Favorite Pubs and Subs

The demise of the Rocky Mountain News got me thinking about my own newspaper and magazine preferences and the reasons I enjoy reading what I do. In a nutshell:

Paper I subscribe to and enjoy reading with a morning cup of coffee:

The Sacramento Bee (national news is dated by the time it hits the driveway, but I like following what's happening in the city itself, as well as movie and restaurant reviews)

Paper I subscribe to because Steve likes it:

Wall Street Journal (this is a new subscription; too early to report)

Paper I used to subscribe to, but dropped b/c it took too long to get through:

Sunday New York Times (a delicious read, but three hours later I was still hunkered at the table)

Mags I subscribe to, love, and actually read cover to cover:

Poets & Writers (interviews, advice, conferences, contests -- what's not to love?)
Vanity Fair (interviews, intrigue, perfume ads -- with samples! -- and tons of interesting models...which sometimes make for good character descriptions)

Mag I subscribe to, love, and with which I sometimes vehemently disagree:

Audubon (Ted Williams writes a column called "Incite," and that he does, my friend)

Mag I subscribe to because Texas is a hoot:

Texas Monthly (if you ever lived in Texas, you'd totally get this)

Mag I subscribe to primarily as a research tool:

Western Horseman (what does it mean to be a cowboy? I'm still trying to figure it out)

Mags I sometimes buy at the newsstand, but have never subscribed to: The New Yorker; Esquire; Men's Health; People. Once in a while, if I'm traveling, I'll pick up a copy of O, but by and large the traditional women's mags don't turn me on. It strikes me that even in publishing, the guys have a little more fun.

No Bull

These bulls are still in the pasture, waiting to meeting their sweet California girlfriends. Guy on left just checked his Blackberry, and he's raring to make a surf date. Guy in rear can't wait to show off his jet ski, while Mr. Polka Dots is all about the tacos.

Ah, Fiddle!

Fiddleneck grows in disturbed grasslands and is harmful to cattle if eaten. Sure is pretty to look at though. Steve took this shot on the south side of Highway 50, which is now blanketed in pasture but will one day encompass thousands more houses, no doubt.

The Pillars of the Earth

I'm late getting on this train, picking up Ken Follett's PILLARS OF THE EARTH only after several friends encouraged me to hop aboard. For the most part I enjoyed it -- Prior Philip is a likeable and engaging character -- but in the end I found the book too long by almost half. Fairly early on I discovered I could skim significant chunks of narrative without losing the gist of the story by simply reading the first sentence of a paragraph, then skipping to the first sentence of the next paragraph, and so on, until I'd landed where I could again settle in on the tale.

Around page 750, though (of 973 pages total) I began to wonder if the book would ever end -- and then having reached it, I was a little disappointed.

SPOILER ALERT: When William Hamleigh died by hanging rather than Aliena's sword, I felt cheated. She, more than anyone, deserved the satisfaction of killing him -- and had long ago established she was capable of the deed -- for all she'd endured at his hand. Mr. Follett did us (and his character) an injustice by not allowing her the privilege -- and I'd be curious to know if in hindsight he wishes he had.

Ode to Insomnia

Fell asleep, woke up.
Tossed, turned, adjusted pillow.
Hell with it, got up.

Results are in -- Great Backyard Bird Count

Resident great egret at neighborhood pond.

Anna's hummingbird on the trail near the house.

Cinnamon teal pair -- female leading, male behind.

The results are in -- Steve and I spent two hours this afternoon, participating in the Great Backyard Bird Count (a bit of an accomplishment, considering Steve has a bad cold). The weather was cooler than last year and we didn't see quite as many birds, but we still had a nice afternoon. In all, we recorded 32 species -- a total of 273 birds. Spotted our favorite kingfisher, but he wouldn't hold still long enough for Steve to snap a pic. Also reported a pair of red-shouldered hawks, who appeared to be nesting (or preparing to nest) in an oak scrubland not far from the trail.

The Godfather Wars by Mark Seal

There's a great article in this month's Vanity Fair, "The Godfather Wars" by Mark Seal, in which the writer reveals Francis Ford Coppola's struggle to get the film made, as well as his vision of a story not about organized crime, but a family chronicle, "a metaphor for capitalism in America." Robert Evans, the head of production at Paramount Pictures, thought Coppola was nuts but ultimately acquiesced.

Seal also reveals some details which I'm sure I'd read before, but which I'd forgotten, and which were good fun to revisit on the page: the Mob's early endeavors to prevent the film from being made; how film executives hated Coppola's casting choices, "especially Pacino, who they felt was far too short" to play Michael Corleone -- Evans going so far as telling Coppola that "a runt will not play Michael"; Mario Puzo's insistence that Marlon Brando play the lead; and Coppola's casting of many of his family members in the film: his sister, Talia Shire, who played Connie Corleone, his father, Carmine Coppola, as a "gun-toting mobster," his wife and two sons in the baptism scene at the end, and his daughter, Sofia, as the baptized infant.

Seal quotes Al Pacino as saying he is at a loss as to why the movie that made him a star connected so powerfully with audiences everywhere: "I would guess," he tells me, "that it was a very good story, about a family, told unusually well by Mario Puzo and Francis Coppola."

Photo credit: Steve Schapiro

Rattlesnake Hole

Here's a photo making the rounds at the California Department of Fish and Game. Now, when someone says, "Watch out for the rattlesnake hole," you'll know what they mean.

Great Backyard Bird Count

The Great Backyard Bird Count, sponsored by Audubon and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, begins in just four days. Friday, February 13, is the first day that bird watchers of all ages can tally the birds in their communities and backyards, then enter their totals on the GBBC website.

Participants can download a checklist from the site, spending as little as fifteen minutes counting birds, or as long as they like. Waterfowl, raptors, shorebirds and songbirds (anything and everything) are then reported on the website.

Grab your binocs and go!

Cowboy Gathering Pics, Part 2

This fellow was the one little guy who refused to follow the rules -- all the other horses were lining up quite nicely, but this horse trotted toward us and generally goofed off until the man in the green jacket flicked him on the rear.

Barn interior.

Long view of barn interior.

Buckaroos fixin to rope.

Quitting Time

Started a new short story today, applied to Aspen Summer Words, and submitted a short story to The Tusculum Review. Now my back's got a kink in it, so it's probably time to quit.