This I got to hear.

Bruce Stovel championed Jane Austen studies and blues music with equal measures of expertise and passion. The outpouring of affection at the celebration of Bruce's life and at a subsequent musical tribute inspired the plan for a book that would celebrate Bruce as teacher, Aus...

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Start: 95.4 Last week: 89.5 This week: 88.9

That’s encouraging. Moving on ...

I know that a dignified silence is far and away the best response to the raving lunatic who insists on sitting next to you on an otherwise empty bus. I also know that it only takes good people to stay silent for the lu...

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Much of the bread you can buy in shops in Italy remains remarkably good. Some things, though, aren't available, at least not nearby. One of those is rye bread. So I resolved to make some this weekend, using a recipe for Heidelberg Rye from the 1973 edition of Bernard Clayton Jr's The Complete Book of Breads.

Conclusion: A fine loaf, but I do need to internalise that stuff about watching the loaf not the clock. If I can do it while the bread is in the oven, why not while it is rising?

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Frangipani blossoms

It’s been an exciting week. Monday night, the frangipani blossoms first opened, and I almost pitched myself over the parapet trying to photograph them. When the leaves first stirred I remarked that they were early and how wonderful it would be if the flowers were early too, so The Squeeze could...

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Start: 95.4 Last week: 89.5 This week: 89.5

Darn! I slipped below 89.0 on two days, but this morning was up at 89.5. No cheating.

Five Farms is a wonderful, engaging audio documentary series that tracks five American farm families through the year in five episodes. It comes from the Center for...

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