Remember the ladies and include the men.
Over the summer, I worked on forming a cabinet of curiosities and ended up doing a project of nine little jewelry boxes. At first it was just having fun with crafts, but then, I kept thinking about how Marie Antoinette wanted people to know her most valuable jewels were her children. By the end of … Read more
Remember the ladies. If you haven’t noticed, I’ve used Abigail Adams’ famous line, “remember the ladies” to mean remember gals in history—and sometimes my own personal soapbox. The image of Abigail hoping her husband, John, could persuade his fellow congress members to let women vote is a powerful one. But Abigail wasn’t saying women should … Read more
It’s beneficial for my swirling ideas to come out—especially when they come through writing/art. I’ve made a gluebook dedicated to Catherine of Braganza and am working on one for Michal because their stories have so much too offer and are so moving. I still want to do some for other women I’ve researched. When it … Read more
Marie Antoinette and Children, also called Marie Antoinette of Lorraine-Habsburg, Queen of France, and Her Children, was painted by Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun in 1787 and is still used quite a bit in teaching about the French Revolution time period and Marie Antoinette herself. While I’ve always appreciated it as a great art piece, I … Read more
A seven-year-old recently told me that they loved Wicked so much, that they thought watching The Wizard of Oz would be fun. It was the child’s first time watching the 1939 classic—and the child had to turn off the movie because the Wicked Witch of the West was actually scary! I tried to reassure the … Read more
I wrote my first Catherine of Braganza post about a decade ago. In it, I expressed how a certain painting of her cracked me up. An accident? It’s almost as if she’s pointing at the crown. Time went on, and most of her portraits included the crown and sovereign orb.” That painting was still in … Read more
MIL Henrietta Maria, Catherine’s mother-in-law, was a very valuable mentor to Catherine. The Dowager Queen gave tips on how to handle situations with her son and how to throw get togethers. MOM Luisa Guzman was sly and knew how to motivate her husband to fight for the Portuguese crown. She was more than just a … Read more
If Catherine had lived today, she would enjoyed watching reality TV—especially the talent competitions. I’m being highly speculative of course, but I could see her dreaming of the Dancing With the Stars’ Mirror Ball Trophy. I also collaged a recently discovered painting with some people speculating its subject was a young Catherine. I’m not sure … Read more
The pages that explore personal sacrifice were a tad bit emotional for me. The top left picture shows Portugal’s grand send off of their infanta to England to become England’s Queen. (I think the artist is Dirk Stoop?) It’s a celebratory moment, but a young woman is still leaving the home she loves. She was … Read more
A lot of Catherine’s youth hasn’t been revealed/pieced together that well. It makes me frustrated anyway, but maybe if complied properly, she could have had her own book in The Royal Diaries series. The next best thing for me was making her a stereotypical teenage, scrapbook type collage. The biggest thing to stand out is … Read more
The Portuguese Princess has landed! The King’s new consort! England has a new queen-and bride!!! Citizens were excited to know what she looked like. And many then-like now-were curious and love a royal wedding! If you were close enough to witness the cute bride, you were gifted a bow from the bride’s wedding dress. What … Read more
I speculate all the time what these biographical subjects would like or how they feel. I can’t stand to read a lot of that fluff though, but I thought I’d get out all my fluff in a book… A glue book! Or scrapbook…collage book? Whatever type of book I put together is, it’s part of … Read more
Princess Alice was a unique and remarkable individual. She was born in 1885 in the presence of her grandmother, Queen Victoria, at Windsor Castle. “The Four Generations” by Gustav Mullins Baby Alice sits on her mother’s lap. Her aunt is standing, and her grandmother, Queen Victoria, is sitting. Alice knew four languages, was deaf, and … Read more
Early Life Emilie Pelzl Schindler was born in 1907 in Czechoslovakia. She connected with nature and animals. Life seemed to be pretty good until World War I. Her father served in the army and came back with PTSD. She had to take care of him a lot. So, it’s not really surprising she was ready … Read more
As I was going through some old school assignments and art projects, I found an essay from my sophomore of high school on Auschwitz. Two decades ago. In the paper, I mentioned that there were no rebellions in the camp. I’ve learned in recent years, that couldn’t be further from the truth! I’ve learned there … Read more
Early morning on inauguration day. I was browsing Facebook and came across some fantastic links about peace and coming together. Other people posted how they hate, hate everything about the new leadership. I think it’s understandable. It’s hard to know exactly what to do. How do we support our government without compromising our own beliefs? Then … Read more
Marie-Antoinette, Daughter of the Caesars: Her Life, Her Times, Her Legacy by Elena Maria Vidal left me a lot to think about. Elena Maria Vidal is a fantastic writer and researcher. She paints a realistic portrait of Marie-Antoinette with facts to back all of it up. It’s very exciting. This book is spiritual, adventurous, and sweet. I … Read more
Thank heavens Marie-Antoinette and Louis XVI married! Unfortunately, Louis inherited the last king’s heavy debts. His grandpa and great-grandpa also left the royal court in a disgusting state. It was embarrassing. Fortunately, he had a good companion by him. He was fifteen when he married fourteen-year-old Marie-Antoinette. It was good for the people and for them. … Read more
Throughout His life, it was clear that Jesus cared for women and they cared for Him. As His death was approaching, we read of women who were standing up for Him and ready to attend to His needs. If a good woman nowadays could travel back to that point, I think she’d be supportive and … Read more
A post from nine years ago… With Mother’s Day being last week and wrapping up the subject of Moses in Sunday School, I am going to share part of an article called “Who Do You Admire?” by Brenda Combs Jochebed, mother to Moses, here is a woman to admire! She had the courage to defy … Read more