NYC on Flickr

There's lots more to come, but the first of the NYC photos, from the Coolpix (low tech), are now up on Flickr, here.

Categories: Book Tour | Friends | India

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More Photos On Flickr

This is our last full day in Denver, and I've been pounding the photos into Flickr as fast as I can. See the newest ones (I'm up to our first day back in Colorado), here.

Categories: Book Tour | Turner

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Tamil Nadu Or Bust!

Onward to Hindustan! Tomorrow Sloaner and I get on a creaky early-morning flight to Madras, to meet up with Turner (already "in station") for the final leg of the India research.

The plan: We'll spend a few days in Mamallapuram, a temple town on the coast south of Chennai, and then head on to Pondicherry at the end of the week. On the weekend we strike (slightly) inland, to Auroville, the "experiment in international living".

         Ha ha ha - can you tell I'm no Photoshop expert?

It's all in the name of research. ...And self-aggrandizement of course. Who can resist us when we are carrying such a lovely strawberry-blonde baby? We're putting to the test the notion that you're treated "SO" much better when travelling with a child in India. Turner has been trying out the radical idea of "wearing clean clothes" and reports that the difference in treatment is marked. (Myself, I'll be testing the whole "not punching men who pinch my ass" technique, since the retailation-in-a-crowd thing on this matter once started a small riot at Dusshera in Delhi, from which we were saved by police brandishing lathis. I have never been so glad to see a lathi being swung in my direction, I tell you. In any case, hopefully the ass-pinching vector will experience a decided downswing with aforementioned baby on board. We can only hope.)

Turner is giving a talk in Auroville on February 19th at their Matrimandir - reading from the first chapter from The Geography of Hope, "Down At The Windfarm". So if, y'know, you're in the area, drop by!

You know I'll take a bazillion photos and collect up some good stories to tell. Internet access in India is, as I recall, "the shits" vis a vis reliability, so I'll make no claims on posting regularly and whatnot from the Subcontinent. We're back to Bangkok on the 24th, and I'll post stuff then, if not before.

Jaye he, jaye he... jaye, jaye, jaye, jaye, he! (Be careful this link doesn't burn your eyeballs out.)

(Crossposted with The Geography Of Hope's website.)

Categories: Asia 2006 | Book Tour | India | Work work work

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Blast Off!

Off we go, tomorrow morning, bright and surly. Six weeks in Asia, based in Bangkok with Thab and Phet, with some India time in February. Turner of course will be chasing around the region like a madman, meanwhile. Many photos and stories to come. As soon as the new blog is up for the book & tour, I'll announce the going-live-ness.

But right now, we're still doing the finishing touches on the packing, it's 1:44am, and the edges are a little blurry. Must go. Best to you all. Nobody break into our house while we're gone - my brother and Neighbour Cheryle are watching you, ready to club you to death with the doorway baseball bats: beware. ...Plus also, breaking in? It's bad karma, seriously.

Categories: Book Tour | House

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Planet Simpson Seeks Web Designer For "Exciting" New Project

Got skillz? Want free books and lifelong love? The chance to work with an award-winning author? A cool site on your resume?

Yes? Maybe? (Know someone who might be interested? Refer them!) ...Step right up and become part of the Planet Simpson empire.

Turner's next book is The Geography Of Hope: A Guided Tour Of The World We Need (Random House, 2007). It's a pop-culture-infused look at sustainable community solutions to environmental challenges around the world. The first phase of the research took Turner to Denmark in October, as he tells you in his posting about Christiania. Next week we all leave for six weeks of work in Asia, where T will run around the region interviewing folks and seeing projects and visiting sites in Thailand, Singapore, and India. Later in the year it's Germany, New Mexico, and so on. We're looking to build a new website to house the blog and behind-the-scenes stuff during the run-up to the writing and tour for this next book.


What we want:

A customized blog template with a personalized top banner, very similar to PlanetSimpson.com. We'll supply the server space, you just build the site. Initially we just want to post about the book research and behind-the-scenes stuff, and have a calendar function that shows our whereabouts and upcoming events/research. We want to upload photos into the postings themselves, and have a Flickr photostream link. As you can see, it's pretty standard stuff. We won't need you to hold our hand once the site is set up - in the past we've been good at handling things on our own once the site goes live.

...So - did you read all this and think to yourself, "Aw jeez, I could do all that in about half an hour, even with my head tied behind my back"?

Are you now wondering what might be in it for you? Look no further...


What you get:

1. A limited-1st-edition of the Canadian printing of Planet Simpson (or, if you already own same, your choice of the American hardcover 1st edition or the British 1st edition), signed by the author with your choice of inscription... which could include but is not limited to outlandish and even inaccurate statements like, "To [your name here], thanks for your comments on the first draft - they were invaluable. All my love, Turnbuckle."

2. A limited-edition HAIL ANTS tshirt in your choice of colours (orange, green, or grey): long sleeved brushed organic cotton, printed with HAIL ANTS on the front, and "I for one welcome our new insect overlords" on the back, we've sent these around the world to hungry fans of Planet Simpson,

3. A generous worldwide thanks in the Acknowledgements of the new book (see below),

4. A signed first-edition hardcover copy of The Geography Of Hope: A Guided Tour Of The World We Need, coming out in 2007 (Random House),

5. An invitation to the Toronto, London (UK) or New York launches of the book (your choice), including TTC fare, dinner, and at least three rounds of drinx on us; plus a shout-out at the launch,

6. Possibly other stuff, depending on what you ask for. We're open to suggestions.

Also, Happy (?) Armistice Day

Last year on this day we were in New Zealand on the book tour. I asked around, "Is it Remembrance Day? Is this a holiday?" People said no. People said they didn't know what I was talking about. People said that November 11th was a regular day.

And then I found a poppy somewhere, clearly designed to be worn in a lapel, like the Canadian Nov 11th poppies. And the evening news reported veterans of the World Wars participating in various ceremonies around the country. And I was like, Yeah! Yeah? ...Uh, yeah!

They call it Armistace Day, there. And mostly the poppies are for the old veterans who want to 'celebrate' in the capital with bagpipes and the trappings of the Commonwealth and whatnot; the real 'remembrance' day for WWI and WWII for Australia and New Zealand is sometime in the northern hemisphere's spring, a holiday known as "Anzac Day".

As a result of this un-coherence across Commonwealth nations, I ended up wondering if John McCrae (author of "In Flanders Fields") somehow kept Remembrance Day alive for Canadian children born long after the big wars. Wondering if somehow our proximity to Europe makes us more aware of the day the first war ended. Having lived in Guelph (John McCrae's birthplace and home town), I wonder if the poppies blow only in Canadian minds on November 11th, or if it's something more universal in the English-speaking world.

But Turner came home from England today with a poppy on his computer carry-on bag. I said, "What's this? It's the New Zealand Armistace Day poppy like last year...?" It was the same style as the one we'd picked up in Hong Kong, the one we'd eventually seen on the news in NZ.

And he was like, "Uh... I bought it in Heathrow. There were some veterans there, celebrating Remembrance Day."

The Nakusp hospital (Arrow and Slocan Lakes General Hospital, Nakusp: officially...) has a series of posters up of late, promoting/explaining Remembrance Day and the origin of the famous Canadian poem by John McCrae, In Flanders Fields. Having spent so much time in the hospital this last week (Nanny is interned there, until further notice - her heart, kidneys, and overall condition mandate her stay), I've read absolutely EVERYTHING they've seen fit to stick to the walls. It's a great poem, a truly great poem. I'm actually glad they made us memorize it in elementary school.

And as for the origin of Turner's lapel poppy this year: Good on you, England. If ye break faith with us who die, we shall not sleep... though poppies blow in Flanders' Fields.

Categories: Book Tour | Turner

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Pillows Are A Girl's... Best Friend

Well, I'm at about the stage in pregnancy where there just can't be enough pillows. When I've got four pillows under my head and between my knees and under my back and propping things up every which way, and Turner is over there with one pillow, I admit I've been known to lean in and ask, "Are you using that pillow?"

At bedtime on our first night in Van, we called room service and asked them to bring a few more pillows (them: "How many?" Turner: [turning to me, whispering] "How many?" Ash: "As many as possible!") and bless their pointed heads, the folks at Hotel Vancouver forked 'em over.

But seriously, you have to dig the cleaning staff at Vancouver's venerable Castle In The City, who obviously have a sense of humour.

First pillow arrangement:

Second pillow arrangement:

Cheers, cheers, cheers! to the Canadian Pacific Hotels and their fine cleaning people. Hurrah.

(Crossposted on Planet Simpson.)

Categories: Pregnancy | Book Tour

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