up from the depths
Sep. 23rd, 2009 10:47 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ewein2412No, nothing dire has happened to me. Between March and September we had a very steady stream of guests—never more than ten days between them—and then of course we were in PA all of July, with limited internet access. So, just very busy. Also, getting a lot of work done—some work-for-hire, as well as the POLISHED and severely chopped (but still 101,000 words) ms. of The Sword Dance. Which I have now dared to send to my editor.
I finished that up on Friday, and now am hoping to have a bit of a lull. We are going to plant some apple trees.
Sara has been installed at Imperial Academy for the last month and is working hard. Actually, it is hard not to draw parallels to Hogwarts—the setting is incredibly beautiful, as the school is ringed by moor and mountain, and the buildings are all very sweepingly Victorian Gothic. Sara is not going out for quiddich, nor for the school's PIPE BAND (that's pipe as in bagpipe), who perform at local flying shows and the Edinburgh Tattoo, in full regalia.
sara in uniform, first day of school
(hmm, I notice looking at this picture how BIG her blazer is!)
What she has joined so far is the riding club, the kayaking club (which they practice in their itty bitty ancient swimming pool—the poor thing got lost trying to find it on the first day because the building is labelled "BATHS" not "Pool"), and the "French Cinema Club." This last just cracks me up: I picture a smoke-filled room full of twelve-year-olds in black berets. So far they have watched a live-action Asterix film.
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In bird world, the ospreys have all buggered off back to Africa. The chicks from the RSPB site at Loch Garten have been radio-tagged, and if you are as obsessed as me you can follow their migration progress here:
http://www.rspb.org.uk/wildlife/tracking/lochgartenospreys/index.asp
I managed to watch the first chick fledge at Loch of the Lowes remotely from Pennsylvania and an hour later my wireless link packed up. I picked up the wildlife center's blog post the next day via my niece's Wii link, but she couldn't get the webcam pics, and I wept to think that it would be three more weeks before I got back to Scotland and could see them again. After four visits to the local Staples, each a 15 mile round trip from my grandmother's house, I finally got my laptop functional again in time to catch the second chick make its virgin flight.
But then my uncle took me osprey-spotting in his little boat in Great Egg Harbor Bay in New Jersey, and, well, my wounded spirit was mended. I actually lost count of the ospreys we saw. Lots of families sitting on nests, clearly females with not-quite-fledged chicks, with the male nearby (the nests are all on purpose-built pole platforms). The best view was of a male, female and 2 chicks all perched together and honestly no more than thirty feet away from us. The last one we saw was a male perched on a pole and clutching a gigantic fish—his family was on a nest rather further away kicking up a racket—and he flew over our heads and across the bay carrying the fish. They shift the fish round in their talons to head into the wind to reduce drag as they fly!
pictures by my uncle Craig... note bloody fish!
Well, I will stop there before I get too twitchery. The Raptor Show continues in our front garden, as we recently got to watch a female sparrowhawk devour a woodpigeon AS BIG AS HERSELF right outside the study window.
I finished that up on Friday, and now am hoping to have a bit of a lull. We are going to plant some apple trees.
Sara has been installed at Imperial Academy for the last month and is working hard. Actually, it is hard not to draw parallels to Hogwarts—the setting is incredibly beautiful, as the school is ringed by moor and mountain, and the buildings are all very sweepingly Victorian Gothic. Sara is not going out for quiddich, nor for the school's PIPE BAND (that's pipe as in bagpipe), who perform at local flying shows and the Edinburgh Tattoo, in full regalia.
sara in uniform, first day of school
(hmm, I notice looking at this picture how BIG her blazer is!)
What she has joined so far is the riding club, the kayaking club (which they practice in their itty bitty ancient swimming pool—the poor thing got lost trying to find it on the first day because the building is labelled "BATHS" not "Pool"), and the "French Cinema Club." This last just cracks me up: I picture a smoke-filled room full of twelve-year-olds in black berets. So far they have watched a live-action Asterix film.
-----------------
In bird world, the ospreys have all buggered off back to Africa. The chicks from the RSPB site at Loch Garten have been radio-tagged, and if you are as obsessed as me you can follow their migration progress here:
http://www.rspb.org.uk/wildlife/tracking/lochgartenospreys/index.asp
I managed to watch the first chick fledge at Loch of the Lowes remotely from Pennsylvania and an hour later my wireless link packed up. I picked up the wildlife center's blog post the next day via my niece's Wii link, but she couldn't get the webcam pics, and I wept to think that it would be three more weeks before I got back to Scotland and could see them again. After four visits to the local Staples, each a 15 mile round trip from my grandmother's house, I finally got my laptop functional again in time to catch the second chick make its virgin flight.
But then my uncle took me osprey-spotting in his little boat in Great Egg Harbor Bay in New Jersey, and, well, my wounded spirit was mended. I actually lost count of the ospreys we saw. Lots of families sitting on nests, clearly females with not-quite-fledged chicks, with the male nearby (the nests are all on purpose-built pole platforms). The best view was of a male, female and 2 chicks all perched together and honestly no more than thirty feet away from us. The last one we saw was a male perched on a pole and clutching a gigantic fish—his family was on a nest rather further away kicking up a racket—and he flew over our heads and across the bay carrying the fish. They shift the fish round in their talons to head into the wind to reduce drag as they fly!
pictures by my uncle Craig... note bloody fish!
Well, I will stop there before I get too twitchery. The Raptor Show continues in our front garden, as we recently got to watch a female sparrowhawk devour a woodpigeon AS BIG AS HERSELF right outside the study window.
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Tanita Says :)
Date: 2009-09-23 10:58 am (UTC)Didn't know you went to the U.S. this summer! We're going home in December, so we'll have to see if there's anything you guys need when next we finally get together!
Sara's jacket is MASSIVE, but she looks so very pleased with herself that your eyes skip past the dragging sleeves to that bright smile! I can't wait to hear what she thinks about her FILM COURSE. That gives me a giggle, all right. Hope we'll get out to see The Raptor Show before the weather decomposes completely. Next month we're going to the Enchanted Forest show in Pitlochry at some point; perhaps we'll get together then.
Cheers!
Re: Tanita Says :)
Date: 2009-09-23 11:12 am (UTC)we are goign to the US again in February. I have *already* got the tickets. I just can't stand to wait a whole year to see Gramma again!
Thank you for mentioning the Enchanted Forest--we missed it last year and I promised one of our neighbors that we'd take her this year. must get tickets! It's on my List now.
no subject
Date: 2009-09-23 01:47 pm (UTC)And I look forward to that book, oh yes I do.
no subject
Date: 2009-09-23 02:08 pm (UTC)If only it weren't so darn DARK all winter long!
it's a good book. ner.
no subject
Date: 2009-09-23 02:01 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-09-23 02:09 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-09-23 05:01 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-09-23 05:04 pm (UTC)(this from the woman who resented all her entire childhood that she NEVER owned a pair of white ice skates because she was ALWAYS expected to pass them on to her little brother when she outgrew them)
no subject
Date: 2009-09-23 05:08 pm (UTC)(He'll be talking about this years from now....)
no subject
Date: 2009-09-23 02:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-09-24 02:32 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-09-25 04:04 pm (UTC)p.s. bwahahaha i love your icon XD
no subject
Date: 2009-09-23 03:31 pm (UTC)I always like the idea of watching French films to be more enjoyable than actually watching them (usually).
So glad to hear that The Sword Dance is done! It never occurred to me until I read your comments above that it might not be published. Is that a real possibility, or just paranoia?
no subject
Date: 2009-09-23 04:58 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-09-24 12:47 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-09-24 03:30 am (UTC)Yay!
Also, hello. And happy autumn.
no subject
Date: 2009-09-24 02:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-09-24 04:24 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-09-24 02:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-09-29 01:26 am (UTC)p.s. i luv that word squee!
no subject
Date: 2009-10-02 12:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-02 03:22 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-02 05:29 pm (UTC)Sammy
Date: 2009-10-04 12:21 am (UTC)happy belated birthday!!!!!!!! from anonymus fangirl
Date: 2009-10-04 03:08 pm (UTC)well, ill leave u alone now. p.s. the girl pronounced medraut as med-rot. haha.
hi!!!!!
Date: 2009-10-04 08:03 pm (UTC)Re: hi!!!!!
Date: 2009-10-22 06:21 pm (UTC)I don't mind at all you friending me. The more the merrier.
Re: hi!!!!!
Date: 2009-10-22 06:25 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-06 05:25 pm (UTC)Have you decided on the varieties of apple trees?
no subject
Date: 2009-10-22 06:24 pm (UTC)We have got room for five, maybe six, and they are replacing a line of ornamental junipers that used to march up the front lawn, so they are going to have to be pretty in addition to being functional.
no subject
Date: 2009-10-22 10:12 pm (UTC)