I'm sure not ready for 13 degree weather - snow, yes, frigid temps,no. The bird on the little teapot is a peacock I think. Found the pot in an antique shop for $5, it isn't old because I saw one like it in a gift shop for $26. Gardenweed, were you able to watch the ShowTime series "The Tudors" that ended last year? The years that it was on, a forum began around it; and I joined. I learned so much about the Tudors and life in their times on that board, even tho alot of the discussion revolved around Jonathan Rhys Meyers. ha. How exciting for you to sit in Rycote Chapel! I say we should all make sure to take tea together on April 29th as we watch Prince William and his Kate wed.

We have all of Martin's books. My problem with your argument (which is a friendly one!) is you are assuming Weir writes romance novels when she doesn't. You said, "Who could possibly have come up with a fictional version of a 16th century king's life that would equal the facts of Henry VIII's?!" That kind of bit because that's not how Weir writes. Mantel also writes historical fiction. Does that mean Wolf Hall is a romance novel? No. Have you read any of Weir's non-fiction? She stays with fact and questions a lot of theories, because nobody really knows the dialogue back then, but both authors make up their own dialog & speculate in order to tell story. Weir may not have an academic background but that doesn't mean she's not a historian. She is labeled a Historian by others. I'm aware she's said she writes popular history, but that doesn't negate the fact she telling us what happened back then. Anyway, enough with "My author is better than your author." LOL. Lynn, when I'm reading I keep my iPad next to me so I can look up names and places. I keep Google Earth on England. :) In highschool one of my "dead" classes was being Library Assistant, and the Librarian is the one who turned me onto Holt. Which led to the Tudor era. BTW, did you see Hever Castle on G.E.?

Still with furs. I lived for a year in Canada (Ottawa) a cold country and very chilly city and someone gave me their very old fur coat. It was extremely heavy and rather moth eaten, probably less mouton and more dead cat. One day I walked into the city library and, though it was snowing as I left home, it was raining by the time I got there . . . and my goodness did that soggy coat pong. All eyes and noses followed me round the shelves until, in sheer embarrassment, I had to take it off and hide it behind a distant radiator where it steamed-off noxious vapours. When I returned to the UK the coat stayed behind. BTW Queen Elizabeth, was never Princess of Wales, just Duchess of York, as George VI went straight from D of Y to King. When Diana became Princess of Wales it was noted that the title hadn't been used since the time of the marriage of George V in 1890 something to Mary of Teck, always know as Old Queen Mary when I was a child. Also a fact I only became aware of recently, the title of Queen Mother was specially created for Queen Elizabeth on the death of George VI . . . probably much more than you (true US republicans all) needed to know. ;-)

I finished Dear Fahrenheit 451, Love and Heartbreak in the Stacks by Annie Spense. On the cover: A Librarian's love letters and breakup notes to the books in her life. Rather a silly premise but a fun read. Before that I read The Feather Thief by Kirk Wallace Johnson. I loved this. It's a true crime story of a 20 year old professional flautist who robs the British Museum of Natural History, taking 299 bird skins that date back to Darwin times. He then plans to sell them to professional and hobbyist fly-tiers for fishing and competition purposes. Not to diminish the import of the crimes, it was very funny in many spots. There was a well done section dedicated to natural history which makes me want to pull Origin of Species off the TBReR shelf if I can locate it. This one makes it into my top five lifetimes reads. If you like natural history, fly-fishing, quirky crimes or just an entertaining story, you're apt to like this. I couldn't put it down and am looking to buy a copy for my own Library.