All Purls. No Swine.
He was a staple of my childhood, an awful lot of which depended on audio rather than video, and which was marinated in a culture of literate, clever, often funny, but always appropriate, language. When I was three or four years old, it was exemplified by the likes of Beatrix Potter. And I was never… Continue reading Tom Lehrer, R.I.P.
Well, here's something I didn't know about this day in history: It seems that 124 years ago, on July 24, 1901, one William Sydney Porter was released early from his five-year prison term at the Ohio Penitentiary, where he'd been sent down for embezzlement. To his credit, Porter--who'd been charged in 1895 and had fled… Continue reading Oh, Henry!
Barely five miles down the back roads from me is "Joe Walker Elementary School," named after hometown hero Joe Walker, who was the first person to fly an airplane to space. Joe was born in Washington, Pennsylvania on February 20, 1921, and graduated from Washington and Jefferson College with a BA in Physics in 1942. … Continue reading July 19, 1963–Joe Walker Reaches Space
There’s a lot of buzz over in Old Blighty at the moment over the news that the French have agreed to “loan” the Bayeux Tapestry (which most scholars believe was embroidered somewhere near Cambridge, England) to the British Museum for display during the 960th anniversary of the Battle of Hastings. The conclusion as to its provenance is… Continue reading The Great Norman Stitch Up
Courtesy of my sister–who offered me a challenge–I’ve been on a bit of an “Ancestry” kick lately. She mentioned an old family mystery, a story oft told by my mother, about a much-loved relative who’d died–it was said–under suspicious circumstances, and whose husband the family (my family) had always suspected of being a fortune hunter… Continue reading Finding Maudie
You were born in Australia on July 8, 1882, and you'd have been 143 years old today, had you not unfortunately died at the age of 78, in White Plains, New York, on February 20, 1961. Oh, well. Can't have everything. What I can have, though, is an enduring memory of your music, and your… Continue reading Happy Birthday, Percy Grainger!
In 1885, Louis Pasteur (not a doctor) was convinced by Jacques Joseph Grancher, (who was a doctor), to administer his then-experimental rabies vaccine to a young French boy, Joesph Meister, who had been bitten numerous times by a rabid dog. Pasteur and his team were reluctant, as the vaccine was--at the time--still in the experimental… Continue reading A Useful and Effective Vaccine: For Rabies
Oh, not all that Wimbledon nonsense that's going on at the moment. Emma Raducanu in tears (again). Who's wearing "what" bling, and how much it cost. Arguments about the electronic line-calling system, and the sad exit from the courts of the old style, beautifully dressed, "line judges" in favor of an electronic eye that already… Continue reading July 5, 2025: This day in Tennis History
I wrote a post, five years ago, about my husband, who died five years ago, on July 3, 2020. His family story exemplified the American Dream: Grandparents on both sides who immigrated legally from Eastern Europe in the early 20th century, and who worked like hell at whatever work they could find, to survive, and… Continue reading Happy 249th Birthday, United States of America!