Elizabeth Moon's Blog, page 130

Bats in the....Bridge

...but not the famous one on Congress.    I had left fencing to pick up Michael from ice-skating, and came to the Lamar-183 intersection, where a red light stopped me.  There was still enough light in the sky to see the plume of little black shapes flitting out from under the upper-deck bridge.  Lots and lots of them.  

Choir practice

So what do we get as a reward for doing a really good job on the Mozart Sunday?

Britten.   (And also a bit of Schubert, but not really *good* Schubert, like the Trout Quintet, and yes, I know it's not a choral work.)

I admit, I seem to be one of the few people around who Does Not Like singing Britten.  We had it explained to us again how brilliant the work is, and how we should understand it...and my musical hooves are dug well into the mud, leaning backward, and my ears are pinned against the cac

Writer's Block: Call Me

Landline at home (also carries our broadband--the only decent broadband available in the area was DSL.)

Cellphone is strictly for emergencies or on trips, but never while driving. 

Mozart, Mozart, Mozart...

Saturday we had the orchestra rehearsal for Sunday's Mozartian Evensong.   I had had a migraine on Friday, which was not as painful as usual but had way more visual aura than usual.  Also no sleep Friday night, with a round of visual aura of a new type in around two in the morning.  Intellectually interesting, but exhausting.  The rehearsal included a long time standing in our rows--my feet swelled up and hurt of course--and by the end of the 2+ hours, I was wiped out and faintly nauseated, as t

80 Acres Butterflies

If you'd like to see some of the butterflies on the 80 acres, as photographed this past week, the pictures are up at the 80 acres blog.   Some butterflies weren't cooperative (that would be all the sulphurs, the swallowtails, and the variegated fritillaries) but some were.   I'm particularly happy with the new photos of the Reakirt's blues, which we've had a lot of this year, compared to the usual hairstreaks and groundstreaks, which this year are thin on the ground.

My mother, AKA Annie Oakley

Since you enjoyed that story about me and the meat-grinder and the swords, here's an even better one about my mother.   I am not sure of the date (and can't ask her--she's been dead almost 20 years now, but it would've been in the late '30s or early '40s)  but I clearly remember the story.

She and my father were at a bowling alley.  Mother didn't like bowling--she'd had polio as a child and (though she didn't know it then) a twisted spine that cut her height.  Bowling was painful. 

The bowling al

The Meat Grinder

After the several successful forays into home butchery, after the local custom-meat-packing places disappeared, we (we being John the rancher, Richard and me, and John's son D-) decided to go into it whole calf, as it were.   My contribution is the new meat grinder.   We had a hand meat grinder.  John had a small electric meat grinder as the PTO of a band saw, but after running some lamb through it, I knew it was not enough.  And I am NOT grinding many-many-many pounds of meat by hand.  Unless I

The Underbelly of Crisis (or, When Fleas Jump Off the Dying Wolf)

This is another "Oh, Lord, there she goes again!" post, so either brace yourself or go find some puppies-and-kittens-and-rainbows location for the duration.   Some slicing and dicing may take place.

Crises bring out some truly weird behavior--in individuals, in groups, in governments.  Asweallknowbobs, there've been a boatload of crises recently, nice big juicy global ones.  And on the heels of my observing some of the weird behaviors, my 21 May  copy of Nature (science journal, British, really g

With sword in hand

For many physical skills I'm a slow learner...once I've got it, I've got it, but the learning curve is low and slow.  This makes it especially nice/fun/a thrill when suddenly something I've been struggling with for months (years?) pops into place.

Tonight it was a particular parry-riposte combination when fighting with sword and buckler.  Everything was going as usual (wearing myself out *not* getting touches on my instructor) when suddenly...it wasn't that I remembered what I'd been told (and pr

Lunch on Wednesday

We started the garden late this year, because it had been so dry so long, and we were on watering restriction (why plant what will just die of thirst?)

But after the first rain we started work:



And today this is what we had for lunch:
 We've had a mess of beans before this, and a few tomatoes, and one ear of corn, but this was a meal for two.  A very, very, VERY good meal for two.