Meet Matilda

We have a new member of our family. Yesterday we brought home an eight-week old Welsh Pembroke Corgi puppy. Her name is Matilda. She likes to sleep, eat, and play with her squeaky-duck toy, and all the other stuff that puppies do. Like keep their owners awake at night. Click on the images for a larger view.

Wild Flowers

Three examples of what is coming up now.

The National Flower of Scotland

I went for a walk yesterday afternoon and found these. We have had lots of rain out here this spring, so I have high hopes that we will have a bumper crop of flowers later this summer. There are already hundreds of thistles.

One genus of thistle, the Cynara scolymus, is edible. We humans usually dip them in melted butter.

The Drex Files

Doug Drexler

I recently discovered a blog that I like very much. In fact, I like it so much, I even wrote a post for it.

The site is maintained by Doug Drexler, a "designer, sculptor, illustrator, and an Academy Award-winning makeup artist." He is also a digital effects artist. He has worked on such films as Starman, The Cotton Club, and Dick Tracy. He is probably best known, at least to fans of the television series (see here), for his work on Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: Voyager, and Enterprise. He has also worked on a couple of Star Trek films.

Most of the blog posts concern the Star Trek ships of the line and the model-building of same. The photography that accompanies these posts is gorgeous. In addition, Drexler often offers behind-the-scenes glimpses of the films and television shows he has been involved with, and from time to time he writes about the history of Hollywood - great fun for a movie buff.

Drexler also posts (as all bloggers do) about some of his favorite things. One of those is comics from days past, including, naturally, Dick Tracy and one drawn by Wally Wood; readers of Calvin and Hobbes will recognize the artistic inspiration.

What Drexler doesn't write about is current events, which is one of the reasons I like it. No politics, no White House, no Congress, no crime, no ugly celebrity beach bodies, "Sexperts," or gay penguins. (You can find all of these on Foxnews.com.)

The other reason I like the blog, and this is the main one, is Drexler's optimism. It permeates everything he writes. There is no whining on "The Drex Files" - at least, not by Doug. Even when he is writing about things from the past, Drexler has his eye on future. And it's clear he has high hopes for it.

After all, he's seen it; he works there.

Visit "The Drex Files" here.

Persistence of Vision

West Columbia, South Carolina. 8:30 p.m., Thursday, September 8, 1966. A thirteen-year old girl sits crossed-legged on the floor in front of a console television set.

The next year, the show she was watching has been moved to Friday nights at 10:00, but she is still there.

Four years later, that girl is sitting with her boyfriend on the porch of his landlady's house, in front of a tiny television. The original show from 1966 has been canceled after three seasons, but is in reruns.

By 1987 the girl and her boyfriend have been married for 16 years. They have a son, five years old. They are all in front of their television, in Scottsdale, Arizona, watching the next incarnation of the original series from 1966.

Greensboro, North Carolina, 1993. The couple has another son, who is four years old. The family gathers in front of their TV to watch the third version of the original series.

1995. The fourth television series to be based on the original one, debuts. Needless to say, we watch.

In 2001, the fifth, and final manifestation of the series from 1966 airs. Guess who is in front of the TV.

Midnight, May 23, 2009. An IMAX theater in Westminster, Colorado. Need I say more?

In case you haven't guessed, the series in question is Star Trek. From the time I was 13 years old (actually, almost 13) I have loved Star Trek, and everything it stands for. And just what is that? Is it what many reviewers call its "optimistic view of the future?" Is it the fact that the series depicts humans and aliens living in harmony in a quasi-utopian society where any disease can be cured with the squirt of a hypo-spray? Is it the fantastic spaceships that travel at speeds beyond the speed of light? Is it the adjustable weapons, the phasers that can stun, but not (unless set to) kill? Is it the sci-fi transporters that beam its occupants from one point to another in the blink of an eye? Is it the babes in short skirts and the guys in tight pants?

Yes.

And no.

Star Trek is so much more than a space western. While it is, and was, according to its creator, Gene Roddenberry, a morality tale, just what morality does it depict?

Several reviews of the new Star Trek movie have concentrated on the bonding-arc aspect of the main characters, Kirk, Spock, Scotty, Sulu, Uhura, and Checkov. True, this movie is a re-boot of the original series, and as such, necessarily needs to explore how these characters came together. How they came to function as a team. How they developed their deep friendships.

O.K.

And no.

The new movie is not about the "importance of friendship." Is it not about "bonding." It is not about "teamwork." While these are all themes that run through the series, and the movies, it is not their determining aspect. These themes are not what discriminates Star Trek from say, Thelma and Louise.

Star Trek always was, and continues to be, about the individual. About what it is to be one. About what it takes to be on the bridge of a starship. Or at the head of a corporation. Or at the top of one's game.

You have to earn it.

You have to work at it. You have to be a grown-up.

A scene in the new movie illustrates this well. The young James Kirk, who is depicted early in the movie as a fatherless, rudderless, punkish, enfant terrible, manages to come on board the Enterprise, despite being put on academic probation for, in essence, cheating on what we would call an entrance exam.

His new friend, Doctor McCoy, arranges the deceit. Once Kirk is there, however, events transpire so that he merits his place. Kirk has knowledge that others do not, and he acts on that knowledge. He manages to convince the captain (Pike) that he is correct in his interpretation of the facts.

Throughout the movie, Kirk continues to grow into the role of captain of a starship. We see him take action based on ideas. All the characters do.

Yes, they all become partners, friends, comrades. But they are bonded by their mutual respect for each other's convictions, integrity, and virtue. They are joined in the enterprise of becoming human, in the very best sense of the word.

Enterprise equals action, activity, endeavor, engagement, purpose, pursuit, ambition, boldness, daring, dash, gumption, industry, initiative, resourcefulness, readiness, zeal.

After all, the ship isn't named the U.S.S. Mediocrity, now is it?

Flux

It's been over a month since I last posted, and with good reason. Life has been extra-normal for the past few weeks.

First, my husband went out of town on a business trip. While that was in progress, and I had taken a few days off to mind the home front, my younger son contracted pneumonia. He's fine now, but it took him a while to recover. Then, I contracted the virus that gave him pneumonia, and the resulting bad cold kept me out of work for several more days. By that time my husband was back home, and I could get better, and return to work. Then we had a friend from Hawaii, who now lives in Washington, as a house guest.

No sooner had I done returned to work, when, as a result of the business trip, events transpired to the effect that I was out of a job.

And into a new one.

I'm now working for my husband, and his market advisory firm. From home. Have been since Thursday, May 21st. It's a wonderful transition, and one that I am still processing and settling into.

The details aren't important, but suffice it to say that the recent market turbulence, and economic chaos have actually worked in our favor. For now. We'll need to work hard to keep it that way, but we are up for it. It's almost enough to make me want to say a prayer of thanks to Ben Bernanke. Almost.

In any event, I need to get back to dinner. Now that I have a little more free time, I can indulge in one of my hobbies, cooking. Yesterday I decided that I will not buy any more food until the contents of my freezer and fridge are emptied. I made up a menu that consisted only of those items. Last night's dinner was actually a cocktail party menu - wish you could have been here!

We had a puff pastry concoction that included Italian sausage, onions, green peppers, and mushrooms; a dip made from left-over grilled salmon; a raw vegetable platter with an Asian dipping sauce; cheddar cheese shortbread crackers; and shrimp cocktail. All made from the bits and pieces of things sitting in cold storage.

Tonight I am making a quasi-Greek feast, with spanakopita, a grilled chicken, roasted potatoes and carrots, the requisite salad, and probably some peas. They all have some sort of Greek seasoning in common - oregano, rosemary, garlic, olive oil, etc. Should be good!

I also took some time today to update my website. I hope you will take a look: http://www.janetoliverstudio.com/home

That's it for now. Tomorrow I'll be back with a review of the latest Star Trek movie. It's AWESOME.

Dreaming Out Loud

If you haven't yet heard about a woman named Susan Boyle, you will. She is a 47-year-old woman from a town near Bathgate, Scotland who recently sang for a panel of judges on the British version of American Idol, Britain's Got Talent. The video of her performance has, at last count, over 12 million hits on YouTube.

Most popular reaction to seeing Susan Boyle has concentrated on what is perceived as a disconnect between her voice and her personal appearance; as if the plain brown wrapper conceals nothing more than other equally ordinary attributes. That is, to be fair, part of the astonishment. We are so used to living in a world where "to seem" is so much more important than it is "to be," we are suspicious of the very quality that brought Susan Boyle to stand up on stage in front of hundreds of strangers (and Simon Cowell) and take her life in her own hands - passion.

Boyle sings a song from the Broadway hit Les Misérables, "I Dreamed a Dream." In the play, it is sung by Fantine, who, after being abandoned by her lover, gives birth to her daughter, Cosette. Fantine is wrongly fired from her job and forced into prostitution in order to support herself and her daughter. Fantine sings about the wretchedness of her condition:

I Dreamed a Dream

There was a time when men were kind

When their voices were soft

And their words inviting

There was a time when love was blind

And the world was a song

And the song was exciting

There was a time

Then it all went wrong

I dreamed a dream in time gone by

When hope was high

And life worth living

I dreamed that love would never die

I dreamed that God would be forgiving

Then I was young and unafraid

And dreams were made and used and wasted

There was no ransom to be paid

No song unsung, no wine untasted

But the tigers come at night

With their voices soft as thunder

As they tear your hope apart

And they turn your dream to shame

He slept a summer by my side

He filled my days with endless wonder

He took my childhood in his stride

But he was gone when autumn came

And still I dream he'll come to me

That we will live the years together

But there are dreams that cannot be

And there are storms we cannot weather

I had a dream my life would be

So different from this hell I'm living

So different now from what it seemed

Now life has killed the dream I dreamed.

This song is important to Boyle. She also dreamed a dream in time gone by - she has wanted to be a professional singer since she was 12 years old. She is the youngest of nine children, and until recently lived with her mother, who died about a year ago. She is what used to be called a spinster, an old maid. Her sole companion these days is her cat.

When you watch the video, you will see the entrenched cynicism and skepticism of the audience and the judges literally melt away as soon as Boyle begins to sing. They cannot believe what they are seeing - and hearing. But they quickly begin to believe. They want to believe. Their belief turns to guarded hope - that Boyle will hit the high notes - and their hopes are rewarded. She does it! The crowd goes wild! Yes!

The judges are shocked, surprised, amazed! But Boyle knew she could do it. She knew she had the power within herself. She has kept her dream alive. She has decided that life will not kill it, that there is still time for her dream to come true. She took her dream out of her small town, and brought it to the world stage. Susan Boyle has the courage to dream her dream in the daylight, for all to witness.

And that is what is so inspiring.

Watch Susan Boyle.

And then decide. What is your dream? How will you live it?

The Sound of Joy

This is my kind of performance art:



Life imitates art:

Sunday in the Prairie with Wiley

John James Audubon, Meadowlark, 1832

Since we moved out here in the summer of 2007, and I first heard the sounds, I have been trying to record the call of the Western Meadowlark. It is one of the most beautiful bird songs I've ever heard. I got my opportunity a couple of weekends ago. I also encountered a wee bit more wildlife than I originally intended.

The Meadowlark's song travels a great distance over the open prairie, and at first I had difficulty locating the source. I finally narrowed it down to a bare tree about 100 feet from where I was standing; the bird was sitting, warbling away, on a dead branch. As I was zooming in on it, I heard a rustling in the dried cattails to my right. Knowing what might be making the noises, I stopped in my tracks. I turned slowly toward the sound, and saw this guy.


As you can see, it is running away from me. That's what any wiley wild creature should do. I was not afraid of it, but it was good to know that it was afraid of me.

This bit of open space is adjacent to a golf course, however. Guess what some golfers had been doing with the coyotes?

Feeding them.

This causes the coyote to lose its fear of humans. It also causes it to approach them, in hopes of obtaining a little morsel of something. It also causes them to bite the hand of the human when nothing is forthcoming. That has happened on this very spot. A coyote snapped at a young boy who was snowboarding in this area (he was not seriously injured).

I knew what to do should the coyote approach me, and was prepared to make myself as big and as loud as possible. Most everybody out here knows this, or learns it, as soon as they move here from somewhere else.

I have no idea where golfers are from...

Anyhow, cue the video, and enjoy the luscious sounds of the meadowlark.