RANDOM JOTTINGS


A blog about music, sports, theatre and rants





This one is specially for Caroline and Nan who have left comments saying how much they enjoy looking at my crocks.  So for you, and for all crock lovers everywhere, here is the next one:

Miscellaneous_074_3 This picture reminds me of a truly lovely day spent in Concord, Massachusetts visiting the home of Louisa May Alcott.  It is not very large and only parties of 15 at a time are allowed round the house.  I was visiting my daughter Helen (who was at Harvard at the time) and she and I and James (yes my now future son-in-law) took a train out to Concord and spent a blissful hour or two being taken around Louisa May’s home by a guide who obviously loved her job and, though she must have given the same spiel more times than she has had hot dinners, gave the impression of loving every minute of it.  To see the home of the author of Little Women, Good Wives etc etc was truly magical and I found myself on the verge of tears several times.

Of course, there was a shop attached to the house and I was abandoned in there for about an hour while I had a delve and a rummage. 

Not only did I come out with the obligatory mug, pictured here for your delectation and delight, but I emerged with an edited selection of her journals, various tea towels, key rings, note pads, aprons (they definitely saw me coming) and, the gem of the collection, her very first book Moods which | had never heard of and pounced upon as soon as I saw it.  I shall re-read soon and write about it.

Inside this book, I have written my name on the bookplate headed up Orchard House, Concord (oh yes I bought those too) and it is a memento of a truly wondrous day.

Downside of all of this is that when I arrived back in the UK and went to print my pre-digital films, the cannister containing the film of some 40 shots I had taken that day had vanished and despite searching high and low, I never found it.  To say I was upset is putting it mildly.

Still, that just means I will have to go back and take them all over again….

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8 responses to “Crock of the Day – Wednesday”

  1. Elaine Simpson-Long Avatar

    Caroline and Deluzy
    I have blogged about the Brontes quite a lot but I need no encouragement to post about the Haworth Museum. Rest assured, I will do so.
    THese photos of crocks are throwing up some wonderful comments and Caroline of course I will wait for seven years to take you to Haworth!
    Deluzy – so glad you have been there and yes it is still remote and wild. I visited the Parsonage quite late one night when the wind was wuthering and the sky was lowering and I tell you if Emily had walked round the corner I would not have been surprised. Talk about atmosphere. I have visited often and used to be a member of the Bronte society so once I start rest assured I shall not stop.
    I have a feeling I may have to make another visit soon now that I have talked about it if only to buy a mug! I had one years ago but it got broken so I really need to do something about replacing it. Oh and my tea towel is in rags too…

  2. Deluzy Avatar

    Oooooh, I made my Pilgrimage to Haworth about 10 years ago and talked the ear off the poor woman who manned the gift shop … I was so thrilled to be there that I couldn’t stop telling total strangers about it because I’d longed to go there all my life. My impression was that, even in the 1990s, it’s still a remote and wild spot, and it gives one renewed appreciation for the genius of the writing sisters.
    I have a post card of the parsonage in my study even today.

  3. Caroline Avatar

    Oh, Elaine, if you haven’t already, do please post on the Haworth museum and tell me what it’s like. Every time I go to England I never seem to get there – none of my relatives live anywhere near Yorkshire – but I love the Brontes and would love to know what you thought of it. And I would love to go with you – will you be free in six or seven years when my son is old enough to take the long flight from Australia without driving me insane?

  4. Elaine Simpson-Long Avatar

    Caroline – as a Bronte fanatic and one who has visited Haworth many many times, let me know when you are going and I will be happy to come with you!

  5. Caroline Avatar

    Thanks for this, Elaine. I had no idea there was a Louisa May Alcott house you could visit! One day…But first, I have to go to the Bronte Parsonage Museum – I am determined to get there before I die!

  6. Nicola Slade Avatar

    Hurrah, I can comment again! Have already emailed to say I love FHB and Alcott and have been to Orchard House, and Green Gables, and recommended Charlotte Yonge’s marvellous ‘contemporary’ novels, my favourite being ‘Pillars of the House’ where 16 year old Felix is left in charge of his 12 younger siblings when his delicate father dies with a prayer on his lips and a hectic flush from TB, while mother has gone all funny after a fall when she banged her head! Stirring, fabulous stuff and very, very long, not to mention running into sequels where CMY intermarries her characters between series.
    Best one, IMO, to start with as a one-off is The Clever Woman of The Family.
    Anyone else love Charlotte McLeod’s insane murder stories of the 1980s on?

  7. Harriet Avatar
    Harriet

    What fun that visit must have been and how lucky you are to have lost the photos so you have to go back! I loved Alcott as a child, too, and would be so happy to see her home.

  8. Deluzy Avatar

    I was a huge Alcott fan as a child, wrote a stage production of LITTLE WOMEN for my 4th grade class, and went to Orchard House for the first time when I was 13. Better yet, I returned to it for the first time this past October when I was in Massachusetts giving a talk at Wellesley College. Unfortunately, our guide was a rather uncomfortable young man, but I loved being there all the same and came away with similar trinkets!

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