the abbey...........

Oh, what a fan of Downton Abbey I have become.  I love the characters.  I love the accents.  I love the civil way they discuss delicate subject, for the most part.  I love the clothing.  And now I have to watch reruns, for the 3rd time, or wait 10 months for the new season.  That is the way it always was when I was growing up, but now it seems like there are new seasons twice, sometimes 3, times a year.  Interesting.

And Mathew died.  Why must they do this?  I know that the actor didn't want to return for another season.  Didn't he know that when he was cast as the heir that he would be in this for a while?  I can't understand why he would want to leave anyway.  I guess if he was leaving then they did it the best they could.  With Mathew and Mary still loving each other.  And with a new heir.

I got my mama hooked on the show when she was here at Christmas.  She loves it now, too.  We were discussing the show last night and talked about how so much was made of dinner.  So many people worked so hard for so long to get the dinner made, served, cleaned.  And there were so many rules about how it all went, too.  Seems a bit overkill for our day, but we have so much we can learn.  We make no deal about spending that precious time together as a family.  We forget how important it is to have traditions and schedules.  The family would never have dreamed of missing dinner.  Of course, it is all made so convenient when you don't have to cook.  But, you did have to dress.  I would rather cook!  haha.  Makes me wonder how the queen and Prince Philip eat and dress today.  I would really like to know that.

Mama suggested that having all this formality was an effort to civilize a people who previously were not so refined.  The rules and standards the king set were passed down through the ranks and learned by most.  These rules and expectations are good for people.  We should be expected to behave a certain way, and have a little social pressure to do so.  I love Mrs. Hughes.  She expected people to behave properly and allowed consequences to them when they didn't, but she exacted those consequences with such kindness and concern.

Such an interesting time period.  We know where the changes are going, and it seems all a little sad to lose what they had.

See you in 2014..................

HELLO!

Well, both of the BIG girls have started blogging and are getting on to me for slacking on mine.  I love blogs so much and don't know why I don't do it more.  If I could post on my phone I might be more willing to do it.  I just don't have much time at the computer and fooling with the picture download is infuriating!  But, they want me to, and I want to do it, too.  So.....I guess I might be back:)

I have been journaling for several months, though.  I got a recipe box and put in 365 note cards dated with every day of the year.  No year or day of the week, just the month and day.  Every day I write two lines of what I did, learned, or observed that day.  I love it.  No pressure to be a great writer, no pressure to be witty.  Just a little reminder of what we did.  I may use some of those reminders to go back and do a little writing.

I have been  printing Taylor's letters that people have written him on his mission.  I love email, but one of the drawbacks is that he doesn't have time to go back and read what people have written him. So, I got on his email (which is super fun!) with his permission and am painstakingly going through and printing them all out, then putting them in sheet protectors and sending them to add to his binder.

So check out my girls' blogs.  itsmcat.blogspot.com    sb3th.blogspot.com  They are so awesome.  We will see where this all leads!!