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arizonapoppy · 5 days
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Today in Middle-Earth: Eowyn and Faramir wait in Minas Tirith (March 23rd, 3019 T.A.)
‘The reason of my waking mind tells me that great evil has befallen and we stand at the end of days. But my heart says nay; and all my limbs are light, and a hope and joy are come to me that no reason can deny. Éowyn, Éowyn, White Lady of Rohan, in this hour I do not believe that any darkness will endure!’ And he stooped and kissed her brow. 
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arizonapoppy · 20 days
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AUSTENLAND (2013) dir. Jerusha Hess
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arizonapoppy · 20 days
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arizonapoppy · 20 days
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Something gave way in Mrs Conrad. Joscelyn's apparent immobility maddened her. She let loose all the suppressed hatred of years. She shouted--she cried--she raved--she leaned across the gate and tried to shake Joscelyn. In short she made such a show of herself that all the rest of her life she went meekly and humbly before Joscelyn, remembering it.
As ashamed as Mrs Conrad Dark is of this meltdown, I have to give her a lot of credit for it. Finally someone in the Hugh-Joscelyn storyline is casting aside the clan pride in order to actually communicate how hurtful this situation is for them.
It's not just Hugh and Joscelyn who have lost ten years.
Requisite Tumblr disclaimer - no one is ever obligated to have children if they don't want to. That said, before the ill-fated wedding, Hugh and Joscelyn did want children - they wanted to make a home full of life and joy at Treewoofe where they could raise a family, host friends, and be a vibrant part of the community:
Their home, haunted by no ghosts of the past--only by wraiths of the future. Unborn eyes would look out of its windows--unborn voices sing in its rooms--unborn feet run lightly in the old orchard. Beautiful to-morrows--unknown lovely years were waiting there for them. Friends would come to them--hands of comrades would knock at their door--silken gowns would rustle through their chambers--there would be companionship and good smacking jests such as their clan loved. What a home they would make of Treewoofe! All the richness and ripeness of life would be theirs.
The loss of all that has impacted not just Hugh and Jocelyn, but their family and friends as well. It wouldn't have been unreasonable for Mrs Conrad to expect that she would have grandchildren by now; instead, she's had ten years of a lonely, bitter son with an empty house full of dust.
[Side note: how on earth does the Conservative Party think that Hugh is their best candidate? The situation with Joscelyn leaves him so open to attacks on his character - not just the terrible rumours about what caused the breakup, or period-typical patriarchal attacks like, "How can he lead the riding when he can't even control his own wife?" but also perfectly valid questions about his ability to resolve conflict.]
Throughout the book, Mrs Conrad Dark has been described as cold and venomous and as hating Joscelyn for no good reason (most likely for a clan-typical grudge against Joscelyn's mother). When Joscelyn encounters her here, with "that hooded look of hers as she brooded her venom," we might think that we're in for a Lady Catherine de Bourgh / Elizabeth Bennet type of scene, with Mrs Conrad as the unsympathetic adversary who unintentionally empowers Joscelyn to resolve her romantic stalemate.
That's not what happens. Instead:
Mrs Conrad deliberately tells Joscelyn that Hugh still loves her.
Mrs Conrad humbles herself on her son's behalf, telling Joscelyn that, despite hating her all these years, she would forgive her if Joscelyn would only go back to Hugh and make him happy.
And that longtime hatred of Joscelyn? Turns out, it's pretty well justified:
Convention fell away from Joscelyn. She felt as if she and Mrs Conrad were alone in some strange world where nothing but realities mattered. "Mrs Dark," she said slowly, "why have you always hated me--not just since--since I married Hugh--but before it?" "Because I knew you didn't love Hugh enough," answered Mrs Conrad fiercely. "I hated you on your wedding-night because you didn't deserve your happiness. I knew you would play fast and loose with him in some way. Do you know there hasn't been a night since your wedding that I haven't prayed for evil to come on you. And yet--if you'd go back to him and make him happy--I'd--I'd forgive you. Even you." "Go back to him. But does he want me back? Doesn't he--doesn't he love Pauline?" "Pauline! I wish he did. She wouldn't have broken his heart--she wouldn't have made him a laughing-stock. I used to pray he would love her. But she wasn't pretty enough. Men have such a cursed hankering for good looks. You had him fast--snared in the gold of your hair. Even yet--even yet. When he was fainting on the road down there, after the accident that might have killed him--he called for you--you who had left him and shamed him--it was you he wanted when he thought he was dying." A fierce pang of joy stabbed through Joscelyn. But she would not let Mrs Conrad suspect it. "Isn't he going to sell Treewoofe?" "Sell Treewoofe! Sometimes I'm afraid he will--and go God knows where--my dearest son." Something gave way in Mrs Conrad. Joscelyn's apparent immobility maddened her.
Note that - even in this "strange world where nothing but realities mattered" - Joscelyn doesn't offer Mrs Conrad any truths of her own in return. She doesn't make any declarations; she only asks questions, and keeps her own reactions guarded. If I were Mrs Conrad, I'd be maddened by her immobility too.
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arizonapoppy · 21 days
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Tangled Web Book Club: Mar 7th
I like the idea of everyone bundled up tight against the winter storm. Or in the case of Donna and Peter, off in the savanna. I kind of imagine them stumbling into a sort of Heat of the Sun episode or Agatha Christie early novel (e.g., They Came to Baghdad or Man in the Brown Suit) as their next adventure.
Again, the Sams subplot is one of my least favorite.
And the ending, well,
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arizonapoppy · 22 days
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Tangled Web Book Club: Mar 6th
What does LMM have against nursing old flames and rekindling old romance?
We used to joke in symphony chorus that an alto jilted some composers horribly in their pasts, and that is why they wrote terrible music for altos. I wonder what role LMM's past unsuccessful romances have to do with her mocking just about every single youthful romance.
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arizonapoppy · 23 days
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Tangled Web Book Club: Mar 5th
I think it's funny that they dismiss drawing lots as a way of settling the matter as "unchristian." I expect that LMM, being a good Scotch Presbyterian thought in the Bible the casting of lots for Jesus's cloak was seen as undignified and disgraceful. On the other hand, the Moravians and some types of Amish congregations divine the will of the Christian God through casting lots. For example, the location of the Moravian church settlement of Salem in North Carolina was decided through lots. Here is a sermon by someone from a Moravian background on the meaning it has in their community.
And I've always loved the ending of this chapter. I wonder if LMM was stuck on how it should end and decided to not decide? Or did she have this ending in mind from the very beginning?
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arizonapoppy · 24 days
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I did a major curation of my internet experience on another social media platform last week because of some stuff that was going down. Today I'm worried that I am about to have to do it again. The problem is that if I curate these last few people out of my life, I'm not going to have anyone to follow.
And now I'm wondering what that tells me about my entire existence on that platform.
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arizonapoppy · 24 days
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Tangled Web Book Club: Mar 4th
"and the Jim Trents, who were quarantined for measles and were at home bitterly wondering if they had served God for naught."
This line hits a little more pointed now that people in Florida seem to not care about measles and vaccinations.
"Hugh and Joscelyn were there, although Joscelyn would rather have been home, painting the woodwork in the spare room at Treewoofe."
This line has always said too much and not enough. When I first read the book, I thought that perhaps it meant that this is a euphemism to mean that they were already in expectation of a blessed event so quickly after reconciliation. But now reading it maybe it is just face value, and Joscelyn loves Treewoofe so much she is having fun redecorating after all these years.
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arizonapoppy · 25 days
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Can totally agree that the chemicals in driftwood are probably not nice. The salt probably makes pretty colors, but is awful to breathe. I was on a camping trip where someone decided to put the fancy sprinkles in the fire to make pretty colors. I had a horrible sore throat the next day.
"If not, it was a safe wager that Roger was talking to her in the living-room at Maywood, with a driftwood fire dreaming dreams of fairy colours in the grate."
Tangled Web by L.M.Montgomery
vs:
"We all made a fire of driftwood on the shore the other night and danced about it. [...]
But even grandmother did not disdain the bundle of driftwood old Timothy Salt expressed up. She let Jane burn it in the fireplace on Christmas eve, and mother loved the blue and green and purple flames."
Jane of Lantern Hill by L.M.Montgomery
Driftwood is back!!!! It must have been so pretty!
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arizonapoppy · 25 days
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Tangled Web Book Club: March 3rd
Little Sam has a kind heart. And Margaret has a kind heart. But oh the melodrama of this subplot! They are pouring it on thick.
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arizonapoppy · 27 days
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Tangled Web Book Club: Mar 1st
"Roger who was a man!" <- I just had to giggle here.
But it is true that Noel is not the most mature person. But we find out that he gets a little character growth out of it, at least.
I'm a little weary of the sudden life changing revelations in this book though. Everyone has a punctuated equilibrium existence, no genetic drift of their emotions. No slow realizations, just lightning bolts out of the sky. Which is fine in their place among the variety, but every single one?
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arizonapoppy · 28 days
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Tangled Web Book Club: Feb 29th
Penny deciding to break up with Margaret because she told him his watch had the wrong time is like Hwa-Jeong throwing out her husband because he left socks all over the floor. It's petty, but sometimes there is just that last straw.
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Aunt Becky was smart in giving Margaret the Pilgrim's Progress. It seemed tattered and useless but was actually worth something. It reminds me of right before my husband's great-aunt died, she grabbed her sister's hand and told her that she wanted her to have a particular piece of seemingly worthless household furniture after she was gone. Her sister took it home with her after the funeral, and her children let her because to all appearances it was worthless. When the second sister cut apart the cushions, there was quite a lot of money sewn inside. You see, after the Depression, the great-aunt hadn't trusted banks and only the sisters remembered the Depression; their children hadn't lived through it. I think Aunt Becky was quietly providing for Margaret if she was clever enough to pick up on it, which it seems she was.
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arizonapoppy · 29 days
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Tangled Web Book Club: Feb 28th
Treewoofe in this chapter seems almost made into a character of its own with agency. Very gothic. (Like Manderley or the house in Mexican Gothic)
Hugh Dark was his mother's son. He crushed back the mad words of passion that rushed to his lips. He spoke coldly--sternly.
And umm, I've definitely changed since I read this as a teenager, because does anyone else get, umm, Dom vibes from this?
And now because of that I have a very specific headcasting for Hugh in my brain.
A wedding-ring was lying on the dusty mantel, where it had lain for many years. Hugh took it up and put it on her finger.
"Joscelyn," he cried suddenly. "Oh, Joscelyn--my Joscelyn!"
This is probably one of my top 10 spectacular fade to blacks that I can think of. (Number one is the piano scene in "Bong Soon.") I am 110% sure I know what happened next. (Another opportunity for fanfic)
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arizonapoppy · 29 days
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Tangled Web Book Club: Feb 27th
"Peter did not undeceive her. He remembered that he had once heard Stanton Grundy say that life would be unbearable if we didn't believe a few lies. The deception sat lightly on Peter's conscience, for he knew that if he had dreamed for a moment that Donna was, or even might be, in that doomed house he would have gone through it from cellar to attic for her."
My father has been known to say, "Take the credit you don't deserve, because you will also have to take the blame you don't deserve."
And I love that the highest compliment Drowned John can think of to entertain/impress Peter is to show his favorite pig.
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arizonapoppy · 29 days
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7 Questions to Get to Know Me Better
Thank you Sunny for the tag! @minisugakoobies
last song: "Cataverdis" by Ren Lockhart
favorite color: cool colors
last film/show: Hotel del Luna. (Just started this week)
sweet/savory/spicy: spicy
last thing i googled: the definition of "genial," to make sure I used it right
relationship status: married
current obsessions: Getting one of the blanketyblankblank daggum 500 golden ticket photocards in the new xikers album Target exclusives. I'm resigned to not getting it at this point, because the odds are so incredibly low and the aftermarket cost will be worse than an Ateez hanbok winner card. I preordered an obscene number and paid family and friends to preorder it for me under their Target accounts as well, but I'm not getting my hopes up.
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I'm not sure who has done this recently, so if you want to play: Tag, you're it!
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arizonapoppy · 29 days
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Tangled Web Book Club: Feb 26th
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This is not the gif I was looking for, but it is perfect for this chapter. The two of them really are not going in for this character development business, are they?
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