Saturday, November 21, 2009

Grow Your Own Sci-Fi Fantasy


I was reading that wonderful book, Painting the Roses White, by Barbara Wenzel this morning. That sent me to the internet to drool over Barbara's favourite roses... which brought me to the David Austin home page at http://www.davidaustinroses.com/australian/. Here, I discovered an orange rose named "Pegasus".
I've been watching Battlestar Gallactica, and last night chanced to be the episode when the Battlestar Pegasus crashed and burned, therefore... well, if you don't understand my thought processes from that point, you'd better find a more congenial blog:-)
I already knew about the yellow rose Dr A J Verhage, which stars in so many rose pedigrees, but I was pleased to find The Doctor, a dark pink rose from 1936. You can find it at http://www.classicroses.co.uk/roses/search.php
I couldn't find a Gallactica, but there are plenty of Gallicas, which is pretty close. There are several roses called Apollo. I couldn't find a Starbuck, or a Kobol, but there's a minature moss rose named Kara, and three roses called Kobold. There's also a Madam President and more than one Laura, and a couple of Sharons, no Caprica, but two Capricorns and a Capricornus.
Reverting to The Doctor, there are several roses named Martha, a florists' rose named Donna, no Sarah Janes (but you could grow a Sarah and a Jane next to one another!) a floribunda named Dodo, several roses named Zoe, and a Katerina. As for Roses... their name is legion. At this point, I gave up looking for Companions (because their name is also legion) and moved on.
I found two Enterprises, a Kirke, but no Kirk, a Deanna, no Vulcan, but a Vulcain.
Moving on again, I discovered a General Jack, several Samanthas, and a Carter, a Daniel and a Dr. Jackson, no Jonas, but a Young Quinn, a Janet Frazer, lots of Elizabeths, a Beckett's Single (OK, so that's stretching it rather) and two roses named Atlantis.
Time constrained me to cease my search at this point, but I was agreeably surprised at the possibilities. If you want a go yourself, try http://www.helpmefind.com/plant/index.php, which kindly allows keywords, "begins with", "contains" and "sounds like"!

The rose in the picture is Double Delight... oh, and if you'd like to doubly delight ME, you'll leave a comment and check out REPLAY, my fantasy novel, available as a PDF or paperback from http://www.lulu.com/content/paperback-book/replay/830605

Friday, November 20, 2009

Want a free cookbook?


My cookbook, SALLYO'S KITCHEN, is available as part of the Great Cookbook Giveaway. To grab your download, visit http://www.affordablemanuscriptassessments.com/products.htm

If you want more than one cookbook, or if you would like to add your own cooking-related gift to the Giveaway, click on the Great Cookbook Giveaway banner on my page.



You have until the 16/12/09 to pick up your download.