All Purls. No Swine.
On this April 16, 2026, the day that would have been my grandmother Molly's 128th birthday, I bring back a post originally published on Ricochet on April 16--Easter Sunday--2017. Happy Birthday, Granny! (I've made just a few small corrections, updates, and edits.) My grandmother Molly could be a rather stern old lady. She was born… Continue reading Happy 128th Birthday, Granny Molly!
Around the beginning of the second decade of my life (for those of you in Rio Linda, that means I was eleven or so), I was told the story by Bronwyn Davies, my gifted English boarding school history teacher (The Abbey School, Malvern Wells), of “Emperor Frederick,” who–legend has it–had a nameless beggar entombed while… Continue reading Resolved: Lifelong Confusion Over Ginger Fredericks
Former White House Press Secretary Jennifer Psaki is taking some heat for her recent remarks about the wife of the current Vice President of the United States. In a conversation with two other equally unpleasant-seeming women whom I might describe–on looks alone–as “two peas in a podcast” (full disclosure: I have no idea who either… Continue reading The Left-Wing Attempt to Infantilize Usha Vance
She died in 2003, 22 years ago today, at the age of 96. A good age. One that many close members of my own family have made it to, and beyond. I guess I have another almost two-and-a-half decades to live through, if I intend to keep the side up. Which--absent adverse entanglements--I am determined… Continue reading In Memoriam: Katharine Hepburn
I’d like to think that my message to the Telegraph yesterday was the straw that broke the camel’s back: Infuriated by this from the first line of this article: “Seven Asian men have been convicted of the sexual exploitation of two white teenage schoolgirls in Rochdale.” Gosh. I’m so old that I remember the remarks of Labour minister Lucy… Continue reading “Two Tier Keir” Finally Caves and Announces a “National Inquiry” into Britain’s Grooming Gang Scandal
Crimenutely. The date is almost upon us. Come tomorrow, March 21, 2025, Disney's latest iteration of Snow White hits US theaters. I've done my best, during what must be one of the most drawn-out, screwed-up, infelicitous run ups to a premiere in movie history, to keep my dear readers up to speed with developments over… Continue reading Sometimes It’s Not Real, and It’s Not Even True: Disney’s Latest Snow White Staggers To the Finish Line
Thus spoke Charles I, King of England, Scotland and Ireland, just before agents of his archenemy Oliver Cromwell chopped off his head 376 years ago this month, on January 30, 1649. Personal, political, and religious modesty wasn't his jam, as even a momentary examination of Charles's life will demonstrate. He had, during his years of… Continue reading QOTD: “I go from a corruptible to an incorruptible crown”
Story of my life. Still, that's not really the point of today's Quote of the Day: Translated from the Italian, it's Nessun Dorma. And it's an aria from Puccini's Turandot. (I'm not engaging in the proper pronunciations of the work. You can look here for more, or less, clarification, however it suits you.) It's a… Continue reading QOTD: None Shall Sleep
Whoops. I missed it. Yesterday, November 29, 2024 was the 126th birthday of one of my favorite writers in all of recorded history, Clive Staples (Jack) Lewis. I've written about him often, even when it wasn't his birthday, but today I'm going to do a bit of a rehash of a post from a few… Continue reading Quote of the Day: “To Love is to be Vulnerable”
Today, November 12, 2024 is the 70th anniversary of the closure of Ellis Island, once the foremost inspection and processing station for prospective immigrants to the United States of America. Untold millions passed through its gates during its 64 years of operation, and it stands today as a museum highlighting the history of the United… Continue reading Ellis Island, A Personal Retrospective