bell, book and osprey
May. 21st, 2009 09:07 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ewein2412bird talk
those of you who have been paying attention (which means you probably live in Scotland, as there has been quite a bit of media coverage on these ospreys) will know by now that the second chick died on Tuesday--they reckon because it was raining so much over the weekend that the male osprey couldn't see to catch enough fish to feed everybody. The good news is that the third egg hatched on Wednesday morning. I don't know what the fish situation is at the moment but the weather has been better and both chicks look ok.
here they are again
I, you may know, have been watching so obsessively that I *knew* the chick was dying before it actually died, and got a glimpse of the newly hatched one when it was only three hours old. I think I might have to go and volunteer at the osprey center next year. They keep a twenty-four hour watch while the eggs are incubating (because people try to steal them) and they said they had about 70 volunteers.
book talk
Some of you may recall that about a million years ago here I promised a copy of Firebirds Soaring or the paperback edition of The Mark of Solomon (assuming it is issued according to plan) to the person who came up with a new title for it. Nobody really did, and anyway the ultimate decision STILL hasn't been made, but it generated a lot of discussion, continued here, and I have been feeling guilty about not awarding any handouts! So I'm going to arbitrarily name![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
estara and firiel44 as the book winners (which is not to say there won't be another at end of play), because they both contributed a ton of useful suggestions. E-mail me at ewein2412 [AT] yahoo[dot]co[dot]uk to arrange delivery of the goods.
So, The Sword Dance. Too long. Having chopped out all the non-essential scenes I am now making a second pass and chopping out all the non-essential fluff (in the immortal advice of Strunk and White, "Omit Needless Words!"). Oh Mr. Pound.
Here's the latest crop of typos:
"The blook seeped black"
"I give you the kingdom at low coast"
"The fainly murmuring crowd"
And my two personal favourites:
"…wrapped in one of her shapeless British shawls of chequered wood"
and the very mysterious
"…field of smouldering peal furrowshad."
And speaking of peals…
bell talk
(oh, what a segué!) I am ringing a peal tomorrow at the Church of the Holy Rude in Stirling (no lie, that's what it's called). For the uninitiated, a peal is a three-hour non-stop bell ringers' performance. The last peal I rang was nearly eleven years ago, on mini-bells; the last tower bell peal I rang was over eleven years ago. This one is seven methods, so seven patterns to learn, one of which I'm pretty sure I've never even struck blows in. I am SO OUT OF PRACTICE learning bell ringers' methods. They are SO going to regret inviting me.
But tonight we are going to Edinburgh to see part 1 of His Dark Materials. Part 2 is on Sunday. The reviews are a bit mixed. I hope Mark and Tim don't expire.
those of you who have been paying attention (which means you probably live in Scotland, as there has been quite a bit of media coverage on these ospreys) will know by now that the second chick died on Tuesday--they reckon because it was raining so much over the weekend that the male osprey couldn't see to catch enough fish to feed everybody. The good news is that the third egg hatched on Wednesday morning. I don't know what the fish situation is at the moment but the weather has been better and both chicks look ok.
here they are again
I, you may know, have been watching so obsessively that I *knew* the chick was dying before it actually died, and got a glimpse of the newly hatched one when it was only three hours old. I think I might have to go and volunteer at the osprey center next year. They keep a twenty-four hour watch while the eggs are incubating (because people try to steal them) and they said they had about 70 volunteers.
book talk
Some of you may recall that about a million years ago here I promised a copy of Firebirds Soaring or the paperback edition of The Mark of Solomon (assuming it is issued according to plan) to the person who came up with a new title for it. Nobody really did, and anyway the ultimate decision STILL hasn't been made, but it generated a lot of discussion, continued here, and I have been feeling guilty about not awarding any handouts! So I'm going to arbitrarily name
estara and firiel44 as the book winners (which is not to say there won't be another at end of play), because they both contributed a ton of useful suggestions. E-mail me at ewein2412 [AT] yahoo[dot]co[dot]uk to arrange delivery of the goods.So, The Sword Dance. Too long. Having chopped out all the non-essential scenes I am now making a second pass and chopping out all the non-essential fluff (in the immortal advice of Strunk and White, "Omit Needless Words!"). Oh Mr. Pound.
Here's the latest crop of typos:
"The blook seeped black"
"I give you the kingdom at low coast"
"The fainly murmuring crowd"
And my two personal favourites:
"…wrapped in one of her shapeless British shawls of chequered wood"
and the very mysterious
"…field of smouldering peal furrowshad."
And speaking of peals…
bell talk
(oh, what a segué!) I am ringing a peal tomorrow at the Church of the Holy Rude in Stirling (no lie, that's what it's called). For the uninitiated, a peal is a three-hour non-stop bell ringers' performance. The last peal I rang was nearly eleven years ago, on mini-bells; the last tower bell peal I rang was over eleven years ago. This one is seven methods, so seven patterns to learn, one of which I'm pretty sure I've never even struck blows in. I am SO OUT OF PRACTICE learning bell ringers' methods. They are SO going to regret inviting me.
But tonight we are going to Edinburgh to see part 1 of His Dark Materials. Part 2 is on Sunday. The reviews are a bit mixed. I hope Mark and Tim don't expire.