Author Archives: Jessica Trapp

Another day of stumbling bumbling around London as I try to learn English. I learned that “mind the steps” means “there are an enormous amount of narrow, monumentally steep stairs and your feet will hurt when this is over.”

Have had a FANTASTIC day. Saw the British crown jewels and I’m totally inspired to wear a tiara whenever I work in the kitchen.

Also, I want one of these for the living room:

From the Medieval Gallery at the British Museum in London:

Extravagant feasts demonstrated the wealth and status of the host. The two large knives with elaborately decorated handles would have been used by a carver to slice meat to the bone. He would then offer this to his lord on the flat blades. Diners used the smaller knives with sharper points to spear food from a communal vessel. Even at grand feasts most guests came with their own dining utensils and these knives were carried in a leather sheath. In the bottom half of the sheath is the image of a toiling peasant with the French motto “J’endure” (“I keep on going”).

Castles,

and Abbeys,

and Dungeons!

Oh, my!

A friend gave me this odd appliance 24 years ago when Joe and I got married. It baffled me for years… but I finally figured out what it was for!

The Heretic’s Daughter by Jessica Trapp

CHAPTER ONE

Gripping the hilt of the dagger hidden in the folds of her velvet skirt, Lady Arabella mentally counted the steps it would take to reach Bishop Ramm’s fat neck.

Fifteen paces.
 
Just on the other side of the large stone cross that dominated the village square.  Just beyond the baker’s wife, the town bell ringer and the crowd of sweaty exhilarated peasants who had gathered to watch her father burn at the stake.