Robin Hardy's Abbey Lands
The Stories of the Abbey of St. Benedict on the Sea
Random Mutterings
Archive III
April 8, 2025 - May 17, 2025
NOTE: I'm adding "Like" buttons to all posts—any post that you particularly like, click the happy face. If I know what you like, I can try to post more of that.
Exploding Cattails
May 17, 2025: This is fun! In Book 35 Lord Efran's Guaranty, Minka, Efran and their bodyguards ride over to a new pond on the Lands:
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They drew up to the pond, only about thirty feet in diameter, to see a newly planted willow at its edge, as well as ferns and cattails. “Oh, this is sweet,” Minka said. She dismounted to sit a few feet from the edge.
When she bent to look over the water, Efran said, “No, no pets in this one; it’s just been dredged.”
“Just looking,” she reassured him as Youshock and Fellowes settled down beside her. They let the horses range around the pond to drink and paw in the water. Regarding the cattails, she asked, “Can you eat those?”
Youshock nodded and Efran said, “The bulrushes? Yes, the lower stalks and the roots.”
“What about the sausage?” she asked, bending a stalk toward her.
“I wouldn’t eat it,” Efran said. He reached over to break open a brown head, from which white fluffy seeds exploded to expand to an impossible volume.
Minka laughed in amazement, and Fellowes scooped up a handful of the excess fluff to toss it into the air. “Snow in May,” she murmured, reaching out to finger the fluff.
Have you ever seen it happen? It's almost mesmerizing. Click the pic to watch:
More Pond No Ducks
May 14, 2025: I went back to the new woods and the pond just to look around, and took a few more pics that you might like:
Another view of the terraces. The ash marked by the star is the little offshoot you see below (also marked by the star).
This offshoot of the large ash tree (here) has sprouted from its roots, breaking through the terrace stones.
I pick up a lot of trash out here. There's a piece in the pond that I missed, marked by the star (to cover it up).
I found a number of Osage oranges; would have collected them if I had any clue what to do with them.
My Readers Are Smarter Than Me
May 11, 2025: Often. Too often for my comfort level.
Case in point: A reader emailed me (which you can too, via the Contact Form) and she said, in part: “I’m up to book 16 in the series—what a ride! One question that keeps coming to mind: how do you come up with all these incredible creatures? The Goulven feel like a fresh spin on vampires, the Snobbles remind me of something out of Celtic mythology, and the water giant seems mythological too—but I really loved the spiritual twist you gave it.”
I emailed her right back to have a short but profitable discussion about mythology—pixies, brownies, and Snobbles. The fact is, I didn't know much about the historical precedents, and was unaware of drawing on anything beyond my own imagination. But then I remembered what my imagination had been stocked with in childhood.
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Over and over, I’m seeing the power of story. Why do you suppose Jesus used so many parables?
Meet Youshock
May 8, 2025: This scene from Book 29 Lord Efran’s Reciprocal Gift introduces Youshock, one of my favorite characters. Incidentally, Minka has developed an accidental tendency to take dips in Cavern Lake. At this time, she and Efran are enjoying dinner in the Fortress dining hall.
There was so much crosstalk and laughter that Minka didn’t hear or see the man who stopped behind Mathurin, directly across from her, to say, “Heya, Lady Minka, is the lord there worthy to rule?” When she didn’t respond, he said it again, louder, adding, “I hear I have the right to ask.”
Efran’s jaw went rigid, but he knew he couldn’t say a word, especially since it wasn’t a man in uniform. However, the young soldier sitting next to Mathurin sprang up from the bench to get in the man’s face with, “I don’t know who you think you are to accost the lady at dinner, but you don’t have the right to ask her anything, especially to make a joke about something so serious as the Law. If you really wanted to know the answer to the question you just belched up, you could trot your fat butt down the switchback to the notary’s office to read what he’s got plastered up on his window; otherwise, I suggest you take yourself back over to the idiots’ table, wherever that is, and leave her alone.”
He was a Southerner with a strong rural accent, not a large kid, but he kept his face right up at the man’s chin until he shrugged and walked away. There was suppressed laughter around the back tables, and as the young man took his seat again, Mathurin patted him on the back. But Minka, her blue eyes wide, breathed almost in awe, “Who are you?”
Efran lowered his smiling face; the young man glanced at him and said, “Youshock, Lady Minka. I’m, er, new here.”
Minka gazed on him in delight, so Efran had to tell him, “You’re her new pet.”
“Thank you, sir,” Youshock said with a lopsided grin.
“No, now, Efran, that was a most effective defense. Where are you from?” Minka demanded of her new pet.
“Guerry, Lady Minka. Come to the Lands, hoping to make my family proud in the Abbey army,” he said with complete transparency.
Efran glanced at him as he fed Joshua a bite of beans, which he accepted. Then he asked, “Who’s your Captain?”
“Captain Chee, hilltop here, sir,” Youshock said.
Efran looked over to Chee at his table, then said, “Tell Captain Chee to put you on the lady’s bodyguard duty roster.”
Emotion passed over the young man’s face. “That’s a great honor; thank you, sir.”
Efran leaned toward him to say, “I want you to entertain her enough to keep her out of the lake.”
There was a stillness around the table. The young man turned his head dubiously to say, “I’ll do my mightiest, Captain Efran, but if I fail, I’ll fish ’er right back out.”
The table around them dissolved in laughter while Minka looked pained and Efran nodded.
This guy looks a lot like Youshock—I understand that this is someone named Jensen Ackles. I'm sure he won't mind.
Wildflowers
May 5, 2025: As I promised you in Woods and Terraces, here is Part 2 of that post: the wildflowers I found in and around the area:
Texas dandelion
Honeysuckle
Strict blue-eyed grass
Pink lady
Nuttall's sensitive-briar
Periwinkle
Honeysuckle swarming a fence
Right: a whole field of Texas dandelions
honeysuckle on fence
Texas dandelions
With storm clouds brewing, I had to get home. But you can see both the honeysuckle and field of Texas dandelions in this photo.
Love Songs Reject
May 2, 2025: All right, I can explain. Diving into YouTube for Love Songs candidates, I've found some great numbers by artists I haven't paid much attention to (like Keith Urban, who's actually fantastic).
In my quest for music, it's natural that I would check my Favorite Movies list, where you'll find Grease. So I included "Summer Nights" as a potential Love Song. But of course, it's not a love song—it's too cute and kitschy. Which means you'll find it in this blog post instead:
One thing I liked most about Grease was the brilliant choreography by Patricia Birch.
You'll see her mark especially in "Beauty School Dropout" and "Greased Lightning" (click the pics below to watch). Costume director Albert Wolsky had a lot to do with the success of these numbers as well.
Anyway, despite the failure of "Summer Nights" to make the cut, I'm compiling a great list for future Love Songs competitions—as well as loser posts. :D
Woods and Terraces Interactive Puzzle
April 29, 2025: I told you in the New Woods post that I would explore more in the area to see what was there, so here's Part 1:
The eastern extremity of the woods looks like a Halloween backdrop—
And I didn't even try to walk through the thick of the woods, which you can see in the expanded view below (follow the curvy arrow).
Here are the terraces viewed from the left end—
Follow the curvy arrow to view the terraces from the right end. You can tell the orientation by the ash tree (marked by the star) in the middle of the second terrace. (This one is actually an offshoot of the big one.)
Can you find the mallard in the pond? (If you can't, look for the star.) That's the same pond that you saw in the New Woods, by the way.
Part 2 of this post will consist of the wildflowers I found in the woods. Below is a sample from those photos—a silky dogwood (check for the star).
See Part 2 here, or just follow the straight arrows.
Aunt Beth & Auntie Marguerite
April 26, 2025: This photo is of a woman named Elizabeth—Beth—Hagenson and her father. It was taken in the 1970’s by my new husband when we visited them in Florida on our honeymoon.
Beth had just retired from her position as the long-time secretary for a high-ranking executive. She never married, but had brought her elderly father to live with her after his wife died. You can see that although he is old, he is clear-headed and involved in life. He has apparently just said something to make Beth laugh. But she laughed a lot; she was a happy person. You can also tell how much she loved him. He must have been a wonderful father.
My husband’s father was the new pastor of the church Beth attended, so she immediately adopted his large blended family. She was generous, kind-hearted, and relentlessly cheerful.
After my husband and I returned to Texas, we lost touch with Beth aside from Christmas cards. But about 10 years later, I heard from my husband’s mother that Beth had died. My mother-in-law told me over the phone, “I was asleep, then woke up to see Beth passing by me in a cloud of joy, telling me goodbye. I learned later that day that she had passed.”
I never heard Beth say anything about her religion or Christianity. I’m sure she did, but in a way, words didn’t matter because her faith poured out of her in expressions of love toward everyone around her.
After completing the first drafts of all the Abbey stories, I came across this photo again and realized that I had modeled Marguerite on Beth. The clinching bit of evidence for this was the nickname I gave Marguerite of “Auntie.” Everyone, including me, called Beth “Aunt Beth,” whether they were related to her or not. I just transferred that attribute of instant kinship to Marguerite.
Christmas in April
April 23, 2025: All right, I can explain. You've already met my frogs; well, we've had some unseasonably cool days here in Texas, so naturally I started thinking about Christmas. And I found last year's "Christmas in Texas" illustration that I might have sent to snowbound northern relatives. Here's how I pulled that together if you want to replicate it:
The frogs are sitting in a patio chair that I painted; behind them is a Christmas countdown calendar that I made from patterns in this book. After you paint your chair, you can buy a potted palm anywhere and hang random ornaments on it. Grab any cool drink and then photoshop
sunglasses on your characters (only I use Gimp, which is free).
If you want to make your own frogs to complete the picture, just download my instructions with patterns and photos:
Family Vacations, Part 2: Big Bend
April 20, 2025: Our visit to Big Bend, Texas, may have been the first of our annual trips around the country. I was probably 4 years old at the time, which would have made my brothers 6 and 8 years old. Our little sister hadn't come on the scene yet. Below are a few of the many photos our dad took.
We rode in a 1955 Chevrolet hardtop pulling a 1954 Hiawatha camper—which was probably state of the art at the time. Mom is cooking dinner on a portable propane cooktop.
Those are a couple of fat yuccas.
The sign Mom is standing by says "Persimmon Gap Elevation 2970 [feet]," and you can see an incredible distance to the mountains behind her.
Here we're scampering up one of the mountain trails.
Somehow, we made it to the top.
And here we're recovering at a little general store.
The plants were generally huge, like this desert agave.​
In fact, I used these photos as research for Padre, especially in the scenes where Royce is lost in the desert.
So, does that count as first-hand research?
Family Vacations, 1960s Style
April 17, 2025: When I was growing up, my dad decided he wanted his children to see the world beyond Fort Worth, Texas. So every summer he took his wife and four children (later, five) on the road in an old repurposed Frito-Lay van all over the country. And he took thousands of photos, a couple hundred of which survive.
A few of those photos are below, with my commentary.
I believe this is somewhere in Virginia. We visited a lot of historical sites, and sat on a lot of cannons. I am posing for the photographer; my older brothers are supervising our mom's attempts to keep our little sister upright on the cannon barrel.
In New Mexico, we're about to visit the ceremonial Indian caves. I'm crouching on the ground watching my mother corral my little sister. One of my older brothers is to the right.
Here we are in San Francisco, putting all of our collective weight on this rickety fence while Mom restrains the toddler from swimming in the bay. Are you sensing a theme here?
Here we're at the Grand Canyon, lolling on these widely spaced bars high over the canyon while our mom restrains the toddler.
Mom and toddler relaxing at one of the caves. Note the "Do Not Enter" sign at the right. What do you want to bet that Mom is waiting for her older children to come out?
A few years later, we're at Busch Gardens in Florida. I feel stupid in the hat; my little sister is enjoying herself, and Mom finally gets to relax a little.
(Above) Here we all are—with the addition of our baby brother—sitting on another Civil War cannon, which is probably illegal now. This had to be one of the last vacations we took as a family. As usual, our little sister is having a blast. In the background is that repurposed Frito-Lay van.
(Right) This is one of my favorite photos of the whole batch. It's a mission in New Mexico. Looking at this photo now, I believe that, young as I was, the sight planted the seed of the Abbey Fortress in my mind.
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If it's not evident, my mother lived in love, and died there.
New Woods to Walk In
(updated)
April 15, 2025: It was a crushing disappointment to find my old familiar woods overrun by poison ivy. So I went looking for a new place to walk and found this:
These trees—mostly elm and cedar—are on a ridge overlooking a shallow pond. There's no fence, but this area is well-maintained, with hardly any undergrowth at all.
In fact, the hillside leading down to the pond is terraced, and obviously mowed. The early morning sun is coloring the tops of the trees.
Farther down is an overflow, planted with cattails and other water plants. (There's a steep drop from the ledge in the foreground.) That's the morning light reflecting off the water.
Facing east from the views above, there's a smattering of trees before grassland takes over. I didn't take the time to roam over the hill beyond; will have to check it out later.
UPDATE:
When I went to the old woods to look around, here's what I found:
LOTS of poison ivy
spiraling up to the tree tops
And also this. But not to worry—
It's just woodbine
Back to the new woods, then.
Check out the Woods and Terraces Interactive Puzzle
Efran's Women Troubles
April 13, 2025: If you need more proof that Sammy Kidman was a precursor to Efran, check out this dialogue from Book 4 Lord Efran and Awfyn the Giant, where Awfyn is talking to Minka:
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Awfyn said, “What of Efran?”
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Minka sighed. “He’s so worried about Dora. Her son Doddridge beat her up asking for money, and he’s trying to kill Efran. But Efran’s not worried so much about himself as he is this poor woman.”
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“Ah. Efran has many women troubles,” Awfyn said.
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Minka burst out laughing. “I suppose that’s true.”
Yes it's true, unfortunately.
Throw Away?
April 10, 2025: Apartment dumpsters are famous for what people will leave in and around them when they're moving out. I'm too squeamish to dumpster dive, but occasionally I'll find interesting stuff dropped in the vicinity.
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For instance, take this throw:
It was tossed onto a chair, so I took it back to my apartment and put it in the washer and dryer. It's nice and soft, about 60 x 75 inches. Although I object to all the random typefaces, the sentiments are sweet. Given the dates—1971 and 1993—Lydia and Steve could be pretty elderly by now. (Jimmy Buffett died in 2023 at 76.) However, if one or the other died, you'd hardly expect to see such a personal memento discarded so carelessly.
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"I'm a lucky man" implies that Steve had the throw made for Lydia, which accounts for the irrational mix of typefaces (as men don't usually pay attention to decorative elements). If the couple split up, that could explain the heartless disposal. So, we might all take this as a warning to not overpromise in a way that could be made public, you know?
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So, would you like to see my rescued office chair?
Pick Your Favorite Love Songs
April 8, 2025: I spent a couple of hours on YouTube last week watching
legendary singers perform chart-topping songs, some of which I barely remember. But they were so wonderful, I wanted to share them—
like this unforgettable piece by Neil Diamond (click the pic to watch):
When the responses to Pick Your Favorites! exploded, I decided to enlarge on that with another competition: You'll click on those pics to vote for the ones you like best, just like the character photos. I feel justified for adding this feature because the Abbey books are just one long love story. So go check out the sound tracks.
You could call it Chataine's Guardian 2.0