When I completed my monthly reading of Gladys Taber's Stillmeadow Daybook and Rachel Peden's Rural Free in May 2012, I ended the post with this:
This year winter begins at 6:12 am EST on December 21, the earliest arrival of winter since 1886. On that day I plan to begin reading two chapters called Winter from two books: Country Chronicle by Gladys Taber in Connecticut, USA and The Magic Apple Tree by Susan Hill in Oxfordshire, England; New England and old England. Each book is divided into four seasonal chapters. These two women, though not the same age, are writing within a few years of one another. Country Chronicle was published in 1974 and The Magic Apple Tree in 1982. Susan Hill was born on February 5, 1942 so she was 40 when The Magic Apple Tree was published. Gladys Taber was born on April 12, 1899 so she was 75 when Country Chronicle was published.For a variety of reasons I never got around to it, but I plan to begin reading both books on the first day of winter this year, December 21. And somewhere near the end of each season I will do a posting. I read Country Chronicle fifteen years ago, but haven't read The Magic Apple Tree. Oddly enough, the two women's ages are opposite to their ages when they wrote The Book of Stillmeadow and Jacob's Room is Full of Books.
Nan - I am just finishing Country Chronicle, which I bought only because of you! I would never have known about Gladys Taber if it were not for you. I love the way she writes, and even though I may not always agree with her views, I love the way she airs them. Stillwater is a much older house than mine, Pine Tree Cottage, which was built in a terrace of 3 in 1800. There is very little original here, it's had lots of owners, but the floorboards upstairs, and the "frames" around the downstairs windows (like picture frames that had a job - the shutters were folded back and the frames hid them in the daytime) are original. When built, these three cottages were on their own, out of town, on a plot of land common to all three. Now the gardens are divided and whoopee!, we've got the biggest - the house at the other end of the terrace did have more land, but it was sold off and built on in the last couple of years. Enjoy your reads!
ReplyDeleteHow very unusual to hear someone from England saying an American house is older than hers! Of course, there is new building all the time, and of course there are some old ones in the US, but still it just struck me as so funny. I believe some of the old houses here have those shutters. I wonder if you use them at night. Warmer than curtains, I would think. Are the three cottages connected?
DeleteSadly Nan, our shutters were long gone when we bought the house - but next door still have theirs although the never use them!! We have double glazing, so that keeps us cozy, but in the days of single pane glass they would certainly have been a bonus. We use roller blinds to keep the dark at bay!
DeleteYes, the three are in a "terrace" which is what we call a row of joined up houses. (I think you call them row houses?) We are at one end, but the one in the middle is always the warmest, because we end people have more exposed walls, and so Mr Middle Person doesn't have to use so much power to heat his!! I recently put a pic of our house on my blog... and it does look as though it stands on it's own. This is unusual, because normally in a terrace all the front doors face out to the road. For some reason our set of 3 cottages are shapped like the letter T, and we live in the cross bar. The house is only one room deep, and we are joined at the back of the house by next door. The advantage for us is that we are actually side on to the road, and the wall which faces the road has no windows (it being the wall with fireplaces and chimneys. So our views are not traffic rushing by but of our garden, which is about 100ft long.
So your snowy header was yesterday???? Ohmygosh. Is that early for you to have your first snow?
ReplyDeleteI can't tell you how thrilled I am with this post, Nan. To read that you're including The Magic Apple Tree in your next year's reading plan is beyond delightful. Can't wait for your posts about it.
Not that early. There are always a couple snows in October, and by November we should have some real snow. Are you on Instagram? It would be worth it for you to join to follow Monty. He posts a lot, and his pictures are such a delight. He makes me smile every day. I know you love that book. I wish I could remember where I first heard of it. I just found an email from 2011 where you recommended it, and I wrote back that I had bought it a few years back. I'm so excited to read it.
DeleteAh right, I tend to forget how mountainous you are there, even though I've been through the mountains in your state!
DeleteYes, I am on Instagram, just. But I'm not finding it easy to use so have not bothered much. I follow Monty on Twitter... and Nigel the dog.
I can't remember whether I recommended the book to you before 2011. Maybe. I have known you since about 2007 or 8 (yours was one of the first blogs I found before I decided to start one of my own) and I did first read The Magic Apple Tree in the 1990s. I bought my copy in Sept. 2007 and included it in a post about new books that month. You may have seen that. Or it could be the recommendation came from someone else entirely.
Instagram is the only social media I am on, and it is a private account so I'm just in touch with people I know. And I get to follow Mr Don! I'll look back and see your 9/07 posting. There are mountains all over the state, but we're in the northern ones, the White Mountains.
DeleteThe way you look at life is certainly different at 40 and 70.
ReplyDeleteI so enjoy your writing about their books.
Yes, indeed! When I was 40, I had a three year old and a six year old! And now at 70, have an almost 5, a 4, and a 3 year old grandchildren.
DeleteWill be excited to hear what you have to say after your time in both these books. Lovely picture in the header! Do you know that we had snow flurries yesterday in parts of our region? It was freakish!! Anyway, way too much wind. I about froze to death yesterday. Today will be a little warmer and hopefully less wind. That whole 'wind comes sweeping down the plains' is a real thing!
ReplyDeleteShall I mail you down a fleece? Is LL Bean your new go-to store for clothing? Oh, and a hat helps! I can be your cold weather advisor. I expect it is very cold with nothing to break up the wind.
DeleteLaughing at your reply to Kay! Yes, let's send her some winter clothes from LL Bean! ;)
DeleteI do love your new header, Nan. Looks like you got a few inches of heavy, wet snow. Perfect for curling up with a good book in front of a warm fire. Have a happy day!
If the summers get cooler, she will be happy. There's a quote about not being any bad weather, only unsuitable clothing.
DeleteI did just that last evening - finished the second in the Dark Iceland series by Ragnar Jonasson. Love those books.
Can't wait to read your posts from these two wonderful books. I've always loved The Magic Apple Tree - I gave it as a Christmas gift to my mother so many years ago and added it to my bookshelves when she passed. I don't have that Tabor book but that can be easily remedied.
ReplyDeleteWinter and books - well, all seasons and books! - but such a special joy when the cold days and long nights come.
Love your header pic! We're to have snow tomorrow - too early for this Pennsylvania girl.
Mary
Do you remember how you first heard of The Magic Apple Tree? I must have read about it somewhere on the internet, and then so many English bloggers have mentioned it over time. In Jacob's Room is Full of Books, she often refers to the home in The Magic Apple Tree. It is frigid out tonight and has been most of the day. But that's the way I like it. I'm sad when it snows, then the temps go up and it melts or it rains. I am such a snow girl.
DeleteNan, I believe I found the book in a small bookshop in the village of Kimberton near Phoenixville, PA - a little shop my mother and I haunted. And it seemed exactly a book she would love. This was perhaps in the early 70s when I was still a young thing living at home. Mom and I both loved Beatrix Potter and bought the little china figurines in that shop. I have all hers now as well as mine. Happy days, and I still miss my mother. Also bought her many Gladys Tabor books there too. When I discovered the Miss Read books years later, I thought how much she would have liked them too.
DeleteLots of snow here, the roads are bad and now I'll start worrying about everyone getting home safely. As one does.
Mary
Correction to the last reply, Nan! Had my dates all wrong. I gave the book to her Chrsitmas '83 - opps! The years have melded into one another.
DeleteYes, as one does. We haven't gotten the snow yet, but it seems to be coming right when my daughter-in-law has to pick up her parents at the airport and my daughter has to go to work. As I've said often, that is the only downside to snow for me. I love everything else except when my kids are on the road!
DeleteI love that you have BP figurines! The book shop sounds perfect.
I am looking forward to your seasonal posts! Both Gladys Taber and Susan Hill I only know through your blog, and I love the way you combine their writing with your own (which I love).
ReplyDeleteI can't believe how much snow you have! We've had a couple of hours of light rain - nowhere near enough to replenish the dried-up groundwater level, and the forecast is for more sunny weather. It is beautfiul and makes spontaneous or planned walks much easier, but it is neither good for our environment nor "normal".
We are getting MORE snow tonight/tomorrow. And then I heard the "R" word mentioned - rain. Yuck. Thank you for your words about the idea, and my writing. You are so nice. Hope you get rain or snow soon!
DeleteAh, snow! Seasonal books are such a help, encouraging me to notice the changes, even here down south. It is supposed to be in the 40s tonight and we think we are freezing to death. But at least we get to wear our boots and sweaters!
ReplyDeleteIt will be fun for me to see the differences in weather between England and New England in the two books. We are supposed to get MORE snow!!
DeleteI envy your "more snow" and hope you are in a position to enjoy it instead of troubled or inconvenienced by it.
DeleteOnly troubled if the kids are on the road! Otherwise, I love every minute. I hope the snow we have now stays until the end of March!
DeleteNan, you read some lovely books, many of which I have never heard of. How do you decide what to read and review, and where do you find them? The public library?
ReplyDeleteI think so, too! haha. If I don't love, or, at least, really like a book, I quit it. I don't use the library anymore because I have shelves and shelves of books, and frankly, at 70, I'd better get going on them!! Also, the library doesn't tend to have many of the books I like to read. But I did begin reading Gladys Taber from perusing the library shelves thirty years ago.
DeleteI thought I had every single Taber book written, including some of her early fiction ones, but I don't remember the name Country Chronicle. I'm off to my Gladys Taber bookshelf now to see if it's there and why not, for Pete's sake!
ReplyDeleteI have only a few of her books, and no fiction! I bet your shelf is beautiful.
DeleteI have Gladys Tabor, Stillmeadow Album, and even though the photos are in black and white, it paints a colorful picture of life at Stillmeadow. I just finished reading Sue Hubbell's A Country Year: Living the Questions. I've had this book on my shelf for a long time and got inspired to read it because I'm reading the Susan Hill, Gladys Taber, and Edwin Way Teale's seasonal books. These are keeping me grounded during this turbulent time in our nation.
ReplyDeleteGosh, I LOVE that Sue Hubbell book and the beekeeping one! I just pulled out my copy and it was given to use by a couple with a lovely inscription in 1989! I began North with the Spring last year, but let it go because of time. I think I'll do it next year since I have more time now. I read his Springtime in Britain. https://lettersfromahillfarm.blogspot.com/2008/06/book-reportspringtime-in-britain.html I love it that we like the same authors!!
DeleteYou turned me on to Gladys Tabor and Susan Hill--thank you, it's my therapy.
DeleteOh, I'm so delighted!! I think I'm going to wait for another year before reading the Teale book. I feel these two books are enough for me!
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