Ancient Norse mariners Sunstone, fact or fiction?
Well! so glad I gave my 10th century skipper steering his knorr from Greenland to the new land to the west (today’s Eastern Canada) a Sunstone to navigate by under overcast skies!
On the path taken by Thora Thorvinnsdottir and friends — deduction, dear Watson
When, around the birth of this new millennium, I first decided to send Thora out voyaging, I looked at the map of the North Atlantic, prevailing ocean currents and winds, and at the info and photos collected on trips around coastal Atlantic Canada, to help me chart the most likely course a knorr would take on a western voyage, departing from southern Greenland.
Winter Horses
2018, another year opening up; time to do some research to prepare for the writing of Unamakik, the sequel to The Sun Road (2014). I plan to share some of the things I come across that may be of interest to all of you. To start with, I found this delightful nugget about winter-hardy horse breeds (such as Thora Thorvinnsdottir’s rugged equine companions to Westland):
Piet Hein began writing during the Nazi occupation of Denmark
During the Nazi occupation of Denmark Piet Hein, well-known Danish designer and inventor, began writing what he called ‘gruks’ (later translated and published in English as ‘Grooks’), short aphoristic poems that became effective weapons of resistance against the German occupiers.
peace on earth
More than ever before at this time of year we need to wish each other Happy Holidays of whichever signature they may be; next, of course, we always, wish each other a Happy New Year in health and peace…and here, making wishes is not enough; we need to DO all we can to secure that peace be kept between people and nations around our precious blue globe; by doing so we may also return some hope to depressed house elves such as the one living in our household, pictured above.
Flash Encounter — too fast to capture on camera
So we hiked yesterday for hours through the moss woods along both sides of the Cowichan River, when six feathered spirits sped by silently downstream following the raging river high above the water through the ravine — at eye level for us, humans, slugging upstream on top of the cliff — six mergansers heading out to sea, only minutes away, for them…
There were touching moments at our book reading for Remembrance Day
Nanaimo authors Giselle Roeder and Afiena Kamminga read from their books for a spellbound audience in Nanaimo’s Harbourfront Public Library last week one day before Remembrance Day.
Yesterday’s Remembrance Day library book reading announced in Nanaimo News Bulletin
Remembrance Day authors’ readings/signings in Nanaimo Harbourfront Library
November 10, public reading Harbourfront Library, Nanaimo
Giselle Roeder will be reading from her book of memoirs We don’t talk about that, the author’s childhood memories of being evicted from her home at the end of WWII. Afiena Kamminga will be reading from her new book, The Storks came Back — a Boy grows up in Denmark under Nazi occupation