craigdarroch castle - 1

The first home of Robert Dunsmuir, his wife Joah and their three young children was a rough-hewn log cabin with a dirt floor in Fort Rupert (near present-day Port Hardy). They settled there in 1851 to begin a three-year contract with the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) after a 241-day crossing from Scotland.

After three years they were transferred to Nanaimo where the coal-master in Robert's blood kicked in. In 1855 the HBC and Governor James Douglas gave Robert and another man permission to prospect for coal independently. Fourteen years later in 1869 he discovered the richest coal seam on Vancouver Island near Nanaimo.

Now Dunsmuir showed himself to be business savvy. He got together some friends and they formed Dunsmuir, Diggle & Co. With the British Royal Navy stationed nearby and the growing population of San Francisco providing voracious appetites for coal, Dunsmuir & Diggle soon flourished.

In 1883 Dunsmuir bought out his partner and then secured the contract to build the Esquimalt & Nanaimo Railways. By then he also owned ships, collieries, an iron works, a sawmill, a quarry (source for the castle's sandstone exterior), a dyking company, a theatre and real estate, making him one of the richest men in Canada.

Four years later, in 1887, Dunsmuir, now living in Victoria, began building Craigdarroch Castle in the middle of his 28-acre estate on a hill overlooking the city.

Craigdarroch (rocky, oak place in Gaelic) was a "bonanza castle" -- one of the massive houses built by men who got their wealth from the industrialization of North America. With this castle, Robert wanted to announce to the world that he was the richest, most important man in western Canada.

We visited Craigdarroch in early January this year. It was decked out for Christmas so I waited till the Christmas season to share it here.


It was soon obvious to us that Robert had spared no expense outside or in. He commissioned Warren Heywood Williams of Portland Oregon to design Craigdarroch (later completed by Arthur Smith of the same firm when Williams died). Then he brought in materials, mostly from America, to give it the highest Victorian quality and style.

The first thing that struck us when we entered and looked up at the Porte-Cochere entrance was the western red cedar paneling. Other paneling in the castle is made of white oak and was fabricated in Chicago. Parts including stairs, doors, window frames and 2182 panels were pre-made then shipped from Chicago. Other woods like cherry, Hawaiian koa, walnut, jarra, rosewood were used in the parquet floors.


Another amazing thing about the castle is the collection of stained and leaded glass. Almost every room has a stained glass window somewhere -- along with a fireplace. I overheard a guide say there were 17 fireplaces!





The sad thing is Robert Dunsmuir never got to live in his castle. He died in 1889 and the castle wasn't finished until 1890.

Tomorrow - the scandal that surrounded his will and a tour of the main floor rooms.

voice of a cherub

Check out this sweetie - who might just be the one chosen to sing for the queen. (If you're not saying 'awwww' by the end of this, you're made of different stuff than I am. To turn off the Sonific player - right sidebar - click on the two bars l l left side of player)

book review: The Parting by Beverly Lewis

Title: The Parting
Author: Beverly Lewis
Publisher: Bethany House, 2007
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
ISBN: 076420310X

Seventeen-year-old Nellie Mae Fisher doesn’t realize, the Saturday in early June, 1966 when Caleb Yoder catches her eye and gives her a lingering smile, that by evening her 16-year-old sister Suzy will be dead. This “collision of the best and worst days" of her life is for Nellie, her family, indeed the whole Amish community of Honeybrook, only the first storm in a whole season of troubles.

Now, one hundred days later, the corn has ripened stunted and small. There is restlessness among the men as some are defying the Ordnung and buying tractors or, worse, risking the ban by pursuing strange new beliefs that come straight from Bible passages unauthorized by the bishop. As Nellie tends her Simple Sweets shop, she can’t help but overhear rumors about Suzy and her last wild Rumschpringe days (an Amish teen's wild oats days) when she ran with a ‘fancy’ crowd. Worst of all, Caleb hasn’t given her another sign that he knows she exists.

Welcome to the world of Beverly Lewis’s The Parting – the first in a new series, The Courtship of Nellie Fisher. As is usual with Lewis’s books, I was captured by the story from the Prologue on and led willingly along by her effortless storytelling style and the intriguing plot.

The sight of Dat reading his Bible had me cheering while looking furtively about for who else might be watching. Nellie’s decision to look for Suzy’s diary – the one she buried instead of burned as she’d promised – made me nervous, not to speak of the time Caleb’s dad came charging across the room to talk directly to her. Altogether the plot along with my involvement with the characters had the story slipping by way too quickly.

As in other Lewis books, I found her characters a big draw. The story is mostly seen through the eyes of the domestically talented and capable Nellie, who dreams of making a home for Caleb and helping him on the farm. The occasional diversion into the viewpoint of the ardent and idealistic Caleb, as well as Betsy and Reuben (Nellie’s parents) rounds them out as people and adds plot complexity.

The Amish setting figures large too. As in her other books about the Amish, Lewis sprinkles the text liberally with Amish expressions like “wonderful gut,” “ain’t so,” and actual Amish words: “Willkumm,” “Ordnung,” and “Rumschpringe.” Descriptions of nature and the comforts and pleasures of domestic life as seen through Amish eyes help us experience the slow pace and simplicity of the lifestyle. But don’t be fooled. There are snakes slithering around in this garden too, waiting for just the right moment to strike.

The main theme of romantic love is supplemented by a delve into family love and love for God. Lewis helps us understand Amish beliefs by having us witness the clash between those wishing to uphold traditional ways in everything (the Ordnung) versus those who want to simplify farming by using modern equipment, and still others whose religious beliefs change after they read the Bible for themselves. Anyone who has been part of a community or church split will know the powerful dynamics at play.

The only problem with this book is that it’s only the beginning. Now I will surely not rest easy until Bethany House releases Books, 2, 3 etc. of the series. I was not surprised to find The Parting was number one on the November Christian Marketplace bestseller list (Publisher’s Weekly Religion Bookline Newsletter). For anyone who wants to spend several books in the company of an attractive heroine who finds herself in a tangle of personal, family and community loyalties, The Parting by Beverly Lewis is a good place to start.

3 pigs at Christmas

body

This fun sculpture is on the Okanagan Lake front in Kelowna, BC

**********
Thursday Challenge

Next week: COMMUNICATION (Talking, Hugging, Gestures, Telephone, Television, Computers, Cell Phones, Books,...)

december recipe roundup

It's up at Rebecca Writes. Go visit this tantalizing buffet of Christmas treats!

(pink link below)

less than rave reviews

The Golden Compass opened in theaters this weekend. So far the reviews are less than rave.

"... is this sucker dull. Indeed, even the element of the novel most likely to make a movie adaptation interesting – the allegedly "anti-religious" subtext of Pullman's narrative – has been as efficiently nullified and purged..." Goeff Pevere - toronto.com 'Golden Compass': Wrong Directions

"An uneven, often frustrating and altogether incomprehensible beginning to an epic story, The Golden Compass will have to recalibrate its instruments in the second outing if it wants to realize its dream of becoming a timeless classic." Katherine Monk (CanWest News Service) Golden Compass doesn't point anywhere

"What can I say? The Golden Compass is a rushed film. It moves forward at warp speed, never slowing to give us any quieter character moments, motivations, or story points. Where did the Gobblers come from? How many kids were missing? Was this some sort of epidemic? We are never told; the facts are just there with no supporting evidence. Overall, the movie is a bit of a slog....Not Recommended." Chris Beaumont - Blogcritics review

Peter Chattaway (a Vancouver film reviewer who reviews films for B.C. Christian News): Golden Compass bombs in North America

Chattaway also does an every-which-way number crunch to show how films that cater to religious audiences fare as opposed to films that take a skeptical view of religion in "The Golden Compass doesn't bomb overseas".

december calendar

Today, a little update on what's been happening in our lives.

Last week was the 'decorate for Christmas' week. That was fun because this is the first time we've decorated our new home. When you've been in a place for 20+ years, you know where every decoration goes. That was the case in our old home. Not so here. Every decoration demanded a decision. Add to the mix red kitchen walls, against which some of the bright red decorations looked quite jarring. The result was a job I stretched into several days.

I did eventually get everything up somewhere - including my snow village. To display that along with the manger scene, I rescued from the garage a little old table on wheels that we moved from the other house but were planning to take to the thrift store with the next load. That little piece of furniture is so packed with Christmas, top and bottom, it reminds me of one of those desert trolleys that they take from table to table at some restaurants.


All the evenings last week, beginning from Tuesday on, were taken up with the Christmas production. E. and I are in the choir and so needed to attend the dress rehearsals Tuesday and Wednesday. As has happened so often before, we left rehearsal Wednesday wondering how the huge machine that is such an endeavor, would ever be made to run smoothly. The production this year had a lot of media involved (pictures projected against a large screen at the back of the stage which became the scene changes) along with a band, the usual cast of dozens, plus lighting, sound, prompt words up on the screen, stage crew hustling props on and off etc.

Thursday through Sunday we put on six performances of the two-hour "Mr. Goodman's Manor" - a play written and directed by Ben Wylie, one of our own. Its theme was all about the father heart of God.

One of the highlights was a scene where Ben used animation to show Jesus' life as a plant which started out as a tiny seed, then grew into a large tree, then wilted and drooped in the storm, then came to life again.

Another favorite part was when soloist Michael Larson sang Joseph's Lullaby (MercyMe version) against the backdrop of scenes from the Christmas story with the occasional foreshadowing glimpse of Jesus on the cross. (I didn't really get the full effect of this, only sneaked glances, as we were on stage at the time but the little I saw was moving.)

Thursday went surprisingly well - and each performance after just flowed smoother. Friday and Saturday nights we had friends, whom we'd invited to the play, over here for coffee and snacks later. Sunday night after the last performance, when the friends we'd invited didn't show, we crashed. Monday wasn't too productive either. I kept falling asleep!

Now, after a whole day of resting up, I'm feeling more myself again and getting ready to tackle more Christmas stuff - like writing the Christmas letter and shopping. I've only just started my Christmas shopping!

a gift to make

...for friends - or for you and your family.

POPPYCOCK

2 quarts popped popcorn
1 1/3 cups whole pecans
2/3 cups whole almonds
1/2 cup corn syrup
1 1/3 cups sugar
1 cup margarine
1 tsp. vanilla

Mix popcorn and nuts in large bowl.
Combine sugar, margarine and corn syrup in saucepan.
Bring to boil over medium heat, stirring constantly.
Boil stirring occasionally 10 - 15 minutes until mixture turns light caramel colour.
Remove from heat and stir in vanilla.
Pour over popped corn and nuts and mix to coat well.
Spread on cookie sheet to dry. Break up and store in tightly covered containers.

************

I first put this recipe up three years ago (December 11, 2004). But the photo is this year's batch and proof that I'm still making it.

To find recipes for many more Christmas treats, visit this month's Recipe Roundup at Rebecca Writes, Wednesday, December 12th.

If you'd like to be part of the roundup, post a recipe of your favorite Christmas squares, bars, candy etc., then tell Rebecca via comments on this post.

************

Coming in January - daily devotions for kids. Samples now online.

book review: A Proper Pursuit by Lynn Austin

Title: A Proper Pursuit
Author: Lynn Austin
Publisher: Bethany House, 2007
Genre: Historical fiction
ISBN: 0764228919

When 20-year-old Violet Hayes bids farewell to her newly divorced father and his fiancée Widow Maude O’Neill in June of 1893, it’s supposedly to visit the Chicago World Fair. But what she really has in mind is to find her mother and discover why she left so suddenly nine years earlier. If it wasn’t because of illness, as her dad has told her all these years, what could it have been?

However, getting a chance to even look for her mom, let alone find her, proves much trickier than she expected. And so in A Proper Pursuit, historical fiction by Lynn Austin, we have Violet’s quest to find her mother hampered at every turn by the agenda others have for her. Socialite Aunt Agnes is determined to get her married to the most eligible bachelor in Chicago. Suffragette Aunt Matt wants her to use her energy carrying placards in demonstrations for women’s rights. On days she’s not accompanying one of the others, grandmother asks her to help out in the slums. There she is nearly overcome by the poverty and hunger, not to speak of the nasty smells.

The whole situation is complicated by the constellation of beaus this deb soon finds in her orbit. “Marry for love,” insists Aunt Birdie, who has turned quite batty after her own true love never came back from war. But what is love, Violet wonders. Do any of Violet’s suitors really love her? Why didn’t her own parents stay together since their marriage started out as a love match? And what if, when she finds her, Violet discovers her own mother doesn’t love her?

The plot is chock-full of action and variety -- what with all the people competing for our heroine’s attention. Though in true suspense form Violet’s search for her mother is hampered at every turn, and the marriage proposals keep coming -- from every direction and with dizzying speed -- all the plot ends do tie together neatly at the end.

Main character Violet tells the story in first person and so we see events from her fresh and unconventional perspective. Her sassy and irreverent thoughts about life in general and her beaus in particular give the book lots of entertaining bits. Her lively imagination, developed through voracious reading of mystery novels, causes her to read lots of intrigue into the people and events that come her way. Though at first she seems superficial, she matures over the months that the story spans to become, in the end, a complex and sympathetic character.

Secondary characters are many and varied. None of Violet’s aunts, grandmother, father or beaus is developed to great depth and through much of the book seem more like one-dimensional caricatures than real people. However, by the end most have shown us a little of their motivation and do gain a level of depth and believability. Aunt Birdie, with her intermittent and convenient amnesia, stretched my credulity the most. I’m not sure why she was there -- as a symbol of intuition perhaps?

The historical setting is one of the things that made the book worthwhile for me. Austin shows us glimpses of high society life, women’s struggle for rights, and the plight of the poor. We also see the Chicago World Fair up close with its educational and cultural exhibits, its casino and burlesque booths, and its latest big attraction -- Mr. Ferris' wheel.

Though the book talks a lot about romantic love, Austin also addresses the theme of finding love on a wider plane. After all, that’s what Violet’s search for her mother is all about. Violet ends up finding love in an even more satisfying way when she encounters the love of God at one of Mr. D. L. Moody’s evangelistic meetings. Austin also gives prominence to themes of parenting, Christian social action, the role of social convention, and women’s struggle to win equal rights with men.

A Proper Pursuit is a book that slips down easily. But along the way I realized it had raised questions and issues far weightier than I expected to find while hanging out with such a coquettish and lively heroine. Fans of romantic comedy and Americana will want to add A Proper Pursuit to their collections.

more Golden Compass

The controversial children's film The Golden Compass releases tomorrow.

Read Peter Chattaway's email interview of Philip Pullman (September '07). He interviewed Pullman in preparation for writing Christianity Today review "The Chronicles of Atheism."

Albert Mohler (president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary) reviews the film in "The Golden Compass -- A Briefing for Concerned Christians."

red

Winter Berry

The winter berry is a cheery thing
To land-bound creatures and those on the wing.
It drapes in sprays along bare estate walls
And festoons prickly ivy ten feet tall,
Lights up the cedar fences aged so dark,
Clusters on humble hedge twigs in the park.

It spurns the gentler spring, summer and fall,
Bursts on the stage of nature when it’s all
Cold wind and rain and ice and snow and sleet,
Still peeking red under a frigid sheet
Of snow, it tempts the juncos and the chickadees
With juicy snacks to relish with their tea.

But surely there is wisdom in its ways
For choosing dark and dismal winter days.
When old December slips by dank and glum,
And January plods without much sun,
There’s little competition for the very
Brave, scarlet, cheery, showy winter berry.

© V. Nesdoly

**************

Thursday Challenge

Next week: BODY (of People or Animals: Eyes, Ears, Mouth, Nose, Face, Hands, Arms, Feet,...)

christmas du jour

"Twelve Days of Christmas" - chowder version...

If you want to read something, I blogged here today.

"Of the Father's Love Begotten"

The Wisemen Guided by a Star - by Gustave Dore.

The song that greets you as you enter here is one of my favorite Christmas carols. I first heard "Of the Father's Love Begotten" the year my daughter was a member of the Amadeus Children's Choir and they sang it as part of their Christmas repertoire. It was magnificent sung by pure, high child voices.

The words are from a poem written by Aurelius Clemens Prudentius (348-413). The tune is plainsong (a type of old Catholic liturgical music), and from the 13th century. I think the plainsong aspect of it - it is monophonic and has a free vs. measured rhythm - gives it that sense of mystery and exoticism.

And then there are the words, translated from the Latin by John M. Neale (1854) and Henry W. Baker (1859). What theology. What praise. Here are some of my favorites of the nine stanzas:

Of the Father’s love begotten, ere the worlds began to be,
He is Alpha and Omega, He the source, the ending He,
Of the things that are, that have been,
And that future years shall see, evermore and evermore!

This is He Whom seers in old time chanted of with one accord;
Whom the voices of the prophets promised in their faithful word;
Now He shines, the long expected,
Let creation praise its Lord, evermore and evermore!

O ye heights of heaven adore Him; angel hosts, His praises sing;
Powers, dominions, bow before Him, and extol our God and King!
Let no tongue on earth be silent,
Every voice in concert sing, evermore and evermore!

Christ, to Thee with God the Father, and, O Holy Ghost, to Thee,
Hymn and chant with high thanksgiving, and unwearied praises be:
Honor, glory, and dominion,
And eternal victory, evermore and evermore!

Roby Furley Davis translated it from the Latin as well. All three versions (Latin, English versions 1 and 2) are here.

winter

Winter has arrived. Sunday we woke to a world of white. These photos were taken in the early afternoon All day we lived in a snow globe. By evening the snow was much thicker.



But Monday it's supposed to disappear. The forecast is for up to 100 mm. of rain in some areas (that's almost 4 inches!).




















*****
Daily devotions for kids blog coming in 2008. Sample online now...

new blog of daily devotions for kids!

Way back on March 13th of this year I announced that I had finished writing the first draft of my book of children's devotions, Bible Drive-Thru.

I put the manuscript away after that in order to get our house ready to sell and then we moved. It was not until about six weeks ago that I got that project out again. My plan was to rework it -- and then what?

I thought of submitting it to a royalty publisher, but no one has expressed any interest in all the places I've submitted a proposal. I looked (very briefly) into self-publishing. But it's too expensive.

During all this time I often day dreamed about how much fun it would be to blog these devotions. I could make them way more colorful and interactive than any publisher could afford, I reasoned. Plus, isn't the internet where kids hang out? If I made it available online, it would be accessible to kids of all kinds -- not just those whose parents or grandparents bought them a devotional book from the Christian bookstore.

A couple of weeks ago, I decided to put up a couple of these devotions on the internet just to get the feel of how they would read online. And so the Bible Drive-Thru blog was born.

I was right -- they are a lot of fun to blog. I've been working on them since then, tightening, revising and adapting what I've written to work online.

Today I'm making that blog public. Right now it's in sample form and will be that way for December. This is to give kids (and parents) a chance to have a look and see if it's something they'd like to come back to on January 1st.

Then, starting January 1, I'll be posting a new devotion there every day for all of 2008.

So, you're invited to the Bible Drive-Thru blog. If you like what you see, be sure to tell the kids that you know, and their parents. (The target age group is Grades 4-6, although I'm sure younger able readers could read them too).

And if you have any suggestions on how I could make it better, I'd love to hear them!

smiling...

because my friend Alvin's poem "From Coast to Coast" won first place in Utmost Christian Writers' first Canadian-only contest -- and my poem "Canadian Rivers" won an honorable mention. The theme was Canadian landscape.

Links to all winners here.

If you're a Christian writer of poetry who lives in Canada, you might want to check out Utmost's quarterly contests especially for Canadians.

If you're a Christian writer of poetry from anywhere, you'll want to go to Utmost's international site and find out about their big annual contest. Deadline for submission to that one is February 28/08.

frivolous friday

Brassica oleracea var. Ovis aries

cranberry shortbread

2 cups butter
1 cup icing sugar
3 cups flour
1/2 cup corn starch
2 cups dried cranberries

Cream butter and sugar.
Add flour and corn starch gradually and beat till fluffy.
Add cranberries and mix by hand until the batter clings together.
Shape into logs and refrigerate.
When thorougly chilled, slice and place on cookie sheets
Bake at 350 for 12-14 minutes.

***************

The shortbread recipe above is from my Mom. I got the idea of adding cranberries to shortbread from Rita T. - our church's domestic diva (although I see it's elsewhere on the net). She also suggested adding chopped nuts like pecans, hazelnuts or walnuts.

happy

Seize the moment

***************

Thursday Challenge

Next Week: RED (Flowers, Fruit, Vegetables, Wine, Cars, Signs, Clothing,... )