A touch of Eloquence and Refinement

Hello,

As I have posted after visiting Newport I was quite inspired to write more of my story. The way I write is I have to write by hand and then I type it up. Well during the last month of school I did not get any fun writing done and then I did a lot of writing and now catching up on some typing. I will keep sharing chunks of my story as having you guys read my work keeps me motivated to finish.

So here we join Rose and her siblings after their younger sister, Georgina's fall in the creek. They have interrupted the luncheon Lord and Lady Welford are hosting and while Lord Welford looks at them as a nuisance, Lady Welford takes them under her wing.

I thought originally I was going to take this time to develop Rose and Kelby's relationship but as I was writing  I began to develop Rose and Lady Welford's relationship. Rose does not have a close relationship with her mom and Lady Welford is so nourishing it will play a big role in Rose's future. 

~~~~~~~Summer 1909~~~~~~~~~

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            They all seemed to accept us eagerly into their company as we were a new novelty. Marcus and Daphne being the oldest were asked the most questions. As soon as it was known about Georgiana's fall they were all astounded and wished to know every detail. Then they asked after her well fair. Marcus gallantly told them most of the details. He graciously left out that I was panning for gold or that I ruined my dress. Next they wanted information about where are parents were and why we didn't have any adult supervision. Marcus and Parker stumbled over these explanations. I am not exactly sure how the conversation changed but soon they discovered Daphne had a skill for the piano and they pleaded her to play.

            "Do you play Miss Rose?" Lady Welford asked.

            "Very little. I don’t enjoy practicing. I think my fingers are too stubby."

            This made Lady Welford and some of the other laugh.

            "Well then how do you spend your time?"

            "I like to read. I read probably more that I should."

            "No one can read the more than they should, one should always be a great reader," Lady Welford said.

           

            Lady Welford showed me a good deal of attention, which was unusual because unless I was getting in trouble by Nanny Alba for day dreaming in lessons most adults ignored me. I wasn't pretty child with soft brown hair and pale hazel eyes. The only thing I could think that distinguished me was a scar on my cheek from when I had the chicken pox. Lady Welford was so nice to me and I enjoyed the way she looked at me as if I was a piece of cake.

Doctor Gibson, told us Georgina was just fin and probably only needed rest. Lady Welford made sure she got it having a tray taken up for her to ear if she felt up to it and the most superior guest room made up for Georgiana. Lady Welford seamlessly entertained her guest and attended to Georgiana through the doctor and her instructions to Mrs. Banks. She also made sure to have some of our clothes sent from Cranston. Nanny Alba wrote that she was being too kind and that should come back home but Lady Welford did not agree with this plan. Cranston Court was truly her domain.   

            After the men had rejoined the women the luncheon transferred out to the gardens. Lady Welford had done some new landscaping in the gardens and was eager to show them off. She also invited her friends to take part in playing bad mitten and a game of croquet on the cleared lawns. Usually children would not be invited to these social functions but Lady Welford had insisted on our attending once we had changed into our own attire. Daphne was more than happy to accept.

                 

            I had hoped they would take us take us back to Aurora's room instead the maid took us to a guest room that was close to Georgiana's room. I guess the mystery of this was yet to be discovered.

            "She is so refine," Daphne said about Lady Welford. "All the ladies are. They are so delightful."

            I agreed they were all refine and eloquent. 

            Mother had eloquent friend but we were never allowed to interact with them, they were just names mother mentioned over lunch. At Southerton we were taught how to behave and how to interact with adults though we hardly ever did. We kept mostly to the nursery. Recently mother was asking for Daphne to sit with her friends at tea. Daphne was a few years from being presented, mother thought it was time she practice being a lady, and that meant sitting through tedious teas. Daphne never called them dreary though through her descriptions I found them wearisome. It was different with Lady Welford she wanted to hear about us and enjoyed listening to us. While she had plenty other guest I felt I was her most important priority and without noticing she had taken my hand in hers as if it were the most natural thing to do. 

An Edwardian Garden Party
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Birthday Weekend Away Part 2

staring out at the ocean at The Breakers
it was a bit cold

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In my Birthday Weekend Away I wrote about my mom and I going to Newport for my birthday and I must say I loved my time away. Not only as a time to relax but as a time to live a bit in the past or at least explore past a bit. I must say as much as I was looking forward to seeing the Marble House, I fell in love with The Breakers. I found the whole weekend inspiring, most of the houses provided great detail for the Gilded Age and I wanted to take note of all the details. Fortunately my mom spoiled with buying me some new books so I can study more about this time period. 

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Sadly we cannot take pictures inside the house so I don't have any pictures of my own of the beautiful interiors but I do have some that my mom has posted.

my mom and I on the patio of The Breakers...
I have my head phones on for the  guided tour. 

At The Elms on a sunny warmer day

A posed picture of me outside The Elms

I feel quite inspired and now that school is out I can get some real writing done. Some of you know that I have to hand write my stories and then I type them up. Right now I am catching up on some of my typing. Will keep you posted on the work.

"My One Weakness..."

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I have spent a lot of time since being out of school for the summer escaping into period dramas but the one I have recently been obsessing with is Lark Rise to Candleford. It stars some pretty familiar people... well familiar if you are obsessed with Downton Abbey and Pride and Prejudice both BBC and the 2005 version. One is Brendan Coyle (aka Mr. Bates) who plays Robert Timmins a mason that has high political beliefs in equality but also lots of hard work to make his way in the world. Hie wife, Emma Timmins, plays Charlotte Lucas in the 2005 P&P , she is the good wife always sticking by her man but does frequently get annoyed with his pride.

The next Julia Sawalha who plays Dorcas Lane the serious but mischief loving post-mistress. Who is better known as another mischief character Lydia Bennett. She is frequently saying "It is my one weakness" and she says about most everything from different kinds of cakes to warm baths.

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The main focus of this period piece is two little towns, the hamlet known as Lark Rise and the big/small town of Candleford. The hamlet is where our main character Laura Timmins comes from and in the first episode she moves to Candleford to assist her mother's cousin Dorcas. I love her for many reasons... she is head strong but yet very sensitive and always tries to help. Also she is considered "buttoned-up" but really she has such a soft heart but she only lets those close to her see it. She wants to do the right thing but frequently makes mistakes. She also writes in her journal all the time. 

Laura
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There are some other colorful characters like Robert the mail man with his strong faith and always quoting the Bible. Sometimes I do not like how they make the religious characters ridiculous but he is so humorous in his righteous ways. Then there is Minnie who is the goofy maid but trying hard to right in the world just goofs up a lot. There is also all the hamlet people like Queenie and Twister who add lots of humor into the plots. And like any good small town shows there is always 1 episode visitors who come and shake up the towns and then leave after all is settled. Also like any good period dramas there is love interest. We watch Laura and Dorcas have loves and hear breaks. I am about to finish season 3 of 4 so I am not for sure how it ends but it does seem that once Dorcas adopts her son Sydney her heart is more settled. So now I eagerly await to see if Laura will end up with Daniel or Fisher. If you know do not tell me.

Top: Fisher {pic}
Bottom: Daniel {pic}

Oh I can get so lost in these period pieces... they are my one weakness and thanks to people uploading them on YouTube I can have my little heart go a twitter for them. I hope if you are like me and want to lose your heart to a period drama you will watch and fall in love with this show.

Lark Rise to Candleford Ep. 1 Part 1

You do have to watch them in parts but xLarkRiseCandleford

 has uploaded them all and there is an autoplay button that automatically starts the next part.

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Side Note: After watching all these period drama's I feel like I should have a post on "6 degrees of Separation in Period Drama." 

Asking for Bravery and Wisdom

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Dear Anne,
I know I wrote my last letter to you just a few days ago but being out of school has left me with a lot of time to question my life and my faith. 

Do not worry I will not be using this letter to talk about the movie Brave, I just thought it was a cute picture to start off my letter. Actually I will be talking more about this verse...

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A couple of weeks ago in my bible study we talked about the story in Acts 19 where Paul goes to speak boldly in the synagogue. After reading that I told the group I have a hard time being open about being a Christian. Some people find it hard to share their faith because they are afraid they won't be liked or that someone will ask them a question they don't know the answer to. I am not afraid for those reasons, I mean in college I was but now I have come to realize people don't really care if I am a Christian as long as I don't shove my beliefs down their throats. Also I know I won't have the answer to every question because honestly who would. The most important question I feel like someone could ask me is "why you believe?" and to that I would say "Because at the end of the day He is the only one that makes sense of my life. When I feel things falling apart I know He will be there to hold it together."  

So why am I scared ? Because I don't want to be thought of  as someone who would waive signs that say "God Hates..."  or to be associated with people like the Westboro Baptist Church. I feel like these people do harm to us as group of Christians and to the Kingdom of God.  To be honest I think God only hates sin because it causes separation from Him and he is perfect. When God made the world He called it good. And that goodness, I have been told is equivalent to word completeness. I have yet to read where God says he hates a group of people. Even when He calls down wrath to the Israel it is not because He hates them it is because He hates their sin and punishing them for it and teaching them to be better people. But I honestly don't think as a mere mortal we can say what God hates... all we know is what God loves and that is all people because when He made Adam and Eve the Bible says..
So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them;
    male and female he created them. Genesis 1:27 

It goes further to say in Psalm to say..
For you created my inmost being;    you knit me together in my mother’s womb. Psalm 139:13 (a personal favorite) 

And we all know the classic verse John 3:16
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16 

There are more verses to quote but from my point of view there seems to be more arguments for God's love than God's hate. 

Anyway, back to my original point. I guess I hide my beliefs because I am afraid of people thinking I am judgmental and a hater... which I don't think I am. And now having wrote this I think most my co-workers know I am a Christian mostly because I talk about going to church, bible study, and they know I don't swear. One co-worker says I am on "Team G-O-D." But I wish they could know my heart. And in that I wish I could be more brave.  

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This is outside of my church back home in Oklahoma (First Baptist Church of Moore) and these guys are blocking the Westboro protesters at the funeral of tornado victims... I really like this picture.   

After writing about God's love and reflecting on these verse I question...what do I fear? What holds me back? I want to be bold like Paul but I don't think I have a very bold spirit. I always shy away confrontation, so I am hoping to grow. I am having good practice I have a co-worker that frequently asks me about my faith and what I believe. I do so pray and hope I am giving the right answers and I do so pray to grow in strength and wisdom. 

Sorry these last few letters have not come to any real conclusion... I have more questions sometimes than answers. 

My love, 
Blaire

As I finished this letter I found this on pinterest...

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