![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
madwriterMy birthday gift to myself today was an extra hour to write. It turns out that the Temporal Spirits appreciate the fact that we spirits celebrate our birthdays--a temporal anniversary, as it were--and can be generous when you ask them politely and a bit in advance for a little extra time. I hope they think I put the time to good use.
PROGRESS REPORT FOR BIRTHDAY #41
New Words: 3050 on chapter 1 ("Those Who Came First") Section 2 ("The Dancing Spirits") of Arizona. The nine thousand year leap forward finds Nakuq's and Salu's descendant Ooljee and her husband Yiska living in western Mexico and in grave peril from the collapse of the Olmec Empire to the south.
Total Words: 15700.
Reason For Stopping: Getting ready for work.
Book Year: 941 B.C.
Historical Stretching: I have the Zapotecs on the scene slightly north of their historical homeland and a few centuries before their earliest certain appearance in the archaeological record.
Mammalian Assistance: Vegas claimed his normal guard post atop the box pile; later he also guarded the window. His sister Velvet came in briefly to guard the window as well. For some reason I couldn't find any of my recent pictures of Vegas on the boxes, so instead I'm including two recent pictures of him in non-standard places, my Writing Chair and a bookshelf once filled with ancient history.
Exercise: Walking down to campus.
Stimulants: Birthday eggnog from our local source of dairy goodness, Homestead Creamery, followed by Dr. Pepper and an open window.
Today's Opening Passage: When Ooljee heard the first reports that the Olmec city had fallen, her immediate thought was to go to her cave and seek guidance from the spirits. She didn’t realize until too late that going there today meant risking her life.
Darling Du Jour: Not so much a darling as a bit I particularly enjoyed writing about...
Instead of an all-out assault against each other, a formal war would be waged in an almost gentlemanly fashion. No bows were allowed. Instead, men carried spears and fending sticks, and at their feet their clubs waited. As the challenged people, Yiska and his men had the right of first throw. They picked up their spears and hurled them at the Sapotecs.
Here was where the fending sticks came in. The warriors of Mexico were as adept at avoiding spears as throwing them. As Yiska’s spears arced in the air and turned earthward, the Sapotecs wielded their fending sticks—long, fat but light wood shaped like rounded swords—and batted the spears away. A few of the sticks missed and men were grazed, but there were no serious injuries.
Then it was the Sapotecs’ turn. Yiska held his fending stick with a light but firm hand. It was carved with numerous designs—a few diamond shapes like the patterns his mother once wove into their baskets, a jaguar on each side like some of the jade carvings he traded, and a spiral Ooljee added to boost its spiritual power. When the spear aimed at Yiska came toward him he and his stick had no trouble knocking it away.
The spear-throwing done, all the men picked up their clubs and charged.
Non-Research / Review Books In Progress: Michener; The Fall of Rome by Michael Curtis Ford.
New Words: 3050 on chapter 1 ("Those Who Came First") Section 2 ("The Dancing Spirits") of Arizona. The nine thousand year leap forward finds Nakuq's and Salu's descendant Ooljee and her husband Yiska living in western Mexico and in grave peril from the collapse of the Olmec Empire to the south.
Total Words: 15700.
Reason For Stopping: Getting ready for work.
Book Year: 941 B.C.
Historical Stretching: I have the Zapotecs on the scene slightly north of their historical homeland and a few centuries before their earliest certain appearance in the archaeological record.
Mammalian Assistance: Vegas claimed his normal guard post atop the box pile; later he also guarded the window. His sister Velvet came in briefly to guard the window as well. For some reason I couldn't find any of my recent pictures of Vegas on the boxes, so instead I'm including two recent pictures of him in non-standard places, my Writing Chair and a bookshelf once filled with ancient history.
Exercise: Walking down to campus.
Stimulants: Birthday eggnog from our local source of dairy goodness, Homestead Creamery, followed by Dr. Pepper and an open window.
Today's Opening Passage: When Ooljee heard the first reports that the Olmec city had fallen, her immediate thought was to go to her cave and seek guidance from the spirits. She didn’t realize until too late that going there today meant risking her life.
Darling Du Jour: Not so much a darling as a bit I particularly enjoyed writing about...
Instead of an all-out assault against each other, a formal war would be waged in an almost gentlemanly fashion. No bows were allowed. Instead, men carried spears and fending sticks, and at their feet their clubs waited. As the challenged people, Yiska and his men had the right of first throw. They picked up their spears and hurled them at the Sapotecs.
Here was where the fending sticks came in. The warriors of Mexico were as adept at avoiding spears as throwing them. As Yiska’s spears arced in the air and turned earthward, the Sapotecs wielded their fending sticks—long, fat but light wood shaped like rounded swords—and batted the spears away. A few of the sticks missed and men were grazed, but there were no serious injuries.
Then it was the Sapotecs’ turn. Yiska held his fending stick with a light but firm hand. It was carved with numerous designs—a few diamond shapes like the patterns his mother once wove into their baskets, a jaguar on each side like some of the jade carvings he traded, and a spiral Ooljee added to boost its spiritual power. When the spear aimed at Yiska came toward him he and his stick had no trouble knocking it away.
The spear-throwing done, all the men picked up their clubs and charged.
Non-Research / Review Books In Progress: Michener; The Fall of Rome by Michael Curtis Ford.
