Saturday Snapshot - Armchair Birdwatchers

Penny and Opey Birdwatching

 

 

 

 

She is NOT Amused

 

 

I have been spending a lot of time sitting on the couch and doing hand sewing. Our little church's Holiday Fair is fast approaching and I have been making Christmas stockings, potpourri bags, and other crafty items. So sorry that I haven't been visiting many of you, but time is not infinite and I am in the holiday rush ... just until the 17th of the month. When the Fair has passed, I plan to relax with the computer and the many blogs I follow, bake some holiday breads and cookies, read a new mystery, and catch up on Masterpiece Theatre's Upstairs Downstairs.

 

My constant companions are here on the couch as, we speak. They have found warm sunny spots to loll in, as they while away the day watching me work with needle and thread ... ah, a cat's life! Huh?

 

 

 

 

Saturday Snapshot

 

I wonder what everyone else is posting this morning for their Saturday Snapshots! Hit the above link and check them out!

Lady's Maid - Margaret Forster

There is an adage - "No good deed goes unpunished." That's all I could think of as I read this novel that revolves around Elizabeth Wilson, the long-suffering and dedicated lady's maid to Elizabeth Barrett Browning. Margaret Forster wrote a biography of EBB before she branched out to center a novel around the young woman who came to the Barrett household when they had re-trenched to Wimpole Street in London of the 1840's.

Young Wilson comes to London from her hometown of Newcastle, recommended by a relative of Elizabeth Barrett Browning. She takes up a reclusive residency and waits on EBB hand and foot through her darkest and most pathetic period of collapse. Wilson becomes thoroughly devoted to her mistress and gradually gains her trust and complete dependence, which begins to beg the question in the reader, "Just how much must a young maid of the Victorian Era give up for one's lady?"

Young Wilson is drawn completely into the lives of the Barrett family and is privy to all the familial foibles and misadventures. Key among these is the romance that develops between Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Browning.  Wilson is drawn into the plot to elope, the honeymoon journey to Paris and the trip on to Italy where the Brownings set up housekeeping.  Browning and Wilson nurse Elizabeth as she regains her health and vigor. She helps Browning wean Elizabeth from her daily doses of laudanum. Wilson helps EBB through numerous miscarriages until one pregnancy is successful and her son is born. Wilson takes on the role of  nanny to young Pen, while keeping her role as lady's maid and nurse to Elizabeth.

All this duty monopolizes her every moment. She strives to be the exemplary maid, comforting nurse, steadying nanny, discreet employee. She needs to keep her place in service in order to be able to send part of her salary home to her needy mother and younger sisters.  She is just in her 20's  and should be looking for her own soulmate, but how can she ? When she finally meets and falls in love with a fellow employee, she is placed in such a dilemma. How does one 'have a married life' and stay in service? It is at this point in the book, that the reader is faced with the inequities of class. It is all well and good for the Brownings to have a romantic and ideal married and family life, but their servants are not considered as needing the same. It is all well and good for the Brownings to travel the length of Europe to see family and socialize with their intellectual peers, however it is unthinkable that their staff wish for time to visit their families. The inconvenience would be too much for poor Elizabeth and Robert. Therefore, when Wilson marries and has a child, she is set aside and is only allowed to return to service when she leaves her own son with a sister in England and returns to Italy to take up her duties. She is separated from her husband again when she bears a second child and must leave service altogether.  Yet, she is still tied to the Brownings because of her close relationship with young Pen Browning and because of her skill in nursing Elizabeth during her long spells of collapse.

Forster has done an excellent job of portraying the class differences of the Victorian Era while telling the (mostly true) story of Wilson and her years of service to the Brownings. I was so completely drawn into the story that I stayed up way too late reading to see how Wilson's life would infold.  Having never heard of Margaret Forster, I finished Lady's Maid wondering what other books she has written. I will definitely be searching out some of her other titles to see if she can hold my interest as closely as she did with this book.

 

Saturday Snapshot ... My Culinary Bucket List

I love to cook and bake and create good food, but like everyone who cooks, there are certain dishes that have intimidated me over the years. Last year, I sat down and made a 'culinary bucket list' - a list of dishes that I really want to make before I am relegated to applesauce and prune juice ...

This past week, I conquered ... eclairs! I have to tell you. They were so good ! I'm not sure what the next item will be ... over the past year, I've crossed handmade aioli, madeleines, gnocchi, gateaux de crepes, and a lattice-topped pie off my list ... there are still so many more, though!

What's on your culinary bucket list?

This post is linked to Alyce's weekly photoshare over at athomewithbooks . Click the link and go see what other folks are sharing today ... there are a bunch of links already! Read up on the rules of the photoshare and post yours too!

Saturday Snapshot .... 1 -2- 3 or 3 - 2- 1 ?

I was recently walking through a small gallery that was showing the work of two NYC-based artists - all stark lines of neon color that jarred the eyes in one case. In the second case, these layers and lines of bold oils were slathered over canvas, framed plainly, and lit in such a manner that the 3-D quality of each piece was highlighted.

I chose to photograph the second artist's work, as I found it more intriguing ... although the juxtaposition of the flat neon with the more textured oils was an obvious exhibit decision (I think!).

Like many a gallery visitor, I found myself standing back and then walking in on the paintings. Me and my camera ...

 

1

 

 

2

 

 

3

 

In thinking about posting these snaps, though, I began to wonder what would intrigue more ... 1 -2 -3 shots or 3 -2- 1 shots ... so whaddaya think? Other than wondering what this guy's paint budget is, that is.

 

 

 

 3

 

 

 

2

 

 

 

 1

 

 Artwork by : James Walsh

Walking at Night - The Mag 139

 

Midnight Snack - 1984 by Curtis Wilson Cost

 

Walking At Night

 

A lighted window will always draw my eye

Away from the dark road or wooded path
Sometimes a flash of clothing moves past
Or the bright movement from the television

 

I turn away and move down across meadow
Points of flickering green or shimmering red
Greet me from hedgerows with huffs or
Chitters, rustles that move away or fall silent

 

The angular reflections of bouncing light
Stand mute at the meetinghouse  – wavy
In the big old panes of glass, creak golden from
The weathervane that turns to catch night light

 

Sometimes I turn down quiet lanes
Blue white ceilings on porches cast an aura
Around front doors and over porch swings
That sway and squeal softly on the breeze

 

Main Street is always an assault - headlights

And blinkers, cigarettes flashing past with ashes
Trailing - a loud and raucous gauntlet to be run
Signage pops on off on off on off on on on

 

Garish light of neon makes me close my eyes
I squint with an imprint of color and flash
Hard against my lids – the sound of voices
Clink of glass thump of bass echo of music

 

Best is the light that gently falls from above
The pinpoints of light from ages past
Luring my eyes upward and out past red dots
That blink their way across the firmament

 

Passing back into the black and blue of night
I return to our small place at the wayside
A gentle light and movement behind curtains
A warm comfort that waits beyond the step

- Susan Lindquist 10/2012

 

 

shared at Tess Kinkaid's Magpie Tales - The Mag 139 

edit done - 10/16/12

 

 

 

 

'Give Us This Day ...' Saturday Snapshot

" Let there be work, bread, water, and salt for all."

                                                                 - Nelson Mandela

 

I made a lovely loaf of bread this week and was caught up in the thought that many in this world and in this country ( the U S of A) would find a loaf such as this a luxury. That seems wrong to me. I guess I'm a bleeding heart liberal or a socialist or a Communist or a Christian or a dissident or a fool or something. I just want us to spread our personal and national wealth around as far at it will go and I wish every citizen of this great country felt the same way.

Just call me a Pollyanna. It's okay. It would be nothing that I haven't heard from my family and friends ...

 

 

This is a Saturday Snapshot and is shared on Alyce's blog  athomewithbooks ... head on over to check out what others are posting today. Link to the original Saturday Snapshot post for rules on posting your own snapshot ... then, bake a couple loaves of bread and share one ... just a thought!

The Mag 138 - Fast Write Doggerel

Sick Woman – Jan Steen , 1665

Tongue In Cheek

 

I should have known better, dear Doctor -
The lampreys, the quail, and the leeks
I’ve eaten my weight in warm pompion
I’ll feel fat and bloated for weeks.

I should have known better, old Master.

The dinner board groaned with the weight -
The stew made with boar and white turnip
The tarts, nuts and sweetmeats we ate.

I should have known better, kind Counselor.

Now what is this woman to do ?
In payment for leeches, possets, and pats,
I’ve a shitload more cooking to do!


This week's Magpie Tales prompt has hit me where I live ... I spent the weekend entertaining, which meant cooking and cooking and cooking. It was a great time, but I am relating to that poor woman in the prompt.

Hence, a fast write with a nod to common doggerel ...