Ancient & Medieval Historical Fiction discussion

Oh, I will be able to see some. Often it is run early in the morning, and since I am a night owl(read till about 2AM) I cannot get up at five to watch something. I do hope they will time delay it for us. I hate to see things set at 6AM because they start at that time in England.

Chrisl wrote: "Use of online maps for background to books?

When reading, sometimes I like to find an online age appropriate map of the area ... I'd like suggestions for South England during the 400s-1600s"

Hi Chrisl,
The best online collection I use, that might be helpful to you is, strangely enough, that offered online by the University of Texas.

Try this:

http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/united...

Also thanks James-great site-saved.

Haven't been in group as much in the last day. Watching the Olympics! :-)

I saw a bit of the dressage, but they did not show much. There was a poll on FB and Swimming and Gymnastics came in top two, which I do like, but I am afraid Edquestrian was way down. Stupid countrymen. They don't know what is good. Did you watch the Opening ceremony? I was dissappointed. That stupid push for socialized medicine. I know a lot of Brits and they hate it. More people die over there waiting for needed surgery. Wsell, I'll get off my soapbox-LOL. We'll see whats worth watching tonight. In the Winter Games, I watch most except Hockey-again pros.

Such drama; such spectacle.

I can't but go back to the time when I worked (stumbled into) the Innbruck Winter Games in 1964 (aghr). Blithely asking if they could use a multi-lingual "hostess," they told me they really needed a secretary for a "little old man from Vienna." Okay, I'll do it. 'Vene, Vidi, Vici.' Dr. Fried happened to be the Secretary General of the Austrian Olympic Committee. I was "in." I worked 20 hour-days for the next four weeks. The rest of the hours, we drank wine and showered and then went back to work. We were YOUNG then; we were enthusiastic; we were there. It was all about the athletes then. Not the spectacle to outshine the last Olympics. I fear, much of the spirit of competition is lost these days.

But then, I might just be an old fart (oops, maybe that's too harsh. After all, I try to maintain the illusion of being a lady).

We expect more and more of our athletes. At the same time, we care less and less about the sacrifices made by these young people--We need to appreciate them; medals or not. They are our future. Let's celebrate them. Excellence still abounds. If we let it.

I was a bit disappointed with the opening ceremony. Not what I expected.

Dressage has been terrific. Beautiful horses. They are such amazing athletes to be able to do dressage then back up and do the cross country course then back up again and do the jumping. That's why I love watching the 3 Day Eventing.

Don't know where everyone else has been, but I am still preoccupied with Olympics. :)
Got to watch as much as I can while they're here. Which doesn't leave much time for reading or posting in A&M. Sorry folks. :)

Happily, books always wait for us. :)

For some reason, this years Olympics just haven't grabbed me. I must be getting old :)

I have attended two Olympics in person (Munich in '72 and SLC in '02) and I would not trade those memories for anything.

Terri, I only was able to see bits and pieces of eventing. When it rains, our dish goes in and out-drat! And of course it's raining today. If it was boxing, it would be clear and sunny-UGH.
Every time Australia does something I turn to my friend and say, "I'll bet Terri is cheering about that-LOL"

happy wrote: "For some reason, this years Olympics just haven't grabbed me. I must be getting old :)

I have attended two Olympics in person (Munich in '72 and SLC in '02) and I would trade those memories for a..."

I would love to go to an Olympics. Couldn't get to the 2000 Sydney Olympics. :(

Anne wrote: "Terri, I only was able to see bits and pieces of eventing. When it rains, our dish goes in and out-drat! And of course it's raining today. If it was boxing, it would be clear and sunny-UGH.
Every t..."

I am! You have that right! Make sure you cheer for us too. Even if it's only a small one. :-)
Watching the Cross Country section of the 3 day eventing. It was on Live late last night so I recorded it and am watching it now.
So far an Aussie is in first place and we've just had another aussie come off his horse and be eliminated. :(
Still another 3 Aussie riders to come though so our chances at staying in the Team medals are good.

Of course I'll cheer for Australia. I have always thought they are great people. I just could not take all those poison snakes. In Fl.we have three. Heres hoping the Aussies fdo great in equestrian. I aslo cheered for the Japanese man because I thought it was terrific that he was the first in his country to compete and he is doing a pretty good job. I do cheer for America, but I also find myself cheering for underdogs, or for nations that only have a few people there.

Thankyou! We need all the cheers we can get.
I cheer for the small guys too. Espevially Japan. After everything Japan went through with the Tsunami, they deserve all the cheers we can give them .

To have attended the Olympics at all sounds more than wonderful to me. Some of you are jet setters. I woke up around 1:30 a.m. Thursday or Friday and turned on the t.v. Queen Elizabeth and James Bond were jumping out of a helicopter and her dress didn't blow upward over her head!!! HRH looked like Mary Poppins!!! Whose medicine and/or liquor cabinet had I been into? Had I been into the sugar bowl?

After regaining my composure, (911 emergency didn't arrest or charge me for the call, which was nice of them), I, too, thought of my reading friends from the different countries represented in the opening ceremony. I loved the opening; the parade of countries, the brown furry creatures, the circles of fire, Sir Paul McCartney singing HEY JUDE-- my, oh my, what a sight!

Terri wrote: "Thankyou! We need all the cheers we can get.
I cheer for the small guys too. Espevially Japan. After everything Japan went through with the Tsunami, they deserve all the cheers we can give them ."

Well, what about a little cheer for the Italian gals that made the whole podium for Swords?...? Expecially you, Terri, and your new addition to yr TBR...:)

Yay the Italians in the Fencing!! :-)

Our Aussie riders choked big time in the cross country. Two of our team of five came off their horses and were eliminated. Seemed like a slippery track, but good instinctive horsemanship would have overcome that. Better to slow up and get time penalties at the end than to over do it and come off and be completely eliminated.
I have recorded the jumping from the 3 day eventing and haven't watched it yet. Don't know who won the medals yet or where our Aussies finished up.
For those that don't know the Eventing is over 3 days starting with Dressage, then Cross Country then the Jumping. Points accumulate over the three events and the team and individual winners in the eventing are announced at the end of the Showjumping.

Terri wrote: "Our Aussie riders choked big time in the cross country. Two of our team of five came off their horses and were eliminated. Seemed like a slippery track, but good instinctive horsemanship would have..."

I watched the last part of the show jumping last night and saw Mark Todd take New Zealand through to a team bronze. This guy is a legend, its 28 years since his first olympic medal a gold in LA in 1984!I know next to nothing about riding, but really enjoy the cross-country and show jumping.

Yes, I saw that today! I was so excited for you guys. :)
Disappointed of course that we ended up 6th, but glad if we couldn't get up that the Kiwi's got up instead.

Canada doesn't have a track record of paying our athletes. In fact, 2008 was the first time incentives were offered. The 2012 Olympians will get $20,000 for gold, $15,000 for silver and $10,000 for bronze. This is also the first time the coaches will get some money as well.

Sorry, I have no idea.

No rewards in Australia.

I guess the definition of 'served' between Soldiers and Athletes are different. Soldiers are employees of the government and are told they have to go out and serve. Athletes are not employed by their country. They are serving themselves, but representing their country. They don't actually serve their country.

I saw this on TV today. Sounds pretty nasty, after all they bring a lot more to our country than money, and it seems rather cheap to make them pay taxes on it. But the way our country is taxing everything now, it does not surprise me at all.

http://www.christianpost.com/news/mar... I saw this today Anne, it looks like they are trying to pass a bill that would exempt the winnings from being taxed in the States.

Dawn wrote: "http://www.christianpost.com/news/mar... I saw this today Anne, it looks like they are trying to pass a bill that would exempt the win..."

Thanks for postimg, Dawn. Very inyeresting.

Terri wrote: "Yes, I saw that today! I was so excited for you guys. :)
Disappointed of course that we ended up 6th, but glad if we couldn't get up that the Kiwi's got up instead."
finally saw some dressage this afternoon. Was kind of surprised to see Dal end up third, but the lady who won(can't remember names well) was terrific. Saw the Aussie's take a trial last night in swimming. Did anyone see the story on Fox news about the rigorous and often cruel training the Chinese go through? Very interesting. Reminded me of East Germany's Olympic schools back in the Commie era. Sad-sports should be fun for training for the Olympics. I always worry whether the Chinese performers will be disciplined for losing.

I didn't see that story, although we do get Fox News on cable over here.
I know the Chinese are supposed to be getting a million dollars if they win gold.
They are so competitive. Well, the athletes don't seem that intense, but their government and Sports bodies do.

I saw this picture of the stage at the Tommorrowland Festival and I had to share:

OMG!! That is #$#@@%#% awesome!!!!!!!

That's fantastic!!! Where is this??

Here Bobby.
I hadn't heard of it either until Dawn mentioned it. Looks like a large Festival. Massive open air amphitheatre?.
http://www.tomorrowland.be/

It is in Belgium.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomorrow...

I hadn't heard of it either but my favorite used book store posted the picture on facebook and it was too cool not to share. :)

They sure do have a creative company in charge of theme and design. I have never seen any event as well done as that.

Damn that shoddy reporting!

What's the new avatar you got there, Dawn?

You'll like it, it's part of what was the coastal defenses on Vancouver Island. The guns don't work but they have a couple of the barrels still there. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Rod...
I was just there in July. :)

I saw the gun. Wondered where you were at. Very, very cool.

My grandmother would say 'it just come up a little cloud' on8-6-12. The tv weatherman called it a 'severe thunderstorm.' I say all hell broke loose when the lightning hit our house taking out four tv sets, two computers, the ac/heat pump and the pool pump. Men from electric and cable companies came to restore services yesterday but instead spent the day using various credit cards trying to jimmy the door lock. Why? I locked myself out of the house when I went out to offer them a cold drink because the temp was 100°. I don't look for the same crews to come back today to restore power and cable.
The worst thing was I had nothing to read. For hours, a locked door separated me from my beloved books. I keep a paperback in my car for emergencies, but the car doors were locked. Would you like to guess where the car keys were?

Linda wrote: "My grandmother would say 'it just come up a little cloud' on8-6-12. The tv weatherman called it a 'severe thunderstorm.' I say all hell broke loose when the lightning hit our house taking out fou..."

that's not good - hope everything will be all right shortly

It always gets better. Thank you for reading my little thought!

Linda wrote: "Would you like to guess where the car keys were? "

Mmmh...in your library?
Hope now everything's working fine.

Linda wrote: "My grandmother would say 'it just come up a little cloud' on8-6-12. The tv weatherman called it a 'severe thunderstorm.' I say all hell broke loose when the lightning hit our house taking out fou..."

Isn't it strange how bad things cluster together as if they had a special gravity where disaster only attracts other disaster.
I had a happenng like that once.The journey from hell.

We arrived, absolutely cream crackered, at Orlando, it was raining, our automatic hire car wasn't available so we took a manual, however the gear shift was on the wrong side for my reflexes.
My wife had packed my glasses and couldn't remember where, so I had to borrow her ornamented very feminine pair.

When we arrived at the house, slowly and with lots of faulty gear changes the power was down. The house was new at that time and we didn't realise the position of the main power switch was outside.

We went to the nearest motel but the owner was a drinker and was fast asleep in a chair and no matter how hard we knocked we couldn't rouse him. So we drove down the SR19 until we found another motel. There were roadworks raising lots of limerock dust but as it was raining this was a slurry on which I slipped, breaking a rib and covering myself from head to foot in Lime rock slime.

We got an Efficiency and exhaused fell into bed. To add insult to injury in the night the restroom pedestal backed up and flooded the floor with sewage.

Don't you just love travelling, especially now that the security circus has been laid on as a bought extra for our amusement? Hurricane Jean blew shingles off our roof and flooded the Great room but I'd sooner that any day.

Having said all that with the intention of proving that you are not persecuted by the Fates I am very sorry to hear of your tribulations. But as you say, it gets better.

Linda wrote: "My grandmother would say 'it just come up a little cloud' on8-6-12. The tv weatherman called it a 'severe thunderstorm.' I say all hell broke loose when the lightning hit our house taking out fou..."

I am positive i would have send a brick through my window.

Thank you Simona, James and Anne. You all made this day better indeed.

Oh goodness. Bad luck everywhere for Linda and James!

At least all is well now. :-)

I would say that James had a dirtier problem at the efficiency.

This ball of lightning reminded me of .

Given that the name of the group is Ancient and Medieval Historical Fiction Discussion, why is there a modern section here? Not that I mind, but the pedant in me thinks that maybe the title of the group needs to change.

Maybe it's because "Ancient and Medieval but also Modern Historical Fiction" seemed a bit too long...:)