Anne's Notes

"Sorry for the Excitement"

2011-06-23T22:59:00.001-10:00

"Sorry for the excitement." That is what the lady who lives mauka (uphill) of us said as a greeting to me, then to Dad.

Their dog had chased one of their piglets under our house. One of the boys crawled under, and chased their piglet out. Their dog chased their piglet back under the house. The boy chased their piglet back out. Then their dog chased their piglet under the makai (seaward) neighbor's large bush/small tree. The dog kept trying to chase the piglet as the woman tried to catch the piglet. The boy came out, and tried to hold the dog. The boy didn't succeed, nor did the dog, but the woman did manage to grab the piglet after a few tries. The piglet squealed VERY LOUDLY! It stopped after a bit... I guess it didn't mind being held; it just didn't like being picked up. When the woman was sure she had a good grip, she started back mauka to return the piglet. She muttered about getting rid of the pig.

Actually, I kind of hope she does. That pig a rather spoiled pet, and a very large one. She was a nuisance even before she had piglets. (We think a wild boar from the swamp across the street is the father; certainly the humans didn't arrange to have piglets. Or puppies. Or kittens. Their pig, dog, and cats made the arrangements all by themselves this year. All of them. {Amused Smile}

Anne Elizabeth Baldwin

Computer Update {Smile}

2011-05-21T11:42:00.001-10:00

I'm relieved to report that my new computer is officially handling email a lot better now. Kind of. Mostly. As in not perfectly, but I can live with this. {Relieved Smile}

I had taken the computer into the shop because it wouldn't delete old mail on the server, and I considered the ISP tech's recommendation that I do that myself unsatisfactory. The Computer Store kept it for a week and a half, then sent it home. Norman warned me that a Microsoft tech he'd talked to a few months before had said that deleting email was a "known issue," meaning they knew there was a problem, and they hadn't fixed it yet. So Norman fiddled with the settings. I'd had it set to delete email if I deleted it on my computer (spam), or if it was over a certain age. Suspecting the problem might be an "and" where an "or" was really wanted, he told it to stop deleting email because I'd deleted it as spam. Last weekend, the quantity of old email went way down at my provider's. I think a particularly large chunk of email suddenly got old enough to delete.

{sigh of relief} So it's working. Mostly. I still have to go in and delete the spam if I want to get rid of it quickly. However, my computer is deleting old-enough email on its own. I can live with this. {Sigh of Relief, worn but relieved smile}

So this week I've been getting back into the blogs I like to read, and trying to catch up with them. I’m also thinking about what else I want to get back into. I had been sticking almost purely to Facebook games because I feel better about dropping them without warning if my computer has to go into the shop. Since it shouldn't now, I can use my computer to communicate with friends and family members the way I like to, including making posts and commenting on others' posts here. {Relieved SMILE}

Anne Elizabeth Baldwin

The tsunami

2011-03-11T12:26:00.000-10:00

There are advantages to living at 800 feet elevation. When most tsunamis hit, we're well out of the inundation zone. That includes all earthquake-generated tsunamis, like the one from Japan. My town of Hilo got five-foot waves. so the damage should be limited to coastal areas. Hopefully, we'll even be able to get groceries later today, since we're running low on milk. I figure if that's our biggest concern, we're very blessed indeed today. {SMILE}

Although there is one other problem. My computer is in the shop, so I don't have access to my current friends-and-family email lists. I have a backup, but Dad's computer can't read the disk. I'll have to figure out something.... {rueful smile}

Anne Elizabeth Baldwin

My birthday

2011-01-28T17:03:00.003-10:00

On Tuesday, we celebrated my birthday. I meant to tell about it earlier, but somehow it's Friday already. {apologetic smile}

My birthday was very nice, in a quiet sort of way. I like quiet celebrations, so that's good. {Smile}

Breakfast was French Toast with Portuguese sweet bread. Portuguese sweet bread really is bread that tastes sweet, unlike the other "sweet bread" which is no such thing. {Smile}

I opened presents before dinner, with my parents popping in and out to see what I got and get other things done, too. It was their choice. {Smile}

Dinner was chicken piccatta. In our house, that's also called "chicken katsu with caper sauce." You could also replace the veal in vienner schnitzel with chicken, and add a caper sauce. Elsewhere, bread the chicken, fry it, add a caper sauce, and translate. {Smile}

Dessert was chocolate cake with chocolate frosting. Of course. I love chocolate too much not to choose that! {REALLY BIG GRIN, wink}

Anne Elizabeth Baldwin

Mattress update

2010-12-31T22:19:00.000-10:00

First, if I sound tired, I've come down with a cold. That's not the only reason for me to be tired, but it makes everything worse. {lop-sided smile}

{bite lips}

Okay, the mattress arrived early Wednesday afternoon, just as I'd hoped. Once it was on my bed, we quickly realized we had a problem that hadn't even occurred to me in the store.

My bed is a raised mate's bed, with several drawers underneath. The slats that my old mattress rested on are a little higher than most chair seats, tho not as high as a kitchen stool. The old mattress was probably 8 inches thick, so it was noticeably high, but not a problem to get on and off. {bite lips}

On Wednesday we put a two inch bed board on top of the slats, because the new mattress is foam, and foam mattresses aren't supposed to rest on slats like the old innerspring mattress did. Then we put the mattress on top of that, adding another foot. (Yes, my new mattress is fully a foot thick. As Dad says, it shouldn't bottom out on me.)

Now I am just under 5 feet, 2 inches high. The bed, bed board, and mattress came to about an inch below my waist. With my severe permanent vertigo/ terrible sense of balance, I have trouble with stairs, so I can't just use a step stool. I had to climb onto it from the floor. I found I could do this. I did so twice that afternoon, and four more times that night. I also managed to strain my back somewhere in there, almost certainly while climbing onto the mattress. {wry smile}

So... crisis. Dad came up with a plan even before I strained my back. He went to the hardware store Thursday, and bought some one by twelves. I took the mattress off, and helped Dad remove the bed board. Then he took out the slats, and put in the one by twelves, making a solid layer. He ended up adding a couple of the slats, because they filled the excess so neatly. I am very relieved that he did this in one day. I suspect he'd normally take two days to do a project this big, but he knew I needed a bed to sleep on that I could get onto. {smile}

Now we didn't need the bed board. All three of us put the mattress back, directly on the new platform. It is now on the high side of hip height to me. It's still not easy to climb onto, but it's no where near as hard as before. I didn't bother to count how many times I got on and off it last night, and I didn't strain my back again, or this morning, when I attempted to nap. (The cold messed up the nap, not the mattress.) {smile}

{bite lips} It's still not good, but it's doable for now. Dad has another idea for the future, involving building a small ramp to give me a little more height without stairs. But he doesn't have to do it today; he just has to do it before my balance goes out. I think I'll need that ramp most when I'm on two canes. Since my balance is relatively good, I can manage until he gets around to it. {Smile}

Anne Elizabeth Baldwin

New Mattress?

2010-12-28T22:15:00.000-10:00

Tomorrow, my new mattress is supposed to be delivered in the afternoon. That's sooner than I expected, but it's not a moment too soon! {Hopeful Smile}

I'm SO looking forward to sleeping on something comfortable again! {REALLY BIG GRIN}

Anne Elizabeth Baldwin

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-25T23:01:00.000-10:00

Merry Christmas! {REALLY BIG GRIN}

Ours has been good, in a mostly quiet way. The biggest excitement was when a relative called. As far as I'm concerned, that's a very good Christmas. {BIG SMILE, REALLY BIG GRIN}

Anne Elizabeth Baldwin

{sigh of relief}

2010-11-30T19:05:00.000-10:00

Hilo has a bookstore again. It's called "Books, Nooks, and Crannies." If you know the town, it's right above Koehnin's Interiors, facing Waianuenue.

Mom and I investigated it on Sunday. It isn't big, and it doesn't separate science fiction and fantasy from the rest of fiction. It carries a mostly non-specialized selection of fiction and non-fiction. I particularly liked the selection of books in the Independent Readers (Juvenile) and Young Adult sections. It serves coffee if you're interested (I'm not). It has a few chairs and a love seat to sit and read in. The love seat was quite comfortable; Mom and I took advantage of it when we done checking out the store. Mom sat there after she bought what she'd found. I sat next to her while I looked over four potentially interesting books; Masques by Patricia Briggs was the only one that actually came home with me. {Smile}

Mom overheard some lady asking about a book she'd ordered. So next, I want to take Dad and check out their book-ordering capabilities with a few of the books I found for Mom-gifts while poking around online. {Smile}

This is just such a relief. Part of me feels that this isn't much of a bookstore. It's small, and so are the fiction sections; so small, they're only differentiated by age. Still, it's still a general bookstore. It's got enough interesting books, going in to browse doesn't seem ridiculous. That makes such a difference, I feel more like myself than I have in months. {relived smile}

Anne Elizabeth Baldwin

Happy Thanksgiving! {Smile}

2010-11-25T18:15:00.000-10:00

I hope everyone who celebrates it has a Happy Thanksgiving. {SMILE}

And I hope everyone has a nice day. {BIG SMILE}

Anne Elizabeth Baldwin

Finding books

2010-08-29T11:44:00.000-10:00

I'm sorry I fell silent again. Early July, I found out that the local borders was closing as quickly as they could empty out their store. {pause} They closed on the 21st of this month. They're THE big bookstore in town - the only one to have a science fiction and fantasy section. So I've been rather upset. {half-smile}

I've also been looking into options. The local options are poor for assorted reasons, from too small to too unweildy. (The public library is big, but they aren't set up to help readers find fantasy. {small smile})

That leaves on-line options. I've been using on-line sorces to fill some of the gaps Borders misses, but now I need to cover things a lot more thoroughly. So far it looks rather confusing. If anyone has suggestions, I'd love to hear them. {Hopeful Smile}

Anne Elizabeth Baldwin

Thoughts on trying to get published

2010-06-08T22:14:00.000-10:00

A fair while back, my friend, Tia Nevitt, wrote some suggestions for trying to get published. The suggestions were variations on "write what is popular/will be popular." In other words, try to be part of a short-term or longer-term fad. {pause}

On one hand, it sounds good, as long as you can finish writing, polishing, and shopping around the story before the fad is past. {bite lips} That's the trick: getting it into shape and sold while the subject is still popular now, and hasn't fallen out of popularity. {bite lips}

That's why neither of my two major mentors liked writing for popularity. Both Vivian L. Thompson (author of many children's picture books and retellings of Hawaiian legends for all ages) and my father, Roger E. Baldwin (author of an introductory genetics text and Hawai'i's Poisonous Plants) taught me that trying to write to popularity is entirely too good a way to end up holding half-finished and half-polished manuscripts about things that used to be popular, but aren't any more. {half-smile}

They also taught me another approach to writing for publication. It's not as glamorous than being part of Today's Big Thing. However, it doesn't leave you stuck with Yesterday's Big Thing either. {Smile}

They both suggested following publishing's "conventional wisdom" until you've become established. The conventional wisdom is the set of rules that "everyone knows" in publishing, book selling and libraries. They're pratically never based on systematically gathered information, or even unscientific polls. They're usually explanations somebody thought of for some pattern of book-choosing they thought they saw. As such, they're very often wrong, sometimes ridiculously so. Even when they do have a point, they often miss something. {half-smile}

I don't know them all; there are a lot, and I'm terrible at memorizing. However, a few I've run into recently include "boys only read books about boys, while girls read books about both boys and girls;" "no one wants to read about handicapped people being handicapped;" "teens don't want to read about old folks in love;" and "Don't kill off a good guy in a kids' book."

When you're first trying to get published, it's best to follow most conventions whether they're right or wrong. Publishers and agents have heard them so often that breaking the conventional rules of publishing will usually make them look at a manuscript, and say "Well, I like it, but..." and rattle off which ever rule you broke. When you're new, you want to avoid that "but." It will make them set aside your manuscript "to think about it." It is possible they'll pick it up again, but they're more likely to reject it than a manscript they like that doesn't make them say "but." {half-smile}

You don't have to follow these rules forever. Once you're established, you can start breaking some of them. But first you have write a few successful stories. I think - and Dad agrees - that means writing at least three. The first story shows you can write a successful story, the second shows that you can do it again, and the third shows that the second wasn't just riding the coat-tails of the first. {lop-sided smile} If one of those
three wasn't as successful as you think the publisher would like, wait
another book or even two before you start breaking the rules. Still,
three, four, or five books isn't forever. Eventually, you can start
breaking rules, because the publisher knows you write books that sell.
Past success trumps these rules most of the time. {Smile}

So that's the method I was taught. I don't think it's actually not incompatible with trying to write something popular. You can do both at the same time or not, as you choose. Myself, I'll follow this. I rather not get stuck with a bunch of stuff that used to be popular. {Smile}

Anne Elizabeth Baldwin

Merrie Monarch Again

2010-04-12T11:44:00.003-10:00

Well, that was a good festival. {SMILE}

The local paper is bragging about their online write-up at http://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com .

The TV was advertising DVD's available at http://www.kamehamehapublishing.org/ . However, at least one close friend and one relative shouldn't be too quick to order from that site. {Smile, wink}

Anne Elizabeth Baldwin

P.S. I had the wrong address for the DVD's. I've now corrected it. {Smile}

A.E.B.

Hula time! {SMILE}

2010-04-09T10:50:00.001-10:00

For those who don't know, the Merrie Monarch Hula festival is a huge hula competition my home town of Hilo hosts every year. Last night - the first night - was Miss Aloha Hula, the young womens' (18-25 years old) competition. Tonight will be Hula Kahiko (old-style hula). Tomorrow will be Hula Auana (new-style hula). A new station is televising it this year. To see the videos, check here: http://www.k5thehometeam.com/ . {SMILE}

Anne Elizabeth Baldwin

Easter {Smile}

2010-04-05T23:26:00.002-10:00

Easter went well, if quietly. We didn't make it to church, because we just weren't feeling up to that and later too. However, we had Paella (particularly fancy Spanish fried rice) with a friend. Then Dad, the friend, and I watch Return of the King on TV. {Smile}

As I said, it was a quiet but nice Easter. {SMILE}

Anne Elizabeth Baldwin

Happy Easter! {Smile}

2010-04-04T16:31:00.000-10:00

Happy Easter to all who celebrate it. {SMILE} And to those who don't, have a nice day anyway. {Smile}

Anne Elizabeth Baldwin

NO tsunami! {SMILE}

2010-02-27T16:54:00.000-10:00

Well, the tsunami warning was called off at 2-something or other. No significant damage was reported by all four mayors (the heads of the four counties). The highest waves were in Kahului, at 3+ feet. Hilo's highest waves were 2+ feet. Apparently that was high enough to make some interesting wave action around Coconut Island and the breakwater here in Hilo. {Smile}

Sorry I didn't write sooner; it's now after four. I was napping when the alert got called off. I got up around 3, and kicked the migraine I got up with shortly before 4. As it finished leaving, I got on the computer to tell you about the waves. So I was as prompt as feasible. {Smile}

Anne Elizabeth Baldwin

Tsunami Warning

2010-02-27T10:34:00.000-10:00

Well, my state is under a tsunami warning. Fortunately, our house is at 800 feet elevation, so we don't have to worry about an earthquake-generated tsunami. Unfortunately, we badly need milk. However, there's a 7-Eleven that's fairly close, and no where near the tsunami evacuation zones. {Smile}

Anne Elizabeth Baldwin

Computer trouble?

2010-02-06T23:07:00.000-10:00

I think my computer keyboard just died. I hope so. I just spent the whole evening trying to a) figure out what was wrong, and B) back up my computer when one file in My Files was entirely too big. {bite lips}

If I disappear for several days, it might have been something more complicated than the keyboard. Wish me luck. {lop-sided smile}

Anne Elizabeth Baldwin

My birthday

2010-01-25T23:41:00.002-10:00

Well, this has been a good birthday. I opened and admired and the presents
this morning. Then this evening we ate and enjoyed chicken piccatta
followed by chocolate cake. Yes, that was a good birthday. {SMILE}

Anne Elizabeth Baldwin

Wow. {Impressed Smile}

2010-01-12T22:58:00.000-10:00

Well, a friend I met thru her blog asked the owners of another blog about handicapped heroines, since they often ask readers to help answer questions not entirely different than this. They took some time getting around to posting it, but when they did their readers really got into suggesting books. {BIG SMILE}

See here: http://www.smartbitchestrashybooks.com/index.php/weblog/comments/gs-vs.-sta-handicapped-heroines/ . When I read it, they had 108 comments, and I don't think they've stopped. A few books come up quite a few times, but still. This should keep me busy for quite a while. {Smile}

Anne Elizabeth Baldwin

Handicapped Heroines who Get a Guy (Version 1.0)

2010-01-02T21:38:00.002-10:00

I've been meaning to post a list "when I get it done." I just realize I may not fully finish for quite a while. Two books are on order, and two more are mentally noted, one of which probably will eliminate itself, but the other shouldn't. {Smile}

I think it's time to stop stalling, and share what I've found so far that I feel fairly certain of. If I don't, this could turn a project all too similar to my Aunt Kitty's family tree. She promises Dad she'll share it "when it's done," but you don't finish family trees. {Smile}

Handicapped Women Who Get a Guy with No Copout

Fictional Woman – Minor Character

Myste is the hero’s love interest in Exile’s Honor and Exile’s Valor by Mercedes Lackey. She’s not a major character, and their relationship isn’t a major plotline. At least it’s there.

Fictional women – Major Characters

Barbara Gordon/Oracle in the TV series Birds of Prey is courted by a male counselor at the school where she teaches by day. The ending wasn’t happy, but that was the villain’s fault, not either Barbara’s or the counselor’s. She’s also in Batman and related comics. She does have two or three romantic interests in the comics, but those romances seem to be on again, off again. The TV series’s romance was steadier.

Veronica Spencer in Vows of the Heart by Susan Fox is on crutches due to a car accident. It’s a modern, realistic romance.

Real Woman

Elizabeth Barrett Browning, the poet, eloped with Robert Browning, also a poet, in 1846, after two years of courtship. She was in frail health at the time. She got better, then worse again, but probably was never hardy. They had one son together. They lived in Italy until her death in 1861. So far, her biographical entries have tended to cover their relationship in significantly more detail than his. {smile}

Anne Elizabeth Baldwin

A request for recommendations

2009-12-07T16:35:00.002-10:00

I've noticed a troubling theme in fantasy and science fiction stories. At least it troubles me as a handicapped woman. {bite lips}

When the heroine is handicapped, she doesn't get a romantically satisfying ending as far as I'm concerned. I don't think it's because I'm being too fussy. Wine, roses, champagne, and the like aren't required. All I want is for her to end up with a guy who, if he were direct enough, could honestly say "I could go it on my own, or find someone else, but I'd rather stay here with you." The only gal I know of is Myste in Mercedes Lackey's Heralds of Valdemar series, and she's the hero's love interest than a major character in her own right. {smile}

Handicapped guys can find gals like that. It doesn't happen often, but there's Carradoc of the Shrunken Arm in King Arthur's legends, Tannim in Mercedes Lackey's Serrated Edge series, Alberich in Mercedes Lackey's Heralds of Valdemar series, Gryffin in The Dream-Maker's Magic by Sharon Shinn, Philip Guthrie in Hope's Folly by Linnea Sinclair, Miles Vorkosigan in Lois McMaster Bujold's Vor series, and a few others I don't remember quite well enough to fetch the books for. {smile}

Now don't get me wrong: this is good. Handicapped guys need the encouragement too, and I'm very glad they're getting it. However... when it's a gal who has a handicap, she's practically never that lucky. I've seen more ways for this to get messed up than I ever expected:

1) The gal ends up with no romantic involvement.

2) The gal doesn't settle down with a guy until her handicap has been fixed, so she's no longer handicapped.

3) The gal settles down on a planet where her handicap isn't a handicap. (Who cares if you're deaf when every non-deaf human has to wear deafening earplugs to keep the local inhabitants from piercing their ear drums with their loud calls?)

4) The gal finds a guy, but they're united by a magical, psychic, biological, etc. bond they have no control over. This bond tends to ensure the guy either can't "make it" with the vast majority of otherwise eligible females, or can't happily settle down with anyone else. If the gal he finds happens to be handicapped, he courts her anyway. {lop-sided smile}

What's wrong with these stories? Nothing individually. None of them quite fit the romantic attitude I'm looking for, but I don't expect every story to end the way I'd like. The problem is that I haven't found any that do work out well. All the stories that don't work out well get frustrating when I look at them together, with so little to balance them out. {pause, bite lips}

That's why I'm asking for recommendations. I haven't read everything out there. Maybe I've missed something, or forgotten something. Does anyone know any science fiction or fantasy stories where a handicapped gal settles down with a guy who stays with her because he wants her, even tho he has the normal range of choices? He doesn't have to be in perfect condition himself. I'm counting both Alberich and Myste when they find each other. {smile}

I'm hoping there's more out there that I've missed, one way or another. {wistful smile}

Anne Elizabeth Baldwin

Thanksgiving

2009-11-26T16:06:00.001-10:00

Today is Thanksgiving in America. I know what I'm giving thanks for.
{Smile}

I am thankful that I made it thru both medical crises this year. Both
the toxic reaction to the cholestorol medicine and the flushing and
blackouts from the niacin were pretty scary. I am thankful that I'm better
in time to enjoy Thanksgiving and Christmas without worry. {Smile}

I am thankful for the friends and family who stood beside me when I was
sick. I am thankful for the ones who hoped and prayed that I'd get better,
and I'm thankful for the ones who refused to let me face the problem
alone. {Smile}

Anne Elizabeth Baldwin

{RELIEVED SIGH}

2009-11-19T22:32:00.001-10:00

Well, the switch to time-release niacin worked. I've officially made it
thru a period without a nasty flush. {relieved sigh, smile}

Thank you, God! I needed that so badly. {Relieved Smile}

Anne Elizabeth Baldwin

Hope.

2009-11-12T10:39:00.000-10:00

Well, it's been about two and a half weeks since I stopped taking the non-time-release niacin. I haven't had a nasty flush since. Oh, I've gotten overheated once or twice, but there's been no attack with burning sensations, pain, or threat of blacking out. {relieved smile}

I have real hope that we found the worst problem. I won't feel sure until I've been thru my next menses without incident, since the flushing seemed worst during the last set. However, this looks promising. {hopeful smile}

Anne Elizabeth Baldwin

Hope?

2009-10-27T23:06:00.001-10:00

Well, we haven't called the doctor. This is not a bad thing. {smile}

On Sunday around bedtime, Dad brought up something he remembered about his older sister, my aunt Kitty, having trouble with flushing when she was taking niacin. I am taking niacin for my balance, so he thought that might be involved.

One thing led to another, and we discovered that I am not taking 250mg of time-release niacin like one of my doctors suggested. The current bottle is not time-release; it's all at once. I'm pretty sure I remember that my doctor specified time-release to reduce trouble with flushing and burning sensations, as well as to improve it's effects on my balance.

I found some time-release niacin like I'm supposed to take. I haven't taken it yet. Monday I didn't take any niacin beyond that found in my vitamins. I wanted to give my system a chance to calm down. It didn't get a long chance. I started having balance trouble after 10pm on Tuesday, so I took one time-release niacin pill just now. I do hope it works, and doesn't cause any flushing. We'll have to see what happens. If necessary, the flushing was worse than the balance. However, I don't think time-release niacin caused flushing before. {cross fingers hopefully, {smile}

So far I haven't had any flushes since I stopped the other niacin. However, it's only two days; that's too soon to tell. Last week I don't remember what happened Sunday and Monday. However, I do know I had one Tuesday morning, one Saturday morning, and no bad ones in between. That's longer than I've been off niacin so far. {resigned smile}

I'm hopeful - much more hopeful than I was when my doctor prescribed vitamin D. This might not be the full story. I am beginning to near the expected age for menopause, after all. Still, this looks promising. Even if it just cuts out the painfully burning flushes, that would be such and improvement! I hope I'd get my life back if I got rid of those. {Smile}

Anne Elizabeth Baldwin

{steadying sigh}

2009-10-21T22:37:00.004-10:00

Well, yesterday Dad managed to get the test results out of a nurse at my doctor's office.

Thyroid: normal
Pituitary hormones: normal
Vitamin B12: normal
Vitamin D: LOW

So my doctor wants to put me on theraputic levels of vitamin D, and run another test in a few weeks.

I know that Vitamin D deficiency can be a serious problem. I'm too old for rickets, but it can increase tendencies for osteoporosis and other bone trouble. I don't want that. However, I don't think Vitamin D affects hot flushes/flashes much. I can't find anything that claims it does, and Dad doesn't know of any connection, either. {half-smile}

I had another nasty hot flush yesterday morning. I couldn't go to the air conditioned room a few rooms away. I couldn't clear the table. I couldn't even get up to turn on a fan, or pour a glass of ice water. I had to wait for my parents to get those to help me cool down.

Mom picked up the Vitamin D this morning. I've taken two pills today, and will continue to do so. However... if I have another bad flush, my doctor will get a call that hopefully will make it clear that waiting a few weeks to do anything more for the flushes is unacceptable. {grimace} I don't feel I can take on any new projects until they're fixed somehow. That includes applying for a librarian position that's come up at the university. The deadline is in November, so I can't expect them to get
fixed in time. My health is just too unreliable when a single flush knocks out a whole morning, or a whole evening. {resigned look}

I just want my life back. {Sigh}

Anne Elizabeth Baldwin

{peek in}

2009-10-18T23:20:00.000-10:00

{peek in} Hello. {smile}

I'm sorry I've been neglecting my blog recently. I'm afraid this summer has been all too interesting on the medical front, as some of you already know. {rueful smile}

I had a really nasty reaction to a medication in July; it took me half a week to identify, and three weeks after going off to feel reasonably like myself again. Then in the first week of August, I had a panting-and-coughing-up-pink-mucous attack that was diagnosed as a panic attack, but followed by a similar attack without the worry.

The week after that, I had a really nasty hot flush, during which I blacked out. My doctor noticed that my diabetes was acting up. so she decided to treat that as the most likely cause of hot flashes. Well, the blood sugar levels responded favorably to the insulin she prescribed. The hot flushes did not. I've had a few near black-out since.

So my doctor is now beginning to look into the flushes. I'm... not handling waiting for test results as well as I'd like. {half-smile} I've caught myself being far too sensitive this weekend. I just hope my friends will understand. {tentative smile}

Anne Elizabeth Baldwin

Hurricane Felicia

2009-08-11T19:58:00.002-10:00

Well, Hurricane Felicia seems to be passing Hawai'i by quite nicely. Hilo got hot, muggy weather, with some clouds, but not even much rain. Other parts of the state are seeing some rain, but no more than heavy-normal. Nobody seems to be getting much more than usual in the winds.

But you don't have to take my word for it. Here's three local news sites. Each had too many stories about Felicia to list each story separately. {Smile}

KHNL's news

KHON's news

KITV's news. This one also links to stories from two newspapers. {Smile}

Anne Elizabeth Baldwin

A smile and a wince

2009-07-05T18:49:00.000-10:00

Dad and I just got to listen to an unusually long "concert" by a Chinese thrush in our Surinam cherry tree. He went on particularly long, maybe because he was competing with another bird further away. {Smile}

I think his concert just about made up for canceling Advanced Dungeons and Dragons tonight because I re-strained my back at church this morning. {rueful smile, Smile}

Anne Elizabeth Baldwin

Caught up?

2009-07-02T20:26:00.001-10:00

Maybe I'm caught up with my general blog reading. {cross fingers} At least for now. At least if you don't count the week+ worth of posts added because a former high school classmate just told me where his blog is. {Smile} I'm looking forward to that reading project. It's past time I caught up with what he's been up to. {SMILE}

Now the main trick is staying caught up with the blogs while catching up with not only that one friend, but all my friends on LiveJournal. Plus not falling too far behind on Facebook. Wish me luck. I think I'm going to need it. {SMILE, chuckle, SMILE}

Oh, and also while trying to figure out where I might submit a short story. Yes, I'm finally working up to actually trying to get a little story published, instead of just sharing it with my friends like I do on LiveJournal. {SMILE} I'll need luck with this, too. {BIG SMILE}

Anne Elizabeth Baldwin

No computer virus? {cross fingers hopefully}

2009-06-21T22:24:00.001-10:00

Well... I hope I've come thru the computer virus attacks safely. I read all the advice offered, figured out which I could do without messing up, and which sounded reasonable. Fortunately, the stuff I could do mostly sounded like reasonable precautions. The most alarming solutions were beyond my limited computer skills anyway. {Smile}

So I did what I could. This might have closed a couple of loopholes in my computer's anti-virus defenses. {cross fingers hopefully, smile} Even better, the virus warnings quit, and no repeating "new tricks" turned up. I hope those are good signs. {cross fingers} It's certainly how I'd hope a non-infected computer would behave. {Smile}

If things stay calm for a while, I think I'll count this successful. If not, I'll take the computer to the Computer Store and pay them to look it over. They're the locals I know who I trust to really fix my computer's problems, and not just replace current problems with different ones. {lop-sided Smile}

Now to get back to trying to catch up with the blogs and journals I like to follow. {SMILE}

Anne Elizabeth Baldwin

Computer Trouble {Sigh, rub hair}

2009-06-10T18:32:00.001-10:00

I have had over half a dozen attacks on my computer while web surfing in the past week or two. A little rectangle from Norton Security - my antivirus - pops up in the corner saying my computer has been attacked, or that it has successfully repelled an attack by some virus. At least two viruses were involved, one "trojan.???", and one I forget at the moment. However, "successfully repelled" seems to be premature, since two-three attacks often follow in quick succession. {half-smile}

I have been following advice I vaguely remember hearing on the news: get off the computer for a couple of hours. However, I'm not sure that's the right thing to do. {pause}

What is the right thing to do? I really would like to know. Some of you are distinctly more computer-savvy than I am. {Smile}

Thanks, Anne Elizabeth Baldwin

{raise head}

2009-05-27T23:36:00.001-10:00

I'm sorry I disappeared so thoroughly this month. At the beginning of the month, a Facebook-based game a cousin got me into developed a really nasty bullying problem. I was a target.

I didn't take this well. {small smile} Unfortunately, I holed up until I'd fixed what I could, and gotten past it enough to feel better again. {smile}

So here I am, weeks behind on LiveJournal and the blogs I try to keep up with both. I'll try to catch up and keep up again, but I can't make promises, especially at first. {Sigh} I'll just have to try my best, but I do hope I'm back. {Smile}

Anne Elizabeth Baldwin

A New Chair

2009-05-01T21:55:00.002-10:00

One reason I had trouble catching up last week was that I went shopping for a new reading chair for my room. This may not sound like the biggest deal, but in our house no one can begin furniture shopping until they've proven that they have a place to put what they intend to get. Believe me, the house is crowded enough, this is necessary. So furniture shopping doesn't happen often, and it's a bit of an occasion when it does.
{SMILE}

Mom took me to three stores one afternoon, taking up about half the afternoon. Then Dad took me to four more stores another afternoon, again taking up half the afternoon. The most comfortable but most expensive chair was at Agasa's furniture and music store. However, I also found a cheaper, reasonably comfortable chair at Home Depot, and this one came with an ottoman. I'd been wanting an ottoman to put my feet up on in the living room anyway. We have a sort of pillow-ottoman, but it's getting rather flat, so it isn't very helpful now. {Smile}

So we got the chair and ottoman from Home Depot. They're mostly covered with some flattened fiber - I first thought wicker, but no - woven over an aluminum frame that's painted brown. The cushions are burnt orange. This doesn't match anything, of course, but it doesn't clash with the maroon and beige in my room, or the golden yellow with green in the living room. This is important, since the chair is in my room, while the ottoman is in the living room. No, we could not keep them together. There wasn't that much space in my room. {SMILE}

The chair itself is sitting very happily in front of one of the bookcases in my room. Thanks to the aluminum frame, it's light enough to pick up and move when I want books from the bookcase. That was both a big selling point, and part of why we went to seven different stores before I felt I'd found the right one. It now has a yellow and green cushion from the living room behind the burnt orange cushion it came with. In spite of trying it in the store, when we got it home, I found I had to slouch at least a little to rest my back. This is an occasional problem when I'm 5'2" and not particularly leggy. {half-smile} So I searched around, and found a cushion that is as wide as the chair, and thick enough, I don't have to slouch. It looks a little funny, but it works. {Smile}

The ottoman is in the living room. There was no space for it in my room. Remember I said I had to prove I had a place to put something before I could get another piece of furniture? Well, that was true for the chair. Oddly enough, no one asked where I planned to put the ottoman before we brought it home. Fortunately. I'm not sure Mom and Dad would have approved my plan, even tho it works. I put it by the couch when I want to put my feet up. Then one of us puts it in front of the fireplace when everyone is done with it, because it's less in the way there. {pause} When I say "in front of the fireplace," think of it being on the hearth, with two legs just barely inside the fireplace itself. It looks a little odd, but it fits, and it's out of the way when someone wants to walk around the living room. {Smile}

Anne Elizabeth Baldwin

Phew!

2009-04-26T21:45:00.001-10:00

May I claim to be caught up now? I think I've read everything on Facebook,
on Livejournal, and on the blogs I try to keep up. I've responded to the
initial posts I wanted to, and I've responded to comments and such I
wanted to respond to up thru yesterday. That leaves only today's comments
and several Facebook app requests. I hope that's close enough. I'd really
like to be caught up again. {SMILE}

Anne Elizabeth Baldwin

Merrie Monarch Hula Festival

2009-04-16T11:09:00.002-10:00

It's that time again. I plan to be glued to the TV tonight, tomorrow night, and Saturday night, watching the Merrie Monarch Hula Festival. As always, this will cut into my computer time. {SMILE}

As usual, if you want to see what I'm so excited about, it's here on the web. They broadcast the three nights of competition on the web as streaming video, so people outside of our state can see it too. They should have Thursday night (Miss Aloha Hula, the young women's solo competition) up on the web from when it starts tonight until Hula Kahiko (old-style hula) starts tomorrow night. Hula Kahiko should be up from when it starts tomorrow night until Hula 'Auana (Modern secular hula) starts Saturday night. Hula 'Auana will be up from when it starts until indefinitely in the future. One year a friend caught it a week or so afterwards, so they don't take that one down quickly. {Smile}

I'll certainly be watching. It's nice to live in-state, where it's also broadcast on TV. {SMILE}

Anne Elizabeth Baldwin

Easter food question

2009-04-11T11:27:00.001-10:00

Does anyone have any suggestions for a nice Easter dinner? Ours will be a day late, since Dad expects to have more time to cook on Monday than either today or tomorrow. The problem is that we usually have an Easter ham, but with his congestive heart failure, Dad has to avoid salt. His condition is currently under control, but ham is now a flavoring added to eggs and fried rice in relatively small quantities. {resigned smile}

So we're looking into alternatives. Dad's decided that something bready would be nice and festive. I think he's settled on Chelsea buns with cinnamon added. {Smile}

However, it would be nice to pick out something special for the main course, too. Ham is out for the salt. Lamb is out because they only sell it by the leg around here, and Dad would rather not deal with that. Especially since he thinks "lamb" is a euphemism in that the lamb's lambs have probably had lambs before it reached market. {half-smile}

So... any suggestions? {hopeful smile}

Anne Elizabeth Baldwin

Facebook {Sigh}

2009-04-01T19:59:00.001-10:00

I must be nuts. {rueful smile}

I'm having a challenge keeping up with email, LiveJournal, Blogger, abml (a usenet newsgroup), my leisure reading, and the lap time Valentine wants. So what do I do? I join Facebook. Tho it wasn't my idea. One cousin joined, and got her sister to. They brought in the second cousin's boys... so hopefully I'll hear something from these relatives. They've been disgustingly quiet for entirely too long, so we've pretty much drifted apart. If they use Facebook more than email, phone, or snail mail maybe I'll finally get to know them again. {Chuckle, SMILE}

So who on here is on Facebook? And how do we find each other? {pause} I notice something about searching by name and email. I went in under "Anne Elizabeth Baldwin" and my public email, " anneb @ aloha . net " (without spaces, in the case of the email). {Smile}

Anne Elizabeth Baldwin

Success

2009-03-12T10:49:00.002-10:00

What is success for a short story writer?

What are the measures of success for a short story writer?

I've heard much about what success is and what it means for fiction writers... but it's all about novels. So those definitions are really for novelists.

I write short stories. Even the longest are many times shorter than the shortest novels. {pause}

So I'm not a novelist. {spread hands} That shouldn't be a barrier to success. Not all writers write novels. Some write nonfiction, or plays, or poems, or TV shows, or movies... I write short stories and short articles. I particularly enjoy writing short fantasy stories. This shouldn't be a barrier to success. There must be ways to be a success as a short story writer. I just need to figure out what they are. I need to know where I might be heading, and what milestones to look out for.

I need to figure out what success is as a short story writer. {smile}

Anne Elizabeth Baldwin

Happy Girls' Day!

2009-03-03T17:23:00.001-10:00

Happy Girls' Day! That is what the third day of third month is by the Japanese calendar. {REALLY BIG GRIN}

My family is celebrating with mochi (rice flour cakes). That is traditional. However, it would be more traditional if we were celebrating with steamed pink, white and green mochi, instead of baked pineapple-coconut mochi. {lick lips} Not that I'm complaining. Traditions are nice, but Mom's latest mochi experiment is delicious! {REALLY BIG GRIN, HUMONGOUS GRIN}

Anne Elizabeth Baldwin

Eye Strain

2009-02-07T10:08:00.000-10:00

I don't know quite how I got it, but I've had a notable case of eye strain for the better part of a week. Contributing causes we've tracked down so far include dust and mold. (Both are long-standing allergies that tend to make stuff like this worse, if not cause it outright.) Also, I strongly suspect staring intently at the computer screen while playing a particular game, tho I don't feel that this is confirmed quite yet. {lop-sided smile}

I'm now trying to reduce computer time. Cutting out the game is a test of my will-power. So is cutting out the card games and such I like to play. On the other hand, I doubt email will suffer much. LiveJournal, Blogger, and newsgroups might, but I hope not much. I don't want the essentials to suffer; I just want to cut back to them for a while. {Smile}

Anne Elizabeth Baldwin

Turning 40

2009-01-30T14:49:00.001-10:00

The age of 40 has such a terrible reputation, I guess I expected to feel a little different somehow. Never mind that I never felt different on previous birthdays. Never mind that I regularly forget how old I am, so I often have to stop and calculate if somebody actually asks. I still expected to feel different. {Smile}

(Yes, I forget my age. Do you realize how infrequently a woman gets asked her age in modern American culture? At most, I get to answer this a few times a years, and sometimes that's because I brought up the subject. {look UP Giggle, BIG GRIN})

Anyway, I expected to feel a little different somehow. I don't. 40 feels a awful lot like 39 did to me. {BIG SMILE}

Anne Elizabeth Baldwin

My Holiday Story

2009-01-28T23:04:00.000-10:00

My holiday story is at what I think of as the "roughly polished" stage. That means it's about as done as I'm likely to get it now, but if I come back in a few months, I'll find things that my eyes have been just gliding over. {Smile}

So... I shared it thru email with the friends I talk to there, as well as a with a "card exchange" list from a newsgroup I've been trying to frequent again. I also shared it on LiveJournal under a privacy lock. I'm not quite as comfortable as I hoped I would be about leaving it in the open. {Smile}

Unfortunately, a few people I've met here haven't gotten to see it. Now maybe they don't have time. That's fine; I don't have as much time as I'd like, either.

But... {bite lips}

If anyone reading this hasn't seen it and would like to tell me. Between email, LiveJournal, and Open ID, I'm sure we can work something out. {REALLY BIG GRIN}

Anne Elizabeth Baldwin

Birthday weekend

2009-01-27T18:24:00.000-10:00

This past weekend was my birthday weekend. My birthday was actually on Sunday. However, we celebrated it on Saturday, with presents at breakfast and a nice dinner with cake that evening. Sunday just looked to be too busy to squeeze anything else into. {Smile}

Of course, once Sunday came around, every single event that made it looked busy fell thru. So my actual birthday ended up very relaxing indeed. {REALLY BIG GRIN}

Anne Elizabeth Baldwin

chit chat

2009-01-17T23:17:00.000-10:00

Hi Tia! It's good to see you here. {wave, REALLY BIG GRIN}

It's good to see you, too Monkey. You've been AWOL quite a while. {Smile}

I haven't mentioned it much, but I've been working on a story to share with my on-line friends. {Smile} I finished it last week, and just finished copying it into the computer (with initial revisions) tonight. Well, I sort of finished it. It ground to a halt right where I expected it to... with nothing resembling a satisfying ending in the vicinity. So it's now officially looking for further revisions and a decent ending. I'm suspicious that I'm going to end up sharing it with a warning about the lack of an ending. Of course, if it's really a fragment of something longer that I need to work up some day, I'll feel freer to post it in the open. So maybe it works out this way. {Smile}

Anne Elizabeth Baldwin

Interdependance

2008-12-22T20:30:00.002-10:00

I was talking to my friend Liz when the subject of interdependence came up. My feelings on the subject are strong enough, they surprise me when I remember them. They're certainly strong enough to share more widely. {smile}

In my experience, interdependence is absolutely terrifying if I let myself think about it. I am relying on others to support me... and sooner or later they will let me down. It's not a question of whether they'll let me down. They will. No matter how much they want to avoid doing so, they will sooner or later. When they do, I will get hurt. All I can do then is trust in my own ability to heal... if not perfectly, then well enough to carry on. {smile}

{pause}

It's worth it. I can't doubt that. I tried independence when I was younger... boy, that was a bleak and empty time! {rueful smile}

Interdependence may be scary and painful, but it fills my life with the family members and dear friends who make life worth living. Yes, there's pain and fear this way, but there's also joy and love in measures independence could never, ever provide. {WARM SMILE, BIG WARM SMILE}

Anne Elizabeth Baldwin

Update

2008-12-10T16:11:00.001-10:00

Sorry to fall quiet again just when I wanted to do better. {worn smile}

I didn't mention one problem in my last post. I didn't think it was big enough. Dad was on his third day of some quite itchy hives. However, he'd stopped the lettuce that he suspects was chopped by the same equipment that chops spinach. (Yes, he's that allergic to spinach!) Plus he was seeing the doctor in a couple of days about them. So he didn't anticipate much more trouble from them.

He had a lot more trouble anyway. He and his doctor must have tried half a dozen antihistamines on the things. The hives finally faded late last week. {SIGH} The doctor suspects spinach juice in the lettuce too. Apparently once hives get going, they can perpetuate themselves for up to a year. Three weeks... is more than bad enough. {sigh}

At least he seems to be over them now. Also, he doesn't need the elastic bandage on his knee anymore. A taped-on pad is good enough now. {Smile} So Dad's feeling better, tho he's frustrated with how quickly he tires.

I'm feeling much relieved, myself. It's taking a while for life to get back to normal, but it's gradually getting there. {Smile}

Anne Elizabeth Baldwin

Dad yet again

2008-11-20T09:19:00.001-10:00

Dad saw the doctor again. He still should keep his leg up, but he does not have to go back. Also, he may now drive. {pause, sigh}

Thank god. Now maybe life can begin to return to normal. {pause} I hate to complain when Dad has been hurting, and Mom busy keeping everything going, but this pretty totally wrecked what little off-line social life I have. It got bad enough, it was hard not to withdraw online as well. (I do hate when that happens.) I don't think I entirely avoided doing that. {small smile}

I'm hoping things will return to normal soon. {cross fingers, small smile}

Anne Elizabeth Baldwin

Dad saw the doctor

2008-11-03T21:01:00.000-10:00

Yes, Dad saw the doctor early this afternoon. The doctor took a look at the knee, and promptly numbed it up. Then he took out a great big clot. He did not close it up; he wants it to be able to drain if necessary. Apparently the knee has been hurting so much this weekend because it has been continuing to hemorrhage very slowly this weekend.

Anyway, the doctor put on a pressure bandage. He will look at the knee again Thursday afternoon. Dad is resting in his bedroom now. It hurts, but the pressure that he felt isn't there. He's counting that in improvement. {worn smile} What I count as an improvement is the relief I see when I look at Dad. He was pretty tense yesterday, and that's gone. I hope we're past the worst now. {another worn smile}

Anne Elizabeth Baldwin

General update

2008-10-31T22:42:00.003-10:00

Early this month, the bees were gone from the woodpile. So were over half the termites. So was two thirds of the wood. A couple of days ago, the rest of the termites and most of the rest of the wood followed them. No, we haven't had any bonfires. Dad faced up to reality, and asked our yardman to haul the wood to the dump in his truck. Dad insisted on paying twenty bucks for gas per trip. {smile} The only wood left now is a few old mamani logs. They aren't going to the dump. They seem to be insect free, so the yardman wants them for his woodcarving. Dad's happy to do it. He's {Smile}

Dad fell down in church last Sunday. He saw the doctor Monday, because the left knee was really swollen. He has a hematoma there. It probably needs surgery. Due to a severe doctor shortage in Hawai'i, the surgeon can't see him until Monday. He saw his main doctor again today (Friday), and complained about all the pain. He's been laid up all week. His doctor sent him to a semi-retired orthopedist who doesn't do surgery any more. He was able to remove an ounce of fluid, but the rest of the swelling is a big clot that will have to be removed surgically. Dad's in marginally less pain now. At this point we're hoping that when he finally sees the surgeon on Monday, the fellow won't insist on waiting another week or two to operate. {disgusted look}

I keep praying for Dad. Unfortunately, my prayers have yet to be answered the way I'd like. {small smile}

Anne Elizabeth Baldwin

Church musings

2008-10-15T11:43:00.002-10:00

I've been thinking about church. There's something... I'm not comfortable there, and I really should be. I've been there all my life. {pause}

I think I need a change. Not a major one, but... I feel restless.

I'm toying with becoming a deacon. the Diaconate has fascinated me since I learned that some deacons never become priests. {pause} I'm not sure it's right for me, tho. I'd have some trouble reading the gospel without falling over, more getting to the pulpit to take a turn at preaching, and yet more trying to get up to the altar to assist the priest in the Eucharist. {pause} I know there's much more to being a deacon than helping in the service. They study the bible in depth, and reach out to the community in various ways. However, do I need to be ordained for that? Some form of lay ministry may suit my abilities and my congregation's needs better. I really don't think they need to add ramps all over the sanctuary so I can get around. {Smile}

I just wish I knew what was the right choice for me. {Smile}

Anne Elizabeth Baldwin

Good news

2008-09-16T20:16:00.001-10:00

Well, my computer seems to be behaving itself since it realized it does have a keyboard after all. {Smile}

That's not the good news of the title. {bite lips} I've been trying to figure out how to tell you without sounding like I'm bragging. After about three weeks, I give up. So here goes. {smile}

A few weeks ago, I got three volumes collectively titled Storytelling: An Encyclopedia of Mythology and Folklore. {pause} In the middle volume are four short articles I wrote myself about gods and creatures popular in Hawaiian legends. (Pele, her sister Hi'iaka, Maui, and the Menehune, if you're curious.) {Smile, pause}

The encyclopedia was edited by Josepha Sherman, and she did a great job on it. The articles are both well-written and well-chosen. {Smile} I don't say that because my articles are in it; I was taught how to evaluate an encyclopedia in library school, and this one passes the tests. {Smile} That isn't easy to pull off either; a lot of encyclopedias have problems.

Dad says this makes me a published author. {bite lips} I guess it does, but I know too many published authors not to realize it's only one step on a long road. I'd like to follow up with something else sometime, but at least I've made a start. {Smile}

Anne Elizabeth Baldwin

Well...

2008-09-12T23:29:00.001-10:00

Yesterday afternoon (Thursday), Dad announced that the Computer Store had called. My computer was already fixed. We could go pick it up any time. So we went down pretty quickly. {smile} We picked it up. The gal who fixed it said the only problem that she could find was the modem was switched off. She turned it back on, and all seemed fine. She said this could be a virus, so I should watch it for more trouble, but she really thought it was fixed.

So we loaded it up and took it home. Dad set it up as quickly as feasible. I turned it on, and checked my email to make sure it was working. My email downloaded fine. {smile}

Then I shut it down so I could tag along while Dad got groceries. KTA, the supermarket he was going to, has picnic tables out front, on a wide, shaded patio. I like to sit at them and think and write. It's a change of scenery, and a pleasant arrangement. {Smile}

Then we went back home. After a while, I turned on my computer again. As I began to log into my usual sites (LJ and Blogger), my computer stopped responding to my keyboard. {bite lips} No matter how many buttons, I pushed, nothing. I figured out which cable connected the keyboard to my computer, and checked it. It was slightly loose. I pushed it in firmly, and checked again. Still no keyboard. I told Dad what happened. He came to look at it. I took a bathroom break to calm down. (No, I was no calm. {half-smile}) When I came back out, Dad said he'd turned off my computer, waited for a bit, and turned it back on. It seemed to work after that. {bite lips}

It has continued to work since then. {bite lips} However, with the repair technician at The Computer Store's words about viruses, I've been watching it very carefully for further stunts. I hope it's working now, but I don't trust it, even after over a day. {small smile}

I really hope it's working now, but... {bite lips, cross fingers}

Anne Elizabeth Baldwin

{frustrated sigh}

2008-09-10T16:35:00.001-10:00

My computer is in at The Computer Store waiting to get fixed. The DSL can't find the web, tho the dialup can. {small smile}

The good news is that they have improved their procedures. They expect to get around to it in 2-3 days. This really is an improvement over the 4-5 days they usually took before. {half-smile}

In the meantime, I'm borrowing Dad's computer. That means I won't have as much time online, since I'll have to give it back. {resigned smile}

Anne Elizabeth Baldwin

Space hazards

2008-09-02T19:45:00.001-10:00

I'm back to reading The Hazards of Space Travel. {Smile}

Remind me never to travel to Io. Between the volcanoes spewing all kinds of dangerously heating and poisonous substances around and the tidal forces warping the very rock 100's of feet, I can't imagine anyone wanting to go there. I might be underestimating a few daredevils, but any who do want to go are not in their right mind as far as I'm concerned! {Lopsided Smile}

Anne Elizabeth Baldwin

The World of the Dark Crystal

2008-08-15T16:55:00.000-10:00

I recently got a coffee table book, The World of the Dark Crystal by
Brian Froud. It tells about the background of the movie The Dark
Crystal. I really enjoyed it, and not just because I have a weakness
for coffee table books. It starts with the history of how Brian Froud, the
concept artist, and Jim Henson, then head of the Muppets got together, came
up with the idea, and turned the idea into a movie. {Smile} They don't go
into a lot of detail, but they give a general idea.

I don't mind the lack of detail on that because the rest of the book
covers the history of the world the movie is set in. You get some glimpses of this history in the movie, but this book gives a clearer view. {Smile} It lets me glimpse other stories that happened earlier, and maybe what came just after. {smile} Those are fun to think about when I'm daydreaming. {SMILE}

I enjoyed the book, obviously. I finished it in a little under a week, which is doing pretty good these days. {SMILE}

Anne Elizabeth Baldwin

Reading notes

2008-08-14T17:37:00.004-10:00

In the Lord of the Rings, the king has gotten married, and everyone is ready to go home at last. {Smile}

I've been kind of stuck there for about a week. I got a coffee table book, The World of the Dark Crystal by Brian Froud, and immediately started to look it over. It's about the background of the movie The Dark Crystal. That is really nice, and not just because I have a weakness for coffee table books. I'll have to write that one up soon; I finished it in less than a week. Reading it while soaking my toe helped, but I read it at other times, too. {SMILE}

After that I expected to get back to The Lord of the Rings. This shows I don't always know my own mind. {Smile} Instead, I picked up The Hazards of Space Travel. This covers hazards astronauts and space tourists can reasonably expect as they travel out into our solar system. It includes historical incidents astronauts have contended with, as well as ones they're likely to encounter but haven't yet. {small smile} I just finished a chapter on air. It started with a (fictional) account of a traveler whose friend's oxygen got switched off, and how the traveler saved his friend by turning it back on. The book then explained the need for a proper amount of oxygen. It mentioned the hazards of having too much, including the Apollo 1 fire that burned so fast no one survived, even tho they were just testing the capsule on earth. They mentioned an incident where a Cosmonaut's suit got over inflated during a space walk, and he had great difficulty getting back into his space craft at the end. They also mentioned the problem of getting the bends from switching between our oxygen-nitrogen* atmosphere and the pure oxygen atmospheres in modern space suits too quickly. The book says they're currently trying to develop hard space suits that will allow an oxygen-nitrogen atmosphere without risk of over-inflation. That does sound like an improvement! {SMILE}

Anne Elizabeth Baldwin

* Oops; carbon dioxide is a trace element in our atmosphere, so I removed it. {Smile}

A Thousand Words for Stranger

2008-07-29T23:05:00.001-10:00

I've been trying to think how to give an overview of A Thousand Words for Stranger. It isn't easy. In fact, it's a very difficult book to give a book-talk on. {Smile}

The book begins in the rain on a street on a backwater planet named Auord. The avian alien 'Whix and his human partner are on a stakeout, watching a couple of members of the humanoid Clan, an alien race that doesn't belong to the Trade Pact like the humans, 'Whix's people, and most others they know of. While they are watching, the two Clan members - a man and a gal - are attacked by native Auordians. The attackers are killed, the man taken in for questioning... and the gal disappears in the confusion.

That's the prelude. Chapter 1 begins in a dirty back alley, where a single protagonist cannot remember a thing: not name, nor sex, nor whether the world existed five minutes before. Tho they do know they're on the planet Auord, because that pops up in odd compulsions telling this person to get off Auord and stay safe.

{pause} Describing what this character discovers later would ruin the sense of bewildered mystery at this point. I don't really want to do that, so this is as much as I can say about the story. {smile}

I can say one thing that won't spoil that feeling. I was particularly impressed with the way the aliens who turn up really feel alien. They don't feel like talking lions or Scots with funny hair; they feel like unique aliens. Yet there's more than one kind of alien like this; usually when I see aliens, they either correspond closely to not-so-alien people or creatures, or else there's only one other race. In this book we meet a few races well-enough developed, we realize they aren't something familiar pretending to be aliens. The closest to that would be 'Whix, who seems to be bird-like; yet he's not a raptor, nor a song bird, nor a chicken or a duck... he's a type of bird I've never heard of, and not just because he's as intelligent as a human. {Smile}

Anne Elizabeth Baldwin

Sarah, Plain and Tall

2008-07-12T18:15:00.003-10:00

Sarah, Plain and Tall is a slim book I found in the children's section years ago. However, it's really a book for adults told in simple language that people still learning how to read English can handle. There's nothing to make you blanch if a kid does find it, but most kids will be bored by this simple, somewhat delicate tale. {Smile}

I recently reread it after recommending it to a friend of the family who's teaching "advanced beginners" English as a second language. She loves it, and so do her students. {Smile}

It is told from the view point of Anna, a girl who lives with her little brother, Caleb, and their Papa on a farm on rolling plains in inland America. (Their mother died just after Caleb was born.) However, it is really the story of Sarah, who answers a personal ad Papa put out when he decided he needed a wife. They each write to her, and she answers back. Then she comes to see what they and their home are like. She's from the coast of Maine. She finds that people talk funny, saying "yes" when they mean "ayup." Plus, there's no dunes, no sand, no shore, and no sea. Instead, there's lots of grass, and farm animals, and Anna and Caleb and their Papa. {pause} Sarah particularly misses the sea. Since the children really like her, they are afraid she will go back to Maine.

Anne Elizabeth Baldwin

Bees and books

2008-06-28T23:50:00.001-10:00

The bees are back, unless they're still here. We suspect the latter. We only spotted them twice, but the second spotting involved three black bees who acted very much at home. {half-smile}

Moving to happier news, I recently finished A Thousand Words for Stranger. I liked it. That was an interesting complex of problems. Plus I liked seeing more than one alien who didn't seem like a copy of either an animal species or a human culture. {Smile} I'll have to start on the second book of the trilogy fairly soon. {Smile}

I also read Sarah Plain and Tall recently. A friend of the family was complaining about a lack of decent texts for her new class. When she said it was an English as a Second Language class, and they were "advanced beginners," I thought of Sarah immediately. It's easy reading, but it's really more interesting to adults than to children. {Smile} (No, there's nothing to make you blanch if a kid does find it. {GRIN}) Well, she said they loved it, and she clearly did, too. Then Dad decided to check it out, and he liked it. {SMILE} So of course I had to re-read it myself. {BIG SMILE}

I'll have to do proper reviews of those two books soon. Probably I'll put them up here later, as well as at the LiveJournal community Book Rec. {Smile}

Anne Elizabeth Baldwin

No bees? {cross fingers}

2008-06-13T19:53:00.001-10:00

The bees might have left. {cross fingers hopefully} I don't quite know why,
tho we suspect they prefer quarters that don't smell of wasp poison.

A day or two after I wrote about the termites and bees, I did spot another
bee at our woodpile. But that might be the last one we've seen. Mom has been
watching the woodpile from the laundry room every time she does the laundry,
and she hasn't spotted on in over a week. {hopeful smile}

Mom thinks they might have moved to a neighbor's unused woodpile. That's
just enough further away, we're very relieved. If the bees have really left,
we can now burn all the termite-y wood without getting stung. {SMILE}

Our carpenter bees really are quite gentle, but if they're ever going to
sting, it's when someone is trying to burn up their home. Hopefully, we
won't have to worry about that now. {Smile, cross fingers}

Anne Elizabeth Baldwin

Anne's Links

2008-06-12T21:58:00.001-10:00

I'm trying the new, expanded links-list Blogger just called to my attention. It looks useful. Now I can spot at a glance what's been updated, without clicking thru everything. {SMILE}

I'll try it a bit before deleting the old, plain list, but I think I like this new list better. {BIG SMILE}

Anne Elizabeth Baldwin

Woodpile residents

2008-06-01T22:28:00.003-10:00

We have a problem in our woodpile. It has termites. So we need to get rid of the whole thing, and it's pretty big. Mom and Dad decided that they don't want to throw it across the street into the swamp; it's far too close to our house. They don't want to take it all to the dump, either. The dump is across town, and the woodpile would be several loads worth. With gas already over $4 a gallon here, they'd rather avoid that if possible. {half-smile} They don't want to heat up the house by burning it in the inside fireplace; not in the summer heat. So Dad has begun burning the kindling in the little outside fireplace where the barbeques dinner at times. {smile}

There was just one problem: whenever he did that, he heard angry buzzing from a carpenter bee behind by the woodpile. One seemed to be living in the woodpile, and she didn't like us disturbing her nice home. They're generally gentle bees, but we're disturbing her home... Dad decided to kill her before she attacked us for disturbing her home. Besides, the hole one makes in wood to make a home is an excellent starting place for termites. It's too late for this woodpile, but we don't want too many around. {wry smile}

So anyway, Dad decided to get rid of the carpenter bee before he got to that part of the woodpile. He went out two evenings ago, and sprayed the hole he found in the end of one log. When we checked yesterday, we found more bees - at least two females and a male - and at least nine other holes. Dad went out last night, and sprayed all the holes he saw, using almost all the wasp killer we have.

We checked today. Mom saw one bee, then she saw two bees, both kind of going around behind something, like their holes were back where Dad hadn't looked. I only saw one bee doing that, but she swerved in about a foot away from me, doing a convincing enough portrayal of an angry bee to convince me to go back inside the house. I didn't want her to start bumping me aggressively, let alone stinging! They're big!

Now Dad is thinking about what to do next. I hope he thinks of something soon! {odd smile}

Anne Elizabeth Baldwin

Reading snapshots

2008-05-31T10:59:00.001-10:00

In The Lord of the Rings, Sam and Frodo are plodding thru Mordor. The water tastes pretty awful there, but at least it wets the throat. {smile}

Meanwhile, in A Thousand Words for Stranger, Sira, Barac, and Jason are busy trying to get out of the council's building and away from the Clan. {smile}

Anne Elizabeth Baldwin

Blue Paisley picture

2008-05-26T17:02:00.003-10:00

Well, I think it's time to try out the new picture mailing lists, including the one that refers to this blog. I thought I'd start with a picture of a mu'umu'u I made for myself I got it into wearable condition several years ago. I wasn't really happy with it until I tacked down enough of the lace to keep it from curling, and added a couple of lace medallions on the pockets. So it was completely finished after one I made in the meantime. {Smile}

This picture is of me wearing it when I was finally happy with how it looks. {SMILE} You might have to click on it to see the full picture; Blogger seems to like to cut off one edge. I do need to figure out how to deal with that. {smile}

Anne Elizabeth Baldwin

Why do you write?

2008-05-18T23:31:00.000-10:00

I don't know that I expect any answer but the one I give myself. {smile} However, I've been asking myself that a lot. I think the answer might be tied into my recent bout of writer's block. That's eased, but... I still need to work on it. {smile}

Anne Elizabeth Baldwin

Reading and Writing

2008-05-10T21:43:00.002-10:00

Sam and Frodo are having an awful lot of trouble with a humongous, hairy spider.

{Smile} Yes, my reading is coming along. It hasn't been going quickly, but it is progressing. {Smile}

{bite lips}

I just wish I could say the same for my writing. I got both moving nicely during Lent. Since then, the reading slowed, and the writing stalled pretty completely. {small smile} I'm going to have to figure out some way to break this bout of writer's block. {pause} I just wish I knew what would work. {smile}

Anne Elizabeth Baldwin

May Day

2008-05-01T23:49:00.001-10:00

I hope folks had a happy May Day. Dad and I celebrated it by wearing leis, since May Day is "lei day" in Hawai'i.

We were the only folks who did. Every one Dad talked to remembered to late. {half-smile}

Anne Elizabeth Baldwin

The Hilo Woman's Club We Care Teddy Bears Club (and car trouble)

2008-04-30T23:19:00.004-10:00

Well, I guess it's official. Mom and I have joined the Hilo Woman's Club's We Care Teddy Bear Club. {Smile} We attended our first meeting this morning. Mom was going to drive us down. However, her car wouldn't start. So Dad drove us down. He dropped us off, and we tried to get in. There were two garages right in front, side by side. However, Mom spotted a gate to oneside, so she went thru it. It went to a back porch. Nobody was obvious, but there were lots of stairs. So I went back to the driveway. I spotted Dad driving past, so I waved to him, and explained we were having a little trouble finding anyone. He offered to come back and wait for us, just incase. Shortly before he did, Mom waved to me. So I told Dad we were okay. Mom led me down a long, narrow path between the garages, and up two steps, and another, and another, into the house. They didn't even have railings, but I managed; my balance is doing better these days, and there was a convenient post I could hang onto by the two steps. {Smile}

Once inside, there were no more steps between the entrance and the dining room. So we sat around the dining room table, and started talking. Then we started tying bows on stuffed animals while we continued to talk. It was just Mom, the club president, and me. I wondered a bit, but continued to tie bows. Then the president wanted to show us some of the other animals. We debated. I'm not that good at stairs, but I did want to see the animals. I eventually decided to try it. She led us over to the stairs, which we'd passed on the way in. They were steeper than usual, but they had good, sturdy railings. So we tried it, and it worked. She went up, and took us into a room where she had more animals some school kids had fixed up. She said she had even more in another room. I wanted to see them while I was up there, but she didn't want to fix them up first, since they weren't even washed. So we went back down. I found the steps were steep enough, I couldn'twalk down forwards. I had to face backwards and find the next step mostly by feel. That did work; I didn't have to sit down and lower myself step by step like a two-year-old. However, I'm not going up those steps again, no matter how many animals she has to show me while I'm there.

Back downstairs, we continued to talk. The president continued to tie bows. Mom found a dog who needed some shout, and a frog who had some things taken off her. I found a dog whose nose was half off, and a brand new bunny who needed her tags snipped off and her tail sewed back on. I was working on the bunny when Dad showed up to pick us up. The president invited him inside, and we asked him to tie a necktie on this one animal. None of us could remember how, and Mom felt a few animals should have more masculine decorations. {SMILE} So Dad sat and tied neckties. Mom finished the frog and started on more bows. The president did more bows, too, and I finished fixing the rabbit's tail. {Smile}

Then Dad took us home. Mom went inside for a few things, then went back out as Dad got out the jumper cables, and prepared to fix Mom's car. Just before he connected them, he told Mom to try to start her car one last time.

It started easily, tho it made a funny noise. Mom drove down tot the service station to ask them what was happening with her car. They ran a few tests, and decided the alternator was fine, but the battery was weak. So now Mom has a new battery just like Dad's. {Smile}

If you're wondering what the Hilo Woman's Club's We Care Teddy Bear Club does with all those stuffed animals, we give them away to "children and adults who need a hug." The club started by giving them to the police to keep in their cars, so they have one when they meet a kid who needs comfort in the course of their work. The club got many, many more bears than the police here can use. So the club has branched out to underprivileged children, fire trucks, nursing homes, domestic violence help centers, adult day care, doctor's offices, and giving them to other charities for prizes and such. The president even gave some away as Halloween favors last year. She hadn't thought of many of these options yet, and she felt her house was so full of bears and other stuffed animals, she has to do something! {Smile} If it's still full enough of animals, she'll probably do that again this year. {SMILE}

The one place we don't give them to is the hospital. They insist the animals would need to be sterilized, and that's beyond our cleaning skills. {lop-sided smile}

Anne Elizabeth Baldwin

What I'm reading

2008-04-25T19:37:00.003-10:00

So... What am I reading? {Smile}

Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien: Frodo, Sam, and Gollum have left Faramir and are heading towards Minas Morgul. They've stopped to hide for the day, but the day isn't getting lighter.

A Thousand Words for Stranger by Julie E. Czerneda: In this one, it's harder to describe where I am. {smile} Sira has landed on a strange planet with Jason. (They were separated from Huido because he's big enough to need his own escape pod.) Then she got separated from Jason. Worried he'll be in more danger with her than separate, she didn't want to go back. So she called Rael, who she doesn't remember thru her amnesia, but who knows her well. Rael who teleported in and fed Sira after saying the line that gave the book it's title: " Rael left again when some of Sira's news upset her.

"The Color of Plants on Other Worlds" in Scientific American April 2008: It's a non-fiction article about the various photosynthetic compounds found on earth, and how they use the energy they're getting from the sun. It also speculates how this might be different around other stars, especially how it might affect what the plants would look like. {Smile} I find it absolutely fascinating. {SMILE}

Anne Elizabeth Baldwin

Small talk

2008-04-25T19:06:00.005-10:00

I was thinking about what we talk about when we don't have much to talk about. I know the weather is traditional, but my parents and I rarely bring it up unless it affects what we're planning to do. {smile} Instead, we talk about what we're reading.

We'll ask each other "What are you reading?" "Where are you in the story?" or "What's happening?" and we'll listen to the answers.Even without questions, we talk about it. Dad will say "Gollum is leading Frodo and Sam thru the marshes." Or he'll say "Rammage just captured a pirate ship." Or "Piemur is at a gather, and just stole some pies." {SMILE}

We ask and talk about this even if we haven't read the book. I have read Anne McCaffrey's Pern; it and Darkover are the two series all three of us are quite interested in. However, Dad was telling me where he was in The Lord of the Rings two decades before I read it. He tells me about Rammage, and I still haven't gotten into that series. We have enough overlap in reading tastes, the stories often sound interesting. We might read it eventually... maybe we'll even read it soon. {Smile} And if not... it's still more interesting than the weather most of the time. {Chuckle, SMILE}

I think I might post this type of thing here.

Anne Elizabeth Baldwin

Hello

2008-04-24T18:35:00.002-10:00

Well, I wanted to have a place where I could share pictures with friends and family I mainly email, but that won't account for many posts. I'm sure I'll find a few other uses for this blog as I go along. I hate to limit myself too much. {Smile}

Anne Elizabeth Baldwin