Category Archives: nothing special

Cornflower blue.Lapis lazuli.The Hermitage.George Gershwin.Aaron Copeland.“Rhapsody in Blue.”“Take Five.”“Appalachian Spring.”“The Kitchen Maid.”“A View of Toledo.”Tapas.Madrid. “Guernica.”London.Harry Potter. The British Museum. Stonehenge.The Musee d’Orsay.Big Sur.The ocean — any ocean.Great Big Sea.“Walk on the Moon” and “Helmethead.” Jimmy Buffet.Key West.St. Croix.Really good … Continue reading →

I am not sure, but I wonder how rare it is to be able to identify a single book — no, a single chapter — as being formative in developing what one believes about the world.  I have heard libertarians … Continue reading →

A few posts ago, I wrote about the subversive nature of Dr. Seuss.  I mentioned that I felt it had shaped my children’s view of the world for the better.  But what of me? What books did I read? In … Continue reading →

…. is for Farm Rich snacks. The video shows various shots of kids of various ages doing the sort of things kids do — including a toddler throwing a watch in the toilet.  The voice-over says “When they were babies, … Continue reading →

Congratulations to the Giants, and to all my friends who are Giants fans. I want next year’s World Series to be the Cubs versus the Indians.  I am more than ready to talk about football. Considering that the 49ers are … Continue reading →

I am writing a post about the literature that had a significant effect in creating who I am today.  And while writing it, I could not help but think of the woman who introduced me to some of the best … Continue reading →

I’m late for the train on this one, but… I can’t say that I blame the folks at NPR for firing Juan Williams.  But they should have fired him for having anything to do with Fox News to begin with. … Continue reading →

“You should work as hard as you can — whether you are paid for it or not — at something worth doing.” Sandra Day O’Connor.

Me: “Do you know what a group of crows is called?” Echidna Boy: “Yes mom *eyeroll*, a murder.… There were a couple of murders of crows going after the geese.” Me: “Does that make it a serial killer of crows?”

It is October now. It has started raining here in Northern California, which means the hot days of fall are over, and we are entering into the “other season.”  We here in the Bay Area really only have two seasons, … Continue reading →

I have never read the work of  China Miéville.  I had heard of him — I read a lot of blogs with a high concentration of SF/Fantasy fans.  I am not reading much of either genre these days (I’m probably … Continue reading →

Jan* has died.  Or, at least the hard drive has.  Attempts to run Disk Repair resulted in a message that the disk was beyond repair. With the exceptions of iTunes, any software would crash within seconds of being opened.  (Hey, … Continue reading →

The Jesuits were fond of saying “Give me a child until seven, and I will give you the man.” It don’t know if they’re right, but I think there was one man who may have believed that:  Theodore Geisel, better … Continue reading →

The notion of privilege can be a difficult one to explain sometimes in terms that people can feel viscerally.  All too often, the discussion exists at a safe distance, at least on the part of those having the privilege.  (For … Continue reading →

Adventure day! I was ostensibly conducting research for a novel I may or may not be writing during NaNoWriMo.  The novel begins with the heroine standing on the shore at San Simeon state beach.  Since I could not actually remember … Continue reading →