Blog Without A Name

The day started well.  We met Traveler-in-Journalism Deb Krol at Selah Tea for elevensies and a chat.

After our visit, Deb took off Bar Harbor-way, to pursue her journalistic duties.  Steve and I did a brief tour of Main Street, stopped by Children’s Book Cellar to talk with Ellen, and at Barrels, where I bought a salt-and-peppermill (filled with sea salt and peppercorns).  Social business taken care of, we hit the grocery store and came home to lunch.

Whereupon things commenced in to falling apart.

Steve had kindly set up an Archers Beach Store under the Hyperspatial Boardwalk Shop, but felt it needed stock.  Cafe Press being. . .Awfully Annoying to work with, and Steve the one with the close-in deadline, I took it upon myself to get a couple of things up on the shelves (you can see them here), and by the time I was done with that, and had dealt with some emails of — ahem — a startling nature, my brain had kindly forked over with what had gone wrong with yesterday’s writing, and offered a solution.  I love it when my brain does the heavy lifting for me.

I therefore retired with Number Ten Ox to the couch in order to concentrate on Getting It Right This Time.

And that’s where things went Really Bad.

Ox came on line, and many things happened at once.

First, Windows felt it incumbent upon it to give me a Very Stern Warning about Dropbox, and how it wasn’t a Safe Program. (Look, Windows is the unsafest program I have on any of my devices, so — pot-kettle-black, all right?)  By the time I won that argument, Eset was scolding me because it hadn’t updated its virus databases in Forever (by reason of Ox having not been in use for that long), and by the time I got that sorted out and put away, I was greeted with a pop-up box cheerfully informing me that Windows was formatting Eset.

Um, eek?

I turned the computer off.  Turned it back on.

Eset has vanished, leaving behind about a dozen esoterically named files in the library.  Frantic, I look everywhere, but it didn’t even show up in the list of programs to UNinstall.

Yes, Windows eated my virus protection.

A brief pause for disbelief, followed by a case of strong hysterics.

Teresa Carrigan on Facebook, and Steve, here at Storm Central, got me sorted out by reminding me that I could re-download the program from Eset.  I found the email confirming the license, and. . .Eset is back on the job, and I?

Am exhausted.

Technology, children, is not your friend.

Tomorrow — couch, computer, Words In A Line, dammit.  Preferably Good Words in a Line, but as long as they’re all pointed in the right direction, I’ll be happy.

I hope that those who celebrate had a satisfying Fourth of July.  We here at the Cat Farm had a working holiday, breaking early to view John Carter of Mars.  Among other things, this has produced an urge to re-read A Princess of Mars, which is now sitting on the kitchen table.

From the mailbag, we have news from David Mattingly, who created the wonderful covers for Mouse and Dragon, Saltation, Ghost Ship, and Dragon Ship among a mountain of other fine covers and art.  David has just finished producing an online tutorial  about digital matte painting.  Here’s the course description:

The course shows how to turn a summer daytime scene into a wintry nightscape using Photoshop and After Effects. Well-known author, teacher and illustrator David Mattingly demonstrates his production-proven matte painting techniques. David shows how to take a plate, or a still shot from a film, and alter key elements to change the season and time of day.  Using advance digital matte painting methods, David will remove all of the greenery from the mountains, fields and trees, and cover them with snow. Then he will replace the sky, and add realistic touches such as chimney smoke, icicles and night-lit windows.  In the final chapters, you’ll discover how to create an animated version that cross-dissolves between the two versions.

You can find the tutorial here:

Lots too many errands to run today, and lots too many chores to do when I got back home. I am pleased to say that the t-shirt order is now in the hands of Himself.

Tomorrow, I have two narrators to talk to — one in the a.m. and one in the evening.  In between, I fully intend to do, yanno, work.

Hope y’all had a day in which at least one thing that you intended to accomplish actually got done.

Progress on Carousel Sun
2,683/100,000 OR 2.7%

“I got nothin’ like you’re wishin’ on in here. We got our limits, y’know.”

I spent part of the day counting t-shirts.  Tomorrow, I will speak with Himself and we’ll be off to Stage Two!  Go us.

I spent another part of the day writing, and can officially declare that Carousel Sun is open for business.

Drum roll, please!

Progress on Carousel Sun:
1,222/100,000 OR 1.2% complete

The sun had been up for hours, which was more than I could say for myself.

As Shoe once so wisely stated:  “Typists type. Writers stare out of windows.”

So. . .I’ve been writing.

I’ve made some notes for Carousel Sun, figured out the park schedule and how much time has elapsed since the end of Carousel Tides, wondered whether Kate takes the Journal-Trib or the Port Press, and moved a bunch of CT research files and notes from out of the bottom file drawer of doom into a filing crate, for ease of access.

Among the notes are the lyrics for “Beech and Willow” (also known as “I have Four Sisters Beyond the Sea”).  No, I don’t know why.

I also found, in the same file, the following, which is gorgeous.  And, no, I don’t know why I have it, either.

Her strong enchantments failing,
her towers of fear in wreck,
her limbecks dried of poisons
and the knife at her neck.

The Queen of air and darkness
begins to shrill and cry,
‘O, young man, O my slayer,
to-morrow you shall die.’

O Queen of air and darkness,
I think ’tis truth you say,
and I shall die to-morrow;
but you will die to-day.
–A.E. Housman

Also, if anyone needs a recipe for Sour Fiddlehead Pickles, I’ve got you covered.

In other news, orders for the Archers Beach t-shirt have broken 100! If you have yet to score one of this summer’s premier fashion statements, you have scant hours! to secure your place among the Beautiful People of 2012. Everything you need is right here.

It’s been warmish today, for Maine values thereof. I hope that those of you in places where it’s Unfotunately Hot stay cool and healthy.

And, now? Back to staring out the window writing.

First, the Reminder:

You have until 12 midnight Eastern Daylight Time tomorrow, Saturday, June 30 to order your Carousel Tides t-shirt.  Here’s everything you need to know.  If you put a check in the mail and have not previously told me this, do it now, at rolanniATkorvalDOTcom.  Please include the size of the t-shirt you’re ordering.

Now, the Progress Report:

So far, you guys have ordered 97! t-shirts.  That’s awesome!

This is about the Cat Circle.  It kinda looks like this, except ours is brown and beige, really, really old, and kinda well-loved.

How old is the Cat Circle?  Well. . .we bought it for Max! who was always cold.  Not a Maine weather kind of a cat, Max!  More like a Daytona Beach guy.  This is Max!:

He lived with us between June 1992 and May 2006.  Yeah, we expect to keep our cats around for a while, here at the Cat Farm.

So, anyhow the Cat Circle got pretty heavy use at first, then not so much.  Kodi adopted it for awhile (I don’t have a picture of Kodi on the computer, and if I start going through photographs, we’ll be here into next week and none of us will have gotten anything done.  Kodi was a polydactyl brown cat.  She was a cat genius who went blind around the time she had completed half of her twelve years, and she totally Administered this place like it has never been Administered, before or since.  She adopted Max!, who was none too bright, and kind of kept him both out of trouble and in the loop.  After she lost her sight, he became her guide-cat and more-or-less constant companion.)

Patia disdained the Cat Circle.  Nicky liked it, off and on, but really preferred my lap.

Within the last couple months, Mozart has started using the Cat Circle, which had become a kind of auxiliary cat toy box.  He’ll snug down amid the ping-pong balls and the catnip-stuffed mice and fishies and do some heavy-duty dreaming.

And now, Socks has adopted the Cat Circle.  Possibly, he’s done so because it’s one of The Big Guy’s spots.  It’s important to study The Big Guy, after all.

…which brings us — or at least, me — roundabout to Archie’s Book.

This is Archie:

Archie was my very first cat.  He was orange and white, and very wise.  He taught me everything I know about cats.  And, as house legend has it, he kept a diary, a Book, for the cats who would come after.

While all of our cats have been their own unique person, they will sometimes behave in ways that are clearly Archie-like.

Such as begging for salted peanuts (and then licking the salt off, and batting the remaining nude nut around the house).

Or getting on top of the countertop (then crying because the countertop is off-limits to cats).

When one of the cats acts in such a way, we say that they’ve been reading Archie’s Book.

But now, the Cat Circle has got me wondering.  Wondering if it’s not so much a Book that’s passed down the line of cat lives, but a Dream Repository — heck, several Dream Repositories — throughout the house, which are accessed from time to time, and added to, with the filed dreams becoming deeper and richer as each successive dreamer adds to the repository.

I kind of like that conceit, myself.  And now I’m wondering if there isn’t some way to. . .download the Dream Repositories — to back them up.  Or if doing so would alter the dreams on file. . .

Liaden Universe InfoDumpling® : T-shirt and new story!

REMINDER: Carousel Tides T-Shirt
Only 3 more days to order one (or more!) of these stylish and beautiful t-shirts. This piece will become an essential element in all your summer ensembles! Go here for details and order form. Orders close 12:01 a.m. EDT July 1. (P.S.: If you prefer to send a check, please drop me a note at rolanniATkorvalDOTcom and let me know that the check has been mailed, how many shirts you’re ordering and the sizes.)

New Story at Splinter Universe!
In celebration of the beginning of summer — a beach story! “Emancipated Child is presented for your reading pleasure.

DISCLAIMER STUFF
This InfoDump is a product of the Liaden Universe®, accept no imitations. You have received this message because you asked for it. If you wish to subscribe to the Liaden Universe® email list, to unsubscribe from the Liaden Universe® email list, or to change your delivery email address, go here: http://www.fireopal.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/liadenuniversenews

–30–

I have signed my name 600 times today.  I am not pleased about this, and expect to be less pleased tomorrow when my right hand takes its revenge.

Also?  It’s raining, and I have a headache.

Bitch, bitch, bitch, right?

Well, not entirely.

My rocket ship night-light-emergency-light-flashlight arrived in today’s mail.  It’s Very Cool.  Here, judge for yourself:

I adore the little space guy waving out of his porthole.

Over on Facebook, someone suggested that the Tree-and-Dragon be affixed to (the non-space-guy) side of the rocket.  It just so happens that I have some Tree-and-Dragon stickers of an appropriate size left over from WorldCon.  Hmmm…

For those interested, I now have a Pinterest account — here.  Feel free to follow, repin, and all like that.

Now, I’m going to go pour myself a glass of wine, and stare moodily at the to-do list.

I hope your day went as planned.

Well, things have been hopping around the ol’ Confusion Factory these last couple days.

Yesterday, I had nice chat with the second of the four brave and fortunate people who will be committing the Liaden Universe® to audiofile.  I did laundry, and glared menacingly at the proposal file while I put words in and took words out.  As one does.  I did do-it-yourself deep muscle massage on my frozen shoulder with the TheraCane, which, just by the way, hurts like a sonofagun.

This morning, I started in signing sheets of paper.  When Steve and I have both signed all 1200 pieces of paper, they’ll go back to the printer and be bound into the appropriate number of Dragon Ships.  I would just like to say?  That 1200 sheets of paper is a non-trivial number of sheets of paper, and that I am entirely at peace with my decision to write under my own, and relatively short, name.

Also this morning, the proposals went to Madame the Agent, who will look them over and in the fullness of time either send them on to Madame the Editor for discussion, or to us, for improvements.

Fans of Socks will wish to know that he went back for a checkup today.  He was not (that’s NOT) happy about this at all, and when I let him out of his traveling box in the examining room, he jumped down to the floor and stamped around it, tail snapping.  And when I say stamped, I mean stamped; it sounded like he had flamenco boots on.

Aside a fit of temper, he’s in good health, and we’re to continue doing whatever it is that we’re doing, and cross fingers he’ll continue to gain weight and otherwise improve.

Socks and I returned home in time to help Steve and Mozart (Scrabble having gone to the basement to, I assume, inspect the tornado room ) batten down the hatches, turn off the computers and marvel at a really splendid, and for several minutes there, quite scary, thunderstorm.  I speak as one who tends more to the “thunderstorms make me ecstatic” side of the scale than the “thunderstorms scare the hotel outta me” side.  The net effect of the storm?  The temps fell from 93F34C, pre-storm, to 72F/22C, post-storm.

After the storm, I did a deep-massage session with the dern cane, then signed some more pages.  Honestly, I think they’re breeding down there in that box.  I’m sure there are more empty pages now than there were this morning.

For those who follow the Free Culture debate, there’s an interesting exchange that you may not have seen.

First, there’s this blog post by Emily White, an intern at NPR, who confesses that, as someone with a music library in excess of 11,000 songs, she’s only in her life purchased 15 music CDs.

Then, there’s this (warning: long) and informative response from The Trichordist.  If you have time to read only one of these posts, I would recommend this one.

And now?

I’m going to wash dishes.

And sign some more pages.