Tea at Trianon: 4 Practices for a Simple, Tidy Home

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

Wednesday, February 24, 2021

4 Practices for a Simple, Tidy Home

From The Nester:

This one is from Marla Cilley, the Flylady and expert on all things to do with a clutter-free home. Basically, she believes that the sink is like the welcome mat and boss of the kitchen. When your sink is empty of dirty dishes, and beyond that– sparkling clean and shiny, it will have a positive effect on the rest of the kitchen and the house.
Shine your sink every night after you do the dishes with a powdered cleaner or surface scrub. Then, do a quick spray with something that smells great and shine it up. She even encourages us to dry out our sink when we are done using it. A clean, dry sink?! What a luxury right? Bonus points for putting a bunch of flowers in your shiny sink like an Instagram Influencer–it really does make for a pretty photo! (Read more.)