tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16199836315305687382024-03-04T23:59:40.612-05:00The BlatheringMy way to avoid—er, my thoughts about—writing. And other things.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger523125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1619983631530568738.post-22765757486879368002012-04-01T14:35:00.070-04:002012-04-05T10:23:51.908-04:002012 Book Report: First QuarterIt's a new year and a (mostly) new slate of books. Again, my target is to read 100 books in 2012—I hope I have the full year before the world ends. You'd think by the lack of posts on the blog I'd have spent more time reading, but ... well, you'll see.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Key: C: Children's; F: Fantasy; H: Historical; Hr: Horror; M: Mystery; MG: Middle Grade (ages 8-12); NF: Nonfiction; P: Poetry; R: Romance; SF: Science Fiction; SS: Short Stories; V: Verse novel; YA: Young Adult (age 13+); *not in the last ten years at least; ^for work; #e-book.</span><br />
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01/02/12: Sarah Rees Brennan, <i>The Demon's Lexicon</i> (F, YA, 1)<br />
01/07/12: Rees Brennan, <i>The Demon's Covenant</i> (F, YA, 1)<br />
01/15/12: Nathan Wolfe, <i>The Viral Storm</i> (NF, 1)<br />
01/18/12: Ransom Riggs, <i>Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children</i> (F, YA, 1)<br />
01/26/12: Margaret Atwood, <i>Oryx and Crake</i> # (SF, 1)<br />
01/29/12: Rees Brennan, <i>The Demon's Surrender</i> (F, YA, 1)<br />
02/02/12: Steven Johnson, <i>The Ghost Map</i> (NF, 1)<br />
02/06/12: Jennifer Carson, <i>Hapenny Magick</i> (MG, F, 1)<br />
02/09/12: Daniel Handler and Maira Kalman, <i>Why We Broke Up</i> (YA, 1)<br />
02/13/12: Michael Grant, <i>Hunger</i> (YA, SF, 1)<br />
02/16/12: Grant, <i>Lies</i> (YA, SF, 1)<br />
02/19/12: Grant, <i>Plague</i> (YA, SF, 1)<br />
02/23/12: Kristin Cashore, <i>Graceling</i> (YA, F, 1)<br />
02/26/12: Grant, <i>The Call</i> (MG, F, 1)<br />
03/06/12: Siddhartha Mukherjee, <i>The Emperor of All Maladies</i> # (NF, 1)<br />
03/12/12: Cashore, <i>Fire</i> (YA, F, 1)<br />
03/16/12: Suzanne Collins, <i>The Hunger Games</i> # (YA, SF, 3)<br />
03/18/12: Collins, <i>Catching Fire</i> # (YA, SF, 2)<br />
03/21/12: Collins, <i>Mockingjay # </i>(YA, SF, 2)<br />
03/25/12: Connie Willis, <i>Doomsday Book</i> (SF, 5ish)<br />
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Wow, only 20 books for the quarter. It didn't feel like I was working like crazy, or that I wasn't reading. I guess I've just been slow. A lot of the YA books were by people I was profiling for work, but I chose them because they looked interesting, and they were. Still, it's hard to pick my favorite book of the quarter; there weren't any real stinkers, and a lot of very good books, but nothing that jumped up and grabbed me and made me want to share it with everyone around me. The closest of the first-timers I read was probably Sarah Rees Brennan's <i>The Demon's Lexicon,</i> which had a great voice, a cool urban fantasy world, and a fantastic twist I didn't see coming. If urban fantasy is your thing, I recommend it.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1619983631530568738.post-20340444087946766822012-02-20T13:38:00.000-05:002012-02-20T13:38:54.667-05:00Photo of the Week--2/20/11<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLXThMpMDg5GAAAKaXj1NE4ZjwgVbFOy1c2QH0jN5KCZOlgpWKStRFZMTYpSmxsorUQKizWew2jmW8BCVZF1TK8G_6anL6yjcTyH98gYw2jUVqqbCA4ZJE2P4qMwoUYRddAxdXGzXddg/s660/P1050203.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLXThMpMDg5GAAAKaXj1NE4ZjwgVbFOy1c2QH0jN5KCZOlgpWKStRFZMTYpSmxsorUQKizWew2jmW8BCVZF1TK8G_6anL6yjcTyH98gYw2jUVqqbCA4ZJE2P4qMwoUYRddAxdXGzXddg/s640/P1050203.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br />
Oh, yeah, they also have mountains in Colorado. It's fun driving up and coasting down them, and getting awesome pictures like this one. I love it when you get such a wide vista that it feels like you're looking down at a map: Ooo! I see roads! Look at the river twist! There's the highest peak! Somehow it makes you feel like you're getting away from it all and yet still in charge of all you survey.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1619983631530568738.post-67433917524806707262012-02-06T15:45:00.000-05:002012-02-06T15:45:29.659-05:00Photo of the Week--2/6/12<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAe-uC9Ai6_bATI1h3fm-fSoxjCk8fSITLukI6qX4iB9Qt-cdATc3MmpMpSKON7ASFpMtNcJdtbDK4vMwWO3X2eSZGDMwpB-YwQg6TAT5JL3Lf-JihpM-duvZ72JlI_kBYC09eUWAqJQ/s660/P1050187.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAe-uC9Ai6_bATI1h3fm-fSoxjCk8fSITLukI6qX4iB9Qt-cdATc3MmpMpSKON7ASFpMtNcJdtbDK4vMwWO3X2eSZGDMwpB-YwQg6TAT5JL3Lf-JihpM-duvZ72JlI_kBYC09eUWAqJQ/s640/P1050187.JPG" width="480" /></a></div><br />
I call this photo "Self-Portrait with Waterfall." There wasn't a good place to set up my camera with the timer—it was pretty crowded for that, anyway—so I sat down, stretched out, and put my feet in the picture. I figure they deserved it; by this point in the hike they had gone around 6 miles along the Glacier Gorge Trailhead in Rocky Mountain National Park. And look! They are still on the end of my legs, looking ready to take me another mile or so!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1619983631530568738.post-1769997834639379372012-01-30T11:15:00.000-05:002012-01-30T11:15:02.792-05:00Photo of the Week--1/30/12<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiF8pw_g6TIV1nsQTF7Ct9NZhkz0VynrSz1emO1RYu7qF6Rhmk7-chCMIsRL-uCFjTxgp27zN9ok35CMJRLJ411lvlFqcfyHCOojcFNeYVST86QBrko3d2k3z7jneOM1T1qGJiAGSgNEA/s660/P1050152.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiF8pw_g6TIV1nsQTF7Ct9NZhkz0VynrSz1emO1RYu7qF6Rhmk7-chCMIsRL-uCFjTxgp27zN9ok35CMJRLJ411lvlFqcfyHCOojcFNeYVST86QBrko3d2k3z7jneOM1T1qGJiAGSgNEA/s640/P1050152.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br />
You might have guessed from previous photos that I like trees, especially ones that take twisty turny shapes. I found this one while hiking along the Glacier Gorge Trail in Rocky Mountain National Park. (In Colorado, of course.) The scenery here was so gorgeous I almost forgot I was at nearly 10,000 feet of elevation during the six-nile trek. (My lungs were happy to remind me any time I found a steep section of trail, however.) Any physical discomfort was worth it to sit and have my lunch here, in the shade of a twisty tree with a cool lake at my feet.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1619983631530568738.post-19728037059261178682012-01-26T11:10:00.000-05:002012-01-26T11:10:09.755-05:00Quilting How-To: Simple PiecingSo I've written about <a href="http://dianeblathers.blogspot.com/2011/10/quilting-how-to-fabric-selection.html">choosing fabrics</a> and <a href="http://dianeblathers.blogspot.com/2011/10/quilting-how-to-strip-cutting.html">strip cutting</a>; now I'm at the step where you take all that fabric you cut apart and lovingly put it together again. Maybe sometime in the future (when I'm working on the appropriate project) I'll talk about piecing more complex shapes, like triangles, but for now I'll just consider simple piecing of rectangular shapes. Rectangles are simple because they always line up on one side—at least, that's the goal.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCo2GmXiGGBCy2RJcuGPSHX3Vhkt57g40f9VG0K4kFk-Xy1GZ43tbZ9Bz4SPxs5VCuy1vjNwKLy0-wyhAucTL07hYiXy9IoVcL3QpQEnX0uxxYw-H2m_p8DHEgdxjOAbLSYIwe2-rbkQ/s1600/piece1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCo2GmXiGGBCy2RJcuGPSHX3Vhkt57g40f9VG0K4kFk-Xy1GZ43tbZ9Bz4SPxs5VCuy1vjNwKLy0-wyhAucTL07hYiXy9IoVcL3QpQEnX0uxxYw-H2m_p8DHEgdxjOAbLSYIwe2-rbkQ/s400/piece1.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>Now, I pre-cut all my pieces so I could pair the fabrics together in squares, and make sure I had a balance of pairs before sewing. (I didn't want all of fabric 1 to be paired with fabric 2, I wanted it matched equally with the other 11 fabrics.) This precluded doing real strip piecing, where you leave at least one fabric in long strips, sew pieces of a second fabric to the strip, and then cut them to the appropriate size. Still, I could save thread by stitching in series, rather than piece by piece. I had at least two blocks of every two-fabric combination, so I made piles of the two sizes of strips. I sewed the first seam of the first block, let the machine go a few stitches over, then fed in the first seam of the second block, like you see in the first picture. After I was halfway through the second block's seam, I could cut the first block off the stitching and match it with a piece to do the second seam. By alternating back and forth between two blocks in this way, and not stopping and cutting after each seam, I minimized the amount of thread used between seams. When you're stitching 240 blocks, that could be a lot of wasted thread.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1nAdNGJD9d3VjWGdO-bVflXJzU2B46KEqMxsBpm0g6BOt2v9btY0V2By66CHHA4RxQS2lPC5D8yBWQ4XAEpiDRD-t0mp-MttJ0D_9JvI6I8H_tC7Q2aWfhrTpKjqGwZmRDe3owyOiog/s1600/piece2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1nAdNGJD9d3VjWGdO-bVflXJzU2B46KEqMxsBpm0g6BOt2v9btY0V2By66CHHA4RxQS2lPC5D8yBWQ4XAEpiDRD-t0mp-MttJ0D_9JvI6I8H_tC7Q2aWfhrTpKjqGwZmRDe3owyOiog/s320/piece2.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlLv-Lh8oR1fh348y-dcCF7zYCbRiBMVePhULDWnD34WNp_9Du96azSDtAk6UwKmX2ijevO67kjX3SLUp_Hc633wTl7DAZ3vKVXUmtX1WZskRdwkdKUTLLoh_2jQSPPUflsK6OUYZZUA/s1600/piece+3.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlLv-Lh8oR1fh348y-dcCF7zYCbRiBMVePhULDWnD34WNp_9Du96azSDtAk6UwKmX2ijevO67kjX3SLUp_Hc633wTl7DAZ3vKVXUmtX1WZskRdwkdKUTLLoh_2jQSPPUflsK6OUYZZUA/s320/piece+3.JPG" width="320" /></a>So once I had my blocks made and laid out (I'll cover that in a separate post), it was time to sew them together. Here is the trickiest part of piecing: getting seams to match. As you can see from this photo, I had to match these two edges where three pieces were joined together. I wanted those two middle seams to match exactly. Now, you can carefully measure while you're cutting your pieces, and carefully set your machine to sew an exact ¼-inch seam, and still not get your edges to match. Seams can be bulky and messy when you sew them together.<br />
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But do not fear! There is a trick to getting your seams to match, and it's all in the pressing. When I initially pieced the blocks, I did them in pairs like this one. I knew these seams would be abutting each other, so I carefully identified one fabric as the "dark" and one as the "light." For the center seam, I always pressed the seam towards the "dark" side (in this photo, the green fabric). So on one square, the center seams were pressed to the outside. On its opposite mate, they went to inside. In this way, when I aligned the edges, I could match the seams and have an equal amount of fabric on either side. Pin the seams together and you have a very good chance of aligning your seams.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhC3IPZtZaIvomy7Q4zjcKlwSNXREpoRgUSnCQle0InQdnyhhSwERRonTV3m_kLtYOxi8r9a6qVggpAxf3SeAvm5o5ImpzHZEikHzSEF_6XipMNhnUm-wVbuGbsrPVs4qi7meRD3fq9DQ/s1600/piece4.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhC3IPZtZaIvomy7Q4zjcKlwSNXREpoRgUSnCQle0InQdnyhhSwERRonTV3m_kLtYOxi8r9a6qVggpAxf3SeAvm5o5ImpzHZEikHzSEF_6XipMNhnUm-wVbuGbsrPVs4qi7meRD3fq9DQ/s320/piece4.JPG" width="320" /></a>Of course, you still have to be careful when stitching, especially if the bottom seam is pointing up (towards the machine). If you're not careful, the motion of pulling the seam up towards the machine will flip the bottom down, and then you have a bumpy seam. But if you're careful, you get a nicely aligned seam, like the one in the finished picture here.<br />
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When you get to the stage where you're piecing blocks in rows, and then stitching whole rows together, you again need to be conscious of which way you're pressing the seams. I generally wait until I've sewn a whole row together, then I press all the seams in the first row "up." All the seams in the second row go "down," so I can do the same aligning of seams. I double-check, row by row, until I'm finished. The smoother the seams, the smoother the quilting. But that's getting ahead of myself. You'll have to wait for a future installment to learn about that.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1619983631530568738.post-68916919442150567072012-01-23T14:01:00.000-05:002012-01-23T14:01:55.773-05:00Photo of the Week--1/23/12<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsX1Qr5XXakaKiqOS52rTNX2d5FvsdNuQoD_FAcWAewJ1T-ciW7HOVjZHq1W3dd7C0K8tHxovol_Pd1OxNBN9t2dfaSwLFZ1rCBQenQN7uWJ6cmU6NCRPiHFTAJe7uwmT1vTCuv_T7QQ/s660/P1040814.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsX1Qr5XXakaKiqOS52rTNX2d5FvsdNuQoD_FAcWAewJ1T-ciW7HOVjZHq1W3dd7C0K8tHxovol_Pd1OxNBN9t2dfaSwLFZ1rCBQenQN7uWJ6cmU6NCRPiHFTAJe7uwmT1vTCuv_T7QQ/s640/P1040814.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br />
It's finally cold here in Michigan, so we're all thinking thoughts of warm places—especially Florida, where so many snowbird like to escape to in the winter months. We took a visit down to a snowbird last winter and took a drive through the Big Cypress National Preserve. We thought these alligators had the right idea: sit out and soak up the sun. And maybe eat a few unsuspecting tourists.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1619983631530568738.post-38914006610525836202012-01-12T15:53:00.000-05:002012-01-12T15:53:40.827-05:002011 Final Book ReportHere's where I go into a little more detail about the books I read in 2011, as well as pick my favorite book of all the books I read this year.<br />
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<b>102</b> total books read (1.96 per week)<br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><b>76 </b>books read for the first time</span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><b>47</b> books of nonfiction/biography/memoir</span><br />
<span style="color: #134f5c;"><b>40</b> books read for work</span><br />
<span style="color: orange;"><b>24</b> read on the e-reader </span><br />
<span style="color: red;"><b>18</b> books for children or young adults</span><br />
<span style="color: orange;"><b>17</b> sci-fi books</span><br />
<b style="color: #134f5c;">7</b><span style="color: #134f5c;"> fantasies</span><br />
<b style="color: blue;">5</b><span style="color: blue;"> Austen-related</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><b>1 </b>classic for first time</span><br />
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Pretty interesting when I compare to <a href="http://dianeblathers.blogspot.com/2011/01/2010-final-book-report.html">2010</a>; the percentage of books I read for the first time was 75%, almost as good as last year (77%) and better than 2009 (71%). Unlike last year, when the majority of books I read were for young adults or children, this year the biggest portion of my reading material (46%) came from nonfiction, mostly books I read for research. Sci-fi was up by a couple of books and fantasy down by almost two-thirds. Classics and Austen-related books also took big hits, as I didn't have time to write about them in my blog.<br />
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The most interesting number, I believe, is the new line item: 24 books read on the e-reader, which I received for Christmas 2010. I've purchased a few e-books online, checked out several from the library, and got a big hunk of the ones I read from CDs included with the latest volumes of my favorite series from <a href="http://www.baen.com/">Baen</a> publishers. It will be interesting to see, especially with no big research project looming, how much that e-book number grows in 2012. You'll just have to check back in a year to find out! In the meantime, here were my favorite books of 2011:<br />
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<span style="color: #cc0000;"><b>Favorite book of the first quarter:</b> E. Lockhart's <i>The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks,</i> a funny YA school story with lots to say about friends and gender roles.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #b45f06;"><b>Favorite book of the second quarter:</b> Ian McEwan's <i>Atonement,</i> both a historical novel and a meditation on writing.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #38761d;"><b>Favorite book of the third quarter:</b> Louis Sachar's <i>Holes,</i> the 1998 Newbery Medal winner (I'm a little behind) and still a wonderfully plotted book with great characters.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #0b5394;"><b>Favorite book of the fourth quarter:</b> Jay Asher's <i>Thirteen Reasons Why</i> (fiction), a moving mystery about a girl's suicide; and Erik Larsen's <i>Devil in the White City</i> (nonfiction), an intertwined account of the 1893 Chicago World's Fair and the murderous doctor who haunted it.</span><br />
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And my <b>favorite book of 2011?</b> Of course, I have to choose <i>Atonement.</i> Beautiful language, epic scope, and a doozy of a final twist—all to explore the role of the author and the act of writing. How could I resist?Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1619983631530568738.post-27057803478136595912012-01-09T16:14:00.000-05:002012-01-09T16:14:23.749-05:00Photo of the Week--1/9/12<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjd7kFNyEc7wJqU0bfLr1ttKM5CX8jRkKDTYxFC8ETL8coSWhHGs4zgBziCwa3IHUrXx-Y8QmnoQvYZWbGx1U8NUPgcN6yVI-f2HFlNGoZBpQNq9Qe5uxZOGJGFnDiW3x0CYe-ha_b6ww/s660/P1040415.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjd7kFNyEc7wJqU0bfLr1ttKM5CX8jRkKDTYxFC8ETL8coSWhHGs4zgBziCwa3IHUrXx-Y8QmnoQvYZWbGx1U8NUPgcN6yVI-f2HFlNGoZBpQNq9Qe5uxZOGJGFnDiW3x0CYe-ha_b6ww/s640/P1040415.JPG" width="480" /></a></div><br />
For this week's installment of picture of things framed by other things: Picture Rocks National Lakeshore! The only way to really see this beautiful part of Michigan is by boat, which we did a couple of years ago. (In the future we'd love to do it by canoe, but that requires planning ahead for the special class.) I love the patterns the water makes on and through the rocks; testament again to the patience and power of water. Wait long enough, and water will triumph. It's an example to keep in mind as I prepare yet another cycle of revise-and-submit for my novel.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1619983631530568738.post-49315657818412657432012-01-05T09:26:00.028-05:002012-01-05T14:35:10.900-05:002011 Book Report: Fourth QuarterLast quarter, despite the crush of work for my book project, I managed to get 74% of the way to my 100-book-year goal. With my project completed, did I read enough to meet my goal, or did I laze about reading nothing but magazines? Check out my list below.<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Key: C: Children's; F: Fantasy; H: Historical; Hr: Horror; M: Mystery; MG: Middle Grade (ages 8-12); NF: Nonfiction; P: Poetry; R: Romance; SF: Science Fiction; SS: Short Stories; V: Verse novel; YA: Young Adult (age 13+); *not in the last ten years at least; ^for work; #e-book.</span><br />
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10/03/11: Clare Vanderpool, <i>Moon over Manifest </i># (MG, 1)<br />
10/15/11: Roger Zelazny, <i>Nine Princes in Amber</i> (F, 10-15?*)<br />
10/17/11: Zelazny, <i>The Guns of Avalon</i> (F, 15-20?*)<br />
10/19/11: Zelazny, <i>The Sign of the Unicorn</i> (F, 20-25?*)<br />
10/22/11: Zelazny, <i>The Hand of Oberon</i> (F, really, I've no idea how many times I've read these*)<br />
10/22/11: Zelazny, <i>The Courts of Chaos</i> (F, 15ish*)<br />
10/24/11: John Gardner, <i>On Becoming a Novelist</i> (NF, 1)<br />
10/26/11: Mary Burchell, <i>A Song Begins</i> (R, 5-10)<br />
10/27/11: Burchell, <i>The Broken Wing</i> (R, 5-10)<br />
10/28/11: Burchell, <i>When Love Is Blind</i> (R, 5-10)<br />
10/31/11: Liz Murray, <i>Breaking Night</i> (memoir, 1)<br />
10/31/11: Burchell, <i>Music of the Heart</i> (R, 5-10)<br />
11/01/11: Burchell, <i>Unbidden Melody</i> (R, 5-10)<br />
11/04/11: Burchell, <i>Song Cycle</i> (R, 5-10)<br />
11/06/11: Burchell, <i>Remembered Serenade</i> (R, 5-10)<br />
11/10/11: Rebecca Skloot, <i>The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks </i># (NF, 1)<br />
11/13/11: Charlie Price, <i>Desert Angel</i> (YA, 1)<br />
11/17/11: Price, <i>Dead Connection</i> (YA, M, 1)<br />
11/21/11: Jay Asher, <i>Thirteen Reasons Why </i># (YA, 1)<br />
11/26/11: Walter Mosley, <i>Futureland </i># (SF, SS, 1)<br />
11/30/11: Gregory Maguire, <i>Wicked</i> (F, 1)<br />
12/04/11: Asher and Carolyn Macklin, <i>The Future of Us</i> (YA, 1)<br />
12/05/11: Walter Isaacson, <i>Steve Jobs</i>^ (bio, 1)<br />
12/06/11: Price, <i>The Interrogation of Gabriel James</i> (YA, M, 1)<br />
12/12/11: Price, <i>Lizard People</i> (YA, 1)<br />
12/22/11: James L.Swanson, <i>Bloody Crimes </i># (NF, 1)<br />
12/26/11: Erik Larsen, <i>In the Garden of Beasts</i> # (NF, 1)<br />
12/30/11: Larsen, <i>Devil in the White City</i> # (NF, 1)<br />
<br />
That's right. I cheated. It was the middle of October and I saw I had read only one book, despite being freed from the constraints of research reading. My brain was tired. I didn't want to think. I turned to two favorite series I re-read from time to time; it's like comfort food. Now, just because each book in these series was only about 200 pages doesn't mean ... oh, yes, it does. I cheated. A book a day! Sometimes two! I read each of them all the way through, so these books definitely count, but they were short. I didn't have to think. And so I reached my 100-book goal. Actually, the final count for 2011 is 102 books.<br />
<br />
So what was my favorite book of the quarter? That's actually a tough one, and I think I have to go with a tie. My favorite fiction of the quarter was Jay Asher's <i>Thirteen Reasons Why,</i> a young adult novel that deals with an extremely serious subject—suicide—without being preachy, treacly, or otherwise "issue-y." It's frank, occasionally funny, and always emotionally true, and the characters really stuck with me.<br />
<br />
My favorite nonfiction book of the quarter was actually the last book I read this year: Erik Larsen's <i>Devil in the White City.</i> It dealt with an era that's become very familiar to me this year—the 1890s—and intertwines the story of the building of the Chicago World's Fair with an account of one of America's first serial killers. It builds suspense and evokes horror as well as any novel I've read, and makes even potentially dry subjects (the history of landscape architecture, anyone?) extremely interesting by focusing on the people behind the history. This is the best kind of nonfiction writing, and the other Larsen book I read this month, about the American ambassador in Berlin in the 1930s, was equally captivating. Nonfiction rules!<br />
<br />
At least, I'm pretty sure it did for me this year. Check back soon for my final assessment of my year's reading.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1619983631530568738.post-87876327879832952842012-01-03T10:42:00.000-05:002012-01-03T10:42:32.370-05:00Photo of the Week--1/2/12<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcfu-pToiVqgnV08eLP_uFRNSmZp6BZtb7_bo4aZI8QGH2TrNc3aiC0Z5yKetc7r5i54mbR4YfDUmKvC2VqHjbrgsDE9lAQN-DTXwb9P8t_2_ilulVm-0CATO5Paw_Hlbueo4ToUHgYw/s660/P1030631.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcfu-pToiVqgnV08eLP_uFRNSmZp6BZtb7_bo4aZI8QGH2TrNc3aiC0Z5yKetc7r5i54mbR4YfDUmKvC2VqHjbrgsDE9lAQN-DTXwb9P8t_2_ilulVm-0CATO5Paw_Hlbueo4ToUHgYw/s640/P1030631.JPG" width="480" /></a></div><br />
Ha! Mother Nature says. Get your picturesque <a href="http://dianeblathers.blogspot.com/2008/07/photo-of-week-63008.html">photos</a> of sunlight in a cathedral. That's easy, what with the walls and windows and all. Try this: a lone shaft of sunlight finding you in a forest. Now that's hard! (Or maybe not, if you take a trip to lovely northwest Michigan, as we did a couple of summers ago.)Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1619983631530568738.post-33783744612506598022011-12-23T22:17:00.000-05:002011-12-23T22:17:17.770-05:00Cookie of the Month: Gingerbread Cookies!Because of time constraints (and waistline constraints) I haven't made many cookies over the past few months. But it's holiday season, so it's time to make cookies—and what kind is more appropriate for the season than gingerbread? I consulted my trusty Better Homes & Gardens recipe book:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhB4x6FtNRVZVtcQVGJofquND45Uyj-M7UIDQFKy_y-jzKEpV0RkUnniqDr5tP2XNMskK1fHDHZz2cXNma98Owqkwfp8vAWvsYXnPU2HBZC_-PdZt6JLdTE0Xnmt-R8wzsv3BkzOcvq9g/s1600/P1050439.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhB4x6FtNRVZVtcQVGJofquND45Uyj-M7UIDQFKy_y-jzKEpV0RkUnniqDr5tP2XNMskK1fHDHZz2cXNma98Owqkwfp8vAWvsYXnPU2HBZC_-PdZt6JLdTE0Xnmt-R8wzsv3BkzOcvq9g/s320/P1050439.JPG" width="320" /></a>5 cups all-purpose flour<br />
1½ t. baking soda<br />
½ t. salt<br />
2 t. ground ginger<br />
1 t. ground cinnamon<br />
1 t. ground cloves<br />
1 cup shortening<br />
1 egg<br />
1 cup molasses<br />
2 T. vinegar <br />
<br />
Beat shortening for 30 seconds. Add sugar; beat until fluffy. Add egg, molasses, and vinegar; beat well. Add dry ingredients (flour, spices, soda, salt) and beat well. (I was so glad I had my trusty KitchenAid for this step; adding 5 cups of flour to any recipe is too much for my poor wrists and elbows.) Cover and chill 3 hours or overnight. You'll end up with a stiff mass, like in the picture here.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKoe2yPwJlwLxqdh0C7b9eoIruYop_MivZj8GrQJCU_LfILuXUUSAfnY2rVWsNpzatOuyjMRS3FJTSfNtGBEbzZKKWshdD0CHg2nQdkWQWsw4r8PL14mlLrsw_YzpfRsIdNAJ_L99oMg/s1600/P1050438.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKoe2yPwJlwLxqdh0C7b9eoIruYop_MivZj8GrQJCU_LfILuXUUSAfnY2rVWsNpzatOuyjMRS3FJTSfNtGBEbzZKKWshdD0CHg2nQdkWQWsw4r8PL14mlLrsw_YzpfRsIdNAJ_L99oMg/s320/P1050438.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>Divide dough into thirds. On a lightly floured surface, roll each third of dough to a ⅛-inch thickness. (Keep remainder chilled.) Cut into desired shapes.<br />
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<i>Baker's note:</i> This is always the challenging part for me: trying to keep the dough even. At least with cookies, you don't have to spread the dough evenly, and when you have extra you can re-roll it. In that fashion, I would roll and cut, roll and cut, roll and cut, until I ran out of dough. The recipe said "Makes 60"; since I used bigger cutters, I probably had more around four dozen.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9aB0zR7vJRPZzxe8ZV4xV8jxT7jqR1HDUYvXlBRtNIPmb0MJno0Mz94toizO6oPahTTfdpTI9N7ItVO4gCUBLjQjaNFOL2oDlwNws7Ivt07N_WEW6rQyfRps1eQD04WtJt4tp7ybsaw/s1600/P1050441.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9aB0zR7vJRPZzxe8ZV4xV8jxT7jqR1HDUYvXlBRtNIPmb0MJno0Mz94toizO6oPahTTfdpTI9N7ItVO4gCUBLjQjaNFOL2oDlwNws7Ivt07N_WEW6rQyfRps1eQD04WtJt4tp7ybsaw/s320/P1050441.JPG" width="320" /></a>Place cut-out dough one inch apart on greased cookie sheet (or ungreased well-used stone, as I have). Bake in a 375° F oven for 5 to 6 minutes. Cool one minute; remove to a wire rack.<br />
<br />
You end up with some really tasty cookies. While they were baking, and since I didn't know how they would taste, I thought they might need some glaze. I made a simple confectioners' sugar-and-water glaze and brushed it over some of the cookies. The picture to the left shows an unglazed on top, the glazed on the bottom. The cookies were actually pretty tasty without the glaze; nice and chewy, not too sweet and nicely spicy, and very addicting. This would be a great recipe to use for gingerbread houses, trains, or other construction—if you can bear holding off on eating them.<br />
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Final verdict: nom nom nom nom nom (five of five noms).Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1619983631530568738.post-47056526633868905482011-12-20T08:34:00.000-05:002011-12-20T08:34:01.764-05:00Photo of the Week--12/19/11<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiy5bkcDBldO9joBTcvM9u8Y95mZr-x0cfW5pZSsT3Vxin9IZfIEpZgDoIF-K5247eJ0Hrd4SWo1qRmG83U7qIvXOeTYpbT7_LAeCFgEOLyxJuSi2ceP6LbgmKz_3M548il07nq76uv5Q/s660/P1000873.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiy5bkcDBldO9joBTcvM9u8Y95mZr-x0cfW5pZSsT3Vxin9IZfIEpZgDoIF-K5247eJ0Hrd4SWo1qRmG83U7qIvXOeTYpbT7_LAeCFgEOLyxJuSi2ceP6LbgmKz_3M548il07nq76uv5Q/s640/P1000873.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br />
Again, Mother Nature takes your architectural flourishes, your cornices and finials and whatnot, and says, "Yeah, babe, I did it first." I took this picture on the Glacier El Martial near Ushuaia, the southernmost town in Argentina. It was December, the beginning of summer, and so much of the snow had melted as we walked around the lovely scenery on the mountain. I found this stand of trees, so marvelously knotted and twisted, and couldn't resist snapping a shot.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1619983631530568738.post-347930723172706982011-12-16T17:36:00.000-05:002011-12-16T17:36:50.493-05:00This post is no jokeIf you're one of my <strike>multitudes</strike> <strike>dozens</strike> handful of regular readers, you've probably noticed that I haven't posted much in this blog in the past month. Part of it is because, yes, I got out of the habit and yes, it's hard to get back into the habit once you stop exercising. (That rule applies to both physical and mental exercise, wouldn't you know it.) I got out of the habit because of a family situation: my mother-in-law passed away last month after a long illness. And it just seemed so hard to get back into the habit, to write something light and amusing, when we were all still missing her.<br />
<br />
As a bridge back to blogging, and just because I loved her so and want to share it, I'm posting here the words I spoke at her memorial, simple and unadorned:<br />
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They say that you can’t pick your family. You’re born, and you’re stuck with them. Well, that’s not exactly true. When you decide to get married, you choose your spouse, and you choose the family that comes along with them. But there you can be stuck, too—at least, that’s what all the “in-law” jokes would tell you. Mothers-in-law, especially, can be a problem. Overbearing, interfering, critical ... those are all the stereotypes.<br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Well, anyone who ever met my mother-in-law knows she never conformed to any stereotype. When I married TSU and became her daughter-in-law, I discovered a woman who was generous and kind, with a sometimes-wicked wit. Although there are several stories I could tell to illustrate her thoughtful nature, there’s one in particular that stands out.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">After Boy was born, we had a little mixup in scheduling. TSU had accepted a new job, but when he picked a start date he hadn’t put any wiggle room into his schedule. I guess he figured that a baby’s delivery date was like a FedEx delivery date, but Boy decided to be born a week late. So TSU began his job two days after we came home from the hospital. I was faced with dealing with a new baby, only a few days after having a C-section.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Of course my own mother took time off from work to stay with us, but she was teaching and only had a limited number of days off. It happened that my mother-in-law's winter break fell right after Boy's birth, and she used it to come help me out. Now understand, she was teaching high school. I have teachers on both sides of my family and I know what kind of hard work goes into it. But where many math or English teachers have two sections of the same class, and only have to prepare lesson plans for three or maybe four different classes, my mother-in-law taught languages. She had different levels of German class, and Latin class, and she might have even been teaching French or classes at the middle school that year. Some of her classes were split—German 3 and 4—so she could have five or even six different class preps every day. I’m sure she had many other things she could have done with her precious free time.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">But she came and helped me. And boy did I ever need it. I was an only child, and when I was growing up I was never that interested in handling babies. I had no idea what I was doing. My mother-in-law, I knew, was the oldest of four children, so she’d been around babies her whole life. She had four kids of her own, and they all managed to grow up into productive members of society. Even better, they were all BOYS. I knew nothing about little boys—I didn’t know much about little girls, either, but at least I had been one once. So who knows what my mother-in-law was thinking as she watched this total novice try to deal with this little alien creature, I mean, her precious grandchild.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">I don’t know what she was thinking, but this is what she did: she took care of us. She did little chores. She brought me food. She changed a diaper or two. And she never said, “You should do it this way.” Instead, she told me stories of how she had coped with being a mom. She shared her experiences and gave me valuable advice without making me feel like an idiot. She was thoughtful and generous, and during those early days she made me feel like she always did: like I was a welcome member of her team ... and, by the way, that it was nice to have another girl on the team for a change.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZBLkuxqSBYQsauKohkba_e2VcqRX9B2Kk9EYl3bumJVG46TuBcH2olLuLFInKd9YY4sWqNdLvL6cKqNFm7TN459ujJ7pmYp8mmw47t5D29XCoK1mAPoKAACdcMfceFGxchw8YpBZ-Ow/s1600/Tivoli+Bubble+Fountain+moms.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="430" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZBLkuxqSBYQsauKohkba_e2VcqRX9B2Kk9EYl3bumJVG46TuBcH2olLuLFInKd9YY4sWqNdLvL6cKqNFm7TN459ujJ7pmYp8mmw47t5D29XCoK1mAPoKAACdcMfceFGxchw8YpBZ-Ow/s640/Tivoli+Bubble+Fountain+moms.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My mother-in-law (on left) and my mother, on a family trip we all took to Denmark.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal">So you do get to choose your family, and sometimes you get incredibly lucky when you make your choice. I feel extraordinarily privileged to have been part of her family, and I will miss her dearly.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1619983631530568738.post-34855827789876143412011-12-12T14:42:00.000-05:002011-12-12T14:42:31.642-05:00Photo of the Week--12/12/11<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGy5c3yUWSEXE-xTUcXaMRRIxKgnJ8vuLv_o5jlYRmnyxeIAbn6v9_c7pdpMHzexzXttRcuOhmWEZ6nMwfq9HqpkpPOgfT9ApyIqUHiy0694wZENxoqLP5oeqvFCtLcZfb5h38G2JwVg/s660/P1000805.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGy5c3yUWSEXE-xTUcXaMRRIxKgnJ8vuLv_o5jlYRmnyxeIAbn6v9_c7pdpMHzexzXttRcuOhmWEZ6nMwfq9HqpkpPOgfT9ApyIqUHiy0694wZENxoqLP5oeqvFCtLcZfb5h38G2JwVg/s640/P1000805.JPG" width="480" /></a></div><br />
All those funky little "details" I like to find in architecture? Sometimes nature likes to remind me that She came up with them first. I got this shot in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in a lovely park that was only a block from our hotel. The tree was too huge to get in one shot—at least, not without crossing the street and putting the city back in the frame. But I really took the shot to get the interesting vein-like appearance of this tree's roots; the pretty little dilute tortie was a bonus.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1619983631530568738.post-80442059635088335802011-11-09T09:10:00.007-05:002011-11-10T09:55:54.373-05:00Come and major in overkill!It's November, Boy has already sent in his college applications (and gotten one acceptance), yet still the deluge continues. I can't stop reviewing the brochures now, though; how else will I discover who won the "most persistent" award? The "furthest away" award? The "????" award? So without further ado, the latest and not-greatest in recruiting literature.<br />
<br />
The Michigan also-rans: <b>Grand Valley State (MI, 3), </b><b>U of M Dearborn (6-8), U-M Flint (3), Oakland U (3), Wayne State U (4-6), Davenport U (3), Central MU (6-8), Western MU (1-4, welcome to the club!), Eastern MU (4-6), U of Detroit Mercy (3), Aquinas (3), Lawrence Tech, Albion (3-4)</b><br />
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The techies: <b>Rose-Hulman Tech (IN, 2-3):</b> Nation's #1 engineering school you haven't heard of; <b>MIT (4-5):</b> Local meeting and how-to-apply brochure. Sigh. Never mind; <b>MO Science & Tech (5); Michigan Tech (3); </b><b>NYU Polytechnic:</b> Never mind New York City, we rank high in graduates' salaries!<br />
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Small schools, small chance: <b>U of Evansville (IN, 2), </b><b>Manchester College (IN, 3-6):</b> Indiana now trying to vie for most colleges ignored. <b>Northeastern (MA, 2), U of Dayton (OH, 2), Miami (OH, 3), U of Toledo (3),</b> wait, Ohio still pulling ahead.<br />
<br />
Last-minute pushes: <b>U of Pittsburgh (3-7)</b><br />
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B1G Ten? Really only about the one: <b>U of Michigan (3-4).</b> Sorry, <b>THE Ohio State U (5-6):</b> we still don't like you or your love of articles; <b>U of Illinois (2):</b> Dept of Science & Engineering, I love the dot-matrix, non-graphic return address!!; <b>Northwestern (2-3):</b> purple!<br />
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Ignoring the Ivies: <b>Yale (4), Penn (2), Columbia (2)</b><br />
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Etc.: <b>DePaul U (3), Johns Hopkins, Vanderbilt (TN, 3-4), Case Western Reserve (OH, 3), Washington & Lee (VA, 2), the Army and Marines (eep!)</b><br />
<br />
The diehards: <b>U of Chicago (17-18), </b><b>U of Kentucky (16-21):</b> Since you ignored our first 19 letters, we're sending a paper application in letter #20.<br />
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We're hoping we'll have a final answer and maybe an actual decision by the end of the year, so we're also hoping the mail will stop. That seems unlikely, however, so I'll be back with a last assessment sometime in the (hopefully not-too-far) future.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1619983631530568738.post-66499328234065556782011-11-07T21:09:00.000-05:002011-11-07T21:09:00.819-05:00Photo of the Week--11/7/11<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh55KQXkIGgmuQ_1bxqZ31YF8pT0hzedBDVdNU3naIdBRitmhg4V1eEX1jH_ZNr7Xb_KJipteWOWu54uC3zXbGiohBoVgnq7EY38Wu2bSAQRTjb-z8-VN1es-pKysjx_p7o5TlsPsvckQ/s660/P1000770.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh55KQXkIGgmuQ_1bxqZ31YF8pT0hzedBDVdNU3naIdBRitmhg4V1eEX1jH_ZNr7Xb_KJipteWOWu54uC3zXbGiohBoVgnq7EY38Wu2bSAQRTjb-z8-VN1es-pKysjx_p7o5TlsPsvckQ/s640/P1000770.JPG" width="480" /></a></div><br />
More things framed by other things! And all of the things are shiny! And all of the things inside one of my favorite, favorite things in the world! Yes, these lovely stained-glass windows and painted ceilings are framed by lovely marble columns inside the bestest of best places: the U.S. Library of Congress. A library! With shiny shiny pretties in addition to all the books you could ever want! No wonder I'm getting carried away with the exclamation points!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1619983631530568738.post-91388370118342320292011-10-31T16:28:00.000-04:002011-10-31T16:28:07.783-04:00Photo of the Week--10/31/11<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjJLSuVJ9zPu8MJ0EGRRylihAJ0tWvfTR4ITJR2aows6LTPwp6b7Uh1yU39gkqL9TG9Rg2XfKK2jkObm9i3vL-m7mKqI511oAklrJe7exd1h1n0YkLobOMwUvXMUvs4c2VE-WK8S0kUA/s660/P1000047.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjJLSuVJ9zPu8MJ0EGRRylihAJ0tWvfTR4ITJR2aows6LTPwp6b7Uh1yU39gkqL9TG9Rg2XfKK2jkObm9i3vL-m7mKqI511oAklrJe7exd1h1n0YkLobOMwUvXMUvs4c2VE-WK8S0kUA/s640/P1000047.JPG" width="480" /></a></div><br />
Annnnd next in my series of photos of things being framed by other things.... I love going sightseeing in great cities, but they can be very frustrating when you want to get a photo of a beautiful building, and you can't get an angle anywhere that let's you get the whole building—at least not unless you have a helicopter or can otherwise get onto a high floor in a neighboring building. So here I present Trinity Church on Wall Street, framed by buildings on Wall Street. It's a beautiful little building among all the giant skyscrapers in Manhattan, with a lovely little garden. I may get a chance to visit again this fall when I head to New York, who knows?Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1619983631530568738.post-50850457288616003802011-10-26T17:37:00.002-04:002011-10-26T17:38:42.185-04:00Quilting How-To: Strip CuttingSo last time I wrote about how I <a href="http://dianeblathers.blogspot.com/2011/10/quilting-how-to-fabric-selection.html">choose colors</a> for my quilts. Of course the next step is to cut the fabric into pieces that fit your pattern. It's one of the funny contradictions of quilting, as a friend's husband once noted: we buy a whole bunch of fabric and cut it up, just so we can sew it together again.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlzdmz9QAukg3NMvWQuhhk9GwmiNbwDXQSDpV1TcCxzZtouhdVrmBmtBKkfe5wsisU_lOyqPtisBEQLZO13WB7GROjBmliTQiWbm6V-_s3fQjdan9UV8T7grKcf5DpkThgmWpxJqpRvg/s1600/cut+1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlzdmz9QAukg3NMvWQuhhk9GwmiNbwDXQSDpV1TcCxzZtouhdVrmBmtBKkfe5wsisU_lOyqPtisBEQLZO13WB7GROjBmliTQiWbm6V-_s3fQjdan9UV8T7grKcf5DpkThgmWpxJqpRvg/s400/cut+1.JPG" width="300" /></a></div>Actually, I should back up half a step; unless you're deliberately seeking that shrunked, puckered fabric look after you've completed your project, you'll want to pre-wash your fabric. I always make sure to safety-pin the ends of the pieces, to reduce the amount of fraying, before I wash and dry the fabric on normal settings. Of course, I make sure to wash light and dark colors separately, to avoid staining, and use Shout Color Catchers if I'm really afraid colors might bleed.<br />
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After the fabric is pre-shrunk, and I've ironed the fabric to get rid of wrinkles, I'm ready to start strip cutting. You need three essential tools for this step, which you can see in the photo to the right: a large cutting mat (the green dohickey), a long quilting ruler (the clear plastic thingamabob), and a rotary cutter (the gadget with the blue handle). The cutting mat and quilting ruler should be at least 24 inches long, to accommodate a folded piece of quilting fabric. (They usually come in widths of 42 to 45 inches.)<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihOj2x9gXEr-K7WVe3hdCifurP3g_3sB074saRphNPxYbyu2MximUuC0ZfXta6Nwv9T9lEBnAiAOYdETt6-vdlDjgCLUXBQLAMmA71uTNNJZNPKAPU6JuXumFWK_bbt_okCUYTd2hdtw/s1600/cut2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihOj2x9gXEr-K7WVe3hdCifurP3g_3sB074saRphNPxYbyu2MximUuC0ZfXta6Nwv9T9lEBnAiAOYdETt6-vdlDjgCLUXBQLAMmA71uTNNJZNPKAPU6JuXumFWK_bbt_okCUYTd2hdtw/s320/cut2.JPG" width="320" /></a>So my quilt pattern required two sizes of pieces: 2½ x 4½ and 2½ x 6½ inches. When calculating how much fabric I'd need for this quilt, I figured that I'd have less wasted fabric if I started with 2½-inch strips, rather than 4½- or 6½-inch ones. So after cutting a clean edge off once side, making sure that my fold was straight at the top, I was ready to cut a whole bunch of 2½-inch pieces.<br />
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You can see it's very simple: make sure the top fold is straight (or anything cut with the fold in the middle will be off center), then line up the 2½-inch marker on the ruler with the edge of the fabric, as I've done in the picture. Then you carefully roll the rotary cutter along the edge of the rule. There are two main things to watch: first, don't catch your finger in the cutter, because those things are sharp and you will bleed! (And yes, I speak from experience. Fingers can really bleed a lot.) Second, you have to make sure you don't move the ruler as you press the rotary cutter against it—the tendency is for the bottom or top of the ruler to get pushed away from the ruler as you roll it. When cutting long strips like these, I usually rest my entire arm on the ruler and run the cutter in two stages: from the middle up and then from the bottom to the middle, centering my arm and checking the placement in between cuts.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLFJzklPV_BXulmkt8xKpnMqLnktrNVaIwF8HeKa17HMEB7OISh0plnEPvxYS3LRrZUY1rH4b6k0czGluhTC4RTnuDSo9Qeghw_Czbl02fAembhDvVBvhTyxIN2l3a0bzXNBxMlW6WGg/s1600/cut3.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLFJzklPV_BXulmkt8xKpnMqLnktrNVaIwF8HeKa17HMEB7OISh0plnEPvxYS3LRrZUY1rH4b6k0czGluhTC4RTnuDSo9Qeghw_Czbl02fAembhDvVBvhTyxIN2l3a0bzXNBxMlW6WGg/s320/cut3.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>Once I have my 2½-inch strips, I'm ready to cut those down into 4½- or 6½-inch pieces. Again I use the quilting ruler—I have a smaller, less unwieldy* size for cutting and trimming small pieces—to cut my strips to the required size.<br />
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This strip-cutting method can work even if you're not cutting out square or rectangular pieces. If you have triangles or even trapezoids, you can still start with strips. Measure at the widest point, then add an extra ⅛-inch to the strip; this will give you the wiggle room you need when trimming pieced angles. If you have a template for your triangle or trapezoid, put the quilting ruler on top of it as a guide, then cut out your first angles. You should be able to flip the template over (or upside down) to cut the next piece, then flip and cut again. <b>NOTE:</b> if you're not using equilateral triangles, or your shapes are only angled on the one side (the left, for instance), this method may not work if you're not using batik fabrics, which have no "right" or "wrong" side. If your fabric has a wrong side, you may want to check after the first couple of pieces to make sure this method doesn't give you unwanted mirror-image pieces.<br />
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When deciding whether to cut everything ahead of time or as I go depends on the pattern. If all the squares in the pattern use the same fabric, I may cut as I go, just to break up the monotony. If, as in this case, I have squares of varying fabrics, and I have to work on arranging the squares in a pattern, I'll cut everything out ahead of time, so when I'm piecing things together I don't suddenly run out of one color and end up with an imbalance of patterns. The secrets of piecing will have to wait until another installment, however.<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">*Word nerd aside: <i>unwieldy:</i> another of those fun words that we don't use without the prefix, like <i>(dis)gruntled</i> or <i>(non)plussed</i> or <i>(in)ane.</i></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1619983631530568738.post-34624554748348363502011-10-24T10:06:00.000-04:002011-10-24T10:06:52.785-04:00Photo of the Week--10/24/11<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSTp9eCPhLkcHBbXanKcd3xH-HDUCwxf6bU1d0p2UHeMyBtihH2rLbSyWivkRi4K8DL4ESUeqsOxcHZ-GdHrCI2p-vwUWnm0TKv3Fq_YqJrQmpuzlDBq_2CihD2IQtVkZ8J_rj3T4k4A/s660/DSCN2969.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSTp9eCPhLkcHBbXanKcd3xH-HDUCwxf6bU1d0p2UHeMyBtihH2rLbSyWivkRi4K8DL4ESUeqsOxcHZ-GdHrCI2p-vwUWnm0TKv3Fq_YqJrQmpuzlDBq_2CihD2IQtVkZ8J_rj3T4k4A/s640/DSCN2969.JPG" width="480" /></a></div><br />
Ah, the hoodoos of Bryce Canyon National Park in Utah. So orange! So shapely! And here I got to take one of my favorite kind of photos: a landscape framed by more landscape! Usually it's trees that I like to use as a frame, but who can resist a big giant hole in a rock? Certainly not me, especially when there's lot of bright, white snow to add contrast.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1619983631530568738.post-17072196702415607912011-10-19T17:15:00.000-04:002011-10-19T17:15:23.087-04:00Quilting How-To: Fabric SelectionOne of the bonuses of being done with my book—besides having time to return to this blog—is being able to spend time quilting again. I promised that when I began another project, I would document it as I went along and add to my postings of <a href="http://dianeblathers.blogspot.com/search/label/quilting%20how-to">quilting how-tos</a>. Since I had a good friend getting married, it was time to start another quilt. And so I start here with one of my favorite parts of making a quilt: choosing the fabric.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8DKaIS_Yfj6zAp5IWGIhjfskJ1tW8w5b1wjnJeYmgyjbmvHKWyeG2x3nfgtD5amRZqxSYA3mru99QD1PsiBUI2JMxA857xKeW7LSAC5a8ZZWc5-kLY1sAcJMmoMcIuNKK7xJrhepbCA/s1600/color1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8DKaIS_Yfj6zAp5IWGIhjfskJ1tW8w5b1wjnJeYmgyjbmvHKWyeG2x3nfgtD5amRZqxSYA3mru99QD1PsiBUI2JMxA857xKeW7LSAC5a8ZZWc5-kLY1sAcJMmoMcIuNKK7xJrhepbCA/s400/color1.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>Actually, the first part of designing the quilt is choosing the pattern, which I'm just going to skim over here. I wanted something quick and easy, so I chose a two-color block with only four pieces. The blocks used several colors, combined into different pairings, so I needed several fabric colors and patterns.<br />
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I consulted my friend's registry and saw they had chosen sage and a kind of pale, silvery blue for their sheets. Hey! I thought. I've got some sages and blues in my stash, having made a <a href="http://dianeblathers.blogspot.com/2008/12/pains-of-getting-basted.html">purple-and-sage pattern</a> for my own bed (still being hand quilted) and a <a href="http://dianeblathers.blogspot.com/2009/07/quilt-files-episode-12.html">blue-and-red lap quilt</a> for a graduation gift. So I went through and found seven kinds of scrap that fit with the color scheme. I had enough to make one-twelfth of the squares, so I figured I needed eleven more fabrics for the project.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipWPFqxzalGVnyFasPxrWrtRLoS-RBuiIcVlu6jAKR4ctY8oo_O2YQ5bzOIOSWCRopRh9t4JVxJXRPlgFy-OyTiY49jnxpSFPBI65ndUp4K1eHH72xxpRWpOf2wXXogtQbs2WZLtaAxw/s1600/color2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipWPFqxzalGVnyFasPxrWrtRLoS-RBuiIcVlu6jAKR4ctY8oo_O2YQ5bzOIOSWCRopRh9t4JVxJXRPlgFy-OyTiY49jnxpSFPBI65ndUp4K1eHH72xxpRWpOf2wXXogtQbs2WZLtaAxw/s400/color2.JPG" width="400" /></a>Next stop was my local Jo-Ann, which has developed a decent selection of batik fabrics over the past few years. (Of course, my scraps are mostly batiks; I prefer the rich, saturated color and not-quite-patterned look most of them have.) They had a lot of olive greens, turquoise greens, and the like, but not much in sage. Fine. I found a really nice navy blue pattern and an excellent silvery blue fabric and added that to my collection. Now I just needed nine more fabrics to have a good selection to mix together.<br />
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Luckily, I had a birthday coming up, which meant a trip to <a href="http://annarborsewing.com/Ann_Arbor_Sewing_Center/Welcome.html">Ann Arbor Sewing Center,</a> my favorite place for quilting fabric. Not only do they have a fantabulous, to-die-for selection of batiks, they give a discount on one-yard cuts on your birthday. So driver's license in hand and my mom along to share the fun, I headed over to browse their batik room.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhW5OO0mcWPKcHY2tZtqK5m_jXGeIksaMijfN6pSJmogwwFnLX70yAhkmOIMwdZN2jXbqznOGZUf-WsTbpdRPKuwGlO40GK0_e3FA0yJDQCZaH5In1uI_JF5ECDHAYWRDWfxzgJel5Hzg/s1600/color3.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhW5OO0mcWPKcHY2tZtqK5m_jXGeIksaMijfN6pSJmogwwFnLX70yAhkmOIMwdZN2jXbqznOGZUf-WsTbpdRPKuwGlO40GK0_e3FA0yJDQCZaH5In1uI_JF5ECDHAYWRDWfxzgJel5Hzg/s400/color3.JPG" width="400" /></a>The batik room is a bit overwhelming at first; if you're not sure what colors you want to use, you can get stuck in front of one of the cases (there are at least half a dozen), looking at all the different shades. Luckily, I knew how I wanted to split my nine remaining fabrics: a couple darks, a couple lights, four medium tones in both grey and green, and one contrasting color to kind of "pop" out of the quilt. So I browsed and found a dark navy and one with both dark green and blue. I found two light grey, nearly white patterns (one escaped this photo), and then four mid-tone greens. You'll notice the one near the top left has almost no pattern to it; I find when you're using several fabrics in a quilt, you need a couple of patterns that aren't very busy so that the eye can rest once in a while.<br />
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I tried a lot of things for my contrasting "pop" of color: purple, a couple of burgundies, and a couple of rusts. I was leaning towards a golden-rust color when I found the fabric at the top of the picture: a batik ombre that shaded from pure golden yellow at one end to deep orange rust at the other. (In the picture one half of the fabric is sitting atop other half.) I liked the yellow, I like the orange, and it certainly was going to contrast! I got my one-yard cuts, took them home and washed them, and I was ready to start cutting! But that's a step for another how-to....Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1619983631530568738.post-50963863288630080692011-10-17T11:53:00.000-04:002011-10-17T11:53:42.386-04:00Photo of the Week--10/17/11<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgM48tUKVJzkspfWFBBvmtzcknym857GHgU9vEwCdAakmiypos6O5pMuF4VxoswRAzuP1JgjV2CZF95IFHqFuTnonVLWBH2D7HjCi39qvjwynevellNBUvNvgXEhHxRbZkFf2YKK5hXqg/s660/DSCN2928.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgM48tUKVJzkspfWFBBvmtzcknym857GHgU9vEwCdAakmiypos6O5pMuF4VxoswRAzuP1JgjV2CZF95IFHqFuTnonVLWBH2D7HjCi39qvjwynevellNBUvNvgXEhHxRbZkFf2YKK5hXqg/s640/DSCN2928.JPG" width="480" /></a></div><br />
Sometimes the waterfalls themselves aren't all that spectacular, but where they are situated is. This one I snapped in Zion National Park, Utah. I liked the angle from under the overhang, and how that little tree is doing its damnedest to grow despite its precarious position. The multi-colored rocks are pretty cool; I'm always fascinated how water interacts with rock to create so many variations in shape and color.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1619983631530568738.post-54893155282619908772011-10-14T09:26:00.000-04:002011-10-14T09:26:20.881-04:00What does it take to write a book? (Part 2)So what does it take to write a book, besides <a href="http://dianeblathers.blogspot.com/2011/10/what-does-it-take-to-write-book-part-1.html">letting the housework go to hell</a>? Here's what I did for my book over the last nine months:<br />
<ul><li>Read 40 books cover to cover</li>
<li>Read portions of another 23 books</li>
<li>Read over 100 articles or encyclopedia entries (from databases or web sites)</li>
<li>Compiled almost 1100 pages of single-spaced notes</li>
<li>About 575 of those pages were written by me on books I read</li>
<li>The other 525 were copied/pasted from online articles</li>
<li>That breaks down to about 646,000 words of notes (338K original/308K copied)</li>
<li>Chose 45 images to be included in the book</li>
<li>Chose and excerpted 16 primary sources to be included in the book</li>
</ul><div>And what did I end up with?</div><div><ul><li>A prologue and seven chapters totaling just over 38,000 words</li>
<li>12 primary sources totaling 18,720 words</li>
<li>10 biographies totaling 11,180 words</li>
<li>An overwhelming sense of relief and accomplishment!</li>
</ul></div><div>There still might be a few tweaks here and there (maybe a primary source or image cut here and there), and I won't know the final page count until the book is typeset, but I think I can feel confident that I was pretty thorough in doing my research and writing. We'll see when the book comes out and the reviews come in next spring.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1619983631530568738.post-69721977827691358532011-10-12T09:33:00.169-04:002011-10-12T09:33:00.913-04:00A weighty decision....Okay, it's only been three months since the <a href="http://dianeblathers.blogspot.com/2011/07/please-think-of-trees.html">last time</a> I went through Boy's pile of college brochures, but the shelf where I keep them is close to bursting and depositing all that unwanted paper on my kitchen floor. I put them all in a box and they're sitting on my ankles right now, and the box is <b>really heavy.</b> So in the interest of keeping my shins unbruised, I'm going to go through these a little more quickly, and only comment if I feel inspired. <div><br />
</div><div><b>Grand Valley State U (MI, 2):</b> Not just a brochure, but free parking and a meal!</div><div><b>U of Kentucky (13-15):</b> Just in case you forgot about us.</div><div><b>Davenport U (MI), U Detroit Mercy (2), UM-Dearborn (4-5), UM-Flint (1-2)</b></div><div><b>U of Southern Cal (2-4):</b> Come to LA this summer!</div><div><b>Reed College (OR, 2):</b> No chance, but their annual Nitrogen Day sounds like a blast!</div><div><b>Roosevelt U (IL):</b> Downtown Chicago! Plus my cousin teaches there!</div><div><b>U of Toledo (1-2), </b><b>U of Dayton, Wooster (3):</b> Come to exciting Ohio?</div><div><b>New York U (2):</b> We did mention New York City, right? </div><div><b>Rose-Hulman Institute of Tech (IN):</b> The best engineering school you've never heard of.</div><div><b>Aquinas College (MI, 1-2):</b> "The most open-hearted, open-minded college in America ... rooted in the Catholic Dominican tradition." Um, yeah.</div><div><b>Eastern MI U (1-3):</b> Oh, Eastern. You have about as much likelihood of getting Boy to attend as your football team has of going undefeated.</div><div><b>Oakland U (MI,</b><b> 2):</b> Card is nice, but the dancing bear in your TV ads creeps me out.</div><div><b>Central MI U (1-5):</b> Let's see how many in-state colleges we can ignore!</div><div><b>Kettering U (MI, 2-3):</b> That makes the count 12? 13?</div><div><b>Yale U (1-3):</b> Boy believes in equal opportunity when it comes to ignoring brochures, Ivy League! So 2nd postcard addressed to parents. Then a 124-page soft-bound book. No wonder tuition is high.</div><div><b>MIT (3):</b> News supplement for its 150th year; interesting but maybe unobtainable.</div><div><b>University of Michigan (2):</b> Yeah, baby, we've got the president at the Big House!</div><div><b>Alma College (MI, 1-2):</b> They're called the Scots and a picture showed bagpipes. Run, Boy, run!</div><div><b>Carthage College (WI, 2):</b> There's a picture of a huge lake ... that means huge mosquitoes! Run!</div><div><b>Bowling Green State (2):</b> Ohio trying to outbid Michigan in the number of colleges ignored....</div><div><b>Ohio State (4):</b> ... or mocked.</div><div><b>U of Chicago (10):</b> Whoa. They knew we were ignoring the quirky postcards so they sent a massive brochure. Plus postcards <b>(11-12</b><b>)</b>, letter <b>(13-15)</b>, and huge brochure <b>(16).</b></div><div><b>Rice U (TX, 2):</b> They put the tuition right on there to scare you away. </div><div><b>Missouri S & T (3-4); U North Carolina (2); Pitt (1-2); Carnegie-Mellon (3); Olin College (MA): </b>????</div><div><b>Northwood U (MI):</b> "Where can you get a great BUSINESS EDUCATION?" Isn't a major part of business knowing your target market? Brochure FAIL.</div><div><b>Manchester U (IN, 1-2):</b> Apply early, get a FREE T SHIRT!</div><div><b>Rensselaer (NY):</b> If you can spell or pronounce it correctly, you're admitted!</div><div><b>Army ROTC:</b> Please, sir, may I not have another!</div><div><b>Michigan Tech (2):</b> Hmm, tell me more about this full scholarship with tuition and stipend.</div><div><br />
</div><div>And that's enough for this installment. I can feel my feet again, and there's room in the drawer, so the rest can wait for a while. I'm hoping that now Boy is actually filling out college applications, the mail will slow down. Boy's senior year could slow down, too, he'll be out of the house before we know it!</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1619983631530568738.post-31541749379941165032011-10-10T10:12:00.000-04:002011-10-10T10:12:49.391-04:00Photo of the Week--10/10/11<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIw5mh5J__X8ZHCagcfFzZMaWme9b-1v6fBItU-6M0pyZnhiRAlx4xQ4f7gGzo0-q3XfDfVCyzAcJbPed4Cgmo3T_E6c8WVs25znUL5nhD9xtGx45nZH0mlHjsBGssjAeHt7CX2jobmw/s660/DSCN2408.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIw5mh5J__X8ZHCagcfFzZMaWme9b-1v6fBItU-6M0pyZnhiRAlx4xQ4f7gGzo0-q3XfDfVCyzAcJbPed4Cgmo3T_E6c8WVs25znUL5nhD9xtGx45nZH0mlHjsBGssjAeHt7CX2jobmw/s640/DSCN2408.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br />
Sometimes nature comes up with an architecture more spectacular than anything humans can dream up.... This was in Florida in 2005, on a boat a trip through Everglades National Park. Pelicans landed on the boat begging for food before we even left, and of course we saw gators, egrets, and even wild pigs. I was fascinated by the shapes we found in the mangrove swamps, where roots and branches twist and combine and create a maze on the water. On a later trip to the state we would take a canoe into the waterways around Naples, where the mangroves grew even closer together and you had to play limbo under many of the branches.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1619983631530568738.post-88281675539329672632011-10-06T10:37:00.000-04:002011-10-06T10:37:28.991-04:00What does it take to write a book? (Part 1)I know this blog has been pretty bare lately. That's because I spent the last nine months (and change) researching and writing a history reference book. I was given a rather broad subject—a period of 35 years—and so I spent a lot of nights and weekends reading history books, biographies, economic histories, and other materials. (My next post will go into that in more detail.) As a result, I did not spend any time cleaning my office. So one thing it takes to write a book is to let entropy take over your office, like this:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgh9ULwGavMsZXMQHX4F2HQxjATWJuemlbjHGejKYLGkT9D2wMD4bWVWJ6qMB5LAATx90Ic7sKTROnsUvu3Q7ZXc30d_JP1TZxlw5TBm_imFXrDQyK7Bb4SqK1WSXI7wEZZ9FhMqQuFdQ/s1600/P1050213.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgh9ULwGavMsZXMQHX4F2HQxjATWJuemlbjHGejKYLGkT9D2wMD4bWVWJ6qMB5LAATx90Ic7sKTROnsUvu3Q7ZXc30d_JP1TZxlw5TBm_imFXrDQyK7Bb4SqK1WSXI7wEZZ9FhMqQuFdQ/s400/P1050213.JPG" width="300" /></a><br />
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Note: I'm not the only one in our house who was reading books for fun, and not the only one who couldn't manage to put them away properly.<br />
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All the boxes contain small knitting or crochet projects I was working on as a fundraiser for the humane society. When they decided they didn't have room to house our crafts, our store shut down and my projects remained "in progress" in my office rather than put away in my craft room.<br />
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Don't ask for a picture showing the entropy in my craft room. Some things are just too embarrassing to blog about.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQ83_pX7OeCpBatexrdU36lQbIGr1ygb4GbVp1U77piQiNtpawZUOZvNyXCDJAMI700ku4ga_yRqh6kEejzap7RtF9dzJOm2mmvB1W2y9pMoiGnAquztfjFQdbs2b2dPFOAPggnon1_Q/s1600/P1050216.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQ83_pX7OeCpBatexrdU36lQbIGr1ygb4GbVp1U77piQiNtpawZUOZvNyXCDJAMI700ku4ga_yRqh6kEejzap7RtF9dzJOm2mmvB1W2y9pMoiGnAquztfjFQdbs2b2dPFOAPggnon1_Q/s400/P1050216.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
...aaand here's the real disaster area: my desk. More craft materials, spare books I meant to read, printer cartridges and other supplies, individual papers with notes I need to remember, stacks of feedback from my critique group I'd been ignoring for the past six months....<br />
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It took me a good three days (lazy days, at least) to get a handle on this mess. After boxing and storing and organizing and cleaning and hauling things away, this is what I ended up with:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrZZKr4arLsx7dM-omrq3xu7VcUSl7HDcDBSI4W9jwrbJFgn5Hc3TSTK-zNxTrnPp-Y8Tc8bvhqXUIQCk6YCl8OJHt1xAEpA3O6hwLtLNqBfVsHEgiF_9gquZ-Nx-ujWeyXOe8nbpCWQ/s1600/P1050217.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; display: inline !important; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrZZKr4arLsx7dM-omrq3xu7VcUSl7HDcDBSI4W9jwrbJFgn5Hc3TSTK-zNxTrnPp-Y8Tc8bvhqXUIQCk6YCl8OJHt1xAEpA3O6hwLtLNqBfVsHEgiF_9gquZ-Nx-ujWeyXOe8nbpCWQ/s320/P1050217.JPG" width="240" /></a><br />
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Books stacked neatly! In single layers! (Except for series, a clever space-saving strategy!) Organized! Old ones donated!<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQJw8PYZdkzcoMRU2MSKbyoE7VCir7O-WYFVvfmG5pO4rx3Yj2D1Nlha1wmxaUHFWGPf-rITSw0NHvtBYAvOBFyjmKLBUw1lpUnRt2xEVCbfEtFVfHTqGhSu5ICkLNF7TrJVcQLpNKbA/s1600/P1050218.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQJw8PYZdkzcoMRU2MSKbyoE7VCir7O-WYFVvfmG5pO4rx3Yj2D1Nlha1wmxaUHFWGPf-rITSw0NHvtBYAvOBFyjmKLBUw1lpUnRt2xEVCbfEtFVfHTqGhSu5ICkLNF7TrJVcQLpNKbA/s400/P1050218.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
Look! My desk is made of wood! Who knew!<br />
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But now that the desk is clean, I have to get back to work. I have to try to reduce the stack of feedback I can no longer ignore and tackle the mammoth job of rewriting my novel.<br />
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....Unless ... yes ... my craft room needs cleaning! Be back in another week!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0