It’s getting rather warm here in Texas. The tomatoes are starting to come in and I have one cucumber about to be ready. I’ve been told that I’m not providing enough of a Junior update for some of his fans. But as you can see, it isn’t my fault. Junior isn’t as active during daylight hours now that we get to near or above 90 every day. He’s in and out (mostly out) during the night. He has a morning run and an evening run. But during the day? Yup. This is our quality time together. Sometimes a tail, now and then a foot.

I thought I had a good picture of Mom Scamp to share, but when I loaded it, she was NOT looking at the camera. I swear she was when I clicked the shutter, but being a cat, she decided today was not a good day for pictures.

Both kitties are doing remarkably well. Junior still gets those blisters on his feet, but in general, he handles them. He helps in the garden in the mornings now and then and both cats have been doing their duty in keeping the birds out of the garden. I’ve only lost one tomato to a mockingbird this year and that’s an awesome record. Of course, the mockingbirds spend an inordinate amount of time chasing the *cats* even though you’d think it would be the other way around. Strangely, the birds seem to recognize that Scamp is the better hunter–they dive-bomb her almost constantly this time of year (they probably have little baby birds around) . The birds almost ignore Junior except when he’s out in a very open spot. Maybe I can get a good picture of Scamp trying to escape the birds!!!

Look what just arrived in my mailbox! Yup, a fabulous collection of mystery short stories (including a great little cozy by Kaye C. Hill). Criminal Tendencies seems to be available through Amazon now, although I thought the release date was Sept!

For every copy sold, a dollar will be given to the National Breast Cancer Coalition Fund.

I’ll be doing a full review of Criminal Tendencies for BSCreview, but I will say that I’ve already sampled the stories. I enjoyed Kaye C Hill’s bizarre little story–a reminder of why I like her main protag, Lexy Lomax and her adorable little dog. I also read Val McDermid’s Sneeze for Danger –I liked it a lot. I haven’t sampled any of McDermid’s work before, but I had heard of her. The story was tight, clever and ended all too soon. I’m going to be hunting down some more of her work.

If you like mysteries–the range of writers is quite interesting: Peter Lovesey, Andrew Taylor, Simon Brett, Reginal Hill, Peter James—Zoe Sharp (I’ve been meaning to try her stuff!) and so on for twenty some-odd stories.

The book is also available at Bookdespository (free shipping almost any place worldwide!) and it appears to be on sale (I’m not sure what the regular price is, but it’s listed at $11.51).

Writing:
Interesting article from Mike Resnick about “Last Impressions.” Really it’s more about believing in yourself. Even if I didn’t like a story I wrote, I’m not sure I’d delete it entirely. I’ve always maintained that writing and reading is a supply/demand issue. There are more writers than readers.

Oils:
Grapeseed oil: It does make very good dressing. I used it in place of olive oil in mixing a packet of Italian Seasoning. Very nice. The oil, like a good olive oil, is a very light green, which makes a pretty dressing. I still plan on trying it in my cesear dressing, the one I make from scratch. I think grapeseed may be slightly thicker so it will be interesting to see how that turns out. At any rate, at this point, I highly recommend the oil. It’s been a success in everything I’ve tried, including the facial and body creams. Some sites that sell the oil right from the grove also sell cream products.

Gardening:
Viva Italia–new roma variety for me and this year it produced! Good size and a very nice taste. Not mushy and if I actually kept one for more than a day, I could tell you how it holds up over time. The only thing is that the plant isn’t doing all that well. I don’t know if it has trouble with the heat or one of the many various diseases that are common around here (thrips and other insects tend to carry various leaf viruses to the plants.) I’ve already lost the Siberian (last year two plants made it, but the warmer it got, the harder they struggled). I’m not sure Viva can Viva all summer here. The other roma I have is still growing–no tomatoes on it yet, but the plant still looks good. It’s a generic seed packet that supposedly has disease resistance–all those fancy letters after the type.

All of my tomato plants show signs of some sort of leaf virus, but this is pretty standard for Texas (yellowing leaves, especially near the bottom/older leaves.) The Celebrity handles it okay–keeps producing in spite of it and so do the Juliet plants. The opener looks good, but it is not producing like the Opener last year. The Wisconsin looks good too, and sad to say, it’s producing just like last year–two or three very nice looking tomatoes. It’s getting hot…

I’m picking a blueberry here and there (we aren’t talking enough for a pie. I don’t think I’ll be getting enough for a pie!!! Maybe next year. The new plants look good but did not blossom. This is expected because it takes a year or two before the bushes produce.) I also picked the first raspberry this morning, which was a surprise. I had only seen very small ones so far and had failed to notice a strand that was nearly ready!

The thrips are around in astounding numbers despite my best efforts (neem oil and insecticidal soap). I’m hopeful that after the initial swarm they will die, go away or otherwise…die! The neem oil is keeping the spider mite numbers under control. That is a first for me. It’s damn hard to find anything that works on them.

Cruising Along:
So…I’m planning this cruise thing for my parents. Anyone know what to see on a day excursion in Florence, Italy????

Finally the tomatoes are turning! Getting about two a week. Hoping the juliets (large grape) will start turning faster. I kinda need more than two of those to make a salad…

Neem oil versus milk for mildew/fungus: I think the milk wins. Both seem to help, but the milk seems more effective. When I was only using neem oil, I still saw mildew to such a large degree on the snap peas, I think it could have overtaken and killed the plant. The mildew was probably caused by cloudy/wet weather we had, as well as possibly spread by no-see-ums. They were flocking about.

Remember that you need sunlight (according to studies) for milk to work. I spray after it rains and have been combining it with the neem oil. I use the milk at about half strength (mixed from the dry powder.) I think the milk worked better on the rosebush spots too.

Neem oil has been fairly effective against spider mites. That is to say it is keeping them under control. It hasn’t eliminated them completely, but I’m not sure a nuclear bomb could do that. I spray in the evenings when a few cooler days are expected. I am very careful not to use more than the recommended mix because it can and does burn the leaves (both my snap peas and tomatoes got burned when I wasn’t measuring very carefully). Using less than the recommended mix, doesn’t seem to get the mites. Mites are stubborn and way too hardy.

Neem is very effective against aphids. Not sure about thripes yet, but I’m trying. The thripes get into the blossoms of tomato, cucumber and other melons. Whenever they are around, the fruit seems to have a hard time setting (doesn’t set at all or the fruit is small and/or deformed.) I think I have less thripes around than last year, but none of the melons or cucs have set yet. Ants are a huge problem because the minute I kill off the aphids and thripes, the ants bring more into the garden to harvest the “dew” from these insects. I hate ants almost as much as the thripes.

There is also a lack of bees in the garden–a bit unusual since I had a gazillion earlier. There was a late freeze which might have affected them. I’m told the neem oil is perfectly safe for bees and never spray them directly at any rate. Of course when bug season starts around here, there are many other gardeners spraying more lethal ingredients than I use.

A lot of readers love browsing in a bookstore–find that gem and instant gratification, you get to take your purchase home! Instant gratification is nice–especially if I’m about to go on a trip and *need* a book. But I also like getting packages in the mail. A book package. I get enough of them, that when one shows up, I wonder which one it is. It’s like it’s my birthday and the presents are all for me. I sort of know what is in the package, but I sort of don’t. There’s that surprise factor and that, Oooh goody! I’ve been waiting for that.

Today a nice package awaited. You can already see it was Jack With A Twist (Red Dress Ink) by Brenda Janowitz. Signed. Wheee! Always a nice touch.

The back of the book reads (in part):

Planning a wedding can be a trying experience…

Brook’s landed her first big case and has just discovered that the opposing attorney is none other than her fiance, Jack. But that’s okay. These two professionals aren’t going to let a little courtroom sparring get their legal briefs in a bunch…right?

Wrong!

Jack’s starting to pull every dirty trick in the book and Brooke’s starting to suspect that maybe he isn’t the man she thought he was. Warring with her fiance at work and at home, Brooke realizes that she’ll have to choose between the case of her life or actually having a life.

Could be a fun read!

Curiosity Killed the Cat Sitter (Dixie Hemingway Mysteries, No. 1) by Blaize Clement was a great little read. I don’t usually like mysteries that involve anyone getting over their grief, but this was handled as such a real, but manageable problem in the novel, that it pulled my heartstrings without bogging it down or breaking. The novel was fun, very fast-paced, warm and well-done. There are cats and dogs–and the author doesn’t stint when it comes to giving them a role in the novel, making this a wonderful read.

The character development is top-notch and there are enough side plots going on that it was impossible for me to guess the culprit. The personalities were real and complicated. There’s plenty of room for Dixie (the main character) to grow and develop. She has a heart (she’s a pet sitter, she *has* to have one or more!) and I’m greatly looking forward to her next adventure.

Some of you may know that I review for BSCreviews (formerly known as Prince. No, I mean, formerly BookSpotCentral). I also do a few reviews or book mentions on my own site. Most of the books I review come to me from BSCreview via a highly secret selection process. Others come to me direct from the author, a publicist or the publisher. Some of them are library books or books I buy. I don’t review all the books I receive. BUT when I do, for the love of all that is holy, why in the world do authors not have pictures of their book covers easily accessible on their website? WHY???

Here’s the problem. For BSCreviews, it is difficult, if not impossible, to use Amazon pictures. We have to edit the pictures to get rid of the white space or the “look inside” feature that is sprayed all over the cover. This causes much cursing and flat out isn’t worth the time because the cover ends up looking like someone took a hatchet to them.

If I start looking for the cover shot before I write the review and the book was good, but not fall-down good…I may decide to just scrap the review (if it isn’t one that I’ve signed up to do–say it’s a library book). Yes, I am that lazy. But here’s the deal. Doing book reviews takes time. Usually a minimum of an hour. There’s links, there’s getting the required info that each review site specifies, there’s special *%#% formatting that each review site wants. There’s logging in to a site, getting the review typed in, approvals if required, and then there’s the cover:

Covers sell books.
Covers grab the eye.
Covers have color and make the review more than just a string of words.

And with most review sites, the cover is required and it’s required in a specific format/size. No one can have the cover in all sizes, but a decently sized photo, with no white space around it, can easily be resized down a few notches. Covers cannot easily be resized LARGER.

There are many, many, MANY authors that do not have cover shots on their websites. Of those that do, they usually offer one size. It is almost always HUGE. It often runs the length of the sidebar or parts of it are across the top or there’s just one giant picture that you link to from a “cover shot” link. Sometimes it is embedded into the website design and can’t be copied or saved as a picture. Too many times it has artwork added around the outside or is a special link, making it hard to copy.

ARGH. Most reviews need a nice, medium cover shot (about the size of the one Amazon puts out, but without the white, without any extra words). It should be resizable and CLEAR–this means that authors can’t have taken a very small shot and resized it bigger because by the time us reviewers use the shot, it looks like my aunt Mildred took the picture using manual focus without her glasses.

Ideally? A bio page or a “cover shots” page with every published book cover available, especially books that just came out or that will come out soon. If I am doing an interview or a larger article about an author, I want previous books, I want covers from various series–I want covers!

A medium sized cover shot is imperative (somewhere in the 150 to 200 pixel size). I personally use 150 and/or 200 quite frequently. A larger size (250- 300) might be nice to have, especially for short mentions where the cover is given a prominent spot. Smaller thumbnails are pretty easy to create when putting them in a post so they aren’t necessary.

And while I’m on the topic–authors should almost always use a cover shot as their avatar (those little pictures beside their name when posting or commenting.) I’ve bought many a book because I see that little tiny cover and I go check it out. No matter how pretty a person, I have yet to follow a link that has an author photo rather than a cover shot. Maybe it’s just me.

I finally bought some grapeseed oil from my local grocery store (the brand was Napa Valley Naturals — I highly recommend it). It’s in the section with the olive oil along with some other high-end oils such as walnut and sesame. I used the oil in cooking and in some lotion-potions. I loved it in both! For the cooking, it made a very nice replacement for olive oil–it handles the heat better, no scorching. I liked the taste as well.

For the cream, I first tried it just on my skin–wow. It really absorbed well! With a few oils, especially ones that are good for your skin, they can sit on top–either for a long time or soak in so slowly that they can leave too much of a greasy feeling. Olive oil is like that–it’s supposed to be good for your skin, but I never found that it absorbed quickly or cleanly enough. I do like olive oil in soap, but not in lotion. Sesame oil, also good for your skin, has too much fragrance for me. I found the grapeseed oil quick to absorb–perhaps one of the fastest of the oils I’ve tried. It doesn’t seem to have a smell, although after I added it to my favorite base (Suave’s Oatmeal) it did seem to add a subtle clean smell, almost like a fresh soap smell. It made the lotion creamier and I’m really enjoying the way it keeps my skin hydrated!

All in all I think I have three favorite additives: Grapeseed topping the list, wheat germ and rose hip. I also like aloe, but I don’t find that it has quite the miraculous healing properties that I would like. Every person has different skin–and will therefore like different oils. I’m currently using a mix of grapeseed, wheat germ and rose hip for my face. For the eye area, I replace the rose hip and use walnut oil or another nut oil such as macadamia nut oil.

As for food, I’m really looking forward to trying the grapeseed oil in a salad dressing recipe. While it has a mostly neutral taste, it has a lot of subtleties (not to mention it’s good for me!) This one is going to be a keeper.

Here’s a description of the oil from Camden-Grey’s website:

Grapeseed Oil ( Vitis vinifera ) is an ecologically sound product that is made from the seeds of grapes after the wine is pressed. Grapeseed oil is high in vitamin E and is 76% essential fatty acid, linoleic acid (also known as Omega 6). It is low in saturated fat, contains natural chlorophyll and valuable antioxidants (known as proanthocyninidins), and has a good shelf life. Very rich in vitamins, minerals and linoleic acid. It’s a light and penetrating oil for massage. It’s also used in lotions, balms, creams, and soap. The skin absorbs it easily; it has no perceptible odor. Since it is slightly astringent, it tightens and tones the skin. Will not aggravate acne. This is one oil that is nearly impossible to extract through cold pressure due to its very low oil yield.

I’ll be eating tomato four and five for lunch today. Don’t be alarmed that I’m overeating. They are quite small, being of the Siberian variety. I heard that Joan in Arizona has also picked (and probably already eaten) her first tomato of the season. Ah, there is just nothing quite like them!!!

I still can’t tell if the cucumbers are setting. I have several on the plant, but unless the blossoms at the end get properly pollinated, they don’t set and continue to grow. The bees that were swarming my blueberry plants earlier this year are nowhere to be found. Perhaps cucumber blossoms are not nearly so sweet?

Have you ever noticed that when you have a manual labor project a vacuum hits and no one can be found? BMHusband has been working on extracting and replacing a support pole on the fence line. Started out well enough with the neighbor who shares the fence helping. But then…then, the jackhammer got stuck. The jackhammer was required because whoever poured the cement for this particular pole must have previously been trained at setting up nuclear bunkers, and out of habit used enough cement to withstand at least two direct hits.

Once the jackhammer was good and stuck, neighbors came out of the woodwork. To help? No, they just wanted to tell their stories of how they had, once upon a time, gotten a jackhammer stuck. So there’s four guys over there, all telling their “war” stories. And do you know that not a ONE of them seemed able to explain how to get the jackhammer out?????

For everything. Couldn’t have done a thing without you. Not a one. Wouldn’t have enjoyed many a special moment without your guidance and love either.

Here’s an interesting auction going on to support Diabetes research. There’s some wonderful critiques offered by authors, agents and editors posted out there. There’s one-day auctions, there’s secret dollar auctions (one per day I think and the exact amount is near a dollar, not an exact dollar) and there’s some really great trips, gift baskets (Personally I want the cheese basket!) and jewelry. Oh and there are books, signed and shipped! Check it out.

In other miscellaneous news, I hate to mention this, but BlackGate is now accepting submissions! I already got my submission in. Please delay so that yours is not in competition with mine! Go read a few of their fabulous issues. BlackGate is now available as a download PDF for about 5 dollars. The print version is higher, but you get the benefit of a transportable copy and you can hold the actual artwork in your hands.

My latest column is up at BSCReviews Maria’s Ephemeral Finds. Yes, it involves shoes. But it also involves writing. And people. And well, shoes.

Bring some popcorn. It’s not that long, but I’m in the mood for popcorn.

You can comment over there, or comment here. The burning question is: Just what kind of shoes do you wear??? What do you think it says about your personality? Nothing? Everything?

Because this post generated a lot of spam comments for some reason, I shut off comments. Feel free to send me an email or comment elsewhere if you have a questions/comment!

You all know I am ever in search of the perfect brownie. I study recipes. I try them, I tweak them. Ultimately, I keep looking. But now. Now, I have found one that at the very least is a keeper. It may, in fact, be The One. I’ve made this recipe about four times now. I’ve made the full recipe; I’ve cut it in half. The secret? The one thing that makes the brownies get that high gloss, that look on top as though the chocolate froze in time in a delicious lava-like flow?

It seems to be related to melting the butter and sugar before mixing into the other ingredients. I’ve melted the butter before and even melted the chocolate. But sugar gets hotter and stays hotter. In this case, it allows the chocolate chips to melt into a wonderful gooey substance.

I found the recipe here thanks to my sister-in-law, Kelly. I tried the recipe with and without chocolate chips. I decided I liked the recipe better with the chips in. In the end, the only thing I changed is that I don’t put in espresso powder. I’ve used espresso powder before and sometimes it makes the dish taste like coffee, other times it adds a nice unidentifiable bottom richness (such as can be found in tiramisu). However by and large, I just don’t need those bottom notes where chocolate is concerned.

Here is the recipe cut in half for baking in a small toaster oven:

1 stick unsalted butter
1 1/8th cups sugar
2 large eggs
3/4 cup Dutch-process cocoa
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 tablespoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup Flour
1 cup chocolate chips

Melt butter and sugar in pan or in the microwave—get hot enough to melt chocolate chips–some of the sugar will be dissolved in the butter, but it won’t be boiling. While the sugar heats, crack the 2 eggs into a bowl, and beat them with the cocoa, baking powder and vanilla till smooth. This is a little stickier than it sounds.

Add the hot butter/sugar mixture, stirring until smooth.

Add the flour and chips, again stirring until smooth. Note: If you want the chips to remain intact in the baked brownies, rather than melting in, let the batter cool in the bowl for about 20 minutes before stirring in the chips.

Make sure your toaster oven is preheated to 350. Put the brownies in an 8 by 8 or 9 by 9 pan. Bake for about 25 to 30 minutes. During the last ten, you might want to turn the oven down to 325 depending on your heating elements! Cool and cut. They are very, very good brownies. Not gooey, but incredibly moist.

I highly recommend them.

I haven’t tried any of the products for sale at the King Arthur Flour site, but I was intrigued. They have great pictures and some other intriguing recipes.

How is it possible that on a day I am already irritated beyond all rational thought, my printer prints my document with every single page labeled “Page 1?” HOW can the universe know? How???

The blueberries are coming along nicely–although they are not yet blue enough to pick. The neem oil has been working on the spider mites, although I find myself about to spray the tomato plants again because I’ve seen a pack or two. This puts me at about spraying weekly. I’m running out of time on the neem oil. This next week will be into the nineties, which means I’ll not be able to spray neem–it burns the leaves. I’m probably taking a chance spraying it now, but the next 3 days should be cool enough. I don’t know yet what I’m going to try in the heat of summer. Perhaps a watered down amount of neem…

The neem oil didn’t work as well as it should have (or as I wanted) on powdery mildew. I’ve been spraying that weekly and it worked fine on the crepe myrtle (who cares about those non-food producing things anyway???) but the snap peas and snow peas–covered in the stuff despite the weekly spray. I changed back to spraying with diluted milk (milk powder mixed to about half specification.) That does seem to kill it, but once the plants get infected, I think it may be a losing battle. Damn. I didn’t get nearly enough peas for the work I put in on them this year. Next year…

One cucumber plant is looking like it’s about to flower. Yah! I just bought a cucumber in the store–82 lousy cents. And it doesn’t look very fresh either.

I picked my first tomato–it was small and still a little too green. I couldn’t wait. There’s a nice big one that is ripening that I plan on picking tomorrow. It’s from a Celebrity plant–quite possibly my favorite. I am drooling just thinking about it.

A big shout out to my sister-in-law Kelly who has finished her chemo for breast cancer and will be back at work full time this coming week. She fights a mean, important fight and we all admire her greatly for her attitude, her toughness and her determination. Keep showing us how it’s done. Junior sends his love and a high five!

Fabulous, just FABULOUS! I was going to make Magic Burns (Kate Daniels, Book 2) by Ilona Andrews the book of the month, however, I have in my hot little hands, Magic Strikes (Kate Daniels, Book 3) and I suspect that it will also make my top list, which means I’ll have another book of the week for May!!!

Magic Bites (Kate Daniels, Book 1) is the first in the Kate Daniels series and I highly, highly recommend it. It easily made my Books of the Year for 2008!!! Book two is bound to make it into the list for 2009.

These are strong urban fantasy books that use a lot of interesting, well-researched myth characters–not just a vampire or werewolf. The books have a touch of old fashioned romance. When there are vampires, they are also not your standard creatures, a take that I enjoyed because instead of trying to make a dead thing romantic, Andrews’ character knows dead is dead! Kate is a modern day warrior in Atlanta where the magic is back–but only in waves, existing next to technology when the magic isn’t working.

The links above go to Amazon where I noticed that the titles are on the buy 4 books for the price of 3 as of May 1–get all three. They are that good. If you need a recommendation for a fourth title, just let me know. I have oodles of recommendations!

Update:
My review of “Magic Strikes” the third in the series is over at BookSpotCentral Review. I loved it, of course. These books really made my week!!!

While doing the review and checking the copyright, I noticed that “Ilona Andrews” appears to be two people–Ilona and Andrew Gordon. One of these days I’ll have to look into this mystery of two people and find out just how it all works out into a book. No matter who is doing the writing, it’s just wonderful stuff!!!