Barbara Hambly's Blog, page 53

Dust 'n' saddle-leather

Yesterday I played complete hookey from work and went to the Cowboy Festival in Santa Clarita with friends. It's held at Gene Autry's Melody Ranch, which is where they shot "Deadwood." VERY curious to walk down the street past the Gem Saloon and the Bella Union, and the house Sheriff Bullock built for his bride - I hunted out Doc Cochrane's cabin, and Mr. Wu's pig-sty. And like an idiot, did not bring my camera, though I'm sure that pictures are available all over the Net, far better than I c...

Stillness

Living as I do near LAX, the hiatus in international flights is noticible - and, I'm sorry to say (because I do feel awful for those people stuck in airports and foreign cities), beautiful. Indeed, the last time there was this kind of silence was the few days after 9-11 when they shut down air traffic altogether. It reminds me a little of the feeling I sometimes get in the evenings, coming out of the bungalow offices at the college, which used to be dorms back when the place was built in the ...

Vexing day

This is the third Saturday in a row that I've been obliged to drive out to Fontana - a drive of 75-90 minutes, depending on the traffic - to deal with car-issues at the place where I bought it, the very excellent K&P Auto Dismantlers. I am trying to get a spare key - in case of unforseen circumstances I REALLY want a spare available - but of course, Camrys being what they are, the electronic chip needs to be programmed: they can't just mail me a key. And - they discovered after TWO AND A HALF...

WoW query

A quick query - I did get to Level 36, went to SW, trained up, made it back as far as the Rebel Camp and got killed trying to get the 30 feet from the road to Nasingwary's Camp. (I hate it when that happens).

So, I'm back in the rebel camp and will wait there when everybody comes back Thursday night.

My question is, I now can do another Talent Point, and what should I spend it on?

It's vexing, only playing 2 hrs once a week (with a quick shopping-trip in between, mostly to make sure Bliz hasn't ...

chocolate-covered matzoh

In keeping with my policy not to eat, drink, do or say anything at parties that will cause me to feel terrible in the morning, I did avoid the chocolate-covered matzoh at last night's seder, and had a wonderful time.

Easter lunch with the family today - meaning, a LONG drive, out and back.

As a question: I've been doing some reading on the caste system in traditional India - how active is caste in India today? Can anyone point me in a direction online to find out? (I'm not 100% sure I trust wik...

Do they think we're stupid?

A big day - no less than THREE separate scam-phish e-mails in the morning bucket. (One reason I got a different account for personals). A "Mastercard Beneficiary" of $600,000 from Malaysia? (I can pull $10,000 of that at once, she says) A sincere British lawyer (he must be British, with such a respectable English name) asking if I'd please assist him in helping his clients circumvent the evil family by using my bank account to transfer funds? And with such professional syntax and spelling! Ho...

Tea - II

A long but very lovely day yesterday, at my Harley-ridin' friend's annual Wisteria Tea. Black-and-white check tablecloths tied at the corners with hot-pink ribbons, on an old brick patio under the wisteria arbor; black bees the size of walnuts humming drunkenly around the flowers; very fine French and English china (Spode, Limoges, Crown Derby) and the most astonishing array of fresh-made tea-sandwiches and scones (even the lemon-curd was home-made). When these ladies do a tea, they don't foo...

School pizza

Standing in line waiting for my smoothie at the coffee-shop on-campus, I am always amazed by the sheer amount of coffee-shop pizza consumed by students. I'm a compulsive eater, and think ANYTHING is tasty, but the coffee-shop pizza doesn't look particularly appetizing to me. Yet, the staff (who are wonderful, by the way) always seem to be either dishing up the last piece in the warming-machine, or putting in a new one from the cooker in the back room. I think it must be a case of just, "I've ...

White nights - ii

Wow. Thank you all.

I have now wrapped Blood Maidens and will get it in. The whole business was insanely complicated by the fact that in 1911, Russia was still on the Julian calendar, so I was constantly switching dates back and forth... what is now May 21 (when the white nights are officially taking place) was May 7 there... and Easter fell in the middle of it, which isn't the same as Western Easter, but which was a MAJOR holiday when everything in the country came to a screeching halt... So,...

White nights

So, how white do the white nights of St Petersburg, Russia, really get? I read that they last from mid-May until mid-July - is this accurate? Which would mean that by early May the hours of actual darkness are shortened down to one or two? Has anyone actually been there, or been on an analagous latitude in mid-summer?

Under better circumstances I'd have tried to make it to St P to see for myself, but for the past couple of years - while I've had this project on the back-burner - it's been impo...