Laura's Rebel Journey

 " So Much Cooking " by Naomi Kritzer Just as I was all set to quit this anthology, along came 'So Much Cooking'.  A wonderful story that the narrator just had to put some life into reading.  Another pandemic story before our own pandemic experience.  These science fiction authors sure can predict the future. In this case, humans have caught H1N1 - bird flu - and a high percentage of the population is getting sick and dying.  Supermarkets are only delivering to existing customers, toilet paper is running out, chemists don't have enough pain medication.  There's social distancing and staying home to stay safe. The story is told via the blog of a food writer.  As the story progresses, she starts to run out of food and has to make do with what's in the cupboards or what finally gets delivered once she is able to order online.  She is also looking after her children, some of her relatives' children and children of friends.  She has a house full. ...

 " Capitalism in the 22nd Century, or A.I.r " by Geoff Ryman 'Graca and Cristina want to leave Brazil and go settle on another Planet, but it's expensive, physically challenging and illegal.' I honestly have no real idea what was going on here.  The two girls have been injected with something that means they could give birth to cows in space?  Everyone is hooked up to an A.I. system that runs their lives, and, for some reason, nobody trusts the Chinese. The story is told from Cristina's point of view, and she backs out at the last minute.  So, she is stuck in Africa full of this illegal cow juice and her sister blasts off on an African rocket to an illegal life in space.  With cow babies, I'm assuming. Not for me. 🌟🌟 " Hold-Time Violations " by John Chu Read it here . I listened to half of this story.  Then I started again because my mind was wandering.  During that second session I realised my mind was wandering because I just couldn't gra...

 " Hello, Hello " by Seanan McGuire Finally!  A fabulous story that even the robotic voiced narrator couldn't screw up.  Deaf woman is supported by her techy sister who has wired up her house with cutting edge tech that helps her to speak to people around the world with an Avatar, meaning she doesn't require interpreters. The techy sister, her wife and children can all sign with the Deaf lady, but they use the "neural net" to help the system learn.  Talking and signing at the same time.  The family starts getting random calls from a mystery woman at the Deaf sister's house. TENSION! Well, the Deaf lady rehabilitates birds. Probably should've mentioned that earlier.  Me, I mean, not the book, the book talks about it at length.  At this point I felt that it was possibly one of the birds that was accessing the neural net.  Finding out that I was correct didn't take away from the story. The Crow (or a member of the Corvid family) had tapped into the ...

  Desert Escape I have been working on my third craft for the Craft Badge using another craft kit from Hawthorn Handmade .  I finished a huge chunk of it during the Queen's funeral yesterday.

 Before I start on the next batch of short stories I am just going to make a note to self about the Good Habits badge.  For the Fitness Habit I had chosen to get into the habit of doing the physio for my knees.  Last night I managed to injure my knee again and I know from experience that I won't be doing exercises for weeks.  I've decided to change the Habit into Closing my Rings , which I can back date as I have the information recorded. I have also used my monthly Audible credit to purchase The Power of Habit , so I can complete that Clause. 

 I have decided to use an anthology rather than a novel.  The chosen anthology is "The Best Science Fiction of the Year".  The year is 2015 and I'm using Audible so I can get on with my cross stitch at the same time.  Two lots of badge work for the price of one!  The cross stitch isn't as bad as I thought it would be, I could get into these crafty things. 😀 " Today I am Paul " by Martin L. Shoemaker An android caring for a dementia patient.  Not too bad, the narrator did a good job of the robotic voice, and the other characters were distinctive.  Not a happy tale, obviously.  The android takes on Family personas when the person cannot be there for the patient.  It also mimics the lady's deceased husband. He finally rescues her from a fire that wasn't really dramatic enough, and ends up living in the family's basement, waiting for the next generation to age and require his skills.  Melancholy. 🌟🌟🌟 " Calved " by Sam J. Miller Earth is...

 The next craft I tried was Felting.  In the book it just says "Felting", it doesn't specify whether this is needle felting, wet felting, making things from felt...  I already needle felt, and have wet-felted with various levels of success, so I decided that I would "make something from felt".  Hawthorn Handmade sell brooch kits under ' Felt Craft ' which is separate from 'Needle Felting' on their website.  I chose the hedgehog . It's so cute! The instructions are really clear, apart from how to create a French Knot.  So, I went online to figure out where I was going wrong.  Apparently, they're 'easy to do and impossible to teach' according to one beginner's site. I watched lots of YouTube videos and think I can now make a little one with one strand of embroidery floss. Finished product Not too bad for a first attempt.  I'm not sure I would wear it as a brooch, but I do now have some skills that I didn't have before.  ...

 I hadn't really intended to start the Craft badge so quickly, but Hawthorn Handmade have these gorgeous felt brooches and a cross stitch kit featuring a cactus .  So I was rather torn between needing to save money for the Money Saver (and other Clauses), but also make presents. Anyway, I bought them, and I may also have bought a weaving starter kit at the same time. 😬 I figure that these starter kits will give me the skills I need to be able to make presents for the Conscious Consumer.  You can't give gifts of gorgeous felted brooches if you don't have the skill set to produce the thing in the first place. I decided to give weaving a try first. I love it!  Obviously, it's going to need a bit of work, but it's really enjoyable.  They give you instructions on how to add the warp (the white string bits) to the frame, supply some wefts (that's the woolly bits) and explain some of the stitches.  There's a pattern included if you want to follow a pattern, but...

  Clause 10 - Plan three meals which all cross over ingredients to avoid food wastage.      Clause 11 - Make a meal with leftovers, or parts of food which you would normally throw away. I've been considering these two Clauses and I realise that I've been doing it anyway.  Recently I have been making more of an effort to only buy the ingredients we need, making sure leftovers are eaten * and creating meals from what we have in the fridge / freezer rather than going out and buying something else.  In turn this leads to... Clause 14 - Research ways that you can preserve food for longer in your kitchen.  Try one! Since subscribing to Oddbox I've been using some of their food preserving tips.  The more obvious one being to prep veg and freeze it, which I do if they include a lot of onions because you can cook them direct from frozen.  My favourite is putting veg into fridge in water. This can liven up slightly soft carrots and pepper, it keeps...

  HARRY POTTER PHOTOGRAPHIC EXHIBITION - Friday 2nd September The Harry Potter Photographic Exhibition is in Covent Garden tucked away behind the Transport Museum.  Very easy to overlook if you don't know that it's there, but if you glance through the doors, you can see the flying car from The Chamber of Secrets .  The first thing we learnt was the fact that this was one of fifteen and a half cars they used for the film.  One car was cut in half to get the cameras in! The Exhibition covers all eight of the Harry Potter films, Fantastic Beasts and The Cursed Child musical.  Interspersed with props and costumes are clips from the films and interviews with the creative teams. Daniel Radcliffe's Robes Emma Watson's Deathly Hallows costume There were less costumes than I was expecting, but as it's an exhibition of the photography I suppose it was fine.  Ralph Fiennes' Voldemort costume from Deathly Hallows was on display with an accompanying explanation d...

 I've made a start with this today looking at some of the 'Research' clauses and 'Learn About' clauses.  I also started inventorying my food cupboards. Over the month, complete at least 8 of the following 16 clauses Clause 1 - Find out where your local food bank is and how you can help them.  Are they looking for specific produce? I am living between two distribution points (both local churches) for the same Food Bank.  Currently they are looking for: Tined fish Tinned meat Tinned veg Cook in sauces Breakfast tea bags Baked Beans Bars of chocolate  Snack bars Tinned soup Tinned fruit in juice Sponge puddings Savoury snacks Clause 3 - Inventory all the food in your cupboards.  Make at least three meals from items that have been at the back of the cupboard for some time.   Well, I went through the cupboards last month during the Scavenger Hunt looking for an old best before, so there wasn't much to find!  I am going to use up the arborio rice in...

 Over a period of three months create at least four of the following sculptures using building blocks.  Very careful not to mention Lego! 😂  This is the Badge that introduced me to the Rebel Badge Club (thank you, Emma 💓) and I really need to get this officially Blogged so I can tick it off before it appears in the next Rebel Badge Book with more strings attached. Clause 1 - A Building or Landmark . Welcome to Loftingham. This is the jewellers with her apartment above This is the record store, also with an apartment above  Clause 4 - A Flower Arrangement This is Flossie's Flower Stall Clause 6 - A Household Object A low drawer unit and a coffee machine This is just an example, all the apartments in Loftingham have household objects in them.  Fitted kitchens, bedrooms, bathroom, sitting rooms, etc.  They're just very hard to photograph.  I'm rebuilding my grocers at the moment and these items were in the staff room. Clause 8 - A Vehicle Just cruising...

 Keeping myself on track, here is a list of what I need to work on during September. ACTIVIST Clause 7 - study one example of how art was used to communicate a message and create cultural change. Make a scrapbook or similar about your findings . I'm not certain where to start with this, especially as making a scrapbook seems rather excessive.  Perhaps I'll make a blog post about it instead, that will save paper and printer ink! CONSCIOUS CONSUMER Clause 1 - Actively aim to buy as little as possible . September is the last month for this Clause and I am expecting it to be easier once the children are back at school and ice creams are no longer an essential sanity-saving purchase. (Overlap with Money Saver) Clause 2 - Buy only second hand clothes . This is month three of six.  I've done alright so far with two hand-me-down long sleeved tops ready for the autumn and a long skirt from Mind that I can wear in the autumn. Clause 5 - Learn to fix items that you would otherwise t...