Robin McKinley's Blog, page 207

Guest blog by Black Bear

Bear on the Move

So as you’ve all no doubt ascertained, I’m on vacation in England right now.  I managed to swing down to wildest Hampshire yesterday for a rendezvous with Hellhounds, Mods, and Handbells.  (Oh yes, and Robin.  Her too.)  As Robin’s already conveyed to you the pure concentrated fun and excitement of handbell ringing (and it really was fun.  Don’t fall for all those dangerous words she uses like “torture” and “agony” and “streams of blood across the floor.”  It’s difficult, and arc

Hell’s bells

or, Another Meeting of the Mods

Dramatis Personae

 

Ajlr

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

          Southdowner

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Blackbear

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

     Hellgoddess

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Horror That Is Handbells

That’s Niall in the middle.  Poor man.  And that’s Niall’s sitting room.  There is not room in any sitting room belonging to me for five people at the same time.

 

 

 

 

Examination of the Mystic Line.  No, no!  See, it goes that way.  Blackbear is wondering if I would notice if she made a bolt for the door.  Yes.

 

 

 

 

See!  We’re smiling!  We’re h

Pupdate – 4 weeks on

from B-Twin

Hard to believe that 4 weeks has come and gone!  And the pups have changed from being rat-like –> guinea pig-like –> puppy-like!

Over the last few days they have discovered sheepskin.  And take great delight in trying to demolish their mother’s bedding.  (Not surprising SHE had been like this as a pup.  Which is why she only got the sheepskin NOW.  LOL)  In fact they make a bee-line straight to it whenever possible!!

So here are a couple of pics (and video) that show how far they have c

Hunger

 

The rest of this week is a Hideous Social Round.  I have a novel to finish, you guys.  Why do people have to go on holiday in the summer?  Why are novels due the ends of summers?  Why is the autumn season the one you want your new novel published in?  Why does it take a year for a book to make it through production and show up in the shops? 

            So I had a friend here for tea.  And I’m plying her with muffins and scones and tea bread and things* and she’s very appreciative and has second

Where do the names come from?

 

When Blogmom took over running my web site too I said grandly that I wanted to read through everything on the old one and would need to rewrite most of it.

        That was over a year ago.  I still want to read through everything on the old site and rewrite most of it. 

        At present the shiny new web site is slick, classy, beautifully illustrated with an assortment of photos of roses, hellhounds, and the occasional bull terrier . . . and remarkably short.   But I seem to be spending my wri

Hand-wringing

 

Life isn’t all beer, skittles, and OBEs.*  Sometimes it’s the Agony of Choosing Floor Coverings.  This is about to be the blog equivalent of looking at somebody’s holiday snaps or Granny’s ‘souvenir from’ thimbles.  Ohhhhhh nooooooooooo. . . . But the nice thing about a blog is that you can click away at any moment, go catch up on your Jeff Dunham**, make a shortcake to go with all those strawberries***, shampoo your eyelashes, dye the cat.  I am not going to feel guilty.  This is my blog.

     

Guest Post by The Hon Peter Malcolm de Brissac Dickinson, FRSL†, OBE

Blog honours 

I’ll try and put a bit of flesh onto the dry bones of yesterday’s post.  Honours get dished out twice a year, once at the New Year and once on the Queen’s birthday.  Except that it isn’t her birthday, it’s George III’s.  When he died in 1820 he’d been king for so long, and his birthday on June 4 was conveniently far from the New Year, that they decided to hang on to it, so Her Majesty also gets to have an almost normal birthday whenever it is, with candles on the cake and the family

Peter Dickinson, OBE

 

 The honours process explained 

Honours are given to people from all walks of life and all sections of society who have made a difference to their community. There are several different types of award, each one recognising a different type of contribution.

The honours system

The British honours system is one of the oldest in the world. It has evolved over 650 years as the country has found alternative means of recognising merit, gallantry and service.

Honours lists are published twice a year at New

Handbells revisited

 

I am once again blind and braindead from PEGASUS* but I did manage to drag myself to tower practise tonight and as my head came up through the trap door the first thing I saw was Niall’s frelling bag of frelling handbells . . . the man never goes anywhere without his handbells**  . . . the blight of my life***.  And it occurred to me that I had meant to squeeze another post out of the handbell wedding. 

               Snips from the original post are in quotation marks.

 

Southdowner writes:

“You k

(almost) midsummer garden

This time of year it’s very hard not to go on and on doing nothing but posting photos.  And more photos.  And even more photos.  And then some more photos after that. *  Trust me, I have plenty of photos. **

Or at least posting photos till Wordpress explodes.  Unless, of course, I explode, because Wordpress is having a night like the night it was having the other night.   We hope not.

 

The jungle I call home.

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is the Baron Girod de l’Ain [sic:  you don't believe me, look her up on the Pe