Book Review: The Virgin Queen by Juliet Baranne

Review:-

This book is a fable about a strong female who is queen of her world, and surrounded by female advisers and men to use and abuse as she so wishes.

It reminded me very much of the many stories of Arthur and the Round table tales. Very much an imagined world but with Amazonian type women. The queen came across as a lady who abused her power and beauty over men and controlled them using her feminine wiles.

It was a pure imagination and its only grip to reality that I could see was its loose connection to tales of the past. Not something I would pick up to read myself, but if you want to read about women in charge and getting their own way over other lands. Something to escape from the daily grind of life then it is a very light read and could be for you.

About the Author:-

The Lost Kingdom of Nan
July 2013

Hidden in the Highlands far to the north on Bangkok is the lost Kingdom of Nan. It lies on the border of Laos and the Kingdom of Siam. Nan was long a free city, but is now a province of Siam. Nan still has its own royal family and king.
Nan still has a section of its old city wall. The Siamese tell you it is 10,000 years old ! The kingdom is rich, with fertile land along the banks of the mighty river Nan. In the hills are the tribal Hill People. The Siamese see them as primitive, who still hunt in the forests. They live by making cloth in their huts and tending their garden crops.
The people of Nan tolerate poets who wander into their vale, men who are clearly a little mad. The people are kind to men of the West, and the women are lovely and graceful.
In October, the Dragon Boat races are held.  The fleet boats were once used in wars. Nan was once conquered by the king of Burma, and its people carried off as slaves.
The people of Nan honor the traditions of their fathers. Processions are held in festivals. The sound of drums thunder forth, as the people happily march through town. The temples are filled with the throngs of the devout.
Stranger, tread lightly the fields of Nan if that way you pass. The past 10,000 years sleep in the lost Kingdom of Nan.

Jerome Brooke

Jerome Brooke lives in the Kingdon of Siam. He is the consort of Jira, a princess of the lost Kingdom of Nan. He has written The City of the Mirage (BtGN) and many other books. 

Blog silence

I have of late been very quite on here. I've been busy trying to get my craft stocks built up I readiness for fathers day and end of school. Although I have a very meagre supply, I am only doing one craft fair before fathers day, so this Saturday i'm hoping I have enough little bits. I've made them all so they are pocket money items ideal for children who want to use their own money to buy something special.

On top of that we had our first Championship show a the Newbury Show ground with the puppies. Both of them did very well. Yoda was in a class of 12 and was shortlisted amongst the final 6. He wasn't chosen for a placing but for his first champ show we were very impressed. This was also on a day when he didn't perform to his best.
His sister was in a round of 13 bitches and the judge when going over her commented on how glossy her coat was, she asked whether she was given cod liver oil or was it the food. My friend replied that she was raw fed and the judge was very pleased, she apparently is of the same mind and she's in her 80's. Unfortunately Shelby didn't making the shortlist but the judge spent a long time dithering over her and another dog. It was like splitting hairs for both of them. Overall despite not qualifying for crufts in this show we were both pleased with our babies.
It was however a very long and tiring day for us all. We were up at 5 and on the road shortly after 6. The judging started at 10 and we didn't know how early we our class would be in the ring. It was roughly a 300 mile round trip for me to drive, and the longest single way drive I have done in years.

My time is also being taken up preparing for our largest craft fair so far on the 6th of July. We are working with Rye College to raise funds for their PTFA by running a craft fair and fun dog show. My friend and breeder is a show organiser, she has judged shows too and is the driving force behind the dog show side of things.
I have forms for table bookings arriving daily and there are boxes with sponsor gifts for the dog show arriving at the same time. Its getting manic here in some ways. I'm not sure where i'm going to put all the stuff. My craft things already take up a lot of the space.

Looking at my diary for this month I have something booked on every day except fathers day weekend and part of the last weekend of the month. Obviously on fathers day I have to go and see my Dad, so that's the Saturday out as well.

The day before the Craft fair i'll be going to see Bon Jovi in London with a friend and we will be getting back very late! I can't wait. I've been to see him 5 times now and never tire of the bands performances. I only missed the last time he was touring here because he was at the O2 arena and they charge a fortune for seats where he would be the size of a pin head. I'm not paying £150+ to see that. These tickets weren't what I call cheap but they were a lot less than that. Have I said I can't wait!!! I'm getting so excited. I will be writing a blog on the event and posting pictures once I have loaded them to my laptop.

Anyway enough waffling. I need to get my beauty sleep ready for another busy day.

Sleep well dear readers

Yoda 23 weeks old fast asleep xxx
 

Big Thank you

Although i always have my problems health wise i have been much better till my fall last week. I had forgotten how much i still need the help as i'd been managing so well on my own.

Now i want to say a big thank you to some people who have helped me out such a lot over the last week.

My good friend Nat, who has now officially moved in. not only has she kept things running in the house, she's cooked almost every meal, made sure the dogs are ok, kept the children under control and generally run up and downstairs for me when i've been in bed almost being sick through tablets.

My good friend Claire from Crafty Claires who has been there at the end of FB chat. Despite being stuck here we've made good progress on our Craft fair planning and the Crafty-claires page has been started and i've at least managed to push it and in one day get just over 40 likers for it.

Another good friend Ann who has been here laughing with me, taking daughter to gym, helping where she can despite living in kent.

Various other friends who have helped with gym run, shopping and the other tasks that have needed doing.

So here from me

   I appreciate everything you have all done for me, and i'm sorry i'm a pain in the rear for moaning about my pain in the rear.

I love you all lots xxxx
C x

Ouch.... still

Yes thats right my bum is still very painful. After my lovely fall on the rocks it it damaged in some way, or certainly feels like it. Mum decided it was a good idea to go to A&E while i was up there for my MRI scan on sunday. So we sat there for the usual immensly long time and finally saw the Dr. His answer- not worth x-raying as even if fractured they won't do anything and i would just wait the 6 weeks ish for it to heal up. NOT good enough for me i'm afraid. I'm fed up with being fobbed off by the dr's now. My GP on the other hand is great but the specialist ones seem to think that they can say what they want.
So i insisted on an x-ray. Back into the waiting area for another hour before having it done, only to argue with the radiographer that i couldn't lie down on a flat hard bed. Couldn't even do so on my memory foam bed at home! So finally they took it standing up. Back off to waiting area i went for antoher eternity.

We finally got called in again and Dr said he could tell whether there was damage or not. Great!!! What now?! He wasn't sure what to do with me. I'm standing there telling him something is wrong as i know dues to the problems i've had for past few years. I know what the area feels like when standing sitting and if it touch it. Finally he decided he owuld refer me to the fracture Clinic. I am going this fri am and we'll see what the dr's there say. I won't be fobbed off though, not any more. I've been told now that the Coccyx is at least 2 inches away from the spinal nerves so i know they can do something. A physio has also told me its not as dangerous as they make out to do an op and remove it!

In the meantime i've been living on high pain killer and anti inflamitories, needless to say i've been doped out of my heat, shaking and sweating like crazy. Not able to sleep with pain and i've been talking rubbish at times.

I am deliberatly not doing a spell check on this so you can see just how bad i'm being right now. Have a good laugh, i ceertainly have been when i say things wrong or trip over something that not there.

This is what your coccyx should look like- tucked under and slightly moveable. Mine however was tucked out and fused so it didn't move. Now however it feels all gratey and  different.