I sat in my crumbling courthouse a couple of months ago, having edged past the permanently-stuck gate on the justices' car park, and made my way up the nearly-new lift to the assembly room. It is a handsome room, built in 1907 but has sadly not seen a lick of paint in the last decade-and-a-half and more.

Everywhere are signs of decay and neglect - but no matter. I understand the desperate need for the government to bring expenditure under control, even if that means denying resources to the public service that I have served unpaid these thirty years. There are still biscuits (amazingly) and most of the lights come on when you press a switch. There is some mysterious  kit that we think might be for use in the new all-electronic courthouse. It still bears the protective film that we see on expensive audio visual stuff to protect it on its long journey from a Chinese sweatshop.

I have recently received an email from  www.gov.uk/annual-tax-summary setting out the tax that I paid in the last fiscal year setting out the tax that I paid (direct tax only, so forget the taxes on consumption such as liquor duties and Council Tax (fifty quid a week on my modest Thames Valley bungalow).

Much more interesting is the breakdown of where it went, revealing how little our fellow citizens know of what is done with the country's collective cash.

Not that much goes on the justice system.

The MoJ's planning for recruitment to the bench is no better than their usual planning, unfortunately. When I was sworn in in 1985 I became one of about 29,000 JPs in England and Wales; today the Bench is more like 19,000 strong, the drop being largely due to the increase in out-of-court disposals such as fixed penalties and cautions. In the meantime numbers have gone up and down, and during the years of amalgamating benches just over five years ago there was a virtual freeze on recruitment for some time. Now the system is struggling to recruit enough JPs to do the job. Nowadays, the biggest obstacle is the reluctance of many employers to allow JP employees time off. This even applies to public services such as the fire brigade, who used to be known for being relatively generous with time off for public service, but are now more niggardly.

I shall not fill the blog with the minutiae of how to apply, because the website  (www.gov.uk)  is very good, but I can say that if you are even slightly interested in the justice system you should consider applying. I wouldn't have missed it for the world, and your chances are probably better than you would expect

The right-wing fanatic who is accused of the murder of Jo Cox MP has opted not to give evidence nor to call any witnesses in his defence. The jury will be directed by the judge as to how to deal with this.

He is of course perfectly entitled to remain silent, just as the jury is perfectly entitled to draw the inferences that it finds proper from his decision. In times past courts sometimes had to decide whether the accused was 'mute of Malice' or 'mute by Visitation of God'.

This is a situation that I have only faced a few times in court. We gravely retired to consider, and I took the bench carefully through the decision making process as if we were assessing a real defence. We then took great care to prepare our reasons for our blindingly obvious decision, reading them out slowly and carefully before handing them down to the Clerk for the file. It all felt a bit unreal, but it is in odd cases such as these that everything has to be done just so.

Guilty it was then, to no one's great surprise.

There was a news item this week about the sentencing of some people who organised dog fights, with large sums wagered on the result. I saw one such case a few years ago, and it needed a strong stomach to look at the evidence. The fight took place in an abandoned farm building and at the end the whitewashed walls were heavily bloodstained. We simply remanded the two defendants, and my colleagues sentenced them a few weeks later after reports were prepared. The aggravation was considerable; organised for money, dogs had to be destroyed, and so on so. They received the maximum six months each and were banned from keeping animals for ten years. In this latest case numerous social-media comments have complained that the six month sentence was not enough, but as usual that raises the question of just how long is enough? All sentences have to fit into the scale somewhere; for example can it ever be right to impose a higher penalty for cruelty to animals than to people?

Here's the Guideline:-

http://www.sentencingcouncil.org.uk/offences/item/animal-cruelty/

Watch it again on the BBC iPlayer

Ski Sunday presenter Ed Leigh is wowed by Sochi two years ahead of the 2014 Winter Olympics

Great Britain's Elizabeth Yarnold wins a bronze medal at the women's skeleton World Championship.

Sevenoaks slider Lizzy Yarnold says the fact Britain has no real purpose built tracks is the main reason behind British success in the sport

British number one Zoe Gillings finishes sixth at the penultimate round of the boarder-cross World Cup in Valmalenco.

Scotland beat Italy and Canada but fall short of reaching the World Women's Curling Championship play-offs.

Great Britain's men's ice hockey team receives a grant from the IOC to help in its bid to qualify for the 2014 Winter Olympics

A few years back, when Cynthia Leitich Smith was off to Vermont for the VCFA residency, I undertook an exploration of Austin pizza joints and pizza blogging: the rules were these: aside from a dinner salad prior to the pizza, my meals were pizza for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.  For ten days.  For the record, the first time I did it, I lost five pounds; the second time, two and a half.

Here's the inaugural post from 2009:  A Pizza a Day and Other Weird Activities.

I tried this again January 2015, but posted only to my Facebook account (I'll be reproducing the posts here along with this edition, with the term "archive" in the header).  I also did it in July 2015.

To view the entire line-ups, just click the "pizza a day" label.

This time, I decided to do something a little different, since I'm on the verge of exhausting Austin's specialty pizza places:  I'm going to see how many pizzas I can make using various techniques.  I'll also take a look at some of the places I've missed or have recently opened.

And, for Christmas, I received this nifty little item:

Yes, it is a starship Enterprise pizza cutter.  So of course I had to make a couple Star Trek-inspired pizzas:
(You can see the Enterprise if you squint real hard).  The saucer section was Canadian bacon with an olive for the bridge.  The nacelles were scallions and the engineering section Belgian endive.  The pizza didn't turn out so great but the cutter worked fantastically.

I also made a pizza in honor of our Klingon allies:

This one sort of drifted apart due to migration of the mozzarella, but it is a Klingon D7 class battlecruiser.  The main hull was a green pepper, while the nacelle supports were red onion.  The nacelles themselves, and the neck section, were scallions, and the bridge was a mushroom slice.

Q'apla!

This is a post I originally put only on Facebook in January 2015.  Click here for background.

And the first pizza of the January 2015 #PizzaADayDiet comes from Hoboken Pie! A thin crust sausage, mushroom, and green pepper -- all the ingredients were fresh and in abundance. The sausage and sauce were slightly spicy and the crust was really thin. It could have had a tad more body, but I liked the fact that it didn't feel like I was filling up on bread. Delivery was prompt and the pizza was warm out of the box. I will definitely order from them again.

Today's pizza a day diet pizza came from the Austin Beer Garden Brewing Co. at 1305 W. Oltorf (right next to the train tracks).

I hit the place in mid-afternoon, so it was pretty empty (Happy hour is from 3 pm to 7 pm, though, so it filled quickly :-)).  You order food and beer at the bar and they bring it to your table.  Inside are long wooden tables with benches, for social/communal beer-gardening in the Bavarian tradition.  Outside are round tables under the live oaks for beer gardening in the Austin tradition. :-).

I ordered a sausage pizza (boring, I know :-), but I like to try new places out on the basics).  It was delivered hot and fresh; the crust was somewhat soft but firmed up after I let it cool a little.  It had a nice chew and stood up to the ingredients.  The sausage had a more subtle flavor than I was expecting, but I really liked it and its freshness.  The cheese and sauce were also quite good.


One of their "by the slice" choices had also caught my eye, so I ordered it as well.  This was venison, spinach, pesto, white bean, roasted tomato, roasted garlic, and ricotta.  This one was amazing (not that the sausage was bad).  The crust had just the right amount of crispness and chew, but the combination of toppings really made it.  It had a richness from the venison without being gamy or overwhelming, and the remaining ingredients provided a terrifically contrasting texture in every bite.


Oh, and the beer was darn good, too. :-).

Today I went back to the Cook's Illustrated Cookbook for their Chicago-style pizza recipe (No, they're not from Chicago, but their recipe is actually pretty close to others I've used in the past.). 

They've got a technique where you "laminate" the crust with butter to make it crispier.  It worked well with the sides, but I'm not sure that it quite worked with the bottom, but the crust did turn out pretty firm and full-bodied.  And rich.  Next time I might let it cook a little longer to see what happens.

The recipe for the sauce and the cheese were a bit different than what I've done before: using shredded mozzarella and diced tomatoes instead of mozzarella slices (or a fresh ball) and crushed tomatoes, but it turned out pretty well.  Next time, though, I think I'll go back to crushed with slices.

And the Star Trek pizza cutter is actually big enough to use on deep dish...

I had Brian Yansky and Frances Yansky over to share the results, so I didn't end up taking too many pictures, but here are a couple:

Pizza! And the Star Trek pizza cutter!

Frances poses with a slice.

The cat inspects the table.

 

Today's Pizza a Day Diet pizza is technically not a pizza.  It's a flatbread. NB: All pizzas are flatbreads but not all flatbreads are pizzas (A flatbread has an unleavened crust).

I happened to be up north during rush hour so I decided to find the closest Italian place and see what they had that resembled a pizza. :-). This happened to be the Maggiano's in the Domain.  The place has sort of a Disney-fied feel of a downtown Italian restaurant, which is not surprising since the first Maggiano's was founded in Chicago by the Lettuce Entertain You chain whose specialty is theme restaurants. 

Anyway, I took a table in the bar and ordered a Caesar salad and the sausage flatbread.  The sausage was removed from the casing but still distributed in large chunks and had that good Italian-sausage flavor.  The cheese was also abundant and flavorful.  And the crust? Nice and crispy at first and then steamed through. 

Here are a couple pics:

Day 8 of ‪#‎PizzaADayDiet‬ is another thin crust, this one from Southside Flying Pizza. They call it “Neapolitan style,” which I guess is a really thin crust. I chose the whole wheat crust and it was pretty good – it stood up to the ingredients but I wouldn't have minded if it had been a tad crisper. The cheese was thoroughly melted and excellent, though, as were the toppings. The sausage had a good flavor and the peppers were nicely al dente. And the side salad was really good, as well.

Today's ‪#‎PizzaADayDiet‬ occurred at Home Slice Pizza -- Don Tate joined me for the sausage, mushroom, and green pepper pie! This was the thickest thin crust I've had so far, and was sufficient to be not -floppy, yet not doughy, with a good, chewy texture. The cheese was flavorful and the toppings were each present in every bite.


Altogether, a most excellent pizza -- and they put the leftovers in a tinfoil swan (I've never seen that before in real life :-)).

Just back from the Texas Library Association Conference in Houston! 

As always, it was great to see fellow authors and illustrators, as well as the librarians who've supported our books through the years.  And I always enjoy seeing what's new at the publisher booths.

We had a great time for my panel Tuesday afternoon, "What's New with Texas Middle Grade and YA Authors," organized by Susie Kralovansky, featuring Jessica Lee Anderson moderating, and fellow panelists Paige Britt, Cory Putnam Oakes, P.J. Hoover, Cynthia Levinson, Liz Garton Scanlon, Jennifer Mckissack, and Joy Preble.  Conversation was entertaining and enlightening.  

Many thanks to everyone who puts in the work to make TLA the best state library conference in the country!

Here are some pics:

Hitting the road

Rainy Houston from the hotel

Me, Cynthia Levinson, PJ Hoover

Carmen Oliver signs

Jennifer McKissack, Jennifer Ziegler, Joy Preble

Paige Britt and Donna Janell Bowman

Me and the world in the lobby of the Hilton

Signing BORROWED TIME

Janet Fox and Jennifer Ziegler

PJ, Jessica, and Joy

Me and Elaine Scott

Buffalo Bayou on my early morning run

Back in Austin!

Well, it's been a busy summer writing-wise.  I'm letting a draft of a middle grade sci-fi adventure cure for a bit and also completed a work-for-hire project, and two-and-a-half nonfiction projects. (The half is still in-progress :-)).

Circa 1995.  No hills :-).

After the Cap Tex Tri weather debacle, I reconsidered my original plan to try the Austin Half-Ironman (or Ironman 70.3 as they're calling the things these days).   I'd wanted to do a couple Olympic distance races this summer (the other would've been the Tri Rock Austin Triathlon over Labor Day weekend) to get the kinks out before going for the longer distance.

Unfortunately, the schedule didn't quite work out (and I'm going to be doing some school and bookstore visits in October, prime training time :-)).  Also, this allows me to delay buying a new bike -- my current one is a 1989 Trek that is fine, but riding 50+ miles around the Hill Country, I can see where handlebar shifters would be useful :-).

So I decided to dive back in to the Austin Distance Challenge and take up the Austin Runners Club on the marathon training (which would also help with next year's triathlons).  My goal is a personal best or possibly Boston Marathon qualifying. (With the age-group corrections, BM qualifying has finally caught up with my PB :-)).

The ARC program is based on the Runner's World "Run Less, Run Faster" program, which has you run three days a week and do other cardio work two days a week.  One of the days is a track workout, one is a tempo run and the third is a long run, with pace times based on a one mile time trial we did a couple weeks ago. I have no idea if it will work, but I like it because I want to keep up the biking and running as well.

After the long run

I just completed the first week of the program and didn't actually hit any of my goal times, but I've never actually tried running for time, so at least the effort is interesting.  I ran a trial mile of 7:10, slightly slower than my 6:50 from last spring and a lot slower than my PB of 5:55 (granted, twenty years ago :-)).

From this, the track workout was supposed to be 4x1000 m at 4:09; my times were 4:20; 4:14; 4:15; and 4:22, so not terrible.  The tempo workout was supposed to be 4 miles at a 7:38 pace and my actual pace was 7:46. I figured it would be a challenge to hit those marks but was glad to have been close.  

The long run was supposed to be 11 miles at 8:57, which I though I could do, no problem, since I'd done my half marathons last year at around 8:24.  But with the humidity and heat (in August, hydration tends to be my biggest problem) and having only three hours of sleep (due to small feline mammals), I only did seven miles at a 9:07 pace.

Based on limited data, I like the program because it's not just about racking up mileage, which was getting a bit old. Also, the track workouts are not far from where I live :-). 

Anyway, I'm looking forward to the challenge of a new marathon best time, at the 2017 Austin Marathon!

Setting my PB on a wintry spring day

    



 

I'm a bit late this year, but here is a preliminary listing of books written and illustrated by Austinites with releases in 2017!  Note that publication dates may change and/or slip...

For books from earlier years, go here.

Picture Books

BOOK OR BELL, by Chris Barton, ill. by Ashley Spires (Bloomsbury 2017).

MIGHTY TRUCK: MUDDY MANIA, by Chris Barton, ill. by Troy Cummings (HarperCollins 2017).

DAZZLE SHIPS: WORLD WAR I AND THE ART OF CONFUSION,  by Chris Barton, ill. by Victo Ngai (Millbrook 2017).

 WHY AM I ME?, by Paige Britt, ill. by Sean Qualls & Selina Alko (Scholastic Press, Sept. 2017).
 
WHOBERT WHOVER, OWL DETECTIVE, by Jason Gallaher (@DraftingJason), ill. by Jess Pauwels (Margaret McElderry Books/Simon & Schuster, July 2017).
 
 CINNAMON, by Neil Gaiman, ill. by Divya Srinivasan (HarperCollins, May 2017).

THE YOUNGEST MARCHER; THE STORY OF AUDREY MAY HENDRICKS, A YOUNG CIVIL RIGHTS ACTIVIST, by Cynthia Levinson (Atheneum/Simon & Schuster 2017)

BOB, NOT BOB, by Liz Garton Scanlon, ill. by Audrey Vernick (Disney Hyperion, Winter 2017)

ANOTHER WAY TO CLIMB A TREE, by Liz Garton Scanlon, ill. by Hadley Hooper (Neal Porter Books/Roaring Brook Press, Aug. 2017).

STRONG AS SANDOW: HOW EUGEN SANDOW BECAME THE STRONGEST MAN ON EARTH, by Don Tate (Charlesbridge, Aug. 2017).

WHAT THIS STORY NEEDS IS A BANG AND A CLANG, by Emma Virjan (HarperCollins 2017).

Middle Grade/Tween

THE GREAT HIBERNATION, by Tara Dairman (Wendy Lamb Books/Random House, September 2017).

GNOMEAGEDDON, by K.A. Holt (McElderry Book/S&S, Fall 2017)

TUT: MY EPIC BATTLE TO SAVE THE WORLD, by P.J. Hoover (Tor 2017).

FAULT LINES IN THE CONSTITUTION: THE FRAMERS, THEIR FIGHTS, AND THE FLAWS THAT AFFECT US TODAY, by Cynthia Levinson and Sanford Levinson (Peachtree 2017).

IF THE SHOE FITS, by Mari Mancusi (Aladdin/Simon & Schuster, Fall 2017).

IN A DARK LAND, by Christina Soontornvat (Sourcebooks 2017).

REVENGE OF THE HAPPY CAMPERS, by Jennifer Ziegler (Scholastic 2017).


Young Adult

THIS IS NOT THE END, by Chandler Baker (Disney-Hyperion, Aug. 2017).

WITCHTOWN, by Cory Putnam Oakes (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Oct. 2017).

THE SANDCASTLE EMPIRE, by Kayla Olson (HarperTeen 2017).

AVENGED, by Amy Tintera (HarperTeen May 2017).

It's the eve of the Texas Book Festival so make sure you check out the festivities on the Capitol grounds! And here's a tentative list of projects from Austin authors and illustrators releasing next year! For previous years, go here.

Picture Books, Easy Readers, and Board Books

WHAT DO YOU DO WITH A VOICE LIKE THAT? by Chris Barton, ill. by Ekua Holmes (Simon & Schuster/Beach Lane 2018).

MIGHTY TRUCK: ON THE FARM, by Chris Barton, ill. by Troy Cummings (HarperCollins, May 2018).

PENGUIN AND TINY SHRIMP DON'T DO BEDTIME, by Cate Berry, ill. by Charles Santoso (Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins 2018).

ABRAHAM LINCOLN'S DUELING WORDS, by Donna Janell Bowman, ill. by S.D. Schindler (Peachtree, 2018)

THE BOOK THAT JAKE BORROWED, by Susan Kralovansky (Pelican 2018).

COUNTING COLORS IN TEXAS, by Susan Kralovansky (Pelican 2018).

KATE, WHO TAMED THE WIND, by Liz Garton Scanlon, ill. by Lee White (Schwartz & Wade, Spring 2018).

FRANCES IN THE COUNTRY, by Liz Garton Scanlon, ill. by Sean Qualls (Neal Porter Books/Roaring Brook Press, Summer 2018).

DEAR SUBSTITUTE, by Liz Garton Scanlon, ill. by Chris Raschka (Disney-Hyperion, Summer 2018).

STALEBREAD CHARLIE AND THE RAZZY, DAZZY SPASM BAND,  by Michael Mahin, ill. by Don Tate (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2018).

PAR-TAY: DANCE OF THE VEGGIES (AND THEIR FRIENDS), by Eloise Greenfield, ill. by Don Tate (Alazar Press 2018).

POTATO KING: THE STORY OF JUNIUS G. GROVES, by Don Tate (Knopf 2018).
 

Middle Grade

THE BOY, THE BOAT, AND THE BEAST, by Samantha Clark (Paula Wiseman Books/Simon & Schuster, Summer 2018).

KNOCKOUT, by K.A. Holt (Chronicle, Spring 2018).

DEAR ME (tent. title), by K.A. Holt (Scholastic, Summer 2018).

THE PARKER INHERITANCE, by Varian Johnson (Scholastic, Spring 2018).

THE CAMELOT CODE: THE ONCE AND FUTURE GEEK, by Mari Mancusi (Disney-Hyperion, Oct. 2018).

GIRLS WHO CODE: LIGHTS, MUSIC, CODE, by Jo Whittemore (Penguin Workshop, Spring 2018).

REVENGE OF THE TEACHER'S PETS, by Jennifer Ziegler (Scholastic, June 2018).

Young Adult

HEARTS UNBROKEN, by Cynthia Leitich Smith (Candlewick Press, 2018).

AVENGED, by Amy Tintera (HarperTeen, May 2018).

If passed, it would be the first standalone NASA authorization since 2017.

One rocket could decide how soon humanity returns to the Moon — and maybe one day sets foot on Mars.

A comet collided with Jupiter 30 years ago, and the resulting images still inspire awe and wonder today.

The gas giant is the Solar System's largest planet. Here's why it's also the fastest-spinning planet.

This was a big week in space, from Curiosity stumbling upon sulfur crystals to an exoplanet discovery and a major advocacy effort.

An analysis of the U.S. Senate's FY 2025 budget request for NASA.

Knowing that you've found signs of life beyond Earth may not be as clear-cut and simple as one might think.

The tentative discovery hints at an habitat where life could potentially thrive.

With all the advances in private space exploration, why do taxpayers still pay for space science missions?

NASA is underfunding planetary exploration relative to recommendations made by the National Academies Decadal Survey report, resulting in mission delays and cancelations.

The habitable zone is a useful concept in astrobiology, but it can sometimes paint an over-simplified picture of planetary habitability.

The Planetary Society and Lerner Publishing Group have teamed up to bring young readers an engaging series of books that make space science fun and accessible.

Exploring Europa and defending Earth.

Cameras on spacecraft are our eyes into the Cosmos. Sometimes they teach us things, sometimes they reveal gaps in our knowledge.

A Martian cloud atlas, LightSail wins big, and multiple missions coast toward launch.

Europa Clipper will soon head for Jupiter's icy, potentially habitable moon. Without the advocacy efforts of The Planetary Society and our members, the mission may never have been possible.

The European Space Agency’s Hera spacecraft launched on Oct. 7, 2024, from Cape Canaveral, Florida. It will travel to the Didymos-Dimorphos asteroid system to study the aftermath of the first-ever field test of an asteroid deflection technique.

NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft launched today aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida.

The Planetary Society is upgrading systems that will offer us many new capabilities and features that will enhance your membership experience.

Perseverance faces a hard climb, but New Horizons proves it’s worth going the distance.

How the inclusion of Katie Taylor v Amanda Serrano on the bill legitimises the carnival of Mike Tyson v Jake Paul in Texas