All Purls. No Swine.
So there I was, yesterday, wandering around my favorite antiques store (real antiques, very little junk--although, on occasion, I'm fond of junk stores too), looking for a mirror to set above my restored oak chest of drawers. Discovered one. It's walnut, and in a completely different style, but it works! And I found myself in… Continue reading “How Pleasant to Know Mr. Lear!”
I don’t really like olives all that much. But I adore the idea of olives. And olive groves. And the Mediterranean. The stories by Peter Mayle and Carol Drinkwater. The presence of olive trees, olive oil, olive wood, and of course “olive branches” in our mythological, literary and cultural traditions. And the history of an ancient industry that has… Continue reading Food and Drink Post: Olive Me
Today's quote comes from retired US Army General Russel L. Honoré who responded to a question by a reporter from what Rush Limbaugh used to call the "state-run media," about the government response to 2005's Hurricane Katrina with the advice, "Don't get stuck on stupid." Lord. Today, the Big Stupid stems from what was originally… Continue reading “Don’t Get Stuck On Stupid”
Those words were spoken by Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, to the family members of those who perished on September 11, 2001. And I’ve often thought she must have been channeling C.S. Lewis at the time: To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken.… Continue reading “Grief is the price we pay for love”–September 11, 2022
“I have to be seen to be believed”–Queen Elizabeth II The only British monarch of my lifetime died today. She was crowned in June 1953, slightly more than a year before I was born. I was named after her, “Elizabeth,” and–for my middle name–after my grandmother who was to die when I was only a… Continue reading We Saw Her. We Believed. And Now She’s Gone.
Elizabeth the Second, by the Grace of God, of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and of Her other Realms and Territories Queen, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith. God Save the King
I saw my first movie in the UK when I was five years old. it was 1959, and Dad was on leave from Nigeria. We were living in the family home in Droitwich, and Granny, Mum, and I went to Birmingham's West End Cinema to see a much-celebrated American import. Those were the days before… Continue reading There is Nothing Like a Dame!
https://youtu.be/kOcW9gZv68A Oh. Wait. Sorry. Wrong Englebert Humperdinck. “Wut!” I hear you exclaim in disbelief. There’s more than one Englebert Humperdinck? Well, no….. The “real” Englebert Humperdinck, born September 1, 1854 was a German composer best known for his opera Hänsel und Gretel, based on the Brothers Grimm fairy-tale of the same name. Like many of his… Continue reading Happy Birthday, Englebert Humperdinck!