An Independent Woman - Discussion Thread

It really looks much better
when it's been ironed. Really.

Julia uses curtains to augment her wardrobe. That reminded me of my mother. When I was in junior high back in the early 1970's she made a top for me out of a flowered bedsheet. It wasn't like it was even a used sheet. I didn't mind it at all until one of my classmates recognized the pattern and told me she had sheets just like it. I still wore it, but after that it lacked a certain something.  I made a blessing dress (similar to a christening gown) for Betty Keira's daughter partly out of white linen curtains I had(I would have bought white linen - but it was November - the fabric store didn't have any), remnants from Betty Sherri's daughter's blessing dress, and a little bit of Betty Keira's wedding dress. What have you made clothes out of? 

Julia just didn't have the'humorous rhyme' gene in her.

Julia is ostensibly let go from the greeting card company because they will be focusing on 'humorous' cards in the future and they won't need her little verses.  She is sure, however, that her rejection of Oliver had something to do with it. I don't know if I buy that. Frankly, unless it's a sympathy card or perhaps a wedding card, I generally go for something humorous.

Her sister Ruth gets the flu and Julia (happily at a loose end) drops everything and goes over each day (for like a week) to take care of her (taking two buses each way) and then repairs to Holland for more than a week to get her on her feet.  Um...she has the flu...and no children...and a husband who can cook for himself...Isn't this a lot of fuss over not much at all?



I wonder if she'll rent a room to me with my new
minimizer bra?

 Julia thinks her exploitable skills/assets are that she can take in lodgers and that she can make clothes.  What could you exploit in case of disaster?

Two unsuitable tenants get rejected--they boil down to a foxy-faced (is that his fault?) beer-drinker who wants to cook in the kitchen and a bosom-y (is that her fault?) high-heeled gal who would like if her boyfriend/fiance' could visit sometimes...that's the whole problem of being a live-in landlord.  When Dr. van der Stevejinck was in college, we lived in a house that came with a basement apartment.  It was great to have help with the mortgage...but it also meant screening potential tenants - something I absolutely loathe doing. Being a 'landlady' is not one of my exploitable skills.

Gerard has two sisters living in New Zealand and a brother in Canada. I'm visualizing large enclaves made up entirely of the relatives of RDDs. Can anyone tell me if there is a 'little Holland' or 'Hollandtown' in either of those countries?

I'm not generally a fan of long-haired men...but
there's always an exception to the rule.

Nanny tells Julia about Gerard and that he found time to 'backpack' around the world!!!  And he spent his vacations taking care of 'them poor starving children in Africa'. I'm totally impressed...It makes him seem much less stuffed shirt-ish than the typical RDD. I'm now going to try and visualize long shaggy hair and a beard on a RDD...thank you LOTR for making this entirely enjoyable.

Towards the end of the book, when the fire is blazing away at the manor house, the ladies with children are rescued first, then the married ladies and finally the older single local woman, and Julia (alone and not from there) is last of all...It's times like this I'm grateful to be a married lady - I didn't realize there was a pecking order to being saved from a burning building. Maybe it has something to do with the affinity Brits have with queueing.