"And they were as laughter, blowing past you..."
Have you PREORDERED? If not, please take a moment to preorder at least a dozen copies of the Alabaster: Wolves hardcover. Just kidding. Four will do. But, kittens, this is how you get more. Also, maybe we'll get a Dancy/Maisie girl-on-ghost action centerfold, if I ask Greg nicely.
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If you don't think your life is worth more than someone else's, sign your donor card and kill yourself. ~ Gregory House
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Yesterday was three quarters of a very good day.
I didn't write one single bloody fucking word on Fay Grimmer, thus blowing my tightly wound plan all to fuck and back. But we had high 70s Fahrenheit, and sun, and I was not about to sit in this chair all day long, only able to glimpse it through the window. Especially after not going Outside since last Friday. So, the three of us played hooky - Spooky, the platypus, and I. With no especial destination in mind, we drove to Conanicut Island. Camping season at Fort Getty ends on October 1st, which meant we could get in for free. We haven't explored Fort Getty, except for that time we went swimming, back in August. We should have gone prepared to swim yesterday, but...well. Should'a, could'a, would'a.
We decided to explore the western edge of Fox Hill Salt Marsh (which I now refer to affectionally as "Little Innsmouth"). Just past the marina, the receding tide was exposing bars of sandy gravel and broken shells. The water was calm, no birds in sight except herons and gulls, with a few noisy, unseen crows. Quiet. Very, very quiet, and the sort of sky I don't like to look up into. So, I kept my eyes on the ground. I found several nice bird bones, including an exquisite carpometacarpus (~9 cm long, ?gull). Astounding biodiversity, as evidenced by the remains of so many dead crustaceans and mollusks. I was going to make a list of genera and species, but I'm at least an hour behind "schedule" today, so I'll save that for another time, and everyone will just have live with the suspense. There was also some exceptional sea glass and antique china/pottery finds.
We arrived about 4 p.m. The sun was blazing. The trees are just beginning to shed summer. The moored boats bobbed quietly on the water. We spent maybe an hour and a half, strolling back and forth along maybe a hundred and seventy-five yards of shoreline at the edge of the marsh (~41°29'34.78"N, 71°23'48.38"W to ~41°29'30.40"N, 71°23'45.64"W.). As we were leaving, we spotted a two-masted schooner passing between Conanicut and Dutch Island, just off the Dutch Island lighthouse. Beautiful. Almost strangely so, and, yet, to another day and time, utterly mundane. Perspective determines everything. Anyway, there are photos behind the cut.
On the way down and back, I read A. Scott Glancy's "Once More from the Top," a very readable, perfectly serviceable sequel to "The Shadow Over Innsmouth." Though, for my part, I'd prefer to leave to the imagination what the Navy and Marines encountered there. But, lots of stuff blows up real good. Saving Private Gilman? Okay, now I'm just being cruel. No, it was fun. Just...you, know...in a "big badda boom" sort of way.
Anyway, the day was peaceful, and for the first time in a week - at least - I didn't feel sick or angry or especially insane. Back in Providence, we had a lazy sort of Kid Night. Or just a weird sort of Kid Night. The usual pizza, but then GW2, instead of movies. We were more in a gaming mood, I guess. We leveled our humans, Selwyn and Beatrix, to 33. Then we watched two episodes from Season Five of House, M. D. and also the BBC Sherlock "The Hounds of Baskerville" episode. To echo something scarletboi said a few days ago, the Benedict Cumberbatch - Martin Freeman and Hugh Laurie - Robert Sean Leonard duos are my favorite Holmes/Watson teams ever.
The marina at Fort Getty (view to the north).
View to the east, out across the marsh.
View to the northeast, as the tide recedes. Let's all play spot the stupid seagull.
The egg case of a Channeled Whelk (Busycon canaliculatum)
Carapace of the Lady Crab (Ovalipes ocellatus).
Claw of a Lady Crab.
More Lady Crab! Astounding, since there were at least ten species of crab present...
Ah. Here we go. Though...I haven't identified these yet. Probably something from the Panopeinae.
A cricket!
A stowaway platypus escapes my bag!
When it comes to platypus stowaways, what else can you do?
View to the northwest, the schooner passing Dutch Island lighthouse.
All photographs Copyright © 2012 by Caitlín R. Kiernan and Kathryn A. Pollnac
Is This Thing On?
Aunt Beast
---
If you don't think your life is worth more than someone else's, sign your donor card and kill yourself. ~ Gregory House
---
Yesterday was three quarters of a very good day.
I didn't write one single bloody fucking word on Fay Grimmer, thus blowing my tightly wound plan all to fuck and back. But we had high 70s Fahrenheit, and sun, and I was not about to sit in this chair all day long, only able to glimpse it through the window. Especially after not going Outside since last Friday. So, the three of us played hooky - Spooky, the platypus, and I. With no especial destination in mind, we drove to Conanicut Island. Camping season at Fort Getty ends on October 1st, which meant we could get in for free. We haven't explored Fort Getty, except for that time we went swimming, back in August. We should have gone prepared to swim yesterday, but...well. Should'a, could'a, would'a.
We decided to explore the western edge of Fox Hill Salt Marsh (which I now refer to affectionally as "Little Innsmouth"). Just past the marina, the receding tide was exposing bars of sandy gravel and broken shells. The water was calm, no birds in sight except herons and gulls, with a few noisy, unseen crows. Quiet. Very, very quiet, and the sort of sky I don't like to look up into. So, I kept my eyes on the ground. I found several nice bird bones, including an exquisite carpometacarpus (~9 cm long, ?gull). Astounding biodiversity, as evidenced by the remains of so many dead crustaceans and mollusks. I was going to make a list of genera and species, but I'm at least an hour behind "schedule" today, so I'll save that for another time, and everyone will just have live with the suspense. There was also some exceptional sea glass and antique china/pottery finds.
We arrived about 4 p.m. The sun was blazing. The trees are just beginning to shed summer. The moored boats bobbed quietly on the water. We spent maybe an hour and a half, strolling back and forth along maybe a hundred and seventy-five yards of shoreline at the edge of the marsh (~41°29'34.78"N, 71°23'48.38"W to ~41°29'30.40"N, 71°23'45.64"W.). As we were leaving, we spotted a two-masted schooner passing between Conanicut and Dutch Island, just off the Dutch Island lighthouse. Beautiful. Almost strangely so, and, yet, to another day and time, utterly mundane. Perspective determines everything. Anyway, there are photos behind the cut.
On the way down and back, I read A. Scott Glancy's "Once More from the Top," a very readable, perfectly serviceable sequel to "The Shadow Over Innsmouth." Though, for my part, I'd prefer to leave to the imagination what the Navy and Marines encountered there. But, lots of stuff blows up real good. Saving Private Gilman? Okay, now I'm just being cruel. No, it was fun. Just...you, know...in a "big badda boom" sort of way.
Anyway, the day was peaceful, and for the first time in a week - at least - I didn't feel sick or angry or especially insane. Back in Providence, we had a lazy sort of Kid Night. Or just a weird sort of Kid Night. The usual pizza, but then GW2, instead of movies. We were more in a gaming mood, I guess. We leveled our humans, Selwyn and Beatrix, to 33. Then we watched two episodes from Season Five of House, M. D. and also the BBC Sherlock "The Hounds of Baskerville" episode. To echo something scarletboi said a few days ago, the Benedict Cumberbatch - Martin Freeman and Hugh Laurie - Robert Sean Leonard duos are my favorite Holmes/Watson teams ever.
The marina at Fort Getty (view to the north).
View to the east, out across the marsh.
View to the northeast, as the tide recedes. Let's all play spot the stupid seagull.
The egg case of a Channeled Whelk (Busycon canaliculatum)
Carapace of the Lady Crab (Ovalipes ocellatus).
Claw of a Lady Crab.
More Lady Crab! Astounding, since there were at least ten species of crab present...
Ah. Here we go. Though...I haven't identified these yet. Probably something from the Panopeinae.
A cricket!
A stowaway platypus escapes my bag!
When it comes to platypus stowaways, what else can you do?
View to the northwest, the schooner passing Dutch Island lighthouse.
All photographs Copyright © 2012 by Caitlín R. Kiernan and Kathryn A. Pollnac
Is This Thing On?
Aunt Beast