Dust to dust--now with LOTSA LINKS!

Just here searching for a DA recap?  Here's the link for episode FIVE:
http://www.anybodycandoanything.com/2015/02/downton-abbey-recap-two-truths-and-lie.

And just because I may not get a post done in time, here's the link for Episode SIX:
http://www.anybodycandoanything.com/2015/02/downton-abbey-recap-dingo-stole-my-baby.html

AND because I'm too busy working on these darn recaps to write a blog post, for crying out loud, here's the link for Episode SEVEN:http://www.anybodycandoanything.com/2015/02/downton-abbey-recap-ive-got-99-problems.html

As always, thanks for coming back for more; we are so grateful that you like them.  Feel free to share!
Where to begin?  Do I just jump in and start writing about soup and paint and cats?  Well, okay!

Last year my fourteen year old furnace was diagnosed with a terminal illness so I reluctantly surrendered the inheritance my dad left me, which I had hoped to save for my looming old age, to buy a reliable new one.  I don't fully understand how an HVAC works, apparently, because I have always assumed it sucked in nice fresh breezy outside air through a filter, warmed it up or cooled it down per my command, and blew it out of the vents to keep me comfortable.  I was all wrong.  The gruesome truth is, it actually sucks crappy old oxygen-depleted air up through the return in the hall, makes it warmer or cooler, and sends it right back out into my house. No fresh air involved. How did I not know this?

Anyway, the new furnace does a fine job of keeping my house temperate, which for that price, it should.  But for reasons I can't explain, my house is easily three or four times dustier than it ever was while the old furnace was still alive. I'm the first to admit I'm only a marginally good housekeeper. I clean the surfaces in plain view often enough to avoid shame, but I don't do every area every time I pick up the duster.  And there are some odd spots that seldom get wiped at all. But I was used to the rate of accumulation, and it wasn't terrible.   So it took me a while to realize--there is MUCH MORE DUST than ever before.  Gray wisps dangle from the ceiling; furry caterpillars crawl on the edges of the fan blades; fat wads like mice scurry under every bed and chair; a scarf of gray covers every table, appliance, and shelf.  It looks like I moved out a decade ago and left everything to decay.  Gross!  Not only that, but our allergies are relentless--we sniffle, cough and blow around the clock.  More Gross!

The nice furnace checkup guy came and inspected everything and declared it to be in perfect order.  Was the old unit so asthmatic that it couldn't inhale enough air to use twice? Has a decade's accumulation of dust  finally reached critical mass?  And in case you're wondering, I [try to] change the filter in the return once a month.

Except for that time I forgot…triple GROSS!

Lillie was out of town this weekend and we couldn't get the finishing touches put on our DA recap, so I cleaned the daylights out of this house.  Up high--down low--I dusted and vacuumed it all.  My theory (probably not scientific, since my hypothesis may be full of holes) is that the less dust there is to suck back into the furnace, the less dust will come blowing back out of the vents.  The dust stops here! I'll report back in a month.

…after one trip around the ceiling and door tops

This photo of my AS NOT SEEN ON TV ceiling duster reminds me…I recently restacked my stacks. Over the fireplace, that needlepoint piece we found on the curb came out to the living room…

I  just now got brave enough to put twinkle lights back in the unused  fireplace (there was an accidental "real" fire  in there--the flue was blocked off,  and the gas flame got bumped to  "on" one night.  Epic!)

…and moving the hydrangea print (a gift) to the foyer wall, where it replaced the underwater painting by Lillie, which floated down the hall to her bathroom.  Every other  item on this wall is either thrifted, homemade, or passed down.  The clock was a wedding present. (There are still a couple of those around here.) Pinterest, or just poor?  You be the judge.

Here's how it looks now...

This was the original layout.  I guess there are a number of new things!  Anyway,  it's better now.

The rest of the living area still has a few Rubbermaid bins of Christmas junk and sewing projects and a carton slowly filling with Goodwill-bound crap I'm pulling from the kitchen cabinets…but I definitely smell spring cleaning in the air. Can't you?

Twofer!  Cats and decor.

No news, just a link!

I've shared on Facebook, but if you haven't seen this yet, here's the link to last Sunday's episode (the fourth one).  We're hard at work on number five!

http://www.anybodycandoanything.com/2015/01/downton-abbey-recap-decent-proposal.html

Will blog for food

Just like regular people

Every time I think I've turned the corner and life will get easier, I'm wrong.  I readily admit that compared to many people's grim lives, mine is a walk in a sunny park--what I mean is, my tattered  financial and emotional life.  I'm unemployed between jobs again (after several temporary positions since last spring), and much too poor, which overshadows almost every other thought I have.  The minute I consider tapping out a little essay or relating a funny story, I'm overwhelmed with anxiety and regret--how can this be funny?  Why will that situation matter to anyone else?  And I click over to someone else's blog.  Someone whose blog is more clever, thoughtful, or creative than mine.  You know the one.

I see a lot of evidence that other, much more prolific, bloggers are calling it quits, and I think I understand their reasons.  Nobody should feel required to blog (that's the main difference between blogging and working), and we essentially write our own "rules", and for the most part, we don't get paid, which makes it easier to quit.  For me, a rather small-time writer with no sponsors or much of a fan base, blogging is like reading a book--I just feel SO MUCH BETTER when I have a book in progress, or when I've just published a post.  But then all the YOU REALLY SHOULD BE WORKING feelings flood in and I don't do either one.  My only [self-imposed] obligation is to be "readable"--whether that means funny, or insightful, or helpful.  I just want others to like what I write, and to come back for more.  And if all I am is a great big saddo, on-screen and off, I'm not particularly readable. I wouldn't read One-Note-Wanda's serial of endless pathos, would you?

How'd you like to be unemployed?

But then…a year into my exile, Downton Abbey came around again, a bright beacon after a dim and meager Christmas.  I've mentioned that Lillie and I abstained from watching the new season (available to sneaky Americans) in September, because we felt first we honestly should recap the final [silly] episode of the previous season, as we promised last winter.  And on Christmas Eve we hit publish, and then play, and away we went.  We now have three recaps ready to read and have watched up through episode seven, and are getting back in the groove with writing them.  It's a big fat juicy season so far, which keeps our minds off our mutual money troubles (Lillie was very unexpectedly [and unjustly, I believe] fired from HER bar job last Friday, and I admire her stoic ability to simultaneously type and cry.)  Between the two of us, we still babysit our two little not-exactly-relatives, ages one and three, which covers the groceries and phone bill, but there's always the mortgage, utilities, deferred medical care, and on and on…

Hi Mom

We'll really try to get the recap out every week (barring a sudden worsening of our mutual despair) and I intend to get a non-Downton post finished from time to time, until things shake out one way or another.  I miss it, and it makes me feel better, and I know you want to see more pictures of the cats.

Who wouldn't?

It also makes me feel better that it was Lillian, and not me, who was trying restlessly to nap after another night of sadsomnia, and spilled a tumbler of "whinin' wine" in her bed, on all the freshly laundered sheets and blankets and down the side onto the carpet.  Sippy cups.  Just saying.

A rather more literate pet than either of mine

For the latest DA recap, plus links to all the others, click here.

For the best DA cast self-spoof in the history of tv, click here (no spoilers in it, don't worry.)

All I want for Christmas

I missed you, too!  But seriously, every time I thought about posting all I could think about was that dang Downton Abbey Christmas Special, which as you all know was ridiculous, and how Lillie and I could barely stand to WATCH it over and over, let alone write a snappy recap for it.  So for months (and months) we did nothing, and I did nothing, and now the new season starts on PBS in just two weeks.  Our plan was always to have a new recap ready to publish by the time the credits rolled each Sunday (which means having it written and edited in advance) so anyway enough of all those excuses.

We did it.  Here you go.  Merry Christmas, everyone.

I'll be back later with some sort of story about what I did for ten months while I avoided my blog.

anybodycandoanything.com christmas-special-debutantes-and-tiaras

The more they stay the same

Not yet

Lillian and I  haven't written the recap for this week's episode yet.   Last week's, if you missed it, is HERE.   But here's a little click-bait to keep you entertained until we get it finished:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freda_Dudley_Ward

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2520228/Downton-Abbey-Christmas-special-Edward-VIIIs-great-love.html


So I appreciate that Julian Fellowes refers to actual historical figures in his scripts.  Some are obvious, like the King and Queeen, and some seem like fluff:  having Australian opera singer Kiri Te Kanawa play the part of an actual Australian opera singer of the period, Nellie Melba.  And it seems he got that wrong, too.

But on the final episode--"The Christmas Special" for those in Britain and some other countries, Julian wrote in two characters whom we mixed up for  the entire first hour.  We finally got them sorted out and looked the actresses up in the Season Five cast list to see if we really had to pay attention or could just forget them both, and OH MY STARS AND GARTERS Freda Dudley-Ward was a real live human.  She was a married mother and "friend", or "confidante" for those too discreet to say mistress, of the Prince of Wales, who became King George for a few minutes before abdicating to marry a different mistress, Wallis Simpson.

Of course all we could think of was Camilla Parker-Bowles, who was Prince Charles's mistress for so many years (and she was also married with children).  I know things are different across the pond, and the monarchy is a peculiar type of business, but still!  At one point Mrs Dudley-Ward would have been invisible, but there she was acting as a party date to the Prince of Wales, as bold as brass.  To her credit, Camilla kept to the shadows until Princess Diana was cold in her grave.  And as time passes, even nerdy old Princes Charles seems like sort of an okay guy.  (Even though I want to carry a grudge, as I get older  I realize my indignation might be misplaced.  You just never know the whole story, do you?)

There's still a lot going on here to keep us from finishing the recap, but I know when we're finally done we'll feel bereft until Season Five starts (for us cheaters) in September.  Thanks for sticking with us!

That'll do, pig

Happy Valentine's Day, y'all

The thing about posting the last week's recap on a Friday is only having two days to get the next one written!  Yes, we brought it on ourselves.  Yes, we love doing it (or maybe; we love having done it.)  But when people read them and share them and we see the page-views go up and up…well, that's a pretty nice reward.  Thanks, everyone!

Hurry on over to:   Anybody Can Do Anything Especially Lillian

What Super Bowl?

If all the scenes were like this one, we wouldn't have anything to write about.  But--not all the scenes were like this one, so we were busy again this week.  What a season we have here!

What are we going to learn about Baxter?

What will Edith decide to do about her problem?  And her other problem?

Who will Mary pick?

Will Tom stay--or go?

And when are Martha and Harold ever going to get here?

Anna?  Daisy?  Isobel?  Rose? So many story lines...

As the season ramps up we are definitely beginning to think about the end, aren't you?

http://www.anybodycandoanything.com/2014/02/downton-abbey-recap-all-single-ladies.html

Here's what Lillian and I have to say about that.

Why you gotta do me like that, PBS?

Better start another pot

Busy week.
That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
I would tell you all the reasons I'm mad at PBS but you'll just have to trust me.

Here's the link:

http://www.anybodycandoanything.com/2014/01/downton-abbey-recap-if-at-first-you.html

Time to apply for jobs and start absorbing next week's episode.

Where are we, again?

Well, this one won't make you cry!  Here's the link to the PBS episode shown January 19--some say episode 4, some insist it's Episode 3.  As far as these recaps go, it's EPISODE FOUR. And I'm annoyed at the BBC (again) for ignoring pivotal scenes.  So pay attention when you watch PBS--if we buy the series what will we get?

Lillie is across town house-and-dog-sitting this week, so putting the NEXT recap together could prove challenging.  [For those of you following-- little Miss Lennon was born Saturday and is doing well.]  I'm going to start on the new one first thing in the morning!

http://www.anybodycandoanything.com/2014/01/downton-abbey-recap-regrets-ive-had-few.html

(There are a few issues with some of the photos--Lillie and I will work on that as soon as we're back in the same house.)  Enjoy!

********update, the pictures are fine.  And believe me, if we had seen the inside of the Minute Clinic (conveniently ignored by the BBC) we'd have taken a screen shot.  Don't they care that we do all this in advance so you can read these recaps in the morning?******

An evening of light entertainment

It was painfully sad when Sybil died and terrible when Matthew was killed.  We felt bad when Edith's wedding fell apart.  Julian Fellowes isn't afraid to make us cry.  But THIS one? It was AWFUL.

We know that if all the characters were happy and all the loose ends got tied up at the end of each episode, Downton Abbey would be a movie and not a series.

The only thing that soothes is that we've seen the whole season and we know there are better days ahead.

PBS broadcasts the unabridged versions of each episode, so there are some great scenes we haven't seen before, but this time PBS totally left out the two final scenes--brief but important.  The first shows Edna slipping into Tom's bedroom on the last night of the house party, and the other quick but poignant clip shows Anna leaving the house, alone, to walk back to their cottage while Mr Bates calls after her.  

We've noticed this before and it makes us mad, but what can you do?  

These recaps take every minute we can spare to write--but I've got the first draft of Episode Four ready to start on this week.  I suspect that if we didn't feel like we HAD to hit "publish" we'd keep editing each one forever. (Or anyway, I would!)  Lillie and I have such different writing styles that it's really a labor of love to pull together long enough to set each one free into the Cybersphere.  It's a lesson in teamwork and love; fueled by your enthusiastic responses.  We write them for YOU, and that feels good to US.

Here you go! 

http://www.anybodycandoanything.com/2014/01/downton-abbey-recap-lets-get-this-party.html

Links to all previous recaps are included with each one.

Late but not lost

I feel ya, Molesley.

So the second half of last Sunday's recap is ready, and here's the link:


http://www.anybodycandoanything.com/2014/01/downton-abbey-recap-where-theres-will.html

Lillie and I will continue to refer to this one as Episode 2, and next week as 3, and so on.  Those British can't just play fast and loose with the sequence of things!

Check back next Monday for the recap of Sunday's episode.  Hold on to your hat, that's all I'm saying.

On your mark, get set, go

So we no sooner get the recap sewn up, shut our laptops and turn on PBS to watch it the Premiere with everyone else who waited so patiently and DARNED IF THEY DIDN'T AIR TWO EPISODES.

We only finished ONE recap.

Here it is:


http://www.anybodycandoanything.com/2014/01/downton-abbey-recap-how-mary-got-her.html

It's midnight.  We won't be doing anything about it tonight.  But we'll get right on it tomorrow--because then we have to do one for Episode 3!  Please don't remind me that we had four months to write the recaps.  I was too busy hiding under my bed.

Enjoy!

So then I unfriended Julian

We can't even

****A few possible spoiler-type words follow; better skip it if you're not all caught up****

Well, what a season!  I guess we were WAY too happy at the end of LAST season when Matthew and Mary finally got engaged.  Following that tearful-cheerful-tearful formula, since they were officially broken up AND England went to war at the end of Season One, then NEXT year should end happily, right?  RIGHT?

Nope not yet

What do YOU think will happen?  Maybe some background episodes about Cora and Robert?  My spies hint at a new suitor for the Widow Mary, Edith is deep in her impossible romance, Tom is a free agent, Bates is just FREE, plenty of single people downstairs...the hard part will be waiting for it to start.  Your intrepid reporters are so dedicated to bringing YOU recaps (we have to know what is going on!) that we are likely to peek across the pond at the new episodes in September.  Of course--no spoilers will appear here until after each episode airs on PBS in the US.  We understand the element of suspense (we're just not very good at it.)

When Lillie and I decided to double-team these recaps we had ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA how long each one would take.  HOURS AND HOURS!  When PBS would sneak in two episodes on Sunday night we were never ready.  We hope to get a jumpstart on next season.

SO once again, thank you for joining us each week (or so) for these recaps.  We've LOVED writing them and look forward to opportunities to collaborate again.  Here's the recap:

http://www.anybodycandoanything.com/2013/02/downton-abbey-i-hate-you-julian-fellowes.html

And now, back to our regularly scheduled (or more likely, totally random) blog posts!

Wait--WHAT?  It's over?  For how long?

You must remember this

This post contains NO spoilers, unless your fingers can't help but clicking the link to Lillie's blog.

Mister Carson and a whole mess of pretty eggs from some chicken pals of ours.  

So last week PBS pulled a fast one and aired TWO episodes of Downton Abbey. Which would be great, I'd watch them all back-to-back if given the chance, but Lillie and I had only written one recap.  (We write them ahead so they're ready to publish the night the episode airs, or the next day if we have to change anything).  Also last week was SUPER busy for Lillie and we didn't have much chance to work on it.  FINALLY, here is the recap for the NEXT TO THE LAST episode.  The "Christmas Special" ( for the UK, anyway) airs tonight and we may or may not be able to get the recap out to you as quickly as we'd like [because we haven't even started it yet].  And since it's the last episode until fall (or January for you law-abiding Americans!), we want to give it the attention it deserves.

One of my really old neighbors (it's that kind of neighborhood) had to move into a care home and Friday there was an estate sale at her house.  I had been looking for a basket to put afghans and yoga mats in to keep in the living room, and I found this one.

Lillie scored a perfect set of four original pink and white Pyrex nesting bowls.

Here's the basket after I vacuumed out all the dust and pine-cone crumbs.  Perfect!

I also found this little dresser and talked them down to $35 (including the basket)!  It's in quite good shape, only a few dings.  It's nice heavy solid wood with dovetailed joints.  At 33" high, it's ideal for a night stand on the far side of my bed--it's just a little taller  than the mattress.   I have an old cedar chest there (made FOR ME by a boyfriend when I was still a teenager) which, although I love it, is much too low and not convenient for storing things like clothes.  If I shift a few things (and have People of Progress come pick up the cruddy old loveseat and coffee table from the library) several items can relocate to new spaces.  I plan to live with this dresser in its current state while I decide how I want it to look.  My tentative plan is to paint it white (maybe staining the top dark like my taller dresser) and replace the federal style pulls with glass knobs.  At some point there may have been a single center knob on each drawer, which seems peculiar for a dresser this wide, but who knows? I still plan to drag the emigrated-from-Chicago head-and-footbard into my room, and they are handsome wood that I want to keep.  A kicky color would be fun but I already have that  bright pink nightstand on the other side, and also I can visualize this dresser moving out to the living area someday.  Anyway, when I do decide, I'll make a post with some "after" shots.

In the meantime, Lillie and I are hard at work [starting and] finishing the LAST recap of Downton Abbey Season Three.  We don't think we can get it up before Wednesday, but a little anticipation now is good practice for the YEAR you have to wait for next season.  Maybe we will get a better headstart on writing recaps for Season Four ahead of the US air dates!

We both hope you enjoy our latest recap and are looking forward to the last one.  Your enthusiasm has been the impetus that has made this project so much fun.  See you in a few days!

A kiss is just a kiss

Downton Abbey Season Three, Episode Seven:

The end of Season Three is closing in.  I know you all thought you couldn't wait for the funerals and jiltings and suspicious lumps to stop already, but those things definitely kept us on the edge of our seats, now, didn't they?  This episode has it's share of excitement--no doubt about it--but somehow it was harder to write about this one than the last few.

To think we all couldn't wait for everybody to start kissing again.  Hoo boy!

Click over to Lillian's blog and see how we did.

PBS got a wild hare and decided to air TWO episodes tonight, and we were SO not prepared with our recap.  I don't know how Lillian will ever graduate from college if this keeps happening.  Back to the drawing board--we'll try to get the next one up in a day or so!

If I can get over the assumption that there is an ANNUAL CRICKET MATCH between the town and Downton Abbey.  No one has paid closer attention to this story than I have and I can say without a shadow of a doubt, nobody has ever mentioned the game of cricket, let alone have a dozen men dressed head to toe in cream wool and played an annual cricket game.  It's almost as hard to swallow as when "Cousin Patrick" showed up with burn scars and bandages, back in Season Two.

The stork visits Downton Abbey

Season Three, Episode Five Recap

I was going to name this post "All of us hungry" but then you'd all be wondering what you missed in Sunday's episode.  Make no mistake, things might be tough over at the manse, but there is plenty to eat and lots of staff to carry the platters upstairs.  Lillian and I have been hard at work trying to cobble together a recap post.  It was no picnic this week, as you can imagine.

Just like last week, we noticed right away there were a few brief scenes on PBS that didn't appear in the UK version.  While none of them changed the story, they definitely added vital information.  

If you buy the series on Amazon or wherever, make sure you get the PBS version!

Nope

Picnics make me think of all the carb-y foods I'm avoiding lately; but somehow, it's working.  I'm down another pound this week.  (Yay me!)  At first I just counted carbs (I eat about seventy-five grams a day) but this week I went back to logging my food into LoseIt.com which keeps track of my calories (about twelve hundred), too.  I thought for sure that all-you-can-eat protein would translate into double the calories, but a lot of low-carb foods are low-cal, too.  Maybe the combination of low-calorie and low-carbohydrate eating will finally start to shift some of the blub I've accumulated while hiding from my responsibilities these last couple of years.  

But enough about me.  Go HERE to read this week's recap and remember next week can only be better.

OF COURSE, IF YOU HAVEN'T WATCHED EPISODE FIVE YET

AND WANT TO BE SURPRISED, 

 READ NO FURTHER!

Well, you KNEW she was going to have that baby sooner or later.

Meanwhile, back in the good old days of cross-your-fingers pregnancies, labors and deliveries, Sybil's baby arrived.  How was it that her hair was so sweaty and her silk nightgown was so dry? It's like it was staged or something.  Real mothers called BS on that one right away.

Of course, then something worse than damp pajamas happened, and we regretted making fun of Sybil's droopy maternity clothes.  

No, don't go!  We promise you can wear whatever you want!

But she went.

And then came the saddest scene ever filmed.  Seeing Violet and Carson (two old comrades who know how things really get done) in a such Herculean display of British bravery reminded me that I'm a soft American who can't distinguish fiction from fact.  Compared to Edith's wedding day disappointment (even though we woke up thinking she'll land on her feet), there is no good news to temper this bad news.  Lillie and I both wondered if we should just get back to Pinterest until the season ends; but after a hard-boiled egg and a Kleenex we were ready to type.  If Violet can Keep Calm and Carry On, who are we to give up?

Can we ever get our funny back?

How about this, then?

So, is that Sam's new Rock Lobster?

Nope, this is the new Rock Lobster right here.

Stay in school, kids.

All of us miserable

Season Three, Episode Four Recap

I'll get to work on the recap as soon as I find my glasses

Are you ready to read our review of Episode Four?  It's right here.  The links to the first three episodes are over there, too.

If you watched, you know that this episode was pretty grim.  We started late and typed back and forth  all weekend to come up with something.  Let me know what you think!  Lillian is back in school and busier now but we plan to start cooking on Episode Five starting tomorrow.

For those of you watching DA on PBS in the US--there is a pivotal scene that didn't appear  on the UK version.  Daisy travels up to Mr Mason's farm and asks him how he'd feel if she ever got married again.  He gave her his blessing and assured her that William would also have wanted her to be happy.  Didn't you wonder about that too?  I don't know why PBS included it and the UK didn't--but keep it in mind when you watch Episode Six!

I'm off to bed to dream about carbohydrates--this week I cut down to less than one hundred grams of carbohydrates per day, with as much protein as I can eat--I've lost a pound already and would love to drop at least ten more, if I can.  Aside from a mild transient headache (ketosis) and recurrent fantasies of chocolate and bread, it's not too bad!  It goes against conventional low-fat /high-vegetables wisdom, but I've been doing that with no success for a long time and the scale will not budge.  What do I have to lose except my spare tire? I'll post my progress, if there continues to be any.

See you next week!

All of us happy

Downton Abbey, Season Three, Episode Three Recap:

Not that Mr Carson, the other one

Lillian and I are back again (slightly earlier this week--we've been working on it since Thursday) with the recap for Season 3, Episode 3.  Here's a shot of your writing team in our deluxe office suite.  Chase is our food services grip, in charge of fetching the coffee, but frankly that's just an honorary title because as you can see he is asleep.

Episode Three is a crackerjack, so have your box of Kleenex ready.  We had a hard time getting screenshots because we had to keep stopping to blow our noses (and we've watched it a dozen times.)
(Say, did anyone else think it was peculiar that they didn't invite Aunt Rosamund to either Mary's or Edith's weddings?  I know they'd have had to give some her scenes and they probably just ran out of screen time, but they might have at least mentioned she was traveling abroad or something.)

All of us happy
Except Mary I see your slip

Here's the link to the recap at AnybodyCanDoAnything.com

Here's the link to Episode One's recap:

Finally happy

and here's the link to Episode Two, in case you need to get caught up.

Still happy

Time to start on Episode Four!  No rest for the weary (that's why we do this in bed.)  Thanks for sharing and most important, thanks for joining us in the first place.  Lillian and I have (at least) one thing in common--we hope people think we are funny.  Is that weird?  It's certainly not the only thing we want, of course, but being funny is right up there.

Not happy

See you right here  in one week--or sooner if I find time to write about anything else.

Not now, we're watching Downton Abbey (again)

So there were Lillian and I hunched on opposite ends of the couch typing our reviews of Episode One.  We sat there dividing up our best lines and  finally admitted that we'd probably get the best result if we collaborated and just posted one.  It's not like there is any shortage of Downton Abbey reviews, right?  Also, the bulk of our readers are related to us by blood or by accident, and we both got a lot of pressure encouragement to write something together (Here's the recap for Episode Two).

We hope this will satisfy Lillian's need to be breezy and descriptive, and my need to be cohesive and grammatically correct.  It also gives us another ridiculous project to distract us from the realities of life like work and school.  If you missed the recap for Episode One, it's right here.

It is our intention to recap each episode after it airs on PBS.  I hope that we haven't gotten in over our heads--this took literally all day.  Fast, we are not.  I guess we can rest between February and September!

I'll ring for a servant to write that for you

While I was hemming and hawing over my version of the season premiere of Downton Abbey, my daughter Lillian whipped out her own blog post, complete with screenshots, which was so much better than mine all I can do is let you read it for yourself, with her permission.

I get all bogged down by spelling and grammar and punctuation and which word says it better, but decided that's my own hangup.   I hope you enjoy her post as much as I did.