Happy 4th Of July

My husband, my brother-in-law and I are headed to the Nolichucky River for a full day of rafting tomorrow, I can't wait!!

Taking The Day Off From The Library

But I can't seem to get away from the jokes, thanks Leanne The Librarianne.

Wonderfully Creepy Book and Movie

As you may know, if you visit here much, I'm an Alfred Hitchcock fan. I recently watched Rebecca. I have a habit of seeing a movie, and if I like it, and it's based on a book, I have to read the book. One day at work I checked the book Rebecca out to a patron. When I realized it was the book the movie was based on, I placed a hold on it. I'm now in the process of reading it, and want to see the movie again when I'm finished. I love the narrator's character. She is so shy and timid, and doesn't want to rock the boat, but her mere presence has everyone talking. Neither the book or the movie mentions her first name, the reader only knows her as the second Mrs. de Winter.

Here's a brief plot summary:

Rebecca is the first wife of Maxim de Winter. The narrator, who is the current wife of Maxim, is distressed by how powerfully Rebecca’s presence is felt in and around Manderley (their large estate in England,) even though she has been dead for over a year. And how everyone seems to want to tell her how wonderful Rebecca was except Maxim, who can hardly bear to mention Rebecca’s name.

Rugby Then & Now

I guess I look about the same, but my husband got better looking!

A Victorian Town

One of the places we visited last weekend on our mini vacation, was the old town of Rugby, Tennessee. It's located near the Big South Fork Recreation area north of Knoxville and just south of Kentucky.

I'll post some pictures later. I also plan to scan a few of when we went there for a Christmas In Rugby getaway in 1995 while we were living in Knoxville.Rugby Overview
Rugby, settled in northern Morgan County in 1880, began as an unusual combination of commercial venture and Utopian ideal. A group of Boston capitalists seeking to develop a large tract of land in East Tennessee combined with the English author and social reformer Thomas Hughes to create a model community. Hughes had achieved considerable fame in the United States for his 1857 novel Tom Brown's School Days, a semi-autobiographical story about Rugby, an English school for boys. Hughes's vision for Rugby in Tennessee was a place where young elite English men could work together with Americans, free from the traditional British upper class stigma against labor.
The resulting village of Rugby became home to approximately 450 residents at its zenith in the early 1880s. Homes, a library, a school, recreational facilities, and a church were constructed for residents, as well as an elaborate hotel, the Tabard Inn, for guests. By the early 1890s, however, most of the community's momentum had dissipated. Crops such as tomatoes failed to produce enough profit to sustain the economy. Poor planning and weak real estate sales further soured the commitment of the American and English investors. Hughes, who only visited Rugby once a year and never actually lived there, was unable to sustain the enthusiasm that had enticed so many to settle ten years before.
Rugby today has become a revitalized community. Efforts by local residents to restore the existing buildings have made Rugby an important tourist attraction, where the remains of Hughes's Utopian dreams survive in the Victorian architecture and pastoral setting.
For information on visiting Rugby, go to: http://www.historicrugby.org/

The painting below is by Dee Dann. These are all the different historic buildings of Rugby.

The painting above is the B&B where we stayed Sunday night.

FACEinHOLE

Create your own FACEinHOLE

Thanks To Leanne The Librarianne

One of my favorite Simpson's characters.

New And Improved Spelling Of My Name

Rhueauthe Vhanne Psyckhle, just so I can be different. Can you tell I'm getting a little tired of all the people who have creative spellings for common names.