Expressions and Novel Essentials

But we are getting closer to choosing a house. There is a good chance it will, in the end, be the first one we looked at, full of imperfections but with possibilities, sources of ideas, potential, which we haven't sen in many of the other places. We have one or two more we might look at, potential on paper that may or may not have in person, then I think we're done looking. It was, after all, the first one we looked at, so maybe it was destiny.

Meanwhile, I did my Camp NaNoWriMo write-a-thon working on my third book in a series. Once it is done, I'll relook at the first one and start to try to get agent or publisher, probably starting with TOR. If not them, I can't think of any that do the kind of science fiction I do so I may try some of the e-publishers that are more like publishers and have an editor and arrange for cover art and such, not the we-publish-anything types. Maybe one of them will see some potential in my idea of science fiction, even if it seems to have taken a left turn somewhere along the way.

Odd thing. My earthlink blog got the highest number of hits in one day that I've ever had, hovering low before and after, a week or more after I posted anything. What causes a spike like that?

Yesterday I made a quilt top, from design to finished. Just a baby quilt, but still, i was impressed. I called it Scrapple - Scrappy appliqued Rag quilt. Not a lot of "rag" but I took squares, zig-zagged the edges mostly because it is a baby quilt. Otherwise I would have left them unfinished, and appliqued them down onto the background by sewing large circles. That leaves the corners a little floppy. I cut out the circles behind the appliqued pieces and though I might applique them on the alternate squares, but mostly the alternate squares have cute pictures of ducks and bunnies and cows and Betty Boop in a pink cowgirl outfit and such so I left them like that and will use the circles elsewhere. Also, some of the fabrics are older and thinner and I left the background fabric in place for strength as this is definitely more play blanket than pretty for special occasions. I don't much like the colors. I aimed for pink with a kind of aqua-green but our baby fabric selection is more to the rainbow pastels, so it has aqua-green of a few shades (the darkest was the Betty Boop), and all the baby fabric whose blues leaned in that direction, and not much pink. A few reds, lots of white with pastels. It will get a pink flannel packing and maybe a darker pink silky edge if it still matches or if I have enough blanket binding left. Maybe tomorrow, maybe next weekend, probably not today as I have many other things I need to do, including on the time-stealing computer.

We survived the storm. Noisy until 1 in the morning, and more rain than we needed but the winds were most outside the city in either direction. Still overcast and storms expected again this evening.

The roof top garden is doing well. Only a few rather fibrous radishes but a good flavor. Some of the peas didn't make it (I think the package directions were wrong and they should have been planted earlier. They didn't appreciate the 90's we had a couple of weeks back.) The sunflower seeds drowned or the squirrels ate them, but I think it is early enough to plant some more. Maybe after the current storm series is done. Squashes, beans, cantaloupe, basil, I forget what all else and we lost the labels in the rain storms so maybe we'll see, are all holding on nicely for now. The pails and waste cans we use for larger pots have holes in them, and sometimes a second set if they didn't drain fast enough the first few rain storms.

The irises are done and the day lilies are only in bud but the spiderwort and one of the climatis and several heliobores are all blooming so we have a little of purple and white front and back. The lilac still hasn't bloomed. Not sure what we are doing wrong, but the tiny struggling rhododendrun (it gets too hot here for it to be happy) finally has a full flower and it is lasting quite a while though it is mostly hidden by other plants, it has grown so little.

We are looking at houses west of Madison.

House Hunting went a bit better this time with some candidates in reasonable price ranges, that is, the price was sometimes lower if it needed lots of work. Nothing we totally fell in love with but a lot better than we had found elsewhere.

Made me aware how close we are coming to considering actually moving. Relative terms, but given how much time everything seems to take these days, close enough to be a prod to get some things done with the chaos here.

Got a story done and realized that one of the reasons that it seemed more let down than achievement (it isn't, after all, instantly published) is that I don't celebrate the fairly big step of just finishing. I haven't figured out what is a good way to celebrate, but I have to come up with something that I can do, and something that I can do each time I finish, (or publish or other major step) as an incentive and self encouragement. I need to do the same thing with my quilts, too. I sometimes let them sit unattended when i near completion, as if finishing were a bad thing, and I'm sure it is because I never tell myself finishing is a good thing. It's just a thing followed by figuring out what to work on next.

When I was working on my history studies, I celebrated the completion of papers by watching Harry Potter (the third one, I think, which had come out in video just before). Always the same one, but it was a celebration and a watchable movie every time, so it was a good incentive when I got really tired of the research. I never get tired of writing, but that's almost a disincentive to "finish", so maybe the reward serves a different purpose, but no less needed. maybe a reward of reading, instead? What indulgence would cheer me that I usually don't take?

This one is a modification of a recipe i had for King Cake, and is easily varied. All amounts are approximate.

Your favorite bread dough recipe, one loaf worth, uncooked
1 cup chopped pecans
1 cup chopped dates
1 T cinnamon
1/2 t. nutmeg
1/4 c butter
1/2 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. ground almonds or almond paste or ready-to-make marzipan (dice finely if stiff)

Glaze:
2 cups powdered sugar
1/4 c. softened butter
3 T milk
Mix butter and sugar.  Add milk to form a very thick liquid.

Let bread dough rise in a bowl, per usual instructions.
Mix butter, brown sugar, and spices
Add almond paste
Spray a jelly-roll pan or large baking dish with oil.
Spread bread dough on flowered board to form a rectangle about 12 x 18.  The edges can be a little thick.
Spread butter-sugar mix across bread dough.
Sprinkle nuts and dates over the dough.

From one of the short ends to the other--use a butter knife to loosen if it sticks to the board--roll the dough and filler up, stretch the thick end a little and press to seal the roll.  Tuck the ends under a little and roll loaf onto the seam as you place it on the greased pan.  Spread top with a little oil.  Allow to rise.  It may not rise to full double and will probably take longer than usual to rise due to the weight of the filling.  To hurry it, heat oven to 250, turn oven off, place loaf inside, and allow to rise 1/2 hour.  Repeat if needed.  Bake at 350 for 25-35 minutes until lightly browned.  Brush with water.  Allow to cool a few minutes, then pour glaze over the top.

We turned the tv off as soon as the state of the union address intros started.  The newsy pre-brief summary of both the president's speech and the opposing response set my teeth on edge.  We had just been discussing that the Democrats had been promising to get rid of the disaster they call "No Child Left Behind" which seems intent on putting all students behind where they could and should be, but all that the summary said was to push for preschool for all Americans, as if it matters what we teach tots when their later education is going to be a disaster. 

I got a chance to review some high school history texts when I was in grad school, with high school teachers among my fellow students.  Writing appropriate to he reading skills of upper elementary school at best and about as skillfully written as if by a high-schooler, with such a distorted focus on tiny pieces of history that a student reading it would know nothing of historical events or their cause and effect by the time they were done with the course, but they would have huge illusions about what could have been if the world were sweet and rosy and everyone had had equal opportunities for all of time.  The wrong lesson no matter how I look at it.

Anyway, I wasn't going to be happy with anything either speaker said and even the topics were pushing up my blood pressure so I have a movie and my computer for the evening.