Deanna Hoak

Blaine, my lovely nine-year-old, did a photo shoot for me when she got home from book-making camp today. (Scans from her book to follow, since I have her full permission. ;-))

I don’t know which I’ll substitute as my bio photo yet. Maybe I’ll actually try some without my belly showing. It looks to me like I can still get away with the crop tops, though, so I’m going to take advantage while I can. :-) Surely it won’t last much longer.

Herewith my daughter’s wonderful work. I think she’s a very talented photographer!

Out by the bird-of-paradise trees:

At my desk:

Upside down from a tree:

I dunno. Maybe the upside-down one would be good. :-)

And damn, it feels like a weird birthday.

I’ve also decided the hot pic on my Bio page is officially too old to use in good sense and will have my nine-year-old attempt to take a new one tonight. (She took the current one and did a good job, so I have named her my official photographer. I’ll let you guys see the results when I get them.)

I hope you guys have a great day!

I bought the twentieth-anniversary edition of The Princess Bride and watched it with my kids this week, successfully introducing them to an integral aspect of geek culture.

And it took! (At least with my son–my daughter rightfully thought Princess Buttercup was useless.) Herewith my son doing an exceptionally cute Inigo Montoya. :-)

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Family movies are generally the only ones I go to see, and I don’t usually find them interesting enough to post about. We saw Kung Fu Panda last week, for instance, and I found it completely lacking in depth or characterization, which doesn’t have to be the case with movies made for kids. If you haven’t gone to see Wall-E, though, you absolutely should. It was fantastic, all the way around, scratched my SF itch, and definitely is not lacking in characterization or depth. It was just fantastic. Go watch it.

ETA: Was chatting with a friend just now and was able to put voice to why so many kids movies are lacking in characterization these days: They tend to rely on big-name actors for voice-overs as shorthand. Wall-E actually bothered to develop the characters. Really, it was lovely.

I got a wonderfully nice letter from Allen Steele today. He noted that he had accepted China Miéville’s Locus Award for Best Young Adult Novel for Un Lun Dun for him at the Locus Awards this year, and he sent me along a copy of what China asked him to read, since it mentioned me by name:

I am more honoured than I can say. This is a wonderful time for YA fiction, and it has been incredibly exciting to be part of that scene: to receive this is really humbling. My huge thanks to everyone who worked on Un Lun Dun–especially Chris Schluep, Harriet Wilson, Lauren Buckland, Deanna Hoak, Mic Cheetham, and Simon Kavanagh–and to all the authors to whom this book is a homage. I want to dedicate this award to the memory of my mother, Claudia Lightfoot, who gave me books, and would be unspeakably proud today. Thank you all so much again.

It’s rare for copyeditors to get that kind of thanks, and I’m always elated when authors are so happy with my work that they think I deserve it.

The clouds are so often gorgeous here in Florida. We had a fire-breathing dragon in our skies this week:

He even had a mate:

Aren’t they lovely?

Well, it’s traditional ever since I made it for Bill a few years ago and it immediately became his favorite food I’ve ever made.

It’s a six-egg omelette with a pound of ribeye steak, half a pound of baby bella mushrooms, a whole bunch of cheddar, and some onion and garlic thrown in for good measure.

I serve it to him in bed with four forks, and we all dig in:

It seems to start his Father’s Day off well.

I hope all you dads are enjoying your day. :-)

My daughter and I were waiting for my son to finish up a horseback lesson recently when a boy from the stables wandered over and clearly started checking her out.

I remarked upon it when the boy left, and she rolled her eyes: “I saw him.”

“You might as well get used to it,” I said. “You’re a very beautiful girl.” She smiled at me and squeezed my hand.

The boy swaggered back a moment later, to stand beside her. “You should see this! I just found a dead mole with all his intestines hanging out.”

She gave him what I can only describe as a withering look (I actually feel sorry for the boys when she does this, though her father grins–odd how the empathy works the opposite direction there), and he mumbled something unintelligible and left. (I wanted to post a picture of the look, but she has forbidden me.)

I quirked my lips at her. “Sadly, the lines don’t usually get much better either.”

She buried her head in her hands.

Right here. I came across it in a People magazine while waiting at the dentist’s office today and had to look it up online.

That’s…um…Well. “Go meat” indeed.

The placement of that sausage she’s putting the tongs to? And the top grill line on it? And the tiny shadow at the tip? Really. I’m astounded it doesn’t leap out at everyone. Must be the grill that interferes with some folks’ subconscious. ;-)

If you’re tired of the oyster porn, please move along. I don’t even have any pictures of the oysters topless, alas.

However, since it was clear that my little family and I could not eat these oysters alone, I invited over a neighbor and her kids tonight; we both shucked about an hour (this is a first for us–be patient); and I made a pot full of oyster stew that produced many bowls like this:

Mmmm. See all that butter? Yeah. No margarine there, nosirreee.

Here’s what I did:

Sauté roughly these amounts:
2 sticks butter (BUTTER, I tell you!)
3/4 c. minced shallots
1 1/2 c. minced celery
2 grated Yukon Gold potatoes

When those are nice and soft, pour in
2 1/2 quarts of half-and-half

Spice with salt, pepper, and cayenne. When it’s just on the edge of boiling, add in

100 oysters, with juice

Stir it up, then add in

two handfuls of chopped fresh parsley

When the oysters curl at the edges (hardly any time at all) pour it in bowls and serve.

Damn, it was good. Best stew I’ve ever had, if I do say so myself. :-)