The elevator took a very long time. I debated taking the stairs instead, but the conversation behind me was too fascinating. (And yes, I’m a shameless eavesdropper. Ex-journalist; what do you expect?) […]
(Warning: Squeamish waters ahead if you're the type who avoids intimate girl gabs) They say a skillful beater can pound and pound on an ounce of pure gold until it's so thin that it can cover an entire church dome. Obviously, they borrowed that concept for mammograms. "Are you trying to cover the whole damn cathedral?" I gasped, through gritted [...]
The old man opened the trunk, and hauled out what looked like a lawn mower chassis. He set it on the ground, reached into the trunk again, and pulled out a padded seat. He attached it to the chassis and one of those powered chair scooter things began to take shape. He was dressed in a starched white shirt and [...]
“I hope,” I said with an apologetic smile, “that I’m not hurting anything? It’s a beautiful field and I just couldn’t resist.” I’d been driving past this wheatfield since early spring, on my way to work. I’d watched pale green sprouts shoot into sturdy green stalks, frowned as weeds invaded the waving tangles of grain and settled into a kind [...]
So now some poor soul in Hillsboro thinks I'm trying to off somebody. Headed over to the Cornelius Roadhouse tonight to meet Steve-the-kilngod and kick off the Intelligent Kiln Project (more about that later). Arriving, I realized that (a) I had no idea what Steve-the-kilngod looked like and (b) Cornelius Roadhouse is a big place full of guys waiting for [...]
I was shooting the iris–great stuff–but the angry buzzing in the rhodies behind me was finally too distracting. Apparently wet rhododendron blossoms don’t lend themselves to easy nectar gathering. As I watched, bumblebees tumbled out of blossoms, righted themselves and headed back for more. They slid down the soggy petals, scrabbled for footholds, got stuck and buzzed themselves out. I [...]
55F and rainy today in glassland, and the glasslanders were out in force trying to prove that it’s warm. As I’ve said before, born and bred northwesterners have been genetically modified to perceive “chilled and wet” as “warm and dry,” and there’s no sense in trying to convince them otherwise. An amazing number practice what I call “calendar-based dressing.” Calendar-based [...]
So I get home tonight and run to check on my venting kiln–it’s the mold moisture release phase of the cycle–and close everything up for the duration. Thanks to traffic jams I’m very, very late, so the kiln is up to 1300F instead of where it should be. The inside ends of the firebricks propping up the kiln lid are [...]
And I thought the British were the masters of understatement. They ain't got NUTHIN on the Canadians, apparently. Here's a story about poor Fournier, the skydiver who's trying to break the freefall record. He planned to send himself aloft on a helium balloon, break off at 130,000 feet and freefall down. Just for reference, that's about 24.6 miles high. Airliners [...]
“Excuse me,” said the man beside the dairy case, politely, “But can you help me?” I’d watched his son zooming around on rollerball sneakers earlier, swooshing in circles around my cart until his father brought him to heel. The son, about 7, had grinned at me sheepishly, “Sorry,” and hurried back to where his father stood, frowning at a list [...]
