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Category: Colin Rowland

Something a little more hard-core than usual.

Something a little more hard-core than usual.

Photo by Cas Holmes on Unsplash As I’ve said before, my taste in music is fairly wide- ranging. I love classical, jazz, sixties rock, early country, etc. Two of my favorite songs are “Classical Gas” by Mason Williams, and “Take Five” by Dave Brubeck. I did my best to expose all four of my children to a wide range of music, deciding before my first was born that it was in their own best interests not to limit what they heard. As it…

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What’s up Wednesday? An excerpt.

What’s up Wednesday? An excerpt.

Image by Amy Art-Dreams from Pixabay I don’t know about anybody else, but it seems I have been working on this story forever. I originally expected to publish in January, but various delays, not the least of which is my own laziness, have slowed me to a crawl. Every time I get going, something happens to pull me away from the computer. Once I start writing, I had better not quit, because I know the chances of returning to the manuscript that day…

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Trivia Thursday-Lesser Known World Firsts

Trivia Thursday-Lesser Known World Firsts

Image by Pete Linforth from Pixabay I want to apologize for my tardiness in posting this a day late; I completely forgot about it until this afternoon. But never fear, in honor of a belated Trivia Thursday, I present some lesser known firsts, in no particular order: First Computer Programmer: Ada Lovelace, often credited as the world’s first computer programmer, wrote an algorithm for Charles Babbage’s Analytical Engine in the mid-19th century. First Female Film Director: Alice Guy-Blaché, a French filmmaker, is believed…

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Funny Friday – The Great Dane

Funny Friday – The Great Dane

Photo from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victor_Borge To be honest, today’s blog would fit equally well for either Funny Friday or Tuesday Tunes. My subject today is the inimitable Victor Borge, also known as “The Clown Prince of Denmark” and “The Unmelancholy Dane”. I remember crowding around the television to watch him on The Ed Sullivan Show whenever he was scheduled to appear. His routine, that of a bumbling and confused musician of limited talent, always brought plenty of laughs as he fumbled his…

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Man’s (and dog’s) best friend

Man’s (and dog’s) best friend

Meet the newest member of my family, Daisy. She is a four-month-old German Shepherd, we adopted on Saturday as a playmate for my two-year-old Border Collie, Haley. I wanted to post a picture of her sitting, but couldn’t get her to stay still long enough. I happened to mention, totally in passing, that Haley needed someone to play with, because she was wearing me out. Don’t misunderstand, I love her, but she only has two speed- overdrive and off. Unfortunately,…

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More Regency Trivia

More Regency Trivia

Photo by Ben White on Unsplash In my January post I mentioned the possibility of following up with more Regency era trivia. To be honest, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to go any further, but I have to confess that some of the things I’ve found are begging me to share them with you. Here, in no special order, are more bits of fact, and a little bit of fancy. As before, this information can be found at https://www.thevintagenews.com/2022/06/30/regency-era-facts/ Caricatures were popular,…

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Spring-The best season of the year

Spring-The best season of the year

Image by Nicky ❤️🌿🐞🌿❤️ from Pixabay “Spring is sprung, the grass is riz. I wonder where the flowers is?” That silly children’s rhyme is running through my head, as it always does this time of year. With the season’s official arrival last night, I wanted to extol its virtues. Spring is my favorite season, followed by autumn and summer. Winter? That accursed time of year follows a distant fourth. Although I love the warmer weather and freedom that temperatures above freezing bring, what…

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Progress- Sort of

Progress- Sort of

Image by Azmi Talib from Pixabay A number of months ago, I mentioned that I had embarked on rewriting one of my early books, Hidden Desires. In a massive case of misplaced hubris, I foolishly claimed I could have it ready before Christmas. In case any of you haven’t noticed, I missed. By a lot. It is now mid-March, and I am less than half of the way through. The further I have gotten into this manuscript, the more changes I’ve made to…

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The challenge of historical fiction

The challenge of historical fiction

Image by Mystic Art Design from Pixabay As an author, my genre is Historical Romantic Fiction, specifically Pride & Prejudice variations. As I’ve said in previous posts, I went through a steep learning curve, which is only now levelling off, to a certain degree. I confess to suffering some envy regarding my brother Jann’s apparent ease when it comes to crafting stories. Of course, he’s been writing professionally for more than a decade, while I six years under my belt. Unfortunately, cancer and…

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Welcome to The Dead South

Welcome to The Dead South

Image from https://www.inyourpocket.com/krakow/the-dead-south_24759e Meet The Dead South, a folk-bluegrass band from my hometown. My son sent me the link to this song without telling me about the band, but the majority of  video was obviously shot in and around Regina, Saskatchewan. That got me curious, so I had to find out what was going on. They formed in 2012 and have been together, for the most part, since then. Take a listen to this, it is well worth a few…

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