Today is a great day! I am welcoming my dear friend, and partner in crime over at Austen Authors, as she celebrates another new release. Yes, another one! I swear this woman never sleeps! Or if she does, she writes while she sleeps. In the past two months, Regina has...
Until very recently my experiences with fishing have been practically non-existent. I have vague memories of fishing (or attempting to fish) in the small pond in my hometown. Most often I caught pollywogs and frogs by hand, which in my opinion was way easier than trying to hook a fish!...
This post is a continuation, or adjunct, to my blog post today on Austen Authors. I am sharing the news that the Annual General Meeting (AGM) for the Jane Austen Society of North America (JASNA), scheduled for October 9-11 in Louisville, Kentucky, and hosted by the region I am a...
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 Doughnut The term doughnut is first...
I have to share this coolness with all of you! It is double… no… TRIPLE cool because not only does it involve me, but also the Greater Louisville Jane Austen Society of North America (JASNA-GL) — which I am proud to be a part of — and also my fabulous husband...
Just three days ago, on May 7, an issue was brought to my attention. It involves some of the former members of Austen Authors and a threat made to me. After talking with trusted associates and friends, and thoughtful consideration and prayer since made aware of the charges, I have decided the best course of...
A true eponym is an ordinary common noun derived from the name of a person or place. The important, defining property is that the word does not refer exclusively to the person or place named by the proper noun, as does Marxism or Christian, but is used to refer to a general...
The history of clothing for European infants and children is relatively unremarkable until the last decades of the 18th century. From birth to nearly two years of age, infants (male and female) were swaddled tightly (a philosophy that, thankfully, waned in the 17th century until obsolete by the late 1700s). At...
Colonel Meriwether Lewis Clark, Jr., the founder of the Kentucky Derby — click to read my post on Austen Authors for more on thoroughbred horse racing — modeled the race after European-style racing events like the Royal Ascot and Derby at Epsom Downs. In the past, and still to this...
Horses and Kentucky go hand-in-hand. I always heard of the endless rolling fields of “bluegrass” edged with ancient trees and stark white fences — I even saw the pictures and movies like Seabiscuit, so knew it must be true. Yet nothing prepared me for the exquisite grandeur of a real,...
April 23rd is generally considered to be a good day to celebrate the birth of England’s greatest poet and playwright, William Shakespeare. This is partly because there are no records of his birth—although he was baptized on April 26—and partly because he died on April 23, so there is a...
Thanks to the knowledgeable folks at The Art of Manliness — link here — anyone of the male sex can attend the Kentucky Derby assured that he is dressed and groomed properly. This IS the South, after all, where dressing according to the rules of fashion are vital! ...
It is the very dream of drinks, the vision of sweet quaffings. The Bourbon and the mint are lovers. In the same land they live, on the same food they are fostered. The mint dips its infant leaf into the same stream that makes the bourbon what it is. The...
Saturday was the official kick off of “Derby Season” here in Kentucky, so it seemed appropriate to devote myself to what is, without argument, the biggest yearly event to Kentuckians (and to horse enthusiasts everywhere in the USA). Today happened to be my scheduled blogging date on Austen Authors, and with thoroughbred horse...
Once upon a time, plants and other natural substances were the only medicine sources available. Apothecaries — the pharmacists and chemists of the past — with knowledge passed down over the centuries from dozens of cultures, experimented with concoctions to aid healing and cure diseases. While we can look at...
