#also they start the series at fosters ranch together so

[bisexualalienss]

Michael proposing while him and Alex are watching the stars in his truck on fosters ranch….

[wutheringmights]

more headcanons would be sick!!!

More headcanons about the boys coming up!

Sky is severely dyslexic, which means he's always had a lot of problems with school. He needed Zelda tutor him his entire time at the Knight Academy in order to just barely pass a lot of his classes. Make no mistake: he is a really smart guy, but after going through years of being told he's not, he's adopted the mindset that he's pretty stupid no matter what he does. This also led to him having a lot of behavioral problems growing up. Everyone in Skyloft thinks that Sky calmed down once he returned from his adventure when in reality they started to respect him enough that he no longer lashed out.

Four is a minor member of the Knights of Hyrule. His family has ties to the clan, with his father being a minor knight and his grandfather being the knights' blacksmith. This is what allowed him to meet Zelda as a kid, as growing up they were often told to play together while the adults talked business. After his adventures, Four had an open invitation to join the knights, and he did for a stint and became Zelda's bodyguard (aka: the Four Swords games). But he inevitably went back to blacksmithing, to the frustration of his father.

Time and Malon didn't decide to have kids until much later in life, so much so that it was a health risk for Malon. Time fretted relentlessly, intent on running the ranch himself so that she didn't strain herself. But it turns out that all of the friends he had made on his adventures were more than happy to help around. But at this point, Time had finally decided to retire from adventuring, which led to his good relations with the royal family to fall apart (he was, after all, a pretty good mercenary to call on if anything went wrong), so hem received no help from Zelda. Their previously cordial relationship ended there, and the two never spoke to each other again.

Legend loves to travel to new lands, and he wrote countless books filled with descriptions of the foreign kingdoms he went to, what the people were like, and everything he could learn about their culture and history. He even wrote guides for all of the foreign languages he learned on his adventures. His writings became super popular among Hylian nobility and helped to foster an enthusiasm for trade (which helped the impoverished kingdom recover financially). Amazingly, his writings survived multiple destructions of Hyrule, which led to him being one of the best documented and most famous heroes in Hyrule's history.

Hyrule is low-key the most charismatic of all of the Links. He's so down to earth and can strike up a conversation with just about anyone. Because of this, he's also pretty popular back in his Hyrule. Everyone wants to shoot their shot with him. He is Hyrule's most eligible bachelor. He definitely knows this, but doesn't think it's a big deal. If anything, he's annoyed that everyone's standards are so low that him just being respectful and kind to everyone is known as something remarkable.

Twilight spent a lot of time in the Gerudo Desert post-adventure trying to collect all of the pieces of the Twilight Mirror and uncover as much as he can about the Twilight Realm. His quest led to him befriending the Gerudos, where he learned that the Twili and the Gerudo not only have a common ancestor, but the many of the Twili are regarded as mythic Gerudo figures. Twilight ends up marrying into the Gerudo tribe and starts a domino effect that leads to relations between the Gerudo and Hylians finally improving in the hundreds of years post-OoT.

Wind travels the Great Sea with Linebeck in his post-adventure life. It first began as an excuse to explore and look for treasure together, but as Tetra became more intend in discovering a new Hyrule, Wind decided to instead try to find a way to make the Great Sea more hospitable for others. He's especially interested in trying to find a way to help plant and animal life thrive in the ocean. Because Linebeck's ship is a steamer from a different universe, Wind and Linebeck also had to spend a lot of time trying to figure out how to repair the SS Linebeck, which led to Wind becoming quite a good mechanic in his own right.

If Warriors was from a higher class, he would have pursued law. While his Hyrule is still in the medieval stasis signature to the series, it is still thriving more than anyone else's to the point where hallmarks of later periods of real world history have developed, like factories and a robust justice system. But while a career in law is theoretically possible, it's only accessible for the rich. Warriors realized pretty quickly he needed a different career path, and well, he's always liked the idea of becoming a Knight of Hyrule.

When Wild first bought his home, he was told that the previous residents had abandoned the place years ago, but he didn't learn the full story until a few months later. According to local legend, the home's last owner was a family of knights who died during the Calamity, save for a young girl who had been left at home. The young girl had been filled with grief to learn of her family's passing, and the town had done their best to comfort her. One day, the girl left. She had no supplies with her, not even shoes on her feet. She walked as if in a daze, and no one could break her trance. A few concerned villagers followed her as far as they could, watching her make the slow hike up to Mount Lanayru. They lost her in a snow storm and could not find her afterwards, but it was said you could hear her crying when the wind blew at night. Wild didn't think about this legend much until he learned he had a sister.

[aion-rsa]

Marvel’s WandaVision Episode 3: MCU Easter Eggs and Reference Guide

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

This article contains WANDAVISION Episode 3 spoilers, and potential spoilers for future episodes, the wider MCU, and Marvel Comics. We have a spoiler free review here.

WandaVision episode 3 is the first full color episode of the series, and moves the setting from the black-and-white 1960s of the previous episodes to a vibrant Brady Bunch-esque Technicolor of the early 1970s. There’s lots of fun weirdness to find between the lines, both from a Marvel and MCU Easter eggs standpoint and callouts to classic sitcoms of its era.

Let’s get to work…

SITCOM INSPIRATION

Let’s start with the big one…

The Brady Bunch

This episode borrows almost the entirety of its aesthetic from all-time classic sitcom The Brady Bunch. Wanda and Vis’s house strongly resembles Mike and Carol Brady’s humble ranch home inside and out. The gorgeous wide wooden staircase in particular is a real tell – as is Wanda’s bold ‘70s attire that seems to be right out of Marcia Brady’s closet in later seasons.

The opening credits title card even adopts the 3×3 grid format as seen on The Brady Bunch. Of course, the Wanda and Vision household isn’t as jam-packed as the Brady���s but there is an undeniable underlying theme of family throughout this installment.

Mork and Mindy

Mork and Mindy was a 70s-into-early-80s show with a weird sci-fi couple, in the sense that the husband is an alien. In the final season, there’s a one-and-done pregnancy storyline episode called “Three the Hard Way.” In it, Mork is the one with child. Due to his alien biology, an egg comes out of his navel and out of it hatches an elderly man, as their people age backwards.

Other Sitcom Stuff…

When Wanda tries to hide her pregnancy from Geraldine, she holds a small basket of fruit in front of her large stomach. This is likely a playful homage to all of the not-so-creative ways that sitcoms have tried to hide actress’s pregnancies over the years.  And funny enough, it seems like the fruit Wanda is eating at various points in the episode corresponds to the fetus size as outlined by their doctor.

The doctor’s name is “Dr. Stan Nielsen.” As in the Nielsen Ratings. And maybe Stan as in, you know, Stan Lee…

And now for the Marvel and MCU stuff!

Scarlet Witch

In the opening credits when Wanda is reading a magazine on the couch and using her powers to vacuum, she’s reading another issue of Glamorous (which we saw in episode one). This magazine features a woman in a red bathing suit, kind of like some of the skimpier Scarlet Witch costumes Wanda has worn through the years in the comics.

Vision

Similarly, the scene of Vision barbecuing on the patio shows him wearing an era-appropriate shirt in his comics colors of green and yellow. The swingset he’s struggling to put together is also in his colors.

Wanda’s Pregnancy and the Twins

When Wanda gave birth to her kids in the comics, something similar to what we saw here happened: nobody, not even the doctors, were aware that Wanda was carrying twins, so the arrival of the second child was a surprise to everyone.

Watch everything Marvel and more on Disney+, right here!

The way Wanda’s pregnancy rapidly progresses through the episode feels like a reference to Avengers #200, one of the most hated issues of any Marvel comic. In the comic, Carol Danvers is discovered to be suddenly pregnant and goes through the entire process over the course of a day or so. Nobody really bats an eye at this and all the creepy, questionable parts are handwaved as a good thing.

When Wanda’s pregnancy starts causing chaos, she and Vision strike a pose based on The Vision and the Scarlet Witch #1.

Not particularly relevant right now, but in the comics, none other than Doctor Strange delivered Wanda’s twins. Given all the ways that this show is supposed to tie into Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (some of which we think we’ve already spotted), this is just worth a mention.

Billy and Tommy

The twins are named “Billy and Tommy” just as they are in the comics. They were later reincarnated as Billy Kaplan and Tommy Shepherd. You likely remember them as Wiccan, the First Gentleman of the Kree-Skrull Alliance, and Speed…uh…his best man? 

Very briefly, because a full discussion of this would take a while: Billy and Tommy were born to Wanda and Vizh in 1985’s Vision and Scarlet Witch. They were unmade when it was revealed they were figments of Wanda’s powers and imagination, imbued with shards of Mephisto’s soul and reabsorbed into Master Pandemonium’s arms in West Coast Avengers. They reappeared as heroes in the first Young Avengers series, and reunited with their mother in Avengers: Children’s Crusade. That is an extremely quick summary of what might be the most Gordian continuity knot in the entire Marvel Universe.

Geraldine

Teyonah Parris returns as “Geraldine” for this episode, but this time it’s even clearer that there’s more to her than meets the eye. As we’ve pointed out before, “Geraldine” is a cover for Monica Rambeau, the daughter of Carol Danvers’ best pal Maria Rambeau, and someone who will play a significant role in Captain Marvel 2.

“Geraldine” tells a rambling story about her boss, “Mr. Haddix.” There’s no obvious immediate Marvel connection with the name. However, it might just be part of the motif – the stork tries to eat the fish on Geraldine’s pants, maybe it’s actually “Mr. Haddocks”? We’re still not finding any Marvel connections with this one, though.

It’s also probably not an accident that Geraldine’s cover story involves her working for an ad agency. The commercials are one part of the show where reality peeks through vividly. Ad agencies are, in a sense, manipulating reality for consumers to make them want a product more, and there’s no shortage of reality manipulation going on here. 

Geraldine is rocking a striking blue and white outfit, with starburst type designs on them that could either recall the log she wore as Captain Marvel, Pulsar, and her other superheroic identities…or possibly dimensional portals.

SWORD

Geraldine is wearing a SWORD pendant, so it’s pretty clear who she’s working for. Those pesky SWORD agents seem to be everywhere, from our pal The Beekeeper to the folks monitoring Wanda in that command center to…well, who else in Westview is working for SWORD?

While we’re talking about Mr. Haddocks and Geraldine’s job, the cereal in Geraldine’s work story – Gravity O’s, with the marshmallow moon men – is likely a nod to SWORD’s mission in the comics, when they used to watch space rather than “sentient weapons.” 

We wrote more about SWORD here.

AGNES

Agnes’ brooch looks like it has three witches, one holding a scythe. There are a few options for what this might be referencing:

The obvious one is the three witches from Macbeth who use prophecy to steer the main character to his doom. 

Less obvious and much more unlikely is the Weird Sisters, Quasar villains (!) working for Maelstrom, an Inhuman/Deviant hybrid who has had several run-ins with the Avengers

And the least likely: Jennifer Kale (from Man-Thing), Satana (sister to Damian Hellstrom and the Daughter of Satan), and Topaz (of Werewolf by Night…fame?), three Marvel witches who starred together in a four-issue Jemas era series in 2004. It’s definitely not this one.

Pietro and Age of Ultron

Geraldine mentions to Wanda that Pietro was “killed by Ultron,” referencing the events of Avengers: Age of Ultron. This is clearly one of the memories Wanda is trying to suppress with her sitcom antics, and it doesn’t go well for Geraldine/Monica…who finds herself “banished” back to the real world of the MCU.

We wrote more about what the Pietro connection could mean here.

Westview

We actually just wrote in detail about the significance of Westview (which is kind of a real place, too), but here we see the town’s slogan: “Home, it’s where you make it.”

Wanda is indeed “making” her home in whatever image she feels most comfortable with at the moment, so this is a further clue to the House of M-esque shenanigans that seem to be going on with her.

cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530", }).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796"); });

Other Marvel Stuff

Not strictly a Marvel thing, but the opening credits feature a lot of hexagons, the same kinds of shapes you see in beehives, which brings our creepy beekeeper friend from episode 2 to mind.

The paint cans in the nursery are from a fictional brand known as “Simser” which promises “a universe of color.” Jeremy Simser who works as a storyboard artist on WandaVision, and who is also doing work on Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. So…perhaps “a multiverse of color” might have been more appropriate?

Dottie’s husband fill is reading a newspaper with a headline that says “TWO FIRE HYDRANTS ADDED ON MAIN STREET” but the paper is folded so it says “TWO FIRE HYDRA” at one point. Also…twins. Note the “twin motif” on Phil and Dottie’s lamp, too.

Wanda sings a Sokovian lullaby to the twins.

The episode goes from fullscreen to a more MCU-appropriate and cinematic widescreen when it cuts to Geraldine/Monica back in what appears to be the real world. Not that there was any doubt, but whatever is happening in “sitcom land” is definitely not reality, and time travel has nothing to do with whatever’s going on here.

The final song is The Monkees’ “Daydream Believer” which was also used in trailers. The title is pretty on-the-nose if you consider the dominant House of M-esque theory about what’s actually happening on this show, and that Wanda is using her powers to manipulate reality.

THE COMMERCIAL

Hydra Soak implores its consumers to “Find the Goddess Within.” We don’t have to tell you what HYDRA is, but what about this “find the goddess within” stuff?

Well, we can kind of speculate that this is a reference to the upcoming Thor: Love and Thunder, in which Natalie Portman’s Jane Foster will end up becoming the new god/goddess of thunder, just as she did in the comics.

Spot anything we missed? Let us know in the comments!

The post Marvel’s WandaVision Episode 3: MCU Easter Eggs and Reference Guide appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/3c473EE

[erniesbrainfreeze]

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH ZOE ROBINS, NINJA STEEL WHITE RANGER: by pearl, co-moderator of @erniesbrainfreeze 

The lovely & talented Zoe Robins, who plays Hayley Foster in Power Rangers Super Ninja Steel, was kind enough to agree to an exclusive interview for erniesbrainfreeze with me and we spent almost four hours talking about Hayley’s backstory, the romance between Calvin & Hayley, her favorite moments with the cast, and how she got started with acting!

Below the cut is our conversations, my questions/comments and her answers. And thank you to those in the fandom who gave me amazing questions to ask her!

We hope you enjoy the incredible behind-the-scenes information Zoe has shared with us and don’t forget to watch Power Rangers Super Ninja Steel every Saturday on Nickelodeon at 12/11 central!

PEARL: So the first question is about Hayley, she seems like a really fun character to play even if she doesn’t always get a lot of focus. What’s something about Hayley’s character that you have in your head or in your personal notes that we might not know from the show itself?

ZOE: Ooo great question! I decided early on that Hayley’s love for animals stems from her experiences of always being surrounded by them from a young age. She was raised on a small ranch with her mom and younger brother after her parent’s divorce. They were almost self-sustainable. Her caring nature comes from her mother who dedicated her life to sustainable living and caring for the planet.

Her empathy and compassion for all things come from the unconditional love and bond she has with her younger brother, who recently came out as gay.

PEARL: Oh, I love that so much! I always thought of Hayley as being a flower child raised by environmentalists so her being raised on a ranch is so cool! And so much love for the idea of her little brother, I wish Power Rangers would explore that some day for real.

Question by Jaz @elizabethdelgados: If there was an episode that you could have solely about Hayley, what would you make it about? How would you incorporate her backstory into a Power Rangers-esque plot?

ZOE: I would love an episode to be just a solely Hayley focus. She hasn’t had that yet - and there’s obviously so much more to her than just being Calvin’s girlfriend and a part of the ranger team.

If anything it would be about her and Kody, or maybe a situation where she goes above and beyond with helping someone and actually makes things worse. I think one of her weaknesses is that she gives too much of herself so learning to put herself first and valuing the process of self love would be fun to explore, and a great lesson for children! And adults as well!

PEARL: That’s so true and it would work great since a lot of the other rangers have had their flaws highlighted in various focus episodes. And we all love Kody so more of him is always good.

In fact, a question by Chipster @kimberlyannharts: Since having an animal as a side character is pretty uncommon for Power Rangers, how did you prepare for working alongside Kody? Did you have to take time to do classes or exercises with him before the show and how did you approach that as an actor?

ZOE: I’ve never owned a dog in my life so initially I was really nervous! We had a few chances to meet and play before we started and really it was just about us being comfortable around each other. The trainers were amazing and were always nearby!

I would have treats in my pocket or in my hand if he (Jax was his real name) needed to come to me in the scene or do something wild like wake me up by licking my face in the forest. We actually had peanut butter and bits of raw meat under my fringe so he would lick my face in that scene. It was nasty and I smelled so bad hahah

PEARL: Wow, that sounds gross but also your dedication is inspiring! I’ve also never owned a dog so I don’t think I could do that. But it came out great in show, I love watching Hayley and Kody together.

Speaking of your fringe, a lot of us were wondering, since Hayley’s hair is a lot more relaxed than your hairstyle at your Power Morphicon reveal 2 years ago, how did you or the stylists come up with that style? I know they made Chrysti [Ane] dye her hair blonde (I guess for hair color diversity?) so did they also ask you to relax your curls? (question by @hunterbradley)

ZOE: It was production’s idea, I would’ve loved to have kept the curls but I guess maintaining the look like the one they chose is much easier! And yes when we were all initially cast, we all looked very similar. Tan/brown skin tones with dark hair, so I think they were worried that kids might not be able to tell us apart lol. I would love to see a ranger with dreads or braids one day.

PEARL: Well, that’s fair, but there’s just so little natural hair representation in kids shows. I think there’s only been one ranger with dreads and one with an afro, both before the current era.*

ZOE: Absolutely! I would’ve been more than happy to rock my natural hair for representation.

PEARL: A question by Tabitha @operationoverdrive: It’s a sad fact that only five black actresses have played power rangers in the past 25 years (and you’re the fifth), however that is the perfect amount for a teamup! Have you had a chance to meet any of these actresses and how has it been to meet previous rangers in general? Did they give you any advice on being a ranger?

ZOE: Yes, I have, and they were beyond lovely. Camille [Hyde] was the first I met and she was so sweet! I met Karan [Ashley] at Comic Con and then Morphicon and Nakia [Burrise] as well. Everyone is just so great and for the most part the advice has been to make the most of every moment. They’ve all welcomed us to the “family” from the moment we were announced which has been so special.

PEARL: That’s so sweet! I love Karan and Nakia so much, they’re always so genuine and wonderful to their fans.

Going a little back to Hayley, she mostly sticks to Calvin and Preston for the majority of the series. Was there any cast member or guest star you wished you would’ve gotten a chance to work with more? (question also by Tabitha)

ZOE: I would’ve loved more scenes directly with Kelson [Henderson]. I couldn’t speak more highly of him. He’s the most professional, talented and down-to-earth person I’ve ever worked with and he’s a wonderful man too. He is so patient and had a great way of calming us most days when we were in the 11th hour of shooting and slowly losing the plot. Haha! I probably learned the most from him - his tenacity and gratefulness for the work grounded me so much.

Chrysti and I had a lot of fun with the Hayley and Sarah episode with their parents! It would’ve been nice to have more female driven episodes!

PEARL: That’s so sweet! Everyone has only high praise for Kelson, he’s such a legend on this show, I’m so glad he ended up being on Ninja Steel.  And we loved that Hayley/Sarah episode! Their cute little handshake/hair flip thing was adorable and their dynamic was so fun and unique.

ZOE: Hahaha we put that in there ourselves! There’s a lot of stuff we added in the hopes that they’d make the edit and surprisingly a good amount of it did!

PEARL: That makes it even cuter! I love all the little things you guys add in the show it helps make the rangers so much brighter as characters.

Speaking of, Nico [Greetham] and Chrysti both recently took to Twitter to talk about how there was originally a love triangle/breakup storyline planned for Calvin/Hayley and Sarah, but that you and Chrysti spoke to Chip [Lynn] and they decided not to do it - a great choice, as we all love Calvin/Hayley. But we were wondering, did that plot ever get to script and what do you think Hayley’s feelings would’ve been on a potential Calvin/Sarah relationship? Would she have eventually moved on as well? Maybe even with one of the other boys on the team, although that would definitely be awkward, but Hayley has had focus eps with Preston and Levi both and those dynamics are really fun and interesting.

ZOE: We were told very early on with the story lines and both Chrysti and I were really confused about where they were going with it and concerned about the message being put out. We arranged a meeting with Chip where he really listened to us and I’m assuming saw how much we cared about the relationships within the whole cast. Women are constantly being pitted against each other in society and we were just not having it in our show.

Ultimately, Hayley would be fine, lol. Of course Calvin is her best friend and she loves him but she has joy and love for many other things in her life too! It would take some time for them to get over a breakup and remain in the same team and deal with the enormous responsibility of saving the world (lol) but those two have a lot of respect for each other so I think they would be able to stay friends.

Also LOL! I’ve seen some comments about the chemistry between Hayley and Levi. There are a lot of eps with Preston and Hayley together too. Honestly I think it’s because I just have so much fun with them both and love them very much as people so that probably translated on screen. I don’t think any of the rangers in our season would switch up partners haha

PEARL: I’m so glad Chip listened because yeah, two girls fighting over a guy is almost never a good storyline and it’s so predictable in media nowadays. Although I personally love romance & drama so I really enjoyed the ep with Calvin getting jealous over Hayley and Preston even though there was nothing between them haha. And that’s so cute how much Calvin and Hayley love each other, I think it really comes across on screen! You have great chemistry with the whole cast of course but you and Nico play off each other so well.

Have you and Nico ever discussed how Calvin and Hayley met and ended up in a relationship? They’ve been dating for two years by season 2 but was it a childhood friends to lovers thing or did they meet in high school, what do you think the start of their romance was like?

ZOE: For drama, yeah, I can see why they thought that could work but it’s just so contrasting to the tone of our show it just didn’t make sense. I’m glad production listened too! Because it was in something called “The Power Rangers Bible” which had storylines that we were told were set in stone and could not be changed!

And yes we have! Though I have absolutely no idea where my journal is for Hayley so I won’t be able to say what we agreed on and discussed 100%. I think we decided that they had been friends for a few years before dating and Calvin secretly crushed on Hayley for a while. I think we went out for a drive in his truck to a beach one night to watch the sunset and he asked Hayley out. Nico can correct me if I’m wrong but I’m sure I’m not pulling it out of nowhere! Haha

PEARL: That’s the cutest thing ever! You know, usually in Power Rangers they would just show the crush part (see: Tyler and Shelby, or Jake and Gia) without bothering to show the relationship part so it’s really cool that we started with Calvin and Hayley already established. But I would’ve loved to have seen that sunset scene. We all love Calvin and Hayley so much, their focus episodes are some of the best and most charming eps of the show.

ZOE: We really wanted to have flashbacks and conversations that alluded to the start of their romance but I guess it’s fun that the audience can fill it in for themselves :)

Thank you! Nico and I worked really really hard on the relationship and spent a lot of time getting to know each other off set before we started filming - and then obviously during the duration of filming. As a result we became really close, so our job was easy! The chemistry was already there!

PEARL: That’s so cute! The effort you guys put in really shows, even in the background scenes, how Calvin softens whenever Hayley is near him and how she’s always touching him... a lot of us are romantics at heart in this fandom so we love seeing that.

ZOE: Haha I love it! There’s so much opportunity to sneak those things in as the Rangers stand around as a group a lot! So we wanted to make it as believable as possible

PEARL: We’ve talked a lot about Hayley and I love all the new stuff we’ve learned about her but we also wanted to know more about you! Zali @2014federalbudget wanted to know: Being a kiwi, do you prefer to work at home in New Zealand or abroad in America/Canada? And are there are any classic New Zealand shows that you would be interested in being a part of?

ZOE: Working at home would be a lot easier as I’m pretty familiar with the way things work over here and ideally I want to be near family. Unfortunately our industry is so small and diversity is still an issue, so I’m finding I’m auditioning for a lot more projects overseas, mainly in America. I would’ve loved to be on Outrageous Fortune for a bit. It looked like a lot of fun and many talented actors that I look up to (Antonia Prebble, Claire Chitham, Sophie Henderson, Nicole Whippy, just to name a few) were on there and do amazing work.

PEARL: That makes sense, and that would be so cool! Did you know Antonia Prebble was on Power Rangers too?

ZOE: Yes I did! She was also on a show called The Tribe! I was in a remake of the show when I was twelve so I’ve been a fan of her work for a while!

PEARL: That’s amazing! I love the connections between Kiwi ranger actors, there are so many of you guys!

Kels (@rltarepulsas on twitter) asked a related question: Was there a role you saw growing up that made you want to act?

ZOE: It was Dakota Fanning in a role.. it may have been in I am Sam or Charlotte’s Webb - I can’t actually remember the specifics. But I do remember watching her and thinking “Oh that’s it. That’s the thing I want to do.”

PEARL: Dakota Fanning is super talented, that’s so cool! We also loved you on the Shannara Chronicles - how was that experience like and how was filming a more teen-oriented show different from a kids show like Power Rangers?

ZOE: Oh thank you! That was my first big international project and I was super anxious going into it but I had such a great time. The people involved were awesome. Very talented NZ actors and from overseas - Austin [Butler] is one of the sweetest people you could meet. I love doing fantasy too, and my character Zora is so much cooler than I am! Haha! I had to have archery training for that which was a lot of fun.

PEARL: Archery training sounds hardcore but then you also went through PR’s stunt training so I guess you can do anything!

We are all super excited to see you in more projects after PR! Ivory @lunarskye wanted to know if there are any projects you’ve been working on currently and if you can tell us anything about how they’re going?

ZOE: Thank you! At the moment I’m just enjoying being home after being in LA for over a month. With the down time I’m hoping to finally start writing, I have a few stories that I want to tell. But I’m auditioning for projects a lot of the time :)

PEARL: Oh, you’re a writer too? That’s so cool, what kind of stories do you write? Is it like scripts or do you prefer novel form?

ZOE: I’m not actually! Haha I just have some experiences and stories that I want to share. And they would be scripts. I definitely want to work behind the scenes as well as act :)

PEARL: Either way, that’s awesome! Did you get to do anything behind the scenes on Power Rangers? I know Peter [Sudarso] said he would pitch scripts to Chip occasionally and he even got to write an episode once.

ZOE: It’s something I’ve never thought that I could do but I’ve been so inspired lately to say something that it’s only a matter of time until I give in lol

Chip and the production team were great about that actually, in that they fully invited us to basically intern - be it shadowing directors if we wanted or submit scripts etc. Honestly I can’t speak for the whole cast but I do know we were super tired after working 6 days a week and there wasn’t much more we could give of ourselves when the week was over. It really was like an endurance test and I think for the most part we chose to focus on the task at hand and look after ourselves the best we could. Which meant on our day off we would relax and do whatever we needed to refresh ourselves. And yes, Peter’s episode was actually amazing, I hope he continues with that as well.

PEARL: Ah, that makes sense but it’s really cool that they let you do that! Speaking of the cast and your downtime, Kat @powerprincesses wanted to know, with you and Jordi [Webber] being the kiwis of the cast, was there any sort of culture clash with you guys? Did you take them out to tour New Zealand at any point and show them the sights?

ZOE: We had a few bonding trips before we started, one was heading out to a beautiful west coast beach called Piha together. We just spent time together and practised our morph on the sand lol it was cute!

Chip had an evil idea of picking us up super early in the morning a week or so before filming, to drive a few hours out of Auckland to do the Waitomo caves. Look them up, they’re extraordinary! You end up abseiling into this cave, and trudging through mud and water to see waterfalls and the amazing cave formations - and the glow worms! I’m pretty sure it was on our day off so none of us wanted to go as we were tired from training and all we wanted to do was sleep and prep. But Chip was right, it was one of the best times we had together.

Jordi took a few of the boys to his home in Rotorua, where they met his family and were introduced to some parts of the Maori culture. I know that was really special for them too.

PEARL: That all sounds so amazing! Those caves must have been seriously magical to witness. And that’s so cool about Jordi and the boys, I wish we got more of his Maori culture in the show, it would be really neat to teach more people about that. I think he’s only our second or third Maori actor on Power Rangers.

ZOE: It would’ve been super cool! But for some reason they didn’t have any New Zealand characters in our season!

PEARL: I noticed, that was so weird, especially since they let Chase not only be kiwi on the show in Dino Charge but he got whole episodes devoted to his New Zealand culture, including one where his little sister was part of a Maori dance group. But I guess since Ninja Steel is an anniversary season they wanted to take it back to the show’s American high school theme roots?

ZOE: I’m not sure! I think it has something to do with the tax incentives here where international productions have had to somehow showcase New Zealand for tourism benefits and have a certain amount of New Zealanders as cast. I think that’s changed cause we didn’t do that at all lol

PEARL: I definitely remember reading about a New Zealand grant starting with Dino Charge, yeah. I think it’s mentioned in the credits of each episode too. I think Peter also once told me that just having two kiwi actors in the cast was enough so maybe that’s what changed?

ZOE: I’m not sure. I remember Chip telling me that Jordi and I weren’t cast because of that as it didn’t apply anymore :) Makes sense as the new rangers are all American!

PEARL: Well that’s interesting... I’m glad you guys were cast anyway! It’s really so much fun watching you all each Saturday, I can’t express how much I love Ninja Steel.

I should wrap this up as I think I’ve asked a lot of questions already, so just one last one: Is there anything you can tell us about this last batch of upcoming Ninja Steel episodes, things to look forward to in general? Anything exciting for Hayley coming up?

ZOE: Us too :) Thanks so much! It means the world to me to have amazing fans like you. Thank you! And yes, I don’t want to give away too much but I think the best stuff with Hayley is yet to come xxxx

[theloniousbach]

Week 33: Resist/s/urge: An Epilogue

[This entry concludes a weekly series of Facebook posts started as I sought to cope with going on lockdown.  Though we may well be heading back or should be, I have ended the series.  They are no more than ephemeral, but I archive this one as a record of the series.]

My title is meant to mash up “resist surge” and “resists urge” as I bring to an undoubtedly temporary end to this series which I started as we headed into lockdown.  I used it to focus on how I was coping—how as a measure and how as methods.  I shifted the heading every eight weeks as it seemed that we and I were entering new phases.  

We are certainly entering a new “resist surge” phase as we seem to have had almost 100,000 new cases yesterday and deaths over 1,000 the day before and nearly that many yesterday.  Most states are surging as is Europe and Latin America.  So, despite the profound US leadership crisis, the problems are not even primarily of that character.  It is not who is captain of the Titanic but that we are on poorly designed vessel sailing into a sea of icebergs.

It is also odd to suspend this series right as we end a US Presidential Election cycle where this issue is at the center.  But I have easily “resists urge” to write about that.  More challenging to resist is the urge to write about the broader, more fundamental politics underlying it.  I have such opinions and lived them in my 20s and 30s with pride and no regrets.  But this format is far from the avenue for those discussions—and, frankly, dear readers, even the young ones, for those discussions to matter very different social forces will be involved and lead them.

But I felt the series drifting in that direction as I have been settling into personal solutions to the profound challenges are living through.  So, it’s time for a balance sheet and an epilogue for now.  Again, there are new challenges/icebergs on the horizon.

But I started with addressing how I would keep body and soul together with attention, focusing on physical and mental health in the face of stress.  I continued and continue with intermittent fasting and, rather than the pandemic 15, I have continued to get rid of that middle aged gut and my weight is down 3% (rather than up 10%).  I am back in the range I was 30-35 years ago, but I am well aware that I don’t have the body of a 30 year old.  

Still I might be as fit as I have ever been.  From the start, I knew that daily exercise was key—and daily walks had been my prime exercise for year.  They were and are important for getting out of the house.  But I made daily yoga the focus witchin that first month.  I’ve been doing yoga fairly regularly for over 20 years, since I gave up alcohol as part of a detox prompted by getting off Codeine 3 for a long term bout with kidney stones in 1999 that culminated in surgery.  So I know my poses and had been using Yoga with Adrienne once or twice a week for several years.  I ramped it up with her several annual 30 Days of Yoga series working my way through all of them.  Now I’m a subscriber and follow mostly her daily classes.  I have much better muscle tone, posture, and lung capacity.

So, with the body part of body and soul going, I took up soul in parallel.  

I rolled with the punches with work and teaching fairly well, adjusting to the technology and tempo of remote work.  I am productive in ways that I couldn’t/cannot be at the office and feel connected to students and colleagues.  I get enough peopling in.

But, as someone important once said, life begins when this activity ceases, at the table, at the tavern, in bed.  Now the sale of my labor power is complicated and elements of it truly are unalienated and the rest of it is certainly rewarding and meaningful.  But it is alienated in the sense that, at 65 years of age, I can see the day looming when I can choose not to do it.  Life begins when I do the things I doubled down on to keep soul together.

STORIES—At first it was quite hard to concentrate and I could not read anything with a long arc.  So I read the Decameron, a story or two, but no more than three, a day until I had all 100.  It was a story of plague and distraction, so it fit. I also discovered streaming plays at first from the National Theatre of London but soon the Globe and Stratford Festival.  I homed in on Shakespeare, particularly lesser known plays.  That welcome habit has fallen off and I have missed an October series of three Shakespeare plays from a National Theatre partner.  But it is an acquisition that I hope to foster and grow.

I settled back into novels soon enough with mysteries mostly.  Right now, I’m rereading Elsa Hart’s The Cabinets of Barnaby Mayne to teach and for a Webster University Book Club with my class and Elsa herself.  Since she is someone I take my beginner’s questions about my retirement project book, it is useful to outline it on this reread as I took my note taking to a deeper, multiple purpose level.  Recently I got caught up in the 1632 universe of alternate history.  There have been several Anna Eliot/Charles Veley Sherlock Holmes/Lucy James pastiche novellas which are also good to study for my own project.  I got back into mysteries by rereading, 35 years on, the Martin Beck series on the occasion of Maj Sjowall’s death.  I also dipped into the Hogarth Shakespeare series to see how modern authors dealt with the very challenging source material of “The Taming of the Shrew” and “The Merchant of Venice” which were part of the theater season.  There were also a couple of Jodi Taylor St. Mary’s/Time Police novels as I keep up on that series.

SCHOLARSHIP—My teaching, an unalienated part of my labor and the part that I will do after retirement from the day job, has been rewarding.  I took Science in the News remote and asynchronous as we locked down.  That worked in the moment as I could make COVID our subject matter (because that what we were all studying anyway) and could think about how the world was testing us far more than I as a teacher could.  So I could relax about some of the mechanics.  I had already built eight weeks of rapport with them, so that helped too.  My current class happens synchronously but largely remotely.  It’s topic—the role of place—has been a way to test some concepts (place as human constructed, therefore rich in history worth studying, and where community happens) that are part of a broader collaboration that may result in a conference.

As we were shutting down, I had made some significant changes to my “last” Edgar Anderson paper for the Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden with Gar Allen’s suggestions.  It received further polishing from the Annals editor and also pal Peter Hoch.  So it is well and truly done, set to appear in the last quarterly paper issue of that renowned journal.  While I have said it’s the “last” Edgar paper, gee, maybe I could write about his collaboration with Pioneer Hi Bred Seed Company and so might see if Agricultural History might want it.

Place and a historical mystery are where my intellectual interests will shift.

MUSIC—The biggest threat of the pandemic is/was the loss of live music.  That very first weekend of lockdown I had the decision to not go taken out of my hands by cancellations of the SF Jazz Collective celebrating Miles Davis’s In a Silent Way and Sly Stone’s Stand at the Sheldon and Joe Russo’s Almost Dead (where I have invested my Deadhead energy as I don’t think I’ll see any original members again, though talk about “resists urge” pressures) at the Pageant.  Those cancellations were sensible and necessary, but gee it would have been hard to make the decision to stay home.  

The pull for live music is that strong.  

But I’ve found it in ways that might even make for more opportunities.Jorma Kaukonen has done two dozen Quarantine Concerts, mostly solo with local friends from his Fur Peace Ranch operation, but Jack Casady came in for two shows in July and is around currently with the third show tonight.  Kaukonen is not only musically formative, but so forthrightly himself that it is comfortable to be with him.  I have similar warm feelings of connection with Larkin Poe who are extending the southern Americana blues roots etc tradition with slide guitar and killer vocals.  They have done various streams, both from their spare bedrooms to empty venues with their band.

The piano has been key and, at first, the recitals under the auspices of the 92nd Street Y and Fred Hersch’s almost 40 Tunes of the Day were the start.  The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and the BBC 4/Wigmore Hall collaboration (with the helpful YouTube algorithm kicking in) gave me more choices.  Wigmore Hall is my go to source and through them I have seen Angela Hewitt wrap up her Bach cycle and Andras Schiff dig into the last three Beethoven Piano Sonatas.  I have discovered key parts of the horn repertoire including the Brahms Trio and the Mozart and Beethoven Wind Quintets and some of the clarinet chamber works (watching Gassenheuer for example.  I’ll click on most cello sonatas and ensembles and all piano trios.  There is something about this listening that has paid benefits to my jazz listening, particularly more challenging out there works, as I can hear structural elements better.

Jazz is my go to though and there is a wealth of in real time performances as if we really were in New York and had to choose between the Jazz Gallery (got a membership), the Vanguard (an annoying platform but top drawer stuff), the Blue Note, Smoke, and Small’s (a place to check for up and comers but also, with a contribution, through their archive, people who upped and came on the scene).  I have seen folks I wouldn’t have otherwise—George Cables, last night Oliver Lake/Reggie Workman/Andrew Cyrille, David Murray, Billy Hart with Mark Turner, Kenny Werner, Omer Avital.  It goes on and on.  I have lots of Couch Tour FB Note/Tumblr entries.

I was playing piano lots until we went on vacation, exploring how tunes fit together.  Nothing ready to unplug the headphones even for Ellen, but rewarding.  I have a new tune, “Everything Happens To Me” to understand, so I think that habit is returning.  But I do sit at the piano frequently for my almost weekly discussions with a young singer/songwriter/marching band tuba player about music theory where we explore things together.  They’re free to her and she still may be getting a bad deal but it’s part of keeping my body and SOUL together.  Between her, Jorma, and my own inclination, I do play lots of guitar and that helps too.

But it is WRITING that has been my biggest solace.  I come out of this experience comfortable saying I don’t just like to write and that I have a decent body of published work but I am a writer.  It’s how I live in the world.  It’s how I pin down my musical experiences for example.  

But obviously this series itself about coping with the pandemic is how I have coped with the pandemic.  I treasure that more of you have read these than I would imagine and I do take you all into account somewhat as I write these.  I want them to be organized, appealing, and clear.  But I am a writer and I would do this even if you weren’t here.  But social media means that I’m not Franz Kafka or Emily Dickinson writing to make sense of the world but creating papers that they would just as soon be destroyed.  That said, these are thoroughly ephemeral and this one will be the only one in the series curated in the sense that it’s on my Tumblr.

So, I am a writer who makes sense of the world by writing.  The world will call me to write by being insensible.  Very soon very likely.  But this series has run its course.  So as we resist the surge, I will resist the urge to do the same old thing.

Still I bet I see you soon.

[livinasimminlife]

Prologue: Meet the Bagleys (Part 1 - MLWC)

In an effort to clean up my blogs, I am moving all MLWC still on my blogs to my Simblr. If you are unfamiliar with this series, you can start HERE to learn more. 

*Please excuse the headline effects. This was my very first Sims story, and I didn’t know much about using cheats to turn off the overhead bubbles or plumbob. This story is a spin-off series that follows the life of the Bagley family, particularly the youngest son, Sam Sherman Bagley, Jr. Sam is Gage Briody’s cousin from The Krazy Crazy Life of Kassiopeia Fullbright.

Meet the Bagleys₁ – we’re not your normal family. There’s Ma Bagley, the matriarch of the Bagley family and a retired jewel thief. There’s Rhoda Bagley, following in her parents footsteps, new to the crime scene, but working her way up in the ranks. And then there’s me… Sam Sherman Bagley, Jr. You can just call me Sam.

I just want a normal life and a nice family, but frankly that’s just not a possibility when you live with criminals and ex-criminals. All I can say is crime never pays, and it always hurts the people closest to you. That’s what my dad told me on his dying day. I’m determined to live by a higher code of honor. We’ll see how that turns out.

This is my family. My mother, Ma Bagley is in the center, and my older sister, Rhoda is on the left. I’m on the right, and I’m the youngest son, Sam Bagley, Jr. We live in Riverview, Illinoisim, SimNation on the banks of the winding Simomon River. Our farm town is small and quaint, a beautiful countryside escape for big city folks. Most of us want to live here peacefully, and we would describe the town as idyllic. Well almost idyllic.

This is my mother, Missouri Burroughs Bagley₂. Everyone calls her Ma, except for my sister (when she’s mad at her, she calls her Mommy Dearest). She’s had a hard life. Her parents, Erastus Burroughs and Clarissa Allen Burroughs₃ died when she was very young. Her older sister, Mississippi ran away with a rock star as she felt she was too young (at 17) to raise her siblings. Ma was separated from the rest of her siblings in foster care. Ma never saw her baby brother, Tennessee or her little sister, Virginia again.

Ma grew up on the streets in Bridgeport, Pennsimvania working as a petty crook. She managed to stay in school and graduated with a scholarship to a school of her choice. She picked Saint Simmons University₄ in Moonlight Falls, Alasimka in order to reconnect with her older brother, Dakota ‘Kody’ Burroughs₅.

Kody taught literature at the university in southern Alasimka. He was married to Vanessa Shelby Burroughs and had two children, Alex and Luci. He also supposedly had an affair with a student, half his age, according to Ma. She discovered them shortly before he died in a forest fire behind his home. Ma quit college and returned to Pennsimvania.

After an ill-fated affair with the wrong man₆, she was sent out of town by her crime boss. She met my father when he tried to hustle the Alto family in Sunset Valley, Califorsimia. The two discovered they were perfect for each other. They were married and lived 37 years together.

Now a widow, Ma lives with my sister and me on the family estate. She’s still dreaming of striking it rich. She just celebrated her 60thbirthday. Although she’s retired, she still dabbles in her old life. She recently announced that her latest desire is to infiltrate the Soil and Water Research Facility and steal plans. I don’t ask her much about her ‘extracurricular activities.’ I just ignore it and hope I don’t hear the wrong thing one day. Ma is snobby, only wanting the finest of things, but I believe she only wants the best for her family and is trying to accomplish just that. She is the bravest woman I know and was quite the daredevil in her day. More about my mother later.

I don’t remember a lot of good things about my dad, Sam Bagley₇. He wasn’t a horrible dad, but he wasn’t the best dad. Sadly, this is the one and only picture₈ I have left of my father, and even this one got partially ruined in a flood that happened last winter. This was taken in front of our barn right before he died.

When I was younger, I remember my parents being happy. Dad inherited a horse ranch from his father. It had been in his family for six generations. I was to be the seventh. I don’t know whether I’m relieved or sad that he lost the ranch.

Dad always wanted to strike it rich. It was his dream to open a resort in Isla Paradiso. He made some bad investments and lost the entire ranch. He barely managed to hang onto some of the property. We still have the original house and one barn and a small amount of property, but the rest was sold to Bluewater Real Estate₉. The surrounding remnants of the ranch now belong to other families₁₀.

Devastated, my dad turned to a life of crime and my ma reverted to her old life of crime. No one knows what happened exactly, but dad was supposed to be meeting an associate from Hidden Springs₁₁ late at night last Simgust. The next morning the police showed up and told us he had drowned in the river. More on my dad later.

This is my sister, Rhoda₁₂. She is six years older than me. We don’t really get along. Then again we never did.

Rhoda is determined to follow in Ma’s footsteps. She wants to be a master thief. She is quite the schmoozer, turning the charm on and off like a switch. She is a master manipulator and a born saleswoman. She could convince a homeless man to sell the shirt off his back and then sell it right back to him. She is hot-headed, a trait she shares with our Ma, resulting in many arguments when we were kids.

When we were little, she was often cruel, stealing my stuff, making fun of me, playing nasty pranks on me, and running off all the friends I ever really had. Now that we’re adults, she’s cool at best towards me, critical and angry at worst.

Rhoda is a hard-core athlete and works out for many hours at a time. She’s religious about going to the gym, a place where she claims she can find all her best marks, or working out in the barn. For some reason, Ma doesn’t like Rhoda’s choice to pursue a life of crime. Ma doesn’t want us kids to have to be thieves like she was. This causes many heated disagreements between them. More on Rhoda later.

And then there’s me – Sam Sherman Bagley Jr₁₃. I think I turned out a pretty handsome fellow if you don’t mind me saying. No doubt thanks to Rhoda stopping all her crazy pounding on me once I turned fourteen and started beefing up to protect myself.

I have no interest in taking over the family enterprise, but I’m loyal to my family, even if they are all crazy crooks. I’d like to give back to my society, not take from it. My dream is to someday be an astronaut. I would love to leave Riverview and explore the world beyond. My hobbies are pretty simple for a nineteen-year-old – stargazing, reading, fishing, and donating to my favorite charities.

I always liked to imagine if I built myself a little boat, I could sail away from my crazy family and away from Riverview. I would explore the world beyond. I always wanted to know what was beyond those beautiful green hills. Well, that’s my family in a nutshell.

—

Chapter 1 Coming Soon!

Story Extras:

The Bagley family actually exists in The Sims 3 – Riverview. I took the liberty of editing the characters and their traits slightly, and adding a back story. This version of the Bagley’s will follow Sam Sherman Bagley Jr.’s life and legacy in my SimWorld.

As Ma Bagley doesn’t really have a back story provided on Sims Wikia, I created one. I tweaked her appearance a good bit, making her appear softer and prettier. Missouri is the daughter of Erastus Perry and Clarissa Allen Perry, younger sister to Mississippi Burroughs and Dakota Burroughs, older sister to Virginia and Tennessee Burroughs, wife/widow to Sam Bagley, and mother to Rhoda and Sam Sherman, Jr. Bagley.

Fun fact: I came across Erastus and Clarissa Burroughs on a Google search and their middle daughter was named Missouri ‘Missy’ Burroughs. I liked it and so I used the names for my stories.

Saint Simmons University is a higher education institute located in Moonlight Bay, Alasimka. Fun fact: The college name is very loosely based on a Saint Herman’s Orthodox Theological Seminary in Kodiak, Alaska.

Dakota ‘Kody’ Burroughs is the older brother of Missouri, Tennessee, and Virginia and the younger brother of Mississippi. He grew up in Sim City and was nearly adopted by a wealthy family. The elderly couple died before adoption could be finalized, but their wealth and estate was left to Dakota. He attended university in Sim City and eventually moved to Moonlight Falls to teach literature at Saint Simmons University. He married Vanessa Shelby, an art professor, and they had two children, Alex and Luci. His appearance is loosely based on Professor Renaud Kody. His affair was with Brigit Briody, and he is the father of Gage Briody.

Missouri had an ill-fated affair with someone in Bridgeport. There’s speculation that it was the married thug, Wogan Hemlock, and she was sent out of town to avoid discovery of the affair by his wife, or Rohan Verma, a police officer who was going to turn her in and she left before being arrested.

As Sam Bagley doesn’t really have a backstory provided on Sims Wikia, I created one. I also tried to make his sim-self look as much like his bio picture as possible. His bio picture has Sam in his formal attire. Sam Bagley’s parents aren’t mentioned by name but it’s implied he inherited the family ranch from his father. Sam lost the majority of the property, including the horses, due to bad business investments. He met and married Ma in Sunset Valley. He is the father of Rhoda and Sam Sherman Jr. Sam died mysteriously by drowning.

I had problems saving the screenshots at one point, hence the bad picture of Sam Sr. But since they live in Riverview, I thought it only apt that the photograph was damaged in a flood.

Bluewater Real Estate is mentioned in a Wikia article about the Landgrabb family under the sub-heading Landgrabb-associated businesses, but is no longer in the Landgrabb possession.

The story mentions ‘other families’ who received the bulk of the former Bagley ranch. We can assume this is the McDermott family as they live right next door, or even perhaps Don Lothario.

The story mentions an associate of Sam Bagley, Sr.’s in Hidden Springs. Since Sam had connections with the Alto family in Sunset Valley, we can draw the assumption that Sam’s “associate” was Bert Alto. Bert may have murdered Sam because he didn’t want his family relations to find out where he was, but this is unclear.

Rhoda Bagley does have a small biography on Wikia. I tweaked her traits a bit, but left her appearance relatively unchanged. Rhoda is the daughter of Sam, Sr. and Missouri (Ma) Bagley and the sister to Sam Sherman Jr. We know Ma Bagely doesn’t approve of Rhoda following in her footsteps.

I took the most liberties with Sam. In the unaltered Sims world, Sam is actually Sherman Bagley. In my SimWorld, Sam is named for his father, hence the Sam Jr. and his middle name is Sherman. Sam doesn’t get along with his sister, Rhoda. Sam/Sherman’s appearance has been altered also. Sam’s traits are mostly different – Good/Loner/Bookworm/Brave/Neat – with the exception of the last one. Young Sam also had the Coward trait but as he says he started “beefing himself up” to avoid getting pounded on by his sister.

[tometender]

The Dangerous Billionaire My Rating: Written by: Jackie Ashenden Series: The Tate Brothers (Book 1) Mass Market Paperback: 368 pages Publisher: St. Martin's Paperbacks Publication Date: May 2, 2017 ISBN-10: 1250122791 ISBN-13: 978-1250122797 Genre: Romantic Suspense

Itunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/the-... Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Dangerous-Bill... Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-d...

Money doesn't always change the man in this new standalone romance from Jackie Ashenden. Navy SEAL Sullivan "Van" Tate has been called home to reluctantly inherit an empire and finds himself facing the most difficult mission of all: love. "Sinfully sexy."--Opal Carew on Mine to Take Nothing about Sullivan "Van" Tate is what it seems. A Navy SEAL raised among the New York City elite, Van prefers heart-pounding action over a Wall Street corner office. But when his adoptive father dies and his business rivals move in to overtake his empire, Van must suit up to save the company and protect the one woman most forbidden to him...and the object of Van's most dangerous desires. Chloe Tate is as ambitious as she is gorgeous. With a newfound independence, Chloe is no longer a prisoner on her father's ranch. But everything changes when losing her father may also mean losing her life. Even with her survival on the line, Chloe can't deny the burning attraction she feels the moment she locks eyes with Van, her rich, rough and ready, foster brother and the new head of her father's company. Tall, dark, and muscled, he's the one man who she has no business being with. But how can she resist a Navy Seal Warrior when he'll do anything to protect her?

The Dangerous Billionaire by Jackie Ashenden Sullivan “Van” Tate was adopted and raised by an oil tycoon. Instead of taking over the family business he became a decorated Navy Seal. When his tycoon father dies, Van is instructed to protect his foster sister Chloe. Chloe wants to know why her father gave Van everything, including the ranch she has been running and living on since birth in Wyoming. She heads to NYC, to confront her adopted brother only to discover there where secrets on top of secrets. Chloe has always had a crush on Van. Chloe was a decade younger and raised completely separate from Van. Both had a distant and unexplained childhood caused by the secretive tycoon. I did have a hard time with the overall concept coming together with the reveal all hitting you speedy and at the end. THE DANGEROUS BILLIONAIRE provided a good mystery with a heavy dose of daddy issues on the side. I didn't feel the foster siblings was a relevant issue, especially with Chloe being 25, so I didn't buy into that taboo. I enjoyed THE DANGEROUS BILLIONAIRE and its intriguing characters that are relatable and likable. Easy, entertaining and leaving me wanting more, Ashenden has a great start to a new series with THE DANGEROUS BILLIONAIRE I received this ARC copy of The Dangerous Billionaire from St. Martin's Press. This is my honest and voluntary review. The Dangerous Billionaire is set for publication on May 2, 2017.

[talhaghafoor2019-blog]

GOOD MUSIC IS GOOD MUSIC

ROCKER GONE SOFT?

I mean, LA Opera’s “Hansel & Gretel” for pete’s sake, the children’s tale, now a holiday staple? And all that other classical stuff?

Well, “H&G“ rocks, baby. The first opera based entirely on a fairy tale, German composer Engelbert Humperdinck picked a Grimm one, and the brothers were indeed grim, I learned at the pre-concert lecture from LA Opera conductor James Conlon. Two of nine Grimm children (three died in childhood), they knew quite well the pain of hunger, and that is an important opening and backdrop to this story. And at the LA Opera community outreach lecture that afternoon at our main library here, I learned and saw how different the H&G interpretations can be.

You can have a really ugly witch (like in the film we saw), or one like this production’s Susan Graham who brought great comedic skills with her superb voice. (All the singers were outstanding, especially H & G and their father, there are only five, plus two minor parts).

The sets and the forest characters were magical, and I was completely entertained, in an adult way. You shouldn’t miss this one. See below.

Also at our main library last week, I caught another performance of their outstanding, always provocative and high quality Soundwaves concert series, which, as usual, was a shorter preview of a later performance at Disney Hall’s Zipper Hall, next Tuesday (not free). Outstanding pianist Gloria Cheng presented “Garlands for Steven Stucky,” the LA Phil’s composer in residence for decades who was greatly skilled and loved as a mentor.

And Sunday morning I was treated to a marvelous Ted talk-like program upstairs at the Laemmle Theatre downtown, mixing data mining with music interpretation by a marvelous string quartet, in a most intriguing way. What a great town.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED:

LA OPERA: Hansel & Gretel (Engelbert Humperdinck ain’t no Puccini, Verdi or Strauss but H&G is considered his greatest work and Strauss dug him so much he conducted the premier, a smashing success, and he also ain’t the schmaltzy crooner who stole his name in the ‘60s, but don’t get too distracted from the superb Wagnerian score by the 12-foot magical characters on stage, the fantastical sets and special effects of this production and it’s also got laughs, see above), Sun 2 p.m., Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, downtown LA, $16-$294.

RECOMMENDED:

TONIGHT! – LA PHILHARMONIC: Stanley Kubrick’s Sound Odyssey (Kubrick loved him some classical music scores for his films, Beethoven to Bartok, Ligeti to Penderecki, can’t imagine “2001” or “A Clockwork Orange” without those signatures, you will see a string of clips from his great ones, hosted by none other than “Clockwork’s” Alex, Malcolm McDowell, and hear the music live and fabulous from the LA Phil, seems like a good night’s entertainment), Thurs, Fri 8 p.m., Sun 2 p.m., Walt Disney Concert Hall, downtown LA, $20-$204.

TONIGHT! – PATTI LABELLE (would I send you all the way out to Temecula, yes I would to see the great Patti Labelle, sometimes not included in the pantheon of the greatest soul voices ever but she most definitely is, put her on your bucket list, you may not have seen her blow minds in the ‘70s on tour with her outrageous trio LaBelle, I did, straight from the New York Continental baths scene, glammed up in what I dubbed the Crustaceans from Outer Space silver outfits, it’s when I learned there were gay people in Albuquerque, what a party that was, you may not have seen her take the stage in LA as the Tina Turner “replacement” Acid Queen in the one-off all-star “Tommy,” I did, no one missed Tina I’ll tell ya, but you can always see my other sweetest performance by her, you know how people say so-and-so could sing the phone book, or the alphabet and it would be fabulous, well she did sing the ABCs song gospel-style on Sesame Street 2/19/99, 11+M views, and you should watch, I did, I do, pretty often, good for the soul, but call Pechanga if you really want to go because it may be sold out but it is her only show in the area, so, bucket list), 7 p.m., Pechanga Resort & Casino, Temecula, $69 up.

JACK SHELDON (great trumpeter-singer-actor who was part of the ‘50s West Coast jazz scene and has been performing ever since in so many fields, this is his birthday party for himself, turning 87, famous voices singing in “Schoolhouse Rock” including “I’m Just a Bill” and the guy who explained the electoral college — I think he needs a re-do now explaining how we can get rid of it — and if you see him live you will not only catch a legend with the best sidemen but you will wonder if he missed his calling at stand-up, he is sooo bawdy funny), Fri, Sat 8:30 p.m., Catalina Bar & Grill, Hollywood, $25-$30.

I SEE HAWKS IN LA, MEAT PUPPETS (two great bands with very different styles and right, another long journey for great music I’m sending you on, the Hawks do play locally somewhat regularly but not Phoenix’s legendary Meat Puppets so maybe you’re coming back from Thanksgiving anyway past Joshua Tree, do yourself a favor and dew drop inn), Sat 9 p.m., Pappy & Harriet’s Pioneertown Palace, Joshua Tree, $25.

GLORIA CHENG, “Garlands for Steven Stucky” (see above), Tues 8 p.m., the Colburn School of Music, Zipper Concert Hall.

THE SKATALITES (they’re still around? didn’t they invent ska in the mid-’60s? maybe, named it anyway, were really active only 1964-’65 but so influential, worked with all the best Jamaican producers and players, the 10 founders were a who’s who of JA music, Jackie Mitoo, Don Drummond, Tommy McCook, Rolando Alphonso et al, started playing together in ‘55, all gone now save Lester Sterling and Doreen Shaffer, reformed and touring the last 35 years so I believe you will get the real deal), Wed 9 p.m., the Echoplex, Echo Park, $20.

HOUSE OF VIBE ALL STARS (ordinarily I never recommend something I haven’t seen but the boys at Harvelle’s, with the perfect resume for taking over this nearly 90-year-old blues club in downtown Santa Monica from longtime mogul Seven, keep telling me this is a great show I must see so I am recommending it based on great sources and promise to go so I can give a personal assessment, meanwhile if you go and you hate it I will personally give you your 5 bucks back), Wed 9 p.m., Harvelle’s, Santa Monica, $5.

ELVIS COSTELLO (Elvis Costello!), next Thurs, 7 p.m., the Wiltern, Mid-Wilshire, $125-$240 (too much! but it’s your money).

A LYRIC SO GOOD I WISH I HAD THOUGHT OF IT: “I’d rather go blind, boy, than to see you walk away from me.”

— (Etta James, Ellington Jordan, Billy Foster  1967)

Sung with such palpable, heart-wrenching emotion by the late great Etta James, it became an instant blues classic, covered by Beyonce (playing her in “Cadillac Ranch”), Clarence Carter (blind from birth), Koko Taylor, Little Milton, B.B. King and currently on the airwaves — remember airwaves? — a very credible version by Grace Potter.

But what an image. For a sighted person, is there a much bleaker future than to suddenly go blind? Think of it. I think about it, probably you have too, at least once. Your whole world would change. A pitch black world filled achingly with color memories, fading each day a little more. What worse could happen? And yet, the love-struck singer tells us, I’d choose it, rather than have eyes to witness the unbearable sight of you walking away from me. Has that ever been portrayed more powerfully, 13 words, in written word anywhere?

Charles Andrews has listened to a lot of music of all kinds, including more than 2,000 live shows. He has lived in Santa Monica for 32 years and wouldn’t live anywhere else in the world. Really. Send love and/or rebuke to him at  therealmrmusic@gmail.com

[myrtlecornish]

Building a Great Engineering Team: Part Two - Start With Who You Have

In Part 2 of our series, we are going to look at building our team with the team you have today. When I joined Big Nerd Ranch in 2016, I inherited a tremendous team and odds are you probably did as well. The difference between where we were then and where we are today is what I want to explore together.

Start with who you have

When you inherit a team you inherit not only the people but you also get the culture and any baggage that comes along with that. It is imperative as leaders inheriting a team that we assess where we are so we can know where we need to go. One mistake a lot of leaders make when inheriting a team is forcing their culture and vision onto a group of people they do not know or understand. This is why you must get personal.

Get Personal

As a leader, it is impossible to lead people you do not know. I am not suggesting you have to be best friends with all of your team members, but you need to know the stories of your people. Who are they? What got them here? Why are they here? These types of questions will go a long way in informing your next steps.

When I joined Big Nerd Ranch, part of my first 90 days was making sure that I spent quality time with everyone on my team. I first prioritized time with my existing leaders who I would be directly responsible for but soon made my way through the entire team. Schedule 30-60 minutes, whatever your time allows, which each team member and listen. Did you get that? Listen. Come in with questions but ultimately let those questions guide the conversation so that you can hear from them. The goal in these conversations is not to make them hear from you, trust me, they will get that soon enough.

Assess Strategic Direction & Systems

Most teams do not lack strategic direction, they actually have too much of it. I would wager that the team you are inheriting is not underwhelmed by the prior leader but overwhelmed by all they have to deliver on. The typical team commits to too many things, under delivers because of poor systems in place to support.

At Big Nerd Ranch, we say “yes” to very little as an Engineering Team and that is strategic. If you could only say “yes” to one thing as a team, what would it be? The answer to this for you and the team you inherit should be clarifying. For us the answer is multiple but it all rolls up into one idea: leading ourselves well.

At Big Nerd Ranch, my team commits to three things that accelerate our ability to lead ourselves well.

Weekly, 30 Minute, 1:1’s.

Weekly, 30-60 Minute, Team Meetings.

Weekly, 30 Minute, Pair Programming.

1:1’s

Our time in 1:1’s allows each leader to invest in a team member to build a personal relationship. It is amazing how a little bit of personal understanding will allow us to execute better on the professional front. As a leader, you should want each team member to feel seen, heard and valued. The 1:1 allows for so many things, that’s a blog for another day, but if we can provide those three things, add guidance and goal setting into the mix, everyone will begin to lead him or herself well.

Team Meetings

Our team meetings are more gathering than a meeting. The goal for this time is to foster community. Some groups read together, some groups just hang and chat, other still do programming quizzes. The variety is intentional, there is no prescribed approach for how it should be done but there is that goal: community. If our team members feel the support of their colleagues, that wind at their back and safety net when needed will be catalytic towards our goal.

Pair Programming

I hesitate to use the word programming here because not all pairing requires a code editor. This time together is something we prioritize because we place a high value on the ability to problem solve and communicate complex thinking. If you and I can spend 30 minutes together going over something we are facing, ask questions around it and explore it together that is going to make the both of us better. We alternate weekly the responsibility of bringing a question so that we can exercise different muscles. The hat of the student and the hat of the teacher is something we share and that creates a wonderful dynamic.

However you do it, building relationships both individually and collectively through 1:1’s, Team Meetings and Pairing are essentially building blocks of our system to accomplish our goal and strategic direction.

Empower others

You’ve probably heard me say this quite a bit in other forums but I think it is so important that I will say it again here.

“Your greatest contribution to your organization may not be something you do but someone you empower. Identifying, developing and empowering your team members will allow you to dream bigger and achieve more.”

You do not scale, but your leadership can. Be sure that as you begin to get to know the team you inherited that you are identifying who can help you lead. What are their strengths, what could you give them ownership of today that would accelerate their growth and the growth of the team? Asking these types of questions will unlock potential you did not know was there.

Most leaders obsess over the best strategy but the best leaders obsess over their team, who they are developing and empowering. Lasting success for any organization is not built upon a great strategy, it is built upon a great team. Who are you developing and empowering today? If the answer is no one, stop everything and begin, it will unlock you in ways you never imagined.

Final Thoughts

Inheriting a team can be one of the most difficult things we do as a leader. Not only do you inherit people you did not hire, you get their culture, history, and everything that comes with it. Instead of focusing on the problems this can present, focus on the opportunity that is there. Build from the existing team you have, get to know the people and begin identifying who you can empower. As you assess the strategic goals and systems in place, find the wins, use what we do here at Big Nerd Ranch if you would like…but whatever you do, be authentic. The team you inherit will take time to mold into the one you want, but that is true for any new hire as well. Remember, culture is not built on accident it is built intentionally.

Part 3

In the next part of this series, we are going to focus a little more on hiring. How do you add the right people to your team to make sure you are building a great engineering team? In this part, I will share some of my experience having hired 29 people in the last 23 months here at Big Nerd Ranch, our process, how we built a team to handle this and much more.

Building a Great Engineering Team: Part Two - Start With Who You Have published first on https://johnellrod.weebly.com/

[markjoeckel]

Top Stories In DFW for 2017 by O.K. Carter

POPULATION UPSWING…The trend line is for a booming North Texas, NTCOG predicting annual population growth of just under 3 percent in the 10-county core to more than 9 million by 2030. That’s 1.5 million new households with 4.0 million people in those households, and 2.3 million non-construction jobs. The 16-county North Texas region is anticipated to add 1.6 million households with a corresponding 4.1 million people and 2.3 million non-construction jobs. This is a magnitude of growth never before experienced in the North Central Texas region and really is the BIG news story, though it’s kind of a stealth development. Baby boomers age out but seniors will be 13 percent of population by then in a generally highly more diverse environment with a much larger Hispanic population.

HOT COUNTIES…Meanwhile the Census Bureau tells us that Collins and Denton counties will be the fastest growing counties in the USA in 2018 and probably 2019 as well. If you drew a dot in the middle of the population center in North Texas five years ago and then drew the dot again today it would be obvious that the midpoint is moving steadily north, as is the level of affluence.

Interesting side note…Dallas economic development strategy is to create amenities to resist suburban flight even as Fort Worth’s brand new economic development plan frets about Cowtown become a “suburb” of Dallas.

BUT RIGHT NOW….Arlington winning regional economic development kudos, at least for the time being. 2017 was a YEAR to BEAT ALL YEARS for the nation’s most populous mid-city. The list: Groundbreaking of a $1.1 billion retractable-roof Texas Rangers ballpark that will draw tens thousands of fans to the Entertainment District year-round… also saw construction start of a $150 million Texas Live! By Loews flagship hotel and convention center. Positioned between AT&T Stadium and the future Globe Life Field, opening 2019…General Motors Arlington Assembly Plant, which is undergoing a $1.4 billion expansion to meet the global demand of their full-size, sports utility vehicles, celebrated a major milestone as its 11 millionth vehicle rolled off the line…the opening of 700,000 square feet Summit Racing giant store and warehouse with several hundred new jobs…United Parcel Service to open a 1.2-million square feet regional hub in early 2019, a move that would bring an estimated 1,400 full-time jobs and fill one of the city’s largest warehouse/industrial spaces. UPS a Fortune 500 company as is home builder D.R. Horton, which now has a sleek new six-acre campus headquarters with more than 400 employees just north of I-30.

Other economic development winners include in a big way, Westlake and in a smaller way nearby Roanoke… San Francisco-based Charles Schwab (NYSE: SCHW) will soon open up a massive operations center on a corporate campus planned adjacent to Circle T Ranch, a 2,500-acre mixed-use, master-planned development in Westlake, a 1.2 million square feet facility in half a dozen new buildings on 74 acres.

Little Roanoke (used to live there) has been cunningly efficient in restaurant development, even the legislature naming the city as “The Unique Dining Capital of Texas.Though only 5.3 square miles in size, Roanoke boasts more than 50 restaurants, putting it on par with cities five times its size. New include chef Erin Miller’s The Wharf Steak and Seafood, others likeOak Street. Craft & Vine Taproom & Eatery, Foster’s Sushi/Seafood Bar & Grill and Wise Guys Pizzeria.

BIGGEST ECONOMIC DOWNER… In a move that delivered an economic gut punch to Fort Worth, Exxon Mobile Corp. announced in June that it will relocate about 1,600 jobs in its Fort Worth-based XTO Energy division to the Houston area over the next three years. XTO had been a key player in developing Fort Worth’s place in the shale revolution taking place in the energy industry. On the upside, the move also means six of the seven buildings XTO owns in downtown Fort Worth are now on the market, of which there is a severe shortage.

 MOST EAGERLY AWAITED NEWS…where will Amazon put its new regional facility, itself a provider of about 50,000 new jobs and $5 billion new development. North Texas is in the running at multiple locations…any such location would be a major regional victory…announcement expected as early as next month.

PENSION FUND WOES…Clearly there were more trends in news than economic development….biggest story for Dallas was the pension fund dilemma for police and fire department. Dallas (second worst ratio in nation) and Houston both had major shortfalls for different reasons…Tex Leg had to face the issue, idea being to gradually increase contributions and also move control back to the cities. Issue not over as everybody seems to want to kick the proverbial can down the road. By the way, FW pension funding has some issues as well, though not as troubling.

SCHOOL BUSES…Dallas County voters decided "against" school bus provider Dallas County Schools in November, voting to shut down the 171-year-old agency with 58 percent of the vote. Leaving dependent school districts scrambling to come up with solutions….more evidence privatization not always a solution. Dallas Council talking about diverting part of 1 cent mass transit sales tax to pension fund, making DART really nervous.

POLITICAL SCANDAL OF THE YEAR….6th Cong. District U.S. Rep. Joe Barton caught up in the “Me Too” tidal wave…announces retirement…12 GOP, 5 Dems.

TOLL ROADS….Everybody hates them, including the Legislature… Several big tollroad projects have been stalled….state increased highway funding and shot down a house bill that would allow the TXDOT to partner with private companies. This is about 20 big roadway projects including the stretch of Interstate 35 through Austin, LBJ Freeway in Dallas and its eastern suburbs, Interstate 35E through Denton County, Interstate 45 in Houston and Loop 1604 in Bexar County. TxDOT tried already to get around this with some accounting gymnastics but got stern message from Gov…TxDOT notorious for doing its own thing. Backed off tollroads. Now what?

SPORTS….we are obsessed and why not…Big area topics include Zeke Elliott’s suspension, TCU’s brief sojourn into top 10 football (still top 20), Alamo Bowl vs. Stanford…arrival of Froggies in basketball’s top 20…Departure of Yu Darvich from Rangers…good news for Darvich was that he was in the World Series…Bad news is that if there was a vote for least valuable player he’d have won it…he’s now a free agent.

Biggest event showing greatest Metroplex Heart…Harvey relocation to North Texas…southeast Texas coast experienced a disaster  when Hurricane Harvey, the first major hurricane to make landfall in the United States in more than a decade, made landfall as a Category 4 storm, destroying 6,000-plus homes, overturning vehicles and sinking boats, severing power lines, and forcing tens of thousands of residents to flee. Thousands came to North Texas. So much so that coalition of mass care partners had to be pieced together in days. United Way, American Red Cross, Salvation Army, North Texas Food Bank and others.

Biggest new evolving story first half 2018 not counting Amazon…same Arlington leaders (Kelly Canon et al) who killed red light cameras in Arlington launching petition campaign in Fort Worth to force election there. FW issued about 280,000 red light violations this year, fewer than half of which were paid…city still took in $2.8 million…ticket is $75

[rusticrevivals]

This week it’s time to ‘mix it up’ a bit with something NOT related to the year’s harvest or recipes or Regular Rural Updates… So, we’ll have a wee dip into Phonetics Phun and the Pharm.

Have been submitting a lot of  short-piece writings lately to various lit magazines, environmental journals, etc. One of the works I  spent some time on this year was a 14-page ‘limerick’ (or rather an extended poem) about a young girl in a fantasy world where conservation and communion with Nature are the norm. Each verse was in limerick form : a a bb a (with the two ‘b’ rhyme-lines shorter than the ‘a’ s). Thus, I thought I’d do a wholly entertaining post for my readers as well, but on a slightly different theme.

I’ve known -and know – a lot of Richards in my lifetime.  All the ones I shall mention have either a connection with Blue Belldon Farm and how I ended up here, or an appreciation of Nature, the Great Outdoors/Environment, or both: To start with my mother’s brother, ‘Richard’, the first Richard I ever met –

An uncle of mine of this name, Helped an outdoor tree-house game By telling his son To join in the fun Thus, a tree-hugger I became!

I also had  a great-uncle, Uncle Dick – He and Aunt Jessie both inspired me in various ways, she in the tomboy/outdoor hobbies, he in the creative theatrical hobbies – and both entertained constantly with their humour:

There once was a chappy named Dick Whose wife was a very choice pick She worked with wood Whenever she could Inspiration was surely their schtick!

As most children my age did, I loved Mary Poppins, and Dick Van Dyke’s speaking (in horrible Cockney!) to the penguins meant , to me, that he would help save them in real life too – just as he himself would be saved a half century later by other water animals in an amazing miracle:

Old Dick was eighty-four'd But went surfing on his board He fell asleep, In oceans deep -  Dolphins pushed him a-shored!

The next Richard of whom I was aware was the author of Watership Down, Mr. Richard Adams, a one-time president of Britain’s RSPCA, who just passed away last year. He and Thornton Burgess began my worrying that someday the animals would all be killed off , either by hunters or because their natural habitats were being taken over by idiot humans:

He cared so much for each pet For a scratch, he'd call in the vet! The wildlife hopped Through his pages they popped. With concern, I'd continually fret...

  An amazing young artist with whom I took art classes in high school and whose last name I can’t remember, began my  love of wildlife and landscape art, so that my appreciation for nature became even greater. His first name was Rick. (And I then went on to adore Robert Bateman’s nature paintings, especially since I found out Mom/Joy’s mother had taught school with him in Burlington for a time)…

The first Bateman on which I ever clapped eyes at my grandmother’s house – the DETAIL! You even see the page wire fence in front of the deer!

  Rick's sketches of wildlife amazed He calmly drew, was not phased By the hustle around In a classroom of sound, He just penciled a doe as she grazed...

Richard Thomas, of The Walton’s fame, also made me lust after living a quiet, old-fashioned farm life in the mountains.  Most of my friends in England (where The Waltons was  even more popular !)  write and ask me how things are going here on Walton’s Mountain now… I didn’t have a crush on John-Boy, as many my age did. I wanted to BE John-Boy!  A writer who lived in a rural community in the rolling mountains…

John-Boy scribbled and edited his papers Calmed Cousin Corabeth's hysterical vapours Climbed up the hill Where his thoughts could be still And reflected on his family's capers!

The next Richard to influence me re: life in harmony with Nature and our countryside was a man I worked for one summer, Dickie Lamley.  I got a job working on the farm with ARC industries, where many mentally challenged ‘clients’ from my home town and area were privileged to feel purposeful.  We hoed rows of veg, planted fruit trees, built fencelines and harvested and sold at a roadside stand ACRES of gladioli (which by the way I despised even BEFORE I worked there!) .  Thirty-something Dickie was not only strikingly good-looking, but knowledgeable and sensitive  – a real Mr. Darcy type in all ways.  Very influential on all teen-age girls who worked for him in the 1970s!

Be glad with gladioli, gals And help your less-lucky pals To pick and prop, Display their crop And fence out deer with those corrals.

The next Richard is important to me for many reasons, and he has twisted in and out of my life, both himself and through 6 degrees of separation, for decades.  Richard Farnsworth has been a stuntman (mostly as a rider) since the 1930s, when my sweet friend Kay Linaker, the actress and screenwriter, was also starring in a variety of films.  Kay (aka Kate Phillips) used to say that she and her hubby ‘found’ Steve McQueen, in fact, and made him a star in their co-written The Blob.  Later Richard and Steve would star together in Tom Horn.

Kay starred in a serious of Westerns and frontier films herself – with Claudette Colbert and Henry Fonda in Drums Along the Mohawk (directed by the great John Ford) and with Buck Jones and “Buck Benny” (Jack Benny) in some gritty-riding-and-roping scenes – she told me she did a lot of the riding herself, and she once laughed at Jack Benny when his horse ran away with him. Apparently, as soon as he was rescued, he vomited violently!  During those years Richard worked in such films as Gone With The Wind (an uncredited soldier) A Day at the Races (as an uncredited jockey) and in The Ten Commandents (as an uncredited chariot driver!)  He was always, his whole life, in outdoor films, and usually working with horses.

Kay and Buck Jones, stuntriding in Buck Jones’ Black Aces – jumping a big ole grey is to come up again below!

Richard Farnsworth 1954, The Adventures of Kit Carson

From the 1930s through the 1950s Richard worked as a stunt man and in crowd scenes (By the 1950s Kay was working as a screen-writer, which is how I met her). By the time the early 1960s rolled around, Richard had decided he quite liked acting and began taking more and more speaking roles, still in outdoor films primarily – and with a horse wherever possible!  But of course most of us came to know him when Sullivan Productions introduced him as the driver of a certain buggy through the White Way of Delight and past The Lake of Shining Waters:

Richard played Anne's Matthew hero When he told her she could stay and grow At his Green Gables (Where, in his stables, His compulsory horse did stomp and blow).

Richard Farnsworth and Megan Follows, Anne of Green Gables, 1985

Sullivan Productions then went on to do a spin-off series, Road to Avonlea, in which two of my fellow competitors in the eventing world would stunt-ride for the episode The Great Race.  Hugh Moreshead, now a well-known Canadian course designer, and our pal Dick Bayly (yes, ANOTHER Richard) had loads of fun steeplechasing for the cameras during the filming of that one!

But back to Richard Farnsworth.  Although we all came to love him as Anne’s beloved Matthew (and it was at this time that he began being nominated for awards in nearly every single movie of quality in which he starred right up until his death – not bad for a stunt rider!) it was as the crotchety Mr. Foster, ex-cavalry rider and now-trainer of future Olympic event rider “Charlene Railsworth” (Melissa Gilbert, all grown up from her time as Laura Ingalls in Little House on the Prairie, another influential show for my dreams of living self-sufficiently in a rural area). This 3-day Eventing film, Sylvester, was produced in the same year as Anne of Green Gables (actually filmed close to us in Ontario, not PEI – how I wish I’d gone to meet Richard Farnsworth at that time!) Richard did several other movies and television shows that year as well, so it was one of the best and busiest of his career! And although I had some vague ideas that I wanted to be an event competitor someday, it was Sylvester that clinched it.  This film, already exciting because it had two of my favourite actors as leads and was about the sport I was thinking of pursuing as a new adult, was also a pleasure to me for two other reasons: 1)  I had been a dusty cowgirl for the first part of my riding career (age 10 to 16) and then turned to riding English and enjoying all the many disciplines offered in THAT style.  Sylvester started in Texas – where I’d visited and ridden when I was 11 – taking place on a dirty horse ranch (thus, Richard fit in perfectly!) and then the film moved for the English/Eventing scenes to the Kentucky Horse Park (where I’d also visited on the same trip through the United States when I was 11!)  2) One of my favourite eventers whose magnificent career I’d been following for several years , was Kim Walnes. With just her ONE horse, The Gray Goose, she was climbing the world-leader board in the Eventing world, and inspiring those of us who would only ever HAVE one horse at a time TO DREAM BIG.  She was (and still is) an inspiration to many of us, and when I discovered that she and Gray were the stunt doubles for Melissa Gilbert for all the dressage, cross-country and show-jumping scenes in Kentucky, this movie was destined to be extremely influential for me.

My inspirational friend and mentor, Kim Walnes on her tremendous world-famous The Gray Goose, dropping down the Lexington Bank during the filming of the movie Sylvester

Richard Farnsworth, Melissa Gilbert, Michael Schoeffling, 1985, (c) ColumbiaR with one of the 8 grays they used to film all the amazing footage!

Two of my favourite shots from the film, Melissa getting told off by Richard after she falls in the water jump and  Kim and Melissa on their two primary grays (Gray Goose and the real Sylvester).

For more of Kim’s memories during the shoot (like having to jump over cameramen in ditches, read this article  http://www.chronofhorse.com/article/tbt-summer-sylvester

(For the last year I have been corresponding almost daily with Kim to try and organize  a short documentary  that I’d like to see made about her life – she is truly an amazing woman.  If you’re reading this, and have any access to film-makers or video production companies, please contact me!  We have a keen film editor, permission granted for many of the old clips, but not yet someone who wants to do the actual present-day filming! For more of Kim’s extraordinary life (though she’s too humble to admit it has been so) read this article:    https://sidelinesnews.com/sidelines-spotlight/sheer-will-and-determination-the-story-of-eventer-kim-walnes-and-her-extraordinary-horse-the-gray-goose)

There was an old fellow named Farnsworth Who seems connected to me since my own birth He rides, trains and acts He's full of farm facts And of horses and tractors there's no dearth.

Right to the end, Richard Farnsworth played roles that kept him outdoors, and RIDING.  His last part in 1999 was the lead role in The Straight Story,  (directed by the famed David Lynch) which won him an Academy Award nomination. He could no longer ride horses at his age, so the role took place with him primarily riding a John Deere lawnmower, very much like ours.  He rode it in nearly every scene in the film!

If my own Richard keeps not bothering to shave, he’s going to soon look exactly like the above, tooting about Blue Belldon on our own nearly-identical John Deere!

There’s another former steeplechase jockey (like Hugh Moreshead and Dick Bayly) who also titillated my love of countryside and eventing. Author Dick Francis.  Of all his English countryside/riding-based thrillers, my very favourite is Trial Run, centred around the fictional Russian Olympics lead-up for horse-trials (eventers) competitors.

A Dick who once rode for the Queen Is another to whom I will lean When expounding my faves He has many raves On the covers and pages between

When I moved to England, the first time,  in the late 1990s I LOVED taking the trains as they allowed me to see so much of the countryside I’d dreamt of and read about my whole life.  I didn’t especially like Richard Branson’s Virgin line, though.  However, in 2014, Branson joined forces with African Wildlife Foundation and partnered with WildAid for the “Say No” Campaign, an initiative to bring public awareness to the issues of wildlife poaching and trafficking, and for this I gotta admire the man.  He does lots of other philanthropic works across the globe with his billions as well… which means he has certainly TRUMPED other billionaires…

There was a tycoon name of Branson Who said "no" to animal lancin' Or of shooting outright The beautiful sight Of magnificent beasts. Now they're dancin'!

More than a nod must be given to another screen legend – Richard Briers.  My own Richard and I have long watched dvds from the library of the first 3 years of Monarch of the Glen (after that, they killed of Richard Brier’s hilarious character)- in fact on a trip to Scotland before I moved there, in late 2008, we even saw the small castle and wandered the wilderness estate at which Monarch was filmed – in the stunning scenery of the west side of my grandfather’s native land.  So, as if that wasn’t enough, Richard Briers has inspired me.  BUT, since moving here and watching so many BBC shows (we have no television so watch shows online in the winter evenings…) we have very much enjoyed one of his first series for the BBC, the 1970s popular “The Good Life” – all about, guess what? A couple who are determined to live self-sufficiently.  If you’ve never seen it, you must watch a few episodes at least – we’ve actually had TIPS and GOOD IDEAS we’ve considered from this fun but ‘thinking-outside-of-the-box’ sit-com.

  Richard 'Briers Rabbit' they called this guy In the back garden digging, and he'd try and try To make veggies grow In the mud and the snow While inside his wife'd have a pig-fry!

I’ve mentioned him before in this blog, but John Rikards, a different type of  “Rik” ,is another author who has intrigued me – by writing about this very county where we’ve moved, without ever having laid eyes on North America !

Young British writer, Rikards, became a FB friend When I wrote him we'd moved here, setting of "Winter's End" I read it many years ago Never dreaming we'd be here in snow A decade later, now part of Appalachian trend.

Of course the Attenborough brothers, both Richard and David, have been highly influential to me in their on-screen and in print formats.  As a drama major, I’ve long admired Richard in his many roles, but David has been an activist for ending climate change and trying to save the planet for decades before it even became ‘trendy’ (for those of us that know it isn’t all a ‘hoax’, anyway!)

  Dear Dick and Davie, brothers true Bring nature's joy to me and you Attenborough Pride So dignified! And always they have something new

This has been an especially hard year for my own Richard’s good friend Rick Madden, and I’d be remiss not to give that particular Rick a special tribute of his own:

There was a pure gent called Rick Madden Who, this year, has had much to sadden But so many love Rick And they close 'round him quick That we pray his heart will soon gladden!

I’ve written of my friend Remy, whose real name is Richard McEvoy. He spent 3 weeks with us here in the fall because he wanted to work on his North American bush-and-survival skills. He and his son Joe run a company in West Yorkshire called Brigantia Bushcraft. http://www.brigantiabushcraft.com/   Earlier, I posted a photo of the two Richards going down the Saint John River in our new/old canoe ( search for the Lorne Green/ Long Green post). This was part of the goals Remy had, but he also had another important one he wanted to accomplish whilst here – and did!

A man called Richard built a lean-to With knife and hatchet, tools so few He nearly got shot By hunters, alot But still helped us to make partridge stew!

  OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

2nd limerick for Remy:

But though time for ole Remy was fraught With listening to quibbling a lot About how to farm No, there's little charm - When Richard wants you to garden, you're CAUGHT!

Richard Reich takes it easy whilst supervising Richard McEvoy, September, 2017

And lastly, and the real driving force for writing this particular blog, is my own Richard Reich, who agreed to buy this farm and give trying to live off the land a chance.  He’s been a good sport about most things, giving the production of maple syrup a good go last spring, learning how to do ‘barn chores’ with crazy animals he’s never had anything to do with prior to this year – and incidentally this week we went to the woods with Chevy and Richard had him finally hauling out logs (photos and blog on this in a month or two)  – and working especially hard on his two chief projects: the composting for the garden and the wood for heating (also devising ways we can harness solar and wind for future…)

There once was a family of Reichs Whose Richard bought a farm and said "Yikes"! Now I have ALL this work It will drive me berserk And I've no time for quiet drives or hikes But after a while he did realize That much to his happy surprise The livestock were sweet They made life complete This farm life has opened his EYES!

Taken earlier today, after our first ‘sticking’ snowfall yesterday. Richard, with his charges.

Limericks for Mr. Ricks This week it's time to 'mix it up' a bit with something NOT related to the year's harvest or recipes or Regular Rural Updates...

[lizgavin]

UPCOMING RELEASES UPDATE

If you’ve recently fallen in love with Noah & Ana’s story or Tristan & Izzie’s – and who would blame you, right? – and now are looking for Aidan’s and Duke’s books, I’ve got good and bad news for you.

💜💖Good news – THEY ARE COMING. 💜💝

Bad news – Due to the publisher’s (Macmillan’s indie house, Pronoun) sudden shut down, I had to reschedule my releases for 2018. It’ll take me a few weeks to have the links back up. I apologize for that inconvenience. Believe me, it’s out of my hands. 😦

I’VE ORDERED THEM, WHAT HAPPENS NOW?

If you had already preordered these books, Macmillan/Pronoun have cancelled them, so you won’t be charged for your purchase. Again, I apologize for this inconvenience. I’ve got no control over this part of the sales process.

I’D LIKE TO KNOW WHEN THEY BECOME AVAILABLE. WHAT SHOULD I DO?

If you’d like to be notified when AIDAN becomes available, please sign up HERE (https://emailoctopus.com/lists/a24cb447-c36b-11e7-8825-026f7644009e/forms/subscribe) to AIDAN’s Newsletter. This mailing list will be used solely to send out updates about this title.

If you’d like to be notified when DUKE becomes available, please sign up HERE (https://emailoctopus.com/lists/aa5c2437-c36b-11e7-8825-026f7644009e/forms/subscribe) to DUKE’s Newsletter. This mailing list will be used solely to send out updates about this title.

If you wish to receive weekly newsletters about free promos and special sales for all my books, please sign up HERE (https://emailoctopus.com/lists/44583e73-26c6-11e7-b170-0244cade5e89/forms/subscribe) for the Weekly Newsletter.

Reviews are indie authors’ best friend and we all appreciate you taking the time to read and comment our books. ❤ Please remember to leave a review, like always. 😀

POST YOUR REVIEW FOR TRISTAN

POST YOUR REVIEW FOR NOAH

  KNIGHT’S EDGE SERIES UPDATE UPCOMING RELEASES UPDATE If you've recently fallen in love with Noah & Ana's story or Tristan & Izzie's - and who would blame you, right?

[experiencewildlife]

Summit Nature Photography Workshop Part 2

Every year I come back to Jackson, WY during the fall to attend the Nature Summit Series of Photography Workshops. This workshop is my opportunity each year to learn from the top photographers in the field of nature and conservation photography. I first learned of these workshops in 2006 when I was working in the art gallery of legendary photographer Thomas Mangelsen. That was the first year I attended. I was fresh out of collage and just stepping into digital photography. I learned so much about what it means to be a nature photographer during that time, not just how to operate my camera, but what sacrifices must be made to be in this field and what impact photography can have on the world. Here I am 11 years later, and I am still learning these lessons.  

Photo by: Julio Aguilar   

Unlike some workshops were you are working with one or two instructors the Nature Summit Workshop has an all star faculty of 12 world-class instructors. These instructors range from National Geographic photographers, to International League of Conservation Photographers as well as magazine editors, and marketing specialists. With the range of specialties you are getting more than just a “photography” workshop, you are getting an in depth opportunity to learn how to have a career in photography. For someone like me, working hard to find my footing in conservation photography, I couldn’t ask for a more comprehensive learning environment.

A Black Bear cub poses at the top of an Aspen Tree

Throughout the workshop you are getting time in the field with the instructors. You are divided into small groups with two instructors each and taken into the field to unique environments. These experiences range from photographing the sunrise and the first light hitting the Grand Tetons, to looking for Grizzly Bears, to emerging yourself in the woods with the sounds a a wolf pack howling. These field trips allow you to learn about tracking subjects, as well as how to put yourself in the optimal location to catch the perfect light.    

One of the most beautiful sunrise I have ever seen, taken during a morning outing at “The Ranch.”

After the morning outings you are given the rest of the morning to edit pictures for the afternoon critique. These critiques are the opportunity for everyone to see the work that was created during the workshop and to get feedback from the instructors on what was done well and what needs to be improved on. Nowhere will you learn more about “what good looks like” then listening to the faculty feedback. Throughout the day there are also presentations from faculty on various subjects, such as marketing, how to pitch a story to an editor, as well as light painting, star photography, and conservation photography.

Jim Richardson teaches a student, Lisa, about seeing the light.

Each after noon you are given time to yourself, which for me always consisted in gathering a few choice students and going back into the field to photograph. During these workshops I have made some lifelong friendships and these photographers that I have met have become not just friends, but have grown into partners in my photograph career. 

Here is a list of stand out students from this years workshop. Click on their names to learn more about the work they do.

Lisa Carper - Is a talented young photographer. I was lucky enough to get to spend both weeks I was in Jackson with her. She is very ethically minded in the field which I appreciated, and even had my back a few times when tourist and photographers were approaching black bears too closely.  

Eric Stavale - Eric is one hell of a macro photographer, his work just blew me away. He is also a great person to have out in the field with, and I hope to get the opportunity to photograph with him again. 

Roberto Saucedo - I had the pleasure of meeting Roberto earlier this year at the NANPA Summit in Florida. Roberto is a great conservation photographer with a huge passion for wildlife. 

Michael Forsberg showed me a whole new way of looking at a scene. 

Every evening we meet back in the National Museum of Wildlife Art and are inspired by presentations from instructors on the work they are doing in photography. These presentations are moving and proved a real testament to why we are in the field of photography .

A female Elk stands in a snow flurry.

The workshop ends each year with a reception dinner at the Teton Pines Country Club. Towards the end of the evening the workshop director Chris Steppig hands out a few awards and some prizes from the sponsors. The last award of the night this year was called the “Spirit of the Workshop” the winner of this award would be invited back for the 2018 Nature Workshop as a member of the Summit Staff. Working for the workshop that helped shaped me into the photographer I am today has been a dream of mine since I first started attending these workshops over a decade before. I guess if you wish for something hard enough your dreams can come true. I am so honored to be invited back to work on the staff for the 2018 workshop. 

A Pine Squirrel sits on a branch. 

The faculty of this workshop is all-star group dedicated to turning the students into better photographers. 

Here is a list of the faculty. Click on their names to learn more about the incredible work each of them do.

Michael Forsberg – Michael Forsberg Photography

Melissa Groo  – Melissa Groo Photography

Morgan Hiem - Morgan Hiem Photography

Dave Showalter - Dave Showalter Nature Photography

Wes Pitts – Outdoor Photographer

Dave Black – Dave Black Photography

Jodi Cobb - Jody Cob Photography

Jim Richardson - Jim Richardson Photography

Bill Allard - William Albert Allard

Allen Murabayashi - Photoshelter

Bob Smith – Bob Smith Photos

Stan Honda - Stan Honda Photography

Tom Bol - Tom Bol Photography

Ron Taniwaki - Nikon

The staff is what keeps these workshops running seamlessly. They managed to keep everyone happy and motivated throughout the long days. 

Chris Steppig - Workshop Director, who puts these workshops together, keeps everyone in check and makes sure everything is always running seamlessly.

Steven Jacobs -  Marketing and Social Media, who wears more hats than I think anyone realizes and has turned into a great filmmaker himself.  

Julio Aguilar - Assistant and Drone Photographer, who works tirelessly both day and night to make sure everything is set up right for each shoot.

Matt Stirn -  Assistant and local guide, who is an incredibly talented photographer as well as an archaeologist.He let us photograph on his beautiful ranch which made for a unique photographic experience.

Melyssa St. Michael - Melyssa was like the mamma bear. Keeping everyone in line and making sure we were all were we needed to be. 

Lastly these workshops would not be possible without workshop founder Rich Clarkson. Rich has dedicated his life to fostering the education of the next generation of photographers. I know he has touched my life as well as so many others in the photography community.

A young bison races across the field. Tail up means he is either pooping or charging, in this case charging. Thanks Dave for that insight!

I am excited for next year when I am on the staff of the workshop and helping make the next generation of workshop attendees have a memorable experience. If you would like to learn more about this and other workshops by the Summit Series of Photography Workshops visit their website at: https://www.photographyatthesummit.com/

[zipgrowth]

For Place-Based Instruction, Start with Place-Based Professional Development

Montana is called Big Sky Country for a reason. It’s a state filled with vast open spaces between the mountains, plains, rivers, and ranches. Nearly half the population lives in rural communities, including Dixon where I serve as principal. As a result, there are many challenges to keeping continuity and consistency across students’ educational experiences and to ensuring equity.

Thankfully, our population currently qualifies for school-wide Title 1 resources, Impact Aid, and Title VI: Indian Education funding. Without a strong tax base, these programs are essential to enable our staff to provide the quality education they deserve. These initiatives help us feed into our district vision for instructional planning, professional development, facilities management, and community outreach. But they are not enough.

Beginning my third year as an administrator in this rural reservation district, a clear objective emerged through our various programs, collaborations, and the day-to-day functions of our community campus: all students must move through Dixon School, and beyond, with the skills and mindset to face all challenges and see their goals as steps toward achieving their dreams. In order to do so, we’ve adopted a place-based approach to instruction, both for student learning and, equally important, for professional development.

Source: Crista Anderson

Why Place-Based?

Dixon is set in a postcard-perfect Montana scene surrounded by mountains, bordered by the Flathead and Jocko Rivers, and checkered with some of the most fertile farmland in the region. Just north of town, toward the National Bison Range, is Old Agency, the original Flathead Reservation Tribal center. Once an active center for the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Dixon Agency is now scarred by dilapidated homes fed by a toxic water system.

Many of our students don’t travel far beyond the boundaries of our district and the majority of staff members commute to the area for work. There is a natural disconnect and a significant need to establish a trusting community within that reality. The one thing we have in common is the fact that we all spend the majority of our time in Dixon.

Place-based instruction allows us to learn more about our region today, the history of the people and their varied perspectives, and to establish a culture of citizenship and community pride to foster growth for future generations.

When cultures come together to learn both with and from each other, there is often an unintended dissonance. Without the shared experiences of being raised within the same traditions and history, too-eager curiosity, bias and even what we think is good manners gets in the way of truly understanding one another. Fear of offending or spreading misconceptions often lead to omissions of content or uncomfortable dialogue. Place-based instructional practices draw on experiencing the land, the stories, and the primary sources that inspire active learning and promotes civic responsibility.

Source: Crista Anderson

Staff Before Students

Staff before students? This is not a phrase you will hear me utter often. However, when it comes to facilitating the inquiry process required for place-based instruction, context is everything. The complex history we experience when teaching and learning about our region is not unique; similar challenges are faced when teaching and learning about the plantations of Georgia, the internment camps of World War II, and endless other moments in history that impact our human interactions. Educators do not have to be experts in all these events, but we do need the skills to moderate collegial discourse, minimize bias, and develop confidence to engage in the process of learning WITH students.

If your experience was like mine, you likely learned most history through reading and taking notes through lecture. Though this method was successful for many in learning the history itself, did it prepare you for discussion and debate about varied perspectives on history? Did it offer you the relevance required to encourage you to get civically involved in your community? What was the purpose of reading through history in chronological order?

As leaders, we need to support teachers in developing an instructional program that engages all learners in contributing to the world around them. Commit some of your professional development time to identifying, researching, and discussing the land and the people closest to the school. Bring in some regional voices to create shared experiences as a staff. Visit local landmarks together and encourage teacher teams to develop supplemental lessons to enhance current units of study. The local archives offer great lessons on digging deep for text-based evidence when meeting English Language Arts Standards. Learning sticks when skills transfer to action.

Source: Crista Anderson

My Go-To Tools

From my time as a classroom teacher, to my time as an instructional coach, to my most recent role as an administrator, my favorite resources remain the same. The best part about these sites is that they stay up to date with the dynamic nature of current events as those events often change how we perceive history. Each site not only offers resources to deepen understanding for educators, but also provide model lessons and suggestions to support all grade levels.

Edutopia: “Location, location, location! See what happens when school work explores students' connections with local history, environment, culture, or economy.”

Facing History and Ourselves: “Our mission is to engage students of diverse backgrounds in an examination of racism, prejudice, and antisemitism in order to promote the development of a more humane and informed citizenry.”

Teaching Tolerance: “Our mission is to reduce prejudice, improve intergroup relations and support equitable school experiences for our nation’s children. We believe that schools must educate all students for full participation in a diverse democracy.”

Google Earth: SUCH a powerful tool for all content areas and ages. Zoom in to measure sections of the river near your school. Change to view to see the constellations at a certain time of the year. Map the journey of Lewis and Clark. Search their lesson archives for ideas.

Local libraries, museums, historical societies and archives. Ask a few questions, and see what they can offer either at the school or as an off campus adventure. Many have digital resources as well.

Source: Crista Anderson

Most Importantly: Maintain Momentum

This step cannot be forgotten! Meaningful learning is not achieved through a series of projects or lessons. Meaningful learning comes from shared experiences, continuous dialogue, and sharing the process with others. Staff will come and go; so will students. Learning will stick.

As an administrator of a rural reservation school in Montana, nothing would make me more proud than to know those who experience time in our program know that the broken-down houses in Old Agency need action to rebuild, and that only through our voices and advocacy will new wells be dug. Students and teachers will know the names of our rivers, in English and Salish. Community will know that the town is named for Governor Joseph Dixon who used the lure of the railroad to draw homesteaders as he pushed through the Allotment Act, which displaced many native families from their titled land and broke with the Hellgate Treaty.

History is built of conflict and healing. Think about the voices of the past when you cut through the beautiful mountains of western Montana and past the point where nšiy̓e (Jocko) and the ntx̣ʷe (Flathead) meet at sčilip (Dixon) and consider ways you can construct experiences to draw voices from the place where you spend most of your time.

Crista Anderson is the Principal and Superintendent of a rural PK-8 school in Montana

For Place-Based Instruction, Start with Place-Based Professional Development published first on http://ift.tt/2x05DG9

[route66team]

via marinthomas

It seems like only yesterday I was announcing the start of this fantastic series from Tule Publishing -Love at the Chocolate Shop!  Can you believe the series is up to book 5 releasing today?

Are you following along on the couples' journeys in Marietta, Montana centering on the town's Copper Mountain Chocolate Shop?

Here's a series recap!

Melt My Heart, Cowboy

by CJ Carmichael

Who is the handsome cowboy who comes into small town Marietta’s chocolate shop every week to buy a box of chocolates? More importantly…who is he buying the chocolates for? These are the questions sales clerk Rosie Linn asks herself as she waits for her sadly neglected childhood home to sell so she can pursue an exciting new career in L.A.

Rosie finds out the answers the day rugged ranch hand Brant Willingham introduces himself and asks for her help in managing the care of his younger sister. Brant’s mother has recently died, leaving him the sole guardian of eighteen-year-old Sara Maria–who has been a puzzle to Brant ever since she began exhibiting signs of autism at age two.

Rosie and Brant come up with a plan. She’ll help with his sister if he handles repairs and a new paint job for her old house. It seems the perfect solution, but a new dilemma is created when the couple start spending time together. Brant discovers he doesn’t want Rosie to sell and leave, and Rosie fears she will have to choose between love and her dreams.

A Thankful Heart

by Melissa McClone

Chocolate is better than men, and so are dogs. At least, that’s what Dakota Parker tells herself as she mends her broken heart and finds forever homes for rescue animals. So far, so good. She can indulge her love of chocolate where she works while her foster dogs provide her with the unconditional love she craves. What more does she need?

Seattle architect Bryce Grayson is counting the days until he can return home to the big city with his father in tow. That is if he can convince his dad to leave Montana. Bryce’s escape plan, however, goes astray when he meets Dakota. Her sweet kisses put the chocolate she sells to shame. Maybe he should be the one to move to Marietta, but could he be happy living in such a small town?

He has until Thanksgiving to decide.

Montana Secret Santa

by Debra Salonen

Ad exec Krista Martin, while feeling more Grinch than elf, still jumps at the chance to co-chair Marietta’s Secret Santa Society. Why not? Especially since brilliant, attractive, and innovative tech wunderkind Jonah Andrews has agreed to help. He’s well connected and Krista’s hoping for some advice on rebooting her career.

Jonah knows Krista has a not-so-hidden agenda, but sparring with her over cocoa at their Secret Santa meetings is the most fun he’s had since returning to his old hometown. Krista may come across as all business, but Jonah’s positive he’s glimpsed a little girl inside her who wants to believe in Santa… and in love.

The Chocolate Cure

by Roxanne Snopek

No more chocolate! No more meddling! No more men!

New Year’s resolutions are great. Announcing them in a crowded bar, with a chocolate martini in her hand? Not Maddie Cash’s finest moment. It’s time this new realtor got serious about her life and this time, she means it.

But when hospital volunteering lands her at the bedside of bruised and battered Mick Meyer, who has no knowledge of Maddie’s reputation – and no memory of the kiss he begged from her during that long, pain-filled night, her best-laid plans are put in jeopardy. It’s not just his sweet tooth that’s tempting her.

The hunky bush pilot with the concussion has an old family property to unload. Making this sale could be Maddie’s professional salvation. But when Mick turns on the charm, she’s in danger of forgetting all her best intentions… on chocolate… on meddling… and especially on men.

The Valentine Quest

by Melissa McClone

Keep your competition close…and your heart even closer.

When Nevada Parker travels to Marietta, Montana, she anticipates enough peace and quiet to finish her PhD dissertation. Cupidville turns out to be anything but quiet. In fact, it looks like Valentine’s Day—her least favorite holiday—exploded all over the small town.

Among the sea of red hearts, “Be Mine” signs, and pink, pink, pink, Nevada spots a flyer for a multi-day race called The Valentine Quest. The grand prize—a luxury tropical vacation—would be the perfect welcome-home gift for her brother who’s leaving the military.

Dustin Decker sure could use a break from giving city slickers sleigh rides—and from the now ex-girlfriend who issued an ultimatum. Even with a bum knee from his bull riding days, the race’s grand prize is as good as his—until he realizes he needs a partner for some of the more complicated tasks.

He makes a strategic pact with the prim, bookish Nevada. But with a kiss, their unlikely alliance turns into something more…and soon racing isn’t the only thing on their minds. As the finish line nears, they must decide if the grand prize is worth more than what they’ve found together…or if one of them will walk away empty handed—and broken hearted.

Do you follow me on Bookbub?

It's a great places to hear about discounts on my titles and new releases!

I will be having a special giveaway when I reach 500 followers!

Follow Me

While you are already over there, give my fellow Love at the Chocolate Shop Authors a follow also!  I know they would love to share with you!

C.J. Carmichael

Steena Holmes

Melissa McClone

Debra Salonen

Roxanne Snopek