It’s been too long, eh? Here’s a long overdue post with a bunch of non-related tidbits for your perusal.

While I didn’t make an appearance, I did zip through the blog party links. Hip, hip, yahoo for all you readers. Thanks for playing. Quite the variety of gals we have out there.

This has been a crazy year for us Wilson peoples so far. A week after Marisol was born, Nate took off on whirlwind, twelve day tour for a National Geographic documentary on the Shroud of Turin. Read More

So here are a few more pics of our latest addition, Marisol Helen Wilson, aka The little gal who has been keeping her mother up at night. Fun times. Busy times. Gotta love it. Her daddy wrote her a lovely poem which can be found here. It made me happy.

Hello one and all! Unapologetic plug of husband’s book ahead. I hope everyone has preordered a copy of The Chestnut King at Canon (bookplate=great stocking stuffer) as well as entered for your chance at free, signed copy over at N.D. Wilson’s blog (contest ends soon). The newest of the news is that there is now a book trailer. Go take a look!

If any of you are in or around Los Angeles, the L.A. Times Festival of Books is the happening place to be this weekend. To be more precise,find your way to the Target Children’s stage on Saturday at 4:40 pm to hear Mr. N.D. Wilson say all sorts of fabulous, insightful, funny, (did I mention funny?) things about books and writing. He’ll be signing books after his talk.

Nate wrote the following essay for Powells.com that elaborates on this evening event at the Wilson home.

The Amazing Tale of the Butterfly-Unicorn-Ballerina-Princess and the Giant, Creeping Land Squid

Bedtime. It is the most important time in my day. At bedtime, I tuck four children into the appropriate beds in the appropriate rooms. They never think they’re tired. Their eyes are bright and their young minds crackle with surprising thoughts on the day, the future, the nature of the universe. At bedtime, I let go of four imaginations, and they wander alone through the darkness, unchaperoned, unguided, shaping visions for themselves, resting in warmth or wandering into terror.

Every night, I feel like I’m launching paper boats into an ocean. I point my children as best I can. I flavor their minds with subjects and characters and songs and dances and blessings. And when they are warm and spilling over with joy, I let go, and I wait for the morning to hear of their adventures.

This is why we sing about drunken sailors and what to do with them, about how some folks say a man is made out of mud, about lost Scottish love and the walls of Jerusalem. This is why I tell them stories.
Read the rest here.

I have to say that in my longstanding tradition of not watching the Academy Awards, my vote for best picture finally won. If you haven’t seen Slumdog Millionaire (and you don’t mind a bit of blood and fast moving action) run, don’t walk, to see it while it’s on the big screen. Well shot, well acted, well told, Slumdog is a brilliant film centered around what’s been the downfall of many a man, mammon. Neither Nate or I have left a movie in a long time that was so satisfying on all fronts. And while on the topic of Slumdog, here’s a BBC story I found interesting,

“Slumdog children to be rehoused

Two child actors from the film Slumdog Millionaire will be moved from slums to new houses by Indian authorities.Rubina Ali and Azharuddin Ismail, who played young versions of two main characters, were discovered by casting agents in Mumbai’s Garib Nagar slum.

There was an outcry when it was found they were still living there after the success of the Oscar-winning film…”

Read more here.

P.S. The first comment has a spoiler so if you plan on seeing it, skip the comments!