I have had two blogs, for a number of years now. I hardly have time to manage one. So, I’m ffolding this one into the first: “Mostly by Knight”:,
Renaming it ” Q’s Place”, a writers journal – mostly by knight.

Yet another National Novel Writing Month finished – with more than sixty thousand words, not too bad. It has been the hardest (out of five,  completed three) as …

• We are in the midst of moving — not far this time,  to Santa Rosa de Calamuchita, ten miles South of this town (Villa General Belgrano). We are restoring Mrs. Q’s deceased parents place, more or less abandoned for twenty years.
• The internet “service”  here is truly hopeless. Most places are on the National telephone grid, which offers at least one megabyte connection. This town,  Villa General Belgrano, is fairly unique as it is a German Community * town and all services are run by local cooperatives:  with Teutonic efficiency but the Internet Service provider has to buy bandwidth from the National network:  less than one megabyte for the whole town … and shared by all users.  As it is also one of the most popular tourist attractions (the “Little Germany” factor). most of the time a thousand or more users may be online. though we pay for 250K, we actually get less than dialup speed (when it works at all) .  They have also expanded the service — every restaurant and beerstube offers WiFi access, and “cyber establishments” ” (joints with up to twenty computer booths) have cropped up like mushrooms  after a warm summer rain. And recently, they’ve extended heir service though wireless connections to other small towns, otherwise isolated. Very admirable. Except they have done nothing to increase the number of servers, or purchase more bandwidth.
• Our next town – Santa Rosa – is on the National grid. There is also a service that offers a powerful wireless connection, with dedicated one megabyte: that is, not shared. So things will improve. A lot.
• Through rather peculiar circumstances, I was able to get a Lenovo laptop with automatic wireless – so for this year’s NaNo I’d take it to Santa Rosa (after composing in the Word of Gates) … or from here, get up at three AM, when there would be fewer users online — but not often!

And how I “cheated”:  First, I didn’t write a novel: I set up fifteen short stories, vaguely related, about 3500 words each centered around a fictional town called Chestamovarado as a common point. Second, in October I set up fifteen separate Word pages and wrote a hundred word outline for each story.  It worked — when it became time to start I would know exactly where I was going.  Even so, some of these “chapters”  are pretty bad, so I’ll have to do a lot of editing — once we’ve moved. I think it should turn out well, in the end.

*The name “Villa General Belgrano”:  most would associate it with an Argentine battleship, sunk by the British submarine (“Conqueror”) during the Falklands fracas: in 1982 . It’s much older than that. General Belgrano, Manuel Belgrano, was a lawyer turned general during Argentina’s  war for independence from Spain, beginning in 1810. He had a quandary, during one of his more successful battles: both sides had the same flag. Most confusing. So he devised a new one, light blue, white and light blue in broad horizontal bands. So his biggest claim to fame was as the Argentine flag’s creator.

This town was called “Los Sauces” . It had a substantial German, Swiss and Austrian community even before World War Two but after 1945 a new wave of immigrants came from Germany.  Sometime in the ‘fifties a few youths, presumably after a “fine party”, burnt an Argentine flag.  A judge decided that not only the kids, but the town, had to be punished: so the government of the time ordered the town renamed — in an unusual fit of poetic justice, to the name of General Belgrano, the flag’s  creator. As if,  after burning an American flag in the US, the town would be renamed “Betsy Ross”.

That should   do for tonight. The connection is burbling again (and I can’t load images)

Q

This is a huge site on the web: created by Bob Hembree (Editor of T-Zero Quaterly), and run by Mr. Hembree and many, many assistants (some have web logs: check out author and mentor “benning”  Benning’s Writing Pad ;  Joni’s site, One Voice;  0r June Diehl , who has a wonderful book) . I’ve been a member for about five years (I think it’s five, I became a life member this year) and I’ve found many new friends like Laurel Wilczek (aka Raven) already an excellent writer, Susan Fourtane from way back  and covering the arts scene in Helsinki, “Granny” (now a mentor);  these are the ones with web links that I know of but there are so many names (and nicknames)  I should add – Maruxa (also mentoring, I  see now – my apologies),  “Grumps” , Malkeet,   “Otter”,  “Greywolf”, Gloria,  “Shriek”, Sonja …  and many many more (as I will be writing about these groups from time to time, I’m sure I’ll be covering most omissions) .

But it wasn’t my intention (nor would it be interesting) to make an extensive list of all my friends, old and new, here. There is one item in this Writers’ Village that should get our attention now:

F2K

It’s Bob Hembree’s creation (I think the name derived from “F” for “Fiction” followed by whatever year that course would be – until 2000, nine years ago and the “2K” stuck). It’s held four times a year and the next one starts this Wednesday 20th. of May. It is free to anyone – literally anyone, not only members, there is a first week of “Orientation”, where everyone can introduce themselves (user names, as you’ve seen before are both acceptable and varied); then there are six lessons – groups of exercises, surprisingly simple ones but the several times I’ve done it I’ve been astonished how quickly subscribers progress, specially beginners (though many drop out, there is no obligation to remain but one does so by keeping up to date with the assignments).  There are also many experienced writers that join – I’ve been doing this for nearly half a century and each time I’m humbled and overjoyed at finding how good fresh new talent can be, or can become. The final exercise can often produce a finished, or nearly finished, story – that alone is reason enough to join.  We post our exercises, within a study group small enough to allow each to follow the others work (all subscribers are split up into groups, each group has a mentor to resolve posting questions and provide prompts and encouragement,  but there is no impediment in visiting and participating in any other group): so we polish each others  exercises .  It really works extremely well. *

There is an option, by paying a small fee, of getting “one on one” assistance from one of the W.V. University mentors.

I’ll be joining this coming session (I appear as “Q”). Perhaps we meet there?

F2K – Free Creative  Writing Course – Wednesday 20th. of May 2009

* Since posting this I’ve been reminded of the best and most notable feature of this course. (thank you meer!), quoted roughly: “The joy of discovering true camaraderie in writing … learning how to have fun, and not be so uptight and even fearful about our writing …. How right, and how true that after a while we just take it for granted. There are many course, many tutors and even more books – but few have the lighthearted touch (with some pretty earnest learning, but one hardly notices that) as this course – and then later, if one should choose to join, in the groups and courses at the WVU. I don’t know how I could forget that, in this post.

Meanwhile – Hasta pronto!

Q

Sphere: Related Content

]]> http://www.byknight.com/journal/f2k-and-the-writers-village-university/feed/ 0 http://www.byknight.com/journal/cruz-blanca-1-from-the-garden/ http://www.byknight.com/journal/cruz-blanca-1-from-the-garden/#comments Fri, 01 May 2009 23:46:22 +0000 Q http://www.byknight.com/journal/?p=131

For about twenty years, until two and a half years ago, we lived in this old stone house, part of a farm that was in Mrs. Q’s (Susan’s) family, and was sold before we married – all but the house and nearly nine acres of mesquite thorny bush.

Susan and her first husband (she was widowed young) raised their children at this place, but it was more or less abandoned for a time, overgrown ,  and wild.

Over the two decades we were there we hacked the bush back, mowed and planted (Susan, flower beds – her green thumb is quite famous – and I had trees and shrubs to plant).

We did much of the work ourselves, but help was affordable and were fortunate in getting some good people – specially for the hacking and clearing. This is “Cruz Blanca” – the “White Cross”, as Susan and Franz, her first husband, hailed from Switzerland.

The trees grew, and on the ” shade side” (our South, Northern Hemisphere’s North) we had a good forest going, with evergreen pines, cedars, spruces, mimosa and deciduous oaks, liquidambar, maples and just about anything that would grow. Susan had a rose garden, chrysanthemums, jasmine, a most admired cactus collection, a rock garden … and I’d better stop right there as I’m out of my territory. Maybe she’ll be along later.

The property is on a slope, a side of the Santa Rosa river, which runs across its Northern boundary, some five hundred yards downhill: a mountain river, white water and prone to floods in heavy rain (up to twenty feet, in a flash).  Under normal conditions though, its best feature is a fine swimming hole, a pool in the rocks.

The cool, clear water is about twenty feet deep, with some shallow parts and a sand beach (that over the years, disappeared, as some ten miles (in a straight line) upstream a small town grew and sand was taken for building.

In spring, the Jacaranda would show off:

And the small forest, not visible here, alongside the entrance driveway

We had to sell and leave – family dispersed and we were left, the two of us too far away from so called civilization, medical services, vulnerable to emergencies of any kind, with more than an hours drive to the nearest town; a bumpy crawl up a mountain track. Not without regret. And I gained access to the world, through broadband internet – I thought I had: turns out it’s not so broad and has been more or less disconnected for the last month or so – but that’s another story. This one, the tale of Cruz Blanca – the “White Cross” – this one I will continue from time to time, specially when as now, I unearth an album of photographs of the place and Mrs. Q and I become misty and nostalgic. Until later.

(And yes, 911 forest critters at WVU – and Gandy/Joni specially -  you did inspire this post. Now maybe, I’ll even write to the prompt

Q

St Andrew

30th. of November: St Andrew’s day

St. Andrew’s Societies, Scottish heritage groups, celebrate this day all over the world. Evenings, pipers will march escorting a cook carrying a haggis on a silver platter, in their midst to present Scotland’s most famous dish to a President or Chief of the Banquet. The haggis will be split open with a dirk (a small dagger worn at the kilts waist – not the Sgian Dubh -’skee.an.do’ - worn in the top of the stocking -hose- though it may be used of course) then approved by the Chief and those at the main table. A whiskey toast to the haggis by all, including the pipers in the cooks escort. Glasses thrown over shoulders, smash on the floor and the presentation over, pipers about face and march out, once again with the bagpipes playing.

It is a grand ceremony and I regret that I must be away from these Banquets: St. Andrew’s and Burn’s Night.

One occasion was specially memorable. The haggis, a ’super sausage’ actually, a glistening smooth bag in the centre of a salver, was presented to the St. Andrew’s Society Chairman. As is customary the Chairman offered the guest of honour the privilege of opening it. This happened to be a pompous gentleman from … well, a Very Important Person whose main qualification was being Very Important, much more than being Person. Properly disdainful of these savages in skirts, but ah well … the duties of high office you know. He took the dirk from the Chairman, as the cook (a wee little man, somewhat intimidated) placed the tray just right, in front of him.

VIP raised the blade high over his shoulder and tried to kill the poor haggis with a mighty stab. He missed. The point glanced off and struck the dish. Everyone froze – except the haggis. It leaped off its platter skittered across the ballroom floor at great speed, bounced off the skirting board and disappeared under the diners tables and chairs, on the other side of the room. Someone tried to stop it with a foot and it shot out towards the main table right at VIP. Maybe he was flustered, perhaps he thought it was really dangerous but he still had the dirk in his hand and he stooped for another stab. Touché, another glancing blow sent haggis into the Drums and Pipes Band by the grandstand. Swirling kilts as they stooped and grasped but it slipped away again and settled slowly in the centre of the dance floor. It would have ended there but a young lad amongst the guests well into the spirit of the thing made a flying tackle – which sent it skipping off again of course.

It went on, but finally the haggis, tired and wan, was captured as it got trapped in a corner. It had lost the gleam of its glistening coat and was cold but still intact when it was carved open. It was still very good though.

It’s too late today to prepare a Haggis for dinner, but there’s Burn’s Supper coming up (near Robert Burn’s Birthday, January 25th.  Here’s a recipe (tried, with some success)

—*—

Haggis:

Sheep’s pluck : Paunch (or bag, large stomach) heart, liver lights (lung). Lean mutton, some bone marrow. Beef suet. Onions, oatmeal, salt, pepper, cayenne, lemon or vinegar.

Clean pluck thoroughly, drain the blood and parboil the whole. The water may be changed after a few minutes, continue boiling in fresh water. Half an hour should be enough, though the liver can be done a little longer so that it will grate easily. Keep the boiling broth.

Take the heart, half of the liver and part of the lights (trim out any hard or dark parts). Mince them all together, with a pound of good beef suet and four or more onions. Grate the other half of the liver. Have ready a dozen or so small onions, peeled and scalded, to mix with the mince.

The oatmeal (slow cooking, not ‘quick’ and ’stone ground’ is traditional) should be fine. It can be given a light toasting in an oven or in front of a hearth. Two cups should be enough. Spread the mince on a board and strew the meal over it, with the seasoning of pepper, salt and a little cayenne.

The clean haggis back, with the rough surface outward, should be without any thin parts to it 8or it will burst – some cooks use two just in case). Prepare the mince mixture and onions to the right consistency (it should stick together when you take a handful) and fill the paunch until a little over half full. Add a little lemon or vinegar, press out the air and sew up the bag. Prick in places and place in large boiling pot (prick again as it swells . Let it boil about three hours in the covered pot, adding broth or water as necessary.

sgian-dubh

Q

Royal Air Force

Had he been alive, this past weekend my father, Frank Knight, would have been joining his fellow veterans at the Cenotaph on Whitehall, London in the annual parade. He left his squadron as Flight Lieutenant, when it was disbanded – I’ve always suspected that he would have preferred to continue in the RAF after the war (he mentioned once that he had the opportunity) but his wife was going to have their first child and they chose to return to her parents in Argentina – where I was born a month before his official discharge.

He stayed for a while in Buenos Aires after his retirement (he worked as a salesman for a brewery, then for a steel company) and was at one time Chairman of the RAF Association there, but returned eventually to live in London, back to those of his surviving friends of that time – for though it was a tragic and awful time for humanity and the world – today we stop a little while in memory of all that die in wars and particularly this one – I think that bonds made then can never be undone. So honouring the memory o all veterans, and to Flt. Lt. Frank Knight, our Dad … with love,

Peter, John and Jeannie

About his Squadron:

No.172 Squadron was formed at Chivenor on 4 April 1942 from No.1417 (Leigh Light) Flight which had formed on 8 March to operate Wellingtons equipped with airborne searchlights on anti-submarine patrols. The first operational night patrol was flown on 3 June during which two U-boats were located and attacked. In August, seven aircraft were detached to Wick for patrols over the North Sea and were the basis of No.179 Squadron when it formed on 14 September. Patrols over the Western Approaches and Bay of Biscay led to many sightings and in March 1943 the Squadron’s Wellingtons were fitted with ASV Mark III radar to guide the aircraft into a position where their searchlights could be exposed to reveal a U-boat. This method soon brought results, U-665 being sunk on 20 March and the overall the squadron averaged one sighting for every four sorties.*

Between October 1943 and April 1944 detachments were based at Gibraltar and later, in the Azores. In September 1944, No.172 moved to northern Ireland and flew patrols over the Atlantic until disbanded on 4 June 1945.

Q

* Win one, lose one. From my father’s flight log: On the 8th. of October 1943, the German submarine U-340 was damaged and later scuttled (all crew but one rescued safely) but on the 7th. of January 1944 a surfaced sub blew a hole in one wing of my dad’s plane. – the sub may have been U-380 or U-952. The guy that would be my father, the Wellington’s crew, managed to get home and land safely. For better or for worse that’s why it’s me, Q, here and not somebody else (or no one at all).

As soon as the weather clears a little. What happened to August? And September?

• Two and a half years after we bought this land  and  building a house on  it (in exchange for our share of “Cruz Blanca”, the farmhouse in the mountains that was our home for the past twenty years, plus some more) – the title deed was finally released by the Provincial Registry. It became “legally ours” – so have been able to start untangling the remaining issues …

• We very nearly lost Remy, the other half  the K9 division of our immediate family (two German Shepherds Champ and  sister Remy, both seven).  We had never heard of Bloat , or “Gastric Dilation – Vulvulus” until the Saturday 23d August … and then learned more about it than I’d ever care to know. A rare opportunity to know you dog inside.  Two hours emergency surgery (the duty vets, a couple of lasses, one still in her evening clothes) . Remy is fine now, though will be forever at risk if we are not careful with her feeding. She figured on her own that she’s to take a nap after her meals. Smart.

• In the midst, rearranging my work to accommodate writing full time , as a business – far from real yet, but much more realistic.

“Danzig Daughters” the novel is – work in progress, still in rough draught.
A heartening bit of good luck, I got a third place in a flash fiction contest (at the UK site, Writelink.co.uk for a dark little piece (probably reflecting my mood at he time). First place was way ahead, it did provide some welcome cheer at the moment! Thank you, Writelink & Paola.

“Seventh Aubrey” returned (can be revised, sent again); “Mother Dear” needs working on some more. Then a week ago, I thought it time to get back into the fray with writing friends in the different forums (fora? ). Writers Village U. and the L. Ridge alumni at Storycrafters. At Writers Village University a new round of the six week introduction to basics for writers is starting up, and in November of course, another bout of “writing 50 000 words in a month”, the notorious and totally mad NaNoWriMo

BYKNIGHT.COM will just have to wait a little longer. I’ve got (finally) Dreamweaver, Photoshop and other Adobe stuff and no more genuine excuses for stalling.

So Q rides again. Windmills will remain un-tilted, damsels will have to take care of their own distress’, knaves will stay unpunished for a while.
Sunshine.
Q

We watched the opening ceremony for the Olympic Games in this 08-08-08 edition in Beijing – spectacular, as I’m sure you’ve all seen … we missed the start (there will be many opportunities later; this exhibition must have been canned in every medium available and i’m sure we’ll see many replays).

Then I recalled this handy reference to the antipodes, in Wikipedia – and collected this map. It appears that from here, central Argentina (31.95 South, 64.56 West *) we are exactly at the opposite side of the planet. So: digging straight down, through the core get us within a few miles of the Stadium – with some correction, our tunnel could emerge within the boundary and save us the cost of the entrance tickets – I suppose there are tickets, and that they must be pretty well sold out by now.  The hole will have to be a mere  12, 742 kilometers … ah – deep? High? Both? Across!  Not too bad.  I will start digging presently – meanwhile, enjoy The Games.

Q

*Latitude and Longitude coordinates have been slightly modified: they actually belong to an obnoxious neighbor, so if any of you have a cruise missile handy … but please advise ETA as I’d hate to miss the fireworks -  if I’m not too far down on my way  to China

Taking stock as winter ends for us, in Argentina:

My little e-book ha done well, and so has my association with Holly Lisle’s affiliate program – thanks to her, I began this Internet adventure. The whole series, “33 Worst Mistakes Writers Make About…” is at the Shop Page, in this journal

As a netwit, I’ve found the whole Internet adventure slower than I’d expected.
My main website www.byknight.com has gone through several transformations as I’ve been climbing the learning curve: it began with Kompozer, an excellent (free) editing software, with some limitations. I dug into our reserve funds and got properly set up (I hope), with Dreamweaver, Photoshop and Acrobat Pro … the good people at Adobe are a little richer – though I doubt they’ve noticed – and we have become considerable poorer (which we have!) … so BYKNIGHT should be out there before the end of August.

Writing – a good job with a printing and publishing contact, covering for the Drupa Exhibition in Düsseldorf, a long story (part of it sketched in my other web log, Mostly by Knight … a dull read for non specialists but intriguing; the story of publishing from the Lascaux Cave Paintings all the way to high speed digital printing (which just may be the future, and just may change the way books are published).

Sunday Morning and time to go and ring the bells at Mrs. Q’s church – so more of this later

Q