Potpouri III

Julie commented on Nothing New that she and Maya and Ted had watched Moonlight, which caused Maya to want to watch Buffy. And that reminded me that, for you vampire fans, Blood Ties is currently on Friday nights on Lifetime. This is a story about Victoria, a cop who had to retire because she is losing her day vision and is now a private investigator who specializes in supernatural cases and is assisted by Henry Fitzroy*, the illegitimate vampire son of Henry VIII.

And I got to thinking about Forever Knight, and Nick's car. Although the series began in 1992, Nick drove a 1962 Cadillac, because it was the only car with a big enough trunk for him to sleep in if he should be caught out with sunrise approaching.

For you Christopher Gorham (Jake and Ugly Betty's Henry) fans, the science fiction network is currently rerunning his first series, Odyssey 5.

The story revolves around a set of people on a routine spaceflight on August 7, 2007: three astronauts, a scientist, and a television news reporter. However, during the course of the flight, the Earth suddenly dissolves into a fiery ball, and explodes. The crew of the space shuttle Odyssey resign themselves to death, but a non-organic being called the Seeker rescues them. Fifty other worlds have been destroyed in the same way as Earth, but the seeker has always arrived too late to observe it or find survivors. However, this is the first time he has met survivors of such a tragedy. He offers to send them back in time 5 years (and therefore to present day, at the time of the series), so that they can prevent the disaster. In a twist, their consciousnesses are sent back and not their physical bodies, as physical time travel is impossible. They only know the name of the thing that did this: Leviathan.

Each of the five crew members who returns is not only trying to figure out what went wrong and fix it, but to also deal with their own lives. Gorham plays Neil, who only his crew mates don't think of as a 17 year-old computer whiz screw up. The commander has a family to hold together, the reporter a five year old son to get diagnosed with a rare cancer in time to save his life, the woman astronaut must try to prevent her senator father's corruption from ruining her family, and the scientist would like to use the time to enjoy a hedonistic life, since he doesn't believe that they can save the world. Very well made.

It is definitely fall here in Juneau. Which means that the summer fruit is over for us, and pomegranates and persimmons not ripe yet. Of course, A&P has some scrunchy little pomegranates on stock for $4.99 each (and I used to pick them off my grandmother's trees!), but the good ones come to Costco in a big box of 20. Every week I call and ask if they are in yet, and when they are I will feast. Meanwhile, this is a great time of year for winter squash and root vegetables. I like to steam beets, cauliflower, broccoli, onion, red potatoes, and carrots together. Also a good time to start making soups and stews.

* The Fitz prefix to a name is a British variant on O'X or MacX. In later times, similar forms were coined for members of the English and British royal family, who historically lacked a surname, and particularly for illegitimate children of kings and princes (Fitzroy - son of the king, Fitzjames - son of the king James II of England, and FitzClarence - son of the Duke of Clarence).