Thursday, February 21, 2008

Ask Me Anything! (2008 version)

Time for a couple of easily answered questions!

An anonymous reader asks: Whom do you prefer: Francis Crawford of Lymond or Nicholas DeFleury? Sadly, I have no preference, because I have not yet read any of the works of Dorothy Dunnett. This is a gaping hole in my reading life, I am ashamed to admit. I desperately need to get into her. (She is one of Guy Gavriel Kay's influences, for one thing.)

Michelle (no link, so I'm not sure which Michelle) asks: What is your favorite time of day and why?

In terms of preferred times of day, I'm really pretty schizophrenic. I can pick reasons for liking every time of day. I used to loathe mornings, but years of getting up early have made me attuned to morning's charms. There's a crispness in the air on a fall morning, and on a humid summer morning, if you get up early enough, the mist hangs around the ground and dampens the sound of the world. I love watching the sky shift from night to morning light, and I love the stars early in the morning. A sunrise is as beautiful as a sunset, and sometimes, on certain mornings, I'll be driving to work when I see a jet plane rising into the air from the Buffalo Niagara airport (about seven or eight miles more distant) in such a way that it catches the glow of the rising sun and shines like a sliver of new sunlight, arcing into the sky.

Besides, coffee smells the best in the morning, and that's when waffles and maple syrup and eggs and bacon and sausage smell best.

Evenings and nights? I love them, too. These are times for delving into different worlds via books, when the moon rises and the stars shine again. Here in Buffalo we get wonderful sunsets. At night, steaks and pastas taste their best, and night time is when ales and lagers and rums refresh their best.

My problem is that I'm both a morning and a night person, which means that I end up burning that particular candle from both ends. So what does that mean as far as afternoons go? They're for sandwiches and naps.

Oh, and every time of day is the perfect time of day for a good book and beautiful music.

Aaron asked, So, is Unidentified Earth coming back or what? Well, yes! And so far it appears to be a stumper. Apparently this particular hawk's eye view is a difficult one. Hmmmmm!

More answers forthcoming!

3 comments:

Jayme Lynn Blaschke said...

Okay, that was either a M*A*S*H or a Mohicans reference, but sadly I'm still drawing a blank.

Belladonna said...

My question should come as no surprise...how did the pie thing start for you?

Anonymous said...

Well now that was a particularly pleasant piece of writing, about mornings and evenings and such. Bravo.