Once again, I watched a cheesy holiday movie so you don’t have to (unless you want to). We close out the week with Midnight at the Magnolia (2020), chosen to represent all the movies that fall into the “two people fake dating fall in love” category. Do I even really need to make official predictions for this one? We all know how this is going to end.
[Spoilers starting here.]
Best friends Maggie Quinn (Natalie Hall) and Jack Russo (Evan Williams) host Windy City Wakeup, a local morning radio show in Chicago. They’ve gotten the attention of big radio guy Judd Crawford (Peter Michael Dillon) who might syndicate them nationally if he likes them enough, and are currently doing a weeklong trial for Judd in the week between Christmas and New Year’s. To really make an impression on radio guy, Maggie and Jack come up with the idea to introduce the people they’re dating to their families while on air. Only problem is, they’ve both just been broken up with, so the solution they come up with is to pretend to date each other and reveal it at a livestreamed party at the Magnolia, a jazz bar that their dads own and run together.
Yeah, we all know they’re actually in love with each other. Sometime during their fake dating charade, it will cease to be an act and they’ll realize they’re more than friends. However, before they can truly be together, they need to have a big fight about something, possibly involving the words “there’s no time to explain.” One of them will then have to make a grand gesture declaring their love, proving once and for all that they’re meant to be together, and then they’ll be able to be a couple.
With some additional details, that’s how things play out. As they prepare the Magnolia for the New Year’s party, Jack and Maggie both come to the realization that maybe they kind of might like each other in a romantic sort of way. But to complicate matters, Jack’s old high school girlfriend Bianca makes an appearance, causing Jack to be late for a planned dinner/movie night with Maggie. This unearths all sorts of high school grievances, and Maggie refuses to listen to anything Jack has to say. They show up to the livestream the next day without having talked. Things go badly until Jack gets over his fear of commitment and publicly declares his love for Maggie, even singing her a song he wrote. Maggie returns Jack’s feelings, and they kiss at the stroke of midnight. One year later, Jack proposes to Maggie at their favorite sledding hill, and it’s happily ever after for our lovers.
Although I knew exactly how the movie would go, I actually found Midnight at the Magnolia more palatable than the majority of the other Christmas movies I watched. I think it’s because, yes, it’s cheesy and predictable, but it’s cheesy in the same way that dad jokes are cheesy, not cheesy in a “trying too hard to be inspirational” way. Natalie Hall and Evan Williams work pretty well together, and their characters being longtime best friends also gives their relationship some basis. They’ve known each other for more than a week and have spent lots of time together, so it’s not a true love in three days situation. [And now I want someone to make a movie about what happens after all these romcoms end, when the city girl returning to her small town hometown is now unemployed because she’s just quit her job for a guy, and they both realize they know almost nothing about each other.]
My final rankings for this year’s movies: A Castle for Christmas and Midnight at the Magnolia tie for least offensive, Falling for Christmas edges out The Knight Before Christmas solely because of Ralph dragging Tad through the Colorado wilderness, and Christmas with a Prince wins this year’s title of worst Christmas movie for being both not very good and filled with questionable medical practices. That’s it for this year; maybe I’ll be back next year with another batch of (in my opinion) bad holiday movies.
Saturday, December 24, 2022
Friday, December 23, 2022
Christmas with a Prince
As it turns out, there are so many of these festive romcoms with “Christmas” and “prince” in the title that it took me three tries to find the right one when I was googling the movie to make sure I had the name right. Christmas with a Prince was released in 2018 as a TV movie. I decided to try this movie because Netflix’s blurb said it was about a pediatrician, and I’m working my way through all the medical dramas I can find. However, I forgot that children in a hospital in a holiday movie can only be used for one purpose: Inspiration1, with a capital I. On that note, let’s go ahead and jump into this stirring and romantic story.
1Inspirational children say things like “It’s okay that I’m not getting any presents this year; the most important thing is that we’re all together as a family” while smiling beatifically. They also joyfully give away their toys and warm winter clothing to children even more disadvantaged than them.
[Spoilers from here on.]
Our cast of characters includes Dr. Tasha (Kaitlyn Leeb), a pediatrician in charge of a children’s cancer ward; her brother Jeff (Josh Dean), a nurse in her department; and Prince Alexander (Nick Hounslow), a prince. When Prince Alexander breaks his leg in a skiing accident, he needs somewhere to recover out of the public eye. Fortunately, his old school friend Jeff works at a conveniently located hospital and arranges to hide the prince in Tasha’s pediatric ward, where no one will be looking for him. Jeff and Tasha convince the Very Mean chief of medicine to let the prince stay at their hospital by telling her there will be a substantial donation made to the hospital. This all happened in the first ten minutes, and I decided it was enough for me to predict the rest of the movie.
From here, Tasha and Alexander will (obviously) fall in love, brought together by the darling children under Tasha’s care. Alexander, who starts out as a self-absorbed prince, will win over Tasha’s heart by bonding with the kids. He’ll be drawn to her by the care and concern she shows her patients. Except that after they realize that they like each other, the prince finds out that he’s allegedly promised to give a lot of money to the hospital, and he’s done no such thing. He accuses Tasha of pretending to like him only to get his money. She denies it, but it’s too late; he leaves the hospital and returns to his royal friends and family. Tasha confronts Jeff, who admits that he made up the money thing just to get the chief of medicine to agree to let Alexander stay. Now Tasha has to go after the prince, explain everything, and make a public declaration of her love, which Alexander accepts, and they skip off into his castle together (because there has to be a castle somewhere in a Hallmark-esque Christmas movie, doesn’t there?).
In actuality, there’s arguably even less that happens in the movie than in my prediction. Alexander, of course, is a favorite of the delightfully precocious children under Tasha’s care, playing with them and getting to know them during his stay at the hospital. Tasha, it turns out, had a crush on the prince when they were at school together, and now that she sees he’s not completely self-centered, finds herself liking him again. When Alexander heals enough to leave the hospital, he asks if Tasha will join him at a fancy Christmas party. She agrees, but just then a woman shows up claiming to be Alexander’s fiancée. He explains she’s not, and they go to the event, where this woman bizarrely tries to handwave the fiancé thing away, then five minutes later insults Tasha, telling her she’s not worthy of a prince. Alexander won’t hear of this, and Tasha even manages to win over his father, so good for her, and they can go ahead and live happily ever after.
If you can believe it, these movies keep getting worse. On top of the usual suspects (predictable plot, corny dialog, subpar acting), I have so many questions about Tasha’s hospital. The children are sick enough to spend days and weeks inpatient, but have no medical equipment in their rooms. The entire pediatric cancer ward appears to have about two nurses and one doctor. Tasha is a pediatrician; shouldn’t there at the very least be an oncologist somewhere around? Why does the prince need to stay at the hospital for a broken leg? And where on earth are all the children’s parents? Why are these supposedly extremely sick children running around unsupervised? So many questions, and no answers.
1Inspirational children say things like “It’s okay that I’m not getting any presents this year; the most important thing is that we’re all together as a family” while smiling beatifically. They also joyfully give away their toys and warm winter clothing to children even more disadvantaged than them.
[Spoilers from here on.]
Our cast of characters includes Dr. Tasha (Kaitlyn Leeb), a pediatrician in charge of a children’s cancer ward; her brother Jeff (Josh Dean), a nurse in her department; and Prince Alexander (Nick Hounslow), a prince. When Prince Alexander breaks his leg in a skiing accident, he needs somewhere to recover out of the public eye. Fortunately, his old school friend Jeff works at a conveniently located hospital and arranges to hide the prince in Tasha’s pediatric ward, where no one will be looking for him. Jeff and Tasha convince the Very Mean chief of medicine to let the prince stay at their hospital by telling her there will be a substantial donation made to the hospital. This all happened in the first ten minutes, and I decided it was enough for me to predict the rest of the movie.
From here, Tasha and Alexander will (obviously) fall in love, brought together by the darling children under Tasha’s care. Alexander, who starts out as a self-absorbed prince, will win over Tasha’s heart by bonding with the kids. He’ll be drawn to her by the care and concern she shows her patients. Except that after they realize that they like each other, the prince finds out that he’s allegedly promised to give a lot of money to the hospital, and he’s done no such thing. He accuses Tasha of pretending to like him only to get his money. She denies it, but it’s too late; he leaves the hospital and returns to his royal friends and family. Tasha confronts Jeff, who admits that he made up the money thing just to get the chief of medicine to agree to let Alexander stay. Now Tasha has to go after the prince, explain everything, and make a public declaration of her love, which Alexander accepts, and they skip off into his castle together (because there has to be a castle somewhere in a Hallmark-esque Christmas movie, doesn’t there?).
In actuality, there’s arguably even less that happens in the movie than in my prediction. Alexander, of course, is a favorite of the delightfully precocious children under Tasha’s care, playing with them and getting to know them during his stay at the hospital. Tasha, it turns out, had a crush on the prince when they were at school together, and now that she sees he’s not completely self-centered, finds herself liking him again. When Alexander heals enough to leave the hospital, he asks if Tasha will join him at a fancy Christmas party. She agrees, but just then a woman shows up claiming to be Alexander’s fiancée. He explains she’s not, and they go to the event, where this woman bizarrely tries to handwave the fiancé thing away, then five minutes later insults Tasha, telling her she’s not worthy of a prince. Alexander won’t hear of this, and Tasha even manages to win over his father, so good for her, and they can go ahead and live happily ever after.
If you can believe it, these movies keep getting worse. On top of the usual suspects (predictable plot, corny dialog, subpar acting), I have so many questions about Tasha’s hospital. The children are sick enough to spend days and weeks inpatient, but have no medical equipment in their rooms. The entire pediatric cancer ward appears to have about two nurses and one doctor. Tasha is a pediatrician; shouldn’t there at the very least be an oncologist somewhere around? Why does the prince need to stay at the hospital for a broken leg? And where on earth are all the children’s parents? Why are these supposedly extremely sick children running around unsupervised? So many questions, and no answers.
Thursday, December 22, 2022
The Knight Before Christmas
Next in my Netflix recommendations was The Knight Before Christmas, released in 2019. I do enjoy a good terrible pun, so I really tried to give this movie a chance. It still managed to disappoint. As usual, I watched twenty minutes before predicting what else would happen in the movie, then I had to finish the movie to see how I did.
[Spoilers for the whole movie below.]
We begin in fourteenth century England, where knight Sir Cole (Josh Whitehouse), his brother, and others compete to capture a hawk released from the castle, a Christmastime tradition. Searching for the bird in the woods, Cole meets an old crone, who tells him that he must complete a quest before Christmas Eve is over or get stuck where she’s sending him, which is 21st century Ohio. There, high school science teacher Brooke (Vanessa Hudgens), doesn’t believe in love anymore because of an ex-boyfriend who broke up with her. That night, she takes her niece to the “Christmas castle,” the town’s Christmas village-type celebration, where she runs into Cole, newly arrived and confused. Leaving the Christmas castle, she runs into Cole again, this time with her car. They go to the hospital, and upon Cole’s release, Brooke offers to let Cole stay in her guest house since he doesn’t have anywhere else to go.
Some other things happen before the twenty minute mark, but at this point we still have absolutely no idea what Cole’s quest is. No problem; I’ll just make it up. We’ll say that Cole’s quest is to do something grand and heroic that will prove him to be a true knight, but that somehow turns into finding his true love, who is, of course, Brooke. Brooke, in showing Cole what Christmas in the 21st century is like, will fall in love with her quaint guest. Cole, for his part, falls in love with the woman teaching him about all the new and exciting things around him. As they confess their love for each other, Cole fulfills his quest and can return to his time. Brooke realizes there’s nothing left for her in the 21st century and goes with Cole back to 14th century England, where they ride off into the sunset together to live happily ever after in the castle.
Here’s what actually happens:
Cole shows up a week before Christmas, so he has six days to complete his quest. Faced with the prospects of never returning to his own time or place, he spends the first few days doing such things as: binge watching TV, stick-sword fighting with Brooke’s niece, learning to talk to Amazon’s Alexa, and shopping for hot chocolate. At one point, he rescues Brooke’s niece and her friend when they get lost approximately five feet from the house, and later catches a pickpocket at the Christmas castle, but neither of these is quest-worthy enough. On Christmas Eve, he attends the Christmas feast organized by Brooke, a tradition she’s carrying on for her late parents. After the successful feast, Brooke and Cole, recognizing their attraction to each other, kiss, satisfying Cole’s quest with hours to spare. He returns to his time and place, leaving a heartbroken Brooke behind. Back in England, Cole meets his brother, who encourages him to go be with his true love. Cole rides through the woods to look for the old woman and when he finds her, tells her he wants to be with Brooke. The crone sends him and his horse off to Ohio, where he finds Brooke at the Christmas castle and they literally ride off together on his horse.
So I got the century wrong, but other than that, could there have been any other way for this movie to go? In hindsight, it makes much more sense for Cole to go to the 21st century than for Brooke to go to the 14th. Basically the whole movie takes place in present day, and Brooke has her sister and niece, plus a job and all her students, while Cole only has a brother with thirty seconds of screen time, so it’s much easier to completely uproot him from everything he’s ever known than for Brooke to leave the town and people we’ve come to know and love throughout the movie.
The acting and dialog were about par for this kind of movie, and Vanessa Hudgens and Josh Whitehouse weren’t too bad together. The plot drove me a little crazy, because Cole does almost nothing to figure out what his quest is, then he kisses Brooke and out of nowhere it’s like, “oh, hey, that’s it, quest completed. Goodbye.” There’s also a side plot with one of Brooke’s students that includes her giving her student borderline inappropriate advice and almost every line of dialog between them is terrible. Then there’s the scene at the Christmas feast where they present a widower struggling to provide for his children with an envelope of money and a bunch of gifts, then stand around and watch them open their presents while patting themselves on the back for their kindness and generosity. Could they not give the family some privacy? Also, one kid gets a bike and another kid gets a jacket, which I guess is at least a few steps up from a new toothbrush.
I actually thought this movie had some potential – person transported into the future discovering newfangled technology can usually be played for humor, but I was not particularly amused in this case. Moving on to the next movie; maybe that one will be better. (Please let it be better.)
[Spoilers for the whole movie below.]
We begin in fourteenth century England, where knight Sir Cole (Josh Whitehouse), his brother, and others compete to capture a hawk released from the castle, a Christmastime tradition. Searching for the bird in the woods, Cole meets an old crone, who tells him that he must complete a quest before Christmas Eve is over or get stuck where she’s sending him, which is 21st century Ohio. There, high school science teacher Brooke (Vanessa Hudgens), doesn’t believe in love anymore because of an ex-boyfriend who broke up with her. That night, she takes her niece to the “Christmas castle,” the town’s Christmas village-type celebration, where she runs into Cole, newly arrived and confused. Leaving the Christmas castle, she runs into Cole again, this time with her car. They go to the hospital, and upon Cole’s release, Brooke offers to let Cole stay in her guest house since he doesn’t have anywhere else to go.
Some other things happen before the twenty minute mark, but at this point we still have absolutely no idea what Cole’s quest is. No problem; I’ll just make it up. We’ll say that Cole’s quest is to do something grand and heroic that will prove him to be a true knight, but that somehow turns into finding his true love, who is, of course, Brooke. Brooke, in showing Cole what Christmas in the 21st century is like, will fall in love with her quaint guest. Cole, for his part, falls in love with the woman teaching him about all the new and exciting things around him. As they confess their love for each other, Cole fulfills his quest and can return to his time. Brooke realizes there’s nothing left for her in the 21st century and goes with Cole back to 14th century England, where they ride off into the sunset together to live happily ever after in the castle.
Here’s what actually happens:
Cole shows up a week before Christmas, so he has six days to complete his quest. Faced with the prospects of never returning to his own time or place, he spends the first few days doing such things as: binge watching TV, stick-sword fighting with Brooke’s niece, learning to talk to Amazon’s Alexa, and shopping for hot chocolate. At one point, he rescues Brooke’s niece and her friend when they get lost approximately five feet from the house, and later catches a pickpocket at the Christmas castle, but neither of these is quest-worthy enough. On Christmas Eve, he attends the Christmas feast organized by Brooke, a tradition she’s carrying on for her late parents. After the successful feast, Brooke and Cole, recognizing their attraction to each other, kiss, satisfying Cole’s quest with hours to spare. He returns to his time and place, leaving a heartbroken Brooke behind. Back in England, Cole meets his brother, who encourages him to go be with his true love. Cole rides through the woods to look for the old woman and when he finds her, tells her he wants to be with Brooke. The crone sends him and his horse off to Ohio, where he finds Brooke at the Christmas castle and they literally ride off together on his horse.
So I got the century wrong, but other than that, could there have been any other way for this movie to go? In hindsight, it makes much more sense for Cole to go to the 21st century than for Brooke to go to the 14th. Basically the whole movie takes place in present day, and Brooke has her sister and niece, plus a job and all her students, while Cole only has a brother with thirty seconds of screen time, so it’s much easier to completely uproot him from everything he’s ever known than for Brooke to leave the town and people we’ve come to know and love throughout the movie.
The acting and dialog were about par for this kind of movie, and Vanessa Hudgens and Josh Whitehouse weren’t too bad together. The plot drove me a little crazy, because Cole does almost nothing to figure out what his quest is, then he kisses Brooke and out of nowhere it’s like, “oh, hey, that’s it, quest completed. Goodbye.” There’s also a side plot with one of Brooke’s students that includes her giving her student borderline inappropriate advice and almost every line of dialog between them is terrible. Then there’s the scene at the Christmas feast where they present a widower struggling to provide for his children with an envelope of money and a bunch of gifts, then stand around and watch them open their presents while patting themselves on the back for their kindness and generosity. Could they not give the family some privacy? Also, one kid gets a bike and another kid gets a jacket, which I guess is at least a few steps up from a new toothbrush.
I actually thought this movie had some potential – person transported into the future discovering newfangled technology can usually be played for humor, but I was not particularly amused in this case. Moving on to the next movie; maybe that one will be better. (Please let it be better.)
Wednesday, December 21, 2022
A Castle for Christmas
Netflix Christmas movie week continues with 2021’s A Castle for Christmas. This movie actually got decent ratings on Rotten Tomatoes, but (spoiler) I was less than impressed, though people who generally like Hallmark-style movies do seem to enjoy this one. Like before, I watched the first twenty minutes of the movie, then made predictions about the rest of the movie.
[Spoilers ahead.]
A Castle for Christmas starts out with author Sophie Brown (Brooke Shields) dealing with the fallout from her latest Emma Gale novel, the twelfth in a series in which she’s just controversially killed off her main character’s love interest. To get away from the drama, she decides to go to Scotland to visit the castle Dun Dunbar, where her father worked as a groundskeeper. Upon her arrival, she meets a knitting group at the inn she’s staying at who all warmly welcome her to Scotland. Not as happy to meet her: Myles (Cary Elwes), the twelfth duke of Dunbar, in charge of Dun Dunbar with the help of Thomas (Lee Ross) and the dog Hamish (Barley). However, it turns out that the castle isn’t doing well financially, so is for sale. Sophie decides to buy the castle, and she and Myles must figure out how to manage Dun Dunbar together.
There’s actually surprisingly little conflict in this movie beyond the obvious – after Sophie buys the castle, she and Myles have to spend time with each other. Despite his best efforts to chase her off, Myles and Sophie will fall in love and live happily ever after in the castle. Somewhere along the way, Sophie will also be so inspired by the wonders of Scotland that her writer’s block will be cured. And that’s basically what happens. A few side plot points are mentioned briefly – Sophie’s ex-husband getting remarried on Christmas (do people do that?), her daughter being away at school and unable to join Sophie for the holidays, a former romance between Thomas and one of the knitting group members – but either don’t factor into the rest of the movie or are resolved in about two seconds.
The movie ends after a Christmas Eve party at the castle brings everyone together for bundles of festive cheer, then skips forward to Sophie having just written her new bestseller, inspired by a tragically lovely Scottish tale Myles told her. Cue applause. Roll credits.
One of the big problems I have with this movie is that I have some trouble feeling that bad for someone who jets off to Scotland for an indeterminate amount of time, at one point offers to pay off the mortgages of an entire village, and on top of everything else, impulse buys a castle. This isn’t to say that rich people should just be happy with their piles of money, but I never felt that Sophie was that bothered by any of her problems – she didn’t seem very concerned about the backlash to her book or the ensuing writer’s block and she also didn’t seem that lonely and in need of a grumpy duke to love.
The other major issue for me was the lack of chemistry between Sophie and Myles. They were unconvincing when they allegedly hated each other, when they were falling in love, and when they were supposed to be in love. In other words, throughout the entire movie. The movie overall was less glurge-y than Falling for Christmas, though a lot of the dialog was still not good. The acting was okay, but the plot felt disjointed. A lot of the scenes didn’t really lead into each other – Myles and Sophie will be arguing in one scene about her taking over the castle, then in the next scene he’s taking her for a romantic horseback ride across the country. Setting the movie in Scotland was a choice, because the majority of the cast was then stuck speaking in Scottish accents, with varying levels of success, for ninety minutes. I found the movie watchable (one good thing about these Hallmark-type movies they keep churning out is that a decent number of them are kept to just over an hour and a half, so they don’t drag on too long), but I can’t say that I really enjoyed or liked it. A Castle for Christmas gets one star for Hamish the dog, one star for Thomas’s kilts, one star out of respect for Cary Elwes, and one star for the castle/scenery, and that’s about as high as I can go.
[Spoilers ahead.]
A Castle for Christmas starts out with author Sophie Brown (Brooke Shields) dealing with the fallout from her latest Emma Gale novel, the twelfth in a series in which she’s just controversially killed off her main character’s love interest. To get away from the drama, she decides to go to Scotland to visit the castle Dun Dunbar, where her father worked as a groundskeeper. Upon her arrival, she meets a knitting group at the inn she’s staying at who all warmly welcome her to Scotland. Not as happy to meet her: Myles (Cary Elwes), the twelfth duke of Dunbar, in charge of Dun Dunbar with the help of Thomas (Lee Ross) and the dog Hamish (Barley). However, it turns out that the castle isn’t doing well financially, so is for sale. Sophie decides to buy the castle, and she and Myles must figure out how to manage Dun Dunbar together.
There’s actually surprisingly little conflict in this movie beyond the obvious – after Sophie buys the castle, she and Myles have to spend time with each other. Despite his best efforts to chase her off, Myles and Sophie will fall in love and live happily ever after in the castle. Somewhere along the way, Sophie will also be so inspired by the wonders of Scotland that her writer’s block will be cured. And that’s basically what happens. A few side plot points are mentioned briefly – Sophie’s ex-husband getting remarried on Christmas (do people do that?), her daughter being away at school and unable to join Sophie for the holidays, a former romance between Thomas and one of the knitting group members – but either don’t factor into the rest of the movie or are resolved in about two seconds.
The movie ends after a Christmas Eve party at the castle brings everyone together for bundles of festive cheer, then skips forward to Sophie having just written her new bestseller, inspired by a tragically lovely Scottish tale Myles told her. Cue applause. Roll credits.
One of the big problems I have with this movie is that I have some trouble feeling that bad for someone who jets off to Scotland for an indeterminate amount of time, at one point offers to pay off the mortgages of an entire village, and on top of everything else, impulse buys a castle. This isn’t to say that rich people should just be happy with their piles of money, but I never felt that Sophie was that bothered by any of her problems – she didn’t seem very concerned about the backlash to her book or the ensuing writer’s block and she also didn’t seem that lonely and in need of a grumpy duke to love.
The other major issue for me was the lack of chemistry between Sophie and Myles. They were unconvincing when they allegedly hated each other, when they were falling in love, and when they were supposed to be in love. In other words, throughout the entire movie. The movie overall was less glurge-y than Falling for Christmas, though a lot of the dialog was still not good. The acting was okay, but the plot felt disjointed. A lot of the scenes didn’t really lead into each other – Myles and Sophie will be arguing in one scene about her taking over the castle, then in the next scene he’s taking her for a romantic horseback ride across the country. Setting the movie in Scotland was a choice, because the majority of the cast was then stuck speaking in Scottish accents, with varying levels of success, for ninety minutes. I found the movie watchable (one good thing about these Hallmark-type movies they keep churning out is that a decent number of them are kept to just over an hour and a half, so they don’t drag on too long), but I can’t say that I really enjoyed or liked it. A Castle for Christmas gets one star for Hamish the dog, one star for Thomas’s kilts, one star out of respect for Cary Elwes, and one star for the castle/scenery, and that’s about as high as I can go.
Monday, December 19, 2022
Falling for Christmas
People who know me might be able to guess that I don’t watch many romance movies. They’re just not my thing; if you enjoy them, please keep enjoying them, but I find them formulaic and kind of trite. [Oh, hello, small towns full of happy, smiling, white people ready to share the Christmas spirit.] So I decided to watch Hallmark-type movies on Netflix, but start out with only the first twenty minutes, then predict everything that was going to happen after that. I began with Falling for Christmas, released just this year (2022).
[Spoilers for the entire movie from this point forward.]
In the first twenty minutes of Falling for Christmas, we meet our main characters Sierra Belmont (Lindsay Lohan), daughter of hotel magnate Beauregard Belmont (Jack Wagner); her influencer boyfriend Tad (George Young); and your everyman bed and breakfast owner Jake Russell (Chord Overstreet). Sierra has just been made “vice president of atmosphere” of her father’s super mega deluxe ski resort in Aspen, but doesn’t know if she wants to go into the hotel business. Meanwhile, Jake, in need of money to keep his humble lodge running, makes a pitch to Sierra’s father for funding. Denied help from Beauregard, Jake literally runs into Sierra in the lobby of the ski resort. After this scene, contrived for Sierra and Jake to sort of meet, Tad takes Sierra on a trip to snap some Instagram photos and proposes to her on top of a mountain. Immediately after the proposal, Sierra falls down the mountain, is discovered by Jake, who doesn’t recognize her, and is taken to a hospital where it’s revealed she’s lost her phone, any kind of ID, and her memory. We also find out that Jake is a widower with a daughter, Avy, and that his mother-in-law Alejandra is helping to raise his child and run the lodge.
With that summarized, let’s make some predictions:
At the hospital, Jake offers to have Sierra stay at his lodge since she doesn’t know where else she could go. At this point, it’s obvious that Jake and Sierra will fall in love as Sierra tries to figure out who she is while being charmed by Jake’s incredibly enchanting but slightly decrepit bed and breakfast, his sweet and adorable daughter, and his very kind mother-in-law. After declaring their love for each other, Sierra will regain her memory at the most horribly inconvenient time, such as while Jake is proposing to her. However, Sierra and Jake will still end up together, with Sierra discovering her passion for quaint small businesses and helping Jake to save his lodge.
What happens to Tad isn’t immediately clear. He also seems to fall somewhere, but into a hole rather than down the mountain to be rescued by his true love. This hole will lead to Santa’s workshop, where the elves hold Tad captive until Sierra gets her memory back and she and Jake show up on his sleigh (because of course his delightful little lodge has a sleigh) to rescue him. When he sees how happy Sierra is with Jake, he relinquishes her to him. He’s not heartbroken because he realizes he’s secretly in love with Terry, the head of Sierra’s glam squad (or whatever it’s called). After confessing his love, they end up together and drive off into the sunset in Tad’s expensive car.
I’m undecided on who Jake’s mother-in-law should end up with. It’s either Sierra’s father or the creepy Santa. Beauregard would give the story a certain amount of symmetry – he, like Jake, is a widower, but I’m going with Santa, just for the fun of it.
After that, I actually had to watch the rest of the movie. Here’s what happened:
As expected, Sierra jumps into life at the lodge, learning to be a person who can do things like make eggs and do laundry while also bringing healing to Jake’s family by showing them that they can find love again. Within three days, Sierra and Jake are in love. While this is happening, Tad is in the middle of the Coloradoan wilderness with no cell signal and anyway, his phone is dead. He stumbles upon an ice fishing hut owned by a cellphone hater named Ralph. Ralph’s truck is also (conveniently) dead, so they have to walk two days back to the road. Eventually, the sheriff finds Ralph and Tad, and brings them in to the station, where Beauregard, back from a business trip, is trying to locate his daughter. (Terry and crew thought Sierra and Tad were off on a trip together and so weren’t looking for the happy couple.) In this lovely small town, the sheriff knows exactly where Sierra is, and they all head off to find her. At the lodge, Jake, at Sierra’s request, is holding a shockingly successful fundraising party to save his bed and breakfast. Former guests have all managed to show up with something like one day’s notice, bringing with them heartwarming stories about the lodge, and, more importantly, their checkbooks. Tad and Beauregard burst onto this uplifting scene to take Sierra away.
To close things out, Sierra declares to her father that she wants to find her own job, not just work for him, and breaks up with Tad. Jake, encouraged by Avy, shows up on his sleigh (because of course he does), and declares his love to Sierra. Both families heartily approve, and Christmas is saved. And Tad and Terry drive off in a limo to spend New Year’s together. Sadly, no love for Alejandra, but don’t worry, her heart is filled by the prospect of having a new daughter in Sierra.
So what I got right was:
- Jake and Sierra
- sweet and charming daughter and mother-in-law duo
- Sierra saves Jake’s lodge
- Sierra’s memory returns inconveniently, in the middle of the big party, as Jake and Sierra are about to share a touching moment
- Sierra doesn’t end up working for her father
- Tad and Terry, driving off together
What I missed:
- Ralph, so no elves, and Sierra doesn’t need to go rescue Tad
- Jake doesn’t propose to Sierra (thankfully; he’s known the woman for four days)
- Creepy Santa apparently just pops up periodically to imbue Christmas spirit into the movie and has no other role
- No love for Alejandra
Overall, this was not a great movie. As you can see above, I predicted enough of the major plot points that I was at no moment surprised by anything that happened. The acting was passable to pretty bad, though the casting at least made an effort to be more diverse. There were several black characters, most of whom even got to speak, and Alejandra is Latina/Hispanic, but it took over an hour before I saw one extra who might have been Asian. But the overarching problem for me was that the script was filled with glurge, so I would not have watched this movie if I hadn’t been preparing this post. Would not recommend; what should I watch next?
In the first twenty minutes of Falling for Christmas, we meet our main characters Sierra Belmont (Lindsay Lohan), daughter of hotel magnate Beauregard Belmont (Jack Wagner); her influencer boyfriend Tad (George Young); and your everyman bed and breakfast owner Jake Russell (Chord Overstreet). Sierra has just been made “vice president of atmosphere” of her father’s super mega deluxe ski resort in Aspen, but doesn’t know if she wants to go into the hotel business. Meanwhile, Jake, in need of money to keep his humble lodge running, makes a pitch to Sierra’s father for funding. Denied help from Beauregard, Jake literally runs into Sierra in the lobby of the ski resort. After this scene, contrived for Sierra and Jake to sort of meet, Tad takes Sierra on a trip to snap some Instagram photos and proposes to her on top of a mountain. Immediately after the proposal, Sierra falls down the mountain, is discovered by Jake, who doesn’t recognize her, and is taken to a hospital where it’s revealed she’s lost her phone, any kind of ID, and her memory. We also find out that Jake is a widower with a daughter, Avy, and that his mother-in-law Alejandra is helping to raise his child and run the lodge.
With that summarized, let’s make some predictions:
At the hospital, Jake offers to have Sierra stay at his lodge since she doesn’t know where else she could go. At this point, it’s obvious that Jake and Sierra will fall in love as Sierra tries to figure out who she is while being charmed by Jake’s incredibly enchanting but slightly decrepit bed and breakfast, his sweet and adorable daughter, and his very kind mother-in-law. After declaring their love for each other, Sierra will regain her memory at the most horribly inconvenient time, such as while Jake is proposing to her. However, Sierra and Jake will still end up together, with Sierra discovering her passion for quaint small businesses and helping Jake to save his lodge.
What happens to Tad isn’t immediately clear. He also seems to fall somewhere, but into a hole rather than down the mountain to be rescued by his true love. This hole will lead to Santa’s workshop, where the elves hold Tad captive until Sierra gets her memory back and she and Jake show up on his sleigh (because of course his delightful little lodge has a sleigh) to rescue him. When he sees how happy Sierra is with Jake, he relinquishes her to him. He’s not heartbroken because he realizes he’s secretly in love with Terry, the head of Sierra’s glam squad (or whatever it’s called). After confessing his love, they end up together and drive off into the sunset in Tad’s expensive car.
I’m undecided on who Jake’s mother-in-law should end up with. It’s either Sierra’s father or the creepy Santa. Beauregard would give the story a certain amount of symmetry – he, like Jake, is a widower, but I’m going with Santa, just for the fun of it.
After that, I actually had to watch the rest of the movie. Here’s what happened:
As expected, Sierra jumps into life at the lodge, learning to be a person who can do things like make eggs and do laundry while also bringing healing to Jake’s family by showing them that they can find love again. Within three days, Sierra and Jake are in love. While this is happening, Tad is in the middle of the Coloradoan wilderness with no cell signal and anyway, his phone is dead. He stumbles upon an ice fishing hut owned by a cellphone hater named Ralph. Ralph’s truck is also (conveniently) dead, so they have to walk two days back to the road. Eventually, the sheriff finds Ralph and Tad, and brings them in to the station, where Beauregard, back from a business trip, is trying to locate his daughter. (Terry and crew thought Sierra and Tad were off on a trip together and so weren’t looking for the happy couple.) In this lovely small town, the sheriff knows exactly where Sierra is, and they all head off to find her. At the lodge, Jake, at Sierra’s request, is holding a shockingly successful fundraising party to save his bed and breakfast. Former guests have all managed to show up with something like one day’s notice, bringing with them heartwarming stories about the lodge, and, more importantly, their checkbooks. Tad and Beauregard burst onto this uplifting scene to take Sierra away.
To close things out, Sierra declares to her father that she wants to find her own job, not just work for him, and breaks up with Tad. Jake, encouraged by Avy, shows up on his sleigh (because of course he does), and declares his love to Sierra. Both families heartily approve, and Christmas is saved. And Tad and Terry drive off in a limo to spend New Year’s together. Sadly, no love for Alejandra, but don’t worry, her heart is filled by the prospect of having a new daughter in Sierra.
So what I got right was:
- Jake and Sierra
- sweet and charming daughter and mother-in-law duo
- Sierra saves Jake’s lodge
- Sierra’s memory returns inconveniently, in the middle of the big party, as Jake and Sierra are about to share a touching moment
- Sierra doesn’t end up working for her father
- Tad and Terry, driving off together
What I missed:
- Ralph, so no elves, and Sierra doesn’t need to go rescue Tad
- Jake doesn’t propose to Sierra (thankfully; he’s known the woman for four days)
- Creepy Santa apparently just pops up periodically to imbue Christmas spirit into the movie and has no other role
- No love for Alejandra
Overall, this was not a great movie. As you can see above, I predicted enough of the major plot points that I was at no moment surprised by anything that happened. The acting was passable to pretty bad, though the casting at least made an effort to be more diverse. There were several black characters, most of whom even got to speak, and Alejandra is Latina/Hispanic, but it took over an hour before I saw one extra who might have been Asian. But the overarching problem for me was that the script was filled with glurge, so I would not have watched this movie if I hadn’t been preparing this post. Would not recommend; what should I watch next?
Sunday, December 11, 2022
Summer Reading [2022, part 2]
The second half of my summer reading activities:
Free space
Read a book with an epic journey – Journey to the River Sea, Eva Ibbotson
- A quick reread before going to the library. When orphan Maya is sent to South American to live with her twin cousins, things aren’t as great as she thinks they will be, but then she meets a boy with a secret and begins to explore the Amazon.
Free space
Read a book with an epic journey – Journey to the River Sea, Eva Ibbotson
- A quick reread before going to the library. When orphan Maya is sent to South American to live with her twin cousins, things aren’t as great as she thinks they will be, but then she meets a boy with a secret and begins to explore the Amazon.
Borrow a puzzle or game
Read a book with a library in it – The Midnight Library, Matt Haig
- An exploration of the concept of the different lives you could have had if you’d made a different decision somewhere along the way. It’s always interesting to see the changes between lives, but I think it’s hard to pull off in a way that’s not predictable, which The Midnight Library kind of was, unfortunately. It’s not bad, but not great either.
Read a novel set in the Great Outdoors – Miracles on Maple Hill, Virginia Sorensen
- Another reread. Fun to hear about a family experiencing the seasons out in nature in the Pennsylvania countryside, but the language romanticizes some of the realities.
Read an author new to you – Fan Fiction, Brent Spiner
- Part memoir, part mystery novel, Spiner sets his book in the middle of filming Star Trek: The Next Generation. While filming, he starts getting creepy stalker letters and must figure out what’s going on. The writing’s a little rough, but the appearances from the other main cast members are entertaining.
Read a book with “path” in the title – The Road, Cormac McCarthy
- I’m substituting “road” for “path.” In a post-apocalyptic America ravaged by an unknown disaster, a father and son walk for days looking for some place they can survive, scavenging food and supplies as they go. This was a good book, in a haunting way.
Listen to an audiobook – Good Omens, Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
- Angel Aziraphale and demon Crowley have been on Earth to make sure their respective overlords’ plans are fulfilled, but after thousands of years, they’re kind of friends now? As Armageddon approaches, it’s not going as planned, and it’s up to them to sort things out. I enjoy both Pratchett and Gaiman, so I found this book funny, if a bit bizarre.
Read a book set in the future – Federation (Star Trek), Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens
- Star Trek is set in the 22nd century and beyond, which is currently the future. In Federation, both Kirk’s Enterprise and Picard’s Enterprise-D get tied up in a mystery that seems to revolve around the inventor of the warp drive, vital to the decades of space exploration that have since occurred. Federation somewhat conflicts with the second TNG movie, but can kind of work around it, and taken by itself, is a solid crossover event with the characters you know and love.
Read a book set in the past – Star Wars: X-Wing: The Krytos Trap, Michael Stackpole
- According to the opening text, Star Wars takes place “a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away. . . .” which I’m taking as canonical proof of being set in the past. The X-Wing novels follow the adventures of Rogue Squadron, led by Wedge Antilles, as they work with the rebellion to rout out remnants of the empire. At least the first four X-Wing books are genuinely good (the writing isn’t stellar, but it’s pretty strong), not just “good despite being what could be considered fan fiction.”
Read a book with a supernatural creature – Dracula, Bram Stoker
- I’ve read Frankenstein a couple times, but not Dracula. I liked the different perspectives it was written from and how the characters put together who/what Dracula was. It did get kind of weird at times, but I don’t mind weird.
Read a book someone keeps recommending – Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?, Mindy Kaling
- If by keeps recommending you mean I listened to the Office Ladies podcast more than once, and they kind of had to recommend Mindy Kaling’s book. It’s a light, fun read, about growing up as the child of Indian immigrants and how she came to be a writer/actor on The Office, among her other accomplishments.
As a low-maintenance summer reading activity that goes a little beyond the usual “read x number of books or minutes,” book bingo was a good idea. It helps to get people reading books they otherwise might not pick up, and is more flexible than a checklist since people can aim for a single line of five squares or for filling out their whole card (which is what I did).
 |
| Massachusetts puzzle |
Take a walk
 |
| Frog in a pond, taken while on a hike |
Read a book with a library in it – The Midnight Library, Matt Haig
- An exploration of the concept of the different lives you could have had if you’d made a different decision somewhere along the way. It’s always interesting to see the changes between lives, but I think it’s hard to pull off in a way that’s not predictable, which The Midnight Library kind of was, unfortunately. It’s not bad, but not great either.
Read a novel set in the Great Outdoors – Miracles on Maple Hill, Virginia Sorensen
- Another reread. Fun to hear about a family experiencing the seasons out in nature in the Pennsylvania countryside, but the language romanticizes some of the realities.
Read an author new to you – Fan Fiction, Brent Spiner
- Part memoir, part mystery novel, Spiner sets his book in the middle of filming Star Trek: The Next Generation. While filming, he starts getting creepy stalker letters and must figure out what’s going on. The writing’s a little rough, but the appearances from the other main cast members are entertaining.
Read a book with “path” in the title – The Road, Cormac McCarthy
- I’m substituting “road” for “path.” In a post-apocalyptic America ravaged by an unknown disaster, a father and son walk for days looking for some place they can survive, scavenging food and supplies as they go. This was a good book, in a haunting way.
Listen to an audiobook – Good Omens, Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
- Angel Aziraphale and demon Crowley have been on Earth to make sure their respective overlords’ plans are fulfilled, but after thousands of years, they’re kind of friends now? As Armageddon approaches, it’s not going as planned, and it’s up to them to sort things out. I enjoy both Pratchett and Gaiman, so I found this book funny, if a bit bizarre.
Read a book set in the future – Federation (Star Trek), Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens
- Star Trek is set in the 22nd century and beyond, which is currently the future. In Federation, both Kirk’s Enterprise and Picard’s Enterprise-D get tied up in a mystery that seems to revolve around the inventor of the warp drive, vital to the decades of space exploration that have since occurred. Federation somewhat conflicts with the second TNG movie, but can kind of work around it, and taken by itself, is a solid crossover event with the characters you know and love.
Read a book set in the past – Star Wars: X-Wing: The Krytos Trap, Michael Stackpole
- According to the opening text, Star Wars takes place “a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away. . . .” which I’m taking as canonical proof of being set in the past. The X-Wing novels follow the adventures of Rogue Squadron, led by Wedge Antilles, as they work with the rebellion to rout out remnants of the empire. At least the first four X-Wing books are genuinely good (the writing isn’t stellar, but it’s pretty strong), not just “good despite being what could be considered fan fiction.”
Read a book with a supernatural creature – Dracula, Bram Stoker
- I’ve read Frankenstein a couple times, but not Dracula. I liked the different perspectives it was written from and how the characters put together who/what Dracula was. It did get kind of weird at times, but I don’t mind weird.
Read a book someone keeps recommending – Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?, Mindy Kaling
- If by keeps recommending you mean I listened to the Office Ladies podcast more than once, and they kind of had to recommend Mindy Kaling’s book. It’s a light, fun read, about growing up as the child of Indian immigrants and how she came to be a writer/actor on The Office, among her other accomplishments.
As a low-maintenance summer reading activity that goes a little beyond the usual “read x number of books or minutes,” book bingo was a good idea. It helps to get people reading books they otherwise might not pick up, and is more flexible than a checklist since people can aim for a single line of five squares or for filling out their whole card (which is what I did).
Friday, December 9, 2022
Summer Reading [2022, part 1]
This summer, I did not get to participate in the Summer Game with the Ann Arbor District Library, but my local library had their own, albeit smaller, summer reading event. Part of their summer reading was book bingo, which I more or less completed with only very minor creative license taken. The first twelve of twenty-five bingo squares are below; the second half will be in the next post.
Read a nonfiction nature book – Into the Planet: My Life as a Cave Diver, Jill Heinerth
- This was a pretty interesting look at the incredibly dangerous sport/hobby of cave diving. It covered some of the techniques used, advances in diving technology, and descriptions of trips to dive caves in Florida, Mexico, and Antarctica, so it’s nonfiction and takes place in nature.
Attend a library event
- I’m counting the library book sale as an event. There aren’t a huge number of events for adults, and a good number of them involve knitting, so the book sale was my event.
Read a book by an author [with something in common with you] – Women of the Silk, Gail Tsukiyama
- Set in rural 1920s China, Women of the Silk follows a group of women working at a silk factory and the bonds they form as WWII approaches and the country is invaded by the Japanese. I liked this book, and it gave some insights into China’s history.
Read a book with an animal – How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe, Charles Yu
- I have a list of mostly sci-fi/fantasy books to randomly select from if I’m looking for something to read, and this was on the list. The main character/author, a time machine repairman, lives in his time machine with his nonexistent dog and depressed computer while looking for his father, who is lost in time somewhere. Throughout the book, you learn about the science fictional universe the author lives in and how the time machine was invented. The concept was good, but this didn't end up being a super engaging book for me.
Read a memoir or biography – The Autobiography of Jean-Luc Picard, David A. Goodman
- Hear from the Captain Picard himself about his childhood on a French vineyard, journey to and through Starfleet Academy, and time aboard the USS Reliant and Stargazer before taking command of the Enterprise. I really enjoyed reading this, and seeing how it led to and lined up with events from The Next Generation.
Borrow a museum pass
- We have borrowed museum passes before, but we didn’t this summer. However, we went to a local nature area for an outdoor art exhibition. Close enough.
Reread a book – Blind Descent, James Tabor
- In the quest to find the deepest cave on Earth, teams led by American Bill Stone in Mexico and Ukrainian Alexander Klimchouk in the Republic of Georgia rappel, tunnel, dive, and worm their way through darkness hundreds and thousands of feet underground. I reread this because Jill Heinerth (Into the Planet, above) was involved in at least one scouting trip in the Mexican cave system and I couldn’t remember if any of the other cave divers she worked with were in this book.
Read a book set in your home area – Little Women, Louisa May Alcott
- Nominally set in Concord, Massachusetts, Little Women describes the lives of the March family in the 1860s, their everyday goings on, shenanigans with their neighbor, dreams of becoming artists and writers, or of marriage and starting families. It’s a classic.
A book set in your dream vacation destination – Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte
- Apparently my dream vacation is to the moors of England (I didn’t have anywhere else to put Wuthering Heights). Like Pride and Prejudice, I enjoyed this more than I thought I would, in spite of (or because of?) Heathcliff and Cathy’s awfulness.
Take a photograph in nature
Read a book under 200 pages – Hard Reboot, Django Wexler
- On a future Earth riddled with malware that infects any civilized human’s brain implants in seconds, the planet is mostly only good for giant robot fights. A visiting scholar gets conned out of money she doesn’t have by one of the robot pilots and must figure out how to settle her debts before her university sponsors find out. This was a quick read, but with fairly well-developed characterization, setting, and plot, though the ending was a bit predictable.
Read a book over 400 pages – A Game of Thrones, George R. R. Martin
- Now a TV phenomenon, GoT started out as one of those really thick fantasy novels with tons of characters, long battle descriptions, and a new plot thread on every page. I’ve only read the first book, but it’s been good so far.
Read a nonfiction nature book – Into the Planet: My Life as a Cave Diver, Jill Heinerth
- This was a pretty interesting look at the incredibly dangerous sport/hobby of cave diving. It covered some of the techniques used, advances in diving technology, and descriptions of trips to dive caves in Florida, Mexico, and Antarctica, so it’s nonfiction and takes place in nature.
Attend a library event
- I’m counting the library book sale as an event. There aren’t a huge number of events for adults, and a good number of them involve knitting, so the book sale was my event.
Read a book by an author [with something in common with you] – Women of the Silk, Gail Tsukiyama
- Set in rural 1920s China, Women of the Silk follows a group of women working at a silk factory and the bonds they form as WWII approaches and the country is invaded by the Japanese. I liked this book, and it gave some insights into China’s history.
Read a book with an animal – How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe, Charles Yu
- I have a list of mostly sci-fi/fantasy books to randomly select from if I’m looking for something to read, and this was on the list. The main character/author, a time machine repairman, lives in his time machine with his nonexistent dog and depressed computer while looking for his father, who is lost in time somewhere. Throughout the book, you learn about the science fictional universe the author lives in and how the time machine was invented. The concept was good, but this didn't end up being a super engaging book for me.
Read a memoir or biography – The Autobiography of Jean-Luc Picard, David A. Goodman
- Hear from the Captain Picard himself about his childhood on a French vineyard, journey to and through Starfleet Academy, and time aboard the USS Reliant and Stargazer before taking command of the Enterprise. I really enjoyed reading this, and seeing how it led to and lined up with events from The Next Generation.
Borrow a museum pass
- We have borrowed museum passes before, but we didn’t this summer. However, we went to a local nature area for an outdoor art exhibition. Close enough.
Reread a book – Blind Descent, James Tabor
- In the quest to find the deepest cave on Earth, teams led by American Bill Stone in Mexico and Ukrainian Alexander Klimchouk in the Republic of Georgia rappel, tunnel, dive, and worm their way through darkness hundreds and thousands of feet underground. I reread this because Jill Heinerth (Into the Planet, above) was involved in at least one scouting trip in the Mexican cave system and I couldn’t remember if any of the other cave divers she worked with were in this book.
Read a book set in your home area – Little Women, Louisa May Alcott
- Nominally set in Concord, Massachusetts, Little Women describes the lives of the March family in the 1860s, their everyday goings on, shenanigans with their neighbor, dreams of becoming artists and writers, or of marriage and starting families. It’s a classic.
A book set in your dream vacation destination – Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte
- Apparently my dream vacation is to the moors of England (I didn’t have anywhere else to put Wuthering Heights). Like Pride and Prejudice, I enjoyed this more than I thought I would, in spite of (or because of?) Heathcliff and Cathy’s awfulness.
Take a photograph in nature
 |
| Mushroom |
Read a book under 200 pages – Hard Reboot, Django Wexler
- On a future Earth riddled with malware that infects any civilized human’s brain implants in seconds, the planet is mostly only good for giant robot fights. A visiting scholar gets conned out of money she doesn’t have by one of the robot pilots and must figure out how to settle her debts before her university sponsors find out. This was a quick read, but with fairly well-developed characterization, setting, and plot, though the ending was a bit predictable.
Read a book over 400 pages – A Game of Thrones, George R. R. Martin
- Now a TV phenomenon, GoT started out as one of those really thick fantasy novels with tons of characters, long battle descriptions, and a new plot thread on every page. I’ve only read the first book, but it’s been good so far.
Sunday, November 27, 2022
Project Recap [Singapore]
At some point during the summer, we made a multiple trip[s] to craft stores to pick up cross stitch and framing supplies. On one of those trips, I picked up the floss for a dragon project still to come for a Cornell friend and while I was at it, the floss for this project of landmarks in Singapore. The concept is based on the designer Satsuma Street’s “Pretty Little” cities series, but she doesn’t have Singapore, so my pattern came from Awesome Pattern Studio, who also designed the Acadia pattern I did last year.
Similarly to the Acadia pattern, this one was provided as a pdf in several different versions. I like using the version with the symbols in the color of the floss. The only drawback is that it becomes difficult to see the symbol with very light colors, but you can either zoom way in or check a different version of the pattern. There was one questionable symbol choice, with two triangles that were mirror images of each other being used for two oranges, but there was just enough difference between the darker and lighter orange to make it not too terrible. Otherwise the pattern was clear and easy to follow. It used only full cross stitches, no fractional stitches or backstitching. There were 18 colors, none of which needed more than 1 skein. The color with the most stitches was 550 (very dark violet), with 827 stitches, and the color with the least was 165 (very light moss green) at 120 stitches.
I started the project right after finishing the birth announcement in August and finished in the middle of October for an elapsed time of 53 days. According to the provided stitch count table, there are approximately 6700 stitches, giving an average of about 125 stitches per day. At its tallest and widest, the project measures 114 x 92 stitches, or 8.14” x 6.57” on 14 count fabric. Mine measures 8.13” by 6.31”, so it’s just a little short. Something different I did for this project was to stitch it on 14 count Fiddler’s cloth rather than Aida. Fiddler’s cloth is similar to Aida in its structure, but instead of being 100% cotton, it’s a blend of fibers (some sites say 50% cotton, 42% polyester, and 8% linen), and is supposed to look rustic. I thought it would be interesting to use for this pattern, which is fairly modern, with a lot of bright colors, and I do like how the contrast between the fabric and pattern turned out.
As best as I can tell, the buildings/landmarks featured are the Singapore Flyer, an observation wheel; the Prima Tower, which housed a revolving restaurant on top of a grain tower from 1977 until 2020 (thanks, Covid); the Merlion, Singapore’s lion-headed, fish-bodied mythical mascot; the ArtScience Museum, featuring exhibits that combine art, science, culture, and technology; Marina Bay Sands, the boat/spaceship hotel made (more?) famous by Crazy Rich Asians; and Gardens by the Bay, with its Flower Dome and Cloud Forest conservatories and Supertree Grove. I haven’t been able to identify the rest of the buildings; they mostly look like what skyscrapers tend to look like. With all the different elements and colors in it, this was a fun project to stitch, and whenever I get around to framing basically everything I’ve stitched so far, this one will go up somewhere around the house.
Similarly to the Acadia pattern, this one was provided as a pdf in several different versions. I like using the version with the symbols in the color of the floss. The only drawback is that it becomes difficult to see the symbol with very light colors, but you can either zoom way in or check a different version of the pattern. There was one questionable symbol choice, with two triangles that were mirror images of each other being used for two oranges, but there was just enough difference between the darker and lighter orange to make it not too terrible. Otherwise the pattern was clear and easy to follow. It used only full cross stitches, no fractional stitches or backstitching. There were 18 colors, none of which needed more than 1 skein. The color with the most stitches was 550 (very dark violet), with 827 stitches, and the color with the least was 165 (very light moss green) at 120 stitches.
I started the project right after finishing the birth announcement in August and finished in the middle of October for an elapsed time of 53 days. According to the provided stitch count table, there are approximately 6700 stitches, giving an average of about 125 stitches per day. At its tallest and widest, the project measures 114 x 92 stitches, or 8.14” x 6.57” on 14 count fabric. Mine measures 8.13” by 6.31”, so it’s just a little short. Something different I did for this project was to stitch it on 14 count Fiddler’s cloth rather than Aida. Fiddler’s cloth is similar to Aida in its structure, but instead of being 100% cotton, it’s a blend of fibers (some sites say 50% cotton, 42% polyester, and 8% linen), and is supposed to look rustic. I thought it would be interesting to use for this pattern, which is fairly modern, with a lot of bright colors, and I do like how the contrast between the fabric and pattern turned out.
As best as I can tell, the buildings/landmarks featured are the Singapore Flyer, an observation wheel; the Prima Tower, which housed a revolving restaurant on top of a grain tower from 1977 until 2020 (thanks, Covid); the Merlion, Singapore’s lion-headed, fish-bodied mythical mascot; the ArtScience Museum, featuring exhibits that combine art, science, culture, and technology; Marina Bay Sands, the boat/spaceship hotel made (more?) famous by Crazy Rich Asians; and Gardens by the Bay, with its Flower Dome and Cloud Forest conservatories and Supertree Grove. I haven’t been able to identify the rest of the buildings; they mostly look like what skyscrapers tend to look like. With all the different elements and colors in it, this was a fun project to stitch, and whenever I get around to framing basically everything I’ve stitched so far, this one will go up somewhere around the house.
Wednesday, November 23, 2022
Summery Summary
A few last notes on how I spent my summer:
We baked a black forest cake, molasses cookies, and focaccia. The black forest cake had issues with the cake – we overwhipped the egg whites and they didn’t fold into the batter super well – though the whipped cream and sour cherry filling were good. I’m still looking for a really good chocolate cake recipe (I also haven’t found my go to brownie recipe). I’ve baked the molasses cookies a half dozen times now, so those were fine. The focaccia was another first time bake, and it seemed to work. Maybe the crumb structure could have been a little more open, but it rose okay and tasted good. It was very crispy right after baking and softened up overnight.
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| Focaccia |
I cross stitched a birth announcement that I have no use for right now, and started another project featuring landmarks in Singapore. While doing so, I made it to episode 113 (out of 141) of campaign 2 of Critical Role, but I’m now stalled around episode 124 because I’m currently not cross stitching while trying to write somewhere between half and most of a book in a month (hello, NaNoWriMo).
We hiked some nearby trails and state parks, saw sheep at a farm, and attended an outdoor art installation at a local land preserve. Despite living where we’ve been for over a decade, we hadn’t done much exploration of some of the local trails just a few miles from our house. Most community trails aren’t anything super amazing to write home about, but they’re close, and they’re great for a quick afternoon or weekend hike. They range from a mile or two up to over five miles, and there are even a few trails that connect to or loop through surrounding towns. One day when we had some time to spare outside of Boston, we paid a visit to the Mount Auburn Cemetery, resting place of Dorothea Dix, Bernard Malamud, Henry Cabot Lodge, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Isabella Stewart Gardner, Buckminster Fuller, Winslow Homer, and many others, and then walked to a park close by.
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| Boston skyline from the Mount Auburn cemetery |
Thanks to the public library, I got to solve some puzzles for free, including one from the world’s hardest puzzle series. Those are the ones that are double sided and cut so that the pieces have no “front” or “back” side. Last time was the 1001 dalmatians that took 1001 nights to solve. This time was a jungle scene that was definitely harder than a “normal” puzzle but nowhere near as difficult as the dalmatians. We also did a Massachusetts puzzle from White Mountain puzzles, a chocolate puzzle that we picked up for free, and a Star Wars puzzle, another free acquisition.
Additionally, sometime in the summer I found out that the World Jigsaw Puzzle Championship is a thing. There, one of the rounds in the competition is to fix a 500 piece puzzle in less than 90 minutes, with the fastest puzzlers completing the puzzle in less than half an hour. I was curious to try it for myself, so I attempted it first with a puzzle of a giant girl holding a jump rope standing over a bridge with some buildings in the background. There weren’t many colors or obvious features in this puzzle, so I didn’t end up finishing this one in 90 minutes. What I had done in that time is shown in the figure below, and I took another half hour to complete it. I tried again with a puzzle of a city street, and this time I finished the puzzle in 1:28:32 with just under a minute and a half to spare.
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| Jigsaw puzzles - clockwise from top left: world's hardest jigsaw puzzle - jungle animals edition, chocolate, giant jump rope girl, and city street |
Although the public library here doesn’t have as many non-book/video offerings as the Ann Arbor District Library, they do have a telescope, which we borrowed to try out. Our constellation identification wasn’t super successful, but we got a pretty good look at the moon as it waxed over a period of a couple weeks. I can actually identify craters in photos taken with my 250mm lens, but the telescope had even more magnification than my camera, so that was cool. And finally, we repainted most of our sad looking deck, at least as much as we could until we ran out of paint.
Saturday, November 19, 2022
Oh, hi, Ohio
A couple months ago I embarked on some business travel to visit research collaborators in Cincinnati, Ohio. While I was there, I figured I might as well enjoy some of the city, so I had planned to visit the zoo and ended up getting to stop by the art museum as well. I flew into the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport (CVG) in Hebron, Kentucky. The airport was bigger than I expected, with just under fifty gates spread out across two terminals. From the airport, I took a TANK (Transit Authority of Northern Kentucky) bus into Cincinnati, then a Metro bus up to the zoo.
The Cincinnati Zoo is a decent size – 75 acres, about twice Chicago’s Lincoln Park Zoo’s 35 acres and similar to the Singapore Zoo’s 69 acres – with variable admissions costs depending on projected attendance; if possible, buy your tickets as far in advance as you can. I spent a little over three hours there, including a late lunch, but wouldn’t have minded an hour or two more if I hadn’t had to leave to get to my hotel. When I visited, because it was already fall and past peak season, not all the dining options were available, and some of the shows and other activities weren’t running.
There were most of the usual suspects you expect to see when you go to a zoo, including zebras, flamingos, penguins, giraffes, and a variety of apes, birds, and reptiles. A number of the African animals that wouldn’t eat and/or gore each other to death got to hang out together, separated from the lions, which were surprisingly active, by a nice deep moat. I also got to see African penguins (by the flamingos), little blue penguins (next to the kangaroos), and some rockhopper and king penguins in the Birds of the World building. Somehow, I managed to miss the elephants and didn’t have time for Cat Canyon or Gorilla World, but I covered most of the rest of the zoo, and a fair number of the animals were out/active, probably because it wasn’t 8000 degrees out like the last time I was at the zoo in Chicago.
One of the reasons I decided to visit the Cincinnati Zoo is that it’s home to Fiona, the hippo who became famous after she was born six weeks premature at 29 pounds (baby hippos typically weigh 100 pounds) and the zoo started posting videos about her. She now also has a baby brother, Fritz, but the family was still being introduced out of the public eye at the time of my visit. At Hippo Cove, when I got there, only one hippo was out in the public part of their home, and I think it was Fiona, so I did get to see her at least. Overall, it was a pretty nice zoo, not too crowded and with a good variety of animals. The layout was okay, though there was some backtracking required to see some of the exhibits. I did have a bit of trouble finding the African penguins, and to see the little blue penguins I had to take a one-way path through the kangaroo exhibit, but for the most part there’s an outer main path that passes by most of the animals.
Later in the trip, my former coworker and I went to the Cincinnati Art Museum. Admission is free, though special events may be ticketed. The museum contains a variety of paintings, sculptures, pottery, photographs, etc. from past and present around the world, though it’s mostly American and European art. There were Greek vases, a mummy, teapots, a couple Andy Warhols, a multitude of oil paintings of old English nobles, coffee urns generously donated by P&G, and plenty more. One of the more unique areas of the museum featured works by artists who were either from or spent a portion of their career in Cincinnati; it was interesting to see some more local art that was directly related to the city. We were at the museum for a couple hours, which was enough time to see everything pretty quickly. If you took more time reading about and admiring each piece, you could be there for another hour or two, but I’m not a huge art history person and the museum was closing anyway.
Other highlights of my trip: 1) I did get to try Graeter’s ice cream. Graeter’s is a Cincinnati-based chain that handmakes its ice cream using a small-batch “French pot” process that results in denser ice cream. I tried their Boldly Bearcat flavor, a mascarpone ice cream with Oreos and chocolate chips named for the University of Cincinnati Bearcats. It was good, but I didn’t find it that creamy, which could just have been the flavor I chose, and I would still argue I like Cornell Dairy ice cream better. 2) The hotel had a magical pancake machine. With a single press of a button, you could receive two pancakes within minutes. (When you press the button, pancake batter is squirted onto a conveyor belt and the pancakes cook as they travel down the belt before being deposited onto a plate.) 3) The airport had steamboat models, a plane, and animal skeletons from the Cincinnati Museum Complex, which includes history, children’s, and natural history and science museums.
The Cincinnati Zoo is a decent size – 75 acres, about twice Chicago’s Lincoln Park Zoo’s 35 acres and similar to the Singapore Zoo’s 69 acres – with variable admissions costs depending on projected attendance; if possible, buy your tickets as far in advance as you can. I spent a little over three hours there, including a late lunch, but wouldn’t have minded an hour or two more if I hadn’t had to leave to get to my hotel. When I visited, because it was already fall and past peak season, not all the dining options were available, and some of the shows and other activities weren’t running.
There were most of the usual suspects you expect to see when you go to a zoo, including zebras, flamingos, penguins, giraffes, and a variety of apes, birds, and reptiles. A number of the African animals that wouldn’t eat and/or gore each other to death got to hang out together, separated from the lions, which were surprisingly active, by a nice deep moat. I also got to see African penguins (by the flamingos), little blue penguins (next to the kangaroos), and some rockhopper and king penguins in the Birds of the World building. Somehow, I managed to miss the elephants and didn’t have time for Cat Canyon or Gorilla World, but I covered most of the rest of the zoo, and a fair number of the animals were out/active, probably because it wasn’t 8000 degrees out like the last time I was at the zoo in Chicago.
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| Clockwise from top left: lion, ostrich, gibbon, grey crowned crane |
One of the reasons I decided to visit the Cincinnati Zoo is that it’s home to Fiona, the hippo who became famous after she was born six weeks premature at 29 pounds (baby hippos typically weigh 100 pounds) and the zoo started posting videos about her. She now also has a baby brother, Fritz, but the family was still being introduced out of the public eye at the time of my visit. At Hippo Cove, when I got there, only one hippo was out in the public part of their home, and I think it was Fiona, so I did get to see her at least. Overall, it was a pretty nice zoo, not too crowded and with a good variety of animals. The layout was okay, though there was some backtracking required to see some of the exhibits. I did have a bit of trouble finding the African penguins, and to see the little blue penguins I had to take a one-way path through the kangaroo exhibit, but for the most part there’s an outer main path that passes by most of the animals.
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| Little blue penguin |
Later in the trip, my former coworker and I went to the Cincinnati Art Museum. Admission is free, though special events may be ticketed. The museum contains a variety of paintings, sculptures, pottery, photographs, etc. from past and present around the world, though it’s mostly American and European art. There were Greek vases, a mummy, teapots, a couple Andy Warhols, a multitude of oil paintings of old English nobles, coffee urns generously donated by P&G, and plenty more. One of the more unique areas of the museum featured works by artists who were either from or spent a portion of their career in Cincinnati; it was interesting to see some more local art that was directly related to the city. We were at the museum for a couple hours, which was enough time to see everything pretty quickly. If you took more time reading about and admiring each piece, you could be there for another hour or two, but I’m not a huge art history person and the museum was closing anyway.
Other highlights of my trip: 1) I did get to try Graeter’s ice cream. Graeter’s is a Cincinnati-based chain that handmakes its ice cream using a small-batch “French pot” process that results in denser ice cream. I tried their Boldly Bearcat flavor, a mascarpone ice cream with Oreos and chocolate chips named for the University of Cincinnati Bearcats. It was good, but I didn’t find it that creamy, which could just have been the flavor I chose, and I would still argue I like Cornell Dairy ice cream better. 2) The hotel had a magical pancake machine. With a single press of a button, you could receive two pancakes within minutes. (When you press the button, pancake batter is squirted onto a conveyor belt and the pancakes cook as they travel down the belt before being deposited onto a plate.) 3) The airport had steamboat models, a plane, and animal skeletons from the Cincinnati Museum Complex, which includes history, children’s, and natural history and science museums.
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| Clockwise from top left: modern art, teapots, pancake machine, mastodon skeleton at the airport |
Thursday, October 27, 2022
Project Recap [Balloon birth announcement]
Sometime after I moved back to New England, I was digging around in the basement closet when I uncovered a cross stitch kit. I hadn’t stitched anything since February, so I figured I’d give the kit a try, never mind the fact that neither I nor anyone I knew needed a birth announcement. The kit is Simplicity’s Balloon Birth Announcement (05514), featuring a circle of hearts and flowers with balloons, a duck, and two bunnies. It was purchased from the Windsor Button Shop for $4.25, marked down from $8.50. Since the purchase of the kit, Simplicity has been acquired/sold at least twice, and I believe the cross stitch portion of their business is now managed by Dimensions. Windsor Button, if I found the right shop, closed in 2013 after 77 years of business.
The kit contained a 12” square piece of white 14-count Aida, 100% cotton floss in all required colors, a needle, and the paper chart and instructions. The pattern required the more typical full cross stitches and backstitches as well as lazy daisies and French knots. The chart was easy to read, though I still can’t find where/if they marked the number of strands you were supposed to use for any of the stitches. I ended up doing one strand backstitch and lazy daisies and two strand cross stitches and French knots, which worked okay. Some of the lighter colors are a bit light worked with one strand, but I think increasing the strand count would have made it too crowded and the flowers/leaves would have lost definition. They did have instructions for how to do all the stitches, but I ended up looking up YouTube videos for the lazy daisies and French knots just to make sure I was doing them (mostly) correctly.
Additionally, like a decent number of kits, the floss came in a bundle with no labels. This kit doesn’t have too many colors, so they can get away with it, but two of the yellows are very hard to differentiate it you’re not in strong daylight, then the darkest yellow looks orange and the orange is very reddish. Other than that, the quality of the Aida, floss, and needle seemed good. I did make a mistake in centering, so it’s not quite exactly centered, but they provided a 12” x 12” piece of fabric and the pattern is about 8” in diameter so there’s still enough margin on all sides for framing.
I started working near the end of June and finished shortly after the middle of August (June 22-August 19), so it took me just under two months. [I actually finished the cross stitching in about two weeks and it took the rest of the time for all the other stitches, including a solid week of just French knots.] Because of the backstitching/lazy daisies/French knots, there was a lot more stopping/starting threads and travelling across the back than I usually do, However, I did enjoy using/learning stitches other than cross stitches, even the French knots. I might even try an embroidery project sometime. As usual, I substituted double running stitch for the backstitch and I also changed some of the backstitching to make it less blocky. Other than that, I followed the pattern as written, and overall, I thought it was well put together and I like the finished product more than I thought I would, though I still don’t know what I’m going to do with it.
Additionally, like a decent number of kits, the floss came in a bundle with no labels. This kit doesn’t have too many colors, so they can get away with it, but two of the yellows are very hard to differentiate it you’re not in strong daylight, then the darkest yellow looks orange and the orange is very reddish. Other than that, the quality of the Aida, floss, and needle seemed good. I did make a mistake in centering, so it’s not quite exactly centered, but they provided a 12” x 12” piece of fabric and the pattern is about 8” in diameter so there’s still enough margin on all sides for framing.
I started working near the end of June and finished shortly after the middle of August (June 22-August 19), so it took me just under two months. [I actually finished the cross stitching in about two weeks and it took the rest of the time for all the other stitches, including a solid week of just French knots.] Because of the backstitching/lazy daisies/French knots, there was a lot more stopping/starting threads and travelling across the back than I usually do, However, I did enjoy using/learning stitches other than cross stitches, even the French knots. I might even try an embroidery project sometime. As usual, I substituted double running stitch for the backstitch and I also changed some of the backstitching to make it less blocky. Other than that, I followed the pattern as written, and overall, I thought it was well put together and I like the finished product more than I thought I would, though I still don’t know what I’m going to do with it.
Saturday, October 22, 2022
Parker River National Wildlife Refuge
To close out astronomical summer in the northern hemisphere, we paid a visit to the Parker River National Wildlife Refuge on Plum Island, off the northeast coast of Massachusetts. The island is named for the beach plum shrubs that grow on its dunes, and the wildlife refuge is managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Entry costs $5 for a day pass for a car, or it’s free if you have a national parks pass. Parker River is popular with birdwatchers, and it contains a number of beach access points, lookouts, and trails throughout the island. There are also a couple of canoe routes that allow you to get up close and personal with the marshes, but we didn’t explore any of that this time.
You enter the wildlife refuge at the north end of Plum Island, and the road runs roughly north to south up and down the island. Along the road, there are seven numbered parking lots and several other pullouts for lesser attractions. We started at the first, and northernmost, parking lot, which serves as one of the main access points for the beach. The beach was quiet, though not deserted, with a few dozen people spread out across the sand. A couple people were braving the water, but most were walking along the beach, fishing, picnicking, or just enjoying the sun. We walked a ways down the beach, hung out with seagulls, and examined dead crabs before finding a spot in the sand for our peanut butter and jam sandwich and banana lunch.
After lunch, we returned to the parking lot and started making our way down through the rest of the refuge. We stopped briefly at the Salt Pannes Wildlife Observation Area and the North Pool Overlook, a pullout on the road and a small parking lot respectively. At the salt pannes, we saw a wildlife, a lone swan with the tip of its beak submerged (likely a mute swan but it could theoretically have been a trumpeter), and at the North Pool was a family of mute swans, two adults and four juveniles that were adult-sized but still brown-feathered. Our next big stop was at the Hellcat Wildlife Observation Area (parking lot 4), which features a boardwalk trail and observation tower.
A short distance from the parking lot, you can turn off the boardwalk and cross a dike to reach the observation tower, which overlooks the North Pool to the north, the Bill Forward Pool to the south, and salt marshes to the west. Here we found the largest concentration of bird photographers, fully equipped with cameras, tripods, and telephoto lenses larger than my arm. I had my, relatively speaking, compact 55-250mm lens with me, which on a crop sensor camera is at the bottom end of the range you need to get started birding. I did still manage to capture a bunch of mallards, some yellowlegs, mute swans, a great blue heron, and an unidentified duck-ish bird. Back on the boardwalk, we made a loop through the forest, with trail spurs that led to views of the ocean and marsh. Including all the spurs, the trail is about 1.3 miles, plus another ~1000 feet out and back to the observation tower.
Shortly after the Hellcat parking lot, the refuge road stops being paved, which ranges from “slightly annoying” to “I hope my engine doesn’t fall out.” It seemed worse going south than north, but we and the car survived. We made stops to hike the Pines and Stage Island Trails (slightly before parking lot 5 and parking lot 6). The Pines Trail is a quick 0.3 miles in the woods with a marsh overlook. The Stage Island Trail is 0.7 miles one way to the Ipswich Bluffs. Along the way, you see marshes, a couple pools, and across the Plum Island Sound to Great Neck. I found a group of yellowlegs at one of the pools, but unfortunately I wasn’t carrying a ruler to determine whether they were 10 or 14 inches tall, so I’m not sure if they’re greater or lesser yellowlegs (or a mixed group).
Our final stop was at the last parking lot before Sandy Point State Reservation, a Massachusetts state park. There was another observation tower looking out across an expanse of waving reeds/grass and beach access, which we used to get one last look at the ocean before heading home. I also got my last bird photos of the day, of a sandpiper of some kind. My best guess is a semipalmated sandpiper. We ended up spending a little over 5 hours at Parker River, which included lunch, some time on the beach, and all of the main hikes, but not playing on the beach/in the ocean or extended birdwatching stops, so depending on who you’re with and your interests, your timing and choices of activities may vary.
You enter the wildlife refuge at the north end of Plum Island, and the road runs roughly north to south up and down the island. Along the road, there are seven numbered parking lots and several other pullouts for lesser attractions. We started at the first, and northernmost, parking lot, which serves as one of the main access points for the beach. The beach was quiet, though not deserted, with a few dozen people spread out across the sand. A couple people were braving the water, but most were walking along the beach, fishing, picnicking, or just enjoying the sun. We walked a ways down the beach, hung out with seagulls, and examined dead crabs before finding a spot in the sand for our peanut butter and jam sandwich and banana lunch.
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| Ring-billed gull |
After lunch, we returned to the parking lot and started making our way down through the rest of the refuge. We stopped briefly at the Salt Pannes Wildlife Observation Area and the North Pool Overlook, a pullout on the road and a small parking lot respectively. At the salt pannes, we saw a wildlife, a lone swan with the tip of its beak submerged (likely a mute swan but it could theoretically have been a trumpeter), and at the North Pool was a family of mute swans, two adults and four juveniles that were adult-sized but still brown-feathered. Our next big stop was at the Hellcat Wildlife Observation Area (parking lot 4), which features a boardwalk trail and observation tower.
A short distance from the parking lot, you can turn off the boardwalk and cross a dike to reach the observation tower, which overlooks the North Pool to the north, the Bill Forward Pool to the south, and salt marshes to the west. Here we found the largest concentration of bird photographers, fully equipped with cameras, tripods, and telephoto lenses larger than my arm. I had my, relatively speaking, compact 55-250mm lens with me, which on a crop sensor camera is at the bottom end of the range you need to get started birding. I did still manage to capture a bunch of mallards, some yellowlegs, mute swans, a great blue heron, and an unidentified duck-ish bird. Back on the boardwalk, we made a loop through the forest, with trail spurs that led to views of the ocean and marsh. Including all the spurs, the trail is about 1.3 miles, plus another ~1000 feet out and back to the observation tower.
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| Across the marshes |
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| View from the Hellcat observation tower - North Pool |
Shortly after the Hellcat parking lot, the refuge road stops being paved, which ranges from “slightly annoying” to “I hope my engine doesn’t fall out.” It seemed worse going south than north, but we and the car survived. We made stops to hike the Pines and Stage Island Trails (slightly before parking lot 5 and parking lot 6). The Pines Trail is a quick 0.3 miles in the woods with a marsh overlook. The Stage Island Trail is 0.7 miles one way to the Ipswich Bluffs. Along the way, you see marshes, a couple pools, and across the Plum Island Sound to Great Neck. I found a group of yellowlegs at one of the pools, but unfortunately I wasn’t carrying a ruler to determine whether they were 10 or 14 inches tall, so I’m not sure if they’re greater or lesser yellowlegs (or a mixed group).
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| Yellowlegs |
Our final stop was at the last parking lot before Sandy Point State Reservation, a Massachusetts state park. There was another observation tower looking out across an expanse of waving reeds/grass and beach access, which we used to get one last look at the ocean before heading home. I also got my last bird photos of the day, of a sandpiper of some kind. My best guess is a semipalmated sandpiper. We ended up spending a little over 5 hours at Parker River, which included lunch, some time on the beach, and all of the main hikes, but not playing on the beach/in the ocean or extended birdwatching stops, so depending on who you’re with and your interests, your timing and choices of activities may vary.
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| Field of grass |
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| (Possible) semipalmated sandpiper |
Monday, October 17, 2022
Minute Man National Historical Park
No big vacations this summer, but we did a couple day trips. First off, we headed back to the American Revolution at the Minute Man National Historical Park in Concord, Massachusetts. We first stopped in at the visitor center, where we were just in time for the multimedia extravaganza1 put together by the National Park Service about the events surrounding the Battles of Lexington and Concord that began the American Revolutionary War.
1 It was a video, with multiple screens, some lighting, and a light-up battle map.
To summarize, British troops stationed in Boston had orders to take action against the colonial militia, the goal being to disarm then and capture rebel leaders. The colonists were aware of these orders and when the British regulars began to move out from Boston, Paul Revere and William Dawes were sent out to warn and muster the militia, Revere crossing the Charles River and taking a northern route while Dawes rode south down Boston Neck. Revere also passed along the message that the regulars were leaving Boston by boat to the Old North Church so they could signal Charlestown using lanterns (the “one if by land, two if by sea” from Longfellow’s poem). At Lexington, Revere and Dawes met up with other leaders and decided that Concord, the site of military stores, was the target of the British. They rode on, joined by Samuel Prescott, then ran into a British patrol. Revere was captured, Dawes was released but lost his horse, and Prescott evaded the patrol and made it to Concord.
Because of the warning they had been given, militiamen were waiting for the British when they made it to Lexington at sunrise of April 19, 1775. During the encounter, someone fired a shot, leading to a brief skirmish that killed eight Americans. The British continued on to Concord, where they met a larger group of militiamen. The armies faced off at the North Bridge, where a British soldier fired first, initiating volleys from both sides (Emerson’s “shot heard round the world”). In the end, several British soldiers lay dead, and the regulars began their retreat to Boston. Throughout the rest of the day, more militia joined the growing Colonial forces as they chased and harried the British troops along the way.
After refreshing my U.S. History I knowledge, we set off along the Battle Road Trail, an approximately 5-mile long trail that follows some of the original route the Colonial militia and British regulars travelled between Lexington and Concord. Along the way, historical points of interest include houses belonging to militiamen and their families, battle sites, and Hartwell Tavern, a gathering place for the colonists. At Hartwell Tavern, we stopped to hear a program about the Colonial militia/minutemen where we got to see a musket fired (if you were fast and well prepared, you could fire three whole shots a minute). We also saw sheep, pigs, and planes (the park is south of Hanscom AFB). The Battle Road trail isn’t paved, but it’s mostly flat dirt and can be biked, which a good number of people were doing. The trail runs east-west with the visitor center at the east side and Meriam’s Corner, where the regulars’ retreat turned into a running battle with the minutemen, at the west end. In general, the east side of the park is more wooded while there are more open fields in the western half.
In the end, it took us about 4 hours of walking to cover the ten miles out and back of the trail, though we were in the main section of the park for a total of slightly over 6 hours, including our initial stop at the visitor center and later breaks at Hartwell Tavern and for snacks. As of our visit, there was no fee to enter the park. To finish off the day, we drove to the North Bridge, in an unconnected section of the park, to see the bridge and the Concord River before heading home.
1 It was a video, with multiple screens, some lighting, and a light-up battle map.
To summarize, British troops stationed in Boston had orders to take action against the colonial militia, the goal being to disarm then and capture rebel leaders. The colonists were aware of these orders and when the British regulars began to move out from Boston, Paul Revere and William Dawes were sent out to warn and muster the militia, Revere crossing the Charles River and taking a northern route while Dawes rode south down Boston Neck. Revere also passed along the message that the regulars were leaving Boston by boat to the Old North Church so they could signal Charlestown using lanterns (the “one if by land, two if by sea” from Longfellow’s poem). At Lexington, Revere and Dawes met up with other leaders and decided that Concord, the site of military stores, was the target of the British. They rode on, joined by Samuel Prescott, then ran into a British patrol. Revere was captured, Dawes was released but lost his horse, and Prescott evaded the patrol and made it to Concord.
Because of the warning they had been given, militiamen were waiting for the British when they made it to Lexington at sunrise of April 19, 1775. During the encounter, someone fired a shot, leading to a brief skirmish that killed eight Americans. The British continued on to Concord, where they met a larger group of militiamen. The armies faced off at the North Bridge, where a British soldier fired first, initiating volleys from both sides (Emerson’s “shot heard round the world”). In the end, several British soldiers lay dead, and the regulars began their retreat to Boston. Throughout the rest of the day, more militia joined the growing Colonial forces as they chased and harried the British troops along the way.
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| Hartwell Tavern |
After refreshing my U.S. History I knowledge, we set off along the Battle Road Trail, an approximately 5-mile long trail that follows some of the original route the Colonial militia and British regulars travelled between Lexington and Concord. Along the way, historical points of interest include houses belonging to militiamen and their families, battle sites, and Hartwell Tavern, a gathering place for the colonists. At Hartwell Tavern, we stopped to hear a program about the Colonial militia/minutemen where we got to see a musket fired (if you were fast and well prepared, you could fire three whole shots a minute). We also saw sheep, pigs, and planes (the park is south of Hanscom AFB). The Battle Road trail isn’t paved, but it’s mostly flat dirt and can be biked, which a good number of people were doing. The trail runs east-west with the visitor center at the east side and Meriam’s Corner, where the regulars’ retreat turned into a running battle with the minutemen, at the west end. In general, the east side of the park is more wooded while there are more open fields in the western half.
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| Let sleeping pigs lie |
In the end, it took us about 4 hours of walking to cover the ten miles out and back of the trail, though we were in the main section of the park for a total of slightly over 6 hours, including our initial stop at the visitor center and later breaks at Hartwell Tavern and for snacks. As of our visit, there was no fee to enter the park. To finish off the day, we drove to the North Bridge, in an unconnected section of the park, to see the bridge and the Concord River before heading home.
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| North Bridge |
Wednesday, August 3, 2022
Odds and Ends
Before leaving Ann Arbor, besides wrapping up as much research as possible and more or less packing up most of my belongings, I went for a few final adventures around town. I got to experience a last spring season and see the wild violets, bloodroot, dandelions, daffodils, tulips, trillium, wild geraniums, etc. bloom. Despite telling myself I wouldn’t, and that 250 mm (400 mm field of view full frame equivalent) isn’t that much zoom, I went bird watching with my camera to catch the spring migratory season, featuring red-winged blackbirds, robins, grackles, mourning doves, great blue herons, and more. There were also plenty of squirrels like always, plus rabbits (eastern cottontails), baby geese, a beaver, a painted turtle, and mating snapping turtles.
I baked cranberry orange scones, molasses cookies, and cranberry apple bread to use up ingredients in my freezer and pantry and celebrated warmer temperatures with courtyard lunches at the office. During my usual perambulations I discovered one weekend that Traver Creek had overflowed, flooded some of the trails, and washed out a wooden footbridge. In honor of Star Wars day, I put together a mini Lego Millennium Falcon that I added to an online order for free shipping. For the first time since Covid happened, I went to a library program, on how to birdwatch with the Washtenaw Audubon Society (sidenote – the first book I borrowed from AADL was Emily St. John Mandel’s Station Eleven; the last: Star Wars: X-Wing: Wedge’s Gamble by Michael Stackpole).
My lab had a celebratory barbeque/game night party at our advisor’s house for a few of us who were going to leave Ann Arbor soon (we ended up holding four dissertation defenses in just over six months). I also tried to meet up with some friends that I hadn’t gotten to see much during the pandemic times. One of those meetings was when I saw the mating turtles. Another time a friend and I biked downtown to play arcade games (including both Star Trek and Star Wars pinball and skee-ball) at Pinball Pete’s and drink a quart of sangria at Casa Dominick’s. Finally, our lab plus friends met up at the best (and only) bar on North Campus for after work drinks one last time.
Right before I moved my parents and I spent a day downtown returning my office key for the $5 deposit, visiting U-M’s Museum of Natural History and Museum of Art, and spending my M-Den gift card. And that was some of my last months in Michigan. Until next time, Ann Arbor.
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| Clockwise from top left: wild violet, wild geranium, bloodroot, trillium |
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| Clockwise from top left: snapping turtle, rabbit, painted turtle, baby geese |
I baked cranberry orange scones, molasses cookies, and cranberry apple bread to use up ingredients in my freezer and pantry and celebrated warmer temperatures with courtyard lunches at the office. During my usual perambulations I discovered one weekend that Traver Creek had overflowed, flooded some of the trails, and washed out a wooden footbridge. In honor of Star Wars day, I put together a mini Lego Millennium Falcon that I added to an online order for free shipping. For the first time since Covid happened, I went to a library program, on how to birdwatch with the Washtenaw Audubon Society (sidenote – the first book I borrowed from AADL was Emily St. John Mandel’s Station Eleven; the last: Star Wars: X-Wing: Wedge’s Gamble by Michael Stackpole).
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| Left: swollen Traver Creek (bottom) and flooded trails (top), right: same locations a few days later, with water levels slightly down (bottom) and the bridge replaced (top) |
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| Millennium Falcon microfighter |
My lab had a celebratory barbeque/game night party at our advisor’s house for a few of us who were going to leave Ann Arbor soon (we ended up holding four dissertation defenses in just over six months). I also tried to meet up with some friends that I hadn’t gotten to see much during the pandemic times. One of those meetings was when I saw the mating turtles. Another time a friend and I biked downtown to play arcade games (including both Star Trek and Star Wars pinball and skee-ball) at Pinball Pete’s and drink a quart of sangria at Casa Dominick’s. Finally, our lab plus friends met up at the best (and only) bar on North Campus for after work drinks one last time.
Right before I moved my parents and I spent a day downtown returning my office key for the $5 deposit, visiting U-M’s Museum of Natural History and Museum of Art, and spending my M-Den gift card. And that was some of my last months in Michigan. Until next time, Ann Arbor.
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| Pinball |
Monday, July 25, 2022
Tulip Watch 2022
Going back to before I moved from Ann Arbor for a quick look at how the tulips fared this year. As I’ve mentioned before, someone who had the apartment before me planted tulips at some point. Without me doing anything at all, they keep coming back each year, and may possibly be spreading, or it could just have been a good year for them this year. Sometimes they get eaten by deer before having a chance to bloom, or last year they were unceremoniously mowed down shortly after blooming (I rescued the less mangled flowers, stuck them in a jam jar, and brought them into the apartment), but this year I had just under two dozen tulips bloom.
I took my telephoto lens out for a spin on a few separate evenings to take advantage of the shallow depth of field on the lens and the softer light of the declining sun. Without getting into an optics discussion, given a particular focal distance, a lens with a longer focal length has a shallower depth of field. For example, if you’re taking a photo of a flower two meters away with a Canon Rebel T6, at an aperture of f/5.6, an 18 mm wide angle lens has a depth of field (DOF) of 4.63 meters (0.79 m in front/3.84 m behind), a 55 mm focal length has a DOF of 0.28 m, and a 250 mm focal length has a DOF of just 0.01 m. Of course, the wider the focal length the more you have in the picture besides the flower, but generally speaking, using a longer focal length decreases the depth of field and increases the separation between your subject and its background. That said, here are the tulips.
I took my telephoto lens out for a spin on a few separate evenings to take advantage of the shallow depth of field on the lens and the softer light of the declining sun. Without getting into an optics discussion, given a particular focal distance, a lens with a longer focal length has a shallower depth of field. For example, if you’re taking a photo of a flower two meters away with a Canon Rebel T6, at an aperture of f/5.6, an 18 mm wide angle lens has a depth of field (DOF) of 4.63 meters (0.79 m in front/3.84 m behind), a 55 mm focal length has a DOF of 0.28 m, and a 250 mm focal length has a DOF of just 0.01 m. Of course, the wider the focal length the more you have in the picture besides the flower, but generally speaking, using a longer focal length decreases the depth of field and increases the separation between your subject and its background. That said, here are the tulips.
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| Most of this year's tulip crop |
Sunday, July 17, 2022
Cuyahoga Valley National Park
On our long drive back east, we passed right by Cuyahoga Valley National Park in Ohio, so we had to make a quick stop for a hike. The Cuyahoga Valley is located between Cleveland and Akron and the Cuyahoga River is famous for, among other things, catching on fire. This happened at least 13 times, and the June 22, 1969 fire helped to bolster the beginnings of the American environmental movement. In 1974, the Cuyahoga Valley was designated a National Recreation Area, then on October 11, 2000, was made a national park.
We didn’t have much time at Cuyahoga, and the one hike that you do if you only have time for one hike at Cuyahoga is the Ledges Trail, which is what we did. If the parking lot at Brandywine Falls wasn’t closed, we might have also tried to sneak in a glance at a waterfall, but that wasn’t in the cards for this visit. The Ledges Trail is a 1.8 mile loop that circles a plateau of rock formations. The trail network around the Ledges Trail also includes several cut-through trails and side trails that connect to other areas of the park. The trail is primarily dirt and rock, with rock steps in several places. Along the way, you walk at the bottom of and between rock cliffs that are fun to explore but difficult to fully capture in photos.
The trail passes by a cave, but to protect the bats there from white-nose syndrome, caused by the white fungus Pseudogymnoascus destructans that can decimate bat populations, the entrance was barred. There’s also an overlook, the Ledges Overlook, that didn’t seem to be overlooking anything of much significance. Especially in late spring and summer with the trees filled with leaves, you mostly just see a lot of trees with leaves. The rest of the trail makes up for It, however. And as we were nearing the end of the trail, we spotted a barred owl, out in the evening, our first time seeing an owl in the wild.
Cuyahoga Valley National Park is slightly unusual in that it can almost be described as an urban national park, with 4 million people living within a half hour drive of the park. Parts of the park either abut and/or are managed by Cleveland Metroparks, Summit Metro Parks, or private owners. Besides the ledges, it contains waterfalls, wetlands, ravines, forests, and more. The Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad goes through the park and offers scenic railroad rides throughout the year. There is no fee to enter the park, though we still made a quick stop at the Boston Visitor Center to talk to the park ranger, and pick up a map and stamp. There’s plenty we didn’t get to see in the park, so we might be back if we’re ever in the area, though I also still have about 400 (of 423) National Park Sites and hundreds and thousands of state and local parks to visit.
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| Boston Mill Visitor Center |
We didn’t have much time at Cuyahoga, and the one hike that you do if you only have time for one hike at Cuyahoga is the Ledges Trail, which is what we did. If the parking lot at Brandywine Falls wasn’t closed, we might have also tried to sneak in a glance at a waterfall, but that wasn’t in the cards for this visit. The Ledges Trail is a 1.8 mile loop that circles a plateau of rock formations. The trail network around the Ledges Trail also includes several cut-through trails and side trails that connect to other areas of the park. The trail is primarily dirt and rock, with rock steps in several places. Along the way, you walk at the bottom of and between rock cliffs that are fun to explore but difficult to fully capture in photos.
 |
| Ledges Trail |
The trail passes by a cave, but to protect the bats there from white-nose syndrome, caused by the white fungus Pseudogymnoascus destructans that can decimate bat populations, the entrance was barred. There’s also an overlook, the Ledges Overlook, that didn’t seem to be overlooking anything of much significance. Especially in late spring and summer with the trees filled with leaves, you mostly just see a lot of trees with leaves. The rest of the trail makes up for It, however. And as we were nearing the end of the trail, we spotted a barred owl, out in the evening, our first time seeing an owl in the wild.
 |
| Barred owl |
Cuyahoga Valley National Park is slightly unusual in that it can almost be described as an urban national park, with 4 million people living within a half hour drive of the park. Parts of the park either abut and/or are managed by Cleveland Metroparks, Summit Metro Parks, or private owners. Besides the ledges, it contains waterfalls, wetlands, ravines, forests, and more. The Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad goes through the park and offers scenic railroad rides throughout the year. There is no fee to enter the park, though we still made a quick stop at the Boston Visitor Center to talk to the park ranger, and pick up a map and stamp. There’s plenty we didn’t get to see in the park, so we might be back if we’re ever in the area, though I also still have about 400 (of 423) National Park Sites and hundreds and thousands of state and local parks to visit.
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