Olympics, new Rebus, and In the Garden with Jane Austen - book review

The Olympics are taking up much of my attention this past week.  I'm getting a little reading done, though only because we had a long weekend so I was able to read in the evening the past few days and finish a book. Darkfire by CJ Sansom, to be reviewed shortly..  I love the Olympics, I enjoy how the athletes try their best.  It's exciting and thrilling and sometimes heartbreaking to watch. 

At the same time, I had to share with you my excitement when I found on Amazon today that a NEW REBUS mystery is coming out!    
 

Yes indeed, John Rebus is back!  He is teaming up with Malcolm Fox, or rather, he and Malcolm cross paths.....all the old favourites are there, Siobhan Clarke, Big Ger Rafferty, and most of all, Rebus.  Still retired, and still pushing buttons and going where no one else wants to go.  Standing In Another Man's Grave isn't released here yet, there is no date out, and I'm still ecstatic.  NEW REBUS MYSTERY!!!! 

I thought for a change of pace that I would actually review a book today.   Some of the high heat and humidity  we have been suffering under have died away today, so that I feel energized and can think straight.  I'm posting while I can.....

In the Garden With Jane Austen by Kim Wilson

This was such a beautiful book.  Gardening and Jane Austen, what could be better? Well, this book takes bits and pieces of letters Jane, her mother, and her sister Casexened to the gardens in her various homes after her death.  It even shows some of the stunning gardens and settings she would have seen in her travels around south England, and wrote about, either to her family, or used as a basis in her books.        
                                           
I learned two big things reading this book:
1) Jane loved to garden and discussed flowers, fruits and vegetables and took an interest in raising the animals that were being raised for food by her family  She learned to raise animals and grow vegetables and fruit while growing up at the parsonage in Steventon, where her father was the rector. She and Cassandra looked after the animals, the chickens and the bees, and they often had what the house gardens and land offered as their main source of food.

2) that walking paths, garden paths, were used extensively in 18th century England.  Ladies didn't run, they didn't work out!  So to keep healthy, walking paths were built into gardens - thus, the ladies could go for several miles of walking if they walked around the gardens several times, depending on where they were living and the kinds of gardens around.  It makes me feel much better about my walking and less guilty that I hate working out (so I don't). Walking is good exercise,! 

I did not know that her brother Francis was wealthy enough to manage a country estate, which they did at Goodnestone Park.  This was the same brother who she visited for a short time in London, and who supported her and her mother after their father died. Goodnestone Park has several gardens,  and Jane visited her brother and sister-in-law frequently there.

There is alist at the back of the book, of the flowers grown in Jane's time. Unfortunately the original gardens at many of the places she lived are long gone now, however the head gardener at Chawton Cottage now (which is a trust historical estate) provided a list of the flowers grown now at the Cottage, with almost all the varieties used being available during the years Jane was alive.
-Hollyhock
-lady's mantle
star of Persia (allium)
basket of gold/gold alyssum
masterwort
sweet William
 dianthus superbe
bleeding heart
geranium Buxton Blue
dogtooth daisy
Little Maid daylily
Madonna lily
winter honeysuckle, Hall's Honeysuckle
moonwort/money plant
maltese cross
yellow daylily
evening primrose
Jacob's ladder
garden phlox
Rosa Alba Belle Amour
Rosa centifolia Shailerss White Moss
black-eyed Susan
satin flower
columbine

I was delighted to see that I have some already in my garden, sweet william, daylilies, phlox, of course roses, money plant, maltese cross (though I can't grow these, they keep dying), Jacob's ladder, black-eyed Susan, alysum, and I dearly want to try growing some Hollyhock next year.

There are many pictures in this book, of the gardens and great houses that Jane would have visited, and pictures of the gardens at Chawton Cottage, old sketches if the gardens or houses don't exist any more, and delightful descriptions from Jane's letters, as well as excerpts from her novels. There are excerpts from gardeners of the time, thoughts on gardens, how to design them, what a successful 19th century garden should contain, the various uses of the garden. 

I found this book to be a delight for the soul.  It is a wonderful way to spend an afternoon, with a cup of tea,  reading about gardens and life in Jane Austen's time.  It gives a rare glimpse of how Jane used the landscape around her in her novels, and when I reread them, I know I will have a better understanding of how she used the garden settings in her books. I love that she loved her gardens and was happiest when she could have one to tend, a cottage with a garden.  She was a woman after my own heart, and since I already love her novels, this is such a deep pleasure to discover about her.

In the Garden with Jane Austen

Yesterday was one of those days when it felt like Friday the 13 energy had carried over.  Did you find that too? 

-  Yesterday I learned I have osteoarthitis in both knees now.  And they have been inflamed for over a month now.  Thankfully I have been told how much Tylenol I can take, and it's working.
-I got a cortisone steroid shot in one knee, to try it. The doctor accidentally hit a bone spur in my knee when giving me the shot. There's nothing quite like crying silently while keeping absolutely still. Thankfully it didn't keep hurting afterward (except for the normal deep ache both knees have right now).
-after moaning to myself that I'm under 50, and much too young to be facing the next 40 years of pain management, I decided to go to the last day Nicholas Hoare bookstore was open.
- yes, the bookstore I just discovered a year ago, was forced to close when the National Capital Commission ,a federal body that overlooks parts of the city because we are the capital of Canada, decided to raise the rent 72% suddenly.  No bookstore in the world - no business in the world - could stay open with that.  In spite of protests, letter writing, and stories in the news, the NCC refused to give an answer about why a fashionable, popular, successful bookstore was being forced to close down.  And get this:  there is no tenant waiting to come in.  So instead of regular income, the NCC is wasting our tax dollars because there will be no tenant. 
- I went in to buy some last books and commiserate and say thank you and goodbye.  I bought two birthday presents for my ex, a Mother's Day present for my mother (and just in case they read this, I can't say what they are yet!), and three books for myself:
-Woman with a Birthmark - Hakan Nesser (Chief Inspector Van Veeteren series)
- The Terrorists - Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo (final book in the Martin Beck series)
and then, a final treat for me:
- In the Garden with Jane Austen by Kim Wilson

I started reading it right away on the bus on the way to work.  It took all the stress and worry from me, and I lost myself in reading about Jane Austen and the gardens she grew in her lifetime.  Did you know that Jane and her family were avid gardeners?  That as daughters of a rector, they grew their own vegetables and fruit as children, and when they finally landed at Chawton Cottage, they had an orchard, and several kinds of gardens - herb, vegetable, flower. Chawton Cottage was one of two that James,  her well-to-do brother offered them.  It was here that Jane lived out the final 8 years of her life, and here where she wrote her final three novels.  He took excellent care of them, redesigning part of the cottage for their comfort, and adding gardens and walkways so that they could take their daily walks. They had chickens, their own fruit and vegetables, flower gardens, herbs, everything a gentlewoman could need to be self-sufficient and in charge of her own home.  Jane delighted in this.

In the Garden with Jane Austen is filled with bits from her letters to Cassandra, descriptions of gardens or walks from her novels, and most wonderfully, pictures of where Jane lived, and descriptions from her letters of the  gardens had.   The ones  at Chawton Cottage have been recreated, and there is an introduction to this book written by Celia Simpson, Head Gardener at Jane Austen's house. I find I didn't know this could be a career choice, but how fabulous and wonderful, to be head gardener now at Jane Austen's house!!  I am discovering, partly because of The Morville Hours, but mostly I have always been interested in the history of plants and gardens, what 16th and 17th century gardens looked like, how they were arranged and used.  So I love seeing the layout of Jane's gardens, and the flowers she grew, and that she had her own orchard. 

There are also photos of the great houses she visited, and around her areas she lived, that would have influenced her writing as well as where she would have walked for exercise. Some photos are  also of  the settings for some of the movies made from her novels.  There are recipes from her time, and drawings and sketches by family members.  Did you know she kept bees, and made mead from the honey?  

This is a lovely book.  It is just the thing to ease care and worry and remind myself of the beauty all around, and that with luck, I will be comfortable enough to get into my garden this year.  I'm toying with a plan to see if I can plant a tiny corner of Jane Austen flowers, what do you think?  I think it would be a lot of fun.  I already have some pinks, though I think I need to replenish them.  When I finish In the Garden with Jane Austen, I will do a post on the flowers she had and loved to grow. 

Here is a link to Jane Austen's House Museum, where there is a virtual tour, and a list of what's on this year.
and with pictures of Jane's Gardens just starting to bloom, here is a link to Jane Austen's House Museum blog.  I'll be coming here regularly now!  I didn't know this existed. 

Once again, a book provides solace and comfort, and while I am very sad to see the end of Nicholas Hoare bookstore here, I have some wonderful books from England (which they specialized in) to remember them by - The Morville Hours, and now In the Garden with Jane Austen.

Has a book brought you comfort lately, or restored your spirits?  Do you walk  in gardens or in nature like Jane Austen did, or Mary Oliver does (my favourite poet), as a way to find beauty and joy in life?  Do you garden?

The Sunday Salon: a little The Morville Hours for Easter

 
Did the Easter Bunny visit your house today?  Did he hop his way through, leaving eggs and treats behind?  He (or she?) did ours.  I have to admit that it is fun watching the kids race around filling their baskets with treats.  One of the earliest pictures of me is of me and my sister at Easter, with our faces covered in chocolate.  I still have the same delight in Easter.   Even though I can no longer eat as much chocolate as I'd like, I certainly enjoy it the same way! 

But Easter is about much more than that, however. If you are Christian, then this is one of the most holiest of times, the story of how Jesus rose from the dead.  It is a powerful myth, so strong that even in our society when consumerism is beginning to dictate 24 hour shopping, the stores are still closed on Good Friday and today.  There is something taboo about shopping on the day Jesus was crucified, and the day he rises again.  Although I am no longer Christian, I am thankful for the time spent at home, watching spring arrive.

For me, Easter is about renewal.  There are other older myths about this time of year, and whether it is about the Goddess or other stories such as the rebirth of Christ, this time of year is about that: rebirth, renewal, coming back to life after the long winter darkness. Here in Canada, buds are beginning to grow on branches, the tips of Irises are breaking through the soil in gardens, and daffodils and crocuses are blooming.  Spring birds such as robins have appeared.  The day lasts longer, so that leaving work, I am in light still at 5:30 pm.  I am so filled with joy at seeing daylight and the sun at the end of the day!  The air occasionally has the scent of the earth on it - it's still below freezing at night, and we haven't had very much rain to release the smell of the earth coming to life, this year.  In fact, we are so low on rain and have had so little rain or snow this winter, that we broke the all-time record for least amount of snowfall in a winter.  Already our water conservation authority is worried about water levels in the Ottawa River. So while I am enjoying our glorious sunshine and feeling my spirits lift with the increasing light, I am aware that we need rain.  This is part of life, and I'm curious to see if we will have a long hot dry summer, or if moisture will find its way to us this year. 

The Morville Hours at Easter

I was thinking of Easter and the seasons partly because of The Morville Hours, which I have been reading with Cath over at Read-Warbler.   I just finished the chapter "Terce", which is about April and May, in Morville, the garden, and the land around Morville in Shropshire, UK.  I didn't know where the colour purple comes from and why it's used on vestment robes for Easter for the priests and ministers. I was raised a Catholic, and Katherine Swift is rediscovering her Catholic roots at Morville, because of the nearby Benedictine Abbey.  She has based The Morville Hours on The Book of Hours, as it  was the book by which so many lay people  marked the hours of the day, in medieval times. Here is an image from Les Tres Riches Heures de duc du Berry, which Swift also discusses in her book.
 
 They are based on the old books the monks illustrated and used as part of their devotions in regular church life in the monasteries and abbeys.  Through these,  Western Civilization was saved through the Dark Ages.  The Book of Kells, the Lindisfarne Gospels, etc are some examples. Swift has taken the 24 hours that makes up a day in a monastery, and used it to write about her garden through the year, based on the agricultural year. This was because in The Book of Hours, the year was also divided and marked by images for each month, based on the agricultural season. 

Monasteries and abbeys had their roots in their gardens and the agricultural life around them.  The Book of Hours copied and made for the wealthy in the UK and Europe, were wealthy because of land and the richness of the land.  Before industrialization, everyone marked the agricultural year.

So, in the Book of Hours and in The Morville Hours,  Easter is marks the arrival of spring.  What I didn't know was that Easter moves every year because it's based on the moon.  The new moon in the calendar marks where Easter is going to be.  For me, this takes me right back to my desire to honour the cycles of the seasons and nature. I watched the full moon rise this weekend, and it was beautiful and spread so much light through Friday evening (when it was full) and last night.

The Morville Hours is about the seasons, and the roots of all the seasonal activities we do, from a UK perspective.  We don't have Lady Day here, March 25, but I love what she writes: "There was disagreement too about the date that the new year began.  Lady Day, March 25, was when the church year began - the Feast of the Annunciation, the date on which Christ was nominally conceived - placed where it is in the calendar because it is nine months before Christmas, the ritual date of Christ's birth..........And Lady Day  is still one of the Quarter Days, the date from which many leases and agricultural tenancies run, so beginning the Agricultural as well as the Church year.  A better time for new year's resolutions, I think, when seed is sown and life begins, than January, in the depths of midwinter."   We do have the Feast of the Annunciation, at least for those who attend church.

I like this tying together of the religious pattern of life with the agricultural way of life.  Even if I no longer follow the Catholic faith, I understand the rhythms and meaning behind it, and I really like seeing how it is based on the seasons.  It's the pattern of the year, and finding the right pattern that makes how we live make sense, is important to me. I want to live more in the seasons, acknowledging the ebb and flow of life around me, especially here in the city where I have to look a little harder to see it.  I really like what she says about resolutions growing better now, as we plant seeds and see life blossom all around us.  It makes more sense.  I have to wait until the long weekend in May before I can plant any new seeds, roots or bulbs  in my garden - we can have frost as late as that, here.  Until then, however, I will be watching my lilac tree blossom, my irises and garden come to life. 

So, this Easter, I wish all of you a day of light and dreams for the future, and knowing what seeds you want to plant in your lives as well as your gardens.  Happy Easter everyone, and I hope the Easter bunny did get you a book or a treat, too!

Still here....

Yikes! I'm not sure how almost a week went by....it's been very busy, and still is. Today's journey is all about patience, not that I showed any when I got home to have my husband try to fix the toilet, only to discover the plumber that was in two years ago was right and our 40 year old toilet is so rusted that the stupid plug in the tank can't be repaired, so now we are looking at buying TWO toilets TOMORROW (might at well pay only one plumbing bill, so get the one in the basement that hasn't worked in three years fixed too)so we can have a functioning one in the house that doesn't require us putting our hand in the tank to flush it. There, now you know how my day is going....still 45 minutes before the day ends....
I've been sick again - last Friday, Sunday I was weeding and tidying in the garden, and hurray!!! all the dead things from last year are gone, and green growing plants are slowly springing forth!! My rose bush survived, as did the perennials I planted last year!!! Yesterday was Toby's birthday, so we had a family party for him last night. Tonight, not only is it emergency toilet stuff BUT the final night to prepare taxes, which, sadly, once again we have not done. Every year I think, this year, I will do them in February....every year, April 29th rolls around and they are waiting to be done!! As I write this, my dear husband is doing his taxes, then mine since I am too cranky over the upcoming soon-to-come plumbers bill after we buy the toilets tomorrow, to want to face taxes too. The good news is Toby has a contract starting next week, for three months, so we will be able to pay the plumber, taxman, etc!!!
I'm still here, it's just been one of those weeks!!