Posted in Other, Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, embeds, goofy fun, technical issues, The Nekomonger Rules All! on April 19, 2021| Leave a Comment »
I want to test an embedded table, so I thought I would give you all a peek at the sign-in sheet from our latest Home Owner’s Association meeting.
What’s that, you say I am not actually in an HOA and these people can’t exist anyway?
Au contraire, mes amis!
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Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, books, Fiction, magic, reading on April 18, 2021| Leave a Comment »
Does this happen to you? Sometimes I read a book and it’s bad. Maybe I learn a few things about what not to do, but the characters are too stupid to live or the author wants me to root for an ass, the story ends too early or too late, or some essential plot point is broken. This drives me a little bit nuts.
I finish the book and am left not with the happy satisfying end of story feeling, but with bad book juju. Is that a thing? It should be.
I’m left a little cranky, and nothing is as it should be.
My drink is too hot or too cold. Lunch tastes weird. My clothes fit funny. Even cookies don’t have their usual delicious snap.
Until I find a new book, a good book, and all is right again:)
Just me?*
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* Of course it’s not just me:) This is why authors work so hard to provide a satisfying reader experience. This is also why I reread books I know I love.
Posted in Likes, Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, history, hope, music on April 17, 2021| Leave a Comment »
My father started a friends and family email chain about An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States, a window on a history that is both important and difficult. For a bit of balance, here are indigenous students doing something that is both important and uplifting.
Here’s to survival, and to hope.
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Posted in Other, Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, backwards, dragons, epiphany, mostly work, still fun, upside-down on April 16, 2021| 1 Comment »
You know how one day you can look up and something that made sense yesterday no longer does? Or a collection of disparate facts coalesces into a unitary whole? Or perhaps you walk into a room that has looked essentially the same for years and suddenly, something pops out at you?
That happened to me this morning.
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This is my dragon:
He is wood and paint and gilt animated by magic. I found him years ago, on Bali, brought him home in a shipping container via the Port of Boston, and we have been together ever since.
He has yet to tell me his given name.
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Originally designed to hang from a ceiling hook, for years he has made a comfortable aerie at the top of my largest bookcase. He presides over a stack of treasure that includes copies of The Expanse, Butcher’s Codex Alera, a first edition of Following the Equator by Mark Twain, a set of Lord of the Rings letter openers, one of many copies of Lord of the Rings, a hand-woven coin purse from Peru, a black cat carved in peat, a sand dollar that reminds me of my grandfather, a set of magnetic train cars, and other treasures.
He looked like this:
I walked into the room and looked up, seeing the usual painted wood and wings. The epiphany occurred when I realized that I’d spent the past who knows how many years staring at the blank underside of the dragon’s wings.
Why not flip them around?
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It only took two minutes to rearrange my view on dragons.
Today, I took that idea and upended a work-related problem I’m tackling. What, I wondered, if I flipped the question on its axis and came at it from another angle?
And suddenly a whole new path appeared.
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Next time I’m stuck on a problem in work or writing, I’ll try turning it upside down and/or backwards.*
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* Have I mentioned that I used to write that way? I began my academic career (a.k.a. kindergarten) an ambidextrous upside-down and backwards adventurer. No longer, but it’s still fun to remember.
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, finalists, free fiction, Hugo Awards, science fiction, scifi on April 15, 2021| Leave a Comment »
Looking for a good new read? The latest Hugo finalists have been announced, and I just finished my book, what excellent timing! The full list is extensive, so I won’t replicate the whole thing, but the complete roster is available if you’re interested:
Announcing the 2021 Hugo Award Finalists
Here is the list of best novellas, novelettes, and short stories, with links where full text or review crossed my path.
Enjoy!
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Best Novella
Best Novelette
Best Short Story
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Posted in Food and..., Holidays, Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, fish, Groningen, journal, learning@lunch, maps, Netherlands, travel on April 14, 2021| Leave a Comment »
It’s lunchtime and I’m snacky, so for today’s post I bring you an excerpt from my European travel journal, featuring the delicious and mysterious (not really) zalmforel!*
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* It is a trout that looks something like salmon, but isn’t (despite what the nice lady told me at the time) an actual cross. Still very good, and isn’t it nice to learn new things?
Posted in Likes, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, feel better!, kitties, puppies, ridiculously cute, Tuesdays on April 13, 2021| Leave a Comment »
I think I’ve mentioned my thoughts on Tuesdays (not my favorite!), and I could use some cuteness. Maybe you could too?
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Posted in Likes, Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, encouragement, nonfiction on April 12, 2021| Leave a Comment »
I ran across this article today and wanted to pass it along.
In the front yard of a home right along the main drag in Mifflinburg, someone has put a sign – not unlike a political candidate’s election sign – in their front yard. No logo or sponsor name. Just simple black letters on a white background.
— Patty Kleban
Because some days, you just need to hear it. Especially Mondays.
You got this.
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Posted in Likes, Other, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, chemistry, flowers, scent, Spring on April 11, 2021| Leave a Comment »
There is a secret world coming to life in my back yard, goldfinches, dandelions, chickadees, red maple, cardinals, crows, robins, roses, insects, earthworms, that unidentified bush the bees love, and yesterday, the first butterfly.
At once common and precious, my spring smells of freshly-turned soil and violets.
Violets get their scent from ionone. It’s an extremely sweet scent that many people describe as also being dry. “Powdery” is the word that’s usually used. Another word is “ethereal,” or “ephemeral.” After stimulating scent receptors, ionone binds to them and temporarily shuts them off completely. This substance cannot be smelled for more than a few moments at a time. After that, people go anosmic to it. Then, after a few breaths, the scent pops up again.
— How Violets Steal Your Sense of Smell
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Posted in Food and..., Likes, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, drink, family, nom!, recipes on April 10, 2021| Leave a Comment »
Today is one of the first really warm days this year, and we just came back in from a longish walk. I’m hot and thinking a big glass of my grandmother’s sun tea would be just the thing. I don’t actually have that tea because I did not think that far ahead, but if anyone else is in a similar mood, here’s the recipe (not that you really need it):
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Grandma’s Sun Tea
(Dorothea Johnson)
6-8 tea bags
Water
Sunshine
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