The other day on our weekly trip to the grocery store, I took a peep at the holiday Coffee-Mate (CM) display. I have already polished off my first bottle of holiday ‘mate–Peppermint Mocha, of course–so it was time for another bottle. I was planning on grabbing some Pumpkin Spice, which is my second favorite holiday Coffee-Mate, but then something caught my eye. It was a new kind of holiday Coffee-Mate: Caramel Apple! Naturally, I had to buy it and write my review of it for you, dear coffee-drinking reader.

I had my hesitations about buying it. First of all, I’m not sure how Christmas-y Caramel Apple is. I’ve never had a caramel apple outside of October. However, it’s not Christmas CM; it’s holiday CM, which can include Halloween, I guess, though it didn’t appear until November. Second, I was unsure about how good apple would taste in coffee. I’m already a fan of Vanilla Caramel CM; it’s part of my regular rotation, so I knew that caramel + coffee = yum. But apple? I was skeptical.

However, Caramel Apple CM is quite tasty. It blends well with the coffee and doesn’t overwhelm it (depending on how much you use).You taste the apple first, but there’s a good mixture of caramel taste in the background. The apple flavor isn’t too strong, which I think would ruin it; it is subtle but definitely present. The caramel is always present but grows stronger as you sip. After you swallow, there is a nice combination of both flavors that stays on the back of your tongue. It’s sweet and yummy.

Compared to the other holiday Coffee-Mates, it fares well. For me, it is tastier than Gingerbread (ugh), Egg Nog, and Pumpkin Spice. It goes without saying that Peppermint Mocha is the absolute best, so Caramel Apple jumps from obscurity all the way into second place. I didn’t expect it to be that good, but it is surprisingly yummy.

Even though it doesn’t taste like Christmas, Caramel Apple Coffee-Mate is definitely worth giving a try. It adds the right amount of flavor to your morning cuppa without taking over, and the apple and caramel have some synergy. I recommend taking a bottle home and giving it a try, but if you’re running out of time in the holiday season and can buy only one bottle of CM, buy Peppermint Mocha.

Last year the wife and I never got around to carving pumpkins, and I regretted it. We had much fewer trick-or-treaters last year, and perhaps it was because we didn’t have the usual pumpkins to welcome the kiddies in unusual clothes. This year, I made it a point to have our pumpkins early so we could carve them, and Monday we did! As usual, J showed me up in terms of detail and overall skill, but I maintain that there is something to be said for the “less is more” aesthetic. Also, I’m not as good at carving as J is…

Here I am posing with my pumkin, which is an angry Cyclops with sharp teeth!

And here is J with her half-creepy, half-happy witch! You can almost hear the cackling.

Lucy was kind enough to pose with my pumpkin.

This is how they will be displayed on Halloween night. Mine looks more like a Cyclops now.

Close-up of the witch. Eh hee hee hee hee!

Close-up of my Cyclops. You can really see the detail work there. Oh yeah, it was complicated to carve, let me tell you.

We discovered that J's pumpkin cast a nifty shadow on the wall when it was lit. Cool, no?

Mine also cast a silhouette, but it isn't as cool as J's. It does look creepier, however. "I'm keeping an eye on you!"

And here is my lovely lady with her creation.

Surprisingly, the pumpkins dried out pretty quickly, so they are now outside getting snowed on to restore their moisture. We hope the white stuff will be gone by Saturday night, but if it’s not, we get to keep all the candy. Hmm…

Happy Halloween!

The wife and I changed things up a bit last weekend and actually went to the cinema! That is unbelievable already, but we went even further and saw a movie that had just come out, viz. Where the Wild Things Are. J loves the book by Maurice Sendak (I like it, too), and Paste had it as their cover story for last month’s issue. In other words, we were interested. I was more than a little skeptical of a feature-length movie made from a children’s book consisting of only a few sentences; however, the film is quite enjoyable and its emotional power comes from psychology.

There were several things that I was leery of going into the movie. First, I hoped that the producers and director wouldn’t stray too far from the original book, and they did not. The only departure that bothered me was that instead of going upstairs to bed and imagining the forest growing up around him and then getting on the boat to the island, Max runs away from home and gets on his imaginary bark. I loved the idea of creating a new world in a familiar place. Still, this is a small complaint. Of course there are other departures such as the wild things having names and pretty much everything that happens on the island, but I knew there would need to be much added content. I think the movie captures the spirit of the book fairly well.

Another concern I had going in was that the monsters would disappoint me. Would they look right? Would they be silly? Annoying? What would they sound like? In this facet, the film did not disappoint at all; I loved the wild things as they are rendered. They have adult human voices and do not sound goofy, which is important. Max’s imaginary world is real to him. The look of the monsters is incredible–they look just like the book. I was able to sympathize with them and care about them, but they remain scary and dangerous too.

My largest worry was that once Max got on the island, the action would be boring and/or absurd. It isn’t (mostly). The plot on the island with Max and the wild things is quite good–powerful at times. Max meets these enormous creatures who scare him. He eventually befriends them and is crowned their king via some fast-talking. He quickly realizes that his job as king is to make all of the wild things happy; they have feuds and rivalries among them. Max promises peace and happiness, and things go along swimmingly for a while. But soon he finds out that he cannot please them all; he is a just a kid.

Max’s relationship with the wild things is the most interesting aspect of the movie because one can see a part of Max in each monster. The wild things are projections of different parts of Max’s psyche. KW resembles Max’s sister who has friends besides Max but still loves him. Alexander is the smallest monster, and the others never listen to what he says, just as Max feels he is ignored in real life. Interestingly, Max, too, ignores Alexander for most of the film. Douglas is the more rational side of Max–the Horatio to Carol’s Hamlet. Carol, Max’s best friend (and my favorite monster from the book), is almost a second Max; he feels deeply and loves his friends, but when he loses control of his emotions, he is out of control and dangerous. The other monsters seem like parents or naysayers at times.

The emotional power of the movie comes from watching Max try to make these monsters–these pieces of himself–get along. He loves them all (excepting the Bull, maybe), and it hurts him that he is powerless to heal the rifts among the monsters. Wild Things forces the viewer to see things through the eyes of a child. Max wants so badly to avoid the things that hurt him and others, but he is incapable of control. It reminded me strongly of the times when I was upset as a child and wanted to make things “right”–right as I saw it, of course; but that is not life. We long for understanding and acceptance, yet when we find it we don’t know how to sustain that joy. We hurt each other. In that way, Max’s struggle in this movie and in the book is everyone’s struggle.

Fortunately, the story doesn’t end there. As in the book, Max realizes this pretend world he’s created is too much for him to govern; he sails home where his mother is waiting for him with a warm dinner. He finds peace in his mother’s love. No, he cannot control himself or life, but at least he knows someone loves him.

The movie is well made and enjoyable to watch. I would not take my children to it were I a parent. There are parts that would be scary for kids, and the psychology of the movie is its strength; I do not know if kids would understand it. Then again, children love the book, which features so many similar themes. Maybe I’m underestimating what a child is capable of understanding. In any case, it is a movie worth seeing, though I don’t think watching at home on DVD would subtract too much from the experience. ★★★★ (of five)

Last Saturday was the first Saturday I had off from work in a very long while. In fact, excluding a sick day and the PTO days I took because I was out of town, I literally cannot remember the previous Saturday off of work. Needless to say, it was a Godsend. Perhaps almost as needless to say, Colorado is a beautiful place to be in the fall, and a hike with the wife was in order.

We set off a tad too late in the day (we were tired and slept in), but that didn’t matter because the day was sunny and cool. I chose Breckenridge as the spot where we would recreate this time. The trail I found was the hike to Mohawk Lake/Continental Falls. My wife loves waterfalls, so I knew this would be a good choice. I was also excited to eat some yummy food at a Breckenridge restaurant after the hike was over. The trail we took is just south of Breckenridge off Highway 9. It is 3.5 miles one way and has a 1700 foot elevation change. That is a lot.

Commence photo essay:

This is what our trail looked like for the first two miles or so. It had just snowed recently, so the path was slippery. J wore hiking shoes; I wore worn-out tennis shoes. Advantage: J. Perhaps this picture doesn’t show the incline in the trail; we went up pretty much the entire way. The woods were beautiful in the snow, however.

After the first two snow-strewn miles, we came across this beautiful meadow/pond. Perhaps you might call it a wetland? In any case, it was beautiful in the early afternoon sun after all the shade we had been in. This view is basically west and toward our destination, give or take.

This is the view a little to the left of the photo above. The brightness of the sun shows in the haziness of the photo.

This bird we first encountered at the same spot as the two pictures above. We were snacking a bit and having some water, and this bird was not shy about begging. He flew at me a couple of times. He then proceeded to follow us for the rest of the hike, popping up sporadically. I was not a fan of this guy after a while.

Part of our motivation for this hike was to see the autumnal foliage. Here is a lovely example.

Another reason why we chose this hike was to see the abandoned log cabins. This is the first we saw; it’s about three miles in. It was hard to fathom building such a domicile at that particular location and planning to live there. Crazy.

Here is J crossing the threshold.

A bit farther along, we came across this rock formation that reminded me of something out of The Lord of the Rings. Naturally, I posed nobly on it. We then discovered that this is actually a part of the trail, and we climbed over it and went on.

As we got higher, the view became more spectacular. Here we are beginning to rise above the tree line, and the whole valley is coming into view.

Just before the lower falls, we came across three more abandoned cabins. This one looks like it is used occasionally by hikers. There is a stove of sorts in there and a sign-in book. Another hiker was kind enough to photograph us.

Lower Continental Falls. Perspective is hard to gain here; the falls are at least twenty feet high here, and there is a lot of rushing water roaring by. These are some of the best falls we’ve seen since Yellowstone.

Here are the upper falls. Again, they are quite sizable and gorgeous. It was well worth the trip to see them.

We thought there would be more to see, but we had to make a steep ascent to get higher. It’s so steep that there are cables from an abandoned mill that are provided to help one climb up. I am demonstrating.

The remnants of the old mill. Again, it was surreal to imagine someone constructing a functioning mill way up there. There is something about ruins that gives one pause.

We climbed to the top of the rise to see the source of the falls. It wasn’t too great. The view back over the valley, however, was amazing, as you see. If you look closely (or if you had a higher quality version of this picture), you can see Breckenridge to the upper left just over the ridge next to the pine tree on the left.

After we saw all that, we had to hike down. The sun was setting by the time we got all the way back to our car. It took us an hour less to hike back down, partly because the snow had melted a little by then. However, it felt like forever. It was splendid to get back into our car and make for Breckenridge. We ate dinner at an Italian place; then, we bought chocolates and a cookie from local treat shops before heading home. It was a great day.

By the way, the hike we took is rated “moderate.” If you’re an average hiker, “moderate” means “difficult.” If you’re someone who climbs 14ers every other weekend, “moderate” means “moderate.” I’m just giving you the heads-up.

Due to the abundant generosity of my parents, I have in my possession an iTunes gift card with a fair amount of money on it that I got for my birthday. ITunes gift cards are wonderful things. They say, “You’ve been wanting that music for a while now; go buy it!” And buy, I will. I already know some albums and songs I’m going to buy (Neko Case’s Middle Cyclone comes to mind), but I could use some ideas, too.

That’s where you come in, dear reader. What are some of your favorite albums, artists, and/or songs? Tell me about the music you don’t want to live without, and, if you know me, the music I probably don’t have. What are those desert island albums for you? I will check out your suggestions as I see fit, and–who knows?–maybe I’ll add some of your favorite tunes to my humble collection. Also, argue persuasively: tell me why you love this music, what makes it great, and anything else you’d like to say. Of course, if you’d rather not, you may ignore this prompt altogether.

If all of the above sounds too much like an assignment (I think it probably does), please excuse me. I’m still getting accustomed to being a professor. However, I value your input, and I know my musical knowledge is somewhat limited.

Let the music play!