“The Wolf’s Bride,” by Sharon Lee, is now on Splinter Universe, for your reading pleasure.
“Bride” is about Cael the Wolf, and is set in the Land of the Flowers, some very long while before Kate Archer is born a princess in the line of the Sea Lord Aeronymous.
Feel free to share the link — and enjoy!
As previously advertised, Steve and I will be at Boskone (February 19-21, 2016) in Boston, MA for New England’s longest running science fiction and fantasy convention. It’s going to be a fun weekend filled with books, film, art, music, gaming, and more, and we’d love to see you there! For more information about Boskone, check out The Boskone Blog, Twitter, and Facebook. Visit the Boskone website to register. The Full Con Schedule may be found here.
Our schedule for the weekend is below. Also look for us in the Art Show, the Dealer’s Room, and sitting around the lobby, chatting with friends.
We also try to host a Friends of Liad breakfast each year at Boskone. Because this requires active collaboration with the hotel restaurant staff, we will not know time or day until we are on-site. As soon as we know, we will Put the Word Out.
Collaboration: Writers, Artists, and More!
Friday 6:00 – 6:50, Harbor III (Westin)
Creative collaboration is an endurance event. Each experience is different, whether working in a shared universe, co-writing a story, or working word by word with another author. Whatever the scenario, it can be an immensely rewarding experience. However, personalities can clash and the final decision isn’t always mutual. If you’re curious about creative collaborations and want to find out where to start or how to avoid the most common missteps, this panel is for you.
Steve Miller (M), Julie C. Day, Teddy Harvia, Stephen Hickman, Sharon Lee
Kaffeeklatsch 2: Sharon Lee, Steve Miller
Saturday 10:00 – 10:50, Harbor I-Kaffeeklatsch 2 (Westin)
Foppish Fiction: The Dandy in SF/F/H
Saturday 11:00 – 11:50, Harbor II (Westin)
The Scarlet Pimpernel and Zorro both hid their secret identities behind foppish appearances. We’ll explore their descendants, both male and female, in speculative fiction. Then there’s the effete ruler of a decadent empire as a trope (or is that a meme?) of our genres. And what about the sidekick with a flair for fashion? Why are our protagonists all Winters in jewel tones, and none of them Autumns in burnt umber?
Sharon Lee (M), Ellen Asher, Debra Doyle, Grady Hendrix, Walter Jon Williams
Reading: Steve Miller & Sharon Lee
Saturday 12:00 – 12:25, Griffin (Westin)
How You Get the Word Out: Starting and Running a Successful Podcast
Saturday 2:00 – 2:50, Harbor III (Westin)
Podcasting gives us an outlet to share our thoughts and ideas with the world, and everyone seems to have something (perhaps a lot) to say. But is podcasting right for everyone? How do you go about “bootstrapping” a podcast? What do you need and what do you need to know? How do you attract and keep an audience? Where do you find a place to host your site? Successful ‘casters pass on their secrets.
Steve Miller (M), Kate Baker, C.S.E. Cooney, Don Pizarro, Brianna Spacekat Wu
Romance Across Space and Time
Saturday 3:00 – 3:50, Marina 2 (Westin)
Romance shows up in the unlikeliest places: from prehistory to the far-flung future; from pole to pole; from fantasy and science fiction to horror. Must it be a guilty pleasure? Or should we proudly proclaim the heart of the matter: wherever they may find it, all the world loves a love story!
Darlene Marshall (M), D L Carter, Mary Kay Kare, Steve Miller, E.J. Stevens
Writing: Pinning Down Your Plot
Saturday 4:00 – 4:50, Marina 3 (Westin)
Complicated plots need proper handling. Writers who lose control of a twisty tale can confuse and/or alienate their readers. But just how do authors manage a complex story line? Come hear their tips for keeping track of the trickiest of plots.
Steven Popkes (M), Ken Altabef, Sharon Lee, Christie Meierz, Vincent O’Neil
Boskone Book Party
Saturday 6:00 – 7:20, Galleria-Stage (Westin)
Join us for Boskone’s Multi-Author Book Party, see what’s new from authors you love, and discover new favorites. Boskone is also launching three NESFA Press books tonight: The Collected Stories of Poul Anderson Vol 7, Conspiracy!, and The Grimm Future. (Authors and publishers with a new book and a current Boskone membership are welcome to take part; contact program@boskone.org for details.)
D L Carter, Tom Easton, Grady Hendrix, Carlos Hernandez, E. C. Ambrose, Judith K. Dial, Sharon Lee, Steve Miller, Cerece Rennie Murphy, N.A. Ratnayake, Erin Underwood
NESFA Book Club: Conflict of Honors by Sharon Lee & Steve MIller
Sunday 11:00 – 11:50, Griffin (Westin)
This February, the NESFA Book Club hosts its monthly meeting at Boskone. Join us as we discuss Conflict of Honors by Sharon Lee & Steve Miller, who will join the group halfway through the discussion in order to lead a Q&A. All members are welcome and newcomers are encouraged to attend.
Michael Sharrow (M), Sharon Lee, Steve Miller
Autographing: James Cambias, Sharon Lee, Steve Miller
Sunday 12:00 – 12:50, Galleria-Autographing (Westin)
Take Me To Your Leader
Sunday 1:00 – 1:50, Harbor II (Westin)
Does SF/F get leaders all wrong? How do leaders in large organizations actually act? Are leaders creative? What motivates them? Let’s compare character archetypes from page and screen to real-world leaders.
Stephen P. Kelner Jr. (M), A.C.E. Bauer, Vincent Docherty, Sharon Lee, Teresa Nielsen Hayden
Exoplanets Are Out There
Sunday 1:00 – 1:50, Burroughs (Westin)
Did you ever expect to view exoplanets from Earth? SF writers since Doc Smith seemed to assume we’d discover planets only when we approached the stars they orbited. Now astronomers have confirmed 2,000 exoplanets and counting; they’re designing new devices to resolve their spectra and hint at their habitability. Was this a failure of imagination, a choice to build drama, or an unexpected success of astronomical instrumentation? Didn’t any writers get it right?
Charles Gannon (M), Jeff Hecht, Beth Meacham, Steve Miller, Mark L. Olson
4. Conflict of Honors, Sharon Lee and Steve Miller (e) (re-read)
3. Mort, Terry Pratchett (read aloud with Steve)
2. The Sculptor, Scott McCloud
1. A Short History of a Small Place, T.R. Pearson
The Saga of the Car continues.
Yesterday, I picked up a 2016 Subaru Legacy at Charlie’s Subaru in Augusta — the same dealership that sold me Kineo (used), and is now gluing him back together. Geico, after originally agreeing that it would rent me a Subaru (since only Subarus are comparable to Subarus and mine was broken), tried an end-run at the point-of-rental, telling the rental guy that Geico Did Not Do “comparable”; Geico does Number of Seat Belts, and there was no need to go to extra expense to provide the customer with a “luxury car” (I kid you not, and no, Subarus are not “luxury cars”). Fortunately, I had spoken to the rental guy before I’d called Geico, and he gave me a Subaru anyway, which really was above and beyond.
Everybody please put them together for Greg at Charlie’s Motor Mall Rental Center, who was beyond helpful, and made the rental part of the process just as smooth and easy as it could be.
Also — Geico? No gold stars for you.
Now, Geico has authorized this rental for nine days, that being the amount of time that Doug in the Collision Center guesstimated the putting-back-together part would take. However, Greg tells me that, if I have not heard from Doug, Geico, or Greg himself before the Ninth Day (that being Friday the 29th), that he will just roll the rental over for another nine days, so I shouldn’t be in a position of not having a car, no matter how long the repairs take.
So! Everything on the car front is as caught up as it can be, and I anticipate making no further updates until Kineo is home again.
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On another note entirely — y’all are aware that Steve and I have a book coming out in early July. It’s called Alliance of Equals, and is the nineteenth novel-length adventure in the Liaden Universe®. You can read an early reader review, here.
Now, among the Liaden cognoscenti, there is a certain amount of. . .excitement. . .about Alliance of Equals. Long-time readers apparently think that it’s going to be one heckuva read, and they’re not wrong.
We’re excited about Alliance, too, and we feel sorry for all the folks — yes, there are quite a few — who are going to miss out on the excitement — and the great read! — simply because they have never heard of the Liaden Universe® and don’t know that they Really Want To Read this book the instant it comes out.
So — we’re asking for your help to identify ways and means to get the word out in as many venues as possible.
Readers: What is/are your favorite review site(s)? (We know about Locus.) We’d like to see that they get a review copy.
Also! If you blog, Tweet, Facebook, or have a social media platform of some kind, you can help get the word out by mentioning Alliance, or chatting about the Liaden Universe®, and even the fact that there are two! Liaden Universe® novels available as free ebooks, for those who may be a little timid about trying a new series.
Links for Agent of Change, free ebook: Amazon (kindle) Baen Free Library (all formats known to Man)
Links for Fledgling, free ebook: Amazon (kindle) Baen Free Library (all formats known to Man)
Writers/Commentators/Colleagues: Do you host other writers on your blog? Steve and/or I would love to stop by and chat. Do you talk about upcoming books? We’d love to get you a review copy of Alliance. Drop me a note at rolanniATkorvalDOTcom.
Thank you all in advance. We couldn’t have gotten here without help from our readers and colleagues and random well-wishers on the internet. Truly, it’s a wonderful world.
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In personal news, I have caught Steve’s cold, which is poor planning, indeed, and not just because it means that I couldn’t play pickleball this morning.
I have here on my desk a Chunk of The Gathering Edge to be fine-tuned; a short story that I’d really like to write for Splinter Universe, and, of course, the 2015 taxes to do.
I will, therefore, be Somewhat Scarce on the Intertubes for the next while. Email will of course reach me, but I may be Just a Tad Slow answering.
And that’s all I’ve got.
Everyone in the snow zone, please, please stay safe. I know you guys aren’t used to this, and I Worry.
Here’s a list of Helpful Snow Tips (really) from the Bangor Police Department, for those who can Facebook.
And, here’s a picture of Belle, collaborating:
Today’s blog title brought to you by Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats, “S.O.B”. Here’s your link.
3. Mort, Terry Pratchett (read aloud with Steve)
2. The Sculptor, Scott McCloud
1. A Short History of a Small Place, T.R. Pearson
Kineo the Wonder Subaru, Saga of, The.
Right.
Monday afternoon, the wrecker (aka “tow truck”) dispatched from Charlie’s Collision Center picked up Kineo and transported him to Augusta. Yesterday morning, Doug called to assure me that the frame was not bent, that the truck, being so much taller than the car actually worked in our favor. Yes, the hood is bent in half, and a new radiator and A/C and headlights, and other this ‘n that’s are needed, but all is eminently fixable. I expect new paint is in Kineo’s future, or possibly the all of the front end panels will be removed and replaced. I don’t know how modular cars are nowadays.
Doug was going to order in various parts yesterday afternoon, and figured to have the repairs done in about two weeks. Am still waiting for the insurance companies to come to some sort of accommodation in re a rental car. If I don’t hear from one or t’other of them this afternoon, I will call first thing tomorrow morning.
So, the Kineo situation seems to be in hand, insofar as it can be in hand.
This morning I got up early and motored on out to Tai Chi, by myself, Steve still laboring under a really unruly cold. Class has grown from four to ten, which is great. Today, we did warm-ups and then learned Cloud Hands. I say “learned”. Let me be clear — I can do the hands part and I can do the feet part. Putting them together — ain’t happening.
Well, that’s why it’s called “practice,” I guess. Will try to work on the problem here at home. At least I didn’t fall on my nose. Not Falling on Nose being my benchmark for most things.
After Tai Chi, I went down the hall and picked up a game of pickleball. It was a great game, despite I’m still learning. At one point, one of the other team kicked the ball ‘waaaaaaaay high into the air — apparently this is her Sekrit Move. And I dropped back and unfolded, as one does, raising the paddle over my head, and knocked it back at her.
“I didn’t think you were that tall!” she said.
Yeah, my partner and I lost, but only by one point! Go, us!
Looking ahead, and assuming that our weather remains sunny and bright, while the mid-coast is being buried by the upcoming snowstorm, I’ll do pickleball Friday and Monday, then Tai Chi on Wednesday, then the volunteer gig starts at the hospital (there will not be any stories about the volunteer gig, because Privacy, but I know y’all were wondering if I was going through with it). I’ll be able to play pickleball on Friday next week (again, weather permitting).
But wait, there’s more!
Since I now am a scheduled volunteer at the hospital, I qualify for “free” membership at the local gym, but! I have to go (to gym) six times a month. So, I’m looking at pickleball: M/F; Tai Chi/volunteer gig: W; gym (mostly using the treadmill, I’m thinking): T/H.
And that? Is a full week.
Hopefully, I’ll be able to stick to this schedule.
And, now, having laid out the pattern of my life for the Next While, it’s time to do the laundry.
Here’s a picture of Belle, on the sofa:
When last we saw Our Heroine, she was sitting down on the couch in the Confusion Factory living room, a large orange cat on her lap, vibrating, and her ereader open to Conflict of Honors.
Outside, it was a beautiful, sunny, cold Maine day, and the across-the-street neighbor had decided to trim up her driveway, which is almost directly across from our driveway. She was using an outsize pickup truck fitted with a plow. As one does, and it must be said that she was not expert, but you don’t have to be expert in Maine to use your own private pickup truck in your own private driveway to do whatever you want to do with either.
Our Heroine read one page, two pages, three. . .
And from outside there came an enormous cacophony, metal screaming and a truck engine revving and tires skidding on snow.
Steve got to the kitchen door first.
“She hit your car!”
The next thing Our Heroine knew was that she was in the driveway, boots on, coat unzipped, looking at the smashed remains of Kineo the Wonder Subaru.
We shall pass lightly over the next few hours, while we waited for the Winslow policeman to arrive and file the accident report, and the several phone conversations with our insurance company, and come to rest in the early morning of Martin Luther King Day (in America), where Our Heroine has already called Charlie’s Collision Center (Certified Subaru Repair Facility) and achieved a promise from one Doug to send a tow truck.
It is my belief that Kineo is totaled. I am not a mechanic. Certainly, one is in receipt of a Very Strong Hint from our insurance company that so new a car ought not to be totaled. However, I can see a bent frame, and the fact that the radiator has been pushed back into the engine, kicked to the right, and down. We shall see what Charlie’s Collision says.
In the meanwhile, since I’m going through my insurance company, and we do not have rental car on our insurance, they’ve been steadfast in saying that they cannot give us a rental car. Fair enough. I will make another call this morning to find if, since this bill will eventually go to the plow truck driver’s insurance company, if I cannot make arrangements to get a rental and have them reimburse me.
In other news, Steve has a really nasty cold. . .and it’s snowing.
Today’s blog title brought to you by Marc Cohn, “Silver Thunderbird.” Here’s your link.
For the Facebook peeps, a picture of Sprite, being elegant.
So, we heard from Boskone that the NESFA* Book Club is currently reading Conflict of Honors and will be discussing it at the con (time and day will be listed in the final schedule posts). They ask that we be present at the end of the discussion in order to answer questions.
Now, it’s been a long time since I read Conflict of Honors (as opposed to, say, reading galleys of Conflict of Honors, which is a whole ‘nother process), and while I sort of have it as a gestalt in my head, at this distance I’m certainly not clear on the simple basics of How The Story Goes. Obviously, then, I need to reread.
I began this project yesterday afternoon, and because I’m a slow reader, I made it all the way to Shipyear 65/Tripday 130/Fouth Shift/18.00 Hours, in which Pilot Dyson wakes Priscilla up.
Narratively speaking, things are going well, so far. Not so well for Priscilla, of course, and I wish I could have another go at Dagmar, who’s a little too…too. On the other hand, there’s this —
Conflict of Honors was published when I was 36. I stand before you today, 63. Palindromes aside, it’s worth noting that Conflict was the second novel we finished**, and it was originally thought to be a short story***, to give us a better handle on Val Con’s brother Shan. We wrote it while Agent of Change was under submission at Del Rey, and submitted it while Agent was under submission at Del Rey — in September 1986. It was accepted for publication in September 1987.
Agent of Change was published in February 1988; Conflict of Honors was published in June 1988, to hold the pocket left empty by the non-delivery of a contracted book by another author. Because it was not published for Itself Alone, it kind of got short shrift, though Romantic Times picked it up and gave it a glowing review, SFR/RSF being thin on the ground at the time. So thin, in fact, that we hadn’t yet invented the names Science Fiction Romance or Romantic Science Fiction, and were still formulating what “this” was, why it appealed, and why we wanted more, please.
Agent, Conflict and Carpe Diem (published in November 1989), were all paperback originals. Paperback originals were not. . .considered to be Timeless Classics. They were considered to be cheap entertainment, to be read once, or maybe twice, and then given — or thrown — away. The original Liaden “trilogy” has been republished now three times since the 1980s, and are, as I type this, available in print, as ebooks, and as audiobooks.
That’s an astonishing amount of staying power, and I sometimes wish that we could have known, ‘way back that the books would survive to be studied or scrutinized by readers 30 years down the timeline with values and experiences of which we wot not — though what we might have done differently, I can’t say.
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In other news, it snowed yesterday — not much, but still, it snowed. The plowman arrived this morning — early as we count the day, damn’ near lunch-time as the plowguy figures. Now that breakfast is done, and this blog post about ready to go up, I’ll be donning coat and gloves and boots and widening the path from the driveway around the house to the generator, and digging our mailbox out of the pile of snow the across-the-street neighbor thoughtfully placed over it, to keep it from drying out.
After that, I believe I may make another pot of coffee and settle in to read.
Tomorrow, we celebrate Martin Luther King’s birthday which, among other things, means no mail, no bills, no checks. Baji-naji, I suppose, or at least good enough for rock and roll.
MLK Day also means that schools are closed, and Pickleball is nudged up and shortened from 9am-noon to 8am-10am. I am actually considering getting up in time to attend Pickleball tomorrow, assuming that I can keep dodging Steve’s cold, so that I can try out my brand! new! paddle.
What’re y’all doing that’s fun or exciting?
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*The New England Science Fiction Association, which sponsors Boskone.
**Actually, it is the third novel we completed. We lately uncovered a draft of a Kinzel novel that was never published; the original lost at the publisher, and very likely a good thing.
***And is, in fact, a very short novel by today’s standards. The Card says it was submitted at 82,000 words; the electronic copy from Baen says 86,345 — but the front matter is included in that count.
Or, to riff off of Oscar Wilde: To lose David Bowie is a tragedy; to lose David Bowie and Alan Rickman inside of one week can only be carelessness.
. . .Well. And no one ever said that the universe cared. . .
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So, today.
Today was vacuum the house day, and make lentil stew for lunch day. Since I’m a linear girl, I was going to vacuum first, then make stew.
That plan got kicked out when Dyson (the vacuum cleaner is a Dyson, name changed from The New Vacuum a couple years ago when I realized that we’d purchased it with royalty money from Meisha Merlin, which has been closed for eight years). . .when Dyson screamed a mighty scream, which usually means that a string has gotten ’round the rollerbar, or cat fur. . .
Well, it was cat fur — about a coon cat’s worth of cat fur — and it looked for a while there that the cats’ clever plan to murder the cat-eating machine had borne fruit, because I couldn’t even get the face-plate off to begin to deal with the problem.
Steve saved the day, with Trooper and Sprite close at hand, to observe the process.
I fear they may have a upgraded murder plan in the works.
While Steve was working on Dyson, I started the lentil stew, and observed progress on The Leeewit, which I had resurrected in order to try my hand at Linux one! more! time!
. . .this may require some background.
See, like Everyone Else on PC World, I have been being badgered by Microsoft for months and months, to take my “free” upgrade to Windows 10 (I run Windows 7). In addition to being a Linear Girl, I am a Girl Who Does Not Like to Fix What Ain’t Broke, and I have been ignoring these importunate messages.
However, it seems that Microsoft will eventually just be pushing 10 down as an “upgrade,” which is horrifying beyond belief. The desktop is my work machine. And though it is backed up, my life is on this machine. I cannot risk losing anything.
So, I figured that I would install Windows 10 on Number 10 Ox, the Acer laptop, also running Windows 7 Pro, and Pay Attention.
The installation went smoothly, though it was slow (by today’s standards; I’m old enough to remember having to pretty much block out a day to sit in front of the computer and swap out a quarter-zillion disks-then-a slightly lesser number of CDs), but it was after the install that the fun began.
That was when I tried to find and turn off all of the spyware and “helpful” options in the “free” software. Stuff like — if a computer on the internet is updating to Windows 10 and your computer happens to be on the internet, too, it may be pressed into server duty, in order to serve software to this other computer. And — oooooh, keystroke logger! and we’ll helpfully send those keystrokes to Microsoft, so your computing experience can be “fine-tuned”. Dude! I work on this machine, and the internet is more often on than not. Are you really going to be pushing ads for the Quality Inn Solcintra to my computer?
Long story short, the experience left me wanting to never do it again. Apple is too expensive for me, and subject to its own slings, if not outright arrows, so the obvious answer is — Linux.
Long-time readers of Eagles Over the Kennebec, will recall that I at one point had a Linux box. There was an uneasy peace between us, and occasional flashes of real affection, but we never loved each other. And eventually, I went back to Windows, as being easier on my brain.
I am told that nowadays Linux Mint is Doing The Thing Right, so I pulled the Leeewit, the by-today’s-standards-ancient Asus eeePC, out of the closet and downloaded the newest Mint (which for some reason is called Cinnamon) to it. Then, of course I couldn’t install it, because even the best software can’t wipe the drive it’s living on, then install itself. Duh.
Steve once again came to the rescue, downloading the OS to a stick. We then had to go ’round the barn three times in order to convince Leeewit to actually boot from the stick, but we got there eventually, and as I type, I have a functioning 32-bit Atom-powered netbook running a full edition of Mint Cinnamon (Rosa) 17.3. LibreOffice comes with, so I’m ready to rumble, and?
We shall see.
Somewhere around all those adventures, lunch was served and eaten, and vacuuming was done.
I wanted to talk about vacuuming. Well, actually, I want to talk about Trooper.
Let it be said upfront that Trooper is Not Dyson’s Biggest Fan. When the machine roars to life, he immediately runs to my office (my office being, despite innumerable demonstrations to the contrary) considered by catkind to be Safe. Sprite makes right for the basement, and Scrabble — poor Scrabble — freezes on top of the file cabinet in Steve’s office, and (unless I want a drooling, shivering basket case on my hands, which I don’t) must be picked up and brought to the basement stairs. When you put her down, she wails piteously, runs down to the bottom of the steps, and gazes up at you, still wailing, until you close the door and get on with things.
Today, however, when I escorted Scrabble to the stairs, and she descended, crying — Today, Trooper came out of my office, and went downstairs, pausing a few steps above her, and spoke to her in his mid-range, not-squeaky voice — and here’s the amazing part — Scrabble not only didn’t lay into him with ears back and claws extended, she actually stopped crying, and accepted a head-butt.
I am amazed.
I also learned today that Belle? Can levitate.
I thought she’d gone downstairs, like the practical mom-cat she is. I thought wrong. She had retired into the basement of the Cat Castle; all the way in the back corner of the basement, where she was apparently determined to wait it out.
Then the vacuum entered the living room, approaching the Cat Castle, and — she lost her nerve.
Remember that I thought she’d gone downstairs, and thus was completely taken by surprise by the Very Large Orange Feline bursting out of the basement and into the air. I swear she was heading directly for my head, did a mid-flight adjustment, landed on the far side of the Mencken table, and bolted for — downstairs?
Silly person.
Under the bed.
I collapsed, heart pounding.
And Belle has a new nickname to go along with “Mom.”
Flying Lion.
And so that.
Time for me to get to work.
Here, have a picture of Trooper, bird-watching.
Business first! If, for some reason, you should happen to need, or want, a “press kit” regarding upcoming Liaden Universe® novel Alliance of Equals, you may find it here.
You will note that the information states that Uncle Hugo’s Science Fiction Bookstore will once again be the sole source for signed and/or personalized copies. You will also note that Uncle Hugo’s has not yet opened pre-orders for this title.
Uncle Hugo’s is an independent bookstore with limited resources and staff. Right now, they’re very busy (as you might imagine) coping with the orders for signed copies of Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen (go here, if you want one of those, too). They would rather not get mixed up — and you — and we! — would rather they didn’t get mixed up.
Since we don’t want to break the staff, and the staff wants to give good customer service, and also bearing in mind that Alliance. . . has a publication date of July 5, we consulted with Mr. Blyly, who consulted with staff, and!
Uncle Hugo will open pre-orders for signed and/or personalized editions of Alliance of Equals by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller, on March 1.
So, hold onto your horses, and your credit cards. Mark your calendars. We will, of course, shout it from the rooftops, when the pre-orders open.
Thank you for your patience, and your enthusiasm. Steve and I appreciate it immensely.
* * *
In other news, Steve and I have started to read Terry Pratchett’s Mort to each other in the evening.
Also, I discovered yesterday that the piercing in my left ear had closed up, and I had to break a thin layer of skin in order to insert an earring. I’ve gotten out of the habit of wearing earrings — actually have lost my taste for long, dangling earrings, but I don’t want to give up the option of wearing studs — or, yanno, even return to long, dangles of a day or evening. So! I guess I’d better remember to put in earrings — I have a pair of pearl studs that are the most comfortable earrings I’ve ever had, and a pair of aquamarine studs that Steve gave me. Other than that, I would appear to be studless.
Hmmm.
Oh, wait! I’m going to Boskone next month! Perhaps I will be able to solve this tragic wardrobe deficiency.
I think that’s it — well, no. We here at the Cat Farm currently abide under a Winter Storm Watch, until 10 am tomorrow. Predictions are for snowfall from four to twelve inches, depending on where we exist in Mid-Maine’s ever-shifting geography. I’m hoping to see four inches, which might not cause a cancellation of Tai Chi and pickleball, but will not be surprised to see eight inches, which might make it more problematical for the Y to open.
And that? really is all I’ve got.
Here, have a picture of Belle, being awake:
Today’s blog title brought to you by David Bowie and Mick Jagger: Dancing in the Street. Here’s your link.