Troutbirder II

Troutbirder II
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Thursday, January 17, 2013

Garden Walls

 
It’s just a little wall separating my front lawn from the north woodsy garden. It's actually a demarcation line, dividing mowing from the more interesting paths and wildflowers. Inspired,  I built it after reading Volume II of William Manchester’s astoundingly entertaining THE LAST LION trilogy. Volu
me III (Defender of the Realm) has been completed by another writer following Manchester’s death in 2004. I just finished that one and reviewed it on Troutbirder II.

Manchester was among the very best of the "popular" writers of history and historical fiction, who have made the past fun to read about and thus accessible to everyone. Others include Steven Ambrose, Shelby Foote, Doris Kearns, David McCullough, Steven Pressfield, Rick Atkinson, Sharon Kay Penman, and among the earliest Bruce Catton. Often besmirched by some historians for their lack of footnotes and other signs of "ex
pertise," they and others like them, brought history to the forefront of American literature.

Here Churchill is standing, somewhat begrimed, in the garden of his modest estate Chartwell. These are the wilderness years. Few are listening to his urgent warnings about the danger posed to Great Britain by Hitler and the Nazis. Manchester succeeds in page after page of intimate details to bring this great and eccentric man to life. Shovel by shovel, brick by brick he builds garden walls and ponders the saving of Western Civilization. Not being in a position to accomplish the second, I thought I could at least try to build the first.

The walls and gardens at Chartwell
"It would be impossible to find somebody writing narrative popular biographies that doesn't have a debt to William Manchester," said biographer Douglas Brinkley. "He understood that there's nothing wrong with writing history as being a page-turner,"

All right. I'll admit Churchills wall was a little bigger than mine but then so was his garden.....

22 comments:

  1. I think I would enjoy reading this one. I can relate to the garden and the wall. I like your little wall there, TB. It looks so natural and serves your purpose beautifully.

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  2. I noticed Baron lounging nearby..did Churchill have such a faithful companion? Probably not:)

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  3. I love the wall. Baron looks so serene while guarding the garden.

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  4. Love your wall!!!! I might have to check the book out too :0)

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  5. Hi. I love the wall...I've always liked rock walls. There are a lot of really old ones here in TN. I can see your dog in the garden. I bet he's great company while you're gardening!

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  6. I think that I need to create a stone wall so that when I don't mow the orchard area so often I can claim it is prairie. I like you garden and your wall too.

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  7. Nice post. I do like your stone wall -- anything built from natural materials is beautiful. You enjoyed Churchill so much I will try and get our library to buy it so I can read it. Appreciated your list of good historical writers. -- barbara

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  8. Yours look beautiful and I LOVE rock walls!

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  9. I do like your rock wall and Baron looks very content in the background.

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  10. You are calling Chartwell a "modest" estate? I suppose compared to Dontown Abbey it would be considered modest, but the photos I have seen looked quite splendid. He loved animals and he had a good many on his estate, there must have been a dog there somewhere!

    Your wall is very nice!

    Jo, Up North

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  11. After reading the comments I had to go back and discover Baron in the picture. Those ears give him away! :-)

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  12. You did a good job on that garden wall. There is just something about building a garden wall and seeing the substantial results of a good rock wall that makes one feel secure-always.

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  13. Love your rock wall... It looks so natural.. Looks like a good read also.. Thanks!!!!

    We have lots of 'rock' around --mostly building up our flowerbeds.. Hubby keeps adding more --hoping to mow less and less.. ha

    Have a wonderful day.
    Betsy

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  14. Looking forward to playing in the garden.

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  15. TROUTBIRDER....
    Thank-you for commenting on my Blog!! I truly appreciated it!! ;op
    --Raelyn

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  16. Nice wall. Now you have me wanting to read those biographies. HELP! If I spend my few remaining years doing nothing but reading I will barely scratch the surface of the 'would like to read' list, not to mention some books that could bear re-reading. Will have to get really selective.

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  17. I like your wall, even if it isn't quite as big as the one at Chartwell. I also like all those historians you mentioned in this post.

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  18. I am a big fan of reading about history so this might land on my reading list. :)

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  19. Oh, a stone wall! We have stone walls all around our place in the Poconos... and nary a native stone to be found here on the Eastern Shore. However, a few stone travel every year from PA to VA, and friends bring me stones when they go traveling! What a cool present - but it probably seems dumb to someone from stoney country!

    Love your wall!

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  20. I prefer your garden area to that of Churchill ... much homier !

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