All posts by Carl V. Anderson

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A Good Long Weekend

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The weekend started on Thursday owing to the fact that I decided to take two days off to get to work on some of the outdoor projects that were piling up. The women folk were off on Friday and in those 2 days we got the bench repainted and sealed, mowed the lawn, picked up brush, raked leaves, pulled weeds from flower/plant beds, trimmed trees, cut down voluntary trees, etc. We also managed to squeeze in some reading on the deck.

Friday (and again on Sunday) we were able to see the three of the four Percolations girls (scroll down on Jules’ site for pix of the kids from yesterday) perform in an Easter music program. I have to admit that one of the sweetest and funniest things in the world is to watch preschool age children sing. Good laughs on both days!

Saturday we decided to take a day trip with Abby and Mike to a little town about an hour and a half away called Rocheport (pronounced ‘roach port’…this was a topic of discussion on the way there, answered by one of the locals). Rocheport is home to the Les Bourgeois Vineyard and Winery, makers of some very delicious wines. In addition they have a wonderful blufftop restaurant, Les Bourgeios Bistro overlooking the Missouri River.


(photo by Abby M.)

Mary and I had dined there last year on our bed and breakfast trip and knew it would be a relaxing place to go on a day trip. Speaking only for myself I have to say that my meal was fantastic! Sonoma Steak Sandwich with tender chunks of steak, gorgonzola cheese, baby arugula, and a homemade horseradish sauce on delicious ciabatta bread with garlic roasted new potatoes and a glass of Les Bourgeois’ River Boat Red wine. Mmmmmm, my mouth is watering just thinking about it.

Afterwards we went to Rocheport proper, 208 people strong! One of Rocheport’s interesting spots is that it features the only tunnel on the Katy Trail, a 225 mile walking/biking “rail to trail” that covers at least half of Lewis and Clark’s journey along the Missouri River.


(photo by Mike M.)


(side view of the bridge shown in Mike’s photo above)


(Click on picture for tunnel to people scale shot)

It is a really nice, unassuming piece of land that has such a great historic feel to it.


(Mike’s failed attempt to gain the entrance to the mystery cave)


(Abby pointed out the smiling frog face outside the cave entrance)


(tunnel opening, you can see some of the black soot marks on the ceiling)


(Tori does her part to hold up the ancient structure)

The other end of the tunnel has both brick and stone work on the walls/ceiling.

The back side of the tunnel, in relation to the town of Rocheport, is more ornate.


(looking up near the back entrance of the tunnel)

It is interesting to feel the temperature drop as you enter the tunnel in comparison to the temperatures outside the structure.

We assumed this cute little weiner dog was the pet of a group who had passed us and went back to the opening of the tunnel. It seemed to have its own agenda and couldn’t decide whether to go back down the tunnel or keep heading up the trail. We entertained him until one of the guys came back and got him. Turns out he was an escapee from one of the local antique stores which we discovered when we ran into him a little later in the afternoon.

Rocheport is a cute little town with Bed and Breakfast accommodations and antique/craft stores. We parked on the street next to this incredibly scented lilac bush.


(photo by Mike M.)

I appreciate the craftsmanship and attention to detail of the buildings in these old towns.


(click on picture to see the old schoolhouse)


(click on picture to see the building to which this doorway belongs)


(barn in back of above house)


(photo by Mike M.)


(photo by Mike M.)


(TP holder in bathroom of antique store; photo by Mike M.)


(every old town needs a hound dog on the porch; photo by Mike M.)

We ended our day trip by stopping briefly in the neighboring town of Boonville to take pictures of the Katy Railroad Bridge.


(photo by Mike M.)


(photo by Mike M.)

The bridge is a center of controversy due to recent plans by Union Pacific Railroad to remove it and use it elsewhere. The bridge was built in 1932 and ceased being used in 1986, its middle span in the upper position to allow barges to pass underneath. It is a neat old bridge and I empathize with the town’s desire to see it preserved.

We ended our Saturday over at Mike and Abby’s playing darts, watching the dogs chase each other and wear each other out, and watching Dreamer, which was a very sweet albiet predictable movie.

Yesterday Razz slept off his excitement with Motley and Moses and we lounged around in the back yard reading, napping, and enjoying the beautiful weather. Last night we capped our Easter celebration with a viewing of Chocolat.

Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday weekend and Happy Monday!

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A Remembrance

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(Cartographer: Claudia Rodriquez by Donato Giancola)

The pictures in lieu of today’s Friday Favorites post do in fact come from an artist in my favorites file who is very talented, Donato Giancola. Their presence in post will hopefully make more sense as you read on.

For several summers in a row in my early adolescence I worked alongside my younger brother for the Timperly family on their farm. They primarily grew melons but sweetcorn, peppers, asparagus, and at the end of the season, pumpkins, were also yearly staples. Jason and I earned our summer money working for Rance, sometimes from sun up to sun down. I would be lying if I said that most days my first inclination wasn’t to feign sickness and go back to bed. However once out there it always felt good. Throughout the years several different friends and neighborhood kids would join us but Jason and I were the only ones who stuck it out year after year. They were good times.

My favorite part of the season was the early part when the plants were just starting to grow and we would hoe the fields. Then we could walk along as a group and tell jokes and stories, etc. I have so many fond memories of walking in the cool spring mornings, hoe in hand, laughing hysterically at something that most likely only a teenager would find funny. The satisfaction of a day’s work was palpable and something that even now I look back on in fondness. Seeing the end result of loading a truck with melons, knowing that was because of the work that we did, was immensely gratifying. The pay didn’t hurt either. I don’t remember how often we got paid but they paid cash and I remember often going home with huge stacks of $1 bills.

Rance Timperly was a character and it was an adventure working for him. He was the kind of guy who would tease you, yell at you, joke with you…a large, booming, loud man who could be frightening to the new kids but was a good man at heart. Given the fact that we were really stupid young kids he gave us a lot of responsibility. We drove trucks around the countryside eventhough none of us was old enough to drive. We were often left alone out in fields with definite goals to accomplish and we worked steadily and did a good job. Working on the melon farm was by far my favorite job out of all the jobs I did as a teenager up through college until I got a job at a bookstore and it is still one of the most satisfying I ever had. I could not be more thankful for the lessons learned and the time spent working there. That experience helped solidify a work ethic, taught me confidence, and provided me with memorable moments with my brother that I would not trade for the world.

I have not seen Rance Timperly in decades but I think about him every summer when the melons start getting ripe. That first bite of fresh cantalope or watermelon always brings with it a flood of memories. This week I received an email from my mother stating that Rance Timperly had committed suicide. He apparantley had severe diabetes which had profoundly affected his eyesight and was about to cost him the use of his legs. I cannot pretend to fathom what goes through a person’s mind that carries with it such hopelessness that this seems to be the best option but evidently Rance stated that he didn’t want to be a burden to anyone because of his health issues. Rance was only 53 years old and leaves behind a wife and children, who are grown, but all several years younger than me. Unfortunately they now have to carry the emotional burden of the premature loss of their father. He must have really been hurting to choose to end his life and I feel such grief for his loss, especially because of his wife and children. My lasting images of Rance Timperly will always be of a smiling, jolly man and I hope in time that this will be what his family remembers most. Please keep them in your thoughts and prayers.

The Donato pictures starting and ending this post seem appropriate. To me they speak of charting ones’ course, of mapping one’s future, of looking to the stars. They represent treating life as an adventure to be savored, especially when one is healthy and has no excuse. They remind me to stop and be thankful, to smell the spring air and to gaze to the heavens above. They remind me to live my life and not be swept along by the peripheral stuff that can so easily fill up one’s day.

Though I may never have seen Rance Timperly again in my lifetime he played a pivotal role in my life and my development. I am very saddened by his loss and though I’m sorry to pass this sorrow on to you I feel that he deserved a remembrance for the memories I cherish of those summers on his farm. There was laughter and love and adventure there and I am a better person today for having spent time with Rance. God bless the Timperly family and grant them grace and peace each and every day.


(The Stars My Destination cover by Donato Giancola)

The tragedy of life is not that it ends so soon, but that we wait so long to begin it. — Anonymous

Home, Music

Musical Interludes, With a Twang

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The musical buffet here at Stainless Steel Droppings accommodates all my tastes. The full bodied flavor of the operatic arias of Sarah Brightman. The lyrical richness of Tori Amos. The instrumental music of the newest Pride and Prejudice feeds my soul. Every song on the Evanescence debut album is like rock candy. 80’s music is my dessert, my drug. Disaffected chick music is ice cream at midnight; the sound of Def Leppard is sugary sweet and takes me back to my adolescence. Swing, Big Band, bluegrass, gospel, classical, celtic…its all good. And once in awhile I need the southern fried, grits and cornbread goodness of country music.

Yes, despite all the talk on the Droppings concerning sci-fi and fantasy literature and art, I do have a past rooted in the sands of the country. Although never a true “country boy” I grew up in rural Nebraska, had grandparents who tilled the land, I watched the real Dukes of Hazzard in its initial run…heck I even square danced during my early teenage years. And despite all my attempts to thwart it, living in Oklahoma for 11 years cultivated a liberal use of the term “you-all”. Thankfully that has mostly passed with time away from Sooner land but nothing has diminshed my enjoyment of country music. As much as I am a fan of the musical foodstuffs from back in my day, Alabama and John Anderson being particular favorites, I really enjoy the flavor of the new country. Thus I invite you to pull up a chair to sample some of the music that has most recently aroused my appetite. And before you say to yourself, “oh no, here is another of Carl’s meaningless diatribes” and turn the page remember that this is, after all, a blog, thus rendering all my posts meaningless…and any way, you might find something you actually enjoy.

Though not new to the country music scene the band Little Big Town is new to me. I first heard their talented harmonies while watching CMT’s Top 20 Countdown last week. Little Big Town is the nicely balanced quartet of Karen Fairchild, Kimberly Roads, Phillip Sweet and Jimi Westbrook. From their website: During its six-year existence, country group Little Big Town has been battered by a series of professional and personal setbacks that would have destroyed most bands. But the four members have clung to one another, unshakable in their belief that they have something special to offer. Indeed they do. The band is unique in its make-up in the fact that all four members handle lead vocals with equal capability, and that other than the addition of a drummer most songs are accompanied solely by the guitar playing of Phillip and Jimi.

Their debut release with Equity music, The Road to Here, has launched them into the forefront of the country music scene. The first single off the album is one of my new favorites, Boondocks. It is an unapologetic, foot stomping, melodious anthem to pride in one’s roots, played in the southern rock tradition of songs like Sweet Home Alabama. It is a great introductory track as it showcases all four members’ terrific voices and advertises the harmony that makes them such a wonderful band. Boondocks, with its guitar and banjo riffs, dares you to sit quietly in your seat and not sing along or tap your feet. Their most recent hit Bring It On Home is a slower tune that once again pulls you in with the melliflous vocal blending of this foursome. It is also a wonderfully romantic song that makes you want to hug your loved ones close. You can hear samples of their music at their site but I recommend going to the CMT site and listening to Boondocks and Bring It On Home while watching the videos. Of all the sites you can watch videos on CMT has the most clear, best streaming videos.

LeAnn Rimes has been a household name since her debut at the age of 13. Now 22, recently married, and settled in Nashville for the first time in her life the music on her latest album This Woman has the heart and twang of true country music. The music as well as the videos for the songs Nothin’ Bout Love Makes Sense and Somethings Gotta Give are both fun and infectious romantic songs. Mary and I enjoy seeing how artists interpret their songs in the video format and these two are very entertaining. Her other chart making release from this album (thus far), Probably Wouldn’t Be This Way is a beautiful but sad song with an equally stunning video that tells the tale of recovery after love lost. These videos can all be watched at the CMT site as well.

The next dish on the country music table is….Jon Bon Jovi?

That’s right, 80’s hair band aficionados, Jon Bon Jovi’s song Who Says You Can’t Go Home is currently riding the rock charts in a Bon Jovi only version but the much better version is the one on the country charts in which Jon teams with Sugarland front woman Jennifer Nettles. Like all Bon Jovi’s songs this has that bubble gum rock feel but this version, with the country guitar twang and Jennifer Nettles amazing vocals, becomes another toe-tapping ditty. Jon and Jennifer’s voices blend together very nicely and as the song goes on Jennifer’s vocals get more and more powerful. She really has a beautiful voice. On Bon Jovi’s CMT video page the second video down is the country version. Both videos have a really nice message to go along with the song.

And this segues nicely into my final course for the day (and all the non-country fans who have stayed with me thus far out of respect, or pity, say “Yee-haw!!!”) is the band Sugarland.

Sugarland’s trio all had separate careers that were steady but not at the level of success that they wanted. When Jennifer Nettles, Kristen Hall, and Kristian Bush got together they created something that literally made them an overnight sensation. Within 4 months of getting together they were doing their first gig and the crowd response was so great that they decided to get serious about things, made an album, and have been enjoying great success. Their music is described as “rootsy and lyrically sophisticated, but still catchy and accessible” to which I would agree. Their first hit, Something More, is an upbeat, guitar driven ode to getting the most out of life. Watching the video is fun only to see what an odd combination they are.

Well, that’s all folks! The buffet line is closed, dessert has been served, its time to sit back, relax, and enjoy some good music. If however you still feel a might peckish the CMT site has many, many morsels to treat the eyes and ears. Sara Evans, a beautiful mother of three, has a number of great songs and equally great videos to go with them: Suds in the Bucket, A Real Fine Place to Start, Perfect, Born to Fly, I Could Not Ask For More…all good. If you are an American Idol fan you can watch last year’s champ Carrie Underwood in her award winning video for Jesus, Take The Wheel as well as others. Another favorite is Trace Adkins. His video for the song Rough and Ready is especially fun and features one of the scariest looking dogs I have ever seen.

Happy Humpday everyone. Hope you survived today’s down-home cookin’. This post is dedicated to Jules and the Percolations clan. Our families share a similar passion for sitting at the computer and listening to the many and varied tunes to be found on Real Rhapsody. This diatribe started life as a simple email to Jules because I wanted her to check out the Boondocks song and then grew into today’s post.

If you were very astute you noticed that I highlighted the words ‘video’ and ‘videos’ to take you directly to each artists’ video page.

Science Fiction, Short Stories

The Draco Tavern

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Larry Niven’s latest book, The Draco Tavern, arrested my attention for the same reason most books do…it has a fantastic cover. In this case the cover art is by an artist I have featured on my site previously, Stephan Martiniere. Martiniere’s work has graced a number of science fiction and fantasy book covers lately and his modern techniques remind me so much of the classic science fiction illustrations on books that captured my attention as a child. Each time I see one of his covers I lovingly pick up the book wondering if the story is as good as the cover art. I had less to worry about in the case of Larry Niven. Niven is an award winning author of a series of books centered around a place called Ringworld…and I haven’t read a one. My one and only experience with Larry Niven is an excellent book called A World Out of Time, which has the distiniction of being the first book I ever bought as a kid from a used bookstore and is one I come back to every few years as I enjoy it so much.

The Draco Tavern is a series of short stories, 27 in number, that span the last three decades of Niven’s work. The stories center around, you guessed it, the Draco Tavern. Larry Niven points out in his introduction that the Mos Eisley Spaceport in Star Wars is part of a “hoary old tradition”, one that he felt he could put to use to discuss a number of topics in short story form. The tales told in The Draco Tavern are told by the bartender, Rick Schumann, who built the tavern on Mount Forel in Siberia after the appearance of the first aliens on earth. The stories are set in the 2030’s and Schumann is the only consistent character in each story. The Chirpsithra are a group of aliens who lay claim to having conquered all red dwarf systems in the universe and in discovering Earth they now shuttle various alien entities across the universe to visit this new planet and its race of interesting yet underdeveloped people. Rich Schumann does what any enterprising young man might do, he sets up a bar that serves all comers, maintaining a stock of food and drinkstuffs that defies explanation for an ever-growing number of aliens who defy description.

The Draco Tavern short stories are each individual, self contained tales and yet they build on each other in roughly the same way that episodes of shows like Star Trek: The Next Generation do. There is a definite progression of time and there are things that happen in previous stories that crop up in later tales. Larry Niven is a truly talented writer and this is very evident when you realize that there is almost no deep characterization in these tales and yet you find yourself really liking and connecting with Rick Schumann. As a bartender for the only interspecies tavern on earth Schumann is not only Earth’s ambassador to the alien races but he is the reader’s as well. Through these 27 stories you are allowed to meet any number of interesting alien races seen through the eyes of a man who is very much like you and me. There is not a great deal of action in these stories, they are tales told around the bar, but don’t let the lack of action turn you off, these stories are good. They are also very different. In reading the first two or three stories I was puzzled by how Niven seemed to end each one rather abruptly. I soon got used to this and ended up really enjoying the format, especially as I realized that the connectedness of each story make it read almost like a novel.

If you are a fan of the type of science fiction that does not have to center around explosions and interstellar wars then I really believe you’ll like this set of vignettes into the life of Rich Schumann and his most interesting watering hole. I found myself sadly disappointed when the book ended as I really felt a connection to Schumann and wanted his adventures to continue. Hopefully Larry Niven will revisit this world in future short stories. My only complaint about the book at all is that the last 3 or 4 stories were told out of chronological order (in the order he wrote them instead, I believe) and it felt odd to have them ordered that way as they were the most interconnected of all the short stories. That being said there wasn’t a disappointing story in the bunch and I am so glad that I have finally read my second Larry Niven book. Pull up a chair, order a beverage, and drink in the sights and sounds of the odd, yet somehow familiar, atmosphere of The Draco Tavern.

Art/Photography, Friday Favorites

Friday Favorites: James Jean

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(illustration in upcoming Fables original graphic novel)

My awareness of the unique art of James Jean came with issue one of the DC: Vertigo Comics series Fables when it debuted about 4 years ago. Since that time James Jean’s painted works have graced every issue of Fables (47 at the time of this writing) as well as art for Batgirl, Green Arrow and others. His work for DC Comics has garnered two consecutive Eisner awards and a Harvey award.


(cover to issue 12 of Fables)

Quick side note: Fables is the Eisner award winning series created and written by Bill Willingham. It features the many and varied characters from our childhood fairy tales. They have been driven from their homelands by a force known as The Adversary and now live among us, the mundanes, disguised as real people with real jobs, etc. They work to remain undetected while they plot to take back their world. The story is so deep and complex that it is impossible to describe briefly. Suffice it to say that it deserves the many awards it has received and is one of the best comic series produced today.


(cover to Fables number 18…my absolute favorite Fables cover. Very springlike and it just glows. The detail on her hair is stunning)


(cover to Fables 33)

Born in 1979 in Taiwan and raised in New Jersey, James Jean is a fairly young artist who exploded onto the art scene fresh out of the School of Visual Arts in NYC. Soon after graduating in 2001 he landed the Fables job for DC Comics and in a brief time has become quite prolific. In addition to his comic work he has done illustration work for Time Magazine, The New York Times, Rollingstone, Spin, ESPN, Entertainment Weekly, Atlantic Records, Target, Playboy, Knopf, among others.


(Cover to the second Fables trade paperback. James Jean does original artwork for the covers of each Fables trade and it is hard not to buy them in addition to the individual issues just because these collage images are so fantastic.)


(Cover to the Fables trade paperback number 7

James Jean credits the internet for his quick success in finding work. He put together a website with samples of his work and when he dropped off his card a DC Comics they accessed his site, were amazed by his work, and quickly hired him.


(cover to issue 52 of Batgirl)

James Jean’s work starts with his stunning pencils. If you go to his site you can see many of his pictures in their first pencil form and he has such a soft, detailed touch that shows through in the final work. From the pencil stage through painting with acrylics, oils, and Photoshop Jean’s pieces become radiant visions of art.


(Cover for the book, Among the Dolls, by William Sleator)

I find Jean’s work very fresh and exhilarating. I look forward each month to see what he has done for Fables and I recognize his work on other comic books and always pick those up to stare at the gorgeous covers. I hope an art book is in his future because he has so much work out there already.


(Illustration for Men’s Health magazine entitled Fashion)


(Illustration for Men’s Health magazine entitled Jealousy)

James Jean’s art has a radiant quality. His paintings appear almost incandescent, giving the illusion that they are lit from behind. His coloring is always very unique. It is rare that his color palette approaches anything realistic. Instead the colors convey a mood. They are soft and glowing and yet are very powerful and draw the viewer into them. James Jean is an artist whose work I stare at in awe.


(Illustration done for a client who asked him to render an image of pink)

James Jean grew up inspired by comics and at a young age wanted to work in the comics field. His work is just one part of a group of artists and writers who continue to elevate comics above their decades old stereotype. In the near future Jean will have an 8 page story in an original Fables graphic novel. The picture at the top of this post is the first page of his story. I really look forward to seeing more than just a single image, to see how he paces a story and how his artwork translates into panel form.


(Cover to Green Arrow number 46. I love the muted colors and how well they work together)

I hope the future continues to hold much more of James Jean’s work. Like Dave McKean on Sandman I hope James Jean continues to be the cover artist for Fables as long as the book continues as he has lent a unique look and feel to this book from the very beginning. I would also love to see some children’s illustrated books from Jean. They would be fantastic.


(Cover to Green Arrow number 52 featuring one of my favorite DC Comics characters, Zatanna. Another one in which there aren’t many and varied colors and it works wonderfully)

Go to James Jean’s website and check out all of his work. There is a wider variety than I have touched on here, from the innocent to the slightly macabre and his art is well worth perusing and enjoying.


(Illustration for Best Life magazine for an article about one man’s obsession with Star Wars. Click on picture for a larger version)

And just like that another Friday Favorite is born. James Jean’s website has been in my favorites folder for a long time and it is a privilege to share him with you. Have a great, creative weekend everyone.