Today is the end of the L.M. Montgomery Reading Challenge and you can find the links to my reviews of The Blue Castle and Anne of the Island by clicking on the hyperlinked titles or by visiting the closing post at Reading to Know.
In closing I wanted to share a few of my own personal memories of L. M. Montgomery's books and Prince Edward Island.
1. I first was introduced to Lucy Maud Montgomery when I was 12 or so and my older sister was reading the series. She loved the books and although she's never been as avid a reader as I, she read her way very quickly through the entire series. Not long after I started reading them, but only made it to Anne's House of Dreams. Just last fall I set a goal of reading through the entire series -- all the way to the end. At the same time I am working to collect the series for my own personal library.
2. I don't remember the exact date, but I think it was also around this time that I first saw the Anne of Green Gables movie and later Anne of Avonlea, both that I watched again and again with my sister and our best friend and even on my own.
3. In my early teen years my sister and best friend and I had our own Anne of Green Gables tea. We made raspberry cordial and served it with sandwiches and cake. We decorated the table with wild flowers we had picked.
4. When I was 14 and then again when I was 16 my family took a two week vacation to Prince Edward Island. We visited Green Gables and walked down Lover's Lane. We also attended the play Anne of Green Gables that was showing in Charlottetown. We stayed in a cottage near the beach on south side of the island.
5. Our visits to PEI were made by taking a ferry across the Northumberland Strait. During our last visit we met a local family who had moved to PEI from British Columbia. The father was hired to help build the bridge connecting New Brunswick to PEI. He gave my siblings I each a piece of material (a little cement plug) like those used in making the bridge. I still have it stored away as a memorable keepsake.
6. When I was a young teenager I read the Emily of Deep Valley series (a favorite of mine). Inspired by something Emily did in the first book I wrote myself a letter on my 14th birthday to be read on my 24th. I still have that letter. And then later on my 20th birthday I wrote another letter to open on my 30th. Both are tiny personal time capsules.
4 comments:
That's all pretty cool.
I recently found this raspberry sparkling cider that takes JUST LIKE the raspberry cordial you can find on the Island.
I visited the Island with Julie years ago (after we started law school, of course) and that still ranks as one of my favorite vacations ever!
Wow, I wrote MYSELF a letter too, from Noel at 14 to Noel at 24. But I still have to wait 2 years before I can finally open it. :)
I wonder how many other girls were inspired to do that after reading Emily of New Moon? ...
Thanks for sharing your memories. We (dh and I on our honeymoon) actually drove across that bridge to PEI. I meant to do a post about my LMM memories, but I never got around to it. Maybe next year, since Carrie is making the challenge an annual treat!
Sarah, wow - so many neat things here. I love the letters you wrote to yourself ... love that you and your sister had the tea ... love your PEI memories. I would love to go there! Thank you for sharing this.
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