I shall post soon. I promise. I swear up on my sword, and on my pipes, and on my fountain pen... and on anything else of any worth, upon which one could swear.
In the meanwhile, I present you with a ridiculously poetic bit of spam, that showed up in my com-box the other day. I can't remember the last time I received such a lovely computer generated comment:
And so i chose to strike them first
so painfully in the wood
I loving freedom and untried
i thus could speak of yarrow
And with that sublimity, ringing in your ears, I leave you all, but to return again soon. Wes þu hal
Yep. That's today. You didn't know such a day existed, did you? Neither did I, until today. And, having made the discovery, I figured that now is the perfect time to do my bit to to halt the sad decline of vocabulary in this degenerate age in which we find ourselves. Here, in no particular order, are 10 fine words, which are useful, colourful, or just plain fun, which deserve to have more wide-spread usage than they currently enjoy:
Yes, yes, I know, it has been a very long time since I posted. I could attempt an explanation, but the long and short of it is that I lack discipline, and these days, I when I woo the Muse, I do so in pursuit of Writing Proper Things. Only the wooing is more like a knock-down, drag-out fight, as my writing skills are pretty tenuous at present, and every words I write has to be wrested and won before I can use it.
However, since it seems rather sad, after so long a silence, merely to present a word-list, beautifully made, though it might be, before disappearing back into the ether, I shall share some of the more memorable occurrences of the recent past:
1.) We had a very windy day a couple days ago. There were times the air was so thick with aspen leave, that it appeared to be raining gold. Aspens smell wonderful in autumn, have you noticed?
2.) The day of wind was followed by a day of rain - not a muchness of rain but a sufficiency, and I saw a very bright rainbow, shining out over the lake, as I was driving to work.
3.) I saw something very remarkable on my walk the last couple mornings. There is a bit of land at the top of a street not very far from here, that is empty of houses, but full of pine trees and grasses, and wild rose bushes. At this time of the year, the rose bushes boast bright orange leaves, and deep red, wine-scented rose-hips, but no blooms to speak of. At least, that is what one would normally expect... except that there is one small pink rose, fully blooming on one of the bushes, and a bit farther on, in another, I glimpsed the bud of another.
4.) The geese are long calling each other these mornings. The sound of them makes me want very much to go on long rambles in the wind, and then come home and be very hobbit-like and domestic, but not terribly much like going to work. The sound also, inevitably, reminds me of this:
And on that note, I shall go off and wrestle for a few more words for my writing. I should love to assure you all that I will become religiously reliable blogger from henceforth, but you all know me better than that by now, so I shall merely say that I am hoping that is the case, and shall do my best to make it so.... but I would not hold my breath if I were you.
I shall start this post with a Public Service Announcement. According to this site here, today is - you guessed it - National Chocolate Chip Day. I will be back in a moment. I feel a sudden, wild urge to celebrate this auspicious occasion....
Ah... Much better....
And now, fortified with chocolate chips (which we all know are really tiny kisses of the best variety) I am tackling the issue of accumulated tags. There are three, and I have put some thought into how to obligingly do the tags, without running into tedious lists of 33 things which my readers might not know about me. Mind! I am fully aware how endlessly fascinating I am, but even I am obliged to admit that 33 random facts might be overly taxing to all but the most obsessive reader - which, I am thankful to say - none of you are. This is a compliment. You are all lovely, and attentive, but not alarming. I appreciate that.
So, why have I not been writing on this blog? Well, I have been feeling rather crafty, and not author-ish. Here are eleven pictures to show just how occupied I have been:
1.) I have been making these origami poppies (with apologies for the quality and the ridiculously wide white frames):
2.) This paper rose, from an old piece of piping sheet music, of which I possessed newer version:
3.) This miniature, hand-stitched Eeyore:
4.) This curious little robot, made from a tooth brush, with a battery and a vibrator. When you twist the wires in the back together, it skitters and twirls all over the place:
5.) This check book cover, made from an old tea box, and duct tape:
6.) These beads:
7.) Which, in turn, were made from the roses and stock in these flowers (once they were past their prime, and with a dash of cocoa powder thrown in to darken them), which were a gift- the first flowers I have ever recieved, and of which I was ridiculously fond:
8.) This rosary, made of the afore mentioned beads.
9.) These books:
10.) This picture, which was originally supposed to be posted on Memorial Day, but obviosly, never made it:
11.) This pie, based of a recipe for Cinnamon Custard Pie, but with chocolate chips in it, because of the day:
It has been many a long year since I have felt this crafty. I am enjoying it rather excessively. Indeed, I am fancying myself something of a craftsman these days. I want to make ALL THE THINGS!
(Oops, I have to work... make SOME OF THE THINGS... and finish the rest when I get home :-)
Yes, I am just a trifle insane. Whatever tipped you off?
So now, on to the questions part of this tag. I shall do Kat's questions first.
1.) If you could choose to be a bug, what kind would you be?
This althetic little creatures looks nice and harmless:
2.) You are given a choice between pizza and chocolate. What do you choose?
Chocolate, of course.
3.) What does Panama make you think of?
Hats :-) .....and origami cranes
4.) Have you ever been so obsessed with a TV show you literally can't
think of anything else for days? Weeks, even? If so, which TV show(s)
are you obsessed with at the mo'?
Yes, but at the moment, I am blessedly free of adictive viewing material.
5.) Do you prefer pens or pencils when writing?
Pens. Fountain Pens. This Pen, to be exact:
Sheaffer Tuckaway
6.) If you could have one superpower talent, what would it be?
Invisibility.... or the ability to create weather.
7.) Do you visualize yourself as an archer or a ninja?
Archer.
8.) Quick! Off the top of your head, what's the ONE THING you can't live without?
Faith.
9.) You're on the run. Would you rather have a.) a hairbrush, or b.) a toothbrush?
Hairbrush, because it is easier to stay incognito if one has a tidy appearance.
10.) Are you a summer or winter person? Why?
Winter. Because I have an extremely low tolerance for heat. And like my winter clothes, and Christmas, and brewing wassail. And I even like driving in the snow.
11.) Do you unashamedly watch cartoons and cry over them? (If yes, high five, sista!)
Yes. Up anyone? That Scene in Tangled? It is a little embarassing though.
And now, Bella's questions, but since she tagged me twice, I am not going to answer all 22 of them. I am doing every other one from each tag, which will make all concerned quite happy, I'm sure:
1.) Do you consider yourself a Nerd or a Geek?
I am a Nerd and I'm not ashamed to say it.
2.) Have you read The Ascendance Trilogy?
Not yet.
3.) What is the first thing you think when you see salt?
Quotes mostly. "If a salt looseth its flavour, wherewith shall it be salted?" or puns, "We're taking this meal with a grain of salt, hardy har har."
4.) Are you a Tolkien Purist?
YES! Our family does not discuss the film version of The Two Towers when I'm around.
5.) Range Rover or Land Rover?
Landie, because they're a bit smaller, and I prefer smaller cars.
6.) What book are you reading RIGHT NOW, and is it good?
I am not reading anything. I'm having trouble finding something decent to read.
7.) Do you like Raisin cookies?
Yes, actually.
8.) Have you ever had Vegan Chocolate?
It sticks in my mind that I attempted to eat some vegan chocolate chips once, and didn't particularly enjoy the experience.
9.) What does it mean to have cat-like tread?
Behold:
10.) Would you go shopping with me dressed as your favorite Avenger?
Do you mean that you are going to dress up as my favourite Avenger, or that I'd have to?
11.) Do you ever wear a robe?
Well... no. I mostly wear shawls... that is, when it is nice enough weather to compell the additional layer of clothing. No shawls during the Dog Days.
Right. So. That's done. I am caught up. I feel good about that - like I have accomplished something. It is novel. Hopefully, the next post will be a bit of writing. I have ambitious story ideas brewing, and have actually started getting some if it down. If the chapter I am working in turns out well, I might post it. I am saying this aloud and in public as a means of getting a move on here.
I'm not sure what to blog about. I have been musing upon the matter. I do have tags queuing up - as in a plethora of tags - but I am not quite ready to be as witty as all that yet. Still, I feel I should give the old space a bit of attention, and so I present the following.... Billy Boyd, directing curiously garbed females on the fine art of acting link hobbits on adventures:
(An... aye. Thes video is responsible fer th' Scots a' th' beginnin'. I couldna help masel'.)
Yeah, my resolution to be a better blogger has gone the way of all such resolutions, and this space continues to languish with neglect. I am going to blame it primarily on summer. It is mostly summer here . I do not like summer. I do not do summer. My toleration for heat is next to nothing. There is some swelling of foot and ankle, dull headaches, sleeplessness, lassitude... I get cranky. I take it out on people. I become a harpy. My family - who inexplicably love me - don't like me much during this time, but hey, neither do I... and I don't like them either, so we're even. I read an article recently, about Seasonal Affective Disorder - which is usually a winter-induced condition. According to the article, however, it can, occasionally, be caused by summer weather. Tempting as it is to say that I suffer from SAD-ness, I am man enough.... woman enough.... adult enough to own that I have a deficiency of self-control, and not excuse myself on the grounds of weather. I'm just saying that it is good to know.
As I said, I am blaming my silence primarily on summer. That is my story and I am sticking to it. Although... there really was a good reason for not posting.... once upon a time.... a long time ago.... back in May. I was on vacation for the first time in a couple years. Life, you know. Sometimes, even if one needs a vacay, it is just not the time for such things.
I went to Scotland, and it was lovely. I stayed here:
It was in a place called Portobello, a Firth-side suburb of Edinburgh. It was removed enough from the city to be very quiet and nice, and yet, if I walked down the road a wee step, there was a train stop, and I could be in the High Street in a mere 5 or 10 minutes. There was a lovely little burn, and a forest walk, just outside my front door. I spent a lot of time wandering there:
The Burn
The Walk
The grass in Scotland is often full of little daisies - sometimes a lawn will be quite white with them. I think these are properly known as Marguerites:
Marguerites
It was also very close to the Firth - only about a mile away, and a nice easy stroll. Sometime, I walked by the water, and watched the storms come in:
The Beach at Portobello
And sometimes, I walked along the red side walk of the Promenade, where there was a place to get Nutella flavoured ice cream! Nutella. Ice. Cream.... I miss that stuff:
The Promenade
Incidentally, the Scots seem to have a rather curious attitude towards springtime: once they decided that it is spring, by golly, it is spring, whether it is still cold enough for a coat or not. People go to the park, and take hikes in the hills. There are food vans about, selling hamburgers and ice cream. Young ladies in strappy sandals pick their way around puddles. Now, this attitudes is actually quite familiar to me, as I live in the mountains, and have observed men outside in a snowstorm, snow-blowing 2 feet of snow out of their driveways, whilst clad in shorts. What surprised me was the number of people in coats, eating ice cream in the rain. At first, I was merely amused, but felt no particular urge to follow their examples. The shear number of ice cream cones walking about, however, began to prey on my mind, and before I had been there many days, I was actively prowling about for a place to get some, and joined the legions of folk, eating ice cream, in un-ice-cream-like weather:
Ice Cream in Princes Street Gardens
I have been to Scotland before, so I didn't do the touristy things, like going to the castle:
I did, however, go for a hike, one bright, and very windy day, up on Arthur's Seat, and the Salisbury Craigs, that are part of the old parkland belonging to the palace:
Salisbury Craigs
Arthur's Seat. There is a fantastic view of everything
from the top, but the wind was so fierce, I thought I might
get blown away, so there are no pictures of it.
It takes a couple hours to walk around the whole area and though it is not really a rigourous hike, there is no denying that it is a good stiff walk. This is the first time in a couple years that I was able to do a good stiff walk, and I enjoyed it exceedingly. I even took a selfie, which is an accomplishment for me, as usually I avoid being on any side of the camera... and I was using a disposable Kodak camera:
Hello there!
I particularly avoid taking selfies, as a general rule. I tend to face a camera as though it were a firing squad - squaring my jaw, and looking it in the eye, and challenging it to do its worst, which it obligingly does. Sisterly advice told me to tuck my chin, and look at the camera from under my eyelashes. Since I was taxed with bringing home pictures of myself in the scenery, and since I would rather crawl into a hole than ask a complete stranger to shoot me with my bright yellow, cardboard camera, I practiced taking my own picture. Sometimes they turned out pretty well:
Mahri - Agent of SHIELD (See my shoulder?)
Taking a Selfie in an old cemetery off the Royal Mile
Sometimes they did not:
I will look happy in this picture, if it kills me
Sometimes, I look confused:
I know that button is around here somewhere... tuck the chin...
look up through the eyelashes....
So mostly, I stuck to pictures of scenery, such as this loch, with a flock of birds circling above it:
Or this building, which I believe is a ruined abbey:
Or this curious bit of graffiti:
Gollum Discovers Facebook
And one day, I Went On An Adventure. I caught a bus in Edinburgh, and took a long, very scenic trip through the Borders, to a place called Innerleithen. I got off near the Post Office, and walked 2 miles of country road to Traquair House - the oldest continually inhabited house in the country.
Outside Traquair House
If one is fond of history - as I am - it is an excellent place to visit. Mary Queen of Scots visited there with her husband, Darnley, and her rosary is kept in the little museum. The family are Catholic, and traditionally Jacobite, and the entire estate is steeped in that history. I had a blast touring the place. There were two libraries, full of the widest range of books, from the philosophers, to popular fiction, and everything in between.
I am demonically pleased to be in your library.
There is a semi-hidden room at the top of the house, where the family's priest would have lived. It was illegal to house a priest, while the Penal Laws were in effect. There is a secret staircase behind the bookshelf in the priest's room.... well, it isn't secret anymore. The bookshelf is opened, and one can escape through the low opening, and down the steep, narrow stairs.
I escape through the secret staircase. Apparently, I have not
grasped the severity of the situation.
Traquair House receives no state funding - or very little at any rate - and they support themselves by means of tours, craft sales, and .... beer making. The beer making is sort of a happy accident, when the old brewery was rediscovered in the 60s. All of the equipment was in perfect working order, so the brewery was restored, and they began brewing their own beer:
There are also the Bear Gates. You cannot get into Traquair House through the original gates - they are locked, and have been locked since Bonnie Prince Charlie went into exile after the Jacobite defeat at Culloden. The Laird of Traquair chained the Bear Gates shut, and vowed they would never be opened again, until a Stewart sat on the throne. And they are locked still:
I was not ready to come home at the end of my trip. I was enjoying myself very much - and, incidentally, eating far too much fish and chips... with malt vinegar, of course. But home I must come, and I think I am finally resigned to being Here and not There.
The Holy Tridium - Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday, are probably my favourite part of the Liturgical Year. The ceremonies proper to this time, are particularly beautiful - an astonishingly glorious mixture of keening grief over the death of the beautiful, strong young hero, and soaring exultation at His victory over death and sin. The antiphons are sheer poetry, the music cuts to the very heart. The great mystery of the Cross becomes beautiful and terrible; both human, and of God.
I mentioned my intention of including more poetry on this blog, and I had several ideas germinating when I said that. I set to work, full of the flame of poetic inspiration. I am out of practice, hwever, and for a while, and I struggled mightily to get the poem down in the shape I saw in the back of my mind. I nearly gave up and considered posting an old composition, but when I woke up this morning, the whole thing suddenly fell into place, and I was able to finish it.
His bitter foes got Him at last
Whose Life they long had sought
They wove for Him a net of lies
Bought His Blood at a traitor's price
Caught Him, and cursed Him, and bound Him fast.
They've had their will of Him at last,
And all His doom so dreadly wrought -
An outlaw's death upon the Rood,
Robed all in His own red Blood,
Bound to a Tree and nailed fast.
Are all good things, then come to naught,
When Goodness is so cheaply bought?
And Nature racks herself for grief,
The best amongst us, a holy thief -
Is lost, now, all for which we fought?
But King He was unto the last,
And Love Himself, Who was loved not.
Now all their weavings are unwound
For Life has lain Its own life down
Defeated Death, and bound him fast.
All lost? - No! Victory here at last -
The fallen World is newly wrought.
The Dragon's reign is at an end
God has made Him one with Men
Called him Comrade, and held him fast.
And, with that, I wish you all most joyous and blessed Easter! May the Risen King keep you close, and send you every grace and happiness.
I am somewhat disconcerted by the frequent lapses into silence which this blog keeps taking. My intention at the first of the year was to be more faithful in updating it - not, mind, because I am under some misapprehension that my readers await with bated breath for the words of wisdom which pour from my fingers, but because I meant to be more disciplined about my writing this year. Obviously. despite good intentions, I am failing miserably. I have let St. Patrick's Day and St. Joseph's Day go past without comment. The 25th of March sneaked past without me remarking it was the day tin which Frodo threw the Ring into Mount Doom, and Sauron was defeated. I have failed to mention the wee green things growing outside my door, more than a month before their time, nor have I waxed gleeful about the late snow storm that almost resigned me to the end of a severely disappointing winter.
I could make excuses. Indeed, for a change, I have quite decent reasons not to be writing.... but I'm not going to use them. I am simply going to say that several long-standing issues that have been weighing on me are finally sorting themselves out - thanks be to God and all His little helpers - and I am far healthier and happier than I have in quite some time. The result is that I am feeling remarkably vigourous; various hobbies that I have neglected have become intensely fascinating; I am exceedingly interested things these days. Unfortunately, blogs - the reading of them, the commenting upon them, and the tending to them - are not amongst the things that are absorbing my attention.
However, though I have not written a word here in darn near a month, I have been considering ye old blog with a discerning sort of an eye. Way back in the day, when I first started here, I had actual plans for the thing. I wanted, for example, to write regular book reviews. I wanted to force myself to write some of those essays, short stories and poems that tend to rattle around the back of my mind until they get old and stale, and no one is interested in them any more. Therefore, my new resolution - in addition to posting with something approaching regularity - is go back to the original intention for this blog, and to write things for it, not merely pass the time with it.
There, now that I have that out there for all the world to see, I feel better. It remains to be seen whether I am faithful to this resolution or not. My past history with bloggy-resolutions does not bode well for it, but we shall see. At the very least, I shall look for funny piping pictures to post, so that things don't get too quiet around here.
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