CuppaTea

It has been quite a while since I wrote a post - which was completely unintentional. Partly, I was so busy I didn't have time to write, and partly when I thought about writing, I didn't know what I should write! A huge thankyou to those who have been taking the opportunity to read some of my previous posts - as far as I can tell from the statistics, I have had nearly as many people reading this month even though I haven't written anything new!

So, apparently my laptop reads over my shoulder when I am writing. Or something like that! If not the day that I wrote Computer makeover , it was the day after that the next thing fell off. It turns out my computer had a screw loose, as when I packed it up a screw dropped onto the table! I checked - it didn't seem to have come from anywhere significant... so I didn't worry about it too much, just picked it up and packed it in the bag with the laptop. I figured I'd mention it to one of the guys when I saw them, and see if they could put it back. No rush. We happened to have a computing session for one of our classes this week, so at the end I did mention it to the IT guys. I was amused by their conversation over my laptop - especially when they realised it had probably not been tightened enough earlier in the year when they replaced the keyboard! So there you go - a tiny little screw was the next part to need attention. Is this the end of my laptop's dramatic atten...

I think my laptop developed a streak of vanity this year. Or plunged into a mid life crisis. Looking back, I can't even remember how it started - or when - but I suspect that it started when one of the guys studying here offered to do something which would speed my computer up for me. He had done the same thing for one of my housemates already, and she was thrilled with how fast her computer booted up and did normal things, so I agreed to leave it with him while I went back home for a weekend in May to see my baby nephew (and the rest of my family). All I know is that he definitely replaced the hard drive, and now Windows Media Player looks different, and my computer boots up in seconds (rather than more than a minute). It took hours to do whatever it was that he did, but he didn't mind, apparently! I think my computer liked the attention. I think my laptop now craves the attention of IT savvy people. I think this computer has sabotaged itself in order to force me to brin...

I mentioned in my post The power of tears that I had finished my sister's birthday present. While I was back home for the recent two week break, I had the chance to give it to her. She seemed pretty thrilled with it, so I think I'll share a photo of it!

We are in the final term for the year! Still about eight weeks of study to go. Plenty of study and plenty assignments to do before then, but we are getting into some very interesting topics. It has been good to see all the other students again, but it has been hard to get back into the swing of studying. I think part of the problem is knowing that I'll be back home just for the weekend, flying there tomorrow morning, then flying back Monday morning. The wonderful reason is partly because I can, but mostly because I have three family events across Saturday and Sunday, including my nephew's birthday party! Unfortunately this means early morning flights in order to keep it as inexpensive as possible. Thankfully, I will have my Kindle with me, and I can continue reading Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie. I am loving her writing - she manages to surprise me every time! And I'm looking forward to reading Heat Wave by Richard Castle next - the fictional author ...

I have previously written a bit about my perspective on the four seasons: Summer to autumn ; Autumn or winter ; and  Winter and food which warms the heart . Last weekend I was asked which I prefer, summer or winter. If you have read some of the above posts, you will know my answer. If not, the answer is winter. (Or at least, the Australian version of winter, which involves no snow!) What I haven't written about (as far as I can remember or find) is how much I detest spring.

The pageview statistics leapt suddenly beyond the ability to do any more historical posts - at least for the AD timeline. In this last post I thought I might speculate about the future. What might happen in 29 years' time? As my interests tend more towards fantasy fiction than science fiction, I am not as familiar with this sort of speculation - so expect it to lack a scientific edge! I would love to hear your thoughts as well! I may have a wedding to attend - for a niece or nephew. Or celebrate the birth of a great niece or nephew - making me feel old in anticipation! They are all under three years old at the moment! I have a few friends who write and hope to publish novels (and some who already have published) - so one of them could potentially win the Nobel Prize for Literature! That would be great! There will be a king on the throne of England - possibly William V or maybe even George VII (I doubt that Charles will still be alive, but who knows? It could be Charles III)...

This will be the second to last post in this historical series. Although, the last one won't exactly be historical... Come back next week to see what I mean! This was so recent, yet I wonder how many of you can think of anything significant that happened that year off the top of your head. What follows is a list of events, with one event or incident from each month included, from my usual sorce . US Airways Flight 1549 from New York City to Charlotte, North Carolina, was hit by a flock of geese, which caused a loss of thrust in both engines. Captain and First Officer safely ditched the plane in the Hudson, and all 155 passengers and crew survived. The Black Saturday bushfires, the deadliest in Australian history, killed 173, injured 500, and left 7000 homeless. Most of the fires were ignited by fallen or clashing power lines or were deliberately lit. NASA's Kepler Mission launched from Cape Carnaveral, a space photometer to search for extrasolar planets in the Milky Way...

 Languages change over time - some more than others. It is easier to talk about how languages develop and change and influence each other once they have been written down. If you have ever wondered about the complications of English spelling, the amount of variety in how it is used, and why it is spoken in so many places, check this video out! Similar processes have been involved in other languages as well, although I haven't seen clips that are quite as cool for any others. Spanish, for example, was more influenced by Latin than English was, but was then influenced by Arabic when the Moors invaded and ruled over a significant amount of the Iberian Peninsular (from about 700-1500AD), and was also inlfuenced by American Indian languages from South and Central America. And they had a translation of the Bible in Spanish about 50 years before the English received the King James Version. On the literature side I am not sure about whether there is anyone significant who created ne...

Have you ever found yourself crying for no discernible reason? If not, you should know that this is one of the strangest experiences I've ever had. To be overwhelmed when you know there is no reason behind it, nothing specific that triggered it, and no hormonal cause, is to be rendered completely powerless until it stops. And then there is the fear that it will start again. Because it sometimes does. I have had a week of tears.

A very significant year! My year! But what happened? I wonder what you know about that year. I wonder if any of the following will surprise you.  The beginning of one of the worst droughts in Australia, part of the lead up to the Ash Wednesday fires the following year. In Australian film and television: The Man From Snowy River was released; Sons and Daughters premiered; and channels Nine, Seven and the ABC conducted stereo test transmission. Ian Thorpe was born. And one of the Melbourne Aussie Rules teams moved to Sydney, becoming the Sydney Swans. And the Commonwealth Games were held in Brisbane. And in the rest of the world... This was also the year Prince William was born. Canada gained full political independence from the United Kingdom (while remaining part of the Commonwealth), and patriated its constitution, which included a bill of rights. Nicole won Eurovision for Germany with Ein Bisschen Frieden . Chariots of Fire won Best Picture and three other Academy Award...

I have recently found myself doing two things I never expected to do. And enjoying them. One is so unexpected it never even occurred to me as a possibility. The other is something that I've deliberately avoided for several years with the expectation that I would not enjoy it. I wonder if you have found yourself enjoying unexpected things recently? I'd love to hear some of them if you have!

Some random facts selected from Wikipedia . Western Samoa became independent from New Zealand. The Beatles auditioned for Decca Records. They record their first single, 'Love Me Do'. Pope John XXIII excommunicated Fidel Castro. Coups and counter-coups and communist alliances... Wars and alliances... NASA launched Ranger 3 to study the moon. It missed the moon by 22,000 miles... Ranger 4 crashed on the moon... They don't seem to have much more luck with the Mariner program later in the year either... During a new moon and solar eclipse an extremely rare grand conjunction of the classical planets occurred (that is, the five which can be seen with the naked eye). The French entry wins the seventh Eurovision Song Contest. (For those of you unfamiliar with this event, check it out next year. It is bizarre and fascinating and draws a huge Australian audience - we even got a video link message this year! There should be plenty on YouTube from it!) A plane chartered...

Most of my posts recently have been about history or my studies, and not so much about any baking and cooking I've been doing. That doesn't mean I haven't been trying new things, so I thought I'd share a few.

I am re-reading Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen at the moment, so I want to start this post with a quote from chapter 14: "Yes, I am fond of history." "I wish I were too. I read it a little as a duty, but it tells me nothing that does not either vex or weary me. The quarrels of popes and kings, with wars or pestilences, in every page; the men all so good for nothing, and hardly any women at all - it is very tiresome: and yet I often think it odd that it should be so dull, for a great deal of it must be invention. The speeches that are put into the heroes' mouths, their thoughts and designs - the chief of all this must be invention, and invention is what delights me in other books." So in honour of Catherine Morland, I shall endeavour to avoid wearying or vexing you with the quarrels of popes and kings, or war and pestilences, or good for nothing men! (That will be one way to keep this really brief!) Princess Elizabeth announced her engagement to Lieutenan...

I have been reflecting on the cross-cultural experience I had on the weekend, and trying to work out how to tell you about it. So much happened, and yet not much happened!

And the slide down from the Roaring Twenties into the Great Depression has begun... Is it bad that there are more feature films that I'd be interested to watch from 1931 than from this year? Amongst the most popular films released that year, according to IMDb , were Frankenstein , Dracula , and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde ! Ooh, and City Lights , starring Charlie Chaplin! In other topics , Albert Einstein began doing research at the California Institute of Technology, along with astronomer Edwin Hubble. Thomas Edison submitted his last patent application. And 'The Star Spangled Banner' became the national anthem of the United States of America. Sir Isaac Isaacs became the first Australian born Governor-General of Australia! An earthquake in New Zealand destroyed much of the city of Napier. Another earthquake destroyed Managua in Nicaragua. The Second Spanish Republic was proclaimed in Madrid (but when was the first?!) after municipal elections resulted in triumph for th...

The world is an amazing place. There are so many different ways to think about it. I've been looking at a bunch of maps, and I thought I'd share a few I personally find very interesting. For the full set, see this site.

It has been a while since I wrote about my study, and seeing that this is week three of semester two I thought you might like to know what I've been up to! So today I want to share a bit about my language learning.

And we're into the twentieth century! Only 100 years of history remaining to this series! So much has happened since the first post in this series, 882 .  I think this is the first time the 'births' list has threatened to outnumber the entries for events in the year on Wikipedia ! So what did happen? Mexican Revolution Building of Canberra began First Balkan War... and the Second Balkan War Assassination of King George I of Greece First full-length Indian feature film released Rockefeller Foundation charter approved, and the foundation began with a $100,000,000 donation from John D. Rockefeller - that's a LOT of money!!!! The Little Mermaid statue was finished in Kopenhagen, Denmark Stainless steel invented King Otto of Bavaria was deposed by his cousin, Prince Regent Ludwig Ford Motor Company introduced the first moving assembly line First packaged cigarette Georges Sagnac showed that light propagates at a speed independent of the speed of its source  W...

I have shared a few posts about my experiences as a teacher ( here and here ), and I might share a few things from my teaching practicum notes in the future, but I thought I'd share with you the outcome of those experiences.

I enjoy celebrating with people. I love celebrating weddings, engagements, birthdays, good news - pretty much anything! Especially if it gives me a reason to bake something to share with people. I am very disappointed that I have missed out on several of these opportunities lately, because I've been in the wrong place! In the last week I have missed two engagement parties and one wedding, all because I was in the wrong state at the time they were happening. I am thrilled for all the friends who have been involved in these celebrations, even though I had to miss out on the parties (and probably cake). So, I am making the most of the opportunities I do have to celebrate with people when I am with them. And so I have initiated Unbirthdays. Two of the students who are studying by distance are here for the first two weeks have their birthdays after that time - one in the week after she leaves, and the other in December. So this Friday saw the first Unbirthday celebration.

Wow, you should see how long the Wikipedia page for 1878 is! But I'll keep this as brief as possible! While I am not a Doctor Who fan (I've just never watched it), apparently the novel Imperial Moon is set in this year. Tolstoy's Anna Karenina was published in complete book form in Moscow. Cleopatra's Needle arrived in London. Pope Pius IX died, having been pope for 31 and a half years, the longest definitely confirmed reign. The next pope is Leo XIII. Thomas Edison patented the phonograph. The Tokyo Stock Exchange was established. The Salvation Army 'foundation deed' was signed. Russia seems to have been at war with everyone! Or at least terrifying everyone with the threat of war if they weren't actually already at war. In other parts of the world, the Lincoln County War began in New Mexico. And the Second Afghan War began, and the Nauruan Tribal War began... Lots of fighting, lots of deaths. In addition to war related deaths, Yellow Fever in t...

It's been a while since I posted about any baking exploits. So here is a brief summary of what I've done in the last few weeks.

Another busy year! Most significantly, as far as I am concerned: Pride and Prejudice was published! Yay! And then there were a few wars: Argentinian war for independence Mexican war for independence Napoleon seems to have been fighting the whole of Europe (winning some and losing some) The Russians won a lot of land under the treaty which ended the Russo-Persian war The United States of America seems to have been fighting the British in Canada? And in the United States itself? Simón Bolívar led an invasion of Venezuela, and was named El Libertador ("The Liberator")   A few other random facts: Pineapples were introduced to Hawaii Australia's first coins were minted, transforming Spanish Silver Dollars into two coins: the Holey Dollar (5 shillings) and the Colonial Dump (15 pence), replacing the rum economy Mathieu Orfila published Traité des poisons , formalising the field of toxicology William Lawson, Gregory Blaxland and William Wentworth sought and...

There were two women who lived next door to each other. The first woman owned a large 5 bedroom house, which she lived in with her teenage son and her adult daughter who was studying engineering at university. The second woman lived in a small 3 bedroom  house with her husband and four children. The two women knew each other by sight, and spoke briefly once or twice a week when putting their bins out or bringing them back in. One day the first woman knocked on the second woman's front door.

With the birth of a royal baby, which I am pretty thrilled about, as well as meeting the babies of a few friends over the last few weeks, I have been reflecting on how I feel about babies. Specifically other people's babies (as I don't have any of my own).

So, now that the halfway point is past, what have I accomplished so far with all this time? A lot of time spent with family, which has been great. My nearly eighteen month old niece has developed the adorable habit of taking hold of a finger on my hand to pull me to the location she has selected for me to do something for her - food or door related, usually. (I am not the only person she does this with, by the way!) Meanwhile, my nearly three year old nephew has commandeered my television in my room for his own viewing purposes. He actually pulled a video out of the pile of dvds recently, The Lion King 2: Simba's Pride . Luckily for him, I have an older television, with inbuilt video and dvd players, so he could watch the 'tigers'. Also, I have spent a lot of time in the garage and in my room, sorting through some of my hoarded items. The skip out the front of our house has been filled and collected. And I realised how many folders I have bought over the years. I just k...

It seems that this random date may hold greater significance than I expected. But some of you from the USA may be able to tell me that before I begin! The Sugar Act and the Currency Act were passed in the British parliament, affecting the colonies on the American continent. It seems that this began or heightened the concern over 'taxation without representation' . John Wilkes was thrown out of the British House of Commons for seditious libel according to Wikipedia , and for 'Essay on Women' according to HistoryOrb  - although these appear to be the same thing, with Wikipedia calling it 'Essay on Woman', and it appears to have humiliated and angered his opponents, especially John Montagu the 4th Earl of Sandwich. Less political events of the year: a level 5 tornado hit Woldegk in Germany on the 29th of June Immanuel Kant published Observations on the Feeling of the Beautiful and Sublime Horace Walpole published The Castle of Otranto , "a story, t...

Now that I've shared a few things about that first week , I thought I'd follow up with a few more reflections on that first year of teaching. I was quite disappointed and frustrated with how ill prepared I was after uni to step into a full time teaching position and face all that such a position entailed. You may imagine that I spent a lot of that year angry and in tears. For the most part, I managed to keep that outside of the classroom. Amongst all the papers from that year that were in Mum's garage, I found a card from two of my Year 7 girls. They clearly spent a lot of time making it themselves - cardboard, stickers, pencil erased beneath texta, pages with their individual letters to me, and some of the neatest handwriting I saw all that year. I will again remove the names, but here is what they wrote.

This cleaning out business is so hard! And one of the things which is making it hard is my own sentimentality. I don't like to throw things away if someone gave them to me (especially as a present), or if they have memories of times or places or people attached to them. Which is why I wish family and friends had given me tackier things. Because then it would be so much easier to throw them away!

I watched the first episode of a new baking series - not a cooking show, but a show just about baking. Which is a fascinating enough distinction to make for a television show, but it lines up almost entirely with my own attitude towards food. I love to bake , but I don't necessarily like to cook . And I want to try some of the things the contestants did on this show, The Great Australian Bake Off !

I have so rarely noticed a pageview statistic which has a whole number, but in the spirit of allowing completely random dates, I thought I'd see what happened in 1700. And it was a significant year! (Just look at the length of the Wikipedia article !) Everyone seems to have changed their calendar! Protestant Western Europe (except England) started using the Gregorian calendar, Russia started numbering the year from the birth of Christ instead of since creation (I would be curious to see how they determined the date of creation before that!), and the Swedes adopted their own calendar. International attempts to set a date for any meeting must have given people headaches! And that is not to mention the complicated information about whether or not people observed a leap year! The Cascadia earthquake occurred on the 26th of January, affecting 600 miles of the North American west coast, and creating an Orphan Tsunami which hit Japan. The 'Lesser Great Fire' destroyed a subs...

Going through some of the things in my Mum's garage, I found a couple of pages of reflections on my first week teaching. Before I throw them out, I thought I'd type them up and consider sharing them with you. I'm not sure why I never finished detailing the days of the week, or even Monday - there was plenty of paper left beneath what I had written (the following went just over two pages), but I suspect that I curled up and had a good cry at that point. If you are like me, and prone to crying over things you read, fetch a tissue now. Before you read the following, I would like to let you know a few things. I have typed it up as it was written, including incorrect spelling or words. The only things I have omitted are names.

While I am back for a few weeks, Mum has asked me (and my sisters) to work through all our stored items in her garage, as she would like to turn it into a playroom. She has even ordered a skip! Some things will also go to charitable organisations to be resold to people who may appreciate still useable items. Over the years I (and my sisters) have filled the garage with all the things we didn't need, but didn't want to get rid of...

There is a novel by Eric Flint and David Weber called 1633 (a sequel to a book called 1632 ) about a town from West Virginia transported through a vortex to Germany during the Thirty Years' War. Sounds delightfully unrealistic! But in the real world of actual history, what did happen in 1633? At least, according to such reliable sources as Wikipedia and HistoryOrb ... It was the year of Galileo's trail before the Inquisition, and that he was forced by the Roman Catholic Church to recant his heliocentric view of the solar system. A professorship in Arabic studies was founded at Cambridge University. A Ming Dynasty fleet beat the Dutch East India Company at the island of Quemoy. In Ethiopia the Emperor Fasilides expelled the Jesuit missionaries. Shogun Tougawa Iemitsu outlawed Christianity in Japan and began a policy of extreme isolationism. Events which appear to have happened in the general vicinity of what is now known as Germany: Samuel de Champlain reclai...

I have four wonderful weeks of holidays ahead of me! And I have so much planned for those weeks, and yet not many specific, scheduled plans yet. My plans involve getting stuck into a new craft, catching up with a lot of friends I haven't seen in a few months, and spending lots and lots of time with my family. I now have two nephews and one niece to play with, and I plan to spend a lot of time doing just that before I head off interstate again. I also have a stack of books I've been waiting to read!

So, the semester has finished! I feel like I have learned so much, and yet there is still so much more to learn! Hopefully I never stop learning, and I hope you won't either, so to facilitate the learning, let's see what happened in 1578... Edinburgh Castle was rebuilt (David's Tower had been destroyed during a seige of the castle by English forces attempting to capture Mary Queen of Scots). The British defeat the Spanish Armada, signalling the beginning of the decline of Spain and the rise of Britain as world powers. (See this quiz site .) Elizabeth I apparently gave Johan Casimir £20,000 to aid Dutch rebellion, who then occupied Ghent with 500 horsemen. Sir Humphrey Gilbert received a patent from England to explore and colonise North America. (See here .) Back to Wikipedia for a few final tidbits of information. Martin Frobisher and the rest of his expedition were apparently the first Europeans to celebrate Thanksgiving in North America, in Newfoundland. The Eng...

So much has been going on over the last few weeks, but considering this is the last week of the semester I thought I should post something about what I've been learning before I am distracted by all the wonderful things involved in a four week break!

I am pretty excited today about some things which may sound a bit odd, but that I thought I might share with those of you who are kind enough to read this blog. I have had page views from three new countries this week - two today! So if you have visited for the first time in the last few days, or have visited while in a different country, thank you! I enjoy seeing new countries coloured in on my audience statistics.

Oh, the anticipation has been exquisite! So, do you know what happened in 1492? Isabella of Castille and Ferdinand of Aragon (Spain) finally defeated the Moors, with the long war ended by the surrender of Granada. (This war is known as the Reconquista , and was endorsed by the popes as a crusade.) The Jews were ordered out of Spain (unless they converted to Christianity), so over 100,000 left for Portugal or the Ottoman Empire. And Columbus, financed by Isabella and Ferdinand of Spain, sailed for India and discovered the New World instead. ( See here .) Travelling to this site reveals some of the other events of the year: Jan 16th - The first grammar of a modern language, in the Spanish language, presented to Queen Isabella . Mar 4th - King James IV of Scotland concluded an alliance with France against England. Aug 11th - Rodrigo de Borja became Pope Alexander VI. (And yes, that means a Spanish pope.) Oct 2nd - King Henry VII of England invaded France. Oct 12th - Fle...

The weather has turned truly wintery here over the last week or so. Days seem to end in sudden darkness by 5:30pm, but are often so overcast that the outside lights automatically turn on before 4pm. It gets harder and harder to get out of bed in the morning, to get ready and make it to class on time - or at least not very late! Only two weeks of classes to go, and I think lecturers and students alike are ready for a change in pace. Unfortunately for them, the lecturers will need to mark all the assignments which we have to submit in the next two weeks before they get to relax. And then some of them will need to begin getting ready for next semester! But not all has been dark and dreary and difficult. With another birthday comes another opportunity to do some baking! And today we had a baby shower - another opportunity for sharing fun food! And tea!

I recently read an article, 'Halt! Who goes there?' by Mem Fox for the subject I'm doing on Literacy. Which has made me reflect on my writing and reading habits, and why I think other people might read. I always want to write (usually fiction) when I'm supposed to be working on an assignment or preparing for an exam or other form of test. This has been true since I was in Year 11 studying for the semester 1 English exam! Which, thanks to my awesome English teacher, actually had a creative writing section as part of the exam. There are few other times when I am as creative in developing characters and plots! Anyway, back to the article. Mem Fox brings up four things in this article (written as a dialogue): Relationships, Reality in Writing, Rejoicing in choices, and the Return of the affective. She uses anecdotes in presenting these to the other participant in the dialogue, who gives some feedback. I really enjoyed her writing style - I generally have loved her childre...

It's been a while since I posted anything, and today I'm busy with an assignment, but I wanted to briefly move on with my history post, so that I can reach my next cool goal! So, what happened in 1458? I'm resorting to Wikipedia again to try to keep this brief in writing time, but it is looking like a fairly busy year! Of popes and royals: Matthias I Corvinus became king of Hungary. George of Podebrady became king of Bohemia. Pope Pius II became the 210th pope! After the death of Pope Callixtus III. Of significant (or interesting) deaths: Alfonso V, king of Aragon (June 27). Succeeded by his brother, John II (Juan II - why are some names of foreign monarchs anglicised unnecessarily?) Lazar Brankovic, Despot of Serbia (February 20). (Interesting title!) Íñigo López de Mendoza, marqu és de Santillana, a Spanish poet (March 25). Arthur III, Duke of Brittany (December 26). Isabelle Rom ée, mother of Joan of Arc. She had succeeded in having her daughter...

One hundred and six years to go! Getting excited! But what was happening near the end of the fourteenth century? Apparently this was the year that the 'barbaric Lithuanians' finally caved in and accepted Christianity (a thousand years after it was first accepted in Europe). I want to read the book, The Conversion of Europe (if I haven't already during the year I studied European history at university). And now, having spent at least the last half hour looking at that book on Amazon, I'll resort to Wikipedia for the rest of the information I share with you! Royal drama this time! Elizabeth Kotromanic, mother of the overthrown Queen Mary of Hungary and Croatia, arranged the assasination of the ruler of Hungary, Naples, Achaea and Croatia! Mary regains her rule over Hungary and Croatia, the son of the assassinated man becomes the King of Naples, but Achaea, though sought by many pretenders, apparently had no ruler for the next ten years! The kings of Portugal an...

What happened near the end of the thirteenth century? Resorting to Wikipedia again to make this a quick post! And it's a papal year!  Celestine V became pope, much to his own surprise apparently, after two years without a pope. ( Nicholas IV had died in 1292!) He issued an edict to the effect that a pope was allowed to abdicate, and then he did so on December 13, having worked without much effect as pope for only five months. He was succeeded by Boniface VIII, who became pope on Christmas Eve (seems to be a popular date for becoming pope!), and who worried that his predecessor might be set up as antipope, so he had him arrested and imprisoned! (Is this the pope everyone was referring to when Benedict XVI resigned earlier this year? Apparently not - Gregory XII resigned in 1415, but Celestine was the last one to resign voluntarily before Benedict XVI. ) Other international events: Kublai Khan died February 18. Mściwój II of Pomerania died December 25. I have no idea where ...

I noticed today that in the audience statistics there were four countries whose names started with the letter 'U'. Can you name four countries that start with the letter 'U'? Did you know that there are more than you might think, because we often use an abbreviation of the full name of a country when referring to that country? For example, did you know that Mexico actually starts with a 'U' (in its English form)? That the USA has as one of its neighbours the USM? The United States of Mexico? (By the way, Mexico was not one of the four countries! Although, I'd love to have someone in Mexico read my blog, and maybe even leave a nice comment in Spanish!) I believe that the letter 'U' is under-utilised. Too often it is neglected unless someone is deliberately using their creativity to uncover opportunities to urge it into prominence! If you are one of the wonderful people reading this blog from a country beginning with the letter 'U', I wou...

I had the brilliant opportunity to fly home for the weekend, so I did! And I loved every minute of it (except for travelling to airports at unreasonable dark hours of the morning).

Last night I once again tried to bake scones. I have tried to bake scones many times since I first moved out of home, and they have been pathetic failures every time. Until now. I'm not sure if it was the recipe or the fact that I know some of the things I did wrong the last few times, but they finally worked out to be not only edible, but delicious.

As many of you know, I am a little bit obsessed with Spain and all things Spanish. This weekend I spent many hours wading through a sociolinguistic journal article about the dictionary of Mexican Spanish. Written in Spanish. I haven't read much in Spanish for a few years now. Reading in Spanish is hard! But fascinating. And at least it is for an essay I'm writing. But it made me reflect once more on why I like languages, why I like learning languages, and why I hope to learn and use a few more yet in my lifetime. So I thought I'd share some of these thoughts with you all.

Will I ever be able to find anything helpful somewhere other than that bane of my existence?! I am determined not to refer to that website this time. And so, this is likely to be an extremely short post! History Orb lists two historical events: Pope Innocent IV issued "the papal bull ad exstirpanda, which authorizes, but also limits, the torture of heretics in the Medieval Inquisition." I'm not sure what 'ad exstirpanda' means... Apparently it is spelled incorrectly and should read 'extirpanda'. Thankfully I'm not resorting to that other site, hey? ( This may be a copy of a translation into English.) But over on the Iberian Peninsula (ie. Spain ) King Alfonso X "el Sabio" of Castile/Leon was crowned. In other news, gold came back into style! Apparently there had been a significant absence of gold coinage in Europe since it had gone out of fashion in the seventh century! European currency had, in the meantime, been based on silver . G...

I have tried a few new teas recently, but with working on assignments and readings I didn't have much time to write about them. But there are also a few other things I have found which I would like to share with you all.

It's been a while since I've posted anything, but I drafted this a few days ago and found the entry interesting. Primarily because Wikipedia ordered this year according to events by geographical region! So here we go on a trip around the world in the year 1205AD! In Africa, Almohad domination is established over the eastern parts of Ifriqiya and enters Tripoli. In Asia, Theodore I Laskaris is proclaimed the Byzantine Emperor after defeating his two rivals and their attempted invasions into his domains, founding the Empire of Nicaea. Interestingly, Alexios V Doukas the emperor of Byzantine was executed in December... In Europe, Philip of Swabia becomes King of the Romans; the Bulgarians defeat the Latins at the Battle of Adrianople; Anjou is conquered bu Philip II of France; John of England requires every male over the age of 12 to enter an association "for the general defence of the realm and the preservation of peace" based on his fear of French invasion - fai...

It's been a while... but here is another history lesson. What has been recorded in the inestimable annals of Wikipedia for the year 1163AD ?  The Law of Succession is introduced in Norway in the middle of their civil war. Nothing like a war to help straighten out legal concerns - or to have laws introduced so that particular claimants are rendered illegal or illegitimate. This is likely to come up again in another war over succession soon...  Over to the affairs of the Church. The Albigensians are named and condemned as heretics at the Council of Tours under Pope Alexander III, who seems to take advantage of being in France to set the first stone of Paris's Notre Dame Cathedral. Further east, Loccum Abbey is founded in Hanover as a Cistercian house. Beyond Europe, the Egyptian empire is resurrected for 10 days! That is all that Wikipedia says about it, but what an astonishing claim! My initial assumption was that this meant the ancient Egyptian empire, which would have ...

I am trying to think long term in my present requests, things which may be useful for years, things which may be easy to transport, and yet will add richness to my life rather than being boring or a burden. With this in mind, I'm pretty pleased with this year's birthday present. You may wonder why I am writing about it now, instead of six weeks ago when I first got it, but as with some things the initial excitement needs to develop into familiarity before it can properly be valued by myself and others.

And we are back to papal shenanigans! And another coronation on Christmas Day! After the death of Pope Honorius II on February 13 the 164th pope named on February 14 is Pope Innocent II. Thought this name sounded familiar, but the date is too early - it is Innocent III who was involved in some fascinating dramas in another hundred years or so. We'll see if he comes into these posts later! Back to the current papal drama: objections over the election of Innocent II sees the rise of an antipope, Anacletus II, who has enough powerful support that Innocent II flees to France. Anacletus names his main supporter Roger II King of Sicily, who is crowned on Christmas Day. Royal drama in Norway this year too. With the death of Sigurd the Crusader both his illegitimate son Magnus the Blind and his illegitimate brother Harald Gille claimed the throne. Joint kingship didn't last long before civil war started - the beginning of more than a hundred years of upheaval and rival claimants. ...

The sky is clear blue, and through the window I can see the green grass and bright afternoon sunshine and a splash of autumn yellow on one or two of the trees. Yesterday it rained most of the day, so everything seems a bit cleaner and clearer. There is not a breath of breeze to disturb the scene. But today has been a Taylor Swift day.

Having built this date up in previous posts, I'm wondering if you know why? And so I'll postpone mentioning what I consider the key event of the year until the end! No papal dramas this year! The drama seems to have been all blood related... Even for the church, with Bishop Johannes Scotus sacrificed to Radegast, one of the gods of the Slavic pantheon, claimed to have been the god of hospitality. Doesn't seem very hospitable to sacrifice a man, personally, but I don't know anything about Slavic mythology! Mind you, it was in the midst of a pagan rebellion against Christianity by the Wends. Across to China, and Sima Guang finished a large dictionary. Well done! The trading settlement of Hedeby was destroyed by the Slavic army and permanently abandoned. (See here for a map and more information about this unusually named site.) The sky demonstrated an astronomical feature this year, with Halley's Comet reaching perihelion, recorded in a tapestry! But back to ...