December 31, 2009

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Completed the new Roofscape cover, dated January 1. Polished the N-E-W-S @ Roofscape, a section with news about the magazine. Wrote all the blurbs for Views @ Roofscape, a summary of new and featured articles inside the magazine. Crafted a new Beans About Boston puzzler and Thought for the Week.

Everyone was away for the holidays so I had the kitchen, in fact the whole house, to myself. Created a broccoli-cheddar soup using freshly made vegetable stock. Made a whole gallon, swirling colorfully in a big green enamel cooking pot. And totally nailed the recipe on take one. That doesn't happen often. It will appear in the January 15 issue.

As I finished the soup and set the steaming pot on the table, Charles and Joanne appeared at the door just back from their trip to Israel. Charles - who's a big broccoli fan - and I sat down and ate the soup while he spun stories of their journey through the Holy Land over Christmas/Hannukah, including fabulous feasts in tents with Bedouins in the desert.

Updated the department and contributor pages related to the new articles and features on the cover, also changing their color, nav bar and title. Made two new contributor pages. Housekeeping chores. Not onerous when done one at once, but five new items is a schlep. And we're not quite out of the woods, but I've had enough for now.

Decided on the cover images for the next two months, all snow scenes.

Now trying to decide two things. First - what should the next new (small-scale and manageable) article be? Second - what article in progress should I focus on? I'm leaning towards Roofscapes 2010 Garden - which would also help us get a jump on actually planning it and Olmsted's Green Ribbon, about FLO and the Emerald Necklace.