Mead & Light (Photo credit: Kyral210)
As I sit here thinking I want to imagine what Jane Austen’s everyday life was like. I imagine her writing in a letter, “I am so pleased the mead is brewed”. What was her day like as a teenager, as a young woman and as an author? How did her life change or did the nature of her daily life largely remain the same? Continue reading
Filed under Living the Simple Life, Uncategorized
English: Persuasion (last Jane Austen Novel) ch 23 : Captain Wentworth is showing his letter to Anne, “with eyes eyes of glowing entreaty fixed on her” Français : Persuasion (Jane Austen) ch 23. Frederick Wentworth montre à Anne une lettre sur le secrétaire, en la regardant avec insistance. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Being outside, walking or strolling and being in the elements lifts our spirits. I remember a book once that started out with the premise that GOD actually was an acronym and stood for the Great Out Doors! It made sense; the great outdoors – sunshine, wind, the sky – can bring about a significant increase in wellbeing. Could it just be possible that the reason some of us struggle to find happiness in the modern age is because many of us work at desks? In our world we have so many other things available to make us feel good when we are down but perhaps the simplest and the easiest is Continue reading
Filed under Living the Simple Life
Alison Steadman plays Mrs. Bennet in Pride and Prejudice (Photo credit: Canadian Pacific)
The contentment gene should be patented. But if not born with it, is there other ways to acquire it? Some have called it the happiness set point. Looking at our expectations might be a good place to start. Sometimes we need to be vigilant to ensure that our expectations are not fueling our unhappiness. Expecting little can ironically lead to a happier life as one doesn’t suffer constant disappointment. In our Western world we often grow up with a sense of entitlement. We expect to do better than the last generation. We expect to own a fashionable home, we expect Continue reading
Filed under Resilience
a bathroom renovation!
Why are we so keen on renovation? Is it an extension of ourselves as well as our houses? Or is it a way just to consume more and more? (And I do speak here as a seasoned renovator.) Do we really go to dinner parties and talk of bathroom tiles as Hugh Mackay suggested? Following fashions is not new; it can be seen in the Austen universe where the Eighteenth Century trend was to create the picturesque.
Upon taking over Norland, in Sense and Sensibility Fanny and John Dashwood, successful power couple, make it their daily business to be fashionable. On their estate, what looks good is the most important factor in a decision. Running a self-sufficient estate is not as important as impressing your friends and community. They must do improvements to the place and of course the productive “old walnut trees are all come down”. It reminds me of some people who move in to the old suburbs, raze the old garden getting rid of the roses and fruit trees, and replace the whole with shrubs and pebbles in the latest fashion. (Fortunately this is no longer the latest fashion!) And then they congratulate themselves on having destroyed a garden because now they are being water wise! No wonder Eleanor had to keep the “concern and her censure to herself” when she has to listen to her brother’s fashionable plans.
Filed under Living the Simple Life
English: The Merri Creek passing through Fairfield and Clifton Hill with the Melbourne city skyline in the distance, Victoria, Australia. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
It may seem a strange question in our modern world but it seems to me many are asking it. Now that there are so many opportunities for men and women to find satisfaction in their workplaces and their careers some people are perversely turning their back on such values and reinstating the need for pleasure in our domestic lives. No one would want to be exclusively confined to a domestic sphere but it can be a place where happiness is found for certain periods of our lives.
Egotistical-Emma, in Emma, wants us to believe that the local farmers, the Martins and Mr Martin in particular, are living an inferior lifestyle. Yet when we look more closely at the Martin way of living it is almost idyllic: there are moonlight walks, espaliered apple trees, a pretty gravel walk, walnuts, and even a shepherd boy brought near the fire to sing to the family. Continue reading
Filed under Living the Simple Life
Apricots coaxed from the tree early last summer
All of the settings of the Austen Six include a garden as a prerequisite for a happy life. For those who could afford it a full time gardener would do the backbreaking work. However, the various gardens were managed for food and flower production as well as pleasure. Fruit trees and vegetable gardens are often mentioned in the Austen Six; one example was Barton Cottage in Sense and Sensibility. The three women, recently moved from a much larger house but found pleasure in the garden. Also landlord and neighbour, Lord Middleton’s Barton Park was a successful estate and upon arrival he had sent “a large basket full of garden stuff and fruit” which was later followed by a present of game. But the Dashwoods would have to be mindful of making their own garden productive. There were no green grocers down the road and the concept of self sufficiency was a necessity, not a modern eco friendly dream. Any garden needed to be Continue reading
Filed under Living the Simple Life
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