Teresa Robeson's Blog, page 17

Apps I Heart

I remember being a part of something called a “party line” on our telephone service. It must sound as primitive to people today as switchboards or the telegram do. Now, we have phones with the capacity of computers that used to fill entire rooms, and I can’t live without those things…and, no, I don’t mean for talking to people.

Seriously, please don’t call me.

What I love about the phone is the apps. Two of my favorites are iNaturalists and Merlin. iNaturalists answers all my burning nature observation questions while allowing me to participate in citizen science!

I was never good at IDing birds by calls despite taking courses. Thanks to the Merlin app, I don’t have to try so hard anymore. I mean, I still like to learn but Merlin can help with that, too, because I can play back the calls and see by the highlighted bird just which one made that specific sound.

Do you have a favorite app you can recommend to me?

Who is Tibet’s Exiled Leader? The 14th Dalai Lama

A lovely review of WHO IS TIBET’S EXILED LEADER? THE 14TH DALAI LAMA!

ELLIS NELSON BOOKS

By Teresa Robeson and Illustrated by Angela Poon

This is a wonderful, engaging account of the Dalai Lama’s escape from Tibet in 1959. The Dalai Lama is the foremost spiritual leader of the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism and a prominent figure in the world today. The 14th Dalai Lama (Tenzin Gyatso) has been a powerful example standing for peace. He has been instrumental in further disseminating Buddhism in the west. Presented in graphic novel format, this book introduces young people to this important historical figure at a crucial turning point in his life. The book outlines the rising political tensions and dangers unfolding in Tibet when the PLA occupied the region and how the young Dalai Lama responded. Additional interesting cultural information is interspersed throughout the book giving background and context to the story. The final pages contain a timeline of the Dalai Lama’s life and a bibliography…

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Random nursery

The Spousal Unit maintains a random assortment of potted plants on the driveway. Some are ones that’ve been indoors all winter and long for the wind to whistle through their branches. Others are figs that he keeps propagating because, holy moly, you cannot kill these crazy plants and they multiply like rabbits.

And a third category are the interesting plants that have somehow popped up in the gravel part of the driveway. They’re far too nice to let them get run over again and again by our car or delivery vehicles, so he yanked them out and potted them up. Now we have some extra black-eye Susans and lemon verbena to transplant elsewhere!

Anyone wanna buy a fig plant?

Feed us, Garden!

The garden is growing bigger as I, too, grow (sloooowly) stronger after taking antibiotics for my bad bout of UTI. I feel like I should do a PSA post about the dangers of UTI…but for this post, I’ll keep it short text-wise since I’m still weak and tired.

Just drink in this beauty and bounty with your eyes!

a lettuce assortment spinach…Popeye’s favorite and one of mine, too grape blossoms cabbage doing its best Audrey II imitation garlic o’ my heart not-so-deadly nightshade, a.k.a. potatoes celery, over-wintered peppers fruiting already in May little apples forming (and there’s cedar-apple rust on the leaves) black raspberries up by the house

If you came over to visit, what would you request to eat?

How not to spend a holiday weekend

This past Friday, I ended up in ER (my first time in the hospital as a patient in 25 years!). They kept me for observations overnight but couldn’t find anything wrong with me aside from a urinary tract infection. Since then, in talking with friends and looking it it, it would appear that UTIs cause a lot of weird problems as you get older.

Anyway, I’ve been taking it easy this past week trying to get my resting heart rate back up to the mid 60s (it had plummeted from that to the mid-50s in the span of a less than a month…apparently, my UTI began over a month ago). The antibiotic seems to be doing its job and I’m feeling slightly better than I was earlier in the week.

I did take videos of our beautiful garden last Tuesday before my ER episode. If you want to them them out, go to my Instagram account.

Have a wonderful weekend! I will try not to spend it in the ER again.

Birds of different feathers

Wildflowers and garden seedlings aren’t the only things that brighten our spring. All the birds that return to our area to breed bring us great joy, too. Here are just a few of them.

Baltimore Orioles are sunsets with wings. Gray Catbirds are far bolder than they would seem likely to be at first glance. If paintings came alive, they would be Indigo Buntings. Every year, the Eastern Phoebes build a nest above our back door light and poop all over it. Their “FEE-bee” calls are distinctive as are their markings and tail-wagging. I would be more annoyed at their poopy messes if they weren’t so darned cute.

But it’s not just the fancy out-of-towners; some of the locals are pretty cool, too.

Some people don’t like Common Grackles but we think they’re fascinating with mesmerizing eyes. One of our favorites is the Eastern Towhee. With their adorable “drink your teeeeeea” call and their chicken-scratching moves, they are always fun to watch. Last year, we had a Spotted Towhee on our property and people swarmed from all over to see it.

What are some of your spring favorites?

3 Vegetables that We Grow Well

It seems like everyone has certain plants that they grow well. What thrives in our garden is not necessarily what do well in other people’s. It depends on the condition of the soil, the prevalence of pests, and, at times, total random chance.

Three of the vegetables we’re able to grow well are peppers, eggplants, and tomatoes. The Spousal Unit grows a variety of peppers, from banana to bell to jalapeño to poblanos. For eggplants, we prefer the sleek and delicate Japanese variety over the rotund and seedy Italian type.

Look! They’re flowering already.

Look at how gorgeous the eggplant blossoms are! Why spend money on annual flowers that don’t feed you when eggplants provide food for both the eyes and stomach? Same with okra. They have flowers that are absolute show stoppers. It’s not like it’s super easy to grow eggplants; we have to wage a constant battle on flea beetles. But they are fairly easy to start and SO has discovered an excellent way to preserve them, so we’re still enjoying last year’s crop.

Ah, and the happiness-inducing green of the tomato seedling! I’m not looking forward to 200 hours of canning and dehydrating later in the summer but for now, I will admire their youthful loveliness.

We’ve saved the plastic pots of seedlings that we bought over the years and SO starts his veggies in them until they disintegrate.

Do you have a garden? What veggies do well for you?

Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, 2023

May is Asian Pacific American Heritage Month and, every year, I like to give a special shout-out to Dr. Wu Chien Shiung, the amazing woman whom I wrote about in the picture book biography, Queen of Physics. This book actually won the Asian Pacific American Librarians Association 2019/2020 Picture Book Award!

Over at the Shepherd site, some authors whom I admire name it as one of their favorite books.

Shepherd is a new site, but their mission statement is really great, so be sure to check them out if you’re a bibliophile!

I also talked a bit about Wu and Queen of Physics over at Dr. Diane’s Adventures In Learning blog and podcast. It was a blast to chat about my writing journey with her!

Author Teresa Robeson Presents: WHO IS TIBET’S EXILED LEADER: The 14th Dalai Lama + a chance to win a copy

Thanks to Darlene for featuring my latest book on her blog!

Darlene Beck-Jacobson

Today it is my great pleasure to feature the latest book from award-winning author TERESA ROBESON. WHO IS TIBET’S EXILED LEADER: The 14th Dalai Lama is a slight departure from Teresa’s previous picture books since it is a graphic novel that tells the story of Tibet’s exiled leader the 14th Dalai Lama.

Here is my review for the book:

This graphic novel tells the important historical account of the leader of TIBET, THE 14TH Dalai Lama, who was forced into exile in 1959 by the People’s Liberation Army of China. Tibet’s “Precious Protector’s” harrowing escape is easy to read and understand thanks to the graphic format and the periodic history and cultural lessons sprinkled throughout the story. The book provides a summary of Tibet’s ongoing fight for freedom and autonomy. A perfect addition to a multicultural library.

Here is my interview with Teresa and her exciting new book.

How…

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It takes a village to promote a book

Marsha Diane Arnold, an author friend of mine, has a new book coming out on May 9th…yes, in 4 days! Here are a few of her other delightful books.

Well in advance of the release, she asked a group of us to be a part of her launch team. It’s a tactic authors are encouraged to perform in order to give a book a great reach. These days, it’s hard to have a career in publishing if you’re not actively out there promoting your book. No longer can one be a reclusive author, like Harper Lee, and still sell a bazillion books.

Maybe the idea behind a launch team is for viral spreading via chain communication like that 1980s Faberge shampoo commercial? I honestly don’t know if it works but I’m willing to help.

So, a very happy upcoming book birthday to ONE SMALL THING! You can buy it at your favorite bookstore.