Image by M J from Pixabay The picture above is a reasonable likeness of Daisy, my family’s newest addition. As you probably know by now, I treasure my canine companions. My border collie, Haley, is a two year old delight, while our German Shepherd pup is, to be charitable, very amusing. That’s not to say she is dumb. Not at all; in fact, the animal is a genius at finding new and original ways of breaking the rules. To tell the truth, I…
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,…
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…
Image by Clker-Free-Vector-Images from Pixabay Of all the specific themes we have for the Glimmer of Gold blog, I find Miscellaneous Monday the most difficult to create. Tuesday Tunes are easy, because my love of music is not limited to a few specific genres. I appreciate the power and majesty of Handel’s Messiah, pretty much all of Beethoven’s symphonies, Clair de Lune, and many others. I enjoy a few operas and ballets, Swan Lake especially. Fifties and sixties country is a particular favorite,…
I’m finally making progress on my Hidden Desires rewrite. The process is slow and a bit painful, as my source material has more than a few shortcomings. To confess, when I wrote the novel I suffered from an excess of hubris and actually thought my story was well constructed. For those who read that first edition, I apologize and offer the completed, although unedited, first chapter. Although fairly long, it provides the setting and sets the mood for the remainder of…
I considered making this post about computer trivia, but decided to start instead with printing. After all, I am in the business of publishing novels and the printed word arrived long before Kindle. I found many of the facts listed below on a website called Printing Impressions. https://www.piworld.com/article/unusual-historical-facts-printing-industry/ Although Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press, he did not invent printing itself. That distinction goes to Chinese monks, who used pieces of wood dipped in ink to print scrolls, five hundred…
I have been working on a novel since April, and I can finally see the light at the end of this particular tunnel. “If Not For the Entail” is my best composition yet, if you believe those who have read it through to the end. The plot revolves around Elizabeth Bennet’s efforts to save the family estate from a fraudulent ownership claim. I sent the manuscript to the editor today, and I plan on publishing somewhere around the third week…
Today is Heritage Day here in sunny Alberta, Canada. Although this is not a national holiday, the first Monday in August is a provincial holiday in most of Canada’s ten provinces. The name of the day varies from one province to another, but the day off is a welcome diversion as we pass through the end of the dog days of summer. We had some hot days between 38 and 43 Celsius (100 to 110 Fahrenheit), but it’s cooler now….
Today was Victoria Day here in Canada, or as I and my high school friends always called it, May Two-Four. It was named in honor of England’s Queen Victoria and has been observed in this country since 1845, originally on her birthday, which was May 24, hence the nickname, although now it is always on the Monday immediately preceding May 25. The holiday is a federal statutory holiday, as well as a holiday in six of the country’s 10 provinces…
Rather than lament the paucity of true comedy these days, I decided to treat myself, and everyone reading this, to the comedy gold of Tim Conway and Harvey Korman, two of the funniest actors of the seventies. They were regulars on the Carol Burnett show, a program I watched every week without fail. The entire program was full of laughs, but in my opinion the best sketches were the ones featuring the two of them. When the segment began, I…