Heather Moll's Blog 
Excessively Diverted 

Precedence might seem strange to us in the twenty-first century, especially for those of us living in places without hereditary titles. But the British peerage isn’t the only place where order and rank are observed. The US State Department has an Office of the Chief of Protocol that determines ceremonial standing at events. This is how we determine that former presidents and their widows/widowers are sat by the seniority of when they assumed office. The Catholic Church has ra

All the writing advice out there discuss the importance of that opening line—that hook—that gets your potential reader to sit down, pay...

Did you know that a macaroni recipe appears in the Austen family's recipe book? I attempt Martha Lloyd's mac and cheese recipe, adapted for a modern kitchen

It’s rare to get “real” mail, something handwritten that arrives in the mailbox. Texts social media have replaced it, but I think there’s an inherent value in receiving a handwritten card or a letter from someone who cares about you. Miss Bates and Mrs. Bates in Emma feel the same way about any letter from Jane Fairfax: [...]but, first of all, I really must, in justice to Jane, apologise for her writing so short a letter -- only two pages, you see, hardly two, and in general

I can reattach a button near enough to the right place so it gets into a buttonhole. I only got as far as cross-stitch bookmarks as a...

How many of you have a "special interest"? A hobby, a collection, a sport, a "thing" that you're really in to? It's no surprise that Jane...

While Jane Austen’s brother Frank was eager to skate, it seems that the women in his

My son is ten and his baby teeth were slow to come in… and they’re slow to fall out. He’s only had a few fall out on their own, even...

Some think that Jane Austen was a culturally and politically myopic person because her novels are seemingly oblivious to those larger...

In the Georgian era, female accomplishments were indispensable assets on the marriage market. Like Miss Bingley describes, the ability to...

Wild Bros. Mona tea cup circa 1915 I’m a tea drinker. Some might unfairly say tea snob, but I do like my tea, which is kept in double-lidded containers with labels that say the temperature and brew time. My favorites at the moment are a Longjing (dragon well) premium green tea from China and a black tea from Yunnan, China called Golden Halo. The tea available during Jane Austen’s lifetime came primarily from China. Tea production in India didn’t begin until the propagation of

I love dishes. I would use the good china and crystal every night. My favorite is a small Edwardian tea set that belonged to my maternal