Diamonds and Libraries and Other Links of Fun

Ready for me to steal away a few moments of your productivity? NO? Too bad! 

I somehow ended up reading a blog called Fashionably Royal, specifically the section on gems and diamonds, and, well, here, enjoy with me.

First, there's the Beau Sancy diamond, worn by royalty, and a modest 55.2 carats: 

The diamonds were brought from India to France by Nicolas de Harlay, Lord of Sancy, thus the names of the diamonds. In 1604, the pair of diamonds were separated when James I of England bought the Sancy to wear in his hat. Queen Marie (formerly Marie de Medici, Europe’s richest heiress) had wanted the Sancy had wanted to buy the Sancy, so she made her husband buy the Beau Sancy and she added it to her private collection. In fact, she wore it on top of her pearl and diamond coronation crown in 1610.

Like you do. 

But the Magpie Monday section of that blog has other treasures – literally – to gaze upon, such as the Bernadotte Emerald Demi-Parure:

The demi-parure is comprised of a belt which belonged to the first Bernadotte King, now worn as a necklace, and two brooches, the larger of which was formerly a belt buckle.

Now THAT is a belt buckle I'd eagerly ride a wild horse for 9 seconds to own. 

This is my favorite though: the Napoleonic Steel Cut Tiara. It belongs to the Swedish royal family, and it sparkles like it's got all kinds of gems in there, but it's cut steel. 

This tiara made of cut steel and brass, no diamonds in sight, yet sparkles as if it did. It was brought to Sweden by Queen Josephine when she married into the Swedish Royal Family in 1844. There is a rumor that this tiara laid hidden for many years and was only found when Queen Silvia, after her marriage to King Carl Gustaf, went exploring in her new home and found this tiara in the cupboards.

 

She had it restored and wore it for the first time during an Austrian state visit in 1979 and has worn it a number of times since, as has Crown Princess Victoria and Princess Christina.

I bet that it weighs a lot less than a jeweled tiara, and it does great things for the women who wear it. I think I need to look into brass and cut steel tiaras for my own castle. I mean, collection. You know, IN my castle. 

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I tweeted this, but in case you missed it or are not on Twitter, rejoice and begin the envious squeaking, Doctor Who fans. A complete set of crocheted Doctors Who, complete with Tardis, has been made by the very talented Allison Hoffman. 

The universe of awesomeness is mostly complete. Would you like crochet patterns of all Doctors Who of your very own? They are available for pre-order on Etsy.

NOW the universe is awesomeness is complete. Until tomorrow anyway. Awesomeness has daily attrition.

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Brittney sent me this link to a really smart post on Reddit: blind dates for books! Have a look!

The shelf was full when we got there, but was like this as we were leaving. The books are wrapped in paper and have different designs on them, and then a few words vaguely describing the subject matter of the book. Things like “Drama”, “Plot Twists”, “espionage”, etc. The only thing exposed on the book is the barcode that you use to scan the book out. I thought it was a pretty cool idea.

A quick bit o' Google-fu revealed other libraries with similar programs. I so like this idea. I hope some romances are included in the blind dating pool! 

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Ooops! Forgot one! I'm over at Kirkus this week, talking about romance tropes I love, and books that feature them: 

You'd think it would be easy to describe my reading catnip. Alas, it took some staring at my bookshelf of tattered paperbacks, but the pattern emerged. Today I'm going to talk about one of my very favorite plot types.

 

I call this form of my reading catnip “This Is Only Temporary.” These are romances where one or both characters are on a journey elsewhere, or visiting one place for a brief period of time, and thus don't want to embark on anything permanent.

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What have you been reading and enjoying online this week?