Julie Vaux

Cat Playing Cupid

is the 14th book in the Joe Grey series!

Joe Grey Dulcie and Kit are talking cats. Dont laugh!

Joe is a feline who can talk and read but he is feline and applies his hunting instincts and intellect to protecting his human friends and solving mysteries in a way that's surprisingly realistic and believable rather than merely cute!

Kit comes from a clowder of feral cats who also talk and hide and haunt the ruins of a house. Those cats have found a body and seek the aid of one of Kit's human friends to report it while asking that human one of the who know their secret to help an injured cat.

That body turns out to be linked to the mystery of the origins of the cats and another murder.

Enjoy the mystery and the cats!

The auhtor has a a site you can visit!

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Kuraki yori

July 3rd 2009 07:57

Kuraki yori

This is the first line of a famous waka by Izumi Shikibu

Kuraki yori

Kuraki michi ni zo

Irinubeki

Haruka ni terase

Yama no ha no tsuki

In modern Japanese Kurasa yori kurasa michi ni zo irinubeshi haruka no terase yama no ha no tsuki

Lets look again at the romaji ku ra ki yo ri ku ra ki mi chi ni zo ha ru ka ni te ra se ya ma no ha no tsu ki.

Rough translation from the darkness onto a way of darkness i must travel/exist/enter
faraway shining on the mountains edge the moonlight.
The first two lines are allegedly a referenc eto a line form the Lotus Sutra ch.7 that reads ...
from darkness they enter darkness ... and the last two may also be a reference to a type of buddhist painting that shows buddha a shining figure rising above a mountain like the full moon rising.

if you hear yori spoken aloud slowly you may think of yo first ... night and world and cause and other on or kun readings of that word.

Iri or iru while written as enter can mean need or exist.

Haruka often gets translated as stretching along but the word is not haru its is haruka an adjective / adverb.

There yet another type of word play in the final line

Ha can be foliage or edge or school! mountain of the schoolof the moon?

i wonder where the Monk Shooku Shoonin came from?

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The melancholy patience of dogs

July 1st 2009 15:49

The melancholy patience of dogs

York street pavements are overcast by the shaodws of the buildings on either side of the stree most of the day which can be pleasant in summer but in other seasons less pleasant.

I dont know who these dogs were waiting for but their look of long suffering melancholy patience caught my eye and I had actually remembered to pack the camera!

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The Blade of the Courtesans

July 1st 2009 11:39

The Blade of the Courtesans

Keiichiro Ryu translated by James M. Vardaman
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Underground

June 30th 2009 06:38

Underground by Kat Richardson 2008

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Kookaburras love misty mornings

June 30th 2009 06:27

We had an avian visitor to our balcony and I managed to get a photo.

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The Blanket of the Dark

June 27th 2009 15:34

The Blanket of the Dark

John Buchan 1931
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The Paper Moon

June 26th 2009 06:32

The Paper Moon
is the latest translation of one of
Andrea Camilleri's Inspector Montalbano series.
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Open Day Next Sunday

June 26th 2009 06:23

The Australian Museum in Sydney
Has Its Once a Year OPEN DAY
NEXT WEEKEND

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My First Bowls

June 22nd 2009 10:45

My first bowls.

These are my first attempts at wheel thrown clay bowls!

My first wheel thrown bowls

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Comment by Julie Vaux
on Pattern mixing: The review

May 31st 2009 02:34

Books Well Read
Strange Situations
The Purple Challenge

It only works cos you have a matching base color that's dark and the floral motif doesnt cover the whole skirt.

My advice on pattern matching.

DONT

The number of people fashionistas or not who can get matching differing patterns is work is even lower than the number of peoplewho can fit into haut couture cos they had 6ft tall elves for ancestors?

Just dont!

I see so many near misses every day cos people try to pattern match and dont have enuff color sense to get it to work! ...Shudder and those are graphic design students!

Comment by Julie Vaux
on Oh no! Not the Shoulder Pads

May 22nd 2009 01:36

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The thing that annoys me the most about the return of the shoulder pad is the hypocrisy of reading articles and reviews by fashionistas that can be summed up as:

OOOH SHOULDER PADS ARE BACK OOOH!!!

The same people over the last coule of years were saying

OOOH THANK DEITY WE"RE FINALLY OVER BIG SHOULDER PADS OOOH

Big LONG Blazers could be useful though and I would like to see BIG LONG BLAZERS over say black tights and ankle boots?

Comment by Julie Vaux
on Is Big Beautiful?

April 19th 2009 02:02

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If you dont have any ribs showing you're slender.

If you do you are not "naturally skinny"!

It is normal to have some body fat.

Some people are chubby cos they have medical problems that slow down their metabolism or limit their gym time.

You try jogging during a sciatic attack when your hip is generating stabbing pains every time you move!

No one is asking the fashion industry to have obese models just to be more realistic.

If designers want to SELL their ready to wear collections they have to cut them so they fit a variety of body sizes and shapes.

If they only want to sell their clothes to rich skinny teenagers or people who think they should look like teenagers then be more honest about it and stop claiming any one over size 6 is overweight regardless of what their actual height wieght or body shape is!

Why should we diet more than we already do when the ideal model appears to have no boobs and be almost pigeon chested and be a six foot tall 14 year old pedophiles fantasy pinup?

P.s. I do not eat junk food but I do need a high protein low gi diet to maintain my blood sugar balance.

I would rather be a zaftig full figured middle woman with an imperfect waist but functioning brain cells than a malnourished skinny teen who staggers around the shopping centre looking so thin you wonder how they can carry their boutique bags.

If the fashion industry wants to sell more clothing use models with a greater variety of body shapes and think about how to transfer that haut couture design into ready to wear that fits more people!

Perhaps they should think of designs that will appeal to all those sacked Pacific Brands textile workers?

Figure out a way to bring style to every one instead of just the rich yuppie elite with plenty of money!

Slenderness is not the only form of beauty!

Comment by Julie Vaux
on Anzac Kin

April 13th 2009 06:48

Books Well Read
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What part of I donate a part of all sales to charity do you not understand.?

Rather than being a lost cause try considering this idea?

Why not ACTUALLY pass on the URL to some one who is going to an Anzac Day event like the march or who is an Anzac Descendant or KIn?

Other readers please note that the images in this blog are 72 res and smaller than the originals.

If you choose to visit Red Bubble you can see them at a higher resolution and size. If you dont like the tees check the prints cards posters and calendars?

Comment by Julie Vaux
on Anzac Kin

April 12th 2009 08:24

Books Well Read
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You're complaining about my choice of fonts for a FORMAL FUND RAISER TEE when you dont seem to have noticed you have a fuzzy halo that shouldnt be there around the title in Fashion Peach?

Perhaps you should hire me to pixel brush and clean up your jpgs and logos?

I have a collection of hundreds of fonts.

One or two of them may be acceptable to fashionistas?

Also the words VISUAL IRONY ... do they mean anything?

So you dont like the tees what about the prints?

Did you even look at the prints or posters?

Comment by Julie Vaux
on Nina Garcia's 100 List

March 21st 2009 06:05

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A first and final warning I rarely respond to posts by "Anonymous"

Comment by Julie Vaux
on MINUS A CUPS

March 14th 2009 06:00

Books Well Read
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Mmmm did you notice I typed "apparently have"?

Comment by Julie Vaux
on Who are the major Female SF&F Writers?

March 13th 2009 06:19

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Happy Hunting Seth!

Comment by Julie Vaux
on Feminists Versus Fashionistas

March 13th 2009 06:10

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Yes I would like to see less coverage of "haute couture" and more coverage of ready to wear versions - the versions most of us can afford!

Too often fashionistas act like the clothes matter more than the people! As if the people should fit the clothing and not the other way around!

They forget what draws repeat customers is wearable style and a good fit!

Women feminists or not may end up buying more quality designer items cos they want wearable investments garments that last and stay in style!

I have seen too many fashion items that are basically tubes of cloth with ornament as if the choice of fabric and decorative pieces will hide the fact the designer knows nothing about sewing or seams!

As feminists and women and artists we need to create items that are wearable style!

Susie Cooper a famous ceramics designer had a design concept of elegance and utility. Her ceramics business survived the Depression and WW2!

She didnt outsource and always treated and trained her workers well.

By the way what do you think about the Pacific Brand fiasco?

Comment by Julie Vaux
on Betty Blandino - Coiled Pottery

March 2nd 2009 09:31

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Thanks Jason hope she enjoys the review!

Raku Ktysia StClair I'll have to google that!