Linking up with Lou for a little Nature in the Home.
At the end of the garden is a gate, and through the gate is a lane. And down the lane there's nature. I went looking for green things, and I wasn't disappointed. This is the time of year when every time I go out I marvel anew at the sudden greenness of everything. I made up a little bunch of things, including a beautiful white lilac and some cow parsley, and popped it on the mantelpiece to enjoy.
Also waiting to be enjoyed is this wonderful book.
I'm especially looking forward to the culinary detail!
In the back of the book is this lovely map. This edition was published in 1942, and the flap at the back contains an advertisement for the BBC. It begins, "Men, women, and even children, risk imprisonment and death to hear broadcasts from London. They are the inhabitants of the occupied countries of Europe." Something I love about old copies of books is the sense of history they carry with them. I try and imagine who bought them, what the shop was like, the excitement they felt for the book, and where they read it. And then I can share the adventure with them. I can be immersed in the same story, in the same world. And I'm thinking that back in 1942 whoever read this book would have been happy to escape from reality for a while. Thank goodness for amazing writers, of which Arthur Ransome was most definitely one.
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