I got in last night around 11:00 and Rob came out to the airport to greet me. I have missed him terribly. Coming home was so strange because the season turned while I was away, a fact particularly emphasized by spending the last week in snowy Grand Haven. Here cherry trees are in bloom and the apple trees in our courtyard show signs of following suit. There are daffodils by the path up to the apartment.

In the apartment itself, Rob had two beakers of irises waiting for me. These are the flowers that we had at our wedding so very sweet. The cats were indifferent and needy in the way that only cats can pull off. Rob had also baked some of his famous chocolate tart cherry bran muffins. So tasty. And what had he baked them in?

This.

I’m just updating my events and this will have more details later. I’ll be at Readercon this year.

Rob’s parents live in Hawaii, but in Aiea, which is way up on a ridge so I’m not actually worried about their house. And yet…it’s hard not to be fixed on the news.

State officials in Hawaii have activated their emergency response plans to prepare for a possible tsunami caused by the massive earthquake in Chile, an official said Saturday.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center issued a tsunami warning — its highest alert — for Hawaii, where incoming waves topping out at six feet could cause damage along the coastlines across the island chain. A warning was also in effect for Guam, American Samoa and dozens of other Pacific islands.

The first waves were expected to arrive in Hawaii at 11:19 a.m. Saturday (4:19 p.m. EST).

What is amazing is how much warning they have now that the wave is coming.  I just hope that people are paying attention and there aren’t too many stupid people who decide to go to the beach to watch.

via Hawaii under tsunami warning, emergency response plans underway – washingtonpost.com.

I’m sitting in the airport in Grand Rapids, Michigan waiting for my flight home. I’ve been on the road for a month and last night Rob said the sweetest words to me. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

I’ve been gone longer than this before, but we usually know that I’ll be gone for months and you can prep for that, emotionally. This time, we thought it would be a week and a half. We do manage to talk almost every night, but a month is still a long time.

So the fact that I will see Rob, tonight, makes me a very, very happy girl.

I’m at Brilliance Audio again, recording and had two funny slips of tongue that I thought I’d share. When reading aloud, you have to scan ahead a little to see where the sentence was going in order to know how to inflect it and what word to say next. Sometimes, my brain will grab a word from the next line and move it up.

For instance, today the like was “a member of a lofty family,” but I said, “a family of a lofty member.”

Ahem

The other one was a Spoonerism that I committed not once, but twice, “his naze garrowed.”

I think I should probably acknowledge that while SFWA hasn’t had any significant impact on my writing life, it does cut into the blogging pretty severely. Not that I don’t have time so much as that I don’t have the inclination as much.

Some of it also is that I feel like my life is not terribly interesting at the moment. For instance today, I spent in a coffee shop doing some writing and some Nebula stuff. Granted, I’m in Nashville visiting family but there’s not much to say about that besides the fact that I’m here. I like my family and we get along so there’s no drama to report.

In other news, Mom is doing really well. She drove yesterday and has permission to not wear the leg brace all the time.

Tomorrow I head to Grand Rapids to record more audio fiction. That will be fun.

Are you a SFWA active or associate member? You have cast your ballot for the Nebula Nomination Period, haven’t you? I mean, today is the last day.

The biggest reason I hear from people who haven’t is that they just haven’t read much this year. I understand that. But here’s the thing, if you read anything that you really liked this year you should put that on your ballot. Maybe it won’t make the final ballot but maybe your nod will be the one vote needed to push it into the running. And if you’re the only one who votes for it? It will make that author’s day just to have the story listed on the tally.

So, participate. Please?

Online Ballot: http://www.sfwa.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=52&t=626

You must cast your nomination ballot by tonight, Feburary 15th, 23:59 PST.

To login, you’ll need Your Name, with spaces, as it appears in the SFWA Directory.

If you need your password you may reset it here:
http://www.sfwa.org/forum/ucp.php?mode=sendpassword

If you have any questions or need additional help please let me know. And if you have already participated, thank you. Now please, guilt one other person into doing it too.

It is snowing in Chattanooga!

When I was growing up, it seemed like it snowed every day on my birthday or on the day of my birthday party.  That hasn’t happened in years.  This year it snowed for about three minutes on the 8th, just enough for me to feel like it was a real birthday.

Today, it’s really coming down.  Now, mind you, if I were in Iceland people would laugh at me for calling this snow. Still, this is what Woodthrush Woods looks like in the snow. If you click through there are some other snow pictures plus some non-snow pictures.

From Woodthrush Woods

From Grandma’s 104th Birthday

One of the side benefits to Mom’s disagreement with gravity is that it means I get to be in Tennessee for all of these birthdays. If you haven’t met her, allow me to assure you that my mom is fantastic. If you have met her, then you know exactly what I mean.

She’s an arts administrator and has always made sure that our lives were filled with all of the arts. The fact that I’m a writer and a puppeteer is directly attributable to the fact that Mom and Dad saw nothing odd about a career in the arts.

I hope your birthday is a happy one!

I made one of those random dinners that I made up with what was in the pantry. It was tasty enough that we all wished it was a recipe and repeatable. Here is what I think I made.

3 tablespoons olive oil
1 small shallot, sliced
1 can artichoke hearts, quartered
3 oz. mushrooms sliced
3/4 bottle of leftover cheap white wine
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons Italian seasoning
6 oz. fontina cheese, grated
1/4 cup heavy cream or milk
1/2 lb. macaroni

Boil macaroni until al dente

Heat olive oil over medium flame. Saute shallots and mushrooms until soft, about five minutes. Add artichoke hearts, white wine, balsamic and Italian seasoning and turn heat to medium high. Reduce until only 1/4 of the liquid remains, or about as long as it takes to boil the macaroni. Reduce heat to low.

When the pasta is done, add it to the artichoke reduction with the 3/4 of the grated cheese and the cream. Stir together. Sprinkle remaining cheese on top. Finish under broiler until the cheese is melted and browned.

With less than a week from the release of my pal David B. Coe’s newest book, The Dark-Eyes’ War, the third and final installment in his Blood of the Southlands trilogy, he’s having a contest.  If you like swash-buckling fantasy with hair-pin plot turns, you’ll like David’s work.  The Dark-Eyes’ War will be released by Tor Books as a hardcover original next Tuesday, February 16th.

I have a contest up on my website right now, and the winner gets a free signed hardcover copy of the new book. All you have to do is go to my site, follow the link to the sample chapters of the book, and, after reading them, answer the contest question. That’s all there is to it. So give it a try. And next week I’ll be posting more about the new release.

via An Exchange of Words: David B. Coe’s Weblog – Win a Signed Book!.

I love Beaker… Poor guy.

I know a lot of people refuse to admit their age, which has always struck me as a little silly since surviving another year is a good thing. Of course, the fact that Grandma is 105 and still sharp does tend to skew my perception of what “old” means.

You know, I’m still a decade away from middle age given my family.

All in all, 40 was a really fantastic year on the fiction front. Sold 2 novels, 10 short stories, made the Hugo ballot, and my 1st short story collection came out. I’ve been doing less puppetry over the past year, which gives me an identity crisis but nothing world-shaking.

In personal life, Rob and I moved back to Portland and it’s a lifestyle that suits us better than NYC. I miss my friends back there and, strangely, the subway, but I like getting enough sleep.

I look forward to seeing what 41 brings. It’s starting off well. Mom and Dad sang to me first thing this morning and I get to spend the evening with Grandma.

I spent the day at Grandma’s for her 105th birthday party. It was a lot of fun seeing all the relatives and catching up with folks. Grandma was in good spirits and excited to see everyone. Here she is with her birthday cake.

As we were getting ready to go, Mom was getting out of her chair, which is a little slow since she’s got a brace on her leg. Grandma looks at the effort it’s taking and with just a hint of a smile says, “Do you need to borrow my walker?”

I love my Grandma.

I had a completely stress-free travel day and arrived in Chattanooga this afternoon. Mom is in really good shape and it is quite clear that the hard part of her healing process will be convincing her that it is okay to sit down and relax.