7-Imp’s 7 Kicks #317: Featuring, Er,
the Flu That’s Going Around
February 10th, 2013 by jules
Dear Imps, I am really very sorry that I don’t have art for you today, but I seem to have the flu that is making its way ’round the country. I was actually in Boston this week (yes, I adjusted my flight in time and made it back before the big blizzard hit), but right before I left, I got sick—there’s nothing like flying while having the stomach flu, and I hope this hasn’t happened to any of you—and I’m still fighting it off.
But, since I can’t not post at least one image, here’s one for you.
While in Boston, I had dinner with illustrators Sean and Belt Hilts (left), who visited 7-Imp in July and who are as nice as they are talented, as well as author/illustrator Scott Magoon (front). The woman next to me is a kicker, you all! It is very exciting when I get to meet one of you kickers in person. It’s Moira Swiatkowski, featured here last July, and she met us all the way out from Cape Cod.
I’m such a fan of Scott’s books, and it was wonderful to finally meet him in person, too. His art was going to be featured today, but then I got sick, and he’s probably still digging out of snow. But we’ll do that soon, promise.
I also had the chance to dine with author Jeanne Birdsall, who is so fun and all-around lovely. And I got to meet over at Candlewick my editor and the assistant editor on our book. I could have talked to them all day. It was great, they were great, and the Candlewick offices are exciting.
So, right now I have a great new novel and House of Cards on Netflix, while I’m trying to avoid being vertical, but I’m sorry I don’t have kicks today. I will next week.
I leave you with this from the very funny Minh Le to entertain you.
And I hope you New England kickers have power and are safe and warm. (While in Boston this week, it was the first time I’d ever heard the phrase “thunder snow.”)
Eek, you poor thing Jules. Flying with a stomach problem sounds horrible. I hope you feel better soon.
Your Boston catch up sounds fantastic though. I love the Penderwick books but have not read Jeanne Birdsall’s picture books – something to rectify.
1. Weekend away for a family wedding last weekend – great catching up with everyone
2. Plus I snuck out Saturday morning for a bike ride along the shore with a hired bike.
3. This weekend we abandoned many household duties and snuck off to some rainforests a couple of hours south of us to see glow-worms. As we tend to hike during the day I had never seen these creatures in Australia – they were unbelievably wonderful. The first ones were just a few twinkling in the banks under trees and then we saw a whole constellation of them above our heads in a cave with a waterfall falling through the side of it. Amazing experience – especially as we had the place mostly to ourselves but passed many groups of tourists on the walk out!
4. And there were glow in the dark mushrooms. Surreal.
5. We camped for the night in a field next to a creek (having paid the landowner a small fee). I love camping.
6. And we still got some household things done this arvy such as rescuing the rosemary bush from being strangled with grass.
7. As I have been booted from my normal pilates class, I started pregnancy pilates. I wasn’t too keen on the first class due to a combination of sulking over having to leave my beloved normal class and due to a too-large fitball that clutching at the ground with my toes like a small child. But the second was good, and I think it will be a useful course, if only to teach me stretches and exercises that don’t involve laying on my stomach or back!
Keep warm all of you in the snow!
Oh, poor Jules! Sorry to hear you’re under the weather. Glad you made it home safely, though, and had a good time visiting the Candlewick offices and meeting everyone. And dinner with Jeanne Birdsall and meeting Scott? So jealous :).
Emmaco — glow in the dark mushrooms and glow-worms? That is just too cool! Hope your pregnancy pilates classes get better and better.
Wanted to wish everyone a Happy Lunar New Year and a Happy Valentine’s Day Week !
Oh Jules, feel better. I have traveled sick on a plane so my heart goes out to you.
Emmaco, glow worms and glow mushrooms so cool. And pregnancy Pilates, have fun.
Jama, happy Lunar New Year and Valentine’s Day.
My kicks:
1. The outpouring of help for a school in my district which burned totally to the ground last week.
2. A sleepover with my oldest grandgirl.
3. Taking grandgirl to see a puppet play about Anansi.
4. Downton Abbey catch up with husband.
5. Daffodils and tulips growing talkers.
6. The book, How Georgio Began O’Keefe
7. CYBILS announced Thursday.
Have a great week.
I sure got a kick out of that photo- so cool!!! Hope that you are on the mend, Jules!!!
Oh, Jules — I’m so sorry! Still, I admire your plucky resolve to post this today… even continuing its numbering among your other Kicks posts! (Hey, that’s two kicks right there.)
(Btw, I just noticed — this is #317, but if I look over at the right sidebar, in the Categories listing, it only (or “only,” in quotes :)) lists 301. Can you hold a contest or something to find the missing 16 Kicks Sundays?) (I bet it’s got something to do with leap years and/or blue moons, doesn’t it?)
Lovely other kicks today: emmaco’s surfeit of glowings; hi jama! and happy holidays to you too! And jone, you tease — you HAD to know somebody would look up a book with exactly that title, “How Georgio Began O’Keefe”: I kept thinking, “What a clever play on the painter’s name, what an intriguing title…” — only to find that you probably meant Karen Karbo’s book. Which looks like a wonderful book in its own right, sure. But now I have to resolve myself to living in a world where the OTHER title doesn’t exist. Sigh.
Quick kicks here:
1. Sunday morning walks around a nearby pond, with The Pooch.
2. Yes, yes — Downton Abbey.
3. Painkilling drugs, used in moderation and only when needed.
4. Snowstalgia: remembering what it was like to be safe but totally cooped up for 24(ish) hours in a house surrounded by snowdrifts. Especially poignant once the sufferer has lived in Florida for years.
5. NPR’s 3-Minute Fiction contest series. (Latest round closes tonight at 11:59pm Eastern time, microfictioneers!)
6. Valentine’s Day “prep.”
7. Being just busy enough.
Have a great week, everyone — kiss somebody!
Happy February, Imps!
Our ill hostess with the mostess: Sending you tons of healthy wishes, Jules! Glad that you were able to meet up with Moira and company.
emmaco: I just looked up pictures of Australian glowworms, and oh my goodness!
Happy Lunar New Year, jama!
jone: If you or she is scared of spiders, do NOT look up the recent “rain of spiders” in Brazil…
JES: Hope you are feeling better. I recently read AM/PM by Amelia Grey. Each vignette is composed of 50-100 words.
My kicks from the past week:
1) Current show, which closes today.
2) Simple solutions
3) New music
4) Singing, always
5) Writing
6) What comes next
7) Interviews – I’m posting an interview with author Doreen Rapaport as part of the Sydney Taylor Book Award Blog Tour tomorrow, and an interview with fantastic singer-songwriter Nataly Dawn on Tuesday!
jes, that’s the one I meant…dang typos.
Am going to look up the rain of spiders, LW.
Feel better Jules!
Love the photo, and what a fun week you had.
emmaco – those glowworms sound pretty cool, hope the pregnancy pilates classes get better.
Happy Valentine’s week to you Jama! (and everyone!)
jone – sleepover and puppet play sound very fun.
JES – I had that thought about Jone’s book too. Sunday walks with the pooch sound lovely, as does Valentine’s prep.
LW – Your singing kick always makes me smile, because that’s how I imagine you, walking around singing and smiling.
My quick kicks:
1) Pumpkin pancakes topped with blackberries for breakfast.
2) Started Season 3 of The West Wing.
3) Finding the perfect candleholders for my bedroom – vintage looking and reflective, casting cool patterns on the walls.
4) Walks with Cole.
5) Happy Hour with an old friend – so fun to catch up -our HH lasted 4.5 hours!
6) Planning a surprise Mardi Gras party for work with a co-worker, complete with shipped in King Cakes.
7) Planning to bake red velvet cupcakes with white chocolate chips for Valentine’s Day.
Happy Mardi Gras! Have a great week everyone!
Jules, sorry the ubiquitous flu caught up with you. Glad you got out ahead of the snowstorm. Is this photo the result of your facebook “Who’s free for dinner in Boston?” post. I thought that was a brilliant cyber-to-reality meeting idea. Glad you’re home and taking time rest and read and view while you recoup. Take care.
emmaco – loved your descriptive glow worm kick “twinking in the banks under trees”, “whole constellation…waterfall falling through the side.” Made me recall visiting a glow worm cave in New Zealand. We drove down a narrow dirt drive to a small farm house. Two kids came outside, “Wanna see the glow worms?” Paid our $12 and followed the boys into a very unlikely hole in their backyard (thinking, “Oh this is going to be rinky-dink and a rip-off.”) They loaded us into a big row boat and took us on the most glorious ride through a long waterfilled cavern—glow worms everywhere! Good “can’t judge a book by its cover” lesson.
jama – thanks for the lunar wishes and Happy Valentines to you.
jone – omg so sorry to hear about the burned school! Nice to hear of supportive response. I’m picturing daffodils and tulips in Portland—so beautiful there. Thanks for your hard work on CYBILS poetry category.
Nina – hi.
JES – Ha! “the mystery of the missing kicks” (maybe they are on sabbatical or in witness protection.) Good luck with your 3 Minute Fiction. I’m setting your “just busy enough” kick as a new goal—as I tend to linger in the more stressful vicinity of “totally swamped.”
LW – Break a leg Closing Night.
Rachel – your prolonged happy hour made me laugh.
My kicks:
1. Ordered cheap, engraved pet tags as my new luggage tags. Small, sturdy, legible and colors to match my suitcase. Why didn’t I think of this before?
2. Reading “Liar and Spy” bedside and re-reading end chapters of “Incareron” in cafes.
3. Flair pens.
4. The 4 doves hanging out around my office window bird feeder; just love the sound of cooing.
5. Billowy storm clouds over a slate grey ocean.
6. Discussing unpredictable movie “Side Effects” (Soderbergh’s last film?) with my son.
7. Organizing my office (or at least making a dint.)
Have a good week kickers. Happy V-day!
Emmaco, you had a very glow-in-the-dark kind of kicky week. Nice. Also, if you’ve used “arvy” before, I don’t remember. So glad you like your pregnancy Pilates class. I took yoga when pregnant and found it useful.
Happy Lunar New Year and Valentine’s Day to you, too, Jama!
Jone, so sorry to hear about the school. What happened? Electrical problem?
Hi, Nina.
John, the misnumbered-kicks most certainly means that there are a few weeks (well, more than a few, clearly) where I forgot to tag the posts as “7-Imp’s 7 Kicks,” and so the numbers are off. Whoops. Would take too long to fix, though. … Painkilling drugs? Hope you’re not ill, too. Take care. And did you know that Lady Cora sings in a band? Oh, and speaking of short stories, the first one in this book below would have been a kick today, if I’d had the energy to list kicks. The whole book (thus far) is good, but the first story managed to creep me out on a plane, surrounded by lots of people.
LW: Nataly! I bet you’re extra excited about that one. … Break a leg closing the show today.
Rachel, West Wing is next for us, but we got caught way up in House of Cards (finished it last night). … Your cupcakes sound yummy to me, which is one way I know I’m feeling better.
Happy new-week to all ….
Denise, I passed you in cyberspace.
Yes, that photo was the result of my cyber-asking-for-dinner-dates on Facebook!
I want to see Side Effects so super bad. A friend on FB said that it … well, here’s what she wrote, and I don’t think she’d care if I put it here (it *was* a public FB status after all) —
“…half the characters were women and they did things like have jobs and live lives. There was a scene near the beginning of the movie that blew me away. The protagonist (Rooney Mara) has a conversation with her boss, a middle-aged woman. It was a normal, supportive conversation about an issue the protagonist was facing. It blew me away how much it was like life and how rarely we see that in the movies.”
Hey Guys,
Reporting via my phone so I will keep it short.
Here’s some kicks
NY SCBWI Conference
Meeting Jules in person and having dinner with some nice, cool guys.
Electricity
Heat
Room for family to stay
Cause of fire not known yet or info not released. Our school was the model for this school so it’s a bit creepy to think about what ifs.
Moira, stay safe! Glad your home can be a haven for family and friends.
Jone, ack!
Hey Jules…so sorry you are sick : (
Just popping in to say a quick “HI” to everyone and…Jules…
Glad you had a chance to have dinner with Sean and Ben, Scott Magoon and Moira! I had the chance to meet Sean, Ben AND Moira at the NY SCBWI conference. Was a great trip and learned a ton.
Get better soon,
Lori
AND you were honored for your work, Lori! Congrats again!
WOO TO THE HOO!
Denise I love the story of the surprise glow worms. Also, your luggage tag idea is great!
Jules I think every week’s kicks would be improved by more glow-in-the-dark items.
John, love the idea of “snowstalgia”.
Thanks for the link, Jules. Hope you’re feeling better!
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