PLAID Pages, a journal: January 2013

Thursday, January 17, 2013

Lady Almina and the Real Downtown Abby

Update to previous post...

Lady Almina and the Real Downton Abbey: The Lost Legacy of Highclere Castle
by The Countess of Carnarvon

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This year I started watching Downton Abbey on Masterpiece Theater on PBS. As I watch it, I keep thinking of Lady Almina walking up and down the stairs!

Posted in June, 2012
I admit I have not watched the Downton Abbey TV series. I am not sure I will, but I am very glad I read this book. Reading it gave me a real sense of the history of England from the end of the Victorian Era until the end of World War I. The aristocracy and its strict rules of personal conduct began to unravel during this period. (As was pointed out in the book, it really didn't become as we know it today until the end of World War II.)

The book was written by the present Countess of Carnarvon who had available to her a lot of the family documents. I felt a real sense of connection to the Carnarvon's and their social circle. Of special interest was the fact that Lord Carnarvon along with Howard Clark was responsible for finding the unopened tomb of Tutankhamen. In fact, without his and his wife's financial support was crucial in the success of the venture. I was especially interested because I did see the King Tut Exhibit when it came to Memphis, Tennessee, in the 1980's.

More importantly...the horrors of World War I were all too real. Almost a whole generation of British men were lost in the war. After the end of the war more that 50 million people worldwide died from the Spanish Influenza, more people than had died in the war.

Lady Almina

Lady Almina played her part by turning Highclere, their country estate, into a hospital using the funds from her father, Sir Alfred Charles de Rothschild. He was very generous with his money. Lady Almina was generous with money, but also with her time and energy. She found her life's work in nursing the ill when she founded the hospital.

Highclere Castle

I highly recommend you read this book. You will shed a few tears, both happy and sad. You will close the book with a better sense of the difference between war then and now.

View all my reviews

Sunday, January 13, 2013

I Resolve in 2013...

...to make no New Year's Resolutions. 2012 resolution-free year worked out 'Fine'! In fact, it was amazing.

I will keep the following general thoughts in mind to keep me focused.

#1 Eat only when I am hungry.
(No more counting calories!)

#2 Moderation in everything.

#3 One day off a week from Technology, To-Do Lists, Have-to's, and Should's.
(This will be the hardest for me.)

#4 Exercise, Exercise,Exercise...
Keep Moving!

#3 My priorities are:

my Etsy Shop,

Quilting

Blogging

Plaid Pages, a journal,

Eating In and Out and About,

and Quick Tips and Notes

Collage

Altered Art

Artist Trading Cards

and Golf.

If I do not spend some time weekly

on any of these priorities,

it's time to regroup
and evaluate!

#4 Remember: The only thing that goes with me from here to there is relationships with people and knowledge.

#5 It's okay to do nothing...
I am retired after all:)

#2 bears repeating-

Moderation in everything!

Tuesday, January 8, 2013

Resolutions - 2012

I confess-I never made any resolutions for 2012. It was on my 'To Do' list for at least six months. Then, my life 'ramped' up with selling one house, buying another, and then moving. Making resolutions was not really very high in my priorities. It turned out we didn't need any!

Amazing 2012 - Resolution Free!

Crystal Bridges in February

March - Preparing for Sale-New Wall and Storage Unit

April - Packing to Move

May - Moving Day

June/July - Redo's-from one or two cans of paint!

August - We even had time to celebrate #27!

September -A Sunday afternoon trip
to Petit Jean State Park

October - Ft. Morgan, Alabama

November - Set up for Craft Show/Sale
Thanksgiving with all our family!

Decorated for Christmas with 2011 Santa
Chuck painted this year's Santa ...
Merry Christmas to all!

and

Best Wishes for a Happy 2013!

Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Mary Lou, My Aunt

Mary Lou McLean moved from here to there on Christmas morning this year at the age of 89. She joins her mother, father, and sisters...My Mother Sybil, the oldest sister, and my Aunts, Mavis, next, then, Betty. Mary Lou is the youngest.

I call her Mary Lou (ML). On either side of my family we did not use the titles Aunt or Uncle. My Mother and Dad called their siblings by their first name...so did I. No one ever told me differently...maybe because I was the first grandchild in both families, I was given certain liberties? ...some people called that spoiled:)

Mavis in back
Me and ML in front
Shreveport, Louisiana

I think I knew Mary Lou

better than Mavis and Betty

although I spent happy times

in both of their homes

with my cousins,

Lillian, Patricia

Mac, Ellen,

Patty, Jane, & Lynne!

Grandmother
came with them
(In back)
Me, ML.2nd row
Susan and Leigh in front...

...Maybe because we were always in her way on the way to where she was going...mainly to Grandmother's. (She is the one that told me that Grandmother wanted to be called Grandmother...I am not sure that was true. I suspect it is what Mary Lou wanted for me to call her. From then on, I called her Grandmother:)

...and in turn we taught other friends..
Note we are up to two tables!

On her way through she always had time for me. She taught me and my friends to play Bridge. She painted our living room...gray! I call that her 'gray' period.

At sixteen I took my first airplane trip to Atlanta to see her and my cousins, Susan and Leigh. It is one of the best memories of my life because of Mary Lou. I have fun with my cousins, but ML showed me the town.

We went to Rich's to shop and lunch in the tea room.

We went to Joel Chandler Harris' home where he wrote the Uncle Remus stories. We passed by the Candler (Coca-Cola) Mansion and Peachtree Street where Margaret Mitchell (Gone With the Wind) was struct by a car and later died.

She visited my Mother as she grew older. When she came to Little Rock, we went antiquing and looked at old houses in the Quapaw Quarter. She was really into 'old' houses! If one caught her attention, we would stop and check it out...no matter that anyone lived there or not.

Mary Lou was a force with whom to be reckoned. She often called me to task on my beliefs. If I said that something was white, she would take the opposite view. I think it was a test. Sometimes I hung in with her. Sometimes I just gave up and let her 'win'...is that tactful or what:)

Our McLean's are not really a close family as far as being connected every day or even every month or year. We are close in spirit. There is not a day that goes by that I do not think of one of my McLean family. I attribute that to Mary Lou. She is the last of the sisters. There are a few of us cousins that stay somewhat connected. However, I can't help but feel that this is the waning of this sect of the McLean Clan.

We will become a part of history...one day one of our descendants will be including us on their genealogy charts.

Mary Lou...Pictures From My Albums...