I know the weather was gorgeous this weekend, but we were BUSY, so I didn’t have time to get out with my camera–just got a couple cell phone pictures.

I think it’s pretty much been deconstruced–hardly looks like there were houses there.

THIS did not make me happy. BOO HISS! (previously…)

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I’m dealing with a stressful project at work, so today’s word is: calm

I think it would be very strange to live in Sharpsburg, an area that seems completely given over to Antietam Battlefield National Park.

I wonder if it is hard to live so much in the past and in the history of such horror.

As I said yesterday, I took very few pictures of the battlefields. Here are the pictures I took within the park area.

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As we walked around Antietam, I was surprised at how large the area was. I have no experience with war (for which I am greatly thankful) so I really had no idea what to expect.

The day was beautiful, which made it even stranger to consider that 150 years ago so very many men had bled and died there.

Here are some of the pictures I took at Antietam–not many pictures of the battlefield–I mostly walked and reflected.

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Saturday was supposed to be gorgeous, so we hopped in the car and went to Shepherdstown & Antietam.

We spent most of the day (that wasn’t spent in the car) walking around Antietam, but we did stroll around downtown Shepherdstown. And ate two very good meals there.

Didn’t take my camera out much around Shepherdstown, except for the cemeteries.

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We walked downtown for dinner, and then back home.

There’s really only one corner of debris now–most of it is already down to dirt.

Debris

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From yesterday’s post, you can now learn more about women scientists, both famous and obscure.

Emilie du Chatelet

Emily Warren Roebling

Rosalind Franklin

Beatrix Potter

Virginia Apgar

Maria Sklodowska-Curie

(if any further additions are made to the game, I’ll add them here.)

YAY! (Confused? See this and this.)

Wall is done, and tomorrow they are supposed to put back the fence.

Yesterday I pruned half the heather, which hadn’t survived, and most of the rosebush (not in either picture), which was in bad shape, as well as one of the holly bushes, which took a significant hit, but I’m hoping that with the pruning those plants will come back.

This week is for the Metal Chick naming contest and is a variant game. Name your favorite female scientists. Mine: Ada Lovelace

For our evening walk (now I’m not longer feeling like death warmed over) Michael and I spent 50 minutes walking around the area close to our house.

We saw four separate construction projects, and we only walked 2 1/2 miles (and half of that was back-tracking to return home).

Most striking were the pictures of the Sunnyside area–I’d taken pictures there just a week and a half ago.

Sunnyside (previous)

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The Ricky Martin the Metal Chicken Game / Contest has ENDED! (Sorry about the long delay. I got miserably sick.)

Emily Warren Roebling will be winging her way to Shawn Powers as soon as Michael can make it to the post office.

Because, that was awesome!

The winner of the naming content is JERI, because Ricky Martin the Metal Chicken’s sibling who will be remaining and traveling with me has been named: Ada Lovelace!

(Jeri, that means you’ll need to actually check your mail.)

I expect photos as soon as your loot has been received!

Being sick for a week boosted this month’s reading rather dramatically. I read a variety of genres, though I went back to Agatha Christies when I was feeling worst, because, well, she’s awesome and comforting.

Fantasy

Slashback (2013) Rob Thurman (9/10)
Frost Burned (2013) Patricia Briggs (8/10)
Graveminder (2011) Melissa Marr (7/10)
Whispers Under Ground (2012) Ben Aaronovitch (8/10)
Seven Kinds of Hell (2013) Dana Cameron (5.5/10)

Paranormal Romance

Twice Tempted: A Night Prince Novel (2013) Jeaniene Frost (8/10)

Steampunk Romance

Kiss of Steel (2012) Bec McMasters (6/10)
Cards & Caravans (2013) Cindy Spencer Pape (7/10)
Hunter’s Prey (2012) Moira Rogers (8/10)
Archer’s Lady (2012) Moira Rogers (7/10)

Mystery

What Darkness Brings (2013) C.S. Harris (9/10)
Thieftaker (2012) D.B. Jackson (7/10)
They Do It With Mirrors (1952) Agatha Christie (7/10)
A Pocket Full of Rye (1953) Agatha Christie (7/10)
The Mirror Crack’d from Side to Side (1962) Agatha Christie (7/10)
A Caribbean Mystery (1964) Agatha Christie (8.5/10)

Romance

The Rake to Ruin Her (2013) Julia Justiss (5/10)

Anthology

The Mad Scientist’s Guide to World Domination: Original Short Fiction for the Modern Evil Genius (2013) John Joseph Adams (8/10)
The Way of the Wizard (2010) John Joseph Adams (7/10)
Death’s Excellent Vacation (2010) Charlaine Harris and Toni L. P. Kelner (7/10)

Young Adult

The Westing Game (1978) Ellen Raskin (7/10)

Random Reading Statistics
Total books read in March: 21
Paperback: 1
eBook: 18
Hardback: 2

Re-read: 4

Genres
Anthology: 3
Fantasy: 14
Mystery: 8
Romance: 7
YA: 1

Books read so far in 2013: 60

Today, The Best Fantasy Novels You (Probably) Haven’t Read appeared in my RSS feed, so of course I had to click through, and after clicking through and reading, I had to comment.

Mordant’s Need: The Mirror of Her Dreams & A Man Rides Through by Stephen R. Donaldson

This was the only Stephen R. Donaldson I could stomach (I found his other series, Thomas Covenant, vile and horrible), but I quite liked Mordant’s need and I believe the books are still floating around here somewhere.

The Steel Remains by Richard Morgan

I’ve bought some of his SF for Michael, but not read any of his fantasy. I think Shawn is reading some Richard Morgan SF right now.

The Bas-Lag series by China Miéville

Yeah, sorry fans, but I can’t stand China Miéville. I get why he’s good, but I want no part his books. I suffered through Perdido Street Station and would probably have been happier if I hadn’t finished it. I find him horrible and depressing and I think I’d rather read nothing than have to read another of his books again.

And I read cereal boxes.

The Earthsea Cycle by Ursula K. LeGuin

Really? They think people haven’t read this? I thought they were in constant publication?

I can’t say they’re some of my favorite fantasy out there, but they’re good, and I liked ’em.

The Dying Earth by Jack Vance

With the cover they have pictured, it’s no wonder I never picked this up. Thank goodness for eBooks. Well, and for publishers getting *slightly* better in their covers.

Though I’m not sure anything that makes me think of A Canticle for Lebovitz is something I’m likely to put up. (Have I mentioned how much I do not enjoy dystopias? I do not enjoy dystopias at all.)

The Death of the Necromancer by Martha Wells

Oddly, I have this queued up to read. I’ll let you know what I think when I’m done.

The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson

Michael has some Brandon Sanderson. I think he became popular about the time I stopped reading epic fantasy. No offense to him, but I got deathly tired of huge doorstops of books that went on and on and on with no end in sight. There’s a reason I’m so fond of mysteries: you can pick up any book and be satisfied. If you want to gorge yourself on ’em, you can. But you don’t have to know what happened in the first book that was published twenty years ago to enjoy the book that just came out.

The Empire Trilogy by Raymond E. Feist and Janny Wurts

I believe I sold off all the rest of my Raymond Feist books, but kept these, because I really enjoyed them. Partially it was the oriental feel of the stories, partially it was the female main character. But I really enjoyed them (and have resisted re-reading, for fear I won’t like them as well as I remember).

Andre Norton, generally

I’ve read some of her stuff, but nothing caught my fancy. I believe I’d read some of her fantasy stories in various anthologies, but that was long before I started by book blog, so it’s hard to remember.

The Secret History of Fantasy, ed. Peter S. Beagle

This I read relatively recently. The collection as a whole, I believe, made my slightly uneasy, but it was still very good. I was particularly fond of the Stephen King story.