martinimade

shameless self-promotion, 307 in a series

New column: everything happens at once...

qotd, ask me how I know edition

"The cure to writer's block is to lower your standards."

-- William Stafford

can we call this 10,000 words?

Mary Tudor, Queen of France:

I thought about being all coy, like, "Did I finish it? Read the book and find out!" But, dudes, I suck at coy. Ask anyone I've ever flirted with.  And, so, here she is, on her wooly board in my filthy kitchen. I would have put her outside, to dry in the sun like the Shetlanders do,  but I was afraid she'd freeze.

I was either pinning or genuflecting. Your call.

When did I get so gray? Must get some Lady Clarol.

Now to finish up the more mentally taxing portion of the project. By Monday, it will all be out of my hands for a while. Or my brain will have exploded. Either is likely.

many things make a post

* Even though they are spoilerific, I prefer these Harry Potter covers. I have always been a huge Saul Bass fan, tho.

* Do not eat the cuteness.

* I never realize how much I miss migas until someone who loves them as much as I do brings them up. Then I feel an actual, physical ache. And I agree. Trudy's are the best. (Although the recipe that she links to, while I'm sure it would make a lovely breakfast, isn't migas. ( I did just discover that a restaurant in the Bing has migas on the menu and a Texas connection. Maybe they are the answer? Road trip, anyone?)

* Jim Macdonald makes the vaccine debate as clear as humanly possible. And, yet, I have no doubts that this will do exactly zero to convince those whose minds are already made up. Still, it might catch those who are on the fence.

* I missed this when it was first posted: Kim Brooks on taking SSRIs while pregnant. (And I have to again say here that taking Zoloft while carrying The Boy was one of the better decisions I've made.)

* Yet another reason to *heart* Chris Thile.

* ETA: This book will be going on my wish list presently. Once I read it, I'll save it for the Diva. (Boys might want to go watch hockey or something.)

work calls

How We're Spending Our First Spring Break*, By Adrienne, Age 37:

The handy husband is freaking out Trout by tearing our upstairs bathroom to bits (and, we all hope, putting it back together again in a more pleasing manner) so that we can put our current house on the market.**  His smile in the picture is purely accidental. He'd much rather be golfing.

I'll be weaving ends, because the knitting on The Sweater, she is done.

Oh, and then there's this little thing:

Which needs another 15,000-20,000 words before I have to send it off a week from today. Totally do-able - just all-consuming. I say that now, of course. Ask me again on Sunday night.

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

* SUCO has two week-long breaks during the Spring semester. This is the first. Why are there two? Yeah, I don't know either but have heard rumors that it has something to do with saving money on heat.

** We appear to have already bought another house, which makes selling this one that much more urgent. It's a long story and I'll give you all of the grit when I have more of my brain available to me. So, like, when Maddy starts college.

too good not to share, 2

Laugh until you cry: Gail Collins on The Aggregator.

(Courtesy Master Gardener Ed.)

qotd, facts edition

With his popular column "This Is New York," [Lucius] Beebe became the de facto historian and referee for the social set, which he documented in a weekly sachet of purple prose trivialities. While there were some verifiable truths in the frothy mix, they may not always have constituted the first ingredient. Stanley Walker, his first editor at the Herald Tribune, recalled that Beebe possessed "an apathy about facts which verged closely on actual dislike."

-- From David Plotnikoff's tribute to Beebe in Saveur

a picture that lies

This is Barney.

That was Barney in his new favorite spot, which is by the space heater I have in my office to keep my feet warm. I am always stepping on Barney or, every now and again, (BY ACCIDENT, PEOPLE) rolling over parts of him with my chair.

I should have known something was amiss when I heard unrecognizable sounds coming from the general direction of the kitchen and Barney wasn't underneath my feet. But I was on a writing roll and decided to ignore them.

Until I got up to make my lunch and to check on the status of the eggs/butter I'd put on the counter to get to room temp before making a lemon pound cake.

The quicker reader will know where this is going.

On the kitchen floor was an egg, neatly (almost surgically) broken in half. Rather, there was just the egg shell. All traces of any actual egg were gone. As was Barney, who spent the rest of the afternoon sleeping off the eggy goodness in an undisclosed location.

He is a very strange cat.

too good to pass up

All credit to Stephen Crowley of the New York Times for getting this shot:

This really is the first 1000 words on the last administration. Put a lollipop in Cheney's hand and you can easily see him luring children into his van.

Click here to see the picture in full and read the story. But, seriously, this shot needs to be on the first book that is able to figure out what the hell happened during the last 8 years.

many things make a post

* Given my uncanny ability to put plants in exactly the wrong places, this might be $60 well spent. 

* Rabbit hole alert: Buddha Jello molds, Moose trophy hangers and Pop-Up Book of Light.

* It's probably not a good sign that this made me laugh harder than I have in days: Mouse au Vin.

* "It's like a wind. A real, molesty wind."

* Stephanie finally puts in print one of my fave stories about boys and their penises. (Starts with he sentence: "I have always been offended by calling parts "weenies" and "down there" and so I have always used the technical language." The whole post is a hoot, tho.)

* Alabama is like Iran; Maine is like Canada.

* Katie Granju points out a book I'm going to have to read about America's obsession with virgins.

* Once again, Dr. P lays some wisdom on you.

* Scalzi makes with the ranty goodness w/r/t the GOP and their choices.

* Kamut with Cranberries and Feta. Yum. But before I commit to making this in my own kitchen, I need to track down a local source of pomegranate molasses and agave nectar. Hrm. And, it dawns on me, kamut.

* I would also like some japchae.

* Finally, not food related at all: ABC and the producers of Private Practice need some schoolin' on the difference between post-partum depression and post-partum psychosis.