May 2, 2021 at 1:34 am (Conversations, Recommended, Surprises, Books)
Tags: humor, Saturdays, novel, fantasy, English writers, COVID Reading, pirates
Joron must risk his life in a deadly duel, after learning his shipwife, Meas Gilbyn, wants Black Orris. (Cahanny, who has Black Orris, names his price: a duel.)
Joron’s opponent is a hefty woman who’s got the arms of a Kept. Don’t ask.
At the conclusion of the duel, Joron says, “All right. Bring out Black Orris.”
“Arses,” said Black Orris.
“A foul-mouthed bird.”
“Your arses,” said Black Orris.
Stay safe, dear blog readers. Stay safe.
May 1, 2021 at 10:44 pm (Books, Conversations, Recommended, Surprises)
Tags: reading lists, discoveries, Saturdays, novel, fantasy, English writers, COVID Reading
Thirteenbern is the Mother of Meas Gilbryn, the only person our heroine can not out-kickass.
Thirteenbern stands for . . . care to take a guess???!!!
There was no denying the strength in the Thirteenbern’s body, and that was why she showed it. She flaunted her fertility. This woman was the bringer of thirteen perfect children to the isles and claimed title as mother of all. Her skirts were of iron, laced together with birdgut and enamelled with stylised fish which danced across her lap.
— p. 134, The Bone Ships
Upon seeing Meas: “You are my curse. Every day I ask why the Hag took nine of my children in war but never so much as touched you.”
Mummie Dearest! Say it ain’t so!
While Meas is having lovely convo with Dearest Mum, her deckkeeper, Joron, is led away by a Kept, only to find himself propositioned.
Wild!
Stay safe, dear blog readers. Stay safe.
April 24, 2021 at 11:21 pm (Books, Explorers, Recommended, Women Writers)
Tags: COVID Reading, English writers, mysteries, novel, reading lists, Saturdays
Oh bravo, Miriam Crofft, gentlewoman scientist in England 1911.
Reading One Fatal Flaw, Book 3 of the Daniel Pitt series by Anne Perry. It’s self’s first Anne Perry! Apparently it’s a log-running series (like Louise Penny’s Inspector Armand Gamache series), but most of the books were about Daniel Pitt’s parents. Now, the next generation has taken over.
Daniel Pitt is 25, a graduate of Cambridge, and still quite green. He receives superb assistance from the daughter of his boss, Miriam. Miriam is a much-loved only child, and her father indulged all her scientific notions and built her a chemistry lab in the basement of their home.
It’s very interesting.
Stay safe, dear blog readers. Stay safe.
April 11, 2021 at 2:41 am (destinations, Movies, Places, Recommended, Surprises)
Tags: blockbusters, COVID watching, performances, Saturdays, science fiction
At the Century 20.
Self liked Voyagers more than Godzilla v. Kong.
Although, Godzilla v. Kong was the first time in forever — mebbe the first time since Road Warrior‘s Feral Kid — that she didn’t find the kid in an action movie annoying, i.e. not just a gratuitous presence. And who knew Rebecca Hall would be good in an action movie? Well, she is. Not that she’s required to do any action scenes, really. But in this type of movie, character takes a back seat to . . . scenario. And she’s able to calibrate her performance so that it’s just the right temperature for this kind of movie.
That is all.
April 3, 2021 at 7:05 pm (Artists and Writers, Books, Links, Places, postaday, Women Writers, Writing)
Tags: diary, inspiration, San Francisco, Saturdays
The host of this challenge is The Life of B. Self aims to post at least one bright square every day through April
I want everyone to have fun. So you can join me posting squares daily or simply pop by as and when suits you and your blog. You can interpret the theme of bright strictly or let it take you somewhere random.
The Life of B, Bright Squares Photo Challenge, April 2021
Stay safe, dear blog readers. Stay safe.
March 27, 2021 at 7:00 pm (Artists and Writers, Food and Drink, Links, plans, postaday)
Tags: art, artists residency, California, Garden, Ireland, lens-artists photo challenge, memories, Saturdays, Spain
Thank you, P. A. Moed, for this very interesting challenge, and for the great quote from Johannes Kepler:
The world is full of shapes. Circles, squares, ovals, triangles, and even some of your favorites from geometry class like parallelograms. For this week’s Lens-Artists Photo Challenge, we are focusing on geometry—shapes that are visually interesting and form a pattern or rhythm.
Hanging on the back wall in the first picture is a print by Eizo Sakata, a gift. Self met him at the Fundacion Valparaiso in Mojåcar, Spain, over 20 years ago!
The figs are from self’s backyard. She took the picture last year (Right now, the fig trees are just beginning to leaf.) Self can hardly wait until she can start picking the ripe figs!
The last image are three prints, part of a series called Variations on a Field, by Irish artist Pam de Brie. When self purchased them, years ago, she had nowhere to hang them. So she asked Pam to hang on to them; when she was ready, she would let her know. That time came three years ago. Four prints arrived by US mail! The last print, self will put in its own frame. It’s the brightest of the four prints.
Stay safe, dear blog readers. Stay safe.
March 21, 2021 at 4:10 am (Artists and Writers, Books, destinations, Personal Bookshelf, Places)
Tags: Ireland, Irish writers, memories, poetry, Saturdays, wisdom
Fluent
I would love to live
— from Conamara Blues, which Dear Departed Father Richard Haslam gave to me on my first visit to Ireland, 2014
Like a river flows,
Carried by the surprise
Of its own unfolding.
March 20, 2021 at 11:52 pm (destinations, Food and Drink, Links, Lists, Places, postaday, Recommended, Salon.com, Traveling)
Tags: Bacolod, California, COVID Dining, farmers markets, Filipino food, London, Menlo Park, Saturdays, The Philippines
Discovered another Photo Challenge! This one’s from Buddha Walks Into a Wine Bar, and it’s called Challenge Your Camera.
This week’s Challenge Your Camera (# 11) is STILL LIFE.
Here are a few pointers for the Challenge:
So, here are self’s still lifes, all of which she pulled from her archives. They’re mostly food-related.
Still Life # 1: Self loves farmers markets. The ones in her area are held on Sundays. She bought these mushrooms at the Menlo Park Farmers Market. This picture’s from a few weeks ago. The farmers markets stayed open throughout the pandemic, and self went regularly (of course masked). Her last COVID test was ten days ago, and that was negative.
Still Life # 2: Shoreditch, East London, November 2019. She doesn’t think she’ll be able to get back to London until late 2022, at the very soonest. In the meantime, she has a huge trove of photographs from her last visit. Someone with a sense of humor left this on a window ledge.
Still Life # 3: Her last visit home was September 2019. She spent her time in Dear Departed Dad’s hometown of Bacolod, and spent a few nights in a city close by: Silay. And ate herself into a food coma. All the variety of food made from rice! These are just two examples, and they’re from the public market.
Stay safe, dear blog readers. Stay safe.
March 14, 2021 at 1:36 am (Books, Memoirs)
Tags: COVID Reading, humor, Obama, reading lists, Saturdays, US history
Self only has 300 pages to go!
Sentence of the Day shows 44 at his most charming and self-deprecating:
One thing felt certain: A pretty big chunk of the American people, including some of the very folks I was trying to help, didn’t trust a word I said.
— A Promised Land, p. 406
March 13, 2021 at 7:48 pm (Aunts, Flowers, Links, plans, Recommended, Relatives)
Tags: California, Cee Neuner, clematis, disappointment, flower photography, Garden, inspiration, memories, Saturdays, spring, websites
Self is following another Cee Neuner Photo Challenge, Flower of the Day. Fun!
She was lucky to find a wee Clematis montana ‘White Surprise’ in Wegman’s last week. To tell you the truth, she is a bit obsessed with clematis. Ever since her aunt in Montauk sent her, through the mail, a sprig of white clematis henryii. It was so beautiful, with big white, dinner-plate size flowers that eventually covered one entire fence. Then our neighbor decided to replace the fence. He cut all the clematis twigs, and it never grew back. Self mourns the loss even now, 20 years later.
Last year, self decided to experiment with a mail-order service. She ordered a ‘native’ variety called Saucy Alice from a nursery on the east coast. Never grew, eventually died.
This year, self was in her local nursery when she saw a white clematis montana, which reminded her of the clematis montana rubens that every spring bursts into glorious flower on her front porch trellis. It was in a wee pot, and she snagged it.
The clematis montana don’t have flowers as big as henryii, but self doesn’t care. It will be lovely.
Since arriving on self’s porch, it’s been behaving really well:
The white blooms should be ready for another close-up in a few days!
Here’s what my clematis montana rubens looked like, March 2020:
Stay safe, dear blog readers. Stay safe.
 | anthropologist on Flower of the Day (FOTD), May… |
 | Dora on Flower of the Day (FOTD), May… |
| anthropologist on Life in Colour, May Challenge:… |
 | Heyjude on Life in Colour, May Challenge:… |
Mainly through the lens of a Nikon
welcome to my past, present and future mixed with whatever pops up right now
Fiction Writing
"Two roads diverged in a wood, and I— I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference." The Road Not Taken, by Robert Frost
capturing memories one moment at a time
The Blog about everything and nothing and it's all done in the best possible taste!
Never get lost in the Sauce
Be One... Make One...
Teaching the art of composition for photography.
Fueling fearlessness through fashion and inspiration.
My writing and photo journey of inspiration and discovery
Decades of her words.
Observations about my life and the world around me.
Yousuf Bawany's Blog
Any old world uncovered by new writing
the literary asylum
Archive of the CSP
A journey from one end of the bookshelf to the other
