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Articles

1)	Another Masterpiece
2)	Fair Barbaro
3)	Given Their All
4)	Cat House
5)	Spent Flowers
6)	My Self Object
7)	The Gray Hills
8)	Reflections Over Time
9)	Rubbed Sage
10)	November Walk
11)	Seasons End
12)	The Elevator
13)	Farm Life
14)	One To Beam Up
15)	I'm Not Suicidal
16)	In D Minor
17)	Poor Old Dog
18)	First Bloom
19)	Sad Departures
20)	Twenty-Seventh Street

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Upcoming events

1)	Sat 18 of Oct, 2008 [01:45 UTC] Happy Birthday, Barb!
2)	Sat 25 of Oct, 2008 [18:00 UTC] Cahokia Mounds Field Trip - 1:00
3)	Sat 25 of Oct, 2008 [22:00 UTC] 1491 at Barbs
4)	Tue 28 of Oct, 2008 [16:00 UTC] OAW Pick: The Story of Edgar Sawtelle
5)	Sun 16 of Nov, 2008 [00:00 UTC] Tyrannosaur Canyon at Linda and Paula's

Last visitors

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3)	mathsinger at Thu 09 of Oct, 2008 [11:38 UTC]
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October 2008

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Blog — Booklist

No Mastodon For You, Young Man

The Omnivores met out at Deb's on September 20th to hunt mastodon and discuss the pick of the month – A Thief of Time by Tony Hillerman external link

. Our hunting skills turned out to be sub-par, so we had no mastodon to char over the open fire. Instead, we fell back on a pork roast. But what a pork roast! In keeping with the book, Barb found a recipe for Pueblo Indian Pork Roast external link

and she and Deb commenced preparing it with only minor modifications (Deb left out hottest of the peppers). It was excellent. I may never eat mastodon again!

In addition to the pork roast we had porridge bread, homemade salsa and chips, a delicious bean salad, pumpkin cranberry bread, apple walnut bread, cherry tarts (but no Queen of Hearts), carameled almonds, and triple chocolate brownies (we wanted to make sure the chocolate requirement was fulfilled). With all the bread on hand we dubbed the tarts Cherry Garcia Tarts and the meeting the Grateful Bread meeting. Sometimes it's just hard to pass up a pun.

Those in attendance included Nancy, John, Jerry, Chris, Chris, Barb, Deb, Jon, Zeke, and Kathryn. We all seemed to like the book and did manage to actually discuss it. One of the things we talked about was the interesting mix of religions: Leaphorn was raised traditionally but was pretty agnostic; Chee was trying to become a medicine man; Nakai was a born again Christian, and Houk was Mormon. Hillerman did his usual magic of mixing all the characters well, placing them all in a wonderfully described setting, shaking, and serving up a very satisfying mix. We've done several Hillermans, and there is a reason we keep coming back.

In addition to the book discussion the 20th was also Archeology Day at Graham Cave State Park. Several of the Oms got there in time to partake in the activities, while others went geocaching, and others went hiking. Though the ticks were down, thanks to Hurricane Ike there was a bumper crop of mosquitoes. I got there too late to go hiking with Zeke, so Jerry got to take him along to be mosquito bait while they geocached. They were only able to find two of the three caches, but two out of three ain't bad.

After dinner we went outside for the 5th Almost Annual Atlatl Throwing Competition. Due to circumstances well within our control we were unable to have the competition last year. (i.e. - it was just too darned hot!) The contestants this year included Jerry, Zeke, John, Jon, and Chris B. While no one actually ever hit the target, Zeke did manage to throw for distance, with his spear landing in the next county. Therefore, this year's champion is Zeke! and this year there was even a trophy – The Owl Cup! The cup is based on Owl, from the Cherokee legend, Spider Brings Us Fire external link

. It is quite lovely and will probably draw more contestants next year. Stay tuned for next year's competition when our intrepid hunters will once again compete for the honor of taking home the Owl Cup.

Hope no one gets burned.
~jon

Talked 'Til the Cows Came Home

The OAWs met at Square One to discuss The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Schaffer and Annie Barrows external link

on September 29th. Square One is a really nice restaurant, though the acoustics are not the best for a discussion. Unfortunately the weather was rainy, so their lovely patio was not an option. Still, we managed to have a very nice, and protracted discussion of the book. Everyone really seemed to enjoy it a lot.

A few folks were at first put off by the format - a series of letters - but once they managed to adjust to that concept found it quite compelling. We did find it interesting that cows were never mentioned, though one would assume that Guernsey cows come from Guernsey Island. Not that it really mattered as far as the book goes. What a shame that Mary Ann Schaffer died shortly after the book was released. This, alas, is to be her one and only novel. At least she did get to see it come out in print.

We had the full crew there: Monica, Kim with an E, Susan, Jon, Michelle, Dona, and Steve. We were glad Steve was there. It took a while for the food to arrive and he kept us all entertained with his provocative hand puppets (though I think Monica may have been wondering what she had gotten herself into).
~jon

Eat Up

Looking for a restaurant for your next get together? Check out this great restaurant guide from Sauce Magazine external link

. I use it all the time.
~jon

Oms Take Archon By Storm

Several Oms showed up at Archon 32 external link

(October 3-5) to enjoy the varied entertaining venues an SF convention has to offer (though I don't think a single one of us got blasted, which is traditionally the #1 from of entertainment at CONs). We had Jon, Cyndi, Em, Sara, Jerry (who was actually working the CON as a volunteer), Chirs (who was selling her ceramics in the dealers room), and our old friend Eric.

At one point we all gathered around a big round table, tossed out a pot luck, discussed the science fiction classic, Mr. Popper's Penguins by Richard and Florence Atwater external link

, and declared it an official meeting. You can read a more complete accounting of how I spent my time here. Since we have so many Oms there anyway, maybe next year we should all make costumes and enter the Masq as a group. Any ideas as to a theme?
~jon

Atlatl – Round Two

We will meet twice on October 25th, first at around 1:00 at the Cahokia Mounds Visitor Center to meet with renowned flintnapper Larry Kinsella external link

and again at around 5pm at Barb's for the book discussion and chow down. I believe we will have a chance to launch some atlatl spears, and perhaps learn how to nap some flint. So this time around I think it would be OK to be caught napping.

Sorry.

The main course will be chili with everything thrown in, but no really hot peppers. As we learned with the roast pork, really hot peppers are not required for a really good dish. The book for the night is 1491, by Charles Mann external link

. I'm not quite halfway done with it, but find it interesting so far.
~jon

That Pesky Calendar

Well, the OAWs seem to have trouble coming up with a good date for everyone this October, so the October meeting will be in November. On November 7th, to be exact. Steve picked The Story of Edgar Sawtelle, by David Wroblewski external link

as the book selection, but so far the location is still TBD. Watch this space for an update on that.
~jon

Map Shift

The November book for the Oms is still Tyrannosaur Canyon, by Douglas Preston external link

but the location has changed. We are shifting across the Missouri to meet at Mary's on November the 15th. It's still some ways off, so I don't think the menu has been planned. Watch this space for updates.
~jon

Stroke of Brilliance

Monica had a stroke of brilliance and came up with My Stroke of Insight by Jill Bolte Taylor external link

as the OAW pick for November. But since the October meeting is now being pushed off to November we may decide to skip a formal November meeting and do the discussion for Stroke in December. It would give everyone more time to complete the book. Maybe we can all just get together for a lunch just to do lunch. It's always good to see each other. Anyway, think about it, and start reading My Stroke of Insight.
~jon

Odds and Ends

Here are a couple of items that may be of general interest to at least of few of us.

The Cosplay Bazaar will be held at Crestwood Plazza on October 18th. So, what is cosplay, you may ask. Cosplay is a “costume play” wherein players dress as specific characters found in manga, anime, comic books, and such. You can learn more about it here external link

.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c6/Mithra_Cosplay_rework.png external link

Photo originally by Carter McKendry

Anime St. Louis 2009, an anime convention, will be held at the St. Charles Convention Center, located at One Convention Center Plaza, St. Charles, MO (adjacent to the Katy Trail) on March 27 thru 29, 2009. They claim to be the premier anime convention for St. Louis, and I certainly have no reason to question that claim. So if you're into anime visit their website at http://www.animestl.net external link

and sign up.

The St. Louis Pirate Fest will be in Septemeber of 2009. This must be a bigger deal than I was aware of since it is scheduled to span three weekends: September 13-14, 20-21, and 27-28. Too bad they miss the official Talk Like a Pirate Day, which is September 19th. Go to www.stlpiratefest.com external link

for more information.

See what kind of interesting things you learn at a science fiction convention.
~jon