Actually, I can hardly believe that I've not posted for days. Time has run away with me again and this week has been mainly spent focusing on completing Week 5 of my FutureLearn #FLVirtualRome course which was thoroughly enjoyable. It's now a 'done and dusted' deal with the certificate on the way but I'm sure it won't be the only Ancient Rome research that I do because there's still so much to learn about Ancient Rome. That took care of most of my research reading this past week.
As for my fiction reading for pleasure that continues to be my re-reading of Diana Gabaldon's first 3 'Outlander' novels. I'd forgotten just how long they were back in the early 1990s when I first read them.
After they're finished I've a kindle worth sitting waiting for me - an exaggeration, for sure, but I do have quite a few in my kindle queue. I also have a couple I can't quite access yet, and one of those is The House At Ladywellby Nicola Slade which is on pre-order just now from Amazon. I won't ahve too long to wait, though, since it's being published next week on the 14th of November 2017 by Crooked Cat Books.
It sounds just a tiny bit scary but very intriguing. See what you think from the blurb and the very arresting cover!
Here are the details:
THE HOUSE AT LADYWELL
Nicola Slade
A
hare carved in stone and the scent of flowers in a house full of echoes – can
Freya’s inheritance help her to leave the past behind?
Had
I gone completely crazy that first day? To open the door, take one astonished
look round, and decide on the spot that I would live there?
To
fall in love with a house?’
When Freya Gibson inherits an old, run-down property she has
no idea she is the last in a long line of redoubtable women, including the
Tudor nun who built the house. Unknown to Freya these women, over centuries,
fought with whatever weapons came to hand – deception, endurance, even murder –
to preserve their home and family.
Freya falls in love with the house but her inheritance
includes an enigmatic letter telling her to ‘restore the balance’ of the Lady’s
Well. Besides this, the house seems to be haunted by the scent of flowers.
In the past the
Lady’s Well was a place of healing and Freya soon feels safe and at home, but
she has demons of her own to conquer before she can accept the happiness that
beckons.
My week has been extremely busy writing wise, most of which has been out and about talking about and selling my novels.
On Wed 1st November, I spent a lovely evening with 30+ ladies from the Kinellar SWI who had asked me to give them a talk/ presentation about my novels. They wanted a mixture of my writing background; the novels I've had published to date; and a little bit more about Roman Aberdeenshire- all of which I was delighted to give them along with a PowerPoint presentations of relevant images.
They were an extremely appreciative and intent audience, some of whom asked brilliant questions afterwards. I sold some books and though I live only some 4 miles from the venue, the travelling expenses were welcome.
Friday and Today 3rd and 4th of November, I'm out selling (and signing) my novels at Thainstone Centre Christmas Craft Fair. The durations are Friday 5 hours and today (Saturday) 6 hours, so a longer time away from the keyboard. The weather is fine so we're (the attending crafters) all looking forward to a good turnout. Yesterday evening, the Fair being from 3 p.m. till 8 p.m. we were in competition with the Kintore Bonfire and Fireworks night (only 2 miles away from Thainstone Venue) but today there will hopefully not be any other large event taking away the local custom.
Here's hoping it's a good shopping day because I'm hoping to sell a lot of my stock! Yesterday, and Wednesday evening, the popular one was Topaz Eyes. Updates later...
Today was my turn to post at my regular x 2 per month Writing Wranglers Blog. Since Hallowe'en is now over and I have done a post on Scottish Hallowe'en already for them, I decided to post some interesting facts about Scotland.
Here's a bundle of random facts...
Loch Morar is Scotland’s
deepest loch. As Loch Ness is home to the famous monster Nessie, Morar’s
monster is named Morag. It might be new knowledge that sightings of Morag hit
the headlines well before those of ‘Nessie’! I'd love to see Morag since she's said to be a lot more like a mermaid.
Crappit Heid. They say that Scots are canny with their money
and very practical people who hate wasting anything. I’d say that’s true for
many and I personally hate waste but I wouldn’t go so far as to make and eat
‘Crappit Heid’. I love fish and seafood, eat them frequently but I’m not keen
to try an out of fashion Scottish fish dish of ‘stuffed fish heads’. Like many
other subsistence foods of yesteryear crappit heid is as nutricious as the
other more edible parts of the fish- it was all about inventing a simple recipe
with available staples to make every part of the fish acceptable for eating.
BTW – There is a old Scottish word ‘crap’ which means to stuff or fill hence
crappit heid being stuffed heads. I won’t offend sensibilities here by showing
an image but click this link if you
dare… and see how Crappit Heid looks when ready.
Haggis will soon be available in Canada
after a ban of some 46 years (not sure yet about the US regulations). This is because my
favourite Haggis producer—Macsween of Edinburgh—have produced a recipe that
tastes exactly like traditional haggis but without the banned bits of sheep’s
lung. I love haggis and eat it throughout the year with mashed neeps (orange
turnip/swede) and tatties. A wee dram doesn’t pass my lips because, would you
believe it of me? I don’t like whiskey. However, Scotland also produces some nice
gins!
Wikimedia Commons
The tallest and longest
hedge on earth is said to be a European Beech hedge at Meikleour (A 93
road, Perth and Kinross, Scotland).
It is in the Guiness World Records as being 100 feet high and about 1/3 mile
long. It was planted in 1745 by Jean Mercer and her husband, Robert Murray
Nairne on the Meikleour Estate. Some say it reaches the heavens because Robert
Murray Nairne and the men who planted it, as Jacobite sympathisers, were killed
at the Battle of Culloden. (The hedge is trimmed approx. every ten years and I
totally sympathise with that because I used to hate trimming the beech hedge
that lined my driveway. That was about 9 feet high and took me a whole week of
my school summer holidays!)
Wikimedia Commons
Staying with horticulture: The oldest Yew tree in Scotland is the
‘Fortingall Yew’. Said to be around 5000 years old, there are many tales
associated with the Fortingall Yew and its surroundings. Near Aberfeldy,
Perthshire, it has connections with early Christianity in Scotland. In
1769, the circumference was measured at 52 feet but what remains are the relics
of the original tree. In the field opposite the village of Fortingall
there is an ancient cairn (pile of stones) known as the ‘Cairn of the Dead’.
During the 16th century the Great Plague (Galar Mhor) ravaged Scotland and many
in the area died. Legend has it that an old woman, unmarked by the plague,
carried the plague victims on a horse drawn sledge to a mass grave and placed a
cairn there to mark their resting place.
Skara Brae is the oldest village in Scotland
inhabited around 3100 B.C. It’s the best preserved Neolithic settlement in Western Europe.
Step inside the reconstructed neolithic house and experience what it was like before you wander the ruins of the village.
The shortest scheduled passenger flight in the world is from the
Orkney island of Westray to Papa Westray. Given good weather conditions the flight is
less than ONE MINUTE.
Braveheart was the name given to Robert the Bruce not
William Wallace so in the film ‘Braveheart’ Mel Gibson was using a fair bit of
artistic licence!
There are approximately 790 islands in Scotland but
only c. 130 are inhabited. People pride themselves in Munro bagging across Scotland (climbing
mountains over 3,000 feet) but so far I’ve never heard of anyone ‘bagging
Scottish islands’!
Scotland
may be famous for images of a red stag but the official animal of Scotland is the
unicorn. The unicorn has been a Scottish heraldic symbol since the 12th century,
the coat of Arms seen here the one that was in use from the 12th century
(William I) to King James VI of Scotland 1603. 1603 was the year of the Union
of the Crowns, when King James VI of Scotland
became the ruler of both Scotland
and England.
In 1604 he decreed he’d be known as King of Great Britain. By 1606 he created a
new flag combining the crosses of St. Andrew (Scotland) and St. George (England). It
was named the Union Jack, the ‘Jack’ part being a reference to Jacobus the Latin version of James.
