Use It or Lose It

Posted on 02/18/2018 by chick

ANGER: you have to use it or lose it. Channel it into something good, or let it go.

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Goal Check

Posted on 02/17/2018 by chick

I still have not finished my 2017 photo album or my 2017 posts. We are now more than halfway through February, and it’s past time to start looking forward rather than backward. Consequently I have decided to push off the photo album until later this year. The kids are getting older, and I take fewer pictures of them, so yearly albums aren’t a necessity any more. Every other year ought to suffice. I realize that if I don’t finish the 2017-2018 album later this year, that likely means I will never finish it or any other. But that’s not an immediate concern, just something to keep in mind as we get closer to year’s end. As for the 2017 posts, those have to be finished now or abandoned. I’m making that my project for the weekend.

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This Blog Has Changed!

Posted on 02/16/2018 by chick

I don’t add new widgets to the blog often, but I added one today. It claims that it will help me track my progress on my novel. I guess we’ll see. As far as widgets go, it’s an intrusive little bugger. I hope I won’t regret having added it.

The widget seemed to think I ought to name my Work in Progress. I have tentatively titled it Shades of the Future, which is much better than Chipmunks Are Free, the silly name I gave it for NaNoWriMo. I have applied my NaNoWriMo total to my new goal of 70,000 words, and I’ve given myself a September deadline. You can see the progress bar over to the right. It says I’m 29.9% of the way there.

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A Bad Dream

Posted on 02/16/2018 by chick

Patriot’s Dream by Barbara Michaels

Grade: C+

I’m enjoying my Barbara Michaels binge, but I wish that her writing had been more consistent. Patriot’s Dream is not one of her best. I just read it a couple of weeks ago, but I don’t remember the details very well, so forgive me for any inaccuracies in this review.

Patriot’s Dream was published in 1976, the year of the United States Bicentennial, and the story goes something like this: a young teacher is on the cusp of a mental breakdown, and she needs some time off, so she goes to Williamsburg to stay with her elderly aunt and uncle in their historic home. In exchange for the free room and board, she does housework and cooking for them. She starts having vivid dreams about the Revolutionary War. The dreams revolve around some of her ancestors, who once lived in the same house. During her waking hours, she attracts the attention of two suitors. One is nice and boring. The other is mean and less boring. The story moves back and forth between past and present, culminating in a brief meeting of the two timelines and the weak suggestion of reincarnation. In the end, no one element of the story ruined this book, but nothing quite worked either. I struggled to finish it, and I was dissatisfied with the ending.

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Livia, Scientist

Posted on 02/16/2018 by chick

Dear Livia,

Your science fair was yesterday. You and I had a great time, but it was a rough road getting there. To be honest, I hadn’t even wanted you to sign up for it, because I had a sneaking suspicion that the bulk of the work would fall on my shoulders. But you talked me into signing you up anyway.

You had a basic idea of what you wanted to do (something with paper airplanes), but you didn’t know how to design an experiment, and I didn’t know how to guide you. Time passed quickly. Too quickly. Suddenly it was the night before, and you hadn’t done your experiment. Still, you insisted on going to the fair, so we had no choice but to find a way to proceed.

We finally came up with something. It wasn’t perfect, but it was good enough to show evidence that your hypothesis was correct. You did the experiment, but you didn’t have enough time left to create your presentation. So while you were at school, I did it for you. It took three hours of printing, cutting, and pasting, but I got it done. By the time you got home, all you had to do was fill in the blanks.

I wasn’t pleased with how this worked out. I worried that you might learn that it’s OK to put things off too long, and that someone will bail you out if you do. But I reasoned that the point of this first science fair wasn’t to do perfect science or even to do all the work yourself. The point was to get you interested in science. Next year you’ll be older. You’ll be able to do more for yourself and design a better experiment. And you’ll have happy memories from this science fair to motivate you.

And when I say “happy,” I mean it. You absolutely glowed. You enjoyed having the opportunity to talk about something that interested you. You did a great job of explaining your experiment, and you got wonderful feedback from the teachers. I hope the lesson that you ultimately learned is that science is fun.

But there is one thing I want to know, a scientific question I throw out to the Universe: how come glue sticks are everywhere when I don’t need them, but if I need one, they’re almost impossible to find, and when I do finally find one, it’s half dried up and super icky?

Just wondering. Science will do that to you.

Love,

Mom

 

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We Can’t Have That

Posted on 02/15/2018 by chick

The moment I sit down to work on my novel, I remember something IMPORTANT that I have to look up on the Internet. I cannot look it up later. I must do it now. Now! Because if I don’t, I might end up writing something, and we can’t have that, can we?

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The Art of Art

Posted on 02/15/2018 by chick

Dear Kids,

This year you both showed off your artistic talents. You made quite a bit of art for us. Some of it has been displayed. The rest is in piles and boxes. I hope to sort through it and find the best pieces for the photo album. For now, suffice it to say that you created many beautiful things.

Livia used to love coloring books, but at some point her focus turned from coloring them to creating them. She made several in imitation of Johanna Basford’s series of coloring books. Livia named her collections with words like “Lost” and “Secret.” Some of the detail work was quite stunning.

Marshall also made a coloring book and photocopied the pages so that we could color them. His work featured multi-headed creatures who can, like Godzilla, shoot killing rays out of their mouths. There were several different types of killing rays, and Marshall was happy to explain the differences to me. That’s one of the things I love about Marshall’s art. There’s always a story behind it.

The best thing, though, was that two art sales opened up in our living room. Livia’s was first. She made a sign that said, “Did you know at Livia’s art sale you can get surpizis and gifs? Well we are open for 3 hawers!” Livia’s art was expensive, and you had to be careful to ask for the price upfront. I learned to haggle with her. For example, she had some miniature paper snowmen that that she was originally selling for $1 each. I talked her down to four for a dollar, which worked out well for Grampa. He bought a batch while he was here for Christmas. For the record, I’m not saying that her art isn’t worth what she wants to charge for it. I’m just saying that her prices limit our ability to buy her work!

Not to be outdone, Marshall also made an art studio. Marshall’s sign said, “Marshall’s Art Sale. We’re open almost all day! And every picture is $1!! And free shipping!!! You can get anything Marshall can draw! So come on down to Marshall’s art sale!!!!!”

I made many purchases from both art sales. It was money well spent. I was 100% satisfied with all of my purchases. You are my favorite artists!

Love,

Mom

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A Haunting in Cornwall

Posted on 02/12/2018 by chick

Wait for What Will Come by Barbara Michaels

Grade: B

In Wait for What Will Come, American Carla Tregellas finds out that she has inherited an ancient mansion in Cornwall. There’s not much money for keeping the place up but, being young and carefree, she decides to travel to Cornwall and live in the house until the money runs out. Once there, she meets several love interests. She also learns about the folk stories of the area, including that there’s a sea demon who abducts a woman from her family every 200 years on Midsummer’s Day. (Can you guess how many years it’s been since the last abduction?) Meanwhile, she hears and sees strange things around the house, and she nearly dies in what was obviously a staged accident. Can she find out what’s really going on before the demon comes to drag her down into the deep?

This book had its own special atmosphere, and it was a nice change. For me, an ancient, stony mansion on the seashore of Cornwall is a more interesting setting than, say, an old house in Virginia. I also liked the idea of the sea demon who abducts a young woman every 200 years.

But the book suffered from some of the common flaws of the romance novel. How can you believe that the heroine is a smart, modern woman who can take care of herself if she’s always behaving stupidly and irrationally and getting herself into desperate need of rescue? Also, though I understand why an author would want to try to keep the reader from guessing which guy would ultimately win the girl, making him the mean one is a terrible method for doing that. How can we be satisfied with the ending if we can’t even understand why the heroine would want such an oaf?

But there is a lot to be said for Michaels’ work. I always learn something from her books, which is part of my justification for reading them. From this book I learned a little bit about Cornish surnames. I no longer have the book handy, so I can’t quote from it, but Wikipedia gives a couple of versions of the rhyme that Michaels referenced, including this one:

By Tre, Ros, Pol, Lan, Caer and Pen / You may know the most Cornishmen.

The Wikipedia article explains the meanings of the names. I think it’s interesting. I hadn’t even realized that there is such a thing as the Cornish language.

Next up in the Barbara Michaels binge is Patriot’s Dream.

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Catless

Posted on 02/07/2018 by chick

For the first time in 20 years, we are catless. All the doors can be left open, because there are no cats trying to sneak into forbidden areas. Cardboard can be left out with no fear that it will be scratched to shreds. Piles of clothing can be left out with no fear that they’ll get covered with fur. The leather couch doesn’t need protection. I don’t have to refill the water bowl or wash the cats’ food dishes or scoop the litter box.

Life is easier now, and sadder.

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All the Rooms Are Quiet Now

Posted on 02/05/2018 by chick

From the day we brought him home with us, Mojo’s snuffly breathing always gave him away. He couldn’t hide from us. We could always hear him even if we couldn’t see him. All we had to do was listen.

Until now. We cannot hear him anymore. All the the rooms are quiet now.

R.I.P. Mojo

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