Virginia Is For Families

Henry has returned in time for Easter and the season of rebirth. Where have you been Big Guy? I was just starting to feel better seeing the blossoms on the trees and listening to the birds sing.
Anne Boleyn is gone after telling the crowd at her beheading to pray for the King ” for a gentler and more merciful prince there never was . . . “

I’ve added Will Durant’s commentary here in a few places. And according to Mr. Durant she did say these words as she went to meet her executioner. Jane Seymour is waiting in the wings and she is “no special beauty, but she impressed all with her intelligence, kindness, even modesty”.

Henry seems to like her but he is soon up to his old tricks. He tells her to stay out of politics in his charming way (Remember what happened to Anne?) and gives her dark looks when she hasn’t produced an heir at the first opportunity.

She seems to take it in stride. I wonder how she will react when Henry starts culling the population out in the countryside? Because his Reformation is less and less popular the further you get from the big cities. London and Edinburgh are more concerned with the future prices of cattle and mirrors. But the people who farm and raise those cattle are very disturbed. They begin to revolt in short order.

Were they not paying attention when Henry had his wife and the mother of his child executed? He does not hesitate here and soon the country is at war with itself.

Henry is not happy with Thomas Cromwell either. His heavy handed minister manages to become the most unpopular person in the kingdom and eventually has his head handed to him. Much bloodshed could have been averted if he had not enraged the peasants with his policies.

I enjoyed the moment last night when Henry smacks Cromwell in the back of the head. But this was as close to comedy and The Three Stooges as we will ever get here. There is nothing funny about the reign of terror that found its way into England when Henry was King.

Durant seems to feel, however, that the groundwork was laid at this time for the much happier reign of Queen Elizabeth. Henry built “the first permanent royal navy” with some of the funds he stole from the Church. It cleared out the pirates and defended the country when Spain attacked years later. He modernized the army. He knew how to fight his enemies!

And you didn’t want to become one of those whether you were a foreign leader, a wife or a daughter. “To his friends, however, he remained kind and generous, jovially amiable, and capable of winning affection and devotion”.

Anne Boleyn referred to these qualities as she died.

He was a very contradictory fellow and Showtime does a good job of showing both sides of this leader whose mind was “keen” and judgement of men “penetrating”.

It also shows him suffering from an incurable ulcer in his leg. Also he had “syphilis, never quite cured”.

Henry is older in this third season of the Tutors. He has settled down a bit and his looks are fading. He is in constant pain and lives in the cauldron of fear that is his own creation.

One can only thank our many ancestors who managed to wrestle power away from the autocratic personality and give us a chance to enjoy the better world we have today.

Long live the King! But first let’s talk about a few changes.

Will Durant
The Story of Civilization Volume Six
The Reformation

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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Today the weather turned hot and humid so I guess play time is over. We had a nice run but now it’s time for some real Virginia weather. I came home and made a drink. The flipped the switch on the AC unit recently installed and sat down to see what was happening here.

I have more time now to go out and read blogs and meet people. My blogs are running (more or less) and it really is fun and interesting to meet other bloggers. Robin Easton is a jewel. And Evita of Evolving Wellness is another very special person. I read her posts and the hair on my neck starts to tingle.

What?!!

Oh no. That’s a good thing actually. It’s not something that my wife minds because it’s a thought process more than anything else based on my fascination with the sincerity and single mindedness of her approach to health and our wellbeing.

So I was reading her post about alcohol and the fact that it is poison while I was enjoying my rum and coke. The big old rum bottle was sitting there. Empty. And I had planned to go out and get another one.

But then I decided not too. I need all my remaining brain cells.

Pretty desperately in fact at this point.

And then Robin and I were talking about fear and dying. I think we agreed that being dead is not really a problem. Because after all we can fly when we are in our spirit bodies. And we all want to do that.

I mean if we could buy tickets to do it there would be long lines out to the sidewalk every day.

Not to die but just to fly. And then we were talking about the hard part actually being PAIN. I fear pain. And I was watching Henry last night on Showtime (The Tudors) go ballistic and start torturing all these poor guys who had done nothing.

Because he thought they had slept with Ann. And by the time he got done with them they all said “Well yes. I did sleep with her” even though they hadn’t. Because you know you will say anything if someone tortures you.

They wouldn’t even have to torture me. I would be like “Please just let me know what you think I did. I’m pretty sure I did it. Just remind me if you would about the details. I’m a little forgetful”.

Torture is so stupid. You want the truth? Forget it. You want someone to agree with you. NO PROBLEM.

They put the poor fiddle player on the rack and pulled him apart. I was very upset even though I know he is an actor and can hit that high C note without being stretched if he wants to do it.

I couldn’t sleep. I’m still upset about it. How can one human being do these things to another human being?

“I was just doing my job mister. I work here in the Tower of London. I’ve got five kids at home to feed. And I just turn the wheel. Somebody else brings em in here. Maybe they should have not gotten themselves in trouble”.

Please. I need to stop watching television. Putting torture on tv is worse than letting naked men and women have at it. And what it says about the human race is much worse.

My eyes cracked open at the crack of dawn today. And I wobbled over to the window and looked out through more cracks in the blinds and the spaces between the leaves outside. And I was happy to see. . . COLOR!

That’s right sports fans. There was a little bit of pink or light red in the sky and this is a very good sign.

Because it means that in about thirty minutes if your intrepid photo guy can put on his pants and find his way down to the James River we may end up with something like this to show you before 8 am.

I even had time to go to Starbucks for a coffee and blueberry scone before heading down to the Pony Pasture to see all my winged friends. Because I have done this before and kind of know what I am doing now.

This is why you need a nice camera dude! What did you see last night on television that can compare with this?

The Tudors? Well, alright. You have a point. But you can record that sucker and go to bed. Or you can sleep less and do both. But in any case you need to be out there when the sun comes up.

Because this is when the magic happens.

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Here is a larger view on Blogger

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In this photo we can see the reflection of the sun as it peaks over the hill on the scales of this large fish. The Osprey is having him over for breakfast.

Who says birds are not hospitable?

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