The Brontës (Especially Emily)

We spent this past Memorial weekend at my parents' cabin. The weather was sketchy and we spent moments of sunshine on the dock followed by dashes into the basement during a sudden wind/rain burst to play pool and watch movies. It was a wonderfully long and leisurely weekend.

During one of the cloudy but not quite so wet afternoons, we even tackled a long forsaken cleanup project in the garage. My parents have several elaborate decanters that came from a family friend whose father had collected them. Our family friends kept as many as they wanted, then passed them along for us. My brothers and I drew straws and had turns making our selections. Although I thought the decanters were very unique, I had little interest in actually taking any home with me.

Until I saw these...!

If you ask me who my all time favorite writer is....I will say Emily Brontë. All time favorite book...Wuthering Heights. For longer than I can remember, I have been fascinated with the Brontë family; with Emily, Charlotte, Anne, and Branwell. And I never knew there was a liqueur made in their name. Apparently, neither did Sir James Aykroyd, the current producer of Brontë Liqueur.

After purchasing the parsonage in which the Brontës had lived, Sir James Ackroyd's great grandfather gifted it to the Brontë Society to be used as a museum. So, Sir James was already quite tied into the appeal of the Brontës when he travelled to Paraguay in the 1960's and first saw a bottle of Brontë liqueur which had been left by an earlier traveller. Eventually, he was able to acquire the rights to the name and began his own production of the liqueur.

The decanters I have here are sealed and probably about 40-50 years old. I'd really like to try some but...is that safe? As we made our selections, we did sample a 45 year old whiskey but the proof of that bottle is much higher than this liqueur and I'll bet that makes a difference in its longevity.

Could I buy a new bottle? From here in the states, I'd have to order it online. But, no, I don't think I'll do that. If and when I get to England, I'll stop in a pub and have some there. Will it be easy to find? Not sure. But it will be fun to search!

Even after 200 years since the births of these three sisters, their stories, their books, their poetry, and their appeal is still strong. This past March, PBS Masterpiece aired a special on the Brontës. I watched it in a Boston hotel room (in the midst of an intense college tour trip) but intend to re-watch it now from the comfort of my own couch! If you missed it and would like to check out more information, you can do so here: To Walk Invisable: The Brontë Sisters.

It Smells So Good

If I could have a dollar for every time a student walks into the media center, takes a deep breath and says, "Ah, it smells so good in here"....I'd....well, I'd have a lot of dollars! There's something about stepping through the doors of a media center, or a library, with information everywhere, pictures and and connections and stories and facts and virtual experiences....that makes you have to stop and take a deep breath. You can be transported or be transformed here. And it smells good.

Speaking of smells, and libraries,...when Kate and I were in Boston and New York City over spring break, touring colleges, we found the Demeter Fragrance Library. We had fun sampling the incredible variety of scents...like Moonshine, Cotton Candy, Laundromat, Meadow, Holy Water, and even Kitten Fur. Katie bought Salt Air as a souvenir. I didn't buy one but, honestly, kinda regretted it once we were back at home.

And, now, guess what my two sweet kids ordered me for Mother's Day? Yep, my very own crazy fragrances. Nestled in a beautiful little box were these two shiny bottles selected just for me. Paperback smells soft, papery with a slight hint of vanilla. Tomato smells warm and green, something between the smell of a tomato vine and a freshly picked, freshly sliced tomato. It smells like I'm sitting in a vegetable garden. That may not sound like a scent you want to wear but, really, it is so summery and pleasant. I love it!

Bhäird is the name of our Corner Garden

The perennials in our corner grade are springing to life but we lost one of our large old pines and the arbor is knocked a little off kilter. Over the years, we have called this corner garden the fairy garden, the pine forest, the forest garden, the play garden, or simply the back corner.

Kate used to make up stories about the fairies and gnomes who lived in this garden. Several years ago, to encourage her aspirations of becoming a writer, I said I would pay her for each story that she wrote, typed, and submitted to me. She gave the village that exists in this garden the name Bhäird and I now have this beautiful collection of stories; stories of winter survival, mid-summer festivities, and even wars that have broken out between political factions of the inhabitants (who knew, right?!)!

In the forefront of the above photo is a book we have loved by an author we have adored, Lesley M.M. Blume. Back when our mother/daughter book club met, we read Blume's book The Rising Star of Rusty Nail. We wrote a letter to Ms. Blume and were so excited to receive a beautiful hand-written note back from the author.