Errands and Awards

[rolanni]

Steve and I had plans to meet at the Framemakers in downtown Waterville at 3:30 today.  Therefore, I left the day-job, detoured to Tim Horton’s  for much-needed caffeine and sugar To Go, and headed for Main Street.

At the Framemakers, Amy was. . . let’s say that Amy was Highly Appreciative of David Mattingly’s Ghost Ship art.  The three of us played with matte-board and frames for a while, which is always fun, and agreed that the purple and gold scheme was stunning.  That decided, we left Amy to do the hard part, while we went down the block to Barrels, where we shopped mustard (mmmm, mustard) and jam, coming away with three jars of the former (Raye’s Winter Garden, Classic, and Lemon Pepper) and one jar each of blueberry and pumpkin butter.

At home, I found in my inbox a notice from SFWA (that’s Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America) that the nominating period for the Nebula Award ballot is now open, closing on February 15, 2011.

Last year, I’d read a couple of works that I thought deserved recognition; this year, I haven’t (1) read that much and (2) been blown away by anything that I did read.  I hope that will change before the closing date for nominations.

In the meantime, if you are an Associate or Active member of SFWA, you are eligible to nominate works to the Nebula ballot, which will be voted on by Active members in March.  Winners will be announced at the Nebula Awards Weekend, in Washington D.C., over the weekend of May 19 – 22, 2011.

This year, Lee and Miller have two novels eligible for nomination:  Saltation, and Mouse and Dragon.  In addition, Sharon Lee has an eligible novel:  Carousel Tides.

Tonight, Steve has a library trustee meeting.  Ball o’fire that I am, myself, I plan to curl up on the couch with a coon cat or two and. . .read a book.

Everybody have a good evening, ‘k?

Originally published at Sharon Lee, Writer. You can comment here or there.

Comments

[isabellag.livejournal.com]

If you would be so kind, could you elaborate, for the edification of those of us for whom Pumpkin is solely a vegetable, on what *exactly* is Pumpkin Butter?

[keristor.livejournal.com]

Pumpkin butter has been called pumpkin pie in a jar, and though it can’t technically be called fruit butter because pumpkin is a winter squash, it falls into this class of preserved spreads. It is essentially cooked pumpkin that is pureed and combined with sugar and spices common in pumpkin pie, like cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and allspice. Its very thick texture is similar to butter, hence the name.

From http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-pumpkin-butter.htm (I just typed "pumpkin butter" into Google, which then returned that page among a load of recipes).

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

Pumpkin butter is, um, like apple butter, only with pumpkins. Sample recipe (http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/pumpkin-butter/Detail.aspx)

Nebula Awards?

[claire774.livejournal.com]

Pumpkin Butter does sound very good. Must be like Apple butter but with pumpkins. Anyway, I am not a SFWA member of course. And I have't read Carousel Tides yet. And I haven't read all the other books that the SFWA people I'm sure have read.... But I have to say that Mouse and Dragon was a really beautiful book. So good luck with the Nebula Award. And, as for me, today I went to the dentist and had my teeth cleaned. I didn't care for that very much. Did go out for Chinese this evening as a special treat. Liked that better. Good luck.
C.

[keristor.livejournal.com]

Good luck with the nominations! Not being a SFWA member (since I am neither a writer nor "of America"!) I can't help, but I hope others will nominate.

[isabellag.livejournal.com]

Thank you both kindly for the info about Pumpkin/Apple butter. We have 'lemon butter' and 'passionfruit butter' but I've never seen either of Apple or Pumpkin... the thought of pumpkin with spices, sugar and such makes me feel slightly... queasy. I'm thinking of it roasted with lamb, still in its skin, all golden and savoury. Isn't it funny how hard it is to break the cultural programming? It's a bit like corn, I guess. To my mother (child of 1930's England), corn is what you feed the cows. Weird, I know.