Puttering in the Study

First Light - Peter Ackroyd

Well, apparently I'm in the minority on this one, but I just couldn't stand this book.  I couldn't figure out what half of it meant and the characters were uniformly bizarre, and so misnamed that it made it hard to follow what was happening (naming a lead character Mark Clare is bound to be confusing).  The best part about it was that the chapters were very, very short, so you only had to be confused for a short period of time before you could start off being confused about something else.

First baseball game - Collin & Parker

First day of school also saw our first baseball games of the season, with Grayson on one field at 6pm, and Collin & Parker on the other for their first ever.  Here's they're shown wandering around the infield, which they did most of the time - if we were lucky.

Here's Collin's first at bat - he sure had fun!  Parker, on the other hand, ended up getting a hit and got on base.  (As you can tell from the position of the ball, he didn't exactly hit it deep).  He advanced to third before the end of the inning and trotted down to home plate before the final out - the coach made sure he got to touch it. 

First day of school

First day at school this year for our boys, shown here in their uniforms.

Victory - Call to Arms - Stephen Coonts

I have actually read very little World War II fiction, but after going through a couple of historical fiction thrillers in the past couple of weeks I thought this might provide a nice change of pace.  The book consists of three short stories set in World War II by Stephen Coonts, Barrett Tillman (who I know through his nonfiction on Pacific War aircraft) and David Hagberg.  The Hagberg story I had a little trouble following the dialogue, but the Tillman and Coonts were quite good.  If I see the next book in the series, I'll pick it up.

The Fall of Constantinople - Nicolle, Haldon & Turnbull

After I bought this very attractive book of the final siege of Constantinople, I realized that it was simply a rehash of three Osprey books, two of which I already had.  But it's a very well done book, and does seem to have some additional information, so I'd still have bought it as good addition to my Byzantine library.

The Book of the Dead - Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child

I picked this up in the Austin airport after finished the Rollins book, mistakenly thinking this was by Greg Bear (?) and finished it the next day (I spent a lot of time in airports).  I didn't know it was part of a series, but I really enjoyed it.  The writing was better than Rollins (who relies on a lot of one sentence paragraphs for emphasis) the characters were good, and the plot did pretty well.  Good book, and the next time I see one of the predecessor books in the Pendergast series I'll probably pick one up.

The Judas Strain - James Rollins

I have a weak spot for any Da Vinci Code clone that refers to Byzantine cathedrals, so when I saw this in the Phoenix airport I knew I had to have it.  I picked it up in the Dallas airport on the way home and devoured it inside a week.  I had liked its immediate predecessor Map of Bones okay, but this one was better - the historical basis was solid (enough), the characters were entertaining, the historical settings were great, and the plot and action towards the end actually built into a pretty good story.  A solid B.

Men's Travel Bag - Territory Ahead

One of my favorite purchases recently was this  Travel Bag from Territory Ahead.  It's half the size of a briefcase, coming in at about 7" x 10" tall, but on our recent trip to AlaskaI couldn't come close to filling it up.  I would swap out a hardcover book in the main compartment for cameras, but other than that it held everything the entire  trip - Palm, phone, headset, sunglasses in the front, and medicines, travel pillow (inflatable) headphones, cards, and who knows what else in the back zippered pouch.  It should be large enough to hold a Palm Foleo assuming I get one, which will permanently eliminate the need to carry a briefcase-sized bag in order to have all my electronics.  I carry it like a camera bag, and could care les that it looks like I'm wearing a purse - it keeps everything you might want to carry with you in an essentially vertical stack right on your hip.

Ducks

Carl sent over half a dozen four-week-old ducklings day before yesterday, and we've really been enjoying feeding them and seeing how they are getting along in the pond.  One was missing yesterday, unfortunately, but hopefully the local predators won't get them all before we can get a roosting place put in.

Alaska Trip

Our family (Jamie, myself, her parents Jim & Marie and our three boys Grayson, Collin & Parker) just returned from a eleven-day trip to Alaska, where we hit Anchorage and points north by car, then went on a seven day cruise from Whittier south to Vancouver.  I'll be posting more soon, incluyding pictures, but for now, here's my favorite - the "silly" picture we promised the boys we'd take if they'd just be good for a few.  Of course the "silly" one ended up being the cutest.