Dear Gentle Reader,You're back!I wasn't sure you'd return.Care for some wine?A taste of the goodness in Borgia's cup, perhaps?No, today there will be no drinking. We don't want to gag.Only solid(ish) food, today. And a tale from the field.Monday's image was a close-up section of today's image ..
Dear Gentle Reader,After Friday, I kept thinking about poison. And food.I thought about strychnine, for example.Strychnine brought me back to Dr. Thomas Neil Cream (1850-1892), the Lambeth Poisoner, who gave strychnine to young woman, from the USA to England, who aroused him.When young ladies ..
Dear Gentle Reader,Your humble scribe has mentioned, in passing, the British, in India, before.And we have glossed over the quinine they took, as tonic water, combined with that Dutch poison, gin.The British dosed their bitter medicine (quinine dissolved in carbonated water--tonic water) with ..
Dear Gentle Reader,It is 3WW.This week the words are grave, lithe, and offend.As usual, I present three haiku, each with an American Sentence title.For those who don't know, the English haiku has stricter structural requirements than the original Japanese haiku format.A Japanese haiku requires ..
Dear Gentle Reader,The other day your humble scribe looked up, and out, the window and, amidst a low-hanging fog, saw a mysterious boat cruising into Hong Kong harbour...And this image shows, possibly, ten percent of the flotilla. This fleet was in the harbour to celebrate the opening of the ..