I had, in my vivid imagination, a passport to the geography of Fairyland. In a twinkling I could – and did – whisk myself into regions of wonderful adventures, unhampered by any restrictions of time or place. – L.M. Montgomery

I ran across this lovely quote today by our dear LM. Although my sis and I seem to be in an Anne reading lull right now (don’t worry – all good things must have a break before they can be fully enjoyed again) I find that my thoughts and words are sprinkled with Anneishness throughout my days. Sometimes we all need to revisit the geography of Fairyland – where does your passport take you?

-big sis

Thanks for checking in!  I’ve been away from the blog for a while…unfortunately…but now that school has started I’ll have plenty of free time to blog, right?!?!?!?!?!?

Hm………….moving on.

To answer your queries (querys?):

• I am indeed full of exhilarating hopes and dreams.  Particularly because this is my senior year and I’ve only got 8 more months before real life begins.  At least that’s what they tell me.  Who knows what comes next??? Perhaps I’ll get a principalship (emphasis on the PAL) at a charming ladies college. I have always loved Pringles…particularly sour cream and onion…but you know that well…
• I have received no hothouse flowers nor do I have any gentlemen callers, HOWEVER a fine young chap offered me an umbrella the other day in the rain, so we’ll see where that goes…we’ll call him Loy Bardner…
• My new place is becoming as charming as Patty’s Place.  Once all the boxes are empty and bookshelves have been filled we’ll be closer.  And perhaps when my new friend (let’s call him Filbert…you don’t know him…) comes to visit, it will be even more swell..
• My new place is called Hermana’s Empanadas!! Oh wait…that’s another place.  I wish we lived there. Empanadazzzzz
• just let it go…

I have often thought you were like Rachel Lynde at a church social, but more because of your propensity towards flat straw hats and Presbyterian fervor….

Yours,

Forever,

and Ever,

until the end of our days,

Leetle Sees

PS: THE COUNTDOWN SAYS 99 DAYS!!!!! DOUBLE DIGITS UNTIL REUNION!

Hi! I was just wanting to check in. I know that it’s the beginning of the semester for you and I was just wondering…

• Are you filled with exhilarating hopes and dreams just as a certain friend of ours always was upon returning to Redmond?
• Are there any young gentleman at the university trying to give you hothouse flowers?
• Is your new place as charming at Patty’s Place?
• Is your new place actually called Patty’s Place?
• Could you name it that, please?

Okay, I think those are all my questions for now. Please keep me in the loop. After all, I’m like Rachel Lynde at a church social… I need to know!!

Yours forever,

Lovingly,

Sincerely,

-Big Sis

PS: How many days until I see you?!?

I would like to address a topic today that just might prove to be controversial. I’m not afraid of conflict, though, and I’m not afraid of Kevin Sullivan and his tricks (Kev, if you’re reading, I’m sure you’re a peach of a person – all the Canadians that I’ve met are. Sadly, though, I have a bone to pick…)

You see, the film entitled Anne of Avonlea (or in later versions I believe it’s Anne of Green Gables: the Sequel) claims to be based on three books: Anne of Avonlea, Anne of the Island and Anne of Windy Poplars. If one is wondering how you could possibly cram all those books into one (albeit very long) film, one might be named ME. If one is also wondering about accuracy issues and how close to the real Anne story we’re getting, I’m here to set the record straight. I can’t be silent any longer. Here are just a few of the discrepancies that I’ve identified (most coming from Windy Poplars since that was my most recent read). Feel free to chime in with more in the comment section!

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Movie: Emaline Harris

Book: Little Elizabeth

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Movie: Morgan Harris

Book: GIL THE ONE AND ONLY! Although some may say that Morgan Harris represents a Roy Gardner figure in Anne’s life. Both propose, both are given the turn-of-the-century boot… Yet each happen along at very different times in Anne’s life and I’m hesitant to even liken the two. Thoughts?

*

Movie: Mrs. Harris is our crabby old friend, as well as Pauline’s mother and Emaline’s grandmother.

Book: Mrs. Adoniram Gibson is the thorn in her daughter, Pauline’s, side. She is not Little Elizabeth’s grandmother, though. That honor is left to an entirely different crabby old lady.

*

Book: Rebecca Dew

Movie: Rebecca Who?

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Movie: Anne works as an English Teacher at Kingsport Ladies’ College

Book: Our heroine is nothing less than Principal at Summerside High School

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Movie: Emaline Harris plays Mary Queen of Scots at the last minute.

Book: Sophy Sinclair shines in the spotlight!

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Movie: Katherine Brooke goes home with Anne for the summer where she learns to style her hair in the latest island pouf.

Book: Katherine Brooke spends Christmas at Green Gables where Anne makes all her wishes come true by gifting her a delicious puppy.

*

Book:  Tears ain’t lucky at weddings. – Aunt Mouser (Windy Poplars, ch. 16)

Movie: Aunt Josephine Barry makes a similar (but more grammatically correct) observation just moments prior to Diana’s wedding to Roly Poly Fred Wright.

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Book: Wouldn’t it be wonderful to be the bride of heaven? – Hazel Marr (Windy Poplars, ch. 10)

Movie: Anne makes this statement to Diana after some pre-wedding frolicking in their elegant undergarments.

*

Now I have to admit, as I turned on the film recently to do my extensive research for this post, my heart started pitter-pattering wildly with just a few bars of that opening song… the cameras panned the gorgeous Prince Edward Island sand dunes… the memories of a certain vacation…

oops

I got distracted there for a moment.

As much as I want to detest it, I do enjoy this film and will continue to watch it when the mood is right. I love the books more, though, and they’ll always be my first love.

Also, if Jonathan Crombie’s on board I tend to be in favor.

I must finally state – as if it hasn’t been reiterated enough on this humble blog – that The Anne Girls in no way, shape or form condone or encourage the viewing of Anne of Green Gables: The Continuing Story. That is a completely different ball of wax that does not deserve to carry the fine name of Anne.

We’re serious about Anne around here.

Thank you for bearing with me, dear kindred spirits. May your sleeves be puffed and your cordial the raspberriest.

Sincerely,

Big Sis

This is investigative journalism at its finest.

Other than that, I’m enjoying a rainy and cold winter evening here in the ever-exciting, effervescent, and entertaining South America.

Cheers!

-big sis

PS: I will gladly accept donations of new “e” words…

My job this summer is working with a sort of day camp.  We have 8 kids ranging in age from 18 months to 12 years old and we travel all over New York City with them, some of their moms and more strollers than should be allowed on a single subway train. It’s intense.

I’ve never understood why Anne needed Susan to help run her family of 9 until now.  We usually have 4 adults to 7 children and it’s still hectic!  Now sure, Anne wasn’t taking the kids to the Central Park Zoo or dealing with the 6 train at rush hour.  And I’m guessing strollers have come a long way since then, which is probably both a good and bad thing.

All this to say, I’ve never had kids and our family is a fairly normal size (not to be confused with fairly normal…) so I just didn’t get it…until now.  Kids are exhausting.  And sometimes they drive you crazy.

But it’s also totally worth it…which is why tomorrow morning I’ll get up, find out if my sick 9 year old is feeling better, make sure my 4 year old eats half her bagel, do my best to keep the 7 and 3 year old brothers from sitting next to each other during our Hebrew lesson..and love (almost) every second of it.

I sang a baby to sleep the other night.  I can put up with anything for that!

-little sis

But I digress…

This book has traditionally been one of the less… interesting… Anne books on the list. Less anticipated. It seems almost like a place holder between the magical Island and heartwarming House of Dreams. It’s interesting, though, how on the last couple of reads I’ve really been able to enjoy the details in WP. No, there aren’t many life-changing happenings when it comes to narrative, which makes sense seeing as the book was written after Rilla; the end of the story was already in place and the major plot points had been covered. This book, then, can be enjoyed for what it is: a peek into Anne’s season of waiting, a collection of fun little stories and, of course, the introduction of our beloved Rebecca Dew.

On a slightly different note, I’ve enjoyed taking note of some Anne quirks in these first few chapters. Sometimes I just love Anne’s relate-ability. Take, for example:

• The pen tip. I’m also a picky pen girl and although I’m not exactly writing letters to Gil, I can relate. It must be the right grip and ink-flow to make my penmanship look just so for whatever journal or letter I may be writing. It’s all in the details, folks.

• Anne never sleeps her first night in a new bed. Me neither! Not sure why, but never have.

• She can’t call Rebecca Dew anything other than Rebecca Dew.  I get this! I have been similar over the years with specific people; some names just sound better together and that’s that. The problem is that one of said friends just got married and now has a new last name. Oh, the difficulties of growing up. She’ll always be Sally LastName to me, though. There’s just no other way.

So here I go, into the world of Summerside High. I want to enjoy getting reacquainted with little Elizabeth and those prickly Pringles. Who knows what new bits of treasure I might find…?

-big sis

On paper this book is all wrong.  There are very few prominent characters from previous books that take a central, narrative role.  War is raging for the majority of the novel and the tone is fairly (often extremely) somber.  There is little reliance on neighborhood gossip or funny stories of childish mishaps that so characterize the other novels.  These all set Rilla apart from the other novels in the series.

So why is this one of my clear favorites?!

There is a beautiful balance of sorrow (WALTERRRRRR!!!) and hope in this novel and I would reckon that it is one of the most poignant insights we as readers have into L.M. Montgomery’s life experience.  When I read this novel I feel that she has poured her soul into Rilla’s story of growing up in a dark and uncertain time. There is palpable pain in the story and an aching that I feel on every page.  Maybe this is why it took me so long to read it this year-in the midst of a very difficult school semester (not to mention a colder, longer and harsher than normal winter) I wasn’t in an emotional place to willingly add more darkness.  Only when the sun comes out and the city comes alive and I wake up each morning to the breeze in my window can I willingly go there.

Maybe it’s so meaningful because I see myself in Rilla.  I didn’t raise a war baby or wear the same green hat for 4 years or send 3 brothers to the trenches.  But I can see myself in her emotional journey, in her quickly learned maturity and in the way that she finds herself to be stronger than she ever gave herself credit for.

Still waiting for Ken though..

-lil sis

But my subject tonight is (what else) our recent sisterly reunion!  Seeing as it took 24 full hours for me to get home, I had a lot of time to think about the trip and why leaving my sister was so difficult.  This trip really showed me a lot about home and what home means.  I had never been to Chile-I’d never been further south than Mexico!-but being with my sister I felt at home in a way that I haven’t in the longest time.  12 days felt like 12 months because I was so comfortable to be myself and know that I was safe and wholly accepted.

I love my home in New York and I often have glimmers of that homey feeling.  But sisterhood is on a whole different level.  It’s been 11 years since we lived in the same house, but she’s still the closest person to me in the world.  Maybe it’s cheesy or cliche, but feeling at home is all about the people you’re with so now I find myself feeling homesick for an apartment in Santiago that I’d never seen two weeks ago.  Comfort food feels like the fresh maraquetta rolls or plump avocados and a cheese I can’t pronounce.  After months of cursing the cold as I waited for summer, I would give anything to be bundled up under the big green blanket, strategizing our appearance on Supermarket Sweep and eating popcorn.  I mean, who else appreciates the importance of the huge bonuses or the way David Ruprecht says “dollarzzzz??”

I’m getting off track. I guess what I’m saying is that yes, home is where the heart is.  But more than that, home is where the shared language of movie quotes is or where your germophobic tendencies are recognized and validated.  Home is where a single line from Community is enough to keep you laughing all week or your horrible attempts at Spanish are (usually) not laughed at.

So this doesn’t quite relate to Anne, but I think she would agree with me.  I think she knew how fluid the idea of home can be and embraced it wherever she was.  She would tell me to cherish my memories of Santiago and sister time, but also to revisit those kindred things here in my physical home.  She would remind me that I can have multiple different kinds of homes at the same time that fufil different parts of me.  And I think she’d also say that it’s okay to still be a bit sad…but that December isn’t far away and until then there’s always Skype.

Thanks again, Anne.  You always give the best advice…

-lil sis

It is so much more lovely with a sister, though, isn’t it?

Here is a a little something from my other blog (I know, boo hiss… a big sis only blog? LAME)

Also, as mentioned previously, a few photos from the journey:

Did you notice our sunset beach tribute to Anne? We were reading from Rilla. You didn’t think we’d let two whole weeks pass by without a tribute to Walter, did you?

-big sis