Thread by @lainasparetime

Okay, shall we do a #LainaReadsAnne thread? Chapter 20 awaits!

#LainaReadsAnne When last we met, Anne had a whole day of chores planned, including changing the feathers from her old mattress to a new one.

It's a lovely day, which I actually prefer for a chore day. If it's like cold and rainy, I'd rather be all cozy with a book or movie.

#LainaReadsAnne Like I said last time, Marilla's going to town for the day and taking Dora, so it's just Anne and Davy.

Marilla tells him if he's good, she'll bring him back candy.

Bribery. Sure, that always works.

#LainaReadsAnne Since it's just Anne and Davy, she says she's not going to bother cooking dinner - they have a "cold ham bone" that'll do.

Marilla says if Mr Shearer (remember, the guy Anne sold Mr Harrison's cow to?) comes by, to buy a roast and some steaks from him.

#LainaReadsAnne I'm not sure how familiar all of you are with this concept - I'm assuming Mr Shearer goes around weekly or monthly or so selling meat.

This is totally still a thing where I lve. You can just have a meat guy come buy and sell you a freezer full of meat.

#LainaReadsAnne (And by that I mean a deep freeze/chest freezer, not your fridge freezer.)

Rural areas just be like that.

#LainaReadsAnne Anne says she'll fry some steaks for supper for when Marilla gets home if he does.

Davy announces that, actually, he's going to help Mr Harrison "haul dulse", so he'll probably have dinner there. Dulse is apparently a type of seaweed. Has lots of iodine.

#LainaReadsAnne Alone, Anne gets to work. She throws on an old dress, a "navy blue cashmere she had worn at fourteen" that obviously doesn't fit well anymore. She also ties "a big red and white spotted handkerchief" over her hair.

#LainaReadsAnne Then she remembers she forgot her freckle lotion the night before.

It's the latest in her attempts to rid herself of the seven freckles on her nose. Once ALL THE SKIN on her nose peeled off.

Don't do homemade skincare, y'all.

#LainaReadsAnne With that applied, she moves the feathers from the old tick to the new, and becomes covered in fluff, as to be expected.

Not that I've ever done it myself, but it just seems like common sense it'd be messy.

#LainaReadsAnne So of course, that's when there's a knock on the door. Mr Shearer, Anne assumes, and rushes down so he doesn't just leave. (You know how doors work - I don't gotta explain that to you.)

Yeah.

No. It's not Mr Shearer.

#LainaReadsAnne Turns out, it's an impeccably dressed Priscilla Grant and two other women.

#LainaReadsAnne One is a "short, stout grey-haired lady in a tweed suit" and the other is "tall, stately, wonderfully gowned". Anne assumes the tall lady is Mrs Charlotte E Morgan.

And you know what they say about assuming - turns out Mrs Morgan is actually the short older lady.

#LainaReadsAnne Despite wanting to melt into the floor, Anne pulls it together, inspired by Mrs Morgan's heroines, and welcomes them inside.

#LainaReadsAnne An interesting thing to me is she "ushered her guests to the spare room and thence into the parlor".

They'e not staying overnight, but they've been travelling and probably want to get cleaned up? Honestly I'm not sure - my Victorian ettiquette is a bit weak.

#LainaReadsAnne Then she helps Priscilla with her horse, and Priscilla explains this was very last minute, only decided the night before.

Mrs Morgan was going to visit a friend in town who had to quarantine because of scarlet fever. Another chance to be grateful for antibiotics!

#LainaReadsAnne Apparently the other lady is a Mrs Pendexter from New York who's husband is a millionaire.

That is the SECOND American millionaire's wife Anne has met.

What is the draw of the White Sands hotel to American millionaires????

#LainaReadsAnne Priscilla keeps staring at Anne and Anne can't figure out why. She thinks Priscilla shouldn't be surprised by the feathers. Anyone's who's changed a feather tick knows how messy it is and if you haven't, you should be able to figure it out, she thinks.

#LainaReadsAnne Before she can go upstairs to change, Diana shows up and Anne blurts out all that's happening. She's especially distressed about the lack of food in the house.

You can't serve a cold ham bone for dinner when you have guests!

#LainaReadsAnne Diana, however, also seems to be distracted by Anne's appearance and can't stop "staring at her in precisely the same bewildered fashion as Priscilla".

She almost relucatantly explains, no, it's not the feathers.

It's Anne's nose.

#LainaReadsAnne She rushes to the mirror and sees her entire nose is bright red.

And it's not like "You've got allergies" red. Turns out Anne mixed up her freckle lotion with the red dye Marilla uses for making patterns on rugs.

*marking patterns, that typo changes the meaning.

#LainaReadsAnne Anne freaks out it won't wash off, but IME most sewing pattern marking materials are pretty washable. There's a type of eraseable pen that works really well that my sewing store carries, that kind of thing.

#LainaReadsAnne Luckily, it does indeed wash off easily, and Anne goes upstairs to change and get cleaned up, which is sorely needed.

#LainaReadsAnne Unfortunately her muslin dress is still drying on the clothesline so she wears "her black lawn" instead.

Lawn, FYI, is a lightweight, usually cotton, sometimes linen, fabric. Basically just a very good summer dress material.

#LainaReadsAnne As Anne gets the tea going, Diana comes back with a whole carved chicken from her mother, which was probably the plan for THEIR dinner.

Which, really, is a very kind thing of Mrs Barry to do.

#LainaReadsAnne The "nothing in the house" does include "light new bread, excellant butter and cheese, Marilla's fruitcake and a dish of preserved plums", of course.

I wish I was this productive when it came to food. I struggle to eat lunch consistently.

#LainaReadsAnne I swear 90% of what I eat is fruit snacks.

The book, though, points out this meal isn't nearly as fancy as the one Anne and Diana made the other day, but no one cares.

The guests are just happy to eat anything after the trip.

#LainaReadsAnne And as the conversation start, no one cares about the food.

Also personally fresh bread and butter are like some of the best food in the world so I'd be perfectly happy with this spead myself. Hand it over pls.

#LainaReadsAnne Mrs Morgan is apparently fascinating - a "delightful conversationalist", "excellant storyteller", well-travelled, but she also leads the conversation well so the others are comfortable talking freely.

Truly a talent. She does sound lovely and like a great guest.

#LainaReadsAnne All in all, it goes very well and after the guests leave, Anne says to Diana she thinks it was nicer than the other day would have been, as they were more relaxed.

#LainaReadsAnne Later, Anne dumps the freckle lotion out the window - she says it's too much tempting fat for someone like her.

And that's our thread for the day!

#LainaReadsAnne If you're mad at librarians weeding old books and you follow me, you now owe me 3 dollars :P
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