NB! · Observations
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Observations
Architecture · Faith · Observations · Nature
An unreal church in Luxembourg: I drove past this hairpin road last year, when Auntie Nina and I went to the market for meat (Luxembourg is considerably cheaper than Belgium), and I even thought, surely a cross cannot be sticking straight out of the roads
An unreal church in Luxembourg. I drove past this hairpin road last year, when Auntie Nina and I went to the market for meat (Luxembourg is considerably cheaper than Belgium), and I even thought, surely a cross cannot be sticking straight out of the roadside, I must have imagined it.
Books · Observations · Mores · Ethnography
Kipling’s poem about bees in translation and the real custom of telling bees the news
Kipling's poem on bee customs, in translation. It should be understood that this is not purely a fairy tale, talking bees aside, of course. Otherwise it describes a way of life that really existed: one shared with the bees not only the news but the gossip too, the
Books · Observations · Nature · Ethnography
English poem on the custom of telling the bees about a wedding, a birth or a death
On the traditions of respectful regard for bees, Rudyard Kipling writes, for example, in the tale "Puck of Pook's Hill":. A Maiden in her glory, Upon her wedding-day, Must tell her Bees the story, Or else they'll fly away. Fly away—die away—
The East · Art · Museums · Observations · Humour
English nightcaps of the Stuart era in the Eastern style
I don't know about you, but I can easily picture myself in one of these Oriental-style hats. Then again, I can picture myself quite well with a Jacquemus handbag too. In fact, these are English nightcaps dating from the reign of the Stuarts, an age inspired on
Faith · Observations · Humour
The shared origin of the Russian words blagogovenie, govyadina and zagovenie
Next time you feel reverence, remember that the word shares its origin with beef and with the eve of a fast. Govyada is the old name for horned cattle, pointing back to govenie, originally a string of prayers and sacrifices, evidently of the flesh of domestic livestock.
Monarchies · Observations · Mores · People
Mary of Modena's childbirth before forty witnesses and the claim of a substituted baby
Just think, what a tragic fate! Mary of Modena endured ten miscarriages, and five of her children died in infancy; and when at last a viable child came into the world, she was accused of having substituted a healthy baby for her real child, a sickly, feeble one, and most
In the Press · Books · Observations · Society · People
Turgenev's conflict with Katkov and the ban on a memorial meeting after the writer's death
A Few Words on Haters. Turgenev had many enemies even in his lifetime, Katkov of the Russian Messenger among them. Their quarrel began when Ivan Sergeyevich stopped publishing in his journal. The matter was this: the editor had thought it permissible to correct Fathers and Sons at his own discretion,
Books · Observations · Humour
The dwarves Dvalin and Durin take revenge on their captor by cursing the sword Tyrfing
Poor little dwarves(( In his day Dvalin forged golden hair for Loki and made many other marvellous things. A regrettable accident, by which he and his friend became the prisoners of Sigrlami, was resolved, as so often happens, in a manner unexpected by the victor. Dvalin and Durin took their
Art · Observations · Mores · Humour
Mrs Rattle with her pets and the meaning of the squirrel in early modern English imagery
Good morning: we are breakfasting with Mrs Rattle and her family, a doggie, a kitty, a squirrel and a parrot. I think one ought not to ask a woman who keeps such picturesque company where her husband is. And as for the fact that the squirrel in English images of
Art · Observations · Humour
Scatological scene on the base of a Greek drinking vessel from around 500 BC
The base of a drinking vessel, c. 500 BC. A man in a cloak, leaning on a staff, wipes himself with a smooth stone. The Greeks did not often turn to scatological subjects, that is, to those connected with the natural functions, in the applied arts, but this was evidently
NB! · Art · Observations · Humour
Auguste Toulmouche’s painting “Midday Idyll”, created in 1874
Auguste Toulmouche, 1874. A Midday Idyll, or Weary of the Squabbling