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The National Portrait Gallery and Queen Anne (the play)
Last Friday, Adam suggested to me that we should go see a play on Saturday. I looked online to see what was playing nearby and to what shows we could get tickets still. In my searching for Shakespearean plays, I accidentally found a Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) production on stage that weekend. The best two parts: […]
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Full English Breakfast at a French Brasserie
One cannot spend six weeks in England and not eat a full English breakfast, right? Well, perhaps one might eat such a meal at a bed and breakfast, a country restaurant, or a pub. It struck me as odd, even ironic, that I found myself ordering the full English breakfast at Côte brasserie. Actually, I ate […]
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The Hampshire Record Office
On Tuesday, July 25, I made my first trip to the Hampshire Record Office (HRO) in Winchester. I had hoped to go sooner, but due to my service obligations and research at Chawton, I didn’t get around to making my way over until the 25th. While it is easy to get a day pass to look […]
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Treacle Tart with Clotted Cream, a Walk along the River Itchen, & King Alfred the Great
On Tuesday evening of last week, Adam and I visited our new friend Nancy’s house. Nancy is friend to Sarah, our former Alton host, and as Nancy lives in Winchester, she encouraged Adam and me to call on her when we made it to her hometown. Nancy made us American-style tacos that were yummy, and […]
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When Children Visit JAHM and Tires Blow Out
When I volunteered last Wednesday morning at JAHM, I was pleased to interact with so many children. You might think that kids in a museum like this would be bored. What’s there to do? Well, for starters, when children enter the museum, we immediately ask them if they would like to play a game. We […]
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Evensong at Winchester Cathedral
Winchester Cathedral has Evensong on its schedule every evening. What a treat to those coming from near or far! On Thursday night, we attended a service. It was packed–see? Just kidding. It was not crowded at all. We sat farther away from the vestibule than I would have liked to have sat, but we could […]
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Volunteering at CHL and Listening to the CHL Fellows’ Parting Presentations
As usual, I volunteered at Chawton House Library on Monday. In the morning, I opened the house and blogged (my blog will be featured on the CHL website next month). Then I sat in the Lower Reading Room and read a fabulous story by Maria Edgeworth called “The Good Aunt.” It was not what I […]
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Southsea Castle, a Lighthouse, and Portsmouth’s Historic Dockyard
When I was walking through Kingsgate in Winchester and stopped at the bookshop, I found a series of drawings of famous sites in England. One of these sites, to my delight, is a lighthouse. As a Mainer, I love lighthouses. I visit them as often as I can. I even have a sweatshirt with all […]
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I Walk the Line: The Southampton Jane Austen Trail
In 1956, Johnny Cash wrote his famous song, “I Walk the Line,” backstage in a small Texas town. He once said in an interview, “I was newly married at the time, and I suppose I was laying out my pledge of devotion.” Recently, I walked the line, but for a different love (JA), and in 2017 […]
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Three Austen Exhibits, One City, & One Day
July 22, 2017 Welcome to a Day of Exhibits: “Jane’s Winchester: Malady and Medicine,” “The Mysterious Miss Austen,” and “Educating Boys and Girls in Jane Austen’s England 1775-1817.” Two of these exhibits were housed in one building: the Winchester Discovery Centre. The last can be found in the Winchester College treasury. I will begin with […]