At about 1:20 a.m., if you're up late writing, you're not alone. Google's Teahouse Fox is doing brushwork by candlelight. She has apparently been outside, as there is a taper still lit in the garden. And fireflies hover over her birdbath. These images I've been discovering recently are at the bottom of the Gmail Inbox... Continue Reading →
More tales from the kindly, warm world of James Herriot
Having been a fan of the James Herriot books since I was a little girl, I recently did myself a huge favor: I ordered the biography of him that his son wrote, "The Real James Herriot," as well as the photo book with his essays on "James Herriot's Yorkshire." (Herriot was the pen name adopted by... Continue Reading →
An apple to lure even the fallen: Honeycrisp
The Honeycrisp apple, so I read, took the apple world by storm in the past couple years. And it turns out there's science behind its appeal. A University of Minnesota hybrid that's a little touchy to grow, Honeycrisp was introduced in 1991 but spread slowly at first (the trees take a few years to bear,... Continue Reading →
Brighten your year with a few extra holidays
Today's Valentine's Day, but also the start of the Chinese New Year, one of many holidays I want to adopt. (I'm not Chinese, but then again I'm not a Marine or a mathematician either... in fact few of the holidays below are really mine! Though I'm definitely a Texan, and an Aggie.) Holidays are, simultaneously,... Continue Reading →
Kindle royalties: Death knell for paper books?
A Twitter friend drew my attention to this explanation of Amazon's new push to offer authors and publishers a bigger slice of royalties in return for a lower price per book on the Kindle -- that is, even though the e-book is cheaper, the writer gets a bigger slice. The publisher doesn't go to the... Continue Reading →
Removing stains from white enamel sink
Aug. 11, 2013: This is the most-clicked post on the blog, which is terrific. Happy white sinks, everybody! Here's the short version: THE METHOD: Coat the stained part of your white sink with a layer of dishwasher paste -- the thick gloopy stuff you put into the dishwashing machine, not the liquid soap you use... Continue Reading →
Snowstorm ’09 – Ice terror grips city!
Yesterday had been widely touted as an opportunity for some snow, a rarity in our area. Journalists, of course, keep a wary eye on the weather, because the worse it gets, the more important it is that people know what the eff is going on. People come in early, stay late and all hands are... Continue Reading →
Innately helpful humans? It’s to our advantage
Yesterday's NYT had a very interesting story about biologists discovering evidence that humans are naturally helpful to each other -- very young humans, before our parents presumably whap it into us. Of course if we didn't cooperate to some degree we'd have croaked long ago... and if we weren't kind of warlike, we wouldn't have... Continue Reading →
White Fimo clay is really, really white
When I made roses from Sculpey III polymer clay for my rose and semiprecious stone earrings, the fine edges crumbled as I was assembling the earrings. Roses made from Fimo clay, though, stood up to abuse -- and by abuse I mean my cats knocking them off the counter and chasing them around on a... Continue Reading →
Even quicker way to add symbols to tweets
Further solidifying my title as "Workaround Sue" – Just copy one of these and paste it into your tweet. Here you go: ♥ ♡ ♪ ☺ ☹ ☮ ★ ❦ Quick 'n dirty. Even better, here's a long list with tons of symbols. A sampling: ♘ € ☯ ☂ ☀ ☛ ✓... Continue Reading →
