Almost by chance (thank you Facebook, and my cousin Helen) I learned that last Sunday was Visit My Mosque Day. In February 2016 80 British mosques opened their doors to visitors; this year it was 150. Oddly none of the mosques in Nottingham took part,...
One of the most telling memes on Facebook in the last few months has been a picture of a row of history books or chronicles: 2014, 2015, We Don’t Talk About This One, 2017, 2018…. For many people, 2016 would be a nice year to forget,...
I would like to write a few words about Nahum Tate (1652-1715). The Wikipedia article on him provides some fascinating facts. However, according to this, he is best known for his 1681 adaptation of Shakespeare’s King Lear. This raises an interesting point about the meaning of fame. Adapting...
In November 2015 I established this website, and on 19th November I posted the first entry in this blog (https://www.penelopewallace.com/introduction/ ). In it I listed the purposes of the blog as follows: Publicising my work. If you have already viewed the rest of the site (if...
In a previous blog post/rant about the busyness of Christmas (https://www.penelopewallace.com/christmas-busy-ness/), I said this: “Most bought Advent calendars are a consumerist tacky nightmare, but that is a completely different rant.” Today I’ve decided to write that rant. This may offend… What is an Advent calendar? Basically, it’s surely...
My Facebook friend, Amy Boucher-Pye of the Woman Alive Book Club on FB, has written a book (recommended) called “Finding Myself in Britain”. It’s a light-hearted Christian memoir about being an American living in Britain as the wife of a vicar, the resultant culture clashes,...
A while back, I wrote a blog post here: https://www.penelopewallace.com/two-things-i-dislike-about-facebook/. I began by saying: I am finding Facebook, although terrifyingly time-wasting, a source of a lot of innocent fun, gossip and useful information (as well as those pesky cats). I am still refusing to wish everyone a...
There are so many exciting and inspiring stories in the Bible – wouldn’t it be good if someone occasionally made a popular film out of one of them? Well, in 2014 someone did, a film which I somehow missed watching or reading reviews of. This was...
(After last week's froth, something rather darker. Warning: contents may distress or disturb.) In December last year, a sentencing judge said to a woman who had defrauded and attempted to murder her sister, “Quite frankly, you are evil.” Judges do say this kind of thing, and I...
This post is a day early, because tomorrow I shall be at a family event in Birmingham. I am finding Facebook, although terrifyingly time-wasting, a source of a lot of innocent fun, gossip and useful information (as well as those pesky cats). (I'm still refusing to...