South America.  But it is actually quite a fantastic bit of storytelling, and one of his earliest published works.  Anything by this author is worth reading.  Like Iain Banks, he writes equally well in fiction and science fiction.  I finished the month with Hal Clement's last full novel, though I still have some early pulp stuff of his to read.  Fossil is not one of his best, and would make a poor introduction to the author's fine writing.  Set in a universe developed by Isaac Asimov, it tells of 6 or 7 different alien cultures doing archaeological work on a planet inhabited by intelligent but non space faring beings. 

The only book by a different author I read was on the back of the Bulmer Venudine story.  Mercenary From Tomorrow by Mack Reynolds is a harrowing look at war in the future, when corporations literally fight one another by hiring private armies to fight for them.  Weird but engrossing, as most of the book is spent developing the main character, and watching him act in different situations that arise.  Not a lot of action, but good writing.

I'll be back in a day or two, when my Shingrix vaccination has run its course, with movie news, and a new work of art to display from the collection of the DIA.  Check back on Wednesday!

Mapman Mike

Richard Lester x 4, and September Reading Summary

I managed to make use of another incredible clear night last night.  It looked hopeless, as moist, very humid and warm air began to settle over the area.  As I drove out to my windmill site, it seemed to be getting hazy and foggy.  Upon arrival, it was completely overcast.  Not one star, despite predictions to the contrary.  I was not expecting a great night, but this?  But by 9 pm, after sitting in my vehicle glowering for nearly an hour, it miraculously cleared up!  I spent a heavenly (pun intended) five hours at the eyepiece!  It will take days to write up all the notes, but it is supposed to be cloudy now anyway.  That makes four very good nights of observing for this session, and I was able to take advantage of all four.

It was Deb's film festival choice for the weekend, and we ended up watching films by American director Richard Lester, mostly from the 1960s.  Lester worked mainly in the UK, making such iconic films as Hard Days Night and Help! with the Beatles, along with two Musketeer pictures.  

We began with a throwback to the Goon Show, an 11 minute film from 1959 by Lester and Peter Sellers.  It is all sketch comedy, with no talking.  If you wish to seek the roots of Monty Python's Flying Circus, then seek the Goon Show.  Even Leo McKern joins in.  It was filmed over two Sundays for only 70 pounds.  It won an Oscar nomination!

 Showing on Criterion Channel.

Next, from 1965, came The Knack, and How To Get It.  If you were too young to have lived through the Sixties, or are older and have forgotten how weird those times were, this film will refresh your memory.  A young teacher has problems identifying with women, and asks his worldly tenant for help.  A third male tenant arrives, and a young woman simultaneously arrives in London looking for adventure.  The films concerns itself mainly with these four characters.  The storytelling is jumbled but effective, and the movie mostly survives on its wonderful visuals and rapid cuts.  Many scenes are quite embarrassing to watch now, including the young woman (Rita Tushingham) crying Rape! for about ten minutes of the film (though she cannot manage it in front of a policeman), when, indeed, nothing of the sort has occurred, but the film won major European film festival awards when it came out, including the Palme D'Or at Cannes, and Grand Prix in Belgium.  I think nowadays the film plays more as a curiosity, though perhaps it might be better to watch it while high.  One viewing is enough for me.

 The 1960s of London is on full display,  in a way.  

Next for us came Petulia, from 1968, starring Julie Christie, Richard Chamberlain, and George C. Scott.  The film is mostly about Christie, who has been beaten by her mentally unstable husband (Richard Chamberlain), falling for a doctor whom she meets at a charity event (Scott).  Scott is just divorcing his wife, for no apparent reason.  He, like Christie, is unfulfilled, and has trouble having any kind of feelings any more.  Reluctant at first to have anything to do with her, Scott eventually comes to love her.

Filmed in San Francisco (photography by Nicholas Roeg), the visuals are stunning and sometimes steal the show from the wonderful acting.  This is a really complex film, and one screening does not do it justice.  It was set to feature at Cannes in 1968, but the festival was cancelled that year due to severe social unrest in France.

 Lastly, from 1969, comes the weirdest film of them all.  The Bed Sitting Room from 1969 has one of the most impressive casts I have ever seen in a British film, though they are mostly wasted.  It is a black comedy about the years after England has been decimated by an atomic war.  I loved the opening scenes that take place on the Circle Line, which is still running underground, and I loved most of the post-apocalyptic sets and locations, which would work amazingly well in a more serious movie about post-apocalypse days.  I found the visuals to be the best thing about the whole film, though some of the jokes are priceless.  Based on an absurdist play of the same name, it hints at what was going on in some places in the London theatre scene of the day.  This is a difficult film to sit through in one go--it is about 90 minutes long and we split it up into three equal segments.  Once is enough.

This conlcuded our film festival weekeend, featuring films by Richard Lester.

I managed to read 13 books in September, with a 14th finished today, October 1st.  I managed to complete another iteration of my Avon/Equinox authors, so I will be starting the list of them again.  Here are just the highlights.  I began the month with One Step From Earth, a book of loosely linked shorter stories by Harry Harrison on the theme of matter transmission.  Of the ten stories included, five are top notch.  A good start to the month!

Next came a very intelligent and promising story by Kenneth Bulmer, called Cycle of Nemesis.  The Nemesis has been chained up in Iraq for 7000 years, but it is now breaking its bonds and causing havoc in the world.  Although the story ultimately suffers from too many monsters, it is a great tale, based strongly on mythology, fast-paced and difficult to put down.  Next came a taut and action-packed story by E. C. Tubb, a man who could write so well when he chose.  S.T.A.R. Flight tells of an Earth conquered by arrogant aliens, and one man's attempt to stop them.  Tubb has created a very chilling scenario, and one that could end up happening to us.

I wouldn't have thought that a 1956 cold war thriller by S.B. Hough, called Extinction Bomber, would have been that thrilling to read.  But Hough has turned into a major discovery for me, and this story about a British bomber sent to drop one bomb on a Russian factory is one of the best cold war reads I have ever undertaken.  Wow!  An oldie but a goodie.  Hal Clement's The Nitrogen Fix is a very odd little novel about post-apocalypse life.  We follow a family of traders that live on a raft, existing on a planet where no other life forms have survived, except plants under cultivation.  Observed by curious and benevolent aliens, the family must survive their greatest challenge so far--teenage juvenile delinquent gangs that want to return oxygen to the atmosphere.  Quite violent, as Clement can sometimes be, but an engrossing tale and which you will never find the like elsewhere.

I read the 2nd chronicle of Jerry Cornelius, called A Cure For Cancer.  Cracks from reality break through in the chapter titles, as Jerry continues his imaginary existence as the hero of all time and space.  I love these stories!  I finished reading the Moebius comic variation, called The Airtight Garage, and am looking forward to reading the sequel to it soon, on-line.  Then came Ballard's High Rise, a book I found less than fascinating.  Like his Concrete Island, it would have worked better as a short story or novella.  But stretched out to novel length, it grows thinner and thinner as it goes on.  I was fascinated at the start, but lost interest as it dragged on.

I had much better luck with Barry Malzberg's The Falling Astronauts, about two Apollo astronauts that crack up while on their separate moon missions.  While the narrative is great and engrossing, it is the way that Malzberg gets inside the heads of mentally ill people that is most astounding.  I'm glad there is so much more of this author waiting to be read by me.  And I just finished James Blish's Jack of Eagles, probably the best book about psi doings that was ever written.  From 1952, it is not dated much, and except for the shortage of female psi characters, this is damn near a perfect novel.

In addition to the Moebius comic strips, I read two outside books, both of them fascinating.  On the flip side of an Ace Double featuring a very poor Jack Williamson story, I happily came across The Paradox Men, by Charles L. Harness.  This is a major SF achievement, on the scale of a good book by Blish!  Aside from the sadistic psychiatrist who gruesomely tortures both men and women, this is a highly enjoyable book, and one I would have never come across.  It more than made up for the disappointing novel this month by Williamson.

Finally came the comic to end all comics, The Watchmen by Alan Moore.  My hefty bright yellow omnibus contains all 12 issues of this fascinating and must-read series, along with pages and pages of text written to go in-between each issue for this editon.  Literally one of the best things I have ever read, and I will reread it soon now, knowing what I know.

That's all for now, folks.  My movie choice for this week is a strange one called Judex.  More on that after the screening on Wednesday night.

Mapman Mike

July Reading and Astronomy Bonanza

Three nights in a row of outstanding clear skies have left me pretty tired but happy.  We haven't had a streak like that since early January.  However, in January I can wrap up a three-hour session by 9:30 pm or so.  In July and early August things aren't done until after 1 am.  I've been getting to bed around 2:30 am.  Reading and piano practicing have gone out the window lately.  My eyes (and legs) last about three hours at a time at the telescope these days.  I have been consistently using my newest observing site, further from the lights of Windsor/Detroit in the northwest, and safe from the greenhouse lights in the south that are plaguing the official observatory.  I am in the shadow of a giant windmill, which varies its noise level with wind speed.  It can get pretty loud, but it is a sound I can live with.  The dark sky is magnificent, with an excellent Milky Way showing all the way to the horizon.

Last Wednesday we had our new, very expensive door installed.  Sort of.  Near completion one of the workers dropped a very heavy drill onto the silver footplate leading into the house.  It left a crater the size of the lunar Copernicus one.  So they will be back in two weeks.  They have to completely take out the new door, replace the plate, and put the new door back in.  So our screen door is not yet on, but we are (for now) sealed in tight with the new main door.  It will take them even longer when they return.

In July I managed to finish reading 13 books, 10 by authors related to the Avon/Equinox series.  Works by John Christopher, Harry Harrison, Kenneth Bulmer, E.C. Tubb, Jack Williamson, Rex Gordon (as Bennett Stanley), Hal Clement, Robert Silverberg, Michael Moorcock, and Ward Moore complete the project authors for last month.  

Bulmer's "World's For The Taking" was notable, as Earth is now in the habit of capturing Earth-like planets and inserting them into our solar system for colonizing.  A weird premise but very well handled.  Also memorable was E. C. Tubb's "C.O.D. Mars," in which three astronauts return from Alpha Centauri, the first space travellers to successfully undertake such a journey.  Expecting to return and be hailed as conquering heroes, they are instead quarantined and are sent out to orbit the sun permanently.  Some type of disease is suspected, but it turns out to be even worse.  A good version of an attempted alien invasion.

"Sea Struck," by Bennett Stanley" (alias Rex Gordon; S. B. Hough) is a fabulous tale of a sea captain trying to keep sailing his wonderful schooner for profit despite so many odds against him.  This book brings back fond memories of reading Conrad many years ago.  If you've ever wondered what it might be like to spend time at sea on a sailing schooner, than look no farther (hint: it's no picnic).  The first chapter of this book might be the best opening chapter to any book I have ever read. 

Hal Clement's sequel to "Needle," called "Through The Eye Of  A Needle," continues the story of an alien policeman living within the body of a young man who lives in the south seas.  Both books are good and recommended, though his finest work lies elsewhere (his "Mesklin" series is unbeatable).  Silverberg"s "The 13th Immortal" is a very early novel, his first written for Ace publishing.  Even way back then, the early beginnings of his famous Majipoor series can be traced in this adventure spanning several continents (North and South America, and a very futuristic Antarctica). 

I have begun reading Michael Moorcock's Jerry Cornelius quartet of novels.  I had previously encountered Jerry in Heavy Metal Magazine back in the day (drawn by Moebius), as well as in a short story by Farmer.  Moorcock loaned out the character and asked other writers to contribute.  In addition to the four novels, Moorcock also wrote short stories.  The first book is called "The Final Programme."  It is a really fun and fascinating romp into 1960s (SF) London and the counterculture of the times.  Possibly the biggest and party party ever takes place in these pages.  In my review I said it was a cross between a Doc Savage pulp adventure, a James Bond novel, and a Highsmith Ripley story.  Great fun!  Looking forward to the next volume, in about 6 weeks time.

On the flip side of this month's Ace Double featuring the Mars story by Tubb was "Alien Sea" by John Rackham.  This is one of three books unrelated to my project authors that I read this month.  Rackam is a new name for me, and his title sums the story up nicely.  The entire book, which is quite memorable, takes place upon and within a planet that is now only ocean and floating space ship docks.  Unique and worth seeking out.  Wish it had been longer.  The opening chapter is really something.

A second non-project book I read was the first part of the SF version of the Finnish Kalevala.  "The Saga of Lost Earths," by Emil Petaja, begins the journey I completed last month, when I came across and read Book 4.  I got the first volume on Kindle, and will seek out the others, too.  Unusual and fun to read.  

The final book unrealted to my Avon/Equinox project was called "Beware The Usurpers," a violent tale from 1951 about six humans (including a blind man, a one-armed man, two elderly men, and a woman) trying to save the world from an nefarious and deadly alien invasion from another dimension.  It received praise from Robert Silverberg, and is a good example of pulp fiction at its most murderous and action packed.  I have no doubt that Farmer based his Tarzan and Doc Savage tales around material just like this.  From 1951, it was written by Geoff St Reynard (real name Robert Krepps).  If you want to know what real pulp writing is like from the early 50s, then this is for you.  Needless to say, I liked it.  if you read it you will come across another version of the Jack the Ripper legend.  This book was a sequel to a much shorter story, simply called "The Usurpers."  However, the plot of that story is summed up in this longer tale.

I just finished a novel by J. G. Ballard, but that will have to wait for the August review.  Or check out the Ballard page on my Avon/Equinox blog, and to read more about the books mentioned above (and to see their cover art).  Until next time....

Mapman Mike

The Moon Goddess: Poussin's Selene and Endymion

We are getting close to the March full moon--it's only one day away.  Are you prepared?  It's also the first full moon of Spring, as it occurs just after Equinox.  The Church miscalculated.  Easter should be this Sunday, but instead it is late next month, after the next full moon.  It's difficult to get good help these days, even at the Vatican.

I've got my Polaroid 600 camera loaded with black and white film, and I've already taken one photo, which turned out better than most of the enlarged ones we saw at the gallery in Detroit last Thursday.

 My first Polaroid shot in many years!  A tree in our front yard.  

The interior rollers appear to be a bit dirty, but I can't clean them until the film is done.  I think it adds some ageing to the photo.    

Back to the moon goddess.  Who doesn't love a lovely moon goddess?  Poor Endymion, who fell madly in love with one, immortalized in Poussin's wonderful painting at the DIA.  This is one of a dozen or so paintings in the museum that it is worth crossing half the world to come and see in person.  I think it is the artist's finest picture, positively dripping with mythological madness.

Selene and Endymion, Nicolas Poussin, 1630.

122 cm x 169 cm.  Detroit Institute of Arts. 

According to the myth, if you fell in love with the moon goddess, you had to kiss her goodbye each morning.  The sun is just rising, with the curtain of night being flung back.  I'm not certain how the shepherd hopes to keep his sheep safe during the daytime, if he has been cavorting all night.  Interesting in this picture is how large the figures are, dominating the landscape.  This is one of the most poetic pictures I have ever seen, and I love that chariot racing across the sky.

The curtain of night is being thrown back, as Apollo 

shoots across the sky in his sun chariot. 

 Parting is such sweet sorrow.  Hopefully that dog will keep an eye

on the sheep, while Endymion catches a few Zzzs.

 No doubt about it--that moon goddess is a looker!  Love all the red hair.  Who knew that the moon goddess was a redhead?

Selene and Endymion, up close.

 Mr. Sunshine, coming to spoil everything. 

I finally have a concert date, as well as a tuned piano.  The concert will be Friday, March 29th.  I will run through my program for Philip Adamson on Thursday morning, prior to visiting Detroit.  I have switched my piano practice times to later in the day, to help adjust to my 7 pm performance time.  Every little bit helps.  So far four people have replied positively.

I finished reading the 27th and final book in my Avon/Equinox Rediscovery Series!  The final work was Black Easter by James Blish, a dark masterpiece of conjuring that has to be read to be believed!  It is part 3 of a 4-book series, so now I will have to back up and read the first two.  Currently reading a book of short stories from the 1950s by Robert Silverberg.  Pulp SF heaven!

Mapman Mike

A Diagnosis for Deb

Winter continues to tighten its grip on us, as we head into another interminable period dominated by an Arctic air mass.  For the next two weeks, temps will hover near record lows, consistently, as they have done since January 9th.  We enjoyed one mild day, which was accompanied by a nasty ice storm and freezing rain.  Our power stayed on, but not everyone had the same luck.

We enjoyed a utterly magnificent lunar eclipse last Sunday evening.  We managed to stay awake until mid-totality, when the moon resembled an over-sized Mars, with a tiny white polar cap just before totality.  It was beautiful with the naked eye, but something else again in the 4" reflector.  It was so cold outside that we had to keep coming back inside to thaw ourselves.  It was a memorable and fantastic event!

On Wednesday we finally got to see a specialist regarding Deb's shoulder problem.  It took three months to get to see Dr. McCaffrey.  While he did give a diagnosis, he still wants an MRI scan.  The wait list for that in Ontario is 8-12 weeks.  Then we go back to see him again, whenever we can get an appointment.  Even more waiting.  In the meantime, the pain continues for Deb.  He is almost certain that it is a torn rotator cuff in her shoulder, caused from her Iaido training.  We know she injured it while preparing for her Nidan test back in the day, and it has taken this long to finally discover what is wrong.  No treatment is likely until late summer or autumn.  Wonderful health care.  If we wanted to spend the money, we could have it done next day in Detroit.

Next week is officially Eyeball Week here at the Homestead.  My surgery is Tuesday, with a follow-up appointment next day.  Friday Deb sees her optometrist for a check-up and new glasses.  All this will be carried out during some mighty chilly temperatures.  The following week I return to Windsor for a final post-surgery check-up, if all is well, and then Deb goes to see her heart specialist for her check-up.  February looks nearly as bad!

Today was Detroit day.  I had two SF books waiting at the mailbox, and we went out for lunch.  Speaking of SF books, I have now surpassed reading and reviewing 300 books related to the authors of the Avon/Equinox SF series!  That's a lot of reading and reviewing!  And on it goes, with over 300 books in my waiting pile.  The bedroom looks quite ridiculous, but I find it rather cosy. 

Mapman Mike

Highpoints

Tuesday, October 23rd/18 

I seem to be on a roll at home lately, having read some truly remarkable novels, and listened to some of the best music ever penned.  Over the weekend we heard Benjamin Britten's spellbinding operatic version of "Turn of the Screw," from the novella by Henry James.  I studied the book in high school, but now need to reread it.  We are searching for an audio version on-line.  Britten brings exactly the right sense of drama to the work, and it will stick with me for a long time.

Brahms' Op 53 and Op 54, two works for solo voice and orchestra, are spellbinding in different ways, but essential to hear if one claims to love music.  Op 53 was Clara Schumann's favourite piece by Brahms, and Op 54 continues to be one of his most popular.  Earlier in music history  we have Haydn's Symphonies 41 in C Major and 42 in D Major.  Very different works, indeed, but captiving, energizing, and completely wonderful little worlds unto themselves.

In SF literature, reading "Aniara" by Harry Martinson (a Nobel Prize winner for literature) was one of the most moving experiences of my life.  He gets completely and utterly to the important matter, and the whole epic poem is a hymn to Earth, and to those who realize what we have (the prize of the galaxy, no less).  I will reread this book until I wear out the pages.  Also recently devoured was an utterly brilliant story called "Greener Than You Think," by the genius writer Ward Moore, who also brought us "Bring The Jubilee."  It actually has a lot in common with Martinson's novel, and it is interesting that by chance I read them back to back.  Reviews can be found in my Avon/Equinox blog, in the left margin.

We are continuing with the visually stunning PC game called "Obduction."  It has proved impossible to solve without a walkthru, and even then has been very challenging to try and finish it.  However, I am often just happy and sit and stare at it, or walk through the many different landscapes.

Lone Mtn Homestead Leisure Time Pursuits

Monday, October 15th/18 

With students fleeing piano lessons this year, I am way down in both numbers and hours.  It means a lot less travelling abroad next year, with possibly no major trip on the horizon after Vienna.  I can live with that for now, since it affords me more opportunities for observing, reading, writing, listening, practicing, gaming, and every other pursuit that interests me.  Teaching music for 37 years has never been boring or a disappointment, but I'm certain I will survive with many fewer students.  In fact I have no urge to even advertise open positions.  It is what it is.  If there is less money for travel, so be it.

We have been playing a visually astounding PC Windows game called Obduction, from the people who brought you Myst.  It started out quite great, with decent puzzles and mind-blowing graphics.  Now the graphics are decent and the puzzles are mind-blowing.  We have no hope of finishing the game, even with a very sketchy walk through.  We are stuck in a hell, nicknamed "the gauntlet," which appears just before "the maze."  The puzzles have been beyond Mensa level, which is evident from the comment boards, where virtually everyone has resorted to the walk through, often, like us, without luck.  Game designers apparently have not learned valuable lessons even today.  Needless to say we will not be purchasing their newest game.  On my older upstairs computer I am playing a very old game called The Last Express, which came out around the same time as Myst.  It runs perfectly on the old computer, and is quite fun, as you embark on the Orient Express in Paris, and become involved in a murder and mystery on board as the train travels past different stations.

Music home listening continues on three fronts.  We have finished with the first 40 Symphonies of Haydn, as well as up to and including the Op. 53 of Brahms and Britten.  Brahms Op. 54 coming up later tonight!  

Astronomy has been a disaster due to incredibly hazy and/or cloudy weather.  October is usually the best time to observe, and this month there was not a single good night to do so when the moon was out of the way.  In 2016 from July through October I was able to get out and observe 29 times.  In the same period of 2017 (a very bad year) I went out 16 times.  This year my grand total is 10!  I fear that I see a trend here, and it's not a pretty one.  So it is even more important that I am able to get out on almost any clear night, thanks to two less evenings of teaching.  The moon is waxing now, so of course it is wonderfully clear tonight.....

My Avon/Equinox reading project is still going great guns.  My right eye cataract is worsening, so it will need fixing.  I will try to arrange for the surgery right after our Vienna trip.  I currently have an appointment with my optometrist on Oct. 31st.  He will then refer me to a specialist, hopefully Dr. Emara, who did my left eye a few years ago.  Anyway, I am still reading like a demon.  I finished three books on the NM trip, including the enormous biography of Brahms.  I just recently discovered that the same author penned a Beethoven biography that was recently published.   Sounds like a must-read!  In the past two weeks I have finished and reviewed 8 books!  I am currently reading an early one by Robert Silverberg, having just finished a really fascinating one by Hal Clement.  Clement is a hard-science writer; he chooses an interesting situation on an interesting planet and then goes about demonstrating how things work there.  He  wrote a short series (two novels and three stories) about the planet Mesklin and its caterpillar-like inhabitants, and it proved to be one of the most fascinating discoveries so far in my reading project.  I have read the first novel (Mission of Gravity) and two short stories.  The novel was absolutely mind-blowing!  I have discovered so many fabulous authors in this reading project (see my Avon/Equinox page for a full blown discussion)!

My only current writing project is trying to finish the NM Trip #38 journal.  It's nearly done.  the problem is that I physically write this, and I find that I cannot write for more than 30 minutes at a time.  It should be finished soon, and I will begin work on the web version.  In other writing projects, I have a good start on my 2nd Valeria the Vegetarian Vampire story, and hope to finish it before winter is out.  With two short books in hand and ideas for at least two more, that will be the time to approach publishers.  Once published, Hollywood should snap up the film rights, and we will live the high life in California!  We will still visit Canada occasionally.