Southern Louisiana
Maybe there will be snow flurries Tuesday
So, there's only one thing to do
Run about, scream and shout
Okay, that's two things
When I was young
In Central Virginia
You had to have 2 in of snow on the highway
To close school
We prayed for that second inch
And up near the blasted heath
North of the national boundary
Nothing made the schools close
I have been approved to be on the program at the world science fiction convention in Seattle, in August this year. I don't yet know what events I'll be participating in. We are going to be there for the whole convention, and I hope to see some of you there
I just had a nightmare, which was set in the very large yard surrounding the house I grew up in. But that doesn't seem to have had anything to do with the dream. It began with several of us marveling at the unusual occurrence of large hawks standing calmly around on the ground while we looked at them. People were discussing which species of hawk each one represented and it turned out that some of them were a common species attempting to mate with a more powerful but rare species. This wasn't working out, but I don't remember now exactly what happened. It might be that either the males of the rare species or the females of the common species ate the other ones. But this seamlessly transitioned into a huge outdoor wooden structure, like a giant play structure for kids, except it was used by people who were in costume as birds. This took place where, in real life, there was a small grove of peach trees. One person was explaining how his costume and performance were vastly superior to anybody else's. It was interesting, but it wasn't actually that realistic, even though it included a lot of real feathers. But the next performance I observed consisted of a man and a woman, dressed as adult birds, opening boxes like extra large egg cartons and biting the heads off of baby chicks that were in them. The chicks didn't try to get away, because the adults were dressed like their parents. After the performance, some of the baby chicks remained alive. The two performers were calmly getting someone who appeared to work for either the postal service or one of those shipping companies like FedEx or UPS, who was equally calm, to help them package up the live chicks to ship back home. I was horrified, but neither I nor anybody else there did anything to stop them. Brrr!
I am already getting excited about attending the world science fiction in Seattle this summer. Being one of those people intensely uncomfortable in the cold, I am hoping that Seattle will provide a nice mix of the hot part of the year with a relatively cool climate.
And it's time to begin planning our road trip.
https://ithacavoice.org/2025/01/museum-of-the-earth-faces-extinction-under-imminent-threat-of-foreclosure/
The Paleontological Research Institution, an important repository of North American fossils, especially from the Southeastern US, is in danger of shutting its doors forever. This is an extremely valuable resource for paleontologists present and future, and they also fulfill an important educational outreach function to anyone interested in fossils. Please spread the word, and if you have a few extra bucks, please consider donating.
Two poems published in Five Fleas on Jan. 12:https://fivefleas.blogspot.com/
One sold to Star*line (https://sfpoetry.com/starline.html) & one sold to Failed Haiku (https://failedhaiku.com/)
Horror senryu journal is open again: https://horrorkujournal.blogspot.com/ .
Dreams and Nightmares 129 is out.
