The Road to Yesterday is history!

Oh my, I just could not get into "The Road to Yesterday".  I read a few chapters, each one essentially a short story, but I found it really hard to get into or to connect with anyone in the stories.  Perhaps it is because things are a bit rough right now in terms of my anxiety  issues acting up, and I need to be reading something lighter.  Every day is a struggle right now, and a fight to hold on to God's hand and not let go and try to wade through things on my own. And trust me, walking it on your own without tightly clutching God's hand in yours does not work!  It has to be Him and me...not ME and Him.  So, I know the reading challenge is over in a  couple of days, but I intend to continue on with Anne's many adventures and work through the series that way, and get back to some of that light hearted, "sighing with contentment" reading I enjoyed with Anne of Green Gables.  I have much more I could say, but am really just needing a soak in a bubbly tub, cuddles with my kids,a good rest and to be scooped up and dusted off by my Saviour. 

Anne can be a little too personal!

I have finished reading Anne of Green Gables, and enjoyed it very much!  The past couple of weeks have been difficult as I have been helping a very dear friend after the death of her mother.  It did not leave a great deal of time for reading, and when I did read, of course, it was highly sad and depressing.  I was chugging along just fine, I really love how descriptive L.M. Montgomery is, I could many times picture myself standing there looking right at Green Gables in their own yard!  And then things got almost too sad to read.

Of course, once Matthew dies it is heart breakingly sad.  I had trouble reading through that part, and even considered skipping it, since I saw it in the movie.  But no...I carried on and got through it.

The part that hit me hardest was this....

'"Why Anne, how you've grown!!" she said, almost unbelievingly.  A sigh followed on the words. Marilla felt a queer regret over Anne's inches.  The child she had learned to love had vanished somehow and here was this tall, serious-eyed girl of fifteen, with the thoughtful brows and the proudly poised, little head in her place. Marilla loved the girl as much as she had loved the child, but she was conscious of a queer sorrowful sense of loss.'

Ugh!!  I could have written that!  Our daughter Robyn is 18 now, all but finished home school - odds and ends to tie together, school choices to be considered  and a lot of stress for Robyn as she makes up her mind on what she wants to do (thankfully we decided to let her take her time and see where God leads her and what He wants her to do ).  She has a job 3 days a week, only down the road.  But my goodness...I miss her.  I feel like she has grown so fast, and that it won't be long before she is married and has her own family to manage.  Those 3 days she is not home are long, long days.  Don't get my wrong, I adore spending the days with our two boys.  Maybe it is just letting go of those strings and giving her a nudge towards those first steps away from the nest that I am finding so hard.  Gosh, I am weepy just writing this!  Just this week I was really watching Devin and he is shooting up and changing before my eyes. Jeremy is 16 and wanting to drive..I think it was only yesterday I bought him his first Hotwheels car!

 I have decided I don't really care for change.

I was blubbering away to my doctor about this, and he said that the nice thing about your kids growing up is that now they will actually want to tell you things, they want to share their thoughts and ideas with you, and they want to have you as a part of their life. They choose you to be a part!  I am so glad!  I personally want all my kids to live here in the house forever -  though I can't convince my dh of that!

Even reading Anne, I felt very sad that Anne was growing up, and didn't see things the same way as she did when she first arrived at Green Gables.  I wanted her to stay little forever, as I enjoyed her imagination so much.  Sigh... perhaps I miss those carefree days of my own childhood too!

I really enjoyed reading this book, and after reading it, I think Kevin Sullivan chose the most perfect actors to portray the roles in the movies, I could not imagine anyone else to play Anne or Marilla especially.  And the movie is so true to the book, I was really impressed by that. 

I have just started reading "The Road to Yesterday" and likely, I should have just gone in sequence.  I am finding this book to be very different and darker than Anne of Green Gables, and I am having trouble getting into it.  I am hoping I can get it finished by next week, fingers crossed!

How about coming along on a walk?

Lots of pictures in this post today!  On Thursday we took advantage of the sunshine and took a ramble at Crystal Crescent Beach, about a 5 to 7 minute drive from our home.  We have to walk into the beach at this time of year, as the park is closed for the winter. ( It is a provincial park..with free entry, how cool is that?)

And what lies beyond this hill?

Ahh, the sea!!  And it is in a calm mood today, thankfully!

Sambro Island lighthouse, the oldest operating lighthouse in North America.  We can also see it from the end of our driveway.

And there are treasures today!  We don't often find sea glass on this beach, but with all the storms lately, some is bound to wash up with the driftwood and the old lobster traps.

A heart shaped piece!  If only it were red!  Checking out Jeremy's new camera features.

I could sit and watch waves all day.

A real treasure..blue seaglass!

The remnants of when the ocean wasn't so friendly and calm.  Just last week we walked across this boardwalk when it was in one piece!  That huge long dark piece of wood washed up from a wharf somewhere.

Me in all my matching finery, and my carrotty Anne hair.  It may have been sunny but it was cold! When you are walking by the ocean in the winter, it doesn't much matter if your clothes match, but how warm you dress!

I often walk this trail and imagine characters from Anne of Green Gables or Road to Avonlea walking here, in  long, billowy dresses.  Me walking along it in a lumberjack coat sort of ruins the effect! 

The view from the trail..heavenly and breath taking especially in the summer when the water is turqouise.

The long lonely boardwalk. 

Meet Clydesdale, a 150 pound bloodhound who often walks here with his owner.  He quickly became great friends with us, and was the biggest mush ever.  I am partial to bloodhounds...our dog has blood hound in her too! 

He's making sure we are still following him!

There you go, back safe and sound! 



L.M. Montgomery this is not fair!

I got some more time today to sit and have a good read of Anne of Green Gables.  And I have to say, I am not amused.  Here are just a couple of reasons why.....

"Overhead was one long canopy of snowy, fragrant bloom.  Below the boughs the air was full of a purple twilight and far ahead a glimpse of painted sunset sky shone like a great rose window at the end of a cathedral aisle."

"Here and there a wild plum leaned out from the bank like a white-clad girl tip-toeing to her own reflection.  From the marsh at the head of the pond came the clear, mournful sweet chorus of the frogs."

And then there is this....the last straw...

"On both sides of the house was a big orchard, one of apple-trees and one of cherry-trees, also showered over with blossoms; and their grass was all sprinkled with dandelions. In the garden below were lilac-trees purple with flowers, and their dizzily sweet fragrance drifted up to the window on the morning wind."

Sigh........dreamy isn't it??  Just reading the word lilac makes me swoon, how I love lilacs.  So why do I take exception to L.M.'s words??

I live in Canada and it is winter.  Winter is very long. Dreary, and this year, there has only been a dusting of snowy flakes to make the world seem all frosty, clean and sparkly.  Right now it is more like muddy, sloppy, grey, foggy and drippy. It is sort of like late winter when everything is starting to thaw, only this is a terrible tease as winter has barely begun. I was getting my head around it, when I read the above words today... it is just not fair!! 

After reading today, I want spring NOW!!  And when it does come, the whole lilac part of it just rushes by.  Since we live closer to the ocean than we do the inland valleys, it is more difficult to get some plants going, and so I see very few lilacs around here.  Lots of rhododendrons, lots of blueberries and cranberries, and the elusive pink lady slipper.  But I LOVE lilacs!  I have one tiny little shoot which I transplanted last year and have high hopes for!  Nothing beats the fragrance of lilacs on a warm spring day..well, perhaps wild violets come close...followed by lavender. 

I really hope I can find some really dreamy winter quotes from Anne soon!  In the meantime, I am going to re read the wonderful lilac-y ones again!

Well, one chapter done so far, that's what!

Last night I curled up under my duvet and quilts after tucking into bed, and started reading Anne of Green Gables.  I got one chapter ( and a bit actually) done before I started getting all heavy eyed and droopy.  But I loved it, and enjoy L.M. Montgomery's way with words.  Today proved to be a bit busy, and I didn't get my planned reading in, so I am going to try for that tonight.

I thought I would share this website, for those who enjoy and appreciate Kevin Sullivan's "Anne of Green Gables" as much as I do!  I especially like the blooper sections of the site, as I now go back and watch the movies over and over to see if I can spot some of the errors.  It gives me an excuse to enjoy them all again - bloopers and all!  Yes, I may even try to find the errors in The Continuing Story..aside from the fact that the biggest error was that they made it the way they chose to in the first place.  I try, I really do, to like that movie - it just hasn't happened yet!

L.M. Montgomery reading challenge

My swap sister and friend Carrie is hosting the Lucy Maud Montgomery reading challenge, and I thought it was high time I actually read some of her work for a change, and not just by watching interpretations of her writing through movies and TV.  Although, I dearly love the Anne movies and Road to Avonlea...with exception of the third Anne of Green Gables movie where Gilbert goes to war, I have never cared for that one at all.  Just my opinion, though I know of many who share it.

I am Canadian and am sad to say that I have never read Lucy's books  even in school, I would think those should really be required reading for Canadian students.  I vividly remember reading Margaret Atwood in high school as "required reading" and once again, my opinion.....borrrring.  Incredibly so!  W.O. Mitchell...not too bad actually, especially since he was on an episode of Road to Avonlea.  Stephen Leacock?   Nope, didn't encourage me to read more, that's for sure.  So I have high hopes for Lucy!

Now I live just over 3 hours from PEI..what a beautiful place.  I remember going there when I was young for summer holidays, but never did get to Green Gables.  Now that we live in Nova Scotia, I am hoping to go for a trip over there sometime when the weather is better.  Anne is very big here, and "Road to Avonlea" is on twice a day, every day, which is glorious!!

I am going start right off by reading "Anne of Green Gables", and I am hoping to get time to read "The Road to Yesterday", though I am wondering if I should just go in order.  I guess we'll see!  I tried to read the Narnia series out of order, as my cousin in England sent me a Narnia book for Christmas one year, and it totally turned me off Narnia..so perhaps I will have to start that series again too for Carrie's Narnia challenge!

I can really relate to Anne on a very personal level - she and I both have red hair.  I have been called carrots more times than I can count.  She and I are definitely kindred spirits!