This royal throne of kings, this sceptred isle, This earth of majesty, this seat of Mars, This other Eden, demi-paradise, This fortress built by Nature for herself Against infection and the hand of war, This happy breed of men, this little world, This precious stone set in the silver sea, Which serves it in the office of a wall Or as a moat defensive to a house, Against the envy of less happier lands,-- This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England. ~~William Shakespeare, Richard III



Tuesday, August 18, 2009

This Day in History...

August 18, 1587 - An expedition led by Sir Walter Raleigh landed at what is now Roanoke Island, North Carolina. The Roanoke Colony became famous for "disappearing." One of the leaders, John White, left the colony to return to England to get much needed supplies. He expected to return within three months. Instead he ended up trapped in England because of the impending invasion by the Spanish Armada and all ships were confiscated for military use. He was not able to return to Roanoke until 1590. When he finally got there, all the colonists had disappeared and the only thing he found were the letters "CRO" carved into a tree and the word "CROATOAN" carved into a fence post. Before he could explore further a hurricane arose, damaging his ships and forcing him back to England. He was never able to raise enough money to return to America. He died many years later never knowing what had become of his family.

The 117 Roanoke Colonists simply vanished into the wilderness.

Monday, August 17, 2009

New Giveaway!

Another great book give away on one of the blogs I follow.

Passages to the Past is giving away a copy of "The Greatest Knight."

http://passagestothepast.blogspot.com/2009/08/greatest-knight-giveaway.html

Everything I Need to Know About Life I Learned...from Star Wars

Found this some where a while back and always loved it. I think there was a poster with Yoda on it with these listed.


It really isn't necessary to be fluent in over six million forms of communication.

Before kissing ANYBODY, make sure they're not related to you.

You may have family members in surprisingly high positions.

Before you kill someone make sure they aren't your father.

Cute cuddly widdle teddy bears usually will eat you alive unless you can prove you are a god.

Never stand on a trap door leading to a Rancor pit.

Never, never, never underestimate the power of the Dark Side.

There are those who are less forgiving than Vader.

Always let the Wookiee win.

The probability of successfully navigating an asteroid field is approximately 3,720 to 1.

Wars not make one great.

Never tell someone the odds.

Always accept apologies.

Try not. Do or do not. There is no try.

Don't get cocky.

Don't try to make friends via the Death Star com-link.

Mind what you have learned, save you it can.

Don't jump down garbage chutes.

Cold weather can cause one to hallucinate.

Don't use technology you don't understand.

Never underestimate the powers of a Jedi.

Grasping at your throat will not stop the choking.

Certain things smell worse on the inside.

There is no such thing as luck.

Stormtroopers are bad shots.

Traveling through hyperspace isn't like dusting crops.

Never use targeting computers.

Don't make old people angry, they might just electrocute you.

The British accent has spread to a galaxy far far away.

Good guys don't always wear white and bad guys don't always wear black. Just to keep life interesting.

Belief and faith are far more powerful than any technology man can devise.

Never declare that there is "Nothing to stop you this time."

THIS one goes here, THAT one goes there.

You will find many of the truths we cling to depend greatly on our own point of view.

No matter how deeply one falls into darkness, there is always hope for redemption.

Don’t be overconfident.

Never judge a "piece of junk" from the outside. More often than not, "She's got it where it counts."

Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.

Your eyes can deceive you, don't trust them.

Beware of judging someone else's beliefs as just a "hokey religion." You may end up eating those words.

Never cast your lightsaber away, you might need it.

It is pointless to argue with family members.

Watch your hands when sword fighting.

Walk in single file to hide your numbers.

Never allow yourself to become as clumsy as you are stupid.

Sometimes it's better to fly into an asteroid field.

When you protest about the terms of an agreement, the terms might be altered further.

Size matters not.

You'll always have a bad feeling about something.

If all else fails, angle the deflector shields.

Watch out for those trees.

People who are "more machine now than man, twisted and evil" set a pretty sparse table.

If somebody cuts your hand off, don't trust him to betray his boss for you.

Let go of your conscious self and act on instinct.

You can't escape your destiny.

When you say that you are "ready for anything," actually be ready for anything.

Don't give into your anger.

Beware of tremors in the Force.

If you do not believe, that is why you fail.

Everything has a weakness, it's just a matter of exploiting it: Emperor - overconfident; Luke - friends; Death Star - thermal exhaust port; Stormtroppers - Ewoks; Star Destoyers - bridge deflector shields; Darth Vader - compassion for his kids; Leia - smugglers; Chewie - dead animals hanging from trees; C3P0 - frail body

If you’re not afraid, you will be. You will be.

Stay on target.

Your insight serves you well.

Remember, your strength flows from the Force.

Once you start down the Dark Path, forever will it dominate your destiny.

You must do what you feel is right.

Patience... you must have patience.

Let go of your feelings.

You should always listen to a Jedi Master when they tell you something; they probably know what they are talking about.

Pass on what you have learned.

Only Sith Deal in absolutes.

It is unwise to lower your defenses.

The Force Will Be With You Always.


THE sexiest Jedi EVER!

This Day in History...

August 17, 1483 - The date presumed that two young princes, the uncrowned Edward V and his brother Richard, Duke of York, were killed in the Tower of London.

Young Edward became King upon the death of their father, Edward IV. He was brought to London and lodged in the Tower to await his coronation. However, it was brought to light that he and his siblings were all illegitimate because their father had been contracted to marry Eleanor Butler when he met and married Elizabeth Woodville. Their uncle, Richard of Gloucester, later Richard III, has been widely blamed for their deaths but what actually happened remains controversial. The three top suspects to this day are Richard III; Henry Stafford, 2nd Duke of Buckingham, and Henry Tudor (Henry VII).

The bones of two young children were discovered during renovations to the Tower in 1674. Believing they could be the bodies of the lost princes, Charles II ordered them placed in an urn and interred in Westminster Abbey. In 1933 the bones were taken out and examined but they were only able to conclude that it was two children and they were probably related. Westminster Abbey has refused to allow a second examination.

Sunday, August 16, 2009

This Day in History...

August 16, 1513 - King Henry VIII of England and his troops defeated the French in the Battle of the Spurs, at Guinigatte, NW France.



August 16, 1896 - Gold is discovered near the Klondike River in the Yukon Territory of Canada, sparking the last great gold rush. Over the next 2 years as many as 50,000 would-be miners arrived in the area. One of the unsuccessful gold-seekers was 21 year old Jack London, whose experience in the Yukon Territory became the basis for his novels. Large-scale gold mining in the Yukon Territory didn't end until 1966, and by that time the region had yielded some $250 million in gold. Today, some 200 small gold mines still operate in the region. Large-scale gold mining in the Yukon Territory didn't end until 1966, and by that time the region had yielded some $250 million in gold. Today, some 200 small gold mines still operate in the region.

Saturday, August 15, 2009

This Day in History...

August 15, 1945 - The Japanese emperor speaks for the first time on radio, telling the Japanese people that the nation has indeed surrendered, offically ending WWII. Although the Japanese had already told the Allies that they agreed to the surrender terms in the Potsdam Conference, the Japanese people refused to believe that they had surrendered until they heard it from the Emperor himself.

August 15, 1969 - Woodstock opens in Bethel, New York.

Friday, August 14, 2009

This Day in History...

August 14, 1040 - King Duncan of Scotland (Donnchad mac Crínáin is the Gaelic version of his name) was murdered by Macbeth (Mac Bethad mac Findláich), who then became king and ruled for 17 years. This murder was the basis for Shakespeare's tragedy Macbeth. Unlike the Duncan of Shakespeare's play, the historical Duncan was most likely a young man. Macbeth is recorded as his dux, literally duke, but in the context this suggests that Macbeth was the power behind the throne. In 1040 he led an army north into Moray, generally seen as Macbeth's domain. He was killed there near Pitgaveny.

Thursday, August 13, 2009

I love the smell of...

1. Honeysuckle

2. Fresh baked bread

3. My parents' house right before the Thanksgiving meal

4. Fraiser fur Christmas trees

5. Fresh cut grass

6. A summer BBQ

7. A mountain stream

8. Camp fire

9. Magnolias

10. Fresh laundry

11. That smell right before it rains

12. Orange and cloves

13. Fresh vanilla

14. Sugar cookies

15. Pumpkin spice

16. Fall

17. That wonderful, fresh smell up in the mountains

18. Popcorn

19. The top of a little baby's head

20. Lavander

This Day in History...


August 13, 1961 - Shortly after midnight the East German government closes the border with West Berlin and soliders begin building a dividing wall of barbed wire and bricks. The wire was soon replaced by a six-foot-high, 96-mile-long wall of concrete blocks, complete with guard towers, machine gun posts and search lights. Many Berliners woke in the morning cut off from family and friends on the other side of the wall. The height of the Wall was raised to 10 feet in 1970 in an effort to stop escape attempts, which at that time came almost daily. From 1961 to 1989, a total of 5,000 East Germans escaped; many more tried and failed. High profile shootings of some would-be defectors only intensified the Western world's hatred of the Wall.

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

This Day in History...

Another pretty slow day in history apparently.


August 12, 1990 - Fossil hunter Susan Hendrickson discovers three huge bones jutting out of a cliff near Faith, South Dakota. They turn out to be part of the largest-ever Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton ever discovered, a 65 million-year-old specimen dubbed Sue, after its discoverer.

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

This Day in History...

August 11, 1587 - Walter Raleigh's second expedition to the New World landed in North Carolina.

August 11, 1934 - A group of federal prisoners classified as "most dangerous"
arrives at Alcatraz Island, a 22-acre rocky outcrop situated 1.5 miles offshore in San Francisco Bay. The convicts--the first civilian prisoners to be housed in the new high-security penitentiary--joined a few dozen military prisoners left over from the island's days as a U.S. military prison.

Monday, August 10, 2009

This Day in History...


August 10, 1675 - King Charles II laid the foundation stone of the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, London. The observatory was built to provide English navigators with accurate tables of the positions of the moon and stars.

August 10, 1945 - A day after the bombing of Nagasaki, Japan submits its acquiescence to the Potsdam Conference terms of unconditional surrender, as President Harry S. Truman orders a halt to atomic bombing.

Sunday, August 9, 2009

This Day in History...

August 9, 1945 - A second atom bomb is dropped on Japan by the United States, at Nagasaki, resulting finally in Japan's unconditional surrender. The devastation wrought at Hiroshima was not sufficient to convince the Japanese War Council to accept the Potsdam Conference's demand for unconditional surrender. The United States had already planned to drop their second atom bomb, nicknamed "Fat Man," on August 11 in the event of such recalcitrance, but bad weather expected for that day pushed the date up to August 9th. So at 1:56 a.m., a specially adapted B-29 bomber, called "Bock's Car" took off from Tinian Island. The bomb was dropped at 11:02 a.m., 1,650 feet above the city. The explosion unleashed the equivalent force of 22,000 tons of TNT. The hills that surrounded the city did a better job of containing the destructive force, but the number killed is estimated at anywhere between 60,000 and 80,000 (exact figures are impossible, the blast having obliterated bodies and disintegrated records).

Saturday, August 8, 2009

This Day in History...


August 8, 1296 - The Stone of Scone, on which Scottish kings had been crowned for centuries, was seized by King Edward I of England and moved to London. In 1306 at Westminster Abbey he had a special throne, the Coronation Chair, built so that the stone fitted underneath it. This was to be a symbol that the Kings of England were also being crowned King of Scotland. It remained a part of the British Coronation Chair until 1996, when the British government finally sent it back to Scotland. The next British monarch to be crowned will be the first one since the 1300s to be crowned without the Stone in the Chair beneath them.

Friday, August 7, 2009

Things that Irritate the Heck Out of Me...

It was a scorcher today in Georgia and the heat always makes it easy to get irritated. Went through a list of things that irritate me as I was driving home, listening to Sean Hannity.

1. Cling Wrap that will cling to itself wonderfully...until you try to actually cover something with it. It then has the clinging properties of a piece of notebook paper.

2. Folks who wait until you are RIGHT AT THEM to pull out in front of you when there are 25miles of empty road behind you...and then go 20 miles under the speed limit.

3. A President who tells me to shut up because I dare to disagree with him.

4. Folks who let their dog poop in your front yard and don't clean it up. I think I'll take my son over and let him poop in their yard just to return the favor.

5. Parents who can't read (or won't read which ever the case may be) the signs that say this play area is for 3 year olds and younger...and let their 10 year olds romp around with the little toddlers that can hardly walk.

6. Nuts in my bread.

7. When the mailman (or lady) is too lazy to bring the oversized envelope to the front door and somehow manages to shove a 12x12 padded envelope into a little bitty mailbox. I don't know about you...but I love my scrapbook paper to be bent in half.

8. Neighbors who turn their music up so loud it shakes my mirrors at about 8:30 at night...right after my son goes to bed.

9. Democrats who call me a Nazi and a Mobster because I have the gall to speak up and let them know I disagree.

10. People who think that just because I'm a stay at home mom that I'm stupid...maybe I should tatoo my BACHELOR'S DEGREE onto my butt and see if that helps any.

11. Folks that think I'm stupid because I'm from GEORGIA. Again...maybe I'll tatoo that college degree on my forehead, too.

12. News media that always manage to find the most uneducated sounding person around to put on the evening news to talk about what the tornado sounded like.

13. Being ignored at the food line when I'm waiting to give my order....

14. Parents who seem to think the mall is one big day care and that all the workers in all the stores in the mall are paid to keep an eye on their children.

15. Drivers who speed through the yellow light even though the road is blocked ahead of them, thus blocking an entire intersection because they were so impatient. Yeah....they're really making headway sitting in the middle of Hwy 20.

16. Political "correctness." Gimme a break...

17. Everyone being so afraid they may offend someone so store workers can't even say "Merry Christmas" around the holidays. I make it a POINT to say "Merry Christmas" when they try to throw that "Happy Holidays" crap at me.

18. Press 1 for English. Umm...I live in America. Sorry but that's the way I feel. I'd have to learn another language if I moved to another country.

There's more...but I don't want to "OFFEND" more folks than necessary today. Probably already reached my quota for the afternoon.

This Day in History...


August 7, 1782 - General George Washington, the commander in chief of the Continental Army, creates the "Badge for Military Merit," a decoration consisting of a purple, heart-shaped piece of silk, edged with a narrow binding of silver, with the word Merit stitched across the face in silver. The badge was to be presented to soldiers for "any singularly meritorious action" and permitted its wearer to pass guards and sentinels without challenge. The honoree's name and regiment were also to be inscribed in a "Book of Merit."

The "Book of Merit" was lost, and the decoration was largely forgotten until 1927, when General Charles P. Summerall, the U.S. Army chief of staff, sent an unsuccessful draft bill to Congress to "revive the Badge of Military Merit." In 1931, Summerall's successor, General Douglas MacArthur, took up the cause, hoping to reinstate the medal in time for the bicentennial of George Washington's birth. On February 22, 1932, Washington's 200th birthday, the U.S. War Department announced the creation of the "Order of the Purple Heart."

In addition to aspects of Washington's original design, the new Purple Heart also displays a bust of Washington and his coat of arms. The Order of the Purple Heart, the oldest American military decoration for military merit, is awarded to members of the U.S. armed forces who have been killed or wounded in action against an enemy. It is also awarded to soldiers who have suffered maltreatment as prisoners of war.

Thursday, August 6, 2009

This Day in History...

August 6, 1623 - Anne Hathaway, William Shakespeare's wife, died in Stratford-upon-Avon.

August 6, 1945 - An atom bomb is dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima by the US bomber 'Enola Gay'.

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Book Giveaway!

While I'm thinking about it, here is a giveaway from Passages to the Past. She is giving away a copy of Anne Easter Smith's The King's Grace which is the third book in her War of the Roses trilogy. Go and check it out! :)

Book Giveaway!

Wonderful Giveaway!!

There is a wonderful Anne Boleyn giveaway over at All Things Royal. Here is the link! Go check it out! She is offering a wonderful gift!

Anne Boleyn Giveaway!

This Day in History...


August 5, 1305 - Scottish rebel William Wallace, who beat Edward I at Stirling Bridge, is captured by the English and taken to London for execution.

For those of you not quite sure who I'm talking about...does Mel Gibson in a kilt ring any bells?