Before Green Gables

A few weeks ago I was out for a weekend walk when I noticed that there was something going on at The Flying Dragon, one of my favourite bookstores in Toronto. I never turn down an excuse to visit a bookstore, of course, so I decided to check out what was happening.

And I'm so glad I did. Nova Scotia writer Budge Wilson was doing a book signing! My sister had introduced me to Ms. Wilson's works, and The Leaving remains one of my all-time favourite short story collections for young people.

With only ten minutes left until the store's closing time (and cursing myself for not walking by earlier), I stood mesmerized by a story Ms. Wilson was telling to onlookers. When it became clear that she was about to end her bookstore visit, I finally asking the author to sign my newly-purchased book.

"Oh dear, have you been waiting for me to sign your book?" Ms. Wilson said, smiling. "You should have interrupted me."

Yeah, right. Like I'm going to interrupt BUDGE WILSON telling a story!

I only had a chance to glance at the cover of the book before buying it, so didn't really know much about it; I just knew that I couldn't turn down an opportunity to have Ms. Wilson sign one of her books, and I was sure I'd enjoy anything she had written.

When I got home and looked at the book more closely, however, I admit to having doubts. Before Green Gables: a PREQUEL to Anne of Green Gables? Even if it was authorized by L.M. Montgomery's heirs, I still wondered about the author herself would have felt about this. I've also never been crazy in general about prequels and sequels written by people other than the original author.

I started reading with great trepidation, but found myself caught up in the story almost immediately. I admit it's been a while since I read the original book, but as far as I'm concerned, Ms. Wilson did an excellent job at conveying Anne's early childhood.

I'm sure Annie of Green Gable purists out there are going to be outraged by this book no matter how well it's written and part of me can sympathize, but in the end I found it a satisfying read that enhanced my whole Annie experience rather than detracting from it.



Speaking of books....

I'm still loving my slow cooker, and my favourite slow cookbook is definitely Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker Cookbook by Beth Hensperger and Julie Kaufmann (pictured above, on the right).

I'm starting to experiment with making side dishes and even desserts with our slow cooker. Last night, for instance, I made Crock-Roasted Root Vegetables (p135 in the cookbook mentioned above). It was super-easy to prepare, mainly because I bought packages of pre-chopped squash and turnip to reduce the chances of aggravating my tendinitis.

I made Chocolate Peanut Butter Pudding Cake (p426) in the slow cooker when my sister and her family came over for dinner. It's not the prettiest dessert in the world but holy cow, it was yummy. I served it with ice cream.



One reason I like this cookbook so much is because it doesn't just have recipes; the authors explain the principles of why certain techniques work and don't work in a slow cooker, as well as how certain kinds of meat and vegetables are best prepared and why. I also enjoy reading some of the brief stories behind certain recipes, and the personal anecdotes.

My only complaint: the lack of nutritional info. My copy of the cookbook is already well-thumbed and marked up with post-it notes and scribbled annotations, but if they came out with a new version that had nutritional info, I'd be buying another copy for sure.

Survey for you cooks out there: what's YOUR current favourite cookbook?

Added two new episode reports to Babylon Five Virgin: "Grail" and "TKO." I'll be adding two more later today or tomorrow.



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My first Babylon Five cartoon! and Strumsticks

Jeff and I watched another B5 episode last night. I posted about 'Mind War' in my Babylon Five Virgin blog (please post any comments in that blog, thanks, and not in LJ). And I posted my first Babylon Five comic in the blog, woohoo!

I've been investigating Strumsticks lately. I've been curious about this instrument every since Dan K. (see below) let me try his at GAFilk:




As some of you already know, tendinitis issues have kept me from playing guitar with Urban Tapestry. The Strumstick, however, is much lighter to carry and easier to play than a regular guitar, plus I figured it would add some instrumental variety to our performances.

Browsing the catalog, it seems that there are different types of Strumsticks, with the standard being in G or D, but also chromatic Strumsticks available which would able to play in any key.

I was also excited by some of the sound samples I heard on the Strumstick site, especially Chromatic Strumstick samples like this one. And wow, check out this sample of a Double Strumstick! There are even electric Strumsticks.

One of my concerns, though, is being able to fly with it. The Strumsticks are VERY light, from 11 ounces and up. However, I have my doubts about whether I'd always be able to take it as carry-on. Air Canada, the airline I do almost all my flying on, tends to be much pickier about carry-on that other instruments.

From Air Canada's site: "Air Canada will try to accommodate small musical instruments as part of a passenger's carry-on baggage allowance if the instruments can be stowed in an approved area for cabin baggage (i.e. overhead bin, underneath passenger seat). Customers are reminded to arrive prepared to check the item, as it is never guaranteed that it can be accommodated due to passenger loads, aircraft limitations and/or storage space available."

Even if I opted for the regular Standard Strumstick instead of the longer Chromatic or Grand, that's 29.5 inches long, which is longer than their standard carry-on length max, and longer than any suitcase I usually take to conventions. I wrote to the Strumstick people to ask if they had hardshell cases available, and they suggested I look into a rifle case.

A rifle case. HAHAHA, yes, that would go over real well at airports, I'm sure.

And so my fantasies of being a Strumstick Queen crumble into pitiful dust...


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Squirrel in my walls

I forgot to post my WWFC update last week. You can see a bigger version at Will Write For Chocolate.

There's a squirrel living in my office walls. I can hear it gnawing and digging and scrabbling around; the sound drives me NUTS sometimes, especially when it sounds as if it's right beside my head. I've been trying to figure out what it's doing. Storing food? Building squirrel condos? Preparing for world domination?


Fridge magnet in my Etsy shop.

Jeff had checked around the outside of the house for holes and blocked any he could find, before this new squirrel arrived. In the past couple of years, squirrels have gotten trapped in our air ducts (happy ending) as well as having offspring inside our house (sad ending). I have a bad feeling that the current situation isn't going to end well for the squirrel. :-(



I've been enjoying reading Cybele's Secret by Juliet Marillier, a sequel to the author's Wildwood Dancing. The book isn't yet available in North America, so I'm very grateful to Shane for sending it to me; he sent it in thanks for my sending him a signed Jasper Fforde book a while back.

As I was reading it, however, I discovered a pretty major printer's error: pages 171-182 are missing from my Australian edition! They haven't been torn out; they're just not there. I sent e-mail to the author and publisher to let them know; Ms. Marillier responded within a couple of hours, asking for more detailed info. I resisted the urge to lapse into fangirl mode ("WOW YOU ACTUALLY WROTE TO ME AND OMG I LOVED *LOVED* WILDWOOD DANCING!!!!!!!!!"), but just barely. :-)

There was a bit of plot missing but I figured out what was going on in the context afterward, and I'm still thoroughly enjoying the story.

I've been pretty busy, especially since I'm trying to get a bunch of extra work done before I leave for Atlanta (for GAfilk) this Thursday. Speaking of GAfilk, I'm donating my "Perchance To Dream" painting to the Interfilk auction at the convention:





Very excited about the convention! My friends Maya and Jeff Bohnhoff are the Guests of Honor, and I'm SO looking forward to their concert. Maya, by the way, is awaiting the release of the second two books in her Mer Cycle trilogy.

On the topic of talented friends...

I've posted an interview with Moira Allen on Inkygirl recently. For those that don't know, Moira Allen was my second-in-command at Inkspot and was hugely helpful and inspirational. She also helped keep me sane through the crazy Web site sale phase when I was constantly stressed and freaking out.

After years of working with her online, I was delighted to finally MEET HER IN PERSON in 2001. She lives in the UK now. Moira recently released an updated version of her book, Coping With Sorrow on the Loss Of Your Pet. Anyway, please do check out my interview with Moira Allen.

Back to work...



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