A person often meets his destiny on the road he took to avoid it.
–Jean de la Fontaine
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/326307/Jean-de-La-Fontaine
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Regency Word Wednesday
Jauntiness
“Airyness; flutter; genteelness.”
This Week In History: May 18-24
May 18, 1803: The United Kingdom revokes the Treaty of Amiens and declares war on France.
May 19, 1897: Oscar Wilde is released from Reading Gaol.
May 20, 1609: Shakespeare’s sonnets are first published in London by Thomas Thorpe.
May 21, 1502: The island of Saint Helena is discovered by the Portuguese explorer Jaõa da Nova.
May 22, 1816: A mob in Littleport, Cambridgeshire, England riots over high unemployment and rising grain costs.
May 23, 1813: South American independence leader Simon Bolivar enters Mérida and is proclaimed El Libertador (“The Liberator”).
May 24, 1798: The Irish Rebellion of 1798 begins, led by the United Irishmen against British rule.
Quote of the Week
Have a heart that never hardens, and a temper that never tires, and a touch that never hurts.
–Charles Dickens
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/dickens_charles.shtml
Friday Favorite: Book Buddies
This week’s favorite combines books, animals, and good solid research (three of my favorite things!). It’s a program called Book Buddies, located at the Animal Rescue League of Berks County (Pennsylvania). Students in grades 1-8 can sign up to come to Berks ARL and read to the cats in the adoption room. The benefits are twofold: students who have reading difficulties get to practice reading books in a non-judgmental, low-stress environment. The kitties get socialization and interaction with the kids, and the rhythm of a voice reading is comforting for the animals. Researchers at Tufts University have studied this relationship, and confirm that it even benefits children with Autism
Click here for more pictures of cute kids cuddling with Berks kitties and books.
Programs like this are becoming more and more popular, so if you’re not near eastern Pennsylvania check in your area to see of there’s a shelter whose animals are in need of a little read aloud 🙂
Regency Word Wednesday
Queen Street
“A mart governed by his wife, is said to live in Queen Street, or at the sign of the Queen’s Head.”
This Week In History: May 11-17
May 11, 1812: Prime Minister Spencer Perceval is assassinated by John Bellingham in the lobby of the House of Commons, London.
May 12, 1821: The first big battle of the Greek War of Independence against the Turks occurs in Valtetsi.
May 13, 1787: Captain Arthur Phillip leaves Portsmouth, England with eleven ships full of convicts to establish a penal colony in Australia.
May 14, 1796: Edward Jenner administers the first smallpox vaccination.
May 15, 1800: George III survives an assassination attempt by James Hadfield, who is later acquitted by reason of insanity.
May 16, 1770: Fourteen-year-old Marie Antoinette marries fifteen-year-old Louis-Auguste, who later becomes Louis XVI of France.
May 17, 1809: Napoleon orders the annexation of the Papal States to the French Empire.
Quote of the Week
“Gilbert put his arm about them. ‘Oh, you mothers!’ he said. ‘You mothers! God knew what He was about when He made you.
–L. M. Montgomery
http://www.lmmontgomery.ca/aboutlmm/herlife
Regency Word Wednesday
Adroitness
“Dexterity; readiness; activity. Neither this word, nor adroit, seem yet completely naturalized.”
This Week In History: May 4-10
May 4, 1814: Napoleon arrives at Protoferraio on the island of Elba to begin his exile.
May 5, 1821: Napoleon dies in exile on the island of Saint Helena in the South Atlantic Ocean.
May 6, 1527: Spanish and German forces sack Rome, and event considered by some historians to be the end of the Renaissance.
May 7, 1794: Robespierre introduces the Cult of the Supreme Being as the new state religion of the First French Republic.
May 8, 1899: The Irish Literary Theatre in Dublin opens.
May 9, 1874: The first horse-drawn bus begins operation in Mumbai, traveling two routes.
May 10, 1824: The National Gallery in London opens to the public.
Cora Lee, Regency Romance Author 