Elizabeth Moon's Blog, page 99

Saturday--mostly cooking

Today I finished up the stock,  first taking the flakes of fat off the top of the almost-jellied stock, then transferring it into quart containers and one larger one and putting it in the freezer.   About two quarts of stock stayed in the small (10 quart) pot as the basis for tonight's soup.  It's a thick soup, almost a stew, with diced tomatoes, diced green chilis, canned black beans, canned white beans, canned green peas, chopped fresh carrot and celery, chopped and sauteed half-onion and c...

From Twitter 02-19-2010

12:34:29: Major plot bomb covering probably half to all of the last book in the current series. Whimper. It's at least 1-2 books away. Need middle.
16:27:05: Weather-induced migraines are not my friend. Today the clouds and humidity and pressure changes laid one on me. (Will Bach help?)
17:18:15: The stock has reached the point where I know it's going to be rich brown greatness for future soups. R- ate last of ham/bean soup today.
22:07:20: New post up at

What a day...

It started after midnight, when--after staying up too long because I just couldn't settle--I went to bed...only to be waked by a bad leg cramp around dawn.   As I lay there trying not to make noise and work the cramp out (It wasn't the kind where you stand on a cold floor--it was up near the knee and I couldn't get the leg straight at first), I was hit with a glorious burst of plot, dialogue, etc. for the current group of books--but at the end, not where I'm working now.  At least a book...

From Twitter 02-18-2010

09:30:30: M- is in class, R- is out moving hay to the horses, I am here not writing the book. Something's wrong. (OK, started stock cooking, but...)
10:54:14: Escaped prisoners need food--starved two days. Easy button--revise file, put food in the wagon. But not tasty food. Meal, onions, etc.
11:06:01: Stock is smelling like stock now. But it's not done yet, of course. Bubbly-bubbly, garlicky-oniony, parsley and celery and carrots, o my.
11:40:46: Small plane hit building off 183 in...

From Twitter 02-17-2010

09:18:50: New post up at http://www.speedofdark-thebook.com/blog/ about autistic son's progress.
09:21:21: New post up at http://www.80acresonline.org/blog/ about a shrub important for wildlife as food and shelter.
11:51:46: Printer giving me trouble last Thursday is now printing crooked on plain paper. I think one wheel is worn or stuck. Sigh. Liked this one.
12:36:59: Note to manufacturers: "New" and "improved" are not joined at the hip.
21:09:10: Finally got all the pictures to load at

Sad news

My husband's niece lost her husband this morning after a weeklong battle against sudden, overwhelming infection.   She has two children, high-school age and ~10.  

From Twitter 02-16-2010

09:19:44: Up at 5am to take son to bus station. Was really tired & not through sleeping. Back 2 bed, bad dream, phone rang, bad extended-fam news.
09:22:43: Ice on pond, brilliant sun, temp at 7 am was 25F. Need to take long walk but not quite yet.
09:29:59: I need to learn how to make small URLs that fit in this environment! Help?
09:46:02: Bad news was sudden, serious, illness of husband's niece's husband. He's an Army vet
13:16:14: RT @df_psu: @emoontx Check out this inspiring interview...

Tossed Salad Day

We were up in a clear cold pre-dawn to take M- to the bus terminus--cold for us, as in low-mid 20sF--with a lovely sunrise just coming up as we got home.  I hit the sack again, as still tired from the weekend.  

At 8:30 the phone rang--husband's older brother's wife calling to say that their second daughter's husband was in critical condition--sudden severe illness.   Not expected to make it, apparently.  We've heard nothing more all day but have of course sent prayers to all involved. 

Here ...

From Twitter 02-15-2010

19:37:04: Home from ConDFW--great fun. First laundry now sloshing about. Feet swollen--not staying in the office long tonight.

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Home Again from ConDFW

The trip up was amazingly beautiful--from the train, esp. the lounge car with its big windows--we could see a world of snow-covered hills and pastures and creek woods...it looked very northern.  I'd never ridden a train through snow before.   A lot of us on the train were commenting to one another how glad we were not to be driving--especially when, as we rode through towns or along roads briefly, we saw the ruts in the snow, the signs of skidding, a truck in a ditch with a cold-looking man b...