The ducklings are growing. We still have six. They are eating pellets, grain and whatever grubs the compost we put in the pen turns up. I also feed them with greenery. The grown up ducks seem to adjusted to life in the pen. But they do set up a racket if they are fed later than they they think they should. Fingers firmly crossed that these ducklings survive. Now I beginning to wonder which are ducks and which are drakes. I suppose I shall have to wait until their feathers come in and I can tell by their curly tail feathers.
I checked on my manuscript, fully expecting it not to have arrived or at least not to be posted on the Royal Mail site. It was received yesterday before 9:32 am. Wow, that was quick. Now it will take a fewdays to be logged in etc. There is nothing more I can do about it. At some point, I suspect I shall hear one way or the other. But I know I did my best and tried to do what the editor asked for. So I am hoping that I have done enough for them to still see the potential.
I have restarted back to work on my saga. Now, I would like to have it finished by my youngest's birthday. Then I will write/complete my next Roman one as no matter what happens I would like to submit something else.
I saw in the Telegraph today that they are excavating the Chester amphitheatre. Apparently they have discovered the fast food stalls along with the souvenir stands -- lots of broken Samian ware. Samian ware is the reddish glazed pottery from Gaul. Depending on the time, it was made in different places in Gaul. It was aspirational but relatively cheap. some people like to think that they only every had a red glaze, but archeology in London showed green glaze pottery shards from the time that Boudicca burnt it down. In many ways that fire was an archaeologists dream. Many things lie in that particular layer of soot -- spice seeds, pottery and beads to name but a few.
As the revised mss details some of the souvenirs and hoopla surrounding gladiators, I have decided to take it as a god omen.
1 comment:
Got to butt in here (sorry, I'm an archaeologist with an interest in Roman ceramics). Samian is not glazed - it's a high gloss slip. If you ever write a 4th century story, don't mention it, as it went out of production by then to be replaced by perfectly serviceable British slipped wares. Yes, there might have been 'heirlooms' but the majority of it is in ground/rubbish pits by then.
You mentioned green glaze. It tends to be early and, in Britannia at least, relatively rare. It's not Samian, though I believe it does come from Gaul, if memory serves.
OK, OK, I'm going back to my hole now!
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