Weekend Writing Warriors (Homecoming)

It’s Sunday again, and time for 8 sentence snippets from a number of your favorite authors. Click on the logo above for Weekend Writing Warriors and on the logo below for Snippet Sunday.

Last time I posted about Riya it was from Marna’s point of view, and she was getting re-acquainted with her own home planet. This time the point of view is Lai’s. Marna has told him how to find the trail  and assured him it is safe,  but he is finding that while he is familiar with R’il’nian and Terran ecology, Riyan plants  and animals are quite different.

The fact that R’il’nian included a word for feather argued that there had been feathered creatures on R’il’n, but none seemed to be native to Riya.

On the other hand, what was the plant off to his right? Instead of branching upward from the roots, it gave the impression of branching downward into the ground. Another plant looked like the skeleton of a geodesic dome, with a huge, brightly colored structure in clashing shades of pink and orange–flower? fruit?–growing inside the dome and protected by it. He moved closer, and found that the colored filaments were being visited by small, winged creatures covered with rainbow scales. A cautious mental probe of one confirmed that the creature had a backbone and six limbs, the middle two modified for flight.

Plant defenses tended to run more to physical protection such as thorns and sticky trunks than poisons. Lai picked his way around an unfamiliar but very hostile-looking bush that was trying to take over the trail, and was glad he’d elected to wear the tough coverall.

No adventure today, just a little more Riyan ecology. Something has to pollinate the flowers.

Jarn’s Journal Year 8 Day 50

Year 8 Day 50

Torch Flower had a daughter, and has named her Pelargonium after a local wild flower. The name is also homage to her aunt, since the plant is sometimes called cranesbill from the shape of the seed pods. I’m just glad Torch Flower’s mother arrived before Pelargonium did! One birth of these large-headed, narrow hipped People is quite enough for me! Since Gray-crowned Crane was present at the birth, I was able to stay out of the naming ceremony.

Photographer Winfried Bruenken; Creative Commons

I think this will be a good group for the couple. Crane seems well aware of Rhinocerous’s strengths and weaknesses, and willing to use the strengths while not putting him in a position where his weaknesses will harm the group.

I have spoken with several of the shamans about my own needs – mostly for help in cooking and clothing. I can, after all, teleport to wherever the game is plentiful and snatch fresh-killed prey from under the noses of the local predators, and I have found a number of sites where fruits and nuts are plentiful. It is the preparation of food and hides that gives me problems.

“What you need,” Lion said finally, “is a woman whose children are grown. Were Little Gnu and Gazelle not what you needed? But once Little Gnu was able to travel, he preferred to rejoin their group. I am not so sure Gazelle felt the same way.”

“Rainbow,” one of the shamans suggested. “Her mate was killed hunting two seasons ago, but she is skilled at cooking and making clothing. Her daughters have gone to other groups, and she had no sons. And with her foot, she has trouble keeping up with the group.”

Another Meerkat? I do not need any more attempted seductions!

More Quilts from the Fair

Here are a couple more quilts from the Tanana Valley State Fair. Alaskans need warmth! (Though not right now; it was 80 again yesterday.)

Quotes from Anne McCaffrey

Here are the contexts of the quotes tweeted from @sueannbowling between August 1 and August 7, 2013. All but the last are from The Skies of Pern, by Anne McCaffrey.

“We will try to defuse rumor with fact.” Sebol, faced with trying to explain the tsunami.

“Since when has the middle of the night been free of trouble!” Idolaran, when the group sent to warn Toric is challenged.

“We did what we could.” F’lessan to Tai, as both are exhausted after rescuing people from the tsunami.

“You couldn’t sell something that had been in the family so long.” The thoughts of Chesmic, stationmaster at Circle Runner Station, about the meteor that had produced the circular crater for which the station was named.

“Too hidebound to know the color of her pelt.” Pinch’s opinion of the woman Abominator called “Fourth.”

“We all have a choice.” A bit of Pinch’s philosophy.

“Maybe they couldn’t compete with the peccaries.” Tourist Trap, by Sue Ann Bowling. Penny, when Roi wonders why there are no black bears on Falaron. (The peccaries are flat-headed peccaries, extinct on Earth, but filling the same niche as black bears on our planet during the Pleistocene.)

Cancer, Chemo and Quilts

The chemo seems to be following the same pattern as last time. Maybe I can at least count on it to stay consistent.

Friday is infusion day. All five hours of it. Not so bad, if boring.

Saturday I feel fairly well, but my basal insulin goes crazy, up to twice normal. My balance is getting shaky, but I feel well enough to spend a few hours at the fair, with the aid of a rolling walker. Took in the quilt show, but the horse show grounds were too rough to handle.

Sunday the need for basal insulin crashes – 90% normal. By 7 I’m ready for bed, and I sleep until 9 Monday morning, and crash again after breakfast.

Not that I have an appetite, but I drag myself out of bed for an unwanted snack and nausea meds by 1. Joints and feet hurt. If I continue to follow the pattern of the last round, my insulin needs will rise again Monday, but I won’t feel like getting out of bed until Thursday. I did get dressed this morning, though — it has not rained, the forecast is close to 80 today, and I have to water.

Anyway, here are a couple of quilts from the show.

North Pole Weather 8/5/13

The sun rose this morning at 5:06 am, and will set 17 hours and almost 40 minutes later, at 10:45 this evening. We’re still losing a little more than 6 minutes a day, but the noon altitude is starting to decline faster – it will be down below 42° today. Civil twilight (sun more than 6° below the horizon) has been back for about a week, though we still have no nautical twilight.

It’s been a warm summer after our cold spring, and while not a record, so far we’re in second place to 2004. We have, however, set a new record for the number of days with temperatures of 80°F or warmer during the summer: 31 as of Thursday, August 1. Friday and Saturday were also above 80°, though it now appears to be cooling off with some showers expected. I hope so; things badly need water and I’m not going to be feeling up to watering for the next few days. In spite of the heat, blooming is behind last year; none of the lilies have opened yet and the delphiniums are just coming into full bloom.

ADA kerchief

My favorite (though very old) gardening hat

This one was purchased for a boating trip. Looks nice, but not as comfortable.

The pre-meds knocked me out when I intended to try wigs while in for chemo Friday, so I don’t have any pictures of wigs. I am including a few with the head coverings I have, and one of me au natural

Current appearance without head covering.

(though I expect it will be very temporary, both in terms of what hair I have left right now and of the overall loss.) It might even come back curly.

Weekend Writing Warriors: Horse Power

Welcome to WeWriWa (click on the logo above) and Snippet Sunday (click on the logo below.) It’s time again for 8 sentences from one of my works, and not just mine: there are a number of writers on each list. This weekend Horse Power is free, so I decided to continue the stampede and bicycle, putting in bits (in order but not necessarily contiguous) until the problem is clear. Oh, and did I say the story is free today on Amazon? Grab a copy, and consider a review!

“That,” [Amber] told [Roi], “is probably the exploitation the Council heard about.  Only I suspect it’s perfectly legal.  The Company controls most of the shipping, and they only bring in things they can sell for Confederation credits, not for the barter we normally use.  The only herding vehicles they import use fossil fuel.  I suppose they could be modified to run on alcohol, but the manufacture or importation of alcohol is illegal.  That leaves us totally dependent on imports of fossil fuel.  This is a terraformed planet.  There isn’t any fossil fuel, beyond some methane clathrates that we don’t have the equipment to mine.”

News: I now know that this chemo leaves me feeling only a little off for the day after, and then flattens me for the next four days.  This is day 3 of round 2, so don’t expect much in comments). I’ve pretty well lost my hair. But its bearable (if enervating) for the second and third week of a cycle. I have the editing on Rescue Operation finished, though I still need to stitch the short chapters together and do some global search and replace changes to keep the spelling consistent.. Anyone interested in a beta read?

Final question: I’ve always been very conservative about hair color. Should I try a wig in a completely new color while I’m bald? Or maybe even a photo gallery of various styles?

Jarn’s Journal Year 8 Day 35

Year 8 Day 35

Photo Credit Dick Daniels, http://carolinabirds.org/HTML/AF_Gruiforme_Crane.htm#CraneBlue

They were so late leaving last year that I persuaded myself they would be late arriving this year, but about half of the People are already here. Haboob, who is named for a dust storm, arrived with a much diminished group. In fact, his mate, her sister, and their children are just about it. The rest of the group arrived today, led (at least nominally) by Gray-crowned Crane, the older sister of Torch Flower’s mother. Keeping the peace between those two groups is even more of a problem than being treated as a god!

At least Torch Flower’s mother knows something about delivering babies!

I have seen several who were part of Stillwater’s group, including Rhino’s parents, come in with other groups. Has this group dissolved completely, or split into two or more warring factions? At any rate, it appears that Gray-Crowned Crane is willing to take the couple in as a part of her group. Now I just need to find someone who can cook and make clothing.