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Winners and Finnish 101

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I am pleased to announce the winners of the Smelling Like Badgers Contest. As you may remember, I held a contest last week for suggestions for Regency pastimes that might suit the modern sensibility. The results were interesting and bizarre. Thanks for playing, everyone.

The winners are:

Lorraine, who suggested playing the bagpipes which is an image I can’t get out of my mind. Every time I return to my WIP I start thinking of a possible opportunity for someone to whip out a bagpipe.

Jane, who suggested a visit to the museum to ogle the nude male statues.

Lorraine and Jane, please visit Bingley’s Teas — I love their Jane Austen-inspired line, shown above, which are actually packaged to look like books and you’ll find all sorts of teas including herbal– and then email riskiesATyahooDOTcom with the blend you’d like and your snailmail. And I shall order forthwith!

Talking of Jane Austen, there’s a wonderful article, actually a review of two new books, in the Los Angeles Review of Books, Just Like A Woman. The books are Why Jane Austen? by Rachel M. Brownstein and William Deresiewicz’s A Jane Austen Education: How Six Novels Taught Me about Love, Friendship, and the Things that Really Matter. Have you read either of them? I really want to read Deresiewicz’s which is an account of how a guy learned to love Austen.

And finally in this post full of trivia–that, kittens and the obvious is what the internet is for–we’re now going to have some serious academic study. Translate:

Han muutti minut sammokoksi

It is of course Finnish for “She turned me into a frog” (or, as Google Translate quaintly puts it, “He moved me to a frog”) the opening line of my novella Little To Hex Her from the Finnish version of Bespelling Jane Austen. I received a handful of copies in the mail the other day which was quite exciting as I’ve never received any of my books in translation before.

Have you read either of the two new books above about Jane Austen? Are you planning to attend the JASNA Conference (AGM) in Fort Worth next month (aargh! next month! Must email my mantuamaker immediately!)? Amanda and I will be there and we’ll give a full report.

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Redux

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Eeek! I totally forgot it was Tuesday, I have been frantically trying to finish up these revisions to turn in before I leave on vacation next week. So I am taking a cue from Carolyn and revisting an oldie post–from June 28, 2008…..


I admit it, I had no idea what to write about today. It is summer, after all. I’ve been spending time dangling my feet in the kiddie pool I bought for my dogs, drinking lots of iced tea and writing, writing, writing! Reading, reading, reading! But what Janet said on Thursday was right–we Riskies do seem to love anniversaries. So, I did a search to see what was going on in the world a hundred or so years ago.

This is what I found: On this day in 1859, the first official dog show in the UK was held in Newcastle. The only breeds shown that day were Pointers and Setters. A show later in the year, in Birmingham, added Spaniels to the mix, and in 1860 hounds were added (thus paving the way for this year’s Westiminster winner, Uno the beagle). The first London dog show was in 1860, in Chelsea, with the official Kennel Club founded in 1873. (The Victorians did love their show dogs!).

I have 2 dogs of my own, a very bossy miniature Poodle mix (who loves to swim in her kiddie pool and bark a lot) and a much more laid-back Pug (that’s her in the pic!). Pugs were quite popular in the Georgian/Regency period, but their history goes much further back, to the Chinese Han and Tang Dynasty around 150 BC. Their path to Europe isn’t certain, but the earliest reference to them there comes around 1572, when a heroic little Pug woke his master, William of Orange, just in time to save him from Spanish raiders. In 1713, there was a portrait titled “Louis XIV and His Heirs,” with the appearance of a little fawn Pug (not named, and presumably not one of the heirs!)

English artist William Hogarth owned a series of Pugs and often painted them, especially his favorite “Trump.” In 1740, the sculptor Roubiliac modeled terracotta statues of Hogarth and Trump, which were later produced in porcelain by the Chelsea pottery factory.

Many famous historical figures have been owned by Pugs. Madame de Pompadour, Marie Antoinette, George III and Queen Charlotte, Empress Josephine, Voltaire, George Eliot, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, Princess Grace, and Queen Victoria. Some of her Pugs included Venus, Olga, Fatima, Pedro, and Bosco (who has his own monument at Frogmore). My own dog is named Victoria in her honor.

And speaking of Queen Victoria, this is also the anniversary of her coronation! This happened in 1838. It is also the anniversary of Catherine the Great of Russia’s seizure of power from her crazy husband, in 1762. She might have owned Pugs, but I’m not sure. If not, she should have.

Do you have dogs (or pets of any sort?) Are they enjoying their summer?

Posted in Jane Austen | Tagged | 2 Replies

Regency Picnic or a Labor Day?

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Happy Labor Day!

This US federal holiday celebrates the economic and social contributions of the American worker. It was first observed in New York in 1882 and became a federal holiday in 1894. Today it has also become the traditional end of summer and the traditional way to celebrate is to have a picnic.

Today’s picnic is a leisure pastime for the ordinary people, a chance to grill hot dogs and play outdoor games, but during the Regency, a picnic was a fancier affair, and the working people of the period may have experienced it much differently than we do today.


In the early nineteenth century, picnicking was a way for the privileged classes to commune with nature, all the while consuming a feast assembled to minimize inconvenience and to enhance the outdoor experience. A beautiful site was selected some distance away. Each guest might have provided a dish to share or the host provided all the food. Entertainments were provided. The idyllic interlude was a pleasurable respite from day to day life.

Except for the servants, for a Regency picnic required a great deal of work.
Servants had to prepare, pack, and transport the food, the furniture, the plates, serving dishes, cutlery, and linens. The whole lot would be loaded on wagons but the wagons often could not reach the exact site of the picnic, so that the food, furniture, etc. would all have to be carried the rest of the way by servants, who would then have to set up everything, serve the food, and attend to the guests in any way they required. When the picnic was over, the servants had to clean up, repack everything, and carry it back.

It wasn’t until later in the Victorian period, with the rise of the middle class and the ready train transportation that picnics became a less exclusive leisure activity.

So on this day, while we celebrate our Labor day, let’s also remember the labor that used to go into a picnic.

Tonight after midnight I’ll post the winner of Valiant Soldier, Beautiful Enemy from yesterday’s blog. There’s still time to enter for a chance to win!

See the K.I.S.S. and Teal winner of my Diane’s Blog contest, posted on Diane’s Blog today.

Posted in Jane Austen | Tagged , | 1 Reply

Regency Picnic

Updated on by

Happy Labor Day!

This US federal holiday celebrates the economic and social contributions of the American worker. It was first observed in New York in 1882 and became a federal holiday in 1894. Today it has also become the traditional end of summer and the traditional way to celebrate is to have a picnic.

Today’s picnic is a leisure pastime for the ordinary people, a chance to grill hot dogs and play outdoor games, but during the Regency, a picnic was a fancier affair, and the working people of the period may have experienced it much differently than we do today.

In the early nineteenth century, picnicking was a way for the privileged classes to commune with nature, all the while consuming a feast assembled to minimize inconvenience and to enhance the outdoor experience. A beautiful site was selected some distance away. Each guest might have provided a dish to share or the host provided all the food. Entertainments were provided. The idyllic interlude was a pleasurable respite from day to day life.
Except for the servants, for a Regency picnic required a great deal of work. 
Servants had to prepare, pack, and transport the food, the furniture, the plates, serving dishes, cutlery, and linens. The whole lot would be loaded on wagons but the wagons often could not reach the exact site of the picnic, so that the food, furniture, etc. would all have to be carried the rest of the way by servants, who would then have to set up everything, serve the food, and attend to the guests in any way they required. When the picnic was over, the servants had to clean up, repack everything, and carry it back. 
It wasn’t until later in the Victorian period, with the rise of the middle class and the ready train transportation that picnics became a less exclusive leisure activity.
So on this day, while we celebrate our Labor day, let’s also remember the labor that used to go into a picnic.  
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