Coming soon to Fort Collins, Colorado: a cool board game store with purple walls, dragon-hand torch lights, an immense espresso machine for great coffee drinks, and a large offering of board games in many genres. It’s expected to open in October 2009. Here’s from their website:

We are a full service game store, carrying hundreds of games in a wide selection of family board games, card games and hobby games.  We have a large selection of open games available for play in the cafe for free. Our coffee bar serves gourmet espresso drinks, teas, smoothies and old-fashioned handmade sodas.

Our theme is best described as “Haunted Victorian.” Our goal is “spooky fun.” Younger children are welcome at the cafe.

The business hopes to reintroduce great games to families and people who haven’t played in a while. They will also offer a wide selection for the long-time fans. In a nod to the spooky theme, many games will have a spooky or horror theme, including the co-operative board game “Dracula,” and dark humor style card game “Gloom.”

They will be located at 3307 South College Ave, in Fort Collins. Between Foothill & Horsetooth.

I’ve been enjoying episodes of Merlin online. There are fantastic, believable monsters like griffins and dragons, stories about magic, and the people in the Arthurian legends. The shows are done very well, with strong plots, moments of comedy, and good characters. This one is built upon more than special effects. The actors are all very good, as well. Merlin has a teenage, awkward look, but very expressive face. Gaius, friend to Merlin, is surely a veteran actor; he makes even simple lines ring like Shakespeare with believability. Morganna plays both strong and fragile well, while being very beautiful, too. Gwenivere’s character is kind-hearted and good, shy with young men. She plays that youthful tumult of feelings well.

The show is shot at a French castle called Chateau de Perrefords, that was probably built long after the real castle period. Why do I say that? There are lots of windows, white smooth stone, and large rooms. Of course, some CG work may have expanded it further.

In the interest of balance, I have to let a few grumbles surface: this show is not based on any of the Arthurian legends. You might as well throw out any misconceptions you have there; Arthur is a pompous jerk, Gwenivere is a plain serving lady to Morganna (magical nemesis to Merlin in the lore), and Merlin arrives in Camelot a young man of seventeen. In some Arthurian lore Merlin was old when he met Arthur, and got younger year by year. They’ve taken the main Arthurian characters and reworked them into a soap opera of love triangles. Morganna likes Arthur (when he isn’t being a jerk), Gwenivere likes Merlin, but will be wed to Arthur, we know, eventually. Somehow her family will come into money, and she will be raised from a simple blacksmith’s daughter.

I highly recommend this TV show to anyone looking for a pleasant way to pass an hour: no bad language, no sex, just a little magic, adventure and fun.

I just discoverd Joan Irvine’s craft book How to Make Pop-Ups. She’s known in Canadian school as the “Pop-Up Lady” from her school tours. Irvine’s clear instructions, and informally-styled pen illustrations by Barbara Reid, will help everyone make pop-up cards and books with ease. I have been much daunted by these, and the pop-up masterpieces of published experts; yet just reading through two light pages of step by step instructions and illustrations made one project straightforward. There are usually two light pages per project. She includes rotating wheel images, and cards with many different types of folds. Animals pop up, out, appear in cages, and much more. Recommended how-to book for teachers, crafters, and parents.

Where does your food come from? Another state, maybe even another country? What if I told you that you would benefit from eating food grown closer to where you live, and that this food would have more to give your body?

We eat food for vitamins and energy. Food = energy for your body to run. Fruits and vegetables start to lose their vitamins after they are picked, much as flowers wilt without water. Eating them closer to when they are picked will get you more food value (benefit) for each carrot, apple, or celery. I think this may be one reason why the French are healthier in spite of their increased smoking and drinking: they shop and prepare their food daily from local farmers.

When food is picked early, before its ripe, and shipped long distances, it doesn’t have the full flavor either. If you’ve tasted farm-stand strawberries and apricots, you’ll know it’s the truth. Sometimes the fruit isn’t even close to ripe (green bananas, anyone?). I can’t believe a hard apricot that ripens at home has the same vitamin A as a tree-ripened, soft, melt-in-your-mouth fruit. If you want more energy, looking at better quality food is a start.

Farmers would benefit from selling locally, too:

Shipping costs money for gas. Who really wants to send corn and watermelons “on tour”?
Farmers are competing nationwide with other farmers for business.
There is spoilage from shipping the produce.
Produce has to be picked early sometimes.

Farms in northern Colorado and other states offer weekly subscriptions: customers pay around $20 a week to get a bagful of whatever is ripe that week. You choose the size of the bag you want. Plans like these subsidize farmers and their families directly because they have pre-sold part of their crop. They know how much money is already going to come in during future months. And families benefit from the fresher product, with more vitamins. Subscription plans may also be known as Community Supported Agriculture (CSA).

Farmers’ Markets have been great so far with their fresh snap peas and more. Now my family is gong to try a farm subscription like this. I’ll let you know how it goes. I’m curious whether we will like what we get and how it tastes, or end up with vegetables that I don’t often buy, nor know how to cook. I’ll let you know.

Let’s hear it for the President and the new clean energy bills just passed by the House of Reps. I finally feel like there is someone leading us who is representing America’s true needs.

It’s a perfect idea to have every household and business in sun-soaked, deserty California hooked up to the energy grid, producing power from their own rooves for their own and other families’ needs. One household can produce more than their own needs in the summer months. Just imagine your electrical meter running backwards!

The bill funds nationwide projects with money from polluters. I had to weigh on California because I have lived there, and know how much sun is heating up houses, when it could be put to better use.

I would like to weigh in on Health Care reform.

First, there needs to be a way that people can have continuity with their doctors. Right now every time someone changes jobs, they change helath plans. The plan change sometimes forces a change in doctors as well, to stay in the network. No one I know has the same doctor for ten or twenty years, which is important to get the big picture about someone’s health.

I was wondering how much it would be to see doctors directly, without the health insurance as an intermediary. Would the prices be lower?

And last, there are two ways to reduce people’s health care costs through prevention:

1) We should stop all spraying of pesticides on food crops in this country. They are known carcinagens, and the cancer rate is extremely high. (Look at the ladies from the 1970’s Saturday Night Live show. All three of the top women have died of cancer!) Pesticides may also be killing off the good bacteria in our digestive system that help us process food into usable energy and vitamins.

2) We need to encourage local consumption of farmers’ crops. Currently we are trucking produce all over the country. This causes higher costs for farmers, and reduces vitamin content for the end eater of that produce. This is because fruits and vegetables start to lose their vitamins once picked, much as flowers wilt without water.

Thank you for listening.

(This letter was sent via e-mail to the White House today.)

The internet gives voice to people little-heard from in mass media before. In this way, the internet increases democracy – in voice and presence.

In this video article about mothers who blog, the reporter talks about how moms are gaining marketing weight in the US. It’s an interesting article aside from the man talking about how important moms who blog are, and how moms make the majority of purchasing decisions, while simultaneously standing in front of a really offensive image of green teddy bears and baby bottles. (Kind of wrecks your message, buddy!)

That annoyance aside, blogs by moms are very compelling these days, and this is why:

• Motherhood has little formal training aside from giving birth, and its a constant learning process. The best adivce is from “Mommy U,” moms who have children older than mine, and grandparents.
• Stay at home moms are very educated these days, not forced to stay home with kids for the most part. They are generally college-educated career women looking for a place to keep using their mind. They consciously choose to stay home to raise kids.
• Personal stories are the most compelling marketing: People who have gone through something and can pass on that info (parenting experience falls into this category), or have actually used a product that I’m thinking about buying, and can give a true opinion.

Some marketing firms are starting to match bloggers with companies. In the video Boca is one such case. Interesting! Something for this mom blogger to think about.

Embrace the young heroine! There are many exciting adventure books for teens and “tweens” out right now. These young heroines strive to figure out what their future will be, and take charge of it; a wonderful message for our daughters and sons. These adventures would appeal to both sexes; the pacing of these are very good.

What would Sherlock Holmes’ sister be like? Thanks to author Nancy Springer, we get a chance to find out: Springer has invented a resourceful fourteen year old: Enola Holmes. Enola was told by her mother almost daily that she would do very well on her own. In fact, her very name, Enola, is “alone” spelled backwards. On her 14th birthday, Enola’s mother disappears. While mourning and wondering over her absence, Enola’s two much older brothers descend on the house, trying to fit her into “proper” clothes, while decrying their silliness: steel corsets, bustle, train, etc. Enola discovers secret, cryptic messages with flower-related clues from her mother, and hidden stashes of cash. On the eve of deliverance to dismal finishing school, where Enola fears her corsets will be tightened down weekly to train a 15″ waist, at the risk of her death, she runs away. Arriving in London, she has adventures, some quite perilous, as she searches for her mother, a missing young man, and strives to evade her brother Sherlock’s thorough search. They are an easy read. One main theme is feeling alone and at odds with family, and trying to find your own way into womanhood.

Her first Enola Holmes book is The Case of the Missing Marquess; the sequel: The Case of the Left-Handed Lady. I just saw that there are three more sequel books after these. (YAY!) Reading levels in online reviews go from grades 6-9 (not sure about 6th grade… some dark descriptions of London’s poor and attempted stabbings), and grades 9-12. I think junior high and high school would be best. No sex.

Nancy Springer’s other tales involve heroines associated with Robin Hood and Camelot. In Rowan Hood, Outlaw Girl of Sherwood Forest we meet the daughter of Robin Hood. It’s also an easy but entertaining read with many adventures: meeting forest beings, a giant minstrel, and a nobleman’s daughter, and striving to free Robin Hood from the Sherrif of Nottingham’s prison. This one was melancholic for a large portion due to the opening plotline, yet will resonate with young women trying to find their place in the world. Four more sequels follow this one. Her books about Camelot are on my upcoming reading list. No sex in Rowan Hood.

Author Juliet Marillier has written a captivating Celtic fantasy trilogy. The stories are based on an Irish family living at the Sevenwaters hold, in the midst of a magical forest. These books would be for high school age reading, in my opinion. In book one, Daughter of the Forest, the younger daughter of six brothers, Sorcha, is left to roam free with them by a grieving and absent father. When he returns with a new bride, an evil sorceress, great challenges threaten to tear the family apart. Then the brothers are changed by the step-mother’s evil magic. Their sister must flee, and complete a quest to free her brothers. This book is a blend of fantasy, magic, romance and adventure. I think it’s based on the Hans Christian Anderson fairy tale, the “Wild Swans.” One incidence of rape, that I could have done without (not essential to the story).

In the sequel, Son of the Shadows, Sorcha’s children are also caught up with Fair Folk’s plans (magical beings), subterfuge, family secrets, fiefdom politics, and more. Sorcha’s daughter Liadan, a well known healer, is captured while traveling by the infamous hired mercenary, the “Painted Man.” His skin is intricately tatooed on one half of his body, and his face bears the sign of the raven. Ordered to heal a man, Liadan wonders whether she will live to see Sevenwaters again. Her future changes greatly from then on, and she has to choose which path that future will take. This book is by far my favorite, although the first book is a close second. Note: this book contains some sex and a scene where an arm is amputated to save a man’s life.

Child of the Prophecy is the third book in the series, detailing the life of the next generation of Sevenwaters women. It shows the young heroine’s study of magic in a desolate, near deserted island; trying to fit into her disgraced mother’s former home; and the Sevenwaters clan’s attempts to regain possession of the magical isles between ancient Scotland and Ireland. The series as a whole is very good and I recommend it.

Juliet Marillier has other series out, too: Foxmask, Wildwood Dancing, and Dark Mirror (the Bridei Chronicles). Some of them are quite dark, and even I had to stop reading them for a while because they were depressing me with their characters’ periods of longing and hopelessness. There is sex in Fox Mask.

I just finished “The Wolves of Willoughby Chase” by Joan Aiken. Young Bonnie’s parents are going on a trip to cure her mother’s illness. Bonnie, who’s about eight or nine years old, is left in the care of an unscrupulous relation who fires the servants, burns the father’s will, and puts Bonnie and her cousin Sylvia into forced labor at a so-called school. But plucky Bonnie isn’t one to lie down quietly and take it all, and she and Sylvia triumph over their scheming enemies. The plot and pacing are quick, and pretty believable. It was a fun romp similar to “A Series of Unfortunate Events.” No sex.

Edith Pattou’s East was an enthralling read. The story is told from changing character’s point of view in each chapter. In this fairy tale, a child’s future can be foretold by the direction they were born. The mother swears that her daughter is an East child (complacent), but really she was born facing North, meaning she will be a wanderer. Very soon the daughter meets a talking, magical polar bear, who promises to make the family rich if they give their daughter to him. The girl decides for the family, leaps onto his back, and they travel very far away to a magic, luxury-filled cave. The young girl tries to figure out who the mysterious polar bear really is. It’s a fascinating retelling of a Nordic fairy tale. No sex.

What would you do if your sister went to visit an aunt in the city, and disappeared? And what if you found out that there was more to who you were, that you were more than just a farm boy? The adventures Hero’s Song and its sequel Fire Arrow, also by Edith Pattou, detail a medieval adventure of a young boy, two girls, and an elf, and their fight against evil. He finds out more about his destiny along the way. It reminded me of the wonderful magic lands in Lord of the Rings. The pace was great, and entertaining even for an adult. It’s inspiring to see a girl who’s great at archery, and the focus of the second book is more on her character. I highly recommend this author. No sex in these books, preteen characters (about 12-14).

How does a girl meet boys, when she isn’t allowed to even smile at them, much less talk? What is it like for a young woman growing up in modern day India? In Kashmira Sheth’s Koyal Dark, Mango Sweet we learn and grow with the main character as she smiles at a cute boy a the public pool (no talking!), her older sister marries and has a child, and her life changes. She wonders who will want to marry her, because her skin is “koyal dark,” darker than her beautiful sister’s. She also wants an education. This story is a wonderful mesh of customs, old and modern, colliding head-on and trying to find a middle ground. Very compelling story, highly recommend. No sex.

What can a young woman do when her heart’s desire, Lancelot, falls for another woman, who’s King Arthur’s wife as well? Can Lancelot see her as a woman, when she’s grown up in a travelling war camp, as sister and healer to them all? Can she escape the Picts who’ve taken her in time to save Arthur’s forces and her family? Lisa Ann Sandell’s Song of the Sparrow is Arthurian legend and adventure told entirely in non-rhyming poem form. The story’s sparse words ring as clear and true, we empathize with the young woman’s heartfelt longing. Highly recommended. No sex.

Enjoy these tales. Good reading!

We just received a non-stick pan for a gift. Then a few days later, we were ordering Indian food, and were talking about ordering “naan,” an Indian flat-bread. Kids love bread: my kid said, “I want naan-stick bread.”

I just finished reading a charming, light story about a Westie (dog) and her owner, a children’s book author, and the adventures they get into when she signs them both up to host a TV show about dogs in the city. Soon the author is recast by a younger, prettier model, her name’s spelling has been changed, and she realizes (as she’s waiting for the TV show to wrap) that she’s become a stage mom to a dog. The book is called “City Dog,” by Alison Pace. Her previous books include “Pug Hill,” among others, which I have yet to read, but will keep an eye out for in the future. The author keeps the story humorous, but relevant to real life, as the main character mulls over her future, meets people who end each statement in a question mark, signs up to host an horrifically bad TV show with her dog (where she is soon recast/removed), tries to date, and ponders (not very seriously) writing a Great American Novel (author’s capital letters borrowed here).

The author cleverly rotates narrators among Amy (the main character), Carlie (the dog who will not be ignored, a West Highland Terrier, or “Westie” for short), and Robert Maguire, the fictional hero of Amy’s children’s books. Robert comes to life whenever Amy’s thinks romantically, subconsciously comparing her dashing adventurer with her dates. He’s a bit snide when describing the few men in Amy’s life, sometimes echoing their dialogue, and likes to refer to Carlie as “the beast.” Changing the viewpoint of the story lets us see Amy that much clearer, even when its from the dog’s point of view.

This story was quite entertaining, not too taxing mentally, and yet hard to put down. I recommend it for a fun few days.