Merry Christmas! & The Guest House at Graceland

May you all have enjoyed a wonderful Christmas season, full of the light of Jesus, friends, and family! So much, oh, so much, has happened.  The main change being that my sister and I are now officially independent adults, rooming together in charming little apartment right around the corner from work. This change occurred in September. No longer living with my parents. I love them,...

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A Little Jane Austen to Combat the Boredom

All of the illustrations in this posting are from the C.E. Brock illustrated copy of Northanger Abbey from 1922. His illustrations are my favorite so far and it's my idyllic dream to own a complete set of Brock illustrated Austen. Today was an awesome day for boredom. By awesome, though, I mean that if I hadn't been bored, I would have never gone to chat with Devin which means that Tiffany...

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Making Regency Era Undergarments

The one thing I didn't think would happen has happened. I ordered a custom Regency corset from a seller on Etsy back in February of this year. I was supposed to get it this week. I get a message from her yesterday politely backing out of the transaction. I get why. She's a new mom and the baby is colicky. She didn't anticipate motherhood being so time-consuming. I'm not angry or anything, but...

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A Day in Denver - Visiting the Edgar Degas exhibit at the Denver Art Museum

Degas masterpieces bring to mind my years spent in ballet classes as a child. My grandmother Jeanne, Granje to my sister and me, gave me a gorgeous canvas zipper bag one year, likely to carry my ballet supplies in, and the design is one of Degas' dancers. I still have this bag, even though it's a tiny bit worse for wear. The zipper had problems for many years and then my sweet mother figured...

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Dreaming of a Jane Austen Immersion Weekend!

Photo Credit: BBC's Emma (2009) I've been in a retrospective mood lately, feasting intellectually on nothing but Jane Austen and C.S. Lewis. Every time that I read Austen, I'm reminded how I wish I could have a Regency immersion experience. Reading Katherine Reay's latest book, The Austen Escape, probably didn't help much since it's all about taking a 2 week Regency immersion vacation...

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Book Review: Cloaked by Rachel Kovaciny (A Western Retelling of Little Red Riding Hood)

I confess to having read this book a year or so ago and, to my shame, never got around to reviewing it. But I know Rachel is working feverishly on her next book in the series, a retelling of the 12 Dancing Princesses called Dancing and Doughnuts. Anyway, here we go, jumping into the first review I've written in many, many months. Cloaked is an endearing jump to a simpler time, when westerns...

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3 Reasons why When Calls the Heart needs Pastor Frank

Photo Credit: Hallmark Channel While I haven't been a Heartie since the very very beginning, I did join in season 2 because one of my very dear friends urged me to try When Calls the Heart. I loved the 1st season, and while I haven't always agreed with every choice made concerning the direction of the show, I've been loyal for the past 4 years, loyal enough that I attended the...

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On Daniel Lissing leaving "When Calls the Heart"

photo credit: Hallmark Channel

In the words of Dan Lissing, It's going to be alright."
Grieving the death of Mountie Jack is normal. 
Shedding tears and feeling your heart break is normal.
When Calls the Heart is a unique experience with a unique fanbase because the fans, the cast, and the crew feel like family. So I get it. I loved Mountie Jack too, and Lori Loughlin is right in saying that the only way Jack would leave Elizabeth is through death. 
And because the Hearties and the cast of When Calls the Heart are such an amazing family, I hope that we'll pull together during this transition instead of fracturing. 
This is Dan's decision to leave.
We don't know why other than it's a personal reason. And that's okay too. There's always been a mutual respect between the cast and the Hearties and now, more than any other time, we need to be disciplined enough to see that we, as Hearties, continue extending that respect to everyone involved in the show. 
This isn't anyone's fault and it's not a decision born out of spite and malicious intent. Just as we do for friends and family, we need to extend grace to When Calls the Heart.
I'm not saying we need to stop being disappointed or stop grieving Jack's loss. We all have very genuine reasons for feeling the way we do. But after 5 wonderful years, let's give the show another chance and continue looking forward with hope towards its future.
We will all miss Dan. He was an integral part of Hope Valley and his leaving is a tremendous loss. But let's send him off in true Heartie fashion with all our love and affection so he can look back with nothing but good memories of the Hearties an his time on When Calls the Heart.
As one final note, let us also remember to be kind to one another. Arguing over whether to stay with or leave the show serves no purpose. All it does is divide us in a negative way. If any of us feel called to move on to a different fandom, let us do so with dignity and grace. And for those of us staying, may we enter into an excitement and anticipation for season 6.
Blessings to all the Hearties, the cast, and the crew, and especially to Papa Heartie whose love for the show and the fans has always been so self-evident.

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Feeding the Inner Woman in 2018

Aye me, what a long week.  While I love working for a non-profit, year end can be positively exhausting because that's when the final donations come pouring in. It's terrific that people give because they can use the giving for tax purposes, but still, why wait until the last day of the year? Now we're finishing up year end reconciliation which means processing everything from 2017 that...

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Thank goodness it's 2018!

I'm one step closer to renting an apartment. Caitlin and I are touring an apartment tomorrow at a complex that really interests us. My sister is a good judge of character and she feels the assistant manager is an honest and forthright woman. I admit that I liked her a lot too. Not that she couldn't turn out to be a Patrick Jane in disguise, but still, the chances of that are really slim. One...

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