Maude With An E

So yeah, I'm the one who gives Lucy Maud Montgomery an e in Maude when writing her name out for quotes in my print shop, and it just occurred to me how ironic this is considering Maud herself gave a book character a name that was especially emphasized to have an e at the end of it, ... because, well you know, ... spell out M-a-u-d and it looks rather plain, but M-a--u-d-e with an e is quite distinguished. Anyhow, that's where I am at late tonight in the wee hours of a Monday stretching into a Tuesday. Just so you know, and so I have a record of me always mistakenly adding that e to Maude, where it should not be.

Miss Scarlett & The Duke

I am so fanning over Miss Scarlett and the Duke. Especially after the last episode of season 3 after the Duke and Arabella have a conversation about Eliza, and the Duke finally realizes! So much to love here. Victorian era, Lady Sleuth, The Duke. I also really like the "explosion" that they open the show with each time. I really look forward to that every sing time. A wonderful show that you can watch on Amazon Prime, through their PBS channel.

A Silent Night

  A noble Son, brought low by birth,

Sent from heaven to come down to earth,

A baby boy who would change the world,

Come forth in a place that was wild and rural,

The presence of the animals and the silent air,

Told a story of sacredness there,

A silent night, A wearied world,

Ready and waiting to welcome their Lord.

This Old Friend

Recently, I am craving a return to writing more here on this old friend, The Bookish Kind. For many years, it was an outlet for me to express my thoughts and ideas, prose and poems. Then for some reason, it waned as things do.

It's an old fashioned sort of blog and it will stay that way, for I am an old fashioned girl in many ways, and as you know if you ever read this blog in the past, I should have been born in another era. I like the old fashioned ways for many reasons; things were simpler and people got to the heart of things deeply. 

I think that is what I'm craving right now. To find deeper meanings in life, to escape the noise of a modern world that is falling apart in so many ways. Maybe to find myself again, and establish deeper roots of  meaningful and good things. 

I definitely want to read more and maybe explore some books or authors that I have not read before. I could probably look at my own library and find a dozen new to me books to read without trying very hard. A good place to start. That's where my bookish life began years ago in my twenties when I learned that I love all the bookish things so very much. And it all started with picking up those first books, first in my childhood with books like "Little Women," "Trixie Belden," and "Jane Eyre," then devouring and thriving on books like "Les Miserables," "Pride and Prejudice," and "Tennyson's Poetry," in my young adulthood days.

It's time to hitch up the book wagon, retrace my old footsteps, dust off my old book collection
, and write my thoughts down once again. So this new year of 2023, I hope to visit this place more and more. I hope you will join me.

Anne's Puffed Sleeves and More

I came across this online clothes shop that has Anne-inspired gorgeous clothing. You'll need deep pockets to buy much of it, but I think you'll love it as I do. Anne would be thrilled with the ruffles and puffs. I love beautiful things.

All photos by Simply Retro

The Queen Has Died.

Great Britain will never be the same again. Our beloved Queen has died.

Mediocre Tears

My hand extended an offering,
Hoping and waiting,
then knowing it was not accepted,
but brushed off as not good enough.
I did my part,
and waited for yours to impart,
and all I heard was the silence of
a thousand doves fly away,
and their wings beat upon my cheek,
and made me weep a river of mediocre tears that spilled down into nothing.

 

 

A Little Gate

 

Prayers

We often tend to think of our lives, our individual situations here on earth as extended and permanent, until we are facing old age or the unthinkable, .... a crises that changes everything. In reality, our time here on earth is fleeting. Every day is a gift. We have a purpose, whether we are here eight years or eighty. Each breath counts. Praying for the people of Ukraine, and of all peoples everywhere.

To Rest Now and Then

I'm not sure why this little space has gone so quiet as it used to be my wandering place where thoughts and rhymes and ideas escaped into the bigger world, and then became a part of my soul. Perhaps a wanderer has to rest now and then. I honestly forget it's here sometimes waiting for me to find it again. I'm sure that I will when the noise of the world softens, and the Annish girl in me awakens once again.

Duchess

 A beautiful set of portraits of Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge to commemorate her 40th birthday tomorrow. These will become standard, iconic photos of her, the future Queen of England, on par with those stunning photos of Queen Elizabeth as a young queen. Catherine has a beautiful character, inside and out. Just a lovely person who has come into her own. Photo is by Paolo Roversi. Very Victorian-esque.