My last post invoked a few memories, some of which were of St. Mary's Church, Handsworth, Birmingham, and of my first life experiences with Christian church services and Christianity in the UK. I've written about St. Mary's in a slightly different context before here, and so I offer you the following post from 2021. Every… Continue reading The Power and the Glory
Month: August 2024
QOTD: Edward Burne-Jones, On the Beauty of Art
I mean by a picture a beautiful romantic dream of something that never was, never will be--in a light better than any light that ever shone--in a land no one can define or remember, only desire--Edward Burne-Jones Another of my hometown heroes: We were both born in Birmingham, in the UK, just a bit more… Continue reading QOTD: Edward Burne-Jones, On the Beauty of Art
Who Makes Those Casting Decisions, Anyway?
Answer: People mostly concerned about money and/or (increasingly) politics is my guess. Case in point, the casting of Tom Cruise as Lee Child's anti-hero in the two "Jack Reacher" movies released a few years ago. I was a fan of the books, and read them as fast as Child churned them out (pretty fast; the… Continue reading Who Makes Those Casting Decisions, Anyway?
Celebrating John Buchan
A slightly spruced-up post from past days: August 26, 2024, is the 149th 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… Continue reading Celebrating John Buchan
Quote of the Day: “Once Upon A Time”
So long ago. My last post has me reminiscing about a movie which purported to highlight the early life of one of my adored childhood authors, a person who was--later in my life--one of my heroines: Beatrix Potter, feminist icon. (No, that's a bit of a stretch. But boy, howdy what a girl!) Here's a… Continue reading Quote of the Day: “Once Upon A Time”
A Perfect Little Movie: “That’ll, do, Pig.” And its Wallace Statue Counterpoint in Stirling, Scotland
The year was 1995, and the late Mr. Right and I had just been to see one of the very few movies I've ever designated as "perfect." By that time, we'd been living on our small farm in the country for nine years, and the movie was Babe. (Not the 1992 movie about the baseball… Continue reading A Perfect Little Movie: “That’ll, do, Pig.” And its Wallace Statue Counterpoint in Stirling, Scotland
Quote of the Day: The Pithiest Book Review Ever
Few American writers of the twentieth century so embody the quotably pungent and pithy in their prose as does Dorothy Rothschild Parker. Google her name, and her often caustic, witty, gems just tumble out at you: -"The cure for boredom is curiosity. There is no cure for curiosity." –"If you want to know what God… Continue reading Quote of the Day: The Pithiest Book Review Ever
“Oh-Hoh Yes: I’m the Young Pretender”
Well, that's not quite right. But perhaps "close enough for gubmint work," as they say. Two-hundred seventy-nine years ago today, Prince Charles Edward Louis John Sylvester Maria Casimir Stuart raised his standard (and his pretension to the British throne) in the Lochaber district of Glenfinnan in the Scottish Highlands. "The Young Pretender." Also known as… Continue reading “Oh-Hoh Yes: I’m the Young Pretender”
Happy Nineteenth Amendment Ratification Day!
It was 104 years ago today, on August 18, 1920 that these United States granted all women full voting rights. The vote which put the amendment over the top came from Tennessee which--by just a single vote from representative Harry Burn--moved it forward. (There's a story there, disputed, but a story, nonetheless, related here in… Continue reading Happy Nineteenth Amendment Ratification Day!
Have Your (War) Cake and Eat It, Too
To commemorate the 79th anniversary (in the UK) of V-J Day, on August 15, 2024** (funny that it receives barely a mention in the news these days), herewith a couple of family recipes for War Cake, a more-or-less appetizing (de gustibus, and all that) sop to the sweet tooth of the war-weary denizens from the Old… Continue reading Have Your (War) Cake and Eat It, Too