Archive for fig-tree
rainforest [jatp]
Posted in Kids, Mountains, pictures, Running, Travel with tags Antilles, Basse-Terre, fig-tree, French West Indies, Guadeloupe, hiking trail, jatp, Maison de la Forêt, ONF, Parc National de la Guadeloupe, rain forest, tropical flowers, vacations, volcano on September 3, 2025 by xi'an
a journal of the chaos, war, winter, wood chore, and cure year
Posted in Books, Kids, Mountains, pictures, Running, Travel, Wines with tags album, book review, cabin fever, Canada, car parts, COVID-19, Daniel Defoe, fig-tree, film review, Folio, forest fires, fragile environment, George Martin, House of Dragons, jam, Journal of the Plague Year, Kerala, Leamington Spa, London Grammar, maintenance, Montana, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, preserve, Russian invasion, survivalists, The Cure, travel literature, Ukraine, wildlfires, winter, wood cutting, Yaak on October 14, 2024 by xi'an
Read Winter: Notes from Montana by Rick Bass, 
which I found in the book exchange area on PariSanté Campus. In a French translation, within the travel Folio collection I usually enjoy (incl. William Fiennes’ Snow Geese). But not this time, despite my relating to the appeal of cabin life in a remote location (provided it is spared by wildfires)! The reasons are multiple, from unceasing self-glorification for choosing to settle in Yaak Valley, Montana (on the Canadian border), without acknowledging the huge privilege of being able to have the choice, to a very low-level form of environmentalism that verges on the “not in my backyard” version rather than addressing societal issues, while investing in oil drilling in Texas and bemoaning on the time it takes to ship [his] car parts from Japan, to the huge chunk of time and space dedicated to wood cutting and the subtleties of maintaining a chainsaw in subzero temperatures, with again a lack of perspective on the tiny percentile that can afford this way of living.
Made several kilos of fig jam and compote—testing for a difference when peeling the fig, which is not so much about taste as with a more liquid outcome and hence a longer cooking time—, besides delivering daily to the department and the neighbours! Also had a fabulous dinning experience in Leamington Spa in a Keralan restaurant, forecasting a fantastic food scene for the next IISA conference in Kochi!
Watched Season 2 of House of the Dragon (for which Winter is not yet coming!), which is very uneven in pace, appeal, acting, and scenario. Especially the scenario (possibly missing input from the author)! But the lead actresses are running the show most convincingly. (And much more than their male counterparts….) And listened to three new albums by Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds (Wild Dog), London Grammar (The Greatest Love) and… The Cure (Alone)!
a journal of the chaos, conquest, war, abundance, and death year
Posted in Books, Kids, Mountains, pictures, Running, Travel, Wines with tags Alaska, Barnes & Noble, book review, COVID-19, Daniel Defoe, fig-tree, film review, First Nations, Iñupiat, Iceland, jam, Jodie Foster, Journal of the Plague Year, long night, MacGuffin, octopus, preserve, Prudhoe Bay, Russian invasion, Seattle, True Detective, Ukraine, varieties of radishes, zucchini flower on September 21, 2024 by xi'anRead The Daevabad Trilogy by S. A. Chakraborty within a few weeks, after I started the first book in a NE Seattle Barnes & Noble on a bookstore long stop between two Airbnb‘s. A suitable choice to read out the sleepless bouts induced by the jetlag. Some original ideas around a Middle East djinn kingdom, a compelling enough central character, and a page-turning scenario, but also too much info-dumps, a syncretic mismash of religions, and a terrible tendency to find excuses for mass-murderers…
Made heaps of fig preserve and jam (with honey, lemon, maybe too much lemon, and chia seeds) as our fig tree delivered an outstanding harvest, at the end of a particularly wet summer (even the tomatoes more than survived our three week absence!). And radish leave pesto (while waiting for my own radish harvest to come out). Also cooked an octopus for the first time, which proved much easier than I feared (no freezing, no beating, just a long enough boil) and delivering! And zucchini spaghetti every other day or so, since large late season zucchinis have now appeared in the local markets.
Watched the entire True Detective Season Four, featuring Jodie Foster and Kali Reis as the detective duo (and mostly women as the leading characters). It widely differs from earlier seasons for so many reasons… It is set in coastal Alaska (if shot in Iceland), during the long night (as in Prudhoe Bay where it lasts close to two months). It seems to involve supernatural events, connected with First Nations myths and traditions. Possibly overdoing it. It does involve First Nations, quite forcibly, as Foster’s character’s step-daughter is a Native Iñupiat woman, searching for her roots. And many other characters are from that community. A major environmental pollution by the local mine leading to still-births (ghastly moment when Foster visits the storage with coffins waiting for thaw to be buried). Scientific MacGuffin very weak and further scenario impossibilities. (Also an orange wool hat turning green. Or blue.) The end is not that satisfactory, from the resolution of the scientists disappearance to the duo escaping consequences of their actions. But this is a great show, almost par with Season One.
a journal of the conquest, war, famine, and death year
Posted in Books, Kids, pictures, Running, Travel with tags Annam, book review, books, compote, COVID-19, Daniel Defoe, fig pie, fig-tree, film review, Fort-de-France, French Indochina, Journal of the Plague Year, Martinique, multiverse, running shoes, Russian invasion, shipwreck, Ukraine, Vietnam on November 11, 2023 by xi'anRead the (paper version of) L’art du naufrage by Pascale Quiviger. Very light and rather YA, but still with enough creativity and originality to be enjoyable. Which made me read the second volume as well, Les filles de Mai, which proved an improvement in the scenario and its tension, even though the island-universe is most unrealistic. Nice covers of the Folio edition as well. Two more volumes to appear (and already written). And (again a paper version of) The House of Shattered Wings a relatively old book by Aliette de Bodard. A British Science Fiction Association Award and for once (!) a rather impressive horror story taking place in an alternative 1900’s Paris partly destroyed by a war between magical Houses run by fallen angels. With connections with French occupied Annam. The construct is quite original, with some great characters, if over-prone to introspection. Some components of the scenario remain obscure till the end, though, maybe due to my rushed read. Currently reading the next volume…
Finished harvesting an amazing year of figs, turned mostly into compotes even though I tried a fig pie that did not held well enough to carry. Had an epiphany after purchasing new running shoes with a carbon plate. As I noticed a significant impact on my lap times when training. I hope the impact will last till the next half-marathon! However I fear the lack of flat roads near Fort-de-France will definitely not help with the training..!
a journal of the conquest, war, famine, and death year [minus two fingers]
Posted in Books, Kids, pictures, Statistics, Travel, University life with tags Alan Turing Institute, Annam, BD, book review, books, British Library, Broken Angels, COVID-19, Daniel Defoe, dark fantasy, fig-tree, film review, finger, gardening, horror story, Japanese invasion of China, Journal of the Plague Year, Korean history, MIlo Manara, Notre-Dame-de-Paris, Paris, Russian invasion, The Name of the Rose, Ukraine, Umberto Eco, Vietnam, WW II on November 8, 2023 by xi'anRead The House of Shattered Wings, by Aliette de Bodard, which involves a character with two fingers eventually missing. A British Science Fiction Association Award and for once a rather impressive horror story taking place in an alternative 1900’s Paris partly destroyed by a war between Houses run by fallen angels. With connections with French occupied Annam. The construct is quite original, with some great characters, if over-prone to introspection. Got through as well Trouble on the Thames, by Victor Bridges (!), a British Library thriller classic I bought when visiting the Alan Turing Institute. A light and short spy story from the 1930’s with amusingly outdated dialogues and postures, a nice way to go through a sleepless night. And received as B’Day present the BD version of Umberto Eco’s Name of the Rose by Milo Manara, a pleasant return to this great book, with fantastic colours and creative miniatures. As usual with Manara, the depiction of the female character is unrealistic and anachronic.
Watched the Korean TV show, Songs of the Bandits, which as a coincidence also involves a character with two fingers eventually missing. While providing an interesting foray into Korean history under Japanese pre-WW II occupation and offering an original scenario among K dramas, with an Eastern Western flavour, the fighting scenes are ridiculous (and gory), while the Japanese occupiers are caricaturesque. The final episode further feels inconclusive.
Made jars and jars of fig jam till early October, as the fig tree was bursting with ripe figs that were mostly escaping marauding birds. As well as more jars of rhubarb jam.
