The Wonderful Wonders of Christmas Monsterland!

Dear, dear readers! Delightful news! Book 16 of the PM Sagas, The Wonders of Christmas Monsterland, has been added to the PM Saga Archives!

In this story, one of the best ever written, if I do say so myself, your Chronicler, to earn a little extra, conducts a tour of PM's homeland. It also includes one of Purple Monsterland's most enduring historical sagas, The Story of the Cave of the Time to Come.
 

The Saga was first published and painted for Christmas 1992. Check out this Saga, and so many more, on The PM Sagas page. These stories, after all, are the original raison d'être of this Web site.

Narcissism 101

On July 8, I did a photo shoot with Svetlana Jovanovic, a wonderful photographer who is doing a series on women and aging. She took some incredible photos of me, which I have put on my acting page.

Photo by Svetlana Jovanovic, July 2018

Photo by Svetlana Jovanovic, July 2018

I realized I hadn't scanned in a lot of my former headshots, so in a real splurge of narcissism, I have now scanned many of my headshots plus some very early acting shots. The first shot was directly out of acting school at American Academy of Dramatic Arts, in 1973.

Acting head shot, 1973

After a couple of years and a hair cut, I got new acting shots, about 1975.

In 1977, I accompanied Dirck Halstead, the incredible Time magazine photographer, as he photographed the cover and inside photos for a cover story on the Sulzbergers and The New York Times. We became friends, and he and his assistant came to my apartment in the fall of 1977 and took some photos of me that are still my favorites. I have started to scan them in, although I may have to take the larger prints to be scanned by professionals. In the meantime, here are a few.

Photo by Dirck Halstead, 1977

Photo by Dirck Halstead, 1977

Photo by Dirck Halstead, 1977

Photo by Dirck Halstead, 1977. This was my headshot until the mid 1980s.

Around 1986, I got new headshots from a photographer I don't remember, except that it was a horrible experience, and he seemed to think the best photographs were ones that made the actress look like she was about to kill someone. The photos are indeed dramatic, but I hope I am now enough of an actress that you don't have to belittle me to get me furious.

Headshot, about 1986

In my stroll down Acting Memory Lane, I came across some more performance shots from very early in my career. In 1986, I played Thomasina Q. Turkey in The Owl and the Pussycat, a children's play. Whenever I get too full of myself, I like to look at these photos.

As Thomas Q. Turkey. "I lost the ga in my gobble!" October 1986

While looking for headshots, I found two photos taken by Sandy Geis, a friend who worked at The Times in 1980, when I did I've Got Sixpence, by John van Druten, at Seventh Sign Theater with Edward D. Griffith and Violet Lane.

As Inez Cabral in I've Got Sixpence, with Violet Lane as Mrs. Entwhistle, 1980. Photo by Sandy Geis

As Inez Cabral in I've Got Sixpence, with Edward D. Griffith as Peter Tyndall, 1980. Photo by Sandy Geis

The Ancient Ritual of the Horseshoe Crabs

For more than 300 million years, horseshoe crabs (Limulus polyphemus) have left the ocean depths to crawl onshore to breed. In New York, these ancient animals — more related to scorpions and spiders than to crustaceans, and older than the dinosaurs — come to our many shores at full moons, new moons, and high tides beginning in May and continuing into June and early summer. On May 29, 2018, we went to Plumb Beach in Brooklyn close to high tide on a night with a full moon, and were rewarded as the female horseshoe crabs came onshore, with the males grasping onto them. The females dug a nest in the sand and laid their eggs, which the males then fertilized. 

Breeding horseshoe crabs, Plumb Beach, Brooklyn, May 29, 2018

The video showing the horseshoe crabs coming to shore was filmed on May 29 at Plumb Beach, using the soundtrack of the waves. Also in the video are some clips from other beaches throughout the city where I've seen the shells of dead horseshoe crabs, which are beautiful in their own right. Our trip to Plumb Beach was led by Keith Michael of New York City WILD!

Horseshoe crabs have 10 legs, which they use to walk along the ocean floor. They have hard exoskeletons, and nine eyes spread throughout their bodies, plus light receptors near their tails, or telsons. These long, pointed telsons are not used to sting or poison, but to help the horseshoe crabs right themselves if waves push them on their backs.

Horseshoe crab at Marine Park, Brooklyn, May 24, 2018

When the horseshoe crabs were on their backs, rocking back and forth and using their tails to turn themselves over, we watched until we were sure they could right themselves. There were some times when the male and female crabs were both shell down, their legs moving in the air and seemingly without the ability to turn back over. At that point I gently turned the two over and they were able to move again.

Horseshoe crab, Plumb Beach. May 29

A horseshoe crab attempts to right himself.

The horseshoe crab eggs, tens of thousands of them, are a food source for fish, reptiles, and birds. About two weeks after the eggs are laid and fertilized, those that survive hatch into larval horseshoe crabs, which are tiny versions of the adults but without tails. These youngsters settle on the sandy bottom of tidal flats, where they grow and molt, shedding their exoskeletons and growing larger ones, as they move farther into the ocean depths. Once they become adults, roughly 10 years old, they begin the breeding process.

Watching the horseshoe crabs on Plumb Beach, May 29, with the New York City WILD! group

Horseshoe crab shell on the beach, 2017