A friend of mine (you know who you are ) just posted a part of this poem on facebook and that reminded me of it and got me to read it again. It is such a sad but beautiful poem, I decided I’d post it here. Enjoy!
Ode to a Nightingale
My heart aches, and a [...]

“Strawberries, and only strawberries, could now be thought or spoken of. “The best fruit in England – every body’s favourite – always wholesome. These the finest beds and finest sorts. Delightful to gather for one’s self – the only way of really enjoying them. Morning decidedly the best time – never tired – every sort [...]

No winter lasts forever, no spring skips its turn
~ Hal Borland

“I see what you think of me,’ said he gravely – ‘I shall make but a poor figure in your journal tomorrow.’
‘My journal!’
‘Yes, I know exactly what you will say: Friday, went to the Lower Rooms; wore my sprigged muslin robe with blue trimmings – plain black shoes – appeared to much advantage, but was [...]

I wrote about Lark Rise to Candleford before, this summer when we had just finished watching season one of this series. We all loved it, and for a long time I have impatiently been waiting for the opportunity to see season two. And finally that opportunity came!

I was delighted when I found out that this [...]

It may be possible to do without dancing entirely. Instances have been known of young people passing many, many months successively, without being at any ball of any description, and no material injury accrue either to body or mind; But when a beginning is made—when felicities of rapid motion have once been, though slightly, felt—it [...]

This morning I reread Jane Austen’s history “book” once again. It is such a very short and wonderfully written history! And so funny!
Even though it is such a short piece of work I think it deserves more attention than, unfortunately, it is given. Sure you can finish it in about 15 minutes, but those, for [...]

As many of those who know me are aware of, I constantly find myself quoting Jane Austen in everyday conversations. Dragging quotes of her into any situation where I think they fit in. Both from the books and the films, and indeed often from other period dramas too. One of the ones I most frequently [...]

…autumn, that season of peculiar and inexhaustible influence on the mind of taste and tenderness, that season which has drawn from every poet, worthy of being read, some attempt at description, or some lines of feeling.
- Persuasion

This poem from Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women is one which I very much like. In the book it is in the second to last chapter, the one entitled Under the Umbrella. I like it because I think it is such a sweet and beautiful poem. And it shows so clearly the different personalities of [...]