Fans of Norah Lofts discussion
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This is a different off-topic item.I joined a book exchange site and didn't like it. I had a bad experience after I sent a book to someone and I also don't like having to go to the Post Office. I like the Goodreads site because you can print out the postage out at your desk. Has anyone tried Paperbackswap?
Cassie, I've never tried PaperBackSwap (I'm with Book Mooch myself, and like it pretty well, though it has its limitations). But my Goodreads friend Jim belongs to both, and likes PaperBackSwap better.
I have a really hard time making it to the post office. I like that you can print the postage with paperbackswap and goodreads.
I have a bit of an advantage there, because the college I work for has its own mailroom, in the building just across the Quad from the library, and I normally go over there every day anyway to pick up or send out the library's mail. They have a mail scale and postage meter, and they don't mind if I mail personal packages from there as long as I pay for them myself.
We carpool to work and my husband keeps the car so I can't make it to the PO during the day. After work it's crazy trying to pick up the kids and get them fed all in the two hours between work and bedtime. We have a mailroom up at the municipal bldg but I can't pay them back for postage.
oh, how lovely. I can picture it. A good location for some of NL's characters.
Glad you enjoyed it Sallie. I used to walk into Wickham Market in Suffolk from our house on the Tank Road. I crossed a stream there too and in spring there were thousand of daffodils which made me think of that poem about them. I walked along with my two little English Shelties. Once we cut across a field for a short cut and came across a pheassant sitting on her eggs. I told the game keeper and he went to collect the eggs for incubation. It made me think of the pheasants that were given to Shelmadine's wife in India. I think htey were golden pheasants. (Afternoon of an Autocrat) In Wickham Market I would tie up my dogs to go into the store there. Everyone was so friendly and it was safe to tie up your dog. I took them into the post office with me which was fine there but mostly not allowed here. Everyone inour little village is usually walking their dog here too tho. Afternoon of an Autocrat
Werner and Alice and Rita (and anyone else, but I know those three would be partic. interested in the Christian elements) Have any or all of you seen the 1960 B&W British film Whistle Down the Wind ? If not , and you can get it on DVD , I think you would love it.
I haven't seen it but next time I am in Blockbuster I will look for it, thanks.
Alice, your encounter with the game keeper about the pheasants reminded me of a very different book that has in common with NL only that it's set in the English countryside--the Midlands, I think. Don't get too friendly with game keepers! Your husband wouldn't approve!
Well, I suppose Oliver Mellors WOULD be pretty old by now! :)
Barbara, I've never watched Whistle Down the Wind, nor even heard of it until now; but thanks for the tip! I'll keep that title in mind. Is it based on something that Lofts wrote?
Hi Werner , no nothing to do with NL. It is a film, mid 60's I think and stars Hayley Mills, then about 13. I believe her mother actually wrote it. It is set and filmed entirely in Lancashire and centres around Hayley's character mistaking a vagrant man for Jesus .That sounds banal but the film is anything but and it is really about faith and non-faith and enchantment and disenchantment etc. I think it an absolute gem. I can still cry over certain scenes. Here is a link, but 'ware spoilers
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0055618/
Thanks, Barbara! I'll keep an eye out for it in any venues where Barb and I buy or rent videos.
I looked on Amazon - priaces from cheap to 70 bucks. Bad news - only region 2 format which means UK and Eurpoe. Poor us.
Well, I am sorry to hear WDTW is not available,Sorry to have raised hopes !
All is not lost - found one on the net which promises it will play in US & Canada so I ordered it. Was $28 but I do't know if this is a bargain or a pig-in-a-poke. Will let you know when I try to play it. Was a VCR not a DVD and the pic looked like the case was a little ragged. But then it IS 1960 something.
Sallie, I do hope you like it after all your trouble. And $28 too! I think you will, it is so honest and touching and heartfelt. Not soppy at all in any way however and the location is bleak Lancashire All the child actors are wonderful, I hope their accents are intelligible to US viewers( the location is near where I come from so I didn't even realise they HAD accents until I moved away from the region)
LOL. People say the same thing about southern accents here, Barbara. I always thought Hayley Mills - really the whole Mills family - was a very talented actress, even at a very young age. Loved Chalk Garden.
And, Sallie, didn't someone say ( from Down South) that Carter was the first president they'd ever had who didn't have an accent?
I disagree with you, Barbara; LBJ was the first president we had who did not have an accent. As the late Lewis Grizzard put it: God talks like we talk.So that's the last word.
LOL! Aren't accents great things? How about JFK? And Eisenhower from the midwest? Luckily we've had no pres from Brooklyn or the Bronx!
Does Scarlett O'Hara count? Loved Vivian Leigh.
Did you Southerners think Vivian Leigh ( of blessed memory , don't get me wrong!) did a good Georgian accent?
Guess what just arrived from ebay!! "Whistle Down the Wind." It came from a LA manufacturer so I guess it will play in the US. Can't wait to see it. Do I need lots of hankies? Wine? COVER YOUR EYES, Werner.... Is it against the copyright laws to copy this from 1961? If not, I would be glad to make a DVD from it for anyone that would like one. And even if it is...you could just keep me up to date on NL in my jail cell.
Well, Sallie, the prison library in Leavenworth should have Internet access, so you'll be able to stay active on Goodreads. :-) But my guess is that if the video's producer is no longer selling it, and has no plans to again, it would be much the same as an out-of-print book --the copyright holder has no current "commercial interest" to protect. (Don't quote me on that, though --I'm not a lawyer!)
LOL! I wonder if I will look fetching in prison gray! Finding this VHS format was a fluke - most used copies on the net will not play in the US. None for sale by the producers - it was made literally 50 years ago and the few copies I found for sale will only play UK and Aust. So, dear NL, off topic friends, my offer of a copy stands and we will make it dear husb Mikey's problem to figure out how to transfer it on his little machine. And, since none of OUR fingerprints will be in evidence on the discs, we can send him files in baked goods in Leavenworth? PS - Werner, have 2 lawyers in the family so maybe they'll come to the aid of old Gammie. Pro bono if they want to remain in the will....... :-)
Oh Sallie, I do hope you will enjoy.Minor Spoiler
Hanky necessary for the Jesus and kitten scene I fear .
Barbara wrote: "Did you Southerners think Vivian Leigh ( of blessed memory , don't get me wrong!) did a good Georgian accent?"
No, I never did and my mother definitely did not. Our ancestors moved from GA to AL then to MS and some then on to TX.
No, I never did and my mother definitely did not. Our ancestors moved from GA to AL then to MS and some then on to TX.
When I was immersed in GWTW I was about 16 and I lived in New York, so of course, she sounded legit to me.
And I was so in love with them all that I hardly noticed teh variation between accents at all ( plus I'm English anyway) Years later when I watched it again I thought , ahem......
Mom always loved Scarlett and wanted to be just like her! Long ago she would sneak in from picking cotton and hide so she could read it.
Re getting local history it wrong and family legends etc Rita said " a story in my own family: in the days of bare-knuckled fighting and before the Marquis of Queensbury, this really poor Irish ancestor of mine was handy with his fists, and a wealthy English guy sponsored him to come to America and fight, and he stayed. Great story. Only thing wrong with it is it is not true"
Love your story Rita - less exciting but just as wrong in my family was a legend that my birth broke a run of eight male first borns, called George. I had always accepted this without much thought and maybe even a touch of guilt . My father and his father were both male first borns called George after all . So when I started to do some genealogy as an adult I woke up to the fact that 8 generations is actually a hell of a long time, some 200 years at least. And nobody in the family really had a clue about who their great grandparent were, let alone 200 year old birth order and names .
Yes there were a lot of Georges but the longest run of them ( the one that I broke ) was a miserable three. Hah !
I was named after crazy Aunt Sallie - the family eccentric (ok-confession, one of probably many). Lots of Sallie's in the family centuries back named for her....then we find out her name was really Sarah, just was always called Sallie. Upset me because what if somebody royal wanted me - Queen Sallie just doesn't quite make it.
We have some strange stories too. I was named for my great grandmother Alice McCraw. She was born in Alabama and her mother and hubby went to the White River in Arkansas where he and several children died of yellow fever. So then she took the buggy all the way back to Alabama. Can you imagine? Almost no roads and traveling in a buggy.
On the other side I have a great grandmother Delilah who who was on the train when Jesse James robbed it. Her father was a preacher so why did he name his daughter Delilah???
Last night we had a golden bear in our front area! We normally have black bears here but this bear was very golden. The poor thing was digging in ant hills. We watched it slowly journey all the way around our house before going back up into the mountains.
Alice
On the other side I have a great grandmother Delilah who who was on the train when Jesse James robbed it. Her father was a preacher so why did he name his daughter Delilah???
Last night we had a golden bear in our front area! We normally have black bears here but this bear was very golden. The poor thing was digging in ant hills. We watched it slowly journey all the way around our house before going back up into the mountains.
Alice
And I thought our friendly, 7 ft black snakes were bad!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Oh, I do not mind snakes at all. My son (now pictured) once kept one for a pet and I had to feed it for him. That was truly horrible! In NM I once got out of my vehicle in order to "chunk" a rattler that was in the middle of the dirt road as I didn't want to run over it. Oddly enough the thing that makes my skin crawl is grasshoppers!! I cannot bear them.
The little village of Green Mountain Falls is notorious for its many bears. (27 tagged) I am very careful when I go outside. They have never bothered our dogs or us but this year a few have broken into homes. One went thru glass about two weeks ago. That was scary! We also have many mountain lions here but I have never seen one. Its very beautiful here. The air is clean!!!
The little village of Green Mountain Falls is notorious for its many bears. (27 tagged) I am very careful when I go outside. They have never bothered our dogs or us but this year a few have broken into homes. One went thru glass about two weeks ago. That was scary! We also have many mountain lions here but I have never seen one. Its very beautiful here. The air is clean!!!
Sallie wrote: "And I thought our friendly, 7 ft black snakes were bad!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
7 foot is kinda big!!!! WOW! I don't think I have ever seen a snake that big. I guess a King snake about 5 feet was the biggest I have seen.
7 foot is kinda big!!!! WOW! I don't think I have ever seen a snake that big. I guess a King snake about 5 feet was the biggest I have seen.
They really do get that long - but they are non-aggressive and they eat other critters like mice, etc. so we like them. I don't mind them as long as I see them first!! I can even grab one behind his/her head and "relocate" them out in the pasture. Of course, they come right back to the house to get cool on the bricks. NL didn't feature many personal animals in her work - bears, dogs, the sorry plight of most of them.
Sallie, never mind, you can still be chosen as a royal bride - they will just simply rename you Leopoldina or something
LOL! Hope I get a fancy crown - Leopoldina sounds good.
HRH Leopoldina - I'm glad you like it, you might recognise that I I stole it from a Nancy Mitford, Love In A Cold Climate I think.
One of the minor aristocratic characters, known as Polly is actually christened Leopoldina. Someone comments , "hmm, wonder what marriage prospects they had in mind for HER ..'
I think they were referring to the then Prince of Wales, he who went on to become (rather briefly) Edward Vlll, before blotting his copybook with - gasp - an American divorcee............
Too funny. Speaking of Mitford - have you ever read any of Jan Karon's books about a "mythical" town of Mitford in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia? Highly recommend her. Great read and fabulous characters.
Sallie, according to the Gale Literature Resource Center database, Karon's Mitford series is actually set in the mountains of her native North Carolina. (I haven't read any of these books; but the BC library has all of them, and I've had the first one on my to-read shelf forever!)
Oh, you are absolutely right, Werner. We count on you so for these things! Karon was a very successful person in her "other life" but always wanted to write. She saved enough to buy a little cabin - near Ashville, I think, - and forged ahead. I got confused because she became REALLY successful writing about the diverse, varied, quirky citizens of Mitford who will become your friedns and she bought a gi-mongus historical farm in Charlottesville, VA. It's about an hour from here. She has taken a break of several years but everyone aticipates her next series - many of the same main characters - which should be coming soon. Can't wait. Please do yourself a favor, Werner, and put that Karon book(s) on the TOP of your to-do pile. Start today! You won't be sorry.
Well, Sallie, I'll tell you what --on your suggestion, I'll try to read At Home in Mitford this fall, after one of my Goodreads friends and I finish a buddy read we've planned. (In the meantime, I want to read the sequel to a vampire novel by another Goodreads friend, since I've been promising her for ages that I would, and a collection of Chesterton's Father Brown mysteries.) I should (and want to) read more contemporary general fiction; so this should be a good start! :-) Thanks for the recommendation.
I got a map from Sylvia last week. I don't think she's feeling well. I haven't checked all the boards but I haven't seen her lately. Keep her in your thoughts.
In about a half hour, my wife and I are leaving for a visit to her side of the family in the Shenandoah Valley area. While we're gone, I won't have much access to the Internet. But we'll get back on Sunday, and I'll plan on catching up then. Meanwhile, you folks have a great week!
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Fans of Norah Lofts
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The Lost Queen (other topics)
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Wet/dry just connote degres of conservatism, wet, of course being less so than dry .