Art, RattleBag and Rhubarb

Images for Winter and a Winter Robin

I found this on the London Library Advent calendar. Just the perfect image for anything a little Christmassy with a touch of vintage thrown in. This robin was for day 10.   It was the perfect pic for the home-made greeting card. All of the images were interesting and here are a few more that caught my eye. Day 11:…

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Art, RattleBag and Rhubarb, WW1

Holiday Greetings from 1917

Time for some seasonal greetings from the front. The traditional Christmas message of charity, reconciliation, and peace on earth now ensured through violence and exploding Christmas puddings. These first are from Fergus Mackain – an advertising illustrator who grew up in Canada and the USA. In 1915 – leaving his wife and children – he worked his passage across the Atlantic…

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Art, RattleBag and Rhubarb, WW1

Happy New Year 1917

A few images from a century ago to wish everyone the very best for 1917. War is lurking!  This Reading (Pennsylvania) Times cartoon sees the threat of war lurking ahead. The US entered the war in April.

Art, Poetry, RattleBag and Rhubarb, WW1

1915 and The Midnight of the Nations

On Christmas Day 1915 David Lloyd George the former radical liberal,then Minister of Munitions and soon to be Prime Minister addressed a crowd of restless shop stewards and trade unionists in St. Andrew’s Hall, Glasgow. He was there to try and forestall strikes in an area where labor relations were contentious and complicated. He also needed to make the case…

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Education, RattleBag and Rhubarb

Light Blue Touch-Paper

Growing up in the UK in a certain era meant that you got to play with fireworks. I have no issue with the safety restrictions now in place but I am glad they came after my time. All the weeks running up to November 5th in my childhood meant collecting the wood to build the bonfire and steadily accumulating the…

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RattleBag and Rhubarb, WW1

The Christmas Truce: “A Day of Perfect Peace”

This well outfitted German trench has a lighted Christmas tree and soldiers celebrating with music and sausages! It’s true – there was a truce in parts of the line along the western front in 1914. The official diarist of the 3rd Battalion Rifle Brigade reported: “Christmas in the trenches will always be remembered by the Battalion as a day of…

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