Holy Innocents by Christina Rossetti - Weekly Poem

 With great sorrow because of Connecticut a poem about the Massacre of the Innocents

THEY scarcely waked before they slept,
They scarcely wept before they laughed;
They drank indeed death's bitter draught,
But all its bitterest dregs were kept
And drained by Mothers while they wept.

From:  The Poetical Works of Christina Georgina Rossetti

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Weekend Read - Miss Happiness and Miss Flower by Rumer Godden

Whilst browsing charity shop books I came across a copy of Miss Happiness and Miss Flower Not a vintage copy unfortunately but I bought it anyway.I started reading it as soon as I got home and was instantly enchanted.It was magical and now I wish I had a Miss Happiness and Miss Flower of my very own.

Friday Flowers - Pheasant Feather Christmas Wreath

A Christmas wreath with a difference - pheasant tail feathers.

Maybe one for the huntin, shootin, fishin brigade?

Made by Miss Pickering

Friday Vintage - Shabby Tea Party Flea Market

 Isn't this a great idea a blog Flea Market?

 I'm sure there are lots out there in "blog land" but today I came across Betty Jean's Flea Market on her blog Shabby Tea Party so thought I'd share.

 Betty Jean likes to "treasure hunt" garage sales, flea markets, estate sales, attics, basements and barns for vintage items and pieces that she can repaint, reupholster and repurpose some of those items end up on her blog for sale via her Flea Market, like this cake stand:

Hoar Frost - 5 things

-5 and we have a winter wonderland of hoar frost. Yesterday was the first day this winter I was actually cold whilst mucking out the horses. It's going to be a long hard winter. Anyway facts about hoar frost:

Hoar frost is also called radiation frost or hoarfrost or pruina.
Hoar frost  forms on cold clear nights when heat losses into the open skies cause objects to become colder than the surrounding air.
Hoar frost is white ice crystals deposited on the ground or on objects such as the plum trees pictured above.
The word hoar  comes from the old english adjective for showing signs of old age.
 Hoar frost also occurs in man made environments eg. freezers and cold stores.

Update: Mrs Fox has published some glorious hoar frost photographs on her blog Mrs Fox's do go and take a look.

WWW Wednesday - The Angel Who Pawned Her Harp, The Anatomy of Ghosts

I've just finished reading a vintage copy of Charles Terrot's The Angel Who Pawned Her Harp, it was my weekend read. A story about a beautiful girl who appears in a London pawnshop with a full-sized harp to pawn and what happens to the people whose lives she changes. It is completely and utterly charming and I highly recommend it.

The book was made into a black and white film in the 1950's which I'm hoping to see soon, in the meantime there are Youtube clips.

I'm currently reading The Anatomy of Ghosts; an inquiry into the distressing circumstances surrounding an alleged apparition lately recorded in Cambridge. Set Down for the Curious in the Form of a Novel by Andrew Taylor, 2011. (Tuesday Teaser here) Completely different to The Angel Who Pawned Her Harp it is equally enthralling in an entirely different way:

"The ghost of murdered Sylvia Whichcote has been sighted prowling the grounds by Frank Oldershaw, a disturbed fellow commoner. When his anxious mother employs John Holdsworth, author of The Anatomy of Ghosts - a stinging account of why ghosts are mere delusion - to investigate the sighting, the uneasy status quo at Jerusalem is rapidly torn apart.

Holdsworth grows to realise that the sinister Holy Ghost Club governs the privileged life at Jerusalem with a rigour far more effective than anything the Master, Dr Carbury, could muster. And when Holdsworth finds himself haunted - not only by the ghost of his dead wife, Maria, but also Elinor, the very-much-alive Master's wife - his fate is sealed. He must unravel the circumstances surrounding Sylvia's death ... or the hauntings will continue."

 I have quite a few books in my "to read" pile but I'm thinking I might read this next : The Tudor Secret by Christopher Gortner.

It has rather mixed reviews from good

" The Tudor Secret is a story of intrigue, swordfights, scandal, schemes, lies, mysterious murders, opulent palaces, dark fortresses, secret loves, evil dukes, beautiful princesses, brave knights, clever spies and intrepid heroes. When I was a child, I was obsessed with The Three Musketeers. I couldn't honestly say how many times I read it and it’s still one of my favourite novels. The Tudor Secret belongs to that genre; a true swashbuckling melodrama – unputdownable, wholly improbable and fantastically addictive." Gareth Russell

to bad
 

"I'm afraid this book did not live up to my expectations.
I found the content uninteresting and the time line of a few days ridiculous!
The book centres on a naive country bumpkin coming to to London for the first time and suddenly he's a top spy with the ability to fight off experienced soldiers and win the trust of a future queen and all within hours!"  GinaS

 I wonder what I'll make of it? 

This is a WWW Wednesdays hosted by MizB at Should Be Reading. To play along, just answer the following three (3) questions…

• What are you currently reading?
• What did you recently finish reading?
• What do you think you’ll read next?

Tuesday Teaser - The Anatomy of Ghosts by Andrew Taylor

 

"Indeed, he evinced a perfect lack of interest in the subject of ghosts. His method, you see, does not concern itself with such matters." The Anatomy of Ghosts; an inquiry into the distressing circumstances surrounding an alleged apparition lately recorded in Cambridge. Set Down for the Curious in the Form of a Novel by Andrew Taylor, 2011



Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:
• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!