And we're back!

The firewall here at the office decided that Blogspot was dangerous and wouldn't allow me to access it, which made my usual lunchtime trolling of my favorite blogs a no-go and posting from here ditto. But our IT folks have fixed the problem! Yea!

So I'm reading the Scottish history book and came across the following:

“Faith was strong and the money acquired by sees and religious houses was by no means wasted. To it we owe the beautiful buildings which, defiant alike of English destruction and reforming zeal, still witness to the achievement of generations who saw in beauty one form of holiness.” And a page or two later: "There the Flemings had their own house, the Red Hall, under whose burning timbers they all died during the brutal sack of the city by Edward I in 1296."

Mackie's prose is frequently rather dense and chewy, but in that bran muffin I keep finding cranberries - light, tart, colorful bits - like those two quotes.