Bulb Packages and Beneficial Insects

Two new articles are up at my Flower Garden site at Garden and Hearth.

Insects Wanted in the Flower Garden is a list of a few types of beneficial insects that most people are probably familiar with. I often see gardeners spraying pesticides and crushing every bug they see. Being polite, I don't tell them that they are just making extra work for themselves, but I hope this article enlightens at least a few of those gardeners.

The second article is a short glossary-type piece defining the terms you might come across on a package of bulbs (because now is the time to be planting them in the Northern Hemisphere, but you knew that, right?) It defines bulb, corm, rhizome, tuber, and tuberous root, as well as pointing out the differences between fall bulbs (bulbs planted in the fall to bloom in the spring) and fall-blooming bulbs.

The Fall Garden

I planted my fall garden this week. Plenty of autumn blooms to look at -- rock rose, salvia (purple), chrysanthemums (one of each color from the garden center), dianthus, marigolds, zinnias, gazanias (I'd never heard of those before, but they are pretty), and snapdragons. It is a cacophony of colors. From hot pink to purple to orange, red, and yellow, I think I managed to represent the entire rainbow.

We'll just have to wait to see how my design skills held up. Right now, they are all small plants (cheaper that way) and they need to fill in. Once the mulch between them is covered with foliage, I think it will look great.

Shaggy & Scooby-Doo Get A Clue!

Shaggy and Scooby-Doo Get A Clue! premiered on Saturday and we've watched it a half-dozen times since then. It's very popular in my house.

When I first saw this one, I was put off by the new animation. (What? They're trying something new? Shades of Scrappy and Scooby-Dum...) Also different is the lack of Velma, Daphne, and Fred. It's mostly Shaggy and Scooby by themselves. Fortunately, it's well-done and funny.

Scooby and Shaggy have an empty fridge and the looming crisis is causing witty barbs between the friends. Shaggy received a phone call that his Uncle Albert has left him everything. We find out a few moments later that Uncle Albert didn't pass away, he just disappeared. "Sounds like a mystery," according to Scooby. This uncle was an inventor and a robot named Robi greets them when they arrive at the massive estate.

Shaggy and Scooby start goofing around with the inventions. "Last one in the shrinking ray's a rotten egg." They find a note, left by Uncle Albert, that tells them evil villain Dr. Phibes is plotting to take over the world using Uncle Albert's inventions. Shaggy and Scooby become embroiled in the villain's nefarious schemes and must foil the plot.

Do Shaggy and Scooby get a clue? I'd suggest checking this one out.

Newsarama talk with the producers.

Movie Review - Scooby-Doo in Pirates Ahoy!

Scooby-Doo in Pirates Ahoy! came out, appropriately enough, on International Talk Like A Pirate Day. We had to rush to the store and buy this one immediately after school. My daughter finished her homework in record time and we snuggled up to watch this latest Scooby adventure.

The Scooby gang is going on a cruise, courtesy of Fred's parents. Shaggy and Scooby are thrilled that they get a non-spooky vacation. Of course, you and I know that something will happen, and it does. When they enter the Bermuda Triangle, a green glowing fog surrounds the ship and ghost pirates board the cruise ship. Fred's mom is turned into a zombie pirate and the gang must figure out a way to save everyone.

Lots of pratfalls and generally goofy stuff happens and Scooby and Shaggy save the day. (Oops! Was that a spoiler?)

The only thing I wasn't crazy about was the new treatment of Daphne. She's goofy and imperfect--very un-Daphne-esque. I'm not sure why they chose to do that. It sort of took away from Shaggy and Scooby and their goofiness.

Still, if your kid is a big Scooby fan, this will satisfy. Big thumbs up.

Movie Review - Barbie and the 12 Dancing Princesses

Barbie and the Twelve Dancing Princesses

This latest addition to the Barbie made-for-DVD movies is a charmer. Barbie is Genevieve, one of twelve daughters of a widowed king. The girls have a happy life until the king is made aware of his daughters' less than princesslike behavior, such as walking on stilts, having insects as pets, and reading books.

The king brings in the Duchess Rowena to teach the girls courtly ways. Immediately, things change as the duchess removes the color from their lives--grey dresses, grey bedspreads, no toys, books, or other things--and sets up a regimented schedule for them. This is particularly hardest on the nearly five-year-old triplets, but when the king, their father, mysteriously takes ill, things go downhill for the girls fast.

When the triplets' birthday arrives, the sisters wake them with the traditional birthday morning song, a dance, and presents. Duchess Rowena arrives and puts a halt to the celebration. Later that evening, the princesses look at the gifts. While their mother was still alive, she had a book made for each daughter. These books, when taken together, hold a key to a magical place the princesses can escape to each night.

Only one part might be frightening, and that was when Duchess Rowena discovered the magical place and trapped them there. I had to reassure my daughter that the princesses would use their minds to figure out an escape and help their father.

Overall, though, this is a good movie for little girls who like fairy tales. Lots of dancing, singing, and lovely visuals keep children entranced.

Marigolds

I have new article up on Garden and Hearth about marigolds. They are great for the fall season because of their sunny blooms. If you're in the southern hemisphere, the yellows and oranges go really well with spring, too.

Lost

Three more weeks until Lost returns in its third season. Or is it four? I'm on the edge of my seat.

Will Michael and Walt come back to the island? Walt will miss Vincent for sure. Maybe he'll wait for his father to go to sleep and steer the boat to the beach in order to get his dog.

What about Kate, Jack, and Sawyer? They've been central to the series, so I'm sure we'll follow them to wherever their captors are taking them. Will Hurley double back and spring them? Or will he go back to the beach? If he goes back to the beach, there is an excellent opportunity for some of the redshirts to become backstory characters.

Poor Locke. I almost feel sorry for him. We knew the fake Henry Gale was lying to him, but Locke truly believed. He needs something to believe so badly. When he finds out he wasn't one of the "chosen" good ones, he will have another breakdown.

Eko and Charlie are a strange team. Charlie traded one dependency for another and now that Eko has abandoned him, what will he do? And Eko's visions are unclear to say the least. He thinks he is following them, but it seems to me there is plenty of room for interpretation of what his brother said to him and what Eko saw.

Island time moves slowly -- two years in our time is a little over two months in island time. Sun is recently pregnant, so that may become a plot point, or she may not have that baby for seven more years.

The issue of pregnancy and babies is one that the show has concentrated on. Claire and Aaron have been the source of plot points and seemingly minor asides (but possibly major at some later date). Sun's baby probably will come into play as well.

My favorite plotline involves Desmond and Penny. Penny has been looking for the island, but why? To spite her father? Because she knows what's there? What is there? The potential for two lovers to reunite makes my romantic heart go pitter-pat. Of course, the potential for Desmond to die just as Penny reaches the island is also there. I hope not, but we'll see.

Children's Songs in Occitan

Finally, I have found a site that has written Occitan, spoken (and sung) Occitan, and English. The English part is important to me. I have spent time on some sites trying, with my lack of experience in the language, to figure out what is being said, only to find that I am reading French. I did so poorly in French 101 that I promptly switched languages. It is a language that I suppose will always remain a mystery to me.

Anyway, the site is Mama Lisa's World and it showcases children's songs from around the world. Here is the page for Occitan.

Writing Contests Revisited

Haruah's writing contest is still ongoing. We're accepting fiction (no minimum or maximum word count) or poetry. Only a few days left to get your entries in. Did I mention there is a prize for the winners?

The Avon FanLit competition started. I've been over there voting today. Lots of really good entries. I can't believe how much fun this is. Get over there and check it out (after you enter your fiction at Haruah), even if you only read the entries and vote on them.

Book Review -- Sweetness in the Belly

Sweetness in the Belly
by Camilla Gibb
The Penguin Press, 2006
ISBN 1-59420-084-X

A story about an orphaned British girl growing up in Africa under Islam, this novel examines love, faith, longing, and regret. Lilly, the main character, starts the novel as a nurse in England in the early 1980s. Here, we are introduced to her faith, her traditions, and her hopes and fears. Soon the novel shifts back in time to Harar, Ethiopia in the early 1970s and the end of what Lilly calls a pilgrimage, but what we soon learn is a flight. As these two timelines progress, Lilly's life unfolds with all the trials of a being a foreigner in a fairly closed society and being a girl growing up without family and having to make her own ties to the community.

Ours was a rich and good life in a small and peaceful place, a self-contained universe hooked up to its own generator. But after seven years of devotion – measuring the weight of every word, savoring the hard edges, feeling them dissolve in my mouth as I stood, as I kneeled, as I pressed my forehead to the ground – the insularity of our bubble burst.

When Lilly is fifteen, her life of study ends and the next phase begins. Her life in Harar is difficult when the local sheikh refuses to honor her adopted father's wishes that she be allowed to continue her studies. He sends her into the streets of Harar where she knows no one, not even the language. One of the sheikh's wives takes Lilly to a relative for shelter. Lilly soon finds she must earn her own way and earn the respect of the community, things she has taken for granted her whole life.

The revolution in Ethiopia which deposed Emperor Haile Selassie sends thousands of Ethiopians across the world as refugees, among them Lilly. She leaves behind the man she has fallen in love with and the family she has grown into and returns to England, a place she doesn't remember. She settles in with the other refugees, resisting assimilation for as long as she can, holding out hope that someone she knows will also surface and she can again find that sense of community for which she worked so hard.

To me, Ethiopia has always been that country on the news where people starved to death and the government allowed it. I knew little about the daily life of the people or the war that followed those images on the television. With beautiful prose, Camilla Gibb explores this time and place and lets me peek into what might have been.

New Articles

I've been hiking for the last few days, so I haven't been keeping the blog updated.

I have a book review up at Haruah. Jamaican Me Crazy: A Christmas Escape is Christian chick lit, but don't let that scare you. There's no preaching and you don't have to know anything about religion to enjoy the silliness in this book. It's good, clean fun.

Garden and Hearth has published my snapdragon article. Snapdragons are one of my favorite flowers for their color and easy care, as well as that nifty snapping sound their jaws make.

Crocodile Hunter Dies

Steve Irwin died from a stingray barb on 3 Sep 2006. MSNBC has a story about his death. I'm so sad. He's such an enjoyable character.

Meerkat Manor

Is this not the cutest soap opera ever? All the family struggles and squabbles, plus the excitement of the occasional "war" with the neighboring meerkats.

Flower and Zaphod are the leaders of the Whiskers colony. They patrol and forage in their territory, which includes several burrows. The limits of the colony seem to be the distance a group of foraging meerkats can go in one day.

Shakespeare is my favorite of the family. He's so sweet and caring and tough, all at the same time. The first season ended with a cliffhanger. The Lazuli, a rival meerkat colony, invaded the Whiskers's burrow while Shakespeare was babysitting the pups by himself. He took the pups deep into the burrow, but the Lazuli found him and there was a fight. By the end of the episode, the Whiskers family had returned and run off the Lazuli. The pups were found alive and unhurt, but separated in the burrow. The underground cameras saw no sign of Shakespeare.

Will he make it?

The new season starts on 29 Sep 2006 on Animal Planet. I'll be watching.

Avon Fanlit

Well, wow! There's some great stuff over at the Avon Fanlit forums. I've been reading some sample chapters and they are fantastic.