Friday...

Monday we went to see the Denver Museum of Nature and Science's Pompeii exhibition. It was well worth while, with some fascinating artifacts. The Vesuvius eruption that buried Pompeii was in 79 AD, during the period covered by The Druid's Son, although not mentioned in the book (although it may come up as background information when/if I write more in that series). Anyway, I took lots of pictures, which are on my flickr account here. An example:



The exhibition closes Sunday January 13th.

-GRG

Wednesday...

Yesterday morning. It's finally beginning to look and feel like Winter.



-GRG

Remembering Llewelyn...

Seven hundred and thirty years ago on the 11th day of December...

Where is Llywelyn? Ble mae o?

He was due back eight nights ago.

The low sun creeps across the sky

And still I wait. He cannot die.

Without him, Wales might cease to be!

Ble mae Llywelyn? Where is he?

Where is Llywelyn? Ble mae o?

With banners bright we saw him go.

His scarlet lions shone in the sun—

I know this war can still be won—

and Cymru still can flourish, free!

Ble mae Llywelyn? Where is he?

Where is Llywelyn? Ble mae o?

I watch and wait; my worries grow,

But from the south I get no news.

The English king cannot refuse

To make peace soon, and then we’ll see…

Ble mae Llywelyn? Where is he?

Where is Llywelyn? Ble mae o?

Gwenllian fach, I do not know.

I wish that I could hold you tight.

I walk the battlements each night.

The sunrise lights no hope in me.

Ble mae Llywelyn? Where is he?

Where is Llywelyn? Ble mae o?

Outside Cilmari, in the snow,

Uncomforted, they say he died

In arms struck down. I know they lied.

He must live still! It cannot be!

Ble mae Llywelyn? Where is he?

Where is Llywelyn? Ble mae o?

To Avalon I’d have him go,

Like Arthur, live, and still fight on.

My time is spent. I must be gone.

Remember Eleanor, my dear—

Ble mae Llywelyn?  I am here…

- G R Grove

Friday...

OK, Thursday night, but...

This afternoon the semiannual Migration of the Geraniums occurred. From their summer splendor in the cold frame...



...which they have now abandoned...



...they made their way to their winter indoor habitat, following their good friends the cyclamen and the rosemary.





Usually this happens in November, but the relatively mild weather has allowed them to remain in their summer home longer than usual, soaking up sunlight. But with sub-zero (F!) temperatures forecast for Sunday night, it was time for the move. Long may they flourish in their winter home!

-GRG

Thursday...

Still here - just preoccupied with this and that...

New cat picture: it was a cool gray day... Guess who arrived second?



-GRG

Tuesday...

Still no progress with the issue of the squirrel in the attic, disturbing noises of heavy equipment from the alley outside where some part of the neighbor's sewer outfall appears to be being redone, and amazon still isn't offering The Druid's Son for sale. Oh, and an e-list fracas last night which is still on my mind. Difficult to settle down to anything productive under these circumstances. Some days are like this...

Something new for the garden which I got a couple of weeks ago. Still haven't decided where to put it.



 -GRG

Sunday...

A cold morning after last night's storm - winter is advancing upon us. A good day to stay indoors, reading, thinking, and sewing... and working on the next book.



-GRG

Friday...

The seasons turn; with Samhain, the dark half of the year begins. Yet even while the creatures of the earth prepare for their winter rest, this writer is preparing for new work. Yes, it's time I got back to the continuing adventures of Gwernin Storyteller, and the book I laid aside last year to write The Druid's Son, now called The Fallen Stones.

Books can take a long time to germinate, but this one is at least partly written, although some of it may have to be changed a bit. However, my goal is to have it finished and out within the next year. All I will say about the story right now is that it begins with a death and ends with a birth, and much of it takes place in Ireland. Oh, and the first words are: "Taliesin sang it, so it must be true."

Autumn leaves on the apple tree last week:



-GRG

Tuesday...

It feels strange not to be writing or proofreading; I'll have to start another project soon. In the meantime, I'm looking for reviewers, and cleaning house (long overdue), and doing autumn cleanup in the garden. We've been having another run of warm weather, common this time of year, but it probably won't last much longer.

A cat picture today: Titus waiting by the cold frame for his fresh catnip (inside the wire cage you can see next to him).



-GRG

Friday...

What a difference a day makes... Woke up this morning expecting to see the first frost of the season, and instead saw this...







We'll see what's left when it melts off - which it's already doing - but I think I can safely say that summer is over.

-GRG

Wednesday...

A little more book news: Smashwords has cleared The Druid's Son for premium distribution, which means it should show up on Barnes & Noble, Sony, and Apple in a couple of weeks, possibly sooner. This is very fast turn-around; clearly I did a good job with my formatting.

Gardening-wise, it still looks like we should get a killing frost this weekend, although it's currently 78 F by my back door. I need to relocate a few vulnerable plants, but otherwise the garden is about over for the year. The cold frame is beginning to be very full of geraniums...



-GRG

Tuesday...

Now that I'm (momentarily) not writing, it's time to tend to all the other stuff which accumulated. Garden cleanup is one item, and it's a beautiful day out there (so why am I in here typing?). Time to pick the last of the veggies, since it looks like we may be getting a killing frost soon (Friday night, maybe!).

Garden picture of the day: asters. Go to it, bees, not much time left...



-GRG

Friday...

Spent last weekend at the Long's Peak Scottish / Irish Festival (aka highland games) in Estes Park, Colorado. We had excellent weather for a change, too. Then Tuesday a weather system moved through and gave Denver twelve hours of much needed slow rain - I haven't needed to water for a couple of days.

I'm still working on the second draft of The Druid's Son. So far I've only found a couple of short sections which needed some rewriting, along with a large number of minor changes. The latter includes things like making sure spelling of names and capitalization of certain words is uniform, checking moon phase / time correspondences, etc. I know there are a couple of sections in the next two chapters which will need revision / expansion, and one or two minor loose ends I need to deal with, but on the whole everything is on track to go to my proofreaders by the end of the month.

Meanwhile the seasons are changing. We've started having distinctly cold nights - this morning's low by my backdoor was 40 F - and cooler days. Tuesday was particularly good in this respect, and I took advantage of the milder weather to make a small batch of chutney with some of my garden surplus (tomatoes, sweet peppers, etc.). The beans have got ahead of me, as they tend to do at this time of year, but I remember from last year that the late season mature ones make great fresh shell beans, so that's OK. Not sure how long we have before frost - probably two or three weeks, but we'll see. Time to enjoy the morning glories while they last:



-GRG

Thursday...

Behind on blogging again, but I've had some distractions. After a few days off, I've started on the second draft of The Druid's Son. Not really rewriting anything, just changing a word here or adding a phrase there. I'm also making a list as I go of things to check, change, add, explain, etc. I don't think I have any major loose ends, but there are a few threads here and there which I think need to be developed a little more or tied off more securely. So far, though, things are looking good. When I finish this draft I'll pass it on to a couple of friends who've offered to proofread it for continuity, clarity, typos, etc. While they're doing that I'll finish the map(s) and the back cover. Then it'll be time for a final draft, and a e-book friendly version to upload to smashwords. After that I'll work on getting it through Lulu and on Amazon etc. I'll also be looking for blog reviewers at that stage.

All in all, still plenty of work to do, but the e-book at least should be out before Christmas, and perhaps proof copies of the paperback as well!

Then on to the next book....

Garden picture today: pumpkin-squash hybrid (they're cross-fertile, so growing them close together results in some strange fruits sometimes).



You can see a normal dark green immature pumpkin in the background, but this fellow has been yellow from the beginning.

-GRG

Monday...

Been doing too much writing in the last week to blog. I'm at 92,386 words and 17.5 chapters - 88% completion of the first draft. Not much today due to some other stuff, but full speed ahead again tomorrow. Last pieces of the plot are coming together - just have to grind it out!

Garden picture from a couple of days ago... yes, we have beans now!



And that's it for today...

-GRG

Monday...

The last week has been busy. Miscellaneous stuff Monday and Tuesday, writing like crazy Wednesday, Thursday and Friday; our private Lughnasadh celebration Friday night; and Saturday and Sunday at the Highlands Ranch Scottish Festival with the Colorado Welsh Society. Today, trying to get back on track with writing. I've done over 5,000 words in the last week and hope to keep to that pace!

Today's picture: a group of oak trees on the U of U campus in Salt Lake City, where I was on the Cymdeithas Madog Welsh Course two weeks ago.

 

Hot dry weather continues, but the garden is doing fine - as long as I keep it watered. I picked my first eggplant yesterday - one of the long Japanese kind I like. About eight inches long, nice and tender. I had to move one of the potted tomato plants, because one of the squirrels was picking the tomatoes - bad enough that he ate the ripe one, but picking green ones and then throwing them away is too much. We've had a minor plague of Japanese rose beetles, so I've been patrolling the garden looking for them two or three times a day. In the absence of roses, they seem to like Virginia creeper, so I've been pursuing them there to thin out the population. No spraying - eco-friendly methods only (except to the beetles).

A couple of the bean vines have reached the top of the trellis and are reaching for the sky (fortunately the phone line is out of reach):



Not much writing over the weekend due to one thing and another, but I'm hoping to make up for it today. Over 68,000 words and 178 pages now. Onward!

-GRG

Weather continues warmer than average, but not as bad as it was in June. Squirrels ate half the flowers off my zinnias yesterday and stole my first decent sized ripe tomato. There are a lot more of them around lately (squirrels, not tomatoes) - probably this spring's youngsters being turfed out by mom and looking for handouts. There have also been continued signs of raccoons, although they currently seem to be waiting for the honey crisp apples to get a little riper... Squirrels, however, don't put corn in the birdbath.

Raspberries are about finished, but were wonderful while they lasted.One bean stalk has reached the top of the netting - over six feet up - and I expect to start harvesting green beans in two to three weeks. There's also a female flower on one of the yellow zucchinis. Summer gardens make up for the hot weather!

Honey crisp apples on Monday morning after rain:



Not much writing yesterday, because I was playing with maps, partly because of story matters and partly to start preparing the illustrations for the book. One of the ones I need almost overlaps the North Wales from The Ash Spear - almost, but not quite. Sigh. So I'm drawing a new one... Just to make things clear, in case they weren't, the book I'm currently working on is the prequel set in 60-80 CE, called The Druid's Son. The next Storyteller book (#4), which I hope to have out late next year, will be called The Fallen Stones.

Today more writing and less drawing, I hope. Onward!

-GRG

Monday...

Four days now of thunderstorms and showers, with close to an inch of rain on Saturday alone! I am definitely going to have to mow the grass when it all dries out (as it will in a few days), but the garden loves it:



I saw the first bean blossom this morning, and several of the tomatoes are showing color. Won't be long now...

With the cool weather I had a good writing day yesterday. Currently 167 pages and 63,900 words. I need to get a lot more done in the next couple of days before the weather warms up again - writing about winter in North Wales is easier if the temperature isn't 97 F outside! I continue to make new discoveries about the direction and focus of the overall story. I also have two plot challenges at the moment, one of which my hero has to solve...

-GRG

Friday...

Rain at last - thank the Gods! Not a lot of accumulation so far, but oh! the blessed coolness.

First cucumber:



Finished chapter 12 yesterday and have started 13. Almost 63,000 words. And a clear road before me...

-GRG