Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Rosemary

I lied.  I don’t have a ranch.  But there is much to catch up on.

(I do sometimes wonder about non-American readers, and whether they know the derivation of “back at the ranch.”  For that matter, if persons born in this century know what it means, and where it came from… it even predates my lifetime!)

Cool things I’m going to be telling you about in upcoming posts:

SCINTILLATION – The SF/F convention in Montreal run by Jo Walton and friends, which took place way back in (holy smokes!) June, and was so wonderful.

BOOKS I’VE READ – including A Half-Built Garden, by Ruthanna Emrys; Cat Pictures, Please and Other Stories by Naomi Kritzer; Last Exit by Max Gladstone; A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers; and others.

WHY THESAURUSES ARE ACTUALLY THINGS OF GREAT BEAUTY–  Really.  No, really.

Hard copy only, folks.

WRITING BY HAND INSTEAD OF BY KEYBOARD—and why.

WHY I CAN’T BEAR “THE RINGS OF POWER,” PREQUEL TO “LORD OF THE RINGS” seriously, don’t get me started.

MEMES OF YORE – How, oh, how did we ever manage to share them before the Internet?

Also:  whatever else occurs to me.   All in service of the above-mentioned Catching Up.

Meanwhile, here’s a photo of the koi in the restaurant at the at the Holiday Inn in Montreal, where Scintillation took place this year (and will again next year).

Cruisin’ for scraps…

 

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This entry was posted on Saturday, October 29th, 2022 at 2:45 am. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

4 Responses to “Meanwhile, back at the ranch…”

  • Raymond Says:
    October 29th, 2022 at 3:08 am

    This Brit’s aware of the meaning of “back at the ranch” probably because as a kid my late father watched American cowboy shows such as Bonanza and The High Chaparral & John Wayne movies (and my own watching of Queen of Swords (I like Peter Wingfield!). It’s basically a way to segue from whatever action is taking place “out on the range” to whatever’s going on literally back at the ranch.

    • Rosemary Says:
      October 29th, 2022 at 7:23 pm

      Ah, but it predates TV! It’s actually from cowboy shows in the golden age of radio dramas. Hopalong Cassidy, The Lone Ranger, Roy Rogers and such (many of whom later migrated to TV). But in radio, you had to have a voice over narrator let you know that the scene had shifted to a different location (“Meanwhile, back at the ranch…”), or time (“The next day…”).

  • Pete Mack Says:
    October 29th, 2022 at 7:35 pm

    By far best book ( and series) I’ve read recently is Golden Enclaves, final book in Naomi Novik Scholomance. Wow. There are no coincidences; every odd aside or apparent coincidence turns out to be foreshadowing. One of the most tightly plotted series I’ve ever read.