Teaser Tuesday: Eats, Shoots & Leaves

Like a coconut cake in a rotating cake stand, the Wheel of Time has turned to Teaser Tuesday. Continue reading “Teaser Tuesday: Eats, Shoots & Leaves”

Teaser Tuesday: You’re Never Weird on the Internet (Almost)

Like the whirling Maelstrom of myth and legend, the Wheel of Time has turned to Teaser Tuesday. Continue reading “Teaser Tuesday: You’re Never Weird on the Internet (Almost)”

Teaser Tuesday: Anna Karenina

Like a child riding a carousel reaching for the coveted brass ring, the Wheel of Time has spun ’round to Teaser Tuesday. Continue reading “Teaser Tuesday: Anna Karenina”

In This Sign

Thanks to Vanessa of Petal & Mortar for dropping a note in the prompt box!

Distressed Templar Cross
Photo Credit: John Patrick Victor Jokinen (Dec. 27, 2012)

IN HOC SIGNO VINCES

So said God to Constantine

So said the Pope to the Masters

So said the Masters to us

In this sign, conquer

Under this sign, defeat the Infidel

Under this sign, conquer the Holy Land for Christendom

Ascalon

Montgisard

Acre

Arsuf

NON NOBIS DOMINE, NON NOBIS, SED NOMINI TUO DA GLORAIM

In this sign, christen

Christened the Templars, for the Temple gave us

the Ark of the Covenant

the Black Books of Wisdom

the Head of John the Baptist

the Holy Grail

the Seed of Christ

the Secrets of geometry

the Treasures of Old Jerusalem

the Power

In this sign, command and control

Command princes and priests and popes and potentates and powers

Control the fighting and fields and finance and future of Europe

A Templar Knight is truly a fearless knight, and secure on every side, for his soul is protected by the armour of faith, just as his body is protected by the armour of steel. He is thus doubly armed, and need fear neither demons nor men.

Bernard de Clairvaux, c. 1135

De Laude Novae Militae [In Praise of the New Knighthood]

In this sign, capitulate

Capitulate to the conspiracy and conniving of kings

Capitulate to the threat and terror of torture

God is not pleased. We have enemies of the faith in the kingdom.

King Philip IV of France

In this sign, continue

God knows who is wrong and has sinned.
Soon a calamity will occur to those who have condemned us to death.

Grand Master Jacques de Molay

Continue in legend and myth and lore and secret societies

Continue until the time is right once more

Templar Knight in Battle Dress angelfire7508

IN HOC SIGNO VINCES

 


 

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Drop a note in the prompt box!

 

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Teaser Tuesday: 1916: The Easter Rising (3.0)

Yesterday I cut down the brush encroaching my house.

Last night a piece aluminum siding broke free, blowing in the wind.

This morning I fixed it, and

I had actual, honest-to-goodness wired internet installed.

That’s right:

No more relying on my phone as a hot spot.

No more mooching off my in-laws to download/upload large files.

But let’s be honest, I’ll still spend quite a bit of time there.

Family

Good Food

On the Water

No more using the work WiFi to blog.

Unless I want to, of course.

Disclaimer: I didn’t use it during work hours;

I come in early and stay late.

They don’t mind.

And so, thanks to the packet-switching that drives the internet, SuddenLink Communications, and the wheel of time, it is my pleasure to bring you my first post via my own cabled internet:

Teaser TuesdayJust in case you don’t know, Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by A Daily Rhythm. Anyone can play along! All you have to do is grab the book you’re currently reading, open to a random page and share two sentences from that page. But make sure you don’t share any spoilers!*

*I wish I could take credit for this introduction, but I shamelessly stole it from Heather over at bitsnbooks. To help me make amends, you should go check out her blog.


This week I’m reading 1916: The Easter Rising by Tim Pat Coogan.

Actually, this marks the third time I’ve tried to read it. This should not be a reflection on Mr. Coogan, time and life simply stalled out the other attempts. Thus far, it’s quite readable and enjoyable.

I used the Truly Random Number Generator to pick the page number; it chose page 35.

I must admit, it isn’t the most riveting of passages, but that’s what you get when you leave things to fate/chance.

The British system was based on:

 (a) The grasp of human weakness and vanity.

 (b) A correct appreciation of the value and use 
       of duplicity and Pecksniffianism.

 (c) A clear conception of the truth that success in 
       governing depends on well-contrived 
       antagonisms in the economic and social 
       structure of the state. 

1916 The Easter Rising Tim Pat Coogan Cover

In Retrospect

I finished two books since the last Teaser Tuesday:

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy by John le Carré socred 4/5 stars. It was a fairly decent mystery story, but the pace may be a little slow for those accustomed to modern thrillers. After reading, I also understand why people complained the movie was incredibly slow [I haven’t seen it; I wonder if it’s on Netflix?]. However, I loved the story for the story’s sake – even if I did figure out whodunnit about a quarter of the way through – and am thankful my library has more of le Carré’s works.

A Pocket Full of Rye by Agatha Christie scored 2/5 stars. I found the plot slightly less than intriguing, the characters flat, and the resolution bordering on Deus ex machina. I also new whodunnit by the time Miss Marple made her appearance – it wasn’t that hard to figure it out. On the plus side, my edition didn’t yet exist on Goodreads, so I got to add it to the list!

What have you been reading?


 

Don’t forget to follow me on:

 

Facebook – where I share news stories, articles from other blogs, and various and sundry miscellany that happens to catch my eye. It’s stuff you won’t see here! Well, mostly.

 

Instagram – where I show you my Life in Motion and share quotes and such. The widget only shows my last three photographs – don’t you want to see them all?

 

Twitter – where you can see my thoughts in 140 characters or less. Also, funny retweets.

The Worst Day of My Life

Meredith Broadside


via www.hmscavalier.org.uk
via http://www.hmscavalier.org.uk

My adopted grandfather, Mr. Tom (USN 1938-1957), remembers D-Day:

Mr Tom Enters the Navy 1938I was assigned to the Meredith*, an American destroyer out of Plymouth England. She was new – so new parts were still wet with paint. As at Pearl, my duty was the engine room. The Meredith wasn’t transport, she was a destroyer; we shelled the shore to soften it up for the landing. We stayed there in the [English] Channel for the entire day and the next, that’d make it June 7 when we were ordered to change position. I don’t recall where we were going; regardless, we struck a mine. That brand-new ship struck a mine and threatened to break in half. We ended up abandoning ship and I spent the night in the English Channel tied to my buddies so we wouldn’t drift. There was fuel all over, some of it ignited. One of my buddies [name redacted] was burned so badly he knew he was dying. He gave me some effects to pass on to his girl and some of the others started accusing me of robbing the dead. What was I supposed to do? What was I supposed to say? Well, we were picked up in the morning and I was shipped on to Scotland for recovery before being sent back to the States for a spell. I really can’t describe it. D-day was the worst day of my life. Worse than Pearl. Worse than the day my wife died. It was the absolute worst day of my life.


*You can read the official Commander’s Narrative here.


 

Don’t forget to follow me on:

 

Facebook – where I share news stories, articles from other blogs, and various and sundry miscellany that happens to catch my eye. It’s stuff you won’t see here! Well, mostly.

 

Instagram – where I show you my Life in Motion and share quotes and such. The widget only shows my last three photographs – don’t you want to see them all?

 

Twitter – where you can see my thoughts in 140 characters or less. Also, funny retweets.

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