Quarterly Look Back

Quarterly Look Back - 3rd Quarter 2021 by Todd Henson

And so we’ve made it through the 3rd quarter of 2021. One more quarter to go and we’ll be in 2022. I’m not sure I can associate much meaning to all that, other than we’re still here plugging along, hopefully living the best life we can. And there’s certainly something to be said for that. So on that (hopefully) positive note let’s take a look back at the quarter.

Photography

I feel relatively good about the quarter when it comes to photography. My father and I went on many hikes, at least in the first half or more of the quarter. We did slow down more recently, but I’m hopeful we’ll be able to start getting out again soon. The weather is certainly becoming more pleasant. Looking back it appears the majority of my photography was of smaller subjects like flowers and insects (and that one fantastic newt).

Below are links back to this quarter’s posts. Check them out if you missed any or just want to revisit.

Field Notes Updates

Cardinals Nesting in the Blueberries

Hummingbird Clearwing Moth

Snowberry Clearwing Moth

Broad-headed Sharpshooter

Bright and Beautiful Berries

Mostly Photos

Six Views of Mexican Primrose

Cabbage White on Thistle

Photo Failures

Lesson Learned with Opteka Fisheye Lens

Random Thoughts

Green on Green

Story Behind Image

A Scintillating Spider Web

Trip Report

Boardwalk Birding

First Visit to Voorhees Nature Preserve

Variations on a Theme

Mid-May Blooms

Reading

I feel like I’ve really been in a reading groove for a while now, constantly reading something, and most often enjoying what I’m reading. I’ve heard of some folks who’ve run into reading slumps, and I certainly understand that and have experienced it, but thankfully not recently. Below is a look at the books I read (or listened to in the case of audiobooks).

The books I consumed this quarter (paper, ebook, and audio).

This quarter didn’t have quite as many really standout books, but it had many great ones with my favorites described below.

Hollow Kingdom by Kira Jane Buxton

My favorite read of the quarter is a rather unusual zombie apocalypse sort of story. I’d have thought by now I’d be tired of anything related to zombies, not being as much of a zombie fanatic as some folks. But this book caught me by surprise, with the main protagonist a domesticated crow named S.T. (short for Shit Turd). We see the fall of humanity through its eyes. What a wild ride, full of humor and horror, and a great read for folks who enjoy reading about nature and animals, wild and domestic. I look forward to the sequel, Feral Creatures. Thanks for Tammy over at Books, Bones & Buffy for keeping me interested enough to finally read this one.

A Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers

A found family science fiction story of the best kind, set on an old ship, the Wayfarer, used to tunnel wormholes between systems, establishing transportation routes. Rosemary Harper joins the crew, running from her past and hoping no one will find out, and throughout the story learns what it means to really become part of a family, even if not bound by blood. I loved the characters, each with a distinct personality, each with their own quirks, and each adding something meaningful to the story. This was similar in some ways to the show, Firefly, so if you enjoyed that there’s a good chance you’ll enjoy this book. There are several sequels and I’m looking forward to spending more time in this universe.

Dead Space by Kali Wallace

Another book set in space, but this one deals with an investigator trying to solve a murder on a space station. She shouldn’t be involved as the victim was her friend, and before being murdered he’d reached out to her saying he’d uncovered something. But she managed to get herself assigned to the case and now she has to find out what he’d uncovered and who would have killed him to cover it up. If she can survive that long.

The Body Scout by Lincoln Michel

I won a copy of The Body Scout through a goodreads giveaway. The futuristic story of a baseball scout, Kobo, falling on hard times, trying to make ends meet and pay off his medical bills for all the body enhancements and upgrades he’s gotten over the years, many during the time he actually played baseball. Then his friend J.J. Zunz, whose family adopted him when younger, and who plays in the major league, dies a gruesome death on the ball field. Kobo believes it wasn’t an accident and is determined to find out who murdered his brother. Though I’m not a big baseball fan I still thoroughly enjoyed this story. It’s a bit of a gruesome future, but a fascinating one, nonetheless.

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick

I fell in love with the movie Blade Runner when it came out back in 1982. Later I learned it was based on a book by Philip K. Dick called Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? Ever since then I’ve wanted to read the book, but it’s taken me till now to finally do it. This is the first book by Dick I’ve read and it won’t be my last. I thoroughly enjoyed it, though some elements I wasn’t as keen on, such as the almost obsessive urge of the characters to own live animals as a sort of civic duty or trophy to show off to the neighbors, with some who can’t get them opting for electric versions, hence the electric sheep of the title. But both the book and movie have elements strongly in their favor, and I’m glad I’ve experienced them both.

Movies

The movies I watches this quarter.

My movie watching started off pretty slow this quarter, but it increased towards the end. Thankfully, I mostly enjoyed what I watched, with my favorites described below.

I had a craving to return to J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth, so I began listening to the new audiobook narration of The Lord of the Rings by Andy Serkis, who played Gollum in the movies, while also reading along with the paper book. But it appears I wanted instant gratification, so I dug out my DVD’s of the movies (The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, and The Return of the King) and watched all 12 hours of the extended editions, and loved it all. Now I’ll return to listening and reading. 😁

Freaks was an unusual movie about a young girl, Chloe, who’s kept confined to her house by her father, afraid of what’s outside and supposedly trying to protect her from it. But she’s at the age when she wants to explore, to have friends, and is willing to disobey to get her way. Is her father crazy? Or is there actually something to his fear of what’s outside their house?

Homefront was exactly what I’d expect of an action film starring Jason Statham, and that happened to be exactly what I was looking for at the time. He is a former DEA agent who helped take down a large drug gang. Now he’s left his job and living in a small town with his daughter, trying to fit in. But of course, things never go as one would hope and his old life forces its way back in.

Music

I haven’t listened to much new music this quarter, instead mostly enjoying familiar and well-loved bands. I’ve probably listened to more Band-Maid and Nightwish than anything else, just as I did last quarter. They just seem to fit my moods lately.

From Band-Maid I’ve been listening quite a lot to their song About Us, one that is a bit less loud and energetic than the majority of their music. It has a great bass line throughout, and I love how the song starts with acoustic guitar before moving to electric. And though I don’t understand Japanese I sometimes almost feel I understand the song given how the lyrics are sung and the overall tone of the piece.

And with Nightwish I’ve had two of their songs on replay, having recently purchased an album containing both. Alpenglow is just a fantastic, energetic, feel good sort of song that always puts me into a better mood (as Floor Jansen, their lead singer, says at the beginning of the live video). Élan does much the same for me as Alpenglow, though it’s not quite as fast paced. I really enjoy the songs where Troy Donockley plays an active role with his range of Celtic instruments and vocals. He helps give extra flavor to their music.

I did stumble across one recent release from Beast in Black, a band that’s new to me. They are a five-piece metal band based in Helsinki that got their start in 2015. Their new song, Moonlight Rendezvous has a very addictive and persistent beat to it, and the chorus feels very familiar though I can’t think of what it reminds me of. The video has the feel of Blade Runner, which is so perfect given I recently read Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? I plan to keep exploring their music.

 

Life

It was an interesting quarter. There were some challenges and stressful times on the personal front, but also opportunities to relax and enjoy life. For the first half or more of the quarter I was getting out photographing somewhat regularly, most weekends, and enjoyed the time out in nature. Towards the end of the quarter that’s slowed down, so it’s time to start making more of an effort to get out at least once in a while. I’ve noticed my guitar practice has also slowed down, so I’d like to pay more attention to that and put some additional time into it. These sorts of things come with huge benefits if we can only get past that initial habit of procrastination. But with me it’s a strong habit so it takes more and more effort to overcome it. I will continue to work on that.

How was your quarter? Let me know in the comments below. I hope you had a great one, and I hope this next one is even better!


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Quarterly Look Back - 2nd Quarter 2021 by Todd Henson

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The year is half over. Kind of hard to believe, but that’s the way it goes. Now it’s time to take a quick look back at the last three months, do a little reminiscing, and maybe think a bit on next quarter. I can’t really think of anything else interesting or useful to say as an introduction, so let’s just dive into this past quarter. Here’s a sampling of some of what I’ve been up to both involving and outside of photography.

Photography

It has been a bit of a struggle at times keeping a regular weekly schedule to the blog posts, but I’ve managed to keep that going throughout the quarter. I prefer to get ahead, having at least 3-4 weeks of posts already photographed, written and ready to go, but lately I’ve been lucky to get the next post finished just a couple days before it goes online. This next quarter I’ll see if I can manage to build up that buffer of posts again. It helps me get through periods when I’m less inspired.

Below are links back to this quarter’s posts. Check them out if you missed any or just want to revisit.

Field Notes Updates

Lots of Lovely Lady’s Slippers

Careful Where You Step - Eastern Copperhead

Sheltered Gray Treefrog

Random Thoughts

Variations on a Theme - Mushrooms

Traces in the Tree

Spring Redbud

Transient Beauty

Story Behind Image

Light Green of Early Spring

A Flowering Shrub One May Morning

On the Prowl

Techniques

Painterly Pursuits in Photography

Trip Report

Morning Walk Along Pyrite Mine Road

Reading

I had another great reading quarter, consuming books from a mix of genres, such as non-fiction, fantasy, science fiction, mystery/thriller. Overall I found myself enjoying most of what I read, with some standing out above the rest.

The books I consumed this quarter (paper, ebook, and audio).

My favorite reads of the quarter include:

Network Effect (The Murderbot Diaries #5) by Martha Wells

Up to now The Murderbot Diaries has been a series of novellas, which have worked great to tell some amazing stories with incredible character development. Now we finally get a longer dose of Murderbot in the first full-length novel of the series, following the life and adventures of a security android that’s escaped its life of servitude and has to figure out what to do with itself in a world full of humans. I love this series!

The Last Wish (Witcher #0.5) by Andrzej Sapkowski

I’ve never seen the show or played the video games so this was my first introduction to the character of the Witcher, and I absolutely loved it. This is an anthology of stories that have that classic fantasy feel of magic and monsters taking me back to my days playing Dungeons & Dragons with a group of friends. I can absolutely see why so many others are drawn to this character.

The Sword of Destiny (Witcher #0.7) by Andrzej Sapkowski

The Last Wish wasn’t enough so I had to continue reading. This volume is another anthology of short stories and I enjoyed it just as much as the last. In this one we continue to learn more about Geralt, the Witcher, and how he came to be what he is. It almost felt as if each story added yet another element to his history, giving a better picture of who this person is. I can’t wait to continue reading the series.

The Pariah (The Covenant of Steel #1) by Anthony Ryan

I’d never read anything by Ryan before but have seen good things about him, so I entered a goodreads giveaway and was fortunate to win an advanced reading copy (in ebook form) for a book due out late August 2021. I absolutely loved this book and how it was written. It’s told as a written record set down by Alwyn Scribe, the main character, and tells of his early life, from being raised in a band of outlaws, to being locked up in a prison no one’s ever escaped, and eventually becoming a soldier under the command of a woman who sees visions of the future. This story was so well told with hints of what’s to come sprinkled throughout leaving me with a strong desire to read the next book as soon as I can get my hands on it.

Critical Role Vox Machina: Origins (Library Edition: Series I and II Collection)

I’ve been a fan of Critical Role, a group of voice actors who get together to play Dungeons & Dragons and eventually started live-streaming their gaming sessions. I wasn’t there when they began but I’ve watched for a couple years now. So I was fairly excited when I learned they were now putting out comic books to provide more story and background for their characters. This collection features the first two story arcs of Origins, telling a possible story for how the group originally got together. I love both the artwork and the stories, and I don’t think you need to already be a fan of the show to enjoy the comics. Think D&D with a small dose of comedy thrown in.

Movies

The movies I watched this quarter.

I didn’t watch nearly as many movies this quarter as I read books, but I enjoyed what I watched. My thoughts on what I watched are below.

Attack the Block is a great British alien invasion film about a group of teenage thugs living in a high rise and making trouble in all their spare time. But while robbing a young woman they’re interrupted by something falling from the sky and crashing into a nearby car, which ends up being the first of many things to fall from the sky. And none of them are very friendly. From 2011 starring Jodie Whittaker, John Boyega and others.

White Vengeance is a Chinese historical epic told as a story within a story, with recent students learning about events from history. We’re then taken back to see the battles and political maneuvering, and how men once friends became foes in their fight for power. From 2011 starring Shaofeng Feng, Leon Lai, Hanyu Zhang and Anthony Wong Chau-Sang.

Daybreakers is an interesting take on vampires, showing it as a pandemic where the vampires have taken over society and now rule, but there are so few humans left that human blood is becoming a vanishing commodity. We see society begin to decline, but in this case it’s a vampire society. From 2009 starring Ethan Hawke, Willem Dafoe and Sam Niell.

Gunnm (Battle Angel) is a short one hour anime based on a series of manga and a predecessor to the more recent movie, Alita Battle Angel. In this case the Battle Angel is named Gally, but the story is very close to that seen in the movie, or more appropriately the story in the movie is very close to that of the anime. I’ve yet to read the manga, though I do have it in ebook form and hope to try it soon. From 1993.

John Wick: Chapter 2 was ok. I didn’t enjoy it nearly as much as the first movie. This one just didn’t seem to have as much story and it felt like I was sort of being dragged along. While watching I was wondering whether it was worth watching Chapter 3, but by the end I did find myself curious enough about what comes next that I will check out the next one. From 2017 starring Keanu Reeves.

Music

I’ve been getting back into symphonic metal lately, and with that comes listening to some Nightwish, a band from Finland. One of my favorites is their 2013 live performance of Ghost Love Score at Wacken in Germany, a longer song at about 10 minutes that does a good job showcasing some of their strengths. I love the range to the vocals and the drums are incredible, especially at the end of the song.

Will, over at A Refuge From Life, got me interested in Delain, a Dutch metal band. One of their songs I keep coming back to lately is The Gathering. This is their official video, but there’s another live version online that I really enjoy featuring Marko Hietala, formerly of Nightwish.

Finally, I’ve been getting into Band-Maid, a Japanese rock band. It all started with one of them working at a maid cafe, and now they’re five women playing some great rock music. Their song Daydreaming is one of their lighter pieces but also one of my favorites. And as a bonus, I’m including a live version of their instrumental, onset. I’ve always enjoyed this sort of rock instrumental, though be warned the video contains lots of strobing lights.

 

Life

Overall, it felt like a good quarter. My father and I have continued our hikes through the woods as often as we can. The weather is getting warmer and the humidity is quickly rising. Summer is here. That means many hikes that were easy during the cooler months are becoming increasingly difficult, so we may have to cut back on the duration of our hikes. But it’s still good getting out in nature, watching as the forest changes in small but noticeable ways week after week, and documenting some of those changes with a camera. And we may start venturing to other locations beyond the forest.

Locally, the virus situation has been improving, so we’re slowly moving into a new phase of life, restarting some of the things we’d put on hold for the past year and a half. I went on a day trip with my folks, something we used to really enjoy, and now we feel comfortable enough to do it again. Not everything is back to “normal”, whatever that means, but there’s a movement in that direction. And honestly, I’m both happy and sad about it. With all the problems the virus brought there have also been some benefits for an introvert like myself. But life moves on and so do I.

I did have a small medical scare this quarter. I’d been shocked awake one night by some sound out back, and when I opened my eyes one of them felt very gritty. It took me a while to clear, but eventually I fell back asleep. When I woke the next morning, though, I couldn’t see clearly from that eye. It was as if I were looking through a layer of Vaseline. I tried to flush out the eye but it didn’t change anything. I was able to get an appointment that day and the optometrist confirmed my cornea was all scratched up, likely caused by my eyes drying out over night and the eyelid sticking to the cornea. When I was shocked awake and opened my eyes quickly it tore at the front of the cornea. Thankfully, it healed naturally over a week or so, but it was a bit of a scare for someone who gets such enjoyment out of using their eyes for photography and reading. Thank goodness for audiobooks, I made heavy use of them during that time.

Well, that’s it for me for the quarter. I hope you’ve had a great quarter, and I hope the next one is just as good. My goal is to work hard to get ahead with blog posts, having photographs processed and articles written. I’m also hoping to make time for some other website work, like updating my galleries and getting more work available on my online store. I hope you have a couple goals you can work towards this next quarter. Even if we don’t fully achieve them I think having them helps keep us moving forward and making progress.


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Quarterly Look Back - 1st Quarter 2021 by Todd Henson

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And so we find ourselves at the end of the first quarter of 2021. How did we get here and what’s happened since the previous quarter? We’ll take a look at some of that here, though things aren’t that different for me, so I don’t have a lot to report. The world continues to show us what an interesting place it can be, with the word interesting interpreted in many different ways. But overall it feels like there’s some positive movement forward. Perhaps that’s just the changing seasons, the warming weather, the increasing amount of sunlight during the day, causing seasonal mood changes in me. Even if so, I’ll take it.

Photography

On the photography front, and specifically here on the blog, I’ve continued my weekly posts. My father and I continue getting together for hikes through the woods as we’re able to, and I try to sneak in some extra hikes on my own every once in a while. I’m fairly happy with the photographs I’ve created and posted this quarter. I had a lot of fun creating them, experimenting a bit here and there. If all quarters feel at least this good then I’ll continue to be a happy camper.

Below are links back to this quarter’s posts. Check them out if you missed any or just want to revisit.

Before & After

Portrait of a Green Frog

Field Notes Updates

A Wren and the Guardrail

A Long-tailed Duck Scratching That Itch

Random Thoughts

Texture: Tree and Stone

Story Behind Image

South Fork Flow - After the Rain

South Fork Rapids, January 2021

Fungi Along the Forest Floor

A Meadowood Mushroom

Quantico Cascades

Techniques

Effects of a Polarizing Filter on Waterfalls in the Woods

Sketches Along the Creek

Turbulence in Motion

Reading

As has been the case for some time, the majority of my reading is fiction, and most often in the speculative realms of fantasy and science fiction. But I love reading many genres so I try to mix it up and I think I did a reasonable job of that this quarter.

Below are the books I finished this quarter, and below that are descriptions of my favorites.

The books I consumed this quarter (paper, ebook, and audio).

My favorite reads of the quarter include:

Neuromancer by William Gibson

This was a reread for me, but I first read it so long ago this felt very much like a first read. I think I enjoyed it just as much this time as I did the first. It’s a slightly futuristic book, one of the early and best known in the cyberpunk genre, involving hacking into computers with interesting interfaces, advanced artificial intelligences, augmentations and interesting new technologies. And surprisingly, given its age, it still felt current and relevant to me. Great book!

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab

This was a beautiful book about a girl unhappy with her life, so she makes a deal with dark spirits, knowing she shouldn’t, and finds her life changed forever. As usual, these deals are never quite what they seem and the wisher always seems to get the lesser end of the deal. But Addie refuses to give in and continues living her life, though everyone she ever meets will forget her as soon as she walks away. And that’s the gist of it all, how someone everyone will forget can give us such an unforgettable story of her own.

Equal Rites by Terry Pratchett

I had such a great time with this book. It was by far my favorite Discworld novel (granted, it’s also only my third). This one focuses on the young girl Esk and Granny Weatherwax, a local witch. Esk finds herself in the strange position of inheriting the power and staff of a wizard, though everyone knows girls can’t be wizards. So will she follow in the footsteps of Granny and become a witch, will she attempt to go against all the accepted norms and become a wizard, or will she end up finding her own way in the world, of course with a little help from friends?

Saved by a Song by Mary Gautheir

I won this one through a goodreads giveaway. I’d not been familiar with Mary Gauthier or her music before reading this book. It was the title that drew me to it, the idea of music being a healing art. The book ended up being an autobiography of sorts, with some wisdom and stories of the art and healing of music sprinkled throughout. She talks about her life, how she got into music, how it helped her overcome and get through some tough times. And she shares stories of how she’s seen it help others, and how sometimes she’s been able to give back through music, directly giving solace and voice to others who were suffering but unable to express themselves.

And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie

This is by far my favorite Agatha Christie novel so far. Granted, I still have many to read. This was like a locked room mystery but taking place on an isolated island where ten guests have been invited by the mysterious rich owner of the island. But little do they know at the beginning they’ve all been invited because each has a secret in their past, some crime they’ve never been punished for, and someone is about to begin their punishment, killing them off one by one.

Movies

The movies I watched this quarter.

I watched a number of movies this quarter, though only one of them really stood out to me as a favorite and that was a rewatch of A Knight’s Tale. I know it’s not all that historically accurate, but I’ve always found it a fun movie, one with a lot of heart that doesn’t take itself all that seriously. I also really enjoyed the first installment of John Wick and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, an animated film. I watched a couple live action Spider-Man movies and they were ok, as was the live action Mulan and Fight Club. Unfortunately I was a little disappointed with the anime, Legend of the Millennium Dragon.

Music

I’ve found myself watching many videos of people playing songs on public pianos around the world, most often someone who’s pretty good and sits down to put on a great performance for whoever happens to walk by. They’re often in shopping malls, train stations or airports, so they can draw a mixed crowd, or none at all. I do wonder sometimes if some of them tell folks before hand or whether they just show up and see what happens.

One of the performers I’ve really enjoyed is Thomas Krüger. Here’s a medley of songs he performed at Brunswick Central Station:

Watching these piano performances led me to a beautiful song called River Flows in You by Yiruma. I absolutely love this song, such emotion from just a single instrument. It has me wanting to learn to play piano, though I don’t want to distract myself too much as I’m still trying to learn guitar. If you listened to the Thomas Krüger video above you heard a piece of the song, but here it is performed by the composer, Yiruma:

And finally, these public performances brought me back to a song called Una Mattina composed by Ludovico Einaudi. I first heard this in the French movie, The Intouchables, and loved both the film and the song and how they so beautifully fit together. Again, you can create such emotion with a single instrument. Here is Ludovico Einaudi performing Una Mattina:

 

Life

I’m sitting here wondering what to write about this quarter. I can’t think of much that’s changed. No major progress or revelations, just continued small movements forward. The weather is slowly warming so photography and hiking outings won’t require as much clothing, though this past quarter has been a bit cold and with more wind than I generally prefer. I’m still practicing guitar, making slow but noticeable improvements as I continue learning. As I mentioned earlier I’m feeling the pull to also learn piano but I’m trying to push that off till later, focusing for now on guitar. I can get easily distracted by the next shiny thing that flashes in front of me.

So looking back it appears nothing major happened this quarter, and I’m ok with that. Overall, it’s been a good one. I hope you’ve had a good one, as well!


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