Various & Sundry: Mostly fabulous women, plus a castle

It's been another long week on deadline, but I can see the finish line. ALMOST THERE! In the meantime, can I just say, if you name your college group The Holy Club, as John Wesley did, you are just asking to be pantsed. I also kind of like the fact that the good people of the colony of Georgia hated him. HATED. Here's a fabulous quote from his journal from June 22, 1736:

Tuesday, 22.—Observing much coldness in M ----‘s behaviour, I asked him the reason of it. He answered, “I like nothing you do. All your sermons are satires upon particular persons, therefore I will never hear you more; and all the people are of my mind; for we won’t hear ourselves abused. 

“Besides, they say, they are Protestants. But as for you, they cannot tell what religion you are of. They never heard of such a religion before. They do not know what to make of it. And then your private behaviour: all the quarrels that have been here since you came, have been ‘long of you. Indeed there is neither man nor woman in the town who minds a word you say. And so you may preach long enough; but nobody will come to hear you.” 

He was too warm for hearing an answer. So I had nothing to do but to thank him for his openness and walk away.

Oh dear. Well, it got better for him.

Enough of that. What else have I got here?

We've got some fabulous women, that's what we've got. Let's start with Helen Mirren. "She's had some practice in issuing commands to her subjects as a queen, but it still came as a surprise to a group of drummers when Dame Helen Mirren yelled at them to be quiet while dressed in her full Queen Elizabeth II costume on Saturday night." Love it.

The fabulous Lena Horne died last Sunday, and the obituary ends with a spectacular quote.

Looking back at the age of 80, Ms. Horne said: “My identity is very clear to me now. I am a black woman. I’m free. I no longer have to be a ‘credit.’ I don’t have to be a symbol to anybody; I don’t have to be a first to anybody. I don’t have to be an imitation of a white woman that Hollywood sort of hoped I’d become. I’m me, and I’m like nobody else.”

You tell 'em.

The Bloggess offers some fabulous Rules for Life, my personal favorite being number 13 (which as you will see is labeled 12b):

12b. Embrace your flaws and foibles. If people make fun of you, kick them in the back and then blame it on a ghost.

I am totally doing that.

In the article, this photo has the caption,
"The castle is in need of significant renovation."
In case you were in doubt.

There's a castle for sale, by the way, in case you're in the market. Inchtower castle was owned by Count Robin de Lanne-Mirlees. Actually, that's just the shortened version. His full name was (ready?) Robin Ian Evelyn Milne Stuart le Comte de la Lanne-Mirrlees and he was an officer of the College of Arms, meaning he created heralds.

Among the many he created was the Bond family motto -- as in James Bond -- which is Orbis Non Sufficit: The World is Not Enough. Mirrlees and Ian Fleming were acquainted, and it is thought that Bond's cover identity, Sir Hilary Bray, Bt, is based on Mirrlees.

Oh, and if you buy Inchtower Castle, you become Baron or Baronness of Inchdrewer. So there's some incentive right there.

So last weekend Gabrielle Marcus married Brian Marcus. But when the announcement appeared in the Times, she still wasn't sure whether she was going to take his last name or not. Adorable photo, isn't it? Turns out her husband (and mother- and father-in-law) are photographers.

I thought this article on the unexpected antidote to procrastination had a good point. And it was, in fact, not what I expected. What was it? Feeling, and being willing to feel. As I said, not what I expected.

And with that, I am going to go on with the day. I've got a sermon to write.