I am on a coach with other students from Oxford traveling on a four-day field excursion along the so-called Roman Road into Wales. The trip is focused on environmental studies, but we will also be exploring medieval ruins and the Arthurian Tradition. My mind wanders from the open book on my lap about the history of King Arthur to the window and the scenery that rolls past the English countryside. In my imagination, the coach becomes my stead and I am sitting behind the most handsome man wearing shining armor. Although I am dressed in an Oxford sweat shirt, denims and ‘new age’ tennis shoe sandals, my Knight is oblivious to my dress. Farmland and sheep disappear from the picture and we gallop along the ridges of the hills that border a valley where the landscape forges into a flat stony path. . . . read more at All Things Girl
Lost In Shakespeare
by Bev Hamel
It was a mid summer’s eve and I was in Shakespeare’s land, living my dream studying abroad. The day had started innocently enough as did all my days in England. The coach arrived at Stratford-upon-Avon before noon and I had plenty of time to explore this beautiful and historic part of Great Britain. I took off, alone (more or less), wandered the narrow streets, alleys that led nowhere, and peeked into places that perhaps I shouldn’t have.
I was scheduled to meet my peers from Oxford and enjoy an evening performance by the Royal Shakespearean Company of The Comedy of Errors. I had a leisurely day visiting tiny shops then walking along the River Avon, getting to know Shakespeare’s country, intimately. A little too intimately.
This time, I referred to the obscure little booklet that I had found in my favorite used book store at Oxford and carefully mapped out my route. The pages were tattered, handwritten with clever little drawings besides historic sights. Pathways spun webs along modern day structures mingling between vast fields, brooks, ponds and ancient buildings of amazing character. I was lost in another time that reeked of gentleman and women who spoke in musical lyrics. Through the lens of my eyes, this was a medieval landscape, different to Arthur’s, but still alive and teeming with echoes of the past. . . Read more at All Things Girl
Wine Stains
by Bev Hamel Hippocrates is a man after a woman’s heart. He recommended red wine as a diuretic, to purge fever, disinfect wounds, and as a great source for vitamins.
Subsequently I drink a glass of Merlot before I go to bed. I love the wine’s deep burgundy color, though I need to be careful where I sip because I have beige carpet running throughout my house. Wine stains are a bitch to clean-up, which is why I use burgundy throw rugs as an accent color. I am also very careful not to place the glass next to my computer. Particularly the week before I go to Goddard. A glass of Merlot can be really expensive. The last time I did this, one of my three cats knocked the glass over. I thought my computer had a virus. Hippocrates was wrong on purging a computer fever. The Geek Squad came to my rescue.
“There’s the culprit,” my personal Geek said after he had dismantled the machine and pointed to the red stains and still wet puddles. He sniffed, and sniffed again “Merlot — RayLen 2007 – a fruity red Carolinius wine. Notice how the wine gels on the keys?” I am impressed – he knows good wine and speaks the language of computers. Until he hands me the bill. I cried. Take my advice, never, ever set a wine glass down by your laptop. I had to take my daughter Kristen’s laptop with me to Goddard, and It did have viruses. She had surfed through YouTube, and downloaded LimeWire – the scourge of parents (sigh). My book disappeared and when it re-appeared, the words looked to be in Greek, or was it Geek? . . . Read more at All Things Girl
