Rigel

Ruby Franke was sentenced today. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-68353302 Sort of a real-life sequel to this tale.

You're thinking of "You Never Even Call Me By My Name" by Steve Goodman and John Prine. It's the last verse of the song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNH4vAzpJDY

Here's a song that's almost an entire GA short story unto itself. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVQ-zXG_qXc

What if the Pleiades symbol references not a star cluster in the sky, but seven sisters?

The slow and methodical excavation of artifacts that carefully documents their siting contexts can seem like tedious work--although it's often performed by a team of diggers who provide social companionship for one another and keep each other entertained. The most fun part is the opportunity for speculation of what you've found. Yes, the scholars need to temper the possibilities against history and scholarly literature when they publish, but in the meanwhile, fun flights of fancy can run rampant through the diggers' imaginations, who are often volunteers in it for the enjoyment. It's also fun to see what becomes of your efforts as layers of theories gel into history. I remember returning to a site in Israel decades after digging there during a few weeks of summer vacation when I was a college student, fascinated by an elaborate city and underground water-storage reservoir that later generations had unearthed. And the camp and dining hall where we had been housed as volunteers had morphed into a wedding hall and venue.

Fascinating story thus far. It brings me back to the archaeological explorations of my high school and college days (not in Germany, but in Connecticut and then Israel). And I looked up "Sonnenobservatorium Goseck" on the web, and found pictures of not only the solar observatory, but the Nebra Sky Disk. Now I know what the things look like! https://www.himmelswege.de/ The Nebra Sky Disk: https://www.landesmuseum-vorgeschichte.de/en/nebra-sky-disc.html#&gid=lightbox-group-901&pid=0 --Rigel p.s. -- Love the music of J.S. Bach! He's a perfect introduction for anybody who doesn't think he likes classical (or actually, baroque) music. Start with Brandenburg Concerto #3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QLj_gMBqHX8

Dagnabbit! I'll never be able to listen to that song again without thinking of "bears"!

The song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSGTND0aFeI As sung by Gordon Bok, Ed Trickett, and Ann Mayo Muir Originally released as Folk Legacy FSI-110, now available through Smithsonian Folkways. My introduction to the song was either through these folks, or Sandy and Caroline Paton, who ran Folk Legacy Records.

Glad that you're back after a long absence. I look forward to reading the continuation of your tale. You've got a wonderful premise for a good story.

I'm awestruck by the economy of writing and elegance with which you wrapped up this tale. We got to see Avery finally accepting the family relationship with Bill and Anna, and realizing that they really do care for him (which no doubt contributes to his ease with himself and his ability to grow into a good, secure adulthood). Joseph's police comrades are perfectly accepting of his gayness and his wedding to Orson. O, sunny day, indeed! Harlan gets to show that he's a good person at heart, despite his mobster origins, through his help to Lee. And that it's a recommendation for an acquaintance like an ordinary person, rather than an enforceable order, came through. And Lee and Avery have both matured, showing themselves capable of an independent life, and they are set up for a realistic continued relationship, even perhaps the hint of a possible (though not proven) happy-ever-after ending. --Rigel, who wants to get back to the redwood forests of the Smith River valley one of these years (which is quite a tribute, because he doesn't often need to go back to places he's already been to, albeit decades ago)--but he'll see the area with new eyes thanks to the characters of Camp Refuge

I was always fascinated by the deep thought that went into her writing, probably not so surprising given that her parents, Alfred and Theodora Kroeber, were a couple of very famous anthropologists in California and she grew up with Ishi, the last Indian of his Yahi tribe, whom her parents studied. Always Coming Home was a completely fictional anthropological textbook her parents would have been proud of, and its greatest joy may that it introduced me to a tense in English I had never previously encountered, about a tribe that "might be going to have lived a long, long time from now in Northern California." (future perfect conditional?) --Rigel

Some of the t-shirts offered by the place get truly weird! https://uranusmissouri.com/uranus-t-shirts/

I love the idea of a mass pee-in (or is it a piss-off?)! They can call the action "Void Where Prohibited." --Rigel

This obsession with pi is irrational! But there's no end to it.

Wonderful chapter! I'm curious--Zander's bus coming home being delayed by snow echoes this past weekend's news of the Duquesne University basketball team and Temple University gymnastic team being stranded by snow on the Pennsylvania Turnpike for almost 24 hours. Is this just happenstance, or did the news have anything to do with the way the chapter was written? It almost seems like current events barging their way into the fictional story! I loved Nonna. She reminds me a little of the character played by Olympia Dukakis in Moonstruck--an old woman worrying so sympathetically about the love life of her children and grandchildren, with spot-on advice from the ages. And it seemed like Andy was such a cautious driver that Monica might, for the first time, be at ease with a teen-age vehicle operator. Looking forward to the next chapter... --Rigel