Seasoned Risen

First of all, yes, I survived eating my less than brilliantly conceived concept for a new garlic/mesquite/onion/pepper chicken dish. It even turned out to be fairly tasty (of course that’s not a high standard to meet in my case). I’m not possessed of sufficient hubris to claim any kind of latent ability in the culinary field (don’t want Julia Child turning over in her grave). My wife was concerned about the outcome but looked rather speculative when I reported my lack of demise. I could see the wheels turning in her head as she now assessed me possessing additional capabilities, to be employed when she feel less like cooking. They’re always a few steps ahead of us hapless husbands.

"Glad you Survived, Grandpa!"

I finished the first in a series of books recommended by my eldest sister, Open Season. This is the first in the Joe Pickett series by C.J. Box which she enthusiastically recommended when I was casting about for new authors. Pickett, in this book, is a newly minted game warden working in the Bighorn Mountains of Wyoming. He runs afoul of the usual evil corporation and their stooges in the government. It took me a while to get into the book since Pickett is an unwitting victim for most of the story.

The book really takes off when the author moves him out of victimhood and he starts to put together the puzzle pieces that were swirling around him relentlessly. I liked the author’s ability to describe the Wyoming high country which I remembered from a lone trip through the area as breathtakingly beautiful. While Pickett didn’t grab me from the get go a la Jack Reacher or Lucas Davenport he did grow on me as the book progressed. This was definitely as departure from usual fare of spies and things exploding but I’m going to stick with Pickett for a couple more books. I’ve been taught to respect my elders and if my sister endorsed this I owe it to the wisdom of her many years to follow through. (yep, going to pay for that).

Since we’re getting some snow tonight I traveled to the cinema early this week – taking in Risen. An interesting bible movie as it tells the story of the days following Jesus’ crucifixion from the Roman side, specifically the Roman tribune charged with finding the body of the resurrected Jesus. It downplays the over stereotyping usually associated with this type fare and presents the biblical characters as the mere men (well except for Jesus) they were.

Joseph Fiennes whom I’ve always expected more from, in that he’s so good in everything he does, plays the tribune enthusiastically helped by newly arrived Draco Malfoy, unfortunately bereft of his wizarding ways. They bulldoze their way through post-crucifixion Jerusalem digging up bodies and chasing down disciples. This isn’t the garden variety uber-Christian proselytization effort but truly a detective story about the biggest mystery in recorded history. I liked it.

Some samples of my daily photo fix from California: