A Long Winter’s Night — Ascent to Spring Edition: Imbolc

| February 2, 2019

“It is Winter; the wind howls and Mother Nature lies sleeping, deep under a blanket of snow. Bare branches, stark against the slate gray sky, crack against each other like knucklebones, and when the winds really howl they snap, hitting the snow covered ground with a hushed thump. “On the Great Wheel of the Year, […]

A Long Winter’s Night — Ascent to Spring Edition: Celebrating History in a Glass

| January 20, 2019

“And I wish to add here in all seriousness that whatever may be your scruples against the use of liquors, don’t go into the woods without whisky—rye or Scotch, according to preference. Alcohol, of course, is good for poison ivy, but whisky is better. Maybe it is because of the drugs that wicked men are […]

A Long Winter’s Night — 2018 Edition: An Unexpected Pause

| December 25, 2018

Whether you observe this particular day of the year as significant from a religious, secular, historic, or clueless perspective; feel it thrust upon you as something to be endured, or just don’t give two shits, there is one thing that can’t be denied where we live — the liquor stores are closed. With this, the […]

A Long Winter’s Night — 2018 Edition: Day 1

| December 21, 2018

The Winter Solstice occurs at 18:23 Atlantic Time tonight. After that, the nights get shorter, the days longer, and you should curb your enthusiasm because most of the parts of Winter that will kill you haven’t happened yet. In Elder times this was Midwinter’s Night, and while I understand the meaning, marking the longest night […]

Lest We Forget — Lee Miller at a Moment in Time

| November 10, 2018

“How they set it up. She cannot be shown nude (this is LIFE, not Man Ray); a figurine on the table does the trick. In front of the bath, her combat boots, ‘the dust of Dachau still on them’ according to Scherman. And at the back on the left, the portrait. It is a voodoo […]

Lest We Forget — A Timeless Word From Noël Coward

| November 4, 2018

“The war brought front of mind that sense of patriotism that was fundamental to his nature. “Cavalcade had been the most overt and sustained expression to date. At the end of it the heroine, Jane Marryot, gives her toast to the Future — as she has done through the decades we’ve shared with her in […]

Lest We Forget — Of Death and Doodlebugs

| November 3, 2018

This picture has been all over the internet lately, purported to be a photo of a Spitfire about to tumble a Vergeltungswaffe 1 (Vengeance Weapon 1), AKA V1, AKA Buzz Bomb, AKA Doodlebug. While it is a perfect depiction of a manoeuvre performed by RAF pilots during those dark times when the V1 “buzz bomb” […]

Dark Sentiments Season 9 — Day 30: 80 Years Ago Tonight

| October 30, 2018

On the night of 30 October 1938, channel surfing took a turn for the dark side. If you were listening to Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy but decided to skip the commercial break by tuning to their rival station, you stood a good chance of landing on the infamous Orson Wells broadcast of War of […]

Dark Sentiments Season 9 — Day 27: Lost Interviews

| October 27, 2018

I occasionally reveal some aspects of my childhood and upbringing here with absolutely no intention of ever actually explaining myself. As to that, Goode Reader, neither should you lest you find out the hard way that self-justification serves no purpose in a fulfilling Life. No, I believe it better to leave the Great Unwashed stuck […]

Dark Sentiments Season 9 — Day 26: A Certain Kind of Death

| October 26, 2018

“Like picking fly shit out of pepper with boxing gloves on.” ~ My Father, Lawrence Whynacht, in describing something that was very painstakingly difficult to do. Day 10 of Season 6 of this series was titled What Died?, which you can experience by clicking the title. You will learn how the study of human body […]