I’m having a magical rainy afternoon. I got up this morning at six as my Goblin had to leave for work by seven. He’s a very smart Goblin; there’s been some sort of problem in the Australian branch (he’d tell you he works for Gringotts) that he’s needed to help solve. I meant to eat my breakfast, but I ended up reading something and I forgot I was hungry…which is bad as that meant I forgot to take my pills. It was shortly after eleven when I sat down in front of the tv to eat. Flipping through the channels I suddenly heard French so I paused (assuming it was a commercial for shampoo or cars or something) and then an English translation popped onto the screen. A French film on tv when I’m in the mood to sit and watch a French film? Magic! It was called “The Green Ray”. I’d never heard of it. I had no idea what the green ray was (at the beginning I kept wondering if green aliens or green slime would attack the main character, a pretty French lady who didn’t seem to do more than wander around France crying, but no there were no aliens). By the time it finished I was utterly captivated. [Read more…] about The Green Ray…
General
Filling my empty mind…
Lately I’ve been feeling mentally empty, as if someone washed all my thoughts, dried them, put them away and then pulled the plug and drained the sink. I decided that instead of complaining to myself I’d read something. I have dozens of novels and reference books waiting to be read and at least a dozen I keep forgetting to finish. I went downstairs to look over my bookshelves and the first one to caught my eye was a paperback on the bottom shelf, a book of essays by H L Mencken called ‘Prejudices: A Selection’. I randomly opened the book and started reading, ‘Roosevelt: An Autopsy’. I hadn’t been reading long when I started thinking that all I knew about Theodore Roosevelt was that he was a President of the USA and supposedly that the Teddy Bear was named after him…and that’s about it. My curiosity aroused I put the book aside and looked him up on Wikipedia. Reading quickly through the boring early life I was soon at the important part…the section titled First Marriage. You didn’t think I was going to sit here and ruminate on politics and philosophy did you? I’m a romance writer. I want to read about love! [Read more…] about Filling my empty mind…
On a sizzling summer day…
Last night some time after turning off the lights (as I tried to fall asleep with a large fan blowing in my face) snatches of a song popped into my head; a song I haven’t heard in decades. At first I only had one line…’You take my breath away”…it was an eternal minute or two until my brain dredged up…”on a summer’s day”…and then I thought, Oh yes, THAT song! I should write that down. I might forget it in the morning and I’ll want to listen to it for a laugh. It was too hot. I was too tired to bother…so I didn’t. Waking up, sure enough, I could remember there was a song I wanted to remember but all the words to the song had vanished from my brain. Irritated by my malfunctioning memory, I trolled the internet for help. Sure enough some obsessive soul had listed every hit song from 1979. Over half way down the list, there it was! You Take My Breath Away by Rex Smith. These are the lyrics… [Read more…] about On a sizzling summer day…
My latest treasures…
At the end of my Goblin’s two week holiday last month, the sun finally came out and we drove down to Aldeburgh, one of our favorite Suffolk beaches. The pebble beach stretches farther than you can see in either direction. At first glance it just looks like someone dumped endless pebbles onto the beach, but if you keep your eyes on the ground (and you’re observant) you can’t help noticing some of the pebbles look like someone has randomly sat down on the beach and drilled holes through the stones and then tossed them aside. I’ve found plenty of small pebbles with half formed holes with a small pebble trapped inside. I assumed the hole was formed by the smaller stone rubbing against a weakness in the rock and over eons the hole is formed. I was only partly right. This last visit to the beach I found several fossils and one of them solved the mystery… [Read more…] about My latest treasures…
Holliday’s over…time to play!
My sister’s two week visit ran into my husband’s two week summer holiday so after a month away from my computer (and my book, Dancing the Maypole) I decided to refresh my memory by reading it from the start. I’m finally back to where I left off after a week and a half of editing. There were a number of things I needed to work out so that lowered my stress level. The book now has 102,075 words. I think there’s about ten thousand words to go unless the characters slap me and push me in a different direction. I’m really excited to get back into the story tomorrow and see what happens. In the mean time I wanted to share a few photos from my evening walk today. We actually had some sunshine today which was lovely. Just a brief reminder it’s summer before the next deluge. [Read more…] about Holliday’s over…time to play!
Becky’s gone home…
It was lovely to spend two weeks with my sister. It’s been three years since we saw each other and many many more years since we spent so much time together just the two of us. We laughed ourselves sick and had some good cries. It was like one of those French movies that has no plot, but you leave the theatre feeling glad you went. It’ll probably be a long while before I see her again and that makes me sad, but at least she chose the right two weeks to come! We had some lovely weather for her visit. It’s supposed to rain all this coming week, but I love the rain…as long as it doesn’t start chucking it down while I’m taking photographs. Becky…this song is for you (you have to go listen to it)…’Aint No Sunshine’ by Bill Withers. Becky, there literally…ain’t no sunshine now you’re gone! Here are the rest of my favorites photographs of our adventures. [Read more…] about Becky’s gone home…