Wednesday, February 3, 2010

A Favorite Valentine's Day Love Poem


For Valentine's Day here's another of Ana's favorite love poems. Being from another planet, after all, she had trouble at first with our verses that don't rhyme, but she's finally decided she simply likes the parade of images and ideas in many of our poems. She thought this early morning love poem was especially close to her own feelings and experience: Being in Love, by Chungmi Kim*.

Happy Valentine's day to Ana and to all!

*Oops! The page died! See the workaround. It works!

There are lots more of Ana's favorite poems in the right column, under the photo of the LOVE sculpture, including:





A love poem on carpentry that makes Ana think of her husband,




Sunday, January 31, 2010

Even More Kitties!



Here's a brand-new baby serval kitten only five weeks old and another kitty of an entirely different sort. We won't identify this larger one, but readers of Distant Cousin: Regeneration will know who she is. Thanks again to Julie's Jungle!

MORE cats in the right column, under the blue-eyed kitty!

Friday, January 29, 2010

More Photos from the West Indies




Here are several more photos from Barbados, a lovely, lovely island of friendly people. Barbados is a venue in both Distant Cousin and Distant Cousin: Reincarnation.

Thursday, January 28, 2010

More Venue Photos: The West Indies






Here are some more location shots from Distant Cousin (volume 1). (See the table of contents to the right for more.) The first is of the centuries-old inner harbour [sic] of the spice island of Grenada. The fort mentioned in the story is at the end of the peninsula to the left. The other pictures are from Barbados, the easternmost island in the West Indies. That's all we'll say here--no spoilers! Best appreciated after one has read the story....

Monday, January 25, 2010

Answers to the Great Ana Darcy Shoe Quiz


Here's what we can provide by way of answers to the shoe quiz.

First, full disclosure: #2 is the shoe of your humble editor (with his cat Bob, may he rest in peace, who loves a good shoe). People who make tests call that sort of item a "distractor."

Now, for the other shoes. Those who know Ana from her series will know that she is highly conscious of her safety. She's always ready to move quickly, and generally wears shoes which will allow that to happen. (She said in Volume 1 that one should never have more with them than one could carry a half mile at a dead run.) In addition, perhaps from having been raised in a less materialistic society, her fashion taste is not like ours. It runs to the simple and unadorned, to basic colors (which are unobtrusive), and to practical, comfortable, and non-showy items. But there are occasional exceptions.

Shoes 1, 4, and 10 are shoes that she has never worn and would not wear. She has worn all the others (except for 2).

The others are all "sensible" shoes in her eyes with a couple of exceptions. Shoes 7 are the ones she wears on the cover of Distant Cousin: Regeneration. Shoes 9 (and the shoes above) she's worn to summer parties at friends' houses. Shoes 13 she wore to a fancy reception for members of the G-9 Conference in Milan (also in Distant Cousin: Regeneration). Shoes 15 are the dearly beloved scuffs she bought in a used clothing store on the way to New Mexico with Matt (Distant Cousin). She wore them at the family gathering in Distant Cousin: Regeneration, but as far as I know they finally wore out. Shoes 14 are her newest, I think (my information is incomplete), but they are high-tech, comfortable, wearable in many different situations, and of course, she could run like the dickens in them if she had to.

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

The Great Ana Darcy Shoe Quiz!
















Would you like to see how well you know Ana Darcy Mendez? See if you
 can tell which of these shoes she would NEVER wear.


(Answers here.)

Monday, January 18, 2010

Pizza Brainstorm #1 of 3: Smoked Moz & Roasted Tomatoes


A more or less standard pizza, except for the fresh-made dough, the fresh, smoked mozarella, the fire-roasted (canned) tomatoes, and the half-vegetarian/half Italian sausage & pepperoni design. Garlic and green peppers on both sides, of course. Extraordinary!

Brainstorm #2. Brainstorm #3.