Write Stuff weekend

Yesterday, Cyn and I had the pleasure of speaking to groups of K-5 at the Pflugerville ISD Write Stuff event.  It was enormously fun and great to see kids that much into writing!  We sold out of CHRONAL ENGINE and I signed a gazillion book plates.

Pflugerville ISD book people par excellence!

Then, this morning, taking advantage of an unusually cool April, Cyn and I took a nice walk around Zilker Park.  Here are some pics:

Self-explanatory

The nifty ornithomimid scultpure

Close up of the pond

Dino footprints

Coy koi

A T.rex radiator...

This. is. awesome.

I was just sent this link:

Check out the design process here.

H/T to Jen Bigheart.

The Hammacher-Schlemmer 20 foot animatronic Triceratops

Animatronic dinosaurs in museums and other places of public display go way back.  I understand that the 1933-1934 Century of Progress exhibition in Chicago even had them.

Today, thanks to Hammacher-Schlemmer, you can have an animatronic Triceratops of your very own.  Per the catalog copy, this "20' long animatronic triceratops...responds to onlookers with lifelike reactions and fortissimo bellowing."

I'm very glad the bellowing is "fortissimo."

It's all your for a mere $350,000.  Shipping not included.

Click here to order, or just see the full description.

H/T to Erin Murphy, who sent me the link back in August.

A Cretaceous Christmas Feast

1/10 scale T.rex skull on antique clock

Merry Christmas, everyone, and best wishes for the New Year! This year, Cyn gave me the above-pictured T.rex skull, so displaying it on her great-grandma's antique clock seemed appropriate :-). 

I thought I would make it a "Cretaceous Christmas" this year, using foodstuffs that were around during the time of CHRONAL ENGINE (Yes, Cynthia and our guests for the evening are very indulgent and forgiving).

So, here's what I'm planning:

Brunch:

Lox and bagels with cream cheese, red onions, tomatoes, and capers.  Obviously, there is no such thing as Cretaceous cream cheese (no cows), and probably no recognizable red onions, tomatoes or capers, either, but their ancestors may have been present.  Salmon likewise wasn't around, but salmon are teleosts, which have been found in the Mesozoic.

Dinner:

Chicken and lobster in a pot. (Lobster fossils have been found in the Cretaceous, and chickens are birds and therefore dinosaurs).

Crab and heart of palm salad with tomatoes, onions, and pine nuts (Crabs, like lobsters, go way back. Hearts of palm can come from palmettos and other palms, which apparently were around in the Late Cretaceous. Pine nuts are from pines which, like other conifers, formed a significant part of the Mesozoic ecosystem).

Roasted corn soup. (Corn probably wasn't around in the Cretaceous, but it is a grass and some grasses have been found in the Cretaceous, although there probably weren't large meadows or grass steppes :-)).

Green bean casserole with alligator jerky garnish.  (Okay, I have no idea about when green beans evolved, but one of the key ingredients in green bean casserole is cream of mushroom soup.  And mushrooms were extant during the Cretaceous.  So were alligators.).

Cheese, apples, and grapes.  Again, no cheese and probably no apples or grapes. 

Sources:
 
Currie & Padian (ed.), Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs, Academic Press (1997), p. 426 (pines).

James O. Farlow et al., The Complete Dinosaur, Indiana University Press (1997), p. 610-11 (teleosts).

Fraiije, The Oldest In Situ Hermit Crab from the Lower Cretaceous of Speeton, UK, Paleo. 46 (1): 53-57 (2003)(crabs and lobsters).

Hibbett et al., Fossil Mushrooms from Miocene and Cretaceous Ambers and the Evolution of Homobasidiomycetes, Jour. Botany 84(78): 981-989 (1997)(mushrooms).

T.S. Kemp, The Origin and Evolution of Mammals, Oxford University Press (2005), p. 156 (tubers).

Prasad et al., Dinosaur Coprolites and the Early Evolution of Grasses and Grazers, Science, Vol. 310 (November 2005), p. 1177 (grasses).

Schwimmer, King of the Crocodylians: The Paleobiology of Deinosuchus, Indiana University Press (2002)(alligators).

Vega et al., Fossil Crabs (Crustacea: Decapoda) from the Late Cretaceous Cardena Formation, East-Central Mexico, J. Paleont. 69-2 (1995), pp. 340-350 (crabs).

David B. Weishampel et al., The Dinosauria, University of California Press (2d Ed. 2004), p. 220 (birds are dinosaurs).

Wing et al., Implications of an Exceptional Fossil Flora for Late Cretaceous Vegetation, Nature 363: 342-344 (1993)(palmetto or cabbage palm).

Dinosaurs on the menu

At Magnolia Cafe, on Lake Austin Boulevard.

Orlando dinosaurs...

Since this year's NCTE/ALAN conference is being held in Orlando, I thought I'd post a bit about the area's dinosaur attractions :-). Photos are from a couple years ago.

Jurassic Park, Universal Studios (Orlando FL). You enter through the King-Kong gates just like in the movie (and to the movie soundtrack!). Inside, they've got Mesozoic plants and recreations of Tyrannosaurus rex and Spinosaurus looming over the Jurassic Park Ford Explorers. A "hands on" lab lets you get up close and personal with eggs, skeletons, and other reproductions. Oh, and the water ride is absolutely terrific.

Spinosaurus and me.

Dinoland USA, Walt Disney World Animal Kingdom (Orlando FL). They've got skeletons of Tyrannosaurus rex and Brachiosaurus, as well as reproductions of Ornithomimus, Corythosaurus, and Triceratops in a Mesozoic plant setting. (Their big ride is also supposed to be great, but we didn't get a chance to go on it).

Corythosaurus and me.

Also at Disney's Animal Kingdom is an attraction they call "Conservation Station," which involves a look at wildlife conservation efforts. And, they've got the life-sized cutout below of a rhinoceros, which I include for the sake of comparison :-).

Stuff...

I've been busy these past couple weeks preparing for Texas Book Festival - reading the books the authors will be presenting and preparing questions for the panelists - so I haven't had much time for blogging.

But, I did want to mention that ARCs (advanced reading copies) of BLESSED are now out in the real world! Christina at INSERT BOOK TITLE HERE is doing a giveaway and has posted a very nice review. P.J. Hoover is likewise having a giveaway, so go check out her blog, too.

Finally, the first review of the season for HOLLER LOUDLY is out! Kirkus Reviews says "[t]his original Southwestern tall tale has an easy rhythm, and repeated phrases and playful type make reading aloud a pleasure ... A rambunctious, can't-lose read-aloud no one will want to hush."

Oh, and you see dinosaurs in the darndest places: the LEGO tyrannosaur in the picture is on display at Downtown Disney in Orlando.

Florida SCBWI

Last post, I mentioned our slight difficulties in traveling to Orlando for the Florida SCBWI Mid-Year Workshop. No, I was not exaggerating. However, once on the ground, things went much more smoothly. The Florida folks put on a great workshop.

Florida SCBWI member Curtis Sponsler picked us up and kept us entertained while we waited through the storm for our luggage, and then drove us to the Disney Coronado Springs Resort Hotel, where they have, among other things, alligators (in the lagoon, not on the menu)...

We met with the organizers and other speakers over dinner at the Pepper Market. We retired not long after from exhaustion.

Cyn went out early next morning to do her workshop, while I partook of the resort amenities: weight room, running track around the lagoon (where lives aforementioned alligator), and lap pool. Then I went to work...

That evening, we had dinner with the organizers and other speakers (and I'm too lazy to name and link everyone, but here are a few): Alvina Ling, Kathleen Duey, Stephanie Lurie, Brian Farrey, Alexandra Cooper, Adrienne Sylver, Christina Gonzalez, Alex Flynn, Dorian Cirrone, Joyce Sweeney, and more!

We saw a hatchling in the nest of a mourning dove and went to bed.

Sunday, after laundry (we didn't pack for the humidity :-)), we headed over to Epcot! Where we walked around the entire world in one afternoon. Dinner was at the Japanese steakhouse and was both entertaining and probably the best meal we had while at Disney.

Next day, we went over to the "Downtown Disney" area, window-shopped at the world's biggest Disney merchandise store, and had lunch at the T.Rex Cafe (which is by the same people who do Rainforest Cafe, but more prehistoric).

That afternoon, we escaped the heat and went to see Shrek: Forever After. Dinner, at Fulton's Crab House, was also quite good. Then we went back to the hotel and collapsed from exhaustion.

There's something very wrong when vacation is more physically demanding than work. Or maybe not...:-).

Cyn has a more thorough post here.