Little Fuzzy vs Fuzzy Nation

May 9, 2013

I recently finished reading Little Fuzzy and Fuzzy Nation together. The contrast between the two is interesting. Little Fuzzy was written in 1962 by H. Beam Piper and nominated for the Best Novel Hugo in 1963 which it lost to Phillip K. Dick’s The Man in the High Castle.  Fuzzy Nation is a reboot of Little Fuzzy written by John Scalzi and released in 2011.

The two, LF and FN, are very different books.  The original was only 118 pages and FN is nearly 3 times as long at 368 pages, so Scalzi’s story is much more complex.  In LF, the characters are one-dimensional.  Scalzi’s Holloway is a complex character with lots of layers and motivations.    Piper tends to use the info dump method of exposition, while Scalzi is more subtle.  Scalzi strained a little to get Little Fuzzy to have a skill he wanted him to have by the end of the book. I think Piper’s development of the Fuzzy language was more effective.  Some of the differences may also be due to the difference in eras when written.  I seem to remember that things were much more black and white in the 60′s.  We are more aware of the shades of gray now.

I enjoyed both books very much, but FN was more engaging.  LF toward the end was very predictable.

Piper and others wrote sequels to Little Fuzzy that I have not tracked down.

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Posted by Jo Anne

SE Asia Cruise

April 26, 2013

We recently returned from an amazing cruise on Celebrity Millenium to South East Asia. Click on the link to the short version of my review of our trip to SE Asia. The long version is 5 pages without pictures, so I will spare you!

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Posted by Jo Anne

Manitou Springs, Colorado

July 21, 2012

We didn’t travel far to get to Manitou Springs, but going there for dinner last night reminded me what a fun place it is.  Manitou is a quintessential tourist town with lots of little shops, restaurants, bars.  In Manitou they are all locally owned, there are no chains!  A huge arcade has all kinds of video games, pin ball, skee ball and other entertainment.  The shops sell all the standard tourist items:  tshirts, knick knacks, and toys.  But there are other stores that sell local pottery, jewelry, soaps, hand-made clothing, kitchenware, wine, and even dulcimers.  You can easily spend a day poking around the shops.  The restaurants have Mexican food, pizza, middle eastern food, steak, fondu, burgers, wild game, and almost anything else you want.  We had a great dinner of cheese and meats at Swirl Wine Bar.  The town was evacuated for a short time during the recent fire, but everything is back to normal now.

Here is the city’s website Manitou Springs.

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Posted by Jo Anne

Small Plates: Colorado Springs

July 7, 2012

Tapas and small plates seem to be the newest thing in eating out.  We really enjoy them.  I like being able to taste several dishes without feeling stuffed.  We have found several places in Colorado Springs that serve them in various formats.  The key that ties them all together is that they serve well prepared food that is a joy to eat!

Nosh was one of the first places in town to offer small plates.  They offer a nice variety.  We like their spicy bowls and mac and cheese.  Their brussels sprouts and cauliflower are really popular, but I haven’t been able to appreciate them.  I do wish they would change their menu a little more often.  The restaurant is modern and open.

Motif offers similar variety of mostly American style foods.  I like the shrimp, chicken bites, and steak.  They are only open Thursday – Saturday.  If you can sit outside, the atmosphere is great and the music isn’t so overwhelming.

Tapateria is the only place in town that we have found that offers the smaller Spanish style tapas.   Their menu offers lots of variety.  I like the shrimp and the chorizo with dates.  They always have a few specials which are great.  They pride themselves in using local products.  The space feels like a small European bar.

Some other restaurants in town that we enjoyed that have small plates  are Margarita at Pine Creek,  Steaksmith, and MacKenzie’s.  While they all also offer full size meals they also have some great appetizers or small plates that can make a meal.

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Posted by Jo Anne

Loneliest Highway

June 24, 2012

We recently drove to the West Coast across US 50 from south of Colorado Springs to Sacramento.  The stretch in Nevada is known as the loneliest highway in the US.  I have been on roads that had less traffic, but probably not a US Highway.  It is a really interesting drive.  We drove through Great Basin National Park and stopped to hike the Bristlecone trail which is a beautiful hike.  Unfortunately, snow covered parts of the trail so we weren’t able to make it all the way to the Bristlecone Pines.  Going across Nevada we passed historic Opera Houses,  Pony Express Stations, Stagecoach stops, and petroglyph sites.  While the road may be lonely, it doesn’t have to be boring.  We finished the route at Lake Tahoe which is one of my favorite lakes.  If you have the chance this is a great road trip.

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Posted by Jo Anne

Eastern and Southern Caribbean

April 13, 2012

We just returned from a cruise to the Eastern and Southern Caribbean out of Fort Lauderdale.  We had a great time at the ports.  We enjoyed the warmth and the sightseeing.  The air was hazy which the guides said was due to sand out of the Sahara.

We went on Holland America, which we did not enjoy as much as Celebrity or Royal Caribbean.  It was good, just not great.

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Posted by Jo Anne

The Blue Goat

March 1, 2012

We recently flew to Oregon to visit our new grand-daughter and her parents.  We had a great time with them and also had a little time to sightsee and eat out.  We had a great lunch at The Blue Goat in Amity and then visited Amity Vineyards.  They do serve some goat.  We had a goat empanada that was really good and then split a wonderful grilled cheese and tomato soup.  The whole meal was great.  Amity Vineyard is really interesting.  The wine was very good.  It feels more like a real winery than the fancy tasting rooms so many wineries have.  The young woman who helped us was great!  She know a lot about the wine.  We could only bring a couple of bottles home since we were flying, but we may go back.

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Posted by Jo Anne

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