Sir F. Chook, Inventor of Leopard Oil

Likeness captured upon a daguerrotype machine in Japan, July 1891

Lettres

Wherein the Author reflects upon certain topical & personal issues of the Day.

The archive for January, 2009

The following lettres were posted during this month:


Meanwhile, Out To Pasture…

Posted upon the 26th of January, 2009

In humans, urbanity is a virtue. Urbane means neat, intelligent, sophisticated. Rusticity is only a virtue in real estate listings. Outside of history textbooks, ‘peasant’ is an insult – the sort of thing you mutter about the people you’re stuck behind in a queue. French President Nicolas Sarkozy got in a bit of trouble for […]

Couture In The Regions

Posted upon the 18th of January, 2009

Hey, gang. What’ve you been up to? Lately I’ve been ensconced in a pile of books – primary sources and the like, for my continuing thesis on the American Transcendentalists. This past Friday, though, we found time – Lady Tanah, her mother and I – to make a wee day trip to Bendigo Art Gallery […]

Christmas Remnants

Posted upon the 6th of January, 2009

With all my notes for the Antipodean League filed away, it’s time to address some of the Christmas detritus which has remained piled up near the door for the past two weeks. It’s not that I’m not grateful, really it’s not, but with some of the characters I know, opening presents on the big day […]

Euchronia Wrapup

Posted upon the 2nd of January, 2009

Short summary: Australia’s first major steampunk event was a resounding success. The full story: We arrived early to set up. Ms Merah wore a simple cotton shirtwaist and a skirt decorated with panels of vintage Japanese silks and floofy underskirts, all topped with cream-coloured roses in her hair. I wore a grey herringbone three-piece suit […]