Soup

Well, the dentist is on the Island - ergo, Barbs is eating soup tonight, and me with her as a gesture of sympathy or maybe preparation, as I go in tomorrow. I made lentil and coconut fish soup, which Barbs says has a strange texture. I thought it tasted OK, so that's prepared.

A hard rain...

And the rain rain rain came down down down...

I was thinking this morning as it was sheeting down: I got two humans, two dog... and three cats. So which cat is there no room for on the ark? And none of those critters are going to breed any more, so it was just as well I couldn't get council permission to build an ark.

And then the roof decided to leak to distract my mind from such idle thoughts and it was lugging bowls about.

It was that sort of rain.

Serve me right for watering the veggies last night.

In other news it appears we might a Filk singer come over here to stay (with her harp, about which I am less certain. How do cats feel about harps?) If you want to know what the filk filk is besides as this program thinks, a spelling error, you have been deprived. To quote Weird Al Yankovic:
"I met him in a swamp down in Dagobah
Where it bubbles all the time like a giant carbonated
Soda S-O-D-A soda
I saw the little runt sitting there on a log
I asked him his name and in a raspy voice he said:
'Yoda Y-O-D-A Yoda Yo yo yo yo Yoda'" - sung to the tune of Kinks 'Lola'.

It's a science fiction fandom thing, and can be very funny... and less so.
I do wonder how it would go down on the Island!

Salsify fritters

Heh. Well, as the song said 'You load sixteen tons and what do you get? another day older...' Still no sign of payment for the last book. I know. Authors are supposed to shut up and put up. It's an irritation. Anyway, onwards. I went down to the wharf this evening on my own (as Barbs was still feeling shoddy), and did get a couple of squid - one early on of about a kilo, and lost his fellow traveller. (they often appear in twos or threes) and then had a very frustrating couple of hours with the squid being very shy. The water was clear as gin (but not as expensive. You can drink as much you want to) and I could see them - long diamond shaped darts hanging in the water the way bricks don't. I got quite a tour of passing wildlife - a Port Jackson shark, a pufferfish, and a big black stingray - around the four foot wide mark, that swam slowly past like big dirty sheet undulating its way through the current. Some little trevally came and hung about, but mostly it was this one #$#$ squid that was determined to drive me into leaping into the water after it. Eye-balling the Jig from about six angles, chasing it... but not quite taking. I did get one more, but that one is still out there.

Cooked Salsify fritters tonight. Not worth it as a method - too much fritter, not enough salsify. So far it tasted best gently simmered in butter.

We are so cultured, we has Art exhibitions here.

Whaddya mean 'Roadkill?' You only see THAT sort of thing masquerading as art in Sydney or London. This is the real stuff with a bit o' class.

We went to the opening of Maria, Bill and Greg's exhibition at the art gallery today. I'd show you some pictures only I want to run them past the artists and make sure they're not infringing their copyright. I tried to get people in front of parts of the pictures, but people kept co-operatively moving away. These humans...

Anyway, the flat tire proved interesting in that the hub had permanently affixed itself with a little rust to the vehicle. Took a crowbar to get it off. Barbs is still very under the weather. I'm so far not as bad.

I made us omelettes this evening - with our own eggs, own herbs, tassie mountain pepper, and our own olives, and even a drop of our own oil. The cheese was bought, but all considered a very home-made meal.

moving on

I was so tired and flat yesterday I didn't post. Barbs and I both seem down with a bug, and I think I just gave all I could give finishing the book.

Anyway, I've recovered a bit of mental tone today, and did a little writing, and a serious redistribution of the broccoli volunteers to field outside where the chookabago has been plowing. If they grow, they grow. If they don't they don't. And if we end up with sheep in there and they eat broccoli they probably be little grunting wool-balls.

We went out this evening to the annual meals-on-wheels dinner at the pub. (Barbs does meal-on-wheels) only to find our wheels... well one was half flat. The top half was fine, but the bottom half wasn't... We have 4 more tires coming over in Peter's container so let's hope it's fixable to hold us until then. And then we had scottosh dancing which seemed entirely made of twists turns and utter chaos. I such talent for the last part.

I cut daaan trees, I eat maa lunch...

Well, cut up trees anyway. I had my first expedition into the great city of Whitemark since the kids left I think. Looked in on Roberts -local hardware store (I need some shock therapy. My wallet starts to bleed just being there) and got some seed potatoes, kennebec and pinkeye (and you always thought it was an ailment. Well, so did I) and went into Walkers. Didn't actually buy anything as the milk wasn't in. Came home and did not write. I did a whole bunch of catchup jobs - cutting wood, weeding, making a new batch of Anzacs, putting things away, somehow not achieving very much but clearing the decks a bit. Writing several long e-mails and trying to be tactful, always my strong point. Feeling severe post partum depression. Why the hell do I do this, they pay badly and late...?

Well, the answer is, I have to believe, that some people love my books, I love writing them, and I put everything I can into doing that, and that eventually I will break through or bloody die while still trying.

And I'm a lumberjack and I'm Okay....!

The CUTTLEFISH is dead. Long live the (insert title here)

After a fairly monumental effort, CUTTLEFISH is turned to Agent, on due date, and he will in turn, turn it over the publisher...

And of course, in my profession, the next book has to be considered and started soon. I have another Pyramid Scheme, another Heirs and another Karres on contract, and another Cuttlefish sequel. Added to this I have the rights back to two of my books (THE FORLORN and A MANKIND WITCH) and I have to reach decisions on how to maximize earnings on those. I've also decided I need to move ahead with some non-contracted work - I've got two (and maybe a third) shorts which were always more or less intended to be chapters in a longer book. I thought I'd start kindle-trickling those out. Publishing is in flux right now and it's rather like when say the dairy industry is in trouble. The retailers and dairies and middlemen (who get 90%)and the mega-dairies (who somehow get more than the 10% left for all the other farmers) squabble and somehow it's always the little dairy farmer who gets shafted and put out of business. Publishing is pretty much the same with authors earning 6-15% at best (and the 15 ain't for little guys) so I am looking to ways to free myself of these people and sell directly my 'milk' from the farm gate as it were. At the moment though, cash flow is more of a worry.

I'm looking forward too, to trying get some of my life back, planting, fishing, making sausages and making bacon. But that we'll see tomorrow I hope.