Building a world in less than 4.5 billion years*

I often get so caught up in the background research for stories that I can easily allow that research to eclipse the true task, which is to write. As I work on creating a believable landscape for my current story, I need to figure out weather patterns, seasons, agriculture and technology so that I don't inadvertently create an equatorial desert next to an arctic tundra. Whatever I make up, I want to be plausible. I just ordered this book in the hope that it is useful: World Building, by Stephen Gillett. World Building is part of Ben Bova's series called Science Fiction Writing.

*In this case, 4.5 billion years is 4.54 × 109 years ± 1%. An American billion is a thousand million, whereas a British billion is a million million. To quote Lone Star Ma, "Grrf."

Brontë Sisters Power Dolls

A friend sent me a video of the mighty Charlotte, Emily and Anne Brontë Sisters represented as action figures battling the evil publishing industry:

Bronte Sisters Power Dolls

Watch out for the powerful Brontë-saurus!

She Wanted Pink

When I was little, blue was my favorite color. Later, I became smitten with green. I actually appreciate most colors, but for a long time, I recoiled from pink. Pink was not cool! Pink was for girls! Wait a minute... pink was for girls, therefore I hated it? How did that make sense? And who made up the notion that pink was for girls, anyway? Theories abound, but for me personally, once I realized that I was perpetuating a preposterous notion, I decided to give pink equal consideration.

For a birthday present, a friend of my daughter received this utterly pink doll:


By the way, I realized I never shared with you the little doll I made for myself, based upon the embroidered overalls I had when I was five. Here is a link to the four photos: Weeping Willow Maiden.

Entr'acte?

I had no ethical qualms about blogging about my daughter when she was little. My parenting of her was intertwined with the stories and songs I learned. As she grows older, I am drawing back from writing about things that are potentially intrusive to her privacy.

I used to write under a nom de plume. It wasn't that I had anything in particular to hide, but there was some grace in being able to write and have friendships without worries that my real name was out there for people to see. At one point, I caved in to what I perceived to be pressure not to be anonymous, and added my name to the blog. Something changed after that. I felt more exposed and less willing to take chances with writing. I have tried not to "overshare" on the internet, but still, I'm uncomfortable. I've given up too much of my privacy.

That may be a good deal of why this has been a reticent blog for the last while. I've not wanted to let the online friendships slip away, and blogs help keep conversations going. I care about books, music, science, and textiles, but the drive to write about them doesn't manifest itself in blog form anymore.

This is not the end of the blog, nor is it my last blog post, but it's only fair to acknowledge that the regular writing is done, at least for this time. I will update on occasion. I don't want to lose touch with you.

Update: If you would like to read occasional updates from me, please send an email to: saintsandspinners [at] gmail [dot] com.

Alice's Celestial Globe

The Bainbridge Island library has a copy of Alice's Celestial Globe made by Greaves and Thomas. John Tenniel's illustrations for Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, and Thought the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There are matched with many of the known constellations. The link has photos that are much better than the ones I took last Friday plus explanations of the constellations.



The Orrery Cafe in the Isle of Wight is a planetarium that depicts Alice's celestial globe. When the House of Glee finally visits England, we must also visit the Isle of Wight for the Orrery Cafe alone.

Exponents and Nature By Numbers

Have you ever seen The Powers of Ten (10) by Ray and Charles Eames? It's a short film about exponents that extend outward toward the cosmos and inward toward the atom.

A friend recently sent me Nature by Numbers, a film by Cristóbal Vila. It's about math in nature with a particular focus on Phi (ϕ). It's beautiful, but makes me feel a bit melancholy that ammonites are no more.