Thursday, October 25, 2012

Chimney Swift Tower

Today is Thursday. It was not a very nice day for very much except maybe reading a book and then taking a ride to Wooddale and playing some indoor tennis. Which is pretty much what I did today. I left some unfinished business yesterday - that tall white tower over by Fort Snelling State Park.   Fort Snelling is just up the hill from this view of the Mississippi River, shown here in the throes of autumn.


That white tower has this plaque attached to its side. It's a chimney swift tower.


The book, I spent much of the day consuming, was "Daughter of Time" a mystery written by Josephine Tey.  I borrowed the book from one of those Little Free Libraries that I talked about a few days ago. The mini-library was on the shore of Swan Lake in Pengilly.  I borrowed the book for free because the cover says it was "one of the best mysteries of all time" - a quote from the NY Times. The book was written in 1951. The mystery turned out to be about the murder of the two nephews (the old king's sons) of King Richard III that took place in England in 1485, and often said to have been done by Richard himself, so that he could claim the crown for himself.  It was set in the time near the end of the War of the Roses.  I guess I'm a sucker for historical fiction, although this was more like the uncovering of the truth of a long ago, much reviled and discussed event.  I learned more than I ever thought I'd know about the Yorks and the Lancasters, through the book and judicious use of google and Wikipedia.

It was a very good book.

3 comments:

Santini said...

Things are looking a touch wintry along the mighty Mississippi. Probably it is even more so along Swan Lake by now.

Thanks for the update on the elaborate bird house.

A book and some exercise? Sounds like a pretty decent day.

Gino said...

Let me see, after a brief review of my Kingmaker board game, Richard of Lancaster, Margaret of Anjou, the bastard Beaufort, you need a royal heir, an archbishop and an army, last one standing becomes monarch of England.

I got some of that right even historically, I bet and all of my information comes from a board game I haven't played in probably over 30 years.

Jimi said...

Gino: You probably know more about the War of the Roses than I do. The people you know were from the beginning of the war and Richard III was the last York king. A board game may be the best way to learn about that era. I think you might need a complete family tree of the royal family to even have a clue to what happened. Still, it's kind of interesting.