I've booked my helicopter ride!

[pegkerr]

I'll be going up in the bird 8:00 p.m. next Tuesday.

Now I don't want to listen to any news stories the next several days about helicopter crashes in Iraq. Although I admit that I don't anticipate anyone will be firing rocket launchers at me.

Frank Anderson (the ice palace architect) just called to touch base. I was very pleased and surprised to hear from him, and we chatted about the great success the palace has been having. He's been very pleased about the coverage; Larry Millet's article in the St. Paul paper was particularly welcome (apparently Mr. Millet is the architecture critic for the St. Paul paper, a fact I didn't know, as well as being the author of Sherlock Holmes and the Ice Palace Murders. Which means that the book is probably even more architecturally centered than I realized, which is making me re-think my decision to not read it, for fear of being contaminated--and yes, serindipoz, I would be grateful to get your copy). He said that the business was the pennies was new, that it hadn't happened with any previous ice palace (must think of a magical reason for it), but that the fish block custom goes way back. He was surprised I wasn't aware of that custom. He told me about some the changes they had to make on the fly in order to complete the project on time: the blocks over the archway, for example, are styrofoam, rather than ice, and they didn't do the herringbone construction they had planned around the entire outer perimeter, but only in one section, at the exit. Not all the ice was cut according to the measurement specification, either, which made fitting the blocks together and mortaring them properly quite challeging. He gave me the name of an ice palace historian (besides Moira Harris) who might know more about the origins of the fish block custom.

Comments

[red-queen.livejournal.com]

What do they use for mortar? Y'know, this is much more fascinating than I would have thought -- it'll be neat reading the book (when you finish it!) and knowing how much research went into it. One of the things I love about Dorothy Dunnett is how very thoroughly she does her research (I was shocked when a song from The Ringed Castle showed up in the repertoire of a Russian village music group I sang with). What with all the sloppy *journalism* out there, it's lovely to see this level of integrity in fiction! (I know how seductive research can be compared to actual writing, but still, you get points for this from me.)

Pennies

[cloudscudding.livejournal.com]

the business was the pennies was new, that it hadn't happened with any previous ice palace (must think of a magical reason for it),

Hmm...there are many different ways you could go with that. To me, the first thing that pops into my head is the relationship between pennies and luck. Heads up, lucky. Tails up, unlucky. Heads and tails; fish heads and fish tails.

There's also the high copper content in pennies. Copper seems like more of a fire/earth element-type metal, as I suppose all metals are...but really old pennies get that green patina that always reminds me of the sea.

Re: Pennies

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

Pennies these days are zinc with a copper coating.

B

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

It's not hard to come up for a magical reason for the pennies. Your magic system could accomodate various metals without much problem.

B

[magentamn.livejournal.com]

Somehow, I assumed that people were leaving pennies like they throw pennies in a wishing well - that you put the penny on and made a wish, or something like that.

I'm envious of your helicoptor ride. I would get too airsick to enjoy it - or have to be too doped up to care.