Jessica Knauss's Blog, page 53

SSS: Smoldering Coals

Take the ribbon out of the picture and wipe the smiles off their faces for a better idea of what's going on in this snippet. 
Thanks for all the compliments over the past couple of weeks. I'm so happy to be able to share these sentences with you! These take place just after last week's six from The Seven Noble Knights of Lara .

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Young Gonzalo surged forward from the crowd of brothers and knelt before Lambra. "I'm especially sorry. Can you ever forgive me?" He took her hand and kissed it deferentially.            Doña Lambra pulled away: the touch burned her like smoldering coals. She had not chosen him to be her nephew any more than she had wanted to marry. 

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It was really hard to keep this to just six sentences. Lambra's head is an interesting place to be for me, and I hope for you, too. Check out all the sentences at SixSunday.com.

Arizona Centennial Celebration XI

Lovers of history will also find much to appreciate in Arizona. Long before it was a State, it was part of Mexico and the Spanish established presidios and missions. The picture is of some reenactors in front of walls and ceilings made of ocotillo at Tubac Presidio.

Arizona Centennial Celebration X

I imagine anyone who read my blog loves books. Arizona has one of the most exciting events in the country each March: The Tucson Festival of Books. It's enormous, with hundreds of exhibitors and authors, food, theatre, music, and acrobatics, and about 100,000 visitors. I'll be participating this March even more intensely than last year.

Arizona Centennial Celebration IX

The most exciting museum in the world is located near Phoenix, Arizona: The Musical Instrument Museum. As you browse the different halls, you hear recordings of the instruments you're looking at, and they include instruments from all over the world, leaving no rebec unturned. They also have a hands-on hall where you can try your hand at a variety of instruments. For anyone who likes music, it's hard to imagine a more fun museum.

SSS: Concern for Lambra's Wellbeing

Thanks for the enthusiasm last week! This is the part in The Seven Noble Knights of Lara after the inciting incident that could be pretty dull if not written properly. I'm hugely thankful for your feedback and comments! This segment follows on directly after last week's.

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Doña Lambra's muscles tensed when doña Sancha and her sons appeared with their tutor Muño Salido, approaching in a procession that recalled the funeral of the day before. Lambra focused her energy on wiping away new tears and twisting her braid in her hand as she waited for them to arrive. Doña Sancha stayed several paces away and the men all stayed behind her. Lambra set her jaw, thinking that any normal person would have come up and clasped her hands in concern for her wellbeing."We're here to express our condolences once again," Sancha said across the space between them. The young knights and their tutor made sweeping bows. 

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Hmm... is all forgiven, or not? Check out the other great sentences at Six Sentence Sunday. Thanks for stopping by!

Arizona Centennial Celebration VIII

An unexpected delight takes place in Arizona each Christmas season: Winterhaven, a neighborhood of Tucson, becomes a lighting wonderland. The best display ever was a whole zoo of animals celebrating the holidays! Of course I loved the rhino most of all.

Arizona Centennial Celebration VII

I had no idea this amazing monument existed before we passed it on the highway. Casa Grande (looking less than grand in the pic because of a roof meant to halt deterioration of the adobe) was constructed by the Hohokam people. They are believed to be the ancestors of Arizona's native tribes.

Arizona Centennial Celebration VI

More natural wonder: as well as valleys, Arizona has mountains. When you go up Mt. Lemmon near Tucson, you can pass though four or five climates/ecosystems in the space of an hour.
Yes, these two pictures are from the same mountain! 

SSS: The Party's Over

The bank of the Arlanzón River in 2005, more than 1000 years after the events in this novel.Thanks so much for the comments and visits last week! I enjoyed your snippets, too!

Although the wedding celebrations were expected to continue for several more weeks, the tragic events in Chapter 5 of The Seven Noble Knights of Lara have called everything to a halt. This segment comes a few sentences after last week's.

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When doña Lambra was ready, they left the tent. Justa went to fetch the other maidens and her lady looked down the riverbank. For five weeks it had been festooned with tents and banners and people in all manner of occupations. Now, the multitudes that had arrived in Burgos with such pomp for the wedding festivities had quietly dispersed over the last three days, returning to their own lands. Each morning a few more of the man-made features had disappeared, until finally the entire bank was plucked bald. All that remained as evidence of the merriment was a lamentable groove in the dust where men and horses had proven their worth against a wooden castle. 

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Don't forget to check out all the other wonderful sentences at Six Sentence Sunday. Thanks so much for stopping by and helping inspire me as I try to finish this novel.

Arizona Centennial Celebration V

The most famous thing about Arizona is cactus. One of the most wonderful things about it is that these scrappy plants, built to survive under the harshest heat conditions, defending themselves with painful swords all along their skins, also blossom at least once a year into a thing of ineffable beauty.

Prickly pear (nopal) with red bloom.See this and many other wonders in the original post.