Darcey Steinke talks about her personal experiences with menopause in her book Flash Count Diary: Menopause and the Vindication of Natural Life. However — before you think that it’s filled with talk only about hot flashes — you’re mistaken. While she did jot down some experiences with extreme hot flashes, she also documented how the two-year period was in other aspects along with the rules of the middle age.

Learning About the Changes Happening to Her Body

On a typical day, Darcy would have about eight to ten hot flashes, but they could also occur even be up to 20 times a day. Some everyday occurrences — like riding the NYC subway to sitting in a restaurant — would cause her to feel an immense amount of heat through her body. She would also have many sleepless nights where she would rush to the freezer to get bags of frozen veggies to calm her skin.

While they were difficult to deal with, Darcy also found them fascinating and recorded her episodes.

Discovering the New Rules of Menopause

Her book is more than just about hot flashes. It also discusses the spiritual, social, sexual, and emotional aspects of menopause. One of the rules that she mentions is that women should get used to not caring about what the world thinks.

She also mentions that even though women are likely to lose interest in their female gender as they get older by not propping it up, they shouldn’t limit themselves.

Steinke also believes that there is natural power in menopause because it brings opportunity.

Killer whales go through menopause and for them, post-menopausal life makes them more powerful as they eventually become leaders of their pods.

The rules that Darcey Steinke wanted to focus on were that menopause shouldn’t be the end for women or a vulnerable part in one’s life. Menopause comes with power and femininity — and it should be embraced.

When Anne Boleyn failed to produce a male heir to King Henry the VIII, she was executed at his command on trumped-up charges. As she walked to her execution, Bonelyn handed her prayer book to a lady in waiting. Modern research of the Book of Hours has shown hidden writing on the pages that were previously unnoticed.

Anne Boleyn Was Executed

Anne was executed on May 19th, 1536 when she was between 28 and 32 years old. King Henry the VIII ordered Anne Boleyn’s execution under the charges of treason, witchcraft, adultery, and incest. However, the queen was only guilty of not being able to give the king a male heir. Upon her death, the king did his best to make sure she became forgotten by getting rid of her belongings, images, and any other item that would keep her in someone’s memory.

The Queen’s Prayer Book

Just before her execution, Queen Anne Boleyn handed her personal prayer book to one of her trusted ladies in waiting. This book was missing for centuries until it was discovered in Anne’s family home once it was bought by William Waldorf Astor, a wealthy businessman. According to historian Kate MacCaffrey who spent a year studying the Book of Hours, anyone who was caught with any item that belonged to the late Queen Anne would have been considered a traitor, which speaks of how much danger the women protecting the book were actually in.

What New Research Showed

When the pages of the Book of Hours were examined under ultraviolet lights. Four names were found inscribed on the pages. The names Gage, West, Shirley, and Guildford were connected to Elizabeth Hill, one of Anne’s childhood friends. McCaffrey believes that these Tudor women passed the book between each other, keeping it safe for Elizabeth I, Anne’s daughter, to protect the memory of their unjustly persecuted and executed friend.