Author Visit!

This morning found us back in the classroom again after being on the road for a week. It was a big adjustment for all of us but we got the opportunity to get caught up on some of the literature and photography background that we were a bit behind on. Merton even found some student photographic assignments that had been eluding him for some time and was able to give some much needed feedback...no excuse for not having perfect pictures now!

This afternoon we had the honor of hosting Rosalind Kerven, a Northumbrian author and storyteller. She spent the first part of the afternoon presenting folk tales gathered from Northumberland. We especially enjoyed "The Wedding Ghosts", set near Hadrian's Wall, since we had just been in that area yesterday. It was easy to visualize the ghostly images floating over the landscape. The second part of the presentation, Rosalind spoke about her newest book, a historical fiction work set in Viking times, called Grim Gruesome The Cursed Sword. It was enlightening for us to hear how the book evolved over the course of several years. It is the first of seven planned books in the Grim Gruesome series. The next one, The Queen's Poison, is due out in February, 2009. It will be set in Yorvik (ancient Viking York). The third book will be set in the Orkney Islands...and we'll just have to wait to find out the rest of the story. Rosalind very kindly signed books after her presentation. It was a fine afternoon indeed.

Tomorrow, we journey to one of my favorite places in all of the world, Holy Island. It's always my secret hope that we will not make the safe crossing time and have to stay over on the Island!