Elizabeth Moon's Blog, page 63
October 27, 2010
From Twitter 10-26-2010
11:08:13: RT @KateElliottSFF: Must keep reminding myself to just write it and then I can cut it later.
11:10:59: Finished 3 chores, incl. music practice for lesson tomorrow. Still to come: music practice for big rehearsal tomorrow. Better write, too.
11:29:38: Homemade chicken/sausage/rice/tomato & chili soup for lunch. Not quite done yet, but...reward for the stock-making.
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October 26, 2010
Voting
Tomorrow is the day early voting comes to our precinct. I will probably wait until school's started to go down there (other end of town--a whole 3/4 mile away...) and cast my vote against the incumbent idiots. They include a governor who appointed the people who carried out the Texas Textbook Massacre and who managed (with the help of a state senator for our district) to obtain federal hurricane relief funds to rebuild the historic governor's mansion that was destroyed by arson. (It would very likely still be standing if he hadn't decided it needed renovation and moved out of it.) This is the same governor who wants to take up a huge swathe of private property on some of Texas' most productive farm land to build a "transportation corridor" from Mexico to the Oklahoma border, disrupting not only farms and small communities but providing zero benefit to the people who live in its path. And the state senator who engineered that clever little shift of money from hurricane relief and people who might actually need it, to the mansion rebuilding project which we really could do without. (Or the people who so love Perry should donate for...)
A friend whose early-voting day came earlier than mine was not amused to discover that the voting machine she used had a strong bias for Republicans. It undid her choices and replaced them with a Republican. She tried again. Same thing. Called an election judge over, and election judge was, shall we say, less than supportive...but friend did finally get the machine to (apparently) quit undoing what she was trying to do. I hate the stupid machines. I don't trust 'em. If you mark a paper ballot, you make the mark and you know for sure it's on the ballot. Yes, it's more time-consuming and expensive to count paper ballots. But they're real, and digital stuff is slippery as mercury in an oil bath. It can be invisibly changed where the voter has no chance to know that it's happening.
I am prepared to raise a large stink tomorrow if the one here tries to undo my choices...and yet can do nothing about the invisible sort of editing that could be going on. But y'all vote now, OK. Even if you think Rick Perry is pure gold with diamonds, while I think he's...pretty much something you normally leave out in the pasture or wipe off your boot if you step in it... you go on and vote.
A friend whose early-voting day came earlier than mine was not amused to discover that the voting machine she used had a strong bias for Republicans. It undid her choices and replaced them with a Republican. She tried again. Same thing. Called an election judge over, and election judge was, shall we say, less than supportive...but friend did finally get the machine to (apparently) quit undoing what she was trying to do. I hate the stupid machines. I don't trust 'em. If you mark a paper ballot, you make the mark and you know for sure it's on the ballot. Yes, it's more time-consuming and expensive to count paper ballots. But they're real, and digital stuff is slippery as mercury in an oil bath. It can be invisibly changed where the voter has no chance to know that it's happening.
I am prepared to raise a large stink tomorrow if the one here tries to undo my choices...and yet can do nothing about the invisible sort of editing that could be going on. But y'all vote now, OK. Even if you think Rick Perry is pure gold with diamonds, while I think he's...pretty much something you normally leave out in the pasture or wipe off your boot if you step in it... you go on and vote.
From Twitter 10-25-2010
13:39:32: RT @TanyaHuff: It would never have occured to me to sit on the conveyer belt were Air Canada not so emphatically telling me not to.
13:42:00: High winds today, good for drying clothes. 90sF, but tomorrow cooler--front tonight.
13:47:06: Health issues in family members suck large granite boulders.
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October 25, 2010
From Twitter 10-24-2010
07:21:06: RT @AdviceToWriters: The only impeccable writers are those who never wrote. WILLIAM HAZLITT #writing
07:22:44: RT @DorannaDurgin: Of course, if there's going to be a tornado in New Mexico--WTF?--it's going to be in Roswell.
16:05:34: Picked up chicken on way home and started stock in new, smaller stockpot (12 qt.) House smells delicious now.
17:39:22: RT @ColleenLindsay: My tax attorney wore footie pajamas covered in dinosaurs for our meeting. Then she made me a roast beef sandwich. #o ...
17:39:30: RT @vondanmcintyre: Sunday's free fiction at http://www.bookviewcafe.com/ - Nautilus, Chapter 6. Serial free, ebooks reasonable, Starfar ...
17:42:28: It's just slightly possible that I overdid the amount of vegetation in the stock. This pot cooks faster than monster pot.
20:43:01: Stock is done. Chicken meat is packaged. Dishes washed. Huge diff between 22 qt stockpot and 12 qt stockpot. Tired but happy cook.
20:45:53: Contest for ARC of Kings of the North at http://www.paksworld.com/blog/
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October 24, 2010
Music and Cooking
The children's choirs sang at the 9 am service, so our choir sang at the later one. Tough act to follow, but not the same people, so...we had a good time with the Offertory (lively, bouncy, etc.) and a reasonably good time with the Communion anthem (Elgar's "Ave Verum", which is ethereal and requires a completely different aesthetic.) It was a good singing day, despite the weather (many of us were complaining of sinus drainage); we had a good sized bunch show up, which always helps.
After that, I stopped at the grocery on the way home, as it was time to start with the stock-making again. I had unearthed one last quart of chicken stock from the depths of the freezer (at some point it had rolled under the basket) but that's not nearly enough with holidays and winter coming on. Especially in cooler weather, we eat soup several times a week, and for that I need stock. This time I wanted to try making chicken stock in the 12 quart stockpot, instead of the 22 quart--I need the monster for beef bones when we do the butchering, but the pot is a PITA to handle on the stove. Due to the design of the stove, I can't really center it on the large burner. Not to mention not being able to lift it when it's even half-full.
So...with chickens being so much smaller--and having all those little tiny bones that need to be filtered out carefully--the 12 quart was, I hoped, going to solve several problems, including fitting into the fridge. I also hoped it would go faster. The monster pot is stainless steel with an aluminum core on the bottom--helps keep the temp more even than my old all-steel pot. The 12-quart is multilayer all the way, so I thought it might hold the heat better and maintain an even more even temp.
And that's what happened. It came up to boil quickly, and settled to a good simmer when I turned it down. I have four 2-cup portions of chopped cooked chicken in individual bags in the freezer, and enough in the fridge to make chicken salad for sandwiches tomorrow, plus the stock (which still needs a bit more reducing before I package it. . Being able to make stock in one day, instead of two, and with a pot I can lift and carry more easily, will allow me to make it more often.
After that, I stopped at the grocery on the way home, as it was time to start with the stock-making again. I had unearthed one last quart of chicken stock from the depths of the freezer (at some point it had rolled under the basket) but that's not nearly enough with holidays and winter coming on. Especially in cooler weather, we eat soup several times a week, and for that I need stock. This time I wanted to try making chicken stock in the 12 quart stockpot, instead of the 22 quart--I need the monster for beef bones when we do the butchering, but the pot is a PITA to handle on the stove. Due to the design of the stove, I can't really center it on the large burner. Not to mention not being able to lift it when it's even half-full.
So...with chickens being so much smaller--and having all those little tiny bones that need to be filtered out carefully--the 12 quart was, I hoped, going to solve several problems, including fitting into the fridge. I also hoped it would go faster. The monster pot is stainless steel with an aluminum core on the bottom--helps keep the temp more even than my old all-steel pot. The 12-quart is multilayer all the way, so I thought it might hold the heat better and maintain an even more even temp.
And that's what happened. It came up to boil quickly, and settled to a good simmer when I turned it down. I have four 2-cup portions of chopped cooked chicken in individual bags in the freezer, and enough in the fridge to make chicken salad for sandwiches tomorrow, plus the stock (which still needs a bit more reducing before I package it. . Being able to make stock in one day, instead of two, and with a pot I can lift and carry more easily, will allow me to make it more often.
From Twitter 10-23-2010
10:07:39: Am finally caught up on sleep. (Eyes computer warily...) Now to catch up on work. Maybe another nap?
10:09:47: RT @SandraOldfield: Everyone has talent at twenty-five. The difficulty is to have it at fifty. --Edgar Degas http://yfrog.com/4b632755 ...
11:25:58: Leaves: brilliant green smooth sumac turning burgundy in veins. Va. creeper all shades of red/lavender. Ash--bright yellow. Camera-bug.
16:54:14: Our previously benign weather forecast for tonight is now severe T-storms, large hail, wind in excess of 60mph. Just heard thunder.
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October 23, 2010
From Twitter 10-22-2010
00:27:22: RT @patinagle: RT @bookviewcafe: Jennifer Stevenson guest blogs at Novelists, Inc. http://ow.ly/2Xvnm
00:27:43: RT @MarsRovers: Oppy's gone ~24km (15 mi) on Mars. On Earth, this distance would take her from home at @NASAJPL to the Hollywood Walk of ...
00:28:02: RT @Quotes4Writers: "Everyone has talent. What is rare is courage to follow the talent to the dark place where it leads." Erica Jong (Bo ...
00:29:43: New frontiers in choral singing: I can haz high F-sharp in "Pie Jesu" from Durufle Requiem. Fun.
10:11:37: Horses resenting being penned in small barn lot--but radar says line of rain is headed this way. Hope so. Need it.
10:12:20: Staying up until 2 to answer emails leads to not-great-writing in the morning. But scene needs to be written.
10:16:45: ARCs! I have ARCs of the new book! Whoopee!!
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October 22, 2010
Friday: F-sharps and ARCs
Less than two years ago, my choir section buddy C- and I took advantage of our choir director's offer of a free half-hour voice lesson for choir members, and he merged our two lessons into one, so we could benefit from the longer instruction period. C- and I both considered ourselves low altos, and went into this expecting to come out as low altos. Except that in the course of the lesson, when it was my turn to sing little exercises while he played the pitches (and the singer could not see the keyboard) at one point my voice changed. Not a break-type change, but a tonal quality change. I could hear it. C- could hear it. And our choir director announced with some satisfaction that i wasn't actually a low alto, but a mezzo-soprano who'd only been using the bottom part of her range.
Scared me. I was quite comfortable in the cozy rich-dark of low-alto-dom. Had been there for years, since being told by a choir person many years back "Oh, you're an alto." Had forgotten, almost, that as an untrained but happy singer I had once sung both high and low. So after a panicky period (changes of self-identification in over age 60 can be scary...) I talked to my choir director about voice lessons, last fall. And though they haven't been as regular as I'd like...months-long gaps several times--every lesson has nudged my voice toward better things.
Three or four years ago, I think it was, we did the Durufle Requiem, and all the women were to sing the "Pie Jesu," part of which is (for anyone singing low alto) far too high. I had actually managed to touch the high F-sharp in the last rehearsal and the performance, but it was touching-by-panicky-leap and I had no love for the E-flat to F-sharp progression. Coming in on an E-flat was a scary proposition. When our choir director announced we were doing it again (under his direction, and in a different venue this time) I thought of my progress so far in opening up the top range, and hoped the F-sharps would be attainable, not by panicky leap but by sound singing technique. He had eased me higher than that, in lessons. Surely...
Working on the music at home, I could get there only with a wheezy sort of squeak. But last night, at rehearsal, we came to the "Pie Jesu" at the end, after nearly two hours of singing--so we were well warmed up. The entrance E-flat was amazingly easy. And the F-sharps, when I got there, were actual sung notes, that I knew were going to be on pitch. No panic. They weren't as good as the E-flat and E-natural (I've now sung a lot more of those) but they contributed to the choral sound, which is what's needed. What a thrill that was!
And then...ARCs of Kings of the North arrived. ARCs are another sign that book publication is really happening....and they look like books, and they read like books. (They don't have maps in them, though. They have pages with [map] at the top instead to show where maps will be.) I take a childish delight in the arrival of ARCs. Whether writers get any, and how many, varies with the demand elsewhere--they're not cheap to produce, and publishers naturally want them to go where they'll do some good. A reviewer who needs a copy in order to write a review trumps an author who wants to coo over one--and rightly so. Last year I didn't get any, so this year's were especially welcome. One of them will be the prize of a contest over at the Paksworld blog, when I get it organized. (There'll be an announcement in the Twitter feed when that happens.)
High F-sharps and ARCs. As good as apple pandowdy. Drove home from rehearsal and the classical station had Juan Diego Flores singing all those incredible high Cs from Daughter of the Regiment. Definitely the heavy cream poured over the apple pandowdy of the evening.
Scared me. I was quite comfortable in the cozy rich-dark of low-alto-dom. Had been there for years, since being told by a choir person many years back "Oh, you're an alto." Had forgotten, almost, that as an untrained but happy singer I had once sung both high and low. So after a panicky period (changes of self-identification in over age 60 can be scary...) I talked to my choir director about voice lessons, last fall. And though they haven't been as regular as I'd like...months-long gaps several times--every lesson has nudged my voice toward better things.
Three or four years ago, I think it was, we did the Durufle Requiem, and all the women were to sing the "Pie Jesu," part of which is (for anyone singing low alto) far too high. I had actually managed to touch the high F-sharp in the last rehearsal and the performance, but it was touching-by-panicky-leap and I had no love for the E-flat to F-sharp progression. Coming in on an E-flat was a scary proposition. When our choir director announced we were doing it again (under his direction, and in a different venue this time) I thought of my progress so far in opening up the top range, and hoped the F-sharps would be attainable, not by panicky leap but by sound singing technique. He had eased me higher than that, in lessons. Surely...
Working on the music at home, I could get there only with a wheezy sort of squeak. But last night, at rehearsal, we came to the "Pie Jesu" at the end, after nearly two hours of singing--so we were well warmed up. The entrance E-flat was amazingly easy. And the F-sharps, when I got there, were actual sung notes, that I knew were going to be on pitch. No panic. They weren't as good as the E-flat and E-natural (I've now sung a lot more of those) but they contributed to the choral sound, which is what's needed. What a thrill that was!
And then...ARCs of Kings of the North arrived. ARCs are another sign that book publication is really happening....and they look like books, and they read like books. (They don't have maps in them, though. They have pages with [map] at the top instead to show where maps will be.) I take a childish delight in the arrival of ARCs. Whether writers get any, and how many, varies with the demand elsewhere--they're not cheap to produce, and publishers naturally want them to go where they'll do some good. A reviewer who needs a copy in order to write a review trumps an author who wants to coo over one--and rightly so. Last year I didn't get any, so this year's were especially welcome. One of them will be the prize of a contest over at the Paksworld blog, when I get it organized. (There'll be an announcement in the Twitter feed when that happens.)
High F-sharps and ARCs. As good as apple pandowdy. Drove home from rehearsal and the classical station had Juan Diego Flores singing all those incredible high Cs from Daughter of the Regiment. Definitely the heavy cream poured over the apple pandowdy of the evening.
From Twitter 10-21-2010
11:12:22: RT @KSmithSF: Yes, Republicans DO want to end Social Security http://t.co/SThHjiF
11:29:36: Where did autumn go??? It's hot. It's humid. I want cool nights, at least!
12:22:29: Rose choices have been made. Can't spell either one w/o having it in front of me. Vigorous climbers w/ intense fragrance, 2 shades pink.
12:23:23: Now to city for appointments (afternoon) and rehearsal (tonight.) Did I put gas in the car last time or not?
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October 21, 2010
FYI
As everyone knows by now, WisCon rescinded its GOH invitation and I won't be there.
WisCon management has the right to make whatever decisions they think best for the convention. I do not and did not dispute their right to rescind the invitation.
Today has been overscheduled (like many other days) for months, thanks to multiple appointments, rehearsals, and the writing itself, so there's no time for more commentary by me. I'm leaving momentarily for the next round, in the city, and won't be home for hours.
For that reason, comments are disabled. Any further statement will have to wait until I have time for it.
WisCon management has the right to make whatever decisions they think best for the convention. I do not and did not dispute their right to rescind the invitation.
Today has been overscheduled (like many other days) for months, thanks to multiple appointments, rehearsals, and the writing itself, so there's no time for more commentary by me. I'm leaving momentarily for the next round, in the city, and won't be home for hours.
For that reason, comments are disabled. Any further statement will have to wait until I have time for it.
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