A plan of Sydney Gardens, Bath as part of the plan of Bath published in 1810. Charles Harcourt Masters’ [Public domain] via Wikimedia CommonsSketch of the Fancy Fair at Sydney Gardens, Bath for the Relief of Distressed Seamen. Painted around 1836 by an unknown artist. (Public Domain) via Wikimedia Commons.
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“What are you about, Blakesley?”
“Just reading my paper and taking in the view, Mr. Norman. Do you have the morning free from patients?”
Mr. Norman was one of the many physicians who made a good living off of the people who came to Bath to take the waters and improve their health.
“Not a one for another hour.” Mr. Norman took a seat next to Walter. “The view from here is not without its pleasant aspects.” He cut a sly look at his friend.
“Indeed, it is not. However, I do not think that the mother of those two is looking for a physician either for herself or her daughters.”
Tomorrow, in our Sweet Tuesday story, we will be meeting the hero of our story. Here is how chapter 2 begins…
“I do not see why Grace had to come with us.”
Walter Blakesley peeked over his morning paper to see the source of the comment. She was a fair-looking young lady with a pleasing figure and a dignified carriage. Not his sort. Such an air of grandeur was more likely than not accompanied by fits of temper when the chit did not get her way. He turned his attention back to the news from last night’s soirees.
“And leave her at home?”
Walter chuckled. The mother sounded shocked, but he reckoned that an opinionated young woman spouting her opinions should not come as a surprise to the young lady’s mother. He held his paper in place as if he were reading it but turned his attention to what he was certain was going to be an interesting conversation between mother and daughter as they strolled past where he sat in the garden.
“She has enough gowns for the number of soirees she will be attending. There is no need for her to follow us around from shop to shop.”
“I do not believe we are in a shop.”
He peeked around his paper so he could match a face with the voice of the young lady, most likely the aforementioned Grace, who had just spoken.
[from Her Secret Bea, Touches of Austen Book 3]
Published to Youtube by Katie Douglas on December 23, 2009.
I have heard this song by one of my favourite groups on the radio several times lately, and I thought it would make a perfect Father’s Day song. 🙂 So today’s song choice is for all those good men out there, whether real or imaginary. I am including the imaginary fellas here since I know that for my heroes, as well as many supporting characters, the ideas in this song hold true — maybe not at the beginning of a story, but most certainly by the end of a story. Therefore, it also seemed fitting to share this video today since tomorrow we are going to meet the hero of Her Secret Beau. Continue reading Music Monday: A Good Man (Emerson Drive)
Grace Love was not the sort of lady who sat on the side during dances. She was not the sort of lady who stayed at home when there was an outing to the park. She was not the sort of lady who avoided any sort of fun. Or, at least, she had not been such a lady until now. And all it had taken for Grace’s world to change had been one house party.
With eyes narrowed, she watched the progress of her sister’s hat as the carriage Felicity was perched in made its way down the street.
“Grace, dear, do not spill your tea on that chair.”
“Of course, Mama.” Grace pulled her attention back to the sitting room in the house they were renting for the season and away from her treacherous sister.
[from Her Secret Bea, Touches of Austen Book 3]
Provided to YouTube by CDBaby. Published on YouTube on July 5, 2015.
I had considered attempting to find songs with either the word secret or whisper in the title for each week that this story posts. However, I do not know how many weeks that will be, and I thought I might get bored of that. 😀 So, I might toss in a few secretively titled songs over the weeks but not every week. This week, I have selected a song that is on my Music to Write By playlist on Spotify that has a title which reflects what must happen as a story is being written. The imagination must dance! 🙂
And my imagination has been dancing. I am not sure how many conversations Mary and Wes have had in my mind this week. It all has to do with future possibilities, however, and not the portion of the story I am currently writing. They are even making it a bit of a challenge to focus on any other story but theirs. But then, we should expect Lord Westonbury to be a bit troublesome, shouldn’t we? LOL Continue reading Music Monday: Dance of the Imagination (Greg Maroney)
Today, I am reaching into Georgiana’s Music Folder and am including both a beautiful instrumental version of this song that has a wonderful storytelling video with it and a lovely vocal version so that you can hear the lyrics.
The instrumental version has this bit of information about the song as part of the introduction. I typed it out here so that it would be easier to read. It’s a beautiful story.
“Thomas Moore, the Irish Poet, upon his return home from war, found his wife to be unwilling to let him see her. During his tour abroad, she had contracted smallpox, disfiguring enough to hide her face from him. Ever devoted to her and their love, Thomas penned a song that he sang softly to her through the bedroom door. He was hoping to woo her back into his graces and to once again see her face.”
Published to YouTube by Jenny Oaks Baker on February 9, 2015.
Published to YouTube by JamesPigBandit on November 28, 2010.
There is a story connection that goes with this song, but I am not revealing that today. I’ll let you discover it on Thursday in the last chapter of Loving Lydia. 🙂 If you’re the sentimental softy sort like I am, you might want to have a tissue handy for that last chapter, just in case your eyes get misty. 😉 At least, I hope I’m not the only one who needed a tissue as I did when writing it and then every time I have read the chapter since. But then, sentimental sweetness (I had read his story about Thomas Moore so that was in my mind) mixed with the end of a story always tugs on my heartstrings.
Because of the story about Thomas Moore which accompanies these videos today, I have chosen not to include a snippet from tomorrow’s Sweet Tuesday story, but I will include an excerpt from a previously published book below so that you are not left without a bit of an interesting tale to start the week off.
