All Purls. No Swine.
271 years ago today, on April 15, 1755, Samuel Johnson's Dictionary of the English Language was published. It was groundbreaking, the first attempt by an individual to round up and define the words that--themselves--defined us as Englishmen: Camelopard, noun: An Abyssinian animal, taller than an elephant, but not so thick. He is so named, because… Continue reading Happy 16th Amendment Day! 😬
. . . from Geoffrey Chaucer, who, as with so many other things, is often credited with starting it all. It's a post which has gone before, but a sentiment which--to my mind--never goes out of date. Those who are less inclined to find themselves drowning in sentimentality, and more inclined to wreak vengeance on… Continue reading Happy Seynt Valentyn’s Day!
Lordy me, it's cold in Western Pennsylvania, this January 20th, 2026. Accuweather (which is quite good at telling us what's actually happening at the moment, but is less good at predicting what might be happening three or four hours from now, let alone next week or next month) says it's 12F/-11C outside; however, a thermometer… Continue reading “St Agnes’ Eve–Ah, Bitter Chill it [Is]!”
From a few years ago, with only gentle editing, and from my home to yours. May your 2026 be one of the happiest years ever! (I have high hopes for mine.) Hope smiles from the threshold of the year to come, whispering 'it will be happier'--Alfred, Lord Tennyson Crimenutely. In my search for a suitable… Continue reading Two from Tennyson for New Year’s Eve 2025
139 years ago today, on November 20, 1886 (for God's sake check the math: it's never my strong point), British publisher Ward and Lock accepted a manuscript, for the princely sum of £25, and for which the 27-year-old author gave up any subsequent rights to the narrative, from the newly qualified Scottish Doctor of Medicine,… Continue reading A Study in Memories: Sherlock Edition
I met a traveler from a Midwest Park Who said–“A vast and legless trunk of stone Stands in the city. . . . Near it, in the dark, Half sunk a shattered visage lies, whose frown Of cold contempt, and wrinkled lip, and smirk, Tell that its builder well those passions read Which yet survive,… Continue reading Obamandias
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!
A few years ago, I wrote a post about the book many still refer to as the "Great American Novel." Gone With the Wind was published eighty-nine years ago today, on June 30, 1936. Its author, Margaret Mitchell, was a reporter for the Atlanta Journal who'd been sidelined from her job while she recovered from… Continue reading June 30, 1936: Gone…Gone With the Wind
409 years ago this month, we observe the anniversary of the death of Miguel de Cervantes, on April 22, 1616. Cervantes' greatest creation, Don Quixote, a lower-class (dare I say deplorable?) fellow who was driven to fantasies of heroism due to his mid-life immersion in, and obsession with, works of knightly valor, remains the most… Continue reading A Missed Opportunity: W.H. Auden and the Lyrics of Man of La Mancha
Well, no, actually, it isn't. But the following post, which was first published quite a few years ago on Ricochet, seems germane again, given the situation in the city of my birth, which would be Birmingham, (historically--at least in part) Warwickshire, The United Kingdom. Lord. There hasn't been a "bin" (garbage) collection in Britain's second… Continue reading It’s National “Hug A Rat Catcher Day!”