James Rollins Made My Day!

Don't you love it when you find an author whose work you really like. Last year on one of my many trips to Barnes & Noble I was perusing the aisles looking for something new. I had finished all of Steve Alten's books and wanted something else exciting to read. A paperback jumped out at me, it was called "Map Of Bones." The cover was right up my alley, and inspired me to pick it up.

When I read what the book was about it certainly sounded intriguing. I noticed some of his other titles and started reading the back covers of them all. I left the store with three of his books. I read "Subterranean" first. It was fun and exciting and a little silly. Next I read "Map Of Bones" and liked it even better. I read four more of his books and had three more waiting to be read. He tends to use topics in his books that I am familiar with, which makes them all the more enjoyable. I love history, science and theology and intermingling those are common themes for him. Even R read a couple and he isn't a big reader. He wants to read the rest though.

A while back I was again in Barnes & Noble to get the latest installment from Steve Alten, when I saw his latest book had also been released; "The Doomsday Key." I never buy hardback books, but since I love both authors I splurged and got them both. I read Steve's book first since I had been waiting so long for it. Then I read "The Black Order" from James Rollins. I think I liked that one the best. I am no stranger to quantum theory, die glocke and most of the other things he used in the plot.

This morning I started reading "The Doomsday Key." I only read a little and thought I should go to bed. I flipped to the back of the book though to see if there might be an excerpt from his next book. Instead I found a section telling what was real in the book and what isn't. I didn't want to read it however, because I didn't want to know what happens. I am not one of those people who flips to the ending, I like to wait til I get there.

The very last line caught my eye however...it said something about "go buy Kowalski a bear, he earned it." Right above that it said that Sixpenny Bears in Hawkshead is a real place that only sells teddy bears.

Now I have no idea who Kowalski is yet, or why there is a teddy bear shop in this type of book...but I can't wait to find out. How exciting is it that an author I like so well has included a reference to a teddy bear shop in his work! It's certainly not a common thing to see in a novel, and helps me identify even more with his work. As a bear artist, that thought makes me very happy...and it made my day!

(On a side note, going back to a post I made last week about the possibility of writing a book of my own...I outlined two possible options for stories. They are characters and plots I have had in my head for years, and finally fleshed them out a bit and set them to font. I will keep you updated.)

~*~ Robyn ~*~

Here he is! Here is my little nature lover enjoying a warm day in Colorado! You can visit Robyn on my website on the bears page: www.Blondheart.com

It's Just Like Riding A Bicycle

I am happy to say I finally...FINALLY finished the bear. I am hoping to get pictures today after I run my errands so you should be able to see him tonight or tomorrow. He is just a simple little bear, but I didn't feel he needed too much accoutrement.

It's kind of a funny thing when I go without making a bear for a while I have this niggling self doubt that for some reason I won't be able to do it again. Of course I always do. In fact quite often those bears exceed my expectations. I am not sure why I have that fear. Probably just another artistic neurosis.

I was expressing my concern recently and a friend said don't be silly, it's just like riding a bicycle. The thing is I bought a bicycle a couple years ago. I hadn't been on one since I was a teenager unless you count the stationary bikes at the gym, and I don't. While I still remembered how to ride, it wasn't easy. The mind was willing but the body protested the challenge quite a bit at first.

I guess the good news is, I can still ride and make a bear, it just sometimes takes me a little longer than it did when I was younger to get to my destination! =}

The Origami Spider

We have had a terrible summer in Colorado. We have those every few years. So far we have only had 2 or 3 days that it didn't rain. It's been wreaking havoc on my sinus's. But it's been wonderful for our water shortage. We have hardly had to water the grass at all.

With the wet weather comes a whole variety of creepy crawly little critters that decide they would be happier in my house where it's dry. I think most people have a dislike for creepy crawlies. While I am not opposed to killing something that comes in my house, if I find it outside I tend to leave it alone with the notable exceptions of earwigs and the legions of ants I talked about in a previous post.

But the other day I noticed a spider web in the corner of my back door frame. It was on the outside. I noticed it when I turned on the porch light to let the dogs out. The light hit it and illuminated it against the dark sky. It was incredibly intricately woven. More so than any spiderweb I have ever seen. I had a momentary mental flash to Charlotte's Web. I didn't see it's spinner any where though.

The next day we had a terrible house rocking rain/wind/thunder/lightning storm. I noticed the delicately woven web had been torn away by the storm. The next night I was surprised to see another web had been spun in it's place. This time it was occupied however.

I have never seen a spider like this one before. It was average size, nearly all white and had the oddest shaped body I have ever seen. It's body was shaped like one of those origami boxes that you blow into and puff up after you fold it.

Despite the fact that it rather gave me chills to look at it, it was kind of fascinating. However I noticed that the web was partially attached to the door and I didn't want this thing to come into my house. So when R got up I asked him to get rid of it. Because I had visions of getting it caught in my hair if I did it. (Over the years I have had three spiders caught in my hair and it still gives me the willies to even think about it.)

A few years ago I saw a show on TV where they had created a maze out of pipes with quite a few dead ends. They had put a spider at one end, and a fly at the other. The spider sat there for a few moments not moving. Then she set out, she made it all the way across the maze to the fly without a single misstep or wrong turn. The scientists studying the spiders behavior didn't really have an answer for how she did it. They just knew she did it every time. They also said that spiders can live for years. Some varieties in the Amazon can live up to 100 years. I was surprised to find that out, I assumed they were short lived like most other bugs.

I have noticed in my own dealings with some of them that seem to possess a pretty high intelligence level for something with such a tiny brain, or at very least a keen instinct for survival.

R was going to kill my little friend, and I asked him not to. Instead he took a bowl with a lid and moved him over to the tree where there would be plenty of bugs to be caught in a web. I know that might seem sort of silly. It was one spider right?

But it had just as much right to life as anything else, and how I could put an end to something that could spin such a beautiful work of art. I felt good about it as I went to sleep. I had heard long ago that white spiders are good luck, but perhaps the luck was gifted upon my little crawly friend when he chose my house to spin his web instead.

The Bachelorette

I have admitted before that I do like to watch some reality TV. I just finished up Expedition Africa last night and I loved it. While I don't think they were in quite as much peril as they would have liked us to believe since there were so many sky shots and it was clear there was a helicopter following them, it was still fun to watch and I do believe they had a difficult time. I have always wanted to go on an expedition and after seeing it, while I would be terrified I would still go.

I like shows like the Amazing Race and Survivor, but I like some that is a little less on par with those types of shows. I have to confess to watching the Bachelor/Bachelorette series. Maybe it goes back to the Dating Game from when I was a kid. Of course with the Dating Game they were only going to go on a date and they spent an afternoon getting to know each other. It's also fun to gab about it with my friend Pat. This series is supposed to help one person find true love by choosing out of numerous possible matches.

There are a lot of this type of show on TV and I have to be honest, I don't get it. It's fun to watch the fairytale dates and the drama, but to take something like this seriously is a bit hard. It entails one person choosing about 15 people of the opposite sex to get to know and find "the one." The contestants are usually young and of an above average attractiveness. So I find myself wondering...after you weed through the ones who just want to be on TV to get to the ones who are there for the genuine possibility of finding love...what's wrong with them? Why can't they find love the way the rest of us do out in the real world?

It seems to me that most of them must have some serious type of personality defect that keeps them from finding someone just by going out into public, and believing they could find love with a fickle stranger that wants to have their cake and eat it too on TV. First of all you have to be a certain type of person just to subject yourself to the humiliation of being chosen from the herd like cattle at an auction. You also have to be the type of person who can deal with group dating on a large scale. The person doing the choosing always has the same conflicts, they can never decide which person they want, they don't know at the very end what the right thing to do is, they have never had a tougher time, blah blah blah. (And they say this stuff isn't scripted.) Not only is it scripted, they don't bother to change the script from season to season. It's also pretty obvious that unless the person seeking love is completely blind that the less savory choices are kept on much longer than they should be for ratings as in the case of creepy Wes. I don't care if that guy's records go quadruple platinum I would never buy one.

With the exception of Trista and Ryan every couple has broken up as far as I know. They tend to check back in on them during future seasons. They always seem so surprised that they didn't stay together. I don't see how you could. They create these magical and unrealistic settings for dates and then they expect them to be able to create a life together in the real world. The real world is harsh and relationships are a lot of work. On these shows the work is done for them. No one has to plan anything, they just have to show up.

In the end one person always leaves utterly heartbroken. Actually I think sometimes the heartbreak is really just humiliation, but they knew that was a chance going in.

A couple times I have found myself rooting for one person or another, but after it's over I forget their names. It's meaningless entertainment for me as a viewer and background noise while I work. For the contestants, I can't imagine what it is. But I do know this much, it's not reality.

Treasure Hunting

Yesterday could only be described as a comedy of errors. I had my day planned perfectly. R was going to be out of town for the night and I had to go get my yearly mammogram at 1:30. So I thought I would get up at noon, get ready and go do it. Then grab a salad somewhere and head off to this massive antique mall we have.

I have been pretty good about curbing my shopaholic ways lately and I haven't been antiquing in ages. I had been feeling the pull to go there for about a week. I just knew some wondrous treasure was awaiting me.

I set my alarm for noon and asked my Mom if she could call me as a back up measure since sometimes the cats walk on the alarm and shut it off. I had to leave the phone on the hook in order to get my call. Normally I take it off the hook when I sleep since most of the world has no respect for day sleepers.

I stayed up a little too late finishing my book, and then I couldn't sleep. So I didn't get to sleep til nearly 8:30 am. The phone rang at 9:05 with an obnoxious man who called me a liar despite not knowing a thing about me. I was rather upset over it and didn't get back to sleep for nearly 45 minutes. Just as I was finally dozing off again the neighbors workmen who are putting in their new lawn had a small forklift taking things to their back yard. The beeping noise kept me awake for quite a while. At 10:30 as I was dozing off again the phone rang. It was my Mother, she thought I had to be at my appointment at noon and was calling to wake me up. I am sorry to say I was a little rude to her out of frustration for which I apologized later. I laid down again and dozed off for a third time only to have the doorbell ring and the dogs start barking like mad at 11:10. The utility guy needed to replace something on our meter. At this point I gave up.

I came downstairs, coffee in hand and looked at myself in the mirror. My eyes were so bloodshot I looked like I had been on a three day bender..and quite frankly I probably would have felt better if I had. Sleep deprivation is evil.

I called the medical center and rescheduled the mammogram for Friday. There was no way I was going to be able to drive across town in my current state. I called R, told him what all had gone on, took the phone off the hook and went back to bed declaring the day a total bust. I had just laid down when the doorbell rang again (insert cussing here) only to discover it was a salesman who had ignored my no soliciting sign. After that it was all quiet and I finally managed to get four hours of sleep. I got up and did some housework and yes I WORKED ON A BEAR!

I went to bed this morning at a normal time, slept for about 9 hours and got up refreshed. I decided to go ahead and go to the antique mall today. I probably should have gone grocery shopping instead but I just wanted to do something fun.

The above picture shows my haul. I am proud to say those five things including that lovely old bear only cost me 78.00. The purse and the cow aren't old but I liked them anyway. I saw many more things I could have taken home, but I tried to behave myself. All in all today was a much better day and tomorrow I will go do the rest of the things I should have done yesterday.

Story Telling

It's an absolutely beautiful morning. We have had nothing but rain for a month and then yesterday it was 90 degrees. So I went outside and sat on the deck for a few minutes and watched the sun come up. It's a perfect 65 out there right now with a slight breeze.

A few years ago I went to a fortune teller at a renaissance festival with a friend for a lark. She told me the usual stuff they get from assessing who you are by looking at you. But she also told me that I would write a book when I was in my 40's. We joked about what a great author I would be and then I never gave it much more thought.

As I was sitting there this morning, it almost seemed as if the trees were whispering to me that I should indeed write a book. It's a silly thought and I am not sure where it came from so abruptly. My sentence structure is terrible. If you read my blog at all, then you know I have the worst run on sentences ever. I leave my participles dangling in the wind, and my syntax is all over the place.

Even if I did write a book, I don't know what I would write about. They say you should write about what you know, but I know about entirely too much. What story do I have inside me that needs to get out? Would it be a work of fiction, or maybe a self help book? I am not sure I am really qualified to help anyone despite the unwanted advice I tend to dispense. Maybe I would write something on making bears or art. I don't know if anyone would even want to read something I wrote.

Still though...the seed was planted with the leaves blowing in the gentle breeze of a perfect morning.