Welcome to Thursday Doors, a weekly feature allowing door lovers to come together to admire and share their favorite door photos from around the world. Feel free to join in on the fun by creating your own Thursday Doors post each week and then sharing your link in the comments below, anytime between 12:01 am Thursday morning and Saturday noon (North American eastern time).
Mary Shakespeare (nee Arden) was the mother of William Shakespeare and this farm is her original farm and is now a working Tudor farm where people can visits and experience life as Mary and her son, William, would have known it.
What’s the craziest thing you’ve ever done in the name of research?
This is the theme for this weeks open book blog. I haven’t been able to participate for a while due to work commitment but things are improving on the work front and this topic includes my favourite word, research.
Those of you that read my blog regularly know that I love research. Most of my books and short stories have a strong historical setting and flavour and they are all based on true events, even the more modern stories.
My writing does not only involve history; it also involves ghosts. Ghosts are a perfectly wonderful way of introducing history into a book and also a strong and interesting story line. Well, that’s my opinion in any event.
My current research craze is WW1 and I am reading my third book about the entrance of America into the war. I’ve read two fiction books and I am now listening to a 31 hour story about the pilots in WW1. This book covers the famous English, American and German pilots and is completely fascinating.
Crazy research though? That is something else entirely. I take it to mean doing something to learn about a particular topic like skydiving so you can write about a character who skydives.
I don’t do crazy things; I am a chartered accountant, my husband is a chartered accountant, and my sons are computer nerds. Crazy things isn’t in our vocabulary. Both my sons have always been cautious boys and never did anything that could result in severe injury. I’m not sure if that is lucky or not, but I’ve never had a child with a broken bone or snapped tendon.
My idea of conducting research is to visit the places of historical interest to me. One example of this in South Africa is when we went to Fugitive’s Drift Lodge in January this year to see the Rorke’s Drift and Isandlwana battle fields from the Anglo Zulu war in South Africa. We had a great time listening to the stories, exploring the battle fields and related museums and learning a lot about the history of this country. These battles were not well covered when I studied history at school.
Our trips abroad have been similar and we fill our days with tours of fascinating historical places such as the Buried Village in New Zealand, Dover Castle and the hospital in the tunnels, Jorvik Viking Centre in York, and many, many other museums, castles, stone age mines, and sometimes caves and nature reserves. I honestly cannot think of a single thing that would fall under the description of crazy that I have ever done.
A few pictures from our trip to Jorvik Viking Centre in York
Have you done anything crazy in the name of research?
You can read what other bloggers have done in the name of research here:
Rules: 1. Link your blog to this hop. 2. Notify your following that you are participating in this blog hop. 3. Promise to visit/leave a comment on all participants’ blogs. 4. Tweet/or share each person’s blog post. Use #OpenBook when tweeting. 5. Put a banner on your blog that you are participating.
Welcome to Thursday Doors, a weekly feature allowing door lovers to come together to admire and share their favorite door photos from around the world. Feel free to join in on the fun by creating your own Thursday Doors post each week and then sharing your link in the comments below, anytime between 12:01 am Thursday morning and Saturday noon (North American eastern time).
I have missed two weeks of Thursday doors so apologies for those I promised to share pictures of our visit to Anne’ Hathaway’s house near Stratford-on-Avon. Work is settling down now and people are going on holiday for Easter so I am getting this post in early on a Thursday.
Anne Hathaway was the wife of William Shakespeare and Anne Hathaway’s Cottage is a twelve-roomed farmhouse where she lived as a child. The cottage is in the village of Shottery, Warwickshire, England, about 1 mile west of Stratford-upon-Avon.
The earliest part of the house was built prior to the 15th century and the higher part is 17th century. Anne’s father was a farmer and after his death, the cottage was owned by her brother Bartholomew. It remained in the Hathaway family until 1846, when financial problems forced them to sell it. It was, however, still occupied by the Hathaway’s as tenants until it was acquired in 1892 by the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust.
Michael in the doorway. They are very low.The same door – Greg has to bend his head (he was much shorter then than now).This is the kitchen. I have a fascination with old kitchens.
“The opposite of love is not hate, it’s indifference. The opposite of art is not ugliness, it’s indifference. The opposite of faith is not heresy, it’s indifference. And the opposite of life is not death, it’s indifference.”
~ Elie Wiesel
How is it that the world stood by and witnessed the Nazis deprive thousands of people their freedom, their human dignity, and their very lives? Elie Wiesel, a Holocaust survivor, encapsulated the explanation in a single word – indifference.
Wiesel (1928 – 2016) was a Romanian-born American Jewish writer, professor, political activist, Nobel Laureate and Holocaust survivor. He wrote 57 books, written mostly in French and English, including “Night,” a work based on his experiences as a prisoner in the Auschwitz and Buchenwald concentration camps.
I came upon this quote a few days ago, and I have been pondering the meaning ever since. As a high school History teacher, I taught my students about the Holocaust every semester, and I never became comfortable with this unit of human horror. Therefore, I am listening to Wiesel’s words with my heart within this context. As I write these words, I am moved almost to tears.
He points out to us that indifference is the opposite or opposing position to love, art, faith, and life. I understand the dictionary definition of indifference as a lack of interest, or of concern, or of sympathy. We may also say that a state of indifference indicates that something is unimportant.
As I struggled with these concepts, I found these words by Anton Chekhov, the famous 19th Century Russian playwright and author. “Indifference is a paralysis of the soul, a premature death.” His words are saying the same thing that Wiesel expressed almost a century later.
I believe the human soul is the spiritual dimension of a person. It is the seat of our unique identity. It is also the source of our life energy and the repository of our deeply held beliefs and moral guidelines. Chekhov’s words “paralysis of the soul” is truly a premature death. That paralysis snuffs out my spiritual energy. It blinds my belief system and moral compass. I cease to be a person in the fullest sense of the word.
I cannot love anyone in this state of paralysis. I become, not only the centre of my universe, but my entire universe. There is no room for anyone else. Others may be useful – or not, but certainly not loved because they are unimportant. This allows me to turn my back on someone who needs help, or someone who is suffering. Because they are unimportant, so is their plight.
Art, no matter the format of its expression, is the outer manifestation of the artist’s soul. We can see reflections of our own souls in the many mirrors of artistic expressions, be they paintings, music, poetry, plays, novels, sculptures, films – the list is endless. If I am indifferent, the art is meaningless, and I am not moved spiritually, emotionally, or intellectually. I am dead to art and all it can teach me. It cannot nourish me.
Faith can be understood as trust or confidence in something or someone. How often have we heard people say that they don’t trust anyone, or they have deeply seated trust issues? Betrayals can make me wary about trusting others. The presence of evil in the world can make me question my faith in God. If I am indifferent, faith is irrelevant. I trust no one and become totally self-reliant. I have closed myself to the possibility of trust or confidence in anything or anyone.
Wiesel’s final analogy concerns life. If I have stilled my soul, there is no life, even though my body still functions. There is no empathy for the feelings of others, so I can walk right past a person lying still on a sidewalk or roadway. I can shrug when I read about the horrors of the holocaust and perhaps even call it a hoax.
I believe there are degrees of indifference and that it is within all of us. How else do I explain the fact that we still see and allow the evils of intolerance, prejudice, and discrimination to flourish around us? Why do we assume that this is just a normal reaction to fear? Why do we continue to laugh heartily at jokes that are racial slurs or attacks upon a gender – or worse yet, upon those who suffer from a physical, mental, or emotional impairment?
Indifference. It renders the human spirit paralyzed or dead, but indifference is very much alive and well!
As a very special treat, please visit WATCH NONNIE WRITE! and FIORA BOOKS BY JOHN FIORAVANTI to sample ONE free reflection and interpretation from the first REFLECTIONS and another sample from the upcoming REFLECTIONS II! I assure you, they’re both just as amazing and inspiring as this one and will whet your appetite for what’s to come with his new release!
Thank you for dropping by to support John’s upcoming release. Please be sure to snag a copy of the original REFLECTIONS, on Amazon now for only $2.99 and as a FREE read on Kindle Unlimited!
I’d also like to ask that you leave John a comment below and LIKE the post before leaving. It would be great if you’d also tweet and Share the page to your social media platforms!
Thank you, Sally Cronin, for this lovely post about my new novel, A Ghost and His Gold. Sally has so many marvelous books and a wonderful magazine styled blog, so do visit her and have a look around.
Thank you to Barbara Vitelli from Book Club Mom blog for hosting me with a discussion about A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles. What a fantastic book. Here is a powerful quote: “For the times do, in fact, change. They change relentlessly. Inevitably. Inventively. And as they change, they set into bright relief not only outmoded honorifics and hunting horns, but silver summoners and mother-of-pearl opera glasses and all manner of carefully crafted things that have outlived their usefulness.” Thank you for hosting me, Barbara.
Welcome to What’s That Book, sharing book recommendations from readers and bloggers. Today’s guest reviewer is Roberta Eaton Cheadle.
Title: A Gentleman in Moscow
Author: Amor Towles
Genre: Historical Fiction
★★★★★
What’s it about? This book tells the story of the journey of the Bolsheviks and the Russian people from the Russian Revolution in 1917 to 1954 through the eyes of Count Alexander Ilyich Rostov, who becomes an ex-person, namely, a person who was previously a member of the Russian aristocracy.
Alexander was raised on an estate in Nizhny Novgorod province. His parents died when he was ten years old and he and his sister, Helena, were raised by his grandmother, the Countess. After the revolution in 1917 and the assassination of the Tsar, Alexander, who has been in exile in France due to rash and hot-headed behavior in his early 20s…
I am over at Charles F French’s fabulous blog today with a post about the South African Concentration Camps that feature in my new book, A Ghost and His Gold. It is finally on Amazon as a paperback. Charles has some great supernatural books as well as books about writing so do have a look around while you are there.
Following the British defeat of the Boers at Diamond Hill near Pretoria on the 12th of June 1900, the Transvaal officers (Boers) held a war council meeting at Balmoral where a new policy of guerrilla warfare tactics was accepted.
In response to the new methods introduced by the Boers, Lord Kitchener devised a scorched-earth policy against the Boer commandos and the rural population who supported them. Kitchener’s countertactics involved destroying arms, blockading the countryside, burning farms, and placing the civilian population in concentration camps.
The destruction of the farms left the women and children without shelter, food or protection from individuals and groups who roamed the veld looking for unprotected targets.
The British were forced to build concentration camps to house and feed these refugees. At least 40 camps were constructed to house approximately 150,000 Boer refugees and another 60 camps to house…
I am over at Writing to be Read with a another Dark Origins post about the nursery rhyme Little Jack Horner. It seems such an innocent little rhyme … but its not. Thank you Kaye Lynne Booth for hosting me.
When I was a girl I loved nursery rhymes. I had a beautiful Mother Goose book which I used to read often. Over the years that book disintegrated from frequent use and it was eventually disposed of. When my oldest son was born, I replaced it with a few new nursery rhyme books, all of which are beautifully illustrated.
One of my favourite nursery rhymes is Little Jack Horner. The modern version goes like this:
Little Jack Horner.
Sat in the corner,
Eating a Christmas pie;
He put in his thumb,
And pulled out plum,
And said “What a good boy am I.”
The text of the original nursery rhyme is somewhat different and is believed to have originated in 1538 during the English Reformation. During the years 1536 to 1541, King Henry VIII set about an administrative and legal process whereby he disbanded monasteries, priories, convents…
Six premium short stories by author Kaye Lynne Booth. Stories in this collection has something for everyone with a mixture of time travel, suspense, humor, origins and speculative fiction.
Last Call – (Time travel science fiction) – Things aren’t going too good for Derek and he thinks his life is over, until he stops in for a Last Call. Will a bar in the middle of nowhere turn out to be his curse or his salvation?
Terror on the Mountain Trail – (Suspense) – It’s a perfect spring day until Kellie and Randy are attacked by a crazed man in the wilderness.
Earth Mother – (Origin Story)
A Turn of the Tables – (Speculative fiction) – Are vampires really invincible? One vampire is about to find out.
A True Hero – (Humor) – Heroes come in all shapes and sizes. This one is heroic indeed.
Man of Her Dreams – (Speculative fiction) – Will what Aaron at first believes to be a curse, turn out to be a blessing? She won’t know until she finds the man of her dreams.
A Woman’s World – (Humor) – Wouldn’t it be great if a woman could rule the U.S.? Or would it? – Satyrical comment on current affairs of days past.
My review
Last Call and other Short Fiction is a collection of 7 short stories for adults. The stories are varied as to themes and storylines and I thought a few of them were very unusual and clever.
Last Call, this was my favourite story in the collection and the one for which the book is named. Luke is a mild mannered man who is on the run from his bullying ex-partner, Vicky. Vicky’s stalking behaviour and tantrums have caused Luke to be fired from his job and also be requested to vacate his apartment. Luke is depressed and aimless, and having packed his meagre possessions into his truck, and set off on the highway towards and unknown destination. When he pulls into the ‘Last Call Tavern’ he doesn’t even know where he is. Luke’s life is about to change and it will be up to him to ride the wave of change or to continue with is existing dismal existence.
Terror on the Mountain Trail was a well written, tension filled short story about a couple who run into unexpected trouble in the mountain. Are they adequately prepared to defend themselves? You’ll have to read the story to find out.
Earth mother is an imaginative and interesting re-telling of the story of creation. There are some lovely descriptive passages in this story, my favourite being “Her coughing spasms caused hot spittle to fly across the expanse, sprinkling it with billions of tiny sparking orbs from one end to the other.”
A Turn of the Tables is a vampire tale which is quite different from any other I have read. This story has a strong sexual undertone, but it is cleverly done.
A True Hero is an interesting look at the differences in perspective between a mother and her older teenage son. It made me smile as the pair negotiated the minefield of misunderstandings between generations.
Man of Her Dreams is also a vampire story with an unusual twist. This story also has sexual undertones but it is tastefully done. This was another favourites story of mine, I enjoyed how the tables were turned in this tale.
A Woman’s World was a rather interesting idea and a bit bizarre from my perspective, as a mother of two sons. It was, however, an entertaining read and I was intrigued to read the author’s thoughts about a world dominated by women.
Purchase Last Call and Other Short Fiction by Kaye Lynne Booth
I have always thought that photographs count as art, but that could be because I grew up with photographs. My dad had a camera and we always had our pictures taken. Some were spontaneous and some were posed. He didn’t take as many pictures as people take now with digital cameras, but we still have a fair number .
Are all these photographs art? Well no, I don’t think just any picture is necessarily art, it could be a family memory, but certain photographs capture a moment in time or a setting in a unique way that makes them art in my mind’s eye.
Here are a few pictures of mine that I think of as being more along the lines of photographic art:
Oben, Scotland through the treesThe Danube, Pest and BudaMy mom peeping out from behind a treeTerence in the Cosmos with Joburg CBD behind himMichael licking out the chocolate cake bowlMy solemn Greg collecting hailstones
roberta-writes.com 