Did you ever wonder why poor people are called “piss poor?” The saying originates from the practice of using urine to tan animal skins. (Gross, I know!) Families who did this to survive would pee in a pot and sell the full pot to the tannery. I don’t even want to think about how the tannery smelled! Of course, if you were so poor you could not even afford to buy a pot, then you “didn’t have a pot to…
Christmas is past and now we move into that week between Christmas and New Year’s. I don’t know if anyone else feels this way, but this has always seemed like a week in limbo to me, with little happening other than waiting for the year to end. I am also not much of a fan of New Year’s, for I have never seen the movement of one year to the next as anything exceptional. Maybe I am a bit of…
As this will be my last post before Christmas, aside from the final chapter of our serial, I would like to wish you all a Merry Christmas! Whatever creed, religion, or belief system you ascribe to, I hope you have an amazing holiday season and a peaceful and happy New Year. As a final Christmas wish, I’d like to share with you a bit of holiday cheer from my family. The video I have attached below is the full cantata,…
It is strange to say there is little going on just before Christmas, but when it comes to publishing, there is relatively little going on. I am hard at work writing, but my current project will not see the light of day until at least February or March, longer if the audiobook company decides to pick it up. It has a tentative title: No Indignity so Abhorrent. I hope that does not give you too many shivers. While the book does…
On the Austen Authors site, I once did a post about my favorite Christmas songs. I have a few as I can usually not pick one, so with such a variety of songs available, I thought I would do a bit of a redux. I’ve only got a couple here, but I thought it might do for a Christmas post. Consider it a Thursday version of Tuesday Tunes! Mary’s Boy Child Easily my favorite version of this song. The Boney…
The last few days of November are upon us and, with Thanksgiving complete, Christmas preparations are taking over. That’s not to say the shops waited until this week to put up their trees and garland. Heaven forbid! Where I live in Canada, the home improvement stores decorated the trees and started playing carols in late September. My thoughts on this are best summed up in the immortal words of Ebenezer Scrooge: Bah, humbug! Don’t misunderstand, I love Christmas and all…
As an author who writes historical fiction, I try to write in the common vernacular of the time and place my story is set. There are many tools that help authors to do this, and my experience in writing many books has given me a general sense of what is usable and what is not. For anything of which I am uncertain, I can go to resources on the net that will give me a good idea of whether a…
In Canada, they call it Remembrance Day. In the U.S., they call it Veterans’ Day. For both countries (and many other countries), it is simply about honoring those who have served their country and protecting its rights. We would like to take a little time to honor some family members who committed themselves to serving their countries. Lelia My father was in the Army Reserves and could have been called to war, though he was not. He has told me…
It’s my distinct pleasure to introduce you to What’s Up Wednesday, a regular theme day where we post something of our doings, updates, and other items that might be of interest to our readers. Christmas is approaching, and most of the major things that are happening in my life revolve around music and writing. Many times I have referenced my love of music and my activities therein. I am a member of a barbershop quartet group, and we’ll be active…
Tuesday Tunes will be a regular part of our posting repertoire, for here you will find some of the best loved music the world has produced. My blogging partners and I have definitive tastes in music, and while I will not claim any superiority for my tastes (though I think I could make a good case for it ;)), mine will flow in certain directions. While I listen to several genres, I grew up listening to classical, which was a…