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| Sunday, March 22, 2009 |
| Me and Fah-bulous Fah-bio! |
Getting ready for this year's RT convention, I've been combing through my pix of previous years. I am not sure that I ever posted this anywhere, so here it is.
I was very impressed with Fabio. He not only is a huge supporter of our troops, he has no personal space whatsoever, and talk about nice - he stayed as long as anyone wanted a picture taken with him. The event organizers wanted to speed things up by having two women with him for each photo, and he flat-out refused. What a guy!
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posted by Liddy Midnight @ 6:33 PM  |
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| Wednesday, October 08, 2008 |
| Why athletes can't get real jobs! |
Chicago Cubs outfielder Andre Dawson on being a role model: "I wan all them kids to do what I do, to look up to me. I want all the kids to copulate me."
New Orleans Saints running back George Rogers, when asked about the upcoming season: "I want to rush for 1,000 or 1,500 yards, whichever comes first."
And, upon hearing Joe Jacobi of the 'Skins say: "I'd run over my own mother to win the Super Bowl," Matt Millen of the Raiders said: "To win, I'd run over Joe's Mom, too."
Torrin Polk, University of Houston receiver, on his coach John Jenkins: "He treats us like men. He lets us wear earrings."
Football commentator and former player Joe Theismann, 1996: "Nobody in football should be called a genius. A genius is a guy like Norman Einstein."
Senior basketball player at the University of Pittsburgh: "I'm going to graduate on time, no matter how long it takes."
Bill Peterson, a Florida State football coach: "You guys line up alphabetically by height." And "You guys pair up in groups of three, then line up in a circle."
Boxing promoter Dan Duva on Mike Tyson hooking up again with promoter Don King: "Why would anyone expect him to come out smarter? He went to prison for three years, not Princeton."
Stu Grimson, Chicago Blackhawks left wing, explaining why he keeps a color photo of himself above his locker: "That's so when I forget how to spell my name, I can still find my clothes."
Lou Duva, veteran boxing trainer, on the Spartan training regime of heavyweight Andrew Golota: "He's a guy who gets up at six o'clock in the morning regardless of what time it is."
Chuck Nevitt, North Carolina State basketball player, explaining to Coach Jim Valvano why he appeared nervous at practice: "My sister's expecting a baby, and I don't know if I'm going to be an uncle or an aunt."
Frank Layden, Utah Jazz president, on a former player: "I told him, 'Son, what is it with you? Is it ignorance or apathy?' He said, 'Coach, I don't know and I don't care.'"
Shelby Metcalf, basketball coach at Texas A&M, recounting what he told a player who received four F's and one D: "Son, looks to me like you're spending too much time on one subject."
Oiler coach Bum Phillips when asked by Bob Costas why he takes his wife on all the road trips, Phillips responded: "Because she is too dadgum ugly to kiss good-bye." |
| posted by Liddy Midnight @ 6:48 AM |
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| Wednesday, October 01, 2008 |
| The Raven Halloween Scavenger Hunt 2008! |
Once more, I'm part of the most fun Hallowe'en contest on the web! As always, Michelle and Mandy at The Raven Happy Hour throw one hell of a party.
Happy hunting and have fun finding new fabulous books to read!
Hugs,
Liddy |
| posted by Liddy Midnight @ 7:32 PM |
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| Alignment sites |
 I've been doing some research into alignment sites. In case you're unfamiliar with the term, those are the Neolithic or megalithic prehistoric sites that are constructed so that the either the winter or summer solstice sunrise illuminates the interior.
The most famous of these in Ireland is Newgrange, which I had the great fortune to visit on a short vacation in the summer of 2004. Mistah Midnight was supposed to speak at a conference in Dublin and I went along. I lived in Europe for a year back in the '70s but never got to visit Ireland. To our surprise, although the conference was cancelled a few weeks before we were scheduled to go, the organizer still paid for his plane ticket. Gotta love that! So I had the pleasure of his company for the whole four days. And he got to see all of the sites that I would otherwise have run around and seen without him.
We stayed in Temple Bar, right near the River Liffey and within walking distance from Trinity College, where the Book of Kells is on display. Lovely!
The most important thing for me was to visit a stone circle. Since there are more stone circles in Ireland than anywhere else, it seemed an easy goal.
However, since we didn't want to rent a car and have to drive on the wrong side of the road, we lucked into discovering the bus tour to the Boyne Valley. This includes the Neolithic alignment site of Newgrange, which is surrounded by a stone circle. Woo-hoo! It was awesome, and I mean that in every sense of the word.
The other sites on the tour were Trim Castle (where Braveheart was filmed) and Tara. The hill at Tara is best known for either the stained glass window in the church or the Stone of Destiny.
My favorite place was the Sacred Spring at Tara. It's at the bottom of the hill, below the gift shop. We were the only people from the tour who walked down to it.
There is an iron gate that shields the spring itself from the local livestock, although they have access to the trickling stream that it spawns. Inside, there is a small cavern, with ferns growing above the water. I asked permission from the local spirits before I cupped my hands and drank.
The water was cool and tasted very clean. It should be, cleansed by its trip across the Atlantic and filtered as it is through the bones of warriors up on the Hill! (I spent months exploring the extent of my newfound superpowers. LOL) My only mistake was not to drink more deeply. That gives me a reason to go back.
The bus driver assured us that the water has tested perfectly clean, free of chemicals. But I knew that. LOL
I'll get the pictures up here in the next day or two. The Photo Gallery on my website isn't getting set up as fast as I'd like.
Enjoy the links and learning about alignment sites! I think one of the most fascinating is Newgrange. Amazing that there were no signs of soot from torches or candles or lamps when it was discovered in Victorian times. And the structure is still watertight, after 5,000 years.
 Mistah Midnight thinks that the carvings on the portal stone are the Neolithic version of guys going down to the firehall to play poker and drink beer. The men carved spirals while they gossiped and drank beer. This made them look industrious while they hung out.
What do you think? |
| posted by Liddy Midnight @ 6:41 PM |
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| Getting back into the swing of things |
Gee, I'm horrified to realize that I haven't been blogging at all. I used to blog fairly regularly over at the Moonglade Elite Authors blog, but that site has been having lots of technical problems and hasn't been available for what seems like months.
I need to change that no-blogging thing,s o here I am.
This week, I'm participating in a Book In A Week class directed by April Kihlstrom. If you're a writer and haven't come across the concept, it's an eye-opener.
For one week, you clear the decks, prepare your storyline, gag your internal editor and spend the whole week just writing. No editing, no reading over what you've already written. Every day, just get as many words done as you can. Squeeze it in around meals, family, work, school, whatever. Pen and paper, PC, laptop, Alphasmart, anything you have access to.
The goal is to produce a first draft of a book in the week you set aside for it. Editing can be done later, when the whole story is structured and ready for the meaty work of layering in sufficient emotion, foreshadowing, action and dialogue. Make notes to yourself on index cards or use MSWord's Comments feature, which lets you embed your notes for later research right there, where it's needed.
One thing I've learned this week is that while navigating the obstacles that life throws at me, I forget how magic the cumulative totals can become when even just a little gets written each day. Writing a full page a day, anyone can finish a book in a year. Writing 1,000 words a day, I can finish a novella in a month or four books a year. Not bad!
If you writers ever get a chance to participate in April's workshop, jump at it! You'll increase your productivity for at least that week, you'll learn a lot about how you write, you'll learn about how others write, and you'll have fun.
Hugs,
Liddy |
| posted by Liddy Midnight @ 1:33 PM |
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| Tuesday, May 20, 2008 |
| Charm Bracelets in Brenda Novak's Charity Auction! |
Hey, everyone! This is an opportunity for you to nab one of my loaded charm bracelets and support a great cause.
Every year, Brenda Novak runs an auction to raise money for diabetes research. I have a lot of in-laws who are Type 2 diabetics, and my maternal grandmother developed this in her old age. It's a growing problem for many Americans.
But back to the bling! The auction items are for winner's choice of my themed bracelets. These truly are Not Available in Any Store! I only make them for gifts, prizes and charity auctions.
The Faery Ball charm bracelet is pictured in every auction listing. The Blue Moon bracelet can be found here.
The Black Dragon bracelet can be seen here.
The Elementals bracelet is pictured here.
Enjoy, and please remember that this is a fabulous cause. I expect that someone in your family will be struggling with the challenges of diabetes someday if they aren't now.
The item I want to win is the day spent trailing Kate Duffy around Kensington, learning how books are made. I imagine it's cleaner and neater than sausage. LOL
Hugs,
Liddy |
| posted by Liddy Midnight @ 6:34 PM |
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| Thursday, February 07, 2008 |
| New Review for Call Me Barbarian! |
Wow, after all this time, Joyfully Reviewed has put out a review for Ellora's Cavemen: DREAMS OF THE OASIS 1.
My futuristic story Call Me Barbarian appears in this anthology. Here's what she thinks of my little tale:
"Imagine having not one but two men as your soulmates, and what makes it even sweeter is that they are twins – twice as yummy! This lustful tale is told through a first-person point-of-view, Cedilla's, and takes place during a time when all women were treated as men’s property and when barbarians were only tolerated as gladiators in the Empire society. The ménage a trios interaction between Cedilla, Asterix, and Apostoph was mega hot and erotically passionate. Although somewhat horrible, I really liked how Liddy Midnight concluded this story because it turned out that the Empire needed Cedilla more than they thought – regardless of her half-barbarian heritage."
Of the whole compilation, the reviewer says:
"This collection of Ellora’s Cavemen tales will satisfy any fantasy hunger as it has a variety of stories that range from the erotic paranormal to the naughty menage a trios. Enjoy!"
I love a good review, especailly when it's unexpected. Read the entire thing here.
Hugs,
Liddy |
| posted by Liddy Midnight @ 1:24 PM |
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| Friday, September 21, 2007 |
| Guest Blogger: Adele DuBois |
Love Beneath the Harvest Moon by Adele Dubois
September is the traditional month of change and reorganization. It’s the time we clean up our physical, emotional, and spiritual clutter as we prepare for a new season. For many people September marks the true beginning of the New Year. Children return to school after a long summer break, vacations are over, and our households resume their normal rhythms. This is also a time when we welcome the fall harvest before the dark nights of winter arrive.
The Autumnal Equinox is still celebrated by many cultures worldwide and signals the beginning of autumn in the Northern Hemisphere. Derived from the Latin words aequus (equal) and nox (night), the equinox typically enters between September 22-24 when the sun appears to cross the celestial equator from north to south. This year, September 23, 2007, at 5:51 a.m. EDT marks the exact moment when fall arrives and the astrological calendar enters the sign of Libra. The days and nights will become nearly equal in length, creating balance, as daytime and night both have durations of approximately twelve hours.
The Harvest Moon is the name of the full moon arriving closest to the Autumnal Equinox. In two years out of every three the Harvest Moon rises in September instead of October. The Harvest Moon shines this year on September 26, 2007. No matter where you live in the Northern Hemisphere, the moon will look round and full as it rises in the east around sunset. Farmers will work well into the night to gather their crops as the bright light of the Harvest Moon fills the sky and shines down on the earth.
September also marks the lunar cycle when grapes are traditionally harvested, pressed, and stored to become wine. When the light of the full Harvest Moon, also called the Wine Moon or Fruit Moon, shines bright across half the world on September 26, snuggle close to the one you love and toast the new season with full-bodied glasses of wine or cups of cider. Who could ask for a more romantic setting than love, a good vintage, and a warm blanket spread beneath the glow of a full Harvest Moon?
This article is the original work of Adele Dubois and may not be copied and reposted or reproduced without the courtesy of permission and full credit given to the author. Please visit Adele’s website |
| posted by Liddy Midnight @ 8:03 PM |
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| Monday, August 27, 2007 |
| More Caterpiggles... |
Here are a couple of other pix. I just love watching these little guys grow!
This one's easy to spot, because I turned the plant so it's silhouetted against the shadows between the rocks. When they're small, it's a bit of a hunt to find them at all. (The best way is to look for their black droppings.) . . .
This one's on the stem, where I hope you can see it! . . . . . . . . . . , .
These are a lot bigger than that tiny hatchling I posted the other week. There are a few even bigger ones now, which I'll try to catch a glimpse of tomorrow and photograph for you. They're little eating machines, with nothing to do but eat and grow...the bigger ones are most likely the same ones in these pix.
In preparation for moving - getting a house spruced up to put on the market is a lot of work - some of the milkweed was moved to the side of the house. Curb appeal, you know! Ratty 'weeds' aren't on the list of what prospective buyers look for. These are the ones that popped up after the front garden was last weeded. I may move the smaller plants. When the ones out front are eaten up, I'll carry the caterpillars to the new location. I haven't seen any there yet.
Hugs,
Liddy |
| posted by Liddy Midnight @ 5:16 PM |
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