Samuel Johnson said, "No man but a blockhead ever wrote, except for money."

( Am I a blockhead? )

I have this terrible habit of reading series in the wrong order.

It started with Robertson Davies. I picked up a copy of The Lyre of Orpheus and was halfway through it before I understood that there were earlier books. So I read the trilogy backwards, moving next to What's Bred in the Bone and finally to The Rebel Angels.

The interesting thing is ( Read more... )

As a son of Wesleyan, I grieve with the students, the faculty, and the family of Johanna Justin-Jinich.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iSGJvuWvlpCL3tC4WtgEE590iRrQD981MH500

Yit'gadal v'yit'kadash sh'mei raba
b'al'ma di v'ra khir'utei
v'yam'likh mal'khutei b'chayeikhon uv'yomeikhon
uv'chayei d'khol beit yis'ra'eil
ba'agala uviz'man ( Read more... )

Here's a photo of a dense little collection of flowers planted during the last two years on the south end of the house:


( Read more... )

Yes, I'm still working on the drabble requests from January. Whenever a longer story idea pops into my head I get distracted, but I do come back to these, and I'll eventually finish them.

girlyswot   asked for "an HP drabble with characters of your choosing to the prompt: Pure Fluff." This was a challenge, as Ros knows, for fluff doesn't come naturally to ( Read more... )

Tomorrow is the birthday of girlyswot , a writer of wonderful talent and skill.  Despite my best efforts to persuade her, she still doesn't want to become a published fantasy writer, because her passions lie elsewhere.  So bravo, Ros, for sticking to your guns and following your own dream.  But once in a while, please write more original fantasy so that I  ( Read more... )

A happy belated birthday to my friend madderbrad, who has been a rock of support and encouragement for years.

Many happy returns!

The Immigration & Naturalization Service (or whatever its current, DHS incarnation is called) either has the world's worst press agent, or else truly is made up of pig-headed, paranoid, vindictive nincompoops.  I've been hearing stories about them, from the press, from activists and from other lawyers, for over 20 years.

But here's their latest:  ( Read more... )

Like most members of my Clarion class, I'm reading some books by the 2009 instructors. The first one I finished was Elizabeth Hand's Generation Loss.
( Spoilers under the cut )

A very happy birthday to lileaduran , a brilliant young photographer and painter who has completely reintroduced me to the structural and metaphorical aspects of figure photos.  If you haven't seen her pictures already, you should.

Many happy returns!