The Grand Duchy of Stollen

  The very old Hospital of the Holy Ghost in Luebeck, Germany, which served as an old age home into the 1970s.  The Grand Duchess and I toured it in June 2009 when we stayed in Luebeck for several days.  My planned model will feature just the main steeply gabled front section, with bell tower and clockface but without the four decorative gothic spires, and an abutting rear section. L ight is at the end of the tunnel at last!  My classes for the university semester have concluded, and the term ends today.  While there is still a committee project to complete, a paper to write, and a conference to attend where I'll present it, life is returning to some small semblance of normality here at Totliegh-in-the-Wold.  By this time next month, I hope to be back up to my elbows in soldiers (finishing those replacement Minden standard bearers with new flags) and the next side project, which will involve. . .  You guessed it!  town buildings. In conne...

The Grand Duke's Easter guests listen with rapt attention. T he Grand Duke Irwin-Amadeus II holds forth, sharing his enthusiastic new plans to provide every gentleman in the Grand Duchy of Stollen with three new pairs of well-fitting, English-made dress shoes in black, brown, and oxblood.  Meanwhile, Hives considers the wisdom and practicalities of said plan from the sidelines. -- Stokes

S till not a lot happening on the hobby front here at Stollen Central, but this vintage Easter greeting is simply too good not to share.  Happy Easter everyone! -- Stokes

A lovely unit of Doug Mason French Napoleonics. I n bed AGAIN this fine weekend with some kind of nasty cold and fever for the second time in as many months, no doubt picked up from some undergraduate student somewhere, who has sneezed, coughed, or slimed in my general direction (grrrrrrrr. . .).  Still, we can't let April 1st go by without some sort of more light-hearted tomfoolery, can we?  So, here is a reprise of a post made originally back on April 1st, 2013 for your reading pleasure.  Enjoy! -- Stokes   S everal months ago, I was contacted by the attorney of a distant cousin -- "Genevieve" -- from the state of North Carolina, several times removed and much older than myself, who passed away early last year.  To make a long story short, it seemed that she had been extremely impressed by and grateful for some translation and editing work I did for her in back in 2007.  Something she never forgot and mentioned often in conversations with friend...