Nature’s first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf’s a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.
-Robert Frost
Nature’s first green is gold, Her hardest hue to hold. Her early leaf’s a flower; But only so an hour. Then leaf subsides to leaf. So Eden sank to grief, So dawn goes down to day. Nothing gold can stay. -Robert Frost
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This debacle ends with Jasper looking- and feeling- foolish as Olivia drives off to have dinner at the White Sands with Edwin Clark, where he makes it clear that he wants to marry her. A panicking Sarah and Felix run through the woods to Peg Bowen's place to tell her of their disastrous attempt and ask her for a cure for the potion. She amusedly tells them that she forgot to put in a key ingredient so the potion was useless, much to Felix's relief. He immediately tells Sarah that he's not getting involved in any more of her harebrained schemes. Sarah tracks Jasper down- he's retreated to his farm- and apologises, explaining that they were just trying to help. She encourages him to tell Olivia of his feelings. He eventually nerves himself up to do so and drives to Rose Cottage where he finds Olivia with Edwin. Really, that man is always underfoot. Jasper declares himself to a speechless Olivia, just as Felix comes running out of the trees behind Rose Cottage in a panic. He gasps out that he and some other boys were playing in the woods and Teddy Armstrong stepped on an old rotting well cover; it collapsed and he fell down the well. Jasper immediately springs into action, grabbing some rope from his wagon and heading into the woods with Felix, Edwin and Olivia following closely. They find the other boys gathered around the old well looking down; they can see Teddy at the bottom- he's unconscious. Jasper immediately takes charge, sending someone for Dr. Blair and rigging up a sling. He says that someone will have to go down into the well to get Teddy. Olivia looks at Edwin expectantly but he glances away, refusing to meet her eyes. Jasper unhesitatingly lowers himself into the well and, reaching the bottom, puts the unconscious boy in the sling and directs those above to pull Teddy up to the surface. They then lower the rope back down to pull Jasper up too. When he's out of the well, Jasper and Olivia ready Teddy to be carried back to Rose Cottage. Meanwhile, Edwin helpfully berates the other boys for playing near the old well. The look Olivia gives him says it all: this guy is dead to her. They get Teddy back to Rose Cottage and Dr Blair arrives. Fortunately Teddy isn't too badly injured and by the time Mr Armstrong gets there, Teddy is awake and bandaged up. Learning of how Jasper saved his son, Mr. Armstrong is profoundly grateful and apologises for his earlier behaviour. He also realizes that, if he hadn't been so set on keeping Teddy away from all harm on their farm, Teddy wouldn't have been sneaking around to play with his friends. Jasper gives him the photo he had taken of Teddy the day he and Olivia sheltered in their barn. Olivia gives Edwin his walking papers and Jasper manages to propose to Olivia, who throws herself into his arms. Jasper immediately drives off the road. It's a happy ending for everyone, except for Edwin Clark of course, and maybe Hetty. This episode is a much stronger one than the previous Old Quarrels, Old Love. My biggest problem with that episode was that I didn't care about the romance because it all happened too quickly- there and gone before we could develop any level of genuine interest. The relationship between Olivia and Jasper has been slowly building for over a season at this point; we know and care about both of these characters and are rooting for them to get together. So of course we loathe Edwin Clark from the moment he enters the scene. He makes this loathing very easy however, being a smarmy fake. He shows one face to those he wishes to impress- Olivia and Hetty- and quite another to those he considers beneath him. A man who would cheat a young boy out of a nickel is not one that any woman is going to find happiness with; character deficiencies aside, anyone this cheap is going to carry that parsimony over into other areas of his life once he drops the facade. And of course, Edwin the smooth talker treats Jasper with contempt. The incident at the well, however, shows who the real man is: Edwin is too much of a coward to attempt to rescue Teddy. Jasper on the other hand doesn't hesitate and, though shy and awkward much of the time, shows he is able to keep his head, take charge, and act intelligently and bravely to save a child's life. Edwin, humiliated, attempts to reassert his manhood (sorry, that ship has sailed) by berating Felix and his friends. Typical. It's very satisfying when Dr Blair asks Jasper to help him with treating Teddy, while ol' Edwin is banished to the parlour with the women and children. Hah. The secondary plotline- of Teddy and his father- is quite well done (and based on an LM Montgomery short story). It's affecting without taking up much screen time, and intersects seamlessly with the main plot. All in all, this is a really good episode and sets us on the road to Jasper and Olivia's wedding, although many shenanigans will occur between now and then. Related Posts:The family had tentatively planned a beach day & campfire for Labour Day, but it ended up pouring rain all day so that was cancelled. Since I was stuck indoors and at home, I got a few things done such as sew pillowcases as a gift for my eldest niece, who is moving away to go to university this fall. I also sewed this bath wrap, which shall be a gift for one of my sisters at some point; I've already made one for myself. I got a bit of preserving done as well; I had a whole box of fresh peaches, so made peach jam, and used some frozen fruit I had in the freezer to make bumbleberry jam. “I'm sure I'll take you with pleasure!" the Queen said. "Twopence a week, and jam every other day." Alice couldn't help laughing, as she said, "I don't want you to hire me - and I don't care for jam." "It's very good jam," said the Queen. "Well, I don't want any today, at any rate." "You couldn't have it if you did want it," the Queen said. "The rule is, jam tomorrow and jam yesterday - but never today." "It must come sometimes to 'jam today'," Alice objected. "No it can't," said the Queen. "It's jam every other day: today isn't any other day, you know.” ― Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland / Through the Looking-Glass I ran out of pectin before I ran out of fruit, so chopped up a couple of apples, threw them in with the remaining berries, and made a fruit crumble which I am now steadily working my way through. So that was my Labour Day; not wildly exciting, but a good day spent catching up on a few things I've been meaning to get done. Related Posts: In this episode, Hetty has her knickers in a twist because Olivia's been spending a lot of time with Jasper, having him take pictures to go with her newspaper articles. One day while the two are out on the road, they get caught in the rain and shelter in a nearby barn. They are found there by the barn's owner, Mr. Armstrong, who is none too pleased. Armstrong has turned into a bitter recluse after the death of his wife, pulling his son Teddy out of school and seldom leaving his farm. He orders Jasper and Olivia off of his property and then storms off. Teddy has overheard the confrontation and feels badly, so he introduces himself and offers to share his blueberry tart- which his father baked- with them. He tells them that his father isn't really mean; he's just sad because he misses Teddy's mum. As Teddy stands there with his dog, a smear of blueberry on his cheek, Olivia and Jasper are struck by how picturesque he looks and Jasper quickly sets up his camera, taking a photograph of the scene. It's after Olivia returns from this outing that Hetty starts making rude comments again about Jasper, causing Olivia to lose her temper. Meanwhile, the Kings are preparing to hold a dance in their barn. The night of, a still-miffed Olivia is trying to ignore Hetty and is hoping that Jasper will ask her to dance. His crippling shyness in social situations however makes this unlikely. Frankly, it's a miracle- and a testament to how much he likes Olivia- that he even showed up. Sarah and Felix meet up with Teddy, who has sneaked out of the house to see his school friends. As they are talking outside the barn, a well dressed man pulls up in a carriage. He offers to pay five cents to have his horse taken care of and Teddy volunteers, walking the horse to cool him and then watering him when the man goes into the dance. It turns out that this is Edwin Clark; he and Olivia were beaus as teenagers but Hetty chased him off because at the time he had few prospects and she didn't think he was good enough for Olivia. He moved away, married, and became a successful businessman. He's back in Avonlea for a short time, now a wealthy widower. He sweeps a shocked Olivia into a dance just as Jasper had screwed up his courage to the point of asking her. Hetty looks on with approval, her opinion of Edwin changed by the "wealthy widower" part of his description. Clark asks Olivia if he can see the following day and Olivia, confused and flustered, agrees. Mission accomplished, Clark leaves the barn and goes to his carriage where Teddy is waiting, with Felix keeping him company. Teddy tells Clark that he took good care of his horse and politely asks for his nickel but Edwin denies having promised any payment and drives off. Over the next few days, it becomes obvious that Edwin Clark is making a play for Olivia. He keeps sending flowers, and is squiring her about the town and countryside. Hetty is gleeful at the prospect of Olivia marrying her wealthy suitor and no longer having Jasper Dale- who has retreated to his farm- underfoot. Olivia can't help but be flattered by the attention and has a lingering fondness for Edwin from their youthful romance. She confesses to Sarah however, that she really wants Jasper but is afraid that he's a confirmed bachelor who will never ask her to marry him. Sarah of course wants Aunt Olivia to marry Jasper, and the children all know what a chintzy jerk Clark really is. She and Felix decide to visit Peg Bowen, the "witch" of Avonlea, and ask her for help. She impishly gives them a mysterious potion and tells them that, if Olivia drinks it, she will become betrothed to the next man she sees. The credulous children believe her. Felix taste-tests the potion and then glances at Sarah; realization strikes and the two gaze at each other in horror. Despite the hideous prospect that they might be engaged, Sarah and Felix are determined to bring Olivia and Jasper together, so Sarah sends Felix to somehow get Jasper to Rose Cottage while she heads directly there to get Olivia to drink the potion. To her dismay, she finds Olivia getting ready to go to dinner with Edwin. She manages to convince Olivia that she needs a cool drink and gets her to take a few sips of the potion. Meanwhile, Felix has gone to Jasper's place and lied to him, saying that Olivia has been taken gravely ill. Jasper immediately hitches up his wagon and races off towards Rose Cottage with Felix in tow but at the narrow bridge almost has a collision with Edwin Clark, also headed to Rose Cottage to pick Olivia up. He snaps at Jasper for driving so fast, but Jasper manages to stammer that Olivia is terribly ill, which Edwin says is nonsense- he saw her just a short time before. They all rush to Rose Cottage where Felix runs ahead to warn Sarah that the jig is up, only to come face to face with Olivia... he now finds himself in the uncomfortable position of thinking he's betrothed to both his cousin and his aunt. (To Be Continued...)
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The above image is from the 2003 seafaring movie Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World. The film is set during the Napoleonic Wars, and follows the adventures of Captain Jack Aubrey and his crew on the high seas as they play cat-and-mouse with a French privateer. It's based on the series of books by Patrick O'Brian and stars Russell Crowe as Aubrey and Paul Bettany as Stephen Maturin, ship's surgeon and Aubrey's friend/conscience. In the above scene, Aubrey has granted Maturin some time on the Galapagos Island to observe the wildlife and collect specimens. Unfortunately, while collecting, Maturin spots the Acheron- the ship they've been chasing- in a cove on the far side of the island. He must leave his samples behind and rush to inform Captain Jack that they've located the enemy. |
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