Eerie stonescapes... Hallie at Arches

HALLIE EPHRON: A couple of weeks ago I mentioned I'd gone to Moab and visited Arches and Canyonlands national parks. Several of you asked to hear more, so here goes, in pictures.

WHERE IN THE WORLD... Okay, it really is in the middle of nowhere, about 4-6 hours' drive from places you might otherwise be (Salt Lake City, Phoenix, Las Vegas, Albuquerque...) And near other great national parks including Bryce and Zion. 

The town of Moab is absolutely adorable. A main street which is, by default, also a major truck route with huge rigs steaming through. Studded with small businesses and anchored (for us) by a food truck park and a stellar bakery and coffee cafes and rock (the hard kind) stores. A massive business is one part pharmacy, one part hardware store, and one part anything else you might conceivable need to buy on your travels. With parking. 

Here's the one OFF note, a chain restaurant in downtown. A Wendy's. But it seemed to be closed and look at the sign it's got out front...  Sour grapes??

And then there are the parks, spectacular red rock landscapes. Here's the lineup of cars to get into Arches... you have to have signed up for "timed entry" if you want to drive through during daytime hours.

Here's one of the arches that the park is named after. Massive. And at night (we went for a "night sky walk) resembles a hulking gorilla silhoueetted against the night sky (with the BIG DIPPER framed in the center opening).

We also took a Jeep tour of Canyonlands which is just up the road about 20 minutes. Easy peasy.

One of my favorite spots is this flat stretch where they filmed Thelma and Louise driving off that cliff at the end of the movie. I think they had to airlift the wrecked car out of there after. Nearby one of the scenes of Tom Cruise rapelling in a Mission Impossible movie was filmed. He apparently did his own stunts.

There was also plenty to see close up. Ravens. Magpies. The occasional waterfall. And lovely little weedy things that look for all the world like baby birds stretching to be fed.

And that just scratches the surface. IF YOU GO! My advice, stay IN the town of Moab. The hotels are very basic (as opposed to the fancier ones just outside town) but you'd step out onto the street and be able to walk in any direction...  and you're reminded of how it once was before Burger King and Wendys took over a streetscape.

Please, share your memories of a great national park...

My Most Useless Gadget

 RHYS BOWEN:  I’d like to redo my kitchen but when I look at the amount of stuff in it, it is too daunting a task. We have plenty of counter space, you would think. The only problem is that on those counters we have a bread box, an Air fryer, a vacuum sealer, a toaster, a coffee maker and a blender. We are awash with gadgets.

Don’t blame me. If I had my way I’d have three saucepans, two frying pans and maybe a blender/Cuisinart hidden away for occasional use. But I live with the original MR GADGET. Don’t ever let him go to Sur La Table or he will come back with something else that we don’t need and will never use. Some examples: in the garage we have a bain marie,  a sou vide, a stockpot big enough to stew a person in, a sausage maker, a bacon slicer and probably other things hidden under stored paper bags, glass cars, etc etc. Yes, he’s also a hoarder as well as gadget man. It comes from growing up in the lean years around WWII when one saved every jar and useful bit of paper. We do not need glass jars. We have a perfectly good set of glass containers with lids in the kitchen. But I have to sneak empty jars away when he’s not looking or they will join the hoard. He will use them to house leftovers in the fridge and forget about them until I confront him with a red/brown substance that is growing mold. 

Here are some views of my kitchen, plus my favorite view onto the kitchen balcony.

I fight to keep my kitchen clean and pristine.  I put away the blender and air fryer. When I turn around there they are on the counter again. We have a large rotating corner cabinet that is the graveyard of dead gadgets. Everything he’s bought thinking he’s going to use it but he hardly ever cooks so he doesn’t use it lives in that cabinet. The knife sharpener, the microwave onion cooker, the microwave egg poacher, the electric yoghurt maker, the automatic hamburger press. Yes, we have them all. 

In the cabinet above we have the fondue maker, the electric deep fryer (now never used) the Nutribullet, the hand held immersion blender, the coffee grinder and the electric juicer. (I shouldn't mention that the cabinet next to the microwave holds about sixteen different types of loose teas that he blends for daily use!)

(I should add that we have a Cuisinart, a hand held mixer, and an english mincer/grinder that are jolly useful. Also a mandolin and a cheese grater. So we do have some useful items that do need storage space)

We also have more knives that Gordon Ramsay will ever need. Our problem is that Mr Gadget also goes to places like Ross and Marshalls and when he sees what he thinks is a bargain, he buys it. We only need one good knife block (and have one), but he has brought home three other knife blocks that he got for “a good price”  His idea is to use the less good knives for everyday and save the good knives “for best.”  They are not sharp enough to be useful and I use the one or two good quality big knives anyway. Actually as I write I can think of a good use for the largest of those extra knives. And I am a mystery writer. I do know how to hide bodies. Or dismember in the bacon slicer and cook in the bain marie…..

So, dear Reds, what is the most useless gadget in your house at the moment? Are you gadget people?

HALLIE EPHRON: My kitchen is pretty small and I do NOT have an air fryer or a stand mixer or a toaster oven or a knife caddy or or or… What I do have is an old-fashioned 4-slice toaster. 

My most “useless” item is a cherry pitter which I love and use more frequently than you’d imagine and which is tucked away in a drawer. And I love my immersion blender that turns chunky soups into bisques but it lives tucked away, too. 

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: I live in envy of a friend who had a whole wall cupboard where she can tuck away a microwave, airfryer, slow cooker, etc, etc behind closed doors. Why don’t all kitchens come with these?!?

My most useless item is a wooden knife block that contains a set of not-very-good knives with serrated edges that (unlike my beloved German steel kitchen knife) can’t be sharpened. I only ever use the steak knives and, once or twice a year (usually on holidays when someone contributes a homemade loaf to the meal, the bread knife.

Why don’t I get rid of it? Two reasons: I don’t have a better place to store the knives I do use, and Ross gave it to me. (I did however, give away the four soup bowls with lids he gifted me one year. In his defense, we didn;t have five in the family at the time.

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: I love an empty counter! And I (fruitlessly) try to stash everything. I’ve hidden the vacuum sealer (which I LOVE) and the sous vide (which I LOVE) but the loathed toaster oven is on the counter and that is the silliest piece of equipment. You have to turn three dials –I am not exaggerating–to make toast. The most useless gadget is–well, I have tossed them all, I think. I do love my apple corer! That is a genius tool. And my old-fashioned knife sharpener (not electric), which really works. (It is an old-fashioned sharpener, it does not necessarily only sharpen old-fashioned knives.)

JENN McKINLAY: I loathe clutter so I am a clean counter girl, however, I do love a good gadget. I have two coffeemakers - in my defense - I drink a lot of coffee. I have a coffee grinder, a countertop air fryer/oven/toaster (which allowed me to pitch the old toaster), I do have a Nutribullet, electric juicer (lemon tree!), a food processor, and a standing mixer (I don’t cook anymore, but I do bake - pumpkin bread today!) but that’s it for gadgets. Other than the coffeemakers and the air fryer/toaster they all live in a lower cabinet. The only gadget I think I’d like to add is a food dehydrator (also to be kept in a lower cupboard) so I could make my own fruit leather – maybe when I’m retired…lol. I am not even mentioning the bacon slicer to the Hub – as the main cook now, he needs to live in ignorance of these things.

DEBORAH CROMBIE: Thanks for making me contemplate the horrible clutter of my countertops, Rhys! The problem is we have lots of countertops and lots of pretty glass-fronted dish storage but very little for workhorses. The toaster oven isn't going anywhere–it gets used every single day, as does the electric kettle. And I do love my Kitchenaid stand mixer, so would leave that out. But the food processor, the blender, the milk foamer… When have I actually used the blender? Maybe if I got rid of some of things stowed below counter level that I never use (looking at you, waffle iron and clay chicken roaster) I could stuff those things below decks.

RHYS" Debs, I just gave away my clay roaster. Never used it!

So Reddies: Do you have useless gadgets lying around? And by far the most useless gadget in the universe is the leaf blower, but we don't own one.

And by the time you read this I will have arrived in England! Hallie is handling tomorrow for me as I'll be traveling most of the day but I'll report in on Sunday.

Packing--Love it or Hate it?

 RHYS BOWEN:  Guess what I'm doing today? I'm packing for ten days in England. I'm trying to take the absolute minimum as I'll be navigating train stations as well as airports. The trouble is what is the mininum? I remember two years ago I checked the weather forecast for June and it said sunny and warm. So i brought one light cardigan. And in the Cotswolds it was cold and drizzle. So cold that I had to search out Charity Shops to find a sweater. and could only find one with beads on it. 

This time it's going to be October. So far the weather in London looks okay. Around 60 plus, but with maybe some rain.  Unfortunately I'm going to be further north. This could mean we escape the rain off the Channel, or we get colder and wetter rain.  I am taking a puffy jacket and a rain shell, so all should be well. I'm trying to layer...blouse, long sleeve T shirt. jacket, cardigan plus one sweater. But I know from experience that whatever I take it won't be right. There will probably be a sudden heat wave and I'll have to find a charity shop to grab some Tshirts.  I've found it's no use going to a real store as they only stock winter clothing in October.  Last time I was in New York for the Edgars my phone said the temperature was going to be around 60.  It wasn't. I went to the nearest clothes shops and, being April, they had flimsy summer clothes and bikinis.

Oh, and I have a very important business meeting so I have to look extremely professional. Gray blazer, either turtleneck or cream blouse, navy slacks. Maybe scarf.

What can I get away with for the minimum of cosmetics? a tiny jar of face cream. Foundation, mascara, lipstick...Shampoo and conditioner as my scalp doesn't like the hotel ones. Mousse and hair spray. It all takes up space. I tell myself that I can buy travel sized things when I'm there and discard them again. That is if I'm staying anywhere close to a pharmacy.

Yay! I think it will all fit! (Trial run)

I'm trying to make it all fit into a carry on sized suitcase, plus an under seat wheely bag. I don't want to face getting a full sized suitcase onto a train and then finding space for it on a rack. I've got compression bags and they work well, but I'll need a hair dryer as I'm staying with a couple of people before I'm in a hotel. I'll need a pair of shoes as I'm wearing sneakers to travel in. It's like a giant jigsaw puzzle.

Actually I think I'm quite a good packer. So what are some of Rhys's packing tips?

#1 is packing cubes. I can roll about eight tops plus underwear into quite a small cube. I really like compression cubes. I'm using one cube for puffy jacket, rain shell, sleep shirt and underwear. They are light and going in my carry on, just in case my big case is lost. I should add choose items that don't crease. Not everywhere will have irons. Oh, and if it does crease hang it up in the shower when you've just had one.

2. Stuff shoes with small items--tube of face cream etc. Bring smallest toothpaste, toiletries. I use a square of solid shampoo. Easy to pack and won't spill. Bring extra zip lock bags. You'll always need them.

3. This is one of Hank's tips: always shove a scarf or pashmina into the carry on in case it's freezing cold on the plane. Ditto a bag of nuts/snack bar in case everything is delayed.

3. This seems logical but items you'll wear first on top.

4. Also logical: choose a color palette so you can mix and match. I have navy and being slacks, tops etc.

5. And lastly, apart from medications, everything can be replaced if you're in a first world country. So don't worry about lost cosmetics, hair brushes, laddered tights etc.

I'm wondering what Hank takes on her complicated book tour. And what tips can anyone give me to make this process easier?

Words!

RHYS BOWEN:  Our society is losing many things: civility, culture, empathy but above all WORDS. The young generation communicates with texts. LOL  WTF etc. During Covid my rather shy granddaughter was confined to her room and not doing well.  I suggested she call some friends to chat.  Nobody chats, Nana, she said.

I saw an interview on TV with a juvenile offender. When he spoke he sounded angry all the time and every third sentence was "Know what I mean? Know what I mean?"  The problem was we didn't know what he meant because he lacked the words to  express it.

My grandmother and great aunt had huge vocabularies. They spoke in complete sentences. They read extensively.  Maybe the Victorian era was in some ways the high point of civilization. So many inventions, good literature, a relatively peaceful world.  of course we won't mention colonial domination, awful slums, child labor... but I feel we have gone downhill from there. Two world wars, the rise of technology and, worst of all for us writers, the drop in reading. We are now writing for an elite few, most of them in the older generation. When they are gone will there be anyone else who wants to read as an escape?

My daughter teaches at a fabulous Montessori school, K-8. Their library is open during lunch hour and my daughter says it is always full of kids sprawled on couches and bean bags reading their favorite books. They also have a period every day called DEAR.  Drop Everything And Read. 

If only more schools were like that. But I feel we are all to blame. I notice my own vocabulary is limited these days. "Where did we put that thing? That whatsit?  How are you?  I'm good.  Not I'm well, which is correct.  I am trying to keep or recover some sort of vocabulary.  I subscribe to something called Word Genius that sends me a new word every day. Some days I feel smug because I already know it. Other days it's like today: 

No, I have never used that word in my life! I probably never will, but there are some words I think I know but I don't really. When John was saying that something was the most ridiculous thing he'd ever heard I commented that he should stop resorting to hyperbole.  That felt good.

But I saw this list the other day. I think I know all of these words.  Do you? And how do you think we can stop this horrible erosion of culture?

So who got a perfect score?

And do you have any suggestions about how we can improve our vocabularies and get kids to read? Harry Potter was amazing as it hooked a whole generation. Maybe we should stop writing for adults and write some more arresting children's lit.