The Brand of Silence ends at last, as the mystery is finally exposed.

Chapter 26: The Truth Comes Out.

12:01.

Sorry it took me most of a year to get through this thing.

The Brand of Silence continues, as we find out what happened to the detective, Jim Farland.

Chapter 25: An Accusation.

18:38.

The Brand of Silence continues, as Sidney Prale takes matters into his own hands.

Chapter 24: High-Handed Methods.

13:06.

The Brand of Silence continues, as Much is Revealed.

Chapter 23: A Startling Story.

18:38.

The Brand of Silence continues, as Sidney Prale receives a caller.

Chapter 22: An Unexpected Visitor.

17:40.

The Brand of Silence continues, as the private eye faces captivity.

Chapter 21: Recognition.

17:40.

So yes—I did manage to get home.  Eventually.  VERY EVENTUALLY.  We left at two in the afternoon on Wednesday and didn’t get into my hometown until around noon the next day.

Word to the wise?  Don’t EVER try to leave the DC area in the afternoon.  Just…just don’t.  Just stay home.  There’s no point.  It took us five hours to get past Richmond.  FIVE.  HOURS.  I have no idea how long it usually takes to get to Richmond since I don’t drive, but Jesus H. Christ, I know it is not FIVE HOURS.

On the upside, at least I got to see that wonderful “Ex-gays prove change is possible!” billboard they’ve got up in that bitch.  I love that one.  Almost as much as I love the giant phallic pillar they’ve erected (ha!) in honor of cancer cigarette companies.

Richmond is not exactly on my list of top-ten vacation destinations, is all I’m saying.

So yes.  We drove until 10:00 that night, at which point the Boyfriend started seeing things that weren’t there because he’d been up since before 5:00 that morning (DO NOT ASK WHY, THERE IS NO GOOD ANSWER).  So he wisely decided to stop, and we repaired to the sketchiest hotel I have ever personally stayed it.

Now, I don’t think it’s sketchier than what used to be the Day’s Inn in downtown Asheville, because that place is now a crack den (no joke), and it wasn’t much better when my parents unwittingly booked rooms there during my freshman orientation.   So it is not the worst place anyone in my family has ever stayed in, but since I never had the privilege of bunking at that Day’s Inn, this took the cake for me.  I am fairly certain that no criminal activities were taking place in the Econo Lodge that George and I graced with our presence.  HOWEVER.  It smelled bizarre, like a mixture of the uncared-for elderly and dead rats, and the carpet was probably older than I am.  At least, it looked it.  And felt it, when I made the mistake of walking across it in bare feet.  Also, someone had tried to patch part of it, and had failed because they forgot that when you patch carpet, you are supposed to like, glue it down. 

Oh, and by the way?  I was extremely tired when we got in, so when I turned on the lamp that night I thought that the shade had an interesting cut-out pattern as part of its design.  HAHAHAHA, NO.  Actually, there was just a giant rip in the lining.  Classy!

But the important thing is that we didn’t freeze to death, George didn’t drive until he killed us both, and the itching finally stopped once we applied the cream topically a few times.  So I shouldn’t complain too much.  BUT YOU KNOW I WILL.

So.  We rolled up into my hometown at around noon, were greeted enthusiastically by my mother and less enthusiastically by other members of my family (YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE), and I almost immediately began my duty as a youngest child:  book-mooching.

Thing is, between my parents and my sister, my family home is about ready to cave in from the weight of all that LITERATURE.  In fact, I am pretty certain that if they felt like it, my family could build another house entirely out of the books already in their possession.  So really, I am simply doing them a favor when I mooch and whine and wheedle for that copy of My Life in France or Lord Rochester’s Monkey.  One day, my mother is going to call me and tell me that the floors caved in—all of them.  I am simply forestalling that inevitability, one book at a time.

HOWEVER.

This time, my sister very cruelly refused to lend me anything.  “I haven’t seen the last book I gave you in a year,” she said.  “I miss it.  I love it.  Where is it, so that I may clutch it to my bosom and croon sweet nothings into its nonexistent ear?”

Okay, I made most of that up, but the point is that she didn’t want to give me anything because I suck at returning things in a timely fashion.  I had to promise her that I would A.) ship everything back in three months if I didn’t bring it back first; and B.) finish the fucking book she leant me a year ago so that we could both move on with our lives.

That first one’s gonna hurt, man.  The soonest I can see coming back is my brother’s birthday, and that’s more like four months than three.  I doubt she’ll let me get away with that.  As for the second one?  Read the review.

P.D. James, The Skull Beneath the Skin

 Now that I’ve read three of P.D. James’ books, I feel pretty safe in saying that I don’t get her appeal.  Like, at all.  This is the second of two books starring Cordelia Gray, private investigator, and it just feels…well, unnecessary.  It’s not bad, but there’s no there, there.  The plot is thus:  Cordelia is hired by an aristocrat to protect his actress wife from any “unpleasantness” during a staging of an amateur production.  Basically, the actress has been getting threatening notes for months, and it’s completely destroyed her confidence and made her fuck up her career something fierce.  The husband wants Cordelia to prevent his wife from seeing any more notes, and to just generally surround her with a cocoon of wellbeing and “om.”  Cordelia is all, “Well, sure, but do you think there’s anything behind this?”  and the husband is all, “Pshaw, she is but a lowly, emotional woman!”

Of course the actress gets her face bashed in.  OF COURSE.

Like I said, it wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t particularly good, and I can see why James ditched the Cordelia Gray character after this.  I think my major problem with James is that she seems to throw character traits and character history out there and just let ‘em hang:  Cordelia is the convent-educated daughter of a famous Communist, but that past is very poorly explored and its continued impact upon her is not very well done.  James’ characters are very surface, is what I’m saying.  Things happen and feelings are felt because we’re told they happen and they are felt—there’s very little external evidence to support any of it.  James writes it, and so it is.  This is okay if you’re writing a straight procedural—it works well enough in the police-based books James has written—but when you’re doing a more character-driven book, it falls flat.  Which is probably why Cordelia vanished after this book, because really, she is just not a character that plays to James’ strengths.

Recommended for:  Skip it.

Short version:

Long Version:

     With the New Year fast approaching, I thought I’d write down 10 New Year resolutions I intend to keep.

1. When Dear Hubby is having a bad day I will try harder to make things more comfortable for him
2. I will tell my loved ones ‘I love you’ often
3. I will remember to seize the joy in life
4. I will forget resentments, anger, and hard feelings and release them to the winds
5. I will walk more
6. I will take time to smell the roses even though they make me sneeze
7. When the neighbors get on my last nerve, I will find something constructive to do rather than b**ch about it.
8. I will eat more veggies and fruit
9. I will speak my mind
10.  I will take time for me and write more

     What are your New Year’s resolutions?

Joy of joys, I received new books for Christmas presents. As I tried to explain to my husband (who was giving me strange looks all the while, though by now—we’ll be married 18 years tomorrow—he should be used to it), it isn’t just what is inside them, it’s the paper, the covers, the colors, the smell, the whole physical experience of books…of being surrounded by books…

Ahem. Anyway, the first book I received was Bernard Meehan’s beautifully illustrated work on The Book of Kells. Now I can indulge my passion for illuminated medieval manuscripts at will.

Next, I received a copy of Catherine Winkworth’s Lyra Germanica, first published in 1879, which contains her English translations of German hymns. Especially nice about this volume is the old-timey typeface with the Ss that look like Fs (which generally puts me in more of a Revolutionary than Victorian mood, but good nonetheless). I think this book will definitely help keep me inspired to learn/write about that fascinating Victorian lady.

Finally, I received the slow-cooker cookbook Fix-It and Forget-It 5-Ingredient Favorites, by Phyllis Pellman Good, so that even on those nights when Princess Two has ballet class and my son has Lutheran Pioneers, and my husband has a meeting, we can still eat!

The above are all mine (all mine!), but to just mention the library: I finished reading the two Maureen Ash Templar Knight mysteries The Alehouse Murders and Murder for Christ’s Mass. Though I did make it all the way to the end of both books, I don’t think I’ll be seeking out any more of Ash’s titles. The mysteries were interesting, and the historical setting (13th-century England) one of my favorites, but in the end the writing was too plodding and tedious. So, I am moving forward to the 15th century for Margaret Frazer’s The Reeve’s Tale.

http://www.youtube.com/user/SilverRedIndigo

     It is still raining and our yard is soggy.  After my last trip out there with Gavin so am I.  I do mean trip.  Gavin was wandering along the fence line and I walked back toward the shed.  The wind we had last night knocked a small branch or two off the magnolia, I didn’t see the one that sent me flying until after I’d landed splat in the deepest puddle out there.

     Gavin is always ready to play and when he saw me hit the ground, he thought PLAY TIME!  Sixty five pounds of wet dog landed on me.  I started laughing, I was laughing so hard I couldn’t get up.  Well, let’s say that the laughing and the extra sixty five pounds didn’t help my efforts.  Never laugh at or with a Bull Terrier, it makes them sillier.

     By the time we made it back inside, I was soaked, muddy, and cold.  Gavin was muddy, wet, and full of himself.  Furthermore, he had the nerve to beg for a cookie. 

     I was about to remove my muddy coat when Patty rang the bells—she wanted her turn out.  She had a quick trip.

     My coat and jeans went into the washer.  After a hot shower and a cup of Bengal Spice tea, I was feeling warmer.

     Outside, rain, wind, and cold.

     Stay in.

     A warm, snug house.

     A well fed and happy Hubby.

     Having no stress is good for him.

     Two cuddly dogs piled in my chair.

     They are happy too.

     A tall glass of fine wine.

     Movie marathon—a combination of action and comedy films.

     What more could a person want?

     I told him no gifts and this time he listened.

     Color me happy.

     I look around and smile.

     I have all I need.

CHINA AND INDIA BOTH KNOW ABOUT …

the Underground UFO base in the Himalayan border area deep into the techtonic plates….

Source: Illuminati News/ India Daily.com/Hidden Mysteries.com

Kongka La is the low ridge pass in the Himalayas (the blue oval in the map). It is in the disputed India-China border area in Ladakh. In the map the red zone is the disputed area still under Chinese control in the Aksai Chin area. The Chinese held northeastern part is known as Aksai Chin and Indian South West is known as Ladakh. This is the area where Indian and Chinese armies fought major war in 1962. The area is one of the least accessed area in the world and by agreement the two countries do not patrol this part of the border. According to many tourists, Buddhist monks and the local people of Ladakh, the Indian Army and the Chinese Military maintain the line of control. But there is something much more serious happening in this area.

According to the few local people on the Indian and Chinese sides, this is where the UFOs are seen coming out of the ground, According to many, the UFO underground bases are in this region and both the Indian and Chinese Government know this very well..

Recently, some Hindu pilgrims on their way to Mount Kailash from the Western pass, came across strange lights in the sky. The local guides while in the Chinese territory told them that this was nothing new and is a normal phenomenon from Kongka Pass area – the tensed border region between India and China. This strange lighted triangular silent crafts show up from underground and moves almost vertically up. Some of the adventurous pilgrims wanted to look into the site. They were first turned back by the Chinese guard posts as they were refused entry from the Chinese side. When they tried to approach the site from Indian side, the Indian border patrol also turned them down in spite of their permit to travel between the two countries.

The pilgrims at that stage started quizzing the Indian border security personnel. The security personnel told them that they are ordered not to allow any one near the area of interest and it is true that strange objects come out from under the ground with amplified and modulated lights. India�s Special Operations Forces and the intelligence agencies are in charge of that area.

The locals start laughing in that area when they are asked about these UFO sightings. They get surprised why the Governments are so eager to hide these obvious facts. According to them the extra-terrestrial presence is well known and is in deep into the ground. They believe neither the Indian or Chinese Governments do not want to expose the fact for some reason. When they bring up this matter to local Governments, they are told to keep quiet and forget the same. This is the region where the Euresian plate and the Indian plate have created convergent plate boundaries. Convergent plate boundaries are formed where one plate dives under another. Consequently, this is one of the very few areas in the world where the depth of the earth’s crust twice as thick as in other places. The opposite is found in hot spots like Yellow Stone National Park in America where the earth�s crust in thin.

The double thick earth-crust allows the creation of underground bases very deep into the tectonic plates.

Kongka La has beautiful rocks and granites. For some strange reasons neither the Chinese nor the Indian authorities ever excavate, dig or mine in this area. The area is pristine and untouched.

Recently, both India and China have moved forward to solve all border disputes and start the Sino-Indian relations all over again. The Aksai Chin area is still disputed. But interesting while negotiations both the Governments are indifferent on this area. India and China as shown in the accompanying maps have huge border areas along the Himalayas and they are negotiating on all these regions. Though India claims that Aksai Chin is part of India, the common belief in the Government is that it is not a show stopper. On the other hand, Chinese after winning Aksai Chin from India in 1962 war, built a strategic military highway. Now they are using an alternate highway not to bother with the area in Kongka La.

Recently in the local school, young children of the area entered into a drawing contest. More than half of the drawings had to do with strange objects in the sky and some coming out of the mountains. Many of them even know what and when to look for.

Many UFO researchers believe that there are hidden UFO bases under the ocean and deep under the ground. Kongka La is experiencing some strange phenomenon and suspicious objects coming out of the inaccessible huge mountains (Himalayas) and both the Governments refuse to come out and say what these are.

The other alternative is that it is an underground strategic Air Force base of some one. Then why will either country allow the base on the official no man�s land in the highly sensitive disputed border area? Why is this region continuously reporting UFO sightings from various kinds of people??

More Information HERE

Love and Appreciation

Dr. Masaru Emoto has discovered the magical Beauty of water and the effect of words that are positive, negative and inbetween.  See also what he thinks of the resonance of the word “kill” written on a pack of cigarettes:

http://www.life-enthusiast.com/twilight/research_emoto.htm

     Sometime around 11:00 tonight I’ll take the pups for a walk.  First I’ll walk one around the block to the east of us and then I’ll walk the other to the west.

     What makes these walks special?  The dogs will wear sleigh bells.  Any children still awake will have the thrill of hearing Santa pass by.  I do this every year.  In fact, I’ve done this for 36 years.

     It’s a hoot because I’ve heard about ‘Santa’s Bells’ for years from parents and kids.  They’ve yet to figure out where they come from. 

     Have a Merry and a Happy everyone!

     The two pups enjoyed their reindeer walk.  However, of the two I think Patty was the one who enjoyed it the most.  I’ve never seen her trot so happy or proud–she loves the bells.  She extended the walk by a couple of blocks.  Gavin had fun since he ran into a young woman who thought he was very clever to be wearing bells but he didn’t want to walk as far or as fast as his sister did.

Book Review:

The Dirty Secrets Club

By Meg Gardiner

This was my first book read by Meg Gardiner, and I think its safe to say that I’ll getting the rest of her books from the library. The Dirty Secrets Club was full of twists, turns and unexpected surprises – I never would have guessed the ending, which makes a mystery/suspense book a winner for me.

So what is the Dirty Secrets Club? I don’t want to give away too much, so I’ll just say that it’s a group of fairly high-powered public figures with secrets to hide, both from their past and present. When a member of the Dirty Secrets Club is killed, the Boston police launch an investigation into the club, revealing more deaths, scandals, and the secret lives of some of Boston’s most well-known citizens.

If you enjoy mysteries and suspense novels, read The Dirty Secrets Club. Can you figure out who is in the club and who is threatening its members?

Hello Believers!

I wont be blogging till the 29th. A merry Christmas to all of you!

Pumapunku is a large temple complex located in Tiwanaku, Bolivia. In Aymara, the name Puma Punku means, “The Door of the Cougar”. It is situated near the south eastern shore of Lake Titicaca, and sits on a plateau in the Andes at roughly 12,600 feet elevation. Pumapunku’s construction is generally argued to have taken place beginning around 200 BC. The temple itself stood at least 56 feet tall and took up an area of 164 square feet while the overall site and the surrounding constructions, namely the pyramid which the ruins sit on, extend over half a kilometer in length. At its peak, Pumapunku is thought to have been “unimaginably wondrous,” adorned with polished metal plaques, brightly colored ceramic and fabric ornamentation, and trafficked by costumed citizens, elaborately dressed priests and elites decked in exotic jewelry. Our understanding of this complex is limited due to its age, the lack of a written record, and the current deteriorated state of the structures due to looting, stone mining for building stone and railroad ballast and natural weathering. The technological innovation and the beautiful stonework that went into the creation of Pumapunku have drawn comparisons to the Egyptian pyramids, Stonehenge and Easter Island.

Determining the age of these ruins has been a focus of researchers since the site’s discovery. Currently archaeologists date the beginning of the Tiwanaku culture to some time around 1500 BC, and the construction of the Pumapunku complex to around 200 BC. Previously, in the early 1900s, Bolivian engineer Arthur Posnansky, based on astronomical alignments, concluded that Tiwanaku was constructed as early as 15,000 BC (17,000 BP), possibly even older and was not an original construction of the Tiwanaku. In the 1930s, German astronomers from the University of Bonn; Rolf Muller, Hanns Lundendorff, Friederich Becker, and Arnold Kohlshutter came to conclusions similar to Posnansky’s estimate. However, as noted by Kolata subsequent archaeological research, has found a complete lack of any physical evidence, including prehistoric tools and dated midden deposits, for any occupation of the Tiwanaku site as old as argued by Posnansky and the German astronomers either at the Tiwanaku Site, near it, or in direct association with the Pumapunku complex despite decades of intensive excavation and research.

The processes and technologies involved in the creation of these temples are still not fully understood by modern scholars. Our current ideas of the Tiwanaku culture hold that they had no writing system and also that the invention of the wheel was most likely unknown to them. The architectural achievements seen at Pumapunku are striking in light of the presumed level of technological capability available during its construction. Due to the monumental proportions of the stones, the method by which they were transported to Pumapunku has been a topic of interest since the temple’s discovery. The stones are argued to have been transported up a steep incline from a quarry near Lake Titicaca roughly 20 miles away. Some of the blocks are said to weigh in the range of 100–130 tons.

Recreated drawing of interlocking stone blocks

One notable block has been measured at 36 feet long, 16 feet wide and 6 feet thick. Archaeologists argue that this was accomplished by the large labor force of ancient Tiwanaku. Several theories have been proposed as to how this labor force transported the stones although these theories remain speculative. Two of the more common proposals involve the use of llama skin ropes and the use of ramps and inclined planes.

In assembling the walls of Pumapunku, each stone was finely cut to interlock with the surrounding stones and the blocks fit together like a puzzle, forming load-bearing joints without the use of mortar. One common engineering technique involves cutting the top of the lower stone at a certain angle, and placing another stone on top of it which was cut at the same angle. The precision with which these angles have been utilized to create flush joints is indicative of a highly sophisticated knowledge of stone-cutting and a thorough understanding of descriptive geometry.^[2] Many of the joints are so precise that not even a razor blade will fit between the stones. Much of the masonry is characterized by accurately cut rectilinear blocks of such uniformity that they could be interchanged for one another while maintaining a level surface and even joints. The blocks were so precisely cut as to suggest the possibility of prefabrication and mass production, technologies far in advance of the Tiwanaku’s Incan successors hundreds of years later. Tiwanaku engineers were also adept at developing a civic infrastructure at this complex, constructing functional irrigation systems, hydraulic mechanisms, and waterproof sewage lines.

Demonstration of the building block technique

To sustain the weight of these massive structures, Tiwanaku architects were meticulous in creating foundations, often fitting stones directly to bedrock or digging precise trenches and carefully filling them with layered sedimentary stones to support large stone blocks. Modern day engineers argue that the base of the Pumapunku temple was constructed using a technique called layering and depositing. By alternating layers of sand from the interior and layers of composite from the exterior, the fills would overlap each other at the joints, essentially grading the contact points to create a sturdy base.

Notable features at Pumapunku are I-shaped architectural cramps, which are composed of a unique copper-arsenic-nickel bronze alloy. These I-shaped cramps were also used on a section of canal found at the base of the Akapana pyramid at Tiwanaku. These cramps were used to hold the blocks comprising the walls and bottom of stone-line canals that drain sunken courts. I-cramps of unknown composition were used to hold together the massive slabs that formed Pumapunku’s four large platforms. In the south canal of the Pumapunku, the I-shaped cramps were cast in place. In sharp contrast, the cramps used at the Akapana canal were fashioned by the cold hammering of copper-arsenic-nickel bronze ingots. The unique copper-arsenic-nickel bronze alloy is also found in metal artifacts within the region between Tiwanaku and San Pedro de Atacama during the late Middle Horizon around A.D. 600-900.

Thanks For Sharing!

Do not read this unless you’ve already read my previous takes on the Sebastian St. Cyr series, or you’ve read the book itself.  SPOILERS.

C.S. Harris, What Remains of Heaven

First off, go check out the cover on this thing.  Don’t worry.  I’ll wait.

Seriously, isn’t that the most 80’s-tastic thing you’ve ever seen?  I’m pretty sure the Barbie I inherited from my sister in 1988 had that dress, y’all.

Ahem.  Onward!

This is the…I don’t even know which installment of the Sebastian St. Cyr series this is, but I think it’s the fifth.  Anyway, kids, this is what we like to call a “bridging book”:  the mystery itself is pretty “eh,” and nothing really definitive happens among the various characters because Harris is laying the groundwork for something definitive to happen.  However!  That being said, I liked it—simply because I’m pretty sure Hero and Sebastian are going to have to get married, and that means I’ll finally be free of Kat “Woe am I, the Tragic Harlot” Boleyn.  God, she is the most generic, boring-ass character ever.  She’s a prostitute/actress who saw her mother and stepfather murdered by English soldiers and has fought for Ireland ever since! 

…the only way she could possibly be more irritating is if she were a virgin governess whose gamester father wagered her virtue and lost it to the ton’s most notorious rake.  I’m telling you, authors, there’s more than one way to be tedious, and it doesn’t always involve an intact hymen.

Recommended for:  If you’ve been reading the series, ONWARD!

     I get to go out to dinner!  To everyone who helped, thank you!  A special thank you to Delaney for that 50,000^th hit.  I’ll think of all of you when we are sitting in a restaurant for the first time in a long time.  You all twisted Dear Hubby’s arm by helping me to win the bet. 

     Usually, if I don’t want to cook, he’ll order delivery food.  I mean that’s wonderful and I love him dearly for it but it also means I still have to do dishes afterwards.  At that rate, I might as well cook too.  For once, I just want to go out for dinner.  Let someone else cook our meal and clean up afterwards.  Let me relax and lounge over a cup of coffee without thinking about doing the dishes.

     I’m a cheap date.  To make me happy it doesn’t have to be fancy, expensive, or even come with drinks, though dessert is a necessary given.  What’s dinner out without a dessert too?  I’d be completely happy with one of several local diners that serve exceptional meals at a nominal price.  Four of which have the most wonderful cheesecakes.

     I’ll leave it up to him.

Books self is interested in reading after perusing the 13 December 2009 issue of The New York Times Book Review:

1.    After reading the list of “10 Best Books of 2009″, the following books:

• Maile Meloy’s short story collection, Both Ways is the Only Way I Want It
• Lorrie Moore’s first novel in more than a decade, A Gate at the Stairs
• Jeannette Walls’ Half Broke Horses, a “novel based on family lore”
• Kate Walbert’s “exquisitely written novel” about “a British suffragist and a handful of her Anglo-American descendants”, A Short History of Women
• David Finkel’s book about the soldiers (average age 19) posted to Baghdad at the height of the surge, The Good Soldiers
• Carol Sklenicka’s “prodigiously researched” biography, Raymond Carver:  A Writer’s Life

2.    After reading Virginia DeJohn Anderson’s review of Woody Holton’s Abigail Adams :

• Woody Holton’s Abigail Adams

3.    After reading Marilyn Stasio’s Crime column, the following mysteries:

• Joseph Wambaugh’s The New Centurions (1971), Hollywood Station, and Hollywood Crows (2008)
• the newest in Charles Finch’s “beguiling Victorian mysteries”, The Fleet Street Murders
• P. D. James’ Talking About Detective Fiction

4.    After reading Ruth Scurr’s review of novelist Louis Begley’s “retelling the story of the Dreyfus Affair”, Why the Dreyfus Affair Matters:

• Louis Begley’s Why the Dreyfus Affair Matters