Sea, Sky, Earth (2)

[greygirlbeast]

Yesterday, I did 1,144 words on Chapter Three of The Red Tree. It took as long as it might have taken, normally, for me to write twice that number, because most of what I was writing was a long excerpt from the unfinished ms. of the dead anthropologist, so there was not only The Other Voice (as opposed to Sarah Crowe's, which dominates the novel) to get right, there was the consultation of numerous books and calendars, events from 1621 to 1716. This will be a book for those who appreciate the long, slow buildup. In that respect, it might be more like Threshold than the books I have written since Threshold. The truth, of course, is that this novel bears very little semblance to any other novel I have written.

In a just world, the supplicants of Panthalassa would have already secured this beautiful thing for me, to wear upon my throat at sunset on Lughnasadh.

On some more realistic note, please do have a look at the current eBay auctions. Thank you. Also, it has been brought to my attention that the kindly aliens over at Ziraxia have once again placed Stiff Kitten shirts on hypersale, this time the new pullover hoodies and dickie work shirts.



In case anyone out there is wondering why Spooky's (humglum) not been getting any doll work done (and has needed a reason besides the chaos of the move), I'll direct you to this entry in her LiveJournal. She has developed a ganglion cyst just below her left thumb, which is quite painful and is making work in the paper-clay medium almost impossible. She's going to try to get back to work with cloth dolls, and start experimenting with polymer clays, but mostly she needs to let that hand rest.

I'm trying to steel myself for Readercon on Saturday and Sunday. On the subject of whether or not I actually hate people, to quote Henry Chinaski from Barbet Schroeder's Barfly (1987), "I don't know, but I seem to feel better when they're not around." Crowds. It's not something I do anymore. So, we shall see.

As for the rest of yesterday, I got a good bit of reading done. I finished Chapter Eight of Fraser's book on the Triassic, "Life in the Sand Dunes?", which covered the fossils of the Scottish Lossiemouth Sandstones, which have been a source of tetrapod remains since at least 1836. Many wonderful and baffling creatures, including Scleromochlus, Brachyrhinodon, Erpetosuchus, Stagonolepis, Hyperodapedon, and Ornithosuchus have come from the Lossiemouth. I also started Chapter Nine, "Life in the Deep South," which is devoted to the Late Triassic of Gondwana. Oh, and I read an article in the new National Geographic (August 2008) on asteroid and cometary impacts. I was unaware that Gene Shoemaker died in a car wreck in the Australian outback in 1997.

After dinner, there was Second Life rp, some of it better than average despite various impediments (my thanks to Pontifex, Artimesia, Joah, Ardere, Calleigh, and Bethany). I love that Joah has taken to calling Labyrinth "Aunt Beast." Spooky and I sat up past 3 ayem just talking, which we do too infrequently. And now, here are four more photos from Monday evening's trip to Moonstone Beach:





Claw from an unidentified genus of panopeid crab.



There were beautiful Maxfield Parrish clouds over the sea to the southeast, but our clunky old camera did a poor job of capturing how amazing their colours were.



Mist rising over Trustom Pond, view to the west.



Sunset over Trustom Pond, view to the west, taken just as we were leaving.



Postscript (4:14 p.m.): If you have not already, you must take a gander at what Joss Whedon was up to during the WGA strike. Dr. Horrible's Sing-A-Long Blog. The first episode was iTunes' #1 download yesterday (even though that episode is free until tonight at midnight, when the second one goes live).

Comments

[txtriffidranch.livejournal.com]

I understand the fascination with the octopus necklace all too well. Being married to a jeweler means that a lot of understanding of balance and proportion in jewelry has rubbed off in the last six years, and the artist did a beautiful job with the precious metal clay octopeds. (One of our big goals for 2009 is to find a larger house with a garage, just so the Czarina can set up her own glass studio and kiln area. When she's not doing glasswork, she's expecting to do a lot with PMC in the near future.)

[greygirlbeast.livejournal.com]

Being married to a jeweler means that a lot of understanding of balance and proportion in jewelry has rubbed off in the last six years, and the artist did a beautiful job with the precious metal clay octopeds.

It's just amazing work.

[deej-1.livejournal.com]

I've longed for a copy of 'Frog Toes and Tentacles' - let the bidding war begin!

[greygirlbeast.livejournal.com]

I've longed for a copy of 'Frog Toes and Tentacles' - let the bidding war begin!

;-)

[sovay]

I love that Joah has taken to calling Labyrinth "Aunt Beast."

Yay.

[loki1978de.livejournal.com]

Really, in a just world, i would have enough money so that spending 400 of that wouldnt require me a second thought.
In that just world i would post "Consider it bought"

wait a moment..did we really need another proof that this is not the just world?

[kalamah.livejournal.com]

Any treatment for Spooky's cyst? Best of luck!