"All this he saw, for one moment breathless and intense, vivid on the morning sky; and still, as he looked, he lived; and still, as he lived, he wondered."
You are probably familiar with Rien Poortvliet's Gnomes. And, if you're not, there's a big chance you're thinking of his gnomes when the concept pops into your mind. He published his monographic work about them in 1977 and it's without any doubt his most recognized...
You are familiar, no doubt, with the awkwardly sweet pieces of fiction that are his Father Christmas Letters. They were handwritten and illustrated between 1920 and 1943, and told the many adventures of Father Christmas in the North Pole, alongside his trusted assistant the Polar...
Of all 23 delightful tales written and illustrated by Beatrix Potter in her life, The Tailor of Gloucester is one of my favourites and it takes place around Christmas. It was finished by Christmas 1901, to be given as a Christmas present to the daughter...
A.A. Milne, the author of Winnie the Pooh, wrote different sets of poems, most notably When We Were Very Young (1924) and Now We Are Six (1927). Within Now We Are Six, the second poem is silly poetry about Christmas and we're all very fond of...
I don't think I ever mentioned properly how much I love Jill Barklem's Brambly Hedge, so I think I'll start this round of winter tales, while we wait for Christmas, with her and her Winter Story. There are four "seasonal" books in the series, Winter Story...
Last time I left you with the Ugly Duchess, and her ugly unsettling pig-baby. Ugh. But the Duchess also has a cat, and he's probably one of the most famous, beloved characters in the whole book: the grinning Cheshire Cat. Cheshire is, as you might know,...
Porcia, born on 70 b.C., was the daughter of Cato the Younger, a stoic roman senator of the late republic, and the wife of Marcus Junius Brutus, the infamous assassin of Julius Caesar. Brutus married her after divorcing Claudia, the daughter of his long-time ally Appius...
I’m back from Billund, where I have attended the 2021 International LEGO Serious Play Conference, and I already published some of my notes in almost real-time, but I have more material and I’ll be publishing it, after some due polishing, between today and tomorrow. The first...
Mariamne the Hasmonean Mariamne l'Hasmonéenne Mariamne I was a Hasmonean Princess, known for her extraordinary beauty just like her brother, Aristobulus III of Judea. She was the second wife of Herod the Great, a marriage arranged by her mother Alexandra in 41 b.C. They were married in Samaria...
Francesco Furini (born around 1600, died on August 19th, 1646) was a painter active in Florence during the Baroque period. He was brother to Alessandra, another renowned painter, and Angelica, a singer in the court of Cosimo II de' Medici. With his sensual, dark style, he...
