Sense and Sensibility

So, remember this fabulous movie?

I was watching it one day while folding a seemingly endless pile of laundry while the kids took their naps. Anna woke up and watched the ending with me and from that moment on, a love was formed for the good story by Jane Austen. She enjoys it in any story (or in real life) when two people get married, and she especially loves watching Elinor and Edward and Marianne and Colonel Brandon fall in love and get married.

So, last weekend the historic home here in Louisville, Locust Grove, hosted the Jane Austen Festival. I took Anna and here is what we saw...

I bought Anna a fan to cool herself off "like Mrs. Jennings."

Here is Anna sitting in front of one of the small buildings on the grounds, holding her fan.

We went to explore one of the storage houses.

She didn't know if she wanted to go in.

"There might be bugs."

But we did go in and looked out the window to the woods and creek below.

Then we wandered up to the big house, aka the "cottage," like Marianne and Elinor lived in. The kitchen was in a separate building which we did not go into due to the 19th century men drinking and talking in there.

Inside the big house, Anna found a spinning wheel, like in Sleeping Beauty.

How fun to find real-life objects just like in our stories!

Then she lay on the grass for a while after running across the lawn. It was very hot.

We went to the market where we found two wooden swords and a pair of nippers. We also saw tea sets that were very pretty, but would have cost us a pretty penny to purchase. I was greeted by the vendors as "my Lady." We looked for a small dress for Anna but the tailor said she hadn't made any, but that she would for next year's festival. We will have to go back.

Lastly, we talked to this fine gentleman who spoke to us in a British accent and was very kind. Anna showed him the rocks from the gravel road.