posted by Neil
Good morning.
It's a grey, quiet Saturday here. Everyone's off doing stuff: it's just me and the dogs.
On Thursday, Sharon and Bill Stiteler came over and we checked the hives and started to feed them. We have six hives right now - two Italians (doing brilliantly in comparison with everyone else after a late start and a lousy year - we even had a super full of honey), two Carniolans (doing okay) and two Russian hives (one may or may not survive even a mild winter, one has a solid chance). We came back to the house.
Sharon Stiteler started making noises. Normally when Sharon makes noises, it means that something exciting has been spotted, and it's generally to do with birds.
It was.
A merlin had taken a red-bellied woodpecker from one of my birdfeeders, and was eating it in front of the house.
Here's a photo I took of the merlin. Sharon tells the whole story, with many photos and explanation of, among other things, how she knew it was a lady merlin over at her blog:
http://www.birdchick.com/wp/2011/09/merlin-vs-red-bellied-woodpecker/Yesterday I decided to get some beeswax from the buckets of slumgullion in the garage. It took three tries to figure out how to do it correctly, but I now have a pie-dish filled with clean, perfect, butter-yellow beeswax, smelling faintly of honey, and know how to get it right for next time.
No idea what to do with the wax, mind. But at least it won't get thrown out.
Today I'm proofreading.
The Little Gold Book Of Ghastly Stuff for Borderlands Press comes out very soon, and they emailed me over the pdfs last night. It's a really sweet little collection, almost entirely from the last decade: two poems, four stories (including, for the first time anywhere, my first ever published short story, "Featherquest", published in 1984, cut by half when it was published and never reprinted. Do not get excited: it isn't very good), two oddments, four articles, a couple of speeches, a few book reviews and suchlike. I signed the 500 limitation pages last week. Then Borderlands discovered that too many people had ordered the signed edition and asked me if they could overrun the print-run and do some unsigned, un-numbered copies, and I said yes.
There's only ever going to be one printing of this, so if you want a copy head over to
http://www.borderlandspress.com/littlegold.html and order one. It costs more to mail it internationally than the book costs (four times if you want to internationally Fedex it).
I do not enjoy proofreading.
And I need to go back to it.
Before I do, here is a Bill Stiteler film of me shaking bees off a frame of honey or three on Thursday:
0 Comments on Not just procrastinating on proofreading... as of 1/1/1900
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I, too, loved the Mary Stewart books. If I ever have time, I would like to read them again. My grandson loves Greek mythology, and I've often felt he would love the Arthurian myths as well. Now you have given me the perfect vehicle to introduce him to those wonderful stories. Thanks!
Arthur of Albion sounds good. I would love to read about mythology.
Regarding your previous post..thanks for passing me the award. You are a sweetie. I am honoured that you thought of passing the award to me.
Your question about themes and series will prompt me to write a mini-novel, Mitty. :) I'm hooked on several of both, although they're not necessarily all YAs.
Lilian Jackson Braun's Cat Who ... books, especially her earlier ones, are whodunits that feature two cats and their human, a former news reporter with a nose for turning up murder. I never tire of rereading Dorthy Gilman's Mrs. Pollifax mysteries, while and Kay Hooper's psychic murder mysteries featuring Bishop's Special Crimes Unit never fail to intrigue me intellectually and cosmically.
I love the philosophical aspects of Dan Brown's books and the humor of Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series. Fannie Flagg's Southern-themed books are another delight for me, while I love Barry Hughart's Bridge of Birds and the two sequels for their combination of sly wit, mysticism, history and mystery.
I reread C.S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia and Madeleine L'Engle's Time trilogy almost every year like clockwork for their philosophy and Laura Ingalls Wildler's Little House books to experience another time and to gain strength and courage.
Thank you for asking!
Michelle
Rosi, I loved Greek Mythology when I was a teen. Arthur was a discovery later in life. I think your grandson would like this.
Rachna, I passed both awards to you, not just one. Looking forward to what your 7 random facts will be.
Michelle, wow, I got some good book lists from your reply. Ah, yes, Madelein L'Engle, she's wonderful. I underline things in her books, they're so meaningful. And The Little House series was a good read again and again when I was growing up. I'll have to go check it out yet again!
Michelle, if you like series, you might like The Molly Murphy mystery series by Rhys Bowen. They're light, but fun, based in New York around 1903-1904.
Ooh, I like the book cover too. The stories sound interesting.
I lurve the cover of that Hollow Hills novel. I've never been too much into fantasy, but these novels sound pretty good. My sister adores fantasy, so now I must ring her to find out if she has these novels!
Hello, Kimberly and "Alleged". Yes the book cover us beautiful. The artist must have loved the opportunity to do the art for this book. All of the illustrations are dreamy and magical.