Thursday, December 29, 2016

While I tell of Yuletide Treasures...

For at least 25 years now, we have a "pre-Christmas" celebration with our close friends, the Hopkins family. Bob's birthday falls on Christmas day itself, so in some ways the pre-Christmas is more fun. We alternate years hosting the party. Aside from the good food, better company, and the traditional bottle of Moët Impérial, another feature of the event from my standpoint is that the Hopkins "get" (and share) my love of history in away that my own family, with the possible exception of my older daughter, do not. Their gifts to me are almost always books. This year, I received a veritable treasure trove from them:








This last, acquired inexpensively from a used book sale,. is perhaps my favorite. While I had read it maybe 30+ years ago, I don't own a copy. Yes, if I recall properly, it is a heavily romanticized narrative, but as a place to start that's perhaps not such a bad embarkation point.  I look forward to reading it again!


No lead for me this year; with the huge backlog of Macedonians, Canaanites, and the rest of the lead pile facing me, I will attempt to avoid buying any new figures for a least a few months into 2017. Now of course if Murasaki were to release Baden Light Dragoons and Artillery and couple that with a sale, my resolve would be worth very little, LOL! And if they ever get around to announcing a Theme for Historicon 2017, that might impact my buying as well. Yep, like Lancelot in the musical "Camelot", I'm blessed with an Iron Will. Or maybe it should be "I'll be leaving a lot of Lead in my Will", LOL! 


Myself, the Empress, and Grandson (and potential heir to the Lead Fortune), Owen.
He is certainly the greatest of our Yuletide treasures!

8 comments:

  1. Impressive selection of books, Peter! Upon which clan's tartan are the books staged? I suspect I have a "Lead" rather than "Iron" Will...

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    1. The tartan is the Holiday tartan on our dining room table at Christmas time - red, green and stripes of gold!

      Yes, Leaden Will is a common affliction among us! :-)

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  2. There's something about giving or being given books, isn't there? It sort of cements friendships, I think. Hope you have a great 2017!

    Best wishes,
    Aaron

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    1. Aaron, I think the thing about giving books is that you have know a fair amount about the person in order to have a reasonably good idea what books they might enjoy or find of interest.
      Have a great 2017 yourself!

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  3. Owen is a cutie! The Grandparents don't look proud....not at all...!

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    1. Thanks, we agree although there may be some bias involved, LOL!

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  4. A good haul Peter, and I have found Napoleon's Guns to be particularly useful.

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    1. That's good to hear re: Napoleon's Guns; I have the many decades old Almark volume by ? Michael Head, "French Napoleonic Artillery", which is very good, and has reasonable detail on the pieces, and excellent detail on the uniforms, including the various trains.

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