First the good news. I made another batch of bean and bacon soup (recipe posted here previously), only this time I spread it out over several days. It's been so hot here that I really didn't want to make it in one session. Well, actually, it started after I soaked the beans and then didn't feel like making soup after all. Still, I was glad to find out that I could spread the process over a few days.
I picked over and soaked the beans about five days ago, freezing them after I rinsed them. Then on Saturday I sliced and fried the bacon and drained it, then put it in the fridge. This afternoon I took care of the onion and garlic, then put the peppercorns, bay leaves, onion and garlic, bacon, and beans (nuked briefly so they wouldn't be a great big bean lump) into the pressure cooker, set it, and sat down to see what was new on Facebook I'm Mary Shafer there, if you want to friend me.
It's finished cooking now and I've tasted it. It tastes pretty good, but it needs salt, of course. It's too hot to whiz with the stick blender; I don't like the idea of flinging really hot soup all over me and the kitchen. I'll add salt while I'm doing that, to be sure to get it evenly mixed. I didn't put enough in the first batch, partly because my cousin was coming and I wasn't sure how much salt she'd like.
Speaking of my cousin, we had a wonderful visit. We were so sad to see her leave. Even Gordo missed her and kept going to the guest room to look for her. He'd give me this pitiful look like "How could you let her go away?" and, of course, there was no explaining it to him. She's the one who introduced me to Starbuck's iced chai latte last year. I'm now a regular customer and it's all her fault. I don't drink coffee, so I hadn't known they sold tea. I got her back, though. I introduced her to the Kindle and loaned my Kindle 2 to her. Both she and her husband have been reading with it and they really like it. I suspect they're going to end up buying one (or, maybe, two). We're a reading family, even the people who marry in, and it passes on to the kids, too.
Now for the bad news. Gordo the Wonder Collie had to have extensive exploratory surgery on Friday. He'd managed to swallow a 3" by 3" piece of rigid plastic, as well as a bunch of smaller pieces of the same plastic and some other stuff, and this was really messing up his digestive system. We took him over to the vet after he vomited five times in the night. Collies have deep chests, which made the surgery more difficult. They cut open his stomach and pulled all the junk out of it, which took both hands, and then examined his intestines carefully for smaller pieces.
He had a small fever over the weekend, but that's gone (this is written on Monday). He's still not eating much, but he's always been a picky eater. We now have great hopes that he'll come home tomorrow, since he actually ate a little kibble today. I think he has to demonstrate that his digestive system works from end to end, as it were, the same way that people who have had surgery on their digestive tracts do.
Showing posts with label Reading. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Reading. Show all posts
10 August 2009
24 April 2009
Birthday Cards
I got a birthday card and note from my favorite niece in the whole world (she's actually my only niece, but I still recognize her superiority at being a niece). She told me that she bought herself a Kindle 2 after reading my posting on mine. She has always been a great reader, like me, which I think has made us closer over the years. I have to admit to having aided and abetted her reading habit; I would buy her books when we visited Iowa and even now we give her Amazon gift certificates.
Still, to convince her, with just a few words, to buy a Kindle 2.... Fortunately for my auntly reputation, she loves it with a passion. I am so pleased to hear that from her, since I love mine, and her, so very much.
She is a wonderful person. She's really good at dealing with people, which is a large part of her job (she's a fairly high-level manager at the hospital system of a big Midwestern university), and she's very intelligent. She got her MBA at that same university while working full time, with excellent grades. We are so proud of her and her success. She's also a wonderful aunt to her four nieces and one nephew. She graciously gives me a much-needed outlet for knitted goods, by accepting and wearing warm woolly scarves.
Maybe she'll start leaving the occasional comment here. I didn't even know she was reading.
Still, to convince her, with just a few words, to buy a Kindle 2.... Fortunately for my auntly reputation, she loves it with a passion. I am so pleased to hear that from her, since I love mine, and her, so very much.
She is a wonderful person. She's really good at dealing with people, which is a large part of her job (she's a fairly high-level manager at the hospital system of a big Midwestern university), and she's very intelligent. She got her MBA at that same university while working full time, with excellent grades. We are so proud of her and her success. She's also a wonderful aunt to her four nieces and one nephew. She graciously gives me a much-needed outlet for knitted goods, by accepting and wearing warm woolly scarves.
Maybe she'll start leaving the occasional comment here. I didn't even know she was reading.
02 March 2009
An Early Birthday Present
OK, this time I did drop off the surface of the earth for a week. On Tuesday, the 24th, FedEx delivered a Kindle 2 into my hands. This is a wonderful toy, which I have stuffed with over 100 books (mostly from Baen.com). I have done virtually nothing but play with it. My husband, who gave it to me, is patiently waiting for my infatuation to diminish enough that I'll let him read a book from it.
I have always loved the printed word. I was raised in a household of people who read all the time and I started with being read to and, in first grade, switched to reading myself. This was literally true; when I started first grade my father would read the paper to me and about halfway through the school year I started reading it to him. I haven't stopped reading since then.
Along with reading went book buying, but not, unfortunately, book disposal. I have many, many shelves of books at both houses, as well as a lot of cartons of books at both. I cling to my books, which I do re-read, as if book publication were going to stop tomorrow and I'd have to spend the rest of my life with only the books I have on hand. This is silly, of course. I actually did manage to give the Lancaster Friends of the Library two cubic yards (eighteen cubic feet) of books about four years ago and I've trained myself to give them some magazines after I've read them. This is a major behavioral change and I'm fairly proud of myself for making it.
However, it hasn't been enough. That's why I'm so pleased with the Kindle 2. It's small, light, easy to read, and doesn't need any bookshelf space at all. I just copied the eighty or so books I'd downloaded from Baen.com to a single CD (81 MB on a standard 700-MB CD). It's less than a quarter-inch wide, put in a minimum-sized jewel box.
The Kindle 2 is great for regular text books, but it's not designed for books with photos and figures and graphs, like knitting books. The Kindle 2 has sixteen shades of gray, compared to the Kindle 1's four shades, but that's gray, not color. That works just fine for covers, but it would be really inadequate for knitting books. This isn't just my opinion; books like that don't come in Kindle versions. I've actually bought four real books since the Kindle arrived. Two of these were about knitting (one was about color work) and two were about bread and pastry. I sure wish I'd known I was getting a Kindle, though, because I wouldn't have bought the seven-volume boxed set of Sookie Stackhouse paperbacks the week before.
Some of you are probably familiar with how the Kindle works, but that's not going to stop me from explaining it. Included in the cost of the book is use of a 3G network (Sprint, I think). Buy a Kindle version of a book from Amazon and it delivers it over the network pretty much instantaneously. E-books from other sources, like Baen, can be mailed directly to the Kindle, via Amazon or they can be downloaded to a computer and mailed from there. I've chosen the second method so that I can back the e-books up on CD. I think that I've bought eternal download rights from Baen, but I don't know that for sure. I know I've bought eternal download rights from Amazon, because they suggest using those rights to "archive" books when my Kindle gets too full (it holds 1500 average-sized books). I can also plug my Kindle into a USB 2 port on my computer and transfer e-books directly. However, my laptop doesn't have USB 2, so that's not an option at this time. My husband's computer has it, so the possibility is there. It's just that the mailing procedure works really well.
If you mail an e-book that's not of the two Kindle formats (.mobi and .prc) Amazon will convert it. There's a ten-cent charge (billed after thirty e-books, so there's no flood of dime charges), which seems pretty reasonable to me. I've been mailing e-books in those two formats, so I haven't been charged for mailing them, though.
Baen has a very clever scheme going with their e-books. At least, I think it's clever and I know they make money on it. The first one or two books in a series are free. Just download and mail to the Kindle (or read them on your computer; a number of formats are available). Then, once you're absolutely hooked on the series, the subsequent books cost $6 each, which is very reasonable. Remember, there's no shipping to pay. Some older e-books are $5 and bundled e-books are $4, so the e-books are economical.
On Amazon the e-books are no more than $9.95 for new hardbounds. When the book becomes available in paperback (usually $7.99 list price these days), the cost of the e-book drops to be less than the cover price, I think. At least the few I've looked at work that way. I can't claim to have looked at the comparative prices of many books and e-books, so I don't really know what the actual Amazon policy is. I will say, though, that I expect to recoup the cost of the device with the savings on the e-books fairly soon, like less than a year.
I also expect to give a lot of books to the Friends, since I will no longer need them. I've got two sets of some of my favorite series, for example, so that I could re-read them at either house without having to pack them and transport them twice a year. These are all in paperback, because I'm fond of them, but not at hardbound prices. Mostly, though, I only buy one copy and end up packing and transporting several (four or five, at least) cartons each way. Now all I'll have to do is take my Kindle 2 and the back-up CD. That will make changing houses a lot easier and reduce the strain on my back and knees.
I'll still have a box or two of knitting books, though. Knitting books are heavier that regular books, because they're printed on glossy paper. On the other hand, they're usually thinner, even though the pages are larger. The latest David Weber book is about 2" thick but it's an unusual knitting book that's over ½" thick.
I don't want you to think I love my Kindle 2 for purely practical reasons like saving shelf space. There's a lot more to it than that. It's just plain cute and fun. It's so light and the ergonomics are really well thought out. It works well with my habit of holding a book in my left hand, as the "next page" and "previous page" buttons are right under my thumb (they haven't ignored people who hold books in their right hands; there's a "next page" button on the right side, too). The screen isn't back-lit, meaning that I need a little book light to read it in bed, but I find back-lit screens to be tiring after a while.
Let's see, what other functions does it have that might be interesting? It can be used to shop directly from Amazon, and not just for e-books. Actually, it'll go anywhere on the Web, although the small screen size makes reading pages that aren't designed for it a bit difficult. You can subscribe to newspapers and magazines through Amazon. The list of magazines is kind of short, but that probably won't last. Amazon will send sample chapters from their books free. These are usually the first couple of chapters.
The battery charge life is astounding, particularly if the net is turned off (like cell phones, it checks in with the cell tower regularly and that can eat battery life in a fringe area). The charging cord is very clever, as it's both the USB cord and a regular electric cord (the far end is a little transformer that the USB cord plugs into). It charges quickly from the wall (I haven't tried USB charging). There are six font sizes to choose from. It'll read the book aloud, although rather oddly. I don't like being read to, though, so I don't really care if it's a little odd.
I bought a Patagonia padded cover for mine, but I don't like it because the zippers don't move easily and the little straps make a funny bump under my hand. So I've ordered a leather cover that just flips open. The additional warranty I bought promises one complete replacement if the device is totaled by owner/operator error. However, it can be dropped and still survive (some of the drop tests are shown on the Amazon page. I like to read in the bathtub, so this coverage makes me more confident, although I've never dropped a book in the tub in all my years of reading there.
I didn't realize I had so much to write about the Kindle 2 and e-books and regular books. I should have known, though, because reading and, therefore, books are such an important part of my life.
I have always loved the printed word. I was raised in a household of people who read all the time and I started with being read to and, in first grade, switched to reading myself. This was literally true; when I started first grade my father would read the paper to me and about halfway through the school year I started reading it to him. I haven't stopped reading since then.
Along with reading went book buying, but not, unfortunately, book disposal. I have many, many shelves of books at both houses, as well as a lot of cartons of books at both. I cling to my books, which I do re-read, as if book publication were going to stop tomorrow and I'd have to spend the rest of my life with only the books I have on hand. This is silly, of course. I actually did manage to give the Lancaster Friends of the Library two cubic yards (eighteen cubic feet) of books about four years ago and I've trained myself to give them some magazines after I've read them. This is a major behavioral change and I'm fairly proud of myself for making it.
However, it hasn't been enough. That's why I'm so pleased with the Kindle 2. It's small, light, easy to read, and doesn't need any bookshelf space at all. I just copied the eighty or so books I'd downloaded from Baen.com to a single CD (81 MB on a standard 700-MB CD). It's less than a quarter-inch wide, put in a minimum-sized jewel box.
The Kindle 2 is great for regular text books, but it's not designed for books with photos and figures and graphs, like knitting books. The Kindle 2 has sixteen shades of gray, compared to the Kindle 1's four shades, but that's gray, not color. That works just fine for covers, but it would be really inadequate for knitting books. This isn't just my opinion; books like that don't come in Kindle versions. I've actually bought four real books since the Kindle arrived. Two of these were about knitting (one was about color work) and two were about bread and pastry. I sure wish I'd known I was getting a Kindle, though, because I wouldn't have bought the seven-volume boxed set of Sookie Stackhouse paperbacks the week before.
Some of you are probably familiar with how the Kindle works, but that's not going to stop me from explaining it. Included in the cost of the book is use of a 3G network (Sprint, I think). Buy a Kindle version of a book from Amazon and it delivers it over the network pretty much instantaneously. E-books from other sources, like Baen, can be mailed directly to the Kindle, via Amazon or they can be downloaded to a computer and mailed from there. I've chosen the second method so that I can back the e-books up on CD. I think that I've bought eternal download rights from Baen, but I don't know that for sure. I know I've bought eternal download rights from Amazon, because they suggest using those rights to "archive" books when my Kindle gets too full (it holds 1500 average-sized books). I can also plug my Kindle into a USB 2 port on my computer and transfer e-books directly. However, my laptop doesn't have USB 2, so that's not an option at this time. My husband's computer has it, so the possibility is there. It's just that the mailing procedure works really well.
If you mail an e-book that's not of the two Kindle formats (.mobi and .prc) Amazon will convert it. There's a ten-cent charge (billed after thirty e-books, so there's no flood of dime charges), which seems pretty reasonable to me. I've been mailing e-books in those two formats, so I haven't been charged for mailing them, though.
Baen has a very clever scheme going with their e-books. At least, I think it's clever and I know they make money on it. The first one or two books in a series are free. Just download and mail to the Kindle (or read them on your computer; a number of formats are available). Then, once you're absolutely hooked on the series, the subsequent books cost $6 each, which is very reasonable. Remember, there's no shipping to pay. Some older e-books are $5 and bundled e-books are $4, so the e-books are economical.
On Amazon the e-books are no more than $9.95 for new hardbounds. When the book becomes available in paperback (usually $7.99 list price these days), the cost of the e-book drops to be less than the cover price, I think. At least the few I've looked at work that way. I can't claim to have looked at the comparative prices of many books and e-books, so I don't really know what the actual Amazon policy is. I will say, though, that I expect to recoup the cost of the device with the savings on the e-books fairly soon, like less than a year.
I also expect to give a lot of books to the Friends, since I will no longer need them. I've got two sets of some of my favorite series, for example, so that I could re-read them at either house without having to pack them and transport them twice a year. These are all in paperback, because I'm fond of them, but not at hardbound prices. Mostly, though, I only buy one copy and end up packing and transporting several (four or five, at least) cartons each way. Now all I'll have to do is take my Kindle 2 and the back-up CD. That will make changing houses a lot easier and reduce the strain on my back and knees.
I'll still have a box or two of knitting books, though. Knitting books are heavier that regular books, because they're printed on glossy paper. On the other hand, they're usually thinner, even though the pages are larger. The latest David Weber book is about 2" thick but it's an unusual knitting book that's over ½" thick.
I don't want you to think I love my Kindle 2 for purely practical reasons like saving shelf space. There's a lot more to it than that. It's just plain cute and fun. It's so light and the ergonomics are really well thought out. It works well with my habit of holding a book in my left hand, as the "next page" and "previous page" buttons are right under my thumb (they haven't ignored people who hold books in their right hands; there's a "next page" button on the right side, too). The screen isn't back-lit, meaning that I need a little book light to read it in bed, but I find back-lit screens to be tiring after a while.
Let's see, what other functions does it have that might be interesting? It can be used to shop directly from Amazon, and not just for e-books. Actually, it'll go anywhere on the Web, although the small screen size makes reading pages that aren't designed for it a bit difficult. You can subscribe to newspapers and magazines through Amazon. The list of magazines is kind of short, but that probably won't last. Amazon will send sample chapters from their books free. These are usually the first couple of chapters.
The battery charge life is astounding, particularly if the net is turned off (like cell phones, it checks in with the cell tower regularly and that can eat battery life in a fringe area). The charging cord is very clever, as it's both the USB cord and a regular electric cord (the far end is a little transformer that the USB cord plugs into). It charges quickly from the wall (I haven't tried USB charging). There are six font sizes to choose from. It'll read the book aloud, although rather oddly. I don't like being read to, though, so I don't really care if it's a little odd.
I bought a Patagonia padded cover for mine, but I don't like it because the zippers don't move easily and the little straps make a funny bump under my hand. So I've ordered a leather cover that just flips open. The additional warranty I bought promises one complete replacement if the device is totaled by owner/operator error. However, it can be dropped and still survive (some of the drop tests are shown on the Amazon page. I like to read in the bathtub, so this coverage makes me more confident, although I've never dropped a book in the tub in all my years of reading there.
I didn't realize I had so much to write about the Kindle 2 and e-books and regular books. I should have known, though, because reading and, therefore, books are such an important part of my life.
21 October 2008
Busy Week This Week
Well, my week started on Sunday, getting a new toilet installed. It's a Kohler toilet that only uses 1.6 gallons, compared to the original toilet that used 6 or 7 gallons. As it was being installed, I was doing laundry and I noticed water running down the side of the water heater. We looked and the pipes were so corroded that it was a wonder that any water was going the right way. I spent the afternoon doing as much laundry as I could and going to the supermarket.
Monday I went over and had the first crown prep done and then came home to meet the plumber. He agreed immediately that we needed a new water heater and we scheduled it for Tuesday afternoon. He cut the insulation jacket off to be sure we had the right size (50 gallons) and that set the water hiding in the fiberglass free. By this morning it was really wet and messy in the garage.
So this morning I had to take my husband by the blood lab for a test first thing (fasting test, you know how that works). The guy is installing the new water heater as I write. The corner of the garage is sodden. There's no other word for it but that. Fortunately the wallboard around the water heater base is purely for looks and the 2x4 frame provided the real structural strength.
It turns out that the old water heater was installed in 1980, making it 28 years old. Apparently this is beyond geriatric for water heaters, which have a normal lifetime of about a dozen years. I don't know about anyone else, but I don't really think much about my water heater. It just sits there in the corner of the garage, working away. I try to drain it once a year, but I suspect I really only manage about once every three years.
So we're about to have hot water again and I'm going to get the laundry finished, hopefully today. You see, I have an appointment for my third crown prep tomorrow (Wednesday). I'm hoping it goes as well as yesterday's did and I can get the laundry put away, etc.
Then on Thursday I have another dentist's appointment, to fill some cavities. The crowns won't be back from the lab for another couple-three weeks, so I'll have some time off until it's time to glue them on. A year or two back, I got a crown replaced and when we tried the new crown on, it was such a perfect fit it wouldn't come off after the trial fitting. Of course the dentist didn't want to do anything extreme to it so it took some time before it finally popped of. Then I nearly swallowed it. What a farce that was. Funny now, but not so funny at the time.
I'm almost done with the central section of the dramatic stole I'm knitting for a friend. I've taken so long to get even this far that I'm going to give her the Forget-Me-Not Shawl just to tide her over. The shawl has been finished except for blocking for literally months, so I've got to get myself in gear right now. I got a new blocking set, with wires and pins, etc, from Overstock.com for about $20 (I'm a member of their club and get an additional 5% discount and free postage). This shawl is vastly oversized compared to the original pattern, because I read it wrong.
Abut five minutes ago I got my copy of It Itches by Franklin Habit. Wonderful book. So much truth in it, too. I recommend it highly. I've only read the cartoons, not the essays, because I want to get this published before I get distracted by something else.
Monday I went over and had the first crown prep done and then came home to meet the plumber. He agreed immediately that we needed a new water heater and we scheduled it for Tuesday afternoon. He cut the insulation jacket off to be sure we had the right size (50 gallons) and that set the water hiding in the fiberglass free. By this morning it was really wet and messy in the garage.
So this morning I had to take my husband by the blood lab for a test first thing (fasting test, you know how that works). The guy is installing the new water heater as I write. The corner of the garage is sodden. There's no other word for it but that. Fortunately the wallboard around the water heater base is purely for looks and the 2x4 frame provided the real structural strength.
It turns out that the old water heater was installed in 1980, making it 28 years old. Apparently this is beyond geriatric for water heaters, which have a normal lifetime of about a dozen years. I don't know about anyone else, but I don't really think much about my water heater. It just sits there in the corner of the garage, working away. I try to drain it once a year, but I suspect I really only manage about once every three years.
So we're about to have hot water again and I'm going to get the laundry finished, hopefully today. You see, I have an appointment for my third crown prep tomorrow (Wednesday). I'm hoping it goes as well as yesterday's did and I can get the laundry put away, etc.
Then on Thursday I have another dentist's appointment, to fill some cavities. The crowns won't be back from the lab for another couple-three weeks, so I'll have some time off until it's time to glue them on. A year or two back, I got a crown replaced and when we tried the new crown on, it was such a perfect fit it wouldn't come off after the trial fitting. Of course the dentist didn't want to do anything extreme to it so it took some time before it finally popped of. Then I nearly swallowed it. What a farce that was. Funny now, but not so funny at the time.
I'm almost done with the central section of the dramatic stole I'm knitting for a friend. I've taken so long to get even this far that I'm going to give her the Forget-Me-Not Shawl just to tide her over. The shawl has been finished except for blocking for literally months, so I've got to get myself in gear right now. I got a new blocking set, with wires and pins, etc, from Overstock.com for about $20 (I'm a member of their club and get an additional 5% discount and free postage). This shawl is vastly oversized compared to the original pattern, because I read it wrong.
Abut five minutes ago I got my copy of It Itches by Franklin Habit. Wonderful book. So much truth in it, too. I recommend it highly. I've only read the cartoons, not the essays, because I want to get this published before I get distracted by something else.
27 September 2007
Breezy Scarf
Breezy Scarf
Originally uploaded by Mary The Digital Knitter
This scarf is finished. It's 9 in. wide and well over 6 ft long (I haven't measured it). I don't know whether I'm going to wait to send it to Iowa until I have several more scarves to go with it or just send it on now. It's really too warm for such a heavy scarf, so I'll probably wait.
I've got yellow yarn, just like this, for another similar scarf, as well as superfine (baby) alpaca in both purple and rose and alpaca, cashmere, silk, merino blend in both blue and black, for winter scarves. Working with such luxurious yarns is a real delight, and making just a scarf avoids bankruptcy.
Today was a real reading jackpot between USPS and UPS. The letter carrier brought me a carton of ten books (one crockpot cookbook and nine mysteries) from Zooba and UPS brought me one book (1634: The Bavarian Crisis, an alternate history book and the newest in a series) from Amazon. I'd been waiting impatiently for the 1634 book and I'm really happy it's here.
Speaking of reading and of knitting, I've figured out a good way to read while knitting. Baen Books offers a wide variety of free books for download, many by authors I really like. It's easy to download one and read it on my laptop as I knit. Of course, this only works for simple knitting.
31 August 2007
OK, It Should Have Been "Four (Or Six) New Books"
I finished the Andrews, Maron, and Harris books yesterday and started reading one of the Eric Flint books, Shadow Of The Lion. I've read this book before, a couple of years ago, before the two sequels came out. I enjoyed it then, and have always wondered if Flint had wanted to use all the research he did on Venice for 1634: The Galileo Affair for more than just one book.
It's probably misleading to call this book an Eric Flint book, since there are two other authors, Mercedes Lackey and Dave Freer. In fact, the first sequel, This Rough Magic, is also by all three authors, but the second, A Mankind Witch, is only by Dave Freer.
Anyway, Shadow Of The Lion has 905 pages, This Rough Magic has 944. and A Mankind Witch has a mere 512. I'm such a sucker for a good multi-volume epic. I've recently re-read The Assiti Shards books and all the Anita Blake books, both for the third or fourth time. It's going to be a while before I'm back to knitting most of the day and only reading at bedtime.
I have managed to cast on and knit about fifty rows of another Forest Canopy Shawl, also in turquoise, today. I'm going to try to get the three scarves I've knitted all finished, washed, and blocked this weekend, but who knows if I will. I've got to get my hair cut and do about six loads of laundry this weekend, too.
It's probably misleading to call this book an Eric Flint book, since there are two other authors, Mercedes Lackey and Dave Freer. In fact, the first sequel, This Rough Magic, is also by all three authors, but the second, A Mankind Witch, is only by Dave Freer.
Anyway, Shadow Of The Lion has 905 pages, This Rough Magic has 944. and A Mankind Witch has a mere 512. I'm such a sucker for a good multi-volume epic. I've recently re-read The Assiti Shards books and all the Anita Blake books, both for the third or fourth time. It's going to be a while before I'm back to knitting most of the day and only reading at bedtime.
I have managed to cast on and knit about fifty rows of another Forest Canopy Shawl, also in turquoise, today. I'm going to try to get the three scarves I've knitted all finished, washed, and blocked this weekend, but who knows if I will. I've got to get my hair cut and do about six loads of laundry this weekend, too.
30 August 2007
That Should Have Been "Three New Books"
I finished the Donna Andrews book last night and started on Margaret Maron's Hard Row, a Deborah Knotts book. I finished that early this afternoon, after I got back from my mom's house. Now I'm reading Charlaine Harris's All Together Dead, the seventh in the Southern Vampires series. Once I'm done with it I'll probably pick up my knitting again.
I also got Annie Modesitt's latest book and five Eric Flint books, plus a Diane Fitzgerald beading book. They won't keep me from knitting though. At least, I don't think they will. Although Annie's book may jump up and force me to knit one of its patterns.
I also got Annie Modesitt's latest book and five Eric Flint books, plus a Diane Fitzgerald beading book. They won't keep me from knitting though. At least, I don't think they will. Although Annie's book may jump up and force me to knit one of its patterns.
29 August 2007
New Book
The newest Donna Andrews book The Penguin Who Knew Too Much showed up at my house at about 1730 this evening. I had to make dinner and quickly finish the book I was reading (I was almost at the end anyway) but now, as soon as I send this, I'm going to start reading it. There were six other books in the box and I didn't even look at them. Nor did I open the other Amazon box that arrived at the same time. I won't be back here until I'm done with it.
I love Donna Andrews' books, particularly the Meg Langslow series. They so funny and so well written that I just can't resist them. Some people think some kinds of yarn are crack; with me it's good books by favorite authors.
I finished Reggie the Alligator yesterday. I've got to get my yarn needle out and finish him up, as well as the Dragon Scale and Noro Argosy scarves. Then I have to wash the See's chocolate off Reggie and gently block him. The other two scarves don't have any chocolate on them, but they'll still get washed and blocked.
I got some of those rubber foam tiles for blocking, after reading about them on a couple of blogs. I'd give credit but I can't remember. They're great. Two sets of four 2x2' interlocking tiles, with edges. Amazon, intended for work-out rooms and free weight work. Inexpensive. Recommended.
I love Donna Andrews' books, particularly the Meg Langslow series. They so funny and so well written that I just can't resist them. Some people think some kinds of yarn are crack; with me it's good books by favorite authors.
I finished Reggie the Alligator yesterday. I've got to get my yarn needle out and finish him up, as well as the Dragon Scale and Noro Argosy scarves. Then I have to wash the See's chocolate off Reggie and gently block him. The other two scarves don't have any chocolate on them, but they'll still get washed and blocked.
I got some of those rubber foam tiles for blocking, after reading about them on a couple of blogs. I'd give credit but I can't remember. They're great. Two sets of four 2x2' interlocking tiles, with edges. Amazon, intended for work-out rooms and free weight work. Inexpensive. Recommended.
07 January 2007
I Discover A "New" Military Science Fiction Author
Some time ago, like at least a year, I was browsing at my local Waldenbooks and I bought some paperbacks by an author named John Ringo. The titles I got were There Will Be Dragons (the first in a series) and A Hymn Before Battle, Gust Front, and When The Devil Dances (the first three in another series). I bought these because Ringo had co-written at least one book with another author whom I liked and I had liked that joint book.
I finally got around to reading There Will Be Dragons and decided I really did like the author. I'd say he's ex-military, a Southerner, and, like me, a baby-boomer, as well as a pretty good writer. So here I am on Wednesday, almost finished with the first book in a series and wanting more. I went to Amazon and found the next two books, as well as the other books in the second series, and ordered them. We'd joined the Amazon frequent-reader club, so we get 2nd-day delivery free. However, Monday, when they should have showed up, was New Year's Day and UPS was taking the day off. So I expected them on Tuesday, which was what Amazon promised me. I don't know what happened, but my eagerly-awaited books spent Tuesday down in the LA basin and didn't arrive at my house until late Wednesday afternoon. I was kind of grumpy about that.
However, I did have the first three books of the second series, so I started reading them. I caught the author in a glaring factual error, one that just leaped off the page at me, but otherwise the books seemed very well edited, without the ugly spell-checker errors that are so common these days. This series, set in what was the near future, has a certain resemblance to Tom Clancy's books, with lots of technical stuff and combat and somewhat shallow character development, but are, in my opinion, better written.
I like military science fiction, like David Weber's Honor Harrington series, because it's generally less fantastical than a lot of sf. In Weber's books, about all one has to suspend disbelief about is that faster-than-light space travel is possible. Human nature is still human nature, peculiar as it is. I also like some alternative fiction, like the 1632 series by Eric Flint and the Belisarius series by Flint and David Drake.
I don't know what's going on with all the collaborating in sf these days, but there seems to be a lot of it. On the one hand, it can make the quality somewhat uneven, particularly in series. On the other hand, we readers get a lot more books in the series. Plus, it makes it easier to find new authors, the way I found Ringo.
Now and then, not very often in the good collaborations, it's possible to tell which author wrote something. I don't particularly look for this (I'm a pretty uncritical reader) but now and then it's impossible to overlook. I know, with an absolute certainty, that David Weber wrote one paragraph in a collaboration, because of a quirk of his. To him, all chairs are comfortable. No doubt it's the Spanish Inquisition's influence (no one ever expects the Spanish Inquisition), but he doesn't seem to be able to mention chairs without calling them comfortable.
So anyway, I've finished the first three books in the first series (and discovered that there's a fourth volume, which I ordered today) and the first two and a half books in the other series. The problem with good books is that they have to be read, no matter what else goes by the wayside. So I don't have those photos I promised and I've only got about four inches knitted on my first scarf for the Red Scarf Project and our laundry hamper is overflowing and I'm slipping behind in AFCA.
I've gone back to working on the red scarf, as it has to be done and shipped to VA this month. I ordered three colors of red Wool Of The Andes from KnitPicks for these scarves. I really like the yarn, which is Peruvian wool. It's not at all scratchy, but it has a very soft yet firm texture and it knits into a fabric with a very good hand. It's also very economical. That's not why I ordered it, though; I ordered it because there were so many good reds. Anyway, the pattern I'm using is the Open Basketweave Mesh from Charted Knitting Designs: A Third Treasury of Knitting Patterns by Barbara A. Walker. In the Schoolhouse Press edition, it's the yellow volume and the pattern is on page 252. I'm using 21 stitches, but the two edge stitches are slipped purlwise at the beginning of each row and purled at the end, so the pattern is really worked on 19 stitches. On 6.0 mm (US 10) needles, this give me a scarf that's 5.5 in. wide.
I finally got around to reading There Will Be Dragons and decided I really did like the author. I'd say he's ex-military, a Southerner, and, like me, a baby-boomer, as well as a pretty good writer. So here I am on Wednesday, almost finished with the first book in a series and wanting more. I went to Amazon and found the next two books, as well as the other books in the second series, and ordered them. We'd joined the Amazon frequent-reader club, so we get 2nd-day delivery free. However, Monday, when they should have showed up, was New Year's Day and UPS was taking the day off. So I expected them on Tuesday, which was what Amazon promised me. I don't know what happened, but my eagerly-awaited books spent Tuesday down in the LA basin and didn't arrive at my house until late Wednesday afternoon. I was kind of grumpy about that.
However, I did have the first three books of the second series, so I started reading them. I caught the author in a glaring factual error, one that just leaped off the page at me, but otherwise the books seemed very well edited, without the ugly spell-checker errors that are so common these days. This series, set in what was the near future, has a certain resemblance to Tom Clancy's books, with lots of technical stuff and combat and somewhat shallow character development, but are, in my opinion, better written.
I like military science fiction, like David Weber's Honor Harrington series, because it's generally less fantastical than a lot of sf. In Weber's books, about all one has to suspend disbelief about is that faster-than-light space travel is possible. Human nature is still human nature, peculiar as it is. I also like some alternative fiction, like the 1632 series by Eric Flint and the Belisarius series by Flint and David Drake.
I don't know what's going on with all the collaborating in sf these days, but there seems to be a lot of it. On the one hand, it can make the quality somewhat uneven, particularly in series. On the other hand, we readers get a lot more books in the series. Plus, it makes it easier to find new authors, the way I found Ringo.
Now and then, not very often in the good collaborations, it's possible to tell which author wrote something. I don't particularly look for this (I'm a pretty uncritical reader) but now and then it's impossible to overlook. I know, with an absolute certainty, that David Weber wrote one paragraph in a collaboration, because of a quirk of his. To him, all chairs are comfortable. No doubt it's the Spanish Inquisition's influence (no one ever expects the Spanish Inquisition), but he doesn't seem to be able to mention chairs without calling them comfortable.
So anyway, I've finished the first three books in the first series (and discovered that there's a fourth volume, which I ordered today) and the first two and a half books in the other series. The problem with good books is that they have to be read, no matter what else goes by the wayside. So I don't have those photos I promised and I've only got about four inches knitted on my first scarf for the Red Scarf Project and our laundry hamper is overflowing and I'm slipping behind in AFCA.
I've gone back to working on the red scarf, as it has to be done and shipped to VA this month. I ordered three colors of red Wool Of The Andes from KnitPicks for these scarves. I really like the yarn, which is Peruvian wool. It's not at all scratchy, but it has a very soft yet firm texture and it knits into a fabric with a very good hand. It's also very economical. That's not why I ordered it, though; I ordered it because there were so many good reds. Anyway, the pattern I'm using is the Open Basketweave Mesh from Charted Knitting Designs: A Third Treasury of Knitting Patterns by Barbara A. Walker. In the Schoolhouse Press edition, it's the yellow volume and the pattern is on page 252. I'm using 21 stitches, but the two edge stitches are slipped purlwise at the beginning of each row and purled at the end, so the pattern is really worked on 19 stitches. On 6.0 mm (US 10) needles, this give me a scarf that's 5.5 in. wide.
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