Blogs
) ). After all, I hear that Seamus is still trying to pay off his purchase of the diving gear. 
"Convincin Drake its his turn to go back in and look for Clue no 8" Photo by Seamus Gabardini.
Cher Journal,
My work on the large mirror order is going well and is keeping the shop very busy. We delivered the order and on its heels received another large order. Apparantly our patron's friends adored our work and several wanted their own pieces immediately! Mon Pere is obviously very pleased with the amount of business nor can I complain about these types sucesses.
This is wonderful for business but I fear it will keep me away from my personal work at the Academie de Science for up to another fortnight. I do long to return to my work there and the new friends that I have made. I feel like Fenn and I where just starting to settle in at the Languedoc Couer when work called us away. I have heard that several new shops have opened and there have been many intrigueing soires I have missed.
I am particullarly intrigued by a letter forwarded to me from a M. Adventure, an Englishman apparently interested in optiks and work at the Academie in general. I was amused that the letter was addressed to Fenn instead of myself. This is such a common oversight it has long since ceased to irratate me. I shall forever be thankful that mon Pere did not see a woman's minds as a limitation and that he in fact sees women's ability to pay attention to detail as an asset. The Italian glassmaster of our shop, who has now trained many of our French workers, in fact complimented me specifically for my talents this week. He stated that it is my attention to detail that makes me an equal to any of his best pupils with many more years of experience than I. I also feel priveledged that the Academie also values the wit and intelligence of women equally to men. I have met so many witty ladies in the Duche. I wonder how the English ladies are treated that M. Adventure would make such an oversight?
- E
News from the Republic of Letters Volume 1, Letter 1
Fellows of the Royal Society at Crane Court,
Fleet Street, London.
My Dearest Fellows:
Please forgive my inability to travel to London to report directly to The Fellows on my current plans to visit the new Optiks Laboratory in the Duche de Coeur. As you can see from this small self-potrait I have included, my packing is almost complete.
At your direction, I have included copies of numerous books from my publishing house and hope to see a brisk business to recoup some of the expenses of my continental travel. One of the newer portable printing presses has also been crated and all of these items shall make their own way to the Duche, separate from me.
I continue to be much frustrated by my inability to discern the director of this new experimental laboratory. All of my letters of inquiry continue to be returned by a Madame Alchemi. I can only assume that it is her husband who is dictating these responses and she is inadvertently signing them with her own name instead of his.
This is but one discovery I hope to make on this journey.
The time draws near for me to be in Dover to sail across the Channel to Calais.
With much haste, I bid Adieu
Blue Revolution
Anxious & excited, I wait as Helena Loudon peers into my future. Who could that dark & handsome man on bended knee be?
New friendships were made, old friendships renewed at the Coeur Fair during the weekend of February 5th to 7th. Merchants were still busy setting out their wares when the first of the crowds started to arrive Friday evening, launching the festivities that lasted throughout the extended weekend.
Everyone was in excellent form as they participated in the various activities including the fortune telling, knife throwing and bobbing for apples. MariaLouisa, Baronesse de Coeur, was most diligent in pouring rounds of beer & the wonderful Duch wine which I'm sure had something to do with the spontaneous outbursts of dancing whenever someone yelled "beer!".
My heartfelt thanks to all of the participants who made this event one to remember. I'm looking forward to seeing you all again next month, March 5th to 7th.
See Duch de Coeur - The Coeur Fair for more information.
Dear diary,
its been a long time since i have written something. Maybe its better i start to write down again my thoughts, to clear my troubled mind....
I arrived in Aquitaine again, the quiet town i left a few months ago. It's good to be back. I can think and work here. So many books i still have to read. I love taking long walks at the countryside... The winter is fleeing and spring lurks around the corner... Flowers are preparing to blossom again. I am in love with the smell of roses and lilies... Can't wait till the summer...
Yesterday i attended the Timeless Romance Ball. I was surprised by all the splendor and people there. The Duke and Duchesses are very charming and warm hosts. The Grand Palais was decorated with plants and flowers everywhere. It must have costed a great deal of work to arrange all that... So many great looking outfits also.
I am never sure about myself, how to behave in such a crowd. I guess i am a loner after all. Some ladies wanted to dance with me, but i am afraid i made a complete fool out of myself... Awww the matters of the heart... I am ignorant regarding those i am afraid. I'd rather fix a dozen broken limbs than to unraffle the mysteries of a woman's needs....
Lucky my lovely assistante showed up. I first met her when i was still studying in Leiden. One day i had attended a lecture of the great Dr. Boerhaave, when i got out of the building and stumbled upon her... After we both got up, and i picked up all her scattered groceries.... we started to talk. She had lived a hard life, but was very intelligent and keen to learn. Since then we are a team. She helps me with some daily matters when i am at home and assists me with difficult operations. Sometimes, when i am on my travels, we don't see each other for months. But then again, when we meet, its... like coming home...
Dear diary, i am afraid i have been secretly in love with her all that time... If she ever finds out, i am afraid for what could happen...
I got the books i ordered today. Oh My God, i got the "Exercitatio anatomica de motu cordis et sanguinis in animalibus" ('The Anatomical Function of the Movement of the Heart and the Blood in Animals') from William Harvey. At last !!! I am so excited i found a nice copy. It costed me a fortune, but it is worth every penny...
Owwww my, i still keep having those terrible nightmares... Won't they ever go away? I better take some Laudanum tincture again tonight. Maybe i get some peace then....
P.
My dear cousin,
Your letter was a gift! Thank you for every word, every stroke of the pen you send! Hopefully this letter will reach you soon as I hear of terrible roads to and from my new home. Just this week the freeze interrupted a scientific endeavor of the most ambitious sort.
Father has sent me ahead to prepare a home for us. He has chosen a building overlooking the docks of the Ville d'Aquitaine. (Henceforth, please direct all correspondence to number 4, Cascades Quai, Aquitaine Coeur Nord.) The apartment sits over a clean, little shop leading to the docks, and it is full of light and warmth. I've already potted the red daisies you sent in the window box. (Wherever did you find something so exotic!?) Hopefully they will welcome passers-by into our new cafe. Everything from the old coffeehouse is boxed up and all I want to do is unpack it exactly as we had it settled before (though sometimes I think I could do without Father's politico friends for a moment, especially that Marat).
The boxes were not yet unpacked when the Duc de Provence arrived to complete the papers for our residence. He was a most gracious host and I no longer am afraid for Father to be away while in such a hospitable country. He is set to return shortly and we will set up our little business again.
Please tell me of all the news back home! I miss you terribly and know we will be together again soon.
Yours always,
JW