All Purls. No Swine.
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
The year is 1964. The pop revolution is underway, and groups like The Beatles and The Rolling Stones own the British charts and are besieged by thousands of screaming girls throwing flowers (and much else) at them wherever they go. Out of nowhere, that May, a quartet of young Australians who'd worked their passage from… Continue reading The Carnival is Over: Judith Durham, R.I.P.
Where are the snows of yesteryear? Probably the first time that line from François Villon's medieval poem Ballad of Ladies of Time Gone By has been applied to Bernard Cribbins, but whatever. Tempus fugit, as they say. And my childhood with it. Bernard Cribbins, who has died age 93 was a staple of that childhood. … Continue reading Bernard Cribbins, RIP
Today is the second anniversary of my husband's death. I mark it by including the tribute I wrote for him at the time, and with the concluding quatrain from Tennyson's magnificent In Memoriam A.H.H: I hold it true, whate'er befall; I feel it, when I sorrow most; Tis better to have loved and lost Than… Continue reading Frank Zbozny: In Memoriam
It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God that such men lived. This is the quote attributed to General George S. Patton in his extemporaneous remarks at Boston’s Copely Plaza, on June 7, 1945. There’s no written record (on his part) of his saying such a thing,… Continue reading Quote of the Day: From ‘Old Blood and Guts’
During a British conference on comparative religions, experts from around the world were discussing whether any one belief was unique to the Christian faith. They began eliminating possibilities. Incarnation? Other religions had different versions of gods appearing in human form. Resurrection? Again, other religions had accounts of return from death. The debate went on for… Continue reading Amazing Grace–A Lenten Post
There aren't many iconic rock stars I recognize, let alone for whom I can identify a single "iconic" song. The list is endless, and includes such luminaries as Bruce Springsteen, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Guns N' Roses, Aerosmith (well done, Steven, if for nothing else than producing such a lovely Arwen), Prince, Lynard Skynard, Jimi… Continue reading RIP: Meat. Loaf.
He was the biggest--in every sense of the word--dog who's ever owned me. Big of size, big (well, reasonably big) of brain, big of spirit, but most of all, big of heart. Levi's long, and very good, run came to an end this morning. He'd been having increasing trouble hauling his 150lb frame to its… Continue reading Ave Atque Vale: The Greatest Pyrenees