Art by
Fun Snow
Angel Stay Good
The Land of the World
© 2010, B. Lake
This work by B. Lake is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.
Posted: 9:02 am Sat June 26 2010 | Comments(3) |
Lately
Last night she asked me if the cancer of one of her friend’s mothers would return. I said I had no way to know, but this led to a discussion of metastasis, and the preference of certain cancers for specific organ systems. For example, mine is colon cancer, tubovillous adenocarcinoma, with a strong metastatic preference for lymph, liver and lungs, so we discussed how my metastases were unlikely to occur in my brain or my stomach or my kidneys.
Then she asked a question that surprised me considerably. “Does cancer go where there are the most nutrients, or where the body is weakest?”
Somebody’s been explaining the germ theory of disease to this child.
So we talked about the difference between diseases with external vectors, ie, infections, and cancer, which is a mistake the body makes in its own internal processes and not dependent on the same factors as viral or bacterial infections. She informed me that our bodies had plentiful germs naturally that belonged there, which I allowed as how this was true. I compared resident intestinal flora to opportunistic rhinovirus to illustrate her point.
Sometimes
Posted: 2:26 pm Sat May 29 2010 | Comments(1) |
Posted: 3:47 pm Thu May 13 2010 | Comments(2) |
She asked me about landscape and setting, and how those descriptions were affected by point of view choice. So we talked through some of that, did a little more storytelling. I dragged out a Terry Pratchett book, and we discussed examples.
Her next question was about what happens when an editor receives a book that they thought was well-written, but they just didn’t like. We talked about taste, craft and quality, and how manuscripts can be passed between editors and agents for those reasons.
Her final question was whether being a writer had changed the way I look at books, whether I paid attention to how things were being done instead of the story. I told her that one of my great delights these days was a book that caught me up so much I paid no attention to craft.
I have sat through weekend long seminars with adult writers who couldn’t coherently discuss these aspects of fiction. My twelve-year-old is thinking it through, on her own initiative. She has resolved to pay attention to her reading and see what she can learn about writing.
I am amazed, and proud to the point of tears.
Posted: 5:08 pm Thu April 29 2010 | Comments(3) |
Title, author, and a little bit of description would be favorite, and maybe a note on why you like it.
ETA: If you know
Posted: 4:13 pm Thu March 25 2010 | Comments(23) |
Last Thursday,
by I. Jarvis and B. Lake
Casa de Tamales is a small Mexican restaurant in downtown Milwaukie located on the corner of Scott and Main street.
We were fortunate enough to talk to Eileen Winters, co-owner of the restaurant. She gladly answered our questions when we asked, “How long has the restaurant been open?” She answered, “It’s been around for about 2-1/2 years now.” They serve a mix of Mexican and New Mexican cuisine and almost all of their vegetables are from their farm.
We asked why they decided to open a restaurant, she answered, “Because we thought it would be fun”. “Why here in Milwaukie,” we asked? “We like the area, community, rent, and the people, also we had worked in the Milwaukie Farmers Market and loved it.” They named it Casa de Tamales, which means “house of tamales,” because of their 40 different types of tamales.
Their most popular tamale is either the Chicken Asparagus Tamale or the Nacatamal which is a Nicaraguan style tamale. The most popular dish is the Grilled Asparagus with Butterfly Shrimp, it’s their award-winning dish.
In Casa de Tamales while you are waiting for your food, your eyes will never get bored. There is an amazing array of decorations from paintings and masks to a suit of armor. They got their decorations from all over their house, attics, customers, and garage sales. “Before the restaurant,” she explained, “we just did farmers markets and made tamales because it was fast and easy to make ,eat and sell.”
The food is amazing and we can personally vouch on that point. They love the customers, they are very friendly and have a goal to provide good food and service all at a good price.
Posted: 8:01 am Sat March 13 2010 | Comments(3) |
Topics of conversation with
How the heck do I keep up?
Posted: 6:20 pm Thu February 25 2010 | Comments(1) |
It’s that time of the year again.
Shipped via UPS:
Local pickup for Portland area:
If you’re interested in wreaths for yourself or a friend or relative, please let me know in comments or via direct email by Friday, November 6th.
Posted: 4:02 pm Wed November 04 2009 | Comments(2) |
While we were away at SteamCon,
As well as drawing this mushroom village.
© 2009 by B. Lake. Reproduced with permission.
This work by B. Lake is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.
Posted: 5:37 am Mon October 26 2009 | Comments(1) |
Today is my daughter’s 12th birthday. I plan to celebrate by ensuring with the help of medical science that I’ll be around to see her grow up, graduate, build a life, and one day decide again that maybe I do actually know what I’m talking about.
Love you, kid.
Posted: 6:24 am Thu October 22 2009 | Comments(2) |