The fountains mingle with the river
And the rivers with the ocean,
The winds of Heaven mix for ever
With a sweet emotion;

There are some people who like to hold on to even the most ordinary objects if, for some reason, they represent a sentimental moment in time.  L.M. Montgomery, famous author of Anne of Green Gables, was one of those people.  When she was just 20 years old, three years before Anne was published, Maud had a look through her old scrapbook and recorded in her journal all of the humorous and romantic stories attached to the pieces inside – a record, with photos, you will enjoy seeing here:

Love is like the wild rose-briar,
Friendship like the holly-tree --
The holly is dark when the rose-briar blooms
But which will bloom most constantly?

Love is not all: it is not meat nor drink
Nor slumber nor a roof against the rain;
Nor yet a floating spar to men that sink
And rise and sink and rise and sink again;

Going to Mass last Sunday my true love passed me by,
I knew her mind was altered by the rolling of her eye;
And when I stood in God’s dark light my tongue could word no prayer
Knowing my saint had fled and left her reliquary bare.

How can I keep my soul in me, so that
it doesn't touch your soul? How can I raise
it high enough, past you, to other things?

Felicity encounters an old acquaintance while the King family tends to Felix and Izzy’s new baby in this next chapter of Hannah’s story, "Return to Avonlea".  To see the previous 11 chapters, click here!

Oh my luve is like a red, red rose,
That's newly sprung in June:
Oh my luve is like the melodie,
That's sweetly play'd in tune.

"I am not now to learn that it is usual with young ladies to reject the addresses of the man whom they secretly mean to accept, when he first applies for their favour..." ~ Mr. Collins, Pride and Prejudice

Though the two authors were separated by time and space, reading L.M. Montgomery’s journals is often like reading a page out of Jane Austen’s novels.

Since the beginning of our recipe blogs, we have posted a diverse range of meals for families or parties that are relatively simple.  But now and then it’s nice to share more high-end cuisine that is worth taking the time to experiment with.  Here is a special dessert served specifically at Langdon Hall, a grand Colonial Revival-style hotel in Cambridge, Ontario, built in 1898.