After many long weeks of vacation I am now back to blogging! I thought I would try and give you an overview of how I spent my summer...

My sisters and I have all enjoyed learning to swim this summer. I really love the water! In this Arizona heat, almost nothing is better then going swimming to cool down!

Something I have been interested in this summer is the hairstyles of women living in the 1800’s. We have tried two or three on myself. First, this is a hairstyle I did myself with a little bit of Mom's help. (She braided one of the braids most of the way. :)


It is a reproduction of Jane Bennett’s hairstyle at the Netherfield Ball in the 1995 version of Pride and Prejudice produced by A & E.

This hairstyle is copied from Emma, starring Gwyneth Paltro;



Emma Woodhouse’s hair looks like this when she is practicing archery with Mr. Knightly. Bethany did this hairstyle for me. (She deserves credit for taking both pictures as well.)

I have learned a lot about England in the last few months. From servants to tea, from clothes to houses... I have learned a lot! We even got to watch a movie that showed aerial shots of the principle places of England. It was called Visions of England. I plan to post a review on it shortly.

I have read many, many  novels and books this summer! What fun! Many of them were English because of our English study. Here is a list of all the books  I read this summer. (All but one or two of them I had never read before.) I plan to eventually post separate reviews for most of them.

Mansfield Park by Jane Austen
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
Persuasion by Jane Austen
The Graceful Art of Tea by Nan Taylor
Answers Magazine
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
Inside the Victorian Home by Judith Flanders
The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

To my sisters:

Rosa of Linden Castle by Christoph Von Schmid
Greystone Lodge by Unknown
First Impressions of God by Ann R. Wells
Schmid’s Tales by Christoph Von Schmid
The White Dove by Christoph Von Schmid
Probable Sons by Amy LeFevre

I am pretty sure there was something else, but I am not sure what it was. I am still reading some things I started this summer as well. The books on this list are just the ones I finished as well as started. :)

One of the fun things we did for our English study was to conduct an English dinner. We made a meal using recipes from the Elizabethan Era. The dinner consisted of Shepherd’s Pie, Galintine of Capon, Yorkshire Pudding and a failed attempt at Gingerbread. (It did not turn out right at all!) The meal over all was very good. The table was set with my great-grandmothers silver, crystal that used to belong to my grandmother, a linen table cloth belonging to Mom and the china set that I have for my hope chest. Here is a picture of the table when it was all set:



Is it not it pretty? The only drawback was that we had no cloth napkins and so had to use paper. (Something we intend to rectify soon!)

We got to attend a Homeschool Convention in July. I loved it! So many rows of books and curriculum... I could stay there for days! We bought several books, especially from Lamplighter. The things we bought included:  several books, cd’s, tons of catalogs and brochures and a history game. When lunch time came at the convention, we got to go out to eat with several families from church, including our Pastor and his wife and a family who used to attend our church. They had since moved to Colorado, but were here for the convention. It was so nice to see them again! The whole day went wonderful!

Later in the month we had the pleasure of attending and helping with a baby shower. The ladies of our church were giving it to a one of the expecting ladies of our church. The neat thing is that she had her baby the day after! Only ladies were permitted to be present, but exceptions were made for two baby boys ages 6 and 9 months. They were allowed to stay with their mothers - well actually I held one of them nearly the entire time he was there, but that is another story... :)

On a sad note, our tortoise Ecclesiastes died. We do not know how or why, but I know the LORD had a good reason for allowing it. We had Ecclesiastes for about 11 or 12 years.



I had a very unpleasant insect bite during the last few weeks. We believe it was caused by a spider. It swelled and grew very large - nearly as large as the palm of my hand! It was quite painful. Praise the LORD that nearly all trace of it has now disappeared. I used poultices and herbs on it and most of it left within a week!

I finished a lovely skirt very recently. Go to our sewing blog... I plan to post pictures of it very soon!

Thank you all very much for your comments throughout the summer. I loved them!

Rebekah ~ The Lord’s Daughter