So much to learn, so little time!

Every day I learn something new. And I'm darned glad I do. Often it's a word I didn't know. Sometimes it's a fact. I learn by listening to others and talking, but more often than not, I learn by reading.

Today I've been immersed in the new book by Elaine Showalter, A Jury of Her Peers. It is a survey of the American authors of the female persuasion who, I'm sure you will not be surprised to learn, have not been given equal time in the literary spotlight among their male counterparts.

Anne Bradstreet, the Puritan poetess, was the first woman in the Americas to be a published author. And in the testimonials the various men in her life, including Increase Mather, made certain that readers knew she had not shirked her wifely or womanly duties in order to create the poems.

Yesterday I was prompted to investigate the authorship of "Vampyre". It turned out Polidori is the author and I'd never heard of him. He'd participated in the legendary Byron "write-off" that included, among others, Mary Shelley and her grotesque literary progeny, Frankenstein.

I read a friend's WWII blog and was prompted to begin my own historical WWII blog, leading me to read several bits on the Phoenix-like rise from the ashes of WWI of the Germany that evolved into the Nazi nightmare of the Third Reich.

There's no end to where I get my learning. Whether it be books or people, prompted by my own curiosity or a question posed by another - such as my friend at work who's granddaughter had a project due on King Arthur and King George, and about whom my friend knew nothing. Including the fact that there had been numerous King Georges, from the sublime to the ridiculous. So in my research on her behalf I learned a thing or three about the Georges I - VI.

It's so very simple. All one really needs is an insatiable curiousity and the time to indulge it.

And speaking of indulging ....