deborahjross | Various updates

Literary: Lace and Blade 2 is almost ready to go off to the publisher. I'm waiting for the answer to a query to one of the authors; she's usually very prompt, so I expect to have it wrapped up in a day or two.

Finished Chapter 23 of Hastur Lord, and am now about to embark upon less-clear territory. Which is to say, I know overall what happens, but not how it will play out in scenes. So the next few working days will be spent chewing over how to design a flowing sequence of scenes, preferably to accomplish more than one plot element at once. There's enormous tension at this point -- all kinds of things I've been setting up looming. This is the beginning of the Clash That Leads To the Climax, so I have to start bringing those threads together, preferably in a way that sequentially jacks up the sense of impending disaster.

Garden: the good and the not-so-good,
Good: we're being deluged by a bumper crop of apples. Very sweet and crisp this year. I can't keep up with them. I've made applesauce, apple compote (like apple pie filling, to go over waffles or yogurt), and have dried a couple of bushels so far. Left a box at the local food bank with a note that since they are not sprayed, they do have worm frass in their cores. Another bag to our contractor, who's about to transform the rather ratty mud-room into a proper entry. Tomato avalanche will begin shortly, but at least it's held off for a bit while I deal with apples. There are a number of absolutely glorious, brilliant orange Cinderella pumpkins out there, also many butternut squashes. And we're past the worst of the zuccini explosion. Shell beans to come, along with just a few eggplants and peppers. Chard isn't happy in the heat, but should be grand once it cools off.

Not-so-good: we've lost another grape crop, so no wine this year. Dave thinks squirrels, as he installed heavy-weight bird netting. I've seen raccoon pawprints in the dust on the chairs on the back porch. Infuriating.