Many centuries ago in tsarist Russia, Tsar Rudolph sat on his throne in a dank and musty palace near the Kremlin. It was late fall, and the weather was dreary. His wife, the Tsarina, was peering out the window, looking across the bleak square.

"Rudolph, my liege, it is beginning to snow," she said with some conviction.

The Tsar, with nothing much else to do walked to the window to take in the scene.

"Catherine, that is just more of the same miserable rain we've seen for days."

"No, it's starting to snow. You can see a few flakes falling out there."

"It is only rain."

Four years ago I was getting up my nerve to sign on to BCTS. I found this to be such a warm and friendly place. Oh, there were a few soreheads and curmudgeons around; however, they were few and far between. A little more than three years ago, I decided to take the plunge and post the story I had spent several years writing. It was badly edited and proofed (by me); however, it was well received. Thankfully, Holly Hart took me under her wing. I posted two more stories before prostate cancer and some severely botched surgery knocked me on my rear for several months.

Thought this might be of interest to many.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/28/walmart-adds-transg...

Three years ago, I finally got up the nerve to post the novels I had written up to that point on BCTS. Frankly, I was a bit apprehensive. September 2008 was a big month in many respects. About the same time I started posting The Heart of the Beholder I found out that I had prostate cancer. The night before I went in for what proved to be a horrible ordeal of three weeks in the hospital and three surgeries, I posted the last chapter of The Narragansett Fork. That one is still one of my favorites because that's where I found Fanny.

I'm a bit more than half way through writing a novel - 63,000 words so far - and I feel like I'm treading in molasses. I've written less than 3,000 words in more than a month. Yesterday, I wrote ONE SENTENCE! What's so frustrating is that I know the story right up through the ending. I just can't find the words. If anyone out there is wondering why I haven't posted anything lately, it's not because I've gone away. I think my muse has taken a sabatical, or she's just enjoying tormenting me. The story I'm working on is part of the California Saga series.

This was sent to me a little while ago:

Owed Two A Spell Cheque

The idiocy of this is beyond my comprehension.

http://www.parentdish.com/2011/05/19/city-bans-breast-feedin...

I wonder what F--- up in the development of society led to this mind set?

Portia

We were visiting friends last week, and were having an Easter feast outdoors in the mild weather. I happened to be with several of the wives, including my own, and we were discussing movies, past oscar winners and others. Several nice movies were mentioned, and Notting Hill came up. We mentioned The King's Speech, and I mentioned that I like Colin Firth in Love Actually.. One of the ladies said, "You keep mentioning chic flicks. You're a girl inside, aren't you?" I said I guess so, and my wife said yes, while nodding in agreement.

Well, My six-year old Dell was showing signs of senility, so I carefully transfered my files to a Simple Drive and verified they were indeed there. Actually, I had been periodically backing things up by copying files to the drive. I thought every thing was going just right.

This has to be a new record: 89 comments and counting. I know that many of them are replies by the author; however, this is what a good story is about: great writing that stirs up even the most reticent of commenters. Great job, Lilith!

Portia

Last night we were fortunate enough to view The King's Speech. What performances by Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush! Even though I live across the pond, I was familiar with some of the acrimony between Elizabeth II's mother, and Edward and Wallis Simpson. I know that it carried over to the Queen. Neither of the brother's wanted to be king. Many say that The Queen Mother blamed Edward for George's early death. The fact that he was addicted to cigarettes certainly contributed to that. I don't think I was aware of George VI's speech impediment.

Today commemorates the liberation of Auschwitz. God help us if we ever forget.

Portia

In one of my recent stories, The Redhead and the PM, I used The Goring Hotel as one of the early settings. I had no idea at the time that Kate Middleton and family would be using it for their operating location before the wedding later this year. The owner of the hotel mentioned to me that The Queen Mother was attending an affair there and mentioned to him that the hotel was "rather convenient" to Buckingham Palace. It is a great place, probably one of the best hotels in London if not in the world.

In commenting about the characters in a popular serial on this site, I made some rather unflattering, but honestly felt comments about several of the characters in the story. I felt, and I expressed it before, that they were seriously flawed and should not be held in very high esteem. Well, I received a comment to my comment saying that my outlook was far too dark, and that I didn’t understand the characters at all, that my life experience was such that I had no business making the comments I did make.

Chapters 10 and 11 are now posted. I'm sure some of you have been wondering if anything was going to happen. Well, we are one quarter of the way through the story, and things start to happen very fast.