That is the title of Rosemary
Sutcliff's autobiography that I
finally got. I haven't figured out
the title yet. She attributes Kipling's
Puck of Pook's Hill for her passion
on the subject of Roman Britain. Her
books cover that time well.
A late 70 year old is her friend , when
she is young! Probably about 12
"She belongs mainly to
the summer time and sea front....Mrs.
Wayne and I became bosom friends."
"Mrs. Wayne was a woman of her hands,
and therein lay her chief fascination, for
I was already beginning to be a woman
of mine.
...But I remember the comfortable companion-
ship , and the things she made....Chiefly they
were tea cozies and straw hats. "
"The tea-cozies were always of the 'cottage'
variety , and I have never since seen a
cottage tea-cozy to equal them. They had
thatched roofs of golden-brown raffia couched
down in the traditional patterns of thatcher's art.
Their walls of rough cream linen were richly
and lovingly embroidered with green front doors,
and windows with green shutters, and a riot of
flowers in the bed that ran around the bottom.
Climbing roses rambled up the walls , and
generally a cat sat on a doorstep
or windowsill. They were thickly padded , and
gave a wonderful impression of home and shelter.
I would have loved to live in one of Mrs. Wayne's
tea-cozies."
Would you like to live in this one:
Book Club tomorrow night:
Quotidian Mysteries:
Laundry, Liturgy and Women's
Work by Kathleen Norris.
