Wednesday...

We had a thunderstorm yesterday evening, which cooled things off a bit. The vegetables like the hot weather as long as I keep them watered. The cucumbers and squash are doing well, and the sweet 100 tomatoes are really getting into their stride. Still waiting for the other varieties - lots of green tomatoes, but only the black cherries (another small variety) are starting to show color.

Under these conditions, it's hard to imagine myself into Ireland with Gwernin, but I'm still plodding along. Had to pause briefly to research 6th century Emain Macha, though. Current reference for that: Armagh and the royal centres in early medieval Ireland : monuments, cosmology and the past.

Today's picture: the Magic Lantern rose is starting a new round of blooms:



-GRG

Monday...

A hot weekend, and no break so far, but at least when it's hot in Colorado it's also dry - plus it usually cools off nicely at night. I got up early today to get part of the lawn mowed before the day warmed up - front yard's done, anyway. Might be able to finish it tonight.

I've been posting a bit about my research for The Druid's Son on my LibraryThing thread, and I'm also doing a giveaway of a copy of Storyteller there.

Another garden picture from last week's series - too hot to go out and take more right now:



-GRG

Friday...

High summer in the garden, and the bees are going crazy on the leek blossoms:



The vegetables are growing faster than my manuscript, but I'll keep plugging along...

-GRG

Wednesday...

It's been suggested to me more than once that when I appear somewhere (like the Elizabeth Celtic Festival this past weekend) doing storytelling for the Colorado Welsh Society, I should have a display poster about my books for the booth. So yesterday I finally got motivated, and did one:



The photo at the top is one I took last August in the Black Mountains.

Now back to writing...

-GRG

Monday...

A busy weekend. I spent most of it at the Elizabeth Celtic Festival, doing storytelling with the Colorado Welsh Society. The relatively cool weather we had been having broke on Friday, so the festival was sunny and warm - a little too warm for my taste. However, it's good for the garden:



That's a pumpkin vine in the picture.

Now back to work...

-GRG

Summer...

We've had a lot of rain in the last week, and everything in the garden is growing like crazy - including, of course, the grass and weeds. But the corn has been particularly impressive:



Writing's not going quite as fast, but I'm trying to get back on track after the midsummer distractions. Back to work...

-GRG

Definitely not Denver...

I've finally got the rest of the photos from my Irish trip uploaded to Flickr, although not properly labeled yet. Any guesses where this one is?



-GRG

How time flies...

Very behind on blogging due to various factors. First, I was writing; then we were celebrating Midsummer both publicly and privately; then we were recovering from the celebrations; then I was reading and researching... Anyway, before I plunge back into the writing cycle, I thought I'd better let people know I'm still here...

The garden's coming along well, despite a few minor hailstorms: the third cherry tomato is getting ripe; the peas are almost finished; the onions are forming bulbs; and the squash has started blooming. Then there are the beans, and the corn, and the cucumbers, and the eggplants, and the peppers--oh, yes, and my first red raspberries! This obviously is another reason I haven't had time for blogging...

Pictures again soon - I promise! Now, back to work...

-GRG

Tuesday...

No posting lately because I've actually been getting some writing done. I love it when the story presents me with characters and plot twists I hadn't expected... makes it much more fun. I'm well into the second third of the book now, and things are bubbling along well (like my second batch of mead).

On the gardening front, the last of couple of days I thoroughly watered trees, roses, and lawn. Naturally, of course, we had an extended thunderstorm last night with a good soaking rain. The rain was still welcome; the 1/2 to 3/4 inch hail, rather less so. Some damage to the garden, though mostly not serious. Not the kind, anyway, which turns tomato plants to salsa, and which Denver is quite capable of...

My internet connection is much improved, but still acts up from time to time. Qwest sent a repairman out yesterday, who checked everything thoroughly but couldn't find the problem, as of course everything was fine while he was here... One theory is that it might be the phone interacting badly with the modem; guess I'll pick up a new one by and by and see if it helps...

Back to work now!

-GRG

Still here...

I was offline most of the past week due to modem problems. The good news is that I got quite a bit of writing done - about a chapter and a half, and still going. The story's moving much better now since I got past the problems of integrating the historical bits around Tara...

The garden's doing well, too--got to get some more pictures up soon. A lot of the corn and beans are up now - I'll do a little fill in planting tomorrow. And the roses have started blooming.

Back to work...

-GRG