Catching Up

Is it time for a big catch-up, or what? I've been neglecting this blog while working on three others, partly because Google changed the Blogspot interface (the one I use for Everdello) and I didn't like it.

Don't all these updates and upgrades drive you crazy? As soon as you learn how to do something, "They" change it. I seem to spend half my time learning new ways of doing things I used to be able to do easily. It's bewildering.

Having said that, I discovered a new app for my iPad that allows me to use the same interface for all of the blogs I work on, and to access them all from the same icon. It's called Blogsy, and I'm using it right this very minute. So...here's a long-overdue catch-up, and a vow (or, at least a stated intention) to Everdellize more often.

Since our last episode, the Alphadello series about gardens has gone from Queen Anne's Lace to...Z for you-know-what. Click here to see the latest pictures. A new alphabet will be starting soon. I won't tell you the theme yet, but prepare for plenty of buzzing and clicking.

The other blogs I've been working on are the library's War of 1812 blog and a very cool new project called StoryMe, where the blog entries are almost all being written by my talented and enthusiastic colleague Anne.

Three blogs ought to be enough, eh? Well. We'll see!

P is for Patience

P is for . . . ?  To see if your Alphadello guess is correct, click here.  Too bad the word Impatiens doesn't start with a P.  This week has been all about patience, as one thing after another breaks down at work and long projects reach the inevitable slump my writer-friends call "the wasteland that is the middle." It's the middle of the summer, the middle of the year, and the middle of the process. The initial enthusiasm has mellowed, the exciting race toward the end hasn't started, and the project is just running on plain old self-discipline. We repeat our motto to each other: onward and upward! 

Hot off the Press

Are you ready to guess again?  Here are the latest Alphadello entries--a flower beginning with N and one beginning with O.  To see if you're right, click the picture.

 The latest entries from the War of 1812 blog involve a general who would later send my ancestor into battle (July 14) and a ship that I saw in real life just a few weeks ago (July 21), just a block or two from home!

Keeping Up

It's comforting to know that journalists sometimes had trouble keeping up with their work, even 200 years ago. From last week's War of 1812 blog entry:

Want of help, and various other occurrences, has prevented the issuing of the Gazette until this late period; and we must beg the indulgence of our subscribers, in these critical times, if its appearance is somewhat irregular.  (Kingston Gazette, July 3, 1812.)

To those of us who sometimes neglect our blogs, that's a comforting thought. On the other hand, the Gazette editor had a pretty good excuse. Even though he'd been in the newspaper business for seven years, he was just 22 years old. He'd been married for all of ten days, he was serving in the militia, and war had just broken out. Pardon me while I go and lie down.

Meanwhile, here's your latest Alphadello clue. Can you guess what "M" stands for in today's installment of the Garden Alphabet?  To check your answer, click here.

More Testing

Flowers at the market in Kingston.

Still testing. Thanks for bearing with me. No need to reply to this...I'm just learning how to use Blogsy, which (aside from having a great name and a completely adorable icon) allows me to work on the blog even when I don't have an Internet connection, and saves me from having to use the infuriating new interface that the Google Gods have imposed on their "Blogger" customers.

Testing Testing

 

Sorry for the hassle. I'm testing a new blogging app. If you have any trouble viewing this post (e.g. text too small or picture too huge, etc.), would you kindly let me know? And if you don't receive this post, please contact me.

Hahaha. Just kidding. I was just checking to see if you were paying attention.

I now return you to your regularly-scheduled whatever-you-were-doing. More soon!

P.S. How do you like this SKY? Amazing, eh? I took this photo from my window a year or two ago. That little dot is actually a bird, not a dust speck.

Flight of the Royal George

I'd been looking forward to this War of 1812 re-enactment for weeks, but when the first tall ship appeared I started madly taking photos, accidentally left the "video" button on, and ran out of space on the memory card.

I know there's a way to fix that by pressing some mysterious combination of buttons on the camera, but have YOU ever fiddled with technology while cannons are going off and people are yelling "Ooo!" all around you?

It took me a minute to realize that I had the next best thing in my bag. I grabbed my sketchbook and started scribbling.

It was a great event. Here's the best photo that I did manage to get. I'll spare you the jumpy, washed-out, useless two minutes of video!

Learn more about the Flight of the Royal George here.  (Typing that sentence made me feel as if I was at work, doing an entry for the library's War of 1812 blog!)

Bad Blogger

I knew I was running behind with my Everdello posts, but it wasn't until I played catch-up that I realized how far behind. It's been more than a month since my last entry, and I've done a bunch of new posts on the other two blogs, but did I keep you up to date, as promised?  Did I, did I?

Well, here goes the catch-up. First, can you guess the four Alphadello "Garden Alphabet" entries from their thumbnails above?  To see if you're right, click here.

I won't ask you to guess the War of 1812 entries. That would be too tricky. I'll just say that the project keeps surprising me. Each week I go into it thinking there's nothing interesting to say. Then, inevitably, some little crumb starts to call to me and off I go, galloping after it. Just be glad you're not my office-mate!  She has the patience of a saint. Anyway, here are the most recent crumbs from that blog:

• War Hawk Henry Clay Wants to Get the Show on the Road  
• Kingston Celebrates the Birthday of "Mad King George"
• In Their Own Words: Four Points of View, on the Eve of War 
• "Life Goes On": Shopping, 1812-Style  
• "WAR IS DECLARED"

Thanks for sticking with me. I'll do my best to post shorter Everdellos, more often. I've got some Canada Day sketches to share, as well. Those will be coming up soon. No. Really. I mean it.

Two New Blog Posts

As promised, here are links to my latest blog-posts. More soon!

Alphadello Blog
Can you guess what H stands for, in my Garden Alphabet?  Here's a hint. To find out if you're right, click the picture.

War of 1812 Blog
This week's topic made me go hmmm. The rascal who ran away has the same surname as one of my ancestors, who lived in roughly the same neck of the woods. But until I can prove a connection, I'm pretending we're not related. To read the embarrassing details, click the headline.

G is for "Guess Which Flower?"

Another flower has just been added to my Garden Alphabet. Here's sneak-peak, can you name that flower?  Hop on over to alphadello.wordpress.com to see if you're right, and to explore the vintage book that goes with this flower. See you there!

B is for Blogging

Did you think I'd given up on Everdello? No, I'm sorry, you can't get rid of me that easily. In fact, I've been working on TWO new blogs--one at work and one at home.

The work-blog is about the War of 1812. It features a weekly newspaper excerpt (you know: the old two hundred years ago today approach) with links to some cool resources and easy-to-understand nuggets of information. I have to confess that I wasn't thrilled when the assignment first landed on my desk, but the process has been amazing, and now I feel quite Everdello-ish about it: pick a topic, pull a thread, and watch the research lead to something new and unexpected--often a happy coincidence or connection. If you want to check it out, please click the picture above.

After work, here's what makes me happy: an armchair, a box of prismacolour markers, and my new alphabet blog. Right now I'm working on G is for Garden: twenty-six images with links to old gardening books that you can read online for free. The new blog is called Alphadello (get it?) and if you want to see how it's coming along, you can click the picture above.

If you take a shine to either blog, please feel free to sign up. However, if you're already following Everdello, you can just stay where you are and you won't miss a thing. Even if you want to. Ha. Everdello will keep going with its usual mish-mash of art projects and photos, and it will also give you links to the other two blogs whenever something new is posted.

See what I mean? You can't get away from me. So please stay tuned, do not adjust your set, and thanks for sticking around!  More soon.