We Love Esmeralda Weatherwax

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Hi all, a quick quick post... I'm up to my ears in realspace stuff and have not been online much. Checking email, found a couple PMs, realized I should have put that info here too (it's on the Away/Back Thread). If anyone is worried, I'm fine, just busy and running all around. (I was nearly housebound for two months after the dental surgery because of it and the cold, which is really bad for worked-on jawbones )

Kura, the business about Mort-without-Death, which is just incredibly missing-the-point, happened when Hollywood USA approached Sir Terry about film options. That was exactly the thing I was thinking about - he MUST have told Lyn and Rhianna about it and made sure the idjits could never get their paws on any of his intellectual estate... thank goodness.

Hugs all, I'll be back here as an active presence as soon as I can take care of all these dr. appointments and things (nothing is wrong, just follow ups & routine maintenance & replacing my canned & dry foods (& cat food) since my kitty girls and I have been eating through them steadily since Thanksgiving!)

Note to Redxk: I overlooked your post about Earthsea. I am so sorry! Have you read Tehanu? I love Ged's "retirement" - it's exactly right. Ursula LeGuin, like Sir Terry, is a benevolent deity .

Note to Kraftie: was once, am now edging into "well preserved" territory, but I'll take it . If only I could age like the Princess Irene (the Christian witch great+-grandmother) in George MacDonald's children's books, what a wonder that would be. Here she is with her great+ - granddaughter, Princess Irene the Younger



Note to Blabster: hugs and I wish I could do something to help with the visual problem, bless you and dammit. Wracking my brains, and anything useful I think of I'll share ASAP.

Note to EzraS: please stick around, please, WP needs you and I personally would miss you terribly...

^I have The Princess and the Goblin on my shelf. I always loved the grandmother's white, white hair.

^^ Fantastic do you also have The Princess and Curdie? The elder princess' fire made of roses has stayed with me all my life; I was about seven years old when I first read that.

I only have the first one. I have so many great children's books. Have you ever read The Quiltmaker's Gift?

No... just looked it up. Goodreads loves it... on the list it goes! Thank you!

(Edit in: The Princess and Curdie is really worth finding and reading, it's not really a sequel, it's the other half of the story. Can't recommend it enough.)

There's a prequel, the Quiltmaker's Journey, I think it's called, but it's best to read Gift first.

Thanks for the suggestion!

I almost wish that Boo could have kittens. But, even if she hadn't been fixed, we'd likely have to give the kittens away.

^^ I grieved deeply when each of my girls was spayed, because I knew it was necessary, but I also knew there was no way they could have any say in that decision, and I would have loved to care for their kittens - who would now never be born.

All I can do is pay it forward, by loving the "old kittens" I have, and taking in other "old kittens" - and donating to shelters when I can.

(A bittersweet P.S. : the first girl kitty I ever owned did have one litter of kittens, all girls, which we found good homes for, and then we had her spayed. Thirty - that's 30 - years later, my father had passed away and my mother was about to send all of their cats to the pound (out of pure spite; that's a long, and separate, story). The day after she told me her plans, I swooped in and took them all. I had her sign a formal release surrendering them to me, "fostered" them, and rehomed all but one, whom I kept. The one I kept was the several times great granddaughter of my first girl. She was almost identical to her great-great-great-great-xn-grandma; there was no doubt. Keeping her, I then had four cats don't ask how many I had while I was fostering - god bless my soft hearted landlord.)

Thank you for sharing the story.

I'm thinking of buying Maskerade and Lords and Ladies, along with the last three Tiffany Aching books. Are the former two good? [I don't mind if you're bias because they feature Granny Weatherwax. ]

^^ They're incredible. Absolutely incredible. Never mind that Granny is in them.

Maskerade is a sendup of The Phantom of the Opera. Lords and Ladies is a sendup of A Midsummer Night's Dream. Yet, as always with Sir Terry, serious and - instructive - as well as hugely entertaining.

I have none of the Tiffany Aching books - I've looked, but I never see them. Beginning to suspect they're over in the Young Adult section, which I need to look into.

(Edit in: Look up Ogham before starting Lords and Ladies... trust me, you'll be glad you did.)

Both books are now in my online amazon cart. I'll have to wait until February to buy them, though. Then I will try my best to only read one book a week. *determined*

How've you been lately, Esme?

I've had...not writer's block, more like a serious lack of motivation lately. Boo's good. We cuddled a lot today, and she climbed all over me.

Hi Kura

Thanks for checking in... I've been wondering if I have a subclinical case of flu, actually. I don't get recognizable flu most of the time. Instead I get very tired (all day) and run a re-vef (my temperature goes down!), am clumsy, anorexic, and very, very grumpy, and this goes on for a week or three, and then it goes away and I think, "well damn, did I just have Mild Flu For Weeks again?"

I'd suspect SAD or depression except that this only ever happens during flu season, and doesn't happen every year.

So: haven't been posting much because I've been too grouchy to be useful. Aaoograha Hoa* indeed, and K'ez'rek d'b'duz**.

(*Granny's name in Trollish: She Who Must Be Avoided. ** in Dwarfish: Go Around The Other Side Of The Mountain.)

Hoping it's winding up, though. Baked brownies over the weekend and today was out for groceries and felt incredibly happy and at peace. I really, really want to trim the rose hips off the bushes*** and prune them this week, if the weather will just settle down long enough. Need to re-seed my clover patches, too, so the bunnies will have their salad bar, come Spring.

Hoping you are OK? Say hi to Boo from Lulu and Emily (my two girls). (Don't know how this works with you, but sometimes when I lose interest in writing I'm stalled and my subconscious is working something out. I only write nonfiction, but explaining things well is super-important.)

***left them for the critters this year. Glad I did, it's been so cold. Want to trim off the remaining ones and put them where the critters can get to them, before pruning.

Oh, dear. I do hope you feel better soon!

I've been wondering what I should do as a secondary career besides writing. I haven't come up with anything that I would like so far...
Something's yearning in my soul, as it were, but I'm not sure what. It may or may not be related at all to careers, I have no idea. Whatever it is, it's definitely spiritual in nature.

I'm doing alright, I guess.

Boo says hi. Yesterday, mum came into my room, and said hi, and Boo meowed back, and mum said hi again, and Boo meowed again, and it continued back and forth. It was like they were having a conversation.

Kitty-talk!

Which cat do you like better:

Morris (a ginger cat who used to be the "spokescat" for "9-lives" cat food)

Or that white Persian who eats "Fancy Feast?"

Oh, I had two ginger girls - one from 1983 to 2000, and one from 2000 to 2015. Red girl cats are as rare as girl Aspies! And they're incredibly mellow and sweet.

No contest. Red tabby wins. Although to be fair, all cats are great

At the moment I have one tortie (red and black) and one tuxie (black with a white diamond at the base of her neck).