Christmas Eve appears to be the more important of the days of Christmas here in Germany. Here at the farm we clean stalls every other day. As it happens, this year Christmas Eve was a stall day anyway, but when it is not, the stalls are still cleaned out on this day so as to allow for Christmas Day to be free of barn work except for feeding the ( Read more... )

As of today, I have officially written the final chapter of my fic, The Wars of the Valar! *does happy dance* It's been a long haul... a year and a half. I'll continue posting these last seven chapters of the story once a week, so the final chapter plus an appendix won't be posted until the last week of January.

So what's next? Well, Stirrings of ( Read more... )

Today is the Feast of St. Lucy in the Catholic calendar. Traditionally, in Sweden, the youngest daughter of the household serves breakfast to the rest of her family, usually dressed in a white gown and wearing a wreath with candles on her head. I'm sure you've all seen pictures of this.

Today was aslo special for the Loncar family -- Nina's sister ( Read more... )

Okay, here are the results of one of Germany's most popular TV shows (at least in this household)....

The show highlighted several farmers from around Germany who were looking for wives. Some won, others lost. Naturally, these names will mean nothing to you, but I thought y'all would get a kick out of reading about them anyway.

The Losers:

Hansi: as ( Read more... )

Today, as most people know, is St. Nicholas Day. It's not a day celebrated too much in the States, but here in Germany it is at least acknowledged. St. Nicholas is the saint (from Bari, Italy) on whom the iconic Santa Claus is based. In England he is known as Father Christmas, a title I much prefer to the 'jolly fat elf' of American folklore.

So, ( Read more... )

I got hit by the CARP (Cowardly Anonymous Reveiwer Person) again! Here it is along with my reply:

Morgoth as rapist and as pedophile (which you seem to suggest here) - I can see why one would think of those as evil things, but it's certainly not what I expect to see on a site that touts itself as being 'family-friendly.'

It's overall an intriguing ( Read more... )

So here are the results of the MEFA 2008 for my stories. Of the fourteen that were nominated, ten received awards:

Parting Gifts: First Place: Cross-cultural: Post-Ring War

FAULT: The Doctor Is In: Second Place: Humor: Valar & Maiar

MAGIC: The Password: Second Place: Humor: Elven Lands

WAR: A Promise Before Dying: Second Place: Multi-Age: General

BRIDGE ( Read more... )

Of course Germans don't celebrate Thanksgiving. It appears to be a purely American (and Canadian) holiday. Originally, Nina and I were planning to have Thanksgiving dinner with the Liddle Family, Americans whom Nina knew via their mutual love of Tolkien and who are now stationed at Ramstein Air Base (mom is in the military). However, two of the ( Read more... )

Germany woke up this morning to snow and quite a bit of it. I think we've easily gotten close to a foot since it started falling around 6:00 this morning. The temperature is only -1 on the Celsius scale so it is below freezing. If it stays this cold or gets colder over the next few days the water pipes in the barn will freeze and we'll have to lug ( Read more... )

I don't like anonymous reviews. I don't write them and I don't like receiving them. If you're going to write a review, have the guts to sign it, otherwise, don't bother.

I've received two anonymous reviews this week, both negative in tone. One was for the latest chapter of Wars of the Valar, "The Light Challenges" and the other for the latest ( Read more... )