Costumes, Dancing, Great Interiors....

Absolutely not to be missed this Spring, new BBC adaptations of Jane Austen's works on Masterpiece Theatre:
Persuasion: Jan 16
Northanger Abbey: Jan 20
Mansfield Park: Jan 27
Pride and Prejudice: Feb 10 to Feb 24
Emma: March 23
Sense and Sensibility: March 30 and April 6

However, notwithstanding costumes,dancing,interiors etc. nothing would induce me to watch:
Miss Austen Regrets, a drama based on the life of Jane Austen. Feb 3

Snow, snow, tra la la

Ipswich is at its most beautiful today. We had several more inches of snow yesterday, and today, no wind or sun, so everything has remained blanketed by snow. Sheba and I walked at Appleton Farm late this afternoon. Our usual trail had ski tracks on it and the snow was high enough that it was a little difficult to walk - better for skiers or snow-shoers than for walkers.

Everything was in monochrome, black and white. Looking over the fields from the top of the hill, the sky shaded from a medium grey behind the trees to lighter greys as you looked up. There was the slightest hint of pink at the crest of the sky.

Apart from the noise we made walking, it was completely silent.

The town was lovely, too. It's very common for houses here to have candles in the windows at Christmas. The town looks wonderful at twilight - houses with candles lighting the windows and everything - houses and gardens - covered in snow.

Picture by COG, of course.

Happy News

Not a great picture, but the only one we could find of Daughter of .... and her new fiance, hereafter called 'Fiance of the Daughter of...'

Congratulations, Kids, the COG and The Bride of COG are very happy for you.

(By the way, the COG took the Son of COG out of this picture with photoshop).

Oh happy the lily that's kissed by the bee....

I've been reading the words to Ruddigore online. Especially the Finale for Act 1, where the casts sings Hail the Bride of Seventeen Summers. It's such a funny song. Here is Rose, who wants to be a bride, singing to Richard, who has just made her marriage to Robin impossible.

Richard, of him I love bereft,
Through thy design,
Thou art the only one that's left,
So I am thine!

The Bride Makes An Old Family Recipe

After shoveling snow in the rain with the COG and The Son of, The Bride made potato soup, by an old family recipe. The Bride's mother must have made it at least once in these circumstances, because The Bride has a strong association between shoveling snow, and then eating Potato Soup.

In The Bride's mind, of course, this has a mythic quality: The warm family kitchen, the creamy soup with patches of yellow from the quantitites of butter used in the soup, the faint brown sprinkles of celery salt on the top. Also, in memory, The Bride's mother always, without fail, made the soup after shoveling snow.

The Bride would normally never dream of using celery salt and The Kitchen Police (aka The COG and The Son of) would normally protest. But for this one recipe, it is necessary.

Naming Sisters

The Bride has been adding labels to her blogs and has encountered a problem. There are two Sisters of The Bride and they are both important to her. She does not want to name them Sister #1 and Sister #2. If you don't immediately understand why, then you do not have siblings.

Younger and Youngest don't appeal either, because The Bride doesn't need to be reminded who is the oldest.

So, henceforth, Sister Pink refers to the Midwestern Sister (because she looks pretty in it) and Sister May refers to the Western Sister (because she was born then and the colors she looks pretty in don't work). Sister Rust? Sister Dark Bluey-Green? I think not.

The Bride also has two brothers, but she will cross that bridge when she comes to it.

Snow, Beautiful Snow

We awoke this morning to a beautiful, proper snow storm. Son of COG tried to go skiing but announced, coming back into the house, that it was too windy to ski. There are wonderful big drifts around fences and walls and big trees. The Bride, reveling in memories of the wonderful snowstorms of her Northern childhood, feels quite cheerful and is humming winter songs.


The COG, on the other hand, is walking around the house, peering out of windows and muttering under his breath about when to get up the snow. For, as it so often does here, near the ocean, the snow is already turning to rain. Clearing the drive too soon will result in a drive coated with ice. Too late, and the snow will have an impermeable crust of ice - too heavy for the snowblower. At exactly the right moment, the snow will have been a sponge, holding the frozen rain so that after snowblowing, the drive will be washed clean by rain.