Beauty, Music, Religion, Truth

Amazing Grace, Dan Vasc Edition

Oh, as I've said a few times, sometimes these posts write themselves.  I'm just the witless scribe. This morning, one of my favorite Ricochet posters linked to the hymn, Amazing Grace, as performed by Dan Vasc, a 34-year old Brazilian heavy metal singer and YouTube star.  A tough pill to swallow, if you're me, the… Continue reading Amazing Grace, Dan Vasc Edition

Animals, Love, Pets and Livestock

Happy National Holistic Pet Day!

I have no bloody idea what "National Holistic Pet Day" is.  Wait one, while I investigate. Oh, here: [National] Holistic Pet Day was set up to try and bring more publicity to the idea that holistic treatments, where a pet’s lifestyle, diet and environment are fully considered, are more beneficial for their temporary health and… Continue reading Happy National Holistic Pet Day!

Culture, Family, Friendship, History

Memories of Mount Washington, New Hampshire

I see that today--August 29, 2023--is the 154th anniversary of the opening of the  Mount Washington Cog Railway.  (That means that my great-grandmother, who was also born in August of 1869, would have been 154 years old the day before yesterday.) The railway, in New Hampshire's White Mountains, was the first mountain-climbing rack railway in… Continue reading Memories of Mount Washington, New Hampshire

Education, Family, History, Love

Why is History Important?

It is beneficial that the next generation learns about the past for the same reasons that it is important that you remember your childhood.  The quintessential question of “what next!”  How will we as a society go into the future without knowledge of the past? If we don’t know what we, as Americans, are, how… Continue reading Why is History Important?

Culture, Literature, Movies and TV

Ms. Midshipman Rightwingknitjob

One of the favorite novelists of my youth, born Cecil Louis Troughton Smith, better known by his pen name, C.S. Forester, was born 124 years ago, on August 27, 1899. His best known works, the twelve-volume Horatio Hornblower series, probably aren't all that commonly in the wheelhouse of adolescent girls, but--thanks to my dad--I loved… Continue reading Ms. Midshipman Rightwingknitjob

Britishness, Culture, History, Literature

Celebrating John Buchan

August 26, 2023, is the 148th anniversary of the birth of John Buchan.  Born in Perth in 1875, the son of a Free Church of Scotland minister and his wife, Buchan attended the University of Glasgow as a scholarship student, then moving on to Oxford where--according to Wikipedia (which can sometimes be trusted to get… Continue reading Celebrating John Buchan

Culture, Literature, Poetry, Romance, Womanly Feminism

To All The Bulls In My Life Who’ve Taken Their China Shop With Them, Wherever They Go

There have been a few.  Always hard to live with.  On occasion, totally worth it.  Sometimes, not: I offer this magnificent poem, courtesy of Douglas Murray's weekly column--Things Worth Remembering--on The Free Press: You said: “I’ll go to another country, go to another shore, find another city better than this one. Whatever I try to… Continue reading To All The Bulls In My Life Who’ve Taken Their China Shop With Them, Wherever They Go

Feminism, Literature, Medieval

Revisiting “Patient Griselda,” 2023: Was She a Perfect Wife, or a Credulous Fool?

Well, here's an oldie but goodie.  I was reminded of it by a recent post on Ricochet about Euripides's play, Medea (speaking of oldies but goodies). That post has to do with the retelling of the story of the figure with her roots firmly in Greek mythology who marries Jason of Golden Fleece and Argonauts… Continue reading Revisiting “Patient Griselda,” 2023: Was She a Perfect Wife, or a Credulous Fool?

Animals, Beauty, Farming, Pets and Livestock

Adventures in Birding

Cross-posted from Ricochet.com, yesterday, August 19, 2023: Lo, these many years ago, those of us in the early days of the personal computer industry, we who depended on the success of the technology-in-its-infancy for our livelihoods, lusted after something we dubbed “the killer app.”  It had nothing to do with actual violence; we longed only for… Continue reading Adventures in Birding