Oreos, Choughs, Research, and Letters of Note (with many photos!)

Although I meant to talk about editing and my crazy new ideas today, this post has been OBE.

Yes, it's Jubilee weekend, but no, there's no knighthood forthcoming (not even an agent! Though I'm still querying, and blogging about it at Misha's). I just like using the phrase OBE - Overtaken By Events.

All silliness aside, what I mean is, I was going to post about editing and a contest I'm going to run (speaking of which, Claire Legrand is running an awesome Cavendishlicious giveaway) but I can't figure out why my new phone won't let me email myself the photos that I need, and my chip reader is in my desk at work (I also haven't figured out where in the phone the chip is, yet).

On top of that, I was going to talk about the amazing Letters of Note website, but I seem to have lost the email in which I saved all the links to the best letters, by Tolkien and Lewis and Hemingway, and so on. So instead, I've got lots of random images and ideas to share.

To start with, 2012 is the 100th anniversary of the Oreo cookie! Here's me dunking:




Back in the UK, our first week there was National Stilton Week in England!
We enjoyed some Stilton and other cheeses at Helen's:


I took lots of photos of pre-1500 buildings, imagining that Rosa and, earlier on, her mother Mawdlen, might have stayed at one of them (ignore any chimney pots, lampposts and cars!):






A street as seen from Warwick Castle:


Some of the houses aren't as old, but have interesting connections: A crooked house in Canterbury...


...which inspired Dickens:
"a very old house bulging out over the road... leaning forward, trying to see who was passing on the narrow pavement below" (from David Copperfield)

I also learned about a rare bird:


And I might have spotted him:




I did some research at the Victoria and Albert Museum on metals I'm not very familiar with:

Pewter:


brass:


and bronze (the one on the left is 'Mounted Turk Attacked by a Lion'):


Suddenly I spotted a Dalek attacking shoppers through a window:



But we got away in the TARDIS:


Whew! Meanwhile, I couldn't help it; I went back really quickly through the Letters of Note site.

Here's Bill Watterson with cartooning tips,
C. S. Lewis on writing and pantomimes,
Charles Bukowski on censorship,
Henry VIII writing to Anne Boleyn in English and French with nary a comma in sight,
Helen Keller describing the view from atop the Empire State Building (you'll see!),
J. R. R. Tolkien on names and ancestry,
Roald Dahl on dreams and criticism,
Stephen King, age 14, writing a query letter to a magazine,
R. L. Stevenson writing to his father for money,
Stephen Fry on depression,
and fan mail from Wil Wheaton that I'm all envious about.

"THIS IS INSTEAD OF TELEPHONING BECAUSE I CANT LOOK YOU IN THE VOICE.
I SIMPLY CANNOT GET THAT THING DONE YET NEVER HAVE DONE SUCH HARD NIGHT AND DAY WORK NEVER HAVE SO WANTED ANYTHING TO BE GOOD AND ALL I HAVE IS A PILE OF PAPER COVERED WITH WRONG WORDS.
CAN ONLY KEEP AT IT AND HOPE TO HEAVEN TO GET IT DONE.
DONT KNOW WHY IT IS SO TERRIBLY DIFFICULT OR I SO TERRIBLY INCOMPETANT [sic]"

That's how I feel as I enter the last run of edits.
I can't wait till I'm done and can change my ROW80 goal to - draft missing scenes!

Comments

Nadja Notariani said…
Great photos. The brown and white's remind me of house lined streets in Germany.
You've got quite the ecclectic mix of interesting topics today!

The telegram is my favorite feature. :}
Claudia Lefeve said…
Jealous that you're there for the Jubilee! What a momentous occasion :) And why did I read the rest of your post...now I have a craving for Oreos (thank goodness I have some in my pantry)!
Unknown said…
It's Stilton week? Damn, I've got no cheese in the flat at all right now - I think a trip to the shops shall be happening very soon - Stilton and crackers, methinks :)
S.P. Bowers said…
You had me at Oreo. Mmmmmmm.
Nas said…
Happy 100th Anniversary to OREO!

And here I was thinking it was something fairly new.

Thanks for all these lovely photos!
Al said…
What a busy post!
I love Stilton (not so keen on Oreos).
Isn't Warwick Castle just amazing?
Talli Roland said…
Funny, when you said OBE, I thought you meant 'order of the British empire'. Haha!
Great post, fantastic pics! Congrats on the OBE. LOL
Vicki Tremper said…
Well, I'm kind of glad you were OBE, because this was a really fun post. Love your photos of England! And that telegram from Dorothy Parker is priceless. "I can't look you in the voice." Love it.
Zan Marie said…
Oh for a few Oreos to dunk in my tea! Great pics, Deniz. I see you've redesigned the blog. Love the pic in the background, too. ; )
Melanie Macek said…
Your latest posts make me want to go to the UK even more! I can easily imagine stories in the older buildings. Drives the hubby crazy. Half of our vacation pictures are usually random houses and buildings we pass on the way.

Happy Birthday to the OREO and hope you get things nailed down and worked out.

Melanie
Anonymous said…
There's so much good information here. Oreos, rare birds, old buildings. I'm glad I stopped by.
Trisha said…
Loving all your photos that you're sharing, and your travel stories :)
Anonymous said…
LITERATE!!!! (said in the usual Dalek tone and rhymes with EXTERMINATE.)

I love Letters of Note, and I'm really mad that he had to close down comments.
Deniz Bevan said…
Thanks so much everyone!

Talli, Glynis, you ladies were the only ones that caught the OBE reference :-)

Glad you like the design, Zan Marie!

Oh, Joshua! I'll never look at a Dalek the same way again!
Jemi Fraser said…
Love those photos! The houses are so cool - and I love that crooked house :)
Deniz Bevan said…
Love it! *makes note to self to buy more oreos tomorrow*

And thanks, Jemi :-)
Beverly Diehl said…
Lovely, lovely pictures. The crooked house rocks, so much more interesting than an ordinary straight house.

The chough - very cool, love that red/orange beak.

I often have a pile of paper covered with the wrong words.

Keep going, keep going!
Hi Deniz .. great mix of posts - Oreos are delicious the few times I eat them - thankfully! Now Stilton sounds a good idea .. it's tea time - I guess I can have some for tea?

Love the views you've given us - the Chough is to be found on cliffs and coastal edges .. OBE - other bodies' efforts ...

Cheers glad you had a great time .. Hilary
Deniz Bevan said…
Thank you Beverly and Hilary!

Oh, and Hilary, I saw The best Exotic Marigold Hotel last weekend; such a lovely film. I've added the book to my wishlist!