Mom's Guide to the Galaxy

Papa’s Gift (part 1)

Back in 2015 (how is that 4 years ago already?), a story came together at the right time to submit it to WindyCon’s short story competition. I was pleasantly surprised when I received an honorable mention in the contest, more so when I realize there were over twenty stories competing. Because of the length, the story will be split across multiple posts. Enjoy!

Monster has retreated to its lair

The flying snake seen near Custer, South Dakota has retreated into the caves at Wind Cave National Park following a fight with National Guard forces. Wind Cave National Park is closed until further notice.

I was just a kid getting by until a couple days after The Rupture. When I lost my mother the year before, she told me “Evie, you’ve got to believe. I’m ready to go. I hate to leave you, but believe, please, that I am going to a better place.”

“I believe, Momma, but I don’t understand.”

Yeah, that’s what I said. Not a sappy, “I love you,” or “you’ll always be with me.” I said, “I don’t understand.”

I still don’t understand why she died, why cancer picks one person but not another. But I do understand many other things. Some I wish I didn’t. Because when you speak, I hear what you say. But I hear what you don’t say as well, the meaning behind your words. And that, beyond so many other Gifts, made me useful.

It put me in a position to be involved in the early days of our local situation. Papa and I have travelled in the nearby states since things settled down, at least in the areas where it’s safe. I’m collecting stories from everybody I can, combining what they said and what they really meant. Papa and I have agreed that we’ll do a road trip before college, so we can travel farther and talk to more people. I’ll post on my blog as I travel, trying to get a feel for how different areas of the country were affected.

But let me back up to the beginning, to the night of The Rupture. It was a Friday night in the middle of May, and I was home with Aunt Mary. Papa worked most Friday nights so we could have Saturdays together. I’d finished what little homework I had for the weekend and was helping Aunt Mary get some seeds into the ground. She called what we were doing subsistence gardening; I called it future pumpkin pies. She wore dainty gardening gloves to protect her nail polish, handing me the seeds to place in the ground. I opened a hole by poking a pencil into the ground, dropped the seed in, then shoved the dirt over it with my bare hands. Nail polish had no business on my fingers, and the dirt would wash off soon enough.

We were about halfway through planting our summer squash and pumpkins when the sky darkened abruptly. Not your usual storm rolling in darkening, this was light one minute and dark the next. Aunt Mary grabbed her seeds and I shoved the pencil in my back pocket as we rushed for the porch, thinking a tornado was about to hit or the skies were about to open up on us.

And they did open up, but not with rain. All around the world, a crack appeared in the sky, like lightning flashing when it stretches across the horizon, but this lightning was purple, then blue, and finally a bright flash of red. And it happened everywhere on Earth at the exact same time, as we found out over the next few days.

Not surprisingly, it was the headline on the evening news, which Aunt Mary still watched, and for most news sites the next morning. Some news writer called it a “rupture in space,” and the name stuck. Scientists were puzzled and photographers entranced.

Things got weird pretty quickly after that. The headlines on most news sites looked like those tabloids you read when you’re bored in line at the grocery store. (Aunt Mary always picked the longest line so she could read all of the headlines.) Monster sightings went well beyond the Bigfoot tales at the checkout lane, with photos and videos as proof, especially that flying snake that landed on Mount Rushmore with hundreds of tourists watching. Those were mixed in with tales of people suddenly having strange abilities, like a kid seen levitating a few feet before walking away as his bicycle was crushed by a car, and a mother claiming her kid was turning into a cat to hide from her.

But Aunt Mary and I were busy on Saturday, finishing up the interrupted planting and harvesting some early veggies, like spinach and radishes, so we could replant those spots. While we planted, Papa turned the compost piles, then took me to see a movie while Aunt Mary sat on the porch and sipped iced tea. It was the proper way to spend a Saturday afternoon, she said, waiting for her friends to visit instead of hiding inside on a beautiful day.

We didn’t hear about anything weird until Aunt Mary turned on the evening news, and it wasn’t until Sunday morning that we saw any signs of these changes here in Edwardsville.

My furry girls

Diane (a black & white cat), Arwen (a white & black cat), and June (a tortoiseshell cat) — Diane, Arwen, and June

I mention my cats in passing frequently, so I thought I’d dedicate a little more space to them this once. They do their best to keep my life interesting, each in their own way. This is a rare photo of all three of them together. It would have been convenient if they’d arranged themselves by age for the purpose of this post, but that wouldn’t be particularly cat-like.

Starting from the left, Diane is the oldest. She was adopted in 2009 when we suddenly found ourselves as a one-cat house, and that cat, Mungojerrie, was making it quite clear that it wasn’t acceptable. As I recall, he was actively looking for companions in the middle of the night, at volume that reminded us that our black cat was part Siamese. We stopped at a local pet store – the general pet stores near us partner with shelters in the area – and Diane called out for our attention. I do mean that literally, she meowed at us as from her enclosure. It wasn’t long before she and Mungo were happily curled up together. She is the largest cat in the house, mainly noticeable when she decides to walk on me. Twelve pounds isn’t a lot to pick up; it’s fairly significant when distributed across a paw or two when you’re lying in bed. Fortunately, she usually prefers to lay beside me.

In the middle is Arwen, our toe-biting, counter-climbing kitten. (Technically, at almost two, she’s no longer a kitten. But I don’t think she’s realized that.) Diane still hisses at her sometimes, which makes this photo all the rarer – Arwen had to wait until Diane was settled before coming near her on the sofa. Arwen attacks toes (at least, mine) a little less than when she first moved in, but climbs on everything and anything, especially if she thinks there’s food available. Because of her, my kitchen cabinets now have child locks, and she ends up banished to a bedroom while we’re eating.

Delusional cat

trying to steal from my plate.

She’s locked up again.

When I serve them canned food, it’s a constant battle of keeping her off the counter while I scoop it into their bowls. Diane assists me sometimes, poised with one paw in the air, ready to swat at Arwen when I push her off the counter. Arwen makes up for it by curling up on my arm at night and purring me to sleep.

The rightmost cat is June, the mom cat of the family. When we adopted her, she was just over a year, and two of her kittens were available for adoption as well. She will bathe any other cat that’s available, and any people who let her. (No, thank you!) She used to be amazingly skittish, bolting whenever a cabinet closed too loudly or somebody went in or out of the house. She rarely flees now, though she is still the best at “it’s time for the vet hide-and-seek”. On any given day, she curls up with one of the other cats, waking up occasionally to bathe them. On cold nights, she likes sleeping under the covers, though she never stays the whole night. She doubles as an alarm clock, making sure I’m awake to feed them breakfast at an unreasonable hour.

Ethics and home ownership

When you buy a home, at least in this country, some assumptions are made by the bank and your neighbors, and to some extent, by yourself. Your neighbors assume you will maintain the property, particularly the visible bits, in a way that will maintain or increase the value of the home. In some areas, this is enforceable – the city will warn you if you fail at certain maintenance work, such as keeping your lawn and weeds below a specified height, or unrepaired parts of the exterior that are unsightly. More so if your house is in a HomeOwners Assocation (HOA); their rules are stricter.

I don’t have a problem with that concept, it seems a fair part of homeownership and belonging to a neighborhood. I managed to avoid buying a house with an HOA, though I did look at a couple when I was house-hunting. (That was not the deciding factor.) The exterior maintenance I’ve done has really been for my own comfort – the big projects have been improving the ventilation to the attic, adding insulation, and replacing the windows. One of my long term projects is to replace the siding on the house. The current siding is an older style which is no longer produced, so it needs to be fully replaced when it goes.

And therein, we come to the discussion of ethics. Last summer, a hail storm hit the area fairly hard. A good chunk of the neighborhood replaced roofing, siding, or both, as a result of the storm. In the first week after the storm, I had over a dozen companies stop by with business details, offering to inspect both my roof and siding for damage. One was the company that installed my soffits, gutters, and attic insulation; I let them check for damage. After a cursory walk around the house, they reported that they found no new damage.

Here were are, nine months after the incident, and I’m still getting the occasional drive-by visit from companies that want my insurance’s business of repairing the roofing and siding. This last one bugged me. Their flyers – pre-printed – said “YOUR ALUMINUM SIDING and/or ROOF HAVE HAIL DAMAGE! YOUR INSURANCE WILL PAY US TO REPLACE IT WITH BRAND NEW VINYL SIDING!!”. The flyer ends with (still in all caps, and really, I have limits to how much of that I want to see) “You’ve been paying insurance your whole life, now is the time to finally get something back!!” The guy at the door reinforced this – he told me that if he could find even one section that appeared to be damaged from the storm, the insurance would pay to replace all of it.

I’m all for using insurance when something happens that requires it. Health insurance covered the birth of a child and my appendectomy, both of which would have been painfully expensive without insurance. My car insurance came through for me after my accident. But I’m not going to abuse my insurance simply because I want new siding, knowing that there wasn’t significant damage to the siding from that particular storm. I’m also not going to pick a company that reminds me of ambulance chasers to do the work.

Some movie thoughts

I’ve seen a few distinctive movies recently and thought I’d talk about a couple of them. I’ll go light on spoilers, since one of them is still in theaters.

Dragon Blade – This historical fiction piece about a Roman army invading China’s Silk Road pairs up Jackie Chan and John Cusack against a corrupt Roman leader. Obviously, a movie with Jackie Chan has some great fight scenes, including some duels and larger battles. The dialogue was about what you’d expect from an action movie… not memorable, but not too corny, and while the outcome was predictable, plot points within the movie came as a surprise.

Tag – This movie about adults playing a 30-year game of tag is rated R for a reason… there are significant portions of dialogue you do not want to explain to a child. Once you get past that, it’s a fun romp about a group of adults that set aside one month a year to sneak up on their friends – in other cities – for an extended game of tag, and the one friend they’ve never managed to tag.

Shazam! – Just out in theaters, this is a fun DC movie, now that they’ve realized they can sell something other than mopey Superman and Batman flicks. Shazam! goes beyond the goofy moments in Aquaman to entertain viewers while relaying a solid message similar to Lilo & Stitch or Mrs. Doubtfire about family being what we make of it. There are some great moments as Billy explores his powers and discovers the importance of using them wisely. My biggest question about the movie, however, was why “Shazam,” composed of a mix of Jewish, Greek, and Roman strengths, is responsible for containing the seven deadly sins from Christianity.

Professor Marston and the Wonder Women – This is a fabulous not for kids movie exploring the origins behind Wonder Woman. Professor Marston, addressing criticism of Wonder Woman, explains the psychology that the comic book is supposed to be teaching, exploring the DISC assessment with the censors who were interrogating him. The movie delves into the polyamorous relationship between Professor Marston, his wife Elizabeth, and their student and girlfriend, Olive, and the difficulties of raising a non-traditional family in the pre-World War 2 era.

Signs of spring continue

I’m thoroughly enjoying the warmer weather and the time I get to spend outside as a result. It’s not doing much for my Pokémon Go tendencies – there’s so much work to do in the garden, I don’t have time to walk to the nearby gyms and stops. Once everything is planted and at a maintenance level for the season, I’m sure I’ll get more walking in.

That said, I’ve continued mulching all around the garden, both as a weed suppressant and because it looks nice. I’m expecting to have my strawberry plants in the ground by the end of the week, with all of the pavers set so I can reach every part of the garden bed. Most of last year’s mint has been trimmed back, and the dried ends pulled off the chives to see (and taste) the new growth in the spring. I have a couple more plant remnants to pull out before I can start putting seeds in the ground for the early plantings, like salad greens.

The yard has been brimming with wildlife as the robins and other birds return. It’s hard to keep the bird feeders filled, not only because the neighborhood squirrels keep visiting, but also the abundance of birds that perch in the nearby trees. The squirrels do tend to knock all the seed onto the ground, which makes it more accessible to the gathered birds.

Squirrel on a hanging bird feeder — This squirrel is a regular visitor

Given the variable weather in Chicagoland, I’m never quite sure when the first grilling of the season will be. I’m pleased to say that I lit of the grill already… on the last day of March. Well, technically, I cooked on it; Cassandra lit it. I’m looking forward to continued grilling throughout the warm months.

Spring is here.

Spring is here. Life is skittles and life is beer.*

Gardenzilla and wood paver tiles in the new garden bed, eagerly awaiting strawberry plants

It’s gardening season! It warmed up a bit, so I was out at the hardware store last weekend buying dirt for the new garden bed. This is by far my easiest garden bed setup since I moved in – I’m repurposing an existing area that had rocks and the occasional weed. I started working on it in the fall, piling leaves there instead of paying to have them removed, then weighing them down with free mulch from the city. Early last week, as it warmed up, I stopped for some more city mulch, and was thrilled to find pine trees mulched into the pile. After several buckets, I was ready to add dirt, followed by some paving tiles down the center. I’ll need another set of paving tiles, so I can reach all of the strawberry plants I intend to add to the bed, but it’s off to a good start.

Garden storage cabinet and a yard cart — New outdoor storage

Also on Saturday, with some fairly significant assistance, my garden storage cabinet was assembled. The shed that came with the house was in questionable condition when I moved in, and is getting progressively worse: the roof that shows wear and tear on the outside, leaks and is growing mushrooms on the inside. On top of that, somebody created a smaller, secondary door in the hidden side of the shed during the winter. One of my goals for this year is to remove that shed, but in order to do that, I need someplace for my gardening tools to live. With the storage cabinet assembled and populated, the project is off to a good start.

*No pigeons were harmed while writing this blog post. Also, I don’t like beer.

Little Bohemia Restaurant

Every so often, after visiting Brookfield Zoo, we find ourselves wandering through Riverside looking for lunch. After last fall’s ZooRunRun, I had a particular restaurant in mind to re-visit, only to find we had arrived before they opened. A quick Google search turned up a nearby Bohemian restaurant that was already open, so we walked that direction. And almost walked past it… the door is tucked in, so we got to the window and had to take a few steps back once we verified that it was the right door.

It would have been a shame to miss this delightful restaurant. I meant to write about it back then, but other things came up and kept me busy. Then this Sunday, after wandering around Brookfield Zoo again, we specifically headed to the Little Bohemia Restaurant again. The inside is small enough to feel cozy without feeling cramped, allowing staff to keep an eye on diners’ needs without feeling like they’re hovering.

Bread basket, beef noodle soup, corned beef dinner, and a custard-filled donut — A full meal at the Little Bohemia Restaurant

But what about the food? We are talking about a restaurant, after all. We each ordered a dinner plate, which included soup, the entree with sides, and a dessert, along with a bread basket for the table. The portion sizes seemed right, most of us had just enough room for dessert after finishing our entrees, and it was all delicious. It was also surprisingly cheap – all that food came out to about $14 each. We will certainly be back.

As winter ends…

gardening season begins. We’ve hit 60 degrees already – though it’s about to drop again – and you’d better believe that I’ve been outside tending to my garden. I started with the new solar path lanterns that I picked up at Costco with my annual rebate, a perk that comes with having a Costco-branded credit card. They were actually a filler, my big rebate purchase was an outside storage cabinet that still needs to be assembled. I think the box doesn’t do the lights justice; they are way cooler when lit than I expected.

Solar lights with a sun pattern — Check out the cool sun pattern.

Then I set up the long overdue rain barrel in my back yard. I could have placed it by a gutter and installed a rain diverter, but realistically, I need it by my back garden beds, which are the furthest from the hose. It would collect more water attached to a gutter, but it wouldn’t be as useful. I started it off with a bit of water from the hose to weigh it down, to prevent it from blowing into the neighbor’s yard before it rains again. Conveniently enough, it rained on and off for the rest of the day, so it has some additional water supplementing what I started with.

As long as I was out there, I found myself pulling a few weeds and some plant remnants from last year’s garden. Soon, I’ll be out there regularly, trimming off the old dry mint to let the new growth peek through, and getting seeds into the ground. Spring is just around the corner, and not too long after the start of gardening season, we get grilling season.

The City of Lost Fortunes by Bryan Camp

Near the end of 2017, I reviewed The City of Lost Fortunes by Bryan Camp. In my notes about the book, I wrote “Not expecting a sequel, but would like to read more in this world.” To my delight, I recently received the next Crescent City novel, Gather the Fortunes. That review isn’t ready to share… OK, I haven’t finished writing it. But the second book was as delightful as the first, so here is the review I wrote about The City of Lost Fortunes for the February 2018 issue of Booklist. I highly recommend keeping an eye out for more fabulous writing by Bryan Camp.

Bryan Camp’s debut novel, The City of Lost Fortunes, fashions a supernatural world that barely hides on the fringe of society, manipulating the city of New Orleans. Six years after Hurricane Katrina, Jude Dubuisson is still struggling to control his magical ability to find lost things; it went haywire when the hurricane hit. The ability was somehow inherited from his father who was more than human; unfortunately, that’s all Jude knows about him. Having worked with the supernatural crowd before the hurricane, Jude is dragged back into that world by a debt owed to Dodge, the Fortune god of New Orleans, where he finds himself playing a poker game with rules, stakes, and (tarot) cards he doesn’t understand. The situation is aggravated by Dodge’s murder, which Jude is forced to investigate to avoid becoming the primary suspect. He’s fairly sure he didn’t do it, and hopes that investigating will clue him in to the rules and stakes of the ongoing poker game, assuming the dark presence that’s stalking him doesn’t kill him first. There isn’t a dull page as Jude determines who his real friends are and the extent of his abilities. Anne Rice fans will enjoy this fresh view of supernatural life in New Orleans, while fans of Kim Harrison’s urban fantasy will have a new author to watch.

For a good cause.

Frances with hair in February 2018 — Frances with hair (February 2018)

There are two charity events I try to participate in each year: the Hustle Chicago and the Brookfield ZooRunRun (or ZooRunWalk, as I call it). The Chicago Hustle is a stair climb, walking up the building formerly known as the John Hancock Center to raise money for lung disease research. In our case, we opt for the half climb, which is only 52 floors.

The Brookfield ZooRunRun is, not surprisingly, an event that supports Brookfield Zoo, one of the two large zoos in the Chicagoland area. It’s a 5k within the zoo, including along some paths that are normally restricted to zoo vehicles, before normally opening time. Some people show up wearing animal headbands or hats, or even in animal costumes, so you never know what you’re going to see as you walk or run the route through the zoo. It’s a lovely way to spend an autumn Sunday morning.

Less frequently, but just as eagerly, I sometimes participate in a St. Baldrick’s event. No, there isn’t really a saint named Baldrick; the event name came from merging “bald” – for how people look after shaving off their hair – and St. Patrick, because the first event was held at a St. Patrick’s Day party. Participants raise money for childhood cancer research by shaving their heads. (You don’t have to shave all of your hair off… but I think it’s more fun that way.)

This year will be my third time participating in a St. Baldrick’s event. The second time I did it, I had been at my job for under a year and only warned a couple people in my office that I was doing it. I have learned not to freak people out like that.

There are an assortment of creative and fun ways to give to various charities. And, as the founders of St. Baldrick’s proved, if there isn’t one, you can create one. In my case, that means three more weeks of hair keeping my ears warm, and then hats until spring finally arrives.