A bizarrely warm Xmas day, even for Birmingham. Our high was 69˚F, and it's still 68˚F. If it had not been overcast all day (and it was not supposed to have been overcast), we'd have been in the 70sF. As it is, we're supposed to reach 78˚F on Monday. In late December ( Read more... )

Sunny half the day, cloudy the other half, and we're expecting a little rain before dawn. But then sunny again tomorrow, though much colder. Today's high was 68˚F. It is currently 61˚F ( Read more... )

A weird weather day, after a blustery, wet night. Sunny, and we made it all the way to 73˚F. We had a window open until after dark. As I said on Facebook:

The day before Thanksgiving, and it's 73˚F here in Birmingham, which is very much *not* normal. Well, unless it's the new normal, ergo those hoaxes perpetrated by the Chinese.Today, I spent two ( Read more... )

It was 28˚F when I got up at 10:30 a.m. CaST. The temperature has soared to 38˚F, with the windchill at 32˚F. But at least it's sunny, and I will be thankful for that.

I did some work yesterday on The Tindalos Asset, but it was largely line editing and trying to nail the plot together in my head and with a few scrawled notes. I think I may have ( Read more... )

Were I the wind, I'd blow no more on such a wicked, miserable world. ~ Moby-DickThe wind is buffeting the walls and roof of the cabin, as if it means to shove us the rest of the way down the mountain into town. It eats at my nerves, knives beneath my skin. The wind is currently blowing at 18 mph, gusting to 31 mph. The sky is clear, blue, wide and ( Read more... )

I have not encountered, ever, anyone who's made a connection between Carcosa and Carrascosa, Spain. A connection between Carcassonne (Latin, Carcaso), in France, has been suggested. But to my eye, Carrascosa looks more like Carcosa, and the word has always had a Spanish feel to me. Still, we can't very well ask Mr. Bierce, can we ( Read more... )

We woke to a dusting of snow. I didn't sleep well or much, but in all the times I was up in the night and after sunrise, I never noticed it was snowing. I'm an inattentive insomniac. About 9:30 a.m., I gave up, tired of tossing and turning while my feet throbbed and burned. I got up and watched a rafter of turkeys picking at the snowy ground. I'm ( Read more... )

Not much to say this morning. We're getting ready to leave tomorrow. Since I'll be working the whole time, I feel as if I'm taking half my office with me. Outside it's cold. We're going some place even colder. But there are mountains and tall trees to hide the weight of the sky and to soothe my mind ( Read more... )

Turkey Day, again ( Read more... )

The thing about not making a journal entry for many days on end is that, well, when you finally make one you have created - in geological terms - an unconformity, a break in sedimentation, a black space in the record, a gap - and all gaps yearn to be filled. Nature abhors a void and what have you. But, I don't have the time, and my memory's ain't ( Read more... )