http://barbarawklaser.mysterynovelist.com musings, thoughts, and writings of Barbara W. Klaser Sat, 19 Apr 2008 00:02:37 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en No, I did not mis-spell “sweater” in the title. We’re having a summery spring, with hot, dry Santa Ana conditions interspersed with normal spring weather, and it’s confusing our poor little seedlings. I’m actually doing a tiny bit of gardening. Though I’m a plant — especially flower — lover, and ... http://barbarawklaser.mysterynovelist.com/2008/04/18/spring-swelter/ That title sounds like a metaphor for something, maybe political. But it’s not. Earlier I wrote about the Ringed Turtle Dove I spotted one morning under our pine trees. I’ve been keeping a lookout for it, and have since seen it with a second dove, and the two of them ... http://barbarawklaser.mysterynovelist.com/2008/03/17/the-hawk-and-the-dove/ Big thank you to those of you who alerted us to the comment problem. It was a weird problem, that I still don’t really understand. Yesterday’s post is now dated today and has a slightly different title, which isn’t what solved the problem, but we were trying anything, and we did ... http://barbarawklaser.mysterynovelist.com/2008/03/15/comment-problems-fixed-thank-you/ Have you ever had trouble deciding which topic to read about next, or what to major in in college? Has anyone ever told you that you have too many hobbies? Have you ever thought about leaving a perfectly good job to look for something else that might interest you more ... http://barbarawklaser.mysterynovelist.com/2008/03/15/specialist-or-generalist/ A few days ago the New York Times ran a story headlined Gang Memoir, Turning Page, Is Pure Fiction, about Margaret Seltzer, alias Margaret B. Jones, and her memoir that wasn’t a memoir at all. She has admitted it was fiction. Today Alternet reports on yet another memoir writer who ... http://barbarawklaser.mysterynovelist.com/2008/03/09/memoir-fraud/ We’d seen it before, many weeks ago. A big bird of prey with black and white bands on its tail. The rest of it was paler than a Red-tailed Hawk, but we only caught glimpses of it flying over, and not a long enough look to identify it. We thought ... http://barbarawklaser.mysterynovelist.com/2008/02/23/more-birds/ It turns out that this Snow on Mt. Palomar, back on December 9, 2007, was nothin’. But you couldn’t have told me that three days ago, when our high temperature was about 80 degrees Fahrenheit, and I was certain spring had sprung with a summery vengeance. I almost tucked away ... http://barbarawklaser.mysterynovelist.com/2008/02/15/still-winter/ Some of our holidays have quite a lot of history behind them, and Groundhog Day is one of my favorites in this regard. I probed the pagan history of Yule a few years ago, so now I think it’s only fair to peer briefly into the past of Groundhog Day, ... http://barbarawklaser.mysterynovelist.com/2008/02/02/groundhog-day/ I was sorry to read today of the death of Suzanne Pleshette. She used to be a favorite actress of mine. I’m also a little disappointed by the obituaries, including the one by Associated Press which indicated that her primary claim to fame was her TV comedy series role as psychologist ... http://barbarawklaser.mysterynovelist.com/2008/01/20/a-sad-goodbye-to-suzanne-pleshette/ In a couple of weeks, groundhogs will make their yearly predictions, though I’m not sure a prairie dweller afraid of its own shadow is a very reliable sign of the turning seasons. I’ve begun to wonder if we’ll have an early spring, though. The weather has turned sunny and warm, ... http://barbarawklaser.mysterynovelist.com/2008/01/16/early-spring-or-not-and-what-is-this-vine/