Laurel A. Rockefeller's Blog

If you live in the United States you have probably seen the ads for the Better than Bouillon line of bouillon. Offered in several varieties, it promises better taste than traditional bouillon cubes and powders and usefulness in more recipes than competitors. This summer (2025) I bought a Better than Bouillon jar in the “roasted beef base” and finally opened it this autumn after finishing my jar of Knorr brand bouillion powder. You can also find it in roasted chicken, seasoned vegetable, an...

I was born during the Vietnam War into a pro-war family. Outside of church music, the main record album available for me to listen to as a child were songs saluting soldiers across all branches who were fighting in far away Vietnam, especially the Green Berets (whoever they were). Pro-war, NRA, pro-military, and no one dare criticize American actions.

Also part of my childhood was a television series about the war in the south pacific loosely based on the life of ace pilot Greg “Pappy” Boyi...

St. Andrews Day is coming! Time to celebrate everything Scottish, including music written in the Auld Scots language.

Auld Scots, if you have never heard of it, is “old Scottish.” It’s not gaelic — gaelic actually comes from Ireland and is a Celtic language. Rather it’s the Scotland analogue to Middle English. Poet Robert Burns famously wrote in Auld Scots. The New Year song “Auld Lang Syne” (time long past) is also in Auld Scot.

Written in 1545 the love song “Depairte, Depairte” l...

I love birds. Everyone knows that. Since 1996 I’ve lived with and loved the smallest of the cockatoo family: cockatiels. My book “Mithril and Me: A Love Story” focuses on my longest lived and forever cherished cockatiel cockatoo, Mithril (2003 – 2024). She’s not the only bird in the book, but she was the longest lived of all my birds.

A recent edition of Foster Parrots’ newsletter “The Flying Monkey” talks about the idea of the “velcro bird” as a major reason why people get cock...

In 2013 when I first wrote and published Princess Anyu Returns I received several criticisms. It wasn’t the dark and semi-explicit scenes set in NYC. It wasn’t for the bits of horror in the book. Nor for anything about the characters or world building. None of the usual stuff. Instead my earliest feedback centered on this scene and the acts of kindness Princess Anyu receives from a Center County Pennsylvania farmer. Was I right? Wrong? Is it really unbelievable that a stranger would help s...

Guten Morgen und ein frohes neues Jahr. Da es heute Morgen schneit, ist der perfekte Zeitpunkt, um eine Schneeszene aus „Maria Stuart, Königin der Schotten: Die vergessene Herrschaft“ zu teilen.

“Heil den Tagen, denen mehr Lobpreis geziemt, als dem Rest des Jahres. Und heißt willkommen die Nächte, die doppelte Freud den Armen wie den Reichen bringen! Viel Glück sei jedes frohen Mannes Freund gewiss. Der das Beste tut, was er kann. Vergeßt altes Unbill mit Weihnachtsliedern, um den kalten ...

März 2014. Als der Monat der Frauengeschichte begann und ich die Leute um mich herum fragte, welche zehn Frauen aus der Geschichte ich nennen sollte – was ihnen jedoch nicht gelang –, reagierte ich auf meine Wut und Frustration mit dem Schreiben des Buches: Boudicca: Großbritanniens Königin der Icener. In diesem Monat ahnte ich noch nicht, dass ich mir eine neue Karriere als Biografin aufbauen würde. Zehn Jahre nach der Erstveröffentlichung ist Boudicca immer noch ein Leserliebling und mein ...

Online grocery shopping is convenient. Especially if you don’t drive, don’t have a neighborhood grocery store, and can’t get to the nearest grocery store online grocery shopping can be especially helpful. For the last 5 years I’ve depended on my Walmart + membership to order most of my food online.

But it does have one key drawback: you can’t see what you are buying and pick the specific item yourself. You depend on someone else to do that for you. And if the website is not up to date on s...

Talk to ten bird people about anything and you will get 20 answers. Recent I got into a heated discussion over feeding sunflower seeds to my cockatiels. Remembering this paper from 2006, now published in “Lady Biya’s Guide to Medieval Aviculture” I defended my choice to give my birds sunflower seeds. Here is that research paper in full. Enjoy.

By Laurel A. Rockefeller

Originally published between...

Crosswords. Word Finds. Word scrambles. Puzzles are a fun way to test your knowledge. During the pandemic I created many puzzles, most generated from information in the Legendary Women of World history. Here are retail links to those puzzle books at Amazon, Apple, Barnes/Noble, and Smashwords, but they are available at most retailers offering ebooks as well. Most individual activity books are free or just 99 cents. All books feature at least one crossword puzzle. Answer keys provided at the...