Divers Matters

[pameladean]

1. The annotated Dean pages are back up!

Thanks, Felix.

I have to say, I was aware that people were not always getting their Shakespeare right in Juniper, Gentian, and Rosemary, but I didn't always realize how far off they were. And some of the mistakes that some of the characters make in Tam Lin really should not be there. Though I suppose I could always mutter "memorial reconstruction" and let it go.

2. Aristophanes, my 18-year-old cat, has had a rough summer, and I really didn't think I'd still have a muted orange long-haired tabby with a short tail by now, but he has rallied (with the aid of Pepcid, of all things) and is eating like a small furry matted horse, leaping about, purring, and being a nuisance. I am very pleased and grateful.

3. Things we did not say in our house before we got the Cassie-cat:

"Cats do not need to be refrigerated. They keep very well at room temperature."

"You are an obligate carnivore! Leave the lettuce alone!"

"I do not need a pace cat in order to answer the telephone!"


4. Marie Brennan has a new book out on Book View Cafe. It's about a magical Midwestern college, inspired by my novel Tam Lin and more distantly by the original ballad.. I have only had time so far to read the snippets she's been posting on her LJ, but I'm enjoying those greatly. It's making me want to reread Caroline Stevermer's A College of Magics -- the books are very unlike in many ways, but the books seem to me to be speaking to one another. If you aren't any of the authors, you could probably quite happily read Marie's book and then mine and Caroline's.

5. The Japanese knotweed is done blooming and the asters are blazing purple and glittering with bees. I am not sure how it got to be September. Raphael and I have had a somewhat uneven hiking season, between torrential rain, drought, and various family difficulties with scheduling. But we still had some glorious times. At William O'Brian State Park, one afternoon you could stand looking at the prairie and see a dozen Hallowe'en pennants without having to turn your head.

Eric and I haven't been able to do much long hiking, but we have had some spectacular hours at Eloise Butler, one of which included two pileated woodpeckers, a pair of indigo buntings, and an abundance of red cardinal flower.

6. My mother-in-law died at the end of August while David was at Worldcon, so we are dealing with that. As I go about my business, I see how many of her recipes I have and use, either modified or not. She had ceded the pie-making job for family events to me some years ago, which was flattering but also alarming. She made the best pie crust I have ever had, and it also looked pretty, which is more than anybody will ever be able to say of mine. She was also a great gardener, but I don't have any of her plants. I am sure David's sister, who still lives in the house that their parents bought in 1963, would give me some plants, but it's not really quite the same. I don't have a coherent summary of her virtues, but these are the things that have floated to the top of my mind since the end of August. I think it's better for me to let these things take their own course, however meandering.

I'm still hoping to post more regularly. The Liavek novel is chugging along. I have even kicked the plot into motion.

Pamela

Edited to correct the degree of the influences on Marie's novel, and also to say Huh? Because there are now two entries rather than one edited entry. I don't want to delete the first one because it has comments. What the heck, LJ?

Edited again to add, as a reminder to myself: There were no comments on the edited duplicate entry, so I deleted it and edited this entry. Also, I probably clicked on "Post to pameladean" rather than on "Save Entry" to cause the original problem.

Comments

[coffeeem.livejournal.com]

Oh, I'm so sorry to hear about David's mother. She was an excellent person.

[pameladean]

Thank you. I keep remembering the time you and Will drove out to rescue us from Menomenie when our van died, and we took you to Northfield -- well, you took us -- for Mary's fondue.

P.

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

1) Woot! Those pages are useful.

2) Yay for Aristophanes, and may he stay energetic and happy.

3) Eheehee. I think the "obligate carnivore" line is my favorite, simply for the fact that you use the phrase "obligate carnivore."

4) Thankee! It is actually inspired more directly by your novel than by the ballad; there is another book I may write someday that is very much a Tam Lin plot, but this one is distant at best.

5) I have no idea where the first eight months of this year went.

6) I'm very sorry to hear that. My husband's grandmother passed away about two weeks ago, and she sounds much like your mother-in-law.

[pameladean]

1. Yes, Felix is awesome.

2. Thank you! He is pretty old, but I think not done yet.

3. You would like my house. We use a lot of terminology like that. It's only accurate, after all.

4. I have corrected this, as you know. I am still trying to carve out a space to read the book in. Stupid life things!

5. Neither have I.

6. Thank you, and I'm sorry for your loss too.

P.

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

No worries on the book. One of the nice things about ebooks is that they'll still be around for purchase later on.

[sartorias.livejournal.com]

I am so sorry for your loss.


Very good point about Caroline's excellent novels--both--in fact, due for a reread.

[pameladean]

Thank you, Sherwood.

And yes, of course, BOTH the novels, not just the first one.

P.

[redbird]

We have given up on convincing julian_tiger that he is an obligate carnivore. He can usually be persuaded to leave the lettuce alone, but the method of persuasion is likely to involve bribery distraction with a bit of cucumber or bell pepper.

[pameladean]

Cass doesn't like bell pepper, but she'll eat cucumber if I drop it on the floor while making salad.

I am glad to see from all these comments that she is not alone in her love of vegetables. I have only had cats who liked fruit, or, in one case, corn on the cob , which is pretty sweet.

P.

[catherineldf.livejournal.com]

I'm so sorry to hear about your mother-in-law. Many sympathies to you all!
Glad to hear about your kitties though. Here's to rallying!

[pameladean]

Thanks, and thanks again.

Ari had a bit of a relapse, but after a vet trip and some more of the soothing stomach meds, he is, we think, back to Eohippus and heading for horse again.

P.

[17catherines.livejournal.com]

So sorry to hear about your mother-in-law.

Nothing and nobody can persuade Mayhem that she is an obligate carnivore. She really, really likes the smell of vegetables, and is utterly enamoured of strawberries, to the extent that we can't grow them because she loves the plants and rolls all over them until they are squashed and eventually dead, loves the fruits and will try to eat them or rub herself all over them, and even loves the seeds, and will sit in any pot they have been planted in, incubating them. For some reason, they don't grow well under these conditions...

(She's a very strange cat)

[pameladean]

Thanks.

We once had a cat whose Homeric epithet was "The Hollyhock Murderer," but I've never had one that treated strawberries like cathip! I wonder if there are some overlapping chemicals that Mayhem is sensitive to. Or maybe she is just trying to live up to her name.

P.

[davidgoldfarb.livejournal.com]

My condolences to you and to David.

[pameladean]

Thank you, and my apologies for not responding sooner to the comment. We are holding on all right, I think.

P.

[azdesertrose.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry for your family's loss.

However, I had to laugh at the "Cats do not need to be refrigerated" line.

The Tessa-kitty has to be reminded that she is an obligate carnivore, especially when someone cooks pot roast.

Your mother-in-law sounds like my late grandmother, she of the magnificent bread recipe that could be used to make loaves or dinner rolls or any shape you wanted to make it. She's been gone 15 years and I still miss her. It never really goes away; it just gets easier to live with over time.

[pameladean]

Thank you for your sympathy.

If I insist on putting together divers matters in one entry, it's fine to laugh at the funny ones.

Mary had a recipe for hard-crusted rolls and bread from some cruise ship. It included stern instructions to cut up a wool blanket -- I suppose cruise ships have a good supply of worn ones -- to shelter the dough while it rose. She gave me a piece of blanket too, but I could never get the crust right on my version of the bread.

P.

[thinkum]

Hurrah for things glittering with bees! The bees have had a tough time, of late, so any local abundance of them is greatly welcomed. I think I shall choose to take that as a good Sign of things to come. It has been a tough year on many fronts, for too many friends, so glitterings of hope are most welcome.

It sounds like you were blessed with a lovely mother in law. So glad that you can concentrate on the happy memories.

K

[pameladean]

Most of them weren't honeybees, but I like cheering for native bees too. We have some very nice little bumblebees in the yard. I don't know where they nest, but the huge queens are out every spring and the little ones come along later.

She was a fine mother-in-law indeed.

P.

[carbonel]

Even obligate carnivores appreciate a bit of salad from time to time. It's the canteloupe and Doritos that I wonder about.

And I'm very glad that Ari is doing better.

[pameladean]

Their prey might have eaten fruit from time immemorial, but I wonder about the Doritos too. Cass adores chips, to the point that when I ruslte the plastic bag my medications come in prepatory to refilling my pillbox, she comes tearing in from remote corners of the house and is really, really affronted when all I have to show her is four plastic bottles. We did not teach her to love chips; it must have been one of the idiots who gave her back to the shelter.

P.

[sdn.livejournal.com]

A late-in-the-game hug to you.

And I loved swan_tower's book and recommended it like whoa.

And I have a new cat.

[pameladean]

*hugsback*

I am looking forward to reading the book once the crush of daily obligation slows a little.

I know you have a new cat, a tortie! But I'm not on FB so I haven't seen any photos.

P.

[sdn.livejournal.com]

This is thanks to skylarker, and the cat's name is Nell. Nell is now 7 months old and enjoys grooming my hand. She doesn't meow much.

[pameladean]

Awwww. She's a cinnamon-toast cat! With attitude.

P.

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

Happened to spot this while coming to reply to Pamela -- thank you!

[pyrzqxgl.livejournal.com]

Commenting here to pass on a story: So Saturday I was in San Francisco for a coding event, and Monday in Palo Alto for a Stanford tour with my younger son, and I decided to reread the Secret Country books on the buses and trains as good traveling books. When the bus was getting back into Santa Cruz Monday, the woman sitting next to me (who had not said a word to me before this) asked me "Do you like Pamela Dean?", and said that Tam Lin was one of her favorite books, though she hadn't read any of your other books yet. Then she ran off to catch her connecting bus.

[pameladean]

That's a lovely story! Thanks so much for telling me.

P.