There’s a merry hustle and bustle in the cottage yard here today, for it is time to join the merry harvesters and bring home the fruits of the season. And so, let’s don our work aprons, straw hats, and kerchiefs and step into several works - books, poetry, scripture, and art - gathering a variety of crops, from apples and pumpkins, to cranberries, honey, and more.

Works Shared:

"Anna Karenina" by Leo Tolstoy

Artist Julien Dupre: The Harvest, Peasants Stacking Hay, The Haymakers

"Singing, the Reapers Homeward Come" (hymn)

"Farmer Boy" by Laura Ingalls Wilder

"Little Men" by Louisa May Alcott

"Walden" by Henry David Thoreau

Idlewild Cottage Episode 7: "Fall Foraging"

"Stillmeadow Daybook" by Gladys Taber

"Under the Greenwood Tree" by Thomas Hardy

"Pilgrim's Inn" by Elizabeth Goudge

"Harvest of the Soul" by Laura Ingalls Wilder

Galatians 5:22-23

Join Ken McLaughlin, Velvet Brown, Almanzo Wilder, and more as our literary and cinematic friends experience the thrill and delight of horsemanship.

Works Shared:

"My Friend Flicka" by Mary O'Hara

"National Velvet" by Enid Bagnold

"National Velvet" 1944 film

"Billy and Blaze" series by C.W. Anderson

James Herriot's Treasury for Children: "Bonnie's Big Day"

"The Man from Snowy River" 1982 film

"The Man from Snowy River" poem by Banjo Paterson

"Jessica's Theme (Breaking the Colt)" by Bruce Rowland

"Little Men" by Louisa May Alcott

"Farmer Boy" by Laura Ingalls Wilder

"The Man of the Forest" by Zane Grey

Psalm 8

Hello, kindred spirits, and welcome back to Idlewild Cottage! It is a delight to gather together once again as we turn our thoughts toward fall. The month of September naturally brings to mind back to school images, so during our time together today, we’ll journey through an old fashioned school day with several literary friends. Now, our journey will pay no heed to time or place. Rather, we’ll piece together a school day from beginning to end, following the experiences of Betsy Ray, Anne Shirley, Laura Ingalls, Christy Huddleston, and more.

Works Shared:

"Heaven to Betsy" by Maud Hart Lovelace

"Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm" by Kate Douglas Wiggin

"Christy" by Catherine Marshall

"The Country School" 1871 painting by Winslow Homer

"On the Banks of Plum Creek" by Laura Ingalls Wilder

The Journals of Lucy Maud Montgomery, Vol. 1

"Anne of Green Gables" by L.M. Montgomery

"Glengarry School Days" by Ralph Connor

Today marks the last episode in our spring series. Now, I’m not entirely sure what this summer and the future of Idlewild Cottage will look like, so in the meantime, I’d love to leave you with a tribute to several sweet childhood haunts and hideaways in literature. We’ll begin, most fittingly, with Anne Shirley’s very own Idlewild, which - as you may have guessed - is the inspiration behind the name of this podcast.

Works Shared:

"Anne of Green Gables" by L.M. Montgomery

"Rainbow Valley" by L.M. Montgomery

"Little House in the Big Woods" by Laura Ingalls Wilder

"The Saturdays" by Elizabeth Enright

"The Holiday" (1938 film)

"Little Women" by Louisa May Alcott

Psalm 55:22

If you were with us last week, you may recall the scenes with Frightful the Falcon preening her feathers and Mary Lennox’s robin friend showing off his sleek red waistcoat. As spring skips along in riotous color, so our literary friends primp, preen, and put on their finest in today’s episode. Now, we have just two more episodes in our spring series. So today, let’s imagine ourselves dressed in our sweetest organdie frocks with parasols swinging and hats nodding as we cherish a fleeting visit on the Idlewild Cottage veranda. We’ll step into six scenes as several book characters prepare for various events. We’ll also note how fashion changes along the way.

Works Shared:

"Little House in the Big Woods" by Laura Ingalls Wilder

"Little Women" by Louisa May Alcott

"Gone With the Wind" by Margaret Mitchell

"Betsy in Spite of Herself" by Maud Hart Lovelace

"Anne of Avonlea" by L.M. Montgomery

"Meet Me in St. Louis" by Sally Benson

"Hello, Dolly!" (1969 film)

"Meet Me in St. Louis" (1944 film)

"Summer Magic" (1963 film)

"Mary Poppins" (1964 film)

"The Music Man" (1962 film)

"My Fair Lady" (1964 film)

"Anne of Green Gables: The Sequel" (1987 miniseries)

Just as Percy Bysshe Shelley was swept into the poetry of the skylark’s dance in the first two stanzas of his immortal work, so we will take a moment today to open a few literary passages that sweep us into sky, island, garden, parlor - and even a schoolroom - in admiration of birds.

Works Shared:

"To a Skylark" poem by Percy Bysshe Shelley

"My Side of the Mountain" by Jean Craighead George

"The Swiss Family Robinson" by Johann Wyss

"The Wheel on the School" by Meindert DeJong

"The Secret Garden" by Frances Hodgson Burnett

"Anne of Avonlea" by L.M. Montgomery

September 1921: " The most universal sentiment in the world is that of mother-love . . . . it is the strongest force in creation. It holds within its sheltering care the fulfillment of the purpose of creation itself. In all ages, in all countries it is the same - a boundless, all enveloping love." (Laura Ingalls Wilder) As we look toward Mother’s Day, we’ll join Laura Ingalls Wilder in celebrating this boundless, all-enveloping mother-love. It’s a love that is expressed in many ways, as we’ll see through our time together today.

Works Shared:

"Little House in the Ozarks: The Rediscovered Writings" of Laura Ingalls Wilder

"Little House on the Praire" by Laura Ingalls Wilder

"Little House on the Prairie" television series episode: "Country Girls"

Artwork: Mary Cassatt's "Young Mother Sewing" 1900: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/10425

"Peter Pan" by J.M. Barrie

"Louisa May Alcott: Dreamer and Worker" by Belle Moses

"Little Women" by Louisa May Alcott

"The Railway Children" by Edith Nesbit

"Mother Carey's Chickens" by Kate Douglas Wiggin

"Five Little Peppers and How They Grew" by Margaret Sidney

"I Remember Mama" (1948 film)

"Cheaper by the Dozen" (1950 film)

"Room for One More" (1952 film)

"The Swiss Family Robinson" (1960 film)

The Journals of Lucy Maud Montgomery, Vol. 2

Isaiah 40:11

If you were with us last week, you’ll recall that we started our two-part series, “Where Time Stands Still,” with a number of moments in which our literary friends are swept into the beauty of nature. We joined Heidi on mountain tops, Ratty and Mole on an island, Laura and Mary on the prairie, and more. This week we’ll continue with this delight, shifting our focus to majestic waters. From the humble stream to the powerful sea, we’ll invite time to once more stand still as we step into the pages of several favorite stories.

Works Shared:

"By the Shores of Silver Lake" by Laura Ingalls Wilder

"The Yearling" by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings

"The Secret Garden" by Frances Hodgson Burnett

"Rose O' the River" by Kate Douglas Wiggin

"The Mill on the Floss" by George Eliot

"Anne's House of Dreams" by L.M. Montgomery

"Gift from the Sea" by Anne Morrow Lindbergh

"The Enchanted April" by Elizabeth Von Arnim

"Hinds' Feet on High Places" by Hannah Hurnard

Some of my favorite literary moments are those in which the main character finds him or herself still and quiet in the overwhelming presence of nature, soaking in the vastness of the blue sky, the immensity of towering firs, the ruggedness of majestic mountains, or the power of raging waters. For the next two episodes, we’ll linger over a number of scenes, both on land and along the water’s edge, where nature causes time to stand still for the beholder. This week finds us on land, savoring a number of vistas, from wild mountain summits to the more cultivated orchard.

Works Shared:

"Golden Rowan" by Bliss Carman

"On the Banks of Plum Creek" by Laura Ingalls Wilder

"Christy" by Catherine Marshall

"Heidi" by Johanna Spyri

"The Trail of the Lonesome Pine" by John Fox Jr.

"My Friend Flicka" by Mary O'Hara

"Adventures in Contentment" by David Grayson

"The Wind in the Willows" by Kenneth Grahame

"Pilgrim's Inn" (Book 2 in the Eliot Family Trilogy) by Elizabeth Goudge

"Kilmeny of the Orchard" by Lucy Maud Montgomery

Psalm 95

Spring fever is to blame for any number of hasty decisions. The feeling of restlessness that follows winter’s chill and inactivity often prompts our literary friends to burst out of their shells, just like tulips and daffodils, desperate for a change. That change is not infrequently directed to the human head. Specifically? Our impulsive friends reach for the scissors, curling rods, or hair dye when longing for a new look. Now, many times the results are just as lovely and welcome as they hoped they would be. But sometimes . . . well, sometimes regret is the stronger emotion. Throughout our time together today, we’ll highlight some of the more humorous hair escapades, as well as a few of the lovely successes. Now, these scenes aren’t necessarily all set in the spring, but I do hope you’ll indulge me, as we turn the pages toward these literary cuts, curls, and catastrophes. 

Works Shared:

"Betsy-Tacy and Tib" by Maud Hart Lovelace

"Heavens to Betsy" by Maud Hart Lovelace

"Anne of Green Gables" by L.M. Montgomery

"Little House on the Prairie" (Television series: S4.E6)

"Little Town on the Prairie" by Laura Ingalls Wilder

"Little Women" by Louisa May Alcott

"Pollyanna" by Eleanor Porter

"Little House in the Ozarks: The Rediscovered Writings" by Laura Ingalls Wilder