Author Archives: mourningdove

Letter of Recommendation: Christmas Pyramids

I think I’ve already established that I’m pro-Christmas. I have a pretty elaborate decorating scheme this year that I’ll share once it’s all set up, but for now I wanted to put on your holiday radar an old favorite that I’ve recently rediscovered: German Christmas pyramids. They’re called pyramids because the most famous of themContinue reading “Letter of Recommendation: Christmas Pyramids”

Letter of Recommendation: The Seven Citadels

Since I mentioned in my last festschrift post my favorite fantasy publisher, that reminded me of the series, which is Geraldine Harris’s Seven Citadels. There are 4 books in the series, which is now out of print, so you’ll have to find them on used sites: Prince of the Godborn, Children of the Wind, TheContinue reading “Letter of Recommendation: The Seven Citadels”

Birthday Festschrift: Second Decade

We have a lot more to choose from in the 10-20 age range. Since it’s Thanksgiving, I’ll start with…. Art Another favorite of my mom’s. I believe it was drawn on an inner-office envelope from my dad’s work. Music I wrote a lot of music during this time period because my parents got me aContinue reading “Birthday Festschrift: Second Decade”

Whole Wheat Japanese Milk Bread: Attempt #1

I’m a cook, not a baker. The difference is kind of the difference between an engineering mindset (start with a basic design, hack until success is achieved) versus a scientific mindset (test a hypothesis through experiments in which you control for variables; also, actually read the directions). I’m definitely an engineer. I encountered whole-wheat JapaneseContinue reading “Whole Wheat Japanese Milk Bread: Attempt #1”

Ceramics Saturdays: Yaozhou Ware

With the Yaozhou kiln, we complete our series on Song Dynasty ceramics. The kiln at Yaozhou, in Shaanxi province, was active since the Tang Dynasty and transitioned to making celadon wares sometime in the early Northern Song period (960-1127 AD). While never as luminescent as their southern Longquan cousins, Yaozhou celadons were collected by theContinue reading “Ceramics Saturdays: Yaozhou Ware”

Birthday Festschrift: First Decade

I’ve had this idea since I turned 40 and never got around to it–collecting my favorite story, poem, song, and piece of art that I created in each decade of my life. I think why I never got around to it is I took the project a bit too seriously. So, I’m going to doContinue reading “Birthday Festschrift: First Decade”

Letter of Recommendation? Jonathan Livingston Seagull

I may have been Neil Diamond’s youngest fan. “Song Sung Blue” was my favorite commuting song when we drove to Pre-K at Sunset Mesa when I was 5. And I’m pretty sure it was a combination of Neil Diamond’s soundtrack, seagulls, and the name Jonathan that got me into Jonathan Livingston Seagull. From there itContinue reading “Letter of Recommendation? Jonathan Livingston Seagull”

Letter of Recommendation: Eighth Generation

Tomorrow’s my 50th birthday, and my family got me a really beautiful gift: a blanket designed by Louie Gong (Coast Salish, Nooksack) from Eighth Generation, an American Indian artist collective that’s looking to counter the wave of “native-inspired” designs that appropriate tribal cultural heritage and capitalize it such that the profits never find their wayContinue reading “Letter of Recommendation: Eighth Generation”