Tag: Jane Austen

Books · Jane Austen · News

Adventures Befalling a Janeite in Chicago…

BookLady Deb2 Comments

Back from the AGM! and it was, as expected, fabulous!  I had decided to carry nothing electronic with me (except, I confess, the necessary cell phone) and take a break from this computer-driven world and really retreat into the early nineteenth-century.  So now I will retrace my four days in Austen’s world and fill you in on “all things Jane”; and only lament that it shall be days before I can return to Letter No. 3, and a terrible confession that the first day found me scouting the Emporium…

Day One Diary:

Arrived surprisingly on time midday Thursday and immediately perused the Emporium.  Expected a quick run-through to see the display of books and merchandise, but, of course was captivated by all the shopping opportunities, and for one who can browse among just books for hours, this was a happy intro to the whole weekend.

Jane Austen Books, with the torch recently passed from Pat Latkin to Jennifer Weinbrecht and her two daughters Amy and Beth [click here for their website, soon to be updated], had the usual feast of old and new, and after semi-guiltily adding to my luggage weight moved on to the Ontario-based Traveler’s Tales, a bookstore often at the AGMs that never fails with its offering of used and rare literary, history, and domestic arts titles [am now in trouble with my luggage weight concerns and will need to ship any further purchases…]

A quick stop at Figaro, and antiques shop of “Parisian Interiors”  whose lovely display of decorative arts (think tea cups and Burleigh China in shades of pink and blue,) scarves for self-adornment, french soaps, and fashion  illustrations –  all a tempting treat and a perfect addition to the Emporium atmosphere.

Back to more books with a visit with Jones Books  [publisher of Kim Wilson’s Jane Austen and Tea and her new book on In the Garden with Jane Austen  as well as other Austen-related titles], and then onto the locally owned Barbara’s Bookstore, also with a nice selection of titles, including the new Vintage Classics series of all of Austen’s novels with EXCELLENT covers depicting regency fashion illustrations (see the blog Adventures in Reading for a look at all the covers and here at Amazon.com to purchase, and also at RandomHouse.ca for another set of new covers for Austen with contemporary and simple designs)

 

 

     Then on to several booths of fashion…bonnets, dresses, laces, reticules; there is so much talent out there, that I am tempted to dust off my last-used-twenty-years-ago sewing machine (but alas! can one sew AND blog?? doubtful…), and finally a jewelry designer who turns antique buttons, cuff-links, tie-clasps into any number of gorgeous wearable creations (and who I am sorry to say has no website)..

For this Lizzie-like bonnet, visit Bee in Your Bonnet, for custom-made regency style millinery

The Regional Chapter tables never fail to please and delight with numerous cards, calendars, t-shirts, bookmarks, paper-dolls, etc…all perfect gifts for the Janeite on your list (go to the JASNA site’s merchandise page for a sampling)…  and don’t forget to order your 2009 calendar(s) from the Wisconsin Chapter (there is no picture here, so just trust me that they are the best yet and will be a pleasure to look at throughout the whole year!)

So for someone who really hates to shop (excepting for books…heck, we all need at least ONE vice!), my bag is now indeed overweight and I must ready myself for the evening festivities…

Jeff Nigro of the Art Institute of Chicago (currently the Director of Adult Programs), who says that his relationship with Austen was “love at first read”  (I love this!), spoke on “Visualizing Jane Austen & Jane Austen Visualizing.”  With references to the 1995 P&P (Ehle / Firth) showing the scene with Lydia tossing her recently-purchased bonnet, he stressed that in the novel there is no description of the bonnet, leaving the reader to imagine its ugliness, while in the movie it has to be visualized and so indeed the movie creator struggles to get this just right (and why it may not be the bonnet YOU have been imagining all these years!)

Mr. Nigro then shifted to visualizing Austen herself, i.e. the two drawings of Austen by her sister Cassandra, the 1804 watercolor and the 1810-11 sketch, and how the illusive nature of both has resulted in varying and disparate interpretations, as well as outright editing to fit contemporary views.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And finally Nigro reviewed the various illustrators of Austen’s novels, from Thomson and the Brocks to 20th-century artists, and ending and coming full-circle with the visualizing aspect of movie adaptations.  He asked aloud how Jane Austen might feel about these various adaptations and concluded that she would likely approve, as he referenced her letters voicing her various opinions on how her characters looked by comparing them to portraits she viewed (though never finding one satisfactory for her own vision of Mrs. Darcy.)

A fabulous talk!…and a terrific preface to the next three days!  [stay-tuned tomorrow for Day 2…there is a Darcy treat in the offing….ah! but what a tease…he does not show up until Day 4!]

Book reviews · News

Chicago Beckons … and a Mini Round-up

BookLady DebLeave a comment

        …if adventures will not befall a young lady in her own village, she must seek them abroad…

                                        –Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey

  Off to the AGM in Chicago…will post on the many adventures upon my return…!

But before I depart, here are a few items worth sharing:

*JASNA has posted online the book reviews in its Summer News issue; there are reviews for the following books (this is great resource for book reviews:  scroll down for other issues)

*Want to go back in time?  here is an article with some sobering insights on real life in the past we so hanker for:   “Back in the Good Old Days”at WalesOnline.

*JASNA is looking for someone to draw a map of Bath in Austen’s time for their online collection of maps… for more information see the Central New Jersey JASNA Chapter blog.

*On the Janeites discussion group, there was a post with the following quizzes, all Austen-related:

http://www.ylcf.org/you/personality-janeausten.htm

http://www.visitbath.co.uk/lovebath/quirky-romance/jane-austen-quiz

http://www.quizilla.com/quizzes/3788704/which-male-jane-austen-
character-will-you-marry

http://www.quibblo.com/quiz/FkX0U4/What-Jane-Austen-woman-are-you-most-
like?view_quiz=1

http://www.funtrivia.com/quizzes/literature/authors_a-c/jane_austen.html

*See this travel blog that treks in search of Darcy, with many pictures of Chatsworth and other sites relating to P&P.

*The Independent reports of the “re-invention” of High Tea and Afternoon Tea in London and environs as a way to fill up at less the cost….and in grand style!

Jane Austen · News

Round-up week of Sept. 21…All Things Austen

BookLady DebLeave a comment

Austenprose posts week 3 and week 4 of Virginia Claire Tharrington’s journal of her adventures as an intern at the Jane Austen Centre in Bath.

JASNA has Persuasions No. 9 (December 1987) now online; the 9th annual meeting featured Lady Susan and the Juvenilia.

JASNA has also announced its annual essay contest:  [see link for details]

Siblings abound in Jane Austen’s novels. Some siblings act as foils to each other; others are in competition; still others are mutually supportive and encouraging. Examine the importance of siblings in one or two Austen novels. Discuss how they function in the novel and how they embody larger themes. You may focus on one sibling relationship or you may compare relationships, either within a novel or between two novels.

Is Jane Austen Sophia Sentiment?  see this recapped post on the Becoming Jane website.

Elizabeth Inchbald’s play “Wives as they were, Maids as they are” is on stage at the Theater Royal Bury St. Edmonds (the only working Regency playhouse in the country)… click here for a review of the play, “a fabulous combination of Jane Austen, the Regency romance novels of Georgette Heyer and the best in BBC costume drama.” 

And if you are by chance off to Brighton for a few days, the New York Times travel section offers up  36 hours in Brighton

If, however, you find yourself instead in New York City, the NY JASNA Chapter is sponsoring an event with the Royal Oak Foundation on October 15, a lecture on ” ‘I Ask Only a Comfortable Home’: Jane Austen and Regency Domestic Interiors,” by Lisa White, Director, Attingham Summer School for the Study of Historic Houses, England.

Is Chawton or Bath Austen’s “true home”?  See this Telegraph article on the two towns and their fight over their right to the title… and see also Janeite Kelly’s comments right here.

There is so much “out there” on Lost in Austen, that I have decided to keep mum about it all until I have actually seen it…!

 And finally, I think that there is always so much delightful information on all the other well-known Austen blogs,  that I will just tell you to go to them each week and scroll down for the Austen feast on each of them:

 Book Reviews:

  • Austenprose on Carrie Bebris’s Matters at Mansfield

Sites & Blogs of note:

That’s all folks!  Happy reading all week… and prepare for the Northanger Abbey / Going Gothic event at Austenprose starting October 1st!

Books · Jane Austen · News

Essential Austen: Kirstin Olsen’s “All Things Austen”

BookLady DebLeave a comment

Kirstin Olsen’s 2-volume work titled “All Things Austen” was published in 2005 and sells for $157.95 at Greenwood Publishing and at Amazon for the same, and not much less on any of the used book sites [but please note that Greenwood is at present having a sale on this 2-vol. set for $110. + shipping and taxes, so this is worth a look]

…so it is a with pleasure that I see that the paperback concise edition is in pre-release at Greenwood for $29.95 (available 10/30/08)…it was released in the UK on 8/30/08 and can be ordered on Amazon.uk [see Amazon.uk to order]; it is available on Amazon.com for pre-order, and also already available on several of the used book sites.  

 

Here is the product description of the softcover edition from Greenwood Publishing (see the listing for the hardcover edition for that description, as well as numerous reviews).  

 Willoughby (Sense and Sensibility) drives a curricle not a gig – what does this say about him? Captain Wentworth (Persuasion) and Fanny’s brother William (Mansfield Park) follow the ‘King’s Service’ at sea – what sort of life did they find there? Lady Catherine de Bourgh (Pride and Prejudice) is called Lady Catherine, not Lady de Bourgh – what does this very important distinction signify? Abridged from the critically acclaimed All Things Austen (Greenwood, 2005), this similarly formatted encyclopedia takes readers from the works of Jane Austen into her universe. More than 70 alphabetically arranged entries provide rich and fascinating historical details on the form and function of everyday and obscure objects that are mentioned in her novels. A selection of illustrations accompany the lively and often humorous entries that bring her fiction to life. Jane Austen’s first readers would have needed no help in understanding references to their everyday lives. But early nineteenth-century card games, dining habits, social etiquette, occupations and dozens of other topics are not immediately clear to her readers nearly two hundred years later. In this encyclopedia, students and devotees of Jane Austen will become familiar with what her characters ate, wore and did for recreation. Impeccably researched information is presented about domestic items, the social scene, the workplace, the church, special events and rituals, and everyday customs that constituted life in Jane Austen’s England. Included are entries on:          

  • Bath                                                                                                                   
  • Cards
  • Carriages and Coaches
  • Clergy
  • Entertainment
  • Food
  • Hats
  • Navy
  • Music
  • Servants
  • Tea
  • Teeth
  • West Indies
  • And Many More

Readers can find citations of specific works by Austen, or they can look up terms or concepts. A bibliography arranged according to broad subjects lists major works for further reading.

 I have not seen this new concise edition to compare the books and see what was left on the cutting room floor, but will let you know as soon as I get a copy and can review the book for you … but what I do know that this is an “essential Austen” title, without any doubt…

Further Reading:  see the review by Carrie Bebris of the 2-volume edition in the Spring 2006 JASNA News.

Books · Jane Austen · News

“Jezebel” on 75 Books Every Woman Should Read…

BookLady Deb1 Comment

Another reading list!  “75 books every woman should read,” Jezebel’s response to Esquire’s list of the same, but for men (and filled with “old white dudes” as Jezebel so aptly says.)  The initial list of twenty titles, posted at Jezebel.com on September 18th, generated 388 comments that add another 55 books to the list….and nice to know that Austen’s Pride & Prejudice made the original 20 list! [and see the Esquire slide show… it is a wonderful compilation that includes Faulkner, Steinbeck, Mark Twain, Raymond Carver, Kerouac, etc, but I find only ONE woman in the mix:  Flannery O’Connor’s A Good Man is Hard to Find.]

Jane Austen · News

Austen Short Story Competition

BookLady Deb1 Comment

News flash for all Austenesque writers!  check this link at the Chawton House Library about a Jane Austen short story competition in celebration of Austen’s move to Chawton in 1809.  Closing date for submitting entries is March 31, 2009. First prize: £1000 and two runners-up: £200; all three win a week’s writers’ retreat at Chawton House and publication! Fifteen short-listed authors will also see prize money and publication. Entry fee is £10 per story. Open to ALL ‘who have not had a full-length work of fiction published.’

Jane Austen

John Turner’s Take on Jane Austen

BookLady Deb2 Comments

At our last Jane Austen gathering, John Turner spoke to us on “Austen’s England.”  [This is available online at his website Word and Image of Vermont]  You will also find there a lovely tribute to Austen and her works (see under Archives – Fiction), and with John’s permission I quote that for you here:

 A friend recently began to read Pride and Prejudice for the first time. He had heard it was one of the greatest novels in English but as he got into it he was disappointed. It was all about shallow, frivolous people, he said. I’ve heard others make the same criticism. How can one care about the affairs of people who are so caught up in their own petty affairs they think about nothing else? It’s a question I’ve heard repeatedly. It strikes me that people don’t know what they’re asking when they put the issue that way. Truth is, if you can’t take an interest in people who are immersed in their own petty affairs, then you can’t take an interest in people, period. Jane Austen’s novels are about how one can deal with people in their ordinary modes and still retain sanity. And no larger question has ever been raised in the history of the world. Compared to it, the conundrums of philosophy and religion are trivia. I have often said, if you wish to know how to treat other people, go first to Jane Austen. If you find yourself doing things you know she would disapprove, then think long and hard about continuing them. I have never found more edifying books than her novels, and that alone makes them magnificent. But edification is only the beginning of their glories.

…the perfect response to those that say that “nothing ever happens in Jane Austen”….!

Jane Austen · Movies

Random Thoughts on Lost in Austen

Janeite Kelly3 Comments

A friend, Kate in Norfolk (England), has been telling about Lost in Austen. She is such a witty and charming letter writer! Kate now allows us to post her comments. A few small spoilers might get mentioned along the way, so be warned:

Date: Thu, 4 Sep 2008
We have a new TV series here – Lost in Austen. Recorded the first part last night but haven’t seen it yet. The clips look lovely. It is something to do with a modern girl being transported back in time in a fictional way and living with the Bennets. I will report more in due course. Costumes etc. looked good.

Date: Wed, 10 Sep 2008
You must tell them about our new TV series. I have seen the first episode now. It is quite fun as obviously the heroine is a 21st century girl and so there is the fish-out-of-water amusement. I am enjoying Mr Bennet played by Hugh Bonneville. He just seems mildly perplexed by all the women around him but largely ignores them. He also winds them up whenever possible! Mrs Bennet has been treated in a very interesting way. She is like a mad chicken. However, it becomes clear that the 21st century girl has caught Mr Bingley’s eye and she is incandescent with rage that her daughters have been bypassed. She takes the girl aside at one point and is really vicious, practically threatens her with violence if she doesn’t stand aside! The viewer would turn against her at this point I think, I was quite shocked at this display. However, this does open up some interesting considerations. Mr Bennet – does he care that once he is dead and gone his daughters will suffer financially etc. He seems determined to have a peaceful life and ignore what will happen after his death because then it won’t affect him….is he inherently selfish? Does he have his head in the sand? Does this mean that Mrs Bennet has had to take onto her shoulders all the worries about the future and her daughters’ happiness? So is she then a rather good mother doing her best for her family? She certainly seems driven by desperation, and events later in the book confirm this I think. What the TV show will do I can’t say! Elizabeth is stuck in the 21st century but we have seen nothing of her yet – maybe tonight’s episode…

Date: Sat 13 Sep 2008
I do agree that if you label anything with Jane Austen it will sell! That is why we have our strange time travelling Lost in Austen I guess. I have seen the second part now and we still don’t know how Elizabeth Bennet is managing in modern times. I am still undecided about the whole thing. Modern Heroine borrows clothes when she goes to balls but doesn’t put her hair up – there is no way she would have got away with that. There is a lot of suspension of belief necessary! Now Jane has married Mr Collins despite Modern Heroine having previously engaged herself to him in order to try and protect the Bennet girls. Modern heroine is extremely annoyed that the plot of P&P is not being adhered to and when she sees Bingley at the church looking on in horror as the wedding takes place she marches up to him and remonstrates with him for listening to Darcy’s reservations about the Bennets. She says:
“Badly done, Bingley, badly done”! So that amused me as I wondered how many viewers would recognise it!
Must stop telling you the plot in case you get to see it one day. Didn’t know it was based on a book – will have to investigate. I do have to say that Mr Darcy has smouldered in a very successful way!

Date: Mon 15 Sep 2008
Well, please feel free to use my Lost in Austen comments as you see fit! It is going down quite well over here. The acting is generally very good. I do like little Mary Bennet, they have made her almost a caricature with specs and a little plain face but she looks really sweet to me. Modern Heroine has already told Wickham that she knows all about him so he has spread gossip everywhere to the effect that her father is a fishmonger! People are rapidly backing away and making fishy comments! She keeps going back to the attic where there is a (firmly locked) “door” to her world, where Elizabeth is. She calls through to Elizabeth who fails to answer – “It’s all going tits up, Elizabeth” she yells. And she has kneed Mr Collins in the balls at a ball. It is almost as if you are reading the book and when you hate the very idea of Mr Collins, Modern Heroine assaults him for you! My mother is not yet convinced that the concept works.

Date: Thurs 18 Sep 2008
I have another Lost in Austen to watch and admit I am now hooked. The conversation is quite witty:
Modern Heroine upon sighting Wickham: “Oh No! You keep away from me Wickham, I know you”.
Wickham, perplexed: “But, Madam, I haven’t had the pleasure…”
Modern Heroine stomping off: “Get used to that”.
I think the series will bear a second watch because sometimes the conversation is fast and whilst chuckling at early chatter, later witticisms can be missed. I am now wondering whether they can do this for other novels! Imagine the Modern Heroine telling Marianne to buck up or advising Emma to stop interfering!

Date: Fri 19 Sep 2008
Yes, please do what you like with the Lost in Austen comments – I am quite happy for you put them on the blog. Apparently the viewing figures have fallen off possibly because the series doesn’t work if you don’t know P&P quite well. You need to know why Modern Heroine is unfriendly to Wickham and warns Lydia to stay away for instance. Best scene this episode is the meeting with Lady Catherine who instructs her daughter to sit next to Modern Heroine at dinner as it will do her good to learn to converse with those with whom she has nothing in common. Such strange plots twists now (Wickham didn’t seduce Darcy’s sister, twas the other way round!) that I can only assume it will all turn out to have been a dream in a shower a la Dallas. Which could make sense actually as the “time travel” occurred in Modern Heroine’s bathroom which is where we last saw Elizabeth. I am very happy with the casting of this series by the way. Jane could be a bit prettier but she is very delicate looking and has big frightened eyes (tho as she is now married to hideous Collins that is understandable; incidentally, he is on a celibacy kick (thank goodness) so she is as yet untouched so obviously there will be a plot device to send her into Bingley’s arms). Mr and Mrs B are great – Mr B very funny. Mary and Kitty moan that they are not in society like their Mother and Lydia and Mr B says that those two are quite enough for society has enough to cope with at the moment. Darcy, at first, seemed a bit odd, but have grown to like him (where have I heard that before!) – quite handsome. Mr Collins is foul so that works well! Miss Bingley is very snooty and conniving but in quite a witty and intelligent way. They all have such marvellous conversation and condescension.

More to come, as the series continues and concludes. Thanks, Kate!

BTW: here’s the Internet Movie Database link; ITV’s link; and author Emma Campbell Webster‘s page at Penguin.US and her own website.

Books · Jane Austen · News

Round-up…all things Austen, week of Sept. 14…

BookLady DebLeave a comment

Lots out there this week, much about Lost in Austen (which I have not yet watched…oh woe is me!), and a few other tidbits of interest…

Fashion on Main, an exhibit at the University of Texas; see the site for a search-able database of the collection (though the “search” feature is under construction; you can browse the site), and references to other fashion resources.

 And more on fashion in the time of Marie Antoinette, read this post on the Queen’s modist (clothing creator) at the Paper Crown Queen Blog, where there is a host of information and pictorials on crowns.

And the ongoing saga of “Lost in Austen” and the many reviews and opinions thereof:  see Austenblog for its usual candid round-up of comments, and also today for Episode 3, and Jane Austen’s World Blog for a nice review of Episode 2, and another review at Austenprose.

See the Times-Picayune (LA) write-up of a Jane Austen Festival in Mandeville, LA on September 13 (alas! I missed it!….but there is another in March, so put it on your calendar if you happen to be in Louisiana): an Austen “Regency Revisited” Day at the Mandeville Trailhead Pavilion.  Organizers of the Jane Austen Festival host a morning of music, dancing, a fashion show and workshop, 10 a.m.-1. Period dancing with free lessons begins, at 10 a.m. The public is invited to bring costumes/outfits/accessories and experts will demonstrate how to convert them into Regency style apparel, appropriate for the festival in March. Free. For details, visit http://www.janeaustenfestival.org/. or call 985.624.5683.

And here is a journalist from the Herald.ie  who has had it with adaptations of classic literature, especially Austen “who has colonised television in a way that no other dead author has managed.”  But alas!  she informs the reader that the gorgeous Rupert Penry-Jones of Spooks (MI-5 in the U.S.) and the ITV Persuasion, will play in a new television version of John Buchan’s oft-filmed The Thirty-Nine Steps.  Can’t wait!

Austenprose continues to offer us the journaling of Virginia Claire Tharrington, the intern at the Jane Austen Centre in Bath:  see her first post and this week’s.  We are all SO envious!

Jane Odiwe tells of her newest book being published by Sourcebooks next year:  Mrs. Brandon’s Invitation, a sequel to Sense & Sensibility.

Several reviews of Marsha Altman’s The Darcys and the Bingleys, are sited at Austenprose; see Jane Austen Today for an interview with the author.

An article in Piecework Magazine is mentioned on Austenblog; also see the comment from the current President of JASNA, Marsha Huff, referencing a Persuasions article on the coverlet that Jane Austen, Cassandra and their mother made (the quilt now hangs in Chawton), so you, too, can make a replica of this quilt.  [See also my previous reference to the JASA article on this topic.]

Ms. Place at JA’s World continues the column with Marjorie Gilbert and her creation of a regency gown… this week is about the necessary regency undergarments.

Excellent sleuthing by Laurel Ann at Austenprose who writes “The Legend of the Lost Sequel“, about the publishing history of D.A. Bonavia-Hunt’s Pemberely Shades.  

See the article in the Western Daily Press about the Crazy for Jane movie premiere at the Bath JA Festival. The documentary tells the tale of contemporary publishers rejection of Jane Austen novels…shame on them!

Jane Austen · JASNA-Vermont events · News

“Austen’s England” ~ A Fine Afternoon!

BookLady DebLeave a comment

We append a guest post from Janeite Marcia who so graciously comments on our Sunday gathering on “Austen’s England”.  With over sixty people in attendance at the Vermont College of Fine Arts Chapel (and with many thanks to the College for the use of this lovely space!), it was a fine way to spend a Sunday afternoon, and we heartily thank John Turner for his delightful and insightful talk.

 

Even though it was a beautiful Sunday afternoon after many dreary ones, the College Hall Chapel at Vermont College in Montpelier was filled with Janeites eager to learn more about our favorite author at the fall quarterly meeting of the Vermont Chapter of JASNA.  We were a group of men and women of all ages, clearly enjoying the companionship of those who shared our interest in Jane Austen.  The Chapel Room is exquisitely decorated and I kept looking for Jane herself to walk into the almost 19th century setting. 

 

 

The afternoon opened with Deb welcoming the attendees, outlining the afternoon’s activities, and providing updates on future Chapter activities as well as other related and interesting news.  See this website for the upcoming events.  So much to do, see and read; so little time.  Alas, I suspect we all feel that way. 

 

After Kelly reminded us that the Vermont Chapter had its origin in the very city we were in, nearly one year ago (November 2007 at the Kellogg-Hubbard Library), she introduced John Turner to speak about “Austen’s England.”  John began by stating that we were not to have a travelogue.  I guess I didn’t expect one, but I did rather expect details on English life of the time.  Indeed, those details were what John talked about, but it was English life as Jane Austen lived it, an entirely different focus than I expected.  And, it was wonderful. 

 

John’s early statement that Jane Austen’s writings revealed England more truly than many scholarly sources was accurate indeed.  With quotes from Jane Austen’s books and letters, and his skillful interpretations of their meanings, we were transported to her time and how she must have lived.  John Turner’s presentation was filled with fascinating information and interpretations, and delivered with his ready wit and humor.  For those of us who were able to be there, we were fortunate indeed.  If you couldn’t attend, John Turner has posted his presentation on his website:  http://wordandimageofvermont.com/.  Whether for the first time or to refresh your memory of the afternoon, it is wonderful reading.  I, for one, will always remember the joy of fully understanding the line from Emma that begins “A mind lively and at ease…” 

 

When his formal talk was finished, John graciously answered questions to the pleasure of all.  Thank you, John Turner!

 

A refreshment break included a delicious variety of cookies and cakes, donated by many of the Chapter’s members.  From the crumbs, and only crumbs, left on the platters, I think everyone enjoyed them. 

 

The second part of the day was a delightful presentation of pictures of Jane Austen related sites taken by Deb during trips to England.  For some it was a refresher of places they had already seen; for others, it was a glimpse of places to see in the future.  But as I looked around the room during Deb’s commentary on the pictures, everyone’s eyes were focused on the screen and smiling as they “traveled” in Jane’s footsteps, as I was. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

While I’m sure I should close with an appropriate quote from Jane Austen, I can only say the afternoon was delightful and fascinating, not the least of which was being with so many others who felt similarly.

Thank you Marcia for posting this for us!