Twofer

Despite my best intentions, I failed at the "blog every day in October" thing. I had an idea for a post last night, and then completely spaced off taking the ten minutes to write it. Oh, well.

That post was going to be a quicky, pointing out that one of my vacation photos is the Peek of the Week at the Piker Press. That is probably my cue to start uploading some more photos, since the editor is fond of nature pix, and I have them in spades.

Yesterday, I was reminded that NaNoWriMo will be upon us in a couple of weeks. Last year, I successfully avoided participating. This year, I even avoided remembering that they push the reset button on the web site in early October. I believe that means my recovery is on track.

I still like to check out their technology forum to see what's new for writers. This year, one of the sponsors is Yarny, a cloud-based writing app, which looks sort of cool. I have a love/hate relationship with the cloud, though. Ninety percent of the time, I think cluttering up the internet with my natterings is stupid, or selfish, or risky. The rest of the time, I'm completely dazzled by the idea of having my stuff available to me, no matter where I am. I mean, I have three computers of my own, plus access to some others. If you were writing something, wouldn't it be great to have access to the latest version, no matter which computer I was using?

(Full disclosure: I do have a Dropbox account, which I use infrequently, but happily. If you would like an account of your own, you can use this link and we'll both get an extra spiff on storage space.)


Then I remember that on my last vacation, we were a forty minute drive from the nearest wi-fi hotspot. If you aren't at home, there are still a lot of places that don't have wi-fi, and then where are you with your cloud-based novel? Taking notes on a napkin with a pen, that's where, and saving your typing to a flash drive.

That's right. We've come to the point where using a flash drive makes you a luddite.

Bad night for astronomy

I didn't take many pictures at the Iowa Star Party this year, but one I did take ended up as Peek of the Week over at the Piker Press.

It was flippin' hot before the thunderstorm blew through, and quite lovely after, albeit a bit moony, so T got some observing in. Mostly, it was just a good chance to sit around and not do too awfully much.

Kobo-Kindle smackdown

Kindle v. Kobo
Originally uploaded by chaimann

Last month, I finally broke down and got an e-reader. I wasn't absolutely desperate for one, but the situation aligned itself so that I could get one at a reasonable price.

I've heard numerous reader-types say, "Oh, I wouldn't like that - I love real books too much!" To them, I can say that my little Kobo has not replaced printed books in my heart, at all. If anything, I have been reading more. I still have a couple of books going at home, but I also have a some on the Kobo for when I am out.

This picture is T's Kindle and my Kobo, side by side. It was the illustration for my review in the Piker Press.

Pimp my spouse

T came home last week with a lovely photo of a frozen waterfall in a park near his office. I immediately showed it to Sand over at The Piker Press, and this week it is the Peek of the Week. Nice job, T!

TOFUtsies at last

(Warning for any Rockin' Sock Club members who happen by: There be spoilers here. If you don't want to see them, don't look too closely at the cat picture, or at anything after that.)

The Tofutsie socks are finished.

I stand by my claims that the yarn splits like a son of a *st*itch, and pools in a way that I would not have chosen, but it knits up into a lovely, soft fabric. The yarn, if you haven't been following along, is a high-tech mix of wool, cotton, soy silk, and shellfish shells.

Katie is stunned to see the camera out.

She had a nice surprise today. The hot weather and rainy weather finally gave way to a gorgeous late summer day, with clear skies and pleasant temperatures. I was able to open the windows and let her, and the house, breathe some fresh air.

Another advantage of the nice weather: The guys are finally starting our third renovation project of summer, putting new siding on the garage. It was supposed to start a month ago, but the contractor broke his hand, and then the weather got challenging. I'll be glad to see it done.

Okay, on with the spoilers. The August RSC kit arrived yesterday, and I love it!

The yarn is Flower Power, the pattern is Summer Of Love Lace Socks, and the package includes two temporary tattoos. I cannot wait to cast these on. I need to hurry, too, because the time frame for making shorty lace socks is drawing to a close in the midlands. I wound the yarn today, as well as some Fleece Artist that I got at The Studio in Kansas City.

The Fleece Artist had a break in it, which is why there are two unequal balls.

In writing news--I have no writing news, but next weekend is the Piker's annual folly, 10 K to Labor Day. The idea is to use Labor Day weekend as a warm-up for NaNoWriMo by writing 10,000 words in three days. I think T is working at least one of those days, so I should get some writing done.

In search of The Duke

On Sunday, KnightStar and I went to Winterset to see John Wayne's birthplace and take a few pictures for the Piker Press. See them here and here. There were a lot of activities on Saturday, but we couldn't get there until Sunday. That's just as well, since neither of us is crazy about big crowds.

I forgot to mention last week, but I had another photo in the Press, of Venus and the Moon. It is here. That one is also going to be in our astronomy club newsletter soon.

I've knit a couple of afghan squares and started a new sock. No, I haven't finished any of the socks-in-progress yet. Leave me alone.

Shopping at the badge store

Recent delurker Goody led me to the Official Badge Generator. My gosh, there are a million possibilities, but probably not this late at night.

Goody mentioned that she knew the Sunbonnet Girl quilt block from her Girl Scout days. (That is the design on the bag in the photo at the link in the previous post. Got that?) As I recall, one year my mom's quilt guild in Kansas had a different pattern in their newsletter each month, all on a Kansas theme. If you made all of the blocks, you would have enough for a sampler wall hanging. That was probably in the late 70s or early 80s. I don't know if she made all of the blocks, but she immediately saw the possibilities for this one.

Storm at Sea

This week is the Mother's Day issue of the Piker Press. One of my pictures accompanies my contribution to the article, Reminds Me Of My Mother.

One of the items in the picture is a quilted wall hanging that my mom made for me. Here it is, unfurled and displayed by KnightStar:

I love all of of the motion in that design. If I did hard drugs, this would be the thing I contemplated for hours on end.

Speaking of arty things, what is more dramatic than the Sphinx?

My largest work to date

Remember the peculiar little purple picture I teased you with a few weeks ago?

The full picture is on the cover of this week's Piker Press. I've always thought that much of modern art was less about skill and more about having the chutzpah to convince other people that you were an artist. Apparently, I possess a smidgen of that chutzpah.

I can pretty well guarantee that you've never seen anything like it.

Now in our third year!

Yesterday was the two year anniversary of this blog. Break out the bubbly. Make mine a double.

Yesterday was also my brother's birthday (which is why I can remember my blogiversary, or whatever they call it.) Happy birthday, bubba.

The past few days have been full of petty annoyances, most of which are not worth recounting in detail. Suffice it to say that today was better. Things are working better, and there was time for fun, too.

We just got word tonight that they have found a new webhost for the Piker Press, which has been MIA for a week and a half now. It's still down, but we are getting new error messages as Josh moves everything over to the new host. Maybe in another day or two, we will be back in business.

Let me say a few words about our previous host, Infinology (aka Inf'nology or InfinHellogy). Their service sucks, in that they do not provide any customer support whatsoever. They do not answer the phone. They do not answer e-mails. For all we can tell, they just have some computers sitting in a room, whirring away mindlessly, like the unattended ham radio by the window in "On The Beach", which incidentally, is the most depressing book I ever read. Good, but depressing.

I'd wrap this up more wittily, but it's late and I'm tired. Some weeks are like that.

My man's big break

KnightStar has one of his photographs published in the Piker Press this week. Check it out!

Double dose of me

I'm in the Piker Press twice this week. Once with a poem, and once with my debut as a cartoonist. Sand has mucked up her wrist, and was going to rerun old Fever Dreams cartoons, but I offered to send her one. Actually, I sent two, so I may be there again in a week or two.

We've been having weird weather here. It's been in the 50s and 60s for several days. I noticed this weekend that my lilacs have some buds, and the rose has some new leaves. It's supposed to snow in a couple of days, though, so the plants are going to be in for a rude surprise.

Cast your bread upon the waters

Last month, I surprised my friend Sand with a hat and wrist warmers.

Today she surprised me with a cartoon - the Knitting Kninjas. She drew this even though she is nursing a bum wrist and doing NaNoWriMo and wrangling the Piker Press.

Thanks, my friend.

October wrapup

Socktoberfest was a big non-event for me. I did hardly any sock knitting this month.

I'm about three-fourths of the way finished with wristwarmers for myself. I hope to have them done by November 1 for...

That's one of the new word-count widgets. As I update my progress, you can follow along and see how I am doing, if that is of interest to you.

We had our regional kick-off party Sunday. There had almost 40 people there, and took up almost half of the seats at Panera. There were all ages, teens to grandparents, and all levels of experience. I don't usually go to writer's groups or meetings, so this was easily the largest group of writers I have ever seen in one place. I wrote a poem for our goodie bags, which also appears this week in the Piker Press.

The weather was beautiful this weekend, but this afternoon and cold front blew in. "Cold" and "Blew" are the operative words, with the temperature plummeting and the wind picking up. Sure wish I had some new socks to wear.