Centuries sweep around him like planets' rings

Last week, the government of China quarantined the city of Yumen because a man there had died of plague.  The quarantine was lifted a day later because none of his close associates developed the disease:

in desperation you thought of beauty

As is my wont, I have been tripping over odd old things in the garden.

a rough route marked by colossal statues

It happens, occasionally, that I have to prove to someone that I did actually earn all the degrees listed on my curriculum vitae. Usually this demonstration is performed for my employer, when OPM audits the personnel files and decides they can't read my academic records.

billow through the kitchen like prayer

Most of the people I know, when you say 'pickle' to them, think of cucumbers. This is sort of unfortunate, because you can pickle almost any vegetable, and some, I think, are better pickled than fresh.

hidden somewhere long ago forgotten

I read this week of two lost things found again, one in an unlikely place, and the other just where it had been left.

The other history is silent

The Metropolitan Museum of Art has made a number of out-of-print publications available online (and free!) via their web site.

Among those that may be of interest to friends of the Belfry are these:

Each from his private bowl

No, Food52.  No.  Whatever this menu you posted is, it is not a 'medieval feast.'

When shepherds pipe on oaten straws

A little modern mediaevalism for your midweek:

Him on bearme læg mádma mænigo

I stay away from politics as a rule, but this is the best thing ever. The part that caused me to fall sideways out of my chair starts about the 3 minute mark.

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Mitt Romney's Anglo-Saxon Connection
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor & Satire Blog Video Archive

Beowulf

où dort la mélancolie

I had a goal, once, of trying to grow as many authentically mediaeval plants as possible in my garden.

for a further food I scarcely recollect to starve

You may remember that a few weeks back I was a bit het up about a 'recreation' of Emily Dickinson's coconut cake that Miss Dickinson surely would not have recognised.

I had been hungry all the years

Back at Burns Night, Charlotte commented on the fact that Americans don't celebrate their literary figures the way people in other countries do. We don't have Whitman Night parties, for instance. Nobody celebrates Moby-Dick Day (the novel was published 18 October, 1851) by reciting Ahab's last words and cutting into a whale cake.

Come with all thy shining blooms

Friday is Bloom Day, so the horticultural report for the week will be deferred until then. In the meantime, cross your fingers that the phlox will start blooming, or something else interesting will happen.

In the absence of entertaining content of my own, may I suggest the ongoing Labours of the Month series, featuring calendar pages from the British Library's Isabella Breviary, as a pleasant diversion?

George Meredith

Chipped blue china plates of black beans

A quick hit:

Was the Reconquista fueled by bean stew?

And ek a peyre of ful Boystous schoon, vppon his Feet

I know there are some mediaevalists lurking in the corners around here. And I know that they are familiar with the silly shoe of the later Middle Ages, the poulaine:

Yellow as young flame

There is, of course, more than one way to cook a quince.

In argosy transferr'd

I was going to write a single post about making quince marmalade. I have instead written enough to declare this Quince Week here at The Belfry.  If this is reasonable or not I don't know, but here we are.  Let's talk about quinces.

A feast for the eyes is a fine repast

Having bragged in the comments a few weeks ago on the nice things one can cook out of the cookery manual in Le Menagier de Paris, I thought it might be well to lend a little substance to that claim. I present therefore my version of the Menagier's l'orengue de pouchins.

"A hunger no daily bread can fill"

This just in from the BBC: Medieval diet aids healthy eating message.

Well.

very old are the brooks; and the rills that rise ...

Someone emailed me this morning with a question about the knitted hood pattern that required me to remember just what the heck I was thinking 15 years ago.