Teapots & Words

I know it's been ages ... blame these books! Between writing two Dummies books at once, and keeping up with my syndicated puzzle commitments, there aren't many hours left in the day. Plus we have a lodger now, and Dotter has moved back home, so she's in my office, and I'm in the family room, and ... it's good, but the house is very full and a bit mad.

Isn't this teapot PERFECT? It's a Paul Cardew design, which I discovered online. Only one shop in America was still selling it ... it's just a two cup pot. I especially love the ceramic fountain pen handle on the lid! They clearly didn't get a crossword setter in to help with the layout of the grids ... they aren't fully filled in, and include (unnecessarily and offensively) words about COFFEE. Shock horror!

Mr Griffles continues to grow both in size and adorablage. He is a little fluffy powerhouse, running full tilt at the world! He loves to chase it tail until he staggers from being so dizzy, and watches TV! I've never had a TV-watching dog before, it's so funny, he barks at the bad guys when they shoot their guns!

Griff is also a water dog - another first for us. He loves to splash his paw in his water bowl, and has a shallow wading pool out the back to play in. So funny!

He and Miss Petal are mostly getting on now — they'll even sleep in close proximity now ... there are plenty of tussles and growls and roughhousing too, though, but on the whole, I think it's going well. We've just got one of those clever 'slot into your sliding door' panels with a doggy door at the bottom, and Griff has mastered it in 24 hours. Petal isn't so keen on it though, even with liver treats on the other side!

OK, back to the insane and brain-hurting world of cryptic crosswords. You think it's mind-numbing solving them? Try writing them  >.<

Announcing the birth of ...

... my latest book!

This is the first book ever written for adults with hip dysplasia. I started it in November 2009, just after my total hip replacement, and was joined by my co-author Dr Sophie West, soon thereafter. Like me, Sophie has bilateral hip dysplasia, and is in the unique position of being both an orthopaedic surgeon who does hip surgery, and a patient who has had two periacetabular osteotomies!

It's taken two years of writing, months of editing, reviews by three dedicated editors, and about two months of very hard slog for me in doing all the layout, design, illustrations, editing changes, and proofreading, not to mention registering my business Sutherland Studios as a publisher, obtaining the ISBNs (paperback and hardcover), and getting the CIP Data entry from the National Library.

A Guide for Adults with Hip Dysplasia is 456 pages long, has over 50 illustrations and x-rays, and over 400 quotations from 50 real live adults and teens with hip dyplasia.

We are self-publishing via the print-on-demand giant, Lulu.com. We did approach medical publishers, but they deemed the book "too niche market" ... what, something that has roughly the same incidence as multiple sclerosis? How many patient guides are there for MS? And none for adults with dysplasia?!

You can read more about the book here, the table of contents is here, and it can be ordered here!

Phew!

Super Griff!

Griff, our new long-haired chihuahua puppy, has landed! Also known as Mr Griffles, Fuzzy McFuzzpants, and other silly names ...

He likes to stretch (or fly) ...

He doesn't mind baths too much

He is rather shy with new people, but very cuddly and floofy and cuddly with his family. He bounces around the backyard like a bunny! He also has an advanced case of Hyperwiggleitis. Which muscle should I move? ALL OF THEM AT ONCE!

Petal was seriously unimpressed at first (the photo shows them at their first meeting!). But she's getting used to having a boisterous little brother now, after a couple of weeks, and there are more play times now rather than fights and growls.