Romancing England: Fields and Flowers

Please click on the illustration above,

To enjoy more of the detail of this goode and honeste English flower

As ye set the designe that your needle may follow,

Neglect not the common wayside flowers,

Borage, cowslip and Queen Anne's Lace,

And most particularly our goode English Days-Eye.

An honest flower she is,

Bright gay, with sunny face,

Full open-petaled and easy to stitch

And naught of the French about her!

Pithy Sayings of Lady Margaret Hoby 

from The Sewing Chronicles of Lady Liz, 
The Secret Diary of a Time Traveling Maid

Romancing England: Fields and Flowers, Borage

Please click on the illustration above
to enjoy the full beauty of this gentle English herb
* * *

A stirrup-cup speeds the departing guest,

Who tarries overlong at thy door,

When the mistress of the house has much to think on,

And wishes them well away.

To hurry them hence,

Take a handfull of fresh borage leaf,

And grind it well beneath thy pestle,

Chop it well and do mix it 

with thy husband's least-favored wine,

Then may ye hope not to see them again too soon.

Pithy Sayings of Lady Margaret Hoby 

from The Sewing Chronicles of Lady Liz, 
The Secret Diary of a Time Traveling Maid

Romancing England: Field and Flowers, Bridle Path in Humhaugh

Please click on the illustration above to enjoy the details

I know there

is a stronger tradition of public right of way in Britain, than we have in the US. It is a strange feeling, to an American, walking through the farmers fields.  

Part 2: Sewing Chronicles of Lady Lizbeth, Secret Diary of a Time Traveling Maid: The Linen Purse

This is a continuation of a serial story from this art journal. 

If a lady aspires to virtuous standing ,

She should attend well to her work,

And leave idle contemplation,

And distractions, such as the desire for precious objects

         or the attractions of comely men 

To the vulgar.

Keep your eyes on your needles, ladies

And your hands on your work.

Pithy Sayings of Lady Margaret Hoby

Nobody who sews or just loves fabric, can put off visiting that holy-of-holies, the V&A. I was dying to revisit the great fabric collection there, and terribly disappointed to find that it’s been broken up and put into storage. It turns out the display frames were wearing out, and the small samples of fabric, embroidery, lace and other bits of antique and retro needlework were at risk.

“Come back in a year and check out the new off-site facility,” I was told at the information desk. Hummm just a hop, skip and a jump from California, and not in my budget again for a few years….

Well there are still a lot of old fabrics in the British  galleries. Like Margaret Layton’s glorious embroidered jacket and a delightfully old linen pillowcase with bobbin lace insertions and whitework embroidery. Wouldn’t you just love to run your fingers over that? A good night’s sleep would be absolutely guaranteed.

But it was the little linen purse, Tudor or Stuart era, embroidered with roses, carnations, and something that might just be a butterfly, in gilt, cream, red and yellow threads, that really drew my attention. I read the plaque, “Embroidered with silver-gilt and silk thread in tent, Gobelin and plaited braid stitches”. I love machine embroidery as much as the next hobbyist, but no sewing task brings me as much pleasure as separating a skein of embroidery floss,and working my own lazy daisies and split stiches on a remnant of linen or a soft pillowcase. And am I the last person in the western world who still carries an embellished square of embroidered batiste in her pocket, for drying her hands or face in a pinch?

Don’t get me wrong, the invention of the sewing machine was a Godsend, but sewing handwork is soothing, and feeling the thread running through my fingers, fulfills the creative urge like nothing else. 

That little purse gave me some great ideas for the bag I’m planning to make while I’m here. Wouldn’t those little stitched bom-bom bead-like things, (I wonder what they called those in Tudor Times) be a great addition to the bottom edge of MY bag?

I guess I should ALSO admit to all of you, (I’m pretty sure this is a girls-only blog readership, right?) that there was more than one reason I dallied in the lower section of the British Galleries  the V&A that day. FIRST, of course, was the inspiration for modern sewing projects found in antique fabrics and clothing. 

Another was my delight in studying historical instruments. It's not all clothes and pillowcases in the galleries and I haven't even gotten around to telling you how gorgeous some of those old babies are. You all know, already, how I feel about making my own music. The idea that women just like me once drew music from these beautifully ornamented keyboards, strings and pipes four or more centuries ago blows me away.  

And finally, Ok I admit it. There was a particularly fine looking fella cruising the same zone.

* * *

 To Be Continued

Romancing England: The Face of Love in Northumberland

Please click on the illustration above for the full details when it comes to baby-love.

Walking Hadrian's Wall the week before last, we encountered a paradise of sheep. In the past I've been a goat fancier but now I've found that English sheep, particularly in the spring'y month of May, are pretty fanciable. Now I know what inspires the artists of children's stories to draw all those gamboling lambs.

Part 1: Sewing Chronicles of Lady Lizbeth, Secret Diary of a Time Traveling Maid: The Bloggers apologia

The Sewing Chronicles of Lady Lizbeth
Secret Diary of a Time Traveling Maid

Part 1: The Bloggers Apologia

Though clever with your needle ye may be,

Keep always humble in regards to your skills

And the service thou do’est for mankind.

For tis not admired in maid or matron 

to place herself above others...

Unless she be well favored by fortune or birth

Pithy Sayings of Lady Margaret Hoby

May 14,  2011/1581

In historically interesting times, authors often started off their books with a long epistle concerning how EXTREMELY unable they were to engage on such a project as the book, that their reader has just picked up. This requisite apologia, an apology for daring to consider themselves worthy of such a project, might go on for paragrqphs or even pages!  It probably also served as a ready defense for any scholars who came along and disagreed with them. The author has already publicly stated,  I TOLD you I didn't know what I was talking about!

In this same way the modern day blogger prepares her defense against irregular digital production. My online vindication goes something like this.

I certainly MEANT to keep up my regular blog postings as soon as I got here to London. But I'm sure you'll all forgive me when you hear what's gone on since I arrived....

As those of you who faithfully read this blog, and listen to it's companion podcast, “Unpolished Performances” already know, I'm taking a few months off between leaving my last job (Miss you folks. Let's do lunch, I mean it!) and starting my new contract in the fall. I was last in London five years ago, and wanted to see how things have changed. Also my facebook friend Gwen, was  looking for someone she could sublet her London  flat to, for the summer (though don’t mention it to her landlord will you? I'm not sure the deal is strictly legit.)

What a great chance to get some sewing in! You might have noticed that this blog has been a little less than fashion-forward since January, but I mean to make up for that over the next four months. Gwen told me to make myself free with her machine and I fully intend to, just as soon as I stock up on a few metres of fabric from Liberty and visit that cool sewing store, Stitch and Beads , in Portabello Market. I’m hoping the market will turn up some delicious retro fabric to go with the beads, and maybe a vintage pin. Won’t I just have a wonderful bag when I’m done? And, I’ve already made a muslin of a breezy, shirred Burda magazine blouse pattern. It’s crying out for a mixture of Tanna Lawn from Liberty, maybe that gorgeous William Morris “Strawberry” print for one.

I was already writing blog entries in my head about my trials and tribulations when it came to fitting and finding the right buttons. And it’s always fun to share what the gals are wearing who walk by on the street below the flat window (Color and lots of it, mustard and turquoise, and yes those same ruffles we’re seeing on the shirts and tops back home. I saw a lot of zouave pants too.)

But it was that trip to the Victoria and Albert Museum that really put regular blogging on the back burner.

* * *
To Be Continued

Romancing England: Reflections on Kensington Gardens

Please click on the illustration above to enjoy the full reflection

My guess is that this heron is contemplating a spot of time travel back to the nineteenth or eighteenth century. Perhaps she's reflecting that Lady Fiona Garden,  one of  Queen Caroline's* ladies, is always a good mark when it comes to feeding the wildfowl. Of course there's always danger for a bird of her ilk, the court being rather fond of heron-in-a-pasty. Then again a little danger adds some spice to the trip.

In three out of our four trips to England we've visited Kensington Gardens along with as many of the other big parks as we can. As exciting as London's mega-cityness is, we start to suffer from nature-deficit disorder if we don't hit some green every day or so. 

When we look for a flat to rent for the week, we look at the different neighborhoods on the map and try for one that's within walking distance of one or more big green areas. I was glad I'd learned this travel-planning skill visiting London, when I went to Madrid last summer (please click on Pensamientos Finales for thoughts on that visit).

*You remember Q.Caroline, she was George II's wife 

Romancing England: Working Out in Northumberland

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to enjoy more of the Northumberland detail

Journaling Out The Jitters

Click on the illustration above for more jittery detail

I was so nervous before we left for England. I'm not sure why.


Probably the thought of all that time travel in addition to jet lag.

Listen In on ..The Lost Gold of Chuckwalla County, an Unpolished Performance free in the iTunes Store

A Dime Novel Begins: Prelude and Chapter 1 

This is the beginning of a low-brow dime novel, that the folks in my adventure-romance novel, FOOLS GOLD, are reading. And they're picking up clues to help them out with some of their own problems.

* * * 

The May radio-style podcast episode of "Unpolished Performances" is an excerpt from an historically-styled  dime novel, “Amanda Apple and The Lost Gold of Chuckwalla County”. Download this audio show directly from the iTunes store with this link (or search the iTunes store with the term 'unpolished performances') 

You can also listen to the streaming version of the show  on the web at 

http://web.me.com/simpleromantic/Simple_Romantic/Podcast/Podcast.html

* * *

As many of my readers and listeners probably know, dime novels were popular middle class entertainment in the nineteenth and early twentieth century. They became available not long after the Civil War, as public education increased in the U.S., and the country was suddenly full of readers. At the time publishing technology was also improving, and equipment could be more easily transported by rail.  Serial stories in newspapers and magazines, which continued to be published during the height of the dime novel craze as well, are said to have inspired dime novels. Dime novels, and their cousins Penny Dreadfuls,  are often viewed as the predecessors to inexpensive, modern paperback novels.

I’m writing this serial, to assist the inhabitants of an adventure-romance novel I’m working on, called Fools Gold. Back in 1893, Amanda Apple and The Lost Gold of Chuckwalla County, is proving to be a popular read in the town of Measley Nevada, where much of Fools Gold takes place. The dime novel is also providing some of the residents of Measley, with helpful clues when it comes to the recovery of their own purloined treasure.

 * * * 

I'd like to hear your comments about The Lost Gold of Chuckwalla County. You can post them below.http://web.me.com/simpleromantic/Simple_Romantic/Podcast/Podcast.html

Traffic School Blues and Goober Peas

Though I've done my time INSIDE as well

Today's musical piece is dedicated to You-Know-Who-You-Are

Sung to the tune "Goober Peas"

Sitting in ole Starbucks.... on a summer's day .

Chattin' with my caf' mates,

Passin' time away.

Underneath the shadOW! of a traffic fine,

Goodness how delicious, cappauccino so devine

Chorus

Traffic School, Traffic School 

Doin' traffic school

Goodness how delicious coffee and traffic school!

Verse Two

I know I gotta get down to passing all my test.

The subject ain't interestin',

My mind is quite at rest.

The coffee's very tasty, that scone does make me drool. ‘

I rather be Photoshoppin',

Then enrolled in traffic school..

(chorus)

Like a Shooting Star

Have you met this California Native?

The Lost Gold of Chuckwalla County: Prelude, A Dime Novel Begins

What is (or was) a Dime Novel?

Amanda Apple

And

The Lost Gold of Chuckwalla County

Prelude

A VERY SINGULAR PERFORMANCE

FEW there were in Battle Mountain who had not heard tell of the lovely women who walked through the doors of  “Silent Sam’s Scorpion Saloon”, one dusty day in late May. Indeed, there were several among the rough crew there that day, who recognized her from her youth, when she was known only for her lyrical voice and not for her desperate ways.

A low murmur of "Ruby" ran through the hall as the woman entered, proving that she was recognized by more than one. For, the beauty was, in fact, none other than the notorious, silver-voiced, bandit queen,  known throughout the great Western basin territory as Ruby McFane!

In previous days, folk the length and breadth of the silver state had ‘oft heard Miss McFane’s melodious trills floating from the stage of the Golden Sagebrush Musical Hall. Among the denizens of  Battle Mountain grouped round Sam’s counter that day, the desperado Texas Tom was one that recognized the woman’s comely visage and alluring form. Tom had formerly thrived in Virginia City, before taking in Austin and Battle Mountain, and he’d enjoyed many a pleasurable evening in the velvet-covered seats of that famed theatre.

Miss McFane had changed but little since she’d graced the boards singing her paeans to the Mockingbird  and her romantic tunes of times past. Though rumors abounded in regards to her nefarious outlawed activities, her speech, mannerisms and dress continued to be those of a lady. Her curls were still the characteristic red-gilt of a Nevada gold nugget and she continued to move with a regal simplicity that was unique to her. Her buff-colored linen outfit, though suited to desert trails was neat and tidy. If there was any change it was in the sterner expression of her sad blue eyes.

Crude though the mining crowd might be, no man spoke disrespectfully. Yet they also made no move to include her in their lot. Ruby stopped before the rough-hewn counter and dropped a finely tooled leather pouch full of jingling coin before Sam.

"Yes it is I,  Ruby McFane!" she stated boldly. "I can see I am not unknown even in this foul den. Better perhaps is it so, for you will have a clearer idea with whom you must deal. I depend on you good fellows, to tell me where The Dark Unknown may be found. I am sure you will say that you’ve seen him not, but I shall never be content with that tale.  He told me to meet me here. I had it from him in a missive written over a week since, and I well know that he is one who holds to his obligations."

"An' so you’re wantin' him, eh?" Texas Tom grunted, from his perch on one end of the bar. "S'pose likely you're a pard o' his'n aire yah?"

“No partner, but see him I must,” she retorted in calm tones.

It was at that moment that Ginger Johnson peeked out from behind the screen that separated the public from the kitchen quarters. No comely coquette was she. Unlike the fair Ruby, the kitchen maid’s outfit had seen better days. Her heavily patched homespun garments were not only well-worn, they were stained with the grease of many a cook fire, and far from clean. Ginger pushed a dusky curl impatiently back from her brow with a care-worn hand, and studied Miss McFane in a decidedly unfriendly manner.

“What’s a dainty darlin’ like you donin’ here?” Ginger inquired boldly. “You should be croonin’ lyrics to the toffs who’ve come over Paiute Pass.”

“I cannot speak of my reasons, but see him I must,” Ruby stated. “And if I must pay to learn his location,” she pushed her leather bag towards the other woman, “then here is my due.”

This is the beginning of a low-brow dime novel, that the folks in my adventure-romance novel, FOOLS GOLD, are reading. And they're picking up clues to help them out with some of their own problems.

* * * 

This story continues in the May radio-style podcast episode of "Unpolished Performances" 

Download this audio show directly from the iTunes store with this link (or search the iTunes store with the term 'unpolished performances') 

You can also listen to the streaming version of the show  on the web at 

http://web.me.com/simpleromantic/Simple_Romantic/Podcast/rss.xml

* * *

Trail to Windy Hill: Spring

Click on the illustration above for a fuller view

of Spring on the Windy Hill Trail

Wild Iris and Columbine make up for a faint brush with invasive stinging nettles and one minor tumble-down-the-trail. Nothing broken, nothing sprained - but most important HOW IS THE CAMERA???!!!

As to stinging nettles, in the past we didn't to have them in the area. Can't actually figure out what they're good for, though this site shows how  to cook them, but I'm not taking a chance on picking the wrong thing. Also I don't think it's legal to collect plants in the mid-penninsula regional open space, even plants that those in charge of the Open Space are working to pull out.

I actually think those nettles are here to TAKE OVER JOBS FROM LOCAL PLANTS. Of course the word on the trail is our local plants don't apply for those jobs.

May Calendar: Wildflowers and Other Natives

Click on the calendar above for more detailed printing possibilities