Tea at Trianon: Shifting Perspectives

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

Tuesday, September 18, 2018

Shifting Perspectives

Some thoughts on health, gardens and canning from my sister Sarah Laughland, actress, writer and photographer:

This year I also learned how to can vegetables. My farmer friend, Jason, and I spent a day in the kitchen peeling, slicing, snapping, boiling, pouring, measuring, goofing, guessing, and rejoicing over the finished products at the end of the day. It felt like it didn’t yield much by the looks of it, but it expands when you crack that quart open! I saved enough sweet potatoes, squashes, canned tomatoes, onions, garlic, honey, canned and frozen beans to last me all winter, all bought from the farmer’s market in bulk. That’s no packaging and much less money spent at a corporate grocery store, and for me in general. And it feels amazing. There’s this unexplainable giddiness I get from cracking open a jar of food that I preserved, or heading to my container of sweet potatoes and picking out food that a farmer I know, grew. It makes the food I eat feel precious. I grew tomatoes, basil, and green peppers this year. It certainly wasn’t a whole lot, but it was enough to feel mighty proud. The excitement of walking outside on a lunch break, tossing tomatoes into a bowl and immediately washing them and eating them gave me more than just a dollar or two off, but for the first time I felt this connection. Subtle as it may be—no exploding feeling of change in my soul—but a shift. By taking care in more seemingly “monotonous” parts of my day, I started to feel a greater sense of purpose without the feeling of leaving such a heavy imprint on the earth. (Read more.)