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I almost forgot…Slowly but surely!

Hey, I’m back. It’s only been . . . well, months.  Have been struggling with getting “Buried Alive!,” John Victor’s second adventure, edited and published. It’s available–right now!–online at Create Space’s Book Store.  Finally! But, before I get into that, there’s something exciting (at least for me and possibly for any of you who suffer with insomnia):  Over the counter medicine, prescriptions, and the usual suggestions have all failed me. But, there’s a cure that actually works for me!  Finally! My long-time friend, Erna D, told me about it on the telephone. You simply need a banana, a small saucepan and some water.  Cut both ends of the banana off. (I’m not sure why, but perhaps they’re bitter?).  Then place the banana–skin and all–into a saucepan, cover with water, and bring to a boil.  Let it simmer for ten minutes.  Then, use the water like tea (I add lots of cream and a little sugar).  Tastes great that way if, like me, you like a little bit of tea with your cream and sugar.  Anyway, drink your tea that tastes slightly like banana, and eat what you can of the banana–skin and all according to Erna–but with my stomach troubles I don’t bother with the skin.  I even mash the banana and add a bit to my tea. Reminds me of the consistency of extra pulp in OJ.  I end up falling asleep within half an hour, instead of struggling for two or more hours.

Getting back to “Buried Alive!,” the scene is set near Tucson, Arizona.  Our intrepid hero is literally buried alive in a crude cedar coffin somewhere beneath the Sonora Desert. And to make it interesting, his “coffin” is digitally connected to a live radio show. The radio host invites a bevy of professionals to communicate with John Victor, in an effort to pull elusive clues from his memory. Professionals like detectives, profilers, scientists, etc.  So they can find him before it’s too late.  An endangered plant is the basis for his being found. There are bits of trivia about the Tucson region, and most importantly of all, there’s information about the Bible. Between John Victor and one other character, bits of Biblical information is revealed, including info about prophesies that have actually been fulfilled–the chance for them being fulfilled is astounding–and about faith in its various forms.  Like with “The SEED,” John’s first adventure, “Buried Alive!” has intrigue, humor, a touch of romance, and faith-based information.  Speaking of “The SEED,” have I mentioned at least a hundred times that it was nominated by a professor for inclusion on Green Mountain College’s required reading list? And that it placed as a top-ten finalist in a national contest?  Well, right now, you can find “Buried Alive” by Ann Rich Duncan by Googling Create Space Book Store.  It’ll be available thru Amazon.com after April 10.  By the way, the ISBN #s are:  13:978-1496055538 and 10: 1496055535.  Here’s a pix of the cover:

When I first took over the OUPblog I gave our readers a chance to ask me questions so they could get to know me.  Since Lauren will be in charge starting Monday (get excited!), I decided to ask her a few questions before I go.  I think her answers will give you a taste of how lucky we are to have her on-board.  Don’t worry, I plan on saying a proper goodbye tomorrow (Friday).

What is your favorite fiction book?
Becca, we’ve had this conversation so many times. For the sake of this Q&A, I’ll forgo my top 10 and say The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien. This year is actually the 20th anniversary of the book’s publication. Also, fun fact: O’Brien and I share an Alma Mater.

What is your favorite non-fiction book?
Laura Hillenbrand’s Seabiscuit. Hands down. No contest. ’Nough said.

What is your favorite guilty pleasure blog?
Overheard in the Office is pretty great.

What kind of flowers should we send you?
Who’s “we”? And why am I getting flowers? I don’t think I should be trusted with flowers. This cactus isn’t looking so good itself. Remember when we had to hide it in a file cabinet for a week? I gave it too much too much sun, Becca. I exposed a cactus to too much sun.

What was your first blog post ever?
I had a LiveJournal back in the day. I have no idea what my first post was, but I’m sure it was something to the effect of, “Hey everyone! I’m Lauren! My favorite color is purple, I have a major sweet tooth, and I’m so totally obsessed with Dark Angel.” I think I had a really big impact on the lives of all (2) of my readers.

What other languages do you speak?
I used to speak pretty decent Japanese, but now I mostly just mumble things like, “aré?” and “éé, nanto ka…” usually directed at my computer. I know some French as well, and one very important phrase in Spanish: “Y para mi, un café con leche por favor.” I recently went to Spain, but that was all I knew how to say, so I was a bit shaky the whole time.

If your friend were visiting NYC, what is the one thing they should do while they are here?
Whenever I have visitors, the first thing we do is go to 5 Napkin Burger. Airport –> 5 Napkin. Bus stop –> 5 Napkin. IKEA ferry –> 5 Napkin. Can you drop off your luggage first? No you cannot. Because: 5 Napkin.

What color are your socks today?
Socks are for people who are wearing shoes…

What is your favorite Twitter hashtag?
#thefuture. Except when it’s being used to denote  something actually in the future.

Fill in the blank: I’m psyched to be the OUPblog editor because it is _tasty_.
…
Oh, we’re not doing this Mad Libs style?

0 Comments on Hey Everybody! Meet Lauren as of 6/17/2010 9:28:00 AM

Why grow cactus in Colorado?

Since Manuel Ramos (who assumedly will be back next week) left no protocols on what I should post in his usual Friday spot, I'm sharing photos of two deserts.

The first set is in my Denver front yard, although with the Portlandish monsoons of recent weeks, it appears more like selva than llano.

The set that follows is from my cousin Annette's yard in Phoenix. She's posted articles on La Bloga about our family and other topics, and may again(?).

Plants have obsessed me for more than the month I've spent weeding and pruning, apparently with no end in sight because it's supposed to rain heavily again over the weekend. Anyway . . .

I never been able to remember the names, neither scientific nor common, of all the varieties I've got. (If you're interested in such, use this site to try identifying cacti.) I sometimes classify them in terms of color. It's also useful, and important, to remember their classification in terms of their espinas. This one doesn't have the nastiest spines, which means I don't cry for my mom when I get stuck by one. I just . . .

These are the first type I ever grew and are the rose-colored. Again, their spines don't draw that much blood. As for why I grow these, Denver is normally an arid state--pretty, but with little precipitation (excluding the next 2,000 years of global warming). Clay, instead of dirt, sits under our yards and isn't conducive to anything green that requires regular watering. Over time, like fifteen minutes, it compacts down into medium-grade concrete. But prairie grass, buffalo grass, yuccas and cacti thrive . . .

This is a type of fat barrel cactus that I only have one of. This is its actual pinkness: swear I didn't Photoshop it. Many of these flowers only last one day. The largest type that are a good foot high I decided not to put into this post for fear the cactus bandits might be enticed to pay a midnight visit to my desert . . .

This one likes to spread itself, traveling wherever I haven't put stones in its path. Its white espinas aren't just a pretty face. They're mean enough to make even a Denver cop put his baton away. And it's obviously known as the . . .

Lastly, come what are definitely chollas. It's difficult to distinguish, given their growth this year, but there's two on the sides from El Paso--part of my Uncle Jess's legacy--and one in the middle that is a Colorado cholla. I've also got another one that's six-foot tall, but its flowers pale in numbers compared to these smaller ones.

This year the chollas flowered much later than usual, which I also attribute to the extended cold and wet. Nor have they ever all bloomed together, at least not to this extent. You might recognize these from some of Ramos's photos of the same. I snuck into his yard late one night. . .

Global warming may eliminate homo and hetero sapiens from contention, but it appears that along with the cucarachas, cactus, at least cholla, may prevail.

Like selling cactus in the desert

Now we come to my cousin's front yard. Sure, hers are bigger, but how hard could it be to raise saguaros where daytime temps get to 110? This hovel is not her house, but the photo was taken nearby. As you can see, the neighbors aren't very good about watering their lawn. Reminds me of someone down the block. . .

There seemed to be a lot of animals around, birds too, usually moving too quickly for me to take a photo. These two are the best I could do. The javelinas I saw one morning across the street when I went out to get the morning paper didn't wait long enough for the camera. Take my word for it though, they were serious mero meros of the desert.

Two forms of wildlife posing in the inevitable tourist photo. I had to take one, no? This is of an Arizona cactus and one from Colorado. (In case you're wondering, yes, I did ask the barrel if he'd allow me to take his photo.) The taller one is my wife Carmen. If she doesn't look that tough, you try hugging a barrel cactus, even a willing one, and see if your sunglasses stay put.

This little beauty was anything but little. Would you believe I took this shot from fifty feet away and that the thing's got three climate zones? I didn't think so.

I've got about fifteen varieties of cacti throughout my front yard. I've got opuntia, I've got yucca, I've got echinocereus, but none can compare to the saguaro. How could they? The saguaro stand, hell, they thrust themselves, above the sand as if they know the javelinas don't amount to a pig in a poke. They may not have three climate zones, but they probably could if they wanted to. For some reason they've allowed people, including my cousin, to live amongst them. At least for now. If you get to Phoenix, stop to see the plant life, not at her place but at the Desert Botanical Gardens. Warning! Afterward, you too may tear out the water-hungry grass in your yard.

RudyG

N.B.: Tomorrow's the last day to enter to win an Ebook copy of the Drollerie Press's latest anthology Needles & Bones that has a story of mine entitled Memorabilia. It's easy to win, but you do have to enter.

A native Indian girl reading about the old west.
I blog at mydailyartwork

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Finally found some time for a new Seamour episode.

More at Seamoursheep.com

Good Morning:

I started my day with a cool and rainy 3 mile walk. Now that's a great way to start a fresh new day, if you ask me!

I've been looking over some of my past posts this morning, and I think I need to make it clear that I AM NOT AN ENTOMOLOGIST!! Wow, I can't believe how many posts I have that focus on insects. Mantis, Ladybugs, Walking Sticks.... and I admit, I have the creepy-crawlies just like so many others. Because my kids have learned outside of school since the beginning, I have always had cool projects going on all the time. It just so happens that there are lots of cool Science projects on the market for the "common folk". When my boys were younger, the insect projects were what they always chose. So, through the years, we just became "friendly" with bugs.

This post will focus on the release of my many hundreds of baby Praying Mantis, and that should be it for bug posts. At least for awhile anyway!

We released my babies late yesterday evening in my garden. They have voracious appetites and eat thousands of aphids and small insects each day. Being that they eat aphids, we released most of them on and around my roses. The egg sacs were still productive, so we hid them under the roses. After we released them, we managed to get some very good pictures of them in their natural environment:

Praying Mantis on Yellow Rose



Praying Mantis Egg Sac



Praying Mantis Close-Up



Now that most of you are probably thoroughly creeped out, I would like to thank you for being so patient and kind enough to continue to read my blog.

Now...here's my two newest collage prints listed in My Etsy Shop.

5" x 7" collage print entitled: "Ghostly Gert's Tucson Patio Party". This collage is what I like to call "story art". Most of my larger than ACEO size collages are story art. Here's Ghostly Gert's story:

This is poor ol' Ghostly Gert, revisiting the most exciting yet tragic day of her "life". Oh the happenings on that lovely desert patio. It goes like this: August 13, 1910, a sweltering hot day in Tucson, Arizona. It was Gert's 11th birthday and she was having a big party. Hundreds of friends and family members were swarming in. The food was delicious and the cake, oh the cake. It was 4 layers high. It was such an extravagent party. Everyone was laughing and dancing. Gert and the other children were playing games. Hopscotch, Tag, Croquet. Then, before anyone could do anything to stop it, tragedy struck...

Now, you get to fill in the blank. The end of the story belongs to you.



The second print that I listed this morning is an ACEO entitled: "Song Series: Inspired by Stairway To Heaven". This one is for all of you Led Zeppelin fans out there!!



Thanks so much for stopping by my blog today.

Until Tomorrow:
Kim
Garden Painter Art
gnarly-dolls

Here's a little 'ol illustration I did for an unnamed (howdesign.com) forum. Never could keep my mouth shut. Anywayz...this is Tex. I'm not sayin Tex is me and I ain't sayin he's not.