After a cool but busy weekend, the weather has warmed up again, but that's July. Garden-wise, I have been running a sprinkler in my back yard to try and get things cooler and greener, helped by some good rain last Saturday night. At least the days are getting shorter, and my orange cat Ruay doesn't try to get me up quite as early - sometimes not before 6 a.m.
No appreciable progress on the book this last week - partly due to the above mentioned weather, partly other things. Somewhat cooler weather for the next week, so I'm hoping to get going again. A teaser from the beginning of chapter 17:
That evening when much of the food had been served and was being eaten, Fráechán stood up at his head table and circled around to the performer’s spot by one of the fires in front of it. He was wearing again his forest-green robe, and the torch- and firelight shone in his long silver hair and short beard. I noticed that he was once again wearing his sling, and remembered that Taliesin and Ianto had checked his hand again after our return from the Hag’s Chair.
The folk in the hall gradually quietened as he stood waiting for their attention. At last, when he had his desired silence, he said with a smile, “I have been asked by one of our visitors to tell a tale tonight.” He paused, then went on slowly.
“This is a tale of magic, which happened long ago in this very place. Some of you have heard tales of Mac Criomthann, the British-born Druid who came here to study the magical arts at Emain Macha, for there was then no man left in all of Britain who could teach them to him in their entirety... ”
Hot and dry weather continues, with three days of 100 deg. F highs forecast for this weekend. After that we might get a break. I hope so!
I did get some work done over the weekend and Monday (proofreading and tinkering w/ the earlier chapters), and have now reached chapter 12 again and Gwernin's arrival in Ireland. After some thought, I decided against the changes I mentioned in my last update, and let those sections stand as they are for now. Proofreading and tinkering is getting more necessary as I am getting into the newer sections of the manuscript, written when I was trying to make an autumn deadline. I'm now also having to consider what will go into the rest of the book!
In the meantime, happy 4th of July. :)
The upcoming issue of Oak Leaves is mostly wrapped and has gone to the proof reader. This week's distraction, however, has been provided by Denver Water, whose subcontractors have been digging up the street (complete w/ sawing, drilling, scraping, excavating, and dump truck noises) all week. The mid-to-upper 90s F temperatures haven't helped either. I have managed to look at most of the PDF of the book to date, find and correct a few typos, and consider what to do with a couple of problem patches, one of which is an over-long flashback to Storyteller, and the other of which involves minor rewriting in a couple of chapters where I decided the plot decisions didn't make sense.
If the heavy equipment work is finished early next week, I might actually get a little forward writing done before Lughnasadh - this will include remembering some of the things I thought of while I was ill which need to be in the story. At least I have finally got over whatever that was, and am almost back to normal physically. Next I have to decide what to do about the backyard lawn, which has gone unmown all summer -- but that may need to wait for cooler weather. Just as well I am not trying to finish the book before Samhain this year.
Weather - we continue having an unusually warm June, and I hate to think about what it may be like in July. Because I was ill I didn't get anything started in the garden this year. Tomatoes I can buy in the market, but I miss the climbing beans with their red and purple flowers.
I'm still not well tho slowly getting better. One thing is clear - after this big a delay, I won't finish the book before 1025. I'm stopping blogging till I have an update.
It's definitely spring here now, with a lot of trees starting to bud out, and grape hyacinths blooming. Next week will be cooler and damper again, with hopefully more rain than snow. I decided to try starting the little current tomatoes from seed, but otherwise buy what I need at the farmer's market which starts early next month. They have a lot of heirloom tomato varieties, and I won't have to house the plants until then.
It's beginning to feel like spring here - only light frosts, no snow for the last week, and the grape hyacinths are blooming in the nemeton on the warm south side of the yard. However, Denver is capable of heavy snows for at least another month, and my particular frost-free date is usually May 15th or there abouts. And I just realized I haven't started any tomato seedlings yet...
I've finished chapter 13, and most of chapter 14. Gwernin et al have reached Fráechán's ráth at the base of the Sliabh na Caillí. He wasn't there when they first arrived, but is now, and they will be lighting the Beltane fires tonight. I need to finish this chapter today or tomorrow, so I can work on some other things while I think about what comes next.
The weather here continues in its spring pattern - snow, milder weather that melts it, snow again, etc. The last dump over the weekend was only about 4 inches here, although other areas got more, but the ground is mostly warm enough that it doesn't last long on the walks or streets - what I call "self-shoveling snow". Not much luck with all the crocus bulbs I planted last fall - the squirrels got some of them, and the severely cold weather seems to have got most of the rest. I'll try again earlier next fall.
I've almost finished chapter 13, bar a little tinkering. Last Saturday was a busy day for me, between running the Zoom sessions for our March Divination workshops and giving a presentation myself on the ogam. After that it took me a while to get going again. At least we've had no more snow.
Not having found Fráechán where they had hoped to find him, Gwernin et al spent a couple of days getting acquainted with some of the people and the location that I described in The King's Druid, and are getting ready to move on to Sliabh na Caillí, where they hope to meet him in time to celebrate Beltane. But in those uncertain times, not finding someone where you expect to find him can always be a cause for uneasiness.
The weather is inching into spring here, but no leaves on the trees yet. This is good, because last week's dreadful snow managed to break bare branches in the neighborhood, and I was glad to have power and internet for Saturday!
Presently I'll have to go out and shovel more of yesterday's snow, but at the moment things are warming up a bit and I'm waiting for more of it to fall off the trees. After tomorrow I should be able to get more writing done.
In other news, I've been spending time preparing for my presentation on ogam divination in Chokecherry Grove's March Divination Workshop. For more information on that, see this link.
