Boy, Alyssa, I’m starting to think that Nerdy Nurse might be a member of the MCU! Either that, or reading all those fantasy and supernatural stories over the years has imbued you with some mysterious powers of your own, such as the ability to control the weather and the timing of the seasons. I say that because I really thought you were jumping the gun yesterday when I read your newsletter comments about looking forward to the fall season and all the sights, sounds, tastes, and smells that accompany it. True, I’ve seen a few maple trees tinged with red and yellow, and the goldenrod and asters are coming into bloom, but we’re still only a little past the middle of August, and I was sure we had another few weeks of late summer weather left to enjoy, given it’s remained on the hot and humidexy side of things hereabouts.
But alas, such was not to be! For you have donned your mystic robes. You have gazed into the sacred flames of your patio fire-pit table. You have uttered the incantatory phrase, “Pumpkin Spice!” into the trembling atmosphere, and lo! You have summoned forth the Spirits of Autumn and the Harvest Season … but kind of prematurely, if you ask me.
I say that because I was up early this morning to enjoy the balmy predawn darkness, as I’ve been doing for most of the summer. Sipping my morning two cups of Kenyan coffee—cream, no sugar—and eating my one carbonized piece of toast with a slathering of crunchy peanut butter, I sat quietly reading and enjoying the sound of Mother Nature’s own white noise coming through my open windows in the form of countless crickets chorusing me from the greater outdoors. Time passed, and there was a brief patter of rain from a passing shower, followed by the cry of a distant loon from the nearby lake. I felt as if I were living inside a real-life YouTube sound room video.
Then it happened. Gradually, the leaves started rustling on the trees outside. The curtains on my windows began to shift uneasily, and I felt a breeze with an ever so slight chill to it enter my living-room. There was no throw within reach, so I had to get up and go looking for the heavy red plaid flannel shirt I hadn’t worn in the early morning since mid-June. Putting it on, I resumed my chair and my book, but it was no good; it was just too cold to read comfortably. So, I forced myself to get up again and went about the house shutting windows. I also had to close my front door, but before doing so I stepped outside to gauge the changing weather. There was a brisk wind from the north and I could see a few yellow leaves blowing by in the steady breeze. I couldn’t help but think that your wish had been granted, and that fall had now arrived.
I apologize for bringing forth autumn too early. I will attempt to send you some extended summer days.
But is there anything better than reading during a real rainstorm? Mercy hates storms and I have to put on her noise canceling ear muffs so she'll calm down and not cry. But once she's settled, we like to snuggle up while I read.
Funny, but I didn't see your comment until tonight ... well, anyway, it was like Wuthering Heights around here today--gusty winds, gray, low-hanging clouds, occasional rain squalls, and generally damp and miserable conditions. I had to wear a jacket when I went downtown today, where I saw my first Halloween decorations of the year. But I know it will warm up again soon, and I recall having really hot, dry days in September in years past. I can be patient. I've heard Europeans use the term "Indian summer", but it always sounds odd coming out of the mouths of people living on the other side of the Atlantic.
As for reading during "a real rainstorm", I'm with Mercy. If there's too much in the way of thunder and lightening, I start to worry about power outages or lightening strikes or funnel clouds, which were reported out over Lake Ontario a couple days ago. But a nice, long, lazy afternoon of steady, gentle rainfall with little or no wind is fine with me. Any excuse not to attend to outside chores is always welcome. And it's nice if it gets dark enough to turn on a table lamp, even though it may only be two in the afternoon, so you have that warm, cozy ambience while you're reading and sipping your stein of Polish Breakfast tea, blended from the finest Indian black teas, with just a hint of kielbasa.
Like everyone else here, I have books I’ve read and books I haven’t read, and that applies to the Georgian period of British history as much as anything else. So, books on 18th century Britain and the Regency that I’ve read and can recommend are as follows:
“Behind Closed Doors: At Home in Georgian England” by Amanda Vickery, published in 2009. This is probably the best book on my list and contains chapters on ‘Setting Up Home’, ‘His and Hers: Accounting for the Household’, ‘The Trials of Domestic Dependence’, and ‘Wallpaper and Taste’, to name a few.
“Eavesdropping on Jane Austen’s England: How Our Ancestors Lived Two Centuries Ago” by Roy and Lesley Adkins, published in 2013. This book is an enjoyable read and lives up to its title, giving a survey of late 18th/early 19th century Britain with a focus on Jane Austen.
“Our Tempestuous Day: A History of Regency England” by Carolly Erickson, published in 1986. I don’t recall much about this book, but it covers the Prince Regent, Lord Byron, the Duke of Wellington, and other prominent figures from the Regency period.
“Beau Brummell: The Ultimate Dandy” by Ian Kelly, published in 2005. This is a highly readable biography of the Regency clotheshorse who established the standard male pattern of dress, consisting of trousers, shirt, jacket, and tie, the last of which evolved from the cravat.
“George IV: The Grand Entertainment” by Steven Parissien, published in 2001. This is one of the better biographies of George IV that I’ve read.
“My Lady Scandalous: The Amazing Life and Outrageous Times of Grace Dalrymple Elliott, Royal Courtesan” by Jo Manning, published in 2005. I’ve never actually read this book from cover to cover, but I’ve paged through it many times looking for all the naughty bits in the way of text and illustrations, and not had any difficulty finding them.
A few Regency related books I have but haven’t yet read but which look promising are:
“An Elegant Madness: High Society in Regency England” by Venetia Murray, published in 1998. This book looks really interesting with a lot of solidly researched information.
“Aristocrats: Caroline, Emily, Louisa, and Sarah Lennox, 1740-1832” by Stella Tillyard, published in 1995. This won the ‘History Today’ Book of the Year Award.
“The Unruly Queen: The Life of Queen Charlotte” by Flora Fraser, published in 1996. I enjoyed Flora Fraser’s other biography, “Beloved Emma”, about Emma, Lady Hamilton, mistress to Lord Nelson.
Also, Lady Hamilton is a particular favorite of mine all because I watched That Hamilton Woman about a thousand times as a kid. Vivien Leigh was simply stunning!
Really!? Did your folks have the movie on VHS/DVD, or was it just broadcast on your local TV station a lot? You know, "That Hamilton Woman" was Winston Churchill's favourite movie. He often showed it to visitors during the war, and he always cried at the end. I have to admit I've only seen it once many years ago, and I recall being disappointed that there weren't more battle scenes. On the other hand, Laurence Olivier looks more like Nelson than any other actor I've seen play the role.
Nelson has a very slight Canadian connection. He was the 24-year-old captain of HMS Albemarle during the closing phase of the Revolution, and he was ordered to Quebec in the fall of 1782. There he fell in love with beautiful 16-year-old Mary Simpson, the daughter of a senior British army officer and one of the 'belles of Quebec'. Nelson was going to propose to Mary one day, but he was talked out of it by a fellow officer who warned him that he'd ruin his career in the navy by marrying so young and so penniless.
Soon after, Nelson was ordered to the West Indies, where he met Frances Nisbet, who got him on the rebound from Mary, and the two ended up in an unsatisfactory marriage, which, as you know, became even more unsatisfactory for Nelson once he met Emma Hamilton at the court of Naples later in the war with the French.
The most entertaining yet well-researched book I've ever read about Nelson and his beloved Emma is "Nelson and the Hamiltons" by Jack Russell, published in 1969.
We had it on VHS and I think I replaced it with a DVD many years ago. I'd have to dig in my collection to see if I still have it. I loved Laurence Olivier when I was in middle and high school all thanks to Rebecca so it didn't take me long to find That Hamilton Woman.
Emma Hamilton gets a chapter in Meet the Georgians and that was the first time I really appreciated how beat up Nelson appeared when they met. Not that Emma cared. Between the eye patch, the missing arm, the missing teeth and hair it's clear Emma didn't fall for him for his looks.
She has such as sad story. Honestly, so many women did.
My teenage heartthrob was the British-born actress Jean Simmons. She was very beautiful and would have made a great Emma Hamilton if they had ever made a movie about her and Nelson during the early 1960s.
One of the reasons Emma was attracted to Nelson, I think, was because he had such an endearing personality, plus, he was so good at his day job of fighting the French. Even after over 200 years, Nelson’s warmth and humanity—and his faults and foibles—come through in just about any book or biography written about him.
I saw “Rebecca” at the arthouse cinema downtown the other day, and again found myself irked with Maxim for being so abrupt and high-handed with his prospective young bride, even calling her “You little fool!” a couple times. But it’s a great movie with a wonderful atmosphere and I have to admit I’m just a little bit jealous of old Maxim de Winter. Watching the film, it occurred to me that there are a few parallels between “Rebecca” and “Mansfield Park”, but maybe I’ll save those thoughts for your video on “MP”.
You’re right about times being tough for Emma and for other women in her position. They’re the topic of a book I splurged on while at the downtown book-monger’s shoppe today. The book is called, “Libertine London: Sex in the Eighteenth-Century Metropolis” by British historian Julie Peakman, and was just published this year. The book has lots of colour and b&w illustrations and looks thoroughly researched and documented. Ms. Peakman—whom I’ve never heard of before—has a keen interest in the history of human sexuality and has written other books on the topic, as you can see by checking her website. She’s also written a biography of Emma Hamilton that I didn’t know about, but I’ll have to get a copy.
While paying for my book, the salesgirl behind the counter asked me if I wanted a paper bag. I was quick enough to fire back, “Why, do I look nauseous?” and we both then had a sad little laugh at my cutting wit.
Oh interesting! I keep seeing positive reviews and I’m baffled. Someone called this poetic and I was scratching my head trying to figure out if we read different books.
So happy to hear that you and your dad read the instructions and secured the connections before putting a torch to that table-top fire pit gizmo on your, hopefully, all-asbestos patio deck. Sounds like you're having a real blast reading by the flickering glow of its combusting fossil fuels in these last dwindling days of late summer. But seriously, you have to be vigilant around any open flames.
Boy, Alyssa, I’m starting to think that Nerdy Nurse might be a member of the MCU! Either that, or reading all those fantasy and supernatural stories over the years has imbued you with some mysterious powers of your own, such as the ability to control the weather and the timing of the seasons. I say that because I really thought you were jumping the gun yesterday when I read your newsletter comments about looking forward to the fall season and all the sights, sounds, tastes, and smells that accompany it. True, I’ve seen a few maple trees tinged with red and yellow, and the goldenrod and asters are coming into bloom, but we’re still only a little past the middle of August, and I was sure we had another few weeks of late summer weather left to enjoy, given it’s remained on the hot and humidexy side of things hereabouts.
But alas, such was not to be! For you have donned your mystic robes. You have gazed into the sacred flames of your patio fire-pit table. You have uttered the incantatory phrase, “Pumpkin Spice!” into the trembling atmosphere, and lo! You have summoned forth the Spirits of Autumn and the Harvest Season … but kind of prematurely, if you ask me.
I say that because I was up early this morning to enjoy the balmy predawn darkness, as I’ve been doing for most of the summer. Sipping my morning two cups of Kenyan coffee—cream, no sugar—and eating my one carbonized piece of toast with a slathering of crunchy peanut butter, I sat quietly reading and enjoying the sound of Mother Nature’s own white noise coming through my open windows in the form of countless crickets chorusing me from the greater outdoors. Time passed, and there was a brief patter of rain from a passing shower, followed by the cry of a distant loon from the nearby lake. I felt as if I were living inside a real-life YouTube sound room video.
Then it happened. Gradually, the leaves started rustling on the trees outside. The curtains on my windows began to shift uneasily, and I felt a breeze with an ever so slight chill to it enter my living-room. There was no throw within reach, so I had to get up and go looking for the heavy red plaid flannel shirt I hadn’t worn in the early morning since mid-June. Putting it on, I resumed my chair and my book, but it was no good; it was just too cold to read comfortably. So, I forced myself to get up again and went about the house shutting windows. I also had to close my front door, but before doing so I stepped outside to gauge the changing weather. There was a brisk wind from the north and I could see a few yellow leaves blowing by in the steady breeze. I couldn’t help but think that your wish had been granted, and that fall had now arrived.
I apologize for bringing forth autumn too early. I will attempt to send you some extended summer days.
But is there anything better than reading during a real rainstorm? Mercy hates storms and I have to put on her noise canceling ear muffs so she'll calm down and not cry. But once she's settled, we like to snuggle up while I read.
Funny, but I didn't see your comment until tonight ... well, anyway, it was like Wuthering Heights around here today--gusty winds, gray, low-hanging clouds, occasional rain squalls, and generally damp and miserable conditions. I had to wear a jacket when I went downtown today, where I saw my first Halloween decorations of the year. But I know it will warm up again soon, and I recall having really hot, dry days in September in years past. I can be patient. I've heard Europeans use the term "Indian summer", but it always sounds odd coming out of the mouths of people living on the other side of the Atlantic.
As for reading during "a real rainstorm", I'm with Mercy. If there's too much in the way of thunder and lightening, I start to worry about power outages or lightening strikes or funnel clouds, which were reported out over Lake Ontario a couple days ago. But a nice, long, lazy afternoon of steady, gentle rainfall with little or no wind is fine with me. Any excuse not to attend to outside chores is always welcome. And it's nice if it gets dark enough to turn on a table lamp, even though it may only be two in the afternoon, so you have that warm, cozy ambience while you're reading and sipping your stein of Polish Breakfast tea, blended from the finest Indian black teas, with just a hint of kielbasa.
Like everyone else here, I have books I’ve read and books I haven’t read, and that applies to the Georgian period of British history as much as anything else. So, books on 18th century Britain and the Regency that I’ve read and can recommend are as follows:
“Behind Closed Doors: At Home in Georgian England” by Amanda Vickery, published in 2009. This is probably the best book on my list and contains chapters on ‘Setting Up Home’, ‘His and Hers: Accounting for the Household’, ‘The Trials of Domestic Dependence’, and ‘Wallpaper and Taste’, to name a few.
“Eavesdropping on Jane Austen’s England: How Our Ancestors Lived Two Centuries Ago” by Roy and Lesley Adkins, published in 2013. This book is an enjoyable read and lives up to its title, giving a survey of late 18th/early 19th century Britain with a focus on Jane Austen.
“Our Tempestuous Day: A History of Regency England” by Carolly Erickson, published in 1986. I don’t recall much about this book, but it covers the Prince Regent, Lord Byron, the Duke of Wellington, and other prominent figures from the Regency period.
“Beau Brummell: The Ultimate Dandy” by Ian Kelly, published in 2005. This is a highly readable biography of the Regency clotheshorse who established the standard male pattern of dress, consisting of trousers, shirt, jacket, and tie, the last of which evolved from the cravat.
“George IV: The Grand Entertainment” by Steven Parissien, published in 2001. This is one of the better biographies of George IV that I’ve read.
“My Lady Scandalous: The Amazing Life and Outrageous Times of Grace Dalrymple Elliott, Royal Courtesan” by Jo Manning, published in 2005. I’ve never actually read this book from cover to cover, but I’ve paged through it many times looking for all the naughty bits in the way of text and illustrations, and not had any difficulty finding them.
A few Regency related books I have but haven’t yet read but which look promising are:
“An Elegant Madness: High Society in Regency England” by Venetia Murray, published in 1998. This book looks really interesting with a lot of solidly researched information.
“Aristocrats: Caroline, Emily, Louisa, and Sarah Lennox, 1740-1832” by Stella Tillyard, published in 1995. This won the ‘History Today’ Book of the Year Award.
“The Unruly Queen: The Life of Queen Charlotte” by Flora Fraser, published in 1996. I enjoyed Flora Fraser’s other biography, “Beloved Emma”, about Emma, Lady Hamilton, mistress to Lord Nelson.
Adding to my list!! Thank you!
Also, Lady Hamilton is a particular favorite of mine all because I watched That Hamilton Woman about a thousand times as a kid. Vivien Leigh was simply stunning!
Really!? Did your folks have the movie on VHS/DVD, or was it just broadcast on your local TV station a lot? You know, "That Hamilton Woman" was Winston Churchill's favourite movie. He often showed it to visitors during the war, and he always cried at the end. I have to admit I've only seen it once many years ago, and I recall being disappointed that there weren't more battle scenes. On the other hand, Laurence Olivier looks more like Nelson than any other actor I've seen play the role.
Nelson has a very slight Canadian connection. He was the 24-year-old captain of HMS Albemarle during the closing phase of the Revolution, and he was ordered to Quebec in the fall of 1782. There he fell in love with beautiful 16-year-old Mary Simpson, the daughter of a senior British army officer and one of the 'belles of Quebec'. Nelson was going to propose to Mary one day, but he was talked out of it by a fellow officer who warned him that he'd ruin his career in the navy by marrying so young and so penniless.
Soon after, Nelson was ordered to the West Indies, where he met Frances Nisbet, who got him on the rebound from Mary, and the two ended up in an unsatisfactory marriage, which, as you know, became even more unsatisfactory for Nelson once he met Emma Hamilton at the court of Naples later in the war with the French.
The most entertaining yet well-researched book I've ever read about Nelson and his beloved Emma is "Nelson and the Hamiltons" by Jack Russell, published in 1969.
We had it on VHS and I think I replaced it with a DVD many years ago. I'd have to dig in my collection to see if I still have it. I loved Laurence Olivier when I was in middle and high school all thanks to Rebecca so it didn't take me long to find That Hamilton Woman.
Emma Hamilton gets a chapter in Meet the Georgians and that was the first time I really appreciated how beat up Nelson appeared when they met. Not that Emma cared. Between the eye patch, the missing arm, the missing teeth and hair it's clear Emma didn't fall for him for his looks.
She has such as sad story. Honestly, so many women did.
My teenage heartthrob was the British-born actress Jean Simmons. She was very beautiful and would have made a great Emma Hamilton if they had ever made a movie about her and Nelson during the early 1960s.
One of the reasons Emma was attracted to Nelson, I think, was because he had such an endearing personality, plus, he was so good at his day job of fighting the French. Even after over 200 years, Nelson’s warmth and humanity—and his faults and foibles—come through in just about any book or biography written about him.
I saw “Rebecca” at the arthouse cinema downtown the other day, and again found myself irked with Maxim for being so abrupt and high-handed with his prospective young bride, even calling her “You little fool!” a couple times. But it’s a great movie with a wonderful atmosphere and I have to admit I’m just a little bit jealous of old Maxim de Winter. Watching the film, it occurred to me that there are a few parallels between “Rebecca” and “Mansfield Park”, but maybe I’ll save those thoughts for your video on “MP”.
You’re right about times being tough for Emma and for other women in her position. They’re the topic of a book I splurged on while at the downtown book-monger’s shoppe today. The book is called, “Libertine London: Sex in the Eighteenth-Century Metropolis” by British historian Julie Peakman, and was just published this year. The book has lots of colour and b&w illustrations and looks thoroughly researched and documented. Ms. Peakman—whom I’ve never heard of before—has a keen interest in the history of human sexuality and has written other books on the topic, as you can see by checking her website. She’s also written a biography of Emma Hamilton that I didn’t know about, but I’ll have to get a copy.
While paying for my book, the salesgirl behind the counter asked me if I wanted a paper bag. I was quick enough to fire back, “Why, do I look nauseous?” and we both then had a sad little laugh at my cutting wit.
Don’t give up on Powers! I have heard terrible things about this one. The Overstory is his masterpiece!
Oh interesting! I keep seeing positive reviews and I’m baffled. Someone called this poetic and I was scratching my head trying to figure out if we read different books.
So happy to hear that you and your dad read the instructions and secured the connections before putting a torch to that table-top fire pit gizmo on your, hopefully, all-asbestos patio deck. Sounds like you're having a real blast reading by the flickering glow of its combusting fossil fuels in these last dwindling days of late summer. But seriously, you have to be vigilant around any open flames.