Terry Pratchett's Birthday

Today would have been Sir Terry Pratchett's 67th birthday.

I'm a huge fan of his Discworld books and am the proud owner of every single one! Plus The Discworld Mapp, The Streets of Ankh-Morpork map, A Tourist Guide To Lancre: A Discworld Mapp, The Pratchett Portfolio, The Art of Discworld, Nanny Ogg's Cookbook, The Discworld Almanack and The Folklore of Discworld :-)

As well as being a fantastic author, Sir Terry was an all round awesome dude. He campaigned for assisted suicide, raised awareness for Alzheimer's, and was a trustee for the Orangutan Foundation UK.
He also had a greenhouse full of carnivorous plants and made himself a sword!

I have some Discworld artefacts from The Discworld Emporium. The crowning jewel is my The Turtle Moves pin, which the website says was designed by Sir Terry himself to function as "a symbol that would tell one Discworld fan to another that they shared the same taste in literature."

I also have some Ankh-Morpork half dollars, in case I ever visit!

Front:

Back:

 

Here's to you Sir Terry, you are greatly missed.

1915 Housekeeper's Diary: April

Bits and pieces from the April section of Flora Klickmann's 1915 book The Mistress of the Little House :-)

(Links to catch up on previous months if you missed them: January, February, March)

April

Flora says "Spring-cleaning is the chief feature of this month."
And my goodness 1915 spring-cleaning sounds EXHAUSTING! The list of supplies alone could tire you out:
"Carpet-sweeper or broom, combined stair and bannister brush, curtain-brush, soft furniture-brush, set of blacklead brushes, housemaid's box with movable tray, scrubbing-brush, house-flannel, strong zinc pail... carbolic and scrubbing soap, soft soap, soda, turpentine, household ammonia, metal polish, blacklead, furniture polish, stale bread, a little methylated spirit, plenty of dust-sheets, polishing rags, dusters, cloths, and any old, soft silk handkerchiefs you can collect." Phew!

There's a curious bit of advice:
"Remember this is the last month with an 'r' in it, and so, according to the old rule, the last in which you can eat pork and oysters."
Maybe this has something to do with avoiding food that could go off easily in the warmer months, before the transport and storage methods we have today?

And she finishes with a lovely quote:
"A man's house is really but his larger body, and expresses in a way his nature and character." S. O. Jewett

Spring Song

Spring Song

Have you ever seen
such green, such green?
Have you ever seen
such blue
as the woods in April
when they blink
and a bit of the sky
looks through?
And the light - the light
is tiny and bright
in every blob
of dew?
Have you ever seen
such green, such green?
Have you ever seen
such blue?

By Jean Kenward, taken from My Very First Poetry Book

Yellow Chicks

Yellow Chicks

Yellow chicks, the baby things,
Bits of fluff and feather;
Underneath their mother's wings,
Cuddled up together!
Never mind the wind and rain;
Cold or any other,
Everything is bright again,
Cuddled up to mother!

By Florence Hoatson, taken from Harry Golding's book Verses For Children

Happy Easter everyone!

When I went to Fairyland

The Visit

When I went to Fairyland, visiting the Queen,
I rode upon a peacock, blue and gold and green;
Silver was the harness, crimson were the reins,
All hung about with silver bells that swung on silken chains.

When I went to Fairyland, indeed you cannot think
What pretty things I had to eat, what pretty things to drink.
And did you know that butterflies could sing like little birds?
And did you guess that fairy-talk is not a bit like words?

When I went to Fairyland - of all the lovely things! -
They really taught me how to fly, they gave me fairy wings;
And every night I listen for a tapping on the pane -
I want so very much to go to Fairyland again.

From The Rose Fyleman Fairy Book

1915 Housekeeper's Diary: March

This month's household wisdom from Flora Klickmann's 1915 book The Mistress of the Little House (previous posts here, here and here).

March

The main thing I took away from this was that it reads like a love letter to March!
For example:

• "March is the month when life is stirring and awakening on every side."

• "Open the windows, let in all the sun and air you can... the air on a bright March day is life-giving."

Other than that, there is a lot of advice for keeping the house free of fleas and mice - thank goodness this is isn't really a big problem for us these days!

Shakespeare: A good heart...

Today's Shakespeare quote from The Shakespeare Birthday Book

"But a good heart is the sun and moon; or rather the sun and not the moon; for it shines bright and never changes, but keeps his course truly."

Henry V. Act v. Sc. 2.