Regency Romance Novels

King John

Sharing photos…

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Dancing the Maypole now has 99,527 words. I’ve finally finished chapter 37 (hopefully for the last time). I’m now working on chapter 38. I ended up doing the usual ‘beat my head against the wall’ exercise until I finally gave in and deleted a chunk and wrote some more. I think I’ve figured out how to unblock Once Upon a Wager as well, but now I have to decide how much to delete. I’ve deleted quite a bit, but I have an awful feeling I need to delete more. Excuse me while I just bang my head on that brick wall!

The last few months have been really weird. I’ve been having problems remembering what day or month it is. I can’t believe it’s nearly the end of June. I think I was traumatized by moving house. The rest of the Universe has moved on, but I’m somehow stuck in April. The last few months I’ve had a number of adventures that I meant to share. I took pictures…lots of pictures. I now I have too many to share, but I wanted to share some of my favorite. [Read more…] about Sharing photos…

One more thing finished…

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Button hole stitches over pencil drawn heart!
Button hole stitches over pencil drawn heart! I love its imperfection. It shows I did it free hand on my ordinary sewing machine.

I finished my ‘I love King John bag’ last week and today it had its first public outing. I don’t know about anyone else, but when I make something I have to look at it for awhile before I can use or wear it. I have this cute little purse I call an ‘Inside-out Purse’ because the silk pokadot lining is on the outside of the bag; I had to look at that for over a year before I could be seen with it. It has since travelled the Atlantic, but it is rather odd…does anyone else have this problem? I recently made a cute necklace, but I’m still looking at it. I thought I’d need to look at my King John bag for weeks, but I was going into town and it was perfect for the journey so I used it. I haven’t done anything else today, but I used my bag! I’d hoped to do some writing today, but I’ve been too tired. I had nine hours of sleep, but my pillow is rubbish and I woke feeling like I needed a neck brace. [Read more…] about One more thing finished…

A day of treasures…

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Cari touches the tree...
Cari touches the tree...

The Goblin was off work today so we decided to chase the sunshine. Last night the weather report suggested the most likely area to be sunny all day was southwest of London so I mentioned that the ancient yew tree at Runnymede (not far from Old Windsor) was down there and that I really wanted to see it. The word Runnymede should ring a bell…the name John should be coming to mind. Oh yes, him again! Apparently the signing of the original Magna Carta took place under an ancient yew tree that’s now well over two thousand years old. From a nearby flood plain next to the river Thames on a clear day you can see Windsor Castle in the distance, though in 1215 it would have been mainly a roundish looking tower surrounded by fortified walls. My Goblin informs me that Runnymede is AngloSaxon for Meadow of the Runes. This is a magical place…in more ways than one.

It wasn’t easy to find. On the “Welcome to Runnymede” pamphlet at the sight referred to as Runnymede there was no mention of the tree at all, infact the whole sight celebrated as the place where the Magna Carta was signed is on the wrong side of the river…almost opposite where the tree stands. The yew tree is on a piece of land called Ankerwycke, hence its name Ankerwycke Yew…it’s all rather confusing. [Read more…] about A day of treasures…

Knaresborough; King John, Blind Jack and Regency linen

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I’ve always found learning to be a chain reaction. I’ll come across something that sounds interesting, look it up…learn something new…look it up…read something that sounds interesting…look it up…the chain continues. Knaresborough, Yorkshire has become a link in the chain. A few months ago one of my members (Hello Fiona!) e-mailed me after reading my post about visiting with King John and wanted to know what kind of lipstick I was wearing and mentioned she lived in Knaresborough, North Yorkshire. After writing back and telling her that I was wearing Mary Kay, Copper Mine number 2347 (for anyone else interested) I looked up Knaresborough and was amazed that I’d never heard of it before. [Read more…] about Knaresborough; King John, Blind Jack and Regency linen

King John slept through the visit…

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Me and King John
Me and King John

The Goblin had the day off. When I asked him yesterday what he planned to do today he said he wanted to drive over to Coventry and Birmingham to look at several cars he’d found on the internet. Our present car is rusting badly so it’s time to replace it. I had to go with him to test drive the passenger seat and on hearing he wanted to go as far as Birmingham my eyes lit up as I asked, “Isn’t Worcester near Birmingham?” Sort of, he said. “Well, if we have to spend the money on petrol (gas) to drive all that way can’t we stop off at Worcester on the way back so I can see the Cathedral…where King John is buried?” I’ve been reminding him regularly that I wanted to visit King John so he knew what I wanted to see in Worcester, but I mentioned it just incase he’d forgotten on purpose. [Read more…] about King John slept through the visit…