Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady - September

♫The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady♫

Edith Holden writes in her Nature Notes for 1906:

September was the seventh month of the Roman calendar, but is the ninth according to our reckoning.  The Anglo-Saxons call it 'gerst-monath,'--Barley month."  

Mottoes:  "Fair on September first, fair for the month."

In the DVD series, September begins with Edith and her new husband, Ernest Smith, unpacking boxes in their new home in London.  It is 1911 and they have just married.  Ernest sees her Nature Diary and asks to read it, but Edith grabs it from him, but not before he opens it to September 1906 and says she does not mention him.  That is because in reality she does not meet him until 1907!  In the DVD series last month Ernest followed Edith to Scotland and proposed to her, but she refused him.  Now the DVD takes us back to September 1906 and follows along in her diary.  The diary speaks of an unnamed companion, but the DVD takes license and says it is Ernest on his second visit to Scotland to see Edith again while she is still in Scotland.  She writes, "Rowed across to Inchamahone Priory, on one of the two islands.  Here were huge old Spanish Chesnut Trees, supposed to have been planted by the monks, and the largest Nut trees I have ever seen; also the Box tree, said to have been planted by Queen Mary."  Edith leaves Scotland for home on the 25th.

I've reached the last chapter in Edith's biography.  It is 1907.  She makes several visits to visit her married sister, Effie.  This is when she meets Ernest Smith, the sculptor who was studying at the Royal College of Art and they begin their 5-year courtship.  Edith's family has always been involved in social issues, but Edith'a interest in animals led her to belong to the National Council for Animals' Welfare.  She did illustrations for their magazine and designed a calendar for them that was sold to raise funds. . . .

...and postcards. . . .

Bunny Mummy's September post follows Edith's 1905 Nature Notes, but some of the drawings are similar.

Because I was late in coming to Ragged Robin's webjournal we are at her July post, Part 6, where she takes us to Temple Balsall Nature Reserve, an area Edit visited in July 1906.

Another webjournal you might enjoy is A Garden in the Shire, written by Deborah in Wales.  She photographs the seed pods and berries in her garden this month and has two posts about them:  The Beauty and Bounty of Seed Heads and Celebrating Apple Time.

The painting I've chosen to illustrate is on the last page of the September entry. . . .

I drew it first on my drawing pad. . . .

I sat at my drawing table struggling to draw it again.  I heard in my head the little girl stamping her foot and crying, "Don't make me do it again!"  After I threw my little fit, I gazed out the window at the wild honeysuckle growing on the boardwalk railing and said, "You can do this, Cathy". . . .

I redrew it onto the watercolor paper and outlined it in sepia ink.  So far so good.  This was easier than I thought. . . .

Finally, I painted.  This is the fun part....until I run into trouble getting the colors right.  But overrall, I'm pretty pleased. . . .

Here are a few of my practice sketches done in my morning journaling time. . . .

The Country Diary Learn to Draw booklet has a real challenge for Autumn. . . .

I'm going to give it a try and watercolor it during the month and will add when I finish it here. . . .

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Take Joy!