Blog - The Merry Bluebird

Solitude in Winter

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After the winter festivities and celebrations that mark dark December, what helps you get through the cold days of January, February, and March? Or, if you live in Wyoming, November through April?

George Meredith

A poem that was written long ago by George Meredith (1828–1909), the British writer and poet, made me think about pausing to enjoy winter instead of pining for summer. He lived in the countryside of Surrey in Flint Cottage on Box Hill, and the quiet beauty of nature shines forth in many of his poems. One acquaintance noted that Meredith’s neighbors appreciated his knowledge of the area, and saw him as something of an expert on local plants and trees (William Sharp, “The Country of George Meredith” first published in Pall Mall Magazine, 1904, republished in Selected Writings of William Sharp, Volume IV, New York, Duffield & Company, 1912). Another scholar of Meredith tells us that “…he delighted to take long brisk walks-’spins,’ as he called them-along the highways and the byways of the neighborhood; and he loved to wander through the woods, and to lie in the grass….” (p. 58, George Meredith in Anecdote and Criticism, by J.A. Hammerton, New York, Mitchell Kennerley, London: Grant Richards, 1909).

“Winter Heavens”

Did a wintry walk inspire this particular poem? “Winter Heavens” was first published in 1888 in the poetry collection titled A Reading of Earth (London, Macmillan and Co. and New York, 1888). It can also be found in a collection published the following year, The Nature Poems of George Meredith with illustrations by William Hyde (Westminster, Archibald Constable & Co., 2 Whitehall Gardens, 1898). Here is the entire poem:

Sharp is the night, but stars with frost alive

Leap off the rim of earth across the dome.

It is a night to make the heavens our home

More than the nest whereto apace we strive.

Lengths down our road each fir-tree seems a hive,

In swarms outrushing from the golden comb.

They waken waves of thoughts that burst to foam:

The living throb in me, the dead revive.

Yon mantle clothes us: there, past mortal breath,

Life glistens on the river of the death.

It folds us, flesh and dust; and have we knelt,

Or never knelt, or eyed as kine the springs

Of radiance, the radiance enrings:

And this is the soul’s haven to have felt.

Gifts of Winter

What gifts can long winter nights (and short winter days) give to us? The stillness and darkness of the winter season can help us observe our surroundings with heightened awareness. Long after the warmth of festive bonfires dies down, we find ourselves in the perfect environment for nurturing a small flame of contemplation and creativity to sustain us till spring. A winter walk sharpens the senses as you hear the crunch of snow, feel the tingling of skin, and see your breath. Just like the heightened awareness that winter brings, solitude can bring a sharpness of thought if you sit with it long enough.

If you welcome solitude, and the quiet that winter brings, even if momentarily, you might find yourself feeling at peace with the world and your place in it. Perhaps a contemplative winter walk can help sustain us through the darkness. What will you choose to fill the space that the quiet of a winter evening brings? I hope to carve out some time to have a long winter’s walk, by myself, and contemplate “the stars with frost alive” and all that I am grateful for in the past year.

Vintage Jewelry

Beginner’s Guide to Vintage Jewelry Research

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Do you have an old piece of costume jewelry lying about? Perhaps it was your grandmother’s? Or maybe you found something special at a thrift store and would like to know more about it. Have you ever wished you could pick the brain of a longtime vintage jewelry dealer about a piece’s history?

Jewelry Research Websites

It turns out that many dealers have generously shared their knowledge with the general public. Take a look at these encyclopedic sites. They are a great starting point when researching a mystery piece of jewelry. You might just find enough information here to identify your jewelry:

Morning Glory Antiques and Jewelry is owned by Jane Haley Clark and is based in Albuquerque, NM. You will find a large library of vintage jewelry information on this site. This is the place to start if you want to identify a mark, learn about a designer, or look up an old ad or catalog.

Illusion Jewels is a comprehensive site covering vintage jewelry designers, ads, and catalogs. They also have a lot of information on maker’s marks. It is the creation of Dotty Stringfield, owner of Illusion Jewels, and contributor Pat Seal.

Elizabeth M. Rowlands, who owns Emerald City Vintage Costume Jewelry, put together a wonderful resource. It includes a collection of vintage jewelry ads to get a feel for different eras and perhaps spot a piece you own. She also has a glossary of jewelry terms and a list of patents with pictures for identification.

Jewelry Research Books

Perhaps you have diligently scoured these sites yet questions remain about where your piece is from and who made it. Time to hit the books! Turn to the historians, researchers, collectors, and dealers who have written enough books to fill a specialized library on vintage costume jewelry identification. Here are a few to get you started.

Warman’s Costume Jewelry Identification and Price Guide by Pamela Y. Wiggins with photography by Jay B. Siegel (2014). Pamela Wiggins is a jewelry appraiser and dealer who has written extensively about vintage costume jewelry.
Inside the Jewelry Box: A Collector’s Guide to Costume Jewelry by Ann Mitchell Pitman (2004). Ann Mitchell Pitman based this book on a news column called “Inside the Jewelry Box” that she began in 1997. She has spent more than 30 years collecting and writing about vintage jewelry.
Answers to Questions About Old Jewelry 1840–1950 by C. Jeanenne Bell, G.G. (5th edition, 1999). Jeanenne Bell is a well-known jewelry appraiser and dealer. You may have seen her on Antiques Roadshow! She has a knack for making specialized knowledge accessible to a general audience.

I hope this list helps you as you search for the story behind your jewels. A wealth of information is out there for you, thanks to the experts who have taken the time to create amazing resources for collectors.

Gardens, Folklore

Bellflowers and Fairytale Gardens

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Why are bellflowers so captivating? Perhaps their delicate beauty and ability to be found in the most unexpected places has led to their starring role in folklore. Let’s not forget their striking blue color, such an uncommon hue in the garden. Or the fact that many varieties are edible and pretty easy to grow. What’s not to like? Bellflowers are the common name for campanula (little bell in Latin). Their lovely bell-shaped flowers are most commonly blue, but can also be found in purple, pink, and white. Many of the common names of bellflower varieties point to their importance in folklore: Fairy Thimbles and Harebells.

Bluebells in Ireland, Scotland, & England

The harebell is one bellflower (Campanula rotundifolia) with ties to fairy lore in Scotland, Ireland, and England. It’s known as the bluebell of Scotland. This wildflower is found in woods and meadows and has an airy appearance with blue flowers on delicate stems. They are symbolic of constant love in Scotland but grief in other parts of Britain (perhaps because they were planted near graves). They are also known as fairy thimbles. Legend has it that the bells would chime to bring fairies out to play. Beware the wrath of the fairies to anyone who disturbed these flowers!

The Sound of the Bellflower

The bellflower’s music comes up in many poems. Cicely Mary Baker describes them in her 1923 book, The Complete Book of the Flower Fairies: “They tinkle while the fairies play/With song and dance the whole night long/Till daybreak wakens, cold and gray, And elfin music fades away.” The delicate swaying of the bellflowers in the wind is also a common theme, among famous and unknown poets alike. Here’s a stanza from an 1835 poem, “The Blue Hare-Bell”: “The source of that whispering strain I’ll tell;/For I’ve listened oft/To the music faint of the Blue Hare-bell,/In the gloaming soft;/’Tis the gay fairy folk of the peal who ring,/At even-time for their banqueting.” It was written by Louisa Anne Twamley, “A young lady, who, at the age of twenty, is a Poet, a Painter, and her own Engraver.” (p. 189, Flora and Tahlia).

Bellflower Superstitions

The name of harebell comes from old superstitions about witches turning into hares and hiding among the meadow flowers. They are also known as witch’s thimbles, witch bells, the cuckoo’s shoe, old man’s bell (the old man was the devil!), and dead men’s bells. It is quite strange that such a pretty flower had such sinister names. Some folklore has the witches using the juice of the flower in a spell that turned them into hares. It was very bad luck indeed to have a hare cross your path. In an alternative belief, the flower’s juice made witches fly. Even with these sinister connotations, tradition has it that dreaming of harebells meant true love. At least one variation simply links the name to the hares ringing the flowers to let other hares know of their whereabouts.

Bellflowers in Folktales

Another variety of bellflower is at the heart of the Rapunzel story. Rampion (Campanula rapunculus) is a biennial found in Eurasia and North Africa with edible roots and leaves. According to Mrs. M. Grieve, writing in A Modern Herbal (1931), rampion was a popular garden vegetable in Germany, Italy, and France, and sometimes in England. Both the roots and leaves were eaten. It is a very old garden staple, dating at least from the time of Shakespeare. Shakespeare uses the plant in some of Falstaff’s slang. The rampion is the garden plant that Rapunzel’s parents keep stealing from the witch. The Brother’s Grimm took the name of Rapunzel from the Latin name for rampion, rapunculus, which means little turnip. Italian folklore claims that rampion can make children peevish. An Italian folktale from Calabria also features a rampion. After pulling it out, a girl discovers a staircase in its hole that leads to an underground adventure with the fairies.

Have you thought of adding bellflowers to the story you are telling with your garden? They do not like very wet conditions, but they thrive in well-drained soil of any pH in both temperate and subtropical areas. Some popular varieties are the Peach Leaved Bellflower (Campanula persicifolia) and Canterbury Bells (Campanula medium).