Author Archives: mourningdove

Birthday Festschrift: 20-30

This was probably my most productive decade for creative stuff because it’s the last decade I wasn’t in academia (well, half the decade). It is a sad truth that there is only so much Creativity Juice in any one person, and even though it doesn’t seem like it, teaching freshmen how to write, reading theory,Continue reading “Birthday Festschrift: 20-30”

Unauthorized Uses: Wine Corks

After I hosted 11 people for Thanksgiving, several of them serious wine enthusiasts, I ended up with a lot of corks. I rubbed my hands together in glee. There’s nothing I like better than a wine cork for multi-purpose Rigging of Things. I already mentioned corks in a previous post, but wine corks’ size makesContinue reading “Unauthorized Uses: Wine Corks”

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”