Mrs. Queen Takes the Train

After Downton Abbey left me in tears at the season finale, then Mr. Selfridge has not, in my opinion, been quite up to Masterpiece Theater’s standards (but, still, it is great fun for the period costumes), I’d  fallen into a bit of Anglo despair – then, “Mrs. Queen Takes the Train” caught my eye on the new book display at the library.

Really, I think the librarians wait, lurking around the stacks, just for me to come in and be dazzled by the brightest new covers in the entranceway displays. “Here she comes” they must whisper. ” Here. Put this in front. Oh, it’s okay. Don’t worry. I know it is a seven day loan, but, she’ll bring it back a few days late, pay her fine, and then check out another”.

So I did.

There on the shelf was a book I’d been hearing a buzz about for several months. I think I first heard of it from Claire at The Captive Reader, then Belle, of Belle, Book, and Candle wrote a review, compelling me to place it in my TBR list, where it languished until two weeks ago when “Mrs. Queen Takes the Train” hopped off of the shelf and into my hands.

It’s been a good deal of fun to follow a fictionalized Queen Elizabeth as she deals with a bit of despair in her later years, wondering what good she has been, fiddling around with a computer, feeling, well, feeling as many of us do as we enter our later years of life.

One day, Mrs. Queen, as her staff calls her, wanders out to the stables to bring a favorite horse, Elizabeth, a few chunks of cheddar cheese. It is sleeting, and the Queen is unprepared for the weather. One thing leads to another, until Mrs. Queen finds herself suddenly off of the grounds of Windsor Castle, unrecognizable in a hoodie with a cross and skullbones on her back, and, well, off she goes . . .

You will have to read William Kuhn’s book to find out what happens to Mrs. Queen, and learn a bit about the royal staff; what their royal duties are, how they relate to The Queen, to each other, their duties, how things stay the same in royal life – and how they change as well. I promise you, it will be a fun read. As others have said in their reviews of “Mrs. Queen Takes the Train”, settle into a comfy chair with a cup of tea, and enjoy a jolly good romp with the Queen.

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It’s easy being green …

The view outside our windows is an emerald sea these days, from our worn out lawn wearing a freshened suit of moss, to the emerging leaves on trees and bushes. The ferns are unfurling, the lily of the valley showing tiny buds, and the roses are promising blooms sometime soon. I feel a bit like Kermit the Frog, only with a positive spin on the words to the song that helped to make him famous, as I sing out “it is easy being green”.

On a recent walk around Lake Katherine, one of Kermit’s relatives was splashing in the mud,

and a pair of Mallards became mighty friendly as they waddled over to where Tom and I were bench sitting, begging for a handout. Mrs. Mallard came a-quacking right over to our knees. As tempting as it is, I do not bring morsels of bread to feed geese and ducks as it is not good for them to take food from strangers now, is it?

Well, I have a bit of list a mile long today, so, I’d best get off of this log I’ve been sitting upon, and get out and about with the day before me, which includes finishing up “Mrs. Queen Takes the Train”, composing the minutes from a meeting I’m charged to do, give the basil sitting on the countertop a home in a pot on the deck, and maybe sit for a spell in the arbor and count my blessings.

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