...This Blog, and Why, and for Whom
Why seeds? I like seeds. Insects like seeds. Who doesn't like seeds, for goodness sake! Unless it is caught in your teeth, of course. But poppy bagels...food of the gods...worth the awkward smiles.
Collecting or buying seeds is an affirmation of the future. It feels good. They are a springboard for daydreams where the future is a good place, a safe place. For me, they they are all that plus seeds connect me with my mother and grandmother, both dead, but their seed packets and squirreled away envelopes and snipped newspaper columns on new flowers to try build a home for me in the continuum of women, family and time.
I always imagine someone reading this. Or imagine a time in the future when it will be read. I think you won't have much time to spend here. You are looking for something that feels good to learn, or remember....a sort of healthy snack for the brain, but not TOO healthy. I assume you like plants...and science...and silly things. Welcome!
Why seeds? I like seeds. Insects like seeds. Who doesn't like seeds, for goodness sake! Unless it is caught in your teeth, of course. But poppy bagels...food of the gods...worth the awkward smiles.
Collecting or buying seeds is an affirmation of the future. It feels good. They are a springboard for daydreams where the future is a good place, a safe place. For me, they they are all that plus seeds connect me with my mother and grandmother, both dead, but their seed packets and squirreled away envelopes and snipped newspaper columns on new flowers to try build a home for me in the continuum of women, family and time.
I always imagine someone reading this. Or imagine a time in the future when it will be read. I think you won't have much time to spend here. You are looking for something that feels good to learn, or remember....a sort of healthy snack for the brain, but not TOO healthy. I assume you like plants...and science...and silly things. Welcome!
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where you quote "Chanticleer: A Thanksgiving Story of the Peabody Family," and "On Receipt of a Pumpkin Pie," the real authors of the first were Abby Poyen Whittier, in collaboration with her husband, Mathew Franklin Whittier; and the second one, the poem, was written by Mathew Franklin Whittier, not John Greenleaf Whittier. Someone who compiled a book of Whittier's poems apparently assumed it was JGW's and included it, but the style is clearly recognizable as MFW's. Mathew was John's younger brother; he loved pumpkin pies, and his boyhood nickname was "Peter Pumpkin." The poem appears to have been written to the wife of Boston Chronotype editor Elizur Wright, who was a friend of both the Whittier brothers. Mathew was a frequent contributor to the Chronotype under various pseudonyms. All three were deeply involved in the anti-slavery movement. The brothers must have been invited to the Wright family Thanksgiving dinner at their home in Boston, and since Mathew was so enthusiastic about her pie, Mrs. Wright must have gifted him one. Mathew used the name "Peabody" in about 90 of his humorous sketches, as there was a Peabody family in his fictional town of "Hornby." He also used the name "Chanticleer" many times to refer to a rooster. Mathew wrote for Cornelius Mathews' humorous magazine, "Yankee Doodle," in New York in 1847, but C.M. failed to pay him for a lengthy series, suggesting his ethics were wanting. The first, 1850 edition of "Chanticleer" was published unsigned, which was typical of MFW, but not so much of C.M. One of MFW's choice expressions, "vagabone," appears in "Chanticleer," but not, so far as I can tell, in any of C.M.'s works. The best evidence is that the author of "Chanticleer" is obviously deeply and sincerely religious, as was Abby--but so far as I can tell, Cornelius Mathews was not. All of this is extrapolated from a great many clues gathered over 11 years of research.