Tea at Trianon: A Small Enchanted Cottage

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Monday, November 21, 2016

A Small Enchanted Cottage

From The Nesting Bird:

When I was a child, my Grandfather built me a playhouse. The exterior was painted a 70's lime green with a moss-covered pathway leading up to real shrubs and curtain-covered windows... and the inside... well, the inside is where my imagination took flight.

A place for countless tea parties. Pounds of plastic pork chops, cooked on a tiny white wooden stove, with cranky black knobs and painted "hot" burners. A place for piles of dishes that needed to be rinsed. Then dried. Then put away, only to reemerge moments later to play all over again. A place for sleep-outs. A place for blanket-covered-flashlight-face ghost stories. A place for giggles. A place for tear-stained cheeks. A place for teddy bear luncheons and summertime popsicle playhouse retreats. There were lessons in laughter and silliness, lessons in bravery and friendship, all contained in a 5x8 space. A small space with big memories, to last a lifetime.

So, when my husband and I were deciding which play structure should live in the backyard (for our 2 year old daughter), naturally I wanted to rebuild a space that would hold all of HER memories. And so, the construction of one pink & white playhouse began...(Read more.)