Madam Paddy Cat has settled in well here in Taunusstein, but while I was in Iran, she developed a trick which we are now struggling to get her to stop. She wakes up at around 05.00 and demands her breakfast. Loudly. Persistently and without let-up until someone surrenders.
As Mausi has to get up anyway at 06.00 we could do without this morning battle of wills, something my son found he faced when he was looking after Madam before we came to Germany. As he put it, on the morning she 'decorated' his duvet with what he calls a 'technicolour yawn', forcing him to race to the washing machine and, in ambush, step into a deposit she had made earlier, he realised that he had underestimated his enemy. She has learned quickly that, at the first strident "Miaaaow!" my instant reaction is to swipe at her with my pillow. So, she hides behind Mausi, only sticking her head 'over the parapet to repeat her 'Miaaow' in response.
Now that she has discovered that Mausi won't play ball either, she hides just outside the bedroom door and sqwarks around the edge. My sock missiles have the effect of silencing her for perhaps five minutes, but just as you are drifting back into that precious last hour's sleep - "Miaaaow!" erupts to shatter the moment.
My sock bombs don't always find the target, my 'aim off' doesn't always get the right ricochet, but we are at least getting to the point where Madam has learned that if she waits for the radio alarm to come on - she gets fed. It's taking a while and sometimes we 'forget' and don't wait for the alarm. The Battle of Wills continues unabated...
I'd love to know what got it into her tiny mind that waking her people up at 05.00 to give her breakfast would endear her to any of us...
Saturday, 24 July 2010
Friday, 23 July 2010
Fingers crossed...
I received a response from a publisher yesterday, requesting that I send them the full manuscript of the novel I have written on the life of St Patrick. This morning I sent them the whole thing in an electronic file, as requested.
Now follows the anxious wait while they read it, dissect it and ask their marketing people if they can sell it. I'll just keep praying I think, chewing finger nails isn't quite my thing. Besides, I've been here before with my other books - only to be brought down to earth with a resounding crash. So, if anyone knows any ways to guarantee acceptance - let me know...
Hopefully the good Saint will himself be pressing the editor...
Now follows the anxious wait while they read it, dissect it and ask their marketing people if they can sell it. I'll just keep praying I think, chewing finger nails isn't quite my thing. Besides, I've been here before with my other books - only to be brought down to earth with a resounding crash. So, if anyone knows any ways to guarantee acceptance - let me know...
Hopefully the good Saint will himself be pressing the editor...
Thursday, 22 July 2010
Images of Conflict
The Postulant and the Monk have been exchanging emails on the subject of the images the media love to promote always painting the military in Iraq or Afghanistan as brutal killers attacking innocents and causing the probelms there. The image that started this discussion can be found here.
As I pointed out, I cannot see a member of the Taliban or an "Insurgent" in Iraq showing the same care for an injured child. Both would be more likely to strap a bomb to the child in the belief that this somehow "serves Islam." The Postulant makes this point extremely well in her reply.
I was thinking about that this morning – there are people in all areas of life who are so determined to hate a person or particular group of people for a perceived wrong, that they’re impossible to negotiate with and will even hurt themselves in their quest to make the other party pay. The only way to change their perceptions is to hang back and wait for them to see the light, which takes a frustratingly long time with so many people profiting from spreading fear and distrust. Imams have too much to gain from hatred in the middle east, political agitators the world over have too much to gain from promoting their own pet causes. I even saw it recently in people who work for charities – all of them believe that their particular cause is the most worthy cause and anyone who disagrees is subhuman and not worthy of even the most basic respect. It’s a form of hysteria! The only way the world can improve is if the majority learn to take a step back from the emotional maelstrom that their manipulators operate in and calmly evaluate things for themselves.
Sadly, as I have replied to her, most of us are too lazy to check what we are being fed and too innured in the mantra of the left that this form of hysterical promotion of any given 'cause' is "moral" to act sensibly and refuse to go along with it any longer.
As I pointed out, I cannot see a member of the Taliban or an "Insurgent" in Iraq showing the same care for an injured child. Both would be more likely to strap a bomb to the child in the belief that this somehow "serves Islam." The Postulant makes this point extremely well in her reply.
I was thinking about that this morning – there are people in all areas of life who are so determined to hate a person or particular group of people for a perceived wrong, that they’re impossible to negotiate with and will even hurt themselves in their quest to make the other party pay. The only way to change their perceptions is to hang back and wait for them to see the light, which takes a frustratingly long time with so many people profiting from spreading fear and distrust. Imams have too much to gain from hatred in the middle east, political agitators the world over have too much to gain from promoting their own pet causes. I even saw it recently in people who work for charities – all of them believe that their particular cause is the most worthy cause and anyone who disagrees is subhuman and not worthy of even the most basic respect. It’s a form of hysteria! The only way the world can improve is if the majority learn to take a step back from the emotional maelstrom that their manipulators operate in and calmly evaluate things for themselves.
Sadly, as I have replied to her, most of us are too lazy to check what we are being fed and too innured in the mantra of the left that this form of hysterical promotion of any given 'cause' is "moral" to act sensibly and refuse to go along with it any longer.
Wednesday, 21 July 2010
Making slow progress
Studying a new language is full of surprises, some of them pleasant and some of them a little frustrating. My German is making slow progress, partly due to the fact that my learning skills in the anguage department are taking time to get the cobwebs out of the gears and start the wheels turning.
Having said that, my vocabulary is starting to expand, my understanding of the use of "Der/Die/Das" and in the plural of anything "Die" is coming along. So is the declension of verbs which take -e, -st, - en, or -e in the singular (1st, 2nd and 3rd person) and -en, or -t on the end of the word for the plurals. Don't forget the gender, because that can throw a spanner as well. And then there are the preositions...
Oh well, if you want to live in a country that doesn't speak English, you'd better learn the language. It could be worse, we could be trying to master Polish I suppose.
Having said that, my vocabulary is starting to expand, my understanding of the use of "Der/Die/Das" and in the plural of anything "Die" is coming along. So is the declension of verbs which take -e, -st, - en, or -e in the singular (1st, 2nd and 3rd person) and -en, or -t on the end of the word for the plurals. Don't forget the gender, because that can throw a spanner as well. And then there are the preositions...
Oh well, if you want to live in a country that doesn't speak English, you'd better learn the language. It could be worse, we could be trying to master Polish I suppose.
Tuesday, 20 July 2010
Great weather...
A high pressure system sitting over Germany named Beowulf by the weather gurus, has brought us some beautiful days and nights lately. Breakfast this morning on the patio in the fresh coolness was enlivened by Madam Paddy Cat who discovered mice ... She has now spent the morning hunting and though she hasn't caught anything she's certainly stirred up the field mice! I think a few of them are recovering from near coronaries at present.
Well, now the grass has been shaved, though it is looking a little brown in places and desperately needs a couple of days of "soft soaking rain". The storms of a few nights ago have flattened several fields of wheat around us and that is bad news for the farmers concerned as once the wheat lies down, a nasty little fungus called Ergot gets onto it. Ergot is halucinogenic in small doses, poisonous in larger doses. It has now been discovered that the Salem Witch Hunting and probably other Witch Hunts in Europe and the UK was triggered by Ergot infected wheat being used to make flour (The poorer folk in Salem farrmed in marshy conditions that promoted the spread of the Ergot and this probably happened in the Fen Country of the UK as well.). Cooking doesn't kill the toxin, it may actually help concentrate it, so, once baked into the bread ...
Now I'd better get some editing done so the next Harry manuscript can go to the publisher... Salad again for lunch methinks.
Well, now the grass has been shaved, though it is looking a little brown in places and desperately needs a couple of days of "soft soaking rain". The storms of a few nights ago have flattened several fields of wheat around us and that is bad news for the farmers concerned as once the wheat lies down, a nasty little fungus called Ergot gets onto it. Ergot is halucinogenic in small doses, poisonous in larger doses. It has now been discovered that the Salem Witch Hunting and probably other Witch Hunts in Europe and the UK was triggered by Ergot infected wheat being used to make flour (The poorer folk in Salem farrmed in marshy conditions that promoted the spread of the Ergot and this probably happened in the Fen Country of the UK as well.). Cooking doesn't kill the toxin, it may actually help concentrate it, so, once baked into the bread ...
Now I'd better get some editing done so the next Harry manuscript can go to the publisher... Salad again for lunch methinks.
Monday, 19 July 2010
New "Harry Heron" adventure ...
I've decided to publish a new "Harry Heron" adventure through AuthorHouse again having negotiated a very good deal with them. The book is titled "Their Lordships Request..." and sets the scene for the events described in Out of Time. It traces Harry and Ferghal as they join the "new" HMS Spartan and, in parallel, the building of the "new" NECS Vanguard under the command of Captain James Heron, Harry's twelve times great nephew.
HMS Spartan takes Harry and Ferghal, and the Powder Monkey Danny Gunn, on a voyage to Australia and then Java and India. Harry meets the Sultan of Oman and does his bit for diplomacy, and in the two and a half year voyage grows from an eager, but immature twelve year old to a self-confident and relaible fifteen year old. His 'enemy' the bullying Midshipman Barclay, also undergoes a change as they fight storms, insects, sharks and even jellyfish on their journey which leads them to Muscat in time to learn that the Peace of Amiens has broken down.
Captain Heron has to face a number of challenges in preparing his new ship for service, not least being the bureaucrats who persist in trying to "make savings" by compromising on safety and effectiveness. The Vanguard's people overcome these efforts by vigilance and determination, but it also reveals that there is another set of players in the background, with whom a reckoning will soon be required.
HMS Spartan takes Harry and Ferghal, and the Powder Monkey Danny Gunn, on a voyage to Australia and then Java and India. Harry meets the Sultan of Oman and does his bit for diplomacy, and in the two and a half year voyage grows from an eager, but immature twelve year old to a self-confident and relaible fifteen year old. His 'enemy' the bullying Midshipman Barclay, also undergoes a change as they fight storms, insects, sharks and even jellyfish on their journey which leads them to Muscat in time to learn that the Peace of Amiens has broken down.
Captain Heron has to face a number of challenges in preparing his new ship for service, not least being the bureaucrats who persist in trying to "make savings" by compromising on safety and effectiveness. The Vanguard's people overcome these efforts by vigilance and determination, but it also reveals that there is another set of players in the background, with whom a reckoning will soon be required.
Sunday, 18 July 2010
Life explained!!
TWO WOLVES
One evening an old Cherokee told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside people. He said, "My son, the battle is between two wolves inside us all.
"One is Evil - It is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.
"The other is Good - It is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith."
The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather: "Which wolf wins?"
The old Cherokee replied, "The one you feed."
One evening an old Cherokee told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside people. He said, "My son, the battle is between two wolves inside us all.
"One is Evil - It is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.
"The other is Good - It is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith."
The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather: "Which wolf wins?"
The old Cherokee replied, "The one you feed."
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