Hedgehog Librarian: Prickly, Nocturnal, InfoDiva

Hedghogs in the News: Baldly

noreply@blogger.com (HL) — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 20:39:00 +0000

From My Friend the Lawyer:

Bald hedgehog is found abandoned

Poor hoglet--without prickles or family....

NaNoWriMo

noreply@blogger.com (HL) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 16:15:00 +0000

I was under the impression that NaNoWriMo was relatively widespread but I keep running into people who haven't heard of it, so thought I might share it here.

National Novel Writing Month: a competition to write 50,000 words/175 of a new novel (not one you've been working on for years) in the month of November. You start on November 1 and scribble furiously until the 30th, not taking time (at the moment) for revision.

It's a good kick start, an excellent prompt, and hopefully gets a lot of people to the writing board. I participated last year, though I didn't "win" (get to 50K).

It's evolved and a lot of other people have taken up the idea. There's NaNoBloMo (Post something on your blog every day for 30 days), NaNoSweMo (Knit a sweater in a month), etc etc. The essence seems to be: pick a challenge, a big challenge. Here are 30 days. Make yourself accountable to other people. Go.

It was my intent to participate this year. Somewhere in my apartment is a vague square piece of paper with the notes for the book I was thinking of working on.

I can't find it and by the time I realized it was November, it was the 2nd.

So I made a different goal. It's a personal one, so, despite my joy of sharing with y'all, it won't be going on the blog. I have another 25 days. And then holiday knitting will be taking over the rest of my life until 12/26.

Rube Goldberg Software

noreply@blogger.com (HL) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 00:09:00 +0000

I am among the privileged, so I'm told. I have a Google Wave account. No, I don't have invites yet so please don't leave me a comment or send me an email asking for one. EJ was my benefactor and no, he doesn't have any invites to share either. Here's what Google Wave is/does...

I've gone in and tried to play around a little. I can see some uses for group work, but it's still in preview and the clunk factor, at the moment, is outweighing the cool factor. That's my opinion for now. I'm sure that will change and we'll all glide in there and have a good time in the future.

But today was amusing. On LITA-L a proliferation of emails were sent with hopeful requests for invites. Invites are apparently being far more carefully guarded and reluctantly tokened out by Google than Gmail was--at least, in my memory*. When today, the requests started coming that people stop sending invite requests to the list (it was creating a lot of noise), something needed to be done.

Enter me with an editable spreadsheet. Have I mentioned how much of a fan of these I'm becoming? Shared Google Spreadsheets has made committee work so much easier and I can pass out book lists and all sorts of things--making them editable, view only, all sorts of convenient things. I named a spreadsheet, grabbed a link, and told people to add themselves.

At present we have 70 people on the list. That was in the first three hours. The hope is that when people are granted invites they will pull people from the list and bring them into the fold. And then that LITA people receiving invites will remove themselves or edit that they've already received an invite. Any way around it, at this point, I've gotten far less emails this afternoon.

A large (but controlled) group of people are using a shared spreadsheet to communicate with each other about gaining an opportunity to join a shared space to communicate with a large (but at this point controlled) group of people.

Email list to a shared spreadsheet to invites (via email) to join Wave.....

Rube Goldberg anyone?

*Is that the new uphill both ways in snow? I had to WAIT to get a gmail account?

Cleaning Out the Closet Programs

noreply@blogger.com (HL) — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 22:30:00 +0000

Most (not all) children's rooms have a back closet stuffed with supplies. There's a little of this and that left over from all kinds of programs before. Some glitter, paper in weird colors, tissue paper, two dozen 5 mm dowel rods, enough glitter glue to decorate a building, that kind of stuff just piles up if you don't drag it out occasionally

I've been trying, this year, to figure out some programs that allow me to use up leftovers without having to purchase a lot of additional things. I haven't made it anywhere near through our backlog yet (especially of tissue paper, we may NEVER run out) but I'm working on it.

This summer, our theme was "Be Creative." This translated to a focus on art, music and dance for the summer, with some theater and gardening thrown in for good measure. I opted to focus on "colors" because it was vague enough to let me pull out a bunch of cheerful crafts without getting too bogged down.

Supplies Needed:

Tissue Paper
Pipe Cleaners
"Stuff to decorate" (can be just about anything but make sure it's light)
Butcher paper
Glue/Glue Sticks (I prefer glue)
Markers
Scissors
Styrofoam Cups
Masking Tape
Paint Brushes (little ones, preferably old ones that you can then throw away)

Craft One: Tissue paper butterflies

Precut the butterflies out, if possible, and provide decorations (markers, stickers, etc) and pipe cleaners.
Ask the kids to choose a pipe cleaner middle and decorate the wings. These look lovely hung up in windows.

Craft Two: Tissue paper flowers

Precut rectangles of tissue paper (about 4x8 inches) and have them stacked up. Pick up four or five layers, bind the center with a pipe cleaner. Cut the petals in decorative shapes, fluff them apart. Add decorations as desired. (These also wrap nicely into headpieces as the base is then all pipe cleaners.)

Craft Three: Mural
Have a general idea sketched out on some butcher paper and ask the kids to help you fill it in with all the decorations you would like: markers, tissue paper, feathers, anything that won't fall off when you hang it up. And by general idea I mean abstract shapes--not a farm scene. For whatever reason though, kids liked making "clothes" out of the tissue paper.

Craft Four: Instruments

Ahead of time, put beans, beads, any small thing you have in the back that you can stand the site of any more 9and will rattle) into styrofoam cups. Tape two cups open ends together (now it's a shaker!) Use tissue paper (told you we had a lot) cut in small squares and lots of glue and layer the tissue paper all over the cups. Should get a stained glass effect.

Tomorrow I'm doing another "what's in the back room" program with fairies as the theme.

Supplies:
Colored paper
Glue
Dowel Rods (leftovers from another program, straws or popsicle sticks work too)
All the glitter glue in Wisconsin
Leftover tissue paper squares and flowers (I don't know where the precut flowers came from
Flat "angel" cut outs (from my mom's cleaning out) (wings plus a skirt cut out = fairy to me!)
Markers
ribbon
Magnet pieces

Craft one: Wands
If I could guarantee 10 year olds, I'd make them cut out their own wand shapes. Since I can't, I used the die cutter and colored paper and tada--52 stars (none of them yellow). Glue two stars together with dowel rod in the middle and you have a wand. The fairies tomorrow can decorate, add ribbon, write their fairy name on it...all sorts of things.

Craft two: Headdresses
See Tissue paper flowers above, adding in ribbon and a base circlet of pipe cleaners. I'm actually not doing this one tomorrow, I decided two crafts was enough

Craft Three: Make your own fairy magnet
We had the magnets and ornaments, so the girls will get to design their own flower fairy friend. Once they are done decorating, we'll write their fairy name on the back (I'm using this Fairy Name Generator) and add a magnet so it can go on the fridge.

Wish me luck and not bringing any of this stuff back with me!

Book Review: NERDS by Michael Buckley

noreply@blogger.com (HL) — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 22:25:00 +0000

N.E.R.D.S
by Michael Buckley

Buckley's pretty well known for his charming Sisters Grimm series, which brings to life the rather frightening reality that fairy tale characters live in a small town in upstate New York. So it was with high anticipation that I grabbed NERDS off the shelf.

Meet Jackson Jones, your typical super-popular star athlete at the middle school. Kids want to be like him or at least in his circle of friends, even adults emulate him. Charm and style and amazing skill at football should see him through fifth grade trials, tribulations, and time spent picking on geeks and nerds, right?

That is--until a fatal dental appointment--where Jackson learns he has an unusual number of teeth and is slapped into braces and headgear. Highly magnetized headgear. Instantly gone is his popularity

But then he begins to notice something about the classmates he picked on before. When he follows them, he stumbles upon a secret world of spies, missions, and a very unusual Lunch Lady.

Inadvertently joining the team, Jackson has to prove himself to teammates who hate him, deal with super special braces, and try not to flunk out of fifth grade--oh, and save the world from a supreme evil doer and his hired assassin (who is also in fifth grade).

Buckley provides a very realistic hero in the stereotypical popular boy who has fallen from grace. Jackson sees himself as a good kid and is startled to realize he is a bully. A little self-realization and sadness and growth comes but not one of those sudden 180 turn arounds. At random the reader does have to provide retina scans and pass other security clearances...with a typical does of tween humor.

First in a series, this is another one to keep high on the ordering list and make sure it's face out on the shelves. The guy taking my order at the sub shop the other day grabbed it off the counter for a quick perusal--so I think we can safely say the cover appeals to all ages.

Hedgehogs in the News: 5 Star Rating

noreply@blogger.com (HL) — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 19:32:00 +0000

Thanks to Jennie, who tweeted me this too adorable story!!

Hoglets born in hotel reception

Mama Hedgehog had good taste!

Where's the Literacy???

noreply@blogger.com (HL) — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 21:20:00 +0000

At work, we have a number of professional subscriptions, including to Book Links. Skimming through the latest issue (Oct 2009) I came across an article about Family Literacy that floored me.

One of the suggestions was a Family Literacy Night at the Library. I was excited at the prospect of getting some new ideas to add to my storytime, where the parents are continually hearing me harp about early literacy techniques, methods and reasoning.

I was stunned when I read the "schedule for the evening" , for after the introduction, the first activity suggested was watching a fifteen minute movie.

I have nothing against movies in general. I don't have anything against developing a good picture book into a good short film*. We show features length movies occasionally at the public library where I work during the summer, on no school days, at most perhaps 8-10 per year (probably fewer) and very occasionally use them in our storytimes.

But your first action on a literacy night is to show a movie???? This just seems incredibly counter-intuitive to me. What about literacy games? Story boxes? Doing a short skit with two staff members and some puppets or stuffed animals modeling reading as a family. If a "gentle call to family reading" is desired, why not actually read a book together?

The rest of the evening is a story-teller or librarian doing a read-aloud, passing out a "goody bag of resources" and time for questions. In my experience, once I've turned on a film, that's it. The kids' brains are gone and they aren't interested at the end of the movie in a live person doing something. This is precisely why the day after getting my braces, I read two stories before I turned on a book-based film in my storytime. At the very least, wouldn't you wait until the end when attention spans are lost or going?

Of an hour of the proposed program, twenty minutes is spent in some manner of reading, though most of the story-tellers I know tend not to actually use books or use them scantly, which doesn't model good reading together. So it is quite possible to do an entire evening without ever actually opening a book. How does this promote family literacy?

I recognize there are many kinds of literacy, particularly when one delves into the myriad segments of information literacy. But when working with younger children we tend to err on the side of the physical reading of books. There are so many games, activities, and take home ideas that are available that you can develop while the parents are actually there with their children. And if they've come, they are there to get some early literacy and family literacy ideas.

Why would you waste fifteen precious minutes on a video?

* I particularly am looking forward to seeing Mo Willem's Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus

Meet the Parents: Regency Romance Series

noreply@blogger.com (HL) — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 18:35:00 +0000

Welcome back to another round of the Regency series:
* Starting off
* Meet the man
* Pretty Lady
*Who Do I Read 1

Since someone had to give birth to these paragons of virtue, troubled souls, wicked but utterly reformable rakes, and innocent but oh so wise maidens (and occasionally widows), we must as matter of course have parents.

Mothers:

Now then, in all the really good novels, they kill off the mother. Perhaps it's a throwback to the classic fairytales or perhaps it's just the reality that childred, especially girls, with mothers often have relationships with those mothers and don't tend to be quite so prone to running away, having strange romances, etc etc. So please, do consider abolishing the mother before you start the first page.

Mother often died early, perhaps even in childbirth. This is not necessarily unrealistic, many women did die at that time from giving birth. And all of their children apparently promptly grew up to star in Regency Romances. If the mother dies, it allows one to make her a sainted creature, fondly remembered and loved and without any flaws a woman who had to survive the teenage years of her child.

But sometimes you need the mother to live.

If it's the girl's mother:

If she survives the father (killing him off, also popular) often she's useless and all burden of supporting the family, being an active character etc falls upon the daughter about whom the story is written. Mother is often relegated to having trunks of beautifully made clothing that can be remade for the daughter to wear when snaring the noble who'll be her husband by the end of the book. Said noble then gets mother and other siblings as new dependents.

Other mother daughter options to consider:
* Mother ignores daughter in favor of another child: either a boy or a much more beautiful sister
* Mother is the grasping mushroom type trying to buy her daughter a title she doesn't want
* Mother is running around with all sorts of inappropriate men, which embarrasses virginal daughter

It's very very helpful is the girl's mother was disowned by her gentry/noble family for marrying the girl's father, reconciliations between grandchildren/grandparents are very popular.

And, occasionally, mother is a pretty regular normal decent parent with a pretty normal relationship with her daughter.

If it's the guy's mother:
* She was the only one who loved him but died early because his father was cruel to her
* She abandoned him at a young age to run off with her lover
* She had him with her lover but he's been acknowledged/raised as the heir
* She is vitriolic and plans to rule his house forever and has to be thrown out.

Those are the extremes. Usually the guys have much better mothers and much better and more realistic relationships with their mothers, the moms mostly having the role of complaining about them not being married and providing grandchildren.

Fathers:

Fathers are more likely to be alive for the girls. If they have died, they've left massive of debts behind so their daughters are impoverished (the charming gamester dad or poor cleric dad) or they've left them as heiresses with bad guardians.

For your heroine, her Father

* raised her like the son he never had but hates her for being female and/or for behaving like a boy.
* ignored her, hated her for being female.
* is the vague professorial type who educated her too well for men.
* has remarried and the woman he's married is awful for variety of reasons

For your hero, his father
* hates him for surviving his older brothers, or being wife's ill-begotten child, or being born at all (take your pick)
* loves him and thinks his being a rake is perfectly marvelous
* is dead and was horribly mean, causing the hero never to want children or get married.
* is dead and was wonderful, in which case he only gets mentioned in passing.

Occasionally both parents are still alive and do seem to have a good relationship with their child. More often these are his parents and then they are either wonderful people who have a lovely marriage or they are cold, harsh aristocrats who sneer upon anyone except a frigid girl like themselves and who hate each other.

(At least I'm giving you a variety of options...cut them all up, draw them out of a hat, and go.)

Ah but we can't forget remarriages, now can we.

Stepmothers:

These poor women are, ninety percent of the time, bad mean evil women. They resent daughters and sons of first marriages, they are grasping, money grubbers.

Generally it is the heroine's father who has remarried. Those women, often younger than sainted dead mother would be, always want to marry off the daughter as fast as possible in hopes the daughter won't require any more money from their fathers. If the father has remarried the stepmother wants the son/heir to die so her children can inherit or some other random and strange thing.

Such it is, it comes as a pleasant surprise when there is a healthy relationship between stepmother and hero/ine. The best example I can give is Julia Quinn's book The Viscount Who Loved Me.

Stepfathers:

Stepfathers are rare. Sometimes the mother has remarried before she goes off to sainted death and now the stepfather is selling the heroine off to the highest bidder or one of his old cronies. Sometimes the mother is still alive and this same situation is happening. Rarely do they just portion off the daughter and let her marry some nice man.

But then, that wouldn't make a good story now would it.

Siblings and other relatives on the way soon!

Academic Disconnect: Whither Public Professors?

noreply@blogger.com (HL) — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 15:14:00 +0000

A strange fact about my graduate library education recently struck me: none of the professors I had were public librarians.

The tenured professors were from academic or school media. The majority were from academic libraries, though from what memory serves at least one of them had pretty much only ever taught library science and theory without ever having actually done the everyday work of applying the theories she'd helped to create.

I took a variety of classes over those 4 semesters, several with adjuncts. The closest I came to a public librarian was Gary Wasdin*, but he was on the research division side and the Director of the Office of Staff Development at NYPL. While I was in class with him, he was the Director of the Library at New School and I see he's gone on to the Uni of Alabama. This is not to say I begrudge Gary what he's done and is doing, and certainly I learned a whole lot from him by virtue of the fact he was actually IN the library field doing library things...I'm just pointing out how far even that was.

The MLS has a lot of theory and general preparation from the profession as a whole, at least, it's supposed to, along with potentially allowing specialization in a certain kind of library. But in retrospect, my head is reeling that none of those people I worked most closely with to prepare myself had any experience with the work that I actually do everyday. While I'll be the first to argue that the basic skills do translate across all kinds of libraries: budgeting, collection development, outreach, marketing, management...there are things that one learns really only by having worked in the public library. For example, it's one of the only types of libraries that sees patrons from every single age bracket. Most others have a slightly narrower audience than birth to death and all education levels.

Public libraries are a large enough group that they have their own association, conferences, tracks at bigger conferences, and are in the headlines everyday. We're a site for self-education, continuing education, the foundations of children's information literacy before they hit those school media specialists. But these librarians do not seem to be the ones getting to the classrooms. I wonder why this is? Do they not want to teach, seeing it as a part of academia and an academic's job? Are they shot down by LIS programs because they aren't academics? Is it not conducive because grad classes are in the evenings and that's busy time for most public libraries? Has this changed drastically in the past five years and now public librarians are everywhere?

With the increased desire for specialization I wonder if future graduates will have any opportunity to move beyond the divison/library-type where their first job lies. But if they aren't prepared for public libraries, and aren't working with public librarians, how will they be ready for those first jobs?

I wonder if a LIS school would consider me experienced enough to start teaching....

*btw...if that somehow manages to get Gary's attention: Hi! Greetings from one of your former St. John's students. I had you for intro and summer management. Skinny light brunette with waist length hair.

Who Do You Love? Part 1: Regency Romance Series

noreply@blogger.com (HL) — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 20:28:00 +0000

A commenter asked for some reading recommendations. If you're just getting into historical fiction and regencies, it can be a bit daunting to face the romance section in your local library or bookstore and try to pick out the ones that are interesting and amusing over those that might be to prurient or insipid or "Please tell me that isn't REALLY Fabio on the cover...."

My author suggestions will mostly come from the longer types of romances, those running about 350 pages. This is not to imply that there are not many valuable authors in 180-220 page category, but I read those by the pound. I don't tend to grab a particular author (with one notable exception), I grab a publisher and put everything the library has on hold, ten books at a time.

Those publishers are:

Signet Regency
Zebra Regency
Fawcett (Coventry Romances or Crest or something other of that nature)

They aren't the only ones but those are the most prominent amongst the 40 or so I just had a quick look at in the living room. You'll get to where you recognize the cover formatting, more than anything else.

I don't read the Harlequin Historicals. I have read a few and they were decent, but there seemed to be a focus on getting a sex scene into what was a relatively short story. When 1-5 pages has to be sacrificed to the obligatory "then they went to bed together" with all of the accompanying euphemisms, it annoys me.

So, onto those author suggestions.

Georgette Heyer: Heyer gave us Regency Romance and so no list should begin without her name. She's known for her historical descriptions, her inclusion of detail, and her fine style. Her books tend to read like the shorter Regencies but be of the length of the longer ones. I've only read a couple of hers but more are definitely on my list. These are ones, I'm told, that have convinced skeptical male readers that there might be more to these books than petticoats, balls, and "purple patches."

Julia Quinn: Quinn is my absolute favorite and I back that with my checkbook, having bought every single one of her titles, a couple of them more than once when my copies went missing. She is witty, her characters have depth, and she tends to break out of the oh-so-typical formulas that I am gently mocking. She spins new twists with a wonderfully ironic sense of humor. I recommend starting with The Duke and I and reading through the Bridgerton series. Those are, in my humble opinion, her best work.

Eloisa James: James is a tenured Shakespeare professor and a NYT best-selling author of romance. It somehow was a surprise to me, when I heard her speak, for her to point out that she writes about marriage. Not about engagements and happy endings that stop at a march down the aisle, but what happens five, ten, fifteen years later, when things have gone awry from misunderstanding, people growing and changing, miscommunications, etc. Her books are well-researched and rich in detail. Jemma is her most vibrant character, but certainly not the only one with whom one can or wants to identify. I would say start with either Duchess in Love or An Affair Before Christmas.

Celeste Bradley: Bradley was recommended to me by a dear friend in Chicago. Upon discovering that the other read historical romance, she and I went through author names until we found ones we'd not heard before. Bradley writes strong heroines, active women, and for that I grab everything with her name on it eagerly. Her books are also humorous, often I chuckle aloud at a description or turn of phrase. Witty dialogue, fun characters, and she tends to write in groups of three or four, which make for a pleasant, but not overwhelming cluster of books to take on for a trip, weekend, or however long. Best to start though with The Pretender. I read the books out of order, but it's helpful to get them in sequence.

Michelle Martin: Here is the exception to the short-Regency author rule. Martin wrote The Hampshire Hoyden, a book known between the Incredibly-Patient-Mother and Sibling-the-Elder and I for having made all three of us cry for laughing so hard. It's out of print, so you'll need to look for a used copy and they aren't the easiest to come by. I have one and no, you may not borrow it. Her others are amusing but not as good, in my opinion.

I have another half dozen authors to suggest, but I'll leave you with these for the interim.

**Note: Some people like to know in advance, all but the Heyer books (and Martin's) have sex scenes in them and some of those are pre-marital. None of them tend to put dialogue in those scenes that "can't be missed or you'll never understand the rest of the book." As a result, once I've read how an author does the scene once, I usually can skip right over them in the rest of the books. They are there but they aren't obnoxious. And with rare exceptions, all of their books meet the no-sex-in-the-first-100-pages rule.

Book Review: White Witch by Janet Graber

noreply@blogger.com (HL) — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 17:56:00 +0000

The White Witch
Janet Graber

There just aren't enough good plague books for kids. Fortunately, Graber steps up to the plate, addressing a devastating point in history and confronting the belief system of the time.

In a small English village, Gwen has a reputation of being a witch because of her pale coloring and ability to commune with animals. While she doesn't seem to be albino, she has light hair and skin and the village people both respect and fear her.

Her father, a trader, brings news of the plague from London and warns the villagers that they must not allow the refugees fleeing the city to come down the river and dock with them. Believing that God will protect them and choosing to believe the illness a sign of retribution for sinfulness, they choose to ignore his warning.

Gwen's father knows they will blame her for the illness. He hides her in a secret room in the church, formerly used to hide riches, and leaves the village, promising to return. Time passes and refugees, rats, and ultimately the plague arrive. Gwen watches as people flee or die, with deaths outpacing the rate the bodies can be buried.

Silence falls on the village, and then one of the villagers returns from hiding in the woods, a young woman who knows where Gwen is hiding.

Gwen risks getting the plague herself to help her friend, even when she knows it means losing the boy she loves to that friend. But those aren't the only villagers around, and now Gwen faces a witchcraft trial.

While not making inappropriately light of the death and the superstitions that surrounded healing and people who were different, Graber presents an interesting glimpse of a time not often addressed in children's literature. A thoughtful read.

On the Flip Side

noreply@blogger.com (HL) — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 14:30:00 +0000

No, I'm not dead, just buried. Freelance work seriously picked up and then I went home for six days. Now I've returned and started to make sense of the disaster zone also known as my desk at work, and have hope that the living room floor will be reclaimed within the next 72 hours. And so I get back to my writing, yours obediently.

I had the chance, early in the month, to attend Wisconsin Sheep and Wool. It was a bit of a drive but the day was lovely and I was on a mission. At the Jefferson Fairgrounds I found two large buildings full of vendors with all manner of woolly goodness. That I succumbed only to some beautiful pale seafoam green alpaca, some tweedy alpaca, two skeins of coarser but delicious Icelandic wool and a couple of bars of soap should be applauded. Apparently I'm now collecting bars of great handmade soap, but at least it gets used and cleanliness/godliness and all that.

Also I met some sheep. There were a lot of sheep that looked like ones that I imagine in my head when I think of those wool-providing creatures. Then there were the ones as pictured here, who looked a lot more like goats that someone stuffed into a woolly pillow. Doesn't that look like a fluffy Alpine to you?

The majority of the sheep were friendly and happy to discover whether or not I tasted like a salt lick. Fingers are always an acceptable nibbling treat.

I finished my first ever pair of socks! It came about entirely as a coping method one day, when I had so much running about in my brain that I quite literally could not do anything else. I sat and knit just plain stitches, one after the other, around in a very small circle. 52 stitches per row. Who knows how many rows because I didn't count. Just one more needle, one more row. My brain ran on at insane miles per hour and my physical self worked stitch after stitch.

Now:

They haven't been blocked yet. The yarn is Sanguine Gryphon Eidos in Alcibiades using the numbers/pattern from the Tsock Tsarina's Tsock 101 Kit for those of the knitterly persuasion playing along.

And then it was back to Queens for two days of Indian summer and the first chills of fall. I stayed with the Brunette and Husband and new roommate. The Actor convinced me that singing for Rock Band, in public, was somehow acceptable. I made my way through Evanescence and No Doubt before it was decided that my rock repertoire was rather limited. (I knew this, they didn't believe me. When Rock Band comes out with the 24 Italian Songs and Arias for Medium-High Voice version, call me.)

The Blonde, Brunette, Husband and I went apple picking upstate, in/near Warwick, NY. It's a combination apple picking, rose garden (small but great colors), winery, and homemade donuts place. We stood for over 40 minutes waiting in line for fresh donuts and agreed that it was a form of unusual punishment to wait and be able to see and smell hot donuts but not buy nor taste lest our tongues be burnt. But warm apple cider donuts and great wine, as well as quite abundant apples, made it well worth the trip. (The two bottles of wine survived the plane trip home!!!)

Me in the obligatory "put your head in the cutout" --as required by the Blonde.

Finally, I headed into the City to meet up with My-Friend-the-Lawyer (who these days is more like My-Friend-the-Student, but he's almost done with that) and eat amazing Lebanese food at Naya. The desserts were incredible.

So that's where I've been.

Baby Heffalump Pictures....

noreply@blogger.com (HL) — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 17:43:00 +0000

For cuteness overload, Utah has a new baby elephant.

September 11: Year 8

noreply@blogger.com (HL) — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 13:46:00 +0000

It's gotten easier, now that time has passed. The immediacy isn't quite so upon us.

And I say this as a young woman who broke down in tears in front of Carmen Agra Deedy when she shared with me the beautiful picture book she wrote about the gift of cows made to America by the Maasai tribe in Africa. That was only six weeks ago.

As my grandparents remember Pearl Harbor, and my parents the day Kennedy was shot: I remember 9/11/01.

I know where I was when the first plane hit (Renaissance Women in Italy History course). I know who the first person I reached on the phone was (Master Sergeant). I can remember shutting off the television because my roommate Cindy and I were so numb from repetition that there were no tears left. I can remember the name of someone who should have been at work that day and wasn't.

I can remember, a year later, tears streaming unashamedly down my face as I was a part of the Rolling Requiem. I remember feeling as though I'd just dropped 100 feet when the NJ Transit train pulled into the daylight--and I realized that I was riding around inside the basement of the towers.

Today, as I imagine it will be for the rest of my life, I will remember.

Yarn Giveaway: Winner

noreply@blogger.com (HL) — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 16:22:00 +0000

Thank you so much to everyone who donated to LFPL over the last month.

Steve has extended his fundraising (with a matching donor offer) to the end of the week, if you're still inclined.

But I promised I'd draw a name today.

I put everyone's name x number of times on a spreadsheet, based on the number they told me they'd donated. I then used random.org to get a truly random number.

The winner is: Ivy.

Ivy, I'll be emailing you for your address to mail the yarn. Thank you everyone for your generosity!!

Pretty Lady: Regency Romance Series

noreply@blogger.com (HL) — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 22:20:00 +0000

It's another dose of the regency series:
* Starting off
* Meet the man

The Heroine

Alongside such a strong hero, it's very possible for the woman of a Regency Romance to be overwhelmed. Still, it takes a lot to wrangle these guys into a marriage and so most of these girls need a spine. It's when they're really insipid that one needs an even larger leap of romantic faith. Really? A dynamic worldly 35 year old and an waifish 18 year old virgin...uh huh. But let's lay the ground rules of our leading ladies:

Your heroine is beautiful but not always the most beautiful woman in the room (except, of course, eventually to the hero). She's unusual, different, unique. The reigning beauties may look pale, washed out, dull in comparison, etc next to her. That's one take, another is that she's very attractive but in the shadows, waiting for some man to discover her and shine the limelight upon her. Blond is the most preferred hair color, though any myriad version of that shade will do (Golden, honey, white blond, etc). But even with this pale hair color, make sure her eyebrows and lashes are naturally much darker. Red hair also shows up with alarming regularity. Strawberry blond is the best of both worlds. If her hair has to be brown it must be chestnut and only on rare occasions where someone had a gypsy ancestor does black hair show up. Her face, if you're following the Barbara Cartland tradition, is heart-shaped. Eyes are large and luminous (belladonna applications anyone?), pools of color to be fallen into. Again, brown eyes not so much, we really prefer a crisp green or blue or, randomly, violet. I've never met anyone with purple eyes, but apparently they were all over the place in the Regency.

Height is either unusually tiny, where she doesn't come up to his shoulder, or she's unusually tall and is the same height or taller than most of the men. ***If I seem to use "unusual" overmuch, it's because some authors do.*** But then, with all those taller-than-everyone-else-men, it helps to have a girl who measures vertically up to them. Figures are at most full. She might have an impressive bosom but earthy figures are left to older women or those of a less moral nature. Often she's not incredibly endowed but has a wonderful figure, slim and healthy, that doesn't really ever need a corset. So ideally we're going for curvy but slim. Got that?

Your heroine generally gets one of two personalities: the self-sufficient feisty girl or the delicate flower who needs someone to build her a backbone. The first is getting to be far more popular, probably because too many readers were getting sick of these wistful waifs who couldn't say boo to their husbands. Backbone, willingness to work hard and possibly break a few rules, and generally having spunk is a good thing. Still, she should at all times also be incredibly well mannered, kind to small children, animals, and old servants, and beloved by all but the inconvenient family members who mistreat her. (More on those relatives in later posts.)

Whatever it is she's done or doing, she's doing or has done it well. Whether that be singing (golden songbird), dancing (no stomping on toes here), drawing or painting, raising her eight siblings after both parents died, speaking Latin, preserving her virtue, or dealing with some sort of weaponry, she's awfully good at it. Occasionally, you find the rare girl who admits an inability to sing/play well, when others around her are virtuosos, but more likely while she might not play perfectly, she plays with so much more emotion that everyone has to stop and take notice.

Your heroine really should be from a good family. It is slightly less imperative that she be born aristocracy than it is with the guys, but not by much. She still needs to come from a good family: gentry and aristocracy preferable, if her family is merchant, then she should have been raised and educated as a lady so she'll at least fit in neatly. Even if she has been demoted Cinderella style to servitude, she was brought up well and that always shines through when it needs to.

Yes, many of them have a Cinderella complex. Either personality, or evil family, or whatever....she's waiting for Prince Charming to take her away from her life of servitude and shower her with wealth, security, children, and the greatest opportunity of her life: being his wife. She's amazingly self-effacing in all this too. Yes, I know, options for women were rather more limited than they are now, but seriously.

What's her view on marriage? She wants to be married a fair portion of the time, though not always to the hero. She has idealized the boy next door (who, if he's not the hero, is totally unacceptable). You could go with the idea that she doesn't want to marry so she can take care of siblings, relatives, etc etc. There's the rare gem of a heroine who doesn't want to lose herself in marriage, worried she'll lose herself, but the hero always sweeps past this. Oh, and yes, occasionally she's a widow. But with the exception of one of the Bridgerton books by Julia Quinn (and it's a lovely book), I can't come up with very many where it was a happy marriage. Usually the first husband was a profligate and subjugated her personality, was manic-depressive, left debts, and may have abused her. And if that doesn't make one just want to RUSH right into a second marriage :-p

So there's your lady. Go forth and make a lady, countess, or other title of her.

Next up? Meet the in-laws.

Who's Your Hero: Regency Romance Series

noreply@blogger.com (HL) — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 16:22:00 +0000

If you're just joining us,
*Starting Off

Every good regency needs a hero. The brooding type tends to be popular. Occasionally one sees the perky one but lethargy and brooding tend to rule the day.

Things to remember about your hero:

He is always handsome and most of the time he's a brunette. I'm not sure why this is particularly appealing, but it seems the vast majority have gorgeous dark locks to be played with. There are a few blonds in the mix. Red hair is an extreme rarity. Make sure he's tall, usually taller than everyone else and has piercing eyes. I don't go for the angelic type, but apparently some do, for there are many who get described as angelic. Though, more often than not, it's a dark angel.

He's from a good family. With exceptions that I can count on one hand and have fingers left over, he's from the aristocracy. He doesn't have to be titled, there are those occasional spare brothers floating around, but most likely he's got at least one or two titles. Some families seemed to have enough for everyone so no boy had to be a mere mister. Those rare exceptions probably have some kind of gentry in the past, even if he is a *gasp* merchant or *the horror* estate manager.

Your hero must be an exceptional rider, driver, dancer and fighter. He alone can handle the horses no one else can and is never thrown. He's always exceedingly kind to them and they never lose shoes. He beats regularly the times others have set on various road races. Within the ballroom he never ever steps on a ladies feet and always in charge when dancing. (Would that all modern men could lead with such panache and confidence!) And no matter what he's handed: pistol, sword, or knife, or if he's just using bare fists, he is one of the undefeated at them. Along that fisticuff line, he has a "punishing" hook and usually trains with Gentleman Jackson himself. It's a nice way to let the hero go blow off some steam, bond with other men, or attribute why he's so amazing at everything he does.

The hero has quite the active night life, but amazingly shows no sign of the dissipation. He drinks, gambles, smokes and carouses with the demi-monde until wee hours. He sleeps until noon and is quite often hauled out of bed with a thick head. (Assuming of course that alcohol affects him, there are a number of heroes who seem to be able to imbibe vast quantities without every having a bad morning afterwards.) But none of these cause pudginess, gout, diabetes, red noses, and amazingly, despite having biblically known quite a number of women, none of these men have contracted sexually transmitted diseases.

Speaking of the time he's spent with the demi-monde: your hero has a past with the ladies. He's had any number of mistresses (often a "really big number of them" that shocks nice ladies). These ladies are always acknowledged courtesans, dancers, and widows. It's amazing how he finds all these women with loose morals, the ladies of the evening never seem to have any problems with the fact they've turned to the oldest of professions. If the hero finds the heroine in a brothel, he must of course spirit her out of there post-haste because she's a nice girl who would never do that. If he finds anyone else, apparently she's excited about her profession and the chance to entertain him. There were an amazing number of lusty bar wenches. There are also an amazing number of wives who cheat on their husbands, though of course the hero and heroine never would cheat on each other. A surprising number of these adulterous wives are happy to set up their lovers with girls who turn out to be the wife of his chaste and monogamous dreams. Who knew?

War heroes are convenient to have around, so consider making your hero a former (in his past) or recent (just coming home from the wars now) soldier. If he fought in the war, he was mentioned in the dispatches, so everyone knows what a hero he was and how he sacrificed himself for others. Despite the sacrifice, he usually comes home in one piece, despite the French soldiers and horrible surgeons best and worst efforts. Often, regret and reflection is alluded too, along with nightmares. I appreciate this, actually, it makes the men more human to realize that they fought and took lives and had friends lose their lives. Much more realistic than shoving it down with a "doing one's duty" and being perfectly able to resume civilian life.

The hero generally has one of two approaches to marriage: he has to for purposes of having an heir, saving his fortune, meeting a parental requirement, winning a bet, etc OR he's completely against it, plans never to marry, thinks all women are beneath him (insert double entendre here), so on and so forth. It seems to be one or the other, rarely is he just casually interested in women (Austen's Captain Wentworth in Persuasion is a rare example where he's open to the idea of marriage without it being forced upon him.)

We've met our hero, now on to our leading lady.

Wool: You Know You Want It (Donate to the LFPL)

noreply@blogger.com (HL) — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 17:51:00 +0000

We're down to the last week of Steve's goal of gathering 5K for Louisville Free Public Library. Which means, we're down to the last week of the enter to win really awesome wool and/or me knitting it into something for you!

Here's the kick off post .

Here's how to play the game (one more time):

1) Donate to LFPL either by mailing them a check or contributing via Paypal to the Library Society of the World fund. He's already sent one check when we hit the half way point and it has been received.

The Library Foundation
Attn: Flood
301 York St.
Louisville, KY 40203
(502) 574-1709

2) Email me/Facebook me/Direct Message me on Twitter or Friendfeed or Plurk and let me know either a) you donated (for one chance) or b) how much you donated for one chance per $5 donated. My email is on the blog homepage if anyone needs it.

I'll be doing the drawing on September 2, 2009, results to be posted shortly thereafter.

Come on...it's Malabrigo. And it's going to a good cause!! Help Steve Lawson and the LSW make the five thousand dollar goal!!

How to Write a Regency Romance: A Tongue in Cheek Series

noreply@blogger.com (HL) — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 19:00:00 +0000

It's become too serious of late, so it's time for some frivolity. This will be a multi-part blog series over the next few weeks.

I now offer you, based on my years and years experience reading historical romance novels, suggestions on how to write one.* I'll mostly be focusing on so-called "regency romances." Many of these suggestions, though, play over nicely into modern/paranormal/etc etc etc. I make these points not to insult the authors, whose books I read, suggest, buy, pass to friends, etc.; nay, friends, I come only to amuse.

Let us begin.

We'll start with something easy--the Top Five Things You Should Mention in your Regency Romance (RR). This way you can plan to build your story around them.

Tea : Everyone drinks it, everyone offers it, there's always a fresh pot around somewhere.
Almacks: The ton revolved around it, who was invited, who was going, who wasn't going, which rake showed up there, who was banned, and the Patronesses.
Ankles: Apparently they were the height of sexy, since bosoms were exposed by evening wear. Make sure there are nicely turned ones. (Turned, not sprained)
Napoleon and the war: Half pay officers, wounded soldiers returning, soldiers dying, someone leaving to war, getting a commission, the escape from Elba, heros. TONS of possibilities here.
Cravats: No nice man is without them. They're used to promote the hero, bind wounds, point out the silliness of brothers, and so on and so forth.

Next we'll be exploring your hero.

*Please note, these suggestions are not intended as practical advice. I have neither written nor published a regency romance, though the Incredibly-Patient-Mother has suggested that perhaps I should.

Hedgehogs in the News: Joke

noreply@blogger.com (HL) — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 14:34:00 +0000

My-Friend-the-Lawyer spotted this early this morning and sent it on. We both agree it's not the funniest joke we've ever heard.

Hedgehog joke wins comedy prize.

Happy Monday all...

Mid-Week Brain Break

noreply@blogger.com (HL) — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 20:21:00 +0000

I'm blaming MLx from Friendfeed for this one.

Pop Words.

I will not apologize for spreading the addiction.

Making Soggy Memories

noreply@blogger.com (HL) — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 16:20:00 +0000

When I was very young, it was extremely normal for family gatherings to occur regularly. We got together for holidays, birthdays, any excuse to gather for a meal was a good one. I am one of eleven cousins on that side of the family, and these events brought together any number of us to swing on Grandma's front porch, play rounds of Euchre, swim in the lake, ice skate on that same lake, sing and tell stories. I'm the youngest of the girls and the oldest of the boys is still renowned for making everyone at the kids table laugh. And even as adults, we of the "kid" generation still often end up at a "kid" table, while our parents and grandmother are together and now, all of their children are grouped.

Cousins, as all children do, grow up and we split out across the country. And across the world. At one point there were cousins both in Germany and Japan, and while at the moment we're all back in the general midwest region, I doubt that will last a lifetime and it's still a stretch to get together.

So when the opportunity arose to spend a weekend across the state with two cousins and their families, it was time to pack up and look for directions.

Incidentally, Highway 21 is a long drive across the state. Lovely and peaceful, but one definitely slips into a state of "I can't remember anything I've seen in the past thirty minutes, where am I?"

It was incredibly normal, after somewhere around six years (there are three more children since last time I saw this set of cousins), to step back into the familiarity of cousins. Some life stories, some family news, plans for the next year, adventures taken, all shared in a kitchen, or over food. There was an adult table and a kid table, and though it shouldn't have surprised me, it was strange to sit down with my cousins and know WE were the adults. But a long history of shared times immediately filled the gap of a half dozen years apart.

And then, there was the water balloon fight. I wasn't sure it was going to be warm enough, but a half hour or so of playing catcher for three boys batting a foam ball warmed me up enough. I was also reminded that I am not particularly blessed with a throwing arm.

I was, of course, the novel target. One can hit one's dad, aunt, uncle or siblings with a squirt gun or water balloon anytime. Cousin Abigail? Not so much. I did put two parameters in place--no balloons directly in my face, please, and when I had the camera, I had technological device immunity. But I certainly ended up drenched and, despite eventually being armed only with a watering can, I managed to inflict my share of sogginess. The boys complained it wasn't fair, me with a watering can, I argued that I only had arms reach to dump water on them, while they were planning distract and conquer tactics and lobbying balloons at me from some yards away. They play baseball and there was some decent pitching going on, trust me.

Arguing over the hose---note the child in the background who is ENTIRELY off the ground. Apparently S is capable of hovering and no one warned me about that trait in the extended family.

A mad dash after catching his aunt with a squirt gun.

Getting the adults with the hose.

A pair of soaked cousins. Trust me, I'd just wrung out my shirt.

Book Review: Sworn to Silence by Linda Castillo

noreply@blogger.com (HL) — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 20:22:00 +0000

Sworn to Silence
Linda Castillo

Disclosure: I received a free copy of this book as part of the LibraryThing Early Reviewers Program. Early Reviewers get copies of books from publishers in exchange for reading and providing an honest review on LibraryThing.

Castillo presents a thriller mystery when a serial killer re-appears after an absence of sixteen years to start murdering young women in a small town with a large Amish community.

Kate Burkholder has returned to her childhood hometown as the chief of police, bringing a history of growing up Amish and larger city police experience. When a serial killer returns and begins to escalate after an absence of sixteen years, Burkholder is caught between attempting to do her job and trying to deal with her own past. For, we learn, she believes she killed the Slaughterhouse Killer as a young woman, an act that caused her to leave the Amish community and become an outsider to her immediate family. Now, with a burnt out former rogue state officer sent to help out, she has to juggle local politicians, other law enforcement departments, and the unknown of whether the killer is back or if she has a new problem to deal with.

Castillo does an admirable job of setting up a town with believable politics, history and personality. I particularly liked the night dispatcher, whose obsession with current crime scene television shows is treated with a gentle humor and teasing of readers who are similarly interested. Her scenic descriptions are distinct enough to give a clear image, though she makes the ones involving the victims sparse enough to keep the stomach from churning. She provides interesting insight into the Amish community and their behavior towards Kate, showing believe instances where love for family takes precendence over cultural rules.

Tomasetti, the rogue cop in state agency sent to help, was stereotypical--rugged, good looking, has a tragic background. They never send the happily married average looking guy. And of course there was the seeming obligatory romantic angle. I was a little disappointed that two people had to fall into bed together. Yes, traumatic situation and all sparking romance and celebration of life, but it didn't add anything for me.

Overall, it was well done. I probably should have figured out the killer a little earlier, but I didn't mind that I hadn't. And it was nice to see more realistic time lines (something will take 2-3 days to get, etc). Thrillers aren't a genre I read often, but I recommend Sworn to Silence for someone who likes to watch Bones, CSI, Criminal, etc.

And it's apparently going to be part of a series, about which I feel ambivalent.

Cross posted to my account on LibraryThing.

Book Review: Forest of Hands and Teeth

noreply@blogger.com (HL) — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 01:04:00 +0000

The Forest of Hands and Teeth
Carrie Ryan

It will come as no surprise that this is a zombie book. And it put me in mind, a bit, of M. Night Shyamalan's "The Village."

Small enclosed town, threat of the Unconsecrated in the forest, and a girl who dreams of freedom. A girl has three options upon coming of age: get married, stay with your family, or join the mysterious "Sisterhood" who are the governing force. Mary, orphaned and rejected by her older brother, is caught between marrying a best friend she doesn't love, suffering from unrequited love of her best friend's little brother, and not wanting to believe in God or the Sisterhood.

Yawn.

When the zombies, sorry, Unconsecrated attack, Mary, her betrothed, her brother and his wife, and her love interest and HIS betrothed and a child retreat into a path that takes them out of the village. Only, they seem to have never learned of Roman numerals and the paths lead them mostly to death and dead ends.

I couldn't empathize with Mary as she waffled between the boy she was betrothed to (who was in love with her but also her best friend) and the boy she "loved" (though he was also waffling between the two girls). The history of the Sisterhood and the development of the village was never explained, and by the end I just didn't care.

The ending sets up, of course, for a sequel, but I think I'll pass.

Half-Way Reminder

noreply@blogger.com (HL) — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 20:31:00 +0000

We're halfway through the time for the LFPL Malabrigo Giveaway! A reminder that if you've donated to LFPL, please send me an email to be entered either for Malabrigo Yarn or me making you something out of Malabrigo. I will also suggest that you probably have someone in your family who would REALLY enjoy getting something handmade and woolly as a holiday gift. Details here.

Steve Lawson posted on Thursday that he's nearly to the $3000 of his $5000 goal! Hooray! They've updated their losses to nearly five million dollars and while insurance will hopefully be taking care of a lot of that, we all know that insurance will probably take a while and may not cover everything.

And in the interim over the weekend, I expect to be surrounded by 2 first cousins, 2 cousin-in-laws, and 5 1st cousins once removed having a water balloon fight. Pictures to follow, water balloon fight and weather permitting.