les morceaux

 The little car did what  it should today, and I got the tires looked at by someone who knew what they were doing.  Mark and Esme got their errand ran in the other newer car.  Esme cleaned a lot out of the garage and they took some items to the local dump - although they were not able to get the bureaucratic things done at the driver's services because of timing and forms.  

Same happened at work today, as a young truck driver could not get his act together and get me the proper documents to unload him, and he went off to go get them and come back, and his broker told me all of the documents were there - (and sent me electronic copies as well) but the driver then got lost and did not come back before we closed.  So, he will have to be unloaded tomorrow.  The broker was NOT happy about it all - as the driver didn't even get to our business until after noon, and he had been scheduled to arrive before eight a.m.  Ga ca vi ca va ce n'est pas ca vi (basically meaning, that's not the best way to do it, said while shaking your head sadly) the way they are going to do it is not the way it is to be done

I've studied French and Japanese today, and made it to the middle of the second math module on the new math program on Duolingo, mostly in between waiting on hold on the phone or for a reply from a broker on the email.  

I'm thinking about books and what I have and have not read - been thinking for a few weeks on it, but read another article today that got me thinking more. 

 I had gotten some shampoo for damaged hair about a week ago and it has been helping some - and another trial item came in the mail today.  We'll see if that helps more.  I made more rice for lunches this week, after making some yesterday and using it tonight in our dinner of pork fried rice.  I need to go work on my Japanese on Wani Kani before I take myself off to bed. 

 The pork fried rice sauce (again):

1 tbsp brown sugar in about a cup and a half of water in a big pan

some olive oil, about a quarter size spot

some soy sauce (and then some more, as the vinegar was a bit much)

splash balsamic vinegar  (not too much)

bit salt

bit brown mustard seed that had been pulverized

bit prepared brown mustard from a jar in the fridge

pork seasoning spice that includes garlic and ginger and paprika

bring that all to a boiling

add green onions, orange bell pepper, some white onion and a handful of other vegetables out of a frozen veggie pack

add pulled pork that Mark had made yesterday

bring back to full sizzle

make hole in center and add three eggs from our chickens - let whites cook a bit then mix the whole thing up

add rice to the outside edge from fridge - and then stir it all together and cover, let steam until rice is warmed through

serve 

  

bits and books

 I have studied the extra Japanese lessons on wanikani for three days now, as well as Japanese on both of my Duolingos (and a bit of Czech, why? it's me).  The little car did a scary thing this morning and now I have the mechanic picking it up and have rented something to drive for the week until we find out what that was.  We are looking over our budget more to see if we can afford another car payment.  I showed Esme the budget style that I use and explained to her what all the things were to know.

comment Mark made to me tonight : you know you probably drink more coffee grounds than most people, that might have a high lead content or something in it.  You were talking about your diet (seaweed and cucumber mineral contents) and have you considered that?  If it was a problem though, you'd probably already know by now, considering how long you have been drinking coffee (he drinks tea).  Me: Yes that makes you either an idiot, or insane.  And I don't think I'm doing too bad, I found my abstract algebra textbook on the shelf the other day and I was really happy about it.  Mark : You're not convincing me on the not-insane part there.  Me : What, I've been looking for it for a couple of years now, and it is red, but I was thinking it was a much thicker book because of the remembered difficulty level.  Mark : When you need a librarian for your own collection to say 'it's red, can you find it for me', then yes, you have a problem.  Me: Well, I've found it now, it was between a French textbook and that history book about corn.  Mark : Still not convincing me... *all in good fun banter*

 I need to kick my tail and put up more of my kindle books - which requires actually sitting down and editing them and getting them ready to format.  I was happy to see the 'Salt Magic' book had sold some copies.  That one was supposed to be just tucked into an anthology but I had thought it was good enough to go by itself and I had published it at the same time as Mikki Mack.

 These are the ones that I have finished and put up so far: 

 Salt Magic : The tale of an exhausted mage who rediscovers themselves.

Mikki Mack  : The quite pretty small grey cat with the gloriously long fluffy tail

 Unspoken Things Made Words : Poetry anthology with a few philosophy things

Time in December : Magic realism fiction.  Summary: "Bran exists but only in apathy. Isobel doesn't exist, but wants to. Paul, caught between the worlds, is prisoner to the watch. Ingrid, a tiger with her claws the wrong way in, blames herself for surviving her brother's death. To save them all, Bran must learn to fly."

 

And I have more in the wings waiting for me to actually get my tail in gear and make them ready. 

bits - kick my tail, imaginary time

had some reflective 'I should kick my own tail' thoughts today that I have several more small stories and books and I just haven't been able to drag myself to work on them but then I go and spend a few hours here and there in Minecraft building a huge empire that doesn't exist - which imaginary world is more productive? It is all 'imaginary time', like dreams, but a bit more tangible.

 

I have another Mikki story I had half-realized - and several others, and then a few more popped into my head today and I captured an iota of it... and yet I sit here staring at what I sent myself on my lunch break and saying 'Do I really want to work on that or do I want to go build a road to nowhere in the game' again...

 

Both past times can be done at midnight or 3 am...

only one of them will ever amount to something in my publish queue....

 

  

 

Mikki Mack - the quite pretty small grey cat with the glorious long fluffy tail 

 

I worked on a few simple illustrations and thoughts for that story.  And I thought about tomorrow, which is the Solstice.  I have to work tomorrow, and it will be early.  What if, instead of walking all the way up to the road and watching the first light and walking all the way back down, I made coffee and an egg and watched the red day lilies light up in the garden?  I think that would be good.  And Saturday will perhaps be a hard day, starting late at the post office and as long as it takes to get it done - and not a route I run often.  There won't be a lot of time the next few days to do much leisure / thought process.  Sunday I have not volunteered, though - and I hope it won't be a call in situation, so we can all go to the store.

 

kr-ack, ka-pow

 

Eh, I kind of want to do some Latvian review as well, after all this time... but I'm making such good progress in the Japanese that I'm actually recognizing words phonetically quickly, instead of sounding them out bit by bit, and the low level Japanese profile is doing a review of katakana, which I actually DO need... *sigh*

Patreon post with recipe below:

 

pea soup with yellow and green peas and onions, and cheesy toast forthcoming

It's turned a bit cold outside, the goat was sunning herself, as were the cats.  The cats have been seeking out warm blankets and sunbeams to curl up on here inside the house, as well.

I touched on three different stories the past few days, but there are so many in my files I can bounce around and come back to each one with new eyes and do something a bit more on it.  The story I've put on my bench to work on today is about 3,000 words and the two that I published at the beginning of the month were both around 5,000 give or take, so it's in the range if I just get some knuckles down on it and make sure it still says what I want it to say, at the same time.

The story is called 'INGie', I've been working on this story off and on since 2019. Since it has been years now and it has sort of sat there waiting for me to do more with it - I'm trying to see if it's ready for the 'publish a thin book' treatment, like Mikki Mack and Salt Magic, which I published earlier this month.

The story is by nature sad, but also full of wonder and possibilities and think-outside-the-box.  It is about an alien that has crash-landed and there is a mutual protective relationship between him and the first human that found him.  The alien has strange powers, but also a distinctly non-human way of looking at things, so the things he creates with his powers and the materials in the warehouse are by definition ethereal and nearly impossible.  I posted a little excerpt on my art page : so I'll repeat here

"He is getting better at language, but still it is slow and he takes his time to find the right word.  Often he will stand there peering at me trying to project an image long enough that I might pick up on it.  The problem is these thoughts are not easy to form in my mind - he is the one working a masterpiece down to the barest shapes and forms to wedge it into the squishy clay of the human mind.  Is it you? Is it me? I focus on the image he has sent to me, trying to make it come together with the object I see in front of me.  It is him, he says, or at least his clothes. He is making his goodbye clothes. I don’t like the sound of that. "

 

bits again

Here are the links to the books I finished editing  this week. I'm glad I've gotten these two short books out in a little under a week, as they were waiting with just bits and pieces that needed to be finished.  I know I won't have that sort of rapid-fire on anything I might try to write from scratch - so I'm using up my stack while I can.   

Mikki Mack book : 

Kindle link 3.29 (with color illustrations)  -- Paperback link 4.99

"Mikki Mack is a little cat with a lot of attitude, and a lot of heart. She tells the story, from a particularly cat point of view, of how she came to be living at the little house at 67 Maple Street and how things look from the viewpoint of a quite pretty small grey cat (with a gloriously long fluffy tail). Mikki recalls how she was found on the Lost Day, adventures with the mechanical mouse, smiling ceramic duck, a perfect sock and the very special thing she did to help when Mr. Mack got a cold."

 

Salt Magic book : 

Kindle link 2.99 (with b/w illustrations) -- Paperback link 4.99

"Day after day was exhausting. The future was so bright, graduating from Divination school. We were supposed to have all the answers, right? Hindsight is all 20-20, and even those that study the Future don't always get it right. But it takes years and the realization that this magic is not what it seems - it is tearing every cell in your body apart, because you are not built the same way everyone else is. In fact, very few of your kind ever survive. This, is salt magic. And knowing that, makes all the difference. A thinly veiled fantasy story of my experience having Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome, otherwise known as POTS"

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I went to sleep last night knowing I had to be up early today to go cover a postal route.  But then, I woke up way too early, and decided not to go back to bed, got ready instead.  I made my thermos of coffee.  I planned what I was supposed to do, in what order, to get the day done.  And then, at 5:30 am, the carrier texted me saying she is 'going to go in anyways'... so now I don't actually NEED to go anywhere.  I did water the garden, and take one bag of trash up to the road in the sled.  *blows air up forehead*

 

So I was left a bit hanging.  I went and edited a twelve page story into a thirty-four page book, and got it ready for publication.  It probably won't be available for purchase until tomorrow.  

 

Then, I sort of fell out on going to town.  And here I am writing this, a drop in a puddle far from any river that will take it to the ocean.  Caught between wanting to curl into a ball because of the economy and knowing that I need to keep doing things and getting things out and taking chances and it isn't going to get better by itself.

Did some Japanese, and some Swedish.  Put out a promotion post for my little cat book.  The books I brought to the gallery are slowly selling now, and the rest of the toys that I made a few years ago.  I do mean slowly.  I got a check in the mail yesterday that will help a little bit with gas, but I haven't knit more toys, and I'm not sure if/when I will order new copies of these two small books to put in the basket there.  The cat book is cute, has illustrations, and might do well.

I'm just trying to stay optimistic but all of that uses social energy, too.

 

Later : we made dinner,  finished the rest of my Japanese lessons, and drew some more digital illustrations that might be used in my novela. 

 

soup and rain and cats

 

It is a rainy day out, slightly cold compared to the sunny days we've had recently

Minion (the tortoiseshell) is taking advantage of Loki (boy Manx) having such a warm fuzzy belly

bit of soup: sort of like french onion soup, but not - and a bit spicy

 

chicken broth, oliveoil, black pepper, oregano, salt, celery seed, whole chopped onion, one carrot thinly sliced, handful of (plain brown) lentils and handful of green peas, one deseeded dried guajilio pepper (sweet paprika nearly, not very hot), a small piece of bacon from the fridge cut up fine, bit of kale, cook until the lentils and carrots are soft, run immersion blender in pot

 

I'm reading two books right now:  

How to Find Love in a Bookshop, by Veronica Henry (library, online)

and 'Lessons in Chemistry' by Bonnie Garmus (physical book, bought at library sale for a dollar)

 

but the rainy weather is making it difficult to keep reading...

so I have eaten some soup and poured the rest up in a jar for keeping in the fridge

and now I am going to nap a bit 

This morning : Welsh (so much Welsh the past few days), Romanian, Chinese, Czech  - I don't believe it at all when it says I am pronouncing the Chinese properly.  I like the little children's poems I've been finding in Czech and when I finally - FINALLY (it takes so long) - finish these advanced Welsh lessons then I should go back to the grammar work I was doing on Czech

Book Sounding or Book Dowsing

Apparently some people have not heard of this.  It's called 'book sounding', or 'book dowsing', depending on which one you like better.  You can practice it in libraries, on your shelves or on a friend's book shelves.  You run your fingers (or eyes, depending on rules) along the books almost randomly, until one just FEELS right or stands out in some way that is impossible to deny.  You take that book down, go to a comfortable chair and give it a very good try to read, not just one page like you might at the shelf, but a few chapters.

You might 'accidentally' pick up a book about rope, or growing herbs, or a love story that takes place at the turn of the century, or a zombie child that goes through time.  It really could be anything.  Maybe not accounting or rocketry tables.. put that back, maybe.  It could be your thing.

The point of book sounding is to open your mind and have an adventure.  I also love to do it in 'friends of the library bookstores' and thrift shops.  You NEVER know what you'll find - or does it find you?  For a quarter you may be reading a selection of short stories edited by Isaac Asimov that is no longer in print, or suddenly realize a favorite author wrote something you missed, somehow, and now it is right here in your hand.  It has happened to me.

I wrote this article because a Google search for 'book sounding' showed nothing, and 'book dowsing', still nada, no description of the activity!  But I've seen people do it in real life, in movies - what do they call it?  It is so obviously a vibration thing when they are doing it with their fingers - something calls to the fingertips.

So, go try it.  See what the Universe tosses your way. 

Almost Spring

 

I'm reading 'The Hidden Reality' by Brian Greene, and 'The Night Country' by Melissa Albert.  Both of them are just gorgeous books physically - metallic inks, iridescent covers... it is a treat for the sense to pick them up as well as to read the words.

Speaking of senses, I spoke about synesthesia with someone today and realized it is just so hard to explain it!  It would be comparing picking up this book and rubbing your fingers over the textured cover with the way German milk chocolate melts in your mouth, mixed with brass trumpets and cymbals and the feel of cold blue velvet crushing under your fingertips.  But how to you explain the ability to combine those ideas into a shared experience with someone?  I mentioned the movie Ratatouille, where Remy is telling his brother Emil about the combination of flavors in cooking being like light and sound and bumpy vs sharp blobs merging into one different thing... that is about the best I can explain it.  I feel very specific combinations often - one thing suggests two others etc.. but sometimes it really is completely indescribable.

 cabbage plants starting to get their second set of leaves .. I am wondering if they need fertilizer or if it is just the light levels... they are not progressing as fast as usual since their last stage

Also discussed that a lot of people are going to be trying to self-isolate and grow their own food and so forth after this virus scare.  It might be even more than that - we might go 'back to the land' etc as a society.  I don't know.  It takes time and resources and skills - and for me, the biggest part of that is Time.  You don't just step into a self-sustaining lifestyle.  It builds up over time, each thing in its season, learning as you go.  And at the very best, you have people living near each other who each are good generalists abut also specialists in their own things, herbs, wool, soap, meat animals, wild game... every single person can't have all the tools and knowledge and structure in place for everything at all times...

A garden doesn't begin to produce food until it has been planted at least a month.  Even radishes and kale and lettuce take about that long, and you need to keep resowing seed to keep the harvest coming.  If after a month you get distracted, and go elsewhere, the harvest goes unused.  If you can't wait a month before you need the supplies - you will have to find other things to do to meet your needs.  Corn and beans and tomatoes take time and planning as well.  And then there is preserving the harvest, and collecting enough good seed to plant for the next year.

People can start to learn the skills of planting seeds, hunting and fishing and recycling/repurposing things but during a health scare is not the time to expect instant results from it.  It is going to take continual gradual work to build up a life that is sustainable.  Even if you buy full grown chickens and cows and goats so forth, it takes time to get the skills to trust and produce food from those items.  Chickens lay eggs, goats give milk after having kids, etc.  It also takes fencing, housing, feed for the animals (where will that come if the feed store isn't accessible?) and favorable weather - starting each thing at the right time of year for it - not frozen or baking temperatures.  Your animals and gardens need water, as well.  There is just so much to think about in preparing.

Esme and I have been using recycled containers for a few weeks now to plant seeds to start for the garden.  It is more fun for her than just having pots available - because once she eats a yogurt, or I finish a bottle of tea I make it into a pot - and then it is 'what should go in THIS one?'  She planted lemon basil in hers today, and I planted marigolds in mine.  That way the container gets a second life, even though they don't recycle plastic at our center.

Mark had to take a picture of me making a liverwurst sandwih the other day, because he still can't believe people actually eat the stuff at all.  It's a Minnesota thing, and I only get the craving once in a while. We are making roasted pork loin tonight with potatoes and rolls - and got the idea for each of us to create our own spice rub.  I crushed fennel seeds and mixed it with garlic and onion powder and pepper for mine.  Mark used his 'dragon spice' ginger rub on his, as always.  Esme asked for onion powder and pepper for hers (and I threw some garlic in too because the onion powder is so strong I didn't want to use so much of it.)  We each get a different flavor experience in the same meal.  That's pretty neat!

Jumpstart January

January begins tomorrow, and it is time to Jumpstart.  This year I have signed up for three things to do every day, although two of them might be accomplished at the same time.

1.) I will practice my Welsh
2.) I will find an art material, device or book each day that I have in my possession and give a review or demonstration of it, either with photos or with video, and post that to share.
3.) I will do some sort of art sketchbook or project every day even if it is a small one like my friend who does a single comic pane every day.

I did this sketchbook page yesterday, it reminds me a bit of the Farscape television show I had been watching.  And I did practice my Welsh, even though it isn't quite Janaury yet.

Materials :

This was done with Sakura Micron pens over colored pencil.
Micron pens are my absolute favorite for outlining and they come in several tip sizes, marked on the top of the caps.  My favorite size to do this sort of outlining is .45mm marked with a '08' on the cap.

My Absolute Favorite Pen
Buy a Package of 3 on Amazon to save and always have one on hand.

I am also reading this lovely book 'The Book of Delights', which is a collection of essays about one or many things each day that the author found 'delightful' and how he is more and more walking through the world feeling the delight in things around him and the joy of being alive.  Check it out below.

Out near McKenzie, Tennessee

I love the little flower shape that showed up in the tree leaves to the left.  The light was nice.  This tree was next to a little church that had light shining down on it from above, and a field of frozen volunteer corn stalks that had laid down in bell shaped heaps throughout the field.

 I will post a drawing I've made in a day or so.  This little church's roof shape made me think of what I want to see on the cover of my short story collection book.... it's not a 1:1 comparison, but it got me thinking.

This reminded me of the flower fairy ladies in Fantasia, when they swirl around and bend down so only their skirts show.

 

That was my first attempt at the House of Sunlight cover image... and then I went out and took more house pictures of places that evoked the right 'feel' for me.. and I will need to take another stab at making it again.  However, oddly, the front porch on this one and the front porch on the first actual house I thought of both have the same gingerbread. 

chickens moving on up

T

The chickens are moving on up to the bigger cage - the one that Esme and Mark built for the rat and the hamster.  They will be warm and safe here until they feather out and we can build something better for them outside.  For posterity : they are 'Cinnamon Queen' variety.

I've been busy today.  I went through Esme's old clothes again (because she just tends to hide them or stack them when they don't fit or are torn) and also moved up her bookshelf in her room with all of the new 'older' books we've been getting.  It fell once - and I had to pound the supports down into the standards on the wall and lighten the load.

Where the shelf was before was exactly at 'sit down on the couch and smack yourself on it' level.. and we needed it a little higher.  She has been sitting there tucking up with me to watch Welsh cartoons at night, and I hope we might get to reading again.

Hello Universe by Erin Entrada Kelly was excellent - I read it on my Kindle today.  I'm reading her Wolves of the Beyond 'Lone Wolf' book by Kathryn Lasky, too - before she does.. and it seems like it will be a really good match for her.   I have 'The Hazel Wood' by Melissa Albert on my Kindle now, it was highly reviewed.

I need to get her 'The Mage' by Inbali Iserles and a copy of the Hello Universe but both of them are a bit high right now as they are new releases.  Have them on lists and alerts if one gets cheap.

Our plants arrive on Friday!  We had ordered hosta and day lilies and some other ornamentals from Gilbert H. Wild and sons.   And it is supposed to be nice this weekend.  yay!

Lucy thinks the chickens are hers to look after.  She has been sitting here with Esme and watching them.  She had to sniff every other one as Mark put them from one cage to the other.  She said they didn't smell right on the tail end.  *ha*  People raise strange puppies, apparently.

bits

The bits.  Esme has Spring Break next week.  Tomorrow is the garden day, but it might well rain on us.  We might go see a movie if it does.  I went out to do a math tutor session last night in Algebra - and got lost on the way there.. turned right when I should have turned left, didn't know I was on the wrong side of the highway for about 10 miles worth...eep.  Finally got there.. had to work hard to screw my math cap on because I was overthinking the problems.  It was factoring polynomials.  It's been so long... but I did get back on the horse.

Came home and tore apart our bookshelves looking for a certain book - only to realize with Mark's help that said book probably got destroyed years ago in an accident.  Ordered another one off of Ebay.. probably not same title, but it might do.  Found lots of books I'd been halfway wondering where they were... restacked things by subject (with Mark's help).  I made a tentative agreement to go back out there Sunday.  She has several things that have to be done by the beginning of May - that gives us a month.  I was worried she needed it all done in a few nights or the weekend at first and that was daunting!

Got a home-measurement for a shower at work I need to go on.. a set of cabinets to sell...and then maybe when I get home I can put some more dirt in the garden that we bought yesterday.  Esme bought some broccoli and catnip as her additions to the garden.  Now look it is going to get too warm and the broccoli and spinach will do what they always do... but we're going to try anyway.  I bought a package of fresh sunflower seeds for 8 foot tall sunflowers.

for reference : books

 chemistry books
Rare Earth Intermetallics 1973 by W. E. Wallace
Crystal Structure Analysis by Glusker and Trueblood, 1985
Introduction to Coordination, Solid State, and Descriptive Inorganic Chemistry by Glen Rodgers, 1994 

 math books
the Analytic Geometry by Ross Middlemiss 1955 is something Ive actually rebought before
the algebra book I went and purchased last night was
Algebra Structure and Method by McDougal/Littel
not pictured here is 'Calculus' Single Variable and Transcendentals by Stewart
Plane Geometry by Smith and Ulrich
Progress in Mathematics by Sadlier-Oxford (homeschool fare, excellent though)

 some misc things - including the Complete Book of Fresh water Fishing (which we got a kick out of finding again.. it was something Esme found at a library sale and she had to have it!)

 physics books
Modern Technical Physics by Beiser
Particle Physics The Quest for the Substance of Substance by L.B. Okun 1985
I have rebought a copy of "New Practical Physics" by Newton Henry Black and Harvey National Davis (by Black and Davis) c 1932 after losing one before.
Elementary Mechanics c. 1930 by I.C.S. Staff (parts 1,2,3,4)
not pictured:
Astronomy by Arthur M. Harding, c 1935

// note to self:
So you stayed up for two hours this morning instead of going back to bed to 1.) document these books so you don't lose a copy again the way the algebra book did and .. to realize you still need a book on transition metals and organometallic chemistry and go look for one.  *sheesh*... but ok.  Maybe _someday_ I'll actually get more than twenty minutes into studying this topic that keeps scratching the back of my brain with 'There is SOMETHING here I need to know.'

That little bit

I feel a bit more energy from the keto diet.  I'm not doing it to lose tons of weight - but to reduce sugar cravings and eat better in the long run.   I was beginning to rely on sugar things again as 'food' and as the weather warmed up and I wasn't spending half of my calories JUST to stay warm.. that just didn't sit right with me... I wanted to get up energy to go out and do things, but the sugar is a bad thing for that - it gives you highs and lows.

 I decided to start the keto thing again, at a 50 gram high and allow myself carbs, but not SUGAR carbs specifically.  I have a tortilla each day, a few tasty-spiced corn chips, a cracker under some peanut butter.  A piece of dried pineapple or a thumbnail size of dark chocolate are the most 'sugary' things I allow.  I can have a tablespoon of berries or a grape, without needing to go grab a handful of M&Ms or a Little Debbie cake after that.  Sugar has done that to me in the past - give it an inch and it screams for a mile - and that catches up to you if you don't kick it in the tail once in a while.

 And I have gotten the energy spike, and the thirst for real clear water again, and the 'I'd just rather not' looking at a donut instead of the 'I wish I could have two of those right now'.  I find myself craving green tea or an almond, olive, or a piece of fish, instead of thinking about a peanut-butter and jelly sandwich dripping with jelly.  So, I will keep on with this until I feel something click again.. my body usually tells me what I need to know, and I'm trying to listen to it. 

//
I knit three rows on my huge blanket I have been making for years again.... and my arm yelled at me.  Each row takes about 10-15 minutes to work through if I'm going at a normal pace.  This is why I hardly ever work on it.. but I am getting to a stopping point finally.  It is large enough to stretch out over my feet and pull up to my neck and tuck the ends under me reading a book.  That is good.  I can bind it off in a few more rows and then work for a few days to a week tying in all the ends.  It is a multi-striped blanket, with LOTS of colors.  The yarn is washable acrylic Red Heart, which I've used for all my blankets in the past years.

And I want to use some fabric and make some half-towels again, like the burp rags from when Esme was small but a bit bigger to use as dish towels and the like.  I have two fabrics that will do well as front and back.  Just have to sit down and cut the pieces all to size and sew them together and topstitch them.

read 'Uprooted' by Naomi Novik, and 'The Flaw in All Magic' by Ben Dobson.  Both were incredibly good books.  I'm on 'The Name of the Wind' by Patrick Rothfuss which has been on my wait list for a bit.  It was recc. in the same list as Uprooted.

books

Yesterday Esme received a good note from her reading teacher that she has improved on reading chapter books and is really doing well in her class and assessments. 

We went to the library and we went through the non-fiction.  I showed her several sections I knew she would like - the earth/weather science and animals and machines sections mostly.  She said 'but none of these books are at my level!'... but I said that the only books in the library that were 'levelled' were the readers over in that one cabinet (for beginning readers), everything else you just look at the spine or title, pick it up and open it up to see if it is for you or not.  She took a moment to think that over.  Then she started going through books and found two she wanted to take home, both non-fiction, both about archaeology/paleobiology. 

I finished reading 'The Hundred Year Old Man who Climbed out the Window and Disappeared', by Jonas Jonasson.  It was VERY funny, and well tied together.

I'm reading 'The Wizards of Once' by Cressida Cowell (How to Train your Dragon) now.
Uprooted by Naomi Novik is next on the list

bits

Esme was a bit upset this morning about how the other kids are at school - as in, they don't seem to care or try as much as she does on some things, and when she tries to help or point things out of course they don't appreciate it.  They gave her a nickname she doesn't like - it isn't terrible, but yes she doesn't like it.  I explained to her that both of her parents have been through this, it is part of our personalities that we really can't just 'blend in' and be like everyone else and we never really wanted to, either  - well, not really.. but I get where she is coming from that it hurts to not be like them but it would hurt to be LIKE them, too..

I get some of this pedanticness and process-following and overanalyzing from my dad.  I asked that question of my stepmom a few days ago and she told me that is his 'Modus Operandi'... he analyzes and decides the best way for him to do something (that sometimes is off the wall compared to the usual person's method) and then he does it that way even if it exasperates someone else.  But, he gets it done.  Like my stitching something by hand, or digging the garden with a hand trowel and watering with a bucket.  It might not be the most efficient 'normal' way to do something but it feels best to US so we do it the most 'comfortable' way for us, which has nothing to do sometimes with actual comfort - but with mental processes and 'fit'.

Esme and I did discuss some tactful ways to point out things to her classmates (like not setting your ipad on the floor in front of your locker where it could get stepped on in the meantime, which one girl does and it gives Esme anxiety but the girl does not appreciate being told so) or keeping some things to yourself because you know how you feel about it but maybe the other person just has to learn for themselves if they aren't the type to listen (oh, so often at work, this one).

Mark and I have this trait in common and in opposite - we point things out to each other and if we feel that the added clarity is helpful, we will do it that way, but if it still makes sense to do what we are doing the way we are doing it, we will continue on.  It is nice that we rarely actually argue about things unless they are huge, and that we also often see that 'clarity' in what the other person sees at the moment, and will be 'expanded' by their observations into doing something more accurately, efficiently or with less effort.  It is an amazing quality - kind of like my eating his green Skittles.  *heh* because otherwise he would just throw them out and I actually like lime flavored things where he would go out of his way to avoid them.  Like that 'Same' yet opposite, complementary colors.

I'm on to reading 'Spindlers' today. by Lauren Oliver.

  

 Just before she realized I had the camera.  Sweetie is consoling Lucy because Esme is at school and she is sad.  And, Sweetie kind of likes her anyway, its nice to have a puppy. (Actually Sweetie is Lucy's aunt)

 

And an attempt at dignity after I have the camera *heh*

Esme and I have been building this house in Minecraft - it is really fancy and tall :)

Books

I just finished a pair, 'Museum of Sudden Disappearances (and Vanishing Ax)' by Thomas Davidson, and 'Before We Were Yours' by Linda Wingate.  The first one was funny, hilarious in places.. and it was free through a book club.  It reminded me of all my mom's 45 records I had once upon a time.  The second was about children stolen by an orphanage director and based on the mashings-together of many true stories, although the actual family in the book does not exist.  I bawled.. I knew I would.  I had it on my Kindle for about a week before I had the courage to read it.

I've got a few more lined up now, and two more added to the wait list.  The 'Bay of Sighs' second installment of a cheesy fantasy-romance (it has mermaids and werewolves and magicians) is out finally and I put that on my Kindle to follow up 'The Round House' by Louise Erdrich which is about a boy on a North Dakota Indian reservation who seeks justice for his mother after she is brutally attacked.  It won a National Book Award, and I put it in my queue this morning while looking for something.  I also have 'Everything Solid has a Shadow', by Michael Antman which has an intriguing write-up that sounds like it has mysterious multi-level meanings, which I have liked very much in books like 'The Ocean at the End of the Lane' by Neil Gaiman.

I should read some more Gaiman.  I always hear good things and yet I have not really had many come my way.  I should also read 'The Moon is a Harsh Mistress'.  Mark says that one has a really emotional ending and I have somehow missed it all these years even though I've read many other Heinlein.


In other news.  Mornings are beginning even earlier.  I'm getting tired even earlier.

I finished my hat and I'm wearing it a lot.  It looks like an acorn on my head but it is warm.

I should draw some more... I have ideas, and also ideas to write.. but I need to make a spot to do it and actually do it instead of give into playing a game because that is easier.  I did my Welsh again on the tablet - most days lately I read the newsgroup postings but leave it at that.. so it was good I fired the tablet back up.  I'm off until Friday.

reading list updated

The Signature of All Things, by Elizabeth Gilbert (25% through)
Unaccustomed Earth, by Jhumpa Lahiri
Salt to the Sea, by Ruta Sepetys
Sea of Poppies, by Amitav Ghosh
Heartburn, by Nora Ephron
Serafina and the Splintered Heart, by Robert Beatty
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night, by Mark Haddon,
Darker Still, by Leanna Renee Heber


I might just have to finish 'signature' and go right into Serafina... I've been waiting for that for a long time!  But I'm still reading volume one to Esme, so maybe I should wait until we are at least done with that... hmm... two weeks to read the last five.. a few days to read the Lahiri and Sepetys books.. 20 hours left on Signature.

Stage four fish painting

I've got to let this layer of color dry before I can go back in and define the tyes more and the scales.. just a bit of shading started... Esme has been at me for days about when I will finally start to paint the fish.. so I took a bit of time today.  I meant really to just go down there and start to sketch in my notebook about the colors  - but then I dove right in with the paint anyway without making a single sketch.  The top one is a bit dull, but I saw a gold scaled one with highlights I'd like to try to work with.. and maybe some actual gold flake paint as well.

Listening to Seven Nations... they are gifted musicians.  Sometimes their lyrics are a bit lacking, but they go off on these wonderful multi-instrument joyful 'tirades' again and again.. and that is amazing to listen to.

Reading Fingersmith.. vicious, terrible... I'm not sure where I got that recommendation from.. but I'll finish it out.  Mark said he saw me visibly shudder a few times reading it.

Also working on the yarn.. bought something on clearance that will make another good acrylic washable rug for Esme's room.  It is a chunky green yarn that will work up quick and let me rotate them out a bit. 

reading list

Just finished:
A Twist in Time, by Julie McElwain
The Vanishing of Katharina Linden, by Helen Grant

Starting:
Fingersmith, by Sarah Waters

upcoming:
The Signature of All Things, by Elizabeth Gilbert
Unaccustomed Earth, by Jhumpa Lahiri
Salt to the Sea, by Ruta Sepetys

Just in case I don't finish them all and have to go hunting to put them on hold again...

painting progress

Did an hour on the painting last night.. just to block things in but not to get too entrenched.  My next step might be to start the fish but also I want to take some more sketches of the plant in the middle in a light study so I can get the highlights correct.

Doing laundry (sale linge) and a Welsh lesson, and making rice for my dinner tonight.  We've all been getting up quite early to get used to school schedules again, which tonight I close, so it will be a long one.  I've noticed my brain really doesn't feel 'active' in the same places when I am studying Welsh as studying French.  The Welsh feels like a 'shorter distance' from English because of the tenses, while the French (although I know more of it) seems like I'm going through more hallways between thoughts, making more turns and 'curlicues' to get to the same places.  The Welsh just feels like I'm remembering to pick up different things on the same routes most of the time, with a few oddities.

Finished 'The Other Language', although I admit I skimmed and skipped through most of the last story because I was just ready to be 'done'.  I have three more loans that have come available from the library and my Paul Auster book 'In the Country of Last Things' has arrived (which I can read anytime).  The beginning of that book really does have reminisces of  'In the Cities of Coin and Spice' by Catheryne Valente I read a few months back...

Esme starts school next Tuesday.