In these chapters, Valancy finds that personal liberty requires personal responsibility. In her former existence as a lesser Stirling, she had no agency over her own life. This was intensely stifling- and boring- no doubt, but it also afforded her a great deal of protection. At home, she never had to even consider if an event she was attending would be eminently safe and respectable, because of course it would be. Having declared her independence from this life however, means that Valancy is responsible for her own actions- for good or ill- and she certainly makes some mistakes here. When he rescues her from the unwanted attentions of a drunken lout, Barney is incredulous that Valancy didn't know better than to attend a dance in Chidley Corners. This demonstrates the degree to which her life was sheltered up to this point: she had lived only a short distance from the area her entire life and had never even heard of its unsavoury reputation. Because she wanted to experience an "up back" dance, Valancy didn't pause to find out just what kind of place she was going to, nor reflect that Roaring Abel was never going to be a reliable escort. Well, experience it she does, and she finds out that in places like Chidley Corners, the Stirling name is no shield against boorish attentions from drunken sots. Then of course Barney Snaith charges to the rescue rather like the perfect knight Valancy has always dreamed of in her Blue Castle, except instead of duelling he punches the drunk in the face, and they escape in his rackety old Grey Slosson, not on a white steed. Which all in all, is definitely more practical given the situation. More practical, that is, until the car runs out of gas and strands them in the middle of nowhere. It is during this time that Valancy makes a momentous discovery: she has fallen in love with Barney Snaith... something that readers of course, have seen coming all along. It's not surprising really: she's always liked his looks and since being at Roaring Abel's she has gotten to know him as a thoughtful, intelligent, and kind person, whatever his past may be. He's also someone she can converse easily with; while sitting in the dark, he idly talks of his dream of ballooning, and Valancy finds herself telling him of her previous stifled life and her Blue Castle. Her previous life abruptly intrudes on her present one in the form of Uncle Wellington and Cousin Olive, who are horrified to find Valancy in a car in the middle of nowhere, in the middle of the night with suspected jail bird Barney Snaith. Uncle W. reluctantly sells Barney enough gas to make it into town, mostly because he wants to get the shameless pair out of sight before they cause an even bigger scandal than Valancy has already done with her behaviour. And- unwisely- Olive attempts to bring the family black sheep back into the fold, only to find the sinner is unrepentant and, more unforgivably, mocking her. Valancy, who has always meekly followed in Olive's shadow, is now openly laughing at her and Olive doesn't know how to handle it. She is also startled by the change in Valancy's looks as well as demeanor. Valancy is wearing her new outfit, the colour and fit of which flatter her as nothing she's ever worn before has. In the moonlight, in her green dress, her eyes sparkling with fun, Valancy looks- Olive realises with shock- not exactly pretty, but provocative and fascinating. The Stirlings now have a new fear: not only has Valancy lost her mind, she's become a brazen hussy. Related Posts:My sister's kids were watching the 1993 Disney film Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey the other day. Their dog Poppy was in the room with them and was fascinated by the dogs on the screen. My sister said that she kept creeping closer, resulting in the boys complaining, "Poppy! We can't see!" Well, it is a good movie, and remarkable among Disney films for being one of their very few remakes that was better than the original (1963's The Incredible Journey). Most of their remakes are pretty dreadful... Flubber, the 1997 remake of The Absent Minded Professor (1961), anyone? Just awful. And it's no secret that I'm lukewarm at best about the contemporary live action remakes of classic animated Disney movies; at best they're unnecessary, and generally inferior in every way. It's hard to see them as anything other than a cynical money grab by a company which now seems devoid of new ideas. But Homeward Bound was good. Related Posts: One of my brothers-in-law commented online last week that, while he's been working from home, my sister has introduced him to Stuart McLean's stories. He marvelled that he had never heard any of them before; obviously he was not raised properly. This conversation reminded me that I had been given a set of audio book Vinyl Cafe stories for Christmas that I hadn't actually opened yet. I did so the other day and listened to several of McLean's delightful tales which I enjoyed immensely. One of them, however, gave me pause: Dave Versus the Flu. In it, Dave's wife and son have the flu, as do his immediate neighbours. This makes Dave's life a misery, because he is completely flu-phobic. He generally keeps a weather eye out for fruit bats, because he's looked it up online and found out that bats are notorious carriers of viruses which can infect humans. Morley- his wife- says that he's being an hysterical lunatic. This doesn't stop him from serving her dinner to her in a mask and gloves. The audience on the recording finds Dave's rampant paranoia greatly amusing, and no doubt I did too, once upon a time. Now in 2020, however, all I can think is, "Listen to him, you naive fools! It is the bats, and you'll soon need to suit up in gloves and masks, too." Oh, how young and cavalier we all were back then. Related Posts:The only benefit that I can see to having movie night by yourself is that you always get to pick the movie. Last night I decided to watch the second episode of the Horatio Hornblower series: The Fire Ships. At one point in this episode, Acting Lieutenant Hornblower leads a routine mission to pick up provisions in the Algerian port city of Oran. When they arrive however, it becomes obvious that they have walked into an outbreak of the Black Death. Due to their exposure, Horatio and his men are unable to return to the Indefatigable where they could risk infecting the rest of the crew with the plague. Instead they must spend three weeks in quarantine on the small supply vessel with the cattle they were picking up, until they're sure none of the men have the dread illness. I thought this was rather fitting viewing, considering our present circumstances. Related Posts:It's Palm Sunday, which feels kind of odd, because I'm not at church participating in the usual special events which comprise our commemoration of Holy Week. Nevertheless, together in spirit if not in body, we celebrate the most important week in the Christian calendar. “And they that went before, and they that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna; Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord:” Mark 11:19 The above painting of Christ's triumphal entry into Jerusalem is by Felix Louis Leullier, a 19th century French painter who specialised in Christian artwork. In the painting, he has surrounded Jesus' head with a halo, but you can also see that Leullier has placed a halo around the head of a woman in the right foreground. I think it is safe to assume this is meant to be Mary, the mother of God. The song below is by my favourite Christian artist, Andrew Peterson: Hosanna (which means "save us").
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