I’ve been watching so much Gordon Ramsay of late that it’s led me to do the unthinkable. I’m actually cooking at home. Last night, I made butterlicious rib steak with grilled asparagus. Today, it was crispy-skinned salmon with potato salad and oven roasted tomatoes. So I’m staying in more which is a good news/bad news thing. Good news for my wallet but of course bad news for the many local restaurants I’ve supported over the years by rarely ever eating in (the only times I would actually eat at home we’d be ordering in). Then again, this doesn’t mean that the reverse is true. I still do go out to eat and have enjoyed some excellent meals of late. Given that some of you may be heading into town in the coming month, I decided to post a little photo tour of some of the culinary highlights of the past six weeks or so. Not included in the line-up is the fantastic meal I enjoyed at fuel for the cast dinner. Alas, I didn’t bring my camera with me that night for fear of spooking the actors so you’ll just have to trust me on this one.
A quiet day on the home front . I re-re-re-re-re-re-re-re-re-re-re-re-re-re-re-re-re-re-re-re-re-re-re-re-polished what I have on the short story so far (so good) and prepare myself for the trickiest scene. Once that’s done, the rest will write itself. Smooooooth sailing!
This afternoon, it was a vet hospital visit for Lulu – she of the finicky appetite, the sensitive tummy, the itchy ears, the irritable paws. Our vet, the lovely Janet, suspects a food allergy and suggested I switch over to a fish and potato-based kibble. On the way home, I stopped by a pet store and, as I wandered in with Lulu, we were ambushed by a fellow French bulldog owner who just couldn’t get enough of my gal. And, of course, Lulu was infinitely pleased with all of the attention, pawing, sprawling, batting, and barking. I explained that Lulu seemed to be suffering from a food allergy. “Occasional loss of appetite?”she asked. Uh, yeah. “Is she always scratching her ears at night?” Yep. “Is she always chewing on her paws in the morning?” Yes! She directed me over to the California Natural Herring & Sweet Potato formula. Apparently, her Frenchie suffers from the exact same condition. Fascinating, no?
No? Okay then – I read the revised Earth script. Rob completed his pass yesterday and it is terrific. Yesterday, we put the stories-in-progress up on the board and we’re sitting pretty. There has been some discussion of making the story idea Rob pitched out for episode 17 the season finale. I think it would be a wonderfully Holy Shit! way to cap off the Universe’s first year. Blazin’!
Dogs discussion:
Thornyrose writes: “The character of Allen Levy was the only one that truly came to life for me though. The desperate struggles of a child trying to save his pet, while dealing with the domestic problems in his home. I found myself mentally cheering Allen on, even when his actions were the wrong things for the right reason.”
Answer: I agree. His attempts to save his dog were quite touching – and surprisingly clever. Some of my favorite moments in the book were the his hospital scenes with Cami. That friendship, more than any other relationship in the book, rang truest for me.
Thornyrose also writes: “Going back to Tessa, I found the thread that an aquantance of her husband was the proximate cause a bit of a stretch.”
Answer: Granted, this was a huge buy.
Sparrow_hawk writes: “I even found it kind of amusing when, at first, they were trying to take advantage of the situation to buff up FEMA’s reputation that had been so tarnished by the handling of Hurricane Katrina.”
Answer: Yes, and they end up dropping the ball. Again!
Sparrow-hawk also writes: “I have mixed feelings about the ending. Although the little epilogue seemed a bit forced to me, it served the purpose of reminding us that the virus was still active and still a threat.”
Answer: Hmmm. I like a little ambiguity and open-ended stories but the epilogue certainly had a cinematic feel to it. In fact, as I was reading, I found it very easy to imagine the film version.
Silver_Comet writes: “. And usually I can’t read something like that without being touched and often on the verge of tears. But in this case I didn’t feel much for the dogs either. Maybe because the thought, that a dog is really able to kill a human, is very frightening. I saw more the killing machines in them than the lovely pets.”
Answer: The scenes that I found most disturbing as a dog owner were the instances in which the authorities dropped by the various houses to confiscate the dogs. While I consider it highly unlikely that my dogs will turn on me someday (“Television Producer Gummed To Death” would be the shocking headline), I can imagine a scenario whereby someone would try to take my dogs from me. Very unsettling stuff.
If you have questions for author Nancy Kress, post them now because I’ll be gathering them up and sending them her way tomorrow night!
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