Month: December 2016

The Art of Deception 46

The Art of Deception

or Pride and Extreme Prejudice

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This week continues a spy story set in late Georgian England, the year before Trafalgar.  Roderick had just enquired after his valet/chief co-conspirator Thomas in last week’s snip. This week we find out where he is, and a few other things.

“He and his wife are at your townhouse, surely-”

“I came here directly; stayed with Edward Spode last night as we arrived from Bath late in the evening; the poor man is besotted about some blasted female. She disappeared from Bath and we can’t find her.”

Alice suggested, with a hint of laughter in her voice, “Lucinda Haytor?”

“That’s the name; how did you know? Wait, don’t tell me … she’s another agent.”

“I won’t then, she’s a student at Mrs Hudson’s private academy. I gather Mrs Hudson would like her to move on, but not to active service and if Mr Spode is cleared, I can put her in contact with him.”

Roderick turned to Lord Grey, “Any other amateur young women I should know about?”

Now that you’ve read my hackery, please see the talented writers in Weekend Writing Warriors.

My apologies for creative punctuation.

 

Champagne – likely to be consumed about this time – either to celebrate the new or console one to the losses of the old, is widely thought to be a French invention. Thanks to the Treaty of Versailles the name is legally bound to the Champagne region of France – except in the USA which never signed the treaty (so we’re technically still at war with Imperial Germany).

What’s interesting is that Champagne has deep English roots – a Dr Christopher Merret, from Gloucester, published the mechanics of sparkling wine in a 1662 paper to the royal society. It was sparkling cider, not white wine, but Dom Perignon’s “I’m drinking stars” moment shouldn’t have been a big surprise.  (There are reports of sparkling cider and wine going back to the 1630’s in England.)

The modern process of producing champagne in large quantities and with something that resembles reliability is a French invention. So this “We did it first” is a case of sour grapes. None the less, it was the English who first made bottles that were strong enough to safely hold the sparkling wine.

The featured image shows a collection of 18th and 19th century wine bottles from the society for historical archaeology.

Still working on a cover idea – hard even though I’m a dashed good photographer (if I say so myself). That and editing the manuscript to put more description/reaction into it. (not to mention a few thousand words).

Frankenkitty is available.
Frankenkitty What happens when teenagers get to play with Dr Frankenstein’s lab notebooks, a few odd chemicals and a great big whopping coil? Mayhem, and possibly an invitation to the Transylvanian Neuroscience Summer School.

Like poor Cecelia, ” The Curious Profession of Dr Craven” is back from the dead.

I’ve released a sweet regency romance, Miss DeVere Miss_devere_1 This is a fun read.

Get Free Stuff and try out my landing page. There are three free complete short stories (including an ARC for Frankenkitty) available after you’ve gone through the hoops.

The Cranes are Back.

I was worried with the drought that the birds would skip us by. It seems they haven’t.

They were flocking over Lake Weiss this morning. Several small flocks of cranes and a huge flock of pelicans.

The featured image is from last year. More, I hope, this year to come.

The Art of Deception 45

The Art of Deception

or Pride and Extreme Prejudice

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This week continues a spy story set in late Georgian England, the year before Trafalgar.  Alice remained silent last week, even though she had her doubts about the situation. This week ties up a few ends from the the first part of the book with the reappearance of Thomas, Roderick’s trusted valet/man of work/co-conspirator.

“Good, glad to see you agree. … Roderick, your, ah, shipment arrived last month; wise move to send it separately.”

Roderick replied, “Thought it best if they came on a ship from Philadelphia. Good thing, you should have seen Captain Lewis’ face when he searched the packet ship off New York City. Came in on one of their faster ships at full speed, topsails and gallants fluttering, and stopped us on the Lower Bay. Of course, there was nothing to find. Thomas was already on his way.”

“I extracted the goods. Well done, I must add, that codebook and copy of Mr Jefferson’s machine will be most useful, and the F.O. appreciates your copy of the secret agreement about Louisiana and the possibility of using Colonel Burr for our ends. Always best to be one step ahead of the opposition.”

Roderick asked, “Where is Thomas?”

Now that you’ve read my hackery, please see the talented writers in Weekend Writing Warriors.

My apologies for creative punctuation.

 

The Christmas (and by the way I hope you are having a good one, or if you don’t celebrate it a happy holiday season in any case. Io Saturnalia!) traditions we celebrate today really had their start in the Victorian era. There’s the Dickens to pay for that. Seriously, modern traditions stem from a sentimental resurgence in the 1820-1830’s coupled with some German traditions brought over by Prince Albert. Charles Dickens did his bit to bring them about.

That said, Christmas was a time to gather family, feast, and celebrate that you’d made it through another year.  Sounds like the right idea to me.

 

Still working on a cover idea – hard even though I’m a dashed good photographer (if I say so myself). That and editing the manuscript to put more description/reaction into it. (not to mention a few thousand words).

Frankenkitty is available.
Frankenkitty What happens when teenagers get to play with Dr Frankenstein’s lab notebooks, a few odd chemicals and a great big whopping coil? Mayhem, and possibly an invitation to the Transylvanian Neuroscience Summer School.

Like poor Cecelia, ” The Curious Profession of Dr Craven” is back from the dead.

I’ve released a sweet regency romance, Miss DeVere Miss_devere_1 This is a fun read.

Get Free Stuff and try out my landing page. There are three free complete short stories (including an ARC for Frankenkitty) available after you’ve gone through the hoops.

First day of winter in Alabama.

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The first day of winter was warm and foggy this year. It lent itself to great atmospheric pictures, if you like that sort of thing. It’s the sort of weather where even mundane dirt roads take on a Tolkienesque touch of mystery.

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The lake is still out for the winter, but with the rain, back up to a normal pool. There’s a mudbank out there, but most of it is underwater.

dsc_0086The racoons still enjoyed it.

Pre-Christmas Sushi.

This is fairly simple, and surprisingly easy.

You need really fresh tuna – we went to the Dekalb Farmer’s Market – and use it to make sushi.

The trick is to keep the tuna on ice and once cut up use it immediately.

Make sushi rice (a large grained rice) – per cup dry rice you’ll need 1/4 cup rice vinegar, 1/8 cup sugar, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 tablespoon vegetable oil.

Cook the rice as you normally would – with water about twice the volume of rice. When it’s finished, add the vinegar mixture and let cool.

Put spoons of rice on a plate and put a piece of the tuna on each.

Serve with soy sauce (the lighter sushi soy sauce is better), wasabi and Saki.  (We warmed ours in a gravy boat – after searching the house for our saki set.)

Kim-chee was good with it.

We also made miso soup. Cut up 1/2 onion thinly and saute then add 2-3 cups of water. Once it’s boiled add 2 tablespoons of miso paste. Stir to dissolve.

A new family holiday tradition.

A Man’s Meal

Having to revert to batchelor fare for an evening – fixing up from felonious damage and interviewing for a new alarm system – I had a chance to try a combination that is decidedly male oriented.

The meat course:

2 strips bacon, streaky (UK), meaty (USA). Cut into pieces and fried until nearly done.

4 pieces pounded steak. Fry with the bacon until 1/2 done, then turn over. Add two drops of Mayan hot sauce (green, smoked habanero peppers) to each piece. Turn over and finish.

When the bacon is nearly done, start water to boil dried tortellini – for one person about 1/2 cup. When the tortellini is nearly done add frozen peas to the water.

Serve with beer.

Solar Now Produces a Better Energy Return on Investment Than Oil

Solar power is a go!

robertscribbler

The future is not good for oil, no matter which way you look at it. — Motherboard

*****

Solar — it’s not just a clean power source producing zero emissions and almost no local water impact, it’s also now one of the best choices on the basis of how much energy you get back for your investment. And with climate change impacts rising, solar’s further potential to take some of the edge off the harm that’s coming down the pipe makes speeding its adoption a clear no-brainer.

In 2016, according a trends analysis based on this report by the Royal Society of London, the energy return on energy investment (EROEI) for oil appears to have fallen below a ratio of 15 to 1 globally. In places like the United States, where extraction efforts increasingly rely on unconventional techniques like fracking, that EROEI has fallen to 10 or 11…

View original post 751 more words

Squidly Do-right

Motorcycling in Atlanta

Not many pictures with this post.

me_on_bikeWinter is upon us, just as I’m getting better at the biking. It’s not too hard to keep warm in mid-30’s (1-2) degree weather when you’re commuting. (45-50 Mph max). If I keep my trunk warm – wind shell in my outer jacket and a layer inside seems to be enough – then I’m pretty comfortable. Although I do need slightly warmer gloves. As long as you don’t have a “death grip” on the handlebars your hands will stay warm – though your fingertips may get a tad cool. The chill begins to penetrate at the high end of those speeds so real highway riding would require more layers.

SMIDSY (sorry mate I didn’t see you) accidents seem to be the biggest hazard so far. Atlanta drivers tend to slip into tiny gaps in stopped traffic so that they can turn into the other direction. You can’t see them because the other cars are blocking your view and they aren’t looking for you. This drives me up the wall when I’m driving a car, but that would be only a fender-bender.

The roads themselves aren’t too bad. There are a few places with perennial steel plates – which are a real headache, but the drivers seem to be aware that you might need to swerve around them.

Stop and go volume delays are a royal pain. It’s not too hard to creep along, but unlike an automagic transmission, I have to use the clutch. I even managed an steepish uphill creep which is not bad. I like, scratch that, love being out in the air, but there are limits. Half an hour to go 300 metres is a bit much.

My little CBR250 looks too much like a scooter, so I have idiots trying to pass it because they seem to think I can only go 25.  Usually I let them by because it isn’t exactly smart to get into an argument with 2 or more tons of steel cage. There is no point in pushing the speed to 50 just to slam into a stopped car in front of you, is there?  Best to leave the game of chicken to the bird-brains. The one defensive thing I do all the time is to look quite far ahead on the road. I do that when driving and probably more when riding simply because I get a much better view.

The Art of Deception 44

The Art of Deception

or Pride and Extreme Prejudice

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This week continues a spy story set in late Georgian England, the year before Trafalgar.  Last week continued Alice’s formal introduction to Sir Roderick – who she had chased through Bristol and Bath while she thought he was a French spy. Neither of them is overly keen on the other right at this moment.

Roderick objected, “Sir, she had me arrested in Bristol, and then in Bath; I’d rather not say, Sir; it still hurts; she assaulted two militia-men and … What a tangle.”

“So I understand … why didn’t you give her the recognition signal?”

“I did, or has it changed since I’ve been out of the country?”

Alice asked, “What recognition signal, Uncle … I still can’t-”

Lord Grey laughed at the idea, “Nonsense; Alice my dear, Roderick is an accomplished agent; One of the best, ever; I can’t imagine a better mentor for you. Besides, whether you like him or not, his re-emergence into society will provide an excellent cover story; you only have to dance with him, once or twice a night at diverse assemblies. Surely, that cannot be too objectionable; it’s not like I’m asking you to accept his hand.”

Alice’s expression suggested it might be, but she remained silent.

Now that you’ve read my hackery, please see the talented writers in Weekend Writing Warriors.

My apologies for creative punctuation.

The dates are off by a few months but one of the things Roderick brings with him is correspondence with Aaron Burr, the then vice-president of the United States.

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Most people remember Burr for his duel with Alexander Hamilton. However he was in contact with the British ambassador Anthony Merry (who appears earlier in this sequence).  He, Burr that his, offered to bring part or all of the Louisiana purchase to the British for the measly sum of half-a-million dollars. That and an naval fleet. Jefferson found out and had him tried for treason. The evidence was inconclusive, but Burr joined people like Benedict Arnold in the anti-hagiography of American history. Foreign involvement in American politics goes back a long time.

Still working on a cover idea – hard even though I’m a dashed good photographer (if I say so myself). That and editing the manuscript to put more description/reaction into it. (not to mention a few thousand words).

Frankenkitty is available.
Frankenkitty What happens when teenagers get to play with Dr Frankenstein’s lab notebooks, a few odd chemicals and a great big whopping coil? Mayhem, and possibly an invitation to the Transylvanian Neuroscience Summer School.

Like poor Cecelia, ” The Curious Profession of Dr Craven” is back from the dead.

I’ve released a sweet regency romance, Miss DeVere Miss_devere_1 This is a fun read.

Get Free Stuff and try out my landing page. There are three free complete short stories (including an ARC for Frankenkitty) available after you’ve gone through the hoops.

Sunday Snippet, Clearing Weather.

A Formulaic Romance

This is the start of another story Amelia and I are putting together. There’s a pun in the title that will become obvious in time.

It starts with the trope, Lady Rachel on her way to London, is stranded in the country by an unfortunate accident. They’ve made their way to the house in the distance, but not without slipping in the muddy lane.

The Master was introduced here. He was somewhat annoyed at the disturbance, but willing to see that his guests were properly entertained.  The housekeeper, Mrs Hobbes, leads Rachel and Lucy to their rooms to prepare for dinner The carriage wright makes a cameo appearance in a previous snippet.

Last week saw the arrival of Rupert’s Uncle George and a hint at the complicated family history – a history that was not completely … harmonious.

After a peek into Rupert’s history, George makes a somewhat unusual proposition to Rachel which was continued last week.

This week, the rain finally scuds off to the North Sea leaving a fine day – for riding and other things.

The Weather Breaks.

Next morning, the rain, having finally, finally broken, George, with the time hanging heavy on his hands, found Rachel and Lucinda at breakfast and said, “I feel like a ride. Do you ride Miss?”

“I used to.” Rachel grimaced, “Sold my hunter to pay for this trip so in a sense I’m wearing her … Maybe she’s riding me.”

“That’s too bad. Rupert used to keep a good stable. He’s let it go in the last years, but I’m sure there’s something worth throwing a leg over. Would you be willing to accompany me on the downs?”

Lucinda gushed, “Yes. I like to ride as well.”

George bowed to the inevitable chaperone, and realizing that Lucinda was better company than most chaperones, rose and said. “I’ll inquire about the horses and see if there are side-saddles.”

After he left, Lucinda turned to Rachel and said, “What an elegant man.”

“Yes, A pity he’s engaged … to a Miss Deacon, his ‘Charity.’ The good ones are all taken. I think we’d best hurry to London before the rest are gone.”

“Don’t be so cynical. There’s always, what was it Lord Bedlington called him? Gas.”

“He’s handsome enough, I’ll grant you, but so dashed odd. Buried in that workshop of his.”

“You can change that, can’t you? Or at least take an interest in his work.”

“I suppose.” Rachel studied the room, found it lacking inspiration, and finally said, “I suppose I could change my name to Sodium, Natria or something elemental. Then he’d like me.”

George overheard that as he entered the room, “I wouldn’t, Ma’am. Rachel is a pleasant, if unusual name.”

“My father found it in the Old Testament. Could have been worse, Delilah or Jael. What did you find about the horses?”

“I found Brindle and he sent a footman. Unfortunately, he remembers only one serviceable side-saddle. If that.”

Lucinda’s face fell. “So a groom will accompany you.”

“Unfortunately, yes.” George bowed gently again, “I should much rather have both your company.” As he straightened, he smiled at Rachel, “Lady Hayforth, I await your pleasure.”

It’s probably obvious that the title, “A Formulaic Romance” refers obliquely to chemistry. There’s another arcane reference in the text. Anyone caught it yet?  It’s sort of, maybe, perhaps, important, given what Rupert worked on in the past. (No one answered last week, so I’m leaving the question pending.)

The featured image, “Stretchit” shows a bete noire of mine. Women did not ride astride their horses.  There were several reasons, and not just “modesty” as such. Still nearly every modern “period” film has the actresses riding astride. Not that I blame them, astride is much easier to ride than sidesaddle. Still neither Rachel nor Lucinda would dare to ride in any other manner.