Opening:
You like to have some cup of tea?-
July bent at the doorway and began that day for them as his kind has always done for their kind.
My first Nadine Gordimer and it has been lounging around the shelves for quite a while. Won’t I just kick myself if her ouevre happens to be the best thing since sliced bread. Anyhow, it fits in with both TBR busting and personal seasonal quest.
Page 2:
[..]before air-conditioning, everyone praised the natural insulation of thatch against heat.
Page 10 – From wiki: Schistosomiasis (also known as bilharzia, bilharziosis or snail fever) is a parasitic disease caused by several species of trematodes (platyhelminth infection, or “flukes”), a parasitic worm of the genus Schistosoma. Snails serve as the intermediary agent between mammalian hosts. Individuals within developing countries who cannot afford proper water and sanitation facilities are often exposed to contaminated water containing the infected snails.
3* – just! won’t be seeking out further Gordimer. Awkward reading, a chore.
‘Why is it called Greenland when there is only ice there?’ I asked. ‘Because the first people who reached it found a beautiful flower called convallaria, Barnum.'”
Sinnataggen, Frogner Park. Famous statue of an angry child.”
” 
On the topmost branch sits an eagle, and perched between the eyes of the eagle is Vedfolnir the falcon, whose piercing gaze sees up into the heavens and down to the earth, and below the earth into the dark caverns of the underworld.” 
Little King Sebastian of Portugal 1564″
She was the most beautiful creature who ever lived”
Sintra, Portugal”
He is a Draugr, a Nightstalker.” 
Lucet is a method of cordmaking or braiding which is believed to date back to the Viking era. Lucet cord is square, strong, and slightly springy. It closely resembles knitted I-cord or the cord produced on a knitting spool. Lucet cord is formed by a series of loops, and will therefore unravel if cut.”
The doorway to possession = Dyra-dómr of Draugr (approx.)”
” 
Gilitrutt the troll wife”
Ptarmigan” 
Description: John Kirby was a British secret agent. Olga was the oldest daughter of Czar Nicholas and his Empress, Alexandra. It was 1911. Imperial Russia was already in its death throes, torn between evil manipulators and determined revolutionaries such as Rasputin and Lenin. But still, women in dazzling gowns and men in lavishly decorated uniforms whirled around opulent ballrooms and took drives in splendid carriages. Palaces and villas still gleamed in the sun, winter and summer.
Page 35 (of Yalta): It was on this coast that many of Russia’s most privileged aristocrats had built their great houses or palaces. Somewhere in the vicinity was the enormous estate of the Tsar himself, crowned by the Lividia Palace.
Yalta – A Sunlit Street(painted 1932) by Aristarkh Lentulov (1882-1943)
Ai-Todor Cape, Black Sea (Crimea). It is located about 10 km west of Yalta. Built in 1911 by Architect A. Sherwood on Aurora Cliff. It was a summer retreat for Tsar Nicholas II. MEASUREMENTS: highest tower-45ft, length of base-90ft. Also called “The Castle of Love” or “Lastivchyne Hnizdo”! Survived an earthquake in 1927. Held the 1945 “Big 3” conference. It’s an architectural symbol of the Crimea and an Italian restaurant now.
Anna Alexandrovna Vyrubova, (16 July 1884 in Moscow — 20 July 1964, Helsinki), was a lady-in-waiting, best friend and confidante to Tsaritsa Alexandra Fyodorovna.
Alexander Palace, Tsarskoe Selo. Page 316
Bettie's Books 