The old Belle Mina School near Mooresville

And so it amazes with the beauty and grandeur... Inside, to a word speaking, also it is smart... Chandeliers, woodcarving, tiles on fireplaces, and simply tremendous object. One of the most beautiful.... PS very much it would not be desirable to promote popularity of object... As it is valid - our memory!

Found this place near my house in Harvest. It has several outbuildings. Last time I was there I was harassed by....yes this is really true...a BUZZARD who was roosting in the building. I never knew buzzards could growl and smell like death. There are more pics in the scrapbook

Watch the process of the making here

Author: Clio
Title: Different for Girls Chapter 7 of 7: Aren't You Kind of Glad We Did?
Pairing: American Idol: Katharine McPhee/Elliott Yamin
Summary: Kat's recent heartbreak has left her a changed woman—and now her old friend Elliott is seeing her in a different light.
Chapter Rating: PG-13
Chapter Length: 1500 words
Disclaimer: People sort of own themselves, don't they? Which means this is a work of fiction.
Notes: Thank you, thank you, thank you lillijulianne. While this story is a sequel of sorts to her sequence of stories about Blake, Chris and Kat, there's probably enough information here to read this on its own. All you need know is that Kat had been engaged to another man at the time she was fooling around with Blake and Chris.

1: But Not For Me | 2: I've Got a Crush on You | 3: Nice Work If You Can Get It | 4: You've Got What Gets Me | 5: They Can't Take That Away From Me | 6: How Long Has This Been Going On?

( It really wasn't my intention to disregard convention; it was just an impulse that had to be obeyed )

In late April, between the many storms that hit the region, we went out on several wanders to see what we could. Along a major thoroughfare were several sites points out to us by friends so off we went.

The Farm
After wandering through the overgrown and virtual gardens that was the yard of the farm, we wandered into the open and almost welcome interior of the farmhouse. Though recessed and barely visible from the road, the house had major signs of wear and tear. In addition the house showed signed of nearly haphazard expansion over the years.


The front porch area

( Nature reclaimed [19 images behind the cut] )

Yikes!

This event:

July 9, 2009: London, UK, 4:30 PM
Tales on Moon Lane Bookshop
25 Half Moon Lane
Herne Hill
London
SE24 9JU
020 7274 5759

Due to a scheduling mix-up, has been cancelled at the last minute! I am SO sorry! If you were planning on going, I hope you can make it to the July 13th Murder One event in Shoreditch instead!

I completely forgot to mention that while on safari, I was attacked by a gron. Basically, all remember is the mouth. So there you go.

http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2009/07/are-you-comix-experienced.html

The next blog was meant to be about reading aloud, but I wanted to blog this rather than Twitter it to make sure that everyone had an equal chance:

Go and read http://savagecritic.com/ (and you need to read both http://savagecritic.com/2009/07/neil-gaiman-at-comix-experience-719.html which is the story behind the signing (and has some photos of me in 1989 with the most remarkable mullet) and http://savagecritic.com/2009/07/neil-gaiman-at-comix-experience-719_08.html which is the facts.

Short version, I'm doing a signing at Comix Experience on on Sunday, July 19th from 11 AM to 12:30 PM. And because time is limited, it's limited to 100 people. Brian Hibbs decided that the easiest way to pick the 100 people was to presell them copies of the WHATEVER HAPPENED TO THE CAPED CRUSADER hardback, which will be out then.

Preorders for the book can be taken immediately by visiting Comix Experience at 305 Divisadero St. (at Page) in San Francisco, or by calling 415-863-9258 from 11-7 Monday-to-Saturday, Sundays 12-5, PST.

And my Metamorpho Page with the brilliant Mike Allred is out in Wednesday Comics -- details of what this thing is at: http://comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=21941

What a most excellent day! Not from a word-progress standpoint, though that’s been respectable, if not grandiose; but there was good mail, and money, and helpful information, and professional invitations too.

To give you the highlights reel: (a). I’ve just found out I’ll be attending the Pacific Northwest Bookseller’s Association trade show in Portland come September, which is sure to be a hoot. I’ve done three of these trade shows in the past, and it’s always an awesome, productive time surrounded by books. And then (b). today, at long last, a couple of signed and returned contracts finally made that alchemical transformation into Real Life Money. This resulted in me running around the living room squealing, frightening the cat, and then dashing to the bank with my lovely new check.

Upon depositing same, I (a). set aside a chunk against taxes, and then (b). jumped through the requisite hoops to pay the entirety of my credit card debt.

Yup. That’s right. Killed off every penny.

It feels … strange. I’ve had big fat sums hanging over my head since shortly after college, at which point I found myself without any health insurance and a propensity towards coming down with pneumonia once every few years. Granted, I was also quite simply bad with credit like so many young people are, so I’m not pretending that mine was entirely a virtuous debt; but health issues significantly compounded the problem, taking the figure from being Dumbass Twenty-Something Party-Fund Debt to Serious Crushing Difficulty Debt.

[As a brief aside: Those of you who have recently wondered why it’d been over ten years since I’d been to the dentist … well, there you go. For the last five years I’ve been driving a car with its left headlight held on by packing tape. A routine six-month cleaning was pie in the sky frivolity.]

So yes, this is a momentous day indeed — though to take the edge off my glee, I also got mail reminding me that I still owe over $30,000 in student loan debt (and that’s after spending the last ten years paying on it). So three cheers for two steps forward, and only one step back. :)

* * * * *

And Here’s today’s progress on the alternate-history battlefield adventure about a widowed nurse from a Confederate hospital aboard a west-bound train pulled by a Union war engine — now with military intrigue, steampunk Texas rangers, undead political separatists, murderous plots, bushwhackers, bandits, sabotage, and epic scenes of mayhem:

Project: Dreadnought
New Words: 2391 (not terrible, but meh)
Present Total Word Count: 118,768 words
Goal: 140,000 words

Things Accomplished in Real Life: Did day-job work; went to the bank and spent some time on paperwork and bill-paying; spent awhile in the post office mailing things; visited with Caitlin’s cats; killed my third wasp this week (never mind the two over the weekend, WTF?); ran around the house squealing.

Other: Oh God oh God oh God no more credit card bills. Now I kind of want to go shopping … (but will restrain self. I promise.) Oh well. Fingers crossed and spirits high for now.

Reason for Stopping: Need to run another round of errands before hubs gets home. Am also contemplating supper. Hmmm … supper.

[Crossposted to/from my website. If you'd like to comment, you can do so either here or there.]

last part... here's an old train depot I spotted...



( and more after the cut... )

Ohio, part of the area affectionately known as the "Rust Belt"... soooo many abandoned buildings, and in some cases, almost entire towns. Being a family vacation, I wasn't able to full explore as mush as I wanted to. But here's some of what I was able to see. I never went inside any of the properties, or trespassed on any land that was not public accessible.

An old barn...


( More after the cut... )

I have it in me to write a whole post about people being snobby assholes about MJ, but I'm just going to repeat what I said on twitter and facebook (a rare threepeat for me, but it's important): I'm disappointed, though not particularly surprised, that so many seem to expect others to care about the exact same (pop) culture items they do, and in the exact same way, and when others don't comply, judge them harshly.

In happier news, Top Chef proper is back on August 26th, this time in Vegas! Nigella Lawson will be one of the guest judges! Another birthday present for me!

   Right there is the enhanced, remixed, remastered, hi-def cover for our first Lifemeter comic! Repainted by the super-talented Bannister (who does all of our covers), this new printing can now be yours! This is the same book as before, but we've got a great new printer and this new cover to celebrate! As before, the book is still just $6 in the US and Canada, or $7 worldwide! Order in our store!

   For those who have been asking, YES we plan on reprinting the Lifemeter 2 book, but it is a question of when as we are looking into new printing options. Since LM2 is a bigger book than LM1, it takes some extra care to bring into the world. And YES Lifemeter 3 is on the way! We'll post our cover and some previews in the not-too-distant future! Stay tuned...

OMG, it's Wednesday. I bet you want to go your local comic book store and pick up the aptly named Wednesday Comics, the new weekly DC project that features one page stories about all your favourite superheroes for 12 whole issues! And maybe you don't know that Joe Quinones is your new favourite comic artist, but you will once you see his ridiculously beautiful Green Lantern story, written by motherfucking legend Kurt Busiek.

Yes I know, this comic sells itself, but in case you needed extra prodding, here is a panel of said Green Lantern comic featuring yours truly as a sexy vixen



sexy. buy it.

Last time I was I visted the former POW camp in Bommanville myself and the rest of the group were greeted by..


yes, the fire department, police, and security and we were turned away...

Being a history buff, and Camp 30 being a signifigant piece of Canadian History I have been wanting to go back for awhile. This past Saturday was my chance!

( Prisoner of Curiousity )