Medieval Hair Dye and Blog Hop Winner!

Today was the last day for the Lucky Leprechaun Blog Hop Giveaway, and the winner has just been drawn, and the notice sent out.  Please check your e-mail!

The last couple of weeks, have been busy with Night Writers and Gabriel's Horn events, including putting together a writing class that will be held this August in Maple Grove, MN, and attending the Minnesota Book Awards in March, where we heard from some wonderful authors.

My continued research has taken me from the greatest hits of the 1200's to standing stones to the world of medieval hair dye and on to re-reading sections of John Barbour's The Brus, in search of medieval vocabulary and rhymes. 

And quhen he a lang qhile had bene thar

He herknyt and herd as it war

A hundis questyng on fer

That ay come till him ner and ner.

And in modern English, it goes something like this:

When he had stayed there a long while,

He listened and heard what sounded

Like a hound's baying in the distance,

Always coming nearer and nearer to him.

Apart from the arts, I acquired some practical knowledge, such as that long, black hair can be achieved by removing the head and tail of a lizard, boiling it in oil, and anointing my head with that oil.  I'm guessing several of my boys would be more than happy to catch a lizard for me if it were warm enough outside.  Luckily for me, it isn't.  So I'm going to settle for mostly-long hair that isn't really black at all, in lieu of boiling headless lizards.

More about standing stones and medieval music later.  They're both fascinating subjects.  I'm sure I'll have an easier time selling standing stones as fascinating, but trust me, polyphony and neumes are exciting stuff!  The real challenge is writing about them in small enough bites for a blog post.

Keep an eye open on Wednesday for a link to my post at the lit blog, Yamina Today, an article springing from a discussion with Yamina about researching in person.  On April 9, I will be guest blogging for Kati Lear, and still in the works are guest blogs with Dr. Sarah Woodbury and J. R. Tomlin.  Wrapping up tonight was the Dynamic Story Writing Contest at Pia Bernardino's blog, with 39 entries telling the story of Bill and Kate, and the mysterious Giovanni.