What?!?! We’re just about at the end of the 4th quarter and of the entire year? You’ve got to be kidding me. I feel completely dizzy, as if someone’s been spinning me round and round and just let me go. And speaking of going, where did the year go? I know this is all cliche, asking where the year went at the end of each year. But this year I genuinely feel that way, as if I’m just being pulled along for the ride. I wish I saw it changing anytime soon. Perhaps I just need to work harder at being in, and appreciating, the present moment.
How about you? How do you feel at the end of this year, and how has your year been? What do you do to better relax and appreciate all you have, versus allowing schedules and pressures to get you down? Leave a comment way down below and let me know.
And now on to the far more positive side of the quarter (and year): a look back at some of the things I did manage to accomplish, the photos I created, books I read, music I listened to. I hope you find something below to entertain you.
Photography
Other aspects of this quarter may have been stressful, but not photography. I thoroughly enjoyed each and every outing and all the time on the computer processing the images (I’m really enjoying the new computer). My folks and I made a trip to see relatives in Massachusetts, and then later to see the colorful Ginkgo Grove at Blandy Experimental Farm. My father and I went on a number of hikes and I went on at least one solo hike. Photographing busy and dense forest scenes has been a real challenge for me and yet this quarter I felt as if I were beginning to make some sense of them. I even had some fun creating a series of abstract images taking advantage of the colors of autumn. All in all, I had a great photographic quarter.
Please take a look back through this quarter’s posts and photographs.
Holidays
Mostly Photos
Two Views of Huntley Meadows Woodlands
A Day for Abstracts in the Forest
Random Thoughts
Reviews
Gift Ideas for Nature & Outdoor Photographers (updated repost)
Trip Report
Views From Mount Sugarloaf (Massachusetts) on a Clear Day
The Glowing Golds of the Ginkgo Grove
A Walk Through the Autumnal Woods of Prince William Forest Park
Variations on a Theme
Reading
I finished fewer books this quarter. I’d really been on a roll earlier in the year, but I wasn’t able to continue the pace. I’ve increasingly found myself less able to concentrate in the evenings after work so I’ve spent a little more time watching videos than reading, and when I do read it’s most often in the form of audiobooks. I’m working on trying to relax faster when I get home so I can spend more time reading. We’ll see how this next quarter goes. Thankfully, though, I’ve mostly enjoyed everything I’ve read.
The books I consumed this quarter (paper, ebook, and audio).
The full list of books: The Wall of Storms (Dandelion Dynasty 2) by Ken Liu, Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, The Lottery and Other Stories by Shirley Jackson, The Last Seance: Tales of the Supernatural by Agatha Christie, Black Mouth by Ronald Malfi, Gallows Hill by Darcy Coates, Foundation by Isaac Asimov, Peril at End House by Agatha Christie, The Lost Metal (Mistborn) by Brandon Sanderson, The Children on the Hill by Jennifer McMahon, Flight Risk (Booking Agents 2) by Cherie Priest, Hercule Poirot’s Christmas by Agatha Christie, Midwinter Murder: Fireside Tales from the Queen of Mystery by Agatha Christie, A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, and Foundation and Empire by Isaac Asimov.
Of these my favorites were:
The Children on the Hill by Jennifer McMahon
I was very pleasantly surprised by this book, one I received in a giveaway through goodreads. This is a mystery/thriller with hints of the supernatural. It’s told in varying perspectives, both from different characters and from different times, weaving together parts of the past with the present and with parts of a book written about events in the past. This was my favorite read of the quarter.
The Lost Metal (Mistborn) by Brandon Sanderson
This was the final book of the 2nd era of the Mistborn set of series. The first era series was more of a traditional epic fantasy series. This 2nd era series plays out in the same world but many years later after the population has progressed to the point of inventing industrial processes. The 3rd era will be further in their future. My favorite of the entire series so far is still the very first book of the 1st era. But The Lost Metal ended up as my favorite of the 2nd era series. I don’t think it’s all that common that I prefer the final book of a series.
The Wall of Storms (Dandelion Dynasty 2) by Ken Liu
The books in the Dandelion Dynasty series are very long and full of characters so it takes me time to get through them. I think I enjoyed this second volume more than the first. The first, at times, felt like a retelling of history, perhaps to quickly get us up to speed. In this volume there seemed more depth of character, and I enjoyed that. I already have book 3 and I look forward to it.
It was only in the past year of two that I first started reading Ronald Malfi’s books, most of which seem to have horror elements. I’m really enjoying his style and his stories. This one brought back vibes of Stephen King’s It, where a group of kids must return to their childhood hometown as adults to confront a terrible evil once again. That said, it was a very different read than It.
Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
Along with Dracula, this is one of the two classics of horror that I’ve always enjoyed. I came to both through movies first and only later read, and reread, the original novels. I love how different the books are from the movies and I suspect I’ll continue to reread them through the years.
Movies & Anime
The movies I watched this quarter.
As I mentioned above, I watched more movies than usual this quarter. At some point I’d decided I wanted to watch the entire series of X-Men related movies in the order they were released, so this was the quarter I started that. So far I’ve watched X-Men, X2: X-Men United, X-Men: The Last Stand, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, X-Men: First Class, The Wolverine, X-Men: Days of Future Past, X-Men: Apocalypse, Logan, X-Men: Dark Phoenix, and The New Mutants. I’ve been really enjoying this. Some of these I watched for the first time while others have been rewatches, and while some are obviously better than others I’m getting a lot of enjoyment watching them close together so they gel well in my mind and continue from one to another.
Two of my favorites are X-Men, where it all began, and X-Men: Days of Future Past, a storyline I also enjoyed from the original comic books when I was a kid. It’s always fun trying to remember how the original comic book stories played out and which characters were actually in them as compared to what they chose to do for the movies. My favorite of all these movies, without a doubt, is Logan. Though a very violent movie it was also very different from any of the other Marvel mutant movies, with a very personal story. And for a movie about mutants with superhuman powers, this was the most human movie of them all.
For Halloween I decided to rewatch the horror movie, A Nightmare on Elm Street, which was one of my favorites when it first came out in 1984. It’s interesting looking back at it now. I still really enjoyed it but I wonder how much of that was nostalgia.
And I watched a teen action-drama called Nerve, about a somewhat twisted game where folks agree to perform in the real world whatever daring action the online audience has voted on, recording the entire thing on their phones and competing to become the most popular player and winner of this iteration of the game. Of course, things quickly get out of hand.
Music
It seems every quarter is a great quarter for listening to music, and I always have a very difficult time picking just a small number of songs to share with you. There are so many I discover, listen to, and love each quarter. Some quarters I spend more time than others watching music videos and this quarter I did a lot of watching and listening, and below are some of the songs I listened to and enjoyed the most.
LYRRE - North Star
LYRRE is a very new band from Kraków, Poland. They say they merge the old and the new, medieval with modern, legendary with cinematic. I really like the sound and feel of their song, North Star, making great use of the droning sounds of the hurdy-gurdy mixed with a rock beat and almost haunting vocals. I look forward to hearing more from this band.
dArtagnan - Felsenfest
dArtagnan is back with more of their brand of musketeer rock mixing traditional and modern instruments. This particular video happens to be a lyric video so you can follow along with the song. Keep in mind, this is a German band singing in German, but I think their music can be appreciated regardless of whether or not you speak the language.
Alan Gogoll - Mulberry Mouse
Alan Gogoll is an absolutely incredible acoustic guitarist from Australia. Mulberry Mouse is a magical tune with some percussive elements and loads of fast harmonics. A truly inspiring guitarist, one I was introduced to by a good friend and musician.
Wintersun - Sons of Winter and Stars
Intense! Aggressive, dark, epic, harsh, melodic, some great harmonizing, progressive elements to songwriting, incredible musicianship, and a marathon runner of a drummer. With many bands and/or songs I often find harsh vocals too much for my taste but in this case I’m onboard. Wintersun is a Finnish band I discovered recently because their drummer became the full-time drummer for Nightwish, and now their bassist plays with them as well.
Life
It’s been an interesting quarter. The biggest change over typical quarters was a trip with my folks to Massachusetts to see relatives. We had car trouble on the first day after we’d passed into New York when suddenly the entire car started shaking and vibrating as I drove, most especially when turning the steering wheel at highway speeds. We were able to get to the hotel and the next morning spent a number of hours finding and visiting a repair shop that could see it right then. Thankfully it all worked out and after having some control arms replaced (and the battery which happened to die at the same time) we were back on the road with no more harm done than a bit of stress and some time.
Later that night, after we’d already unloaded the car into the hotel room in Massachusetts my father went up to the room to grab something and discovered the door lock no longer functioned. One of the risks of all these new high tech gadgets like card slot door locks. So we had to load everything up and move to another room. Thankfully there were extra rooms available and the hotel did give us a nice discount for the inconvenience. With no further mishaps we went on to enjoy the rest of the stay and the visits with multiple groups of relatives.
All in all I’d say I’ve had a reasonably good quarter. I have felt a bit more stressed in some regards and struggle to relax after work, but things like that sometimes come and go. Hopefully it’ll go before too much longer. But beyond that it’s been good so I really can’t complain. How about you? How has your quarter been? I hope you’ve had a great one. Let me now in the comments below.
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