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All About Castles Series
July 02 Bugatti Rises Again ! !  In recent news a rare 1937 Bugatti sports car, which would hardly be recognized as such in today's high tech world, was unearthed by relatives of a wealthy English doctor by the name of Harold Carr. One wonders if he was once a member of the Bugatti Owners Club of England which publishes "Bugantics". This classic Type 57S Atalante is only one of seventeen such cars so you can imagine the amount of money it was auctioned for- in February they were quoting $4 million!
Bugatti has a prodigious name in the world of automobiles. In consulting the book that my father let me borrow, "The Golden Age of the American Racing Car" by Griffith Borgeson, the Bugatti 'twin straight eight' was manufactured at Bara of Levallois (near Paris) in the first decade of the 20th century. Later, Duesenberg of New Jersey was manufacturing a 16-cylinder version by 1919. Ettore Bugatti may have been a catalyst but certainly not the father of the idea which of course was taken to fruition in Henry Ford's and Frederick Duesenberg's in-line eights. They were certainly influenced by this refinement of his straight eight which was used again in his design of aircraft engines consisting of two straight eights with two crankshafts on a single crankcase.
He built the prototype for the twin eight at his factory at Strasbourg in Alsace, which was German territory at that time. It was intended to run well from four advantages which were listed in an essay written by E.W. Sisman in The Automobile Engineer in July of 1927. These four points were:
1. High ratio of mean to maximum torque.
2. The reciprocating parts are in both primary and secondary balance.
3. More efficient cooling than an engine with a lesser number of cylinders for a given piston displacement.
4. Decreased stresses in the working parts for a given piston displacement and a given speed.
His twin eight features were three vertical valves per cylinder and a shaft-and-bevel driven SOHC for each of the two vertical, parallel banks. The two crankshafts were geared together and the propeller hub doubled as a cannon which spat buckshot through its 1.46-inch bore, an idea rented from Hispano-Suiza ! He relocated his factory to Paris taking his engine with him and his old friend W.F. Bradley were in constant dialogue which eventually made it possible for Bugatti to present it to the technical committee of the Bolling Mission. One of the Mission's main assembly and training bases was where Orly Airport now stands, on the southern outskirts of Paris.
In the 1923 Indy 500, one of the most interestingly contested of all races at the Brickyard, Bugatti's contribution was five mechanical jewels, all modified Type 30s driven by Louis Zborowski, Pierre de Vizcaya, Prince de Cystria, M. Alzaga and Raoul Riganti and Lieutenant Retired Colonel George Robertson as team manager. A group of wealthy amateurs who nonetheless ran extremely well, keeping positions among the top contenders. All of the straight eight Bugattis were equipped with hydraulic brakes at the front and cable-operated brakes at the rear. The two-liter engines were new to the U.S. but had been adopted in Europe a year before which gave them a distinct advantage.
Bugatti's result was ninth, thanks to the consistent driving of novice Prince de Cystria but most of the cars ate up their connecting-rod roller bearings and left the race one by one. The race apparently was plagued by many unforeseen mechanical errors. Tommy Milton in his H.C.S. (stands for Harry C. Stutz) special won that year. This won over the Miller 183 which was considered a synthesis of all the most advanced ideas at that point and was originally Harry's car.
By the time of 1927 when Frank "King of the Dirt Tracks" Lockhart was established as one of the greatest racing drivers in the world, breaking LSRs (land speed records) everywhere, an original idea of his was to use Miller 91 and Milton's LSR Duesenberg to new heights by placing some of his engineering thoughts toward aerodynamics. Interestingly, he produced drawings of the sixteen cylinder Bugatti aircraft engine to show how a pair of straight eights could be joined in a very compact manner by integrating them into a common crankcase.
Lockhart's name may never be eradicated from the books even though his life literally came to a crashing halt in 1928 clocked by the AAA at 198.29 mph. This achieved the American National Class D record for the flying mile! His legacy lives on in his two 91s which remained virtually unbeatable until the end of the formula. A few short years later Leon Duray on the strength of breaking another of Lockhart's records the next year at 124.7 ( a record which stood until 1937) showed up to compete in the Monza Grand Prix and promote the new Cord car and its "front-drive" which was based on Miller patents.
Accompanied by Jean Marcenac he was welcomed to Europe by W.F. Bradley and attacked the absolute closed-circuit record on the Montlhe'ry track near Paris. Its track was only half the circumference of the Packard track but he raised the five-mile record to 139.22 and the ten-mile record to 135.33 mph. This was with Europe in force of a no-limit formula. A Paris Match journalist wrote:
'We have no French cars of similar displacement capable of rivaling the speed of these Millers.' These words enraged Ettore Bugatti who approached him a month later at the Grand Prix at Monza. He exchanged the two Millers for cash and three new Bugatti 2.3 liter supercharged Targa Florio models. Duray sold the Targa Florio models in Hollywood and Bugatti took the Millers to Molsheim, copied their engines' top-end layout and introduced it on his Type 50. This was the point at which the SOHC gave way to Bugatti's DOHC.
Hence, the recently discovered 57S Atalante has an intrinsic value on reputation alone. This particular model found in Mr. Carr's garage had been driven up until 1960 and left un-driven all these years. Its original ownership traces back to Earl Howe, the first president of the British Racing Drivers' Club who had first fired up its 26S turbine upon sale to him in 1937 from Sorel. Bonham's proclaimed last February, "This is a true supercar with impeccable credentials ready to be displayed again on the world stage."
All Rights Reserved
Evelyn M. Wallace
7/2/09
This may not be reproduced in whole or in part without written permission of the author.
The Castle Lady with superkisses for the world !  June 29 Twenty-six Years Later... Last Thursday I received one of the biggest shocks of my life when I read on the internet that Michael Jackson had just been declared deceased. Perhaps everyone is as shocked as I am but I immediately stopped what I was doing and Binged him only to find that all the garbage that had been written about him for the past ten years or so was up on the top pages ready to assault my sensibilities and better nature. It was only the next day that I started to see any thing about his legacy and contribution to the music world and how people were mourning him and celebrating him as well. That night I watched BBC News on TV just to see the vigil outside the hospital he'd been taken to earlier that day inundated with people singing his songs, carrying candles and there were even merchandisers trying to sell quickly made up T-shirts.
I think of Michael Jackson as a part of my personal music landscape as much as any other great artist and many people don't know how well-rounded he was as a musician and dance artist. He's legendary and yet unknown to the populace today because they don't seem to regard any history whether cultural, religious, political etc.
Back in December of 2007 Michael gave a set of interviews to Ebony Magazine regarding his past and his future. At that point, his compilation HIStory had sold 104 million copies- a set of CDs I have listened to, often, for many years now. I want to share some of those words (many in his own words) with you in this entry so that everyone can understand what his impact was and to dispel all the garbage written and said about him regarding his personal life. These are only direct quotes or text from the two articles that appeared in that issue and are meant to discredit many pieces of misinformation and out-and-out lies written about him on the internet and tabloids.
Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you, the real Michael Joseph Jackson:
 (The following content is partial but unaltered. Key points and Michael's own words are underlined.)
In his first U.S. Magazine interview and cover story in a decade, the King of Pop sat down in the N.Y.C. hotel suite and offered a rare look into the life of an icon. The grown up father of three reveals a confident, controlled and mature man who has a lot of creativity left inside him. The commander of a multimillion-dollar empire and arguably the single-most talented entertainer of a generation has not spoken publicly since his 2005 trial and acquittal. But today, he reflects on Thriller and the struggle that put him on the world stage, and wonders aloud, where did the time go?
(This is his seventh solo Ebony cover; he also had five Ebony covers with his brothers as a member of the Jackson 5, the first one in 1970.)
Thriller debuted on November 30, 1982 when the Dow Jones Industrial Average hit a record high of 1,065.49...shattered nearly every industry record on the planet.
An international star since he was 6 years old. While most kids were watching Scooby-Doo, Michael was choreographing the patented stage moves for himself and his brothers, the Jackson 5.
"In some ways, Michael was like a child. And in some ways, he was very sophisticated," remembers Walter Yetnikoff, then head of CBS records. "He was a very smart businessman, would read contracts as good as lawyers could. But in some ways, back then, he was like a baby."
"I used to not even look at people when they were talking to me."
His musical genius and influence still dominate the music world, 25 years after Thriller came out and went on to become the best-selling album of all time- selling more than 104 million copies worldwide, 54 million copies in the U.S. , and spawning no less than seven Top 10 hits and two No. 1 singles.
With nearly a dozen solo albums, and more than a dozen #1 singles, 13 Grammys and more than 750 million records sold worldwide in his career to date, Michael is humble about and proud of his influence on music history and the current music scene.
"I always want to do music that influences and inspires each generation," he says, "Let's face it, who wants mortality? You want what you create to live, and I give my all in my work because I want it to live."
"...magic has to happen. .. It's science."
"That is why to escape death, I attempt to bind my soul to my work... that's how I feel. I give my all to my work. I want it to just live."
In 1983 Jackson shattered an unwritten color barrier on MTV.
"They came right out and said it- they wouldn't play my music. It broke my heart," Jackson says now.
Les Garland, co-founder and originator of MTV, VH1 and The Box told Jet in 2006 that the story was a "myth". There was never any hesitation. No fret. I called Bob [Pittman] to tell him, 'I just saw the greatest video I've ever seen in my life [Billie Jean]. It is off the dial it's so good' .
He [Bob Pittman] added it that day.
"The reality of it was that Michael and MTV rode each other to glory," says [Quincy] Jones. "The 80s were ours."
"If only they could give this stuff some more entertainment value, more story, a little more dance, I'm sure people would love it more."... "So that's when I started to experiment with Thriller, The Way You Make Me Feel, Bad and Smooth Criminal and directing and writing."
Yetnikoff estimates the album (Thriller) was responsible for more than $500 million to $1 billion for the company. "At one point, we were selling about a million records a week!" Yetnikoff says that Michael and Thriller made his own career, too. "I owe this guy," he says. "HE may think he owes me, but it is pretty clear that I owe him." [when asked about today's music Yetnikoff said] " I don’t think people are being as experimental and innovative enough."
Jackson is a product of diverse creative forces, from Bach to Bo Diddley.
"Classical music, in truth, is really my real first love," Jackson reveals, and then adds "that, and real Southern 'gutbucket', as my uncle calls it; you feel it in your backbone."
For him it's all about the melody and he does a rough "template" of all his songs.
"Getting the character of the riff like you want it takes a lot of work and a lot of time."
"...sometimes you feel like something's coming, a gestation, almost like a pregnancy or something. You get emotional, and you start to feel something gestating and, magic, there it is! It 's an explosion of something that's so beautiful, you go , WOW! There it is. That's how it works through you. It's a beautiful thing. It's a universe of where you can go, with those 12 notes..."
"I'll go to the next step if it sounds good in my head."
" I direct and edit everything I do."
 "Smelly [ a nickname Quincy Jones gave to Jackson], let the song talk to you. If a song needs strings, it will tell you. Get out of the way and leave room so that God can walk in."
"...you couldn't get me to swear. So I would say, 'That's a "smelly" song' That would mean, 'It's so great' that you're engrossed in it. So he would call me "Smelly.' "
"I get on my knees and say thank you. Thank you, Jehovah."
(On the Music Industry)
"The industry is at a crossroads. ... I think the internet kind of threw everybody for a real loop... The whole world is at their fingertips, on their lap. Anything they want to know, anyone they want to communicate with, any music, any movies... There's not a real musical revolution going on right now, either.... before Thriller,... people were not buying music."
" Some of the most ingenious ideas come from everyday people."
"It takes years to become a great entertainer."
"I got to see Songs in the Key of Life get made."
(His world view)
"I'm very concerned about global warming. That's what I was trying to do with Earth Song."
(About media and the tabloids)
"I don't pay attention to that. In my opinion, it's ignorance. Every neighborhood has the guy who you don't see, so you gossip about him. I'm just about wanting to do wonderful music.
(About his talent)
"...a little child...backstage...looked at me, and he said, "Who taught you to move like that?' [Laughter] ...I said, "I guess God...and rehearsal.'"
On August 29 of next year (meaning 2008, Evelyn's note) Michael Jackson will be 50. He admits that, while still in excellent shape- he doesn't have any special diet and rarely works out ( ? ) and more creative than ever, he is a different man than he was at twenty-four.
" I always had this tug at the back of my head, the things I wanted to do, to raise children, have children. I'm enjoying it very much."
 He seems to have a great sense of self-control but like any great star he's like an enigma to many people. But underneath all of that he is devoted to [his family]. In all that he's a Jackson.
Will Michael Jackson still be moonwalking at 80 ? No, he says, sternly. He doesn't want to grow old doing concert after concert, (!) flying from mega stadium to the next. He just doesn't want to go out like that.
"Not the way James Brown did or Jackie Wilson did," he says. "They just kept going, running, killing themselves. In my opinion, I wish [Brown] could have slowed down and relaxed and enjoyed his hard work."
Michael has other plans for his next 25 years.
"More in film, not on stage. I see myself more productive in film, and directing, and directing myself in film. Not so much [on stage] all over the world. Because [on stage] you're not capturing anything-it's fleeting. A concert is the most fleeting thing in the world. It's excellent to look at, but you can't capture it. With film you stop time."
For Michael Jackson time has never stopped. ( ? ) With each year, each challenge, each child and each success, he grows a little bit wiser.
Michael Jackson has met the man in the mirror and he likes him.
 This entry contains excerpts from two articles
one by Joy T. Bennet & also Bryan Monroe for Ebony Magazine
I just can't stop loving you... The Castle Lady
 There are two ways to slice easily through life;
to believe everything or to doubt everything.
Both ways save us from thinking.
-Alfred Korzybski (Polish-American linguist) 1879-1950
 The ChildrenJune 27 What I Did for Twenty Years... Have you been looking for me lately ?  Today I'm redirecting traffic to
http://ilovecastles.blogspot.com/2009/06/what-i-did-for-twenty-years-part-one.html
entry for an explanatory entry on yours truly !
That's right, I'm actually going to tell you something about myself and
where I've been all your life !
 Let's go !
The Castle Lady putting her life online- just for you- with love !
 June 25 Being Alive I first heard this song on a Barbara Streisand CD which is the last Broadway album she made. It really resonates for me ~ in more ways than one. I'm dedicating this to Doug Taylor who is a great and intuitive friend. These extremes remind us of what we all are
and should be while we can; alive !
- The Castle Lady
 Somebody hold me too close,
Somebody hurt me too deep,
Somebody sit in my chair, and ruin my sleep,
And make me aware of being alive.
Somebody need me too much,
Somebody know me too well,
Somebody pull me up short, and put me through hell,
And give me support for being alive.
Make me alive, make me alive,
Make me confused, mock me with praise,
let me be used, vary my days.
But alone is alone, not alive.
Somebody crowd me with love,
Somebody force me to care,
Somebody make me come through--
I'll always be there,
as frightened as you--
To help us survive being alive
 Stephen Sondheim
Live kisses from The Castle Lady !
  My condolences to Prince Michael, Michael J. III and Paris Jackson on the death of Michael, their father.
He was a great talent and a fine human being and he will be missed.
Further, my thoughts also go the way of Ryan O'Neal and her son Red on the loss of Farrah.
It's so sad to lose a beauty like that- ever.
May the angels blush in her presence.
 
June 21 Laugh a Little, Smile a Little, Live a Little...Now that we're at the threshold of
 it's time to get some serious action going..
 or not so serious ! Are you serious ? ! ?
 Maybe he just wants to cool off !
 How about those crazy kids ? Huh ?
   Well, I like to have fun just as much as anybody else but I have to admit I've had a difficult time seeing the humor in getting hurt, killed or blown away. Call me crazy will you? I don't need one of these
 to make zany little voices.... I've got a plethora of those ready for the next personality change coming up any minute now. While we wait. Any minute now. Hmmm.
Well, there's so much we can get accomplished during this little break in the action. We could go fly a kite and watch it get stuck in a tree because March winds are over with. Perhaps we should go find a nice pool?
My own personal goal is to head off for a convention in NYC this year. August should be good. Everybody will be on vacation and I'll practically have the city to myself just like in 1986 and 1989 ! Sure...
I know I won't end up with a sunburn on the roof of my mouth like these two probably will...
  Still glum?
   One word. Delete. Delete. Delete.
The true path to happiness and enlightenment !
Have a great summer !
 The Castle Lady !
 Stay kissed ! June 18 Tears of Joy Last week on Sunday afternoon in Denver, it started out sunny like usual when all of the sudden our weather drastically changed from sunny to gloomy and it started to rain and then hail only seconds later. It sounded like we were really in for a typical early June hailstorm but strangely more sudden than any early hailstorm I have in memory. I was concerned about our grape vines and so Mom and I started praying for it not to hail. We kept praying until it quit about four or five minutes later. A little later on when my Mom decided to have a seat and watch the Tony Awards there was a weather newscast that five different tornados touched down just outside Denver and were making their way into Denver. Later on, they talked about the devastation in the outer lying areas but they never did say why everyone of the five tornados suddenly decided to head east and skip Denver. Guess we'll never know, huh ?
 There are times when all you can do is just stand back in awe....
The vault of heaven, full of soft, shining stars, stretched vast and fathomless above him.
The Milky Way ran in two pale streams from the zenith to the horizon...
The silence of the earth seemed to melt into the silence of the heavens,
The mystery of the earth was one with the mystery of the stars...
Alyosha stood, gazed and suddenly threw himself down on the earth.
He did not know why he embraced it... but he kissed it weeping,
sobbing and watering it with his tears,
And vowed passionately to love it, to love it forever and ever.
" Water the earth with tears of joy and love those tears," echoed in his soul.
Oh! in his rapture he was weeping even over those stars,
which were shining to him from the abyss of space,
and "he was not ashamed of that ecstasy."
There seemed to be threads from all those innumerable worlds of God,
linking his soul to them,
and it was trembling all over in contact with other worlds."
He longed to forgive everyone for everything, and to beg forgiveness.
Oh, not for himself, but for all men, for all and for everything.
"And others are praying for me, too," echoed again in his soul.
But with every instant, he felt clearly and, as it were, tangibly,
that something firm and unshakeable as that vault of heaven had entered into his soul.
It was as though some idea had seized the sovereignty of his mind-
and it was for all his life and forever and ever.
He had fallen on the earth a weak boy, but he rose up a resolute champion,
and he knew and felt it suddenly at the moment of his ecstasy.
And never, never, all his life long, could Alyosha forget that minute.
Fyodor Dostoyevsky
from "The Brothers Karamozov"
The Castle Lady could never forget...  June 15 From Russia- With Love ! Just recently a good friend of mine on Live Spaces put up a blog entry from an e-mail that we apparently both received. In it, an article written by an alleged journalist of the Pravda wrote a scathingly sardonic indictment on how the American public have been duped into adopting a Marxist society merely by voting a certain person into office. The portrayal of Americans in it is typically deprecating and I will admit that there is a certain element in Russia who are still coming from this old Bolshevik way of thinking.
The truth, though is that they are in a minority. I have two very good friends in Russia and Belarus. One is still communist who I have known since we were teenagers and the other is a born again Christian who I have been acquainted with for half a decade. They are both the loveliest people I have ever come to know. Dimitry was kind enough to translate the following for me.
I found this on a Russian youth's Live Space, as well. You can find it at http://jack-nikitin.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!D884B5760025057B!814.entry but you won't be able to read it unless you're really good with Russian. I think it tells us the truth in the words of the people and not some questionable journalist trying to make a name for himself by creating a controversy where one doesn't exist:
 April 7, 2009 What is the reason why the world does not like Russians?
A week ago D. Medvedev had a chance to explore his most recent thoughts and came up
with the question: What is the world's relationship with Russia in general? There were
leaders of G20 and Obama also. Vlast (Authority) inquired of his readers some thoughts on
this issue:
1. Dmitry Rogozin: Russian Federation representative in NATO: on his observation there is much less to love about Russians than those who called themselves Soviets. A word "soviet" has a much more positive ring to western Europe and USA than "Russia".
.
2. Michail Margelov ( head of the International Affairs Committee): In many cases it depends on how do we behave ourselves while abroad. If we are like Europeans then we command much more love and respect.
.
3. Pavel Bure (Hockey Player) They do not love us but they do respect us. The latter is much more important than the former. Russia is a strong country and the whole world has to defer to our opinion. At the same time I find that most of the Americans expect a reconnection of our relationship.
4. Georg Boos (Kaliningrad regional governor ) The Russians are fond of many ordinary people but there is a great deal of respect in regard to our politicians and businessmen. Russia is a strong country and we are ourselves good competitors concerning western Europe. That is the reason why they do not want our products to be presented to the European markets.
 5. Borislav Miloshevich (Ambassador of Yugoslavia in Russian Federation from 1998-2001) New Russians are not in high honor and these are very primitive and even wild people but you cannot judge in regard to all Russians because of this example. I love other Russians, woman in particular and sincerely care about them.
 6. Leonid Zamyatin (USSR Ambassador for the UK from 1986-1992) Why do they have to like Russians? They have to respect us. During the cold war the whole world was afraid because of the nuclear warhead threat. Now it is all scrap metal.
7. Andrei Kazyrev (Head of the Board of Directors of InvesttorgBank, minsitry of International Affaires of Russia from 1990-1996) They do love us and we don't even need to discuss that issue. The Russian artists sell for huge amounts of money. Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Nabokov, Bunin, Gagarin are still very important in the art world.
8. Nikas Safronov (Artist ) I am welcomed everywhere but there is a rumor in the West that Russia is the biggest black market dealer. For instance, Americans relate to Russians largely through skepticism and suspicion.
 9. Dmitry Bilan (Pop-singer) It occurs in many different ways. We are not well understood in the US for the most part but in the last five years an attitude towards Russians has changed and there is a mistaken impression that life in Russia is very good.
10. Vitaly Klichko (Boxer) I have traveled to quite a few countries now and have not noticed a negative attitude to Russians. In the larger civilized countries hatred and fighting seems to not exist. I believe that sports help us overcome these differences, anyway.
The Castle Lady says :
June 10 In His Image It says in Exodus 33:20 "But He said, "You cannot see My face; for no man shall see me, and live." And the Lord said, "Here is a place by me, and you shall stand on the rock. So it shall be, while My glory passes by, that I will put you in the cleft of the rock, and will cover you with My hand while I pass by. Then I will take away My hand, and you shall see My back; but My face shall not be seen." This is later repeated in the New Testament in John 1:18 when John the Baptist attempted to expound on the relationship between Jesus, the Son of God and God the Father.
 By these two scriptures, even though they are mentioned for widely differing reasons, we can easily conclude that the glory of God's presence is powerful. I cannot emphasize that enough but this is not the point of what I will tell you today, exactly. This is about you and your perception of God which creates your perception of yourself. This is regardless of the fact of whether you are an atheist, agnostic or a believer.
I have observed most recently that people are alike enough to be kept humble in most respects but differentiate enough to be celebrated for our unique capabilities and attributes. This is most easily forgotten when we start to compare ourselves to others. This only leads to disappointment, of course, when we could know better merely by turning off this kind of noise and simply listen to what God has to say about us and who we are- especially in Him. God is our Creator and He knows how you work even if you have long forgotten. Some people have never known themselves this well. That is a sadness all its own.
 Our perception of God is colored by how we perceive ourselves. In our attempt to know Him without using His Word as a guide we fall into sin and outright rebellion. False religions use this basis and there are so many people who, without realizing it on a conscious level, become their own god. It is backwards- and so is sin. The identification of our genuine selves is to be found in the one who created us and not a person we consciously try to create. A creation of a self can only be false and requires the wearing of a special kind of mask. It only means you have to shed lies in order to get to the truth.
It is therefore important to keep in mind that we were created in His image according to Genesis 1:26 and 27 and that we can expect to be our genuine selves if we follow God's precepts rather than our own. I believe the Lord speaks to everyone but not everyone has opened their ears to receive what He has to say about us and the world to which we relate ourselves. It is even more difficult to receive if we do not believe in Him at all.
Can we get real here for just a minute ? I have no intention of intellectualizing the gospel. The gospel is simple enough that any man at any level of life can understand and accept salvation which was offered to us in place of facing the consequences of sin- which is death according to the Bible.
 One of my favorite jokes is thus:
Found on a graffiti wall at St. John's University, Collegeville, Minnesota:
Jesus said unto them:
"Who do you say that I am ?"
And they replied:
"You are the eschatological manifestation of the ground of our being, the kerygma in which we find the ultimate meaning of our interpersonal relationship."
And Jesus said:
"What?"
It doesn't make any sense to continue to overanalyze what is right in front of us. Take off the spiritual make-up, brush your over-righteous hair straight and put on your comfy clothes of joy. That is where you will meet up with the Living God. The one who hears you when you are crying alone. The one who knows how many hairs are still left on your head.
The God who wishes to speak a unique language to each and every person so that they will finally and completely know how much He loves us and wants to be a part of our lives. Open up your heart today and say to Him, "Hey God ! What do you think of all this?" You might be surprised at what he has to say.
"He who began a good work in you will perfect it"... Philippians 1:6
The Castle Lady with perfect kisses for your l'il ole heart!
 Quote of the day:
It matters not if the world has heard or approves or understands...
The only applause we're meant to seek is that of nail-scarred hands.
-B.J. Hoff
June 08 O Glad, Exulting, Culminating Song ! A vigor more than earth's is in thy notes...
A reborn race appears- a perfect world, all joy !
Women and men in wisdom, innocence and health- all joy !
Riotous laughing bacchanals fill'd with joy !
War, sorrow, suffering gone-
the rank earth purged- nothing but joy left !
The ocean fill'd with joy- the atmosphere all joy !
Joy ! joy in freedom, worship, love !
Joy in the ecstasy of life !
Enough to merely be ! enough to breathe !
Joy! Joy ! all over joy !
Walt Whitman
 Summer's here ! The Castle Lady  May 31 Laugharne Castle Under the mile off moon we trembled listening...
To the sea sound flowing like blood from the loud wound  And when the salt sheet broke in a storm of singing The voices of all the drowned swam on the wind. - from Lie still, sleep becalmed by Dylan Thomas
On foreshore, nine miles southwest of Carmarthen in Wales, you'll find a low cliff that hangs just above the little town of Talacharn with a ruined castle just below and hidden from sea invaders, known locally by the name Laugharne Castle. Talacharn is the sleepy village which was immortalized by Dylan Thomas in his poetic play"Under Milk Wood" and it still carries all the charm and wonder he invoked in the writing he undertook there- especially when he couldn't help but instill quite a bit of the town and the castle directly in his words. The above partial of "Lie still, sleep becalmed" is only one such example. Owing to the fact that he was buried here at St. Martin's Churchyard after he died and his wife right next to him forty-one years later, I would tend to believe that he lies in the earth of his true muse: Talacharn and her magnificent castle originally called Abercorram ( Aber= River mouth) due to its proximity to the Coran stream ( flows just beneath the western wall of the castle ), a tributary to the estuary Taf which empties into Carmarthen Bay.
 Laugharne, along with the castles Llansteffan and Kidwelly, formed a girdle of coastal defenses with Laugharne on the west side, Kidwelly on the east and Llansteffan defending the middle upper portion of the Taf. These are three of the many fortresses controlling the ancient road along the south Wales coastline. Other remains of castles in the immediate area exist a little further inland such as St Clears, Paxton's Tower, Dryslwyn and Roche but the true might of defense existed in the first three with Laugharne getting the worst of it with sieges during the 13th century by the Welsh and those considered invaders, by turns.
These three castles were originally early 12th century earth and timber ringwork fortresses with Laugharne being founded by Robert Courtemain. Archaeological excavations have shown that the headland which the castle rests close to was once a ploughed field which would associate it with prehistoric and a possible Roman settlement on the hillside to the north of the current castle. The earliest written reference to Laugharne is an entry in 1116 of the Brut y Tywysogyon ( The Chronicle of the Princes) which names Bleddyn ap Cedifor to be entrusted with "the castle of Robert Courtemain, which was at Abercorram". According to further records in the Brut, by 1189 and upon the death of King Henry the 2nd, "Lord Rhys (Prince of Deheubarth) gained possession of the castle of St Clears, Abercorram and Llansteffan." By 1215, the same triplex were destroyed by Llywelyn ap Iorwerth (the Great), with the support of the Welsh princes, between their destruction of Carmarthen and their siege of Cardigan. Yet again in 1257 Laugharne and Llansteffan were taken and destroyed and by that date the Guy de Brians were in possession of it. The de Brian legacy went on from mid 13th century until the end of the 14th century and much building and rebuilding in stone created a strong and high standard fortification. Laugharne was listed as defensible in 1403.
 After the death of Guy de Brian the 7th in 1390 the inheritance fell into a dispute which lasted almost a century! It was finally settled in 1488 when possession passed into the hands of the fourth Earl of Northumberland, Henry Percy who most likely did very little with the property. By 1575, when Queen Elizabeth granted the castle to one of Henry the 8th's sons, Sir John Perrot, the castle was in a terrible ruinous state and Sir John decided to update it by converting it into a Tudor mansion. Carew Castle was also a part of his earlier inheritance and his improvements there remain a wonderful example of his achievements in architecture. A few years later he was convicted of high treason and died while imprisoned at the Tower of London. Much of his interior work was removed along with anything of value taken and then further damage ensued during the Civil War.
Parliamentary forces under the direction of Major General Rowland Laugharne attacked in 1644 and the use of cannon wrecked the appearance of it. Much later cannonballs were found embedded in the walls ! After the Royalist garrison of the castle surrendered it was additionally slighted so that use of it would be impossible, as was done with many such castles.
The medieval remains consist of an early round keep and round towers which were built later in the 13th century and the outer gatehouse which was most likely built at or near the end of the 13th century and was the work of the de Brians. When you visit the site you'll note that much of the rebuild was done in a distinctive green stone for which Guy de Brian the 7th was responsible. Prior to this, the castle had been built in red sandstone which makes it very easy to see what portions were originally built and what was rebuilt later and at a much greater height. (This is a rarity among castles since rebuilding is often done from stone taken from the same local quarry.) Most of the older masonry can be viewed on the southwest tower along with the adjoining curtain wall.
Sir John Perrot completely remodeled the old hall and added battlements to its curtain wall. He built more Tudor structures along the south and east of the inner courtyard and took out the north curtain wall replacing with a large rectangular accommodation block.. The upper floors were made accessible by a projecting semicircular stair tower and the inner gatehouse was heightened considerably. Lastly he laid out gardens in the outer ward. His obvious intent was to create a more habitable residence than it had ever been.
 During the entirety of the 18th century it was left simply as romantic ruins but by the 19th century Laugharne was turned into formal gardens. The garden with a box-edged parterre features mostly Victorian varieties of Roses along with shrubbery and lawns. A gazebo which overlooks the Taf Estuary was built some time during the first half of the 20th century and attracted writers such as Richard Hughes and Dylan Thomas and famous artists like J.M.W. Turner and Sam and Nat Buck in 1795. This is a fitting tribute to the grounds considering that the county of Carmarthenshire is referred to as The Garden of Wales.
To find Laugharne from Carmarthen take A40 towards Haverfordwest. At St Clears leave the trunk road and immediately turn right to Laugharne, it is three and a half miles south. The historic site ownership is Cadw, located in the town center, off King St. at 113 Lammas Street.
Open daily, April to September from 10:00 to 5:00 p.m.
T: 01994 427906 cadw@wales.gsi.org.uk www.cadw.wales.gov.uk
(wonderful photos of Laugharne Castle from the BBC)
and check out my Wales photo album with new photos of Laugharne and more ....
“ I love you Caitlin. I love you more than anyone in the world …. Write to me very soon, and tell me you really meant the things you said about loving me too; if you don’t I shall cut my throat or go to the pictures.” The Castle Lady pictures you with a big lipstick stain on your cheek!
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