A fun, floral blog post as we in the northern hemisphere wave goodbye to spring and summer. Here are a few of the flowers commonly found in or unique to Derbyshire in England, where my favorite fictional couple live. Jacob’s Ladder Polemonium caeruleum, or Jacob’s Ladder, is the official “county flower” of...
Way back in 2009 while writing my third novel, My Dearest Mr. Darcy, I came up with the idea of having Darcy and Elizabeth reaffirm their vows at the Pemberley Chapel where generations of Darcys had been wed. Now, to be honest, this was simply romantic me wanting to go...
The Egyptian Hall, also known as Bullock’s Museum, while much smaller than the British Museum was extraordinarily unique. When Lord Admiral Nelson triumphed at the Battle of the Nile in 1798, English interest in the “East” began to soar. Although obelisks and other monumental pieces had been leaking out of...
The final and full text of the Declaration of Independence was adopted in Congress on July 4, 1776. In the words of Thomas Jefferson, the intention of the Declaration was not to say something new, but– to place before mankind the common sense of the subject, in terms so plain...
“I am an American; free born and free bred, where I acknowledge no man as my superior, except for his own worth, or as my inferior, except for his own demerit.” ~President Theodore Roosevelt “Duty, honor, country. Those three hallowed words reverently dictate what you ought to be, what you...
Finally at the end of my ten-part series covering all of the fifty States of the Union comprising the United States of America. What a fun journey it has been! I learned a ton, and hope all my readers, whether from the US or abroad, have enjoyed the education about...
On Tuesday I posted a blog giving a brief history on the HERMITAGE, a Georgian Era type of garden folly. As I noted, few known hermitages from the 18th century still exist. Of those, most have been reconstructed or renovated to some degree. Drawings and documentation of hermitages long reclaimed by...
My ten-part series covering all of the fifty States of the Union comprising the United States of America is almost complete! Here we are at #9, and there is only one more to go! I am a proud American, particularly regarding our remarkable history, so for ten consecutive weeks each...
Two days ago I gave a brief history on the HERMITAGE, a Georgian Era type of garden folly. As I noted, few known hermitages from the 18th century still exist. Of those, most have been reconstructed or renovated to some degree. Drawings and documentation of hermitages long reclaimed by nature or...
I am forever fascinated by the unusual structures designed and erected to add atmosphere to a Georgian Era landscape garden. I’ve written several blogs on the subject —which are listed with links in the Pemberley Library under “Landscape & Garden”— and will be writing more in the future. For this...
Continuing the ten-part series covering all of the fifty States of the Union comprising the United States of America, here we are at #8. I am a proud American, particularly regarding our remarkable history, so for ten consecutive Wednesdays each blog post will spotlight FIVE States (chosen at random). There...
The pillory was an ancient punishment and as early as the 13th century it was used for traders who had swindled the public. After 1637 it became the recognized punishment for those who published books without a license or libeled the government. Once locked into the mechanism, the prisoner would be...
Continuing the ten-part series covering all of the fifty States of the Union comprising the United States of America, here we are at #7. I am a proud American, particularly regarding our remarkable history, so for ten consecutive Wednesdays each blog post will spotlight FIVE States (chosen at random). There...
Continuing the quest to cover the alphabet! That may prove impossible due to the vast number of words in the English language, but I can try to find a few fascinating examples. For a list of all my archived posts covering the topic: VOCABULARY Niggardly Contrary to the similarity in...
In this day and age I suspect most of us are numb to the concept of pornographic or highly erotic written material. Some may clutch their pearls and reach for the smelling salts, but I’d wager that is 99% theatrics! For good or ill, such material is so commonplace that...
