Call me a proud father. Every now and then one of Maya's drawings really stuns me. This is the latest to do so (And as you look, remember that Maya's just ten years old!):

Labels: Family Stuff, Maya Calypso Durham

Excuse me for a moment, but I have another family thing to mention.

For those who are interested in birthdays and kittens and happy kids... please take a look at The Shetland Trader.

For those of you NOT interested in such things, feel free to ignore this post.

Labels: Family Stuff, Maya Calypso Durham

Apart from being happy and answering lots of emails, I haven't progressed a lot with my thinking on the Campbell Award and/or the Hugos. I'd like to think I'll have thoughts on both in the weeks to come, and I'll share them here.

One thing I didn't say with the last post is congratulations to all the other Campbell Nominees. You guys are standouts, and I'm glad to be in the mix with you. Let's hang out in Montreal, if not before, and let's be friends moving forward with our writing lives. Sound good? I hope so, because the part of me that wants to win this thing is a close relative to the part that's just glad to be included, that wants to be a part of something and to make friends and allies for the future.

Last year Jon Armstrong, another Campbell Nominee, did a series of interviews with the other nominees for his series If You're Just Joining Us. He did them as audio interviews. Very cool. I'm not quite that tech savvy, but I'd love to post features on each of the other Campbell contenders. We might as well use the occasion to spread the love. Hopefully, I'll soon be able to offer you some quality time with these authors.

So that's that. On another note...

The young lady to the left here is my daughter, Maya Calypso. This evening I watched a rather interesting exchange between her and her mother. I was sitting to the side, so I heard things with a bit more clarity than my wife. I should mention to preface that we rather like nice sweets here in the Durham household. Not generic chocolate bars, but confections with... well, real chocolate and such in them. It's those delicacies, frugally dispensed, that this is about.

It went like this...

Maya (from the other side of the room): "Anviano lafl aoml aif nibubuv caramel?"

Gudrun: "What?"

Maya steps closer, says: "Anviano lafl aoml aif nibubuv two caramels?"

This went on for awhile, until...

Gudrun: "What? Speak clearly. I can't hear you."

Maya (after exhaling with exasperation, and then vocalizing with a speech-therapist's pronunciation): "Can I have three caramels?"

Gudrun (relieved to have finally made sense of her daughter's mumblings): "Yes."

I sat there impressed. One caramel became three, all by the process of limited - and selective - communication. As has happened many times before, I just learned something from my daughter. Not sure how to use this new knowledge, but I'm filing it away for future reference.

Labels: John W. Campbell, Maya Calypso Durham, Other Authors, Things Overheard While Living

Does this guy look slick or what?He's called The Detective Cat and he's one of several of my daughter's new prints, available for viewing at Maya Calypso Durham Talks.

I don't know about you, but I want to know this guy's story. He kinda looks like he's working undercover or something...

Labels: Family Stuff, Maya Calypso Durham

Maya's latest creation. Just had to share it...Nine years old, she is.

Labels: Family Stuff, Maya Calypso Durham

...is nine years old today. Geez... Are you kidding me? This young lady is my daughter! (Said with nine years worth of awe at that fact.) She is as lovely in person as looks in this photo...

What I did to deserve the family I have escapes me. I don't know. Blessed by whomever does the blessing, I guess. I'm not sure how I got them, but I'm doing my best to be worthy of them now. Maybe I got them on credit, now I'm chipping away at the monthly statements - happily.

Maya was born in Scotland. We lived in the very small village of Forneth at the time, in Perthshire. (Go find that on a map - if you can!) I'm talking sheep and rabbits here, wonderful views, turnips and rape seed flowers (which bloom brilliant yellow). My in laws lived just down the road, around the bend, and my father in law, the poet and novelist and naturalist J Laughton Johnston, picked up the old quill and penned a few words to commemorate the occasion. The poem is included below.

Should you be inclined to read it do note that Laughton was writing from the Shetland Isles, where he was at the time of Maya's birth and where he and Patricia now live. Also note that my family is from the Caribbean, Trinidad in particular - hence the Calypso in Maya's name and the mention in this poem...

Maya (2.7.99)

The Flags are flying for Maya,

Yellow above the stiff green blades

around the mill at Bousta.

Overhead another raingoose rides the hypotenuse

and beyond the skerries and the tirricks

Brilliant white birds fold themselves into origami darts,

hurtle to the sea

and re-emerge as fish-stuffed gannets.


I look out over the Bay of St Magnus

And wonder what parallels, if any,

There might be between these North Sea islands

and those of the Caribbean?

What a hanself you have been given,

such a harvest of far-flung seed.


Maya,

who can look out at seabirds from so many shores

and call each one - home.


J Laughton Johnston
Bousta July 1999

(Next year, on Sage's birthday, I'll post the poem Grandpa wrote about Sage as well.)

Labels: Family Stuff, Maya Calypso Durham, Maya's Birthday

It's been a little while since I had any of the kids' artwork up. Here's a new one from Maya. Knights!

Labels: Maya Calypso Durham

Just a heads up; my daughter, Maya, has her second art show up on her blog now.

Here's a sample...
Now, would you mess with the winged red fox? I wouldn't, and I wouldn't advise it. My advice: don't mess with the winged red fox!

Man, it's a good show. Eight years old she is. Check out the rest here.

Labels: Maya Calypso Durham

Just wanted to alert interested parties that my daughter, Maya (8 years), has an awesome wee art show up on her blog, Maya Calypso Durham Talks. If you'd like to take a look, click it. She's good. She's really, really good.

Positive comments appreciated... (On her blog, that is.)

Labels: Links, Maya Calypso Durham