Hugo 2009 scorecard

If you care about the Hugos, you already know that winners have been announced. All I know is that it looks like neither my votes nor my predictions went very far.

Water lilies again, again

Monet it’s not, but it’s still water lilies. A flower opened just the other day for the first time in weeks. And now there’s two at once. It’s getting crowded in the tub, between the water lilies and the duckweed and the guppies.

Swaying, buzzing goldenrod

After a cool June and a wet July, August is actually August! What a concept. Hot, muggy weather. Suddenly darkening skies that tease with the promise of a thunderstorm. And goldenrod arching up from the ground and swaying under the weight of bees and other buzzers. Goldenrod is one of the best bee plants. Sometimes […]

Fruit of weeding

You never know what you’re going to uncover when you finally do some serious weeding. No, I take that back. Mostly you know you’re going to uncover more weeds. Until I found a squash under a pear tree. Partridges were not involved.

Black swallowtail

Time for another big fat butterfly picture. This one I caught Monday, when I saw a huge butterfly swooping around the butterfly bush. How cliche. How pretty. The way it kept sweeping its wings as it fed made it hard to miss, even from a distance. That’s why the wings are a bit blurry. According […]

Re: All The Windwracked Stars

I generally look forward to reading stories by Elizabeth Bear, so I was intrigued to find a whole novel by her, All The Windwracked Stars. Plus I heard it was an example of the Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot trope. The what?

A note to my future self

When you’re reading for critique, or being critiqued, you’re supposed to focus on the text. It’s about the story, not you. When a publication decides it doesn’t want what you offered, it’s about the story, not you. Really?

More fruit for squirrels to wish they could steal

Never mind the late lamented peaches. More flowers are coming, promising more fruits. The raspberries are still going steadily, and the eggplants are just beginning to flower. Since raspberries have thorns and raw eggplant is bitter, I just might get to eat some of these.

So much for tree-ripened peaches

I was trying so hard to be patient, but no such luck with the squirrels. This morning, I looked out and saw only two peaches left. And it wasn’t the wind that did it.

Re: Stories of Your Life

Some believe that different languages change the way you perceive the world. In “Stories of Your Life”, by Ted Chiang, an alien language can change your perceptions even more profoundly. You can tell something is up from the beginning: Your father is about to ask me the question…. “Do you want to make a baby?”