When books collide...

This evening, as we were sitting in the family room relaxing, my mother discovered an interesting connection between one of our favorite books and our favorite author.

The book is Katherine, by Anya Seton. It is about Katherine Swynford, the third wife of John of Gaunt and 5th great-grandmother of Henry VIII. One of the lovely things about our copy of this book is that there is a beautiful family tree inside the front cover, showing John's family (Edward III, his brother Richard II, etc) andalso Katherine's.

While perusing this family tree, my mother noticed that Lionel of Antwerp, brother of John and Richard, married an Elizabeth de Burgh. Lemme think. Where have I seen that name before? Hmm.... A little down the line, Katherine's son Thomas, by her first husband (Hugh) married a Miss Margaret Darcy.

And, hey! Katherine's daughter Joan Beaufort married a Sir Robert Ferrers.

As though I didn't have a hard enough time telling my real historical characters from my fictional ones, now Jane Austen names are popping up in real, historical families. :o)

Photo Hunt- Dreaming

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I'm posting this is conjunction with my mother's post on the same topic. We both dream of being on the beach on Siesta Key, my favorite place in the entire world. This is a picture of my brothers and me from the last time our family was down there, and as you can tell from the date on the photo, it has been entirely too long!

Planning....

The semester is about half-way over, and 2007 schedules are floating around. This is always the most exciting part of the semester for me, but also the hardest- I just want my current classes to be over with!
Over the weekend I sat down with my schedule book and my mother (both indispensible) and figured out which classes I want to take in the spring. I'll be taking second semester-second year German for sure, Weather and Climate (clouds! storms!), a lovely "Western World Masterpieces" lit. class, Ottoman history, and 20th century British poetry. And THEN....the best part of all.... GER320 "Berlin and Beyond," involving a 10-day trip through Germany over Spring Break! I'm so excited!

I've almost decided to try for an English minor, and depending on how the classes fall, a double History/English major. The classes just look sooooo yummy. I'm just crushed that the Elizabethan Poetry class conflicts with the classes I need next semester....But maybe next year.

Or maybe I'll just stay in school for a really long time.....

Photo Hunt

Today's theme: Sleeping

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Another picture of my killer Callie-Cat. This time, she has shoved all my music boxes out of the way, and is sleeping on a shelf....safe from the other cat. (Incidently, she had just come out of the rain and was soaking wet. Just what I wanted. ;o) )

Next Week's theme is "Lost."

Next week:

As anyone who knows me well can tell you, I am not a "math person." I don't enjoy math, which I find boring and, in many cases, irrelevant to my life. As such, I was not looking forward to taking a math class this semester, even one as nonthreatening-sounding as "Math for the Liberal Arts Student."

To my very great surprise, I have been getting perfect grades in this class. In fact, I've been getting perfect grades without even needing to study all that much. This has been freaking me out more than a little bit.

Today, at the end of class, the professor suggested that the class share phone numbers, so that we can call each other to conferr on our homework assignments. She finshed by saying, "...and this does NOT mean that you can all take down Bethany's number and call her to find out the correct answers...."

:cue Twilight Zone music:

I am the smarty-pants in math class? Did someone swap my brain? Has my psychology professor been doing covert experiments on me? Anyway, it is WEIRD.