Today, I thought we’d leave the comfort zone of history after the 1200’s (not that it is much of a comfort zone – not really: war, famine, Black death, religious persecution, witch trials…) and travel far back in history, to a time when the Greek city states were mostly at war with each other and […]
… and no, this is not a post about returning light. Seeing as us Scandinavians are already experiencing how our days are growing shorter, I am simply not in the mood. Instead, I aim to introduce you to Aurora von Königsmarck, one of the first documented examples of female Swedish sin. Aurora, apparently, was drop
We have recently had cause to celebrate here in Sweden. Or in Denmark. Or on the Faroe Islands. You see, some days past it was 375 years since Jonas Bronck bought himself quite a spread just on the outskirts of New Amsterdam, and to this day the area in question still carries his name. The
Many of us like swimming. Very few of us want to swim with the fishes – at least not for any extended period in time, as reasonably this would mean we are very, very dead. Or mermaids. These days, a majority of the children in the Western world are taught how to swim. Not so
Yesterday, I treated my family to one of my favourite summer dishes – salt-fried prawns with aioli. I make the aioli myself, and what is not consumed with the prawns is eaten with chunks of bread, dipped in this delicious Spanish sauce that tastes of garlic and oregano. The first time I ever had aioli
What people ate As a child growing up in Latin America, I always found it strange when my parents now and then sighed and spoke of food they were missing. “Herring,” my father would say. “Crayfish,” my mother would add. “Cheese, ryebread …” My father almost smacked his lips. Inevitably this would lead to a
Last year for Midsummer, I wrote a little post describing just how we celebrate this the shortest night of the year up here in Scandinavia. Tonight, I am sitting in the late twilight watching the antics of the swifts, and I am preoccupied with the ghost of a long-gone man – or rather his death.
Nobody ever called Margareta “the lady with the trousers” to her face. One of her contemporaries was fool enough to call her the “King without breeches” – and she made him bitterly regret doing so. And given that this was back in the 14th century when the general order of things was that men ruled
Today I have the honour of welcoming Judith Arnopp to my blog. She has visited before (see here) and this time she is back with a post about one of the more intriguing men of the Tudor era, the much maligned Thomas Seymour. This gentleman figures prominently in Judith’s latest book, Intractable Heart. For those of
Thomas Seymour, husband to the queen – guest post by Judith Arnopp Read More »
Today, I thought I’d treat you to a short story – dedicated to Erin Davies – detailing the sad fates of Lieutenant Sixten Sparre and his paramour, tightrope dancer Elvira Madigan. The below takes place in July of 1889, in Denmark. It is a perfect summer day…. He took her by the hand when they left
One last time – of impossible love and its consequences Read More »