It is going to be cold, well maybe not in Iceland as the volcano spits and bursts forth but this week we are to experience a cold front from the North. To be quite honest I think the cold front is living with me anyway!
I have been lost in my own world, dreaming away about times past.
Listened to a good podcast on the 'Bloomsbury Group', one of the speakers was Francis Spalding I had read a couple of books by this author, dense biographies is her job and she does it well. She seemed to think that this little group had an effect on society which has somehow got lost. Maynard Keyne on economics and Virginia Woolf on feminism. Also Roger Fry on art. I came across a book I had not read before by Virginia Woolf - Three Guineas. It is on line as a pdf so perhaps I shall get back to reading it. It is about war, and the difference between the approach of men and women to an understanding of it. Virginia was a pacifist.
One thought came up (thoughts are getting pretty thin on the ground at the moment) that I should start doing patchwork again, so have ordered some material and a cutter. Sadly I gave away my sewing machine, though I could buy myself another one, or go down to the college and use one there, but winter isn't the time to explore cold colleges.
One piece of good news is that my son, along with a friend is coming to visit in the spring. Luckily they are driving down, so Ephraim's car will come in useful. Mark, my son works from home but every so often has to fly to the Isle of Man to the firm he works for. I have become a bit of a hermit, could go to Bath but the whole train journey is off putting.
Dear Pat has come aground with one of those silly to-dos that happen in comments. Comment etiquette is something I do not understand, especially as I tend too speak my mind. Righteous indignation what a funny thing it is. It flares through the body, gets written down and then becomes somewhat embarrassing to its author. Luckily there is a delete button to hand. Pat envisions a cosy sitting room, a bit like the Bloomsbury Set where we all sit round discussing things in an amiable manner, though of course the Bloomsbury Group got up to a lot more ;)
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| Lansdown in the grip of winter |
Old photos of Hoar frost
It's so cold here too, Thelma, so I am glad to have some good books to read while keeping cozy inside. I just finished "The Woman They Could Not Silence" by Kate Moore which was a great non-fiction about Elizabeth Packard who was put away in an insane asylum by her husband for not agreeing with his views on religion. Goodness, women have had to fight so hard for any rights at all and it is sad that the fight seems to continue here.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you have a visit with your son to look forward to!
Well I have been downgraded to anon on my own blog Ellen. But Elizabeth Packard sounds a very interesting woman. The judge said..."I do not call people insane because they differ with me" when asked to judge her, so not all the men were as terrible as her husband. She fought a good battle at the time.
DeleteThere is a state mental hospital, an old one (by our standards) over 150 years old. I worked in one of the older buildings which had an underground entrance. Back in the day, a husband could have his wife institutionalized for hysteria
DeleteThis stinking phone! Anyway if a wife was outspoken or her husband got tired of her, he could have her declared insane and involuntarily intitutionalized. The underground entrance was so that their admittance (and their protests) were out of the public eye. Once the women were committed, their husbands could divorce without stigma to their good names. In some cases, these women served a life sentence. Ps: this is Debby. I am having the same problem you are.
DeleteYou must have read the same Wiki as I did Debby. Women as second class citizens. What were our faults? I think one is physical strength, we can get bullied into submission. The other thing is society and law, everything arranged tidily and money and inheritance going to the male. Luckily it is not like that nowadays, except, of course, in some countries. Thelma
DeleteThis actually is from the historical documents of the institution itself. I used to walk the halls of my building and think how awful it would be to be trapped there, a life sentence, no recourse.
DeleteI have weathered the storm thank goodness Thelma. It did upset me but friends here rallied round as well as those on line. Now that I am totally housebound - but in good spirits and with wonderful palliative care-I find my blog even more important - my diagnosis has concentrated my mind greatly - I need to use each minute wisely.
ReplyDeleteMy son is a great Virginia Woolf fan and can quote great sheaves from her writing. I shall ask him if he has read Three Guines. I find her a bit hard going but love to read of The Bloomsbury Group and their goings on.
Your blogging is an inspiration Pat to many, so you should not be upset by a couple of comments. The Bloomsbury group was more often or not sleeping around within the group, so none of that please:)
ReplyDeleteAs always Thelma, not anonymouse!
ReplyDeleteI’ve been thinking about madness after my delve into Horatio Clare’s writing Thelma. I was reading “Truant: Notes from a slippery slope” last night, which details his late teenage and university years reading English at York. Another VW reader here, and it was a treat to see the first act of the Wayne McGregor ballet titled “Woolf Works” on BBC4 on Sunday evening which tells the story in dance of “Mrs Dalloway” which details the breakdown of a young soldier after WWI. Three Guineas is a plea for pacifism and a lament for the waste of war and was published just before WWll I think. I have Frances Spalding’s biography of Vanessa Bell which my son has taken to London to continue reading as he visited Charleston just before Christmas. He’s been several times with us as a child but I was impressed that he went as a fully formed adult man - the apple never falls far from the tree. Whenever we visit Charleston we park at the foot of Firle Beacon and it is a lovely walk up to the top of the Downs and then down a steep escarpment to Tilton passing the farmhouse where Maynard Keynes lived with his Russian ballerina wife Lydia Lopokova (there is a wonderful biography of Lydia by Judith Mackrell, dance critic of the Guardian). One final thought, we visited Graylingwell, a Victorian lunatic asylum in Chichester which opened for heritage weekend last year and was unique in its time as it treated its patients with dignity, respect and kindness.
ReplyDeleteKeep warm Thelma. I’m sock knitting sitting in the sunshine of the garden room where I’m looking due south to Bignor Hill at 265m above sea level. I wonder if it will have snow tomorrow? Sarah in Sussex
Lovely interesting post Sarah. Sorry I did not answer earlier on, but it somehow got lost. I have just completed my third hat in John Arbon wool. Two for general family use, I always manage to lose a hat when we are just about to go out. The first one for Andrew was a great success, thank goodness. He has a long head and I had to increase the stitches. I have sent off for the two books I mentioned, secondhand books through World of Books means they are reasonably priced around £3 and no postage.
ReplyDeleteNow to open my patchwork parcel which should be interesting, as always, things forgotten like backing material, but never mind.
Thelma