Starting with the highest recommended You Tube video about this woman. The one word I got was STREGA. Which fits when you know. Moving on from the video below… WOW. Net Zero on the TOOB so I’ll go from memory. Valentina Visconti married Duc Louis d’Orléans. She became a close friend of Louis’ brother- Mad… Read More Valentina Visconti : Strega
RobW on YouTube. Shout out to his wonderful playlist Thriller. I came across these American TV shows months ago. Watched a couple and then forgot them. Last week The Remarkable Mrs Hawk showed up and it hooked me in so many ways. ***** Thriller (also known as Boris Karloff’s Thriller and Boris Karloff Presents) is an American anthology television series that… Read More The Remarkable Mrs Hawk : Mythology Updated
Something I noticed in the recent Borley Rectory jaunts was the town sign. It struck me as slightly odd. To my mind the Essex flag shows three notched Scimitars but they are called either seaxes or cutlasses by the mainstream. Off the bat : I’m no purist when it comes to naming swords. We (in… Read More Back in Borley : Seax or Scimitar?
Annie Lennox wrote : These are the contents of my head. This song is the story of almost 4o years of marriage to a gobby Scottish Sagittarian empath. Tomorrow we are exactly 3 months away from the RUBY anniversary :o) Sidetracked? Moi? Apparently I’ve suddenly turned into a much nicer person! I’m certain it’s my… Read More New Goose Feather Pillows/Cat/Stephen Fry/Sherlock
Nope. My deep dive into Roma History is not forgotten. Every so often something comes up to poke my research muscle. Andalusia. This area caught my heart. Even though horses terrify me now, many years ago I travelled from Gibraltar high into the Andalusian mountains for a day of horse-riding. It was frantic and frenetic… Read More Andalusia: The Sacred Land of the Gypsies
See image above! We’ve had a quiet, food and family Christmas. Zero Stress. Just 5 people sitting down together to eat and chat and laugh. Lovely. Meanwhile. In Wales. 15 or more were expected to parade, on time at a certain location with a goodly amount of food and presents to celebrate XMAS. Tilt. The… Read More Echo Chamber
Woohoo. The first Dog Rose has been planted. In a wind storm. In between downpours of rain. Feeling sore but good. My boy quizzed me on the plants I’m planning and prefixed the quiz with – You’ve GOT to look after the BEES. Ahem. I’ve thought of that. Many of the seedlings being grown indoors… Read More Bees, Bees & Achilles
This is a new avenue for me. Amazing what suddenly pops up on youtube! As rain has stopped all garden activities, along with an achy breaky body – I’m delving into The Agatha Christie Code. Wow. It goes beyond Miss Marple or Poirot or Parker Pyne and into the revelation of how many scandals were… Read More Rain Stops Play : The Agatha Christie Code
These terms mean basically the same thing. My Grandad, George, had many pleached (sorry, when they are fruit trees we use Esaplier’d) pear and apple trees in his orchard that fascinated my child mind. Our orchard here is all but finished. The age of the trees and the lack of light has reduced crops by… Read More Espalier vs Pleach
Remember, remember, the 5th of November, Gunpowder, treason and plot. I see no reason Why gunpowder treason Should ever be forgot. I’ve a feeling that this whole Bonfire Night thingy was more about James I/VI being Scottish than him being a Proddy. It’s said that even the next king, his son Charles I, spoke with… Read More Remember, Remember The 5th of November : Catesby or Fawkes?
Yup. Definitely missing that gene. Not only was Mary a mathematician, astronomer, writer and polymath, she was also a distantly distant cousin of mine. She married a son of Admiral, Sir Samuel Greig – Captain Samuil Samuilovich Greig. But decided she didn’t like him much and then married a man called Somerville. But she and… Read More My Missing Gene : Mary Somerville, The First Scientist.
Postie has just been and delivered part of my latest order from SarahRaven.com See image. Giddy with delight. Earlier a box of bare rooted Wallflowers arrived and I opened it with eagerness. Only to find the plants in a plastic bag with a rubber band around and zero imformation. I’ve relied on Sarah for about… Read More Sarah Raven : Love, Grow, Learn
It has taken a while. With a few false starts but the task is complete. I now have a full plan of next year’s garden project all in one place. Yay. Much garden failure, over the years, has been because of ignorance and impatience on my part. And the proclivity of the book worm over… Read More A Cottage Garden in a Traveller’s Notebook
Eleanour is another woman after my own heart. Fortune has favoured me with more than one First Edition book of hers found for pennies in secondhand bookshops. She was a shy Victorian woman who gave her life to gardening and writing and today I pulled down my copy of Shakespeare’s Wild Flowers, Fairy Lore Gardens,… Read More Eleanour Sinclair Rohde
I only came across this a few weeks back and it’s been a new fascination. According to t’internet, it’s not well known or practised much in the UK. One thing we have far too much of is empty milk cartons. We are all milk drinkers and these pesky things fill up the Council Recycle (collected… Read More Winter Sowing in Milk Cartons
A new favourite. Especially as they have Vlad Țepeș as their icon! Hey Diddle Diddle :o)
If you watch the video by The Vile Eye, Analysing Dr Hannibal Lector you’ll, maybe, have noticed that Thomas Harris’s backstory of Hannibal includes his mother being a member of the Sforza/Visconti families. Rulers of Milan. When researching my novel, it came to notice that the coat of arms of Hercule de Montbazon, father of… Read More Patsy vs Pazzi : Part 3
We in These Isles of Britain KNOW this song so well. It’s the Liverpool Football Club anthem. Although the song came from a film (Carousel?) P is for Puh as in Gerry and the Pacemakers. M is for Muh as in Ferry Cross the Mersey— sorry did that the other day. Dat Der London. There… Read More You’ll NEVER Walk Alone
If I ever opened up another shop (unlikely but bear with me) I’d call it At The Bells & Motley. I love the idea of motley. Such a variety of disparate stuff all together in one place. Oh. Much like this blog ? As for Bells…who doesn’t love the Campanile or the local church campanologists… Read More At The Bells & Motley
I honestly did not think that I was up to writing this one. Even after a decade of research. But – possibly, maybe – as all that research is now being collated. And this comes along. The Medieval Kingdom that was Erased from History The two great kingdoms of Wales are known : Aberffawr/Gwynedd is… Read More Time To Go Back to The Ravens of Dinefwr
Uncontrolled Historian 