Today in 1629, the Dutch tall ship Batavia was wrecked off the coast of Western Australia, not too far from where I grew up. The photo, above, shows a replica of the Batavia, which was built in the Netherlands and is currently on display in Geraldton, Western Australia…where I grew up. The survivors of the […]
Diving over the Batavia Read More »
Today, as you’re reading this (if you’re reading it on the day it releases, March 9th), I will be at the Cross Cancer Institute all day, having a CVC line inserted. What’s that, you say? A CVC line is a big version of the PICC line I had inserted around Christmas time. The PICC line
Upcoming Historical Romance Read More »
For the four people on the planet who haven’t seen Titanic, there are spoilers coming up. For romance lovers, it’s probably one of the more jarring notes in the movie Titanic when Jack and Rose both try to climb onto the floating door, only to nearly capsize it. So Jack hangs off the edge, instead,
James Cameron Paid for Research to Prove Jack Wouldn’t Have Survived Read More »
Hi guys: I got a question from a reader this morning, and my answer was long (because anything historical automatically becomes complicated). If you’ve read the Once and Future Hearts series, you might also be interested in the answer, so here it is. I have a question: why was switching sword/knife hands during battle considered
Why was Fighting With the Left Hand So Dishonorable? Read More »
I’m stretching the fact just a touch. It’s actually only National Chocolate Cake Day in the United States, but c’mon…! It’s chocolate cake. Do you need a better excuse than someone, somewhere made a national day out of it? And to celebrate the day, I’m posting here my mother-in-law’s chocolate cake recipe, which is simple and
Today is National Chocolate Cake Day. Read More »
I’m ironically aware that as this post goes live, Australia Day in Australia is all over and done with, thanks to the International Date Line. But it’s Australia Day where I am, so I’m doing the salute, sans the tinny. ‘on yer, mate. ________________________
Australia Day 2019 Read More »
Atlas Obscura reported recently that “50 Escaped Baboons Shut Down a Paris Zoo“, which caught my eye. We’re currently working our way through the three Planet of the Apes reboot movies and the post on Obscura made me think of the scene in the first movie when all the apes escape the experimental labs and
Life Imitating Art Read More »
Another anniversary date I didn’t want to omit acknowledging. Western Australia Day was called Foundation Day when I was a kid, and we always had special assemblies on the day. The name was changed to Western Australian day in the 1990s, after I left Australia, as the old name had come to be considered insensitive
Western Australia Day Read More »
Sorry about the click-bait headline. I usually don’t resort to them but in this case it’s absolutely justified and I promise to deliver. In full. We’re always weeks behind the rest of the world in our TV viewing. So it has taken us a while to get around to watching Planet Earth II by the BBC,
This Will Horrify You. Guaranteed. Read More »
I love cracking open a new program and getting to know it. Playing around with the buttons and menus and figuring out how to get the program to do what I want is enormous fun. It scratches my curiousity bump and taps my creativity in completely different ways from story-telling. Most people I know can
A New Skill Set to Make Life Interesting. Read More »