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Proof of life
May. 7th, 2026 06:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
azurelunaticnorabombay is visiting! We hung out yesterday afternoon and had dinner. Additional dinner plans for tonight.azurelunaticnorabombay is visiting! We hung out yesterday afternoon and had dinner. Additional dinner plans for tonight.
Characters we have met in real life: Mansfield Park
May. 4th, 2026 12:44 pmnineveh_ukTom Bertram on being upbraided by his father for getting into debt to such an extent that his extremely wealthy father can't get him it out of it without selling the living promised to his younger son.
“I blush for you, Tom,” said [Sir Thomas], in his most dignified manner; “I blush for the expedient which I am driven on, and I trust I may pity your feelings as a brother on the occasion. You have robbed Edmund for ten, twenty, thirty years, perhaps for life, of more than half the income which ought to be his. It may hereafter be in my power, or in yours (I hope it will), to procure him better preferment; but it must not be forgotten that no benefit of that sort would have been beyond his natural claims on us, and that nothing can, in fact, be an equivalent for the certain advantage which he is now obliged to forego through the urgency of your debts.”
Tom listened with some shame and some sorrow; but escaping as quickly as possible, could soon with cheerful selfishness reflect, 1st, that he had not been half so much in debt as some of his friends; 2dly, that his father had made a most tiresome piece of work of it; and, 3dly, that the future incumbent, whoever he might be, would, in all probability, die very soon.
We've all met Tom. We've probably all been Tom to some extent, but usually aged more about 5 than 25. Unfortunately, one can think of people who retain this characteristic many decades later in life.
It's also interesting to see the ordinal adverbs not spelt out as "firstly" etc, which one would expect from a modern novel.
Anyway, I have just restarted reading Mansfield Park. It's been well over a decade since I last did, and Austen seemed a good option for my current project of making an effort to read more for relaxation.
“I blush for you, Tom,” said [Sir Thomas], in his most dignified manner; “I blush for the expedient which I am driven on, and I trust I may pity your feelings as a brother on the occasion. You have robbed Edmund for ten, twenty, thirty years, perhaps for life, of more than half the income which ought to be his. It may hereafter be in my power, or in yours (I hope it will), to procure him better preferment; but it must not be forgotten that no benefit of that sort would have been beyond his natural claims on us, and that nothing can, in fact, be an equivalent for the certain advantage which he is now obliged to forego through the urgency of your debts.”
Tom listened with some shame and some sorrow; but escaping as quickly as possible, could soon with cheerful selfishness reflect, 1st, that he had not been half so much in debt as some of his friends; 2dly, that his father had made a most tiresome piece of work of it; and, 3dly, that the future incumbent, whoever he might be, would, in all probability, die very soon.
We've all met Tom. We've probably all been Tom to some extent, but usually aged more about 5 than 25. Unfortunately, one can think of people who retain this characteristic many decades later in life.
It's also interesting to see the ordinal adverbs not spelt out as "firstly" etc, which one would expect from a modern novel.
Anyway, I have just restarted reading Mansfield Park. It's been well over a decade since I last did, and Austen seemed a good option for my current project of making an effort to read more for relaxation.
Happy Birthday, Paul Gross!
Apr. 30th, 2026 12:33 pmgrey853Paul Gross who played Constable Benton Fraser in Due South has a birthday today. He was born April 30, 1959. I love that show.
Just some pictures of the man through the ages.
Just some pictures of the man through the ages.
FIC: Inner garden (Tempestuous Tours)
Apr. 27th, 2026 04:31 pmduskpetersonFurther on, as the corridor turns once more, is a locked door. This leads to the so-named inner garden, which is the palace courtyard. The garden may be entered only by invitation of the Chara or one of his council lords. It is intended as private place of restoration from the heavy duties of the Chara and the council lords.
The garden is a green area of grasses and hedges, in the Emorian fashion of gardens of pleasure. Towards the back of the garden is a small grove of trees. The tallest of these trees is father to the rest. Imported as a sapling from Koretia, it was replanted by the very hands of the Chara Peter.
Surrounding the garden are the four wings of the palace; this is the only place where all four wings can be seen at once. The garden is sunken to the original level of the hill, which causes the West Wing to loom above it. Only the remaining wings of the palace, though, are two-storeyed.
A break between the South Wing and the East Wing is gated and heavily guarded. It offers a splendid view of the black border mountains to the south.
[Translator's note: The protagonists of Blood Vow and Law of Vengeance keep bumping into each other in the inner garden, alas.]