tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post4026303868282798920..comments2024-03-25T09:56:16.164+00:00Comments on An Awfully Big Blog Adventure: So Few Lives Divide Us - Catherine ButlerUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post-50500571922573913962016-09-16T16:12:49.162+01:002016-09-16T16:12:49.162+01:00I did indeed see the quilts, and was privileged to...I did indeed see the quilts, and was privileged to fold them over (wearing conservator's gloves, of course) with Diana. Amazing work - but a subject of which I'm too ignorant to say anything sensible.Catherine Butlerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17693526864905868829noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post-12654661427551816502016-09-16T16:09:05.973+01:002016-09-16T16:09:05.973+01:00Soon after I moved to the UK, the Soc of Authors C...Soon after I moved to the UK, the Soc of Authors CWIG held their conference in Cambridge and one of the outings offered was a visit to the house of Greene Knowe. Having had limited exposure to foreign books in South Africa, I had to admit to never having read the stories. But what an incredible visit of enchantment... the garden as well as the house. I was quite lost in the secret world of Tolly and the dark wet night when he arrived. Did you see the wonderful collection of quilts? <br /><br />Loved your division of the fantasy world.<br /><br /><br />Dianne Hofmeyrhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18222157214605257030noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post-65174278332004459592016-09-11T11:35:43.365+01:002016-09-11T11:35:43.365+01:00Magical indeed! I'm sorry to say that I never ...Magical indeed! I'm sorry to say that I never met Philippa Pearce (though I saw her at Roehampton).Catherine Butlerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17693526864905868829noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post-65223078642023828072016-09-11T11:16:54.047+01:002016-09-11T11:16:54.047+01:00I had the privilege of being shown around 'Tom...I had the privilege of being shown around 'Tom's Midnight Garden' by Philippa Pearce herself, in the days when the owners of the Mill House didn't mind her taking people there occasionally. Sadly the next owners weren't prepared to allow it, and I think they must have been the ones whose sale brochure details you saw. I think we must have been some of the last people to be able to do this, though we met Philippa several times more, in Cambridge, and at Roehampton IBBY events, before her death. It is all a while ago - getting on for 20 years! - and our select group included Alan and Griselda Garner and a mother and daughter from the US. We had tea with Philippa and her friends Jack and Pat beforehand in her garden, then walked over the road to 'the' garden. A magical afternoon.Abbeybufohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09943340447141277258noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post-5636339983802112892016-09-11T08:32:38.893+01:002016-09-11T08:32:38.893+01:00the screen just turned a shade of bright green wit...the screen just turned a shade of bright green with my envy!catdownunderhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06959328192182156574noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post-90817934848202782332016-09-11T08:12:31.687+01:002016-09-11T08:12:31.687+01:00They are, Gillian - although I'm not sure whet...They are, Gillian - although I'm not sure whether that has much to do with their ambiguity (at least in Cooper's case). With her, it's just that for all her use of Cornwall and west Wales, <i>The Dark is Rising</i> is set in Buckinghamshire, which she successfully imbues with West British-style old magic. With her, the fact that she wrote the books (well, four out of five) outside the country made her hiraeth-fuelled evocation all the more intense.<br /><br />Kipling, based in Sussex, attempts to introduce Puck as a being older than the hills - but I never quite bought it as anything but a literary device. I still love the books, though.Catherine Butlerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17693526864905868829noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post-65665041927208109022016-09-11T08:03:29.175+01:002016-09-11T08:03:29.175+01:00The house looks very different to the way I dreame...The house looks very different to the way I dreamed it would, when I was a child. It looks 100% right - it's just that as a child I wanted it to be an extended Federation House, with a giant verandah around the whole house and etc. I wanted the house to be Australia, I suspect.<br /><br />And is it my imagination, or are all your ambiguous cases living outside Britain for a significant part of their lives?Gillian Polackhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07113321985223288302noreply@blogger.com