Repent or Burn

I've heard about the Great Fire for years but never had a chance to dig into it.  This book is a fine introduction.  I won't go on about it but will offer this one little scene from the procession to the gallows of the man who confessed to starting the fire (although he probably didn't do it):

"A wax effigy of the Pope, containing a number of trussed live cats, was paraded through the streets ahead of the slow procession and then set alight.  The terrible screeching of the animals as they perished in the flames served only to delight the mob further.  Shaking with terror, Hubert [the condemned man] slumped deeper into the bottom of the cart as it rumbled toward Tyburn."

The Cider Insider

A pleasant and interesting little read.  Written in 1973, and you can tell that Mr. Orton was getting on in years when he wrote it.  But it sounds like making your own cider is pretty easy, so maybe I'll give it a try!

I found this book at my in-laws on our last visit.  When I return it, I will pull out these gems for my mother-in-law's entertainment:

"[Cider making at home] is a job better for two people than for one.  I can do it, and have done it, alone in my kitchen, but it is easier with my wife helping.  It also goes faster and is more fun.  After all, one of the great and noble functions of womanhood is to stand by and hand things to men to work with."  --p.65 (emphasis added)

"It is a telling comment that old-fashioned rural women had few cookbooks but cooked far more than their contemporary descendants who, these days, collect shelves of cookbooks but have little time for cooking.  In early times, women had not succumbed to the magic lures of golf, club life, social service, and other extracurricular activities, nor had they been obliged to act as chauffeurs for their children.  They had time to cook at home." --p.74