I simply cannot resist a grim Victorian prison. And fortunately I was able to score tickets to tour Kilmainham Gaol Museum in Dublin. This grim stone pile was built in 1796 and extensively refurbished to the latest fashions in Victorian … Continue reading
All the programming here in Dublin is mobbed. People have to line up to get into the panels, and the con volunteers have painfully, by trial and error, figured out how and where to create the queues and how to … Continue reading
Going to Worldcon always involves travel. And what is the point of travel but eating interesting new foods? Ireland is full of fascinating meals. The other main thing to do at Worldcon is no, not necessarily panels. That can be … Continue reading
This is my first visit to Bristol, one of the great Victorian cities in southern England. It has everything to recommend it — thrillingly redeveloped industrial buildings, preserved churches, and fantabulous food. It’s not as expensive and intimidating as London, … Continue reading
It has been one of my life ambitions to visit Bath and its Roman ruins, even though I have finished writing about Jack Wragsland in the Roman Empire. And here I am at last! We took 2 tours of the … Continue reading
The hotel I am staying in has fantastically limited wifi so these will have to be short. I am at this moment in Bristol about to attend the Diana Wynne Jones conference. And let’s see if i can post a … Continue reading
We bought the Albany, Oregon house four years ago. People ask me, “Why Albany?” And I immediately think of the reasons that are not mine: “I love it!” “I grew up there.” “My family is there.” None of this is … Continue reading
I just got back from London. That is a pretty cool place, if for no other reason than it’s really old and there are lots of people. This was my second trip, the other having been too long ago to … Continue reading
Between named winter storms who trampled through the Puget Sound area like a stampede, leaving heaps of wet white stuff all over everything, I managed to get out of Seatac and land in Santa Rosa, Sonoma County, California. Did I … Continue reading
She bought the property in the Santa Clara Valley in 1884. Almond, apricot, peach and plum orchards covered the flat tidal lands at the bottom end of San Francisco Bay. The eight room farmhouse was under construction just outside a … Continue reading
