Yvette Keller's Blog, page 20

Book Review: The Binge Continues

My historical romance binge continues with a three-book series called The Extraordinaries, by author Melissa McShane. Let’s be honest: I read these books because of the GORGEOUS covers. It happens.

You will probably enjoy this series if you are a fan of naval war books like the Horatio Hornblower novels but with a fantasy twist, like the Glamourist Histories.

Burning Bright introduces us to a Regency world where children, usually in upper-class families, develop “extraordinary” genetic trai...

2018 Reading Goals: JASNA Book Club

One of my goals this year is to read more books. Since I love talking about what I read, a way to do that is to read and discuss with my local JASNA chapter (which happens to be the Ventura JASNA Book Club).

If you want to join the fun, we will be reading:

January – What Regency Women Did for Us by Rachel Bowles

February – The Making of Jane Austen by Devoney Looser

March – Eligible by Curtis Sittenfeld

April – Hermsprong; Or, Man as He is Not by Robert Bage; and an essay entitled “Sleepin...

Reading for Escape

Permission (from me) to immerse myself in books is my favorite thing about the winter holiday. Curling up, warm and cozy, with nothing to do but sleep in, read, and eat holiday foods is one flavor of paradise.

Over the past few years, holiday reading is also about trying to catch up to my annual reading goal. I work on finishing books I started and put down, or pick short, fun reads to allow me to catch up quickly. It has inadvertently become an annual ritual. Last year it was the Brother Ca...

Thomas Fire: Day 17

I think we’re going to be ok.

By “we” I mean my beloved home town of Santa Barbara. Me? I was never in real danger. (Right?)

The Thomas fire is now the 2nd largest in the history of CA. The LA Times says that looks like this:

This fire is losing to better weather, and an unbelievable amount of hard work by brave people. Including, at one point, over 800 fire trucks. 800. That looks like this:

My friend Angela Borda reflected on the metaphysics of this fire, and of the Chinese Year of the F...

Thomas Fire: Day 7

Back to Scary.

Fire spreading very fast.

Being fought very hard.

I’m helping older friends prepare and evac. by calling them, their out of town family, and offering to home their stuff.

Fire on track to be the record largest fire ever…

…not fun.

Fingers crossed tomorrow will be better news.

 

Thomas Fire: Day 6

I haven’t left my house since Monday.

At first it was the sore throat and congestion. Then the air quality kept me inside with every window shut tight and air filters going.

We decided to catch up on errands and see a movie, Jane, today.

The new Santa Barbara International Film Featival Headquarters and the Lynda and Bruce Riviera Theater are beautiful.

Since we were in the area, we drove up to Francheschi Park to see how the town’s air quality was faring. Here’s what we saw.

Thomas Fire: Day 5 and Evacuation Opinions

Good morning, and welcome to good fire news!

Winds are cooperating and the fire did not move much overnight. It is still only 10% contained, but uncontained in unpopulated areas. I grieve for the trees and wildlife of Los Padres National Forest, but am glad the coast is safe.

Air quality in SB is much better.

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Some of you may not know, but this is the third fire I’ve seen living in SB. I voluntarily evacuated my childhood home during the Painted Cave Fire in 1990. At a time without cell...

Thomas Fire: Night 4

Emergency preparedness, CHECK. I’m missing some water bottles, but otherwise the list looks good. I’ve staged true emergency items. Will pack a bag with clothes in the AM.

I also began to contemplate how photos and photo albums could best be transported, and decided the answer is old luggage and duffel bags with handles and wheels.

Watched the meeting and discussion by all the local Sheriff, fire, and elected officials. I’m feeling good about where the professionals are setting dozer lines (...

Thomas Fire: Day 4

Thanks to the WiFire tool, it is possible to scare yourself shitless while waiting to see whether your beloved city will be destroyed by fire.

From their website:

WIFIRE is an integrated system for wildfire analysis, with specific regard to changing urban dynamics and climate. The system integrates networked observations such as heterogeneous satellite data and real-time remote sensor data, with computational techniques in signal processing, visualization, modeling, and data assimilation to...

Finnemore Fridays: Train Travel

Amtrak and I have a love-hate relationship. I love the uninterrupted (except by beautiful views) work time. I often choose the train to travel so I can QC audiobooks, write, and occasionally catch up on sleep from late-night recording sessions.

Something about the Ca-Chunk, Ca-Chunk rhythm (modern trains do not clickety-clack, alas) and the camaraderie of the dining car desserts makes for a bubble of time and space that is removed, unique, and productive.

Of course it often takes ten hours...