Tag: photos

Visit from a friend 

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Pleasant break from routine this week — my friend Bonnie’s in town for a few days. I haven’t seen her since Boskone last year, although we do chat online more days than not. (Apologies for the blurry photo.)

Bonnie

One of the things we did was to finish up a jigsaw puzzle. (Yes, it’s the same image as the journal I posted about. When my daughter and I saw it at the store, she said I had to get it.)

completed jigsaw puzzle

Still did practical things, though — finished copyediting a civil engineering article, did some work on the (soon to be unveiled) Nebula websites, mailed off all the tax returns (including business tax returns that aren’t due until beginning of May), and took my daughter to her Girl Scouts meeting.

Lots to be grateful for here, from Bonnie’s visit to taxes done. What are you grateful for this week?

Life with kids

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Liquid nitrogen and burning ships, that’s life with my kids.
Friday, I helped chaperone a field trip to the local science museum (DaVinci Science Center) for my daughter’s class. She found the demonstration of adding liquid nitrogen to boiling water fascinating. (Sadly, I didn’t get any pictures of the resulting cloud.) She and her friends also made slime, experimented with levers, played in a submarine, crawled through a dark tunnel, and learned all sorts of cool and gross facts about animals. I mostly got tired legs, but it was great to see the excitement on their faces. (Of course, my daughter didn’t want to leave at the end of the day.

Then a few times over the weekend (and again tonight), I played a co-op board game with my son. Dead Men Tell No Tales is a very fun game that we haven’t managed to win yet. Our current working hypothesis is that three is the optimal number of players: one each to deal with deckhands, fire, and treasure, but not so many that half the trapdoors are out before anyone even gets a second turn. It sounds complicated, and it is, a little, but it’s a fun challenge where we keep thinking that just a slight modification of our tactics will produce the desired result.

end of a game

So today, I’m grateful for time with my kids. What are you grateful for today?

April, no foolin’

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The magnolias are blooming right now. There are some huge ones — towering over the houses they’re planted next to. I wish my mom could come visit to see, as they’re so much bigger than the one we had in Golden Valley. I took some pictures of the ones near the downtown library last week. Aren’t they lovely? Continue reading

Bleary days

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Had a terrific weekend with the Parade of Shamrocks on Saturday and gaming with friends on Sunday. However, getting up this morning wasn’t the easiest thing between the dark and the rain. I know, I know, I’m far from the only person to observe the difficulty in getting up today.

But I have online friends in chat, in forums, on social media, on blogs — and all of you make it worth it. Thank you!

hellebore

Marching forward

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It’s a gorgeous spring day with croci blooming!

So much to be grateful for today — warm weather, flowers, walking, a wonderful city library, prompt payment by clients!
yellow crocus blooming in leaves from last fall

Life is good here, and I am grateful for all I have. What are you grateful for this week?

Progress already

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Today’s gratitude is easy to point to: I had an appointment for my annual exam, scheduled months ago, and I discovered that in the past 2 weeks, I have dropped 4 pounds, and my systolic (although still high) has dropped 8 points. Which means I’m on the right track, and — who’d’a thunk it? — eating healthy food and exercising really does make a difference.

Also, I am grateful for Sam, who sleeps with dragons (or anything else soft he can get his nose on).

Sleeps With Dragons

What are you grateful for today?

Another long weekend

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At least this weekend was planned — the school district always does a four-day weekend for Presidents’ Day (unless they’re trying to make up for missed snow days). Usually, I like to spend this long weekend in Boston at Boskone, but this year, the convention is scheduled for next weekend, so that’s a non-starter.

Currently, we have snow falling and it’s so cold outside that even the salt on the roads isn’t melting it. This is due to change within the next twelve hours, however, and the snow should be rain by morning — which means the kids will not have a delay. Yay!

Honestly, though, they’ve been pretty good about letting me work. My son was designing something in Minecraft that he wanted me to look at, and my daughter wants someone to play with her on the couch, but I got done what I needed to do for the day. Can’t complain about that. In fact, since I did get done what I was aiming for, I think I will go play with the girl for a bit.

Before the snow fell, however, most of the ground was bare, and the starling flock that migrates through (both fall and spring) was visiting our front yard. I got a few pictures, including one lovely shot of them on the wing. Enjoy!
starlings in flight

Cool times and self-promo

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So it’s award nomination season (specifically: Hugo nominations opened this week, with PINs for members being sent out in batches), which means lots of people are talking about what they’ve done that’s eligible. Now, I only had two short stories that came out last year, so this is easily done. If you’re looking for more short stories to read, check out “Blood and Gold” in The Mammoth Book of Dieselpunk and “Adapt or Die” in Aphrodite Terra. Even if you don’t decide to nominate my work, there are many other stories in both that you’ll likely enjoy. Continue reading

Icy beauty, warm home, loving family, good friends

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What with the snow, the family was home today. I stayed inside and worked on a short story with occasional breaks to take pictures of icicles outside our kitchen window (they fell partway through the afternoon), while my family went in and out, working on clearing the driveway of snow — with several well-earned breaks along the way. Then in the afternoon, friends came over and we had a good time playing various games, eating, talking, and laughing. Continue reading