Launching Spring 2014

I've talked at some length before, here and here, about the publishing ritual known as Launch, where all us editors get up and give presentations about all our new books to all the sales people. Suffice it to say a huge amount of preparation goes into it and when the day arrives, as it did yesterday for our Spring 2014 books, coming into work carries with it a bit of a heightened sense of drama.

And this is what it looks like. My lovely colleague Peter took the above photo of my other lovely colleague Kate presenting (I'm the tiny blonde blob to Kate's left).

And after it was all over we had a much-deserved glass of wine. Photo credit for this one goes to Lia, yet another lovely coworker of mine. (If it seems like I have an almost unlimited supply of lovely coworkers, that's because I really do). 

And when I got home, feeling celebratory but simulations wiped-out, what should I discover but that Bill had made June's pie from the Pie Almanac (as part of the pie-a-month project I discussed here on Monday). Cherry! One of my favorites.

Extra Malty

The other weekend Mabel discovered the milkshake, a delicacy she took to with gusto (see below). One of the ancillary benefits of having a kid is that you get to try and raise them up to enjoy your own weirdo tastes and pleasures in life. Hence this girl is not drinking vanilla milkshakes, oh no. She is drinking extra malty vanilla malts. Because one of the myriad things Bill and I agree on is that this is the best type of milkshake known to man. And how much do I love the notation the guys at the takeout place we frequent (Pearl's Deluxe Burger to the masses, known privately to Mabel as The Pickle Store) made on the cup above? Oh so very, very much.

Photo credit for top image: Benjamin Watson (with thanks)

Mmmm... Pie

As mentioned here way back in the winter, I got this book, Pie: A Hand Drawn Almanac by Emily Hilliard, illustrated by Elizabeth Graeber, for Bill for Christmas. In true almanac style it features a pie for each month of the year. And, fantastically enough, Bill has been making each one in its own allotted month ever since January. All have been delicious. And I'm excited to realize that June's pie will be landing in our lives this week! Here Mable admires April's pie which I think was Lemon Chess.

Photo Fabulousity

Maybe I'm a weirdo, but I organize my Pinterest boards by color. And lately I've been finding some brilliantly hued photographs that make me very happy indeed. Above a photo by Rakesh JV of a girl having her face painted prior to the Maha Shivaratri festival in India, as seen on Colossal.

Photo by Kimberly Rhodes Roberts as seen on Design Love Fest.

Self-portrait of Kellie B. as seen on Wear Color.

Steve Back's aerial photo of a Beta Carotene farm as seen on Beautiful Decay.

The Next Installment in the Ongoing Poem Series About The Winter of 2006

February 9, 2006
Here’s what I like

about listening to
movie soundtrack music
on the way to work

It’s emotional
full of sadness mixed with hope
Or hope in the face of sadness

And the songs’ cinematic qualities
make you feel
like you’re in a movie yourself

your every step and glance
suddenly turned visually arresting
and filled with portent

Cheap sentiment perhaps but
combined with the pale blue weather
it impacts how you see things

everything looks
sort of fresh
and possible


image source is here

Take That, Sexism!

This is so awesome. Fiction author Maureen Johnson got sick of the chick lit covers her publisher kept putting on her books and started a protest project called Coverflip. Users create new covers for (mostly very famous) novels by men, showing how they might be packaged today if they were by a woman writer or targeted at female (particularly young female) readers. Of course part of the point here is that those two things (1. by a woman and 2. marketed exclusively to women) often mean the exact same thing. I still don't understand how the world we live in seems to be getting more and more sexist, rather than less so, but at least we can be encouraged by the fact that more and more often people are noticing and commenting and not taking it sitting down. Our bra-burning moms would be proud. Of course one of the main differences about feminism today (and make no mistake, that's what this is) is that it comes with a sense of humor. Personally, I find these covers hilarious (if also quite chilling). See for yourself:

Hyde Street Pier

Over the weekend Mabel and I went to clamber around on the historic boats at the Hyde Street Pier. I have the sense that most San Franciscans never set foot near the place, due to its proximity to Fisherman's Wharf, but in truth it's one of my favorite spots in the city (ok, admitedly, I have a lot of favorite spots in this town--but still, this is one of them for sure!).  

The Pier is basically a floating maritime museum run by the National Park Service and one of the best things about it, in these days of overly-mediated experiences, is that you are able to just wander around on all these amazing old ships at your leisure--letting your curiosity and your toddler guide you.

This is the interior of the same boat in the above two photos--the ferryboat Eureka. Huge and beautiful, you can run seemingly for miles up and down  those polished floors on your very short legs and no one tells you to stop or slow down. There's a lower level full of vintage cars, and adults can amuse themselves imagining what it must have been like back in the days when this whole huge space was full of myriad passengers in formal clothing.

My other favorite boat is the three-masted sailing ship, the Balclutha. I've been coming to visit this ship since I was a little kid myself, but this was the first time Mabel was old enough to go on it--the rails around the deck are minimal at best and in places downright non-existent, so a kid as to be old enough to understand and follow the "you have to hold my hand up here" direction.

Mabel's favorite ship was the stocky modest tugboat Hercules. Perhaps this is because she has a toy tugboat in her bath at home, or perhaps because of the little "platforms" (her word) that you could stand on to peek into the various sleeping cabins, galley kitchen, engine room, and so forth. Her verdict on these platforms was that they were: "really good for little childs." I think we could say the same about the whole darn place.

Running around with a wee one is not so conducive to picture-taking. So though the top photo is (obviously) mine, the image sources for the others can be found here, here, here, and here.