All Purls. No Swine.
If Florence Nightingale were still alive, she’d have been 203 years old in 2023. She was born on May 12th, 1820, just a few short months after Mad King George (of American Revolution fame) breathed his last. By the time she died, 113 years ago this week, on August 13, 1910, George V (the current… Continue reading The Lady With the–Cats?
It's been eighty-four years since The Wizard of Oz opened at the Loews Capital Theater in New York City on August 17, 1939. It wasn't the first attempt to capitalize on the L. Frank Baum novel. In fact, by the time 1939 rolled around, there had been a Broadway musical and at least three silent… Continue reading “We’re off to see the wizard!”
She was born 121 years ago today, on August 16, 1902, the daughter of a British Army officer and a classically-trained musician. She grew up in Paris and London and--when her sickly brother was bed-bound in 1919--began to tell him stories set in Georgian (eighteenth century) England. Those stories were, with the encouragement of her… Continue reading Happy Birthday, Georgette Heyer: And Many Thanks
Fewer than twenty miles from my old stomping grounds of Droitwich Spa, in the small Staffordshire village of Enville, a dedicated amateur researcher who's been on the case for more than three years has uncovered eight graves dating from the thirteenth century and believed to be those of members of the Knights Templar order. Enville's… Continue reading The Knights Templar: To Your Name Give the Glory
On Saturday afternoon, a small group of friends and family and I set out from the farm to enjoy a much looked-forward-to event, Willie Nelson in concert at the nearby (about 30 miles from my front door) Star Lake Amphitheater. I was excited. My entire family, both birth and married, are avid traditional country music fans,… Continue reading Lifting the Curse, and Living to Tell the Tale
I was angry with my friend; I told my wrath, my wrath did end. What is the best way to handle disagreements? Between friends? Between foes? William Blake, eccentric and brilliant man, early Romantic Poet, Biblical scholar, anti-establishmentarian, advocate for the Free Love movement (who once asked his devoted wife Catherine if it would be alright… Continue reading William Blake: When Friends Fall Out
Crimenutely. Naomi Wolf. King Charles. She’s entering the seventh decade of her life and, thirty-plus years ago, was the darling of the feminist movement, being praised fulsomely by folks like Gloria Steinem and Betty Friedan alike for her brilliant ideas. However, Camille Paglia never bought it. Something that intelligent women should have paid attention to,… Continue reading Naomi Wolf’s Dishonest Perspective on the Recent Coronation
Yesterday (August 9, 2023) was the thirteenth anniversary of the day I discovered ricochet.com. I've written before about how much that site, and its members, have meant to me over the years, but here's the post from yesterday, the date itself. I urge those of you with a Centerish and Rightwards political bent to take… Continue reading Proudly Declaring My Preferred Pronoun Since 2010!
Isn't it so unfortunate that we've become so used to the current tendency to politicize the days, weeks, and months of the calendar to the point where it’s almost impossible to escape the continual onslaught of SJW causes thrust in our collective faces through cards, jingles, ads, sports events, and media coverage of one sort… Continue reading Happy “Happiness Happens Day!”
As many of you know from previous tales of my gardening exploits and my rare modest successes, I generally enter into the fray–in the spirit of Dr. Johnson and his animadversions on second marriages–internalizing the “triumph of hope over experience.” Still, with the help and advice of good friends who are better at it than… Continue reading Meu Limao: My Lovely Lemon Tree