March Snow

Chris and Eifel head out the gate and towards Helm Crag.

Helm Crag just two days later.

Grasmere in the snow

The daffodils have arrived but maybe not as imagined!

Jeff Cowton introduces some visiting tour guides to the library's resources.

Everyone seems very happy to be here.

Well, there had to be one blog about the weather, didn’t there?  As you can see from the pictures, the weather this week has been changeable, to say the least.  We have our friend Eifel with us this week.  He’s here on his Easter break from St. Andrews University, and he came eager to climb the peaks.  But the snow on the tops has limited his hiking to the lower fells for the most part.  Earlier this week, he and Chris took a hike from here over to Hawkshead—a scouting trip for me to see if it would be a good hike for the Principia Lifelong Learning group coming to join me in late June.  About an hour after they left, it began to rain.  It rained steadily for hours, and I began to imagine them soaked and unhappy.  About 45 minutes before they arrived back, it stopped raining.  I saw them coming and ran to the door to help remove wet clothing.  They were completely dry.  It hadn’t rained at all over the ridge where they were.  They got about ten minutes of light hail, and that was it.  Now that’s localized weather!  The next day, the snow had cleared enough for them to hike to the top of Helm Crag.  Right now, I’m snuggled under a blanket in our house watching as the snow continues to fall.  It’s been snowing since yesterday.  It’s not snowing hard enough for huge amounts of accumulation, but the temperature isn’t going to get above freezing today, so it will be staying around until at least tomorrow.  It doesn’t matter.  It’s absolutely beautiful here in any weather.

The research has been going very well.  I’ve reached the point where the ideas are starting to come together, and I’m beginning to see a shape to things.  The highlight for me this week was getting to see two first edition copies of the Excursion in the library.  One had belonged to Lord Lowther and was from his library.  It was bound in leather with gild edging and an elaborate gilded seal on the front with a crown on the top of a wreath that encircled his name in scrolled letters.  The second copy was one from the Harrow Book Club.  It was bound simply in boards—a sort of cardboard cover that books were generally sold in unless the buyer wanted to pay for a leather or cloth binding.  On the front of the book was affixed a large bookplate that had printed on it the rules of the club and the instruction to erase one’s name when one had read a book.  The plate included the names of the twenty-one members of the club, nine of whom had read the book.  This copy helped answer some questions I had had about how book clubs operated as well as providing an example of how the Excursion was received in one group.

Also this week, a group of tour guides came to the library to hear from Jeff about all that the museum, Dove Cottage, and the library have to offer.  From the looks of it, they were impressed with the resources and were enjoying their time.  Today, the exhibit on Dorothy Wordsworth curated by Pamela Woof opens.  We are looking forward to seeing it.  It’s the first exhibit to focus solely on Dorothy.  As Pamela said to me in the library one day, “She’s coming into her own.”  About time.  If you are in the area, do stop by and see it.