"They'll say we made life here in Virginia..."

 

 ".....and we owe the commonwealth a thing or two. But if anyone here owes anyone here, Virginia should be owin' me and you!"

 ~Shenandoah 

 

    Have you ever discovered a musical or a movie, or even a book, and wondered "Where has this been all my life?!" Well, I have. Numerous times. The most recent being my discovery of the old musical Shenandoah. Is there any end to these classic old musicals? :-)

  It all started when I went to an audition and heard a man sing an excerpt from the "Meditation" from the musical Shenandoah. I had never heard of the musical at the time, but his performance amused me. A farm in Virginia? People being called traitors? Soldiers in a long gray line? Yes, ma'am! :-)

 

 

  So anyway, that was that. I thought to myself, well, that must be a nice old musical. I'd really like to learn more about it sometime. But I didn't look into it at all until I found this music book at the library with vocal selections from the musical. I opened the cover, and lo and behold, there was Holling from Northern Exposure. I nearly screamed. Which would not have been good at all, since I was in a library, and screaming in libraries is frowned upon in most societies.

 

Isn't it delightfully vintage? I'm nearly drooling.

 

   Well, I looked through the book with profound interest and discovered that the musical is right down my canyon. A musical about a family in Virginia during the Civil War with a Christian message? What could be better? I grinned broadly and decided to take the book. Er, that is, borrow it for a very long time. Whenever I get a piano book out from the library, I tend to keep it until I absolutely cannot renew it anymore and it has a bounty on its head and the librarians can scarcely remember that the library even owns it. Because they don't anymore. I do. Ahem. Anyway, my sister and I had an absolute BALL the other night playing the songs and singing as loud as we could (without even realizing that the windows were open and in all likelihood everyone on the street could hear us). The music is beautiful, people. We haven't played all the songs yet, and unfortunately YouTube doesn't have very much of this musical at all so I still don't know much of the music or the general storyline. But for sure I want to learn more about Shenandoah.

 

   One of Sadie's and my favorites so far is the 'Meditation'. Here's a video of John Cullum singing it on the original cast recording. I really had no idea Holling John Cullum could sing like this! He's really, really good.

 

 

 

  And here's a couple really old little commercials for the musical. The first one's great, the other two are....kinda weird. But you have to remember, it is from '75. ;-P

 



 

Have you ever heard of the musical Shenandoah?

What are some of your favorite songs from it?

 

 

 



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Spring Letters

 Lately I've had so many ideas for blog posts-- book reviews, movie reviews, and whatnot-- that they've kind of been just tumbling over each other in my head to be written. However, so far most of them have yet to be finished (or even started, heehee.) I have a Gone With the Wind movie review in the works that just gets longer and longer every time I go to work on it, a book I've been wanting to review, and another book coming soon for me to review which I am very excited about, as it will be my first free book from the Bethany House blogger review program!!! (I was SO excited when I received the confirmation email on Love Comes Calling, since I have been requesting books since October and this is the first one I've actually received a confirmation for!) :-) *Does happy dance*
   So anyways, since today I don't really want to put forth the effort (or take the time) to try to make my GWTW post into a coherent review and I'm in the mood for something random and fun, I've decided to write another post of little letters. I've done this style of letters once before and I always enjoy reading them on other people's blogs. So, my dear readers, may I present you with Spring Letters!

   Dear Library System,

    

       Don't get me wrong: you are a HUGE blessing and I really, really appreciate you. That being said, y'all could do better. Yes, I will always be grateful that you have East of Eden and The Adams Chronicles, but really, is it too much to ask that you have Ivanhoe? And David Copperfield? ISN'T THAT WHAT LIBRARIES ARE FOR???!!!

     Sorry, sorry, I'll calm down. But pleeeease, pretty please, find some way to obtain a copy of Ivanhoe. Thank you very much. :-)

  Dear James A Michner's Texas,

      Okay, I'm not going to lie. You were a huge disappointment. A disappointment of such magnitude that I'm still kind of mad at you, though I am getting over it. I thought you would be so amazing (John Schneider as Davy Crockett?! WHERE DO I SIGN?), but instead you were....lousy. And I still cannot beLIEVE that we only got to see about five minutes of Davy Crockett before he died. He didn't have more than three or four lines, for crying out loud. That is very bad movie making, people. If you're going to kill off a character before he's had five minutes screen time, don't cast him as John Schneider. And if you DO cast him as John Schneider, don't make him look the best he's ever looked and then have him get killed in the next scene. The fans will never forgive you for it. That's just plain CRUEL.

 
   Dear Stephanie Grace Whitson,
 
       I am soooo glad I found Sixteen Brides at the library and decided to read it. If I hadn't picked it up off the shelf, been intrigued by the cover and the small description on the back, I might never have found out what I was missing! I can't believe I'd never heard of any of your books before, but I'm so glad I have now. You are an amazing writer and I'm looking forward to reading more of your books!


  Dear Christian Book Distributors,

   Okay, y'all need to stop tempting me. I am trying to be a good girl and save my money, you know, but it makes it extremely hard when you keep sending me catalogs. And of course, on nearly every other page I find a book I want to buy. I just can't TAKE it all.

  Dear Gone With the Wind,

      Wow. Just, wow. It's been more than a month-- indeed, it's almost been two months-- since I saw you for the first time, but I'm still every bit as enamored with you as I was at first. I really wasn't expecting to love-- no, adore-- you as much as I do. I had no idea just how epic you are, but now I do. You're the best thing since East of Eden, you are, and one of the most amazing films I've ever seen. I can see now why they call you the biggest movie ever made, and why so many people love you so much, because you truly are a masterpiece.


  Dear Beatrix Potter's Miniature Correspondence,

     You are just so adorable I can hardly stand it. Really, you're that cute. I'm so glad I found that sweet little book of letters, because I have greatly enjoyed reading you and you've even inspired me to write my own correspondence between animals and dolls. My favorite of the correspondence (although I adore them all) would definitely be that of Squirrel Nutkin. His desperate pleas to Old Mr. Brown to let him have his tail back are simply priceless. :-)



*Emma promptly faints because she just can't take such extreme adorable-ness*

    Dear Downton Abbey Season 4,

    Please be good. Please. I admit, my expectations for you are not the highest, but I still would like to be proven wrong. I would just love it if you turned out to be amazing after all! Please, Mary, don't do anything stupid. Edith, be careful around Mr. Rochester--erm, I mean, Michael Gregson. Branson, don't get married again. And Mr. Bates, PLEASE, try to stay out of trouble this season. Sheesh.


  Dearest, darlingest, most beloved Matthew Crawley,
  
     WHY? Why did you have to leave us? What will we ever do without you? How will Downton Abbey ever be as good again? "Without you, the world around me changes, the trees are bare and everywhere the streets are full of strangers....SOB.




THAT LOOK.

    Dear Dan Stevens,

    You're awfully adorable and I really do like you a great deal, but I'm not too happy with you right now. Why on earth did you want to get off Downton Abbey? I mean, honestly, what did you think you would go on to do that's any better?!? I hope you're happy. "I hope you're happy, how you've hurt your cause forever, I hope you think you're cleveeerrrr!!!!"
    

  Dear Julie Klassen,

      We've had a pretty great relationship, you and I. We may have started out a bit rocky when I first attempted to read The Girl in the Gatehouse a few years ago, but ever since reading The Tutor's Daughter over a year ago and loving it almost immediately, you've been ranked as one of my top favorite authors, and your books are now some of my favorites. Your latest book wasn't my favorite, I must say, but I was just so happy for another Julie Klassen romance to read and I still enjoyed it! Now I'm reading The Maid of Fairbourne Hall again, which has recently nudged The Tutor's Daughter out of its place as my favorite of your books.


  Dear Snow,

    Please go away. And be quick about it too. Thank you.

 Dear Springtime,

    Oh, how I long for you! For warm sunshine, green grass, and flowers! I am trying to be patient with March and its fickleness (is that a word?), but y'all could hurry it up a bit. I have a terrible case of spring fever that can only be cured by sunshine and temperatures of at least fifty degrees.


 Dear Celtic Woman,

    You are just about my favorite musical group right now. I love listening to your music while I do my schoolwork in the mornings, and nearly every time I do I find yet another of your songs that I want to learn! It just never ends! My latest favorite is Lisa Kelley's May It Be.
    And by the way, what's up with everyone leaving the group? If the comments on YouTube are any indication, half the group has disbanded and left to do something else. Even my favorites Chloe Agnew and Lisa Kelley! What is up with this, ladies?!?

   Dear God,

      "The Lord is my portion", says my soul," therefore I will hope in Him." I get distracted by so many other things, but I need to remember to keep my focus on You, and remember that everything I do is to bring glory to Your name, and not mine. Help me remember to keep you at the forefront of everything, and help me to be a young lady who seeks to please You. I don't think I shall ever understand why you have blessed me so much, but I will be forever grateful for everything you've given me. Thank you for loving me even when I botch things up, and even when I don't give You all that I should.

   Dear Faithful Readers,

    You, my friends, are awesome. You have no idea how much it means to me to know that people are reading and enjoying what I write. When I started this blog a little over a year ago, I little thought that in a year I would be where I am today! I've learned so many things this past year and made so many wonderful friendships, and I am so grateful for all of you! *blows kisses* Thank you, thank you, thank you! :-)

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Just a little note

Hello, my dear readers! : )

 

   Well, it's been a beautiful week and I have had a simply wonderful time carving pumpkins, working at the stand and playing with the bunnies, watching John Adams and Northern Exposure, reading True Grit  for the second time (it is absolutely amazing!), drinking hard cider, and eating lots and lots of muffins and peanut butter cookies. Oh, and school too. : ) We're having a hayride on Sunday night and I'm so excited!!! : ) I carved two little pumpkins last week and I have three big ones to carve this week. I just love fall!!!! : )

Me holding Twinkletoes



Sadie holding Twinkletoes. He gets the most attention because he's the cutest. : P

 So anyway, this is just a little note to say that I will not be around for the next few days because we are taking our computer to Miracle Max so that he can work his magic on it (because WEIRD things are happening.....it's a wonder I'm even able to type this now). I'm not sure how long it will take, probably just a few days, but the last time we took our computer to "the shop" it was there for about two weeks before we got it back. I wanted to let you all know in case I don't have access to internet for a long time that I haven't forgotten about you! So if you start wondering why I haven't posted or commented or whatever, that's why. And like I said, I'll probably be back in a few days anyway, so I will catch up with reading and commenting and emailing and whatnot then. I also hope to have a review of the John Adams miniseries we've been watching up before the end of the month, as well as some other random fall posts and fun stuff like that. : ) 

  I also want to thank all of my followers/bloggy friends for being such a blessing! You guys mean so much to me! Thank you so much for following my blog and commenting and for being such nice friends. I am so blessed to have found so many wonderful friends since I began blogging early this year, and I am so grateful for you all!

  So goodbye for now, my dears! Have a wonderful week and enjoy the rest of autumn! Talk later! : )

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A Few Announcements

Hello everyone!

  As I'm sure you've noticed, For the Beauty of the Earth has a new look! I was planning on changing the header and background for fall sometime soon, but I decided to do it a little earlier than I had planned on because I had gotten so tired of looking at my old header.  : P The new header is a painting by my favorite painter, Edmund Blair Leighton, called September. Isn't it beautiful? : )

  I also changed the entire template because I wanted to get rid of those little birds that have been in the upper right corner ever since I started blogging, because they started to remind me of those creepy birds in that Madeline episode.....anyway, shutting up. I love the new design and I hope you do too!

 Also, it gives me great pleasure to announce that I have begun a writing blog, Wonderland Creek, where I will post about my stories and characters and just writing in general, and perhaps occasionally a book review.  The idea for the name came from one of my favourite books by Lynn Austin, and it doesn't really have a specific meaning, except that I've always loved it and I thought it would be a wonderful name for a writing blog. I hope you will stop by! : )

  And I also wanted to mention.....

   We bought the Downton Abbey book!!!! It is simply fabulous! It's full of pictures and quotes from the characters and actors and interesting facts about the making of the show, as well as details about life back in the 1910s and it's just delicious. I definitely recommend it to any loyal Downton Abbey fan! : )

                                   One of my favourite pictures in the entire book. : )

                                                             My personal favourite chapter. : P

  I really liked this page because it listed all the servants' first and last names, some of which were not mentioned in the series. Who knew that Mrs. Patmore's first name was Beryl? I didn't!
 
  So anyway, Sadie and I have been just loving it, and Sadie has already read three chapters. I haven't actually read it yet: I've just been looking at all the GORGEOUS pictures and reading the quotes from the actors, but soon I will. I have quite a long list of things to read, though, so it may be some time.....: P

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"I'm not odd, really, just overexpressive."

 Hello, dearies! Just popping in to say good-day to you all and that I've been quite busy this week, so that's why there hasn't been much of anything interesting going on here lately. However, since I know how y'all just love picture posts (wink, wink : P) I thought I would post some of the pictures I've taken lately. You know, one of those posts where I bombard you with a bunch of random pictures and don't write anything of any importance. Because in case you haven't already noticed, I LOVE to take pictures. : P And today I'm in the mood to be random. And since I don't have a sensible title for this post, I just decided to use one of my favourite lines from Howard's End, which, I think, applies to me perfectly. : P
Yesterday my dear sister Sadie styled my hair like Lady Edith Crawley from Downton Abbey, and I thought I would post the pictures I took of it since it turned out so very nicely.




This is the back. (Yes, thank you Mary.)

  

We're watching the 2nd season of Downton Abbey again, because my sister Molly missed a lot of it the first time we watched it. Oh my goodness, it is so good!!! : ) I think I almost forgot how amazing it is. The 2nd season is by FAR my favourite of the three so far. And I'm not really counting on liking the 4th one that much, because, well.....I can't even say it! Downton Abbey admirers will know what I'm talking about.         

The other day, Sadie and I went to a library book sale, and we got a bit carried away.  : p This is what the bookshelf in our room looks like now. Some of these books are ones that we already had, but most of the books on this shelf we just bought. Sadie found a book about the battle of Trafalgar, which is on the end on the left, and Lieutenant Hornblower, the second book in the Hornblower series. I found a book of Tennyson's poetry, which is the big blue one right next to The Scarlet Pimpernel. It has The Lady of Shallott in it, which is not in any of my other poetry books, so I am glad to now have a copy of that. And I think we all know why I wanted a copy of this particular poem. : P

   Willows whiten, aspens quiver
   Little breezes dusk and shiver
  Thro' the wave that runs forever
  By the island in the river
 Flowing down to Camelot.

 The entire poem is super long, almost four pages, but I hope to memorize it soon. : )

                                       

This afternoon I went down to the bridge to do some writing, and I took some pictures with the self-timer on my camera (those things are so handy!)                                                                                                       

 I actually didn't get much writing done. : ( I've been writing more lately, ever since I started rewriting Lyddie of the Island, but still it's going pretty slow. I have to start disciplining myself more, making myself write some every day. The trouble is, I'm usually busy doing other things during the day, and then in the evening I'm usually so tired I just want to watch Dr. Quinn or Downton Abbey. : ) It's just so hard to stay away when Molly and Sadie are watching Downton Abbey, though- especially when it's season 2! I must be such a terrible writer! I shall have to work at restraining myself more. : P

   The story that I'm currently working on is based on characters that I made up when I was much younger, maybe about eight or nine. I wrote three books, based on three different sisters in one family, the first of which, Lyddie of the Island, I have decided to rewrite and add many more events and much more detail. It is the story of the seven sisters: Josephine, Hattie, Lyddie, Emmy, Charlotte, Addy, and Linda, although Lyddie is the main character of the seven. The story is set in 1910 on Prince Edward Island (wonder where I got that? *wink* : P). I've been reading the books that I wrote when I was younger for the first time in a long while, and looking back, it's quite funny to realize where the inspiration for everything I wrote about came from. When I read through it, I think, "Oh, I got that from Anne of Green Gables....I must have got that from Little Women....that came from My Louisiana Sky."  I'm adding a lot more of my own ideas, thank you, to what I hope will be the finished work. : )

 Oh yeah, and it's Romola Garai's 32nd birthday today! I was going to do a post about her and her period films in honor of the occasion, but alas, I did not find the time today. So instead, here is my little tribute to this very talented actress.

 Of course, we all know and love her as Barbara Spooner in Amazing Grace...
   

 And as everyone's favourite Emma Woodhouse. (Yes, that's right, everyone's. And if she's not your favourite, just go away. I mean it.)

  Heehee, I'm just kidding. You can stay, we won't hold it against you. : P



As the lovely Kate Nickleby



 

As Gwendolen Harleth

 And some of us can't stand her as the horrible Angel Deverell. But we won't go there. ; P

   In short, Romola Garai is a very lovely and talented British actress and is to this day one of my favourite actresses. So happy birthday, Romola Garai! : )

What are some your favourite Romola Garai movies?

 

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Daydreams



My crazy mismatched "Autumn Foliage" socks. : P I can't wait for cooler weather!

 It hardly seems possible that July is almost over! The summer seems to have flown by so quickly! In a way, it's rather sad that summer is almost half over, but I don't really mind since I love all the seasons in turn, especially fall. I've been thinking a great deal about fall lately, and I really am looking forward to apples and pumpkins and cooler weather. I love summer, but fall is definitely my favourite season- there's just something about it that makes me so glad! : )

  I've been daydreaming a lot lately- about fall, about what it would be like to live a hundred years ago-  you know, things like that. : ) This week in particular I have been especially busy with an all-week dance intensive and working at the stand, which is why I haven't posted much. After dancing literally all week, I was glad to have today to catch up on reading and writing and do housework and clean bathrooms and other fun things like that. : )  I thought I would post a short update on life in general, since I haven't posted much about what I've done this summer.

  Today I've had some time to read one of the new books I recently got, Widow of Gettysburg by Jocelyn Green. About a week ago I bought two new books, Widow of Gettysburg and Stealing the Preacher.

 I started reading Stealing the Preacher several days ago, but I wasn't really getting into the story, so I decided to start Widow of Gettysburg instead. I've only read two chapters but already I really like it. The writing reminds me somewhat of Lynn Austin, but that's not the only reason I like it, of course ( Lynn Austin is my favourite, but I'm not that biased!) So far I really like the way the writing flows together, and of course it's about the Civil War, so that interests me a great deal too. I would have liked to read the first book in the series first, but as I couldn't find it anywhere and since I don't think the stories are really connected, I've just decided to read this one first. So far it's very good!

  All week I've had "Who Am I?" perpetually stuck in my head, and so I've been singing it more than is probably necessary. But then, you can never sing too much Les Mis. : ) The other night I was singing it and when I got to the part where he says, "Who am I? I'm Jean Valjean...", Sadie goes, "Who's that?" And I'm like, really? : P

  Sadie and I have been working our way through East of Eden these past few nights- and working is really the right word for it! Oh my goodness, it's simply dreadful. For those of you who don't know, East of Eden is a miniseries based on the classic John Steinbeck novel that was made in the '80s and stars Jane Seymour, which, I will admit, is really the main reason why we wanted to watch it in the first place. But my goodness, she's just awful! Sadie had watched a bit of the first episode last year- I was away- but since it was so awful, we didn't bother to finish it that time. However, we decided to try it again, and we are now halfway through the second episode (it's about eight hours long total...yeah) and it is absolutely awful. Jane Seymour's character, Cathy, is just about the worst character I have ever seen, in anything. I'd like to finish it, because it's such a classic and just so I've seen East of Eden, but I don't think I'd ever watch it again.

On July 16th, Sadie and I went with Sadie's violin teacher to hear a rehearsal for an orchestra concert with a guest violinist at a frou-frou institution near where we live, which I will not address by name so as not to disclose any information about the general are in which I live. ; P The rehearsal itself was, um, exceedingly boring and I didn't care for the music, but Sadie and I took some very nice pictures of the grounds and made an enjoyable day of it.

  This is the bookstore, one of my favourite stores ever! They have lots of books and stationary and lots of other pretty, useless little things, and I just love it. We found this books called The World of Downton Abbey that is all about the show and the time period and we REALLY wanted to buy, and we even took it to the desk on the point of buying it, only to discover that we were $1.25 short. The salesclerk was very cordial and asked us if we would like him to hold it for us, and we were like, "Yeah, can you hold it till August?" : P Hehe, we actually didn't say that to him, but afterwards we considered it. I did, however, buy a lovely little journal and some very pretty stationary, and Sadie and I plan to get the Downton Abbey book another time.

    We thought this house looked kind of like Green Gables. : )

                                         The Smith library, another place I could spend hours in. : )

 These are some books we happened to find in the library. : P

              The Antheneum hotel. It's always reminded me of the Grand Hotel from Somewhere in Time. : )

        The iconic bell tower. Since we were with a group of other younger violinists (I didn't quite fit in....), we had to visit the *crazy* lady in the bell tower and hear (again) about how the bells work and the history of the bells and how it's the best job on the grounds to ring the bells and blah blah blah. But of course we were very respectful and nodded and said all the appropriate things. : )

   I'm very glad to be able to spend time at home after an entire week of dancing all day long! It was a good experience, but after about the second day I had pretty much concluded that I don not like having to go to ballet class every single day. (Friday morning I was singing "One Day More"- yes, I've been in kind of a Les Mis mood this week.) This afternoon I had "a complete turning out and spring (summer) cleaning", as Beatrix Potter would say, and now I am going to read my new book before turning in for the night. As Jane Austen so eloquently puts it, there is no place like home for real comfort. I am so grateful to come home to my nice little house each evening after working at the stand! There are other places I'd like to go someday, but I know I will always want to come back home.
    So farewell, dearies, I hope you've all had a good week! : )

  P.S. My dear sister Sadie has posted some historical hair tutorials on her blog, most recently a hair tutorial in the style of Emma Woodhouse from the 2009 Emma. I'm sure she'd love it if you stopped by! : )

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