Paksworld

And into the wet, steamy heart of Texas.   All went well.  Here’s a picture of the knitting that got done on the trip:

Socks-onna-train

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Tuesday morning I head off for the first convention of the season, Keycon in Winnipeg.  My convention seasons have shortened, due to age and LifeStuff, so I’m especially happy this year to be able to make an international trip after having to cancel plans for LonCon.

I won’t be back until the following Wednesday.  I am going computer-free this time, due to other LifeStuff involving electronics and lack of time to deal with complications.  An old-fashioned notebook will go with me–it often sparks my writing anyway–and so will yarn and knitting needles.   Read the rest of this entry »

So it’s been a busy week-and-a-day.  All did not go as planned, except the bluebonnets really did peak when HouseGuest was here from upstate New York and they smelled amazing and we got several walks out on them between showers.

HouseGuest, who like most people who come to Texas did not want to see–particularly did not want to see–what she saw on her last full day, when she ventured out to the north horse lot alone.  She had said she didn’t want to see one.  I hoped she wouldn’t see one.  We wandered here and there among the bluebonnets, with me being very careful, insisting that we move slowly and only when looking at the ground ahead…that no, we could not just walk through the flowers  without using our poles to move them and check for…etc.  And then…there it was in front of her.   Did she shriek and run back to the house?   No.   She took pictures of a nice (!) good-sized, not at all friendly rattlesnake, staying out of range of its strike and using the zoom.   Pictures on my LiveJournal: http://e-moon60.livejournal.com/  for those who want to see our most dangerous snake.

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I received in today’s mail a copy of the POD edition, which has a large PROOF on its last page, and some notes already attached saying “I’ve got this one, go find another one to fix.”    But close, yes.  And a quite attractive paperback, IMO.  Of course I found things that many goings over by many eyes did not catch before this (my proofreading on the screen is not as good as my proofreading on paper!)  but so far I consider them minor.   The front looks about the same on paper as on the screen; the back cover has the same border, the harp & tree centered toward the top, and a blurb.  Plus the very un-archaic-looking ISBN barcoding, but you can’t have everything unless bind it yourself.

Bluebonnets are really coming on now, and of course the rest of the week will be about church music, getting to rehearsals and services, and not losing the theology for the music minutiae.  Next week a houseguest.   And writing.   I am not ready for any of this stuff.

There are days I wish I were Granny Weatherwax and think of knitting stockings like that, but my present form is more that of Nanny Ogg, who in other ways I don’t much resemble.  Yet.  Anyway:  Stuff has been going on, of several forms and various levels, and you folk have been neglected.  My apologies.  The neglect, or partial neglect, will probably continue at least another two weeks.  Things that Ought to Have Been Done have Not Been Done because things that Ought Not to Have Been Done were done (partly by others, partly by me) and got in the way of the Ought to Have Been Done ones.

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We’ll start with the heads-up.   A few weeks from now there’ll be a podcast up on Gamer’s Tavern, in which we have a discussion of the Deed of Paksenarrion and its connections to RPGs, and other stuff.   I don’t know the date yet, but will post it on Twitter when they tell me.

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The concert on January 26 was amazing.   Everyone had worked so hard and so well getting ready for it, and the weather (which had been icky all week–that kind of “weeping” cold winter rain)  cleared off so it was a perfectly clear, sunny afternoon, not too hot or too cold.    The musicians were *wonderful*–not just talented musicians but genuinely nice people, lovely people.   And though I’d been just a little scared of bringing a chamber music string quartet to this community…it was a hit.  Everybody liked it (well, maybe the 10 yo boy was tired of it by the long second half, but not the rest).   I could feel the electricity from audience to musicians and back.   Everything I’d worried about (how will the acoustics be in that space?  What about having only one restroom?  What if not enough people come?  What if, what if, what if (a novelist can imagine complications and disasters VERY easily)  didn’t happen and better things did.

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David Watson, known in the SCA as Master Iolo, is a crossbow maker and experienced archer who has studied archery in warfare a long time, including visits to museums in the US and Europe.   Here’s his take on the recently very popular YouTube videos of superfast shooting, including by people who insist that they’ve discovered historical truths unknown to mere sport shooters.   Read the rest of this entry »

The other two in the family were in a car wreck today.   They were rear-ended while stopped behind another car, waiting to turn when the light changed.  They’re OK; car is now in for repair.   I am buried in work.   Sorry about that; it’s going to be this way for a couple of weeks at least.   Only some of the LifeStuff was expected, and that’s not even counting the car.

…that is, with Dragon Naturally Speaking.   This is my first day of working with Dragon NaturallySpeaking. I’m hoping to use it to make blog posts, email, and tweets on Twitter. This will save my fingers a lot of work. So far I’ve gotten it to work for emails for some posts but not on Twitter yet. Right now I’m using it. It definitely changes the rhythm of my writing. It’s also slower than writing right now.

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