Jumping Around Again.....
I Really cannot blame you Dear Readers, if you get confused about which story I am updating you on... or exactly when it is supposed to be taking place... Or even which scale I am working in.... because I have been jumping around recently from one scale to another and from one time to another and from one Tale to another! But just to put a little perspective in the confusing picture I am presenting.... Here you can see Samuel Whiskers stopping by the Chapel where Father Alban is supposed to be Getting To Work on his Painting! Samuel Whiskers has been overseeing the construction of the Tree House, which belongs to his Relatives and stands next to The Folly. Father Alban cannot possibly fit into the Tree House.... and Samuel Whiskers is a Rat! But Yes, Father Alban Did finally get to work!
There were quite a few tiny details he needed to add to the painting.....
Which required that he get out his paints and brushes....
And Samuel Whiskers wanted to see....
As I was researching the precise implements that would have been used in the early Fourteenth century, I came a cross a wonderful illustration drawn by a Monk named Hildebert....
Who was very annoyed by a Rat that was stealing his food while he was trying to illuminate his text!
Here he is about to throw his sponge at the creature!
And you can clearly see Hildebert's ink horns and quills positioned in holes on his drawing board....
a technique which I also saw in other illuminations....
Such as this one showing the Friar Rufillus painting the decorated Initial
with his ink horns carefully held in the drawing board!
And Another illumination showing all the implements for illuminating.....
With the paints mixed in small shells and the brushes laid out in a dish......
And an assistant grinding the pigments.....
So I had to make some brushes and fill the shells with paints for Father Alban.....
So he could get busy and Paint!
So while Father Alban Paints...
I must jump you to one of the Other Times and Places.....
or we will never get to the end of Daphne's Story....!
(If I could add a swirling spinning effect.... I would insert it here...!)
Daphne's Story Continues......
Guillaume Andre Rene De Montaigne was very proud of his heritage. His family had lived at the Chateau Montverte since the Sixteenth Century and had weathered Religous Wars and Revolutions alike. Each challenge had only made the Dynasty stronger and their commitment to their land and their people was unshakeable. Generation after generation the land had been handed down from Father to Son, each adding his own strength to the whole. Guillaume had been overjoyed at the birth of his son, Andre, born when he was already well into his Forties. His wife, Yvonne, was eighteen years younger than he, and was the love of his life. They had only been blessed with one child. Andre had been the center of their world.
And no Father could be more proud of his son than he was of Andre!
To say that he had been dismayed to learn that Andre had been careless enough to get his girlfriend pregnant would be an understatement. He and Yvonne had been hoping that Andre would marry well with a daughter from one of the Families of their milieu. Andre had been raised to expect to take up the mantle of the Family Estate and all that went with it... obligation and privilege alike.
But Andre had died.
And so many Dreams had died with him.
Guillaume had never thought he would be glad that Andre had left his girlfriend pregnant.
But this child would be Andre's only child.
And his only Grandchild.
As the time drew near that the child was to be born,
Guillaume could see the anxiety taking its toll on Yvonne.
The devastation of losing Andre had nearly driven her mad.....
and all her hopes were wrapped up in the arrival of this child.
To distract her from the endless waiting,
he convinced her to go with him to America for the Summer Races at Saratoga.
Their prize colt, Lightning was entered in several of the races.....
He was the best horse they had raised in a long time....
And in spite of being still in deep mourning...
she would enjoy the greater Anonymity of American Society.....
So they spent three busy weeks in America....
Where Lightning won several races....
And so it happened that they were out of Town
when their Lawyers were contacted about the child!
Meanwhile, back in France, Raymond had expected that he would only be "babysitting" for two days.
But there was a terrible storm that struck the Northeastern part of America
and disrupted travel for two more days!
The baby didn't sleep..... and needed to eat all the time....!
He didn't know what to do!
He called his little sister Fleur (who lived in America...)
Whose daughter Juliet was just two and slept like an Angel....
She said to sleep when the baby slept....
As if that were possible....!
It was the longest week of his entire life!
And it was still two more days before he got word that the child's Grandparents were home....
And would he bring the child....
They had waited so long!
She was sleeping in her basket....
Yvonne peers into the basket.... and picks up the baby.....
"But... Is this child a Girl....?" she asks in confusion....
And she thrusts the baby back at Raymond....
and sits down suddenly feeling slightly faint.....
And then bursts into tears!
"Did my Father not tell you...?" said Raymond.... not really surprised...
He waited only a moment before handing the baby back to Madame....
Yvonne took the child onto her lap and stared down at the little bundle tied with the pink bow.
It felt so odd to hold a baby again. She remembered that when Andre had been born she had Known him from the first moment she held him.... she didn't know this baby at all. Somehow she had thought it would be just like with Andre... but it wasn't the same... it would never be the same....
She had expected a boy.... How could it not be a boy?
"What are we to do...?" she asked..."It's not a boy...!"
Guillaume looked over her shoulder at the baby.
Disappointment warred with pride.
No, this child was not a boy... but it was Andre's child.
It....She was their Grandchild!
At that moment the baby began to cry!
"Oh, dear".... said Yvonne.... "where is the Nanny?"
And she thrust the baby back into Raymond's arms...
"Raymond.... you'll have to stay until we hire a good Nanny....." she said.
"It really shouldn't take more than a couple of days....
and the child does seem to know you...."
Raymond didn't know why it was he hadn't expected that!
So while they interview the Nannies......
We can check in on Father Alban....
Has he finished the painting yet?????
Well.... I think he's just putting on the final touches of blue!
But I have no idea why Samuel Whiskers is so interested in this painting....
Nor why (or how) he is visiting the Fourteenth Century castle.....
In his nineteenth century clothes....
And did Father Alban even see him???
Yes, here in my Mini Worlds....
With so much Jumping Around....
Confusion Reigns!
