Oliver

I'm currently on a Dickens kick, prompted by a combination of a Dickens biography and the Dickens adaptations on Masterpiece Classic. I made it several pages into The Pickwick Papers before postponing it in favor of Oliver Twist (after watching the conclusion of the adaptation of that novel last week). It's been so long since I've read Oliver Twist that I hardly knew what to expect -- I was delighted by what I found.

 

Oliver Twist can be depressingly dark at times -- its themes are undeniably painful, and Dickens does not scruple to take you to the lowest rung of the social ladder. But the ending is worth the journey through the mire of London's criminal world. And any novel is more enriching when it's a copy that was published a hundred years ago and has been "well rubbed" at the corners. Somehow it makes me feel that I get to share my pleasure with the original owner!

The Inimitable Sairey

"Rich folks may ride on camels,

but it ain't so easy for 'em to see out of a

needle's eye."

~ Sairey Gamp, from Martin Chuzzlewit by Charles Dickens~

Delicious

A new box for the shop sports a delicious raspberry color. I don't know about you, but that color makes me hungry!



I also had a bit of fun with some gold leaf enamel paint. The combination of pink, gold, and creamy foxed pages seems to give off warmth -- which is more than welcome on this chilly winter day! I hope Emma would approve.

See it here.

In Praise of Dickens

I came across this delightful passage in a Dickens biography that I was reading recently, and wanted to share it:


"Perhaps I have so special an affection for [Nicholas Nickleby] becaues of seomthing that happened when I was ten years old. I was waiting at the gate for a grown-up friend of mine -- and English man of letters, though this I did not know -- to come down the tree-lined street and take off his hat as if I were grown up. Sometimes that would be all, and it was all a polite child could permit herself to expect. But sometimes he would say, 'Come, let's go down to the shop and choose some sweets!' and I would skip along beside him to a tiny general store that sold a little of everything, especially to children of the neighbourhood. Then he would buy a newspaper and leave the choosing to me; candy came by the cent's worth, from twelve-tiny-ones to one-big-one for that amount, and laying out five cents took not only thought but time.

But on this day I had just returned from a long country holiday. Children do their growing-up in summer rather than in winter, I think: anyway my friend, who had begun as usual 'Come --' paused, looked down at me as if he had just noticed something that made him both glad and sorry, and went on '-- let's go down to the shop and choose a book!'

I went along beside him, not skipping now, though my heart danced. I thought: I'm growing up. When we reached the shop there was a shelf I had hardly noticed before, with books on it -- not children's books, just books. They had no pictures. The covers were dull gray or brown, and so dusty I had to look at the title page to find out the name. I took one out and read, Nicholas Nickleby...

I don't know how much later it was that I heard my friend's voice. It sounded amused and understanding. 'Have you found your book?' he said.

I held it up without speaking. He told them not to wrap it. I went home hugging it under my arm. I hope I thanked him. In the next ten years I read it literally to pieces. Treasure it as I might, the dry, woody paper cracked, broke, and went off into dust like ashes...

Yes, my first copy of Nicholas Nickleby returned to dust long ago. But it had done its work. It had taken my hand and laid it in that of a friend I was never to lose. 'Child,' it had said, 'this is Charles Dickens.' "

Taken from Introduing Charles Dickens by May Lamberton Becker, pp. 131-133

A Humorous Look at Courtship

I thought some of you might appreciate this unique concept of a courtship relationship -- while I doubt that Mr. McPherson is a proponent of the conservative Christian courtship model, I found his depiction quite hilarious!

(click to view full size)



Does this mean that Mrs. Tiggy Winkle can serve as a chaperone?

Thorn Bush or Furry Friend?

I thought I'd post a few snapshots of our much-beloved and very prickly family member, who has won her way into all of our hearts! Mrs. Tiggles (short for "Mrs. Tiggy Winkle") has quite the personality, and is a champion climber.

 
Not that you could guess that from this picture...

My sister says that all seamstresses should get hedgehogs because they desensitize you to pin pricks!

Echoes of a Martial Past

This past Saturday our family visited a local fort, built only a few decades before the Civil War.

 

From the land, the fort is practically invisible until you stumble into the 20-feet deep dry moat. The inner fort is surrounded by a scarp gallery which offers defense on all sides. The bricks for the arches were hand-filed. It was cool and peaceful in the empty passage:

 Through one of the rifle slots you can see the water battery, which was designed by the Spanish to control the bay beyond:

Set into the hill on the other side of the moat is another gallery, whitewashed and sunspeckled:

 

An underground passage leads from the center of the fort to the water battery.

 

When they say "dark" and "steep," they mean it! There is no lighting in the passage to help you maneuver the mixture of steep grade and steep steps.

 But fortunately, we made it to the other side without incident! There's quite a bit of granite at the fort, used as a base for the cannons to swivel on. There's enough to make a very nice kitchen countertop...

It's fascinating to see how military defenses were built two centuries ago. Considering that this fort has lasted almost two hundred years, I think its designers and builders deserve some credit!