Let’s Pretend This Never Happened (a mostly true memoir), Jenny Lawson
How Dark the World Becomes, Frank Chadwick (e)
Shades of Milk and Honey, Mary Robinette Kowal
French Fried, Chris Dolley (e)
My Father’s Dragon, Ruth Stiles Gannett (read aloud w/Steve)
Fair Game, Patricia Briggs (e)
Nymph, Francesca Lia Block (read aloud w/Steve)
Oh, Myyy, George Takei (e)
Hunting Ground, Patricia Briggs (e)
Cry Wolf, Patriacia Briggs (e)
Alpha and Omega, Patricia Briggs (e)
Miss Buncle, Married, D.E. Stevenson (read aloud w/Steve)
Agatha Heterodyne and the Hammerless Bell, Phil & Kaja Foglio
Moonrise Kingdom screenplay, Wes Anderson & Roman Coppola (e)
Blog Without A Name
I believe it may be Tuesday
I managed, for the first time since last Monday, to get out of the house for my morning writing shift. Today, I sampled the Waterville Library, which may be up for some award for the Noisiest Library in the State of Maine. Initially, I went upstairs to the Maine History Room, where I had been as alone as a writer could wish to be on a previous occasion. Today, the History Room was empty, but there was an Intervention of some sort going on in the room directly across the hall, and both of the women involved sport Hearty Farm Girl lungs.
I really didn’t want to hear the personal business of the woman being counseled, so I went down one flight, to Non-fiction, and set up on a table by an air shaft/skylight. This seemed ideal, except that the air shaft went right down into the librarians’ office, and they were having a gossipfest.
I finally wound up writing on one of the low pillowed window seats between Maps and Non-fiction.
The bitter irony here is that I knew I didn’t want to go to Winslow today, because they have a morning story hour, and Winslow is one, big, open concept library. Waterville, I reasoned, would be quieter, because it’s split up among four floors.
Hah.
Note to self: put earplugs into work bag.
Despite it all, I did get some work done — 2,174 by the time the dust settled during evening revisions.
My plan had been to hit a library again early tomorrow, but on the way home (cue sinister music) the muffler went kaplooie (or, more accurately, it went brumrumRUMrumrum). I arrived home and asked Steve if he would follow me back into town, to the garage. He said he would, but he had some things to take care of first, so while he was taking care of things, I decided to upgrade the LibreOffice on my desktop.
This is a relatively simple operation, but it became fraught, because of Chrome misnaming a file with a .torrent at the end, which, as you may imagine threw Windows into a screaming tizzy. It wouldn’t let me install the file, the LibreOffice site does not make it easy to find 3.6.5 now that 4.0 has been released, and it was all just Much Harder than it needed to be.
Then someone was wrong on the internet. Sigh.
So, Steve and I ate lunch, and motored out to the garage, dropped Binjali off, hit Staples for a laptop mouse to replace mine that had died months ago, but I just remembered it today at the library, and then picked up a couple of vanilla milkshakes, because it had suddenly become That Kind of Day.
We returned home to questions from the accountant in re our tax information; someone was still wrong on the internet; and I finally got my editing done. I have notes for the next scene, so that’s ready for expansion tomorrow, which I will do, if I have to sit on the damn porch in the rain.
. . .Public Service Announcements Below
I’m not if this will work, but David Mattingly posted a video of Times Square on Saturday night. Here’s the link which may or may not work
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Also, Waterville and nearby Maine folk take note! There will be a Steampunk Tea, sponsored by the Waterville Public Library and Cirque du Geek cordially invite you to attend a Steampunk Tea Party at Selah Tea Cafe on Maine Street in Waterville. The festivities will include a costume contest, Steampunk games, and more!
Join us for tea, cookies, and some Steampunk fun! Attending in costume is encouraged, but not required.
Another link that may or may not work, to Cirque du Geek’s facebook page
And here’s Selah Tea’s webpage
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Last but not least, please give if you can: Bangor Women’s Shelter Matching Fund
Progress on Carousel Seas: 4,003/100,000 OR 4% completed
By ways unseen, she came to the sea.
Monday Socks Update
We took Socks in to see his primary vet this morning for a follow-up visit to last week’s amazing adventures. He’s in good shape (at the moment — this is, as we discussed, the issue — we always need to qualify “good” with “for now”), if kind of sniffly and grumpy. In the vet’s opinion, Socks is a good candidate for megacolon surgery. The next step rests with her — she needs to contact the Experts in Portland, partly to insure that she’s done everything they feel is necessary in terms of diagnosis and medical treatment, and also to find out costs for surgery, convalescence care, and all those things none of us thought about. We expect to have that information in hand this week
In the meantime, we have some new, high-energy, low fiber wet food to try , since the vet’s still interested in getting another two (or three) pounds on him, especially in light of possible upcoming surgery.
So, we’re in Wait Mode.
More news as it arrives.
Reflections on Food
I’m taking a little bit of ribbing over on Facebook about my initial reluctance to eat something referred to in the menu as “gyro meat.” So far as I know, there is no gyrobeast from which this meat might be harvested. If the meat in question was simply spiced lamb, why not say “spiced lamb”?
So, a few minutes of soul-searching out of respect for the girl who watched, with fascinated horror, as the Pollack Johnny hot-dog-making machine at Lexington Market made hot dogs. The same girl who, yes, still happily ate scrapple, even knowing what it was.
In any case, my gyro was perfectly tasty and I’m glad to add a new foodstuff to my repertoire.
Last year, through the kind offices of Mem Morman and Kent Bloom, I added beignets, which were also very tasty — and therefore amazed people who could scarcely believe that this was my first experience of the food. Mem is also, I fear, responsible for my discovery of Greek food in general, back a couple years when we were GoHs at CoSine.
Anyhow, I got to thinking why I’m such a food illiterate.
Part of it — a good deal of it — has to do with having been born Rather A Long Time Ago to people who had been raised by people who had survived the (first) Great Depression, who were themselves very frugal, and unlikely to experiment with something so vital as food. You bought what you knew you’d eat; otherwise, you might not like it, and food would be wasted.
It was Very, Very Bad to waste food.
When I reached adulthood, some of my friends were able to help me expand my food horizons, but when Steve and I moved in together, we were — not to put too fine a point on it — bitterly broke, occasionally rising to the point where money was only extremely tight. We bought basics that we knew we would eat, because it would be Very Bad to waste food.
We (Steve’s family was similar to mine — trad blue collar, where the father worked the Real Job; and mom took care of the kids. In his case, things were a little tighter still, because there were five kids — four of them boys. My parents only had to feed two girls.) But, yeah — we might have experienced varied and different foods by going out with groups at conventions, except, again, we were poor to the point of carrying our own cheese sandwiches with us, and eating out of our room.
Anyhow, it’s good that life is easier now, and that there are so many different things to sample. Even if some of it isn’t immediately and intuitively understandable.
What delicious food(s) have you recently discovered?
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Progress on Carousel Seas: 1,733/100,000 or 1.73% complete
This was the tricky part — well. And not burning down the carousel.
Guest Post: Steve Miller
Yesterday, we went to the ocean. Yes, yes; we are grasshoppers. But it was sunny and warm and we had cabin fever, and…Well. Let Steve tell it:
A tale in several parts.
We went out to go to the store yesterday, (starting with breakfast out) with a car load of redemption cans and bottles in the car — which needed to be turned in before we could do grocery shopping.
We arrived at redemption center, which was too busy to get into the parking lot, went to the vets and picked up some needed meds for Socks, went back to redemption center and stood in line.
We eventually redeemed bottles/cans/lottery tickets to the tune of $17.45. It was, as we noticed, a very pretty day out and since Sharon had begun the morning with “Hey, let’s go to the ocean!” and suggesting a breakfast there … and said the same when the bottles were redeemed (and hey, we had Socks meds so that was the really important part of the day’s agenda) … so we stopped at Julliete’s bakery and bought some cookies (matched set of peanut butter cookies and chocolate chip cookies) and with sustenance in hand and Sharon still suggesting the ocean before the grocery store, we set off to do that. I’ve been needing an actual cabin fever type break from being in the house too long and since driving long distance at highs speeds lowers my blood pressure appreciably, we got on I-95 South and went with the flow, which seemed to be running seventeen miles an hour about posted speed limit.
Very good to get a drive in, and at that pace we looked to arrive in Old Orchard beach in considerably less than the usual two hours and five minutes from Winslow.
* * *
So we took a rest stop between Gray and Falmouth, got back on the road, and saw … slow traffic ahead of us. And slower. And emergency lights. And then, slowest traffic.
In fact, for around forty-five minutes we sat there, car off in the midst of I-95, listening to Pandora on my phone and then stored tunes on Sharon’s phone, simply letting the breeze come through the window.
Others needed to be somewhere and began backing up, and some of them turning around(!) to escape the back-up by illegally crossing a very tiny (maybe one and a half yard deep) opening in the divider between north and south bound. This opening was so short that a car on our side that was half on the emergency apron on the south bound side would be sticking out into the high-speed travel lane of the northbound side.
A number of cars made this escape — but having years ago covered (as a newspaper editor in Maryland) a multi-fatality car crash where someone did such a u-turn on Maryland’s portion of I-95, I can say I wasn’t much in favor of this whole process and i did nothing to aid those attempting it. We were just considering starting the car up to recharge devices (we carry a charger in the car for just such necessity) when Sharon, from her special vantage in the shotgun seat, said “I think an ambulance is trying to get through!”
See above cars trying to illegally turn? Some of them were having a Real Hard Time and so were stuck sideways across the road …
* * *
A policeman having arrived suddenly from the south, he (with some anger apparent), pulled his car long way into the opening sealing it. There were many complaints, and an advancing ambulance that most people couldn’t see or hear (cars running, radios on, cellphones to ears, all watching for a sign of progress in the traffic a half mile down the long hill in front of us …
Sharon was right, there was an ambulance, and it wasn’t getting much help. I pulled our Subaru as close to the median wall as i could, and got out of my car, yelling at the person in front of us to move out of the way (they were about 1/3 of the way into their three point turn becasue they didn’t realize the cop had sealed the illegal turn behind us…) …
So then I turned and made like a windmill, which got a lot of people’s attention, and some of them even opened windows and heard me say — “To the side, clear for an ambulance! to the side, clear the way!”
The tractor trailer rig which had been being a good neighbor already was able to facilitate things by nosily revving his engine and then people heard him do something, saw me, and eventually (both behind and in front of us) started moving cars. As Sharon put it “That ambulance driver is amazing!” …
I got back in the car, saying words about stupids ….
And then we waited some more. The officer called out to people that it would clear soon, and about fifteen minutes after the ambulance got through there was minor motion ahead. Five minutes after that I turned the car back on and we were able to proceed to the ocean …
* * *
And so,…
This is what the fuss was about
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Tale not being so much of an issue — just later yesterday…
So, after we got out of the traffic jam we motored on in fine style to OOB (oh oh bee) (that’s local talk for Old Orchard Beach!) we drove about town looking vaguely at houses, considering buying a motel to turn into a co-office spot (with a residential unit for us) … and then we pulled into the Skylark, where we parked and went for a mile walk on the beach and then a return trip via East Grand Avenue….
But before we get to the eat part I should point out that the ocean was wild yesterday, coming off the same storm that’s tearing up the Massachusetts
coast .. and OOB was experiencing a “clam tide” in which thousands of live/fresh clams were thrown up onto the beach. Many locals were carrying buckets among these deposited creatures… I didn’t do that, instead just admiring the waves, foam, mist, and sound of incessant thundering surf. Very, very impressive.
and then we decided to eat.
Alas, the new downtown spot, Hoss and Mary’s, has no restroom, so we didn’t eat there … instead driving up Saco Avenue to Jimmy The Greek’s .. where Sharon had (she promises me!) her first-ever gyro. I was more pedestrian, going for the Chicken Carbonaro Sandwich on Garlic and Herb Bread with Sweet Potato fries while Sharon’s meal came with regular potato waffle fries. Sharon pointed out much later that 1) she’d had potatoes at all three of yesterday’s meals and 2) that all three of yesterday’s joint meals, with tips, cost less than our recent Friday morning breakfast at Boskone — at the Westin Sauciety restaurant.
Then a leisurely drive home up the expressway, watching for a comet in our rearview mirror and seeing none, and then getting off the highway at a vantage point and still missing out. Have you see the comet?
A quick stop at Hannaford’s for a bit of groceries, and then a quiet evening. So, after that refreshing rejuvenating ocean experience I have a busy couple days ahead of me and you likely won’t hear from me much.
Solving Socks: Update
Since yesterday, several people have reached out — publicly and in private mail — to say that, were there a fundraiser set up to cover Socks’ medical bills, they would contribute; that, if there was any way that they could help keep Socks with Steve and me, they’d be willing to make that effort.
Truly, Socks has the best fans in the world. Steve and I are humbled and grateful. Socks would be. . .well, not humbled, exactly, but pleased that so many people want to skritch his ears — but at the moment he’s napping on his special quilted piece, in Steve’s office. Must keep to the schedule, you know.
So, here’s the thing: Socks’ vet did offer us the option of megacolon surgery. This is a procedure that shortens overlarge colons (apparently not an uncommon problem in cats), and which is the solution for the constant bouts of constipation/need to rush to the vets/emergency vets at all hours for emergency enemas.
Our vet made no secret of the fact that this is an expensive surgery, involving, as it does, Specialists in Portland. We are simply not up for an “expensive” surgery. I’ll be frank — the money tree doesn’t have that many leaves on it.
However, we’ve started to think that we can do this thing, thanks to the people who have offered to help.
So! We’ve begun research into this procedure, and talking to people whose cats have undergone the operation. Socks has a follow-up appointment first thing Monday morning with his primary vet and we will delve into such things as costs, success rates, and convalescence care.
After we have all of these ducks in a row, I will lay it all out here, and we’ll see if this is possible/desirable.
I want to thank everyone for their caring, and their sharing, and their willingness to help. You guys are awesome!
In which Socks needs solving
As you know, Bob, last April we drove to Connecticut to pick up a new member of the family, a recently retired Maine Coon stud, Upper Valley Bahzell P of Blueblaze, call-name Socks.
This is Socks:
Socks is polydactyl (that means he has extra toes; this is pretty common with Maine Coon cats, who trace their Lines all the way back to the barns of Maine, where they sometimes need to open doors and operate equipment. I know some people think that extra-toed cats are “deformed;” this is not the case.). He has papers to go with his fancy name, from TICA and from the Cat Fanciers’ Association; and his official color designation is Silver Mackerel Tabby. Socks will be seven years old on April 12.
So, that’s the technical stuff. What you really want to know is that he’s a sweet and attentive individual. He likes to watch movies with his people; he likes to read, and he likes Classic Rock. He likes to help, and can pretty much be counted on to be in the middle of whatever it is that’s going down. Despite being a rather large cat (Maine Coons are called The Gentle Giants of catdom), he’s often a lapsitter and a sleeper-with-people. He takes his flying mouse play Very Seriously. He has a charming, growly little voice, rather than the classic Maine Coon squeak. Think Humphrey Bogart. With extra toes.
Maine Coons are known for their good nature, but Socks goes above and beyond. I have never, ever heard him growl or hiss; he has never, to my knowledge, lifted a paw in anger. In fact, if fault could be found with such a sunny little person, it would be that he’s a little too unassuming; he tends to disappear into the crowd.
Socks came to us as a semi-rescue — he was recently neutered and out of a job; he had a sniffle, several bad teeth, and he was seriously skinny. We figured to get the dental situation fixed, feed him up, get the sniffle under control, do a little immune system boosting. We have managed the teeth (he lost seven); we’ve fed him up; and he’s markedly less. . .depressed than he was when he arrived.
The chronic sneezing, despite daily doses of antibiotic (which he takes with minimal protest), continues. Lately, he’s developed a constipation problem — apparently, in order to accommodate his long trips from harem to harem, he developed a larger than normal colon. When he was a young guy, in top athletic shape, he could bring the necessary muscle to bear to operate this organ, but as he’s aged, he’s let his stomach muscles go (don’t laugh; many of us here today have let our stomach muscles go).
All of this is to say that, though Steve and I love Socks, we’re looking for another situation for him. Ideally, this situation would be with a person who was home more than away, and in which he would be the Sole Companion and Supervisor, or one of two. He does like the company of other cats. We do not believe that he is a dog lover, nor have we seen him with small children.
We have spoken to the cattery with which he was last affiliated, and the owners have said that he can go to them. We’re reluctant to do this because of Socks’ extreme good-nature and his ability to fade into the crowd. I think the reason that he got into the shape he was in when he came to us was that he traveled from place to place and was so compliant that no one really paid attention to Socks, as Socks. So, we’d rather try to find him a better condition.
Please pass this note around to people who may be interested in acquiring a really special friend. And if you can help, please let me know.
Thank you for listening.
Books read in 2013
How Dark the World Becomes, Frank Chadwick (e)
Shades of Milk and Honey, Mary Robinette Kowal
French Fried, Chris Dolley (e)
My Father’s Dragon, Ruth Stiles Gannett (read aloud w/Steve)
Fair Game, Patricia Briggs (e)
Nymph, Francesca Lia Block (read aloud w/Steve)
Oh, Myyy, George Takei (e)
Hunting Ground, Patricia Briggs (e)
Cry Wolf, Patriacia Briggs (e)
Alpha and Omega, Patricia Briggs (e)
Miss Buncle, Married, D.E. Stevenson (read aloud w/Steve)
Agatha Heterodyne and the Hammerless Bell, Phil & Kaja Foglio
Moonrise Kingdom screenplay, Wes Anderson & Roman Coppola (e)
But, Mousie, thou art no thy lane, in proving foresight may be vain
So, no early writing session for me today, other bidness having called. It’s a legitimate call, but…grr.
I mention, for those who care about such things, that the Nebula final ballot is now available, and that SFWA members may vote.
And, speaking of awards, for those who missed it yesterday. Fake Hugo Award Categories.
Have fun; and I’ll see you all later.
In which the writer is lazy
I was at the Winslow Library this morning slightly before 10 a.m.; a little later than I’d wanted — OK, a lot later than I’d wanted. I’d chosen Winslow, out of the two libraries available to me locally (which is to say, there are other libraries in nearby towns, but they have less-than-full-time hours, and are further away), Winslow opens at 9 a.m. on Monday (Waterville opens at 10 a.m. M-F, which foolish consistency I very much appreciate), and I knew I had a Full Plate of errands, so I wouldn’t be able to work but what a couple hours, so I thought I’d get an early start.
*cue laugh track*
I settled in to a table, opened my summary file and began to type, and lo! I have a bunch of notes, and two opening scenes (I’m going to have to break viewpoint at least once in this book. The great weakness of first person narratives being that the narrator can’t know everything, because, if she does, there’s no tension, but the reader has to suspect that there is more going on with the other characters, behind the narrator’s back. It’s a tricky balance, and it’s why I take issue with those who maintain that “I” books are across the board “immature works”. “I” books are dicey; I’d rather head-hop any time.)
So, anyhow, back on topic — it was a good work session, if only a little longer than an hour — and I have a place to actually start writing on what looks to be, at this point in the day, tomorrow.
So. . .yay! progress!
I then betook myself, in the snow, to the bank, and the post office, and to Penney’s, where I found that, it’s true, after years of being my place to go for tall jeans that don’t cost the earth, towels, sheets, and various else, Penney’s has made itself irrelevant to me. I had suspected as much from the website, which is…sparse in terms of items of interest to me — and the store is even more frightening — there’s so much space on the floor, you could hold a roller derby in the place; the amount and kind of stock has shrunk that much. Apparently Penney’s doesn’t want your business if you’re older than 12 or wear greater than a size 6.
Note to self: Find new source for cheap jeans.
Continuing with the errands, I was back home by 2:30, bearing groceries and a Subway sub, aka dinner. After grocery stowage and dinner, I took a four hour nap, which was obviously much needed, but not exactly convenient.
I have some few chores to do around here, and then I do believe I’ll read for a bit and go early to bed, *sigh*. Tomorrow, I’m planning on doing the early day work shift at Waterville, after which I hope to come home and be Rather More Productive than I was today.
Shameless Self-Promotion: The nomination window for the SFSite Readers Choice of Best SF/F Novels of 2012 is open until March 8! Here’s your link to the rules. The self-promotion part is this! reminder! that Dragon Ship by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller was, of course, published in 2012.