Hide and Seek

'Hide and Seek'  by James Tissot (1836-1902) 

Before I go to bed.....

I have just stumbled across a blog called The Scrapbook. It is a perfect wealth of inspiration beautiful paintings and poems to go with each. I haven't had time to explore it myself yet, it's something that will have to keep for tomorrow.

Pen and Ink Challenge

Sketch by Miss Potter

  My computer is back, but unfixed! They couldn't find a keyboard to fit my model so I will just have to wait until they can find one. But I can cope without the question mark key, the last letter of the alphabet key, and the arrow keys for a few more weeks.

  On my Equine Fine Art blog I have begun a pen and ink sketch challenge which is going to be lots of fun. See my post. You can join me if you have any inclination towards drawing, it really is a good way to improve your skills! :)

The Ultimate Book Bash: Part 4

30. What are your favorite quotes from books?
'Such are the changes which a few years bring about, and so do things pass away, like a tale that is told!' From The Old Curiosity Shop Charles Dickens
'I do not attempt to deny,' said she, 'that I think very highly of him - that I greatly esteem, that I like him'  Marianne here burst forth with indignation-
'Esteem him! Like him! Cold-hearted Elinor!'

31. What book would you most like to see made into a movie?The Eight Cousins, if there isn't already  a movie, and a good one of Emily of New Moon.


32. What book character do you identify the most with? 
 Anne from Pursuasion. And Pipi Longstockings! Both very different girls but they represent different sides of me.

The Ultimate Book Bash: Part 3

 18.  Name three books everyone should read.

The Bible, The Complete Works of Shakespeare,  and a Dictionary. Well you did say 'everyone should'!

    19.  Name two books we wouldn't have expected you to enjoy.

I'm not sure exactly what this means but two books you wouldn't have expected me to enjoy but which I did enjoy are Hmm... perhaps, but I don't know what you would think is unenjoyable! What about Charles Dickens' a Child's History of England, but I only enjoyed the beginning of that. Or perhaps you would not have expect me to enjoy Shakespeare! I do enjoy him when I am not in a 'I want to be given entertainment rather than give my mind to get it' state of mind.

    20.  Name three books that have good movies to go with them.

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, both the latest movies are good but the 1995 one is more true to the book. Little Dorrit by Charles Dickens, but then I watched the movie first. And Cranford by Elisabeth Gaskel so amusing both book and movie.

    21.  Any books coming out soon that you're looking forward to?

My Mama's book Arkiahh's Dream, make sure you look out for it next year!

    22.  Name two authors you'd like to talk to.

Louisa May Alcott, because it would be comfortable and she would only put me in a book if we became well acquainted and by then I wouldn't mind. Jane Austen and find out what she really was like, though I should be scared to death and she would hold me in contempt. What are all authors like behind their front of words, behind the book, and not how they are to fans, but to their family? Would we be disappointed?

    23.  Science fiction or a fairy tale?

A fairy tale, especially one by Hans Christian Anderson or George McDonald

    24.  A classic book you haven't read is...?

Utopia, I want to read that.

    25.  Shakespeare or George Bernard Shaw (who wrotePygmalion)?

Shakespeare

    26.  Name a movie (or two) where it's actually better than the book.

Hmm...Black Beauty I can't help but cry when I see it. And The Scarlett Pimpernell, but that's not really valid as I haven't read the book.

    27.  Where is your favorite place to read?

On my bed, beneath the window with a cat or two curled up on my knees and the late afternoon sun coming through the lace curtains....

The Ultimate Book Bash: Day 2

     7.   Nancy Drew or Hardy Boys? Which book in your favorite set is your favorite?

Nancy Drew I think. My older sister used to read them and my brother the Hardy Boys. I used to read some of his books and they begin with a bang, continue with a bang, and end with a bang, and hardly room in between to breath in! I guess that's why they are so popular with boys. I really don't know which one I prefer out of all the Nancy Drew books, I think I liked the one about the sign writing but I can't really remember.

    8.  Narnia or Harry Potter? Name your favorite from the series you like best.

Narnia of course! (But that's because I haven't read Harry Potter.) My favorite is The Horse and His Boy.

  

   9.  A cookbook or a how-to-sew book?

I think it would be a cook book at the moment. Especially one with interesting potato recipes! :) Like this one.

    

   10.  Historical fiction or fantasy? Name three books you like from the genre you chose.

Historical. Haven't I already named more than that, they are all in that genre! Nevertheless I am glad of the opportunity to name three more. A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens a book that belongs to my 'Worth Re-reading List', was actually written as a historical fiction novel in his old times.As was Waverley by Sir Walter Scott. Third historical fiction is Gone With the Wind By Margaret Mitchel, which I know many don't like because of the horrid little Scarlett who is incredibly selfish. But I enjoy reading it the author dose not excuse her selfishness and neither dose she get away with it!

    11.  Hardcover or softcover?
Hardcover please, I love a good quality book.
 
   12. Louisa May Alcott or Lucy Maud Montgomery? Name your favorite book by the author you chose.
Hmm... this is a harder question, like choosing between two fiends! But I think I will have to choose in favor of L. M. Montgomery (I know Louisa Alcott will be least offended!) I could not do without her Emily Climbs.

   

   12.  Jane Austen or Charlotte Bronte? Name your favorite book by the author you chose.

I am a loyal fan of Jane Austen and my favorite book of hers is Persuasion. Full of her witty charm and the heroine is a genuine girl who makes mistakes and isn't the striking beauty either. 

    

   13.  Would you rather read historical fiction about the sinking of the Titanic, or the Civil War?

I think I would like to read something about the sinking of the Titanic as I have never read a novel on that subject. This book looks interesting, though it isn't exactly fiction.

    14.  What's your favorite classic? Why?

Well I only read classics so what is my favorite book? That is a question a book lover loves to contemplate and dreads to answer! Well I shall choose a book that is a true classic, the most bestselling book that has ever been read! I hope this is obvious!

    14.  Little Women or A Little Princess?

Both books have so much to offer. Today I feel more like A Little Princess than a 'Little Woman'!

    15.  What's your favorite time period to read about?

Right now I feel like having a ball in hoop skirts and corsets!  But I change with every wind that blows!

    16.  G. A. Henty, J. R. R. Tolkien, or Charles Dickens? What's your favorite book or series by the author you chose?

The Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens

    17.  Ivanhoe or Ben-Hur?

Ivanhoe!

Notification

I've done all my Book Bash posts and they are scheduled to be posted by themselves over the next few days.

But this is too to tell you my computer is going to the doctors to get fixed so I wont be arround until the end of the weekend at least. Some of the keys on my key board have stopped working so the whole key board has to be replaced. This all wont affect you very much except you will miss out on one weekends Letter from Bethy.

The Ultimate Book Bash: Day 1

  I have desided to have a bash at it! Should be fun, enjoy! I you want to join me and others go to Austenitis to read all about it! :)

1. Name three books you love:

I love so many books the of the ones I love are Little Women by L. M. Alcott. There must be a reason I have read this book over five times!
And then I love Persuasion by Jane Austen which comes only slightly ahead of P&P and S&S. 
A third book I love is The Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens which I have read twice and want to read again this year. I love the very last sentence which I wrote at the very end of one of my Journals 'Such are the changes which a few years bring about, and so dose time pass like a tale that is told.' That is, if I have quoted correctly from memory!

  




    2.  Name two books you enjoy, but that most people probably haven't heard of.
Perhaps you have never heard of Run Away Home by Elinor Lyon, another of the children s books that I love. Mama read it to us children and we did enjoy it and could always prevail upon her to read another chapter before bedtime as she enjoyed it so much herself.
I know everyone must know of Heidi, but have you read the two sequels by Charles Tritten. Heidi Grows Up is my favorite.
A Breath of Boarder Air by Lavinia Derwent is another. About the authors childhood on the Scotish boarders. It is often hilarious, and she writes in such a clever way so that you see the world through her own eyes as a child.
(These three pictures are exactly like the copies of the books I have.)

 

    3.  Name three series you love:

 Emily of New Moon  by L. M. Montgomery in her Emily of New Moon series which I absolutely love, they are so delicious and re-readable and inspiring. There are only three books but they are better than Anne of Green Gables, though Anne will always be among my best friends.

The Swallows and Amazons by Author Random are what we grew up on and so love the twelve books as good friends. They are about a family of four children (who exactly fitted us four younger children growing up) and their friends the Amazons having adventures on the high seas. Really the lake district and broads of England, but you can be anywhere in imagination! One of the Amazon pirates was called Nancy because her given name was Ruth and Captain Flint had told her that pirates were ruthless!

Narnia because a list of my favorite series would not be complete without, though I must mention Little Women series and the Little House series by Laura Ingles Wilder and the books about her mother and grandmother and about Rose her daughter.

    4.  Name three authors you love!

Charles Dickens, I'm a fan. Jane Austen you are a heroine. L. M. Montgomery, Thank you!

    5.  How about three adventures or mysteries?

Well I do love Robert Louis Stevenson and his The Wrong Box a short tale or long short story I have just read. ( It could also have been called The Wrong Body!) Very funny and made me laugh. He wrote it with his son in law to make some money for a holiday.

Sherlock Holmes! I love the man -  the ultimate detective!

How did I miss the Bronte sisters in all the above! As a mystery story I like Villette by Charlotte Bronte. I did enjoy it though I have head allot allot of criticism about it.

   

    6.  Three non-fiction

Beatrix Potter: A Life in Nature by Linda Lear. A very interesting, in depth biography of my favorite children's book writer- little children's books that is.

The Man who Listens to Horses, an autobiography by Monty Roberts and a must read for any horse lover.
The Dictionary. Any edition but the older and more out of date the better!

'Just a picture from a bit of my life'

The Lines that are running Through my Head

Shakespeare, Sonnet 116

Let me not to the marriage of true minds

Admit impediments. Love is not love

Which alters when it alteration finds,

Or bends with the remover to remove;

O, no! it is an ever fixed mark,

Which looks on tempests and is never shaken;

It is the star to every wandering bark,

Whose worth's unknown although his height be taken.

Love's not times fool, though rosy lips and cheeks 

Within his bending sickles compass come;

Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,

But bears it out even to the edge of doom.

   If this be error, and upon me proved,

   I never writ, nor no man ever loved.

Letter Three

Dear Amelia,

  Thank you for your speedy reply, I can’t tell you how much it delighted me! I am so glad that you are all well and happy, but sorry to hear of your losses and that you are obliged to work for the Misses Warde! Dear, dear Amelia don’t ever feel yourself inferior to me! You know you have always been my closest friend and confident, I am glad you are still unchanged in that. When I wrote I was half afraid you did not forgive me for having neglected you so long!

  Davie sounds just like a little man now! I suppose he must have forgotten me, he was but three or four when I left. But hug our little doll for me, remember how we used to play with him and try to enrol him in our famous school for infants! Oh what strict mistresses we were, and what unruly students we had in your little siblings. I fear they suffered much for our amusement!

  Give your Coinneach my ‘respects’ in return along with my warm greetings. Assure him I have not become some fancy, modern lady of cold hearted fashion, and don’t let him call me ‘Miss’ when he has always been a trusted friend to me and dared to call me Zinnia! I do still abhor that name I don’t know why I was ever christened so! Zinnia Bethlehem! Papa must have been influenced by some outlandish books back then! I asked him once why I was named so but he didn’t seem to know himself, but I gathered from his vague reply that it was my mother who named me. But of course you know all that. I did feel cold hearted when I signed my last letter to you, but then I was uncertain of its reception.

 Thank you, I am certain now that Miss Warde is the same girl you speak of. Everything you say agrees with what I know of her. A Miss Birkley is an intimate friend of Louise and Annabelle, my cousins, and a frequent visitor here. She seems to be very popular among their circle of friends. I had never really given her much notice before I received you letter, she is one of those girls who tells you  you are her ‘bestest of friends’ and flatters her way into your confidence and then reveals all to your other friends in the strictest confidence!

  I met Miss Rhona at the Birkley’s the other day which is the concluding evidence and should be the end of the mystery. Annabelle urged me to come on a visit to some of their acquaintances as she often dose and I refused as I often do.  I can hardly endure to be amongst her friends, I don’t get on with them and they don’t get on with me and there is an end to the matter. But Annabelle feels it her duty to entertain me and I must say she does her best; she tries harder to get on with me that dose Louise who has given up on me as a hopeless case. Anyway on this occasion she pressed me and I only agreed when she mentioned they would be stopping at the Birkley’s among others.

  The Birkley mansion is on the edge of town and was the last place we visited, probably so my cousins could spend more time there. I did not see Miss Warde among the young ladies and gentlemen in the drawing room and began to feel rather let down in being persuaded to come. But then I noticed the very same young man I had seen with Miss Warde in the park. He was entertaining a circle of young ladies about Miss Birkley whom he seemed to be chiefly addressing. I could not hear what he said but it seemed to be highly entertaining from the expressions of the ladies. As the afternoon went on I observed that the gentleman and Miss Birkley flirted openly to each other; I had almost concluded that they must have an understanding, but Annabelle has since told me that Miss Birkley is engaged to another man not at present in Bristol!

  It was only as we were leaving that I saw Miss Rhona. As I left the drawing room I saw her in the hall discreetly hand the before said gentleman a slip of paper.  I would not have notice it if I had not been observing both parties at the time, for it was done very discretely. Miss Birkley who was just behind me spoke to her in the tone of mistress to maid: ‘Whatever took you so long, Rhona!’ she exclaimed but softly so that none would hear ‘had you been any longer--!’ and she broke off with a warning look then turned her charmed attention to her departing guests, while Miss Rhona quickly hurried up the stairs. I don’t think she saw me; I would have liked to speak to her given the chance. She has spent much time in my own house and is acquainted with my old friends, though she does not know it, I should like to get to know her for I have not many friends here with whom I can speak of mutual interests.

  No you are not a ‘fuss pot’, Amelia, just very caring, and you have a perfect right to ask me any question. My relationship with Papa is as it Papa and Mama are very fond of each other, the way they look at each other and want to be with one another as often as possible as beautiful to see though I have barely got used to in in Papa, he is a different man - a much happier one.

    But we are all happy together, and hopefully will be able to come up to Scotland, my home, in the summer Mama has spoken of her wish to see our old home.

  Next week we go down to Devonshire, to Mama’s family estate. Neither Papa nor Mama seem eager to go, already the journey has been delayed and put off but preparations for departure are finally underway. I will be glad to be out in the country again, and I do hope I will have the opportunity to ride on the estate. Do you still keep the ponies? I have not ridden for so long, and I miss it. Give my love and warm regards to everyone.

  Yours sincerely,

    Bethy

Promises of Spring

Even though it has been bone-chillingly cold down here in New Zealand we have had such beautiful cloudless days for the last couple of days. And looking out my window it seems today is going to be another. here are some photos from my brothers day yesterday, he went on a trek with our friend, I wish I could have gone too!

 It's a beautiful day!

That's his new horse, Chiquita, he loves her like he's never loved any other! :)

Isn't she beautiful!

I have a new horse too! Simba

He has been given to me and my friend for free. She is going to pay for his grass and I will work him and get him going well and then we will find a good home for him. He is quite skinny at the moment, but with a rest and good care he should turn into a stunner!

And there's my darling Tigger-boy! He was jealous because I gave Simba a feed and he thinks anything in a bucket is him personal property!