Kristin Cashore's Blog, page 12

Many March Photos from Many Places :o)

I'll start with Boston, because that's where I live. I'll end with Atlanta, because that's where I marched. In between: Asheville, NC; Baltimore, MD; Geneva, Switzerland; Jacksonville, FL; New York, NY; Oakland, CA; Paris, France; Pittsburgh, PA; Portland, OR; Rochester, NY; San Diego, CA; St. Paul, MN; and Washington DC. At the end of any string of pictures, I thank the person who took or sent the last few pictures. Thank you SO MUCH to dozens of friends who sent me their favorite shots.

*****
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS
Kevin held down the Boston fort...
"Liberty and justice for all." (Thanks Dan!)
"Woman. Scientist. I will not be trumped."
"Patriarchy is for dicks."
"Resist." (Thanks, Brynne!)
Honey badgers for social justice. (Thanks, Dave!)
Heidi sent this picture from the train... train after train after train was so crowded that people couldn't fit on. "Our rights aren't up for grabs."
"I cannot believe I still have to protest this shit!"
"Thou shalt not fuck with women's reproductive rights. Fallopians 1:21"
So many people. (Thanks Helena!)
"I am not an object"
"SAD"
"Women of science, run for office" (Thanks Jamie!)
Union men and union women. In between: "Humpty Trumpty sat on a wall, Humpty Trumpty had a great fall."
"I know signs, I make the best signs they're terrific."
"I'm with her."
"Too many issues at stake to list on a damn poster but we watch closely. We cry. We hope. We fight."
"OMG
GOP
WTF?"

"First they came the for Muslims... and we said NOT THIS TIME MOTHER%&$#?@"
"Not usually a sign guy, but geeze"
(JD, thank you for the wonderful last six!)

"Impeach hate!"
"My daughter's dignity is not up for grabs!"
Thanks Jeff and Mayeti!
"Be kind."
One of my sisters pointed out that he's dressed like Paddington Bear -- who was also a refugee. (Thanks, Jess!)
Make way for THESE ducklings.
"It's okay to be diffrent!"
"This teacher is not afraid of bears"
"We will not live in fear"
"Don't give misogyny a chance, don't give homophobia a chance,
don't give white supremacy a chance, don't give bigotry a chance"
(Thanks Marah!)
"Native women lead"
"Spoiler alert: She wins" (Thanks, Sarah!)
And this rounds out Boston. Just, SO MANY PEOPLE. (Thanks, Tui!)
*****
ASHEVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA
Thanks, Gwen and Jen!



*****
BALTIMORE, MARYLAND
"Chin up, fangs out" (Thanks, Marie!)
*****
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
"Sans oui, c'est non!"


Thanks, Andrew and Anindita!
*****
JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA
"I march:
Because we need an updated Human Rights Ordinance
Because my family members have pre-existing conditions and Disability Rights are human rights
Because bullying hurts
Because Black Lives Matter has the power to educate and unite
Because we live at sea level and climate change is real!"
"Girls just wanna have fun-damental human rights"

"Women's rights are human rights" (Thanks, Catherine!)
*****
NEW YORK, NEW YORK
"Women's march on NYC, Jan. 21, 2017"
"Fight like a girl"
"NOPE"
"Spread the love not the hate!"
"A woman's place is in your face"
"Silence is complicity"
"Cultivate resistance" (Thanks Deb!)


*****
OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA
"'A revolution that is based on the people exercising their creativity in the midst of devastation is one of the greatest historical contributions of humankind.' Grace Lee Boggs"
"Justice is what love looks like in public"
"Unfit, not legit, resist!"
"I am u, u are me"
"Sacred Water Vida Life"
(Thanks, Betsy!)
*****
PARIS, FRANCE

Thanks, Aaron!
*****
PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA
"PGH  4 bridges not walls"
"♥ each other"
"All oppression is connected"
"Not my president"
"Not me either"
(Thanks, Dorothy!)
*****
PORTLAND, OREGON
Thanks, Anne!
*****
ROCHESTER, NEW YORK
"Love trumps hate"


"Racial justice is fairness"
"Be fair"
"Gender justice = racial justice = economic justice"
(Thanks, Josh and Kristin!)
*****
SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA


"You know things are messed up when librarians are marching"
Thanks, Sarah!
*****
SAINT PAUL, MINNESOTA
"Who runs the world? GIRLS!"
(Thanks, Amanda!)
"I'm 2 months old and more mature than Donald Trump. Sad!"
"I am woman, hear me roar."
"Property of no one"
(Thanks, Laura!)

*****
WASHINGTON, DC
"We shall overcomb." (Thanks Olivia and Ed!)
"Seven sisters kick glass!" (Thanks, Kate!)
"PUPPET"
"Love will always win"
"We are millions stronger then 1 vile man"
"This is way more people than yesterday"
Thanks, Marie!
*****
AND FINALLY....
ATLANTA, GEORGIA
A lot of book people were in Atlanta that day, because of ALA Midwinter. My darling editor, Kathy Dawson, had an injured back, but she showed solidarity while working in her hotel room :o)

(The remaining pictures in this post were taken by me.)


"Girls just wanna have fun-damental rights"
"Take your tiny hands off of my lady parts!"
(These are my fellow marchers, Carolina and Debbie!)
"Atlanta witches for equal rights"
"Proud citizens of John Lewis' 5th district"
"We are the resistance"
"Fear me Betsy"
"Sikhs for human rights"

"Don't grab my peaches!" (This is Georgia, after all)
"I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear."
"'Oh you who believe: stand out firmly for justice as witnesses to God, even as against yourselves, or your parents, or your kin.' The Women, verse 135, The Holy Quran"

Women owned businesses have 13% higher revenues than men. Trump has zero women in his inner cabinet"
"I count. My mother counts. My grandmothers count. And I have legions of sisters!"
"Protect the planet"
"Super callous fragile racist extra braggadocious"
"God has children everywhere"
"Girl right's"
"Be loud, proud & be history. Celebrating Harriet Tubman. Auburn, New York"
"Imagine if men were as disgusted with rape as they are with periods"
"Don't tread on me"
"Pussy grabs back. Love trumps hate"
"Grow a pair"
"Does this ass make my sign look big??"
Debbie, Carolina, and I closing it out. I"m sure there will be more marches and pictures to come.

A Preview of My Protest Pictures

Friends and family have sent me many, many pictures of Saturday's protests -- so far I have 15 cities represented -- and I can't want to share them. I'm just waiting a few more days to give people time to send me stuff. In the meantime, I encourage you to read Malinda Lo's post about the march on Washington.

In Atlanta, it was a day of thunderstorms. So here's a magical umbrella.

We Are the Resistance

I will soon be posting many, many photos from marches around the world... but for now, just wanted to share the new lock screen on my phone. This picture was taken today in Atlanta, where there were so so so SO many people marching for social justice and women's rights.

Thank you, President Obama and Vice President Biden

Dear readers, don't forget what our country is capable of:


We will get there.

The following video of Obama's thank you to Biden is long, but if you'd like to watch their parting shot of decency and love, I recommend watching it.



I'm going to ALA Midwinter in Atlanta this weekend, where I will be marching. I've been knitting hats all week.

Be well, everyone.

In Which We Build a Cabin

Over 40 years ago, Kevin's dad built this cabin.

Guess what we did? 
The cabin, gingerbread version
 Here's how. 
First, we mixed and chilled the dough. (We used this recipe at Food52, except using muscle power and eventually hands instead of a mixer. It worked fine.) 

The next day, we rolled it flat...

and, using a blueprint Kevin made out of cardboard, cut it into walls and deck...  
used a sharp knife to draw the windows and boarded sides (I'm using that box as a straightedge)...

and baked all the pieces. Actually, we slightly overbaked them, on purpose. Gingerbread walls stand up better if they're overbaked.

We gave them a couple days to get good and dry...
and then the silly part began. 
We used the hacksaw...

 to cut cinnamon sticks into little logs...

for the log pile. We interspersed the cinnamon sticks with salmiac candies to give our log pile more character.

We needed some candy cane joists to hold up the deck. Kevin, doing experiments with heat, discovered that a hot knife slices through candy canes with ease.

In the meantime, I made some icing....

while Kevin ran important experiments on marshmallows.

More icing.

Then the piping began. The division of both design and labor was pretty even throughout this project, but our first batch of icing was so stiff that I literally could not pipe it! Kevin stepped in.

We sliced up some black string licorice to decorate our window moldings.

Here are the candy cane joists to hold up the deck, attached using melted caramel (which bonds very fast, with great strength and superior deliciousness).

We trimmed down the edges of the walls with an exacto knife where necessary....

And the major construction began.

We used melted caramel to hold the walls together.

Our four walls now standing, we left it overnight to dry.

Fast forward to the next morning.
Here Kevin is having an inspiration about marshmallows...

and the deck railing.


Using a box of Thin Mints as a support (because why not?), he balances candy cane railings on top of marshmallow balusters. Icing is his glue.


In the meantime, I construct the woodpile, attaching our logs to the surface and to each other with melted caramel. The idea was to build the woodpile up to the height of the deck, so that the logs could help the candy cane joists to hold the deck in place.


(Incidentally, the mess created by this project was delicious. The chocolate shavings are from the chocolate pieces we used for the doors.)


Somehow we failed to take a picture of the completed deck, but you'll see it later.
Next we iced and added the roof, which we also failed to photograph...

and then I made a mouse. It's a jellybean, with eyes scratched in with an exacto knife, and a tail and ears carved out of string licorice and attached with sugar water.


Again, we left everything to dry for a few hours.

When we came back, we added icicles to the front of the roof, another process we somehow forgot to photograph. BTW, our icing was a simple mix of one egg white and however much confectioner's sugar it took to get the consistency we wanted. For the roof snow, we used a more liquid icing, but for the icicles, something stiffer.
Then, Kevin took a big bowl of confectioner's sugar and a spoon. He blew on it and made it snow.

We saw all that we had made, and it was very good.




And that's that! I hope you enjoyed this report of our new thing for January. :o)

Some New Years Resolutions from Penguin Teen

Happy new year, everyone :o)

Three Christmas Carols I Listened to Today

For if you want something dramatic, played by a chamber orchestra, and almost a little jazzy... The Wexford Carol as performed by City of London Sinfonia and sung by the King's Singers.



For if you want to pretend you're drinking mead with the lord of the manor... The King as performed by Loreena McKennitt and friends.



And for if you want to pretend it's the 80s... Pat-a-Pan as performed by David Archuleta.

In Which We Try Falconry

This post is about hunting, using trained birds of prey. If you'd rather not read it, I understand... maybe go look at baby goats in pajamas instead :).

So. Kevin and I are doing one new thing every month that neither of us has ever done before.

In April, we went to a wolf sanctuary. In May, we went indoor skydiving. In June, we floated in floating tanks. In July, we got a golf lesson from my dad. In August, we went deep see fishing. And in September, we did Boda Borg.

In November, we met Master Falconer Chris Davis of New England Falconry...


in Amherst, Massachusetts...

And spent some time with some Harris's hawks.

 As usual, Kevin took better pictures than I did.

I was just so freaking excited. I couldn't focus on photography. Or anything, really, including many of the interesting thing Chris was saying, because I had a hawk on my hand.

This guy was so light, and silent, and graceful.

Chris taught us all about Harris's hawks, which are native to Mexico and Central and South America. They're social birds that hunt cooperatively in groups. He taught us about falconry too, about the process of training raptors to hunt and return to his hand. And then we joined Chris and two female Harris's hawks for a hunt.

This was the first time I've ever done any sort of hunting. I'm a meat-eater, I grew up in the country, and my mother grew up on a farm, so I've been surrounded by hunters and hunting all my life, but never participated in the hunting. I've always felt a level of discomfort and even distress around the topic, probably because of the hunting subculture in which people do it for sport rather than for food. I also think we live in a society that is extremely judgmental about what people should and shouldn't eat (perhaps especially women), and a society in which a lot of our food, especially our meat, is produced in distressing and inhumane ways. Food is a really, really complicated topic for most Americans (whether they're conscious of it or not!), and for a lot of us, hunting is too. So I was having a lot of thoughts and feelings as we directed the hawks to hunt for rabbits and squirrels, which we (and the hawks) later ate (and enjoyed!). A wild red-tailed hawk actually joined our hunt for a while too, which added a whole new level of things to think about.

I have a thoughtful post about it somewhere inside me. But I'm afraid that my thoughtful writing energy is going to the new book I'm writing these days, so I'm just not going to get into it today. Instead, I'm going to share a few more pictures of these beautiful birds in action, and ask you to forgive me for how uninformative and un-introspective this post is. The new book I'm currently drafting is, in part, about relationships between animals and humans, so I'm guessing that a lot of my thoughts and feelings will end up manifesting there.

Kevin took these pictures.




Many many thanks to Chris Davis for an experience unlike any I've ever had. It was without a doubt our most interesting New Thing so far.

Some (Mostly Meaningless) Reflections on Our Current Reality

For the last three weeks, I have mostly been listening. I've been listening to my friends talk to me and to each other. I've been listening to the reactions of smart writers and thinkers. I've been listening to podcasts and pundits. I've been listening to the sadness in my mother's voice and the faith in my father's voice. I've been listening to the comfort in Kevin's voice. I've been reading the texts and emails of my sisters, who are holding me up. At 2 AM the night of the election, the last thing I did before finally attempting sleep was to read a text from one of my heartbroken sisters. It said, "Love still trumps hate."

I've been listening to Georgette Heyer audiobooks and watching Jane the Virgin and Gilmore Girls, for comfort. I've been writing a new book, which is an amazing distraction and vast relief in the moments when a scene manages to suck me in. As is the case for many people, my mental health has taken a hit. So I've been dealing with that.

I haven't been blogging much, because I don't have anything new or fresh to contribute. Everyone else is saying everything better. Have you read Malinda Lo's lovely post?

I haven't figured out yet how I'll contribute. Of course I'll donate what money I can to what causes I can. Of course every book I write will be influenced by the realities of our world; they already are; I've already written three books with the backdrop of a narcissistic, cruel, selfish, power-hungry man who manipulates and traumatizes people with lies. I will keep telling stories – of the young people who throw their hearts and bodies into fighting that bullshit.

But I haven't figured out yet what else I will do. I'm slower than a lot of people who are currently bursting with passionate ideas left and right. But I'll figure it out. Each of us needs to find her purpose; forgive yourself if it's taking you longer than it seems to be taking other people. Forgive yourself if you're hearing ideas and thinking, "I'm not ready," or "That's not for me." Also, remember that small things matter as much as big things. Everything matters, and everything is connected.

Because I'm mostly listening and thinking, I'm not sure how much I'll be blogging about all of this. I'll keep blogging about writing; I'll keep blogging about the new things we're doing every month; certainly I'll be blogging about my new book. Beyond that, I'm still figuring out what to say here.

I wish I had something beautiful and inspiring to offer today. I don't. But, from my current place of deep processing, I wanted to reach out… and let people know that I don't have anything to say yet. If you find yourself trying to understand or articulate or express yourself right now, and you just can't yet – I feel for you. I get it. It's okay. We'll get there.

The one thing I'm sure of is that love does trump hate. Always.

Announcing My New Book: Jane, Unlimited

I have a new book coming out in Fall 2017, and I'm finally allowed to talk about it. :o)

It's called Jane, Unlimited. I won't say a lot for now—more will be forthcoming—but for today... Jane has led a small and mostly ordinary life, raised by her aunt Magnolia—an adjunct professor at a small college and a world-traveling deep sea photographer. But when Aunt Magnolia dies unexpectedly on one of her expeditions, Jane finds herself adrift, and when an invitation comes from an old acquaintance to accompany her to a gala at her family's island mansion called Tu Reviens, Jane leaps at the chance. There, her story takes a turn, or rather, five turns. What Jane doesn't know is that Tu Reviens will offer her choices that can ultimately determine the course of her untethered life. But at Tu Reviens, every choice comes with a reward, or a price.

This book has been years in the making, and has gone through more revisions than any of my previous books, probably because its structure was challenging and it took longer for me to figure out what the book was asking for. My editor, Kathy Dawson, is my freaking HERO. What else can I say about it? It's not the doorstopper Bitterblue was, though it's not exactly that elusive short book I keep trying to write, either. It's full of umbrellas. And adventure. And a big, weird, mysterious house. It's a little bit of an homage to duMaurier's Rebecca, and other "orphan visits a house of mystery" books. Mostly, I'm hoping it's a puzzle, but a puzzle that's full of heart. And I hope it will bring joy. And it'll be coming out in about a year! And I'm so grateful for the opportunity to offer it to you—and so relieved that I'm finally allowed to talk about it.

More soon!
♥ ♥ ♥