I’ve been seeing a lot of squee about Winter Soldier, and! it so happens that I still have two matinee admissions left on my Flagship Cinema gift card. I’m drawn to the squee, but. . .not Cap’s biggest fan here, so I’m torn. Have you seen Winter Soldier? What did you like about it (as reasonably as you can without spoilers)? Do you think there’s enough Other Stuff/Characters to carry the movie for someone who’s lukewarm (at best) on Captain America?
In other, completely unrelated news, the blurb for Carousel Seas is now up at Amazon — here’s the link — from which we learn, among other things, that Carousel Sun is/was a National Bestseller, according, I’m thinking, to Bookscan. Which is nice to know.
In that same vein, and for those who did not read it elsewhere, Liaden Universe® Constellation Volume 2 appeared in the Locus Bestseller List for Trade Paperbacks reported in the April issue, at Number Two, just behind Fahrenheit 451.
Thank you all, because we surely couldn’t have achieved either of those list without you.
Here at the Cat Farm, it’s warm again, and sunny, but we’re not going to the ocean. I’ve done the dishes, and groomed the cats, and other Sunday chore sorts of things and in a couple minutes, I’ll be turning off the intertubes and getting down to work.
Steve tells me that “Deep in the Heart of Texas” is less desirable as an earworm than “Do You Wanna Build a Snowman?”
You be the judge.
So, yesterday, we went to the ocean. Here’s a picture of the Atlantic Ocean, Gulf of Maine edition, as seen from the top of Brown Street, in Old Orchard Beach, Maine, which is approximately the view Kate Archer has from the summer parlor at the house at the top of Dube Street, in Archers Beach:
In which the ocean is not frozen and the snow is receding. Old Orchard Beach, April 3, 2014 Photo by Sharon Lee
It was a bright and sunny day, with the breeze off the ocean. Steve and I bundled up and walked the beach for a while, then cut uptown and took pictures of various things that caught our fancies. Mostly, we were working blind, it being that sunny, and both of us having surrendered our viewfinders for the convenience of cameras that make it impossible to block photographs in strong sunlight.
What an age we live in.
Here’s a picture of Daddy’s, familiar to those who may have read Carousel Sun:
Old Orchard Beach April 3 2014 photo by Sharon Lee
. . .and here’s a picture of Steve, standing in front of the carousel’s storm gate:
Steve at the ocean April 3, 2014 Photo by Sharon Lee
After we had walked around some, we stopped at JJ’s Two for lunch (barbecue meatloaf, mmmmm), walked back to the car and wandered up to Pine Point to look at the ducks. We were not disappointed. I didn’t get a picture of the ducks — big white and black ducks, and mallards, and little black ducks, all swimming around with the crowd of seagulls.
We left town through the Scarborough Marsh, and counted more than a dozen herons on frog-hunt, and also — ducks.
We came home by way of Giffords, for milkshakes, then read a couple chapters of Jim Hetley’s Ghost Point before moving on to lunch (meatloaf reprise, on whole wheat rolls, mmmmm), and so to bed.
This morning, we hit the Button Down Cafe at the Hathaway center for breakfast, which was very tasty. The owner, Mrs. K, was very pleasant and we had a good time, in addition to a good meal. Definitely going back for lunch, soon.
Thus fortified, we hit the redemption center, the post office, and did the grocery shopping. Now, we’re home, and the rest of the day for me is the chores I neglected last week while Steve does a read-through of The WIP.
It is, by the way, another sunny and warm day (38F/3C).
Tonight, it’s supposed to snow.
In other news, the new comb Princess Sprite ordered arrived in today’s mail, as has Code Name Verity.
And now?
To the Dyson!
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For those who didn’t grow up with Mitch Miller, and have therefore been unfairly shielded from the earworm, the title of today’s blog post comes from “Deep in the Heart of Texas”. Here’s your link. And — you’re welcom.
. . .if so, you’re outta luck here in Central Maine, where it’s raining like a sonofagun and we have flood warnings for all extant bodies of water, from the Atlantic Ocean to the marsh down the road. The driveway here at the Confusion Factory is a slew (that is, for the city and/or Southern folk among you, “slough”), and I fear me I’m not going to town tomorrow, never mind today.
Which means that we chose our Almost Electron Free Day well. Yesterday, it was sunny and warm, and the ice had finally melted off the sidewalks in downtown Waterville so that we were able to take a walk and do some window-shopping, after lunch at Selah Tea, which we enjoyed after taking in the matinee showing of “The Grand Budapest Hotel,” at Railroad Square Cinema. We had a great time with “Hotel.” If you like quirky, fond, and slightly chaotic movies, this is one you don’t want to miss.
After the matinee, lunch, and window-shopping, we did a few errands — picking up Mozart’s meds at the vet’s and taking on groceries — then came home and read Peacemaker aloud to each other (not all of it; just the penultimate chapter in the book, which is the last chapter of the story; there’s an appendix left, which we’ll finish up tonight).
All in all, it was a very pleasant Almost Electron Free Day.
Today, there’s cat grooming and laundry on the mundane to-do list, though I’m so late getting the laundry started, I may put it off ’til tomorrow, since I’ll be stuck in the house (Boy, is it muddy out there. Reminds me of the first year we were in this house, when Mud* was so bad that we (as legend has it) lost a UPS truck in the driveway. (In point of Actual Fact, the truck had only sunk in up to the hubcaps in the time it took the driver to walk up to the house, come halfway up the steps, hand me a package and go back to the truck; and the driver was, by a panicked application of torque-plus-gearing, able to break loose. Yeah, leaving two parallel two foot deep gulleys in the driveway. That was fun.)).
In other news, Princess Jasmine Sprite has clearly not been keeping up with her physics lessons, esp. viz. Newton’s Third Law. I’ve asked Trooper to take her in paw for some tutoring.
So! How’s your weekend?
____________
*In Maine, the seasons are thus: WINTER, Mud, Dust, Spring, Summer, Leaf, Rain (good year) OR Rain, Leaf (bad year), WINTER
It’s snowing here at the Cat Farm — just a nuisance snow. Hopefully, it won’t be so much of a nuisance that Steve and I will have to move our date to see The Grand Budapest Hotel to tomorrow, but. . .we shall see.
The cats, as might be expected, are being Proactive regarding the weather.
Here’s Scrabble, tucked between the lamp and the work shelf in Steve’s office, back firmly against the radiator, so she’ll be warm, no matter how much it snows:
Scrabble preparing for the snow. Photo by Sharon Lee
Mozart is taking up the same defensive posture, though in my room, in his spot between the file cabinets and the supply bureau:
Mozart taking on warmth. Photo by Sharon Lee
The kids, meanwhile, are in the kitchen. Trooper is on The Box:
Trooper measuring the distance between the top of the box and the floor Photo by Sharon Lee
. . .while Sprite takes the whole thing seriously:
1. Today’s USA Today “Happy Ever After” column features an interview with Nalini Singh, author of the Psy/Changeling and Guild Hunter series.
2. Sherman’s Bookstore, which has been an independent Maine bookstore since 1886, is opening its fifth location, at 43 Exchange Street, in Portland, on April 1. Sherman’s also has locations in Bar Harbor, Freeport, Camden, and Boothbay Harbor.
3. Speaking of Boothbay Harbor, which I have to resist typing as it’s said (“Boothbee Harbor”) — Steve and I will be taking part in the Books at Boothbay Celebration on July 12. The event will take place at the Boothbay Railway Village and will be in two sessions, with children’s and YA authors signing from 9-noon, and adult and non-fiction authors signing from 1-4. This is Books at Boothbay’s tenth anniversary, and it ought to be a lot of fun. Here’s the link.
4. Y’all know that honeybees have been having a bad time of it over the last few years. If you want to cut them a break and make sure they have something to drink, you can make a bee waterer. Here’s how.
5. The Hugo nomination period ends on March 31 — that’s next Monday! Here’s the rules.
Note to Universe: I really do need my brain back now, thanks.
Been quite the week so far, what with the landing of the tax papers (ouch…), a dental visit and a visit to the eye doctor (for me and for Steve, respectively; it wouldn’t be fair if one of us had all the fun), the arrival of new passports, oh! and news that my piece of the ebook-price-fixing settlement from BN is $9.01 in store scrip. All righty, then.
This time, I went to the dentist armed for bear, so to speak, with the mp3 player, earphones, and Sun Bear in my arsenal. Sun Bear was a hit with the staff, and I had no opportunity to use the music, what with trays of “material” being inserted and removed from my mouth, so that the dentist would have a full impression of all my teeth in what looks like blue Sculpey. The process itself was. . .slightly nerve-wracking. The worst part was the aftermath: accommodating the trays bruised the inside of my mouth somewhat — which is a Very Weird Feeling — and all of my teeth felt like someone had tried to pulled them out of my head (the Sculpey did not release its hostages easily) — which is an Even Weirder Feeling. Next up is a consultation, in two weeks.
After the dentist, we went up to Bangor Mall, to walk around and stare at the shiny things. No kidding — there are six chain jewelery stores in the Bangor Mall (if we count Pandora, which, perhaps, we oughtn’t to). Who in Eastern Maine is buying buckets full of ugly and over-priced mass-produced jewelery? I didn’t even try to count the stores selling clothes to thin young things, all of whom apparently have access to Gold American Express Cards. It’s nothing short of astonishing. There was a kiosk selling fish-shaped ukeleles and Jesus-themed t-shirts, which provided some amusement, as did the head-shop over in the far corner, which was selling glass ashtrays (I can’t remember the last time I saw an ashtray for sale in a retail establishment), high-end waterpipes, t-shirts and gimme caps emblazoned with rude sayings, and wind chimes made out of rainbow-winged unicorn-pegasi.
I remain aggravated that there’s no bookstore in the mall (hasn’t been for years, since WaldenBooks closed), and I was shocked to find that the once-robust food hall (or picnic, or whatever we’re calling it this year) has shrunk to a Java Junction, Dairy Queen, and Oriental Express. Even MickeyD has abandoned ship. Sigh.
Despite all that, though, it was nice to be able to walk around, and to have people and things to look at — so, a successful outing of its kind.
Today, we’re promised a wind storm, with gusts up to 50 mph, but the nor’easter we were being promised late last week appears to have evaporated.
Which? Is fine by me.
Now that we’re home from the eye doctor, I have a call to make to the town assessor (sigh), and some filing to do. I also need to print out the newly-arranged manuscript and read it.
Hope everyone’s had a grand week so far, and that it continues straight through to Friday.
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Today’s blog title comes from “Norman,” by Sue Thompson. Here’s your link.
11. The Red Hot Empress, Meredith Blevins
10. Hogfather, Terry Pratchett
9. Black Widow: The Name of the Rose, Marjorie Liu, Daniel Acuna
8. Agent of Change, Sharon Lee and Steve Miller (e)
7. The Emperor’s Agent, Jo Graham (e)
6. Eternity and a Day, Aline Hunter (e)
5. Kindred Rites, Katharine Eliska Kimbriel (e)
4. Billy the Kid, the Endless Ride, Michael Wallis
3. The Steerswoman, Rosemary Kirstein (e)
2. Uncovered, Jordan Matter
1. Dancers Among Us, Jordan Matter
So, when Trooper first came to us, he was a Twizler Champeen. He would play with some of the other toys we have in our sparse(!) collection of Feline Entertainment Items, notably the Floofy Ball, and Turtle. He would also do some serious kickhat with the springs, but we couldn’t interest him in the old braided leather cord that had been a favorite with. . .several generations of Cat Farm Cats.
When Sprite arrived, she fell upon the leather cord with high-pitched squeaks of Coon Cat Gladness and dragged it around with her everywhere, insisting, whenever she found an idle person of the Thumbs persuasion (which, in this house, is often) that we Make The String Work. Such was her enthusiasm that she won Trooper over to String Play.
Well, upon inspection earlier in the week, it was revealed that the old leather cord really was old, and brittle and just plain worn out, so I remembered to stop at Tractor Supply to take on rawhide boot laces, in order to make a new cord.
In order to braid the strings together, I tied a knot in one end, and closed it into the top drawer of the file cabinet, then I stepped back, keeping tension on the cords, and began to braid.
Trooper was in his box. He kind of glanced at me, decided I was Being Funny Like I Did, and went back to sleep. Sprite, of course, came to sit on my feet and bat at the dangling ends.
. . .at least, she did until the braid was about half-done, when she looked up — and saw what I was doing. She squeaked, went over to the box and woke Trooper up. He still didn’t Get It — and then he did, and jumped out of the box to sit and watch the progress of the braid.
When the last knot was tied, I couldn’t get it out of the file cabinet fast enough; Sprite wanted it NOW; it was hers; I had made it for her, and by Bast, she wanted it.
The old leather cord went the way of such things, and here’s Trooper and Sprite and the new string:
String Theory. Trooper and Sprite and the Leather Cord. Photo by Sharon Lee
