Getting back into the story...

Hello lovely readers,

As I have stated I have wanted to get some more writing in this summer. It is somewhat odd (in a good way) to go back to a story that I have had to put aside. I have gone through and re-read some of my writing and I wanted to share some of the story with you... 

Hope you enjoy. 

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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.

            Of course in a few years I would learn of the financial destitution of our family and I would know to become a grand family we once were was utterly hopeless. Right then in 1909 I thought no family could be better off than us, Harringtons at Southerton Greens with a house in London and plantations in India.

            "Rose I want to play!" My little sister Georgina called from the side.

            Georgiana, my younger sister, who still at five had her baby fat including pudgy cheeks and stubby legs. No one seeing her then would realize she would become England's high class model by the time she was eighteen, of course by that time she was going by the name Gigi Harris. She would always long for adventure and to be taken seriously but for the most part she was held back because of her younger sibling status.

            "I am not playing!" I yelled back.

            To be honest I was panning for gold. The water was up to my knees and turning my dress from soft blue to an ugly brown as the mud splashed on me. I was  bent over with one of cook's pie pans, scrapping the bottom, hoping to find any sign of gold. In one of our history lessons we had learned about the California Gold Rush in 1849 and I had hoped our creek could be lined with gold but no one had ever looked. I now knew why no one looked because the water was almost a numbing cold and there seemed to be little success no matter how long I looked.

            "Rose, I want to play."

            "No you can't, mother says you can't come in the creek."

            "Please!" She begged.

            "Daphne, you are suppose to be watching Georgiana," I pleaded.

            "No you promise you would do all my chores  and when mother is not her and we are not with Nanny Alba that includes taking care of Georgiana."

            "But-" I moaned.

            "Do you want me to tell mother you broke the teapot?"

            "I wasn't trying to break the teapot," I grumbled to myself.

            I didn't really think it was my fault that Pippin came running through the room as I was trying to host a tea party for my doll, Camilla Jayne, but I was pretending she was Queen Victoria. I had to use the best teapot for Queen Victoria, and with its hand painted flowers and gold trimming it was by far the best in the house. I was holding the now infamous teapot when Pippin came into the room, jumped on me, knocked me down, and the teapot to the ground. Daphne was the only witness and now she had black mailed me into doing her chores for a moth. Years later I would find out Daphne told mother did not punish me because she hated that teapot. It had been Grandma Harrington's but mother and Grandma Harrington never got a long so she was glad when it was broken. If I had known that then I would have never put up with Daphne's behavior.

            "What are you doing," She yelled at me. Daphne finally noticed that my dress had become soaked and practically ruined with mu stains. 

            "Panning for gold like they did in California."

            Shane hearing this chimed in "There is not gold in that creek, if there was Lord Welford would have already dug it up."

            "What would my father do with little rocks bigger than finger nails. Rose, if you find any gold you can keep it," Parker said pretending to stick up for his father, who was known in parliament as being one of the cheapest Lords in the House.  Penny and Pence Welford, I had once heard father call Lord Welford.

            "I agree with Shane there is no gold in the creek," Daphne said "and now you have ruined your dress for something that doesn't exist. Now got out of that and act a lady."

            By now all attention was shared between me standing in the creek and Daphne standing on the bank. No one but Kelby had seen Georgina make her way into the creek and slip on a rock, and she had gone under with a splash or gasp to get our attention. The splash that did get out attention was Kelby jumping into pull Georgiana out of the water. In slow motion I watched Kelby grab her and saw her limp body lie across his arms. He laid her on the grass to get any water out of her lungs. She coughed some up, opened her eyes, and then quickly fainted again.

            Without thinking Kelby scooped her back up into his arms and ran in the direction of Cranston Court.

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Jane Eyre... what the?

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I know I am going to shock a lot of people when I say this, but I do not like Jane Eyre. For some reason when I tell people I like Jane Austen they assume I like Jane Eyre as well... but I do not. I read the novel before freshman year of college and didn't like it. Then a friend of mine told me to give it another try. I told her I would watch the new version (2011) because lots of people said it was the best version and if I liked it I would again try to read the book. I thought I must have missed something, since everyone I know who likes period pieces likes Jane Eyre so I was willing to give it a second chance but after watching the movie I still don't like it. So am I still missing something?

I just don't understand. Jane Eyre is a heroine who seems to have no faults and every good hero's journey story, a hero or heroine must have faults and over come them. But Jane just seems too passive. And let people tell her where to go, what to do, and she never seems to speak up for herself. I mean besides when she speaks up to Mrs. Reed (her aunt) but this willful girl does not seem to last. She just seems to accept all the wrongs in her life.

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I also did not like Mr. Rochester. He spends time flirting with one girl, then declares his love for Jane, and all this time he is married to a crazy woman. How are we suppose to fall in love with a man who is purposefully leading Jane down a road of heart ache? After the marriage is discovered, Rochester still wants her to stay with him... what as his mistress? (Not cool Mr. Rochester.) He seems rather selfish.

But Jane cannot stand being in the same house as him and runs away. At least here we get some emotions from her as she breaks down and cries. But after that the plot starts to rush and eventually Mr. Rochester's wife dies and he is now blind. Jane goes back to love and care for him. When the credits rolled by I said "that's it?" "What?" I felt the conclusion was too fast.

After looking for pictures for this blog I have seen some mixed reactions to this movie, so I don't think I am the only one who thought this way. I must say props goes to the art director or location finder because the back grounds were beautiful and dark when needed to tell the story.

I think I will stick with my Jane Austen and Elizabeth Gaskell and maybe explore the world of Dickens.

If you love this novel/story can you please let me know what I am missing.

Inspiring Music

Besides reading some fun books over the summer I do hope to get some writing in. I have always found music very inspirational so I just wanted to share some songs that I have fallen in love with. 

 Here are just a few...

May Waltz

by: Brooke Fraser

Swan Song 

by: Shubert

Breathe

By:  The Brilliance

Beethoven's 5th Secrets

By: The Piano Guys

The Call

By: Regina Spektor 

from the movie Prince Caspin

Divenire 

By: Ludovico Einaudi

Flags

By: Brooke Fraiser

You never know never know where inspiration is going to strike so keep looking. 

Period Film Weekend

This weekend being my first weekend out of school I was basically a lazy sloth and I was able to watch some good period dramas... thanks YouTube.

Over the weekend I watched Sense and Sensibility (2008)... that one I checked out from my school library. I have wanted to check it out many times from the library, I did not because I knew I was too busy with school so this was my end of year treat to myself. I have written about it in my Chinese Food and Jane Austen Post. So though I will not waste time re-writing the review of it I do love posting pictures of my fan girl obsession... Dan Stevens.

From there I moved on to Emma (2009). I am still a fan of the Gwenyth Paltrow and Jeremy Northam version (1996) the most, I think it is because it was my first one. I will say that the minni-series is far more accurate to the book and as I am re-reading it I am noticing those details. Romalo Garari does play Emma very well being a good balance between selfish, naive but also completely lovable. Also Jonny Lee Miller plays a great Mr. Knightley being firm when needed but when he confesses his love to Emma, it is so sweet. 

The proposal scene 

And while this story is more accurate to the novel I still love the line "I need not call you Mr. Knightley but my Mr. Knightley." My heart goes a flutter when I hear that; I know this is not in the book, but in the book I have noticed that after they are engaged Mr. Knightley does call her "my Emma." Awe so sweet.

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Then I watched Romalo Garari (who you might recognize from Amazing Grace or Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights) play Gwendolen Harleth another spoiled girl used to having men fall at her feet but when her family is penniless she enters into a loveless marriage with a Mr. Grandcourt (played by Hugh Bonneville aka Lord Grantham) instead of becoming a governess. Then attempts at having an affair with Daniel Deronda (played by Hugh Dancy). 

Side note: I am going to guess being a governess is bad because a lot of these movies the characters act like it is fate worst than death. 

Back to movie: It was fun watching Hugh Bonneville play such a bad guy. And though I do not support affairs, it was sad to watch this because there was no happy ending for Gwendolen and Daniel. There is a happy ending though for Daniel and his lady love. But I probably will not be watching this film over and over again because minus the awesome costuming the story just seemed to drag on. I guess I should have known as the book was written by George Elliot. I have only read her book Silas Marner and that story dragged on till the last 4 or so chapters. Also I give George Elliot props for making the hero and heroine (the couple with the happy ending) both Jewish people, this seems very progressive for the time period that she was writing in. So in the past YouTube has been good about finding films they think I would like (thanks to them I discovered the Lizzie Bennet Diaries) I would say this is a YouTube recommendation fail. However, if you watch it you might recognize two women as there are two characters who have at one point or another played a Mrs. Weston in Emma. 

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The next one I watched was Little Dorrit. Important thing to know when watching this was it is written by Charles Dickens. Dickens wrote most of his stories in news papers so just little sections at a time and the minni-series seemed true to this having only half hour episodes (minus the first and last one). Also there is a lot of intertwining plot lines that seem very disconnected but then come together at the end. The basic plot line is Amy Dorrit was born and raised in the debtor's prison as her father has lived there 20+ years; as she is not officially a prisoner she goes out and works doing some sowing. Through this she meets Mrs. Clenman, not a nice woman, and when her son, Arthur Clenman (played by Matthew Macfayden aka Mr. Darcy (2005)) finds out he is kind of shocked to learn Amy is hired because of his mom's charity. Apparently his mother has no charity. Arthur then hires a private investigator to find out the Clenman's connection to the Dorrit's because he believes his family has done the Dorrrit's wrong and that is what his mother is making up for. (Okay so minus some twist I didn't really understand maybe I will need to re-watch it some time). Arthur through the investigation becomes friends with the Dorrits (and the father and brother are quick to take advantage of that) and also finds out the Dorrits are actually wealthy. Upon this discovery the Dorrits leave England to become cultured and to separate themselves from their past. Amy is kind of like the Anne Elliot of the story very selfless but her family wrapped up in their own silly lives think she is foolish. Through more twists (I don't want to give everything away) there is a happy ending so yeah! I will say this was a YouTube recommendation win... I will want to re-watch it to understand plot point and I didn't feel like watching 14 episodes was a waste. I just have to get used to Dicken's way of a plot line. Plus I get to watch Matthew Macfayden who can rock a top hat.

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I did so love some escapism to into period dramas. 

If you have any recommendations of others to check out let me know. I am keeping an on going list of movies to watch.

A good period drama fan girl video

Song: Sara Bareilles