Elena will be away from the blog for a while. Her husband is ill and facing a long recovery. Elena’s time needs to be spent tending to him and to her children. While she is away we’ll be tapping guest bloggers to fill in for her on Wednesdays.
Please share your support for Elena here. We’re not asking her to respond, but we know that your good wishes and prayers will lift her spirits.
Thanks so much from the Riskies
Our own historic events this week seem too important to ignore, especially if you live where I do, in the suburbs of Washington, DC. No matter what your political views, you cannot escape the excitement generated by this inauguration. Like many residents of the area, we’ll be staying home for the event itself, but Saturday my husband and I went downtown to look at the preparations for the Inauguration. Thought I’d share.
Here I am in the front of the Capitol. This is where the Oath of Office used to be taken, until Reagan was inaugurated. It is the West view of the Capitol that faces the Mall where the Oath is taken now.
The front of the Capitol faces the Library of Congress, one of the most beautiful buildings in DC.
Here I am in front of the West view. This is as close as we could get. Notice all the chairs and the bleachers.
Here’s a close up view of the podium (the semi-circular place)where Obama will take the oath of office.
This is the view Obama will see.
Most spectators will be watching on screens like this. This screen was on and showing bison or something running from a fire.
The Press were already setting up. See MSNBC and the Smithsonian Castle in the background.
But here were the real preparations. Porta-potties everywhere.
Which makes you wonder what people did in the Regency when they gathered for parades and festivities. I shudder to think.
The best part, though, was seeing everyone downtown smiling. That never happens in DC.
So do you wish you could be in Washington DC to attend? We’re expecting 2 million people.
What do you think it would have been like in London for the Waterloo or Trafalgar celebrations?
To read my blog about Happiness, visit The Wet Noodle Posse.
To enter my contest to win one of my books visit my website.
Funny that we should have been discussing so many movies watched over the holidays and over the past year. This past week I made use of the “On Demand” function of my cable service and watched movies instead of reruns of Clean House (my favorite show).
These were all historical movies, two I’d never seen before.
1. Emma, the Gwynth Paltrow one, not my favorite, but it was the only Regency movie I could discover and I like to see the settings and costumes, if not Paltrow’s performance.
2. Amazing Grace. Can you believe I never saw this movie before? I did like it very much. Such a wonderful message. Ioan Gruffudd, older than his Hornblower days, is quite an appealing man. And his singing voice! Sigh. The hymn Amazing Grace is special to me; it was a comfort in the days my mother was ill (almost twenty years ago). I still cry when I hear it.
3. Miss Potter. What a charming film. I did not mind American Renee Zelwegger playing the English part nearly as much as I minded Gwynth Paltrow, although I did wish she had not scrunched her mouth up quite as much. The scenery was beautiful, as was the story and I loved the use of animation. What one of us does not believe our characters aren’t really real?
I’m turning in the revisions of my Undone story, the one you helped me with. You forgot to tell me to make it sexier….What a hard job this is!
Next I turn to my book revisions…..status check: Where are you in your writing or reading or simply living now that we are in the new year?
Did I tell you my The Mysterious Miss M is included in Romantic Times Readers Forum list of 1001 Books We Must Read Before We Die? See this and more on my website. Enter my contest for a chance to win a copy of my backlist.
As you all know, I’m the slacker of the group, reading-wise, so I always feel a bit embarrassed when we do this Favorite Books of 2008 (which we’ll be doing all week except for Cara who is doing Horatio Hornblower-lucky ducky-or maybe I’m the only one and I just forgot what we decided). I’m embarrassed because I haven’t read a huge list of books.
This year I read my friends:
I loved all of these. I know I’ve read others but these came to mind first.
I have tons of friends’ books on my TBR pile as well.
I read a fair amount about psychic phenomena because I had a story idea but I’ve tabled that for the moment.
I have TONS of Research books I wish I’d read and I shall provide you a partial list:
The Verneys by Adrian Tinnniswood. The Verneys apparently never threw out a piece of paper and thus amassed the largest and most complete record of correspondence in the world. Plus they had some interesting characters in the family, including a serial adulterer, an unwed mother, a hero, and a petty criminal.
I bought this book at nearly full price; now you can find it discounted
Rites of Peace by Adam Zamoyski.
I forgot where I bought this one, but I purchased it to learn about the Congress of Vienna.
The Making of Victorian Values by Ben Wilson
This book (whose author looks very very young) promises to talk about the transistion from the Georgian era to the Victorian. In other words, the Regency! I purchased this one at a book fair. Great bargain at $7.00
The Curate’s Lot by A. Tindal Hart
I’m pretty sure I bought this from Dee Hendrickson who sold off her wonderful book collection. It will explain the life of a curate from medevial times to the twentieth century.
Tried by Their Peers by Rupert Furneaux
Somebody mentioned this book, probably on the Beau Monde loop and I promptly ordered it from abebooks.com. It relates trials in the House of Lords for such exciting things as poisoning, bigamy, divorce, dueling
George IV by Steven Parissien
Another bargain book and my latest acquisition. More about Prinny! What could be better.
I wish I’d read all of these in 2008, but now I can just aspire to read them in 2009. Stop by next year and see how I did.
What books do you wish you’d read in 2008?
When do you read? Do you read before going to bed? I do but I fall asleep.
Here are pics of the grandcats. Moscow masquerading as a chicken and PB the kitten.
Check out my website for new stuff!
Come visit the Wet Noodle Posse blog. We’re focusing on Life this year.
I am caught unprepared!
First of all, I stayed up all night to finish my Undone. You know, the one you all helped me with on 11/24/08. (janegeorge, I still promise to write about my writing routine…..someday).
Now before you feel sorry for me; it was my own fault that I didn’t use my time more efficiently. This story was only 10,000 to 15,000 words and I should have been able to write that in a week or two. 
And I didn’t spend a great deal of time on the holidays except for one marathon 5 1/2 hour binge of shopping for everything last Tuesday.
New Year’s resolution–MAKE BETTER USE OF MY TIME!
Anyway I wound up pleased with the story and here is hoping Linda Fildew likes it, too. At least this time I did not accidentally delete it before sending it, like I did last summer when I stayed up all night to meet a deadline.
BUT…What I really wanted to blog about was my very favorite Christmas gift. My IPhone!
On Christmas eve my husband decided to get himself an IPhone for Christmas, which was fine with me, because what I got him was very unexciting and I was sick of hearing him discuss the pros and cons of various phones. To me this was an extravagance that we didn’t really need, but, let’s face it, I caved.
He came back with an IPhone for me, too!!!
Mine is white (as you can see) and I’ve fallen in love with it.
I can read my email anytime, anywhere, and even answer it, although the keyboard is a bit tedious. I used it to respond to Megan’s and Amanda’s blogs! I can read our Risky Regencies blog anytime, anywhere. It already has my calendar and my addresses and my ITunes. It has GAMES and YouTube! Plus it is a breeze to use.
Needless to say, I spent a lot of time playing with my IPhone when I should have been writing. I also enjoyed my family who all came for Christmas dinner here, my kids, my sisters, my brother-in-law and niece. My sister said the magic words a few days before Christmas, “Why don’t you get a ham?” Yay! No turkey to cook!
What was your favorite Christmas gift?
By the way, The Wet Noodle Posse will be back after Jan 1.
There is still a contest on my website and updates to be made very soon.