Dr. Who

I'm hooked. It only took one edisode, and now I'm completely hooked on the adventures of a time travelling alien who looks like you'd imagine Ichabod Crane would, and who travels the galaxy in a blue police call box.

It's whacky and scary and smart - and the decor reminds me of the old Star Trek episodes (before they started taking themselves too seriously).

It's a terrifying look at human nature, and yet it's uplifting too. It's got great actors and great scripts.

In short, you have to see Dr. Who.

Financial Scandal News

(For those who wanted to see if the French rogue trader was suave - I think so, although a bit serious. He's described as quite handsome in nearly all the reports I've read. The directors at the Societe Generale must be rolling their eyes at that...lol and there is already talk of a film!)

So I went to the bank today to see if I could get a better interest rate for my debt, and I couldn't help needling the director a bit. I mean, the biggest financial scandal in history happens in my bank, and I'm supposed to ignore it?
Moi: I see you're busy this morning (phone ringing off the hook, people rushing everywhere with big files.)
Director: Yes, it's a bit of a...er...
Moi: Shock?
D: Er...yes. A bit of a shock.
Moi: Did you know the guy?
D: Of course not!
Moi: He did it on purpose, is that it? To sink the ship so to speak, right? Was he mad at someone in the bank do you think? Was he on his own?
D: He must have really hated someone in the bank to do such a thing. (wipes his forehead with a tissue)
Moi: So, are interest rates going down?
D: No, actually, president Trichet of the European bank has announced they'll probably go up to fight inflation.
Moi: Oh, that's stupid. When the price of oil, corn and wheat shoot up, you're going to have inflation anyway. So, what are your fixed rates like?
D: They're low now.
Moi: Do you know the guy's name? Have they released a photo of him yet?
D: They released his name, I haven't seen a photo yet.
Moi: I just can't believe he did it by himself.
D: Er...That seems to be the case though.
Moi: I mean, how could such a thing happen? And no one saw it coming? It sort of shakes your confidence in the banking system.
D: We have lower interest rates over here. Look at this chart.

(notice how he changed the subject...)
Anyhow, I was wondering if I shouldn't change banks, just to be contrary, but it's quite the pain to change everything.

I did find out that:
The bank knew about it DAYS before it was announced.
The trader probably did NOT act alone.
SOMEONE made a HELL of a lot of money. I wonder if they will ever trace it.
President Sarkozy has ordered the bank to give a FULL report to the minister of finance before the week is out.
I kindof would like to be a rogue trader. It's the idea that's cool. But Who would trust their money with Moi?

:-)

The car down the hill

Someone abandoned their old, useless car at the bottom of the hill leading out of the village. The person simply parked the car on a spot of grass and left it there. The problem is, it's on private property, and therefor is the responsibility of the person who owns the land, even though he had nothing to do with the vagrant car.
The police were called and noted that the car wazs not listed as stolen. They also noted that they could not seem to locate the owner.
The farmer who owns the land (being a stubborn fellow) declared that he wasn't about to pay for having the car towed away and junked, as the police suggested he do. So, he left the car where it was. On his property, about twenty feet from the road.
Today, some kids sacked the car - wrecked it, broke it, and scattered the pieces far and wide. So now it's going to be a real pain to pick up.
Before, it would have been easy to tow. Now it's going to be necessary to put the car on the back of a truck.
What the farmer should have done:
(This I learned today after talking to the mayor about the problem)
He should have pushed the car onto the road. The car, once on public property, becomes a municipal problem. The police would have come and towed it away.
Set fire to it. (Strange but true - burnt out cars are immediatly towed away.)
So, if someone leaves a junked car on your property, the thing to do it get it Off your property (preferrably when no one is looking...)
And voila.

I've been Pimped!

Kate R. has pimped me over at her blog.
Thank you Kate!
I am officially a Thursday Thirteen.
:-)
And I'm still promoting my Zombie Jack book, so if you haven't read it, trot over to Loose Id and grab a copy!

Some clarification:
A reader has expressed doubt about my eating habits. I honestly think I was one of the most difficult children to feed (if you ran out of peanut butter) in the state of NY. Just ask my mother how long I had to sit at the table, staring at cold green beans. (I cannot, to this day, enjoy eating green beans, hot or cold.) I became a master at hiding food in my napkin. When I saw the Mr. Bean sketch of Mr. Bean and the steak tartare, I instantly recognized myself.

Kate says my house is elegant. It is not at all elegant. The garden is interesting, the village is spectacular, but the house is old, drafty, and, well, run down. It's a nice little house, and I love it, but it has one bathroom, only three closets, and the outbuildings are bigger than the house itself. It also only has two bedrooms; we've squeezed our daughter into what would qualify as a walk-in closet in most houses.
She doesn't mind. I let her paper the walls with posters of horses.

A broken frame

It's not a big deal. My daughter broke the frame that held a photo of her great-grandfather on a polo pony. But because it was broken, I decided to take the photo out and scan it.

Here is Great-Grandfather Jules Macaire on a bob-tail polo pony around 1930.

I never met him. He died at a relatively young age. A polo accident when he was only 35 left him paralysed on one side, and it affected his health.
He ran a riding academy out of a small stables in Neuilly. During the war, the academy and horses were confiscated. When the war finished, he went back to teaching riding and polo. His son took over when his health failed, but never really made a success of the riding school. When Jules died, his son (my husband's father) moved the ponies to the Bagatelle club in Paris, then sold the stables for a pittance to a developer for apartment buildings.
Family fortunes move up and down. I can follow my husband's family fortune as it slowly sank. War, health problems, and financial mismanagement depleted the fortune, and today, of the riding stables and farm they once owned, there is nothing left. It's sad. Only a few pieces of furniture remain that speak of bygone days. A bronze statue of two horses, an ebony table inlaid with ivory, a few knick-knacks. And a photgraph with a broken frame.

Rainy Winter, and where I nearly get squashed

It's still rainy out. After the one weeks of cold, sunny, frosty weather, the rain came back and has drenched the countryside. I go for walks in my slicker and boots, and the dogs are perpectually muddy. (Let's not talk about my floors...) I am off to a lunch with friends today, so that will brighten up the day a bit.

We went for a lovely walk in a nearby woods. We saw deer bounding through the trees, and Auguste and Rusty were tied together so Auguste wouldn't go running after the deer. We were in a public domain forest, which means the paths and sandy roads through it are kept up, and the trees are constantly being pruned and checked. As we rounded a corner, we saw a lumberjack's truck, heard the whine of a chainsaw, and saw a lumberjack crouched at the base of a huge tree. We were about to go forward, but prudence held us back. Which way was the tree going to fall? We called out, but the lumberjack was wearing ear-muffs and couldn't hear us.
We decided the best thing would be to wait near the truck. He wouldn't make the tree fall and crush his truck, would he? Just as we reached the truck, the tree gave a huge crack and fell - right across the path we'd been standing upon.
I'd never seen a tree that size fall. It fell in slow motion at first, then suddenly swooshed down. The sound was incredible, and the ground shook as it hit, or perhaps it was just my imagination. But it seemed as that giant fell, the forest held its breath and then let it out with a rush of whipping branches and crackling wood.
The lumberjack looked up, saw us, and gave a start. He turned a bit pale, poor guy. I don't think he expected to see anyone that day. He told us it was a good thing we had our dogs on the leads, as there was a family of wild boar with small babies nearby. He'd seen them as he'd driven up. If the dogs had chased them, the mother would have attacked the dogs.
We clambored over the fallen tree on our way back home. It was dead - pocked with holes, and soggy with the rain.

Why religion?

I just read a very interesting article by a socialogist on the rise of extremist religious groups in the world. His theory is that as people lose control of their lives (the economy, war, healthcare...) they inevitably try to control some part by turning to morality.Taking control of their personal morals helps them feel more secure in a world where their savings are dwindling, their jobs are on the line, and their prospects are getting bleaker. If that control stayed in their own home, it wouldn't be such a bad thing, but controlling morality means controlling others, starting with women.

It's an interesting theory, which explains a lot, really. It explains the way women are treated in places where religion has become a theocracy. Women are punished for acting in an amoral way - the punishments ranging from flogging to death - for simply making love with the wrong person. The control extends to dictating what a woman can wear and how she must act. In the most extreme societies, she is a prisoner of her own family, unable to even be in a room with a television set. (Recently in Saudi Arabia a man asked for divorce on the grounds that his wife had been in a room alone while a male newscaster read the news on TV.)

I'm cool with most religions as long as they don't try to make me believe in what they do or conform to their moral standards. I'm a woman. I think women are great. I write about sex, and I love it. I am comfortable (most of the time) with my own body. Nudity doesn't bother or shock me. I think that whatever consenting adults do together is their business. Two poeple in love should be able to get married and celebrate their marriage. A woman should be able to decide what to do with her own body.

Children should be able to choose their own religions and not be brain washed into a religion at an early age. I'd say educate children in all the religions of the world and let them choose when they want to, and if they want to. (Wouldn't that be nice?) I think most poeple would eventually choose their parents' religion, but imagine not having any pressure and just being able to choose? What religion, if any, would you choose? I haven't actually decided yet which one I want to choose. I think I'd like to try them all and see which one, if any, fits me.

Three Kings Day

Today is Three Kings Day. In France, it's traditional to buy (or bake) a 'galette des rois', which is a puff pastry tart with a fragipane (almond cream) and a 'fève' inside. The féve is a small ceramic figurine placed in the tart, and whoever gets the part with the fève inside, is the king (or queen).


So today my neighbor Patricia invited my daughter and I to her house for the galette. We were 7, so cutting the tart was tricky. You have to give out all the pieces, because you don't want the fève to be left in the last piece! The youngest child hides under the table and says who each piece is for as it's cut.
And you can't peek to see if you have the fève, it brings bad luck.
Once you find the fève, you choose someone to be your king or queen, and give them a gold crown (cardboard - very silly looking) to wear. You also get to keep the fève. Today Patricia got the fève, so she gave the crown to her husband to wear.
Afterwards we sat around talking politics (the French Love talking politics) and I tried to explain the primaries and why Obama wasn't president yet. Explaining politics is hard. Explaining the US voting system is nearly impossible.
Side note: In France, Huckabee is pronounced 'Yuck-abee' and Obama 'Ho-bama'.

Argh argh!

First of all, a publicity announcement from our sponsor (me):
If you have read Zombie Jack and loved it, would you go vote for it here? http://www.critters.org/predpoll/novelsf.shtml
It's just for fun, but if you liked Zombie Jack, you might want to cast your vote for it at Preditors and Editors.
You can also vote for Calderwood Books as a publisher, http://www.critters.org/predpoll/ebookpublisher.shtml
and Joy Calderwood gets my vote as editor! http://www.critters.org/predpoll/bookeditor.shtml
(Again, it's just for fun - no prizes - but it's good publicity!)
Thanks!

I'm making monster noises because my son has gotten bad grades in his first semester and I don't know if he can keep his financial aid. It's a big ARGH because college in the US is so expensive and it's not reimbursed like when you pay for the doctor here in France you get reimbursed by social security. It's not like that. You pay, and I guess what you get is a college degree.

The US system is beyond me, actually. I've grasped the French system - you want to study law, for example, you go to law school and you study law. It's free (you have to pay for books, and if you live on campus, you have to pay room and board, but it's fairly cheap) so most people can send their kids to college. You have to get good grades to stay in though (you have to get very good grades, actually.) But in the US, if you get bad grades, you get put on probation and lose your perks. My son was tutoring French, but he's probably lost that job, and he will have to get his grades Way Way up in order to get a degree now (if I've understood anything).

In the US, you go to college and you study...everything. It's a mass of choices and required classes. If you want to study law, for example, you have to pass history, and to study biology you are required to take English classes. In France, all the basics: French, science, philosophy, math, etc. are taken care of before the baccalaureate. Afterwards, they study only law, or psychology, or science. Some colleges are hard to get into (there is an entrance exam for medicine that requires 2 years of prep studies.) But mostly, you just enroll in the closest college to your home, and that's it. Why did my son decide to study in the US? I think he was afraid he wouldn't be able to pass the vet school exam here. But if his grades this semester are anything to go by, he won't be able to pass any exam anywhere.

What he says is that he couldn't concentrate. This from the kid who would sit for 5 hours without moving or making noise watching an ant's nest. I think he just got distracted by too many things to do. Another thing I noticed was that college was like a social club, like Club Med, and there was tons of stuff going on that has nothing to do with studies. (If I'd have gone to college in the US, I think I would have been distracted too...) I'm hoping he can change his room mate (an aspiring opera singer) and get someone quiet to share a room with.
I am hoping he studies hard and gets good grades.

But ultimately, what I know is this: he's a young man who has to make his own decisions and own mistakes. What he'll do now, and how he will react to this set-back, will tell volumes about the man he will become. I wish him well.
And I wish he can keep his financial aid.
Anyone want to put a kid through college?

Welcome 2008!

It's the New Year, and we're all full of resolutions.
As usual, mine will start with 'eat less sugar and chocolate'. This is usually because I've OD'd on sugar and chocolate over the holidays.
Carrot sticks next year, not chocolate and candy!
Stop smoking. (I don't smoke, but it's a darn good resolution to have.) In France, there is No more smoking at all in public places. No more smoke-filled nightclubs, bars, or cafés. It will be odd stepping into the local café to fill out my Lotto ticket, and not find myself in a cloud of smoke.
More exercise! I have the gym schedule next to my computer. No more excuses. Off to the gym! Off with the flab!
Finish the 4 books I started in 2007 and start the series I've been dying to work on.
Work with Calderwood Books getting our titles into Fictionwise and in POD.
Get rid of my tendinitis. (I've been resting my elbow and it feels much better! The house, however, is rawther dusty, and my work is Way, Way falling behind.)
Perfect my golf. (One of my favorite resolutions, after 'Get More Sleep', and 'Relax with a Book more Often'.)
Find more ways to protect the planet.
Take down my Christmas tree.

Happy New Year! May it be filled with Peace and Prosperity for all!

13 things to do with an unwanted gift

After the holidays, we're all faced with a huge problem. What to do with the unwanted gift?
Here are some solutions:

1) The hand-knit sweater. The sleeves are unequal length, the color a sort of 'vomitus green', and the buttons came from the 70's, and haven't aged well at all. It's 100% pure wool. It feels like 100% steel wool. You grit your teeth and smile. "Thank you SO much," you say.
What keeps your smile in place is the knowledge that wool is the best material for buffing wood wax. Woolen sweaters can buff floor wax to a mirror-bright shine.

2) The bracelet. It's plastic. How modern! With large, blue squares held together with black plastic string. The bracelet fits the cat. It hides the flea collar, and makes the mangy cat look almost like a prize feline.
Ugly jewelry can almost always be used for something.

3) The hideous writing paper.
That's a no brainer. Everyone knows paper is fine for starting chimney fires. For those with no chimneys, paper can be used to start the barb-b-cue.

4) The perfume that knocks you out. This is a hard one. Pour it down the drain, and you get whiffs of it for days. Dump it in the toilet, and you feel guilty. There is an answer:
Horrible perfume can be used to freshen the kitchen garbage. Soak a little into a paper towel, and place beneath the plastic bin liner.

5) The book you'll never read.
Put it in your bookcase. It can always be used in a pinch to swat a spider when you don't want to ruin any of your keepers.

6) Chocolates.
After a few days, the sight of the box of chocolates, little nibbles taken out of most of them, is too much to bear. My advice is to never unwrap chocolate boxes. Keep them until your next bridge party and give them to the host/hostess. The round, coconut balls make interesting golf balls after a few years in the back of the closet.

7) The dreadful jacket.
Your mother thinks you're cold and gives you a huge, fireman-red down jacket. It's puffy. It's flashy. It's...just not you.
If you're not allergic to feathers, I suggest taking a pillow case and stuffing it with the jacket. You can also try dying it a different color. Experiment. Tie-dying a down jacket is an excellent rainy day activity. Have fun.

8) The gadget. You have no idea what it is. You read the directions twice, and it still makes no sense. It might be a clock - or a barometer. Check to see if there are batteries you can recuperate. If it's heavy enough, use it as a paperweight until you can't stand the sight of it. Whatever you do, don't put it in a drawer and forget about it.

9) Health-food. Have you ever gotten a bag/box/crate of health food as a gift? A bag of sawdust, you thought at first. Turns out to be the 'Power Drink' of the stars. Tastes like saw dust. Your borders will appreciate it. Also can be used to supplement plant food. Do not feed to the dog.

10) The arts and krafts kit. Oh joy. Oh delight. An arts and krafts kit to make a ____ (fill in the blank). You have to sew (can't sew) or paint (can't paint) or glue together pieces of wood to make something wonderful. But these kits CAN be useful.
A car pulls up, and someone you don't want to see comes to the front door.
Quick! Open the arts and kraft box and strew everything over the table.
"I'm so sorry. I can't talk right now, I'm SO busy," you say, pointing to the pile of ribbons, wood, nails and paint. Saved by the arts and kraft kit.

11) The really ugly shirt. Wear it once and have someone take your picture, as proof you wore it. Then glad rags and more glad rags.

12) The awful music. A CD of some sort of ear-splitting cacophony. If you have a cherry tree, tie it in the branches with sting to scare the birds away. Or use it as a frisbee. Put it under your coffee cup so you don't stain your desk. CD's can be very useful. The thank you note is heartfelt.

13) The tie you'll never wear. It's a given that at some point in your life you'll get a hideous tie. They can be used in a pinch to tie up the dog, to close the trunk, or to wipe up a spill. Keep it in the glove compartment in your car. You never klnow when you might need a garrotte.

There's a story in my head...

I have this story in my head, but I can't let it out until I finish the two projects I'm already working on. A legacy from my childhood - I was taught to finish what I started, be it homework, a drawing, or a fight.

:-)

We had a lazy Christmas, but we were all so tired it felt good to spend the day not doing anything at all. My daughter was recuperating from the flu, my son is getting ready for his mid term exams, (in France they are called 'partials', and they count for half of the student's final grades) and my husband was glad to just sit back and relax. I bought an already made couscous for Christmas dinner, and we had that and oranges. (And ice cream for dessert!)

Today son is studying, daughter is going to the pony club, and I will be working on my writing projects so I can finally get to that story that has been inside my head!

Merry Christmas!

Here are some photos from the fields and forest yesterday -

it was all frosty and lovely out.

Here is August in the field!

Smug

Well, I suppose I'm just looking for good news after reading that Texas is considering offering scientific degrees in Creationism - so does this count?
Germany’s interior minister called the Church of Scientology "an unconstitutional organization" and said the nation is seeking to ban the group.

Let's dig around the web and see iwhat we can find...

"...To explain the furious hostility between Germany and the Church of Scientology, German officials might point to the story of a young man from Braunschweig named Juergen Behrndt.
Shortly before his graduation from technical school in 1989, Behrndt received an offer of free career counseling in a brochure from an employment agent in Hamburg. But the man turned out to be a Scientologist recruiter, and instead of employment advice, he gave Behrndt a copy of the Scientologists' Bible, Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health. Then a woman from the Scientologists' Hamburg office began calling, Behrndt said, and pressuring him to take a 200-question personality test.

He did, beginning a six-year membership with the group, an endless series of "audits" of his mental health and classes to "stabilize" his mind. "When things went well, I paid ever-more money out of my pocket," Behrndt recalled. "When things went poorly, I was insulted and rebuked." In Behrndt's first year of membership, Scientology officials visited his parents with him seeking a DM 75,000 ($50,250) loan toward his activities. By the time he broke from the group in 1995, Behrndt had spent some DM 200,000 ($134,000), was unemployed and emotionally ravaged: "Many days I saw no reason to even get up."

This article from German Life goes on to explain that:

"Scientology sprouted in America in the 1950s. L. Ron Hubbard, a moderately successful science fiction author, founded the group and wrote Dianetics and other books that outline his principles. Scientologists believe that an intergalactic holocaust 75 million years ago caused mankind's spiritual problems. They perform "audits" of their members' mental states and offer expensive remedies in the form of counseling and self-improvement courses."

To me, Scientology has always been a scam sect featuring movie stars like Tom Cruise and John Travolta. Of course, to me, Mormanism is also a sect featuring Donny Osmond and the Morman Tabernacle Choir. A choice between bad movies and even worse music.

And even more interesting is this:

"There are three notable American court cases involving Scientology that illustrate why Germany's concerns about this organization are justified. In the early 1980s, American courts convicted 11 top Scientologists for plotting to plant spies in federal agencies, break into government offices and bug at least one IRS meeting. In 1994, in a case involving Lawrence Wollersheim, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a California court's finding of substantial evidence that Scientology practices took place in a coercive environment and rejected Scientology's claims that the practices were protected under religious freedom guaranties. In September 1997, the Illinois Supreme Court found there was evidence enough to allege that Scientology had driven the Cult Awareness Network into bankruptcy by filing 21 lawsuits in a 17-month period. The court stated that "such a sustained onslaught of litigation can hardly be deemed 'ordinary', if [the Network] can prove that the actions were brought without probable cause and with malice."

In addition, a New York Times article on March 9, 1997, outlined "an extraordinary campaign orchestrated by Scientology against the [IRS] and people who work there. Among the findings were these: Scientology's lawyers hired private investigators to dig into the private lives of IRS officials and to conduct surveillance operations to uncover potential vulnerabilities." A related New York Times article on December 1, 1997, added that earlier IRS refusals to grant tax exemption "had been upheld by every court." (On December 30, 1997, a Wall Street Journal article outlined details of the $12.5 million tax settlement between the IRS and Scientology, including the Scientology agreement to drop thousands of lawsuits against the IRS.)

On December 1, 1997, a New York Times article described Scientology records seized in an FBI raid on church offices that prove "that Scientology had come to Clearwater with a written plan to take control of the city. Government and community organizations were infiltrated by Scientology members. Plans were undertaken to discredit and silence critics. A fake hit-and-run accident was staged in 1976 to try to ruin the political career of the mayor. A Scientologist infiltrated the local newspaper and reported on the paper's plans to her handlers." A related Times article also on Dec. 1, 1997, reported on a criminal investigation into Scientology's role in a member's death in Clearwater, Florida. In November 1998, the responsible State Attorney charged Scientology's Flag Service Organization with abuse or neglect of a disabled adult and practicing medicine without a license.

Given this background, Germany, as well as Belgium, France, Great Britain, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Spain, Israel and Mexico, remain unconvinced that Scientology is a religion. "
(The above lifted from here)

Now, ever since a Hari Krishna stuck a pin in my back because I kicked her out of the store where I was working, I've been against any sort of sect. I also chased the Hari Krishna down the street and would have pounded her if I hadn't been hampered by my sarong falling down.

Deck the Halls!

The tree glitters, the house is decked with boughs of pine and swaths of ribbon, and there are oranges in the bowl on the table.

My daughter is feeling much better today - - thanks so much for the well wishes.

I have finished the shopping, the cards are sent, the house is fairly clean, the stockings are hung, and it's still icy, cold, and clear outside. White frost is sparkling on the trees and ground, beckoning Auguste to escape and go for a dash through the woods.

A couple days ago I got a letter from someone who read my book 'Time for Alexander'. He was quite indignant at the liberties I took with the historical part of the story. I wondered how to reply. (And if I should reply) Finally I sent a note saying that it was a fiction book, and should be taken as thus. (After all, there's a modern woman zipping through time to interview Alexander the Great and getting mistaken for Persephone - I'd have thought that the fiction part was pretty well established...) I wonder if I did the right thing though. I suppose this means he won't be reading the rest of the series.

:-)

But I did get great news - Zombie Jack was chosen by one of JERR's reviewers as her 'read of the year'! Hurrah for Zombie Jack!

My daughter just looked at me and said, "John Lennon is the only member of the Beatles that's still alive, right mom?"

So far, my holidays have been surreal.
Today we woke up and the water pipes were frozen. I went into the shed and sure enough, the workers had forgotten to put the insulation back on the pipes. So, several hot towels and newspaper and a hair dryer later, we have water again. I have to go find where the workers put the insulation and tuck it all back in, but it's cold out there.
The temperatures will rise a little this week, but will plunge again next week. I love the cold when it's sunny out, and so far we've had glorious weather - bright, sunny, and cold.

My daughter is sick - the school called yesterday and sent us into a panic. The school nurse thought she might have menigitis.
So yesterday I'm in church listening to the children's choir for the private school in Montfort (Gorgeous church, Unesco site) and the cell phone rings, and it's my husband with the news about my daughter. I leave right in the middle of 'Angels We Have Heard on High' and sprint for the car. I was with my friend Andrea, so she had to drop me off. We rushed her to the doctor, who reassured me. It's just a gastirc flu. Causes headaches, muscle aches, and nausea. Poor kid is once again in bed (well, with the TV on, big fluffy pillows, and room service...) I do hate getting scared like that though.

Auguste is escaping again. (he goes through stages) Now he's learned to climb the stone wall on the right side of our garden. (Strange sight, a dachshund taking a flying leap at the wall, then gripping and scrabbling over it.) It would be funnier if I weren't so worried he'd get hit by a car once outside the garden. Silly dog.

Gabriele, I got the French version of the Deryni series, I didn't even check to see if it was in English. It's by Pocket books, so maybe they have a series in German? I know most of my German friends prefer to read books that are written in English in English. I'm always amazed at how well my German friends speak English.
I wish I came from a country with an educational system that thought learning a foreign language was important...

Twilight of the Books

According to the New Yorker - it is the "Twilight of the Books" time, supported by statistics from the National Endowment for the Arts.

"...In 1982, 56.9 per cent of Americans had read a work of creative literature in the previous twelve months. The proportion fell to fifty-four per cent in 1992, and to 46.7 per cent in 2002. Last month, the N.E.A. released a follow-up report, “To Read or Not to Read,” which showed correlations between the decline of reading and social phenomena as diverse as income disparity, exercise, and voting. In his introduction, the N.E.A. chairman, Dana Gioia, wrote, “Poor reading skills correlate heavily with lack of employment, lower wages, and fewer opportunities for advancement.”"

Book sales have stagnated, even fallen, in the past few years, dropping from "8.27 books per person in 2001 to 7.93 in 2006."

As a reader, I'm stunned to learn that only 46.7 per cent of Americans have read a work of creative literature (poem, short story, novel) in 2002. (N.E.A. statistics). But the average American's household budget for books was 126$ in 2005, and the price of books as well as the cost of living having risen, I imagine that the number is even lower today.

What can be done about the death of reading? It's true that TV and computer games have pushed books aside, but we shouldn't let this happen without a struggle. What good can come of letting reading be phased out? The army general in me has already made up plans to ban televisision after 8pm, and install reading time instead "Unless there's a really good film or documentary on," says the hedonist in me. The army general huffs but usually looses to the hedonist. :-)

Last week I finished reading the Pullman trilogy (I'd only read the first book - seeing the film made me want to finish the series, and I really enjoyed it.)
Now I'm back in Katherine Kurtz' Deryni books, because I bought them for my neice, and I thought I'd quick read them before I wrapped them up. (Is this a Christmas faux pas, I wonder? It is, however, a family tradiction...) I am very careful not to fold the pages or crease the spine...lol.
My daughter is actually looking forward to reading Moliere's "Le Malade Imaginaire" over the holidays. I'm going to read two new mystery books I bought, plus the book I won from Linda Winfree and that I'm looking forward to reading as well.


Back to the article, it says that "Taking the long view, it’s not the neglect of reading that has to be explained but the fact that we read at all. “The act of reading is not natural,” Maryanne Wolf writes in “Proust and the Squid”" Which is interesting.
It also states that, "There’s no reason to think that reading and writing are about to become extinct, but some sociologists speculate that reading books for pleasure will one day be the province of a special “reading class,” much as it was before the arrival of mass literacy, in the second half of the nineteenth century."
Anyhow, reading the article in the New Yorker was interesting, here's a link if you'd like to take a look. I especially liked the replies of the illiterate peasants in a 1930's study.

Still begging for a pony

My daughter (despite being told that NO she cannot have a horse) is still begging me.

Here are 3 things my kids have asked me for Christmas that they never got:

A flying carpet.

"But Mom, it does so exist! We saw it in that film - Aladin! Don't you remember?"

Sebastian, 7 yrs. old. Absolutely convinced that there were magic carpets, and that I didn't want to give him one because I was afraid he'd fall off.

"I promise, I'll hold on tight! I won't go too far!"

He kept this up for THREE weeks. I finally gave him the prayer rug my uncle had brought me back from the first Gulf war from Kuwait. Sebi sat on the rug and tried to make it fly for hours. Anyone catching sight of him would have been amazed at how devout this little boy was, kneeling on his prayer rug, facing the open window.

An equine.

A little shetland pony.

A pony.

A donkey.

A small horse.

A horse.

My daughter has grown from pony to horse, but she still begs. The answer is still

No,

No,

No.

NO!

A cell phone.

"But Mom, I can't keep using the pay phone at the school. There's always a long line of kids there, and I have to wait to call you. If I don't have to wait, I can call you sooner, and you won't have to spend as much time in the car." (Yes Alex, this was you, darling. You're in college now, so you can probably catch the mistake.)

Calderwood's EPPIE Finalists!

I'm so proud of Calderwood Books' EPPIE finalists!!

There is even a mention of us in this industry blog:

"...Hundreds of e-writers must have been cheering or groaning as the news filtered into the inboxes of their PCs throughout the world. E-mails Thursday were telling them whether they were finalists in the e-bookdom’s high-stakes contest, the Eppie awards. Just who among the six-hundred contestants–anyone can enter–had survived the first cut?

As I scanned down the finalist lists, I saw a lot of heavy hitters in the e-biz (Ellora’s Cave, Samhain Publishing, Loose Id), but also smaller new houses, like Calderwood Books–which, strengthened by gifted new authors, had made strong showings. I also saw big New York houses in the ranks, such as Harlequin and Silhouette. Sylvia Day at Kensington Books made the finals last year. "

Congratulations to:
Attack of the Killer Prom Dresses (YA)
North Star (Fantasy)
The Falling Down Man (Mystery)

If you haven't read them, go grab a copy from Calderwood Books!

I have to stop...

...Reading the news in the morning. It ruins my entire day sometimes.

Decided to clean house and finish wrapping presents. My daughter counted the presents under the tree. Wanted to know why she only had 1.
(I've hidden the rest. This is called torturing your child.)
"Because we're only giving you one present this year. But don't worry. You'll love the book..I mean present."

"One book?" (Outraged tone of voice.)

"Did I say book? Ignore it. Forget what I said. Christmas is all about the birth of Christ, not presents. In order to become more Christian this year, I've decided to forego presents. Too commercial."

"What?! What about the presents the three kings gave to Jesus. Shouldn't I get at least three presents?"

"Well, if you insist. I don't know where I'll get the myrhh though. Insense is easy, and I suppose I have an old gold ring somewhere I can wrap up."

Daughter narrows eyes. "I was thinking more along the lines of a pony, and a new saddle blanket."

"Forget it. Gold, insense, and mryhh."

"I've decided to become Jewish. That way I get eight presents."

"You have to know how to speak Hebrew. Can you speak Hebrew? No? Well, no Hannukka presents. Sorry."

"How about we become Muslims and celebrate Eid ul-Adha? OK?"

"You know that calls for sacrificing the family's best domestic animal. Do you want us to have to kill Auguste?"

"That's not for dogs! It's for sheep, goats, or cows!"

"Or ponies. Maybe you can get a pony for Christmas and we can sacrifice it for Eid ul-Adha?"

"Stop teasing me!" (howls)

(Kids have no sense of humor.)
Actually, neither do religeous fanatics so I'd better stop here. Never fear, we won't sacrifice Auguste - he's too young and too small, for one thing. Hannukka is already over (I hope my Jewish friends had a happy Hannukka) and so we'll just have to stick with celebrating Christmas. Somehow I have to convince my daughter that the poor and meek will inherit the earth, and when that happens, we'll have all the ponies and horses she'll need.
:-)

And for all my friends for this holiday season:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Fe11OlMiz8