beard5

Grand opening sale ends this Friday (7-17-09)! I'm already listing new items at regular price. Buy any of my opening items before the prices goes up! You'll have a hard time finding such unique crystal jewelry at these low prices again.

These beautiful necklaces are only $20!


( +4 under the cut )

Check out my shop for even more: EmilysEscape.etsy.com

I can't remember. I'm not keen on parties other than at SF conventions, and it's been over a decade since I went to one of those so I can't remember which was the last one. Any that weren't in SF fandom just weren't fun.

And when I got back, the city and my street and my house and everything were right here where I'd left them. This sounds like an obvious statement, laughable even, until the alternative has happened to you. I am glad to know I can travel. This trip was very much a baby step but still scary, and I'm not planning to go jetting off on a regular basis, but at least I know it's possible.

Ah, but I do love Chicago. Apart from the food, which I believe to be as good as anywhere in the country, I never seem to hear anyone talk about what a beautiful, welcoming, walkable, generally user-friendly city it is. Obviously that changes some in the winters, which I have not yet dared since Neil says I would need special clothing to avoid death or at least severe frostbite.

I want to extend a special thank-you to Elyse Marshall, Neil's publicist at Harper Collins, who took the incredibly generous step of arranging to stay with Chicagoland friends so I could have her room for the night. She looked very much like most of the publicists I've had over the past several years -- young, female, and gorgeous -- but, unlike the majority of them, I know she must be better than competent or Neil wouldn't have her. In addition to the hotel room, Elyse, you have given me a shot of new hope for the publishing industry.

Felony
Blick Artist Watercolors in Moleskine watercolor journal, from one of my photos.

I also took a photo of the nectarine one so the transitions would be eaiser to see. Even if it's a little blurry, you can see some of the patterns in the fruit that intrigued me. I ate it though, done painting it now!

That's this past week: out of focus. Except the editing project. I seem to be able to keep it together when working on that...sort of.

The food? Totally off. And I've not only gained weight (about 2 pounds), but I can feel it. The extra fats and stuff are definitely weighing me down and affecting how I feel and move. somehow, we're getting back to the better food habits and watching how much we eat despite distraction and lack of focus and all that crap.

I've lost my keys twice, locked my car keys IN THE CAR, forgotten things we're supposed to do, overspent, not managed to get things done during the day, and a whole bunch of other stuff. the man and I have snapped at each other over stupid stuff, and he's gotten into it with the oldest more often than usual this week. Even the boy was off kilter this week.

It's probably the house stuff. And the fact that I'm editing instead of writing.

We'll get it back together somehow. Have to finish this project. Need to get back on track with my food. The first probably won't be done this week, but the second is definitely a goal.


~~~

most recent

whysper exhausting :: journeys Almost There :: booklog Small Favor

Well, today's work was plagued by oversleeping, lack of focus, and needing to do laundry, but I did get through about forty pages of Chill revisions. I'm quitting here, even though it's the middle of Chapter 12 and I wanted to finish two chapters because I've added about 1500 words, Chapter 11 is really long, and the next thing I have to do is add a whole new scene. And I'm kind of too vague and addled to write a third scene today, so I think I'm g oing to finish the laundry and go start dinner and come back to this tomorrow.

The good news is that this revision is going remarkably well. There's a lot of work to be done, but I'm feeling competent and calm about all of it--everything that needs doing is well within my capabilities. That's rather a nice sensation, and not one I'm overly familiar with. I hope it doesn't mean I'm slacking off and failing to push myself to excel, but rather that I've had a skill jump between the end of this novel and now.

Anyway, for the time being I'll take it. I'm on page 242, and I am confident that I can have the book done by the end of the week, thereby averting my editor's wrath and Saving The Ranch.

Of course, since I am obliged to be rewriting Chill exclusively currently, The Steles of the Sky is flirting with me something fierce, waving promising worldbuilding details under my nose and so on. I hope I find a place to put the thing about the museum beetles. Current quandary, figuring out whether the language of science in this world should be PersiUn or Chinotese, since there are no Latinot languages in this continuum.

La.

Oh, the quandaries that make up my life.

My sister is getting rid of a computer. It is a very old iMac -- the 1998 CRT model. Does anyone know how to open the shell and pull out the hard drive? Or can anyone point me to a website with directions? I was able to open the bottom and pull out what looks like two sticks of RAM, but I can't figure out how to get access to the rest of the hardware. (I am so hardware-incompetent, it's not even funny.)

Anyway, all help would be appreciated! Thanks!

We're changing our sleeping setup for SCA camping because of the new baby, so we no longer need the cute little toddler bed that profesor made for Aeryn last year. I've listed it on craigslist (http://nh.craigslist.org/bab/1266306347.html) for $75 but I'll sell it for $50 to a fellow Scadian.

Nectarine
5" x 8 1/2" Moleskine watercolor journal (half the page)
Blick Artists Watercolor

Unfortunately my scanner turned all the red-orange and pinkish-red hues to the same bright warm red, so it's flattened out a lot more than it looks in my journal. Also lightened and lost the lightest values on the shadow, which is annoying. Still, in person I like it a lot and it's a good study for later including it in some still lifes with more complex arrangements.

I also finally started an OPS member show entry, which I can't post. But I got a sketch done on a piece of good Colourfix paper and will try to get some more on it done today than just the sketch, it'll be a good one.

Lazy Sunday afternoon and I'm wondering if there are any twenty-something actors who'd fit as Seregil. (Always good to have something to fixate on when things are slow.) So many of the ones I've fixated on over the years are just plain too old now. So sad!

I just posted some thoughts on this, prompted by some writing research I've been doing recently, on my writing blog: http://kathryn-scannell.dreamwidth.org/1349.html

I thought about simply reposting the entire thing here, but it seemed redundant, and would lead to comments in two different places. So if you're interested, go check it out. I've left anonymous commenting turned on, so you don't have to have a dreamwidth account to comment.

Finncon is fini. Parris and I have just staggereed back to our hotel room from the dead reindeer party. The party is still going strong and we would love to have stayed longer... till sunset, at least... but we have to be up early tomorrow to catch a ferry to Estonia, where I'll be doing a signing in Tallinn. Then the next day it's back across the sea to Helsinki again, just long enough to set off for Turku, where I've got another signing.

Finncon was terrific. The warmth and hospitality we've found here has completely ruined my image of Finland as a frozen wasteland. Who knew? The sauna was fun too. And then there were all the cute anime girls in costume offering free hugs...

Thanks to all my Finnish friends. Now off to Estonia!

.

Thank you everyone who wrote in about the new book! Sales are still flatteringly strong, the credit going to the amazing writers who tribbed to Strange Brew.

Going against all common sense, I did peek at the Amazon reviews, and was amused by a one-star effort. I'd review that review, but there wasn't anything in it to mock. Writers Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child have critic mockage down to an art form. Read their replies to the truly vicious and be amused!

I don't have time to do likewise, but I thought really HARD about it for a second or two!  
Meh--I'd rather be working on another book. 


Karla M., Erik, Matthew-- Thank you for the wonderful mails you sent and the most kind words. Again, I don't have time to reply to everyone, but I DO totally appreciate everything that comes in!

What's going on now?

I'm editing novellas for the NEXT anthology, DARK AND STORMY KNIGHTS! It's about the anti-heroes who do good things in spite of themselves. Think Spike from Buffy or the great rogues from Leverage!

If all goes well it will be out in 2010 from St.Martin's Press. Watch this space for the list of writers!

Anyone know how to contact Claus the Toymaker?

Okay, have had scapes a few times now. They are definitely garlick-y, but not as strongly as the bulb itself. They can be crunchy, but think of them as being kind of like green beans.

I've diced them up to add as flavoring (don't need as long to cook that way) and it worked well. Or cut as 1 to 1/2 inch pieces and throw into hot water, then put in beet greens -- quite agreeable! Even fitzw liked them ;)

I pan cooked a steak and then after it was browned on all sides and the temp turned down I threw in cut scapes and some random veggies and sort of roasted them. Excellent!

I roasted a chicken and then late in the cooking I put the cut scapes and carrots in around the bird, and also some scapes inside the bird. This had mixed success. The ones inside the bird were okay but a tad crunchier than I wanted, so I should have put them in at/near the beginning I think. The ones outside would have been fine if the chicken had been done when I thought it would be done -- instead it needed to roast for a bit longer so the scapes got a little wrinkled. Next time, I'll pull the veggies out first, if the bird needs to go back in. Still, quite edible.

harpnfiddle made a beet soup with scapes and onions that was absolutely delicious! In this case everything was pureed, so no identifiable green or white bits. And there was some sour cream for those who wanted to put in a dollop and stir it in -- I did :)

I have a couple left still that need using up as they're getting a tad dry.... hm...... omelet?

In my continuing exploration of the wide world of tea, I have invested in some good quality matcha tea from Kyoto, with the appropriate equipment-- I do love equipment!





Matcha, for those of you who don't know, is made of the powered leaves of the tea plant, which are drunk, rather than just steeped, so you are getting the entire goodness of the beverage, with all its tannins, vitamins and so forth. The powder is measured out with a curved bamboo implement called a chashaku into the tea bowl, or chawan. Hot water is added and the tea is quickly whisked to a froth with a bamboo whisk called a chasen. It's quite delicious and not at all bitter if you use a good quality tea and the water is the right temp.

It's a very pleasant process, visceral and tactile, and I find that matcha really perks me up. The caffeine content is on the high end.

**Note: I should add a word about water quality. I brewed my first cup with Redlands Tap, which is very hard water, with some chlorine/general yuk taste to it. I wasn't happy with the taste of the tea, which came out overly grassy and a little bitter. However, when I used filtered water that had been boiled for two minutes to get ride of the chlorine, the tea was excellent, very smooth and mellow. Soft, unadulterated water is best, even if you have to buy bottled.

http://www.scatoday.net/node/13842

Karl Hamner discusses the SCA in a video produced by Tuscaloosa (Alabama) News. The short film includes a description of armored combat in the Society. (photo)

read more

Hi, I need to buy some hose- hosen? to wear. Can anyone suggest a good retailer?

"UFO over the Rocky Mountains": Young boys used to find summertime trouble outside; now they go to YouTube.

Ah, summer. The kids are out of school, which means it's time for my young sons to take up favorite vacation pastimes like baseball, bike riding, lemonade stands and duping the world with elaborate hoaxes about UFOs on YouTube.
...
It all seemed so sweet and funny — two would-be Steven Spielbergs, one in pre-school and the other in elementary school, together serving up a Close Encounter of the Fraudulent Kind. Mostly, I was grateful that they were entertaining themselves indoors, without bloodshed, on a rainy summer day.

And then they posted their video on YouTube.

Full story, and the video, at the link -- funny and interesting.

It seems no more than a couple of weeks since we were pouring triumphantly down Olympic Way, but the pre-season routines are getting underway once more. Time to swap the pomp of Wembley for Birch Park, Bottesford, which had the great advantage of being a new ground.

The first snag - not counting the ongoing engineering works between Doncaster and Scunthorpe - was that I didn't know Bottesford, and had only the haziest idea of where the ground might be. The bus driver was apparently unaware that there even was a football ground in Bottesford, so I got off at a random stop that turned out to be a good two-mile walk away. A helpful passer-by pointed me in the right direction, and we eventually rolled up at the ground, much in need of refreshments. Happily, the social club was open to all, even Scunthorpe supporters under three, and a half of bitter could be got for less than a pound.

We drank, and headed into the ground, which consisted of one shallow stand and a series of rails for supporters to stand beside. Andrea insisted on running round three sides of the pitch to take her place just by one corner flag, where we were joined in due course by Suz and Dan. While the players warmed up, we caught up on a summer's worth of gossip and compared impressions of the new kit.

There were murmurings of a squad reshuffle, given strength by the fact that not all the players were wearing the same numbers as last season. Some were, some - like McCann - were recognisable despite their unusual numbers, but others were strangers. Were they trialists, new signings, or simply well-known players with a new hairstyle? Trying to work it out is one of the joys of pre-season.

The game got off to a pleasant start when someone stuck the ball in the Bottesford net. We couldn't tell whether it was an own goal or just an epic fumble by the keeper, but we were certain it wasn't something the defence would look back on with pleasure. From there, the game progressed at the stroll-in-the-park tempo associated with pre-season games, with the ball rarely in either penalty area. When it did enter the Scunthorpe box, "Joshua" Lillis claimed it confidently.

Andrea soon lost interest in the match, and demanded a couple of trips to the toilets, located at the opposite end of the pitch. Emerging after one such trip, we heard the crowd gently applauding - the friendly equivalent of the roar that usually greets a goal - and saw the linesman's upraised flag. Evidently, we'd just missed the ball being put into the net from an offside position.

Shortly before half-time, the ball was in the net once more, this one a legitimate goal. It looked like some nice work from the Scunthorpe number 14, who might have been Jonathan Forte, but don't quote me on that. Half time meant another toilet break, and a tray of chips from the very nice refreshment van.

The second half probably began with a change of personnel, but since we could only identify about three people, it hardly made much difference. Sam Slocombe, a former Bottesford man, replaced Lillis in goal, and Ben May also showed up to do the wounded gazelle impression that is probably his greatest strength. (Suz objected that he doesn't look much like a gazelle - perhaps "wounded giraffe" would be more appropriate?)

Andrea amused herself by digging in the soil with her fingers, and conscripting a couple of boys to help her practice her man-marking skills. Try as they might, they couldn't shake her off - she could probably teach our defenders a thing or two about sticking to their man.

Meanwhile, on the pitch, whoever was wearing the number 24 shirt demonstrated a variety of ways not to score, sending a couple of dozen balls into the field where the cars were parked, and occasionally managing to give the Bottesford keeper something to do with his gloves. The best chance was a shot that was saved, put back in, struck the post, rebounded to the unfortunate 24, hit him before he could hit it, and trickled just wide.

So much activity in the Bottesford penalty area could only mean one thing, and in time-honoured fashion, they went up the other end and pulled a goal back. Since this was only a friendly, this was merely a minor irritation rather than a disaster, and I hoped we would manage to have the last word by scoring a third. The final whistle sounded before this could happen, and we drifted away, promising to meet again at another friendly. Or, failing that, at Cardiff.