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Twenty Five Things Meme

There are very few things in my life that are "secret" but I will give it a shot:)

1. I refuse to use LOL or BFF because I think they sound silly but love, love, love smileys.

2. I have declined to date someone because they didn't write well.

3. The more I like someone, the more books I give them as gifts...which must mean that my nephew is my favorite person in the whole wide world.

4. I can't figure out how I came to be living such a grown-up life when I have never once felt like a grown-up and kind of doubt I ever will.

5. I will develop a sudden passion for a hobby or topic and get completely obsessed with it. And then, once I decide I know enough, I just as suddenly stop being passionate about it. This does not apply to people however. I don't risk my heart easily but once I am in, I am all the way in. Sorry loved ones, you are stuck with me.

6. I wish I could get my cell phone implanted in my arm. It buzzes when I have a meeting or social event planned so I no longer forget what I am supposed to be doing at any given moment. I love it more than any of my other possessions, except for my books and sparkly shoes.

7. I am terribly addicted to twitter, which is another reason I love my cell phone.

8. I don't eat leftovers and never take leftovers home, except when I eat out with friends, who always talk me into taking home the leftovers. I usually end up giving to the neighbor to feed to his dog.

9. Last year I read 191 literary fiction, non-fiction and poetry books all the way through (no skimming). This number does not include the fun vampire fiction I used to "cleanse the palate" between the literary tomes or the 15 other books I skimmed.

10. Vampire romances are my comfort reads.

11. I was a vegetarian for several years and then started eating meat again in 2001. Slowly but surely it looks like I am drifting back to the world of vegetarianism once again.

12. I love live music and almost every kind of music and if I had unlimited finances, would go to every concert in town that I could find.

13. While I love reading more than anything else in the world I am not a collector. With the exception of a few reference books, the complete set of Harry Potters and autographed books by Margaret Atwood, as soon as I have read a book I sell it or give it away.

14. I have worked in public service for 13 years and have stopped worrying about germs. I figure if I haven't dropped dead by now, I am golden.

15. I don't find eating all that interesting unless I am eating out and then I insist on fabulous food. I don't think I have eaten fast food (apart from ice cream) in years.

16. Because I am not that interested in food, I am only an adequate cook. I do have a sweet tooth however and am a fabulous baker.

17. Even though I am not interested in cooking, I read cookbooks for fun.

18. I spent twenty years sending plants home with my Mother so she could rescue them and then moved into a house and discovered that I kind of like gardening and am pretty good at it.

19. I really believe squirrels are evil and are out to get me.

20. For the past five years, I have tried to watch every single Oscar nominee before Oscar party night, even the ones in the obscure categories like best costume. It has become kind of an obsession. The most movies watched in one day: I got up, watched a DVD and then went to the AMC Oscar showcase and watched five more.

21. I love Halloween and like dressing up but hate to come up with clever costumes. I've decided I need a personal assistant to figure the details in my life.

22. I grew up in a freakishly normal family. My parents are still together, my sister and I get along and I adore my nephew and extended family.

23. I have become remarkably picky about furniture and I won't buy something just to "fill in" until I find what I really want. I didn't have a kitchen table for five years until I found the perfect one in Claflin KS and I expect to own it for the next fifty years.

24. Living without a pet made my life easier but it left a huge hole in my life. I don't think I could go without one again.

25. I am an extroverted introvert (in other words, I can fake extroversion pretty well) and people are often surprised that I am an introvert.

2009 American Library Association READING LIST COUNCIL AWARDS

2009 READING LIST COUNCIL AWARDS - for the best in genre fiction in eight genre categories:

ADRENALINE: "Blue Heaven" by C.J. Box
Shortlist: "The Dirty Secrets Club" by Meg Gardiner; "Hold Tight" by Harlan Coben; "L.A. Outlaws" by T. Jefferson Parker; and "Rules of Deception" by Christopher Reich;

FANTASY: "Veil of Gold" by Kim Wilkins
Shortlist: "The House of the Stag" by Kage Baker; "Ink and Steel" by Elizabeth Bear; "Shadowbridge" by Gregory Frost; and "Small Favor" by Jim Butcher;

HISTORICAL FICTION:"The Steel Wave" by Jeff Shaara
Shortlist: "Dreamers of the Day" by Mary Doria Russell; "The Given Day" by Dennis Lehane; "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society" by Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Barrows; and "The Whiskey Rebels" by David Liss;

HORROR: "Sharp Teeth" by Toby Barlow
Shortlist: "Coffin County" by Gary A. Braunbeck; "Infected" by Scott Sigler; "The Killing Circle" by Andrew Pyper; and "The Wolfman" by Nicholas Pekearo;

MYSTERY: "The Garden of Evil" by David Hewson; shortlist: "The Black Tower" by Louis Bayard; "The Calling" by Inger Ash Wolfe; "The Cruelest Month" by Louise Penny; and "Vienna Blood" by Frank Tallis;

ROMANCE: "The Spymaster's Lady" by Joanna Bourne
Shortlist: "My Lord and Spymaster" by Joanna Bourne; "Private Arrangements" by Sherry Thomas; "The Seduction of the Crimson Rose" by Lauren Willig; and "Your Scandalous Ways" by Loretta Chase;

SCIENCE FICTION: "Hunter's Run" by George R.R. Martin
Shortlist: "The Automatic Detective" by A. Lee Martinez: "City at the End of Time" by Greg Bear; "Matter" by Iain M. Banks; and "A World Too Near" by Kay Kenyon;

WOMEN'S FICTION: "Every Last Cuckoo" by Kate Maloy
Shortlist: "Belong to Me" by Marisa de los Santos; "Certain Girls" by Jennifer Weiner; "The Sugar Queen" by Sarah Addison Allen; and "Thank You for All Things" by Sandra Kring.

Winner of 2009 ALA Notable Books Council Book Award Announced

My book award committee met and we have selected our choices for the 2009 American Library Association CODES Notable Books Council Book Award.

* denotes my personal favorites.

The Notable Book Award is makes available to the nation’s readers a list of 25 very good, very readable, and at times very important fiction, nonfiction, and poetry books for the adult reader.

The 2009 winners are:


FICTION

Alameddine, Rabih. The Hakawati Knopf 9780307266798

Aslam, Nadeem. The Wasted Vigil Knopf 9780307268426

Bausch, Richard. Peace Knopf 9780307268334

*Benioff, David. City of Thieves: A Novel Viking 9780670018703

Erdrich, Louise. The Plague of Doves HarperCollins 9780060515126

Galchen, Rivka. Atmospheric Disturbances Farrar Straus & Giroux 9780374200114

Lahiri, Jhumpa. Unaccustomed Earth Knopf 9780307265739

*Millhauser, Steven. Dangerous Laughter: Thirteen Stories Knopf 9780307267566

Sheers, Owen. Resistance Doubleday/Nan A. Talese 9780385522106

Strout, Elizabeth. Olive Kitteridge Random House 9781400062089

Talarigo, Jeff. The Ginseng Hunter Doubleday/Nan A. Talese 9780385517393


NONFICTION

Coll, Steve. The Bin-Ladens: An Arabian Family in the American Century Penguin Press 9781594201646

Faust, Drew Gilpin. This Republic of Suffering: Death and the American Civil War Knopf 9780375404047

*Filkins, Dexter. The Forever War Knopf Publishing Group 9780307266392

Gilmore, Glenda Elizabeth. Defying Dixie: The Radical Roots of Civil Rights, 1919-1950 Norton 9780393062441

Gordon-Reed, Annette. The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family Norton 9780393064773

Harris, Mark. Pictures at a Revolution: Five Movies and the Birth of the New Hollywood Penguin 9781594201523

Horwitz, Tony. A Voyage Long and Strange: Rediscovering the New World Holt 9780805076035

*Mayer, Jane The Dark Side: The Inside Story of How The War on Terror Turned into a War on American Ideals Doubleday 9780385526395

Pollan, Michael. In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto Penguin 9781594201455

Taylor, Nick. American-Made: The Enduring Legacy of the WPA: When FDR Put the Nation to Work Bantam 9780553802351

Vanderbilt, Tom. Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do (and What It Says about Us) Knopf 9780307264787

Wickersham, Joan . The Suicide Index: Putting My Father's Death in Order Harcourt 9780151014903

POETRY

Hirsch, Edward Special Orders: Poems Knopf 9780307266811

*Tate, James Ghost Soldiers: Poems Ecco 9780061436949


The winner(s) was selected by the Notable Books Council, whose members include Patricia L. Gregory, chair, Saint Louis University; Alicia Ahlvers, Kansas City Public Library; Susie Brown, Shaker Heights Public Library; A. Issac Pulver, Saratoga Springs Public Library; Andrea Slonosky; Sandra Ballasch, University of Iowa Libraries; Malynda Dalton, Texas A&M International University; Julie Elliott, Indiana University South Bend; Nancy Pearl; Nonny Schlotzhauer, Pennsylvania State University; Lise Snyder, UCLA College Library; Valerie Morgan Taylor, Lewisville Community Library and Booklist consultant Brad Hooper.

The Reference and User Services Association, a division of the American Library Association, is the foremost organization of reference and information professionals who make the connections between people and the information sources, services, and collection materials they need. For more information, visit www.ala.org/rusa

From my trip to the Slammer

https://www.joinmda.org/2009southkclu/aliciaahlvers/

The Embrace by Mark Doty

You weren't well or really ill yet either;
just a little tired, your handsomeness
tinged by grief or anticipation, which brought
to your face a thoughtful, deepening grace.

I didn't for a moment doubt you were dead.
I knew that to be true still, even in the dream.
You'd been out--at work maybe?--
having a good day, almost energetic.

We seemed to be moving from some old house
where we'd lived, boxes everywhere, things
in disarray: that was the story of my dream,
but even asleep I was shocked out of the narrative

by your face, the physical fact of your face:
inches from mine, smooth-shaven, loving, alert.
Why so difficult, remembering the actual look
of you? Without a photograph, without strain?

So when I saw your unguarded, reliable face,
your unmistakable gaze opening all the warmth
and clarity of you--warm brown tea--we held
each other for the time the dream allowed.

Bless you. You came back, so I could see you
once more, plainly, so I could rest against you
without thinking this happiness lessened anything,
without thinking you were alive again.

From poets.org Mark Doty

Free e-book Friday

Until January 15th, you can download a free copy of Suze Orman’s new book from Oprah’s web site.

NOTABLE AUTHORS WHO DIED IN 2008

Forrest J. Ackerman
Science fiction editor and critic

Robert Lynn Asprin
Author of the humorous fantasy series MythAdventures
and beloved fixture in science fiction fandom

Eliot Asinof
Novelist best known for the non-fiction work Eight Men Out

Clive Barnes
Theater, dance, and art critic

Andrew Britton
Author of the Ryan Kealey suspense novels

William Buchan
Pioneer author of spy fiction

William F. Buckley, Jr.
Conservative commentator, founder of the National Review,
and author of political essays, memoirs, and thrillers

Algis Budrys
Science fiction writer and editor

George Carlin
Irreverent comedian and political commentator

George C. Chesbro
Author of several mystery and spy thrillers, best known for the Robert "Mongo" Frederickson private eye novels

Arthur C. Clarke
Science fiction novelist and futurist
best known for 2001 and Childhood's End

Myron Cope
Award-winning sportswriter

C. R. Corwin
Author of the Morgue Mama mystery series

Michael Crichton
Author of numerous speculative thrillers such as Jurassic Park, and creator of the television series ER

James Crumley
Prolific mystery author, including the Milo Milodragovitch
and the C. W. Sughrue series

Thomas M. Disch
Multiple award-winning science fiction novelist and critic

Julius Fast
Author of mysteries and popular non-fiction

Elaine Flinn
Author of the mystery series featuring antique dealer Molly Doyle

Leo Frankowski
Writer of military science fiction,
including the Conrad Stargard series

George MacDonald Fraser
Best known for the series of historical romps
featuring unrepentant rogue Harry Flashman

Simon Gray
Novelist and playwright

Elizabeth Guest
Author of contemporary and paranormal romances

Gary Gygax
Co-creator of Dungeons and Dragons and
writer of many books on role-playing games

Oakley Hall
Novelist and author of the Ambrose Bierce mystery series

Jon Hassler
Novelist of small-town life in Minnesota

Tony Hillerman
Prolific mystery novelist, best known for the Joe Leaphorn
and Jim Chee series set on the Navajo reservation

Edward D. Hoch
Prolific mystery author, especially short stories

Russell Warren Howe
True-crime, thriller, and spy novelist

Joe Hyams
Political journalist and celebrity biographer

Donald James
Writer of thrillers and television scripts

Janet Kagan
Hugo-award winning science fiction and fantasy author

William C. Knott
Wrote westerns under numerous pseudonyms

Ralph Kovel
Creator of the immensely popular price guides
for collectibles and antiques

John Leonard
Literary editor and pop culture critic

Jack Lynch
Author of the Peter Bragg private eye series

Arthur Lyons
Editor and author of the Jacob Asch private eye series

Steven Marlowe
Author of historical fiction and mysteries

Gregory McDonald
Mystery and suspense writer, best known for the Fletch series

Conor Cruise O'Brien
Irish politician, intellectual, and historian

Meg O'Brien
Authored the Jessica James mysteries

Audrey Peterson
Wrote mystery novels and criticism

Harold Pinter
Poet, playwright, essayist and critic

Dorothy Porter
Prize-winning poet and author of verse novels

Julian Rathbone
Wrote historical fiction and numerous mystery series

Alain Robbe-Grillet
Noted French experimental novelist and
"anti-literary" fiction writer

Jerry Rodriguez
Playwright and mystery writer

Tim Russert
Newsman, political analyst, and author of
such memoirs as Big Russ and Me

Benjamin Schutz
Author of crime procedurals and
the Leo Haggerty private-eye series

Edward Sheehan
Freelance journalist and novelist

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
Nobel Prize-winning novelist and critic of the Soviet Union

Studs Terkel
Author of popular social histories and consummate interviewer

Margaret Truman (Daniel)
Daughter of President Harry Truman and prolific author
of the Capital Crimes murder mysteries

Tasha Tudor
Caldecott-winning illustrator and author of
classic children's books

W. T. Tyler
Author of spy novels and thrillers

Peter Vansittart
Prolific historical novelist

David Foster Wallace
Innovative novelist, essayist, and journalist,
best known for his novel Infinite Jest

Hillary Waugh
Pioneering writer of police procedurals and hardboiled suspense

Janwillem van de Wetering
Author of numerous mystery novels and short stories, including the Grijpstra and de Gier series

Donald Westlake
Writer of many mysteries and thrillers,
including the Dortmunder comic capers, who also
wrote under many pseudonyms, especially Richard Stark

Phyllis Whitney
Beloved author of many historical, romance, and
gothic novels for teens and adults

Helen Yglesias
Feminist writer and novelist

list compiled by Fiction_L

Free e-book Friday

From Leo Babauta at Zen Habits

Merry Christmas everyone! As a gift, I’d like to share with
you my companion to The Power of Less — a free ebook called “THRIVING
ON LESS: Simplifying in a Tough Economy“.

Go here to download the ebook for
free. (Please note: click on the link to go to the download page — don’t
click “save as” to save the ebook.)

Instead of birthday presents...

My birthday is coming up and I thought it might be fun to do something different and get arrested this year. Ok, maybe not really arrested but hopefully raise a little money for charity. Don't worry, I will still have Birthday Month so save January 6th for dinner out and/or January 10th for something fun and different (I hope).

See below to find out how to donate and thanks for your support.

I'm proud to tell you that I'm being locked up...that's right, I'm going behind bars to help Jerry's Kids© and MDA. To be released on good behavior I have to raise bail and I need your help!

All you have to do is click here to make a secure, online donation before 01/14/09. Your donation will help families living in our community and help guarantee me an early release. I can't wait to add you to my list of contributors.

Thanks in advance for your help.

If the link above does not work, please cut and paste the address below into the address bar of your Internet browser.
https://www.joinmda.org/2009southkclu/aliciaahlvers/

Typos and other errors

I usually save each blog post for a day so that I can go in and proofread it before publishing it. Unfortunately, I sometimes hit the "publish post" button instead of the "save as draft" button instead.

If it wouldn't cause the post to be published in everyone's blog reader multiple times I would be tempted to go in and fix a few errors in that last post.....and maybe finish it:)

Twittering

When I first started blogging couple of years ago various friends asked why on earth I would bother. I answered that my motivation was primarily to keep track of this monstrous pile of books I needed to read and, more importantly, so my out-of-town friends (most notably a good friend who moved to Switzerland) could keep up with my life and get to see a quirky side of me that my introvert side doesn't tend to let loose in public. The response at the time was that blogging sounded like a self-indulgent and narcissistic way of blathering on about myself.

Lately, I have been seeing the same kinds of arguments come up when bloggers talk about twittering. My point two years ago was, you don't have to have a blog or even read mine. Just accept that it makes me happy and gives a few friends (and my mother) pleasure.

Twitter is the same for me. I have met so many awesome Kansas City people who are not bloggers or who don't participate in the local blogger community on twitter. Unlike many of my new friends who are in the media fields, I don't treat it as a micro-blogging or marketing tool but tend to think of it as being able to text all my friends at one time with the random tidbits that pop into my mind and once again (hopefully) allow my old and new friends to get a glimpse of my quirkier side.

Books for the family

It should come as no surprise I give books as gifts. Shocking, isn't it. Luckily, the people on my gift list also like to read.

See, my whole family consists of bookworms. In case you are interested, Dad is reading Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin and my Nephew is reading 1984 by George Orwell.

Anyway, I thought it would be fun to list the books I gave to different family members this year. This will also serve as a reminder so that I don't get them the same book again next year. Not that I would ever do that.....

Dad likes American history best but I can never resist an autographed novel:
Escape by Robert K Tanenbaum (autographed)
Bob Schieffer's America by Bob Schieffer

Mom likes a little bit of everything:
Remembrance of Murders Past by Noreen Wald - mystery paperback stocking stuffer
Shifting Calder Wind by Janet Dailey - romance paperback stocking stuffer
Captive by Joan Johnston - romance paperback stocking stuffer
Dark Angel by Karen Harper - romantic suspense paperback stocking stuffer
Intern: A Doctor's Initiation by Sandeep Jauhar - because Mom used to work in the medical field
So Brave, Young and Handsome by Leif Enger (autographed)
How The States Got Their Shapes by Mark Stein - this one may get filched by Dad
The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski - hot literary fiction of the year
Stealing Athena by Karen Essex - historical fiction
The Soloist by Steve Lopez - uplifting and about music...both appreciated by Mom

My Sister is a mystery buff but I threw in a couple of "hot literary novels" as well:
The Turnaround by George Pelecanos
The Given Day: A Novel by Dennis Lehane
American Wife: A Novel by Curtis Sittenfeld
The 19th Wife: A Novel by David Ebershoff

Grandma:
Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World by Vicki Myron
Red Bird: Poems by Mary Oliver
Pictures at a Revolution: Five Movies and the Birth of the New Hollywood by Mark Harris

Brother-in-Law:
Planet Google: One Company's Audacious Plan To Organize Everything We Know by Randall Stross

Nephew:
The Zombie Survival Guide: Complete Protection from the Living Dead by Max Brooks
The Call of Cthulhu and Other Weird Stories by Howard Phillips Lovecraft
Amory Wars Volume 1: The Second Stage Turbine Blade (v. 1) by Claudio Sanchez
1984 by George Orwell
An Anthology of Graphic Fiction, Cartoons, and True Stories: Volume 2 (Anthology of Graphic Fiction, Cartoons, & True Stories) by Ivan Brunetti
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

Free e-books

From Dec 23 - Dec31st at www.eBooks.eHarlequin.com, there will be a free romance eBook a day given away.

Top Ten for 2008

All of my favorite books from 2008 (so far) are now listed at Present Magazine. And be sure to look at my friend Kaite Stover's recommendations as well.

The Cellist of Sarajevo by Steven Galloway

This novel is inspired by an actual event during the 1992 siege of Sarajevo, a cellist watches as 22 of his neighbors are gunned down. His decision to play the cello in the square every day for 22 days to honor the dead profoundly impacts the lives of four ordinary citizens struggling not only to survive but retain their humanity.

This was the novel (so far) this year, that has most profoundly impacted me. It was an enormously touching novel and it brought back the horror of a time that I can still remember. I still remember being stunned and horrified that the entire world was sitting back and doing nothing. Sadly, most governments have not changed, as events in Darfur so vividly illustrate.

The Road by Cormic McCarthy

I am a firm believer that the books people love reflect their "story". That part of their life that they need told and retold in a variety of ways, not as an instant therapy tool but just as something intimate and recognizable to them at the deepest levels. This is why being able to effectively recommend books to people will always be more of an art than a science.

What I have noticed lately is that my story has changed. Until a few years ago, the stories I loved, that touched me, all revolved about building family, not always biological, but family all the same, the quirkier the better. Lately though, the stories that have blindsided me aren't about that. Some still have elements of family but most are about solitude. The main character is learning self-reliance and self-knowledge. Consider last years favorite (and if I might brag, picked before Oprah and the Pulitzer committee discovered it) The Road. It is about family but also about endurance, solitude and ultimately, hope.

From last year...

I had to laugh. When I went to my library conference a few weeks ago, I went to a readers advisory workshop (how to help people find "the right" book) on the Gen X, Gen Y readers and how to help them find books. When I go to these they always give out a big list of authors that are proven winners with this crowd. I was at a concert a few days ago and the friend I went with started asking me if I had read any of the "new, cutting edge" authors. Right down my booklist we went. Every single author that he was named was on my list. (He did miss Dostoevsky though.)

Yesterday, I had a new staff member (who reads a lot) start. She is in her early 30's. As I listened to her recommend books to an 80-year-old, she was also recommending right off the list.

Here is the list...
Arthur Rimbaud
Bret Easton Ellis
Charles Bukowski
Chuck Palahniuk
Dave Eggers
David Foster Wallace
David Mitchell
David Sedaris
Douglas Coupland
Fyodor Dostoevsky
Haruki Murakami
Hunter S. Thompson
Kelly Link
Linda Barry
Mark Danielewski
Michelle Tea
Nick Flynn
William Burroughs

And some "Street fiction" to go along with it...
Donald Goines
Iceberg Slim
Roy Glenn
Sister Souljah
T.N. Baker
Vickie M Stringer

Naomi Novik

We are now reading nominations for the Notable Book Award (we were nominating book prior to December 1st) and I can no longer talk about what I am reading. These award committees like everything to be a "surprise". Anyway, I have pulled an older book review off of my other blog and dusted it off to keep you entertained.

I am currently up-to-date on the Naomi Novik series and I have to say, I really becoming a fan. The story, set during the Napoleonic Wars, is about a ship's captain who defeats a French ship in battle, takes possession of the ship and discovers a dragon egg on board. Since dragons will go feral if not convinced to "take the harness" early in life and the dragons are an essential part of the war arsenal, it is imperative that the dragon choose it's handler. Of course, this dragon chooses the captain of the ship, who liked his life the way it was, but who embarks on this new path for the good of the Empire.

What I like most about this series is the affection that develops between the gentleman Navel captain and an incredibly intelligent and strong willed male dragon. FYI: It is a series that works equally well for men or women readers (at least so far) and is one of the "hot" fantasy series for adults at the moment.

Plenty of Fish

I want to take this test. Not because I have any intention of online dating again but because I like taking tests about me. I wonder if I can do that without signing up?

I could do a really long, profound explanation of why I like taking personality tests but does it really matter? After all, anything that keeps me busy and out-of-trouble can't be a bad thing.

Descartes' Loneliness by Allen Grossman

(Meditation Three)

Toward evening, the natural light becomes
Intelligent and answers, without demur:
“Be assured! You are not alone. . . .”
But in fact, toward evening, I am not
Convinced there is any other except myself
To whom existence necessarily pertains.
I also interrogate myself to discover
Whether I myself possess any power
By which I can bring it about that I,
Who now am, shall exist another moment.

Because I am mostly a thinking thing
And because this precise question is
Only from that thoughtful part of myself,
If such a power did reside within me
I should, I am sure, be conscious of it. . . .
But I am conscious of no such power.
And yet, if I myself cannot be
The cause of that assurance, surely
It is necessary to conclude that
I am not alone in the world. There is

some other who is the cause of that idea.
But if, at last, no such other can be
found toward evening, do I really have
sufficient assurance of the existence
or of any other being at all? For,
after a most careful search, I have been
unable to discover the ground of that
conviction – unless it be imagined a lonely
workman on a dizzy scaffold unfolds
a sign at evening and puts his mark to it.

from http://www.bathsheba.com/ag/