Alex Gordon's Blog

If you’re in the mood for an unsettling tale or two, Nature’s Ways is available for free for a limited time over at Book View Café.

…wth does the time go?

I do have another Del & Gia story, “Learning Curve,” in the latest issue of Boundary Shock Quarterly. The theme of this issue is “Zeroes and Ones.” AI overlords. Sentient machines. Or, in the case of my story…

…well, you’ll have to read it, though if you’ve read any of the previous stories, you can probably guess.

In other news, I played host several weeks ago to a monarch butterfly chrysalis for the first time I’m aware of. I mean, I do have a number of milkweed plants in my backyard, and have seen caterpillars many times. But then one day they would just vanish—I’ve no idea whether they survived or met the fate of most caterpillars and succumbed to accident, lunch, disease, etc.

I can’t say that this caterpillar picked the best spot to settle in and transform—the chrysalis was attached to the edge of a board on the back of my house, fully exposed to the elements. I worried that a gust of wind would blow it away or some passing bird would pluck it off. But as the days passed, the little sucker persisted, a lovely jade green object with dots of what looked like gold but were really a combined effect of the carotenoids present and the structure of the chrysalis.

Finally, one Saturday morning about 10 or so days after I first spotted the chrysalis, I saw that the green had darkened. When I checked the next day, I saw the black and orange of folded wings. I was looking up how to tell when eclosion (the term for hatching) was imminent when I glanced over and saw that damn, I missed the moment. I then hustled to move the new butterfly to firmer footing so its wings could dry out and expand. As its wings spread, I saw it was a he (see the last photo, the little dot on the right hindwing). I kept an eye on him as he dried out, worked his wings, fluttered around the deck railing and various potted plants, then finally took off.

A very cool experience.

I was in the mood for gelato, but I didn’t feel like going through the temperature-monitoring while waiting for the corn starch to fully cook*. So the other day I froze about a pound of chopped-up bananas and today I made “nice” cream pretty  much according to this recipe. Instead of nut milk, I added a couple of tablespoons of half-and-half and about the same amount of whole milk.

The ingredients (yup, those are lots of bitters back there. great in seltzer with ice. I’m a total addict)

My food processor is on the wimpy side, power-wise—I needed to add the milk to thin the nice cream just enough to get it to mix properly.

The finished product

It’s currently in the freezer setting up, but I tasted it and it’s great. Creamy. Banana is there but imo not too noticeable because of the cocoa (not that I’d mind—I love bananas). I used 16.5 oz bananas, which is roughly 3 cups according to The Internet, so about 1.5x the amounts in the recipe…except for the milk because see above.

it’s chocolaty. It’s creamy. Four stars would make again.

*I make Sicilian-style gelato, which uses corn starch to thicken rather than eggs. Don’t make that face—it’s essentially frozen pudding.

I know I comment a lot about time’s supersonic fly-by, but honestly, wth July?

Days are getting shorter. We’ll be in the -ber months before you know it.

I was working on Chaos Agent up until about a week ago, when I was reminded that I needed to get Gideon and Jericho readied for re-release in the fall. This is more complicated than simply uploading a file to Sigil or Vellum. First I needed updated Word files, and while I swore I had files somewhere with all the copyedits and other changes entered, I could not find one for Gideon. So I dug up the most recent Word file I had, grabbed a copy of the trade paperback, and entered changes as I reread the book. It was a process, but it didn’t take as long as I feared.*

Over the past couple of days, I’ve gone over Gideon again to lightly edit. I changed how I refer to some people (last name vs first name). Caught a few continuity errors because those you will always have with you. Changed a few word choices. Changed the modern timeline section page from “2015” to “Present Day” to make it more current, at least for a while. There’s only so much updating I can do. Eventually the book will be stuck in time.

I do have a new cover. New covers for both books, in fact. I made them myself—they both reflect their respective settings. For Gideon, I stuck with the river/misty image theme from the Harper Voyager edition—I did love that cover. When Jericho came out the following year, the decision was made to change the look to attract a different audience, but that meant that the books no longer looked related. I like that they now look connected.  They’ll be released under “Kristine Smith writing as Alex Gordon,” Gideon on October 28th and Jericho on November 25th.

So now I need to write new cover copy for Gideon and have it proofread. Over the next several months, I will go over Jericho in the same way, format the trade paperback editions, write a short story  (another Del & Gia) and oh yeah, Chaos Agent.

*Yes, you can…extract an e-book file and convert it back to Word, but the formatting issues that can be introduced and the time needed to fix them means you wind up rereading the book anyway, so. One way or the other, it involves pulling off a bandage.

I don’t recall when I bought my pink gerbera daisy, but I am pretty sure it was at least 5-6 years ago, if not longer. It made a lovely addition to the deck display, and as the summer wound down, I wondered what to do. They’re annuals here in USDA Zone 6, so if I wanted to try and make it last, I needed to bring it indoors for the winter. Which I did. I set up a table in my dining area, which is the only spot in the house with decent sun exposure, that winter and every winter since.

A few years ago, I realized the poor thing was way too crowded and split what turned out to be multiple plants into three separate pots. All three plants thrived—the smallest lagged a bit but usually managed to catch up, producing multiple blooms by summer’s end. I added another table to the winter corner, and went on from there.

What once was

However, matters got bumpy over the last couple of years. The winter before last, I watched a line of sugar ants march in and head for the gerberas, which was how I learned that the plants were infested with aphids. I sprayed them, and that was that. Then last winter, same thing. I sprayed the heck out of them, then took them down to the basement to overwinter in solitary.  The largest plant seemed to do okay, but the middle one and the littlest one were struggling. When the weather warmed sufficiently, I set them out on the deck, but I could see they weren’t thriving. I lost the littlest one (afraid my overwatering played a role there), and decided major steps needed to be taken to save the other plants. That meant complete repotting with fresh soil.

That was a good move because damn the soil was in horrible shape, clay-pale and compacted. I I freed up the roots as much as possible, then replanted the main plant in one large pot. I found the middling plant was actually two separate plants, and gave each their own pot.

Happy to say that it helped a lot. Main plant sports one flower with several more on the way. Middling #1 had to be treated for aphids AGAIN, but it does look stronger and has formed at least one bud. Middling #2, the baby, needs to fill out a bit before it can flower. It needs time.

New plants and old

I will wind up this post with a photo of Main Pink with its new buddy, Mellow Yellow, which I bought when I feared I would lose all the Pinks.

I need to think about setting up a mini-greenhouse in the basement for overwintering purposes because my dining area just isn’t big enough.

I know I comment a lot about how quickly time is flying but damn. I handle the newsletter for the writers’ co-op I belong to (bookviewcafe.com) and on the first of every month I send out the call to the membership for news etc. I feel like I just did it last week. But then I check the calendar and it looks like I’ll be doing it next week so I guess the months are two weeks long now and, well, that fits.

Days are getting shorter already.

Wish I could tap the brakes on time.

Oh well.

We’re into our third day of hotter-than-Hell here in Chicagoland. It’s supposed to ease up overnight and for the rest of the week, which would be great because Florida-level steam bath is not my idea of fun.

One bright spot yesterday was the ruby-throated hummingbird mating dance I caught a glimpse of. I spotted this little shape zipping back and forth, and when I went to the window to get a better view, I saw the male executing his big swooping U-shaped won’t-you-be-my-girl dive. It didn’t last long and I’ve no clue whether he was successful. I did find a really interesting article about hummingbird mating swoops and what the female sees and hears. The article refers to broad-tailed hummingbirds, but I am guessing the ruby-throated hummingbird swoop is similar. It boils down to changes in sound and color because of the angle of sight and speed of execution.

Quite the display to witness.

Work continues on Chaos Agent (Jani #7), as it will for a while. Politics and changing alliances are complicated. I know where things are headed. But the pathway needs to make sense.

Oh, btw, if you’re in need of a Jani Omnibus of vols 1-3, it’s currently on sale at Book View Café for $6.99US. The sale will last until mid-July.

So. Back to it…

…by which I mean the neighborhood Cooper’s hawk, the scourge of backyard feeders for blocks around.

After showing up daily earlier in the spring, its visits slowed down. I think it had an easier time hunting when all the shrubs and trees were bare; as they leafed out, spotting potential prey grew more difficult, even for hawkeyes.

It stopped by a few days ago, perched on the deck railing for a bit and cawed once, then took off when it became obvious that lunch had already scattered. Then this morning, as I sat with my morning coffee, I looked out the back door to find this:

Where did everybody go??

It sat there for a minute or two, then hopped to the ground, and from there to the crabapple in the middle of the yard, all the while searching for something to eat. After another minute or so of that, it flew over to a nearby bur oak and continued to survey.

That was when I spotted this little bit hanging off the side of the finch feeder.

If I don’t move, you can’t see me

I didn’t see any red patch on the head, so pretty sure it was a female hairy or larger downy woodpecker. It hung motionless in mid-peck, positioned in such a way that it was hidden from the hawk. I didn’t see if it was there when the hawk arrived as I was concentrating on photographing the hawk without spooking it. I am guessing it was because if it had landed while the hawk was close to the house, it would’ve been spotted and possibly made breakfast. However it came to be there, it remained still for a time after the hawk flew away, then took off.

I’d seen this behavior the first time a few weeks ago. The Cooper had landed on the deck iirc, then moved to the crabapple. As it changed location, a woodpecker—again, either a hairy or large downy—alternated between hanging motionless and edging around the feeder to remain hidden as the danger moved around the yard.

Overall, a very birdy morning. Goldfinches and sparrows at the finch feeder. Catbirds and orioles—Baltimore and orchard—at the jelly. Cardinals and grosbeaks and everything else at the seed. The best time of year.

Not many yet. Nights are still dipping into the low 40s/the occasional 30s, and most days have been chilly, cloudy, and windy.

These spring beauties (Claytonia virginica) have been popping up every spring for at least the last 10-12 years. They occupy a little patch right beside the driveway, blooming, fading, then dying back to nothing until the next spring. I really should move them eventually, but I’ve read that they don’t transplant well. Hoping that carving out a large, deep square of surrounding dirt/lawn lessens the level of disturbance.

spring beauties

The crocuses said “so long” a couple of weeks ago. The hellebore are still going strong. The daffodils. Unfortunately, it’s been too cloudy, chilly, and windy for the pussy willow catkin scent to waft through the backyard.

catkins!

It’s a lovely, underrated scent, like milkweed—when it’s warm and the catkins are open, it draws all kinds of bees and butterflies. I’m disappointed that the current round of wind and cold prevents that.

I’m looking forward to the crabapples blossoming. I can smell them from the back deck on still, sunny days. Also, bees.

One unexpected sign of spring has been the regular visitation of the neighborhood Cooper’s hawk. I used to see it no more than once or twice during any given Spring, but this year it’s been dropping by every other day or so. It has…succeeded in nabbing a meal once or twice; other times, the sparrows and finches manage to flee, leaving Coop to sit and wonder where everybird could possibly be.

Coop!

I think I mentioned that I joined the Rancho Gordo Bean Club last year. Every three months, I get six 1-lb bags of beans and a surprise product (popcorn, a spice or condiment of some kind). Suffice it to say that I’ve built up a backlog.

I usually toss a half or whole bag of one of the white beans into a batch of soup. Black beans go into veggie chili. Today, I went for broke and tried one of the new-to-me varieties, flageolet. It’s a small, pale green bean that originated in France and is usually served with lamb. I broke with that tradition—I just wanted to make a batch of pot beans for lunches, sides, etc, so. I sautéed onion, orange bell pepper, celery, and garlic in evoo. Added two pints (about 10 oz) grape tomatoes. A teaspoon of salt. When the veggies were softened and the tomatoes had released their juice, I tossed in the dry beans (rinsed them first) along with two cups unsalted veggie stock, some smoked Spanish paprika and dried oregano (Burlap & Barrel FTW).

Three hours later, the beans were very tender and supper was on! No photos because honestly—not the prettiest dish in the world. But very good with some shredded asiago and a side of cornbread. Today for lunch, some goat cheese and warm baguette.

I wound up with a total of 8 1-cup servings. I’ll freeze a few. This coming weekend, maybe another batch, this time with one of the red beans.

It’s a windy, sun-through-the-clouds morning, and I am tapping my watch and waiting for Spring to well and truly spring. Greenery. Flowers. The regoldening of the male goldfinches. The return of rose-breasted grosbeaks and ruby-throated hummingbirds. Unfortunately, that will also mean the departure of the juncos to their northern breeding grounds. I love those little birbs.

Not so much looking forward to the return of flies and skeeters, but they have their place in the Grand Scheme, often as bird food. So it’s all good.

I did buy some tulips to brighten up the place, and just happened to check the insides of the blooms after they opened. The colors are stunning, and the layout is so…symmetrical.

In other news, after having watched NOVA series on The Universe and The Planets, listened to so many astrophysics podcasts, and read the odd book or two, I decided it was time to do something I’d been considering for a while. Behold:

It’s a Celestron StarSense Explorer 100AZ, a beginner’s ‘scope that requires a smartphone in order to function. But that’s the stage I’m at, and I’m looking forward to trying it out as soon as I get the apps downloaded and we get a clear nighttime sky.

Book stuff: all the Jani novels are in trade paper format EXCEPT FOR CODE, which I am working on. I am working on the next Jani book, too. The tentative title is Chaos Agent, and as with the previous books the plot is giving me grief because it’s complicated. But I have the beginning, which for me is an achievement. Beginnings are hard. No release date as of yet.

That’s all for now.

(yes, the bookshelves are double-stacked, I still play CDs, and I’ve excavated the vinyl. Going old school in my old age)