Suzie’s House 115: You’re Under Arrest
Vin put his back to the wall, but hesitated over pulling out the gun he knew Drew didn’t want him to have, especially when Drew gave him a pointed look.
“We aren’t a SWAT team, Vin,” Drew said dryly.
“Oh. Right.” Vin moved to stand beside Drew. Miranda already stood on the other side.
(more…)
T13- IRL – a poem
This is a poem in 13 lines, inspired by The Walking Man among other things.
1. The universe
2. comes leaping from an ashtray; intact, bountiful, wedged
3. between metered lines.
4. From politics to silly tricks
5. the mind
6. runs around the world while leaving behind
7. aging, slovenly bones.
8. Outside,
9. the real is distanced
10. by the search for groceries, children, the mail.
11. Square kilometers force time and boredom.
12. Inside
13. a modem makes it real.
In order to get the permalink from this post you must both put your URL in the Mr. Linky thing and leave a comment
More Thursday Thirteen participants can be found here
And here.
As always, I welcome the link to your Thursday Thirteen in my comments as well as in Mr. Linky.
I am also doing a Flash 55 with this one.
This weeks T13 pick: Krissy with a list of WordPress plug ins I plan to use.
By George! Dr. Croft Knows His Stuff, He Thinks
After so much difficulty overcoming her father’s objections, Princess Charlotte enjoyed her marriage to Prince Leopold. And now, on to the happy occasion of the birth of her child.
It wasn’t until November 3 that Charlotte went into labor. Doctor Croft continued to issue rosy reports. Twenty four hours passed. Although Charlotte’s pain grew worse as the labor progressed, she was determined that she would “neither bawl nor shriek.” And she didn’t. Other doctors were standing by, ready to assist. Croft wouldn’t hear of it. He and he alone would handle everything.
It has been debated whether such assistance would have made a difference. We’ll never know. Doctor Croft would not let them near and continued to issue reports that did not reflect the gravity of the situation. The labor progressed through it’s second day. “Nothing could be going on better.” Croft announced to Prince Leopold’s principle equerry at three o’clock on the afternoon of the 4th. At eight o’clock the following morning Cabinet Ministers, who wanted to be on hand for the birth were told that the Princess had made “a considerable, though very gradual progress throughout the night.”
Another thirteen hours would pass before the baby would be born, at nine PM. “ A beautiful, fine boy. Very large.” Croft announced. Also Very dead. Charlotte had been in labor for fifty-one hours. Three hours after delivery, a period in which Croft told the ministers that Charlotte was doing “extremely well,” she complained to her nurse of “singing in her head and feeling suddenly cold.” After unsuccessfully trying to eat, she was gripped with a sudden, excruciating pain in her abdomen.
Doctor Croft, accompanied by a Doctor Sim, hurried to her bedside. They found her pulse rapid, weak and irregular. Following what was, apparently, standard procedure, they wrapped her in flannel and surrounded her with hot water bottles. All fine and well. They also forced her to drink brandy, mixed with wine and water until she was drunk.
Doctor Stockmar was finally allowed to see her. “They have made me tipsy.” She told him. She then said she now had pain in her chest as well as her abdomen. “Oh, what pain!” She cried, Weakly trying to pull him closer. She was having difficulty breathing. “Is there any danger?” She asked him. Doctor Stockmar told her to lay back and try to rest. At that point she went into convulsions. Unable to speak or breath, she died.
The Prince Regent, who was recovering from a serious illness at the Hurtford estate in Sudbourne, received a message from Sir Robert Gardiner that Charlotte had been in labor for twenty-seven hours. And “That the exertions from the womb were less vigorous than they ought to be and that some artificial assistance (a c-section) might be necessary.” Why no one had the authority to override Doctor Croft and order one will forever remain a mystery.
Dad left for London immediately. A messenger missed him on the road with the news that the baby had been still-born. Arriving at Carlton House, he was told about the baby, but that Charlotte was “doing extremely well.” completely exhausted, he decided to get some rest before visiting his daughter later that morning. The Duke of York and Lord Bathurst woke him a few hours later to tell him that Charlotte had also died. According to one historian, “he struck his head violently with both hands and fell forward into the arms of the Duke of York. His doctors were called and thought it necessary to bleed him with their customary immoderation.”
Priney made it to Claremont that day, but Prince Leopold was in no condition to see anyone. He returned five days later. Leopold received him although he was still “very distressed.” Dad also viewed the bodies of his daughter and grandson. The Queen said of Leopold that much was “to be expected from the mildness of his character to contribute towards the recovery of his spirits.”
It never happened.
The Queen herself was among the last to be told of events. Seriously ill herself, she had gone, under doctors orders, to Bath to take the waters. It was there that she received the news. “She had broken out into a fit of compulsive sobbing when told of her grand daughters death, for she had grown very fond of her.”
It took dad long months to recover from Charlotte’s death. Leopold never did.
Seeking someone to blame for such a catastrophic loss, public opinion turned on Doctor Croft. His insistence on being Charlotte’s sole doctor was now coming back to haunt him. The Prince Regent was quick to come to his defense. He publicly thanked him for “the zealous care and indefatigable attention manifested by Sir Richard towards his beloved daughter.”
Few others were willing to be so forgiving. Princess Charlotte was enormously popular. Her death caused a great outpouring of heartfelt grief. Doctor Croft was never allowed to forget that he, and he alone, killed Charlotte. And so, according to Gentleman’s Magazine, “On 13, February 1818, while attending a woman who’s difficulties in labor resembled those he had witnessed at Claremont, he took a pistol from the wall and shot himself in her house.”
– Mr. Al
Do You Tweet?
I just joined Twitter. I’ve been holding off because I was afraid it would turn into a huge time drain, but that hasn’t been the case. In fact, I kind of wish it was a little more so.
So far I am only following five people. I’d like to follow more. So, if you are also on Twitter, let me know your user name and I will gladly add you to my list.
Why Can't Women Sleep At Night?
Have you ever wondered how a woman’s brain works?
Well….it’s finally explained here in one, easy-to-understand illustration:
Every one of those little blue balls is a thought about something that needs to be done, a decision or a problem that needs to be solved.
A man has only 2 balls and they take up all his thoughts.
OK, I’ll confess. I posted this one more for the illustration than the joke. I’ve always been a sucker for those overblown “machines” that accomplish little.
Quick and Easy Stir Fry
1 pork chop
1/2 bag frozen stir fry veggies
1 clove garlic
a dash ginger
2T oyster sauce
rice
Cook rice. While it is cooking cut up pork chop or equivalent. Leftovers work well, including chicken or beef. Cook meat. I use a wok, but you can get away with a deep skillet or a pan if you really need to. I toss in some water, occasionally slopping it in from the rice. Just enough to keep anything from sticking. Once meat is cooked through add rest of ingredients. Cook only until warmed through.
Click the picture to go to the hub
If you did a recipe today, leave your link in the comments and I’ll link to you here.
Norm with Pork Chops
Joy with Cherry Clafouti
Emily with Praline Biscuits
Kristen with a recipe for French toast
Tess with pitures of a bunch of stuff I’d like to eat
Tamy with Peauntbutter Hamburgers
Janet featured pictures of wantons from the henge
Shey with pictures of a grand old time, including food.
Ladynred with a picture of sweet and sour fish
Stepping Stones
Jack: Jill? Tonic, where did Jill go?
Today’s theme is Walk
Previously in Jack and Jill Attack Dog
Saturday photo scavenger hunt
The rules for Photohunt can be found here.
Be sure to visit the home page.
Suzie’s House 114: Dropping by to Pick Something Up
“You’re going to get a gun, aren’t you.” Drew unlocked the kitchen door as he spoke. “That’s why you wanted to stop at the house before we check out the guys Christina mentioned.”
Vin muttered something that sounded suspiciously like, “Dmn right I am,” but when Drew glared at him, he smiled innocuously, then brushed past as he cut through the kitchen.
“Better not be,” Drew growled, taking a firm step in the same direction and bumping into Miranda, who had been sitting at the kitchen table with Gene.
“What? What’s going on?” Miranda stopped him with a hand to his chest.
Drew looked at it in amazement. Miranda never touched him casually. She was warm and friendly with him, as she was with everyone, but she didn’t hang on him the way she sometimes did with Vin or Suzie. Speaking of whom, if Suzie knew what they were going to do she’d insist on coming along.
“Where’s Suzie?”
“She took Ben shopping.” Miranda waved the questions away as if it were of the utmost insignificance.
To Drew it was a relief. The last thing he needed, besides a hot headed Vin with a gun running into what could be a trap, was the sweetest woman he’d ever known insisting on coming along for the ride. Wait, if She took Ben, then why…?
“And not Gene?”
“Gene wasn’t here when they left.” Miranda tightened her lips impatiently. “So what are you doing? Where are you and Vin going?”
“We’re going to nail the guy who shot me,” Vin answered oh-so-helpfully. “Wanna come along?”
“No!” Drew answered for her.
“Yes!” She overrode him.
“Let’s go,” Vin headed for the door.
Gene stood, and shuffled off right behind Miranda as if he assumed he could go along too. No, no, no, no, nooo! As if having Vin along weren’t bad enough. As if fulfilling his promise to both Vin and Miranda to allow them to help weren’t bad enough. Bringing along a kid too? No!!!
“Not you, Gene.” Drew tried to be gentle, and ended up being authoritative. Couldn’t be helped. He had to put his foot down in this case. “It could be dangerous. In fact, maybe you should stay with him, Miranda.”
“Noooo!” Miranda sounded more like a kid than Gene, who looked crest fallen but only said, “Oh.”
For a touchy moment they all stood in place, tense, looking to one another like partying teenagers on a bridge waiting to see who would jump first.
“I’ll go home,” Gene said in a morose tone. The tension went out of everyone. Miranda didn’t argue or apologize, merely grinned at Vin and dashed out the door. Vin followed closely behind with Gene shuffling after.
“That would be best.” Drew followed him out slowly. “I’ll give you a ride home.”
“That’s all right. I’ll walk.” Gene stumbled off. Drew spared a moment to worry about the boy, but he had too many other problems to deal with right now to do anything about it. By the time Drew locked the door, Vin and Miranda were both in the car, right where he didn’t want them.
How did everything always get so out of hand when it came to the people who lived in Suzie’s house?
If you enjoy Suzie’s House and would like to see more, please leave a comment. Suzie’s House is powered by its readers.
104 Submissions in a Year
I’m going for it.
I have little control over being accepted. Even if I do my very best work both on my manuscripts and on my queries there is no guarantee I will even be read, let alone offered a contract. I’ve been letting this lack of control hold me back.
No more!
A while back Shelly Munro said she had a deal with a friend to see who could pile up the most rejections. The one with the most won dinner out with the other. This kept them both submitting in spite of the pain.
I have no partner in crime for this, but I can do something else. I’m going to send off two queries a week for the next year. I was going to send a query a day for 365 days, but thinking about it made me too tired. It would mean a lot of polishing.
Who knows? With any luck I might even find the motivation to do more writing.
Want to know how I’m doing over the course of the year? I’m going to tweet it in my side bar. At the end of the year I’ll let you know how it all went. in one summary post. Wish me luck!
T13: Western Water
Shelley Munro had a Grateful-For type T13 a while back that got me thinking. At the top of her list was hot and cold running water. It struck me hard because I have a kind of weird relationship with water. Let me tell you about it.
1. I grew up in the Rocky Mountains, for the most part. There are precious few places between Texas (the Western end) and Montana that aren’t simi-arid, if not desert. People who grow up in places where water is scarce hear a lot about it.
2. The saying around El Paso is, “Seems like we’ve been having this same drought for twenty years.” Actually, they have. It’s called a climate, but they don’t want to hear that from a snot-nosed brat like I was.
3. Starting from about the middle of Utah and going North from there, most of the year’s precipitation comes in the form of snow. You can actually sit in your living room and look at a fair chunk of your water supply for the year. If you have a view. Which I don’t any more.
4. It snowed on April 2nd this year. And again this morning. Ok, it’s cool to look at snow on the mountains, but enough already! Can’t we just have rain?
5. Water rights become a huge issue if you buy land in the country side out West. You may think whatever lands on your land is yours, only to find out it really belongs to California.
6. That didn’t happen to me, but I know people who were rudely surprised.
7. In the city the water that comes out of the faucet probably comes from the aquifer. It can take anywhere from months to thousands of years for the water to work it’s way through rock to reach an aquifer. It takes very little time to pump it out.
8. Some places use ground water on lawns as well as on fields. It’s call irrigation. I always thought it was funny to go visit a friend and find their lawn, but no necessarily any of their neighbors’, was under water on purpose. Sometimes the lawn was my own. I still thought it was funny.
9. Flooding out West isn’t anything like flooding in Wisconsin. In Wisconsin, the water grows deeper in a way I consider gradual – mere inches over minutes. Out West it tends to come racing down the hills in arroyos or creeks, sometimes as a wall of water higher than the banks.
10. I’ve seen boulders the size of cars tumbled smooth and dropped in the middle of river beds, victims of a flash flood.
11. One day my grandfather ran into a couple for back East who intentionally pitched their tent in an arroyo bed because it looked like it might rain. They thought it was shelter. He spent way too much time explaining that the rain on the mountains 20 miles away was going to be racing through their shelter in about half an hour and might take them with it. Since I never heard word of their grizzly remains having been discovered down stream, he must have convinced them.
12. Once the rain stops, most of the time I can turn over as little as a quarter of an inch to find dry ground. That’s assuming there’s actually a quarter of an inch of dirt, and not just rock.
13. One day while crossing the boarder from Mexico to Texas the guard asked if we were harboring any wet backs. I was a baby at the time and wet my diaper, so they joked that I was the wet back. My family still won’t let me live it down.
In order to get the permalink from this post you must both put your URL in the Mr. Linky thing and leave a comment
More Thursday Thirteen participants can be found here
And here.
As always, I welcome the link to your Thursday Thirteen in my comments as well as in Mr. Linky.
Deanna Dahlsad
Tink
Susan Helene Gottfried
Mary
storyteller
Daisy
By George!
After having her father, George IV, try to railroad her into a bad marriage, Princess Charlotte not only escaped his claws, she found true love. Everyone was happy, except her dad, who still couldn’t resist throwing a party.
The wedding took place May 2, 1816. Carlton House was the venue and everything ran like clockwork. Charlotte had dinner with her grandmother and her aunts at the Queen’s House and it was there that she prepared. Wearing a “shimmering silver wedding dress and a wreath of diamond roses which the Queen had helped her select from the ample stock of Messrs Rundell, Bridge and Co. She was ready just before eight o’clock when she came down the staircase with Princess Augusta and stepped into the carriage that was to take her to Carlton House.”
(more…)
How's it going where you are?
It’s Spring. Of course the river is up. No real flooding, but it’s still impressive when you think of what it’s like in the fall. It’s up at least five feet right now.
But that is still lower than it was a couple days ago. Don’t know why it went down when it’s been rainy.
So how about you? Anything interesting going on with the weather?
Bugs
A few weeks back I showed you all a bunch of pictures from a hodge-podge kind of email about incredible pictures. I selected out the animals for you. This time I’ve selected out the insects.
Bridalveil Place Mats
It’s been ages since I did something besides a recipe on Sunday, but with my new sewing machine still humming away, I felt like sharing a sewing project. I’ll get back to the recipe thing next Sunday.
The very first project off my Baby Lock was this; a set of 8 place mats.
The picture does not in any way do it justice. These are so upscale, and I am so proud of myself. Ok, maybe not that proud, but they did come out well.
Here’s how to make them:
Cut the base – which should be out of a medium weight woven – into 22″x18″ sections. Cut the lace to 21 1/4″ x 17 1/4″. This is large enough to accommodate a European style dinner complete with fish course. If the fabric is wrinkled or has creases, iron it before cutting. This can be a little picky.
Spread the lace out over the base, making sure everything is flat and smooth. Cut about 1/4″ of the corners off of the base.
Turn the base, being sure to catch the lace under to make a sort of frame. Pin. Iron. Stitch. Be sure to tuck the corners in so that no raw edges are exposed, and watch that the lace does not bunch up anywhere. I strongly recommend NOT leaving it overnight in any position other than flat.
Stitching is fairly quick, and the results are well worth the effort.
Attack Dog
Jack: Going for a walk this late at night?
Jill: What’s wrong with that.
Jack: Well I know it isn’t the most dangerous neighborhood in town, but it isn’t the safest either. Why don’t you wait a bit and I’ll come with you.
Jill: No, no. I’ll have Tonic with me. He’ll be plenty of protection.
Jack: Well, all right, but if you aren’t home in a few minutes, I’m coming looking for you.
Jack: That was fast. Looks like Tonic wasn’t much protection. Some guy scared him?
Jill: No. Snow.
Today’s theme is Purple
Previously in Jack and Jill Return of the Prodigal Son
Saturday photo scavenger hunt
The rules for Photohunt can be found here.
Be sure to visit the home page.
