Home Fires Burning – Georgina Lee – edited by Gavin Roynon

Posted on 29 December 2018 by Katrina

Home Fires Burning The Great War Diaries of Georgina Lee edited by Gavin Roynon turned out to be a good and enlightening read.

Georgina Lee was a fairly well-connected upper middle class married lady and at the beginning of World War 1 she had a nine month old son called Harry. She decided to write her wartime diary- addressing it to Harry. The book is split up into eleven sections with section 1 beginning on July 30th 1914 and section 11 ends on November 11th 1919.

To begin with I was quite disappointed with this book as the diary entries are very war news heavy and I had expected it to be more about what was going on in her life domestically. I imagine that it might be a bit much for people who aren’t terribly interested in the beginnings and progress of WW1, eventually though Georgina Lee did bring more of her own family’s and neighbours’ experiences into her writing. I ended up really liking her, she had had a priviliged life, she had spent a lot of her life living in France as her father was a successful artist who had settled in France, so she spoke French like a native which was very helpful as she was able to communicate with the Belgian refugees that she ended up working with. She was no snob though and worried about the children of people who weren’t as lucky as her.

With several men in her family at the front as well as many friends she was getting first-hand accounts of what was going on there, and passed them on to her son via her diary, presuming that one day he would be interested in the developments. I learned a lot from this book, I had always thought that to begin with men had clamoured to join the army but it seems that things slowed up very quickly and campaigns to get men to join up weren’t very successful. Georgina Lee’s family had an estate in Wales and no Welshmen would join up as they didn’t see why they should fight for England. Not one came forward when her husband gave a speech asking for volunteers. They also had a house in Scotland near Blair Atholl.

Later on she mentions that an American girl who had gone over to France to nurse had said that wealthy French ladies never lifted a finger to help with nursing or even the making of bandages. A friend had taken in some Belgian refugees which included a 25 year old man who had no intention of fighting for his country, which must have been very galling.

The book has quite a few photos, maps, cartoons, newspaper excerpts, all interesting but more than anything I was surprised by just how often the population was menaced by Zeppelins. At the beginning of the book there’s a map showing all the locations of German air raids over London with hundreds of bombs being dropped with 800 civilians being killed in London in 1917-18 and 1,500 injured. Food was pitifully scarce and the government told people to eat more slowly so they wouldn’t need so much food!

The author is scathing about the government – at one point complaining of the £4,000 that the 21 members of the cabinet were getting annually – for being totally incompetent. Plus ca change!

As I got towards the end of this book I was wondering what had become of young Harry who was by that time 5 years old, so I was very pleased to see that Georgina Lee’s granddaughter (who used to discuss the diaries with her granny) had written a biographical note telling what had happened to Georgina and her family after the war. Georgina was 96 when she died.

The Fair Maid of Perth by Sir Walter Scott

Posted on 28 December 2018 by Katrina

The Fair Maid of Perth or Saint Valentine’s Day as it was originally titled by Sir Walter Scott was first published in 1828 and I believe it was originally in three volumes, but they’re all incorporated in one book in The Edinburgh Edition of the Waverley Novels. I must say that these editions are really excellent as they have so many interesting explanatory notes, a glossary, an emendation list and all sorts. Scott seems to have felt that people might be losing their appetite for chivalric swashbuckling tales, but he was persuaded to carry on although there is an unusual ending – in my opinion. I must admit that the first volume of this book I ploughed through with not much enjoyment, I wasn’t too concerned by that as it usually takes me a while to get into the rhythm of Scott’s very wordy writing style. The further I got into the book – the more I enjoyed it.

The setting is mainly Perth and Falkland so just a stone’s throw from where I live, great for me as I could ‘see’ it all clearly in my mind. It’s 1496 and Catherine is such a beauty she’s nicknamed The Fair Maid of Perth. During a drunken escapade King Robert III’s eldest son Rothsay and his entourage try to abduct Catherine. She’s the daughter of a well-off glover and he is keen for his daughter to marry Henry Smith who is a very successful armourer. He’s also well known for being good at fighting and it’s that that puts Catherine off him. She isn’t into alpha males at all, doesn’t like violence and she already has feelings for a young man who had been her father’s apprentice in the past.

In this book Scott shows that he wants to move on from the days when clan warfare could result in some clans being more or less wiped out completely and looks forward to a more civilised society in the future – I think.

I read The Fair Maid of Perth for The Classics Club.

The Dark Angel by Elly Griffiths

Posted on 27 December 2018 by Katrina

The Dark Angel by Elly Griffiths was published in 2018. I’m really pleased that I’ve caught up with this Dr Ruth Galloway mystery series. This one is mainly set in Italy as Ruth has been asked to help out an Italian archaeologist whom she happened to have a brief fling with years ago. Her relationship with Harry Nelson, father of her six year old daughter is becoming more complicated and annoyingly he’s becoming more and more possessive, despite the fact that he’s obviously enjoying a normal relationship with his wife.

Reports of an earthquake in the local area mean that Nelson – who hates taking any time off for holidays – flies to Italy immediately to check up on Ruth and Kate and when a local priest is murdered Nelson becomes involved in the investigation.

I enjoyed this one a lot, I suspect that is because Nelson’s wife Michelle appears to be more than just a victim now, to me anyway.

Boxing Day and TV

Posted on 27 December 2018 by Katrina

I don’t know about you, but I was so glad to have a lovely lazy day at home today – just eating leftovers and watching TV. I was quite disappointed that the Agatha Christie this year is an updated ABC Murders. John Malkovich as Poirot is very different from David Suchet’s version, very much rougher, but I did enjoy seeing the wonderful De La Warr Pavillion in Bexhill again, always a joy – especially in reality but I haven’t been to Bexhill for years. The ABC Murders is set in 1933 and the De La Warr didn’t exist then as it wasn’t built until 1935. Just a bit of nit-picking on my part!

The contrast between the immaculate art deco building and the sleazy poorer quarters featured is stark. You can almost smell the damp. Whoever has the job of designing such settings triumphed – peeling wallpaper and all. On the whole though I found this new version to be painfully slow, but I’ll no doubt be watching the second part tomorrow night.

Before the ABC Murders I enjoyed watching The Midnight Gang. I haven’t read any of David Walliams’ books but this TV adaptation was definitely worth watching, for kids of all ages.

I didn’t have any time for looking at anything on TV before today really and I see that on the 23rd I missed something called Agatha and the Truth of Murder. I’m wondering if it’s worth watching it on the iPlayer. Let me know what you thought of it if you watched it please.

I have to say that on Christmas Eve I chose to watch entirely the wrong thing. I’m not at all religious nowadays but I do love all the old familiar carols. Unfortunately I tuned in to the BBC service – big mistake as it came from Buckfast Abbey, there were no carols at all. Everything was chanted and a lot of it was in Latin! Sometimes it’s difficult to figure out whether things are RC or very high Church of England, but Buckfast must be RC, however I thought they had given up on the Latin in the 1960s so I don’t know what that was all about. Nothing resembling a good old carol was sung, in fact nothing was really sung – just chanted. I can’t imagine why the ‘high heid-yins’ in the BBC would think that it would be appreciated by many viewers. Yes the setting of the abbey is very grand, the costumes (chasubles and such) worn are sumptuous. But it missed the festive mark by miles. Clearly I should have been on ITV but I gave up and went to bed.

Have I missed anything worth watching?

Merry Christmas

Posted on 25 December 2018 by Katrina

card

Merry Christmas. I hope you all have a lovely time, whatever you’re doing.

card

Winter Solstice

Posted on 21 December 2018 by Katrina

Today was/is of course the Winter Solstice – should that have capitals? I’m not sure, but I feel it should as for me it’s one of the most important days of the year. The thought of the days getting longer and the nights lighter doesn’t half cheer me up.

I am busy with Christmas stuff – like most people at the moment, or should I say most women however, spare a thought for me as I’m also busy with a certain husband’s birthday meal on Christmas Eve. In an ideal world there would be a law against that!

Drum Castle Gardens, Aberdeenshire

Posted on 20 December 2018 by Katrina

From the photo below it looks to me like the box hedges and topiary in the rose garden had very recently been trimmed when we visited Drum Castle in late October.

I just love a garden that’s well protected by high stone walls, the perfect setting for the vibrant red Virginia Creeper, just the thing to cheer up the darker days of autumn.

As you can see there were still a few wee roses blooming, but this place must look stunning in high summer.

As you can see from the photo below – the sun got in the way a bit, but I thought you might like to see the wooden pyramid-like frames that have been constucted.

I like the wicker edging that stops the plants from flopping over. In the foreground is Sedum spectabile, just about the best autumn/late summer colour we can get in gardens here I think, and beloved by bees and butterflies.

Below is a photo of a bothy (shelter) which had a table in it with bags of apples in it – and an honesty box. No doubt at other times of the year you can purchase veggies too. This ‘bothy’ looks to me like it must have been a place for storing small carts and garden implements in its day.

Although this garden is historic, it isn’t preserved in aspic and new things have been added to it over the years. as should happen with a garden. Gardens are never finished, they’re constantly evolving.

One of the newer additions is the human sundial below, if you stand on a particular spot you should be able to tell the time from your own shadow.

I think the ‘spooks’ at the top of the design below are more than a wee bit influenced by Margaret MacDonald’s designs. C.R. Mackintosh’s wife.

While we were there the pond area was having work done on it so we weren’t able to walk all around it, but that didn’t worry me as the colour of the maples/acers were brilliant and more than made up for it.

Obviously we didn’t see the gardens at their best as it was late October when we visited but if you’re interested you can see more images of them here.

The Chalk Pit by Elly Griffiths

Posted on 17 December 2018 by Katrina

The Chalk Pit by Elly Griffiths is a Dr Ruth Galloway mystery. I’m so pleased that I’ve almost caught up with this series which I’m reading in order – a necessity I think.

As usual with a Ruth Galloway book it isn’t long before she is digging up some bones and meeting up with Nelson to discuss whether the bones are really old and so not something he has to get involved in, or are much more recent meaning he has a murder to investigate. It looks to Ruth as if the bones have been boiled as they’re white and very shiny. They’ll have to go off for carbon-14 analysis.

Meanwhile some people disappear and a few homeless people are murdered. There’s always been a rumour that underneath Norwich there are miles and miles of secret tunnels, chalk mines from another age, could the missing people be there?

As ever Ruth’s personal life is as interesting as the crime/mystery aspect of these books. Towards the end of this one – and just as I had decided that she was going to be more sensible in her old age – she surprised me and it looks like everyone’s life is going to get a lot more complicated.

I’ve already borrowed the next one in this series from the library so I don’t have long to wait to find out what happens next. Honestly I think I’m more interested in the personal lives of the main characters than the mystery and crimes involved.

Drum Castle, Aberdeenshire, Scotland

Posted on 16 December 2018 by Katrina

In October we had a short trip away in Aberdeenshire and one of the castles we visited was Drum Castle, we hadn’t been there before and again we were really lucky with the weather. Drum Castle is now owned by Scottish National Trust, it was built in the 1200s but in 1323 it was given to William de Irwyn by Robert the Bruce and for generations after that it has been the centre of Clan Irvine. The Irvines backed the Jacobites but they seem to have got over being on the losing side.

As you can see this is another Scottish baronial style of castle with pepperpot turrets. The bottom part of the castle dates from 1200 but the top part was added in the 1300s. In places the walls are 70 feet thick so this was built for defence, not a pretty pretty castle, but to me it fulfils both briefs and manages to be attractive as well as utilitarian. It has been added to over the years – up until Victorian times.

If you’re not good with heights hold on to something befoe looking at the next one – it’s a long way down! But look how pretty that wee round tower roof is at the bottom middle of the photo.

I had to walk around the battlements of course, they’re very up and downy as you can see so it did feel a bit precarious – don’t trip! There are usually built in stone seats on battlements and I imagine that the ladies would have been up there during the summer with their sewing or a book, in peaceful times anyway.

The view of the trees and surrounding landscape is worth the climb up there.

I’ll show you the gardens and some of the interior soon.

Cellardyke Rainbow

Posted on 14 December 2018 by Katrina

We had a very busy Remembrance Sunday this year, attending the wreath laying ceremony at Markinch as Jack was laying a wreath there. Then in the afternoon we took part in the Silent Citizens Walk at Cellardyke, we have family connections there.

The walk goes past all of the houses that people whose names are on the war memorial lived in, and there’s a person standing outside the house representing them, and they too join in the procession, it’s actually very thought provoking and moving. As it’s a coastal and fishing community a lot of the men had been sailors or fishermen.

We set off in heavy rain, and were all glad to pack into the town hall for the next part of the service. It was a packed house. By the time we came out and started to walk along to the memorial it had brightened up and suddenly a lovely rainbow appeared. It seemed like some kind of sign.

From here the next land you reach is Denmark. In this photo there is also a strangely angled cloud/light shadow slanting down to the left.

Pining for the West

Meanderings about recipes, books, craft and more

Monthly Archives: December 2018