UPDATE: My book is no longer 50% off - now it's FREE for the month of July!

My book, Rose of Par Kluhnd: A Fairy Tale, is now FREE for the month of July, only at Smaswords! Use the code SSWSF at checkout to get this ebook for FREE. Here's the link: Rose of Par Kluhnd sale.

Smashwords only sells ebooks. If you want the paperback, you'll have to go to Amazon, which is not having a sale, sorry to say.

Double point needles and recorded books

No, this isn't a deep space docking station, it's an unfinished sock in the middle of being knitted:


Last summer I bought three skeins of yummy baby llama wool yarn with some birthday money intending, with my infinite skills, to turn it into socks. The yarn is sooo very soft. But not being armed with correctly sized double points in my knitting arsenal (which is otherwise well armed, I assure you, having inherited a plethora of pointed sticks from my great aunts), I tucked the yarn away.

But for Christmas my son presented me with a set of #5 double pointed knitting needles. Oh joy! And also a gift cart to Panera Bread (look out chocolate croissants, here I come).

Here is the second sock in progress with one of my very good helpers. She is especially helpful at the beginning of things when one must cast the starting stitches onto four different needles and then join the round without twisting:

Here is the first sock, which is already complete:

My other foot awaits its equally artful construction of llama wool (please don't look carefully enough to spot the mistakes in #1).

And what is it that I do to engage my mind while my hands are furiously knitting away at my socks? I listen to recorded books. Mostly young adult fare because that's what I (try to) write. Here are the books I'm listening to at present:

I went through The Magician's Apprentice and The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe while working on sock #1. I am ashamed to admit that I've never read these books. Ever. But I did see the two movies (Narnia and Prince Caspian). The books were beautifully read by Kenneth Branagh and they guy who played Tybalt in Romeo and Juliet and John the Baptist in that Jesus movie (you know who I mean, right?). I can't remember who read which book, but I think I liked Mr. Branagh's reading best.

And as far as readings go, I would skip this rendition of The People of Sparks if I were you. I'm presently on disk 2 of The Sea of Trolls and the reading is pretty darn good. I haven't started Specials yet.

It would be fun to read for a recorded book. I always enjoyed reading to my kids when they were eensy, and when I read a small selection of one of my novels for a critique circle at a writer's conference once, everyone ga-ga-ed over my reading so much that I wasn't sure what they actually thought of the writing.

Ah well. Back to knitting!

The Enormous Egg

I just finished re-reading The Enormous Egg, by Oliver Butterworth. I read a lot of middle-grade and young adult fiction, and while perusing the stacks in my library I saw The Enormous Egg. I had to check it out.

I have very fond memories of this book, although I'd never actually read it until now. Well then, how can I have such fond memories of it, you may ask? It was read to me when I was around six years old. My family and a neighbor family down the street rented a cabin in the Great Smoky Mountains for a week one summer, and every evening before bed, Mrs. Hinze would read to all of the assorted children from this book.

Oh, it was a lot of fun each night before bed to hear about this chicken who laid an egg which hatched into a dinosaur! And the name that Nate Twitchell gave to his little dinosaur has never left my head. I think that every time I've ever seen a Triceratops I've thought of the name, Uncle Beazley. What also made the book come alive was, at that time, I lived in the Washington, D.C. area and had visited the National Zoo and the Natural History Museum many times - places that figure prominently in the book.

At one point, I'm not sure exactly when, the Natural History Museum put two dinosaur sculptures out front, just across the street so they were actually on the Mall. One of the sculptures was a Triceratops. Of course we all called it Uncle Beazley every time we saw it. I'm not sure if the sculptures are still there. It seems like little children liked to climb on them, so eventually a low fence was placed around them. And then it seems like they may not have been there when I had a chance to take my own little tots to see the sights in D.C. many years ago.

Okay, I just checked. To see a picture of the Triceratops sculpture and to find out where it is nowadays, follow this link.

Anyway, the book is still charming, and although it was published for the first time way back in 1956, I think it would still be a good read for a child today. Sure, there are some kind of unbelievable things that happen (you may be thinking - chicken hatching a dinosaur; but I'm thinking - little kid is allowed to ride dinosaur around D.C. unsupervised, and some pretty over the top actions by some senators). But really, those kinds of things don't bother little kids. They have lots and lots of imagination and can deal with things that we grown-ups can't.

When my husband came home and saw the book lying on the table, he said, "The Enormous Egg?! That was one of my favorite books!"

Read it to someone you love today. You'll be glad you did, and the illustrations by Louis Darling will delight.

Garden Primer

I was excited to see that a second edition of The Garden Primer by Barbara Damrosch is out. It's come out on the 20th anniversary of the first addition - and this one's all organic!

I have the first addition, which I got (yes) 20 years ago. That book, along with Joy of Gardening by Dick Raymond helped put food on my little family's table when hubby was a grad student and we had two tiny children at home.

Between the two books I learned things like to use alfalfa kitty litter in the garden as fertilizer (can't find alfalfa kitty litter these days, though), and which plants will replenish the soil when it comes time to turn them under, and plants ideal for a winter garden (at the time I lived in New Mexico, so a winter garden was a real option).

I grew things like peas, sugar peas, green beans, carrots, broccoli, corn, kohlrabi, zucchini, tomatoes, watermelons, and pumpkins. Pumpkins were my favorite. They stored well and I learned how to make pumpkin pie from real pumpkins (and we even grew some for jack-o-lanterns!).

I can't wait to pick up the new Garden Primer. I think I'll drop some hints for Mother's Day!

Groovy

This comes from a librarian friend of mine.

Remember kids, pot is only for grownups!

Another Recommended Book

I just finished reading Escape by Carolyn Jessop. It details her life in, and escape from, the FLDS – the Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints. The FLDS have been in the news lately; they are the polygamist colony which was raided in Texas and had over four hundred of their children taken away. Carolyn was able to escape them in 2003, when they were still in Arizona and hadn’t yet moved a substantial number of adherents to Texas.

Her tale is harrowing and almost unbelievable, but believe it.

The FLDS is an offshoot of the Mormon (LDS, or Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints) church. I used to be a Mormon myself until I smartened up and left the fold. The Mormon church is nowhere near as goofy as the FLDS, but once a person becomes part of any group which exerts control over their life, it’s a slippery slope and not a far tumble into strange realms of belief.

Don’t ever let anyone think for you. Question everything, and don’t let anyone or anything stymie your search for answers.

A Couple of Books I would Recommend

I read young adult books as well as regular adult-type fare. A few that I have read lately that I would recommend are the following:

The Last Dragon by Silvana De Mari. This is a middle-grade/young adult book, wonderfully written. My daughter and I call it The Littlest Elf, and if you read it you may see why. The story will tug at your heartstrings in places and make you laugh in others. I checked it out of the library and read it, and then my daughter read it. When one of our cats, a little stray that we had taken in only eight months before, had to be put down becuase of heart failure, we went out and bought the book. My daughter wanted to read it again becuase for some reason it made her feel better. It's a little gem and I highly recommend it.

The Caliph's House and In Arabian Nights both by Tahir Shah. Prepare to be introduced to another culture in these sometimes funny, sometimes thought provoking, always entertaining books.

The two-book series which together are called The Orphan's Tales. The first book is called In the Night Garden. The second book is called In the Cities of Coin and Spice. They are by Catherynne M. Valente. I met the author and she is quite unique, as is her poetic style of writing. These books are a series of nested tales, much like the Arabian Nights. Read them in order - otherwise you'll be lost.

The three books by Garth Nix that I have read, Sabriel, Lirael, and Abhorsen. The last was my favorite, but I really liked them all and they are all remarkable for the imagination with which they were created. The ending of Abhorsen is just one of my very favorites of any ending I have ever read. These are aimed at a young adult audience.