You can read the full review of Apex Digest #9 at the Whispers of Wickedness website. Here’s what they say about my story.

“Locked In” by Mary Robinette Kowal is a good short story. I like the premise and the flow of the story a lot, but for me the ending was a little weak. I think the last couple of sentences could have been changed to give the climax more impact, but it’s still a strong story.

We had fun. I am tired. Picture and details later.

The article that I modeled for is out today. David Chelsea does the art for the Modern Love column at the NY Times and asked me to pose for this. It’s not my face; he morphed me with the author of the article.

How My Plumber Turned Water Into Wine – New York Times

I CLIMBED the steps to my apartment that night, buzzed on old Italian wine and the kind of emotional spark I hadn’t felt with a man in way too long. Musing over whether I had the nerve to jump back into the romantic world again, I stepped into the bathroom to discover, courtesy of my bare feet, that my hand-knotted Persian rug was soaked.

Rob and I are joining a bunch of his wine industry friends at the beach this weekend. Yes. We’re riding out on the motorcycle. I feel like such a biker chick.

Puppet Buzz linked to this amazing footage, with the the top brass at the Muppets talking about some of the philosophies behind their aesthetic. What’s really amazing, is that Jim Henson is working Kermit in full view.

Why stop for research, when all I need is to throw in some brackets to remind myself to come back to the spot in the story? Here, I don’t actually need to understand astronomy, since my POV character doesn’t, but I do need some jargon for my young over-excited astronomy student to toss around as he’s leading his love interest on a tour of the observatory. The line I’ve got in there now gives me the giggles.

Within the vast stone walls of the observatory, the air stayed chill and dry. The touch of the cool breeze alleviated Pimi’s wooziness somewhat, but she still gripped the iron railing as if the room spun around them, rather than the stairs following the curve of the observatory’s wall. Above her, Duurir chattered happily about lenses and refractions.

She plucked at the ribbons binding her waist, wishing for one of the food stalls that stood on every corner in town. Her mother would not hear of her visiting Duurir’s observatory with an even slightly belled crop.

As if thinking his name had invoked his attention, Duurir spun on the steps, “[Here I say something about telescopes that Pimi doesn't understand!]”

Pimi blinked, hoping that her dazed expression appeared to be awe and not the confusion she felt.

To refresh your memory, while we were in Iceland, Rob bought a motorcycle. Through the vagaries of customs, the thing didn’t actually clear said customs until about four months after we left the country. Lovely. So Rob has a motorcycle in Iceland which we’ve never seen. He’s also been shopping for motorcycle gear, so we’re both outfitted with jackets, helmets, gloves and so forth. All for a bike that is on the other side of the world.

He’s begun covertly shopping for one here too, because of course, the urge is not out of his system. I mean, how could it be, since he’s never touched the one that he owns. It’s as if it doesn’t really exist.

After looking around, he found a place that rents them here in Portland. We’ve been invited down to the beach with some friends for the weekend, so it seemed like a perfect time to try it out.

I have never been on a motorcycle. The thought has terrified me, while I’ve been encouraging him to pursue the thing. So, when he brought the rental bike home today, I put on my leather jacket and my boots, pulled the helmet on and got on the motorcycle behind him.

You know what? It wasn’t so bad. Dare I say, it was actually sort of fun? I think I’ve spent enough time on bicycles, so I understand what the balance of two-wheeled vehicles is like. I had been expecting to freak out when we had to lean into a turn. Nope. I’m also crediting riding horses in Iceland with helping me get past the fear of being on large moving things over which I have little control.

We’re going back out and heading for Sauvie’s Island now. I gotta say, there are worse ways to spend a sunny day than sitting on a motorcycle, hugging one’s husband.

I just got off the phone with the fellow we’re house-swapping with. Mr. B– says that he’s been given formal approval for the houseswap. He’s still waiting on the written permission, but he got a call from the property manager giving the verbal okay. I’m stunned. I have honestly begun thinking that the whole thing was going to fall through.

I love the books in His Dark Materials, so when this started going around, I got totally sucked in. And may I say, as a marketing ploy, this is great because it makes the movie look darn good.

My friend Jodi is in town for his sister’s graduation. We only got to hang out about an hour today since he was on his way to see a show. Today was Last Thursday on Alberta St., so we walked and looked at the funky art. I swear, there was a group of musicians on every street corner. Two groups were doing bluegrass even–Dad, don’t ask me what they were playing because I didn’t recognize the tune.

On the way back, we ran into some friends of ours who didn’t know Jodi was in town. It was fun and too brief. He’s stopping by tomorrow to drop off some stuff for us to haul to NYC with us. That should be a briefer and less fun visit, since it will involve hefting boxes. Apparently one of them contains an accordion.

Apparently, the illustration I posed for is not going in the NY Times this weekend. What’s more, I’m not allowed to show you the version that’s been cut. It was too suggestive, apparently, although I’m not sure if that’s a quote or a paraphrase.

Evocative combination of live actor and animation.

I spotted this on Jay Lake’s blog

This fellow came by today to look at removing the linoleum from the rooms on our second floor. It’s one of those things that I’ve been wanting to have done since day one of owning this house. The guy we are doing the house swap with has offered to refinish the floors, so we’re doing the demolition end of it.

Anyway, while the floor fellow was here, I was saying that I didn’t think it was glued down very well, but that I would check and peel some up to see what it was like, since that would affect the price. Um… so I did the whole room. I guess we won’t be hiring him after all, assuming, of course, that the other rooms were as easy to pull up as this one.

The wood underneath is in really good shape, although will definitely need to be refinished to get the glue remnants off. There are still a couple of small places where the linoleum stuck, but even those come up fairly easily. I should finish the last of that room tomorrow.

So… I’m looking at the page about importing pets to Iceland, and it also contains “instructions for importation of deep-frozen dog semen to Iceland.”

But besides that bit of oddness, it turns out the rules have changed since I last looked. It is now four weeks of isolation, instead of six, and they have a facility in Reykjavik. When we looked into it before, the only facility was on an island in a fjörd in northern Iceland. This seems doable.

I’m sure you are wondering if this means we are moving to Iceland instead of NYC. Nothing has changed, we’re just looking at all our options.

That’s right folks, I just got back from a modeling session for the NY Times. Yep. Me, in a silk nightie on a sofa with a glass of wine. And a plunger affixed to my bosom. Look for me in next week’s paper.

Or rather look for the illustration that my talented friend, David Chelsea, is doing for the Modern Love column next week. A column that I, otherwise, have absolutely nothing to do with. David needed a model for his illustration and I live close to them. Also, I can balance a plunger on my bosom.

I promise that the plunger will make sense when you read the article.

My total payment? A glass of wine and a jar of pickles. Yes, I’m making the big bucks now. Seriously, his wife, -e-, makes really good homemade pickles. I’ll post a link to the article when it’s online so you can see the illustration.