Why I love Jane...

Okay, I figured after dedicating so many posts to Jane Austen I should give a glimpse into why I love her as a writer.

Her writing is:
humorous, thought provoking, insightful, accurate to life.

She has a definite moral guide to what is right and wrong. In her books if you are good, even when everyone is telling you to do something else and sometimes things look bleak, good things always come to you in the end.

Jane believes in Girl Power. Her heroines are not shrinking violets. They are not scared to speak their mind and stand their ground.

And finally, Jane is just a good romance writer! I can always use a little more of that.

So, here is to Jane. Your writing is still entertaining us (well, at least me) almost 200 years after you wrote it!

England Odds and Ends

Here are a few other highlight from Suzanne's trip.

While at King Cross Station she found Platform 9 3/4, and even though she's a Muggle managed to push her trolley through. (Harry Potter)



She visited C.S. Lewis's grave site. (FYI, she said it was very hard to find it. It's not well marked)


Okay, this isn't technically literature, but doesn't Stonehenge look cool?!

Plain Jane

So, it has come to my attention as I have been doing these past post, not everyone knows who Jane Austen is.

Very simply, Jane Austen is a famous author.

Just in case you want a little more information about Miss Austen , here it is.

An original sketch of Jane Austen done by her sister, Cassandra.

Jane Austen was born in Steventon, England on December 16, 1775. She was the seventh child of a George and Cassandra Austen. Her father was a rector. The family was what would be considered middle class. Jane spent most of her life living with her immediate family. Jane Austen never married. She spend most of life with her sister, Cassandra. Cassandra never married either. Cassandra had been engaged but her fiancee dead on a trip to the East Indies. When her father retired in 1801 the family relocated to Bath. Jane's father passed away there in 1805. After that, Jane, her mother and sister's financial situation was very unstable. The ladies moved around for the next four years. In 1809 her brother, Edward, was able to offer them a cottage close to his home. Jane lived there in Chawton Cottage for the next 8 years.

Chawton Cottage

(Suzanne with her complete works of Jane Austen that she carried everywhere and had signed at every Jane Austen or story location)

Jane's writing desk


Jane became ill and decided to move to be closer to her doctor. She moved to Winchester in May of 1817.


The town of Winchester


Jane passed away on July 18, 1817 at the age of 41.


Though Jane's life was short, she still was able to produce many literary works. Some of her famous novels include.

- Sense and Sensibility
- Pride and Prejudice
- Mansfield Park
- Emma
- Northanger Abbey
- Persuasion

There is so much more to Jane Austen, but this is just a brief overview of the real Jane.

Pride and Prejudice

"It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife"

One of my favorite quotes said at Rosings Park
"I certainly have not the talent which some people possess," said Darcy, "of conversing easily with those I have never seen before. I cannot catch their tone of conversation, or appear interested in their concerns, as I often see done.""My fingers," said Elizabeth, "do not move over this instrument in the masterly manner which I see so many women's do. They have not the same force or rapidity, and do not produce the same expression. But then I have always supposed it to be my own fault- because I would not take the trouble of practising..."(Ch. 31)


"What are men to rocks and mountains?"

"My dearest sister, now be serious. I want to talk very seriously. Let me know every thing that I am to know, without delay. Will you tell me how long you have loved him?""It has been coming on so gradually, that I hardly know when it began. But I believe I must date it from my first seeing his beautiful grounds at Pemberley."

The stairs Mr. Darcy races down to stop Lizzie from leaving Pemberly (1996 version)

The ceiling in the 2005 Pemberly. Probably the real building that inspired Jane Autsen's Pemberly.

The statue room

The statue focused on in the 2005 movie

"You are too generous to trifle with me. If your feelings are still what they were last April, tell me so at once. My affections and wishes are unchanged, but one word from you will silence me on this subject for ever." (Ch. 58)
Elizabeth, feeling all the more than common awkwardness and anxiety of his situation, now forced herself to speak; and immediately, though not very fluently, gave him to understand that her sentiments had undergone so material a change, since the period to which he alluded, as to make her receive with gratitude and pleasure his present assurances.

Can I just say, I LOVE PRIDE AND PREJUDICE!

Persuasion

Oh, Persuasion. Is this a glimpse in to Jane's heart or some "auntly" advice?

"She had been forced into prudence in her youth, she learned romance as she grew older: the natural sequence of an unnatural beginning."

Here is the bulk head in Lyme. Shouldn't it be overcast?


Captain Harville's home from the movie.


The infamous stairs! Did you know those are floating steps, not a staircase? I never noticed that in the movie. This is where Louisa decides to jump despite being warned "Louisa, I would not be so foolish.." When she lands Louisa collapses in a heap. Thank goodness for Anne's ability to handle a stressful situation. Captain Wentworth starts to notice her strengths again.


Here is Bath in its grandeur.



The colonnade where Anne and Captain Wentworth kiss at the end of the movie.

"You pierce my soul. I am half agony, half hope. Tell me not that I am too late, that such precious feelings are gone for ever. I offer myself to you again with a heart even more your own than when you almost broke it, eight and a half years ago. Dare not say that a man forgets sooner than woman, that his love has an earlier death. I have loved none but you. Unjust I may have been, weak and resentful I have been, but never inconstant."

Emma

For this movie, I only have one picture as well. Luckily, it is the grounds. Face it Emma is often out of doors in the movie. It looks so beautiful there!

"It darted through her with the speed of an arrow that Mr. Knightley must marry no one but herself!"


"I cannot make speeches, Emma . . . If I loved you less, I might be able to talk about it more."

Sense and Sensibility

Okay, life happened and it took a little longer then I had hoped to do this. Back to an evening with Jane.

We started by having a traditional English dinner.
We had roast beef, mashed parsnips, Yorkshire pudding, Cornish pasty (I think that is what they were called. It is some meat mix in a half-moon shaped pastry), and of course, gravy!
Suzanne has tons of pictures from her trip. It was wonderful looking through the albums she created. My favorite part was she had scenes from the movies, then underneath the picture of the real location. She did such a fantastic job remembering the scenes to take the picture while she was on the trip. Unfortunately, I don't have all her pictures. We'll just have to enjoy what she passed on to me.

There is only one picture from the movie "Sense and Sensibility"(1995 version). This is the house(Charlotte's) that Marianne was sick at. Remember, her physical condition matches the feelings in her heart after discovering her love, Mr. Willoughby, was engaged to a rich lady. Thank goodness most people do not die of a broken heart. This is also where see begins to notice Colonel Brandon.

"She felt the loss of Willoughby's character yet more heavily than she had felt the loss of his heart . . ."

"How is she, Miss Dashwood?--Poor thing! she looks very bad.-- No wonder. Ay, it is but too true. He is to be married very soon--a good-for-nothing fellow! I have no patience with him. Mrs. Taylor told me of it half an hour ago, and she was told it by a particular friend of Miss Grey herself, else I am sure I should not have believed it; and I was almost ready to sink as it was. Well, said I, all I can say is, that if this be true, he has used a young lady of my acquaintance abominably ill, and I wish with all my soul his wife may plague his heart out. And so I shall always say, my dear, you may depend on it. I have no notion of men's going on in this way; and if ever I meet him again, I will give him such a dressing as he has not had this many a day. But there is one comfort, my dear Miss Marianne; he is not the only young man in the world worth having; and with your pretty face you will never want admirers. Well, poor thing! I won't disturb her any longer, for she had better have her cry out at once and have done with."

An Evening With Jane

Sick of enduring and watching life pass you by?

Are you ready to have a cheerful visit with a friend?

Have you been pondered what is missing from your life?

Are you bored to tears?

Are you ready to celebrate the good things in life?

You might be ready to spend an evening with Jane!

Last week, my friend had a group of us over to enjoy an evening reliving her recent "Jane Austen" trip to England. I'll be sharing some highlights in my next couple of posts.

Another Day, Another "A"

When I was in High School every time my friend's dad, Brother Dunlop, would dropped us off at school after Seminary he would make us say, "Another day,another A" before he would let us out of the car.

Here are the Girls heading off for another year of success.


E- 3rd Grade


R- 1st Grade


H- Pre-Kindergarten


The Walking Group


The Carpool

E's teacher, Mrs. Brownlee

R's teacher, Mr. Schiewe

H's teacher, Miss Michelle P.

To help take my mind off of missing my kiddos on their first day back, I went to lunch with a couple of friends and the younger siblings.

To let the Girls know I missed them and was so proud of their hard work at school, I had a plate of Chocolate Chip Cookies fresh out of the oven ready for them when they got home.

Here's to a great year ahead!

Released

Today, JR was released from working with the Young Men at church. This has been such a big part of our lives I thought I, Karen, would write down some of the memories that stick out to me.

First, and for most, are the Young Men themselves. As you know, we don't have any boys of our own. It has been so much fun to have these fine Young Men in our home and sharing in our lives. I wish I had a picture of all of them but here is a small sample.


Working in Young Men has been "A Mountain Top Experience"
Hiking Mt. St. Helen's was the crowning moment.

One of my favorite skills JR has acquired is Dutch Oven cooking. He is a master!

There has been river rafting trips.

Mountain Biking excursions.

Shot gun shooting.

FYI, when JR was first calling to YMs we had no camping equipment. Now, not only do we have camping equipment, we also have equipment for all the activities shown above.

I know we haven't even lived here for four years yet, but while in this ward JR has gone on 4 High Adventures (really 4 1/2, but that is being technical).

The 1st, I call the Plan B High Adventure, was suppose to be wind surfing and sailing catamarans. A lot of time was put into preparing for these activities, but the weather didn't cooperate. Instead, every day was a new adventure to see what they would do.
This was when JR discovered the beautiful waterfalls around here. They even went down natural water slides.

#2, This time they headed to Swift Reservoir and camped on an island.

John Larkin and JR (They did quite a few YM camp outs together)
This trip's highlights were building the raft, water baseball, and a campground that was only accessible by boat. It also rained the whole week.

Then there was the 3rd High Adventure. Last year, they went on a 50 Miler. JR loved the 50 miler. My memories of the trip start with the day long re-planning Ben Weiss and JR had since there was still snow where they were suppose to go, and the crazy calling around to try to solidify rides which ended up with us renting a 15 passenger van. Then waking up the morning of the hike, to find that some of the boys had snuck over and attached a cargo carrier to the roof so there could be more leg room. Then all the reports through out the week of the condition of every ones' feet. When you are walking 50 miles, having your feet be blister and bruise free is very important.

The 1/2 High Adventure was that summer too. JR went up for a couple of days to join the Teachers' while they kayaked up in the San Juan Islands. JR was taken by the beauty around him and how close the porpoises swam to them. I remember the Bishop dropping his keys in the Sound and JR's phone being the only one with coverage. I am glad there are cell phones and overnight express delivery service!

This summer was the Fourth and Final High Adventure, for this time around with the Young Men. They headed to the Coast. You can just look a few entries back for more details.

Here is a word cloud about Young Men:

Monthly Camp Outs, Planning Meetings, basketball, knife making, snow caving, down hill skiing, Scout Training, tennis, snow shoeing, Ape Caves, water skiing, blue cards, merit badges, Eagle projects, Preach My Gospel, Dustins' Cabin, Lewis Falls, Goat Rock, Eagle Creek, broken car window, Young Men driving activities, cross country skiing, preparing boys to serve missions ...SO MANY MORE

Finally, my girls calling them "Daddy's Boys"

Now, that chapter is closed. JR is a Ward Missionary. He has had his first meeting. The missionaries are coming over Tuesday to share a message with our family. Wednesday JR is going on exchanges. The boys are in great hands; another man that needs his own "Daddy's Boys"

BIG GUY you'll do terrific!