Archive for December, 2009

If this goes on much longer I may be reduced to posting outtakes from Wolfsnail. The arrival of a few Christmas cards and another package cushioned the blow today when the mail did not bring my copy of Growing Patterns. Sigh, again.

Growing Patterns did not arrive today. Sigh.

This image was considered for the book, but didn’t get in. One challenge we had with Growing Patterns was the fact that, in general, the photographs are taken very close to the objects they depict — so close that we weren’t sure readers would recognize the objects. In several cases, we included photographs from slightly different angles or of the full object. At one point we talked about using this image for that purpose, but decided against it. Richard used photoshop to edit out the background on this sunflower. It was a rough job and he would have had to fine-tune it if we had decided to put in in the book.

As the title of this post suggests, this is my 300th blog post. It’s amazing how quickly they add up when I post every day — as I have been lately.

One thing about this countdown that I have enjoyed is looking back through my Lightroom catalog. This photograph of a spider lily was taken before I had the notion I would write a book called Growing Patterns: Fibonacci Numbers in Nature. Today I counted the spokes going out from the central stem; there are 8, which is the 6th Fibonacci number. I didn’t expect the book to come today because it it Sunday, but I do have high hopes for the coming week.

I’m getting lots of packages these days. My parents are having things sent here — since they haven’t had a fixed address for some months now. My husband keeps ordered gadgets. (I am the beneficiary of some of these; spanking new inner workings for my computer, for example.) But, alas no copy of Growing Patterns: Fibonacci Numbers in Nature. I am left to other book duties: I am writing a script for a video trailer and drafting a marketing plan.

This purple pansy did not make the book. … I may be running out of outtakes. I broke down and asked my editor whether Growing Patterns would be coming soon. He’s looking into it.

Sorry I missed posting yesterday. No copy of Growing Patterns came, but I did get a very nice note from my young reader friend, Jackson S. He and I had lunch in October when I went to the Mississippi Library Association conference. In the note, he thanked me for showing him my draft copy (which I had printed on my home printer and stapled together). It is fun to have readers anticipating this book’s release. Last time around, it was just me and a close circle of friends.

The flower in the above picture is a spiderwort. A photograph of a spiderwort does appear in the book to illustrate Fibonacci number 3, but it was shot from the top and with only one flower visible.

It snowed here last night so we woke up to a white landscape.

Still no Growing Patterns.

We took this photograph of a pineapple on our back porch, shooting from above. The leaves arrange themselves in a nice pattern, don’t you think?

Those of you who are more knowledgeable than I can help me identify these flowers. The closest I can come are Mayhaws or wild plums of some kind. They were blooming in Jackson in March. I loved the way they cluster. Each flower has five petals, which would make it fit into the Fibonacci book, but I had some others that I thought were stronger photographs of 5-petal flowers for Growing Patterns: Fibonacci Numbers in Nature.

The book still hasn’t arrived. I am about to break down and ask my editor when. When? When? The romantic in me wants to wait and have its appearance be a surprise. I wish I were more patient.

This seems crazy when I look at it now, but for some reason last year, I took pictures of pine cones and pineapples on a red, white, and blue tablecloth. The photographs in the book show the pinecone in the grass and the pineapple against a black cloth.

My copy of Growing Patterns: Fibonacci Numbers in Nature did not come today, but I got other good news. The Mississippi Arts Commission funded my minigrant application for marketing materials for Growing Patterns. Thank you, Mississippi Arts Commission! Your funding will help me publicize my book and turn a whole new generation of readers on to the fascinating ways math and nature are intertwined.