All Purls. No Swine.
Twenty three years ago today, the Space Shuttle Columbia broke up just minutes before it was supposed to land, killing all seven of its crew members. I say their names. They were: Rick Husband, Commander William McCool, Pilot Michael Anderson, Payload Commander Kalpana Chawla, Mission Specialist David Brown, Mission Specialist Laurel Clark, Mission Specialist Ilan… Continue reading Rest In Peace, Space Shuttle Astronauts
Lordy me, it's cold in Western Pennsylvania, this January 20th, 2026. Accuweather (which is quite good at telling us what's actually happening at the moment, but is less good at predicting what might be happening three or four hours from now, let alone next week or next month) says it's 12F/-11C outside; however, a thermometer… Continue reading “St Agnes’ Eve–Ah, Bitter Chill it [Is]!”
Sorry, can't do it. You do you. I love you, nonetheless. Twitter, for me, exists only to advertise my many hundreds of Ricochet posts, as this site exists to back them up. I wish such a thing weren't necessary, but since Ricochet has "lost" a number of my posts over the past decade-and-a-half, and since… Continue reading Wasting Time on Twitter
From a few years ago, with only gentle editing, and from my home to yours. May your 2026 be one of the happiest years ever! (I have high hopes for mine.) Hope smiles from the threshold of the year to come, whispering 'it will be happier'--Alfred, Lord Tennyson Crimenutely. In my search for a suitable… Continue reading Two from Tennyson for New Year’s Eve 2025
December 21, 2025 Dear Chickens, I know it's the shortest day of the year. And that, lately, it's generally been cold, overcast and gloomy. The worst laying conditions possible. Still--in the circumstances and all--you're giving me an egg or so a day when all the experts say the four of you should be molting and… Continue reading Winter Solstice, 2025–Yesterday
On this day, 1009 years ago, November 30 1016, Cnut of Denmark (his name was anglicized to "Canute" somewhere along the way) claimed the throne of all of England following the death of King Edmund, known as "Ironside" for his valiant resistance against the Danes. Canute was 22 at the time, and a couple of… Continue reading Celebrating King Canute!
Around the beginning of the second decade of my life (for those of you in Rio Linda, that means I was eleven or so), I was told the story by Bronwyn Davies, my gifted English boarding school history teacher (The Abbey School, Malvern Wells), of “Emperor Frederick,” who–legend has it–had a nameless beggar entombed while… Continue reading Resolved: Lifelong Confusion Over Ginger Fredericks
When I am an old woman I shall wear purple With a red hat which doesn’t go, and doesn’t suit me. And I shall spend my pension on brandy and summer gloves And satin sandals, and say we’ve no money for butter. I shall sit down on the pavement when I’m tired And gobble up… Continue reading On Men and Women, Both Growing Old
139 years ago today, on November 20, 1886 (for God's sake check the math: it's never my strong point), British publisher Ward and Lock accepted a manuscript, for the princely sum of £25, and for which the 27-year-old author gave up any subsequent rights to the narrative, from the newly qualified Scottish Doctor of Medicine,… Continue reading A Study in Memories: Sherlock Edition
What's becoming an annual tradition here, on November 18, not long before Thanksgiving in these United States. We all have our life-markers. This is one of mine. ...on November 18, 1978, I was sitting in the little snack bar in the base station of New Hampshire’s Mount Washington (a short mountain, comparatively speaking, but one… Continue reading 47 Years Ago Today, in Jonestown, Guyana….