Francesca Forrest's Blog, page 159
May 17, 2013
riches and dangers of the meadow
Wild strawberries blooming in a field...
... and growing in among them, new shoots of poison ivy...
(The little red leaves)
So, in a month's time, this area should be dotted with sweet, bright red berries. But you will have to be careful as you reach down to pick them, because the poison ivy will be taller and broader, too.
... and growing in among them, new shoots of poison ivy...
(The little red leaves)
So, in a month's time, this area should be dotted with sweet, bright red berries. But you will have to be careful as you reach down to pick them, because the poison ivy will be taller and broader, too.
May 15, 2013
colors
It's been dry--usually there'd be water lurking and glinting among the skunk cabbages and the tussock grass, but all the same--behold! A northern jungle:
...Here sassafras raises elegant, cupped hands, pale translucent green
and here, in the yard of a semi-abandoned house in our neighborhood, sheep sorrel gone to sparkling seed--you can see why sorrel means a reddish color.
...Here sassafras raises elegant, cupped hands, pale translucent green
and here, in the yard of a semi-abandoned house in our neighborhood, sheep sorrel gone to sparkling seed--you can see why sorrel means a reddish color.
Poisonous alchemy, portable music, and thoughts
Vigilante Espresso posted pictures from a BBC news story about a gold-mining village in Nigeria. In poisonous reverse transmutation, when the gold is processed, lead dust is released, and many of the children in the village suffer from severe lead poisoning.
The thing I noticed, though, was that the boy shown doing some of the gold processing is wearing earbuds--doubtless listening to music.
How many thoughts that provokes--on the ubiquity and affordability of this portable music technology, fo...
The thing I noticed, though, was that the boy shown doing some of the gold processing is wearing earbuds--doubtless listening to music.
How many thoughts that provokes--on the ubiquity and affordability of this portable music technology, fo...
May 12, 2013
Also, birds
I have a card my mother sent me once, and it has for a picture a graceful tree with thin, curling branches and elegant leaves, and on each branch is a different sort of bird--a pretty fantasy. Except today it was real: in the white lilac, I saw all at once a cardinal, an oriole, a catbird, a tufted titmouse, and two amazing yellow-and-black striped birds, magnolia warblers, I think maybe. So much color! Red and orange and black and sleek dark gray and softer, warmer gray, and then the yellow...
"The Martyr's Gem," by csecooney
csecooney
's story "The Martyr's Gem" is the May story at GigaNotoSaurus. What a story. It is dark, and harsh, and filled with terrible grief, but also full of love--sibling love, mainly, and also loyalty, and also dreams--and also humor: "My eyebrows went past my hairline. I have not located them since," the protagonist says at one point.And worldbuilding--wonderful, complicated, yet comprehensible worldbuilding. And storytelling: there's a story within a story "The Martyr's Gem," the story o...
May 10, 2013
The case of Jorge Medeiros
A texting driver made a widower of Jorge Medeiros, and perhaps it’s not too far-fetched to say that it was the association of text—words—with death that pushed him in the direction of faith in numbers.
In any case, left with the care of his two elementary-school-aged children, Jorge’s indispensible aid became a book of random numbers, a souvenir from the middle of the last century that his wife had picked up at a yard sale as a curiosity.
He started out using it for household tasks: How long s...
In any case, left with the care of his two elementary-school-aged children, Jorge’s indispensible aid became a book of random numbers, a souvenir from the middle of the last century that his wife had picked up at a yard sale as a curiosity.
He started out using it for household tasks: How long s...
May 7, 2013
Two Books, part 2: The Other Half of the Sky
I was very excited to get The Other Half of the Sky (Athena Andreadis, ed.), as I like science fiction (though I rarely read it these days) and I like stories with strong female characters. This anthology promises both, and if the first story I read is anything to judge by, it will deliver.
I started with Aliette de Bodard’s “The Waiting Stars,” because I’ve been dying and dying to read something by Aliette. (And why have you not read anything yet, Asakiyume? There are plenty of opportunities....
I started with Aliette de Bodard’s “The Waiting Stars,” because I’ve been dying and dying to read something by Aliette. (And why have you not read anything yet, Asakiyume? There are plenty of opportunities....
May 5, 2013
a bog in early morning
golden golden early morning. So beautiful.
On this same early morning walk I saw two deer bound away and a heron fly by, and a bluebird. Also, I think on my travels I may have seen a yellow-crowned night heron--a strange dark thing, standing heronlike in the water, with a white patch on its head.
not my photo
Also,
wirewalking
has three ferrets, and one of them climbed up on me. I took a blurry photo:
On this same early morning walk I saw two deer bound away and a heron fly by, and a bluebird. Also, I think on my travels I may have seen a yellow-crowned night heron--a strange dark thing, standing heronlike in the water, with a white patch on its head.
not my photo
Also,
wirewalking
has three ferrets, and one of them climbed up on me. I took a blurry photo:May 3, 2013
two women
The first is
I've only ever seen her at a distance, but she makes an impression.
In the post office today, as I was waiting in line, someone came up behind...
I've only ever seen her at a distance, but she makes an impression.
In the post office today, as I was waiting in line, someone came up behind...
