Joy Parry
@joy13.bsky.social
"Some stranger, somewhere, still remembers you because you were kind to them when no one else was."
Lover of books, history, mythology, family history research, music & films. Mother of adult children - and a dog.
Lover of books, history, mythology, family history research, music & films. Mother of adult children - and a dog.
#BookWormSat
[And we fairies, that do run ...]
"... From the presence of the sun,
Following darkness like a dream,
Now are frolic; not a mouse
Shall disturb this hallowed house:
I am sent with broom before,
To sweep the dust behind the door."
A Midsummer Night's Dream
🎨Alice Woodward
[And we fairies, that do run ...]
"... From the presence of the sun,
Following darkness like a dream,
Now are frolic; not a mouse
Shall disturb this hallowed house:
I am sent with broom before,
To sweep the dust behind the door."
A Midsummer Night's Dream
🎨Alice Woodward
November 15, 2025 at 10:09 AM
#BookWormSat
[And we fairies, that do run ...]
"... From the presence of the sun,
Following darkness like a dream,
Now are frolic; not a mouse
Shall disturb this hallowed house:
I am sent with broom before,
To sweep the dust behind the door."
A Midsummer Night's Dream
🎨Alice Woodward
[And we fairies, that do run ...]
"... From the presence of the sun,
Following darkness like a dream,
Now are frolic; not a mouse
Shall disturb this hallowed house:
I am sent with broom before,
To sweep the dust behind the door."
A Midsummer Night's Dream
🎨Alice Woodward
#FolkyFriday
After Macsen Wledig dreams of a woman in a far off land, he spends years literally pursuing the "Woman of His Dreams" - losing his lands & the loyalty of his people - before his obsession leads him to his love, who helps him regain his status.
[Mabinogion]
🎨T Prytherch & Unknown Artist
After Macsen Wledig dreams of a woman in a far off land, he spends years literally pursuing the "Woman of His Dreams" - losing his lands & the loyalty of his people - before his obsession leads him to his love, who helps him regain his status.
[Mabinogion]
🎨T Prytherch & Unknown Artist
November 14, 2025 at 5:45 PM
#FolkyFriday
After Macsen Wledig dreams of a woman in a far off land, he spends years literally pursuing the "Woman of His Dreams" - losing his lands & the loyalty of his people - before his obsession leads him to his love, who helps him regain his status.
[Mabinogion]
🎨T Prytherch & Unknown Artist
After Macsen Wledig dreams of a woman in a far off land, he spends years literally pursuing the "Woman of His Dreams" - losing his lands & the loyalty of his people - before his obsession leads him to his love, who helps him regain his status.
[Mabinogion]
🎨T Prytherch & Unknown Artist
#FolkyFriday
Welsh Dragons go into hibernation around the autumn equinox [Alban Elfed] slumbering through the winter months and emerging again at the spring equinox [Alban Eilir] ...
🎨Likely by Martin Bayton
Welsh Dragons go into hibernation around the autumn equinox [Alban Elfed] slumbering through the winter months and emerging again at the spring equinox [Alban Eilir] ...
🎨Likely by Martin Bayton
November 14, 2025 at 1:59 PM
#FolkyFriday
Welsh Dragons go into hibernation around the autumn equinox [Alban Elfed] slumbering through the winter months and emerging again at the spring equinox [Alban Eilir] ...
🎨Likely by Martin Bayton
Welsh Dragons go into hibernation around the autumn equinox [Alban Elfed] slumbering through the winter months and emerging again at the spring equinox [Alban Eilir] ...
🎨Likely by Martin Bayton
Memorial Plaque to Nonconformist Martyrs in Norwich, burned to death during the reign of Mary I. They were imprisoned at the site of the Lollards Pit Pub [hence its name] before their executions - the pub is the most haunted site in Norwich.
November 12, 2025 at 10:39 PM
Memorial Plaque to Nonconformist Martyrs in Norwich, burned to death during the reign of Mary I. They were imprisoned at the site of the Lollards Pit Pub [hence its name] before their executions - the pub is the most haunted site in Norwich.
Mousehold in Norwich, site of a former chapel: The body of a murdered 12 year old boy called William was found here in the 12th century. Despite the murderer never being found, the local Jewish community was blamed - making it a very early example of a Blood Libel.
November 12, 2025 at 10:08 PM
Mousehold in Norwich, site of a former chapel: The body of a murdered 12 year old boy called William was found here in the 12th century. Despite the murderer never being found, the local Jewish community was blamed - making it a very early example of a Blood Libel.
#LegendaryWednesday
In Aztec society important occasions were marked by serving Xocolatl [chocolate] as a drink. Considered to be a gift from the gods, it was served either hot or cold, always "frothy" but never sweetened.
🎨 Borgia Codex & Zouche-Nuttall Codex
In Aztec society important occasions were marked by serving Xocolatl [chocolate] as a drink. Considered to be a gift from the gods, it was served either hot or cold, always "frothy" but never sweetened.
🎨 Borgia Codex & Zouche-Nuttall Codex
November 12, 2025 at 2:06 PM
#LegendaryWednesday
In Aztec society important occasions were marked by serving Xocolatl [chocolate] as a drink. Considered to be a gift from the gods, it was served either hot or cold, always "frothy" but never sweetened.
🎨 Borgia Codex & Zouche-Nuttall Codex
In Aztec society important occasions were marked by serving Xocolatl [chocolate] as a drink. Considered to be a gift from the gods, it was served either hot or cold, always "frothy" but never sweetened.
🎨 Borgia Codex & Zouche-Nuttall Codex
#WyrdWednesday
Cath Palug - a huge, ferocious feline - terrorised Anglesey, devouring warriors & anything else that crossed its path, until it was slain by Arthurian warrior Cai - the wounds from whose sword [forged in The Otherworld] "no physician could heal".
🎨@nlrobinsonart & @snipurrs [IG]
Cath Palug - a huge, ferocious feline - terrorised Anglesey, devouring warriors & anything else that crossed its path, until it was slain by Arthurian warrior Cai - the wounds from whose sword [forged in The Otherworld] "no physician could heal".
🎨@nlrobinsonart & @snipurrs [IG]
November 12, 2025 at 2:03 PM
#WyrdWednesday
Cath Palug - a huge, ferocious feline - terrorised Anglesey, devouring warriors & anything else that crossed its path, until it was slain by Arthurian warrior Cai - the wounds from whose sword [forged in The Otherworld] "no physician could heal".
🎨@nlrobinsonart & @snipurrs [IG]
Cath Palug - a huge, ferocious feline - terrorised Anglesey, devouring warriors & anything else that crossed its path, until it was slain by Arthurian warrior Cai - the wounds from whose sword [forged in The Otherworld] "no physician could heal".
🎨@nlrobinsonart & @snipurrs [IG]
My late father served with the Royal Marines in Singapore, he helped to liberate Changi & other POW camps, and was there during the surrender of the Japanese occupation army.
#LestWeForget #NeverAgain 😢
#LestWeForget #NeverAgain 😢
November 12, 2025 at 12:14 PM
My late father served with the Royal Marines in Singapore, he helped to liberate Changi & other POW camps, and was there during the surrender of the Japanese occupation army.
#LestWeForget #NeverAgain 😢
#LestWeForget #NeverAgain 😢
#LegendaryWednesday
Norfolk Fairings - or Fair Buttons - are delicious traditional spiced biscuits. Originally sold at the travelling Easter Fairs, but I remember buying them at the Boxing Day Fair after watching the local derby [between Norwich & Ipswich] and taking them home to share.
Norfolk Fairings - or Fair Buttons - are delicious traditional spiced biscuits. Originally sold at the travelling Easter Fairs, but I remember buying them at the Boxing Day Fair after watching the local derby [between Norwich & Ipswich] and taking them home to share.
November 12, 2025 at 10:09 AM
#LegendaryWednesday
Norfolk Fairings - or Fair Buttons - are delicious traditional spiced biscuits. Originally sold at the travelling Easter Fairs, but I remember buying them at the Boxing Day Fair after watching the local derby [between Norwich & Ipswich] and taking them home to share.
Norfolk Fairings - or Fair Buttons - are delicious traditional spiced biscuits. Originally sold at the travelling Easter Fairs, but I remember buying them at the Boxing Day Fair after watching the local derby [between Norwich & Ipswich] and taking them home to share.
#WyrdWednesday
A giant Merlin [Myrddin] takes a hands-on approach to the completion of Stonehenge in a medieval manuscript - as opposed to the more mystical approach more usually favoured in folklore accounts!
🎨@britishlibrary.bsky.social [Egerton MS] & Jean-Noël Rochut
A giant Merlin [Myrddin] takes a hands-on approach to the completion of Stonehenge in a medieval manuscript - as opposed to the more mystical approach more usually favoured in folklore accounts!
🎨@britishlibrary.bsky.social [Egerton MS] & Jean-Noël Rochut
November 12, 2025 at 9:04 AM
#WyrdWednesday
A giant Merlin [Myrddin] takes a hands-on approach to the completion of Stonehenge in a medieval manuscript - as opposed to the more mystical approach more usually favoured in folklore accounts!
🎨@britishlibrary.bsky.social [Egerton MS] & Jean-Noël Rochut
A giant Merlin [Myrddin] takes a hands-on approach to the completion of Stonehenge in a medieval manuscript - as opposed to the more mystical approach more usually favoured in folklore accounts!
🎨@britishlibrary.bsky.social [Egerton MS] & Jean-Noël Rochut
#MythologyMonday
Overthrown by the dark arts of Tezcatlipoca, "Feathered Serpent" Quetzalcóatl departed over the eastern horizon on a raft of serpents. The Aztecs believed his return - in human form and with a beard - would free his people from oppression and usher in a golden age ...
🎨Gilbert James
Overthrown by the dark arts of Tezcatlipoca, "Feathered Serpent" Quetzalcóatl departed over the eastern horizon on a raft of serpents. The Aztecs believed his return - in human form and with a beard - would free his people from oppression and usher in a golden age ...
🎨Gilbert James
November 10, 2025 at 10:21 AM
#MythologyMonday
Overthrown by the dark arts of Tezcatlipoca, "Feathered Serpent" Quetzalcóatl departed over the eastern horizon on a raft of serpents. The Aztecs believed his return - in human form and with a beard - would free his people from oppression and usher in a golden age ...
🎨Gilbert James
Overthrown by the dark arts of Tezcatlipoca, "Feathered Serpent" Quetzalcóatl departed over the eastern horizon on a raft of serpents. The Aztecs believed his return - in human form and with a beard - would free his people from oppression and usher in a golden age ...
🎨Gilbert James
#MythologyMonday
On completion of the hunt, one of Arthur's knights "shaved off Ysbaddaden’s beard, flesh and skin to the bone, and both ears completely" before the giant is [at his own request] beheaded, Olwen then marries Culhwch ...
🎨Earnest Wallcousins
On completion of the hunt, one of Arthur's knights "shaved off Ysbaddaden’s beard, flesh and skin to the bone, and both ears completely" before the giant is [at his own request] beheaded, Olwen then marries Culhwch ...
🎨Earnest Wallcousins
November 10, 2025 at 7:40 AM
#MythologyMonday
On completion of the hunt, one of Arthur's knights "shaved off Ysbaddaden’s beard, flesh and skin to the bone, and both ears completely" before the giant is [at his own request] beheaded, Olwen then marries Culhwch ...
🎨Earnest Wallcousins
On completion of the hunt, one of Arthur's knights "shaved off Ysbaddaden’s beard, flesh and skin to the bone, and both ears completely" before the giant is [at his own request] beheaded, Olwen then marries Culhwch ...
🎨Earnest Wallcousins
#ShakespeareSunday
"Is there no pity sitting in the clouds,
That sees into the bottom of my grief?"
Romeo and Juliet
🎨James R Eads
"Is there no pity sitting in the clouds,
That sees into the bottom of my grief?"
Romeo and Juliet
🎨James R Eads
November 9, 2025 at 7:39 PM
#ShakespeareSunday
"Is there no pity sitting in the clouds,
That sees into the bottom of my grief?"
Romeo and Juliet
🎨James R Eads
"Is there no pity sitting in the clouds,
That sees into the bottom of my grief?"
Romeo and Juliet
🎨James R Eads
#ShakespeareSunday
"No longer mourn for me when I am dead
Than you shall hear the surly sullen bell
Give warning to the world that I am fled
From this vile world, with vilest worms to dwell ..."
Sonnet 71
"No longer mourn for me when I am dead
Than you shall hear the surly sullen bell
Give warning to the world that I am fled
From this vile world, with vilest worms to dwell ..."
Sonnet 71
November 9, 2025 at 7:13 PM
#ShakespeareSunday
"No longer mourn for me when I am dead
Than you shall hear the surly sullen bell
Give warning to the world that I am fled
From this vile world, with vilest worms to dwell ..."
Sonnet 71
"No longer mourn for me when I am dead
Than you shall hear the surly sullen bell
Give warning to the world that I am fled
From this vile world, with vilest worms to dwell ..."
Sonnet 71
#ShakespeareSunday
" [we] whom three hours since
Were wracked upon this shore, where I have lost -
How sharp the point of this remembrance is! -
My dear son Ferdinand."
"I am woe for 't, sir."
"Irreparable is the loss, and patience
Says it is past her cure."
The Tempest
📷@the-rsc.bsky.social
" [we] whom three hours since
Were wracked upon this shore, where I have lost -
How sharp the point of this remembrance is! -
My dear son Ferdinand."
"I am woe for 't, sir."
"Irreparable is the loss, and patience
Says it is past her cure."
The Tempest
📷@the-rsc.bsky.social
November 9, 2025 at 4:38 PM
#ShakespeareSunday
" [we] whom three hours since
Were wracked upon this shore, where I have lost -
How sharp the point of this remembrance is! -
My dear son Ferdinand."
"I am woe for 't, sir."
"Irreparable is the loss, and patience
Says it is past her cure."
The Tempest
📷@the-rsc.bsky.social
" [we] whom three hours since
Were wracked upon this shore, where I have lost -
How sharp the point of this remembrance is! -
My dear son Ferdinand."
"I am woe for 't, sir."
"Irreparable is the loss, and patience
Says it is past her cure."
The Tempest
📷@the-rsc.bsky.social
November 9, 2025 at 8:03 AM
"... Red fangs have torn his face,
God's blood is shed:
He mourns from his lone place
His children dead.
O ancient crimson curse!
Corrode, consume;
Give back this universe
Its pristine bloom."
Isaac Rosenberg - On Receiving News of War
[died 1918]
#Remembrance #LestWeForget
God's blood is shed:
He mourns from his lone place
His children dead.
O ancient crimson curse!
Corrode, consume;
Give back this universe
Its pristine bloom."
Isaac Rosenberg - On Receiving News of War
[died 1918]
#Remembrance #LestWeForget
November 8, 2025 at 9:52 PM
"... Red fangs have torn his face,
God's blood is shed:
He mourns from his lone place
His children dead.
O ancient crimson curse!
Corrode, consume;
Give back this universe
Its pristine bloom."
Isaac Rosenberg - On Receiving News of War
[died 1918]
#Remembrance #LestWeForget
God's blood is shed:
He mourns from his lone place
His children dead.
O ancient crimson curse!
Corrode, consume;
Give back this universe
Its pristine bloom."
Isaac Rosenberg - On Receiving News of War
[died 1918]
#Remembrance #LestWeForget
#BookWormSat
"We got to Pegu and were all lined up ready to go in and the word came that the war in Europe was over. And we shouted, 'What the bloody hell use is that to us? When's our was going to be over?'"
Julian Thompson - Forgotten Voices of Burma
🎨Jacqueline Hurley - Forgotten Army
"We got to Pegu and were all lined up ready to go in and the word came that the war in Europe was over. And we shouted, 'What the bloody hell use is that to us? When's our was going to be over?'"
Julian Thompson - Forgotten Voices of Burma
🎨Jacqueline Hurley - Forgotten Army
November 8, 2025 at 7:15 PM
#BookWormSat
"We got to Pegu and were all lined up ready to go in and the word came that the war in Europe was over. And we shouted, 'What the bloody hell use is that to us? When's our was going to be over?'"
Julian Thompson - Forgotten Voices of Burma
🎨Jacqueline Hurley - Forgotten Army
"We got to Pegu and were all lined up ready to go in and the word came that the war in Europe was over. And we shouted, 'What the bloody hell use is that to us? When's our was going to be over?'"
Julian Thompson - Forgotten Voices of Burma
🎨Jacqueline Hurley - Forgotten Army
#BookWormSat
"Standing as I do in the light of god and eternity, I realise that patriotism is not enough, I must have no hatred or bitterness towards anybody ... My conscience is clear. I die for god and for my country."
German Report on the Execution of Nurse Edith Cavell, 1915
"Standing as I do in the light of god and eternity, I realise that patriotism is not enough, I must have no hatred or bitterness towards anybody ... My conscience is clear. I die for god and for my country."
German Report on the Execution of Nurse Edith Cavell, 1915
November 8, 2025 at 6:12 PM
#BookWormSat
"Standing as I do in the light of god and eternity, I realise that patriotism is not enough, I must have no hatred or bitterness towards anybody ... My conscience is clear. I die for god and for my country."
German Report on the Execution of Nurse Edith Cavell, 1915
"Standing as I do in the light of god and eternity, I realise that patriotism is not enough, I must have no hatred or bitterness towards anybody ... My conscience is clear. I die for god and for my country."
German Report on the Execution of Nurse Edith Cavell, 1915
#BookWormSat
"... Thus violent deeds live after men upon the earth, and traces of war and bloodshed will survive in mournful shapes long after those who worked the desolation are but atoms of earth themselves."
Charles Dickens - The Old Curiosity Shop
📷Flanders Crosses [Great War 1914-18]
"... Thus violent deeds live after men upon the earth, and traces of war and bloodshed will survive in mournful shapes long after those who worked the desolation are but atoms of earth themselves."
Charles Dickens - The Old Curiosity Shop
📷Flanders Crosses [Great War 1914-18]
November 8, 2025 at 5:05 PM
#BookWormSat
"... Thus violent deeds live after men upon the earth, and traces of war and bloodshed will survive in mournful shapes long after those who worked the desolation are but atoms of earth themselves."
Charles Dickens - The Old Curiosity Shop
📷Flanders Crosses [Great War 1914-18]
"... Thus violent deeds live after men upon the earth, and traces of war and bloodshed will survive in mournful shapes long after those who worked the desolation are but atoms of earth themselves."
Charles Dickens - The Old Curiosity Shop
📷Flanders Crosses [Great War 1914-18]
#BookWormSat
"They could talk of nothing but officers; and Mr Bingley's large fortune, the mention of which gave animation to their mother, was worthless in their eyes when opposed to the regimentals of an ensign"
Jane Austen - Pride & Prejudice - the role of the army in peacetime
🎨William Hogarth
"They could talk of nothing but officers; and Mr Bingley's large fortune, the mention of which gave animation to their mother, was worthless in their eyes when opposed to the regimentals of an ensign"
Jane Austen - Pride & Prejudice - the role of the army in peacetime
🎨William Hogarth
November 8, 2025 at 3:20 PM
#BookWormSat
"They could talk of nothing but officers; and Mr Bingley's large fortune, the mention of which gave animation to their mother, was worthless in their eyes when opposed to the regimentals of an ensign"
Jane Austen - Pride & Prejudice - the role of the army in peacetime
🎨William Hogarth
"They could talk of nothing but officers; and Mr Bingley's large fortune, the mention of which gave animation to their mother, was worthless in their eyes when opposed to the regimentals of an ensign"
Jane Austen - Pride & Prejudice - the role of the army in peacetime
🎨William Hogarth
#BookWormSat
"True, a new mistress now I chase,
The first foe in the field;
And with a stronger faith embrace
A sword, a horse, a shield.
Yet this inconstancy is such
As you too shalt adore;
I could not love thee, Dear, so much,
Loved I not Honour more."
R Lovelace - To Lucasta, Going to the Wars
"True, a new mistress now I chase,
The first foe in the field;
And with a stronger faith embrace
A sword, a horse, a shield.
Yet this inconstancy is such
As you too shalt adore;
I could not love thee, Dear, so much,
Loved I not Honour more."
R Lovelace - To Lucasta, Going to the Wars
November 8, 2025 at 9:23 AM
#BookWormSat
"True, a new mistress now I chase,
The first foe in the field;
And with a stronger faith embrace
A sword, a horse, a shield.
Yet this inconstancy is such
As you too shalt adore;
I could not love thee, Dear, so much,
Loved I not Honour more."
R Lovelace - To Lucasta, Going to the Wars
"True, a new mistress now I chase,
The first foe in the field;
And with a stronger faith embrace
A sword, a horse, a shield.
Yet this inconstancy is such
As you too shalt adore;
I could not love thee, Dear, so much,
Loved I not Honour more."
R Lovelace - To Lucasta, Going to the Wars
"The harps to which we sang are hung
On willow boughs, and their refrain
Drowned by the anguish of the young
Whose blood is mingled with the rain."
Translation of Final Verse of Rhyfel [War] by Hedd Wyn - who died on the first the day of Battle of Passchendaele
#Remembrace
On willow boughs, and their refrain
Drowned by the anguish of the young
Whose blood is mingled with the rain."
Translation of Final Verse of Rhyfel [War] by Hedd Wyn - who died on the first the day of Battle of Passchendaele
#Remembrace
November 8, 2025 at 8:54 AM
"The harps to which we sang are hung
On willow boughs, and their refrain
Drowned by the anguish of the young
Whose blood is mingled with the rain."
Translation of Final Verse of Rhyfel [War] by Hedd Wyn - who died on the first the day of Battle of Passchendaele
#Remembrace
On willow boughs, and their refrain
Drowned by the anguish of the young
Whose blood is mingled with the rain."
Translation of Final Verse of Rhyfel [War] by Hedd Wyn - who died on the first the day of Battle of Passchendaele
#Remembrace
“Even if it's not your fault, it's your responsibility.”
Terry Pratchett - A Hat Full of Sky
Politicians worldwide - Take Note! #BookChatWeekly
Terry Pratchett - A Hat Full of Sky
Politicians worldwide - Take Note! #BookChatWeekly
November 7, 2025 at 7:59 PM
“Even if it's not your fault, it's your responsibility.”
Terry Pratchett - A Hat Full of Sky
Politicians worldwide - Take Note! #BookChatWeekly
Terry Pratchett - A Hat Full of Sky
Politicians worldwide - Take Note! #BookChatWeekly
#FolkyFriday
Quetzal bird feathers were particularly prized for headdresses by Mayan & Aztec priests - it was believed their vibrant red feathers were acquired after a quetzal bird landed on the chest of dying hero Tecún Umán, dipping its feathers in his blood.
🎨 WeltMuseum Vienna
Quetzal bird feathers were particularly prized for headdresses by Mayan & Aztec priests - it was believed their vibrant red feathers were acquired after a quetzal bird landed on the chest of dying hero Tecún Umán, dipping its feathers in his blood.
🎨 WeltMuseum Vienna
November 7, 2025 at 5:46 PM
#FolkyFriday
Quetzal bird feathers were particularly prized for headdresses by Mayan & Aztec priests - it was believed their vibrant red feathers were acquired after a quetzal bird landed on the chest of dying hero Tecún Umán, dipping its feathers in his blood.
🎨 WeltMuseum Vienna
Quetzal bird feathers were particularly prized for headdresses by Mayan & Aztec priests - it was believed their vibrant red feathers were acquired after a quetzal bird landed on the chest of dying hero Tecún Umán, dipping its feathers in his blood.
🎨 WeltMuseum Vienna