A Long Intermission

For all of you who have been patiently (or impatiently?!) waiting for me to finish South England’s castles since mid-March, when I covered Buckinghamshire’s castles in one take, I thought it would be a good idea to let you know what I have been up to all this time while you’ve been waiting for an entry on Berkshire’s castles. To be honest, I’m stuck on the vastness of Windsor Castle and I’ve been enjoying a brand new tome about it since mid-year when I checked it out from the library and perused that for forty-two days! I finally decided to get my very own copy for my birthday! Everyone forgot me this year but myself, so I decided since it came down to this I’d make the gift a veritable treat! 

 https://www.press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/distributed/W/bo27433235.html

     As it is, with all its fabulous diagrams, maps and photos (plus paintings) which I’ve been basking in like a kid in Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory, the information is absolutely superb. All castle lovers and Royalty Magazine subscribers should get a copy of this as soon as possible or at least by Christmas. For those who are fascinated with the history and evolution of castles, especially those which have been preserved and rebuilt authentically, this book is an essential textbook extraordinaire!

     As much as I’d like to impart all the information, (which would be impossible, by the way, without rewriting the book) I’m going to give you all a Christmas gift of an entry exclusively on Windsor by Christmastime, hopefully, which will give you a true desire to get up off your couch and go visit the castle no matter where you are at, presently, on earth. How does that sound?

    

Prince Harry’s mid-May wedding helped the work, thus far, tremendously because I taped the entire wedding on the day from beginning to end- all five and a half hours of it!- starting at 3 a.m. Watching those long shots of Windsor Castle from great heights gave me a clear idea of true scale for a visit. Maps in the book facilitated my curious notating of areas throughout the site, to view and venture exclusive of the well-known and toured areas, inside and outside the walls. I have vowed to myself that Windsor Castle will be on the top of my list when I begin my England go-sees and site inspections. Be sure that this is not necessarily because Windsor is the castle most associated with the Royal Family but more because it is a true prototype for many English castles, as diversified as they are quite often. None can match it in size or increase but nearly all of them follow its basic pattern and layout.

     I also spent a good part of the summer reading Queen Victoria’s diary from 1862 to 1882. It is a treasure trove of getting her personal notes on numerous castles of Scotland. Apparently, she and her prince consort Albert were enthusiasts of all things Scottish. This was written at a time that she had lost her husband and was carrying on without him. Her attitude throughout is solemn but not without great anecdotes and adventures. I knew of many castles she visited and/or stopped to view prior to reading the journal but there are quite a number I’d never heard of which are off the books! This will give me more impetus to dig in and start working on Scotland’s castles. Her own, Balmoral, was purchased by her in 1852 and still stands today in marvelous shape. It has been a Royal summer retreat ever since.

     My six-month long interim of studying, researching and reading off line in 2018 has given me an immensely new perspective to continue my England work with a refreshed interest. It’s times like these that I am very content and feel very lucky that I became interested in castles at such a young age. The internet put wings on my favorite subject but there’s nothing quite like trying every dish and flavor on the menu and ruminating on the splendors of each one. How else does one know what is truly a favorite? Still working on that? - you bet!

Blissfully,

The Castle Lady

Sultry September

While the eastern states have been getting hit with incredibly bad weather all this year, Denver has been breaking or matching high heat records that make trees wilt. Old sol decided to give us a brief break at the beginning of this month- particularly around my birthday in the first full week- but it’s been back to 90 + days for about three weeks and only broke today with primarily 60 degrees. Our high today was 72. I’m looking forward to winter about now. Phew! I was ready for a break!

     Meanwhile, I’m dealing with an early grape harvest- the earliest I’ve ever known since Mom grafted a piece of Grandpa Walters vine from the old country in the yard. That comprises one large section of prize-winning grapes from Burgundy which stretches across 100 feet of fence line and I’ve already grabbed a sizeable enough batch of those for myself to make a gallon of juice! It is great tasting, full-bodied and sweet as can be without a single granule of added sugar! Concorde grapes like these are loaded with antioxidants and give you energy along with improving vision! The other 75 feet of vines are newer additions added more than a decade and a half past. If you happen to be lucky enough to live in the Athmar Park section of Denver you can mosey on over here and get some for yourself. Just make sure you call me first to let me know you’re coming. Bring a raccoon trap with you and I’ll give you a gallon of juice free. No kidding. Wascally wacoon!

http://evelyns-nailsforlife.blogspot.com

 

     Top agenda for me this summer was finally getting my hair done and needed it badly when I had it done on my birthday. I don’t know how anyone else feels about it but getting my hair overhauled gives me a new lease on life. It’s right up there with teeth whitening, a new handbag, new car or a whole new wardrobe! For others it may be getting a full set of nails after having them off for a long period of time but for me, that’s business as usual, of course. It’s one of the constant perks of being the best nail tech on the planet, if I have to say so myself. It speaks volumes that I wouldn’t consider getting my nails done by anyone else unless I’m out of town or in another country. Pedicures are another matter. When you have to massage your own feet something gets lost in translation.

     At any rate, I’m up to my elbows in too much to do, once again. Sometimes that’s great but along with the heat I’ve lost momentum and back in the proverbial molasses trying to paddle my way out. Before this week’s up I’m going to have all the invasive, dead or out and out tree stumps removed from my yard to make way for some changes and brand new additions to the yards. I want to do a small kitchen garden next year and I need bare and fallow ground for that! I tore out weeds this year as tall as myself all over my property and I’m still bagging them! This is no joke. Last May all my free ground was bare except for soil and it is once again but I’m going to have to figure out a way to protect whatever I plant. Those flower bed carpets don’t work, by the way. Just a warning! 

      Survival of this summer has entailed trying to figure out how to get a bunch of reading done so that I can get on with my castle writing. I feel stalled when, as a matter of fact, I’m really just trying to fit too much into a day and that never works, you know. There are only so many hours in a day and reading used to be the bulk of it. Now I have to try to read and peruse books like Windsor Castle: A Thousand Years of a Royal Palace  (which is 526 pages of text, diagrams, photos and paintings the castle contains along with magnificent trifold page maps of the upper and lower wards) in a matter of days with one hour left per day to actually sit down with it. All I can say is that hour is golden and wouldn’t give it up for anything. Finally, a book that does justice to a Norman castle!    

      I think I’ll hire someone to pick those grapes. How does a dollar per pound picked sound? Like Peter Piper picked a peck of grapes? I thought so.

The Castle Lady