Actually, this was yesterday’s job.

We bought an older house (it’s almost as old as I am) and its parts are…wearing out. The faucet in the bathroom was probably really good when the place was new, but it was dying rapidly. The sink wouldn’t hold water and there was mysterious dampness underneath. I debated trying to fix it, but that would cost almost as much as a new (cheap) faucet. But I didn’t WANT another uuuuuugly (cheap) faucet, so…I ignored the damp.

Then, low and behold, Costco had a pretty faucet for only a few bucks more than a cheap, ugly one! So…after giving it the 24hr test, I got it.

Nevermind I’ve never changed out a faucet. Fortunately, it only requires being a mild contortionist, and a good…what do they call it…alligator wrench? Lock wrench? anyway, I’ve got three of them in three different sizes, two of which I needed for the job, but they did it!

When I actually got under there, I naturally discovered the shut off valves were about done for, so it was off to Ace for some new valves and some plumbers putty. I wish I could report all kinds of problems, for a humorous and entertaining post, but, well, everything went pretty much according to plan.

Except I cut my finger.

Sniff.

Back to work!

Ja ne!

...documentaries on artists never bother interviewing other artists about artistic decisions. I was watching a History Channel doc on Leonardo daVinci, and there were all these “experts” rambling on about the “deep hidden meanings” within his paintings, and not a single artist was asked about the simple design elements involved. No, they absolutely HAD to link the man’s philosophical writings with his paintings.  Is it possible there was some connection? Maybe. But unless, within all his writings, he SAYS that’s what he meant by the various elements, I’m not buying it because there are darned good artistic/design/human reasons for the same elements. Unless and until they can show me that absolute statement from him that he had the destruction of the world in mind when he painted the Mona Lisa, I’m not buying it.

We’ve decided to add to the old adage:

Those who can, do; those who can’t, teach;  those who can’t teach, teach teachers; and those who can’t do any of the above pontificate on the History Channel.

Phooey! I shoulda known Carolyn would beat me to this topic! So…I guess I need to add to it.

Why does everyone think he was “encoding” with his backward writing? Anybody with a mirror could read it. I’d think it would just increase suspicion on the part of the religious PTB that got a look at it, not avoid it. Being a lefty was suspicious enough at the time.

I’ve got another suggestion. Any other lefty out there ever tried to write with a quill pen without smudging it all to heck and gone? I had an on-going battle with my first grade teacher over the slant of my paper to avoid smudging with a pencil! The man’s brain worked a mile a minute. Maybe he didn’t want to have to wait for the ink to dry…maybe he wrote backward to avoid dragging his full sleeves over the wet ink. Writing backwards (right to left) is very easy for a lefty. Writing left to right without smudging is not.

Just a thought!

Ja ne!

In case anyone reading comments was wondering, these are temari balls. It’s another fun thing Lynn A got me started on when we shared a domicile down in OKC. It’s a Japanese art form that’s basically stitching pretty patterns on a ball of string. Usually they’re geometrically-based, but sometimes it’s flowers and such.

The following site is wonderful. Great history, images and patterns. They’re even in English! All the ones I did were from a book Lynn had that was in Japanese. Thank goodness for pictures and diagrams!

http://www.temarikai.com/

These are some of mine… the ones I still have. (I’ve given a lot away.)

[View with PicLens]

Finally got this function to work properly. Got an update, and I think that did it.

The current version of the RoI cover. As you can see, there have been some changes. I do listen!

Time to go read Rusalka!

Ja ne!

Kato-ji posed a good question regarding the original covers for the Ring books. She wondered why the first two books had no characters on them. (http://www.janefancher.com/htmfiles/bibliography/Rings/dance.htm)

My editor’s notion at the time was to have the city on about two thirds of the cover with the brothers’ portrait in a band on the right side. It was a style she’d used on another author’s books and she thought it would be appropriate and a bit different from the standard fantasy covers. In theory, it sounded neat and the artist, John Howe, is amazing. In the end, however, the two images just didn’t fit together. The other books’ pieces had been in the same color palette. This portrait was very bright compared to the city-scape, and the faces were a horizontal rather than the necessary vertical composition. He filled it out with clothes, but that just didn’t work. Stacking the faces would have been better, but still not great.

Somewhere, I have a copy of the original layout for the cover, but I can’t find it. She did end up using the portrait of the boys on the spine, so I was able to scan that. It’s okay, but it’s not how I saw the boys. He did try to capture their distinctive characters, and I do think Khyel’s sort of Mongol look is pretty cool, just not how I saw him. Deymio, tho, poor boy, has obviously been in one too many fights.

I think at that time Mr. Howe had already been contracted for the second cover and she went just with the city-scape. I think it’s a pretty look, but not really right for such character-driven books. For the third, she went with a different artist, the marvelous Luis Royo. I love that cover. Still not how I see the boys, and it’s a bit distractingly medieval…this is a culture on the verge of the twentieth century… but it’s a gorgeous cover.

The good part is, the chance of my ever drawing any city is just about nil, so….

Ja ne!

That might not seem like such a big deal (tho if you’d seen my room, you’d know why it was no small task…I have more surfaces than most sane people have in an entire house) but it involved some Significant Rearranging.

I can now sit by my window and work, with the waterfall right outside. It’s WONDERFUL. I’ve been so unspeakably jealous of Carolyn, able to work in her room with That Sound  wafting in, while I was stuck in the living room with nothing but the sound of traffic, if I opened the front door. Now…I’m jealous no longer!

Zippety Doo Dah!

Maybe now I’ll get the ROI post put together.

Ja ne!

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