Classics Considered

Every so often, I get an urge to do something crafty.  "Crafty" here means having to do with crafts, not cunning plans (though it may amount to the same thing).  Today was one of those days, so I stopped by ye olde curiosity shoppe Dollar Tree and picked up some frames, because I'm cheap that way. Remember this quote from Heretics ?  I couldn't find a great graphic of it online, so I decided to make one.  Here's the printout (click for full size): ( The flourish is from Pixabay - I know they don't require attribution, but I always feel like I should...habit!) I picked up this little blue frame because it goes with my color scheme, but I wasn't sure what picture to put in it.  I finally settled on the plans for the Nautilus (Disney version), along with Nemo's motto, Mobilis in Mobili ("moving amidst mobility").  Completely nerdy, but I love it.  :) Last bit of craftiness: I love triptychs, so thought I'd try creati...

Occasionally you stumble across some historical story so weird it could only have happened in in real life.  Exhibit A: the mysterious lover of Nikolay Gumilyov. Nikolay Gumilyov Who was Nikolay Gumilyov?  Born in 1886, he grew up well educated and began writing poetry at a young age, becoming first published, in fact, at around age 16.  Gumilyov spent much of his life as a man of letters and established poet, but he also served in the Russian cavalry in WWI.  He was executed in 1921 on suspicions of being part of a monarchist conspiracy.  When he was still a young man and writing for a journal called Apollon , he fell in love with the author of some poems which had been submitted for publication.  Here I quote Wikipedia : In August 1909, the famous Russian artistic periodical Apollon received a letter with verses on a perfumed paper with black mourning edges, signed only by a single Russian letter Ch . The verses were filled with half-revelatio...