Tales and Trails at Audubon Naturalist Society

I signed my prescholar up for the "Tales and Trails" storytime at the Audubon Naturalist Society in Chevy Chase, Maryland. We had a half-off ticket through CertifiKid and found the adventure quite delightful. We did hit some traffic on the way to the 10 a.m. storytime (we had to drive on the Beltway at the tail end of the morning commute). We arrived early enough to explore just a tiny bit.

Audubon Naturalist Society Historic House

We parked by the composting area!

We went into the mansion and wandered around the first floor a little bit. We found a room with a large carpet with a pond on it. We assumed it was the right spot. Others showed up shortly, including the instructor. She passed out some coloring pages as people came in.

Coloring for the camera

How does it look?

The theme of the story time was foxes, which explained the fox coloring page. The instructor read a story about an owl who sees colors in the forest, including a fox's orange coat. She then brought out a fox skin and let us feel how smooth and soft it was. She told us about the habits of foxes (often nocturnal; eaters of mice and other small animals). One of the moms told us they saw a live fox one night when they went out to feed their chickens. Luckily, the fox ran away before he caused any trouble.

The story time craft was making a fox face out of half a paper plate, two pieces of construction paper for ears, stickers for eyes, and crayons for coloring.

Adding eyes

Final work

A quick picture at the room's fireplace

After the craft, we went outside for a short walk. Down one trail of the Woodend Nature Sanctuary is an abandoned fox's den.

The grounds

A trail next to the woods

The house seen from the trail

They discovered two holes. The first hole we came on was the secret back exit of the den. Normally it is covered by the bushes around it. We visited in winter, so the cover was blown.

Den's back door

The main entrance of the den is large enough for the fox's fur (which the instructor brought along) to go in easily. The staff found a lot of little bones and other evidence of multiple foxes using the den, so probably a mom and her offspring lived here. The mound used to be much taller but weather has worn it down. The family left to make a den further into the woods.

The big hole

What's left of the mound on top, the back door at bottom

We started to walk back up the hill. The instructor showed us how well the fox's fur blends in with the grass and short flowers, making good camouflage. Then she spotted some deer tracks and we all stopped to look.

My son looks at deer tracks

The tracks

We had fun exploring a bit outside. Once we got back to the mansion, story time was done. My son and I went inside to wash our hands and check out the shop. It sold mostly books but also had a kids room with puzzles, toys, and some science experiments. We wish we had packed a picnic lunch to enjoy on the grounds. We'll have to bring the rest of the family on another occasion to explore the woods and other activities at the center.

Book Review: Marvel Black Panther Prelude by W. Corona Pilgrim et al.

Marvel Black Panther Prelude written by Will Corona Pilgrim, art by Annapaolo Martello, colors by Jordan Boyd, with contributions from many artists and writers from earlier Marvel incarnations of the Black Panther

This book collects several Black Panther stories told through the years featuring.

The first story is a two-issue tale meant as a prelude to the Black Panther movie. The story establishes the cinematic relationship between T'Challa and his father T'Chaka, king of Wakanda. The father is passing the Black Panther mantel to his son. T'Challa uses his skills well defending their hidden country and its citizens abroad. I don't think I learned much about the characters or where the movie is going. The story is mostly action with a few cautionary words about not being as obvious as Tony Stark. So I don't think the story is really necessary for seeing the movie or even worth reading.

The second story is from 1972, with the Black Panther returning to Wakanda to avert an insurgency by Killmonger, a disgruntled native. The story has plenty of action and promises a tough but rewarding path to victory for T'Challa. It s fun but unfinished tale.

The third story is from the 1990s reboot of Black Panther, where he travels to New York City to deal with problems at Wakanda's consulate. He has to fight some local hoods, too, though he is seems more interested in putting them on a straighter and narrower path. Other than the cool action, not much happens in this one issue part of a story.

The fourth story (from 2005) presents an origin story for T'Challa as he becomes the Black Panther. One day every year, local Wakandans can challenge the king to combat. If the local person wins, he or she becomes the new ruler of Wakanda. In disguise, T'Challa beats his uncle to gain the throne. T'Challa's sister Shuri tried to get into the fight but came too late. The villain Klaw is introduced briefly at the end. The set-up is fairly interesting but that is all it is--set-up for an ongoing story.

The final story (from 2016) has the Black Panther returning to Wakanda to quell an uprising by the vibranium miners. He has a difficult time because they are being manipulated by some sort of (maybe?) sorceress who wants to sow the seeds of liberation. Other royal intrigues are going on--the queen mother (who has been ruling in T'Challa's absence) has to order the execution of a rogue member of the Dora Milaje, the female warriors who are supposed to protect the king and the country. Another pair of dishonored Dora Milaje are ready to start their own revolt. Plenty of plot lines are introduced but again this story is just the set-up for a longer narrative.

Each story ends with a reference to where the story continues (the first continues in the movie, the others in graphic novels on sale at your local bookstore), making this book more of a Black Panther sampler/advertisement rather than any one complete story. I am intrigued enough to try out some of them, though I am glad I got this from the library rather than buying it.

Recommended as a starting point for getting into one of the many different Black Panther narratives.

Movie Review: Housebound (2014)

Housebound (2014) written and directed by Gerard Johnstone

Young hoodlum Kylie (Morgana O'Reilly) gets caught by the police yet again, this time robbing an ATM. Since she's been through various rehabilitation programs, the court decides to try a different approach and sentences her to eight months house arrest at her mother's home, with visits from her probation officer and a therapist. The sentence should be easy time but Kylie is estranged from her mother. Mom still lives in the house where Kylie grew up. He mom has married a new and strange man since her husband left her for better times. The family dynamic is dysfunctional and awkward. If that wasn't bad enough, Mom thinks the house is haunted, which Kylie initially scoffs at. Then things start going bump in the night, especially in the dark and creepy basement.

What could be played as a straight-faced horror movie is played as a comedy. The movie runs through a lot of standard cliches (the creepy basement, weird and unnerving toys, false suspects, etc.) but the New Zealand setting and cast give it some freshness. Kylie is initially unlikeable but grows on the viewer as the situation gets more complicated and harrowing. After an hour and a half of comedy and jump scares, the ending is surprisingly gory which is also played for comedic effect.

Horror-comedy is hard to pull off. This is not a great example but a good one. It had more depth than I was expecting and more twists too. The gore at the end was a bit much and felt out of place, but it was a rather minor flaw overall.

It's available on DVD and also streaming through Netflix (at least as I post this in February 2018).

Lent Plans 2018

Ash Wednesday is upon us again. In my son's religious education class, the teachers went over the precepts of the Church. The fifth precept is to "observe the prescribed days of fasting and abstinence." (Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 2043) Fasting is eating much less food than you normally would; abstinence in this context is not eating meat. The point of this penance is not to punish yourself. It's to "acquire mastery over our instincts and freedom of heart." Rather than being led around by our appetites, we practice saying "no" to them so that we are free to focus on other, more important things. Eating food is important but not the most important thing in our lives. Ash Wednesday and Good Friday are the two prescribed days for fast and abstinence in America, with the Fridays in Lent only requiring abstinence. So the obligation is not so great. Often, people add other days for themselves or make other sacrifices, the classical "giving up something for Lent." As a family we have decided to give up dessert at dinner.

The other traditional practice in Lent (in addition to fasting) are prayer and almsgiving. For prayer, I bought Seeking Jesus in Everyday Life which has daily readings and reflections. My son, as part of his Scout's Duty to God badge, has been saying a decade of the rosary every night, in addition to our regular family evening prayers. I will keep up that tradition at least through Lent, hopefully for the foreseeable future.

For almsgiving, we will continue to buy something extra for the local food pantry when we shop for groceries. Usually we buy one extra thing--for Lent we'll buy two. The Cardinal's Annual appeal just happened at church. We've made a big donation there.

I was thinking of reading Kristin Lavransdatter as spiritual reading for Lent, but after finishing Seven Pillars of Wisdom, I am not ready for another weighty tome. I'll read some shorter inspirational books. And I will do my usual fast from graphic novels (though, also as usual, I have enough backlog of blog posts to last till Easter).

We don't have any really big plans this year for Lent, just some simple stuff to keep us going down the right road.

TV Review: Ash Vs Evil Dead Season 2

Ash Vs Evil Dead Season 2 (2016) produced by Craig Digregorio

Ash (Bruce Campbell) tries to live the good life in Florida, with booze and women aplenty. That life is disrupted when a local hottie turns Deadite and starts wrecking the place. Soon enough, Ash is on his way back home to Michigan to help Ruby (Lucy Lawless) deal with Necronomicon-related problems. On arrival, he discovers you really can't go home again. The locals call him "Ashy Slashy" and consider him a boogey man. He did kill four of his friends at that cabin in the woods thirty years ago, didn't he? Ash also sees his dad, Brock Williams (Lee Majors), who is a boozy womanizer with little understanding of and sympathy for others (guess the apple didn't fall far from the tree). Deadites start showing up all over the place (including the local morgue and the bar where Ash's old friend Chet (Ted Raimi) works). Mayhem ensues.

As I predicted in my review of Season 1, I forgot that I really didn't like the first season and gave season two a try. The return to Ash's home town brought up a lot of interesting possibilities and some paid off quite well. The overall story arc is better crafted and more engaging in this season. Still, the series suffers from too much reliance on over-the-top gore as comedy (which I know is a staple in the Evil Dead but there's a difference between campy bad taste and no taste at all). I honestly wish I could unwatch two particular scenes that were so extreme as to be unenjoyable in any way. Also, splashing blood (or other gory fluid) in people's faces isn't that funny--certainly don't do it every episode! The other comedy (Ash's bumbling, his history, and the generally smart-alecky nature of all the characters) works well.

Not recommended, unless you're an Evil Dead completist.

Pinewood Derby 2018

Our pack had the Pinewood Derby in January. We didn't have religious education conflicting, so we went after two years of absence. This year, we delayed too long on making the car, so it didn't turn out too well. We had a decal that should have covered the whole car but it didn't transfer properly, forcing us to a backup decoration plan the day before the race.

This year's racer

 At the weigh-in, the car was about 4.60 ounces, so we added some coins and other weight at the Pit Area. The legal limit is 5 ounces, so we wanted to get as close as possible.

Pit area

More weight

The track was set up but they had some technical difficulties. My son's den didn't run for about 45 minutes after their initial start time. We had some donuts and the little kids had fun at the photo op area.

The race track

Ready to race

Hoping for first

Enjoying the photo area

The racing did not go well for us. We hope next year to do a better job.

Book Review: Fairy Tail Vol. 19 by Hiro Mashima

Fairy Tail Volume 19 by Hiro Mashima

Erza finishes off the last of the Oracion Seis, only for the master of the evil guild, a wizard named Zero, to appear and keep up both the fight against the good wizards and the attempt to destroy the Cait Shelter. Zero is obsessed with only one thing--destruction! So he makes a pretty good villain for just about anybody. The story gets awfully close to wrapping up in this issue, but I guess I need to go one more to see the finale.

The volume also includes a little side story about Lucy's most fateful day. The story is cute but reads like filler.