"A desire to write grows with writing"-Desiderius Erasmus
In my last post about
my story (which is still untitled) I wrote sharing my story with you my loyal readers it kept me inspired me to continue writing my story. So I hope to continue sharing bits of my story with you. I may not be able do to so regularly as I find I write better when I write with my hand and then I type it up. It is a very long process but it is so far the only way it works for me.
As much as I love writing plot, I love more the moment where I can get out a few good sentences of descriptive writing and make my characters or my setting seem more real. I am just at the beginning of my story so I am really working on some descriptive parts so my characters come to life for me and for my readers. So I wanted to share those parts with you...
Parts
of this narrative I remember as if they were yesterday even though they
happened years ago. Some parts of this story I have conjured up out of my
imagination to make sense of the outcomes. Therefore, I cannot call this a true
account of my family but it is the truest account you ever hear.
There
was a time when we were all joyful and innocent to ever changing. Before the
war and the destruction that followed in its wake. The war had changed our
family in so many ways as it had for so many others. Before the war it didn't
matter that Parker was heir to Cranston Court and best friends with Shane Gray,
who was the oldest son of Cranston's head cook. Daphne would be happy to wear a
daisy chain necklace and Marcus dreamt of exploring the deep jungles of Africa.
Back when we were children we would spend our summer afternoons in the Back
Woods wading in the creek that divided Cranston Court from Southerton Greens. I
remember her we could be a thousand miles away from everything and everyone
with only our dreams to play out. But that was before the Great War. The Great
War that had killed Shane and made our poverty known. It was all due to the
war. It was the reason our lives had changed forever.
Summer 1909
Those were the grand days for us children at
Southerton. Without mother and father there we were under the care of Nanny
Alba. Every day after lunch she took a long nap
and expected us to do the same. Instead as soon as the weather turned warm
we would run all the way to the Back Woods not stopping for any breath. It was
here we all plotted out the grand adventures we desired for our lives. I wasn't
old enough to plan a grand escape. I still loved our home. It had been a part
of our family since King Charles II. It wasn't grand compared to Cranston Court
but it was a prized estate. I was still finding nooks and crannies when to hide
in for hours. My ancestors took Southerton Green from a simple hunt lodge to
its grand scale built in the a modern architecture in the Georgian style. My
grandfather used to tell me of the grand days of Southerton when they would
throw lavish parties on the scale of a Duke and Duchess. I promised him I would
recapture those grand day and bring them back to Southerton.
~~~~~~
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Dress Inspiration #1
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Lady Welford
was perfection itself. She had delicate features from her ivory skin, her gentle
hazel eyes and her fair auburn hair that seemed properly placed as a crown on
her head with no strand out of a place. Her dress was done in the stylish
'Empire' revival fashion that was coming back into style with lots of subtle
lace and beading on the top, then a large cherry silk ribbon that had a large
flower pin on in it, fading to a soft pink with deep inverted pleats at the
back which went down to a little train. One would think that the dress being so
subtle in would wash her out but it didn't. Lady Welford was true beauty. Her figure
was particularly graceful and it was a style in which elegance reigned. A
beauty like I had never seen before in such a way that one could tell the
outside was due to reflect the inside. She looked down and saw little Georgiana
looking almost lifeless and had overwhelming compassion.
"Oh my goodness is all
right?" Lady Welford asked with watery eyes.
"Yes your lady. She is fine now
thanks to Mrs. Gray, she probably just needs some rest," Marcus said.
"Well of course. We have several
guest rooms she can stay in. Mrs. Banks," she called the house keeper
over. "Will you make sure to find the little girl a place to rest and get
some food for the children and have them take it into the nursery. Then when we
are done with our guest in the library."
"Elizabeth!" Lord Welford
stunned by her.
"And maybe some dry clothes for
the young ladies."I did feel a little embarrassed by my outfit. "Also
Mrs. Banks we might want to fetch the doctor. And all of you will stay here till
your sister is all better. Mrs. Banks make sure to also write Southerton we
would not want Mr. Harrington to worry."
"Our mother is not home your
lady," Marcus said.
"Well then it is settled, you
shall all stay the night," it was almost as she could feel her husband
getting mad. "Now Welford, I want you to smile and remember we need
votes."
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Dress Inspiration #2
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All what Lady Welford asked to be
done was done in an orderly fashion. Her manners reflected her charming beauty
for they were winning and never commanding and she show complete empathy to
those around her.
I
would find out years later as perfect as her world seemed she terrible
lonesome. Her husband would spend months away at a time her some was away at
school, and while Lord Welford brought her back a nice broche or a new necklace
it never replaced her heart's cry. By the time I learned this would be too late
for me to do anything about it. I put this now so you would know the whole
story and it will impact future events of this narrative.
Cranston Court stood as a relic to the Tudor years with a
lookout tower and lots of outset windows and it always had a feeling that a
knight on white horse would be coming about any moment. Though it was a Tudor
relic on the outside on the inside it looked more like a French Chateau done
highly in the Rococo style that was ever so popular at the end of the last
century. Lady Welford was an American Heiress through and through coming from a
family who had their money from mill factories and investments in both railroad
and a shipping industry. She had insisted for many modern improvements to be
done to the house including new pipes, fitting windows, and dumb waiters so the
food would be warm when it reached the dinner table. Most importantly she had
the money to back up her insistence.
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Painting of Derbyshire
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Side note: I have changed the date from 1906 to 1909 to bring them a little closer to WWI. I also changed my heroine's name to Rose... I couldn't really get attached to the name Esther.
Well over the past couple of weeks my church has been going through the book of Jonah. He is mostly known for Jonah and the Whale but that is so little part of the story. When Jonah goes to Nineveh (the bad guys) and after little convincing they repent and our saved from destruction. The story goes further but I am going to stop right there. Both Jonah and the people of Nineveh had turned away from God and both were saved by God's never ending grace. At the end of the sermon my pastor said "there is nothing you can do to out run God's grace". As awesome as that statement is I will admit I didn't go right home and immediately go to God (as I should have done) but later Sunday night as I was brushing my teeth I read the verse taped near my mirror.
