nimrodiel

the_siobhan  gave me the letter R

 

R is for Rasputina: A quirky cello band that has members who like to wear corsets, dress in Victorian garments and perform in period underclothes.

 

I discovered them back in the late 90's when they were played on The Skies Gone Out, a Goth show on the community radio station WEFT 90.1 fm in Champaign/Urbana area

 

Over twenty years later their music still makes me smile.

 

I enjoy all of their music but this still is among my favorite songs:

If you care to play along:

* Name a BAND (not a song, not a solo performer) that starts with the letter "D". No googling!
* I'll then give you a letter for you to repost.

Man, I need to update my icons. The one above is a selfie taken almost twenty years ago on a handspring visor PDA using a crappy camera attachment. In the days of flip phones and cell phones not being in everyone's pockets who would have guessed we would be carrying small cameras and computers with us everyday?

Author: Douglas Niles
Publisher: Random House
Publish Date: 1995  

I have a love of the Dragonlance saga. However some of the books are written much better than others. Because I have been disappointed in this series before I have picked up and set down this copy several times without getting past the prologue. I am very glad that I continued with it this time around. The Lost Histories series is a group of books set in the Dragonlance world which probe the historical roots and records the struggles (sometimes epic) of some of the lesser known races of Krynn. This book looks at the Kagonesti - the wild elves. It starts with their founding as a separate people from the more civilized "house" elves. The wild elves with their black hair aand dusky skin still live in the wilderness as the Silvestri led by Silvanos are retreating from the wilderness to live in their crystal cities. Kagonos and his people are beloved of the silver dragon Dalannar who gifts Kaganos with a mystical rams horn which can call his "people" to help them if they are able.

The book is written in three parts. The first shows Kagonos as the first pathfinder and wielder of the mystic horn at the end of the First Dragon War, As he and his people withdraw from the other Elves to retreat deep in the forest of Ashalon.

The second story follows Ashaway as he leads his people during the third dragon war (During the time of Huma). Ashaway has the role of Pathfinder thrust upon himself suddenly when the previous Pathfinder is killed in a raid by the bakali, lizardmen who serve the dragon queen. Ashaway has to find safety for his people while helping the Knights of the Rose travel through the deep forests and mountains to the Dragon Queen's stronghold of Sanction. Even as helping the humans goes against the traditions of the Kagonesti, Ashaway is urged to help the Solamnic knights by the current silver dragon who carries the match to the hown he carries.

The third and final story of the Kagonesti elves takes us to the years before the cataclysm. We see the struggles of young warrior Iydahoe as he witnesses the destruction of the four tribes of the Kagonesti. He and his father struggle to keep their small band of survivors hidden and alive as the Humans from the city of Ishtar and the Silvenesti build a massive road through the forest homes of the Kagonesti tribe. Iydahoe seeks vengeance upon the men who killed his people. A raid on a caravan leads the capture of himself and a young warrior under his care. They are in the caravan wagon of a cleric of Mishakal when the cleric is pulled away by magic - a signal that the thirteen days before the end of the world is to arrive. Iydahoe and his tribesman escape with the help of a priestess Vanisia and return to his tribe. They are led to go up into the mountains by the mystic Grandfather Ram and are saved from the water that rushes in and destroys Ishtar and created the Newsea as the Cataclysm breaks the world of Ansalon.

I really enjoyed how this fills in some of the history to events before the cataclysm.

Title: The Tale of One Bad Rat
Author: Bryan Talbot
Publisher: Dark Horse Books
Publication date: 1995

Helen Potter is a runaway following the steps of Beatrix Potter whom she holds an affinity to because of sharing both first and surnames. Her troubles with being touched by males and her sexuality combined with the mental stigma and shame she feels as a survivor of incest has her constantly on the move and leery of trusting anyone.

Her traveling companion starts off as a pet rat saved from a school biology lab. As she travels north her reliance on the rat as a companion becomes more prevalent after a tragedy drives her to continue North. Helen finds her way to the Lake Land District, home of Beatrix Potters house Hill Top. Helen finds friends in the owners of the Herdwick Arms pub who help her after she collapses in the rear of the building, and who offer her safety in a job, a place to sleep, and eventually in support in facing her parents.

This is a tough story to read. The subject material is uncomfortable, and you can see the research and the pain and suffering that the author conveys in the subject. He quotes Miriam Saphira from The Sexual Abuse of Children "The first step towards prevention and to provision of supportive services for the girls who've been abused is bringing abuse into the open... Incest is not taboo. It seems that talking about incest is the real taboo."

This was such a moving little story about finding the strength to stand up to the person abusing you and finding your strength as a person despite the mental stigmas that plague your thoughts and opinions of who you are. The artwork in this book is absolutely stunning. I don't know that I would have picked this up on my own, though it is the story driven type of graphic novel I adore. This was shared with me by bookcrosser HI77 I'm sad I wasn't able to fit it into my manga and graphic novel book box. I'll have to think on a place to share this book with the world.

I think it says a lot about our society and how youth obsessed we can be when people are reacting to my hair so interestingly. I started going grey in my early twenties. Ith wasn't noticeable because I was dying my hair a lot at the time. Black, red, purple, bleached out blond. My hair was all sorts of colors.

When I started to develop chemical sensitivities I stopped dying my hair. I let it go back to my natural color which is brown with red and blonde highlights. Over the past twelve years my hair has gone more grey but as long as I wore it pulled into a bun or ponytail it isn't noticeably grey. As my hair is long, the grey blends in and as grey tends to turn brassy it just made the ends of my hair look dishwater blonde.

Recently I have noticed more grey hair. And, it is shimmery silver rather than dull grey or white. I've embraced it as I love how the strands look against the darker brown of my roots. I started using a shampoo for grey, blonde, and bleached hair once a month and I have to get used to the smell as it is more fragrances than my normal shampoo and I am combing it through to the ends of my hair which I normally don't.

I have been amazed at people's reactions to my hair changing. Perhaps it's because most people assume I'm ten years younger than I actually am. Perhaps it's because so many women cover their grey but I have been astonished at the reactions I have gotten from you should dye your hair (I will do what I want to do thank you very much), to it looks so shimmery, to is that your natural hair color (no really I paid a salon to put in silver streaks).

I find myself stopping by the hair color aisle every now and again as I would love to color my hair autumn leaf red again. But I don't want to risk the hives and other symptoms that my chemical sensitivities bring about. Hives on the scalp are a pain to deal with.

You watch them walk to your shoes and leave you a gift of a piece of dry kibble inside one of the pair.

1. The Bellmaker by Brian Jacques
2. Tales of a Hollywood Gossip-Queen by Mary Kennedy (ARC)
3. Living Well with Back Pain by Robert B. Winter, MD, Marilyn Bach, PhD and the Twin CitiesSpine Center (ARC)
4. Assasination Vacation by Sarah Vowell

Due to a Memorial Day road trip and just being busy I forgot to post these weeks entries on time.

Week of 25 May 2006

1. About the Man by Sheryl Woods
2. A Dirty Job by Christopher Moore
3. The Pregnancy Test by Susan Gable
4. A Bone in the Throat by Anthony Bourdane

Week of 5 June 2005

1. Bitten by Kelley Armstrong
2. Sirena by Donna Jo Napoli
3. Calahan's Key by Spider Robinson (audio book)
4. Deadly Games by Thom Racina

1. The Obsidian Key by Eldon Thomas (ARC)- currently reading
2. Practical Demon Keeping by Christopher Moore - currently reading
3. The Book of the Lion by michael Cadnum (audiobook)
4. The Woman Who is Always Tan and Has a Flat Stomach (And Other Annoying People) by Lauren Allison and Lisa Perry (ARC)

This weeks post brings me up to 58 books read so far this year.

Crazy!