Friday,...

Cooler weather yesterday, which was nice. I'm making good progress on the new book, and have set up a page here for information about it. I'll add new bits from time to time. In the meantime the harvest goes on:



Back to work!

-GRG

Wednesday...

Wednesday already! I've been busy with the book the last couple of days - over 1,000 words a day, which is fast for me. Now if I can just keep it up... Weather's still warm - too warm for this time of year, though not setting records. I picked the three remaining ripe pumpkins today lest the squirrels get them; the three younger ones are changing color, so may have time to ripen fully if the weather holds.



Back to work now...

-GRG

Monday...

The new book is coming along slowly. Title still seems to be a bit uncertain - I may use something other than "The Druid's Son" after all, and leave that one for Gwernin... Got a little writing done over the weekend, in and around other things.

The finches are busy with the sunflower seeds now, but one took a little time out yesterday to take a bath:



Weather's still warm and dry - I actually am getting zucchini again, although they're growing slower. Still, the longer before serious frost, the more beans will mature, not to mention the last three pumpkins which are only now starting to change color.

Speaking of changing, I'll be changing the template on this blog soon, but wanted to tinker with it a bit first to give people a warning - I hate going to sites which are suddenly completely different!

Back to work now...

-GRG

Changes coming...

I'm thinking of redesigning the look of this blog somewhat. I'll start gradually, though, so as not to create too much confusion...

Friday...

An early post, since I'll be busy today. Yesterday morning we had our first frost. This is relatively late for Denver, where we often get a hard garden-destroying freeze in early September followed by another month of irritatingly mild weather. Yesterday's frost was light - I had a small amount in the coldest spot in my yard, but saw frost in some other open spaces and on roofs while I was taking my dawn walk. No damage to the garden, and I had protected the eggplant/pepper bed with plastic just in case. The reading by my back door was 34 F.

Managed to get some more writing done on the new book the last couple of evenings. I've got to get more regular about this. I don't find it easy to start a passage - rather like diving into cold water - and will do all sorts of things to put it off (like blogging!). Once written, on the other hand, editing is easy. I'm also doing this one without an outline, another departure from past practice. Things come as they come. I like the results so far.

The autumn clematis is in full bloom, and smells wonderful:



Back to work...

-GRG

Wednesday...

Busy with a wood-working project the last couple of days. It's good for thinking, though. Should be able to get some more writing done now.

Rowan berries are very red now:



That's all today.

-GRG

Monday...

More fine autumn weather. We celebrated Harvest with SBGH Saturday, and I sacrificed a pumpkin for a pork and pumpkin casserole:



The 17th seemed a little early for the equinox celebration, but I think there were scheduling conflicts. We'll have our own celebration Friday.

The new book is coming along fairly well. Unlike the Gwernin stories it's third person narration and not planned out ahead of time in any detail. We'll see how it works. If it comes out well I'm hopeful it will make a good entry point into the series for people who haven't read the earlier books.

The asters are blooming, and the bees are going crazy:



Back to work now...

-GRG

Friday...

And a cool autumn morning (40 deg. F. by my back door at dawn). Lots of dew on top of last night's showers, so nice and damp - good for photography, too:



This morning I harvested my first pumpkin. It's going into the pot along with some pork and other good stuff for tomorrow's feast.

Back to work...

-GRG

Wednesday...

...and the weather is changing. It was clear at dawn, but now the clouds have moved in, and the forecast is colder and wet. No frost likely here yet, but the snow level may be down to 10,000 feet in the mountains tonight, which means Mt. Evans will have a new white hat in the morning.

I've been involved in a lot of miscellaneous activities the last couple of days, but now it's time to get back to writing. One more picture from Estes Park before I go:



Now, back to work...

-GRG

Tuesday...

I meant to put the book review I did for Sharon Penman's new book Lionheart up on the blog, though I did link to it on LibraryThing. Anyway, as the book release date is coming up soon (4 October according to Amazon), I thought I'd post it here as well. So here goes...
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Lionheart by Sharon Kay Penman.

Covering the period July 1189 through September 1192, this is very much Part I of a two volume book. To say that it traces Richard Lionheart's involvement in the Third Crusade and his marriage to Berengaria of Navarre is too simple a description of a narrative which starts with a three page list of principal characters and stretches in its field of action from northern England to the Holy Land; to say that it includes a cast of thousands is no exaggeration. Penman paints a vast and minutely detailed picture; indeed the depth of detail (and the extensive and impressive research behind it) is both a strength and a weakness of this book.

The first eighty pages sometimes seem to drag as Penman jumps from location to location, viewpoint to viewpoint, in the process of introducing all her principals and providing the necessary thumbnail sketches of their backgrounds. At last, however, the various parties (fated to converge in Sicily) get on the road, and the pace picks up slightly. By the time we reach Cyprus the action is fairly brisk. The rest of the book, located in the Holy Land, mostly holds this pace, although there are some slow sections now and again which deal mainly with the labyrinthine politics of the Crusade, often seeming to take the principals in slow ponderous circles at an enormous cost in blood, treasure, and general suffering.

The conclusion of the book sees Richard's departure from the Holy Land, sailing back to Western Europe to try and salvage his battered empire. History (and Penman's afterword) tells us the fate of most of the principals, but it's partly the future of two minor but appealing invented characters which will lure me back to read the next volume. Overall, an impressive achievement, highly recommended for Penman's fans and those interested in the Angevins and the Third Crusade. Four stars out of five.

This review was written for LibraryThing Early Reviewers.

-G R Grove
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And that's it for today.