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This new year promises excitement and a fresh view as we dust off the past and turn our attention toward a new adventure.
After much contemplation, we have decided to leave our island and head home to England to live in Yorkshire. It has taken alot of thought and introspection to make this big decision and unfortunately, this also means that our little shop on Friday Harbor will be closing this summer.
I'm sad to leave, but I feel in my bones that it is time to return home. Quentin has been pining for that funny little yard at the back of Newstead Abbey where his ancestors lived, and Robin is positively champing at the bit to visit Kendle and get his beak around some fresh mint cake.
I hope you will join us on our journey, I'll keep you updated through the newsletter and I'd love you to follow along. York is a wonderful medieval city in the north of England; it's absolutely breathtaking with its winding ancient streets and glorious cathedral. Once we are all settled, I am planning to open my shop there and I promise to keep my online web store so you can find book three once it is out and purchase any odd items that capture your fancy.
Do you have exciting plans? I'd love to hear from you.
Jayne
Below is a picture of one of Yorks many charming lanes.
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Madge and Connie were guests at our home over New Year, and as the clock struck twelve, Madge guzzled down a flute of champagne and proclaimed that her new year's resolution was to be featured in the January newsletter.
I can't very well include her without Connie. If you've read book one, you will know that they are quite the pair. I asked Madge what she would like me to say, and she requested I give her a day to think things over. Two days later, she appeared at the kitchen door with a note which I have printed below in its entirety.
Enjoy
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From the desk of Mrs Magery Postlethwaite, Dr's wife and local dignitary.
My Sister Connie and I have devoted our lives to this community; I'm sure you've heard of us and all the essential duties that we perform. I have set aside a little time in my very busy day to tell you a little more about hour history.
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I distinctly remember hatching first, my egg was larger with a lovely smooth porcelain white shell, while Connie's was smaller with freckles. Mother thought they were dirt spots at first and tried to wipe them off; I have since learned that turkey eggs can be naturally colored in this way, although it makes them a little less desirable to collectors.
As the older sister, I have always led the way, I believe that is the natural order of things, and Connie is content to follow along behind and take direction. The poor thing is a little shorter than me and a little heavier set too (she gets that from Mother), but she is a good sort and helps me with the flower arranging at the Church. Her greatest skill is her uncanny knack of passing the right flower so that I can use my expert eye to place it in just the right spot in the arrangement.
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She is also good on ladders; I abhor heights, so I use her help to hang the garlands for weddings...I stand below and make sure she positions them 'just so' as I have the eye for these sorts of things.
Well I must get on, there are important matters to attend to.
Goodbye for now.
~Madge
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Hello.
It's the New Year here!
At Christmas, when I opened the boxes, there were books inside, and now I have a little library all of my own. Jayne made a fort out of them on the table in the study, I put a handkerchief in there and made a bed so now I can sleep with the world of information all around me.
Jayne says we are going back to England, that is a bit scary because we have to go over the sea again and there are monsters in there all waiting under the waves. When we get there, she promises we can try out all the cakes in the shops! There are so many to chose from, and it makes me excited and also a bit hungry to think about.
I'm making a picture of the stars. At night I peek out of the bedroom window, and they are all there in the sky. On the cold nights they sparkle, I think they are speaking to me, but I can't tell what they are saying because I don't know morse code yet. It's hard to draw the stars because they are white like the paper, so I am coloring in the sky and leaving bits out in the shape of stars to make the picture, which is funny really, because in a way I'm not drawing them at all. I hope my black pencil lasts until I have finished the whole sky, it's very big and it might take along time.
Would you like to see it when I'm done? I will ask Jayne to put it into the newsletter, I also made one of Quentin, a picture that is, when he was sleeping. I think it looks like him but when he saw it he asked if I had been in the kitchen sketching a potato so I'm not really sure.
I'm off to find a sharpener.
Bye bye for now
Robin
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Dear Friends,
A Happy New Year to you all; I have to admit that I am somewhat relieved that the festivities are over. I helped carry out the evergreen boughs yesterday, they were so dry and prickly that they gave me a rash, but now the house is quiet and clean and back to its old self again. The weather has been mild this week; we even ventured out for a short walk down to the orchard, and under the yew trees, I saw the snowdrops emerging.
Did Jayne mention the move? I will miss my rosebush, but I must confess that exploring my family's old haunts will be thrilling! I can't wait to creep around those ancient graveyards in the mist; I might even get myself a nice tweed cape and a pocket watch...You know thinking about it all I feel a ghost story coming on.
But first, a peck of lunch to fuel the creative flow!
Until next time beak up!
~Quentin
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I hope you enjoyed this letter from the island.
Your friend
Jayne
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