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Summer temperatures today (well, ideal summer, not actual summer), and everything is in bloom.
Playing catch-up, as usual. Let's see. I taught my gardening class, which went really well aside from the emergency dash home just before it started due to a technical difficulty (always, always bring the laptop, even if it has battery issues; don't count on the thumb drive working). That (and a good dose of Imitrex against the inevitable morning baby migraine) gave me a bit of a rush, which likely helped me then talk for two and a half hours straight.
Went that night to a concert at the National Cathedral that included Mozart's Requiem (mmmm) which then made me want to watch "Amadeus" again, so I did the following evening - the director's cut, which I'm not sure was worth staying up till midnight on a school night. I suspect my great affection for that movie says something about my attitude toward historical accuracy along with, no doubt, much else. But oh dear God, F. Murray Abraham, I adore you. And I've had little Papageno bits stuck in my head all week.
Read: the latest Nevada Barr novel, The Rope which is another example of the doubling back phenomenon, in this case documenting Anna Pigeon's debut as an investigator and a Parks employee. No one can torture her protagonist like Nevada Barr; this is the place to go for lessons. Also read: Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel, finally, which made me think a lot about... present tense, for one thing, and why it works for historical novels. Sense of immediacy, I guess. Makes me wonder more about my choice to use present tense for the one thing I've written in the voice of a character from the past (doubt I could keep it up for a whole novel, though). I also greatly admired the use of language, how it managed to grab and shake and stir while never breathing too hard, and the way the book as a whole compels sympathy for someone who likely didn't deserve it (without twisting the facts too badly; it's no "Amadeus").
Speaking of telling stories, I'm still following "Once Upon a Time" and being sufficiently intrigued by it to keep going; it is, in some ways, a very silly show, and some of the acting reflects this, but I like the way the fairy tale background is revealed out of order and sets up contradictions and parallels to the modern day story, and I can guess what plot gaps need to be filled without being able to predict how that will happen. Keeps me amused.
Also, not to appear too fantastically behind the times, but we switched phone providers recently and along the way acquired a new phone with (ta da!) caller ID, which has Changed My Life; I cannot tell you what a relief, especially in these days of political robo-calls and (worse) live appeals for donations. Also we got a new and amazing printer that actually works (mostly) with wireless, instead of failing at the worst times as the old one routinely did. So I am technologically pleased.
That's all for now, I think.
Playing catch-up, as usual. Let's see. I taught my gardening class, which went really well aside from the emergency dash home just before it started due to a technical difficulty (always, always bring the laptop, even if it has battery issues; don't count on the thumb drive working). That (and a good dose of Imitrex against the inevitable morning baby migraine) gave me a bit of a rush, which likely helped me then talk for two and a half hours straight.
Went that night to a concert at the National Cathedral that included Mozart's Requiem (mmmm) which then made me want to watch "Amadeus" again, so I did the following evening - the director's cut, which I'm not sure was worth staying up till midnight on a school night. I suspect my great affection for that movie says something about my attitude toward historical accuracy along with, no doubt, much else. But oh dear God, F. Murray Abraham, I adore you. And I've had little Papageno bits stuck in my head all week.
Read: the latest Nevada Barr novel, The Rope which is another example of the doubling back phenomenon, in this case documenting Anna Pigeon's debut as an investigator and a Parks employee. No one can torture her protagonist like Nevada Barr; this is the place to go for lessons. Also read: Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel, finally, which made me think a lot about... present tense, for one thing, and why it works for historical novels. Sense of immediacy, I guess. Makes me wonder more about my choice to use present tense for the one thing I've written in the voice of a character from the past (doubt I could keep it up for a whole novel, though). I also greatly admired the use of language, how it managed to grab and shake and stir while never breathing too hard, and the way the book as a whole compels sympathy for someone who likely didn't deserve it (without twisting the facts too badly; it's no "Amadeus").
Speaking of telling stories, I'm still following "Once Upon a Time" and being sufficiently intrigued by it to keep going; it is, in some ways, a very silly show, and some of the acting reflects this, but I like the way the fairy tale background is revealed out of order and sets up contradictions and parallels to the modern day story, and I can guess what plot gaps need to be filled without being able to predict how that will happen. Keeps me amused.
Also, not to appear too fantastically behind the times, but we switched phone providers recently and along the way acquired a new phone with (ta da!) caller ID, which has Changed My Life; I cannot tell you what a relief, especially in these days of political robo-calls and (worse) live appeals for donations. Also we got a new and amazing printer that actually works (mostly) with wireless, instead of failing at the worst times as the old one routinely did. So I am technologically pleased.
That's all for now, I think.
