DC

I'm in Washington, DC this week for meetings related to next year's adventure in Zagreb. Spike accompanied me for a little tourism.

The US Supreme Court

The Capitol, from atop the steps at the US Supreme Court.

Well, yeah.

Meeting the Pres.

Getting ready for our trip.

Caterpillar

Knatolee has posted some lovely bug pictures lately, and look what I found munching on my tomatillo plant this evening. I think it's a sphinx moth caterpillar of some kind. It's about 3 inches long.

It has very impressive teeth!

Look! I did something crafty!

When is the last time I knitted? Forever ago, sadly. But I recently acquired a Kindle and decided to put my minimal sewing skills to use making a cover for it. The pattern is here. I owned the fabric and other supplies already, so my cost was zilch. The results?

This is one side of the cover when it's closed. It's less than an inch thick even with the Kindle inside.

Here's the other side. Pink is normally not my thing, but I really love this fabric.

And here it is open. You can fold it flat or prop it like an easel. Spike and Angel approve, I think, as does John Steinbeck.

The first one is hysterical, isn't it?

Thank you

I really appreciate all the kind words. We just came back from a trip to Hawaii, and the house is so empty without Ruthie. This is my first time petless since 1985! No plans for another pet now, though, especially because Thing1 and I will be in Croatia for 6 months next year.

Thank you

Thank you so much to all of you for the very kind words. Your thoughts mean a lot to me.

Ruthie

We had to put Ruthie to sleep this morning. She could hardly walk, she was pretty much blind, and she just wasn't happy. It was the right decision. She was 11 1/2, a good age for a Saint. She was the sweetest dog in the whole wide world.

I'm alive!

Long time no hear, huh?

So, all my books are currently in print. I'm trying out this new Amazon thingy; the links should be in this post. I'm about to begin work on co-writing another textbook as well. So no, haven't done any knitting in a long time.

My other big news is I was granted a Fulbright scholarship to Croatia. I'll be spending Spring 2011 in Zagreb, and DD1 will be going with (DH and DD2 will visit). I'm pretty excited about it, to say the least. I hope to get in as much travel around Europe as I can while we're there, so if anyone has any tips, I'd love to hear them.I just ordered some Croatian language CDs; we'll see if we can pick up a little of the labguage before we get there!

Book complete

This is the textbook my co-authors and I have been working on for an eternity. Finally, the 1st Edition is in print. Hooray!!

The 2nd edition of my hate crimes text will be out this spring as well. I'm just in a publishing frenzy, aren't I?

Amazon's discounting my book, Stasis, to $10.08 right now. My royalties remain the same, and I'm donating 100% of the royalties to Doctors without Borders. So now's a good time to buy. :-)