On to Buckingham Palace and the Queen's Backyard

I've been to London to visit the Queen....although she wasn't there, she opened the the Palace for a visit....for £40.  I really wanted to do this, Mr BC almost bailed on me because of....walking.  In making plans, I forgot again that walking the mall in Joplin is different from walking the Mall at Buckingham Palace.  Taxi's from the start next time. 

Mr BC is somewhere on the steps of this statue.

Crowds Everywhere

I planted Mr BC at the Victoria Statue outside Buckingham Palace and went to find the ticket office. Then went back to get him when I found the ticket office around the side of the palace on Buckingham Palace Road.  The whole ticket taking was very well done as you might think.  It was a Friday and next to last day of the tours and crowded as expected. (Pictures of the inside of the palace are from the a web site.

Paul was able to go back stage a bit and take an elevator up and down.

You get the idea, the rooms actually seemed a little smaller with crowds and informational displays.  All very opulent, lots of Dutch painters, Chinese vases, silk, lavish ceilings and wallpaper. Between this and Windsor Castle, they were the reason, I didn't want to see Versailles on the French portion of the tour. I imagine the personal rooms being filled with tweed, tartan, chintz and corgis. 

One could take pictures outside, in the backyard. We had some coffee and sat on the porch, then made our way out. We could see Magpies and sea birds on the lawn and there was a small lake/pond, toilets (finally) and the ubiquitous gift shop with really nice (read, expensive) gifts. 

At the end of the walk out, I found where everyone got the ice cream they were eating, in front of the palace....I was craving something to eat by the time we got there. Good move, Liz and Phil!

We made our way to crowded Victoria underground...It was Friday night, remember and then to our hotel.  We had an excellent room service. We also noted the bus stop in front of the hotel and check bus service to the Tower of London for tomorrow.

Write on Edge-Epitaph

Lemmington, England 1840

Charlotte was wandering through the church yard cemetery toward the bench where she often enjoyed sketching the church and parish school where her husband, Edward was vicar.  Edward had mentioned yesterday at tea about an unusual epitaph, so now she zig-zagged through the stones and monuments looking for the grave stone.  She soon found it in the older section of the cemetery, where stones had been up turned, lopsided and weathered.  The dates around it were of the last century.  No name was carved on the stone, only a verse:

Here lies a miser who lived for himself, who cared
for nothing but gathering wealth.

Now where he is and how he fares;
nobody knows and nobody cares

“How wry and pitiable to be known; only as a miserly man. “  She thought aloud. There was a pretty aspect of the parsonage in the distance, so she set about sketching it quickly.  She wanted to get back to the parsonage and show it to Edward, before tea time.

Charlotte and Edward had been married just a short six months. She had met him ten years ago when he first arrived in the village of Newburn as Deacon of the parish.   She was but a child of twelve.  With her parents long dead, she and her brother John resided with their spinster aunt, in a small cottage at the edge of Newburn Hall.   With her tiny income, Aunt Jane was able to teach them to read and enjoy books from the circulating library. She encouraged Charlotte’s drawing and sent John to the Parish Day School for several years.  That was where they made the acquaintance of the young deacon, Edward Stephenson. 

Aunt Jane would often tell them reminiscences of her youth when she and their mother were young ladies of wealth and standing in the neighbourhood, but nothing was said of how they became so impoverished.  However, she was silent on the circumstances of their parent’s marriage and death. One of the stories that neighbours told, was that Aunt Jane and their mother had been at the mercy of a miserly relative who did nothing to put them forward in society, leaving them nothing but the cottage and a tiny inheritance. 

As the years passed, her brother eventually went to work clerking for the Newburn Railway. This supplemented the small income of their aunt and by living carefully, they enjoyed a satisfactory life with a small circle of friends. With no dowry, she had little expectations of making a good marriage.  So everyone was surprised when, after receiving a church living of his own, Edward proposed.

Charlotte now securely ensconced in the parsonage of Holy Saviour Church, Lemmington, seemed unconcerned by the circumstances of her former life.  She opened her book to look again at the sketch before showing Edward her drawing. She observed the gravestone in the forground, thinking it ruined the sketch of her lovely home and began to fill it in with flowers and grasses. 'That is much better," she thought.

For this week, write a fiction or creative non-fiction piece in which an epitaph features prominently. I found mine at The Epitaph Browser.  It is from Lemmington, England. found under Anonymous. I found a Lemington in Northumbria near Newcastle and an appropriate parish in which I set my story.

 

If I were a tussy-mussy

The Victorian language of flowers, sometimes called floriography, or the Japanese Hanakotoba was a means of communication in which various flowers and floral arrangements were used to send secret messages, allowing individuals to express feelings which otherwise could not be spoken. This would be delivered in a bouquet called a tussy-mussy. In my list below the first meaning is traditional Victorian and the second meaning is Hanakotoba. 


I decided that I would find the meanings of the flowers that I am fond of and see what that says about me. These are also the flowers I would put in a bouquet, as the words that really best describe might not make the prettiest bouquet. The flowers I love and often have around me are these:


Impatiens - (balsamine) impatience

I can be very impatient when I am ready, and when I had two teenage daughters I was always ready and impatient.  Now that Mr BC has slowed down because he is retired and he doesn't have to hurry, so I often am impatient again.




Azalea - Patient/Modest

Now this would seem a contradiction, however, with Лука I have a lot of patience.  The Japanese meaning is probably more true, as I am modest to the point that it is hard to accept a compliment and I have worked for years to respond with thank you.


Peony - Shame,Bashfulness/Bravery

Again I prefer the Japanese version.  I would like to think I 
am brave.  I would hate to have some Victorian send me a bouquet of peonies because I should be ashamed of something I have done.  But the truth is when I have done something wrong, I sometimes have trouble saying I am sorry. 


Camellia - Waiting,Longing/Unpretending Excellence

I don't like either of theses meanings, waiting=impatience
Unpretending was not even a spell check word.  But I think it means not  being ashamed of being excellent. Thinking back to peonies and false modesty, this one is a contradiction.  However in CA there is sometimes a camellia bush in every yard, there were several in mine as a child and they are lovely flowers.
 


 Blue Violet - Faithfulness /Honest

I would be proud to find violets in my bouquet, I remember tiny Johnnie jump-ups that use to pop up in the grass around the front porch of my childhood home.  I would pick them for my dollies.




Iris Good News/Glad Tidings

I am always in the market for good news and glad tidings. I would like to report that the best good news came on Wednesday, when my first SS check was FINALLY directly deposited into my checking account.  I would love to give the
glad tidings that I was going to splurge on something for myself, however, like my paychecks before I retired, it is spent already!


This post was inspired by: 

The Prompts:
1.) What type of flowers would be in a bouquet that best describes you?
2.) A memorable fishing trip.
3.) Yuck. Food Poisoning
4.) 10 things you would do if you didn’t have to work.
5.) What’s your stance on ‘labeling’? Were you labeled as a child? Have you labeled your own children? How do you feel about this?