Virginia Breeze

Tomorrow evening is the season finale of The Tudors.

Do you know what that means? Yes my friends. Henry VIII is going to have Ann killed. But that is not the unusual part. Lovers quarrel and kill each other all the time.

Henry on the other hand manages to kill his wife after he obtains a legal document granting him permission to do it. And he convinces thousands of his fellow citizens that it is a good idea for their queen to be beheaded.

They all have a party. And then she is escorted to the block and they watch as a guy with a mask chops her head off. A remarkable precedent is set and as we see in the next two centuries one that is not forgotten. First the queen. Then the king.

All of this pretty much blows my mind.

Ann should have known it was time to RUN long before this fateful day. Here is a portion of a love letter Henry wrote to her years earlier. There are love letters between the two that have been saved, ironically enough, in the Vatican Library. The love smitten King of England says. . .

“No more to you at this present mine own darling for lack of time but that I would you were in my arms or I in yours for I think it long since I kissed you. Written after the killing of an hart at a xj. of the clock minding with God’s grace tomorrow mightily timely to kill another: by the hand of him which I trust shortly shall be yours.”

Henry R.

Nice. He was probably trying to tell her something.

“I love you my dear. Run like a deer! I find it necessary to kill things when I am thinking of you.”

It really is a sad tale. And a true one. I have to give Showtime credit for making history come alive in this instance. I am sure there are lots of inaccuracies but history is full of those. I give them credit for trying.

Isn’t it ironic that these two produced one of the great rulers of all time in Queen Elizabeth I.

Here is some more information about Ann Boleyn and her life.

http://englishhistory.net/tudor/monarchs/boleyn.html

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Do you enjoy history when it is brought to television? Are there any shows that you feel have been particularly well done?

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It’s midnight and I am up blogging again. I didn’t plan it this way. Beth and I took a walk earlier in the evening and wandered over to the University of Richmond. I took the Nikon and attached a very small 105 mm lens. This particular lens is supposed to be good in fading light. So we had a very nice walk. Beth looked lovely as usual and made me once again wonder why I am lucky enough to be around her every day. We strolled around a small lake as I took photos of light reflections on it. I practiced increasing the saturation level because Ron Dubin suggested I do this with my James River photo. Having several excellent photographers around to offer suggestions is one of the wonderful benefits I have discovered while blogging. It really means more to me than money.

So we took a walk and came home to watch the season finale of The Flight of the Conchords. This is the extremely funny series on HBO that I have mentioned before. Tonight the guys were surprised to find that their manager, Murray, had hired a third band member without consulting them. He plays the bongos and is very aggressive. In short order he takes over the band and suggests they bark like dogs while performing . It’s all just ridiculous and funny. I had been up since five so it was lights out and back to dreamland after the show ended.

After a couple of hours of blissful sleep I was awakened by the thought that something awful was about to happen. And it did as the muscle in my left calf doubled up into a hard knot. There is about half a second of time when this can be avoided if you stretch out the heel and prevent the muscle from pretending it is a shoelace and knotting up. Unfortunately I don’t think that quickly when I wake up.

These are the moments when I gain a very small insight into what it must be like to give birth to a child. Women readers probably disagree but in my experience it is the most painful of pains and it leaves me on the verge of letting out a yell and awakening my sleeping princess. So here I am. I can hardly walk to the bathroom. The kitchen and all of its midnight goodies are beyond my reach.

And here are some of the photos I took this evening.