Britishness, Culture, History, Sports

“Because it is There”

Yesterday was Memorial Day in these United States of America.  Somewhere along the way, I heard a small blurp on a news report that May 29, 2023 was also the seventieth anniversary of Edmund Hillary’s and Sherpa Tenzing’s successful ascent of Mt. Everest.  It is a time so long ago (barely sixteen months before I… Continue reading “Because it is There”

Corruption, Culture, Knitting, Plain Speaking

Be Still, My Beating Heart: This is what Google Bard Thinks of Rightwingknitjob

I began this little blog several years ago, as a fallback position in case something happened to Ricochet, or perhaps as a backup option which I might offer to others if Ricochet suddenly disappeared.  Despite many requests for the capability, giving us the means to back up our own posts on Ricochet seems always to… Continue reading Be Still, My Beating Heart: This is what Google Bard Thinks of Rightwingknitjob

Britishness, Culture

Happy (Belated) International Tea Day!

ICYMI, May 21 was "International Tea Day."  I celebrate it here: Gosh.  When I discovered this event, I thought–as so many of my progenitors, particularly those like Auntie Pat and my Granny, might have–How marvelous!  A day celebrating the joys of tea, its restorative effects in the face of calamity, and its propensity for inducing calm… Continue reading Happy (Belated) International Tea Day!

Culture, Entertainment, Family Matters, Movies and TV, Science Fiction

May the Fourth–2023

Disclaimer, before I even start: I dread the first few weeks of May.  Every. Single. Year.  It’s one of those stretches of awful memory that many of us have at different times of the year, when it seems that regrets/trauma/cataclysm all pile on top of one another to render certain times insupportable and sometimes just… Continue reading May the Fourth–2023

Ave Atque Vale, Culture, Entertainment, Music, Plain Speaking

Harry Belafonte, R.I.P.

Gosh.  Some of the loveliest music of my childhood, from a man who lived through, took risks, and stood tall, during a difficult, and often infamous time in which people of his color were regarded by some as less-than-human. I don't remember many of those occasions.  But this one, I do.  Harry Belafonte and Petula… Continue reading Harry Belafonte, R.I.P.

Cooking, Culture, Food and Drink, Travel

Kap He Chom Khrueang Khao Wan 2023–กาพย์เห่ชมเครื่องคาวหวาน

I originally published this post (which I've since very lightly edited) almost two years ago, in June 2021.  I'm reposting it today because, when I went looking for inspiration on the web, I discovered that April 21, 2023 is the 241st anniversary of the founding of the city of Rattanakosin, now known internationally as Bangkok. … Continue reading Kap He Chom Khrueang Khao Wan 2023–กาพย์เห่ชมเครื่องคาวหวาน

Ave Atque Vale, Beauty, Britishness, Culture, History, Literature, Loss

For the Beacons: A Lament

Dateline, the Daily Telegraph, April 16: “Brecon Beacons to be renamed over links to climate change: National Park says the symbol of a ‘carbon burning beacon’ is incompatible with its ‘push to net zero.'” I can’t even. For first (channeling Christopher Smart, because I am an unregenerate Boomer Bluestocking who still has a connection to her past… Continue reading For the Beacons: A Lament

Culture, Music, Plain Speaking

Quote of the Day: From Johnny Not-So-Rotten

She is loved, and she knows she is loved. And her personality has always been vivacious, outgoing, bright and looking for the best in things--John Lydon Lydon, sixty-seven years old himself (a year younger than I), was speaking of Nora, his wife of almost half-a century. A day or two after he uttered those words… Continue reading Quote of the Day: From Johnny Not-So-Rotten

Culture, Plain Speaking, Quote of the Day, Religion

Quote of the Day: “Truth is the Daughter of Time”

The late Mr. Right was fond of observing the irony, as we neared the close of the first fifth of the twenty-first century, that--in a day and age where it was, for the first time, possible to view on film, and to listen on audio to, almost every single event of note from the preceding… Continue reading Quote of the Day: “Truth is the Daughter of Time”