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Category: Research

Posts in which we talk about research

Domesticities and Summer Yum

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I am engaged in domestic matters, with a kitchen remodel, and I have some valuable advice for you all:

1. Do not wait 15 years to clean your vinyl blind.
2. If you do, do not clean them outside when there’s a heat index of 105.
3. If you want to have a truly depressing aesthetic experience, shop for light fixtures and dining chair pads.

On a more cheerful note, since it’s so hot here–and I was one of the lucky ones, I got my power back after only 36 hours, and while it was off had a long trip to Ikea and went to a performance of Mahler 3, as well as enjoyable clothing-optional-with-a-book moments at home–let’s all scream for ice cream and cooling summer drinks. This is an amended post recycled from a few years ago about the joys (for the rich) of Regency summer living:

Ice cream certainly wasn’t invented in the Regency, but it was very popular among those who could afford it–visit historicfood.com to check out recipes for this gorgeous collection of ice creams and water ices: in the back, royal cream ice, chocolate cream ice, burnt filbert cream ice and parmesan cream ice; in front, bergamot water ice and punch water ice. I’m guessing that the parmesan cream ice (and some of the others, too) must have been served as a savory accompaniment, to be expected when each remove would include items that nowadays we’d consider being strictly dessert.

Were ice cream cones used in the Regency? According to this illustration from 1807, and article at historicfood.com, they were.

The great houses made sure they would have plenty of ice by constructing an ice house–this is the interior of a brick-built Georgian ice house at Parlington Hall, Yorkshire, which measures a mighty 16 ft. in diameter and around 20 ft. deep.

Ice would be cut from local lakes or imported from countries such as Norway, and insulated with straw. The actual igloo-like design of the ice house, and its position in a shady spot on the grounds would aid in keeping the ice cool.

As for cool drinks, spruce beer was always a favorite. Made from spruce buds, its flavor could cover a whole range from citrus to pine–or possibly not.  A reviewer I found the first time around bravely tested a modern brand and came to this conclusion:

If ever offered a bottle, save yourself the trouble and drink some paint thinner. It will taste the same, but you can wash your brushes with the remaining thinner you don’t drink. Spruce Beer would probably melt the bristles off. But it’s not all bad …there is a sweet buffer that does keep you from projectile vomiting.

Lemon barley water was a favorite, too, first manufactured by Robinson and Belville in 1823 in powder form, to be mixed with water to cure kidney complaints and fevers. It also aids in lactation, should you have the need, and Robinson’s lemon barley water is still the official drink of Wimbledon for players (although presumably not for that reason). Here’s a modern recipe from cuisine.com.

As for lemonade itself, here is a recipe from the seventeenth century from coquinaria.nl, and an experiment using Mrs. Beetons’ at vintagecookbooktrials.

I also looked around for some ginger beer recipes–ginger was readily available as it was a subsidiary crop in the sugar-producing islands and found this one at allrecipes.com which claims to date back to the Tudor era. One thing I love about it is that although the preparation time is relatively quick, the recipe is ready in 14 days and 30 minutes. Don’t forget those crucial 30 minutes!

What are your favorite summer drinks or ice cream flavors and do you make any yourself? I love historical food sites almost as much as ice cream and lemonade. Do you have any to recommend?

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Day in Newport with Gail Eastwood

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I’ve just returned from a busy but fun vacation that ended with two lovely days with my dear friend and fellow Regency author Gail Eastwood. We spend the first of those days touring just a few of the famous homes in or near Newport, Rhode Island.
We began with the Breakers, the home of Cornelius Vanderbilt II, commissioned in 1893 and the most imposing of all the Newport mansions. Here Gail and I are posing on the terrace overlooking the water. And here’s a picture of the Great Hall by CC-BY-SA-3.0/Matt H. Wade at Wikipedia. 
 
I found the tour very interesting, but I have to admit the style of the Breakers did not appeal to me. Although I like ornamentation, I prefer designs that allow some resting places for the eye. At the Breakers the goal seems to have been to give every available surface some sort of special treatment.  It just seemed like Too Much. But the Gilded Age was the era that coined the phrase “conspicuous consumption”.
Comparing the Breakers with homes I’d toured in England, my impression is that the goal of houses like the Breakers was more the display of wealth than taste. In my favorite English homes, I like to think the designs were inspired not only by a desire to demonstrate good taste but a genuine love of beauty as well. 
Gail told me I’d probably find many of the other Newport mansions gaudy, so she suggested we visit Rosecliffnext. According to the online guide, “Commissioned by Nevada silver heiress Theresa Fair Oelrichs in 1899, architect Stanford White modeled Rosecliff after the Grand Trianon, the garden retreat of French kings at Versailles.” We agreed that the more restrained style was more elegant but also very romantic.
Our modern sensibilities still don’t easily embrace the idea of a family living in a home vastly greater than their needs, with an army of servants to keep it up.  It does make more sense if one considers the scope of their entertaining. In fiction, the house party stories like Gail’s recent reissue, An Unlikely Hero, need this sort of grand setting.
I don’t have problems with fictional heroes and heroines living this lifestyle as long as they treated those who lived and worked on the estate kindly. To have them question this arrangement would feel anachronistic without the right setup, perhaps an unusual upbringing that would have been considered revolutionary (probably not in a good way).  
Nevertheless, I’m glad that famous houses in England and elsewhere are now opened up as museums. I’m glad they’re also used as public spaces for concerts, weddings and other functions.  It seems right to me that those without the means to live in such over-the-top settings can still enjoy them now and then.
Our final stop was Green Animals. The house is relatively modest, decorated in Victorian style but cozy rather than overdone. The real star of this property is the garden populated with topiary animals. We were lucky to make it there for the last hour and tour the garden, bathed in late afternoon sunshine, though we heard rumbles of thunder from the north.
Learn more about the Newport mansions and other estates at www.newportmansions.org.
Have you ever toured the Newport mansions or anything similar? What did you think?
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Obsessed by Pinterest

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Not even a month ago I signed up for Pinterest. You can see my early days here when I was just dipping my toes in the Pinterest water. Now it has become a bit of an obsession, my place to go when I’m stuck writing, needing a break from writing, or should be writing.

The thing is, it is wonderful inspiration for writing Regency. There is, for example no end of Regency fashion images. I especially like the photographs of real clothing. Somehow I can imagine my characters in such clothes more easily than from a fashion print.

Like this one on the left, originally from the Bowes Museum.

I also liked images of men’s fashions, which we so rarely see in fashion prints.

Another way Pinterest is useful is that it provides visual ideas for setting, whether it be inside or out.

Here’s are images of the drawing room at No. 1 Crescent, Bath and of Keddleston Hall

Then there is art that inspires, like this image from Jane Austen’s World

I’m sure you get the picture (pun intended).

Images are powerful. A glance tells us so much in an instant, not only about the facts of the subject matter but also about color, design. Even lighting can convey mood or emotion.

I know some of you have joined the fun at Pinterest, because you’ve repinned my images and I’ve repinned yours. It is fun to see who likes what.

I’ve never quite gotten the hang of social media beyond blogging until this particular form.
What about you? What is your favorite form of social media? Do you like Pinterest?

By the way, for those of you who cannot wait until A Not So Respectable Gentleman? is released on July 24, it is available now for order at eHarlequin!

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Happy birthday Josiah Wedgwood

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It’s the birthday of Josiah Wedgwood, born this day in 1730 (died January 3, 1795) the founder of Josiah Wedgwood & Sons Pottery, a company still in existence although it’s now owned by a US company. Here are the UK and US websites.

Now Josiah is a bit of a hero for me. He was smart, hardworking, came from humble beginnings and was an abolitionist. What’s not to love? He was also the grandfather of Charles Darwin. Yesss!

Also, according to Wikipedia:

Wedgwood is credited as the inventor of modern marketing, specifically direct mail, money-back guarantees, traveling salesmen, self-service, free delivery, buy one get one free, and illustrated catalogues.

And it was his marketing acumen that came up with the idea of a logo  and tagline (Am I not a Man and a Brother?) for the ‪Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade. It became tremendously successful and was reproduced on pottery, jewelry, and other artefacts. (He probably didn’t actually design it himself,  though.) As his friend and fellow abolitionist Thomas Clarkson said,

…ladies wore them in bracelets, and others had them fitted up in an ornamental manner as pins for their hair. At length the taste for wearing them became general, and thus fashion, which usually confines itself to worthless things, was seen for once in the honorable office of promoting the cause of justice, humanity and freedom…

He was interested in more than business or design, becoming involved with the science of pottery, and was a member of the Lunar Society of Birmingham, a group of businessmen, scientists and philosophers, so named because they liked to meet on the night of the full moon, thus allowing them more time for talk and less for travel. He was elected a member of the Royal Society after he invented the  pyrometer, a device to measure the extremely high temperatures in kilns during firing.

I could, but I won’t, fill this entire post of pics of Wedgwood’s work although he considered this, the Portland vase, his greatest work. It was a copy of a Roman intaglio vase, made of glass. Here’s his (on the left) and the original (on the right).

Another thing I really love about Wedgwood is how he ties into so much that’s fascinating about the Georgian period. Sir William Hamilton, later husband of Emma, first brought the Portland vase to England. Mrs. Radcliffe’s father managed the Bath Wedgwood showroom and one of her uncles was a business partner of Josiah’s. There are the Darwin and abolitionist connections. Jane Austen  owned some Wedgwood, as she wrote in a letter to Cassandra in 1811:

On Monday I had the pleasure of receiving, unpacking and approving  our Wedgwood ware. It all came very safely and upon the whole is a good match, tho’ I think  they might have  allowed us rather larger leaves, especially in such a year of fine foliage as this. One is apt to suppose that the Woods about Birmingham must be blighted.

So did her brother Edward, and some of his china is on display at Jane’s home, the Chawton House Museum.  For more about Austen and Wedgwood, visit this wonderful post at austenonly.com.

And for a sneak preview of the cover of my next book, Hidden Paradise, go to Facebook!

Do you own any Wedgwood? I have a pair of earrings. I don’t know whether I’d want to own a whole set of his famous designs. They might be a bit overpowering… What do you think?

 

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Regency Beach Day

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The day after our tour of some Newport mansions, friend and author Gail Eastwood and I enjoyed a day at this lovely Rhode Island beach.

At 65 degrees, the water was brisk but refreshing and we had a nice swim. If this were the Regency, we would still have been able to go in the water. But instead of wearing modern bathing suits and running in (OK, wading in slowly), we would have had to enter using a bathing machine, possibly drawn by a donkey or pony, and we would have worn period-appropriate bathing gowns.

Instead of the sexes mingling freely on the beach, areas would have been dedicated to ladies and to gentlemen. However, some ogling may have occurred, as there are accounts of gentlemen employing telescopes to view ladies entering or exiting the water. Not sure why–perhaps the bathing dresses got a bit clingy when waterlogged?

After our swim, Gail and I went for a walk on the beach, happily barefoot. A fellow Regency writer once pondered the question as to whether a lady might do that during the Regency. I don’t have a definitive answer. I would guess not on a busy beach, since it would entail untying a garter and removing stockings in public. On the other hand, if it were a very private beach, perhaps on the hero’s coastal estate, and hero/heroine were alone… I will leave what clothing might be removed to your individual imaginations.

Some Regency ladies would have collected seashells and pretty stones, as we did. Here’s my trove, including what Gail told me is a “lucky stone”, since it has a contrasting band going all the way around it. Perhaps it bodes well for my mess-in-progress?

I’ve never done anything with my finds but display them in glass jars. But as I started googling around to see what Regency ladies might have done with them, I became intrigued. Although shellcraft become even more popular in the Victorian era, the idea of creating decorative objects or even decorating walls and furniture with shells began earlier, definitely by the Georgian period.

Mary Delany (1700-1788) was an English Bluestocking and artist. Her first marriage was unhappy; she wrote that “Why must women be driven to the necessity of marrying? a state that should always be a matter of choice! and if a young woman has not fortune sufficient to maintain her in the situation she has been bred to, what can she do, but marry?” Her second marriage was happier and she spent much of her time gardening, painting and decorating interiors with shells. Later in life she began to make paper flower “mosaicks” some of which are at the British Museum. I would have liked to have known Mary Delany. Unfortunately, it was hard to find images of her shellcraft in time for this blog.

Jane and Mary Parminter, two spinster cousins, returned from their Grand Tour late in the 18th century. They had a 16-sided house,  A La Ronde, built for them and decorated it with many of the treasures from their travels.  Here is an image of the shell gallery they created.

Regency folk could have indulged in various forms of shell craft, from decoration of glove boxes and trinket boxes to the creation of romantic shell grottoes.

I used to associate shell art with the silly sorts of things you get at tourist shops. But as I googled around this week, I saw many artistic and beautiful creations. I am not personally that excited about some of the extravagant Victorian creations, things like vases of shell flowers under glass domes. Although I appreciate the craftsmanship and time involved, my personal preference is for art that shows off the natural beauty of the shells rather than making them look like something else.

I found some lovely examples of shell art at Fine Shell Art Blog.  Through that blog, I discovered the work of shell artist Peggy Green.  Here’s just one example of her exquisite work.

Through the Fine Shell Art blog, I also discovered a gallery of shell art so tacky that some of it is downright scary. You can check it out here but don’t say I didn’t warn you!

In any case, do check out the lovely items on Peggy Green’s site, www.shellartist.com.

So what’s your favorite thing to do at the beach? Are you into shell collecting? What do you think of shell art?

Elena
www.elenagreene.com
www.facebook.com/ElenaGreene

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