Ladies' Drawers, Snuff Boxes, Regency Wedding Dresses

Great fun researching my novel Monday's Child set in the Regency era. This morning I sat in bed with a pile of research books beside me working on my laptop.

Drawers were ankle length made in various materials and colours without a gusset, pin tucked and edged with lace at the hem. At first drawers were considered indecent. However, Princess Charlotte wore them and did not care if anyone glimpsed them.

Snuff boxes were made in gold, silver and other metals, tortoiseshell, semi-precious stones and various materials.. Some were engraved, others set with precious stones and, for example, mother of pearl. Those in the shape of naked ladies were popular with gentlemen.  These small snuff boxes sometimes had a tiny drawer in which a note or memento could be concealed. Others were miniature music boxes. The Prince Regent and many noblemen collected snuff boxes and displayed them in glass cabinets.

Finally, I chose the design for my heroine's wedding dress - more fun.

Writing and Gardening.

A friend wrote in her newsletter that Stephen King said novelists should finish a new book in 3 months. Ouch, it's taken me much longer to write each of mine. Anyway, this morning I wrote Chapter 27 of my new novel, Monday's Child (the sequel to Sunday's Child) set in the Regency era, and began the next chapter. Approximately 7,000 words to write before I finish the book, revise and edit it before I submit it. Phew!

I spent the rest of the morning working in the greenhouse and the garden. I picked tomatoes, cucumbers, runner beans and radishes, planted out lettuces weeded and tidied up. It's a sunny day, the sky is blue and the bees were busy collecting nectar from the lavender and other flowers.

Now I'm tapping away on the laptop with my feet up. Later on I'll probably pop out in the garden to do a bit more.

Can't Take It

4 and 3/4 year old granddaughter cane out of her reception class at primary school, looked at her mother, pressed her hand to the side of her forehead and said: "I can't take this any more."

Daughter thought. Sorry kid you've got ten more years to go.

Mind you granddaughter's excellent teacher said she has settled in very well and made several friends.

Change in the Weather

The weather is very mild for this time of the year but after a few chilly nights all the scarlet flowers fell off my runner beans. It's almost October and the weather's will become colder. Hopefully, I'll be able to re-pot my blueberries and prepare for winter.

Scribbled Notes

Apart from my shorthand notepad full of scribbled notes, which I have dealt with, I also have a notebook with scribbled details of websites, reviewers, blog spots, e-mail addresses etc., etc.  I am now working through it methodically. Visiting on-line sites, contacting people etc., .

 

I always enjoy the after effects of tidying up my office aka the spare bedroom, and shredding all the junk mail etc., which I add to the compost heap. I’ve also enjoyed filling a new notebook with neat entries which I can find without squinting at any scribbles or having panic attacks because I can’t find something important. 

 

A House Divided by Pearl Buck

A couple of days ago, I finished reading the novel,  A House Divided by Pearl Buck, which was first published in 1935.

I found this literary novel, in which Pearl Buck tells the fictional story of Wang Yuan, son of Tiger,   a Chinese war lord. difficult to read due to its style.

In childhood, Yuan feared his father whose sword was never far from his hand. At the age of nineteen Yuan joined the revolutionists, 'who were the enemies of all lords of war such as the Tiger was.'  He returns home wearing his uniform.  His father is about to kill him " But for the first time in his life the Tiger's son showed the anger he had in him, but which he had never dared to show before his father."

A House Divided reveals the era prior to the Chinese Revolution, as well as Wang Yuan's uncertainties, selective memory and narrow-mindedness.

Although Yuan is arrested for being a revolutionary, he escapes execution after his family bribe the authorities. He is sent to America where he studies agriculture with the hope of one day improving ordinary Chinese people's lives.  Seven years later, he returns home.

Pearl Buck tells the reader how Yuan reacts to America and Americans as well as his reactions when he returns to China, where poverty- stricken people's situation, and the upper class's attitude towards them has not changed. Daughter of missionaries Pearl Buck's descriptions of beggars and naked children obviously came from her heart.

A House Divided is not only about the effects of change on Yuan and his family but also about Yuan's divided, uncertain heart.

All in all, I am glad I persevered and read the entire novel because I learned so much about past times.