My Favorite Things

So my Burrow peeps and I were having a relatively typical conversation, and it went something like this:

“I could sure use a cold beer.”


“I wish we were having a critique session over a pitcher of good microbrew” (this was me)


“Oh, I like that. Burrow, beer and books!”


“You are forgetting. Boys. We need to Cabana boys to bring the pitchers, apply the sun screen, and periodically massage our feet.”

It was unanimous. Our favorite things: Burrow, beer, books and boys. So I am dedicating a blog to the matter.

Burrow

In all its diverse fabulousness, representing four continents and seven countries, we REMAIN, four score blondes and brunettes between the ages of sixteen and nineteen and a half. But we are BRILLIANT (at least collectively, though I confess to mooching where my own content is lacking... See, I got a REALLY good processor and very little memory storage, so I can DO stuff, but there are times I don't really KNOW stuff. (thus, it is in my best interest to have really smart friends).

But it isn't just a SMART bunch, but a bunch that has complimentary skills in empathy, practical knowledge, life stage info... pretty much across the board, whatever I need, somebody there can offer it up. If I need good chocolate, there are three Europeans. If I need a knitted stuffed animal, there is Leanne (though she is sensitive about sock monkeys *shhhhh*) If I need to figure out how to tell my principal he's a moron in words that won't offend him, there is Chary. Whatever will sustain me...

If I was to be stranded on a desert island, THIS is the company I want (provided I can add a few male distractors, too... but for company, I mean).

Beer

Y'all know I'm a beer snob, yes? It is possibly the only area of my life in which I'm a snob... other than my Pacific Northwest Anti-snobbery thing where I'm snobby about snobs... and possibly really bad literature *cough*Twilight*cough*

But I DO love me a really GREAT beer. There are a couple rules involved... First: beer should be made ONLY with barley, yeast, hops and water. I'm willing to allow a little experimentation for FLAVOR (I've had a few excellent ginger ales, for instance, and Raspberry stout is so good even my cats liked it, back when I lived in Portland and March was Raspberry Stout month). I am NOT willing to compromise for something like PRESERVATIVES. If you need to put preservatives in it, you aren't drinking it fast enough, or you're shipping too far. And you know what the BRITISH do when they have to ship far? INCREASE THE ALCOHOL—yes, alcohol works just FINE as a preservative and solves the problem without messing up the flavor—why do you think India Pale Ales are so strong? They needed to have a high enough alcohol content to sail around the cape of Africa without it going bad! Problem solved! So if there is a chemical name to be seen? DON'T DRINK IT!

My personal favorites: Hammerhead (McMenamins), XX Stout (Pyramid—brewed with Starbucks coffee), Ballard Bitter (Pyramid), Wassail (Full Sail's winter ale), Blue Heron (Bridgeport—Bridgeport has a stout I love, too and I ALSO want to call THAT XX... shoot—hate that I live so far away that I can't keep these straight!), Mad Hatter (New Holland), Sacred Cow (Arbor Brewing), Oatmeal Stout (Arcadia)

So if I can get a regular supply o' THESE on my deserted island, I will be a HAPPY camper.

Books

So in this interim, while I wait to hear about the cozy, as I don't know what I will write next until I know that... I've been spending a little extra time READING. I've read two much discussed books, and am THRILLED both lived up to their hype (mostly).

The Hunger Games: the dystopian future world where each 'territory' is supposed to send a pair of children (randomly chosen... sort of) to play a brutal and deadly form of 'Survivor' for the viewing pleasure of the capital *shivers*) The idea is so gruesome, but the reading was fabulous. The characters were mostly likable but also flawed; you were rooting for them, particularly the narrator, Katniss. DEFINITELY worth reading.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo: This one I felt was slightly under-edited at the tails—a little heavy on the tell don't show. But as the author was DEAD by the time his books were released, I forgive this—I wouldn't have wanted another editor to change Stieg Larsson's story, and that would have been the only other alternative. It was DEFINITELY worth releasing and reading, as the tale woven was FABULOUS!

I will read the next on BOTH of these (both are parts of trilogies)

My OWN book the next... TITLED, this morning on my power walk. I'm calling it 'Kahlotus Disposal Site', which is based on location and an in-joke by the kids living there. See, I wanted rural (middle of nowhere rural) and when I used to drive from Portland to Moscow, I would pass through the Tri-Cities in Washington, and then there was a cut-off toward the highway I WANTED (the main Washington one running between Seattle and Pullman)--I spotted it by the sign that said Kahlotus Disposal Site. Kahlotus is actually a small town (population 90, or some such thing), not just a dump, but the sign seemed an appropriate metaphor for what I want this book to be about, so there we have it.

And FINALLY, back to my island... ALL of us are readers. I figure we would ALL bring books, and other than having 13 sets of the Harry Potter series (make that 18—Leanne will probably bring it in multiple languages), the overlap probably wouldn't be that great, so we'd be able to read read read. But besides that—we'd each be WRITING new books all the time, so the new material supply would keep growing!

Boys

They are so useful, aren't they? They can refill the pitchers, apply sunscreen, read to us when we want to close our eyes, massage our feet... Just darned handy to have along...

Yeah... if I had those four things I could be VERY happy for a VERY long time...


THIS JUST IN!  Inkygirl with 400+ followers has linked yesterdays post and it is getting retweeted like crazy--I suspect I will break all records today on hits, but the GREAT news is BuNoWriMo folks!!!!