Re: The Yggysey

After The Neddiad, the only possible follow-up is The Yggysey. Yggsdrasil Birnbaum has resigned herself to her friends calling her Iggy. She played a minor role in the previous book, hanging out with Neddie and Seamus. Here she takes the soundstage, finding out where all the ghosts in the haunted hotel where she lives are […]

Soldier Flies

Let’s see. I’ve hacked up half a leaf bag of ragweed, half a leaf bag of dogbane, another leaf bag of still more weeds — and there’s just no way my compost tumblers can keep up. So with bags of weeds and trimmings standing by, I am discovering yet more denizens of the compost pile: […]

Raspberries get a second wind

The raspberries I planted last year are taking off this year. They’re Heritage raspberries, which can be ever-bearing or fall-bearing depending on how you prune them. I voted for ever-bearing.

Labor day

Such a happy water hyacinth. I think it’s celebrating not being salad for raccoons. Or maybe it suddenly realized that Labor Day is the end of summer, so if it was going to flower, it better do it now. You’d think with that bright yellow target just beckoning to bees it would have more pollinators […]

Pickled tongue

While this tongue was simmering, I remembered making pickled tongue with my father. We would simmer the tongue first. Then I took the job of peeling the skin off. Finally we would slice it and chill it in a brine of pickling spices. Inspired by this recipe, I went in the opposite direction of my […]

Possum

The moon is rising fat and amber in the evening, the cats are on their last patrol, the skunk drops by for its breakfast, and — Holy God! That’s a big possum! He even looks like he’s about to make some pithy, home-grown observation, like “We have met the enemy, and he is us.” Is […]

Call it a writerversery

September 4 is my writing anniversary. (Or is it September 3? Shows you how close attention I pay.) It’s now eight years (and running) since my resolve to write every day finally became consecutive. Not this blog, mind you, just trying to write down the stories that go running through my head. So how’s that […]

A cardinal in the afternoon

Every year I look forward to watching a pair of cardinals raise a young one or two. I like to think it’s the same pair, but it’s hard to tell. Once they grow up, they all look alike. But this guy is not quite grown up. What makes me think so?

The evening bandit

Ah, I love getting visits from the local wildlife. I heard a thump from the feeders and sure enough, here’s a raccoon enjoying a leisurely supper. Cats watching from the windows don’t bother it. Flashlights shining don’t bother it. The flash of a camera sure as heck doesn’t bother it. Those sunflower seeds must be […]

Re: Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom

I found Cory Doctorow’s first novel, “Down and Out in the Magic Kindom,” a fast but annoying read. Fast both because the story rattles along at breakneck speed and because I was reading as fast as I could hoping to figure what the story was about. In the Bitchun Society, a post-Scarcity economy where your […]