In Jane Austen's England

After the overcast, chilly Friday, I didn’t have high hopes for good weather on Saturday, but I sure prayed for it! Lo and behold, we awoke Saturday morning to streaming sunshine and warming temperatures! As the day went on, we were treated to bright blue skies, gorgeous white clouds, and balmy temps in the 70s. [...]

After our delightful tour of Jane Austen’s House Museum in Chawton, we boarded our coach for the short drive to Winchester, where Jane is buried in the cathedral. The sky still looked fairly ominous, but no rain fell as we pulled into town. At left you see the imposing town hall with its central clock [...]

I’ve received more questions here and on Facebook about Molly’s lovely gown, which she wore in Greenwich during the tour. Molly borrowed the dress from a friend and has graciously gotten the information from her on how it was made! Here you go: A young lady named Anna used to frequent the S&S Message Forum, [...]

We’re finally unpacking and sorting out all the goodies we brought home from England, and I’ve found several extras I got while in Bath. The Jane Austen Centre gave away goody bags to everyone who had a ticket for the Promenade, so we got a bunch. That means I have some fun Janeite extras to [...]

Friday morning we all gathered bright and early in the hotel lobby with our luggage in tow, ready to board our private coach. Unfortunately, our driver got hung up in West London traffic and didn’t make it to the hotel until nearly an hour later, so, after loading all the bags and settling in, we [...]

While we were in England, I had two different people (both of whom I met while on the tour but who were not in our group) ask me why we’d bring over a group to study clothing, of all things. Weren’t there far more important things we could have devoted our time to? Clothing just [...]

I know, I know, I promised to post the rest of the pictures in the middle of last week. But events conspired to prevent me from going through Lindsay’s stash until yesterday, and now she has 90 photos to put into JPEG format for me. So you’ll just have to be patient a little longer! [...]

Our entire group got up early to head to beautiful Greenwich for our day there. Most of us wore full Regency ensembles and took pictures against various period backdrops, including the famous Colonnade at the Royal Naval College (used in numerous costume dramas, including the recent “Little Dorrit,” where it served as the “Cirumlocution Office”). [...]

Well, we are here in New York, a little bleary eyed, as it is 3:45 a.m. by our body clocks! We should be home tomorrow evening if all goes well. Give me a couple of days to get over jet lag and get the rest of the pictures from Lindsay, and I’ll blog about the [...]

As I mentioned in my last post, Cathy Hay brought a surprise show-and-tell outfit with her to share with the ladies. When she opened her large suitcase and pulled it out, Cassie began fanning herself like she was about to swoon! Turns out she’d been following Cathy’s live journal of the recreation of this stunning [...]