Between Christmas celebrating and surprises, and an eventful 2018 so far, I have ignored my blog. My apologies! Allow me to share who has kept me occupied and I am sure the reason for my distraction will be understood. On December 20th (the same day I last posted a blog,...
I am often asked about the portraits chosen by Sourcebooks as Darcy and Elizabeth on the covers of The Darcy Saga Sequel Series. Who are they really? Who painted them? I uncovered the identities of the gorgeous woman and handsome man who represent Mr. and Mrs. Fitzwilliam Darcy, and am...
This Regency individual intrigued me early on and those of you so fortunate as to have read my novels know that I included this notorious woman a couple of times. Before I get into a dissertation about her, let me just say that one aspect of the fun in writing...
Automaton (plural: automata or automatons) is a self-operating machine, or a machine or control mechanism designed to automatically follow a predetermined sequence of operations, or respond to predetermined instructions. Some automata, such as bellstrikers in mechanical clocks, are designed to give the illusion to the casual observer that they are operating under their own power. The history of...
Lakes and rivers are plentiful in Kentucky (thanks to the plentiful rain), and I am fairly sure the moving van wasn’t out of sight before my husband announced his desire to buy a boat for fishing. I suspect I rolled my eyes, as I did the subsequent million times he brought...
I’ve written six posts which covered, in detail, the men and women who maintained the interior domains of an estate manor house. Now, with this post today, I have four blogs detailing the duties of those men and women who worked to maintain and beautify the exterior aspects of the...
As an adjunct to the recent blog Gamekeepers: Wardens of the Estate’s Wildlife, a fascinating extra tidbit is that these men were directly responsible for the creation of many breeds of dogs. Breeding and care of the dogs used to aid in the hunt and to guard the estate were...
Six separate blogs were necessary to cover everyone who worked inside the walls of a grand country manor house or upper-class London townhouse. All the posts I’ve written regarding the management of a Regency Era estate are listed in the Pemberley Library, or can be found by a website search from...
Elizabeth, as they drove along, watched for the first appearance of Pemberley Woods with some perturbation; and when at length they turned in at the lodge, her spirits were in a high flutter. The park was very large, and contained great variety of ground. They entered it in one of...
Six separate blogs were necessary to cover everyone who worked inside the walls of a grand country manor house or upper-class London townhouse. All the posts I’ve written regarding the management of a Regency Era estate are listed in the Pemberley Library, or can be found by a website search...
As a companion essay to Monday’s blog post on the servants who cared for the children in a Regency household, today I will touch upon the topic of childcare itself. I say “touch upon” because it is a huge subject so cannot be delved into deeply. Whole books have been written...
Today I bring you the sixth installment of my series on Georgian and Regency Era servants. As noted last week, this entry will conclude the staff members who worked within the walls of the country manor or London townhouse. Next week I shall move outside, as it were, and begin...
Do you love cookbooks? What about ones that were written over 200 years ago? If classic French cuisine or Medieval feasts with venison or traditional English fare appeals, then I have just the cookbook(s) for you! The following are the biggies from the Georgian Era and before. In each instance,...
I’m not a camper, so the concept of doing more than roasting marshmallows over an open flame is too complicated for me to fathom. I am sure for many of my readers, rustic styles of cooking are not a mind-boggling challenge. Even so, could you bake a cake without the ability...
To fully comprehend the duties of the servants within the kitchen rooms of a Regency Era household, it is helpful to understand kitchen architecture and technology of the equipment available. It is a complex issue impossible to cover completely in one essay. Instead, I’ll give a nutshell synopsis with images for...
