The release date for WATER, Book Two of the Elemental Series, has been announced! It will be released in digital and print formats on October 7, 2011. Mark your calendars, and stay tuned to my website for information on upcoming releases, book tours, contests, and more!
With the announcement of WATER's release date, I have unveiled its book trailer! You can see it here:
Thanks to everyone who made this book possible. I'm very excited about it, and I hope you will be too!
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Sunday, June 19, 2011
Friday, June 10, 2011
Disposable Me
Trash Talk
One of mankind's biggest weaknesses these days is our shortsightedness - our lack of willingness to do things that would benefit successive generations, long after we're gone. For instance, to engineer products that are so hard-wearing, our great-grandkids will be using them. Some of it is, sadly, willful. Products are made to be disposable - one use (or a few) and we toss them out. Razors, plastic bags, dinnerware. All that stuff goes into a landfill, and much of it won't biodegrade. This is the easy stuff. Everyone can take that step toward reusable grocery bags. But there are other issues at stake, less obvious.
Vroom, Vroom
Cars. Can you really believe that with all the technology available, we haven't been able to engineer a car that can run 100K miles before it even starts showing signs of wear? That we haven't made more of an incentive out of choosing hybrid or electric cars when purchasing a vehicle? That we can't make it more practical for a consumer to think pro-environment? Nobody comes forward with the technology, because it benefits the auto makers and oil companies to continue producing something you have to keep buying, fixing, and gassing up. Good for their pockets now ... bad for the planet later.
Let's face it. Consumers need a reason to choose pro-environment ... and while pro-environment is the pricier option, with no visible return, most folks are going to choose what appears (right now, and superficially) to be the cheaper choice. Hybrid cars are more expensive, with perhaps one or two examples earning back their investment (financially) over the course of the car's lifetime. My next car will be a hybrid, regardless of up-front costs, because it's environmentally the right thing to do. Without incentive to turn to sustainable practices, the oil and auto industries will continue to make those cash-cow products. It's a social mindset we need to change. And because money is what concerns them most, your dollar is your biggest and best voice. Where you put your money is where the manufacturers will put their efforts.
Fix It And Forget It
Recently I was treated to an irritating example of this throw-away, buy-more mentality. My Crock-Pot's plastic knob broke. I have had this appliance for nearly nine years of light use (as compared to my mother's thirty-year-old model, which is still kicking with its original parts). The Crock-Pot website does not list a replacement part for this knob, and I can only assume that's because they want you to buy a whole new Crock-Pot for $50-plus. Mine works fine ... it's just missing the knob. Also, no replacement knob anywhere on the Internet, by the way.
Off I went with my irritation to the local hardware store for a universal replacement. Crock-Pot, however, designed the pin that holds this knob just oddly enough that any old knob isn't going to fit.
Enter ingenuity. I bought, for five bucks, a tube of heat-resistant epoxy putty. I will fill the backside of the old knob with it, stick it on the pin to assure a good fit, and let it dry. New knob and fifty bucks or so in my pocket. Dinner, I am sure, will taste that much better.
Fix It And Remember
Your grandparents were good at thinking ahead. Root cellars, canning, homemade solutions to daily problems, tools that would last. Take a page from their books and revisit that old-fashioned, reuse-it mentality, because it's not a new concept - just a forgotten one. The knowledge is out there. The Internet and library are full of resources.
Spend your money in smart places. It takes a little more money up front to buy something that will last ... but it is worth it, I promise you. And the earth will thank you by being beautiful for your grandchildren.
One of mankind's biggest weaknesses these days is our shortsightedness - our lack of willingness to do things that would benefit successive generations, long after we're gone. For instance, to engineer products that are so hard-wearing, our great-grandkids will be using them. Some of it is, sadly, willful. Products are made to be disposable - one use (or a few) and we toss them out. Razors, plastic bags, dinnerware. All that stuff goes into a landfill, and much of it won't biodegrade. This is the easy stuff. Everyone can take that step toward reusable grocery bags. But there are other issues at stake, less obvious.
Vroom, Vroom
Cars. Can you really believe that with all the technology available, we haven't been able to engineer a car that can run 100K miles before it even starts showing signs of wear? That we haven't made more of an incentive out of choosing hybrid or electric cars when purchasing a vehicle? That we can't make it more practical for a consumer to think pro-environment? Nobody comes forward with the technology, because it benefits the auto makers and oil companies to continue producing something you have to keep buying, fixing, and gassing up. Good for their pockets now ... bad for the planet later.
Let's face it. Consumers need a reason to choose pro-environment ... and while pro-environment is the pricier option, with no visible return, most folks are going to choose what appears (right now, and superficially) to be the cheaper choice. Hybrid cars are more expensive, with perhaps one or two examples earning back their investment (financially) over the course of the car's lifetime. My next car will be a hybrid, regardless of up-front costs, because it's environmentally the right thing to do. Without incentive to turn to sustainable practices, the oil and auto industries will continue to make those cash-cow products. It's a social mindset we need to change. And because money is what concerns them most, your dollar is your biggest and best voice. Where you put your money is where the manufacturers will put their efforts.
Fix It And Forget It
Recently I was treated to an irritating example of this throw-away, buy-more mentality. My Crock-Pot's plastic knob broke. I have had this appliance for nearly nine years of light use (as compared to my mother's thirty-year-old model, which is still kicking with its original parts). The Crock-Pot website does not list a replacement part for this knob, and I can only assume that's because they want you to buy a whole new Crock-Pot for $50-plus. Mine works fine ... it's just missing the knob. Also, no replacement knob anywhere on the Internet, by the way.
Off I went with my irritation to the local hardware store for a universal replacement. Crock-Pot, however, designed the pin that holds this knob just oddly enough that any old knob isn't going to fit.
Enter ingenuity. I bought, for five bucks, a tube of heat-resistant epoxy putty. I will fill the backside of the old knob with it, stick it on the pin to assure a good fit, and let it dry. New knob and fifty bucks or so in my pocket. Dinner, I am sure, will taste that much better.
Fix It And Remember
Your grandparents were good at thinking ahead. Root cellars, canning, homemade solutions to daily problems, tools that would last. Take a page from their books and revisit that old-fashioned, reuse-it mentality, because it's not a new concept - just a forgotten one. The knowledge is out there. The Internet and library are full of resources.
Spend your money in smart places. It takes a little more money up front to buy something that will last ... but it is worth it, I promise you. And the earth will thank you by being beautiful for your grandchildren.
Sunday, June 05, 2011
If You Build It, They Will Come (Hopefully)
I've been out in my new butterfly garden nearly every day - at the very least, to fill the birdbath (Coolest birdbath ever, btw - got it at a home store and put a solar fountain in it. Moving water attracts butterflies and hummingbirds - and other visitors, as you'll see). Being in the garden is therapeutic, and also a nice breather to turn to as another creative outlet when I'm not writing. Most of the seeds I sowed early in the spring seem to have survived. Some have begun to flourish. Others, not so much, which may be due in part to the insane rainstorms we have been getting. So, I bit the bullet and bought some live plants.
I admit to going a little nuts ... and I am still not done tinkering. :)
The terra-cotta saucer you see in the background is filled with wet sand. Several species of butterflies will engage in a behavior called "puddling," where they will land on wet sand and sip at nutrients in it, especially salts, which they can't get from nectar. Interestingly enough, this is exclusively a male butterfly thing. You can do something similar in your own yard by burying a dish, pan, or bucket to its rim, filling it with sand and enough water to dampen it, then sprinkling a pinch of non-iodized salt over it. Just be sure to keep it moist.
Besides salts, butterflies also like a lot of things that might gross you out: rotten fruit, carrion, and manure. Boy, that sounds just ... well, it's icky, is what it is, but hey, I'm not a butterfly. I opted out of adding those to my garden anyway. LOL
So far, I have seen one cabbage white butterfly flitting across my lawn (though I think he was more interested in the clover than the butterfly garden). The birds are visiting my birdbath daily, in particular some house sparrows who nest in a birdhouse next door. I have more varieties of insect and spider than I know what to do with, including this potter wasp who surprised me while he was having a sip of water from the wet stone at the edge of my birdbath:
I also noticed a spider carring her egg sac across the ground, presumably to bring it somewhere safe. That was pretty cool - I had never seen a spider "move house" before. So far, no butterflies visiting the garden itself, that I have noticed yet, but I have high hopes. I have provided some caterpillar host plants, and lots of nectar plants for the adults. I hope it's a veritable buffet by summer.
Meanwhile, I'll be the one doing the enjoying.
Friday, June 03, 2011
Guest Blogging Today at LASR!
Just a short note today to let you all know that I'm guest blogging today at Long and Short Reviews - stop by and visit!
http://lasrguest.blogspot.com/2011/06/guest-blog-nicki-greenwood.html
http://lasrguest.blogspot.com/2011/06/guest-blog-nicki-greenwood.html
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