Happy belated birthday to Miss Jane Austen

Jane's birthday was Saturday. Rudyard Kipling wrote these lines in her honor:

Jane lies in Winchester--
Blessed be her shade!
Praise the Lord for making her,
And her for all she made!

And while the stones of Winchester,
Or Milsom Street, remain,
Glory, love, and honour
Unto England's Jane!

Jane is buried in Winchester, of course, and Milsom Street was (and still is) one of the fashionable shopping streets in Bath. Anne, Elizabeth, and Mrs. Clay in Persuasion are in Milsom Street when they duck into Molland's to escape the rain and Anne spots Captain Wentworth for the first time since the tragedy at Lyme.

In her honor, I have set up a feed to this blog, which every day publishes a quotation from her work, compiled by Lori Smith, author of A Walk with Jane (coming in September '07). Click on j_austen_quotes and add it to your friends page.

Getting ready for Christmas

I feel cautiously optimistic about the progress I have made this weekend. I got about fifty holiday cards in the mail, about 1/3 of the total. I am not writing personal notes this year, just shoving the picture and newsletter in the mail. Through sheer dumb luck I hit on a great gift idea for my husband's sister's family, the name we'd drawn this year, and I made arrangments to have the gift shipped directly via Amazon.

Last night, I told the girls to test the lights so we could decorate the Christmas tree, and we ran into a snag: all three light strings were broken. I had to go to four stores, and I got to feeling more and more bah humbugish before I found replacements. I put in Peter Mayer's Midwinter and listened to "Where is the Light":

I'm burning bright like kerosine (where is the light?)
I'm twinkling like the Pleiades (where is the light?)
I'm dancing like a candle flame (where is the light?)
I'm flaming like a fruit flambé (where is the light?)

and that cheered me up again. When I got home, I discovered that the girls had lit candles all over the house to get us into a festive mood. It worked.

After dinner, we decorated the tree. We have been playing Christmas music, which has been getting me in the mood, too. I have most of the presents ready for the girls, and Rob will start wrapping them early (this is progress; there have been some years we haven't started wrapping until Christmas Eve, which is awful).

Got this from scott_lynch

On the twelfth day of Christmas, pegkerr sent to me...

Twelve movies rowling

Eleven muses writing

Ten conventions a-gardening

Nine baths cooking

Eight pre-raphaelites a-publishing

Seven books a-storytelling

Six legends a-parenting

Five ci-i-i-ivil rights

Four wild swans

Three fairy tales

Two letter games

...and a magic in a christianity.

Get your own Twelve Days: