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Post by Biki on Mar 2, 2015 21:31:24 GMT
And our illustrious Sir Hew Dalrymple is back "so to speak" in the action again! We didn't check the mail on saturday and Mr. B brought it to me yesterday as a nice sunday surprise! I'm only on page 118 as I'm trying mightily to ~~~stretcccchhhhhhh~~~ it out for a few days. I don't know how well I will do with my drive to gobble it up as quickly as possible. Mean while to help me with my reading addiction, I've picked up a cross stitch project of an antique mariners compass and the pattern is a right bitch to do! I'm doing it on a beautiful piece of even weave linen, and I just have to tell myself it's the journey that I am to enjoy, not finishing the project just as fast as can be. Here is a link to the cross stitch book on ebay. I've done the flags cross stitch pattern and "started" the tall ship pattern (but screwed up the count from the very first row I ever did and the error grew exponentially until I just gave up on it. Needless to say winning a cross stitch picture of a tall ship at the Norfolk HH convention helped me make the decision to give up on it as well ) www.ebay.com/itm/Seafarers-Delight-Cross-Stitch-Pattern-Cross-My-Heart-INC-/321076532760Biki
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Post by maerose on Mar 4, 2015 8:00:14 GMT
I have never read a Dewey Lamdin book, although I have heard them discussed by fellow Horatians.
However, I have just checked them out on Amazon and they look really good. The main character, Alan Lewrie, sounds like a bit of a rake and a rogue, which appeals to me. I like novels with flawed protagonists, such as Tom Jones and Barry Lyndon.
The cross-stitch patterns look lovely. I would love something like this hanging on my wall, but fear they look a bit difficult for my very limited abilities in this area.
Maerose
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Post by Biki on Mar 4, 2015 20:06:56 GMT
This is book #20 in the series Maerose. Out of all the nautical fiction "hero's" he is my most flawed and favorite character. They start out with him being press ganged into the Navy at 17 by his father who is after his inheritance from his mothers side of the family, coming to the end of the Revolutionary War. He knows NOTHING about the military and has styled himself as a "dandy" with no responsibilities. But, he is witty, smart and clever and finds his way through the Navy and the ranks. He is a good captain who never takes himself too seriously and an aggressive "fighting Captain" when it's called for. (he loves the smell of gun powder in the morning!) Be warned there is some swearing (like a sailor) and sexual content in the books as he is a very randy 17 year old as the series starts out, and only with age does he slow down hunting up willing women to take a tumble in the sheets with. By book #20 he is 45 years old and still keeps a young mistress on the side. Lots of historical figures wander in and out of the series which is always fun to read about. And in the latest book He meets Wellington at his first ground battle against the French at Vimeiro. Thanks to reading all the Richard Sharpes and owning all the Sharpes video's I actually kind of know what is going on!! hahahaha The nautical flags pattern in the book was actually pretty easy to do and stitched up quite fast. This compass......?? It's awful!! I mean, I knew it was going to be awful and there are more errors in it than you can shake a stick at, but the center of it is exactly right and the rest of it is just feathering in lots of different colors, so I tell myself that it is okay if it isn't exactly perfect. By the time it's finished and framed, and I haven't studied it through magnified reading glasses for the past months, I won't even be able to spot all the flaws....I hope.... I may just be so disgusted with it that I never bother to get it framed. I only have five other projects waiting for framing before it! hahahaha! Biki
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Post by maerose on Mar 5, 2015 10:14:00 GMT
It would be lovely to see some photos of the finished cross-stitch artworks once you are done.
I don't think that Dewey Lambdin is that well known in Australia. I have never seen his books in the shops and online they are mostly both expensive and out of stock, which leads me to believe the local booksellers probably import them. Only one of the novels is available on Kindle's Australian site. Amazon won't let me order Kindle books from the US and UK sites, which I think is silly. Luckily, I get to hear about these things on Horatians. We seem to miss out on so much here in Australia. Either that, or we have to pay the "Australia tax".
I'll just have to order paperbacks from Amazon. They are definitely on my wishlist, as they sound right up my alley. I am not easily offended so a bit of swearing and lusty behaviour won't bother me at all - as long as the books are well written. It's badly written books that offend me!
In any case, some of the literature written in the pre-Victorian period is quite racy. Tom Jones is certainly no prude!
Maerose
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Post by Biki on Mar 6, 2015 21:58:56 GMT
When Horatio Hornblower first aired on A&E and they had a discussion board for it "back in the day" there was a gal on there from Australia (And Derry is from Australia as well, so you aren't alone) named Juju McGrath. We connected and over the next several years we had fun sending "care packages" back and forth. She sent me the book The Making of Horatio Hornblower, and a stuffed animal bird in a can of Australian "air", she sent me Vegemite (which didn't go over well with the kids) and Tams cookies (I think they were?) and book plates. I sent her pillows with (no outfit is complete without cat hair) embroidered on it. A t-shirt and cap from a restaurant we have here called McGraths, and fun other nautical stuff. I sent her a big bag of "Flamin' Hot Cheetos" hahahaha They saw the word Cheetos on the box and opened the box because they thought I was shipping cheese to Australia! hahahaha! She was my kids "Auntie from down under" Sadly she suffered from re-occuring uterine cancers, weakened and was unable to continue corresponding and I fear that she passed away. I got one email from her husband telling me that it wasn't looking good. I'm shocked that you can't get the books through your kindle site! That is too bad! If you want the first book let me know and I will do what I can to hunt down a copy and ship it to you so you can try the first book. Granted, with 20 books in the series, it would be sad to give you a taste of the series with no way of getting the rest of them, and the first book barely scratches the surface of the series. Are you on the Horatians facebook site? I've posted photos there that has the nautical flags cross stitch in it. This past January my husband and I built a large library shelf unit to house all my books, it's got open spaces on the units for knick-knack things to be displayed and I have a whole Horatio Hornblower section for the shelves and that cross stitch displayed. Here's their site address. I don't know if you do facebook or not.... www.facebook.com/groups/6442589678/Biki
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Post by maerose on Mar 8, 2015 4:58:08 GMT
Hi
I am on facebook quite a lot. However, I tried the link yesterday but got a blank page with a box saying the content is currently unavailable. I tried again today, but with the same result. Are you sure the group is still operational? I would like to join if it is.
I can remember the old days of the A & E Boards. I had been in a couple of chat rooms, but the A & E Hornblower Boards was the first time I had ever been in a forum. As I recall, there were two main boards - on for those who likes to gush and another for those who like a more serious discussion of the films and books. I was happy to frequent both. The Boards were incredibly busy, and at times the posts were flying so thick and fast it was more like a chat room than a forum.
For some reason, A & E suddenly decided to change their forum, deleting masses of material and blocking overseas posters. I think it was at this point that many people moved over to Horatians. I am so disappointed that A & E deleted all of their Hornblower material. As well as the Boards they had some wonderful interviews with the cast and crew, both on video and written. They also had masses of photos taken behind the scenes and while filming and lots of pictures of the actors. I regret that I didn't try and save some of the content.
I can remember Derry as having been around for a long time, but cannot remember Juju McGrath. It's such a shame that your friend became ill and worse that you never found out how she fared. It must be awful wondering.
I have found the first Dewey Lambdin book ("The King's Coat" I believe) for sale fairly cheaply on Booktopia.com.au. I am planning to place an order as they have a number of Bolitho Books on special at the moment. If I like it, I can order from Amazon. However, due to the way they charge for postage and packaging, it is best value for me to save up and by several books at once. It's kind of depressing that it is cheaper to buy the books overseas than locally, even taking into account to delivery fee.
How kind of your husband to build you a shelf. I have a large collection of books, many of them unread, stored at my house in Brisbane, where my son and his wife are currently living. They are stored in the garage in numerous 28 litre plastic crates. Ideally, I would like to get some of those bookcases which have glass doors on the front to protect the books from dust. I now tear myself away from book bargain tables at all costs because I find it so hard not to buy books.
Maerose
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Post by maerose on Mar 8, 2015 5:02:58 GMT
PS Biki
In regards to vegemite, foreigners usually hate it because they spoon a heap of it onto their toast like it is jam or something. The trick is to butter your toast or crackers and then put only a very thin scraping of the vegemite on it. Vegemite and cheese is also quite nice, but again, only a thin scraping is required as the flavour is very strong. I find wholegrain Ryvita with some butter or margarine and a little vegemite is a tasty snack. It is somewhat of an acquired taste though.
We don't have Flaming Cheetos here, but we do have Cheetos Cheese and Bacon Balls. I knew I wouldn't starve during the cyclone, because I had 2 bags of Cheetos in the pantry. With the amount of preservatives in those things, I am sure they would survive a nuclear holocaust!
Maerose
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Post by Biki on Mar 16, 2015 19:52:43 GMT
Oh yes, I know that the group is still operational Maerose. I will post to it and have the owner of the page come find you here so she can help you get in. I'm pretty sure we were very "judicious" in the amount of vegemite we tried on the toast. hahaha! It was still fun to try it though. My library shelves are open to the room, but the room is closed off with French doors at all times to cut down on the amount of dust to the room. I do have a fish tank in there, as it is my "nautical" room. There is scene on the back of the fish tank of a sunken ship and I have an anchor in the gravel to give it a three dimensional look. I only have one empty shelf left and I still need to get all my Bernard Cornwell/Richard Sharpes books put out, so I am in serious book space trouble!! I think my husband will cry if I ask him to make me some more shelves! hahaha I love them! I took the plans from this idea, I did make them taller and added more shelves, but left the big open ones for decorations in the same pattern as this. www.houzz.com/photos/1648608/White-Library-Unit-asian-display-and-wall-shelves-los-angelesThere are so many good ideas for bookshelves on google image. I could just gobble them all up! Biki
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Post by Biki on Mar 16, 2015 20:16:45 GMT
Okay, I got this back from Lozzy. Let's see if this works. Hi Karen, Has Maerose tried to join or is it just going blank all the time. Here is the facebook link below. www.facebook.com/groups/6442589678/?fref=nfAlso what her real name? she might be waiting in the confirmation area. Hope I can help. From HMS Lozzy Horatians.org
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