Fran's wedding dress, we find out, is inspired by a picture of the wedding dress in child's picture book. I showed up at my future aunt-in-law's bridal shop (best boutiques in Southeast Idaho!), was tossed around a bit and selected the least chick-y one I could find. The upshot of all that austerity is that I don't think my pictures are very dated. Anyway, where did you find inspiration for your wedding dress? I'll be it wasn't in a child's picture book...about a mouse family.When Litrik stays at Fran's aunts' house, she puts water, a tin of biscuits and an anthology of English verse on his nightstand. I'm not sure what else he could possibly need--unless some Rolaids (Wintergreen for me!) or Senokot would be in order. When guests come to my house, 
I point at the linen closet for extra towels and expect them to lift heavy things or paint every wall I own. Just ask Betty Debbie. We both graduated from the same fine institute of hospitality. Motto: Put your shoulder to the wheel...you're family. [Betty Debbie] I think we're about due some time at my house.
I point at the linen closet for extra towels and expect them to lift heavy things or paint every wall I own. Just ask Betty Debbie. We both graduated from the same fine institute of hospitality. Motto: Put your shoulder to the wheel...you're family. [Betty Debbie] I think we're about due some time at my house. The housekeeper at The Aunts' house scolds Fran for eating breakfast with Litrik 'such goings on!' - while dressed in her dressing gown. Fran defends herself by saying, "he's not the kind of man to tolerate goings on." Though you get the rotten feeling that if she'd been some helpless blonde, flinging herself into his arms, that he would have tolerated some goings on...
'pearls around the neck, stones upon the heart.' Not only is The Great Betty being unusually poetical, she is also perhaps referencing the folk tale that pearls bring tears. As I have mentioned on more than one occasion, pearls just aren't my thing--that they indicate a visual affinity with former First Lady Barbara Bush that a woman in her early thirties would do well to avoid. I like my pearls. They do go with everything.
In Litrik's house there is a lift behind the staircase. Some home elevators are pneumatic vacuums which remind me of banking with my drive-thru teller. (Suuuuck.) Anyway, my first question was cost. What does a standard up-one-floor-down-another set a fellow back these days? At least 19,000 clams, that's what. On grocery shopping days I really wish I had a lift to bring the groceries up from the garage. Pretty sure $19,000 is a bit rich for my blood.
Speaking of shellfish...Fran is given 
'pearls around the neck, stones upon the heart.' Not only is The Great Betty being unusually poetical, she is also perhaps referencing the folk tale that pearls bring tears. As I have mentioned on more than one occasion, pearls just aren't my thing--that they indicate a visual affinity with former First Lady Barbara Bush that a woman in her early thirties would do well to avoid. I like my pearls. They do go with everything.Litrik tells Fran that Lisa became handicapped due to her mother's botched abortion attempt. Eek! This is fairly dark stuff for La Neels but I think that, having been a nurse, she would have seen this sort of thing happen. Here's the wiki excerpt about Dutch abortion law:
A controversial abortion law was passed in 1981 with single swing votes: 76 pro and 74 against in the Second Chamber and 38 pro and 37 against in the First Chamber. The law left abortion a crime, unless performed at a clinic or hospital that is issued an official abortion certificate by the Dutch government, and the woman who is asking for the abortion declares she considers it an emergency situation. The law came into effect on November 1, 1984..
Lisa would have been born much before this law and this would have been an illegal procedure.
A controversial abortion law was passed in 1981 with single swing votes: 76 pro and 74 against in the Second Chamber and 38 pro and 37 against in the First Chamber. The law left abortion a crime, unless performed at a clinic or hospital that is issued an official abortion certificate by the Dutch government, and the woman who is asking for the abortion declares she considers it an emergency situation. The law came into effect on November 1, 1984..
Lisa would have been born much before this law and this would have been an illegal procedure.
I changed my Blogger account just so that the picture of me in my (most recent) wedding dress would be showing. Off-white silk covered with a very pretty same-color embroidery -- I found the fabric in a shop on 4th Street in Philadelphia (Fabric Row) and was thrilled, as it was exactly what I wanted. I had someone design and make the dress for me -- he designs the costumes for opera companies, so working with the uh, larger woman was no problem.
ReplyDeleteThe dress I wore when I married Betty Henry was in a muted blue wool crepe (we got married at 11 am on a Monday morning in judge's chambers -- I didn't want to be prancing around the federal courthouse in anything too bridal looking!). Plain sleeveless ankle-length sheath with a fairly plain jacket, although the jacket's single button was antique gold & pearls.
I wore my mother's pearls when I married Betty Henry, and in the photo here, I'm marrying Betty Ross but wearing Betty Henry's mother's pearls (she'd given them to me -- no, not as a thank you for divorcing her son although it's true that she was a lot happier at this wedding than she'd been at the one to Betty Henry...). So, yeah, I'm a pearl gal. But then I'm even closer to Barbara Bush's age than Betty Debbie...