Lady Maria Clutterbuck's Birthday Felicitations! > Likes and Comments
A little bird has informed Mrs Dickens that three valued and esteemed members have birthdays this month! She wishes to send her sincere felicitations to Allie, France-Andrée and Robin, “Wishing you a day full of laughter and happiness and a year that brings you much success”
from Kate Dickens (Mrs.)
What Shall We Have For Dinner? Satisfactorily Answered By Numerous Bills Of Fare For From Two To Eighteen Persons by Catherine Dickens (under the pseudonym Lady Maria Clutterbuck) with an introduction by her husband Charles Dickens (alias, Sir Jonas Clutterbuck) contains many bills of fare suitable for tea-time, such as shrimp sauce, roast saddle of mutton, boiled fowls, tongue, oyster curry, rice, pork cutlets and spinach ...However, Mrs. Dickens feels this would not be quite dainty enough so she has prepared a special cake for you all:
And a big happy birthday Tuesday to Allie from me too!
Happy birthday!! Hope all the days are fabulous!
Bionic Jean wrote: "A little bird has informed Mrs Dickens that three valued and esteemed members have birthdays this month!Aww! ❤️❤️❤️
Bionic Jean wrote: "What Shall We Have For Dinner? Satisfactorily Answered By Numerous Bills Of Fare For From Two To Eighteen Persons by Catherine Dickens (under the pseudonym Lady Mar..."Hold the fowl, oyster curry, and spinach.....I’m good with the cake! 😄
Bionic Jean wrote: "And a big happy birthday Tuesday to Allie from me too!"Thank you! 😊😘
Be sure and come back to tell us how you celebrated your special day :)
Happy Birthday, Allie! I hope you have a terrific day......and there are yet 2 more birthdays to come this month!
What a cheerful, celebratory month it is for us.
Jean, those are some heavy dishes to serve at a tea. Not sure how much of the spread I could manage at one sitting.
But cake is always a wonderful addition. That's a beautiful cake.
Three birthdays all in one month is irresistible! Isn't it amazing that Catherine Dickens also wrote a book? It went to several reprintings, but only 4 original copies are known of now, and the rest are facsimiles.
I love that she seems to have had a sense of humour like her husband. Yet she seems to have been eclipsed. We only hear about her as someone in the background, bearing all those ten children, (and having at least two miscarriages) but she was so talented in her own right.
Catherine was a very talented actress, an excellent cook and, in her husband’s words, "a superb travelling companion". Her mischievous pseudonym "Lady Maria Clutterbuck" came from a play she was acting in.
But yes, the dishes are certainly heavy! Some start with a sheep's head ... and there are hardly any vegetables :(
I hope you have lots of birthday cake instead Allie, or maybe chocolate :)
Thank you! My husband has a commitment to a group that usually means he is away on my birthday but of course this year it is canceled so we may get takeout food. Around my birthday, we have a local free event called Opera in the Park. It happens in a large park where a hill forms a natural amphitheater. You can bring blankets, chairs, picnics, wine, etc. As it gets dark, you can conduct along with glow sticks. This year it will be virtual, a nice idea but not the same.
Happy Birthday to all 3 of you! And I hope you have lots of cake and no sheep's heads.
I love the idea of opera in the park, Robin! And maybe you can pretend that if it had been outside it would pour with rain, and enjoy your cosy virtual one this year :)
Bionic Jean wrote: "Be sure and come back to tell us how you celebrated your special day :)"I came into work to balloons, flowers, chocolates, and an outrageously flashy card that all my techs had signed for me. It plays the happy birthday song in a marching band tune and has flashing lights. It was extra lol. My boss also slipped a $100 Visa gift card in there. Later my aunt took me to dinner and we had a smorgasbord of appetizers and a couple frozen, fruity drinks. It’s literally the one time of the year I may drink so I quickly got a headache but we were there talking for 4 hours! I’m sure the waitress wanted us out lol.
Dinner and presents at my sister’s tomorrow with my mom and another aunt because my (7 year old) nephew baked me a chocolate cake.
So jealous, none of those group activities are possible here! When I was working we did have someone who would put up balloons and streamers at the desk of the birthday person.
Allie, that does sound like a fun birthday. I'm glad you had a good day. Sounds like tomorrow is going to be another fun day.
Allie, that sounds like an absolutely fabulous birthday! And it's continuing on today? Wow - fantastic! Mr and Mrs Dickens approve - they know how to party too :) Mr Dickens has an idea we should be celebrating our winter festivities too, and says he has a few ideas about it ...
Robin wrote: "So jealous, none of those group activities are possible here! When I was working we did have someone who would put up balloons and streamers at the desk of the birthday person."Technically it wasn’t a group thing. The techs all go out and work “in the field” all day, I never see them. They’re in and gone out of the office before I get in at 9:00. My boss and I are the only ones physically in the building and we have our own offices.
It was fun. Thanks ladies! Getting ready to go to my mom’s for dinner and presents. Corned beef and cabbage (we didn’t get it at St. Patrick’s Day this year!) and I can’t wait to taste the cake my nephew made lol 😳
And now, Thursday, it's a big happy birthday to France Andrée!
Happy Birthday, France-Andree! I wish you a wonderful, adventurous (in our isolated times) day. I hope you have a day that you will always pleasantly remember.
Thank you all and happy birthday to Allie and Robin too.I went away for a couple of days somewhere there is no internet, at my sister’s country house. We had lots of fun, went swimming, caught a sunburn... lots of food and alcohol. We went to see my parents for lunch on the day (yesterday) my mom had made pizza, she does her own crust herself and I had a little cake too. I bought new pillows, I called my used ones pancakes so I had a good night.
I will have only a small piece of Mrs. Dickens’ cake, I have to go back on my diet. Now, I have some more emails to read (another 50+ and I’ve read more than 20), will try to look on other threads today.
Thank you again, this was lovely.
A welcome break I'll bet, France-Andrée, and it sounds as though you had a fantastic time :)I didn't used to be able to get the internet at our caravan either, until a couple of years ago. It was nice for a week or so - but then I get to miss my Goodreads friends :) Now it is just slow, plus the TV can conk out in nice weather (because of the hills) and we never have any mobile phone signal! Some people find this hard to believe.
My sister has mobile coverage at their place, but I don't have a cell, I have an ipod and ipad an if there is no wifi then I'm unconnected; I think a week would feel too much, but for 3 days it was a nice break. I got through the emails (I am an avid reader and I receive a lot of emails from publishing houses and others telling me what books are discounted on the day... I use these to discover new books, I might have missed when they came out) and now I'm looking through the threads.
France-Andree, that sounds like a wonderful get-away. I'm glad you had this time to relax and visit family.
Caravan - that's the term I was trying to think of, for what the US calls an RV or camper.
Glad you had a good birthday, France-Andrée.
What's an RV Robin - or rather what does it stand for? Ours is a static caravan - it doesn't have wheels and stays on the same site.
Recreational Vehicle is what it stands for Jean. Here in the US they are either a trailer you haul (or you can park it and unhook from the towing vehicle) or they are a vehicle on thier own.
Thanks Jenny! I'd never have guessed that in a million years; I just assumed it was something more colloquial!"Caravans" here can be towed like your "trailers", or are static. We would call a vehicle including the engine a "mobile home".
I seem to have got off the birthday theme! Sorry. Mrs Dickens will give me the eye if she comes in ... does anyone else have a birthday they are happy to share? I'd like to add a few more dates to our calendar :)
France-andree do you find many modern books worth reading? As a Dickens lover, I assume you have better taste than the average reader. I find it her to even care about many modern books, let alone read them. But I love to find good new authors. A couple years ago I read all of Frederick Backmans books. I love his ability to craft a story and how is writing varies. He throws in short, quick sentences to make a point and it stops your reading rhythm. I love it!
I read a lot of historical fiction, cozy mysteries... I think I have very eclectic tastes I’m more guided by what sounds like a good story than who wrote it. That said if I’m going to recommend any book that’s not a classic but a twisted police mystery, it’ll be Irène (to an english edition, I thought there wasn’t any then I realized the first one is in english! They left the accent which confused me) by Pierre Lemaitre, not going to link to my review, it’s in french. That’s the book that completely blew my mind, I have read the entire series and they are all great, Travail soigné (the title in french) is one of the best book I ever read.
France-Andrée wrote: "I read a lot of historical fiction, cozy mysteries... I think I have very eclectic tastes I’m more guided by what sounds like a good story than who wrote it. That said if I’m going to recommend any..."Thanks for the recommendation of Lemaitre, have downloaded Irene to try! I love Louise Penny and though this looks quite a bit grittier, it sounds great.
Happy Birthday Allie, France-Andrée, Robin! :-))
So Thursday brings us to Robin's birthday!Happy Birthday Robin, and here's a piece of specially decorated cake, of which I'm sure that expert of Victorian cookery, Lady Maria Clutterbuck, would have approved :)
Happy Birthday, Robin! Wishing you a wonderful day ahead. What a lovely birthday cake. So pretty and pink.
Happy birthday Robin, hope you have everything you can imagine and things you haven’t too!
Happy Birthday Robin! Enjoy this lovely day :)
Bionic Jean wrote: "So Thursday brings us to Robin's birthday!Happy Birthday Robin, and here's a piece of specially decorated cake, of which I'm sure that expert of Victorian cookery, Lady Maria Clutterbuck, would h..."
Ooh, I love pink! Thanks, everyone!
Happy B'day, Robin. That cake is far too pretty to eat.
Guess whose birthday it is in a few hours' time? Lady Maria Clutterbuck has just finished decorating this very special Victorian cake ...
for Sara, our lovely member who gives so much to the group and hosted our first summer read. So as soon as Monday dawns for you, Sara, have a fabulous birthday, doing some of your favourite things :)
Oooooh! My cake is far too beautiful to eat! Thank you, Jean, so much. I'm expecting a fairly uneventful birthday, but how could it not be a good one with such lovely wishes to start it off.
Ha! I happen to be posting right at 12:00! Happy Birthday, Sara! I hope you have a fabulous day!
Happy Birthday, Sara! Enjoy your celebration!
A great birthday Sara! Hope you get all you want (and more).
Thanks so much, everyone! Oddly, I don't feel one bit wiser--wonder when that part kicks in.
Happy Birthday, Sara! Hope you enjoy your day and that gorgeous birthday cake.
Happy birthday, Sara - hope you have lots of cake!
January
8th - Jantine (absent)
February
5th - Elizabeth
7th - Steve
28th - Bridget
March
14th - Jean ("Dickens Duchess" ;) )
15th - Petra
18th - Tara
April
9th (2020) - all Dickensians!
18th - G.J.
May
5th - Michael
June
3rd - Jenny
7th - Lori
21st - Lee G.
22nd - Plateresca
July
7th - May Lou
14th - Allie
16th - France-Andrée
30th - Robin
August
17th - Werner
24th - Sara
September
18th - ClaraBelle
30th - Sue
October
7th - Rosemarie
10th - Nancy
15th - Greg
28th - Angela (in memorium)
29th - Candi
November
December
11th - Antoinette
15th - Connie
28th - Anne