Here We Come A-wassailing

Wassail! ‘Tis the season for wassailing, and ’tis a custom I adopted as soon as I first learned about it back in the early days of the Interwebs. But what is wassail you may well ask? Well, according to Wikipedia, “Wassail…is a beverage of hot mulled cider, drunk traditionally as an integral part of wassailing,

A Balrog We Heard on High

Being a parody of, and sung to the tune of, “Angels We Have Heard on High” by James Chadwick. A Balrog we heard on highSo we tried to run from itGandalf urged us fools to flyAs he fell into the pit Moria!Aragorn said don’t gothrough Moria;Gandalf wouldn’t listen though Galadriel and CelebornWe met in LothlorienMithrandir

Writing Update/Library Card — BookmarkedOne

So I hadn’t realized my library card had expired. For someone who considers it a more important ID than a driver’s license, this is significant. As I was renewing it, I discovered that my library has a “responsible party” signature on cards issued to young readers. And since I’ve been a patron hither and thither […]

Medieval Monday: How Healthy was Medieval Food? — Allison D. Reid

It can be hard to stick to a diet in modern times when eating out. It was much the same for a medieval knight, so when he was dining in his own household his personal physician would work with his cook to keep their master in peak condition. In this episode, Jason and food historian […]

Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December…

I guess now would be a good time as any to share with you my love of the works of Edgar Allan Poe, as well as (most of) the derivative works we have been blessed with, such as film adaptations. The title of this blog entry of course comes from what is perhaps Poe’s most

It Came Upon a Midnight Drear

Being a parody of “It Came Upon the Midnight Clear” by Edmund Sears It came upon a midnight drearThat doom of AlhazredFrom ancient vaults beneath the seaTo rise as from the dead:“Ph’nglui mglw’nafh CthulhuR’lyeh wgah’nagl fhtagn!“The world in frozen terror layTo hear the cry of Elder Things. Now through the cloven skies They come,With loathsome

I dreamt of blogging, so I guess I’ll blog about dreaming

I grew up in a two bedroom apartment in New York City, on the third floor of an old five storey brick building, with my single mother and younger sister. I spent my entire childhood, my formative years, in that apartment, in that building, on that street, through my teens and well into my early

Daring to Face Your Blank Page – Daily Quote — Jo Hawk

It appears innocent and unassuming, fragile, thin, and benign. The blank page is a pop culture icon, and it is formidable. It induces anxiety, fear, panic, and feelings of inadequacy. The blank page reduces creatives to blithering idiots, incapable of action. Alaa Al-Aswany says writing is the “conflict between what you want to say and […]

The present moment — POET CAFE

Realize deeply that the present moment is all you have. Make the NOW the primary focus of your life. Eckhart Tolle The present moment — POET CAFE

‘Twas the night before Christmas…

…when all through the house not a creature was stirring, not even the normally extremely rowdy family of mice that took up residence in my oven last spring and rendered it inoperable by chewing up all the insulation. Outside, however, was a different story. As I lay down for a long winter’s nap, I could