Letters From Me

I've just finished reading Lilian Jackson Braun's The Cat Who series--all 29 books!  Have you read them?  They are "cozy mysteries" in which a Siamese Cat named Koko helps solves murders.  After a few books James Qwilleran, Koko's owner, settles in the fictional town of Pickax City, population 3,000, "400 miles north of everywhere."  It is widely believed Braun's setting was somewhere in Michigan where she lived for a number of years.  One of the reasons I loved the series so much is that Qwill, as he was nicknamed, lived within walking distance of downtown and made his daily rounds visiting eateries, shops, and visits with the storekeepers, etc.  This reminded me of my three years in Valparaiso, Indiana (1964-67) when I was a teenager.  This is a postcard off the Internet of downtown Valpo, as we called the town, in the 1960s. . . .

Lincolnway, Valparaiso, Indiana

Ordinary Days

"Such a day of small things, still, but on God's terms, and that is enough."  

-Lilias Trotter, 1 January 1902

Elizabeth's Christmas

I wrote the first chapter of this story as an enclosure for our 2012 Christmas Card.  Then after Christmas I felt there was more to Elizabeth's story that had to be told.  I put "Carol of the Bells" on repeat and sat down at my computer keyboard.  Here is the song for you to listen to as you read....


                       

Life

                       

Time to Head Home

Wednesday, May 16:  Our last morning in the Lake District.  We will catch the 11:45 bus to Windermere for the train back to Manchester.  Tomorrow we fly home.  The air this morning in Grasmere is cool and damp.  I hear birds cooing and calling and an occasional 'baaa'. . . .

Grasmere - Rydal Mount

There was a light mist covering Grasmere when we got up Tuesday morning (May 15th).  The view from our rooftop deck at Heidi's Grasmere Lodge was all that I'd hoped for. . . .

Grasmere - Dove Cottage

In April 1885 nineteen-year-old Beatrix returned to the Lake District with her family for a short stay in Ambleside with a Mrs. Clark at Laurel Villa, now Lakes Lodge.  She mentions in her journal that she drove up Langdale Valley and "Saw also the attempted revival of linen hand-weaving at St. Martin's College, Elterwater, under the superintendence of old Ruskin...."  I mention this to show the contemporary connections of the people whose homes we visited while in the Lake District.  She goes on to write...

"The mother of Mrs. Clark, of this lodging, had the farm at Rydal, and was very familiar with the Wordsworths, particularly the old lady [Wordsworth's sister].  Wordsworth is always referred to as the poet in these parts, and local tradition says Dorothy Wordsworth was the greater poet of the two.  For some years before her death she was subject to fits of madness, which her brother could generally control.  During these, though a pious and sensible lady, she used to swear like a dragoon.  She had a craze for putting her clothes on the fire, and they at least got a fender up to the ceiling.  She left a great many of Wordsworth's furniture and odds and ends, such as a large clothes horse, to Mrs. Clark's mother." 

Besides being mentioned in Beatrix's journal, her connection to William Wordsworth (1770-1850) was through both their desire to preserve the Lake District.  Wordsworth was instrumental in helping to stop the railroad from going any further than Windermere and Beatrix would later work to stop an aeroplane factory from being built at Bowness-on-Windermere where the plan was to use the lake to test hydroplanes.  Grasmere, where Wordsworth would live the last 51 years of his life, would be our base for the next two nights from which to explore the landscape that Wordsworth wrote about. 

Even with that to look forward to I awoke Monday morning at 5:30 with mixed feelings about moving on.  I spent the early hours of last morning in Near Sawery basking in what I saw out my window. . . .

Beatrix Potter Nature Walk

When I left you in my last post we'd just walked the two miles from Hawkshead back to Tower Bank Arms in Near Sawrey.  After freshening up we went down to "our" table for supper.  Tonight they had a lit candle on our table!  Was it because it was Mother's Day or because it was our last night there. . . .

Coniston Water and John Ruskin

Sunday, May 13 - 6:50 a.m. I woke up on Mother's Day to the sound of birds and sheep out my window at the Tower Bank Arms. . . .