Sharon Kay Penman's Blog, page 97
February 19, 2014
A hateful cult and heroes
Nothing of medieval importance—ie, interest to me---on February 19th. It would have been my mother’s 102nd birthday, though—not that she would have wanted to live that long. While she remained mentally very sharp until her death at 87, her body was not as resilient as her brain and her last years were spent battling osteoporosis, rheumatoid arthritis, and CHF. I still marvel at Eleanor of Aquitaine and Cecily Neville; reaching 80 in the MA was a remarkable achievement, even if it did mean they buried too many children and died knowing that the fortunes of their Houses were in decline. We’ll never know, of course, but I suspect they both felt they’d lived too long.
Here is a nice story about the heartening reception given to the young football player, Michael Sam, when he made an appearance at the Missouri--Tennessee game. Members of Westboro, that disgusting cult that pretends to be a church, were planning to picket Michael Sam and Missouri students formed a human barricade to keep them at a distance. We’ve discussed this hateful family here before. For those unfamiliar with them, they are most infamous for protesting at the funerals of slain soldiers, showing up with signs that say “God loves dead soldiers.” They are living proof that homophobia and sanity are mutually exclusive. They were once going to picket the funeral of a young soldier who was being buried at our local military cemetery and several Veterans’ groups were planning to attend to make sure they did not get near the grieving family. But a sudden snowstorm hit, stranding them in Chicago.
http://collegebasketballtalk.nbcsport...
And here are some remarkable stories of dogs being pulled from icy waters by some incredibly brave rescuers. Be sure to watch the video of the MA firefighters rescuing a dog from the Charles River—awesome! But then firefighters are everyday heroes, too.
http://www.care2.com/causes/dogs-in-f...
Here is a nice story about the heartening reception given to the young football player, Michael Sam, when he made an appearance at the Missouri--Tennessee game. Members of Westboro, that disgusting cult that pretends to be a church, were planning to picket Michael Sam and Missouri students formed a human barricade to keep them at a distance. We’ve discussed this hateful family here before. For those unfamiliar with them, they are most infamous for protesting at the funerals of slain soldiers, showing up with signs that say “God loves dead soldiers.” They are living proof that homophobia and sanity are mutually exclusive. They were once going to picket the funeral of a young soldier who was being buried at our local military cemetery and several Veterans’ groups were planning to attend to make sure they did not get near the grieving family. But a sudden snowstorm hit, stranding them in Chicago.
http://collegebasketballtalk.nbcsport...
And here are some remarkable stories of dogs being pulled from icy waters by some incredibly brave rescuers. Be sure to watch the video of the MA firefighters rescuing a dog from the Charles River—awesome! But then firefighters are everyday heroes, too.
http://www.care2.com/causes/dogs-in-f...
February 18, 2014
February 18th
“In Zanadu did Kubla Khan a sacred pleasure dome decree
Where Alph, the sacred river ran,
Through caverns measureless to man
Down to a sunless sea.”
These are the opening lines from Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s poem, Kubla Khan. I am not sure why they are burned into my brain like this, but they are. The imagery is haunting, isn’t it? I mention it because February 18, 1294 is the date of death for Kubla Khan, the Mongol emperor who was the grandson of the more famous Genghis Khan, who was unfortunately played in a Hollywood film by John Wayne.
February 18th is also the day in 1478 when the black sheep of the Yorkist family, George of Clarence, was privately put to death in the Tower, having been found guilty of treason. The legend that he was put to death in a vat of malmsey continues to flourish, probably because it is such a bizarre story.
February 18, 1516 was the birthdate of Mary Tudor, also known as Bloody Mary. In light of the misery that lay ahead, it seems sad to me to think that this was probably a very happy day for Mary’s parents.
And February 18th, 1885 was the date of publication of one of the greatest American novels, Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn.
I am jumping around chronologically in this entry for I am now going back to February 18, 1229, the date upon which Jerusalem was turned over by the Sultan of Egypt, al-Kamil, to Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor and King of Jerusalem through his marriage to the young and tragic Queen of Jerusalem, Isabella II. This was one of history’s more improbable occurrences, for the surrender of Jerusalem was done through negotiations, not a war, and Frederick was excommunicated at the time, in the midst of one of his on-going feuds with the Pope. The Saracens retained control of the Temple, the Dome of the Rock, and the al-Aqsa Mosque, and Muslim residents were permitted to remain in the city despite its transfer to Christian control. The treaty signed by Frederick and al-Kamil was for ten years and at the expiration in 1239, the city reverted back to the Muslims. What I find interesting is that the participants were all related to people I wrote about in Lionheart and Ransom. Al-Kamil was the son of al-Malik al-Adil, Saladin’s brother, who became surprisingly friendly with Richard during the Third Crusade. Frederick was the son of Constance de Hauteville and Heinrich von Hohenstaufen, both of whom are featured in Ransom. And his sad little queen, Isabella II, was the granddaughter of the Isabella in Lionheart who wed Henri, Count of Champagne, Richard’s nephew.
I have had good-natured arguments with a dear friend about Frederick, for she finds him much more alluring than I do. I think he was probably a genius and certainly colorful, but he treated the women in his life badly, with the possible exception of his first wife, who was some years older than he. He kept them secluded in his Sicilian harem, and this must have been a shock for his English consort, Isabella, the sister of King Henry III and daughter of King John; she was not even allowed to attend the reception he held in honor of her brother, Richard, the Earl of Cornwell, during a state visit. She was married to Frederick for six years, dying in childbirth at age twenty-seven, having given birth to at least four and possibly five children.
The fate of little Isabella of Jerusalem was even sadder in my opinion. He wed her when she was thirteen and she wrote pitiful letters to her father, upset that Frederick was seducing her maids on their honeymoon. While it was not unusual for highborn women to be wed at young ages, the marriages were usually not consummated right away for very practical reasons; a young girl was more likely to have a difficult pregnancy, at greater risk of giving birth to a stillborn child or even dying herself, and few princes would want to risk the alliance or their future heirs. One of the few exceptions was Henry Tudor’s mother, Margaret Beaufort, who was wedded and bedded at twelve; she gave birth to Henry at thirteen and was never able to have another child. Frederick did not wait, bedded thirteen year old Isabella, who had a child the next year when she was fourteen. The baby, a girl, did not long survive. Isabella then became pregnant again, and this time she died in childbirth, after having given Frederick a son; she was all of sixteen. Ironically, her mother, Maria of Montferrat, had also died in childbed, giving birth to Isabella; she was twenty at the time.
While there is no denying Frederick’s brilliance, his physical attractiveness was open to debate. One Italian chronicler said that “He was a handsome man, well-built but of medium stature."
From the Cronica of Salimbenethat But a Saracen chronicler penned a much more devastating description.
“The Emperor was covered with red hair, was bald and myopic. Had he been a slave, he would not have fetched 200 dirhams at market." From the Muntazam by Sibt Ibn al-Jawzi
Where Alph, the sacred river ran,
Through caverns measureless to man
Down to a sunless sea.”
These are the opening lines from Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s poem, Kubla Khan. I am not sure why they are burned into my brain like this, but they are. The imagery is haunting, isn’t it? I mention it because February 18, 1294 is the date of death for Kubla Khan, the Mongol emperor who was the grandson of the more famous Genghis Khan, who was unfortunately played in a Hollywood film by John Wayne.
February 18th is also the day in 1478 when the black sheep of the Yorkist family, George of Clarence, was privately put to death in the Tower, having been found guilty of treason. The legend that he was put to death in a vat of malmsey continues to flourish, probably because it is such a bizarre story.
February 18, 1516 was the birthdate of Mary Tudor, also known as Bloody Mary. In light of the misery that lay ahead, it seems sad to me to think that this was probably a very happy day for Mary’s parents.
And February 18th, 1885 was the date of publication of one of the greatest American novels, Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn.
I am jumping around chronologically in this entry for I am now going back to February 18, 1229, the date upon which Jerusalem was turned over by the Sultan of Egypt, al-Kamil, to Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor and King of Jerusalem through his marriage to the young and tragic Queen of Jerusalem, Isabella II. This was one of history’s more improbable occurrences, for the surrender of Jerusalem was done through negotiations, not a war, and Frederick was excommunicated at the time, in the midst of one of his on-going feuds with the Pope. The Saracens retained control of the Temple, the Dome of the Rock, and the al-Aqsa Mosque, and Muslim residents were permitted to remain in the city despite its transfer to Christian control. The treaty signed by Frederick and al-Kamil was for ten years and at the expiration in 1239, the city reverted back to the Muslims. What I find interesting is that the participants were all related to people I wrote about in Lionheart and Ransom. Al-Kamil was the son of al-Malik al-Adil, Saladin’s brother, who became surprisingly friendly with Richard during the Third Crusade. Frederick was the son of Constance de Hauteville and Heinrich von Hohenstaufen, both of whom are featured in Ransom. And his sad little queen, Isabella II, was the granddaughter of the Isabella in Lionheart who wed Henri, Count of Champagne, Richard’s nephew.
I have had good-natured arguments with a dear friend about Frederick, for she finds him much more alluring than I do. I think he was probably a genius and certainly colorful, but he treated the women in his life badly, with the possible exception of his first wife, who was some years older than he. He kept them secluded in his Sicilian harem, and this must have been a shock for his English consort, Isabella, the sister of King Henry III and daughter of King John; she was not even allowed to attend the reception he held in honor of her brother, Richard, the Earl of Cornwell, during a state visit. She was married to Frederick for six years, dying in childbirth at age twenty-seven, having given birth to at least four and possibly five children.
The fate of little Isabella of Jerusalem was even sadder in my opinion. He wed her when she was thirteen and she wrote pitiful letters to her father, upset that Frederick was seducing her maids on their honeymoon. While it was not unusual for highborn women to be wed at young ages, the marriages were usually not consummated right away for very practical reasons; a young girl was more likely to have a difficult pregnancy, at greater risk of giving birth to a stillborn child or even dying herself, and few princes would want to risk the alliance or their future heirs. One of the few exceptions was Henry Tudor’s mother, Margaret Beaufort, who was wedded and bedded at twelve; she gave birth to Henry at thirteen and was never able to have another child. Frederick did not wait, bedded thirteen year old Isabella, who had a child the next year when she was fourteen. The baby, a girl, did not long survive. Isabella then became pregnant again, and this time she died in childbirth, after having given Frederick a son; she was all of sixteen. Ironically, her mother, Maria of Montferrat, had also died in childbed, giving birth to Isabella; she was twenty at the time.
While there is no denying Frederick’s brilliance, his physical attractiveness was open to debate. One Italian chronicler said that “He was a handsome man, well-built but of medium stature."
From the Cronica of Salimbenethat But a Saracen chronicler penned a much more devastating description.
“The Emperor was covered with red hair, was bald and myopic. Had he been a slave, he would not have fetched 200 dirhams at market." From the Muntazam by Sibt Ibn al-Jawzi
February 17, 2014
The Kingmaker stumbles while Edward soars
February 17, 1461 was the date of the second battle of St Albans, in which the Earl of Warwick was soundly routed by the Lancastrians, who recovered poor hapless King Henry. What saved the hopes of the House of York was the victory two weeks earlier by Edward at Mortimer’s Cross. The soldiers had seen three suns in the sky before the battle (a phenomenon known as a parhelion) and the quick-thinking Edward calmed their fears by shouting out that the suns symbolized the Holy Trinity and meant victory would go to York. Not bad for a youth not yet nineteen. It was this victory that gave the Londoners the courage to refuse to allow Marguerite’s troops into the city; nor did it help her cause that her men had been plundering the English countryside like the Huns sacking Rome. When I went onto Wikipedia to verify the date of this battle, I found that the article mentions that this event was dramatized by William Shakespeare and by me in Sunne. Actually I did not dramatize it, having the story related to Cecily Neville by Will Hastings, but I thought it was sort of cool to be in the Bard’s company! Of course he was still wrong about Richard.
And here is a fun video showing the rescue of two deer stranded out on a frozen lake. It will likely bring a smile to the faces of most people watching, it, but I couldn’t help thinking how baffled the medievals would have been by this. http://www.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/vid...
And here is a fun video showing the rescue of two deer stranded out on a frozen lake. It will likely bring a smile to the faces of most people watching, it, but I couldn’t help thinking how baffled the medievals would have been by this. http://www.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/vid...
February 15, 2014
MY UPCOMING BOOK TOUR FOR A KING’S RANSOM
A King
A King
I finally have a new blog up! I’d begun to think I’d never do another one, for this has been a hectic month, dealing with the horrific winter weather and my (ugh) income taxes and research for the new book and reality, at least every now and then. But I wanted to get this up before my book tour in case some of you might be able to attend one of my readings. It is so much fun to be able to meet so many of my Facebook friends.
I am delighted to report that the first advance reviews for Ransom have been good, one from Booklist and one from Kirkus. Would I have mentioned it had they been unfavorable? I’m glad I was not put to the test. Ransom will be published in the US and Canada on March 4th and on March 13th in the UK. I believe the publication date Down Under is early March, too.
I confess to having ambivalent feelings about closing the circle with Ransom. It is always exciting (and a bit worrisome) when a new book is published. But I am not sure I am ready to let go of the Angevins. For five books and nigh on twenty years, they’ve been my house guests, and I am going to miss them. Richard will likely make a few appearances in the next book, Outremer—the Land Beyond the Sea, but I’m afraid I’ve said farewell to Henry, Eleanor, and the rest of their Devil’s Brood. Well, Henry did manage to snare a scene in Ransom, and if I ever am able to resume my medieval mysteries, Eleanor will have some more time on center stage. So I’ll definitely be motivated to revive Justin de Quincy’s career as the queen’s man. Justin does appear in Ransom, though, along with his nemesis, Durand de Curzon; I’d promised Justin’s Facebook fan club that I’d let him infiltrate the action, and it was fun to have him riding out on missions for Eleanor again and sniping with Durand in his spare time.
Here is my itinerary for the book tour.
TUESDAY, MARCH 4th at 7 PM
Chester County Book Company
West Goshen Center
975 Paoli Pike
West Chester, PA 19380
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 5th at 7 PM
Barnes & Noble #2368
Market Fair
3535 US Highway 1
Princeton, NJ 08540
THURSDAY, MARCH 6th at 7 PM
Poisoned Pen
4014 N. Goldwater Blvd. Suite 101
Scottsdale, AZ 85251
FRIDAY, MARCH 7TH AT 6:30 PM
Murder by the Book
2342 Bissonett Street
Houston, Texas 77005
SATURDAY, MARCH 8th at 4 PM
Nicola’s Books
Westgate Shopping Center
2513 Jackson Road
Ann Arbor, Michigan 48103
MONDAY, MARCH 10th at 7 PM
Third Place Books
17171 Bothell Way, NE
Lake Forest Park Washington 98155
TUESDAY, MARCH 11th at 7 PM
Powell’s Books at Cedar Hills Crossing
3415 SW Cedar Hills Blvd
Beaverton, Oregon 9700
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 12th at 6 PM
Book Passage—Ferry Building
1 Ferry Bldg Marketplace #42
San Francisco, California 94111
THURSDAY, MARCH 13th at 7 PM
Books, Inc.
855 El Camino Real #74
Palo Alto, California 94301
This officially ends the book tour, but I will be at the Tucson Festival of Books on Saturday, March 15th and Sunday, March 16th. http://tucsonfestivalofbooks.org/
We are planning another Richard III Tour this September, and I will post the details on my website and Facebook pages once everything comes together. With luck, we might be able to visit Richard’s new resting place, assuming that a decision has been made by then whether Richard will be buried in Leicester or York.
This has been one of the worst winters on record, with severe droughts in California, unending snow and ice storms in the Midwest and Northeast and New England, even snow in the Deep South. Conditions are even worse in the UK, for their storms have caused horrific flooding. And my friends Down Under tell me they are enduring their hottest summer in decades. So here’s hoping that Mother Nature shows us some mercy in the coming weeks.
February 15, 2014
Famous pets and telling sad songs of the death of kings
A day late, but February 14th, 1400 is usually given as the date when Richard II died in captivity. Hid death was certainly convenient for his cousin, Henry IV, who’d usurped his throne, but was it murder? Historians tend to think so, although the manner of his death remains a mystery; it has been suggested that he was starved to death. Richard and Henry VI both testified to the truth of the Biblical warning, “Woe unto thee, O Land, when thy king is a child.” Richard became king at the age of ten, and it is interesting to speculate how history would have changed had his father, the Black Prince, survived his own father, Edward III, and became king rather than young Richard. Of course that would have meant no Lancastrian kings, no Wars of the Roses, and no Sunne in Splendour either. I don’t want to doom the Black Prince all over again, but I definitely would not have wanted to have been stuck practicing tax law.
Here is a very interesting article from the BBC website about famous figures in history and their pets. Some of the stories are known—Anne Boleyn and her small dog, Purfoy—and others were quite a surprise to me—US president John Quincy Adams had a pet alligator in the White House, where he kept it in a bathtub and enjoyed scaring White House guests with it. They forgot one royal pet, though—Mary Queen of Scots’ small dog, who was said to have hidden in her skirts after she was beheaded at Fotheringhay Castle. http://www.historyextra.com/feature/a...
Here is a very interesting article from the BBC website about famous figures in history and their pets. Some of the stories are known—Anne Boleyn and her small dog, Purfoy—and others were quite a surprise to me—US president John Quincy Adams had a pet alligator in the White House, where he kept it in a bathtub and enjoyed scaring White House guests with it. They forgot one royal pet, though—Mary Queen of Scots’ small dog, who was said to have hidden in her skirts after she was beheaded at Fotheringhay Castle. http://www.historyextra.com/feature/a...
February 14, 2014
Of storms and the dogs of Sochi
As wretched as the winter has been for much of the US, I really think it has been worse in the UK. We’ve had enough snow and ice to last two lifetimes, but flooding causes more devastation and the flooding there has been relentless. We’ve been posting photos of monster waves crashing ashore in the southwest. This shot of the sea about to engulf an inn in Dorset is as terrifying as any I’ve seen. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-26150788 And inland, the rivers are overflowing and there seems no end in sight to the misery this winter is wreaking on both sides of the Atlantic.
Meanwhile, I hope all in the path of the storm ironically named Pax came through it okay. Where I live, we got seven inches with the first round, then another few inches when the tail end hit. But snow is far preferable to ice, so I won’t complain. And if it is any consolation, just imagine how much worse people had it in the MA during bad winters.
To cheer us all up, here is a very nice story about one of the American Olympic athletes determined to save a litter of puppies in Sochi. You’ve probably read that the city’s stray dogs were being rounded up and put to death before the games began. Russian animal lovers rallied to save them, spiriting as many dogs as they could out of Sochi to homes they’d found for them. Here is a link to that story, too.
http://www.dogchannel.com/dog-news/20...
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/sochi20...
Meanwhile, I hope all in the path of the storm ironically named Pax came through it okay. Where I live, we got seven inches with the first round, then another few inches when the tail end hit. But snow is far preferable to ice, so I won’t complain. And if it is any consolation, just imagine how much worse people had it in the MA during bad winters.
To cheer us all up, here is a very nice story about one of the American Olympic athletes determined to save a litter of puppies in Sochi. You’ve probably read that the city’s stray dogs were being rounded up and put to death before the games began. Russian animal lovers rallied to save them, spiriting as many dogs as they could out of Sochi to homes they’d found for them. Here is a link to that story, too.
http://www.dogchannel.com/dog-news/20...
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/sochi20...
February 13, 2014
Two queens, one admirable, one pathetic
Is it just me or does Pax—Latin for peace—seem like an ironic name for a storm making life miserable for millions? We’re hunkering down in the Tri-State area, hope all of you are doing the same.
Two queens are featured today. On February 13, 1177, Eleanor and Henry’s daughter Joanna, age eleven, wed William de Hauteville and was crowned as Queen of Sicily. It seems as if she and William had a happy marriage, although I doubt that she was thrilled about his harim of Saracen slave-girls. Yes, medieval women were realists when it came to male fidelity, but I suspect Joanna would have seen a harim as a bit much. Certainly “my” Joanna thought so. Joanna has always been a favorite of mine, the daughter most like Eleanor, and I was delighted to give her so much time on center stage in Ransom.
And on February 13, 1542, silly little Catherine Howard became yet another victim of her husband’s monstrous ego. When Henry VIII discovered that she’d had a colorful past prior to their marriage, he was so outraged that he pushed a bill of attainder through Parliament making it treason for an “unchaste” woman to marry the king, then sent Catherine to the Tower, where she was beheaded on this date. Earlier this week we talked of Jane Grey, who paid with her life for her family’s all-consuming ambition. So did Catherine Howard, although she had none of Jane’s intelligence or education, which makes her pathetic story all the sadder. Marriage to the aging, ailing, hot-tempered Henry was more than punishment enough for any sins of her feckless youth. Despite the legend, though, she did not say that she died the Queen of England but would rather have died the wife of Thomas Culpepper. Those about to be executed in Tudor England did not make defiant gallows speeches, wanting to spare their family from royal retribution. But Catherine really did ask for the block to be brought to her the night before her execution; she wanted to practice kneeling and putting her head upon it so she would be sure to do it correctly come the morning. How pitiful is that?
PS I hope you all noticed that I resisted the temptation to transport Catherine back to the 12th century as I did with Jane Grey and Elizabeth of York!
Two queens are featured today. On February 13, 1177, Eleanor and Henry’s daughter Joanna, age eleven, wed William de Hauteville and was crowned as Queen of Sicily. It seems as if she and William had a happy marriage, although I doubt that she was thrilled about his harim of Saracen slave-girls. Yes, medieval women were realists when it came to male fidelity, but I suspect Joanna would have seen a harim as a bit much. Certainly “my” Joanna thought so. Joanna has always been a favorite of mine, the daughter most like Eleanor, and I was delighted to give her so much time on center stage in Ransom.
And on February 13, 1542, silly little Catherine Howard became yet another victim of her husband’s monstrous ego. When Henry VIII discovered that she’d had a colorful past prior to their marriage, he was so outraged that he pushed a bill of attainder through Parliament making it treason for an “unchaste” woman to marry the king, then sent Catherine to the Tower, where she was beheaded on this date. Earlier this week we talked of Jane Grey, who paid with her life for her family’s all-consuming ambition. So did Catherine Howard, although she had none of Jane’s intelligence or education, which makes her pathetic story all the sadder. Marriage to the aging, ailing, hot-tempered Henry was more than punishment enough for any sins of her feckless youth. Despite the legend, though, she did not say that she died the Queen of England but would rather have died the wife of Thomas Culpepper. Those about to be executed in Tudor England did not make defiant gallows speeches, wanting to spare their family from royal retribution. But Catherine really did ask for the block to be brought to her the night before her execution; she wanted to practice kneeling and putting her head upon it so she would be sure to do it correctly come the morning. How pitiful is that?
PS I hope you all noticed that I resisted the temptation to transport Catherine back to the 12th century as I did with Jane Grey and Elizabeth of York!
February 12, 2014
The Nine Days Queen and Albert Einstein
On February 12, 1554, Lady Jane Grey, often called the Nine Days Queen, was beheaded in the Tower of London, paying the ultimate price for her family’s ambitions and lack of scruples. She was in her seventeenth year if the traditional date for her birthday—October, 1537—is correct.
Ice storms are terrifying and I hope all of my friends and readers in the US South are staying indoors if they can. Wishing you all a quick storm and an even quicker melting. Where I live, we are only getting snow, then rain, then snow again, nowhere near as scary as an ice storm.
To end on a more cheerful note, I am delighted to report that the second Ransom review is as good as the first, this one from Kirkus. I’ll post it when I can. Meanwhile, I wanted to share a marvelous quote that I came across the other day:
“Creativity is intelligence having fun.” Albert Einstein.
Ice storms are terrifying and I hope all of my friends and readers in the US South are staying indoors if they can. Wishing you all a quick storm and an even quicker melting. Where I live, we are only getting snow, then rain, then snow again, nowhere near as scary as an ice storm.
To end on a more cheerful note, I am delighted to report that the second Ransom review is as good as the first, this one from Kirkus. I’ll post it when I can. Meanwhile, I wanted to share a marvelous quote that I came across the other day:
“Creativity is intelligence having fun.” Albert Einstein.
February 11, 2014
Tudor party crashers
Those irksome Tudors are barging onto my Facebook page again, the ultimate party-crashers. I’ll start with the Tudor by marriage, whom I still think of as a daughter of York, Elizabeth. She has the dubious distinction of being born and then dying on the same date, February 11th, entering the world in 1166 and departing it in 1503, at only thirty-seven. She must have been a woman of considerable charm, for even Henry Tudor seems to have grieved for her. He and his son are strangely linked by the date, January 28th, for he was born on that day in 1457 and Henry VIII died on January 28th, 1547.
I hope that all of my readers down in the Atlanta area are faring better in this latest storm than they did last week. We’re getting another storm ourselves on Thursday. One of the TV forecasters said it is our eleventh of the season, and I can well believe it. I am so ready to surrender, to concede defeat to Mother Nature, but she seems intent upon taking no prisoners in her winter war.
I hope that all of my readers down in the Atlanta area are faring better in this latest storm than they did last week. We’re getting another storm ourselves on Thursday. One of the TV forecasters said it is our eleventh of the season, and I can well believe it. I am so ready to surrender, to concede defeat to Mother Nature, but she seems intent upon taking no prisoners in her winter war.
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