Crabapple blossoms

Nebraska's Best-Kept Secrets, Part I

Many people who live around here are not aware that there is an old peony farm near Trumbull, NE (a small village off route 281). The people who live there, the Hohlens, will let you come and enjoy the peonies, and the best part is that they will sell you a dozen for $4! Last season (late May to early June), we visited twice. It is such a beautiful and peaceful spot, with thousands of peony blossoms to enjoy.


One of the many peony beds --




Please excuse the silly look on my face -- you'd probably look the same if you had an armload of gorgeous peonies!

Golubtsy

Tonight for dinner I made Russian golubtsy -- that is, cabbage rolls. I got the recipe online, though I can't remember exactly where. The recipe I used is essentially just like this one, however.

The golubtsy was a hit, especially with my dad! I'm not sure how "authentic" it was, not having any frame of reference to compare it to. I've only had Russian food a few times in my life, but I've enjoyed what I have tried.

A favorite passage

[Catherine is dancing with Henry Tilney, but is interrupted when John Thorpe speaks to her.]

"Her partner [Mr. Tilney] now drew near, and said, "That gentleman would have put me out of patience, had he stayed with you half a minute longer. He has no business to withdraw the attention of my partner from me. We have entered into a contract of mutual agreeableness for the space of an evening, and all our agreeableness belongs solely to each other for that time. Nobody can fasten themselves on the notice of one, without injuring the rights of the other. I consider a country-dance as an emblem of marriage. Fidelity and complaisance are the principal duties of both; and those men who do not choose to dance or marry themselves, have no business with the partners or wives of their neighbours.'

'But they are such very different things!'

' -- That you think they cannot be compared together.'

'To be sure not. People that marry can never part, but must go and keep house together. People that dance only stand opposite each other in a long room for half an hour.'

'And such is your definition of matrimony and dancing. Taken in that light certainly, their resemblance is not striking; but I think I could place them in such a view. You will allow, that in both, man has the advantage of choice, woman only the power of refusal; that in both, it is an engagement between man and woman, formed for the advantage of each; and that when once entered into, they belong exclusively to each other till the moment of its dissolution; that it is their duty, each to endeavour to give the other no cause for wishing that he or she had bestowed themselves elsewhere, and their best interest to keep their own imaginations from wandering towards the perfections of their neighbours, or fancying that they should have been better off with anyone else. You will allow all this?'

'Yes, to be sure, as you state it, all this sounds very well; but still they are so very different. I cannot look upon them at all in the same light, nor think the same duties belong to them.'

'In one respect, there certainly is a difference. In marriage, the man is supposed to provide for the support of the woman, the woman to make the home agreeable to the man; he is to purvey, and she is to smile. But in dancing, their duties are exactly changed; the agreeableness, the compliance are expected from him, while she furnishes the fan and the lavender water. That, I suppose, was the difference of duties which struck you, as rendering the conditions incapable of comparison.'

'No, indeed, I never thought of that.'

'Then I am quite at a loss. One thing, however, I must observe. This disposition on your side is rather alarming. You totally disallow any similarity in the obligations; and may I not thence infer that your notions of the duties of the dancing state are not so strict as your partner might wish? Have I not reason to fear that if the gentleman who spoke to you just now were to return, or if any other gentleman were to address you, there would be nothing to restrain you from conversing with him as long as you chose?'

'Mr. Thorpe is such a very particular friend of my brother's, that if he talks to me, I must talk to him again; but there are hardly three young men in the room besides him that I have any acquaintance with.'

'And is that to be my only security? Alas, alas!'

'Nay, I am sure you cannot have a better; for if I do not know anybody, it is impossible for me to talk to them; and, besides, I do not want to talk to anybody.'

'Now you have given me a security worth having; and I shall proceed with courage.'"

--Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen, first published 1818

Ah, bliss

Our crabapple tree is in a profusion of pink blossoms. Violets are popping up all over the lawn, ranging from deep purple to purest white. The lilacs and the lily-of-the-valley are thisclose to blooming.

I love spring!

In the cemetery

Selling vintage patterns

Holding my breath lest I mess up somehow, I've ventured into selling on eBay Land. I've started out pretty simple, selling a few vintage patterns I picked up at a local antique store.

• Butterick 9131
  
• Simplicity 3941
  
• Simplicity 2469
• Butterick 7750

I pretty much have no idea what I'm doing, so if you have any suggestions, drop me an e-mail or leave a comment, please! :)

Oldie but a goodie

[Discussing newspaper accounts of Nick's run-in with a thug.]

Nick: I'm a hero. I was shot twice in the Tribune.
Nora: I read where you were shot five times in the tabloids.
Nick: It's not true. He didn't come anywhere near my tabloids.

--The Thin Man, 1934

Victoria

(from the May 1995 issue of Victoria)
Today I re-organized my Victoria magazines, even going so far as to create an Excel file to track which issues I own and which I have yet to collect. My collection started with my mother's old issues, then grew as I purchased several lots of back issues on eBay. The latest additions come by way of my friend, Keturah, who gave me all of her old magazines.

If you are unfamiliar with this late, great magazine (published 1987-2003, though the earlier issues are better), it is a treasure trove of all things feminine, lovely, and old-fashioned. Hie thee to eBay and purchase some back issues!

A Christie kick

Occasionally I go on a "Christie kick," where I read several Agatha Christies back-to-back. The other night at bedtime, while looking for something light to read, I pulled out Elephants Can Remember, and now I'm on to The Mystery of the Blue Train.

I read my first Agatha Christie book (Murder for Christmas) when I was 11, and then promptly went through all of her mysteries and short stories within the next three years. We can credit Agatha Christie for the germination of my interest in England in the 1920s and 1930s.

I've been collecting hardcover Agatha Christies for some time now, mostly through library book sales and the occasional used bookstore purchase. The Poirot Facsimile Editions, as seen above, not only have the original cover art and typesetting, but are hardcover to boot! Unfortunately, they seem to be only available in the UK, thus making them a bit more expensive. Maybe I'll put a few of my favorite titles on my birthday list. :)