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After too long away, I got in 1800 words on Whitney & Davies #4 today. Given how tired I am, it is likely that most of them will eventually need to be rewritten entirely, but they are at least moving the story forward, and that is more important than that the words themselves are perfect right now.

Progress is good.

#whitney and davies #book four #writing updates

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talking to people while holding a beverage is awesome because you don't have to know what to do with your hands and when you don't know what to do with your face you can just take a sip

#I instituted coffee and tea being offered after church on sundays #and it has made such a difference in people being willing to stay and chat after the service #because as someone with extreme social awkwardness #(england I love you the one place where being socially awkward is acceptable and even welcome) #I learned that trick with beverages several years ago to help me through social situations #and I thought it might help our church as well #and boy has it ever #and for some bizarre reason it works best with hot drinks #just fyi

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Lucy Maud Montgomery, excerpt from a 1929 personal letter

#lm montgomery #what a funny lot of people it takes to make up a world

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saw a poll about dry/humid heat and like OBVIOUSLY everyone preferred dry heat but. would love to know what everyone considers to be “too hot”

me personally it’s a hard cutoff at 75°F. don’t need anything more than that thank you 🫶🫶🫶

#80F is Too Hot #75 is perfect #as long as there's a gentle breeze to keep the air from being too stuffy #and to keep my hammock swinging

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Wedge: Here’s the truth: I kill the enemy so someone, somewhere - probably someone I’ve never met and never will meet - will be happy.

Cheriss: That doesn’t make sense.

Wedge: Yes, it does. I told you how I lost my parents. Nothing I ever do can make up for that loss. But if I put myself in the way of people just as bad as the ones who killed my family, if I burn them down, then someone else they would have hurt gets to stay happy. That’s the only honorable thing about my profession. It’s not the killing. It’s making the galaxy a little better.

#wedge antilles #star wars #rogue squadron #wraith squadron #aaron allston #stackpole and allston's development of wedge was the best legends expansion on a canon character hands down #still kinda mad about the way rebels and the current canon developed him instead honestly

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Oh, I would LOVE “The Ingleside Girls” story looking at the different and varied interactions with the war between Nan, Di, and Rilla … Nan dealing with Jerry going off to war just as their friendship is starting to blossom into the possibility of something more, and the upending of her orderly, controlled world; Di having the sisterly relationship with Walter and helping him through his struggles once he turned eighteen, as well as wanting to work as a VAD but being too young and therefore looking for other ways to actively participate; and Rilla as a child trying to understand what is happening and yes, drawing closer to 13-year-old Shirley, who understands more and is terrified in his own quiet way but also wants to protect his little sister from that same fear … it would be amazing.

Bonus points if we get Faith Meredith lying about her age to go over to England and join the VAD, and see Una come into her own as well (and while we’re upending the canon, while I love the possibility of an Una/Walter post-war relationship, we already have Jem/Faith and Nan/Jerry … maybe Walter and/or Una could have a romance that doesn’t involve yet a third pairing between Merediths and Blythes?)

Oh, and wouldn’t it be fun to see Carl and Rilla being childhood friends, and going on the occasional moon-spree together?

Rilla of Ingleside created a new timeline...

Anne's House of Dreams mentioned a historical event - a federal election: “Mistress Blythe, the Liberals are in with a sweeping majority. After eighteen years of Tory mismanagement this down-trodden country is going to have a chance at last.” (AHoD).

From Wikipedia: "The 1896 Canadian federal election was held on June 23, 1896, to elect members of the House of Commons of Canada of the 8th Parliament of Canada. Though the Conservative Party, led by Prime Minister Charles Tupper, won a plurality of the popular vote, the Liberal Party, led by Wilfrid Laurier, won the majority of seats to form the next government. The election ended 18 years of Conservative rule."

It wouldn't be surprsing, but... it was also the year in which Jem Blythe was born! The election took place few weeks after his birth: "When Anne came downstairs again, the Island, as well as all Canada, was in the throes of a campaign preceding a general election." (AHoD).

So... according to this timeline, Walter was born a year later (1897), then the twins (1899), Shirley (1901) and Rilla (1903).

The point is... at the outbreak of the war, Walter would have been only 17 years old, the twins 15, Shirley 13, Rilla 11...

Shirley would have been too young to participate in the war and Walter would have barely turned nineteen at the time of the Battle of Flers-Courcelette in September of 1916...

Someone in one of my older posts noticed that puff sleeves fashion suggested that Anne of Green Gables took place in 1880s rather than 1870s... so it would make sense!

I wonder why Montgomery chose Rilla as her teenage heroine (according to the original chronology, Rilla should have been only 11 years old), while there were 15-year-old twins...

Can you imagine Nan and Di as the main characters of the war book? Two young girls at Queen's, trying to come to terms with rapidly changing world? Rilla and Shirley at Ingleside, growing closer in such trying times? Teenage boys - Jem and Walter - who had to choose if they wanted to sacrifice their life at even younger age - at eighteen? Walter, never reaching the age of twenty (or maybe - dare I hope - coming back home safely)? Anne and Gilbert in their 40s, trying to collect all the broken pieces that was once their family?

It would have been equally good, in my opinion. I wonder... why Montgomery felt she had to suddenly change a whole chronology?

Side note: of course, I love Rilla of Ingleside. But I am just curious... (Nan and Di of Ingleside would be a good book, too!).

@diario-de-gilbert-blythe @gogandmagog @pinkenamelheart @valancystirling48

#rilla of ingleside #lm montgomery #playing with the timeline

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That’s what I am Tolkien about

#as we have just made it through security at heathrow #and are trying to get some food before our flight home because we’re all starving #I was able to show this around the table and give everyone a good chuckle #Tolkien jokes saving traveling families from stress yet again

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Whilst in Oxford, I also did a bit of homage-paying to Dorothy L Sayers—found Balliol on purpose, stumbled across her birthplace on accident. Both delightful!

#dorothy l sayers #lord peter wimsey #balliol college #oxford

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Did a bit of homage-paying in Oxford today

#cs lewis #jrr tolkien #eagle and child

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Manor Garden, Snowshill, England by Warwick Hunt

#I walked snowshill just a few days ago! #did not go into the manor grounds #but did walk by them

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Thank you for voting!

#obviously I have strong opinions on this #mostly thanks to my friend’s “Walter survived the war” AU fanfic series #(I’m still mad she never finished all of them) #anyway #I think it is entirely plausible that after the war Walter would take great comfort in being in Una’s quiet presence #that her quiet strength and understanding would help him to heal and recover #and that that would slowly develop and blossom into love #his final letter shows he was already setting Una into a special category #so it would not take much for that to slip into love #rilla of ingleside #lm montgomery #anne of green gables series

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forget Resting Bitch Face, I have Resting Competent Face. People see me and think ah yes she can point me to the nearest train station. Fellow grocery shoppers ask if I know what kind of butter they should buy. If a strange man speaks to me on the street it is literally always an inquiry and never a catcall. Once someone randomly asked me what an equinox was and after I told her she nodded and said "you seemed like you'd know." why am I assigned oracle at random interaction

#This is not remotely me #but it is my husband #he is also tall and the combination means he is always asked to get things off high shelves in stores #but yes #he is always asked for directions even when he is a complete stranger to the place #and everyone just always assumes he knows the answers to everything

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reblog for larger sample size

#depends on the situation #either first person plural or second person most frequently #sometimes first person singular #very rarely third person #there’s no rhyme or reason behind which I use at which time #it always just comes as it pleases

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Never been to the Cotswolds before, wasn’t sure they would live up to the hype.

They definitely do.

#walking paths that take you through fields with sheep and lambs certainly helps #as does gorgeous scenery everywhere you turn #and houses built of stone that glow in the afternoon sun #Cotswolds #England

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More stories where romance is not the point but it is a point.

We’re on a quest and I’m liking you more and more.

I’m training to be a wizard and you’re training to be a knight and I hope I can convince you we should get married when we meet again.

We’ve got lives to live and this spaceship to fly and people to help and I love you.

I’m a king and you are my loyal companion who helped keep me alive long enough to take the throne I love you and that could become more than it is.

I trust your rule and I will protect you and I think I love you.

I’m a ruler and this marriage is for heirship and I’ve got a thousand other duties but you are passionate and intelligent and understanding and we could love each other.

The world is crumbling as we know it but we always intended to get married and why should we let this get in the way

We’re both busy fighting schemes and keeping alive but I love you let’s stay alive

Love is transformative but it’s everyday. It happens while you are living. It doesn’t take you away.

#This is the vibe I’m going for with Whitney & Davies #even if it is extremely slow-burn for now

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Today’s original plan was to visit Dover, but high winds have made that a bit dangerous, as Carl explained to the girls at breakfast this morning.

Dad: “yes, you could find yourself singing, ‘Grandpa’s going over/the white cliffs of Dover …’”

#as long as I can remember my dad has parodied well-known songs to fit whatever circumstances we are in #now my daughters get to see where I get it from #three generation trip to England has had its challenges #but it definitely has had its benefits as well #week and a half left to go! #who knows how many more dad gems I’ll have to share with you all before the end

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Thursday morning we drove through a spring nor’easter, one of the worst we’ve had all year, to get to the bus station to take the bus to the airport. White-knuckled through the driving, but the bus ride was great. Airport was fine, boarded the plane a little late due to the weather, but still no reason to fret.

TWO AND A HALF HOURS later, due to reasons that had nothing to do with the weather, we finally took off. In the back half of the plane were a large group of the most obnoxious teenagers and useless chaperones I have ever come across—and I generally have a pretty high tolerance for teenage nonsense, because I remember being a teen pretty well, plus I actually like teens. So. Late plane, rude passengers. Red-eye flight. Not much sleep due to teenagers being loud and obnoxious in the back. We finally get to London and have to circle for half an hour before we can land. Our 6-hour flight has now turned into 10.

Joy and my parents make it through the automated passport check just fine. Grace, Carl and I get error messages and have to do it in person. There is only one official at the desk and she is haranguing a family with very little English language skills entering the UK on holiday—from Boston—for not having visas. (????? That’s not how this works) She is so busy being nasty to them that the line piles up behind. The guy behind us in line pulls out his phone and calls his doctor’s office to tell them in despair he’s not going to be able to make his appointment. Finally we’re routed to a different official, who is sweet and kind and passes us through no problem.

There are various other mishaps, including the SIM card we got for my phone only being able to receive texts or calls but not send them, and Carl and Mom and Joy getting separated from Dad, Grace and me and me not being able to call Carl, BUT

24 hours since we drove away from our house in the middle of a blizzard, we are settled into our Airbnb outside Cambridge and our grand three-generational England adventure has officially begun.

#England #Cambridge #I got about an hour of sleep on the plane #and I am so looking forward to sleeping tonight #and then to finally showing my parents around Cambridge #though I am pretty sure I am going to have a lot of emotions about being back here once I’m awake enough to feel them