Bounty for the Birthday Girl

I seem to have been particularly blessed with wonderful gifts for my
birthday today. Some of which I have requested, some of which have been
pure bounty.

The requested gifts were given by Alec. I had hoped for one
- I got two....

The series DVD that you see here includes all
12 programmes covering a year in the life of a group of historians and
archaeologists who lived in the manner of cottagers and farmers of the
1620's at a renovated farmstead in Wales. The whole project has been
running for 17 years before the TV series was made....)

Since I live myself in a 17th Century cottage, I was glued to the few
programmes that I managed to watch myself, for an insight into how the
original inhabitants of Autumn Cottage might indeed have lived. When I
discovered that a DVD was available (and also discovered that my blog-
friend Rowan had actually visited the site!) onto the gift-request-list
it went!

The second generous gift was an Italian language course, produced
by Rosetta Stone. Their "immersion" courses are used by Embassies,
Government establishments and schools all over the world, and after
trying an example lesson, I felt that it would be very valuable for me.
My heart, as well as my ancestry is in Italy - and after my recent visit
to Venice, I am longing to become more fluent, to enable me to enjoy
future visits even more.

A third, unexpected "gift" was the arrival in the post of a journal I
had bought on eBay, the record of two cruises taken to Europe (I think
by an American author) in 1905 and 1909. Of course, I knew it would
arrive sometime, but Fortune brought it today. And by an extraordinary
co-incidence, the entries for August 14th-16th 1905 show that the writer
stayed in exactly the SAME hotel as "the 1906" ladies whose footsteps we
followed just two months ago. I am still stunned by the discovery, and
of course, cannot wait now to transcribe the journal. The first visit,
in 1905, includes many places in the UK - so there will be some more re-
tracing of steps to do with this book in hand, in the coming year.

And the other gifts? Well, even before my birthday started, I was taken
to London yesterday to see a production of Mel Brooke's "The Producers"
at the Drury Lane Theatre. Alec was once again the generous benefactor,
Tim travelled up with us, and Hugh met us in Covent Garden "At the
Golden Carousel".

It was an afternoon of freezing fog, hot mulled wine, minced pies,
street performers, the smell of the greasepaint and the chortle of the
crowd, outrageous performances and wonderful almost-pantomime, extremely
gay costumes, an old English pub, Italian food and good wine - but most
important of all, the most precious gift of all, was having my family
around me.

All of us having a wonderful time, good conversation, fun, laughter and
gratitude for our good fortune. We all know what really matters, apart
from wonderful material gifts..it is the fact that we all have each
other. Through trials and tribulations, good times and not so good, we
are all there for each other, and we do our best to offer each other
support.

And that is a gift beyond price.

Comments

[Darla]

Everything sounds mavelous to me. The series of DVD's sounds so interesting. Learning Italian will give you a great goal to reach before your next trip, right?

And - ah - the journal! Happy Birthday Roz!

[Rowan]

Happy Birthday Roz! I hope you enjoy watching the Green Valley DVD. I'm glad you had such an enjoyable trip to London to celebrate - and how intriguing to discover that the journal writer stayed in the same hotel in Venice as the Two Ladies. That should be a fascinating read. Merry Christmas!

[Brigitte]

Happy Birthday, Roz!And all the best for the new year in your life to come!
And by the way, Merry Christmas to you and a very Happy New Year again!

[ardi]

What a special day for a special lady. Love the journal - if you have problems with a part of it, if you copy off the page I may be able to help. My calligraphic background helps decipher old hands (writing). What a lovely find and what a small world even back then that these two journal keepers would have stayed in the same hotel! Thanks for sharing your day with us.

[sheila]

Belated Birthday wishes Roz. I have been unable to read some blogs or comment this week and have just seen your post.
Coincidence that the authors of this book stayed at the same hotel? I think not. There are no coincidences, perhaps as you follow these writers all will be revealed..!
I'm glad your trip to London was so full of fun and family.
MERRY CHRISTMAS..xx