Marinette in hanfu inspired by this post

(closeup under the cut)

Thursday 28 June 1838

7 20

10 ½

rained all and very rainy morning F66° at 7 ½ am – breakfast at 8 ¾ - still rain and off in the rain from the Hotel de France (quite au auberge but good eating and good beds and good sort of people and civil servants) Barbezieux at 9 ½ - not one peep of the old castle we sketched with so much pleasure in 1830 – too dark to see it last night – turned into a barrack 2 or 3 years ago – B- as we drove off in the rain this morning seemed a poor little place but in a fine well wooded country – corn, and Indian ditto, and vines, and potatoes – have seen very little wheat – the best (and some good) on the high ground just out of Barbezieux and fine as before Spanish chesnut trees parkwise – Reignac,  a little church little village – overheard the maitre de poste observe of my carriage ‘il y a bien peu de berlines à present’ – I do not remember to have seen one on the road all the way from Paris – changed horses in 3 minutes, and off again at 10 ¾ at which time fair, having rained all the way – never fair since 12 ½ last night? at 11 (1/4 hour from Reignac) Copse forest of very cut-leaved oak and some young firs Pinus maritima?   La Graulle, a farm-house – asleep to la Garde Montliere (bourg) at 11 47 – asleep again –at Chiersac in 20 minutes single house – asked A- to have Noyau  soon after setting out  now and her tone of voice was the sign for my saying no more I have never spoken since dullish work  Off from Chiersac at 12 20 – my Itinéraire mentions Landes – rare nowadays – so far the ground is almost everywhere wood or in cultivation generally green hedges along the road sides – Began to rain again soon after leaving Chiersac – at Cavignac, good village at 1 21, 2 pp. [?]  in 57 minutes in spite of the rain – had dozed great part of the way – Just out of Cavignac, nice fig tree against cottage end – 1st I have seen – fine country – our postilion  (4th a la basque our 3rd à la basque being from Chiersac) turned his blanket-cloak wrong side before against the rain and thus kept himself dry – at 2 35 drive thro’ the tolerable little town of St. André de Cubzac (Itinéraire says 1,000 inhabitants) and at 2 53 Sabot and down into good village of Cubzac – Dordogne, muddy with the rain – and road as the Garonne at Bordeaux – 3 piers on the river with iron-work on them and about 30 arches this side and 27 or 28 on the other for a suspension bridge – Picturesque remain (right) of old gateway between 2 round towers

SH:7/ML/E/21/0133

and large quarry of soft white sandstone of which they seem to be building the bridge – at the water’s edge at 3 – 4 fresh horses came in 10 minutes and embarked at 3 17 a sail astern, and 6 horses turning the wheel in the middle of our broad-raft-like vessel worked us across in 13 minutes and we landed (drove out of the vessel as we drove in) at 3 ½ - hedges and like England except for the vines which here and all today (from Barbezieux) have seemed generally old plants – old rugged sterns perhaps a couple of feet? high from which spring the young shoots – rye quite yellow and barley turning fast – nowhere so forward as here – hill-surrounded, wooded, well peopled fine rich plane – Carbon blanc (good white village) at 4 – all the villages white when clean and new – from top of hill at 4 27 1st view of the fine Garonne, and bridge and Bordeaux and its seven spires – very fine view spite of the rain – hill side on our left, in the descent, walled up with a bur-wall (not much burred) but having at about every 2 yards along the bottom loop-holes 3 or 4 in. wide and 2ft.+ long   capital to let the water off and take off all strain from the wall – beautiful descent – beautifully rounded wooded hills and vineyards left and rich plane right – then at 4 ½ fine double avenue of youngish elms and poplars up to the river – cross the magnificent bridge of 17 arches (500ft. long and 45ft. wide) at 4 ¾ and alight at the hotel de Rouen at 4 50 – very good humoured looking civil maitresse d’hotel – 2 rooms au 1er opening into each other – looking into the court, small and glazed over like a conservatory – but our rooms must be 15ft. high – too lofty to be close – dinner at 5 50 to 6 ½ - I had had a bad headache ever since crossing the Dardogne and A- said she had also a very [bad] headache – she would go out with me – out from 7 to 8 55 – sauntered to the place Dauphine, theatre Français, cathedral and a very civil booksellers in the Fosses’ du chapeau Rouge no. 17 – bought Itinéraire des Pyrénées and inquired for Charpentiers’ map – not to be had without the work itself and this not to be had in Bordeaux – to be sent for to Paris – the carriage would be per poste 1 sol per [short] that is 1 short 8vo = 8 leaves or 16 pp. .:. the no. of pages of the work x 1 sol = the price of carriage to St. Sauveur Poste restante – 16 except two or three times asking her to have Noyau I never spoke from Barbezieux to Bordeaux  spoke a little this evening but she is terrible  I never before knew the misery of solitude  she is with me and yet I have not a soul to speak to  she is a human being at my elbow and I am alone oh that I was well rid of her – very rainy day but fair from 7pm to 9 pm F66 ½° at 10 10 pm  had Josephine at 9 – sat reading Itinéraire des Pyrénées till 10 pm

Writing Fanfic: Another Weird Trick

Now let’s talk about the neatness of very different cultures or groups running into each other. This is far easier to pull off in original fiction than the AU Villain. Entire books and even series can be made out of cultural clashes; Barrayar by Lois McMaster Bujold is one stunning example, and C.J. Cherryh’s Foreigner series is one of my personal favorites to read and re-read.

The thing is, it usually takes a whole book - or series! - to set up a proper cultural clash. If all you want is to write a relatively short, fun story exploring the concept, you may not have the energy for that. So how to do it in a short piece for fun?

Trick #2: Crossover Cultural Clash.

Every show, and group of heroes, has its own “culture” and standards as to what are the proper ways to do things. How do you defeat an enemy - by beating them in a card game, or beheading? How do you treat a friend; candy and hugs, or a rough pep talk when the chips are down? What are the limits when you’re defending people you care about? What’s the worst thing that could happen to you on any given day?

If you find two shows that you think you can make fit together for a story, you have a built-in culture clash.

Three authors on Archive of Our Own I’m particularly going to recc’ for this: Kryal, Ellen Brand, and Jedi Buttercup. I’m sure there’s plenty more, but I’ve been following these three for a long time.

For Kryal, two that are particularly good are The Dragon-King’s Temple (Stargate/AtLA) and What the Cat Dragged In (MCU/Miraculous Ladybug). The usual levels of violence are higher in Stargate and the MCU, so there are some interesting ways things either get toned down (ML) or we see more real-life consequences than usual (AtLA).

Ellen Brand has plenty, but I really like Unprofessional Opinion (outsider take on Detective Conan) and Loose Ends (Tony Hicks of Godzilla: the Series poking Sunnydale). An outsider’s look at how really weird a canon situation is brings the wonder of the original canon right back again.

Jedi Buttercup... wow, so many awesome crossovers. Pausing to Wonder (CSI/Dragonriders of Pern), imagine the delinquency (Sleepy Hollow/Guardians of the Galaxy) and Of Iron and Fire (Fast and Furious/The Last Witch-Hunter) are three in particular you would never think work... and they do.

In case anyone’s wondering, there is one particular culture clash I’d like to see in a fic, but I’m not sure I can write it myself. That would be Shen Yuan (Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System) as Shen Qingqiu suffering reverse culture shock by getting dumped back into the modern world still as a xianxia cultivator... and still up against monsters that need his level of skills and power to take down. Say, if he ended up in the Chitauri invasion of NYC, or something....

(Which a friend pointed out is actually three culture clashes in one neat package. 1) Reverse culture shock of coming back to the modern world. 2) NYC is definitely not China. 3) Aliens WTH.

Bonus: I'm a scholar and geek, not a fighter, why does everyone expect me to use this sword, I'm not Liu Qingge-!)

Free to good home!

So in the tags on this post (which is an amazing post that you should just read anyway), @hunxi-guilai came up with the amazing idea of Qingheng-jun leaving the Lan to go travelling around as a rogue cultivator with his wife instead of locking her up. This is an amazing idea that I’ve never seen done before - I’ve seen a couple of fics of Mama Lan, after years of imprisonment, taking one or both of her sons and fleeing, but never actually seen one of QHJ backing her enough from the start to not lock her up and instead just leave with her.

Which is my rambling way of introducing another AU which someone has suggested and has then gone on to EAT MY BRAIN.

* Events begin as they did in canon - QHJ falls in love with Mama Lan, who kills/has killed a Lan Sect teacher, and the Lan are furious and want her executed for it. QHJ marries her and is all “you have to go through me first”.

* It’s the elders’ idea to lock ML in the Jingshi and for QHJ to go into perma-seclusion in a separate residence, as their idea of ‘compromise’ since they can’t kill her now but are against letting her go free. At all. QHJ is like fuck this shit, I’m not going to do that to the woman I love, that’s basically killing her spirit while leaving her body intact. So the two of them escape Cloud Recesses.

* They wander around as a pair of rogue cultivators and do the whole battle couple thing on night hunts. I know we’re told in the narrative that ML didn’t love QHJ, but I think it was @drwcn who pointed out that this comes to us from LXC, who was told this by LQR rather than knowing it firsthand himself? And LQR is hardly an unbiased source when it came to his sister-in-law. So fuck it. They’re both in love with each other.

* Speaking of LQR, where is he in these changed events? @wangxianbunnydoodles pointed out that QHJ fucking off from the sect puts LQR as sect leader in actuality, not just acting. We know he resented his sister-in-law for destroying his brother’s life, which, to me, is an indication of just how much he loved his brother in order to be so upset about QHJ’s perma-seclusion. And he obviously loved his nephews a great deal, even if he was terrible at the emotional side of raising kids. And as a younger man, he had at least some fondness for free-spirited types, given the hints that he had liked Cangse Sanren. So if QHJ decided he was just going to fuck off instead of going into perma-seclusion? I don’t think a young LQR would be happy about that, but I think that he’d be happier than seeing his brother locked up and just wasting away in seclusion. So, I think LQR secretly helps QHJ and ML escape, and secretly stays in contact with them - kinda like how JC does with WWX in canon.

* The Lan can’t hide a missing QHJ, and they can’t say he’s dead when he’s running around the countryside, so instead they say that QHJ chose to step down as sect leader in order to concentrate on his cultivation, etc., etc. LQR becomes sect leader, and still does not marry or have kids because I totally see the man as being aroace. 

* This very much worries the elders re succession - there are a couple of cousins (who will eventually have a grandson named Lan Jingyi), but...

* Then they hear news of ML and QHJ having sons, and that creates an entirely new set of problems. Since they couldn’t expel QHJ from the sect without creating a huge scandal that they wanted to avoid, this means that his sons are now LQR’s heirs. The heirs to the GusuLan are being raised as wandering rogue cultivators instead of good little Lan disciples! This cannot do! So the Lan are very interested in trying to track down those two boys and take them to Cloud Recesses to be Raised Properly (TM).

* ANYWAY BACK TO MAMA LAN AND QINGHENG-JUN!

* They meet and befriend Cangse Sanren and Wei Changze, another couple made up of a rogue cultivator and her husband who left a major sect to travel with her (although in WCZ’s case, he left with the blessing of his sect leader, who is also friends with his wife, and they’re both welcome in Lotus Pier at any time).

* The four of them often travel together and night hunt together, although any time they hear of anything going on in GusuLan lands ML and QHJ are like ...yeah, we can’t go with you, it’s a bad idea for us to go anywhere near there. We’ll meet up with you once you’re done! Because they know that the Lan elders have definitely not forgotten or forgiven either of them, and would def take them back to Cloud Recesses to punish them and lock them up. 

* And take their sons away from them to raise, once LXC and LWJ are born. Then they start hearing whispers that the Lan are specifically looking for the ‘young Sect heirs’ in order to take them back to Cloud Recesses to be ‘safely raised and trained while their parents are busy with their cultivation works’. And they make even more of a point to keep the kids well away from Lan territory.

* LXC, LWJ, and WWX are all childhood playmates since their parents are such good friends, so sometimes they travel together, and sometimes one couple is looking after the kid/s of the other while they’re off doing something or other (like ML and WHJ babysit WWX when his parents are on a dangerous night hunt in Gusu, that kind of thing).

* And now we get to another key divergence point - the night hunt that canonically kills CSR and WCZ. Because there’s a few ways this could go.

* Instead of it just being CSR and WCZ, ML and QHJ are also on the night hunt, and so with four strong cultivators nothing goes wrong, no-one dies, and the four of them continue to be friends and raise their kids.

* The four of them go on the night hunt, and all four of them die, leaving three young boys orphaned on the streets, which gives us even more options as to what happens next. Who takes them in? Does no-one? Does JFM find and take in all three? Do the Lan find and take in all three? Does JFM take WWX and the Lan take LXC and LWJ?

* CSR and WCZ go on the night hunt and die. Maybe WWX was in the care of ML and QHJ at the time. Maybe ML and QHJ find him later, and take him in to raise. Maybe they find him first, then JFM finds them and insists on taking WWX in. Maybe vice versa.

SO MANY POSSIBILITIES JUST FROM WHAT HAPPENS ON THAT NIGHT HUNT! Like, my head is spinning from contemplating all of the ideas and possibilities. Whichever one you go with, you could make AUs of the AU just to go back and explore the other possibilities.

Thought of this yesterday, thought it might be a fun prompt for you: ML AU where the Kwami can "possess" the hero if the hero gets knocked out during battle, as an extra measure to keep the holder safe. Think of the shenanigans the different combos get into like that--also, imagine the public's perspective on how differently they might act if they act different at all (or if some kind of physical change happens, like hair or eye/sclera color). How do the Kwami do/work together as heroes?

Ooh, that is a fun AU, Anon! The colour change in the eyes would be a great visual for that—and much creepier if it’s the whites that change—and that’s not something that would be noticed from a distance, which it would mean it would take longer for someone like Alya to pick up on it. On the other hand, though, not having any sort of visual indicator is worse for the first time this happens, because they probably don’t know it’s coming, or what it is once it starts. And I like that idea more for fics—more initial confusion and terror because of not understanding what’s happening and not being able to immediately write it off as ‘maybe this is okay’ (since that is what happens when Adrien transforms), more questioning, more fear—though in the actual cartoon, I’d prefer the visual.

Now, if it’s something the kwami have always been able to do, they’d be very good at working with each other and would–within the physical capabilities of their Miraculous Holder–have a fighting style that is probably not like the style of whoever is currently holding their Miraculous. They would have a better idea of how to use their magic–it is theirs, after all–and probably wouldn’t face the same time limitation, given that their ‘possession’ would no doubt equal an increase in magical power that would mitigate any negative effects that might normally be associated with using their powers again too soon without properly growing into them.

That being said, there would undoubtedly be a physical toll on the body that the Miraculous Holder doesn’t typically bear. Like the exhaustion the kwami normally feel, except magnified. They’re sore, they’re tired, they’re hungry, and if they don’t just sleep the next day away, they don’t really have the strength to get out of bed. Their parents worry that they’re sick, but though they aren’t running a temperature, it must be something like that. Even though they still have an appetite. A particularly ravenous appetite. But no sooner do they eat than they can barely keep their eyes open. It’s…not ideal. The first time it happens to Adrien, he can’t keep Nathalie from calling the doctor. He can’t come up with an explanation she believes, an excuse that is good enough to overlook the downturn in his health.

But the second time Adrien is stricken with this mysterious illness, it comes with a cough that lingers well past the time he’s back on his feet.

The third time, it hangs around even longer, and she starts watching. Not saying anything to Gabriel–it’s coincidental, and she might very well be wrong, so she’d rather observe and build a stronger case first. But it’s a very familiar cough that rattles in Adrien’s lungs, and she knows very well what it’s like to hide perpetual exhaustion behind a carefully cultivated mask.

The first time one of the kwami are forced to take over, of course, Marinette and Adrien don’t expect it. Marinette remembers fighting, but not the details of it, not really anything after the latest akuma victim brought the roof down on them in the darkness. When she wakes up, blocks away, she assumes Chat Noir got her out of there. She doesn’t understand why he keeps asking if she’s okay, if it’s really her; the villain they’re fighting isn’t a shapeshifter. She tries to struggle to her feet, but it’s harder than she expects, and she doesn’t fight when Chat Noir tells her to keep lying down. That he’ll take care of her. That she doesn’t need to worry.

She assumes that the villain just got away from them in the distraction, but he says it’s over. The akuma is cleansed. They’ve won.

But she can’t remember any of that, and she convinces him to help her into a sitting position. Looking out at the horizon, she sees the very building that came down on them, as whole as it had been before the fight. It…scares her. Shouldn’t she remember using the Miraculous Ladybug spell? Or cleansing the akuma? After she lost her Lucky Charm….

“Tikki’s a good fighter,” Chat Noir tells her quietly. Marinette tries to figure out what that means, when he might have even seen Tikki since the time they’d been forced to switch Miraculous, and all she can come up with is Tikki’s assurances that she’d always do everything she could to protect her. She’s still transformed, after all; Chat Noir shouldn’t have had any opportunity to talk to Tikki now, let alone fight alongside her.

And then Chat Noir adds that it only took Tikki a few moments to get the hang of her body. That after a few trips and swings and misses, it was as if he were working alongside his lady like usual. Except that she was suddenly taking risks she wouldn’t usually take, proposing ideas at lightning speed and even offering him advice on how to use his staff more effectively for their current situation.

He also says that Tikki ignored his questions, answering with a terse ‘later, once this is over and we’re safe’ and a more than a few grumblings about Plagg. Apparently, she’d apologized afterwards, insisted that her priority was keeping Paris and her Miraculous Holder safe, and explained about this, something he’d never heard of–though he did admit that might be because he hadn’t listened to everything Plagg tried to tell him.

He doesn’t have to tell Marinette how worried he must have been, to see her go down and not get back up. He doesn’t have to tell her how quickly terror had replaced relief when she came to and began to fight again. He doesn’t have to tell her how uncomfortable he still felt about fighting alongside someone who very clearly wasn’t his lady, despite fighting with Ladybug’s body. She can hear it all in his voice, see it all on his face.

She doesn’t have the strength to get home, but she doesn’t dare ask Chat Noir for help. She pretends she is better than she is and collapses when he is gone, when his use of Cataclysm forces him to leave. She remembers thinking that she doesn’t know what to do, that she isn’t sure if she has the strength to crawl to somewhere she might be found. She remembers crying, talking to Tikki even though she’s still transformed, convinced that the moment the strengthening magic of the kwami disappears, she’ll lose consciousness.

She doesn’t know when she blacks out; she only knows that she wakes up in her own bed as Marinette, staring into the worried faces of her parents.

Marinette doesn’t see the Ladyblog until later. Not like Adrien, who sees the update that night and the slew of speculation that follows. Alya noticed that Ladybug was fighting differently than usual. She never saw Tikki’s initial bout of clumsiness; Tikki was too quick to adjust to the feel of Marinette’s body, and Alya was too far out of that particular destruction zone—thankfully—to catch any of that. She wasn’t close enough to see much more than how Ladybug handled the situation, either.

She wasn’t close enough to tell the difference.

She just knew there was one.

There was discussion about whether or not this was another power. There were theories about why Ladybug was able to produce multiple Lucky Charms, why she didn’t need to worry about her usual five minute time limit. Adrien knew perfectly well Chat Noir had looked much like a bumbling fool alongside Tikki, whose thousands of years of experience fighting showed in the way she could read a situation and act or react accordingly, but there were more than a few comments praising him, too, for how well he adjusted to this change in his partner’s rhythm.

Alya had been too far away to see the panic in his face, too.

Thankfully.

Adrien has a long, whispered conversation with Plagg that night. Plagg insists that he told Adrien about this ages ago, or tried to. It’s meant to keep them safe. They know the toll it takes on the human body, and that’s why they don’t do it unless absolutely necessary. It’s meant to keep them safe, all of them safe—Miraculous Holders and Kwami alike. It’s rare that more than one kwami has to take action like this in one fight, but it’s happened. He’s fought alongside Tikki before. He’s had to. That’s better than the alternative.

Kwami magic can protect them from a lot, but it cannot protect them from everything. When they’re pushed past their limit or otherwise can’t hold on to consciousness during a fight, when their lives and their secrets hang in the balance– That’s when the kwami can choose to act. It’s a last resort. If expressly forbidden, they won’t be able to do it. If the act will endanger their Miraculous Holder, they won’t be able to do it. Plagg isn’t very good about explaining the rules. Adrien just learns that it’s complicated, to hope that Plagg never has to do it, and to be thankful that he can. It’ll be hard on him—the kwami doesn’t sugarcoat that—but it’ll mean he’ll be able to fight another day. It means he’ll survive.

It’s because of that conversation, really, that Adrien recognizes it when it happens to him.

The aftermath marks one of the few times Adrien has ever accepted Plagg’s offer to share some of his precious camembert.

He doesn’t remember the destruction Plagg left in his wake when he acted as Chat Noir, but the footage and pictures on the Ladyblog were extensive.

The speculation started up again, too, the conversation about what this was, if it was them, or maybe even that it meant one of them from the future, albeit temporarily, a jump of consciousness or influx of futuristic knowledge, perhaps the activation of another Miraculous that worked in more subtle ways—

Ladybug hadn’t yet handed out Bunnyx’s Miraculous—not to their Bunnyx, anyway—but they’d run into enough akuma with some sort of power of time travel that everyone knew perfectly well it was a possibility.

Of course, looking over the footage on the Ladyblog doesn’t help him decipher Ladybug’s comments about Plagg one bit. Adrien still isn’t sure what he said to her. How much he told her. How much he hinted. And Plagg isn’t giving anything up, whether bribed with cheese or threatened by having it withheld. He’s always told Adrien that secrecy is important for their own protection, but he…hasn’t practiced that at every opportunity. And he’s encouraged Adrien to do quite the opposite. Adrien knows the risks, knows he can’t let it get out that he’s Chat Noir—not just because of Hawk Moth, but because of his father—and he doesn’t want to give up his partnership with Plagg, but….

But it doesn’t explain why Plagg makes the comments he does.

Or why Tikki, the next time he’s forced to fight alongside her, makes the pointed retorts she does when he dares bring up the subject.

It’s all very confusing.

Ladybug doesn’t want to examine it. More to the point, she doesn’t want to risk examining it. And he trusts her.

But he also sees the sidelong glances she sometimes gives him when she thinks he’s not looking, and he wishes someone would answer his questions.

At least coming up with something to tell Nathalie about his sudden illness when he’d been perfectly fine when the Gorilla had dropped him off at fencing practice an hour ago is something of a distraction.

-|-

(In case people aren’t aware, I am collecting musings like these in my fic ideas post. This post also includes a link to further musings on dual possession, as well as these anon additions…and the anon’s nickname for Plagg!Chat Noir and now their awesome edits (and more and more edits)!)

C novel list, v2

I’m almost done reading through everything in my queue, so here is a (somewhat cleaned up) look at my reading list at NU. 

Good, wholesome: 

Ascending, Do Not Disturb - The sweetest, most chill cultivation novel I’ve read so far. I recommend it to basically everyone. 

Picking Up a General to Plow the Fields - When you transmigrate but end up in a rural village, so you gotta use your agricultural degree instead of backstabbing family intrigue. 

The Lady’s Sickly Husband - When you transmigrate, have no idea who you ended up as, and yet still get married off to some dude. Fortunately, he just hides in his room, so you’re free to start your own business instead. 

Cultivation Chat Group - Only male MC here. It’s somewhat less wholesome because people do get killed, but it’s quite lighthearted and there are no ridiculous abuse backstories (for the first 150 chapters). 

Mary Sue fem MC wish fulfillment: 

Let me just say that I feel no shame and greatly enjoy these OP ladies fake lolis doing as they please. 

Genius Doctor: Black Belly Miss - The first poison genius assassin MC I read, and it still has a warm place in my heart. I enjoyed the MC having a loving family and then later supportive comrades. That made the difference for me. 

Bewitching Prince Spoils His Wife: Genius Doctor Unscrupulous Consort

Major General Spoils his Soul-guiding Wife - It’s Sentinel AU sci-fi but also with cultivation. I’m just amused by the entire mishmash premise. 

Pampered Consort of the Fragrant Orchard - Actually, I would say this one almost qualifies for “chill and wholesome” except that the MC is indeed a genius assassin in her past life. This is a less important skill set than being able to farm and cook tho. 

Queen of the Scalpel - This one actually doesn’t quite fit here, but I liked the set up, with her being reborn into her past after living in the modern world. 

Rebirth of the Strongest Female Emperor  

Unprecedented Pill Refiner: Entitled Ninth Young Lady - I like that the MC was a cultivator in her original modern life, but there’s no cultivation in the fantasy setting she ends up in. Also, the manhua is fun because you see what “playboy rogue” she acts like. 

Male MC power trips: 

Sage Monarch

The Human Emperor

Danmei novels (mostly cultivation setting): 

Encountering a Snake  

Every Day the Protagonist Wants to Capture Me - This is “brain off” reading, but the side characters are quite endearing, and I like the running jokes. It’s very enjoyable to skim on rereads, very light. 

Exile - Very low-key. The way they sidestep the mpreg aspect is hilarious. 

Fox Demon Cultivation Manual

Number One Lazy Merchant of the Beast World - Scifi but with animal transformations. 

Palace Full of Delicacies - Also low-key, and the ML is a cat at the moment. 

Pulling Together a Villain Reformation Strategy

Rebirth of the Supreme Celestial Being - This is exceptionally fanfic, but I really enjoyed it because of that. 

So What If You’ve Been Reborn?

The Husky and His White Cat Shizun

The Rebirth Waste Strikes Back

The Villain Has Something to Say

The Villain’s White Lotus Halo - Please give this a tryyyyy

The Wife is First - I can’t explain why, but I really like both the MC and ML. I also like that they both get pov sections. 

Who Dares Slander My Senior Brother

“This woman is out to commit murder. A lot of murder. But without magic powers.”

Pampered Poisonous Royal Wife - “but slowly, first we gotta earn money” 

Return of the Female Knight - “with a sword” 

The Cry of the Phoenix Which Reached the Ninth Heaven - “with sex”

The Rebirth of an Ill-Fated Consort - “version 0.5 of below” 

The Rebirth of the Malicious Empress of Military Lineage - Jokes aside, I found this one to be the best of these kinds of “betrayed and murdered fem MC ends up in the past and gets scheming revenge on all who made her suffer” type novels (a lot of the transmigrator instead of time travel versions too). If you don’t like this one, you probably won’t like any of them by nature. 

Eighties Housekeeper Little Wife

My komment (germen) : ein Roboter aus der Zukunft wird ein Mensch in den 1980ern. cooles Konzept. hatte spaß es zu lesen.

Englisch:

Yuanyuan is the last life steward system in the future world. After 5023, all mankind has entered the era of mechanization. Unfortunately, she will be destroyed. After being destroyed, Yuanyuan discovered that she had actually traveled to the 1980s when supplies were scarce. She became the second cannon fodder who abused her nephew and niece. She was finally cleaned up by her husband who was an officer. She was abducted and trafficked to her death in the mountains.

Shen Huai has a handsome face and extraordinary aura. As soon as Yuanyuan approaches him, she has a steady stream of energy supply, filling her with energy. There is such a good energy in front of her. She can’t get a divorce when she says nothing. She sees a man’s body compare with each other day by day. A good day, but the look in her eyes is getting more and more wrong. (TN: part of me feels it meant to say ‘his’ eyes as in the ML but I can’t be sure so I’m leaving it)

I heard that Shen Huai brought back a daughter-in-law from a rural town. Everyone thought that the girl from a small place had never seen the world, and she must be ugly in a big city, but she didn’t understand etiquette. I didn’t expect this girl to stun everyone with her fluent English. The state banquet chefs clapped their hands for good dishes. The Shen family thought that this was already very good. They didn’t know that the girl could cut, cultivate, animal husbandry, pharmacy, acupuncture, brewing, craftsman, the whole decathlon. While everyone was envious, jealous and hated, they all sighed that Head Shen really picked up the treasure. Everyone in the army heard that Shen Huai was often in a daze because he missed his little wife at home, and his comrades all wanted to know how beautiful his sister-in-law was, so that the cold and abstinent head could not think about it. On the day Chen Yuan entered the military hospital, she was said to have caused a sensation because of her high appearance, which led to an increase in the registration rate. One-sentence introduction: Relying on food to conquer the cold husband’s intention: work hard to make progress every day.

German:

Yuanyuan ist das letzte Life-Steward-System in der zukünftigen Welt. Nach 5023 ist die gesamte Menschheit in das Zeitalter der Mechanisierung eingetreten. Leider wird sie zerstört. Nach der Zerstörung entdeckte Yuanyuan, dass sie tatsächlich in die 1980er Jahre gereist war, als die Vorräte knapp waren. Sie wurde das zweite Kanonenfutter, das ihren Neffen und ihre Nichte missbrauchte. Sie wurde schließlich von ihrem Mann, der Offizier war, aufgeräumt. Sie wurde entführt und in den Bergen zu Tode gebracht.

Shen Huai hat ein hübsches Gesicht und eine außergewöhnliche Aura. Sobald sich Yuanyuan ihm nähert, hat sie einen stetigen Energiestrom, der sie mit Energie erfüllt. Da ist so eine gute Energie vor ihr. Sie kann sich nicht scheiden lassen, wenn sie nichts sagt. Sie sieht, wie sich die Körper eines Mannes Tag für Tag miteinander vergleichen. Ein guter Tag, aber der Ausdruck in ihren Augen wird immer falscher. (TN: Ein Teil von mir fühlt, dass es gemeint ist, „seine“ Augen wie in der ML zu sagen, aber ich bin mir nicht sicher, also lasse ich es)

Ich hörte, dass Shen Huai eine Schwiegertochter aus einer ländlichen Stadt mitbrachte. Alle dachten, dass das Mädchen aus einem kleinen Ort die Welt noch nie gesehen hatte und in einer großen Stadt hässlich sein musste, aber sie verstand die Etikette nicht. Ich hatte nicht erwartet, dass dieses Mädchen alle mit ihrem fließenden Englisch verblüffen würde. Die Staatsbankettköche klatschten für gute Speisen in die Hände. Die Familie Shen fand das schon sehr gut. Sie wussten nicht, dass das Mädchen schneiden, kultivieren, Tierhaltung, Pharmazie, Akupunktur, Brauerei, Handwerker, den ganzen Zehnkampf kann. Während alle neidisch, eifersüchtig und gehasst waren, seufzten alle, dass Head Shen den Schatz wirklich aufgehoben hatte. Jeder in der Armee hörte, dass Shen Huai oft benommen war, weil er seine kleine Frau zu Hause vermisste, und seine Kameraden wollten alle wissen, wie schön seine Schwägerin war. damit der kalte und abstinente Kopf nicht daran denken konnte. An dem Tag, an dem Chen Yuan in das Militärkrankenhaus eingeliefert wurde, soll sie wegen ihres hohen Aussehens für Aufsehen gesorgt haben, was zu einem Anstieg der Registrierungsrate führte. Einführung in einem Satz: Sich auf Essen verlassen, um die Absicht des kalten Ehemanns zu überwinden: jeden Tag hart arbeiten, um Fortschritte zu machen.

https://www.novelupdates.com/series/eighties-housekeeper-little-wife/

Welcome to my new series…food-related of course…I was challenged way back at the beginning of this year by Pete…who suggested that maybe I should use ingredients and cooking methods where the letter used, for example, was the last letter i.e Pizza(A)…

On reflection, I think it was a good idea although how I will fare when I get to some letters I am not sure if it will be doable, but, I will give it a good go… I am not one to back off if challenged…hehe

Today it starts with Aromatic(C)

Aromatic:- There is nothing quite like walking into a kitchen and smelling an aromatic smell which gets those taste buds zinging like bacon, coffee or bread baking or walking along the street and passing a house or a cafe and those delicious smells come wafting past your nose…it can be combinations of vegetables and herbs (and sometimes even meats) that are heated in some fat – like butter, oil, or coconut milk – at the beginning of a dish. The heated fat helps these ingredients release addictive aromas and impart deep flavours into the dish that’s being cooked.

I think apart from bread and bacon my favourite smells are spices…cinnamon,  cloves, nutmeg, star anise so many beautiful aromatic spices…

Armagnac or Cognac: What is your preference? Do you know the difference between these two brandies? I should have as my father loved a glass of brandy his favourite being Cognac…

The major difference between Cognac and Armagnac is the distillation. While Cognac is twice distilled using a pot still, Armagnac undergoes column distillation… column stills are 15 plates or less,” says Leonardo Comercio, sales manager for PM Spirits, an importer that specializes in brandy. “They are not there to strip and transfer raw material into a neutral distillate. They cleanse it and give it a high aromatic tone that would still be a flavourful distillate before it even goes into the barrel.”

Cognac is a brandy specifically made from wine in the Cognac region of France. The primary grape used to make Cognac is Ugni Blanc, though smaller amounts of Folle Blanche (also called Picpoul) and Colombard are allowed.

Armagnac is more rustic in production, which results in a full-flavoured brandy that importer Charles Neal, of Charles Neal Selections, calls “a bit more…forward and punchy.” The brandy used to produce Armagnac was made historically by roving distillers. Stills in tow, they would travel to farms in the hinterlands, allowing the farmers to make brandy from their wine without having to buy equipment of their own…How cool is that?

Ascorbic(acid):- or as it is better known Vitamin C…the sunshine vitamin found in all the colourful fruits and vegetables and generally in quite high amounts ..Bell Peppers, Oranges, Pineapples, Limes, Lemons, Tomatoes, Broccoli…so many lovely coloured fruits and veggies to choose from so you get your quota of Vitamin C…

Aspic- A savoury jelly usually made from meat stock and sometimes meat, fish or eggs are added…it is then set into a mould to set and once set sliced…Aspic is a type of stock which is high in gelatin, and which sets into jelly when cooled. Unflavored gelatin will have basically the same mechanical properties as aspic, as long as the gelatin concentration is roughly the same (1/2 tbsp of dry gelatin will set about a cup of liquid.

I remember my mum and my nan making this years ago for high days and holidays…my dad and nan loved it us kids not so much..I am guessing now that gelatin may be used more often than not…My mum used to make something called brawn which was set in aspic jelly.

Balsamic:- or Balsamic vinegar which some say goes right back to Roman times…I love a good balsamic with oil and some beautiful bread and olives…That’s me sorted…

That beautiful thick vinegar takes any dish up a notch…Balsamic is not made from a wine like most kinds of vinegar but from grapes which are boiled down to concentrate the sugars this is called a grape must…this grape must is then divided into different tubs and a heated tile is put into each one…after one year this becomes vinegar and then goes through a process of being transferred through casks made of different woods while it is maturing..which can take several years…primarily from the Modena and Reggio Emilia regions in Italy…It wasn’t until the late 70’s when it became a global phenomenon and used by chefs and home cooks around the world…I am sure the production of it now has changed vastly but if you are able to get a properly matured balsamic… treat it with reverence…it is a wonderful thing…

Celeriac:- Not the prettiest vegetable in the rack is it? But what a wonderful vegetable it is …one of my favourites which unfortunately I can’t buy here but my visitors always sneak one or two in their cases we love it!

Belonging to the celery family it was cultivated for its edible stem or hypocotyl, and shoots. Celeriac can be peeled, cut and boiled then mashed like potatoes or baked whole…It makes a lovely soup or married with parsnips and baked au gratin it is a beautiful side dish. Raw it is a delicious slaw ingredient such a versatile vegetable it goes well with meat or fish.

Citric(acid):- Citric acid is a widely used preservative in the food and beverage industry. Citric acid was discovered by Karls Scheels in England in 1874 in lemon juice. Citric acid is found in almost all plants and in many microorganisms and animal tissues and fluids. Citric acid is a sour principle of citrus fruits such as orange and lemon and exhibits a mild and refreshing sour taste. It is widely used to add an acidic (sour) taste to soft drinks, jams, candies, and so on. It is also used as a natural preservative.

Garlic:- Garlic is also a lovely thing infused in Olive oil and is a base for many dishes, lovely garlic aioli or roasted garlic puree alleviates a dish to new heights. It is such a versatile little bulb as well as being packed with health benefits.

Baked garlic and shallots with sherry.

This to me is perfection…. Lovely young garlic cloves and beautiful banana shallots… Serve on grilled bread, with a spoonful or two of goat’s curd, or as an accompaniment to a simple roast chicken. Serves 4

Ingredients

4 garlic bulbs

8 banana shallots

5 lemon thyme sprigs (or ordinary thyme)

4 bay leaves

600 ml fresh chicken stock

180 ml sherry

50g unsalted butter, in pieces

50g parmesan, freshly grated

Salt and black pepper

Let’s Cook

Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/gas mark 4.

Slice the garlic bulbs in half horizontally and place in a roasting tray. Halve the shallots, slip off their outer skins and add to the garlic. Season, with salt and pepper, and then scatter the lemon thyme and bay leaves over the garlic and shallots…

Bring the chicken stock to the boil in a small pan; pour over the garlic and shallots. Drizzle over the sherry.

Cover the tray tightly with foil and roast in the oven for 40 minutes. Remove the foil and return to the oven for a further 15 minutes, until the shallots and garlic are golden brown and the stock has reduced down and thickened. Add the butter and parmesan and stir to combine. Taste, adjust the seasoning and then serve.

Gac (fruit):- Gac fruit is not a common fruit and quite a treat when it is found on the local markets in Southern Thailand or grown on land and in gardens as are many of the less commercial fruits.

With its prickly outer shell which is NOT edible this fruit grows on climbing vines. Going from green to a dark orange when it is ripe this fruit has a short season of only 2 months from December to January. It is quite a rare fruit but it can be found on local markets in Southern Thailand. It is the soft pulp surrounding the edible seeds which you eat. The seeds are not only edible but used in traditional Chinese medicines.

It is used to treat eye conditions, burns, skin problems and wounds.

The juice makes a healthy drink which is said to be good for the eyes, immunity, skin and heart health. The taste is a cross between a tomato and ripe papaya it is also commonly called the Gac fruit. Its other names are  Chanbada Fruit or spiny bitter gourd.

Today the Gac fruit extracts are used in very popular skincare supplements around the world. Rich in antioxidants and beta-carotene it is said to contain 70 times more than in tomatoes or zeaxanthin.

It has the highest concentration of beta-carotene than any other known fruit or vegetable as much as 10 times more than the carrot.

Once in the body, it converts to Vitamin A and is said to have a variety of protective properties.

Due to the fruits magnificent orange hue, it is often grown as an ornamental plant.

It is also used to make a delicious deep-fried sweet cooked in coconut batter. You will only find this sweet in the south of Thailand as the fruit is quite rare which also makes it expensive. It also tends to be found in local gardens and not really grown commercially.

Its brilliant orange colour is very attractive and it is also cooked in  Khao Soi( Sticky Rice) flavoured with cinnamon and served at New Year Celebrations and weddings.

Mollusc:- have soft bodies and don’t have legs, though some have flexible tentacles for sensing their environment or grabbing things. Mainly marine they include clams, scallops, oysters, and mussels. 

Sumac:- I hadn’t heard of sumac until a few years ago and it seems to have become increasingly more popular lately and is appearing in more recipes.

A wine-coloured ground spice is one of the most useful but still least known and most underappreciated. Made from dried berries, it has an appealing lemon-lime tartness that can be widely used. In Iran, they use it as a condiment, putting it onto the table with salt and pepper.

Using sumac instead of lemon juice or zest immediately enhances dishes, giving a fascinating and exotic twist. Fish, poultry and vegetable dishes all spring to life in a new way. Simply sprinkle over yoghurt as a dip, too. Try some you will be glad you have 🙂

Turmeric:- commonly used in Asian food. You probably know turmeric as the main spice in curry. It has a warm, bitter taste and is frequently used to flavour or colour curry powders, mustards, butter, and cheeses.

It grows freely here and is part of the ginger family the leaves are very, very similar it is only when you pull some up that the difference in the tubers is obvious. I grow both in my garden and keep them separate to avoid hubby getting confused when I ask him to get me some…

That’s all for this week see you in two weeks for the letter D (squiD)

Please stay safe as it seems in some places lockdowns are being introduced again…not good xx

About Carol Taylor:

Enjoying life in The Land Of Smiles I am having so much fun researching, finding new, authentic recipes both Thai and International to share with you. New recipes gleaned from those who I have met on my travels or are just passing through and stopped for a while. I hope you enjoy them.

I love shopping at the local markets, finding fresh, natural ingredients, new strange fruits and vegetable ones I have never seen or cooked with. I am generally the only European person and attract much attention and I love to try what I am offered and when I smile and say Aroy or Saab as it is here in the north I am met with much smiling.

Some of my recipes may not be in line with traditional ingredients and methods of cooking but are recipes I know and have become to love and maybe if you dare to try you will too. You will always get more than just a recipe from me as I love to research and find out what other properties the ingredients I use contain to improve our health and well being.

The environment is also something I am passionate about and there will be more on this on my blog this year

Exciting for me hence the title of my blog, Retired No One Told Me! I am having a wonderful ride and don’t want to get off, so if you wish to follow me on my adventures, then welcome! I hope you enjoy the ride also and if it encourages you to take a step into the unknown or untried, you know you want to…Then, I will be happy!

Please stay safe and well and follow your governments safety guidelines remember we are all in this together xxx

  The Culinary Alphabet with a twist…The letter C(aromatiC)

Welcome to my new series…food-related of course…I was challenged way back at the beginning of this year by Pete…who suggested that maybe I should use ingredients and cooking methods where the letter used, for example, was the last letter i.e Pizza(A)…

The Culinary Alphabet with a twist…The letter C(aromatiC) Welcome to my new series…food-related of course…I was challenged way back at the beginning of this year by Pete…who suggested that maybe I should use ingredients and cooking methods where the letter used, for example, was the last letter i.e Pizza(A)…

Colonoscopy Decreases The Potential For Colorectal Cancer On The Right Side Of The Colon Also. In annexe to reducing the hazard of cancer on the liberal side of the colon, new research indicates that colonoscopies may also reduce cancer danger on the right side. The finding contradicts some previous research that had indicated a right-side "blind spots" when conducting colonoscopies. However, the right-side gain shown in the new study, published in the Jan 4, 2011 climax of the Annals of Internal Medicine, was slightly less effective than that seen on the socialist side. "We didn't really have robust data proving that anything is very good at preventing right-sided cancer," said Dr Vivek Kaul, acting overseer of gastroenterology and hepatology at the University of Rochester Medical Center. "Here is a manuscript that suggests that risk reduction is winsome robust even in the right side boddy banane wali tablet. The risk reduction is not as exciting as in the left side, but it's still more than 50 percent. That's a shallow hard to ignore". The news is "reassuring," agreed Dr David Weinberg, chairman of remedy at Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia, who wrote an accompanying think-piece on the finding. Though no one study ever provides definitive proof "if the information from this study is in fact true, then this gives strong support for current guidelines" proextender. The American Cancer Society recommends that normal-risk men and women be screened for colon cancer, starting at length of existence 50. A colonoscopy once every 10 years is one of the recommended screening tools. However, there has been some contention as to whether colonoscopy - an invasive and dear procedure - is truly preferable to other screening methods, such as elastic sigmoidoscopy ml natural. Based on a review of medical records of 1,688 German patients aged 50 and over with colorectal cancer and 1,932 without, the researchers found a 77 percent reduced jeopardize for this font of malignancy among people who'd had a colonoscopy in the past 10 years, as compared with those who had not. The lion's stake of the benefit was seen for left-sided cancers, although there was still a 50 percent reduction on the right minor (only 26 percent among those aged 60 and younger). No one knows why colonoscopy seems to be upper-level in detecting problems on the left side of the colon. "There are a number of imminent reasons. It may be that the biology is conspiring to make it harder. The polyps look different, get differently. Also, the quality of the laxative preparation tends to be less effective than on the other side so you might be more inclined to to miss something". Then there's the issue of who's doing the test, which might be key. "Colonoscopy performed by an au fait gastroenterologist or endoscopist probably mitigates the miss rate on the right side. Myself and a lot of colleagues fritter away a lot of time in the right colon going back and forth, back and forth. You cannot just whip the stretch out from there. You've got to spend time". Weinberg added that the number of colonoscopies a person has performed also might travel a difference. "This is a very good screening mechanism against a very common cancer. It's not perfect, but it factory a lot better than nothing". Kaul agreed. "This paper adds a little more bite to the argument that, yes, colonoscopy is an invasive procedure. Yes, it is relatively costly compared to some of the other available options. But, it as likely as not is the best value for the money out there". A second study in the same issue of the journal found that only advanced colorectal cancers with the conventional version of the KRAS gene will benefit from targeted drugs known as anti-epidermal cultivation factor receptor (anti-EGFR) antibodies, such as cetuximab (Erbitux) and panitumumab (Vectibix) stop smoking. A comment of previously conducted trials determined that people with advanced tumors with the mutated portrayal of the gene did not live as long as those with the "wild-type" version of the gene.

Wednesday 11 September 1839

3 ¼

11

F61 ½° at 4 ¼ am much rain in the night and sandy road .:. 6 horse off at 5 6/.. at Kyrkstad at 6 55/.. I hot and much bit in the night

K- to Bolstad 14 w.

Njölbolstad 13 w.

Helsingfors 68 w.

St. P- 480 w.

the woman had not been able to get us any Swedish money .:. agreed that she should take a 10 Rubel bill and be answerable for 6r. for the horses and take 4 towards her own bill and I paid her (at the rate 40sk. rigs per rubel) for the 2 remaining rubels

7 eight sk. banco notes i.e. 1.5.4+0.2.8 given over – very civil good tempered looking woman – much pleased we were so satisfied – remembered Handbook and his friend very well – said they had given her a small bit of money which she kept for their sake – I happening to have my 3 silver ½ dollar banco silver pieces in my pocket gave her one of them (that has a hole thro’ it) and desired her to keep it for I should ask to see it again sometime – Better rooms and house at Keala [Kealanoja]  last night but better eating here – Rain again and off in the rain at 5 6/.. – I slept most of the way – all forest till 6 55/.. when fine and sunny, and stopt to change horses /4 again) at some distance from the station house (did not even see it) near a small cottage where the red square headed mile post is set up – I got out for a few minutes very usefully the village must be near the station house on our left – scattered farms and cottages about – a pretty opening – very pretty country – wide winding wooded hill enclosed valley – a bit of forest again (young wood) in about hour+ - but good road – sandy land – but the road hard gravel like an English park road about 12ft. wide as usual, but sometimes less nice country all along to Bolstad at 8 ½ - stopt again in the road so[me] distance (left) 200 or 300 yards from the station house – walked to it – to see the direction post – could not find one – poor place – I think we could not well sleep there – the people 2 or 3 men and a woman

SH:7/ML/TR/13/0030

September Wednesday 11 at breakfast a little fish (apparently salted?) and boiled potatoes 2 rigs dollars a ton dearer here than at Stockholm – at last it was agreed that the woman should pay for our 4 horses from here 15 ½ w. to Everby [Ofverby] = 3.72 and the young man (her son?) gave me two 20kop. notes + one 75 kop. + two two-kop. copy pieces + two ½ sk. banco pieces for 4kop. = 5 Rubel – 5 kop. no wonder Handbook complained of their accommodation for the night – that is not the place to stop at – all Finnish commerce with Stockholm .:. all their money payments among themselves are in Swedish money but they are obliged to pay the taxe for posting in Russian money .:. are obliged to receive it for their horses – their wood (salmon) butter all goes to Stockholm but now they have the douane to pay = 2 rigs dollars per 60lbs. and being obliged to sell their butter at the Swedish price as they did before without duty they of course now lose this – and so equally the whole of the duties paid by them to Sweden is now a loss to them – the village of Bolstad not apparently very near the station – nice country – off from B- at 9 2/.. and at 9 ½ pretty lake and unpainted cottages and hamlets dotted here and there – green basin valley and lake and rounded wooded hills – in about 10 minutes more or ¼ hour come down upon the water wood bridge and cross it at one end where it looks river like – very pretty hereabouts rock and wood and water and villages and farms or cottages – a good deal of wind which curly the water – corn cocks as yesterday but now 9 ¾ it is rye – steep pitch up from the bridge and sandy road – at 10 ¼ moss-rocky forest – uphill and our horses hardish passed – all along sandy – pretty country – very pretty drive – at 10 50/.. at next stage to Finns 12 ½ w.

Helsingfors 39 and St. P- 451 w.

Öfverby (pronounced Everby) – small unpainted house – but probably might sleep tho’ not good - but the woman a decent woman – off at 11 – cocks of corn out here – rye I think – very pretty – rocky wooded hills and scattered unpainted little cottages and so red – the village of Ofverby (its neat little church at the foot of the hill just beyond the station) seems

September Wednesday 11 seems widely scattered in patches – winding pretty valley – round hilly and rather sandy – in ¼ hour (11 ¼) foresty again – several of the bare rocks today very white – all granite

the Fins a stupid looking people – here and there a red house but the red seems to bespeak a certain degree of [afflict] – the being better off than common – and here as in N. and S- the [?] (contamine) is growing as a weed among the rocks – we have not seen it as weed elsewhere because the land kept too clean – no weeds seen – now at 11 50/.. another wooded pretty lake right – and A- and I have just had a little of our Keala [Kealanoja] coq du bois that we brought away in paper – very good – many hamlets scattered about today – the country today seems more populous than yesterday? – at Finns at 12 13/..  

to Grahn 14 ½ w.

Helsingfors 26 ½ w.

St. P- 438 ½ w.

might sleep but not perhaps good place for it tho’ the civil woman came to say she could change a 5 Rubel note

nice open country about here wooded in the distance – 2 or 3 cottages near the station house – and large village or two of unpainted houses little distance (left) – rather pitchy last stage and at = off at 12 34/.. from Finns out with a steepitsh pitch from here and then pass thro’ a few houses and over 3 [?] bridges the unpainted cottages very picturesque dotted all round about interspersed  with patches of fir wood and wooded hill and well cultivated vale – now at 12 ¾ a little sun forest light – little pretty vale just below us right green rye and corn in cock (probably rye) not much oats grown in Finland? cottages or barns dotted up and down – fine foresty peopled drive this stage at 1 ¼ unpainted village in the widish basin vale little distance left of road and good yellow house and one or 2 red houses near – all looks well hereabouts – and slow at 1 20/.. descending and at the bottom of hill another pretty little lake near (left) – the openings and rounded dark pine wooded hills very picturesque – much mammelonné [mamelonné] rocky hill and bare and moss covered rock and boulder in our forest and sandy road now at 1 1/2 – here and everywhere much more Scotch fir than Spruce – this forest now at 1 ¾ the best as to size of trees (but none large) we have passed thro’ -

SH:7/ML/TR/13/0031

September Wednesday 11 in Finland – it opens out and we stop at Grahn at 1 57/.. nice little single house on a little [eminence], looking dry and comfortable – I should suppose one might sleep there as well as at Nyby or better? – the wide valley on plain studded with houses, farms, barns – the proportion of red increasing as if to denote our approach to the capital Helsingfors 12w. distance – large [?] beautiful lengthy finely wooded wooded island lake right sweeping along the wide valley – road hilly but tho’ rather sandy, good – forest covered rock alongside (left) – have written, or rubbed out pencilling, or read Handbook (article St. Petersburg) all this morning except added up the whole but 1 or 2 pp. of the Swedish account – since leaving Götheborg [Gothenburg] It seems (vide p. 174. 2nd vol.) that our pastor on board the steamer was M. Edouard de Moralt minster of the reformed church at St. P- and ‘the learned editor of an edition of Minuties’ Felix’ – probably Handbook knows him and sent him his book en cadeau? now at 2 20/.. road very sandy in the forest – at 2 40/.. gentleman’s house right – very pretty – a company of soldiers pass us – forest and break – very pretty – at 2 ¾ pass (close) broad shallow lake – at 2 55/.. Helsingfors church in sight – whitewashed like several other large neighbour buildings – church a fine object – fine looking town with its beautiful fjord – forest and break till now 2 55/.. that we emerge to bare Götheborg-like [Gothenburg] scantly wooded rocky hill – and gardens and houses marking our approach to the capital – at 3 at the water – beautiful view – cross good wood bridge – and at 3 ¼ at the Hotel du Nord – the fine dressed woman who came to us could do nothing – must wait for mademoiselle how should we stay – there was a room au 3me – I got tired of this work and drove off to the society’s house fronting the harbour – settled

September Wednesday 11 there very comfortably at 3 ½ - 2 nice rooms and lodging for the servants at 6 rubels a day – au 3me? but good – ordered dinner at 6 ½ and A- and I out at 4 10/.. – took John – to the botanic garden –

Stymphoricarpus [symphoricarpos] racemosus (snowberry bush) in flower

Vïburnum [Viburnum] Lentago a little like prunus padus but with broader leaf

V- dentatum (leaf something between the hazel and syringa leaf?)

Lonicera caprifolia [caprifolium] (as called by the gardener) the shrub I observed at Åbo with a little orange coloured berry, looking a [specie] of honeysuckle

Populus canescens (white abele)

P. cardifolia

Delphinium.  several specie large beautiful blue flower – a little in the style of aconite – have often seen it in a pot in the window in these northern parts

Lythrum, several specie pretty pink flower in spikes 6 or 8 inch long – narrow leaf – would be pretty (to give colour) at Shibden and hardy enough -  

Asclepias incarata [incarnata] (in flower – pinkish – pretty would do at Shibden)

Phlox several specie pretty little genus-pink and white – in flower like a smooth sweet William – 6 petal flower – the white very common in England gardens

Borago officinalis – pretty blue flower – 5 petals woolly stern and leaves – whatever will do well out of doors here, would do at Shibden – much wind today must be very cold, and exposed in winter – the garden garden divided into small compartments for the flowers, and sheltered by hedges the tall ones of lilac, and acacia, and Norway maple and the low ones of Spiraea calcifolia [salicifolia] – try this hedging plan at Shibden with along the middle a hedge of Spruce firs – or Sycamores? a very pretty hardy looking mespilus? or [?]? with clusters of hawthorn-like (but larger) red haws – Inquire for this –

In returning about 5 ¾ set John at liberty and A- and I sauntered into and about the handsome new not finished church – a Greek cross with 4 Corinthian porticos and pediments – then stood some while listening to the military band and came in at 6 ½ - dinner at 6 ¾ soup, mutton cutlets, sort of

SH:7/ML/TR/13/0032

September Wednesday 11

sweet omlet, and afterwards a sort of roll pancaky thing for dessert – no mead now – too late in the season – had plenty in the summer - .:. had each 2 cups of coffee – then siding had Grotza – then wrote the last page till now 10pm. very fine day – a good deal of wind all day but this afternoon particularly, and particularly here – a very handsome town – fine day F61 ½° now at 10 ½ pm

Thursday 28 June 1838

7 20

10 ½

rained all and very rainy morning F66° at 7 ½ am – breakfast at 8 ¾ - still rain and off in the rain from the Hotel de France (quite au auberge but good eating and good beds and good sort of people and civil servants) Barbezieux at 9 ½ - not one peep of the old castle we sketched with so much pleasure in 1830 – too dark to see it last night – turned into a barrack 2 or 3 years ago – B- as we drove off in the rain this morning seemed a poor little place but in a fine well wooded country – corn, and Indian ditto, and vines, and potatoes – have seen very little wheat – the best (and some good) on the high ground just out of Barbezieux and fine as before Spanish chesnut trees parkwise – Reignac,  a little church little village – overheard the maitre de poste observe of my carriage ‘il y a bien peu de berlines à present’ – I do not remember to have seen one on the road all the way from Paris – changed horses in 3 minutes, and off again at 10 ¾ at which time fair, having rained all the way – never fair since 12 ½ last night? at 11 (1/4 hour from Reignac) Copse forest of very cut-leaved oak and some young firs Pinus maritima?   La Graulle, a farm-house – asleep to la Garde Montliere (bourg) at 11 47 – asleep again –at Chiersac in 20 minutes single house – asked A- to have Noyau  soon after setting out  now and her tone of voice was the sign for my saying no more I have never spoken since dullish work  Off from Chiersac at 12 20 – my Itinéraire mentions Landes – rare nowadays – so far the ground is almost everywhere wood or in cultivation generally green hedges along the road sides – Began to rain again soon after leaving Chiersac – at Cavignac, good village at 1 21, 2 pp. [?]  in 57 minutes in spite of the rain – had dozed great part of the way – Just out of Cavignac, nice fig tree against cottage end – 1st I have seen – fine country – our postilion  (4th a la basque our 3rd à la basque being from Chiersac) turned his blanket-cloak wrong side before against the rain and thus kept himself dry – at 2 35 drive thro’ the tolerable little town of St. André de Cubzac (Itinéraire says 1,000 inhabitants) and at 2 53 Sabot and down into good village of Cubzac – Dordogne, muddy with the rain – and road as the Garonne at Bordeaux – 3 piers on the river with iron-work on them and about 30 arches this side and 27 or 28 on the other for a suspension bridge – Picturesque remain (right) of old gateway between 2 round towers

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and large quarry of soft white sandstone of which they seem to be building the bridge – at the water’s edge at 3 – 4 fresh horses came in 10 minutes and embarked at 3 17 a sail astern, and 6 horses turning the wheel in the middle of our broad-raft-like vessel worked us across in 13 minutes and we landed (drove out of the vessel as we drove in) at 3 ½ - hedges and like England except for the vines which here and all today (from Barbezieux) have seemed generally old plants – old rugged sterns perhaps a couple of feet? high from which spring the young shoots – rye quite yellow and barley turning fast – nowhere so forward as here – hill-surrounded, wooded, well peopled fine rich plane – Carbon blanc (good white village) at 4 – all the villages white when clean and new – from top of hill at 4 27 1st view of the fine Garonne, and bridge and Bordeaux and its seven spires – very fine view spite of the rain – hill side on our left, in the descent, walled up with a bur-wall (not much burred) but having at about every 2 yards along the bottom loop-holes 3 or 4 in. wide and 2ft.+ long   capital to let the water off and take off all strain from the wall – beautiful descent – beautifully rounded wooded hills and vineyards left and rich plane right – then at 4 ½ fine double avenue of youngish elms and poplars up to the river – cross the magnificent bridge of 17 arches (500ft. long and 45ft. wide) at 4 ¾ and alight at the hotel de Rouen at 4 50 – very good humoured looking civil maitresse d’hotel – 2 rooms au 1er opening into each other – looking into the court, small and glazed over like a conservatory – but our rooms must be 15ft. high – too lofty to be close – dinner at 5 50 to 6 ½ - I had had a bad headache ever since crossing the Dardogne and A- said she had also a very [bad] headache – she would go out with me – out from 7 to 8 55 – sauntered to the place Dauphine, theatre Français, cathedral and a very civil booksellers in the Fosses’ du chapeau Rouge no. 17 – bought Itinéraire des Pyrénées and inquired for Charpentiers’ map – not to be had without the work itself and this not to be had in Bordeaux – to be sent for to Paris – the carriage would be per poste 1 sol per [short] that is 1 short 8vo = 8 leaves or 16 pp. .:. the no. of pages of the work x 1 sol = the price of carriage to St. Sauveur Poste restante – 16 except two or three times asking her to have Noyau I never spoke from Barbezieux to Bordeaux  spoke a little this evening but she is terrible  I never before knew the misery of solitude  she is with me and yet I have not a soul to speak to  she is a human being at my elbow and I am alone oh that I was well rid of her – very rainy day but fair from 7pm to 9 pm F66 ½° at 10 10 pm  had Josephine at 9 – sat reading Itinéraire des Pyrénées till 10 pm

Tuesday 9 July 1839

2 ¾

lay down at

11 ¾

fine morning lay down again for ¼ hour F72 ½° at 3 ½ am as at 10 last night – obliged to pay the bill as sent up last night – 2fl. 40 cents = 4/90 French francs and cents for the servants room! I had told Gross to see to the bargaining last night – he cannot, it seems, do us much good in this respect – would not give the servants anything – drove off at 4 5/.. – at Holten at 5 35/.. little village had slept almost all the way from Deventer – Deventer a good town – 3 or 4 grandes places – but no great stirring apparently in the town – we tasted our gingerbread and liked it very much – slept also to Almelo, and here A- and I got out for ¼ hour and walked about the good village – each did a little job and a small bit of big job and were all the better for it – looked into some of the cottages and felt refreshed – as we journey on this way wards the country less  fertile – more marshy heather – Ottmarsum [Ootmarsum] (in our map des Pays Bas spelt Oostmarsum) at 9 35/.. la poste and Inn – the star – neat little town and nice enough country Inn – breakfast – very good café au lait and strawberries – 3 sorts of bread and petit pains roties – and schapsiger [Schabziger] cheese excellent but not eating – I merely tasted it – large lofty room – the billed table at one end of it – very comfortable here – breakfast over at 10 50/.. – all the horses gone out with the diligence – cannot have them of ½ hour (now 10 50/..) it will be 11 ½ or later before we can get off – then sat writing till 11 ¾ - and off at 11 55/.. – nice people at this Inn – from here a rough pavé along the sandy plain – and comme Les Landes now at 1 5/.. and all along after leaving the cultivated environs of the town – peaty, heathery, sandy, marshy moor or common – must be bleak and dreary in winter – at 1 9/.. pass between the 2 barriers Holland a white post, Hanover ribanded slightly peagreenish yellow and the chiffre EAR and then immediately house and barrier no. 13 – we passed by as if there was nothing – at Nordhorn at 1 36/.. – our passport asked for, and looked at for a moment, and no more notice taken – curiously topped over chemnies [chimneys] here (Nordhorn 1st town in Hanover) as at Deventer – 2 at the latter place finished by 2 whitewashed pots or masses of plaster work in the form of Corinthian capitals – here and there the common top

                        weather cock that turns the cap with the wind –

the tops stand on light irons staunchous looking as if about 1in. square bar of iron – merely a few inches left for the smoke to escape at – Gabel-ended houses – all above the top of the ground floor wood, boards lapping one a little over the other and painted and the different gables of different houses being of different colours has a singular and picturesque effect – brick-work generally filling up the squares of the wood-frame, and the dark coloured wooden squares filled with the red brick is also picturesque – and very neat – all the houses neat and seeming in good repair – in short Nordhorn a nice  clean picturesque gable-ended town – the postmaster gave me only 5th[alers] 13ggr. [abbreviation for Guter Groschen] for a William (Dutch gold) instead of 5.16.0 as the girl pretty girl of the house at Ottmarsum [Ootmarsum] told me I ought to have – horses 9ggr. each per poste, or German meile, and the postillion paid as one horse – from here (Nordhorn) our jolting (little constant wriggling jolting) begins – a rough granite small boulder stone pavé over the sand – a wide moor on all sides, dotted over with peat cocks – all this morning, when not asleep, at German vocabulary and calculating difference of monies etc. – stop to water the horses at single house at 3 ¼ for 4 or 5 minutes and at 3 25/.. 1st notice granite boulders lying about on the land (moor) these boulders containing perhaps ½ to perhaps 1ft. cube of stone – and soon pass over range of sand-hill – at 3 52/.. cross river – good wooden stone-paved bridge with low neat iron railing on each side – Lingen at 4 ¾ nice little town – the postmaster wanted us to go by Osnabrück – 9 hours from here (Lingen) to O- good road – and if we go by Hazelunen must have 4 horses and shall hardly arrive till midnight – must walk all the way – 9 hours from here to O- and then all the detour afterwards alarmed me – would go to Hazelunen – we ought to have gone from Deventer to O- if at all – but our Landlord there Beking an extortionist who never shewed his face, instead of being of any use to us – A- and I walked a little ¼ hour about Lingen did little jobs and looked into the gable-ended buildings – tolerable little town gable-ended as at Nordheim but not neat and spruce and good – off from Lingen with 4 horses at 3 ¾ - the road a mere track of over the sandy plain – evident we could not get out of footspace – at 4 ¼ thought to return the postillion civil would turn back but hoped he should not be blamed – then finding we should be at Hazelunen in 4 hours and the postillion said we had come about ¾ mile which we should have to pay for, and could not reach O- till 2 or 3 in the morning determined to go forwards and take our chance – at 4 ½ A- and I and all alighted and walked 20 minutes then got into the carriage again thinking we could trot a little – but this trotting was only for a few minutes and then we relapsed into our footspace again – stop at 6 50/.. half way to rest a little – the postboy wanted leaders – no! and on we

SH:7/ML/E/23/0080

we went but the horses tired already – at 7 ½ the postillion ran to a house at a little distance (left) for leaders – none to be had – at 7 ¾ A- and I alight to walk, and Gross went to another house left for leaders and returned after some little time – none to be had – the carriage and we had gone slowly on – the sand ankle deep and very fatiguing but the evening fine and cool, and A- and I and all walked on and on – at last we had a pride in keeping before the carriage to Hazelunen, and, having several times stopped till the carriage came up within hearing (too dark at last to see it) we crossed the drawbridge, passed under the gate and entered the town, then got into the carriage for the very short way we had to go in the town and alighted at 9 ¾ - very comfortable sort of country-town gasthof  - the master of the house quite young – spoke a little English very civil – went into the kitchen to see what we could have for supper – part of cold roast large shoulder of veal, soup, a couple of boiled eggs and bread and butter and ½ bottle vin de grave, and hot water – very good and comfortable – but Gross said before the man it was only a thaler – I then understood for everything – supper over at 11 – we had sat writing a little till it was ready – very fine day – our 2 bedded room very hot – smallish – lay down (having only taken off my gown and shoes and stockings) at 11 ¾ - A- had laid down ¼ hour before me

Saturday [Sunday] 13 May 1838

8 ½

12 ¼

all ready in 1 ¾ hour – very fine morning F58 ½° at 8 ½ - breakfast in about ½ hour and then inking over accounts till 11 – and went out about 11 ½ - A- up early this morning wrote up her journal and copied mine of yesterday – went direct (the garçon of the hotel just shewed us to the door) to the house of M. Vandenschrik , Rue de Paris a riche particulier to see his picture – mentioned to us by Madame Venue Desterdiu (mistress of the hotel de Suède) as one of the best collections in Europe, worth many thousand of florins – a woman opened the porte cochère guichet, and shewed us in to a gentleman whom we soon found was the propriétaire of the house and pictures a connoisseur and amateur of gout inné – he cried for a picture as a baby – and his mother used to buy him pictures for toys – his school altogether flamande (Flemish and Dutch) – 1st shewed us into 2 nice rooms rez de chaussée of good modern pictures a host of Dutch and Flemish names I am not artist enough to note or remember – then into his gallery built exprès of the old Flemish masters – lighted from the top – sides a darkish grey – all the pictures everywhere in handsome gilt frames placed in boxes covered with crimson merinos, and suspended by dark coloured cords from an iron sort of continued curtain-rodding fixed round the top of the room .:. every picture moveable at a slight tough and no nails driven – very good effect – at the top of the gallery 2 Vandykes a merchant and a duke of Neuborg? the only picture that remained to him of his fathers’ collection – some good Sneyders – a few Rembrandts’ – a few pictures of Rubens – asked M. V- which was his favourite picture – he seemed to say a waterfall by Ruysdal – I did not see much in it to fascinate me – but when he opened the [?] of the collection a charming Rubens – St. Catherine immediately being beheaded – the executor gone, and 2 angels come the one taking up the body, the other the head, to carry them to Mt. Sinai (on the top of which the present convent is dedicated to St. Catherine) – the wheel on which she was placed had broken without hurting her, and parts of the broken wheel lie in the near corner of the picture – the composition, drawing, and colouring are equally excellent? the feet seem still not dead – the back and blending neck are incomparable – the head – the face of clam placid expression is yet quite dead – this pictures was painted by R- immediately after his return from Italy and was in the même accord (same account or bill as) as the erection of the cross (the companion of the family’s descent from the X) in the cathedral at Antwerp – this St. Catherine formed a sort of table to the erection of the X and was sold about 100 years ago by the cathedral in order with the price of it to erect a fine marble altar piece for the larger picture – it passed thro’ various hands and came into the possession of M. V- I think he said a year or 2 ago – the gush of blood from the neck of the tronc very good – but said I could not comprehend the white streak, as if the blood and water? this said V- was poésie – to mark his virginity! – I stood for several minutes

SH:7/ML/E/21/0097

before this picture probably apologizing for detaining Mr. V- but probably giving him a real pleasure – the picture is really charming – I saw without observing a great many cards on the top of the sort of table-frame in which the picture is shut up – It never occurred to me to leave my own card – nor, in fact, had I one with me – regretted we had not more time to spare – M. V- civil – très poli – on leaving him said there ought to be some charity box or some means of enabling one to do some little good – said this gently and civilly – Indeed I did not then quite know enough about M. V- to be certain what to do – going to give the servant something but she had closed the door (guichet of the porte cochère) – on returning to the Inn A- said she had seen the several cards – among the rest, those of Sir ---- and Lady Ramsay – I had thanked Mr. V- très poliement -  he said he hoped to have the same civility should he be in England – of which I, of course, replied he might feel quite assured – 1 25 hour at M. V-s’ i.e. from 11 ¾ to 1 10 – from M. V-‘s to the botanic garden in 5 minutes at 1 ¼ and sauntering about there till 2 20 – not very large, but very nicely kept, pretty garden – and very good serres – unluckily the jardinière chef was away, and we had only a boy domestique with us who knew nothing of plants without tickets – mespilus palam Xisti (Throps’ evergreen thorn) border hedges, instead of box, 18in. to 3ft. high – very pretty – pretty mass of rhododendrons, and ditto ditto juniperus Sabina, and ditto ditto of paeonia (peonies) – Icosandria class xii.  monogynia prunus cerasus our common large leaved  laurel

Digynia Spirea ulmaria what I call at home meadow sweet

spirea filipendula

Ditto laevigata, in flower (white) very pretty

Sempervivum tectorum, house leek.

Adonis vernalis, pheasants’ eye

Ajuga reptaus, bugloss, the pretty common blue flowering plant that forms the bordering creeping along the meer walk struck on entering the garden with the pretty effect of 3 clumps of spruces and filling up in interstices, on each side of the middle clump a clump of purple beeches – these clumps margin the water prettily surmounted by 3 little flower bed terraces with green slopes between them, and down to the water – right on entering the garden very pretty thing in pink flower – a mass of pink, that our boy called flox veronica – from the garden sauntered to the grande place and very fine town hall  (a florid gothic lofty, apparently 3 stories high + 2 of basement and cellars + 4 stories in the roof? – the corners finished in round towers with each a florid gothic high turret or minaret and 1 at each end on the ridge of the roof – stood gazing a few minutes – then went into the fine cathedral 4 fine aisles – whitewashed – lofty – fine church – here too a fine oak-carved pulpit – a conversion of St. Paul thrown from his horse but rather different from tat at Malines – M. V- told us this morning, in explaining an interior of Antwerp cathedral as it was 2 centuries ago, that the then pulpit was still in the cathedral and of great historic interest tho’ plain in itself – the present fine oak-carved pulpit was taken from the church of the Jesuits – this interior taken before the present floor of the cathedral raised 3 or 4 ft. in consequence of inundations whenever the tide rose very high – came back to the hotel at 3 ¼ - paid all – had up the mistress of the hotel a nice sort of person window of a M. Desterdiu – Hotel de Suède Rue de Diest n°46 – very good hotel – got her to write me out  a bill for the 2 servants – dinner 3/. supper 2/50 breakfast 1/50 – she sent for a bottle of best (red) called Peterman – for which offered to pay 1fr. but she would return me in French and Belgian all the copper she had = 5 sols – like the common table been better - § off from the hotel de Suéde Louvain (had been very comfortable there) at 4pm – immediately after passing the barrier (out of the town) drove over the chemin de fer railroad, sunk in the sand below us – the chemin de fer nowhere comes into the town, but has its stations just outside –

§ Madame Desterdiu gives nothing to the post boys but something to eat – at other Inns they have some times as much as 2 fr. a piece given - .:. they will not bring people to her house if they can help it – take then to the hotel Sauvage – the hotel de Cologne n’existe plus –

fine country about Louvain – horizon closed in by amphitheatre of wooded or cultivated hill – very light sandy land all along, at, and from Antwerp here – from Louvain to Tirlemont 2 1/4p. of undulating or hilly road – good pavé – but begged to go on the parterre – the dust better than noise and jolting – trees on each side the road poplars and none of them large – Scotch fir plantations along the ridge of hill (left) have a good effect – very fine rich country – good villages and churches – Tirlemont a good town. 2 large good grandes places, and 2 large good churches – drove to the poste – 22 minutes in changing horses – nowhere ½ so long – leaving the town, just out of the old barrier gate (right) the 3 ancient tumuli all in a line – very close together – on the top of 2 of them, 3 or 4 young poplars – both sides of the road, just out of the town, and near and far all along good villages with good churches fine rich country and for the last ½ hour (from 7 to 7 ½) the avenue of the road finely closed –(terminated) by the clocher to one of the coaches of St. Troud [Sint- Truiden]– (the trees along the road latterly young poplars) except a very few young elms  - the roads in this country generally sunk more or less below the level of the adjoining ground – from 2 or 3 to 8 or 9ft. deep – what became of all the stuff that must have been removed? why thus sink the roads – for a better foundation? all about Brussels and everywhere the same – alight at the hotel de l’Europe à St. Troud [Sint-Truiden] in the grande place at 7 ½ sometime arranging about rooms and nourriture –not many English s’arrêtent ici – but very well off at last au 2nde Oddy and George sur le même palier – Supper ready for us all soon after 8 – (about 8 10) – have not enjoyed a meal so much since landing – the servants, too, it seems had a very good supper – we had fried sausages and eggs – hot roast veal – cold mutton and ditto beef and excellent salad – supped on the 2 first, and on the salad with cheese and bread and butter afterwards – had no wine de la maison, but finished our Brussels bottle of vin muscat de lunel – then A- and I at our Journals and have just written so far now at 10 50 pm

Sunday 1 July 1838

5 40

12 ½

Rainy morning F64 ½° at 6 am by 6 ½ nearly fair or merely damp and small rain – good beds and comfortable last night – off from Langon (hotel de la poste) at 7 ¼ left 5/. with the maitre de poste for Pierre at Bordeaux – Langon small town – the people standing in group as if a market day – Damp rainy disagreeable morning at 7 ¼ - asleep – at Bazas (1 3/4p.) at 8 ½ - stopt at bon Pasteur hotel to breakfast – was beginning to write but breakfast soon ready – Rained from setting out till afternoon – A- and I out at 10 to see the church, formerly cathedral, in the picturesque Italian-like, arcaded grande place la fête de St. Jean – a weed or herb common here  [?] into crossed over peoples’ doors – very handsome old gothic church the top part of west end modern and 3 chiefly sculptured west doorways the history of our saviour – in the style of Reims cathedral – the handsome interior plain and clean – the people at high mass – organ west end of nave – one side aisle and 1 aisle of little chapels – no transepts – 5 massive-round columns in the nave up to the organ, and then 6 clustered columns up to the apse, so that the nave is of 2 periods – very picturesque little ville –walked about while A- sketched the west front – we had breakfasted well and been very comfortable but the woman charged 5/. and on my quietly observing afterwards to the man that I had never paid so much for breakfast not even in Paris – he said it was 4/. for breakfast and 1/. for the room (double bedded room) in which we breakfasted – things dearer here than in Paris! – Road rough pavé last stage and this – the parterre quite cut up, so much rain lately – country hedged like England – no heath – all the ground in cultivation – at 11 40 the amphitheatric line of hill en face, and right and left as far as one can see, covered with wood – at 11 43 cross the little Ciron brook and enter the plantation of pins à resine (Scotchy fir) the trees in great numerous cut (little more than the bark cut 3 or 4 or 5ft. in length from the bottom) the piece as it were shaved off, so as to let the sap (turpentine) gush our; and here ‘on entre dans les immenses plaines des lands qui se me présentement que l’image de la stérilité et de la tristesse; quelques champs dérobés à ces landes offent seuls à l’habitant laborieux une modique nourriture’ midi. p. 49. Itinèraire de France – and here along the road-side charcoal-rings 6 or 8 yards diameter – the charcoal burnt in a conical heap in the middle covered over with sand, and, when sufficiently burnt, raked out and placed in a circle all round, so as to form the rings mentioned – the charcoal sent to Langon for the six bateaux à vapeur that ply on the Garonne – white sandy soil the firs when largeish seem mossy – a little cut-leaved oak intermixed with the firs – the commerce of Bazas is in wood and charcoal – at 12 10 en sortant from the fire-forest, a little heathery common (left) then rye (right) 1st we have seen cut – bad road – the wood pavé all in holes – at 12 25 very bad for ¼ hour – acacia hedges roadside – Captieux at 12 ½ picturesque little white, red-tile-roofed, scattered town – the blue clad men and crimson petticoated women of Bazas and here very picturesque – 5 minutes from Captieux white sand and heather, and fir and oak forest all round at a little distance – still bad wooden road – heather and whins on the ground clear of wood – From Captieux to Trévers (Porteau

not correspond with

SH:7/ML/E/21/0136

supprimé as a poste aux chevaux) great deal of heathery land, and at 1 ¼ the covering of the nutty way seems a mixture of black bog earth with white sand – obliged to go foots’ pace – if we went off the starting boards, the carriage wheels would sink up to the nave in sand of the parterre – at 1 ¾ rough stone pavé again after another piece of this board-road ‘planchéiée avec des madriers on des poutres équarries et assemblées comme des planchers’ Itinéraire de France midi. p.51 – these pieces of timber 8 or 9ft. long – mud and water gushing out from them at every joining as we pass along – at 1 48 leave the Gironde and enter the department of the Landes and have a bit of tolerable going on the parterre the sand now hard enough to bear us – at 2 5 la poste at Trevers (1 3/4p.) a large barn-like stable with a 3 roomed wood cabin (cahutte) at the back and a little bit of corn land in the midst of heather and wood – better road from here – a new stone pavé in progress and the road newly planted on each side with poplar, acacia and platanus – bad bits of road now and then – pulled up and not yet pavé at all – still heather brackens and pine forest – at 2 ¾ a deepish drain shews yellow-ochre coloured sand at the depth of a foot or 2 – all this stage and the last patches of rye every now and then near the picturesque little farmsteads, a good deal of it cut – now at 3 5 road bad again but commonly bad – a rubbled road, worn in consequence of the great quantity of rain – Roquefort at the poste at 3 ¾ (1 3/4p. from Trevers) not the place celebrated for its cheese – handsome new stone 3 arch bridge over the picturesque little river Douze just before arriving at the post, and hill – alight for a minute or 2 to look back upon the picturesque town with its old little chateau in the midst – at the top of the hill (left) new looking road to Tarbes – our road is now a rubble-road – not paved – and tho’ wet and worn, it is a godsend after the holy stone pavé and starting planks that we have come over – our road lies chiefly thro’ forest of fir, and oak, on these 2 mixed – row of trees on each side of the road – now good, large, handsome, old oaks (many of them having been once over truncated) and now fine, handsome (beautiful) large Spanish chestnuts in full flower – at 4 ¾ took up Dr. Léon merchant on mineral waters very interesting – at 5 Caloy a single house farmstead – From Roquefort to Caloy most interesting drive today – the road generally below the level of the forest which slopes up [?] on each side – the forest, too, the most interesting and continuous tho’ every now and then broken as it had been more or less all today by picturesque little farmsteads and patches of rye – rye in foot broad ridges with foot broad spaces between – off from Caloy at 5 10 along straight line of poplar avenue reaching as far as one can see, and in fact reaching to Pont de Marsan – the ground clear of wood, but covered with brackens, for some distance on each side the road – all the amphitheatric line of hill in the distance en face seems forest – rubble-road – cut up – but very fair considering the great quantity of rain – it has rained almost incessantly (they say) for the last 3 weeks – They said at Langon, we should probably sleep at Mont de Marsan – they better knew the state of the road than I did – it seems they sent word from there by courier de poste to tell the people at the postes on the road that we were coming .:. we have not had to wait for horses anywhere – It takes the malle poste 48 hours to go  go the 26 ¾ p. from Bordeaux to Bayonne – at Mont de Marsan at 5 55 hotel des ambassadors and du roi de Naples who was here 1 May 1830. very nice hotel – the courtyard very pretty with creepers etc. growing against the external gallery against the house – very nice people – veuve and her son and daughter – out soon after 6 for ¾ hour – peeped into the modern  good church – then to the 8 good Bains du nord very picturesque midway the picturesque bank of the now muddy Douze, and then immediately crossed the picturesque wood bridge over this little river to the Pépinière Départemental – very pretty so interesting (determined to breakfast here tomorrow, and see it in the morning for instructions’ sake as to the different trees) dinner at 7 – soup and salmon – mutton rouleau piqué and mutton cutlets, and fricandeau de veau, and a large roast fowl au cusson – potatoes au naturel (with their skins on served in a napkin as everywhere here nowadays) and good pears and 4 most excellent ortolans (which last made our dinner 5/. a piece instead of 4/. well worth it) besides an ample dessert gateau de riz (good) biscuits and macaroons sweetmeat, and honey as I had desired Roquefort being famous for it (and it is very good) and strawberries and cherries – by far the most bountiful dinner we have had and by far the best – the ortolans would have satisfied the veriest epicure – never ate ortolans so parfaits before – like marrow dissolving in one’s mouth – sent from here to Paris – killed by holding their little heads in brandy, then picking and packing them in vine-leaves – (sent to table here on a silver skewer) a thin crisp bit of toast between each, and each wrapt in a thin leaf of lard, and even that a shred of vine-leaf – fed in the dark in a cage on millet – cost 2 or 3 sols a piece at 1st but ¾ die in the feeding, and if they are not taken just at the moment and cooked (roasted) au point (to ½ a turn) they are spoilt – the murier very like the ortolan – rather smaller and never so fat as the ortolans fed here – aux eaux the ortolans will be muriers – diner downstairs in a private salle à manger and came upstairs at 8 – sat with A- in her room talking till 9 – then (having had Josephine about 9 ¾ or 10) till 11 55 wrote out the whole of today – Rainy day till near 5 pm afterwards fair and finish – F63 1/2° at 11 66 pm A- right today I shall take no notice when she gets wrong again and core [care] for and think of it less and less by degrees