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My Next Hero

Thank you for dropping by. I hope that last week you met Linda Ford's lonely cowboy hero, Blue Lyons. If you missed him, you can catch up at http://lindaford.org/blog/?p=2983. He will be appearing in one of Linda's Love Inspired historicals. And special thanks to Debora Dale (http://www.deboradale.com/) who organized this blog tour.

A Dickensian Childhood

A Dickensian childhood. The phrase conjures up images of small children working in coal mines or cotton mills, ragged urchins huddled in a doorway, Oliver Twist asking for more gruel. But you didn’t have to be poor to have a Dickensian childhood. Consider Augustus Hare.

Playing with Time

When I was a child, I was fascinated by cuckoo clocks. One of my aunts had one, and whenever we visited, I would sit there, waiting for the hour to strike so that the little bird would pop out and do its chirping.

There are less purely cheerful animated clocks, of course. Not long ago, Sotheby’s had an erotic 18th century clock. It looked quite innocent—the naughty bits were hidden behind a painting of a duck. (Don’t get your hopes up. It was more ludicrously comic than erotic.)

The Worth of Fashion

Since Fashion Week is almost here, thoughts turn to fabulous clothes and their designers, people with names like Balenciaga, Givenchy, Dior, Versace, Saint Laurent, Armani.

Do you notice anything odd about that list? They are all men. Well, all right, Chanel ought to be there too, but that doesn’t change the fact that for the past hundred years and more, the famous couturiers have been men.

A-Banting We Will Go

William Banting was huffing and puffing by the time he reached the top of the first flight of stairs, or so the story goes. He said to himself, “I need to lose some weight.”

He was probably right about that.

At five feet five inches, Banting was not a tall man—but in his mid-60s he weighed in at about 200 pounds.

Soup of the evening, beautiful Soup!

After the marathon of cooking and eating last week, soup has tremendous appeal.

Galla Placidia, Empress of Rome

Galla Placidia is one of the most fascinating historic figures I know, partly because so much about her life is shrouded in mystery, starting with the date of her birth, sometime around 390. What is known has all the makings of an epic novel.

Buried Treasure: Alaric's Gold

In 410 AD Alaric and his Visigoths sacked Rome.

Back when I was in high school, that date marked the Fall of the Roman Empire. Next came the Dark Ages, followed by the Middle Ages (they began in 800, with Charlemagne being crowned Holy Roman Emperor) and Modern Europe (1492—you know that date).

Do you suppose anyone noticed at the time?

Dining with Lady Elinor in Rome

Next week, on November 4 to be precise, Lady Elinor’s Wicked Adventures will make its debut. To whet your appetite, I thought I would write about something Our Heroine might have eaten while she was off having her adventures.

Ortolans: A 19th Century Delicacy—or Excess

There was a story last week in The New York Times about some French chefs who want to return ortolans to the traditional menu. Ortolans are small songbirds, and they have been banned from restaurant menus since 1999. The ban may have been a conservation measure to keep the tiny birds from being hunted out of existence, or it may have been a reaction to the way the birds is prepared and eaten.