Archive for the ‘Words Words Words’ Category
Pteropodidae
Wednesday, December 11th, 2013
the view when I came to bed
This cat came to me in November of 2008, two weeks after Halloween*. One of my design clients found him outside her office, took him to the vet for tests, and then started driving to my apartment before she thought to call me and make sure I wanted a kitten. His full name is Pteropodidae, the family name for fruit bats, because of the giant ears. He is of the cat clan McFucker, always getting into things and perpetrating fuckery on my other cat, Belladonna. If you’re a cat person, you know the type.
Pod’s nicknames are legion, including Poddles, Poddleston, Poddington, Podsworth, Podling, Butthead, Stinkerbelle. He’s got sleek, silky fur that makes excellent hairballs, and the skinniest tail I’ve ever seen on a furry cat. He’s never found a dairy product he doesn’t like, and he’s very vocal if he thinks he hasn’t had enough cheese today.** He’s the one that cuddles up to me in the night, so I wake up to find he’s made himself the little spoon, all snuggled up in the curl of my body. He will tuck himself into the bed for his afternoon nap in protest of inclement weather, which is what he was doing when I took the above photo.
Below, you can see him on the first day he was here. It took him all of an hour to start drinking out of my water glass, because he is a fucker. But I love him, and he’s good*** for Belladonna, who is grumpier but less tubby since she got someone to chase irritably around the apartment.
just look at those ears
* we’re pretty sure he was someone’s unwanted Halloween present, he was very tame and the vet said he seemed abandoned and starving rather than feral
** there is no such thing as enough cheese
*** for certain values of good
Categories: Words Words Words
Tags: pod, words
3 Comments »
I won, yay!
Wednesday, November 27th, 2013
So, this happened on Monday, and then I forgot to tell you about it:
Winner!
I’m still writing (60K+ now, and I still have today’s words to go), but I wanted to celebrate with you guys, who have been very patient with my forays away from art and into writing. And to encourage all of you who are also doing NaNoWriMo this year.
Keep writing, it’s not over ’til it’s over!
Categories: Words Words Words
Tags: nanowrimo
NaNoWriMo and Things
Thursday, November 21st, 2013
Fairy Flower, inks by Amy Crook
I’ve been sadly neglecting the blog during November, but I’m doing wonderfully at NaNoWriMo, and that’s where all my words are going. I’ve started the sequel to The Courtship of Julian St. Albans, and I’m writing Julian’s book to follow up Alex’s.
In the first book, Alex gives Julian some magical plants, among them something I made up called fairy flowers, which attract butterfly fairies. They show up again in The Apprenticeship of Julian St. Albans, and so I decided to draw them. Assuming the coloring goes well, I’ll use them on the cover like I did with Horace.
I still need to color the image, but I thought you’d like to know where I’d wandered off to. So, at 47K+ words and 9 days to go, here’s a little something to tide you over.
And yes, I’m getting (some) art done for the Floating Gallery, too.
Categories: Words Words Words
Tags: nanowrimo
Random Recipe: Lentil Stew
Wednesday, September 11th, 2013
This isn’t really a detailed recipe so much as an outline of a recipe that you can fill in with whatever flavours you like. So far I’ve made a nice spicy curry, a lovely sage and oregano version, and a delicious sweet-savory Moroccan spiced stew.
As a disclaimer, I’ve been making and eating this mainly for the nutrition, so this is specifically an easy, cheap recipe that I can give variety to, freezes well, and is high in iron.
I have no idea how veggie-friendly it is, though I would assume very. I use meat to add protein and flavor, and I assume someone who didn’t eat meat would have something else they use for that purpose. Also, there are no onions in it because I hate onions, but you do what you like.
The Basic Ingredients
- 1 lb lentils
- 1 lb baby carrots, chopped
- 1 lb meat (I’ve used rotisserie chicken, ground turkey, and ground beef so far)
- 1 package frozen spinach (yes frozen you whiner, you’re cooking it anyway, but thaw before adding)
- broth & water in whatever mixture makes you happy
- salt, herbs, spices, and other flavor components
Brown the meat if it needs it, then add the carrots, lentils, flavorings, and broth/water. I found that about half and half made a nice rich soup without overwhelming whatever I was making with the broth. I used the instructions on the lentil package for how much liquid (and then added more for the carrots etc) and how long to cook everything.
I add the spinach near the end so it stays as happy little green highlights without dissolving into the broth, but still gets hot.
I serve this over brown rice when I’m feeling virtuous, or white rice when I’m not. It’s very filling, and as tasty as you make it. However salty it tastes in the pot, btw, the rice will suck a lot of that away, so I always end up taking a bit of extra salt to the table to make up for it.
Enjoy!
Categories: Words Words Words
Tags: nfs, recipe, sharpie marker
The Power of Poddles
Tuesday, September 3rd, 2013
the least-blurry photo I could get of a very wriggly Podsworth
I have found a most excellent way to help stave off the afternoon sleepies! This won’t work for everyone, because not everyone has a cat who deserves this sort of treatment*, but it works for me.
First, I find Pod** where he is sleeping on top of the cat tree. Then I acquire him, protesting, and carry him to the bedroom, where we lay down in bed and have cuddles of dubious consent. He purrs and rubs his head into the petting and then leaves as soon as possible, but it’s a very nice restful, quiet minute or two.
The funny thing is that now, after doing this for a while, he still makes his break for freedom, but after a moment of staring out the window to make sure the squirrels and/or crows aren’t in attendance, he comes back. Having proven that he is above the cuddles, he demands… more cuddles.
Poddleston, Poddleston, Poddleston Pie
A fly can’t bird but a bird can fly
Ask me a riddle and I reply
Poddleston, Poddleston, Poddleston Pie***
It’s a really nice way to get a bit of rejuvenation in a short period of time, and also harass my cat. Who deserves it.****
*I don’t do this with Belladonna, because she is not a fucker who deserves naptime interruptions, and also doesn’t enjoy it as much.
**His actual name is Pteropodidae, in case you were curious.
***Horribly misquoted from Winnie the Pooh
****No, seriously, he’s a total fucker when he’s awake.
PPS – Yes, this is what it’s like in my brain, aren’t you glad you get to see more of it?
Categories: Whimsical and Strange, Words Words Words
3 Comments »
The Art Shop closes tonight!
Saturday, August 31st, 2013
If you were thinking of getting anything in my big Art Shop, tonight’s your last chance! I’m taking all those works off the market tonight, and moving in the Floating Gallery* tomorrow.
The Etsy Shop is sticking around
I’ll still sell my greeting cards at Etsy all month long, and I’m already hard at work on new things for the holidays. I’m just changing the way I sell original art on the site.
The Floating Gallery is an experiment
So if you’ve got questions, comments or just want to chat about art, tentacles, or kittens, email me. I’m totally open to your thoughts! Especially about tentacles.
And just to say it again, in case you don’t read subject lines…
The Old Art Shop closes TONIGHT! IS CLOSED!
*If it’s after the 8th of the month, the Floating Gallery is closed until the 1st of next month.
Categories: Words Words Words
Mischievous Minions
Wednesday, August 28th, 2013
Warning: This blog post will contain spoilers for Despicable Me and Despicable Me 2.
If I had to choose a single word for my feelings about the Minions from Despicable Me it would be delighted. They’re not particularly good, or particularly competent, but something about them just makes me smile.
In fact, the best phrase I came up with to describe them was, “innocently evil.” They’re so gleeful when they’re trying to one-up each other, but they love ice cream and bananas and silly costumes. They’ll punch and poke and push one another just to amuse themselves, but they also don’t seem to much mind when they meet with misfortune. They just grin and go along with it, though blowing one another up will be met with glares and possibly a punch in the arm from the soot-stained, injured party.
They’re so wonderfully juvenile, too. They giggle over “Ramsbottom.” They’re totally unsympathetic with one another. They slap-fight and swipe things from each other and ask for goodnight kisses. They’re like a little yellow refinement of childhood, with all the boundless enthusiasm and none of the screaming tantrums. And just like kids*, Gru remembers each and every one of their totally mundane names, while to everyone else they pretty much all look alike.
Even Gru’s occasionally mystified by them, like the scene where they’re working on antigravity serum and Gru looks up and there’s a bunch of them happily stuck to the ceiling, waving down at him. I love how Nefario’s all, “Oops, I meant to close that,” when the one floats off, and yet, no one does anything about rescuing him, though he shows up several times later. But the one that gets shrunk has his BFF that holds onto him the whole time and is very happy when he’s full size again. And there’s the one who gets his head in a jar in the 2nd movie, and wears the jar the whole rest of the movie.
Not to mention the fact that they react to kidnapping by building a bar and serving drinks on their little desert island.
They also speak their own language! And how cute is it when they sing familiar songs in Minion-ese. There’s not much of that in the first one, but there’s more in the sequel starting with the Banana song preview. Boyband mockery! YMCA! And of course the giant off-hours ice cream party complete with a drinking song. Everything is just funnier in Minion-ese.
In conclusion, Minions are awesome and fun to draw. Also, despicable.
*okay, maybe that’s just me and other people’s kids
Categories: Words Words Words
Tags: despicable me, meta, minion
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