JudyObscure

Just thinking. For many of us, breast feeding during the first few months was an almost constant thing. My baby nursed every two or three hours around the clock and took about an hour to feed. Add in the long train ride from the Shroeders to the Drewes, with maybe a night or two in an hotel, and all the long-enough-to-be-irritating visits at the Drewes and I'll bet Edith has spent far more hours holding Marigold than Mary has holding George. George's primary care-giver has always been Nanny and his first devoted Nanny had to be fired and a complete stranger brought in. Poor Sibbie was actually abused by Bad Nanny. What a messed up threesome they will make when they reach maturity. I demand a sequel!

We don't know that rocking and reading wont follow the ice cream. As for knowing how to care for a toddler, wasn't Edith caring for Marigold in the Drewes kitchen every morning for months, until she was forbidden to return? I'm sure she didn't just hold her on her lap the entire time. Edith knew her way around enough to want to carry Marigold up to bed and she was seen at table with Marigold so I'm sure she knows what she eats, etc.

During the world war the British started calling their German Shepherds, "Alsatians," because, you know, "German." I guess they're sensitive about dogs with enemy sounding names. Then again some Americans didn't want to vote for Obama simply because of his middle name so I shouldn't roll me eyes. I don't picture Edith being sad in the hotel. I think she might feel that a huge weight of indecision has lifted and an empty feeling is gone. She can go to sleep with her child in her arms for the first time since her breast feeding days and know that they won't have to be separated again. Edith has never felt that anyone in her family loved her best and now she gets to be the most important person in the world to someone.

I agree with all of this. I think Edith should do fine from now on. She will get to London and find a flat or house straight away, go to a department store and select a lot of clothes and general baby things and have it all delivered to her address as wealthy people did at that time. No lugging the shopping around as we do today. Laundry will be sent out and diaper service will stop by three times a week. She will call a servants' employment service for a maid and nanny and then look to the publishing company. Gregson was a decent sort so I'm sure he left a trust fund to pay all the expenses for his wife at her private hospital and I think Edith will send a long letter of apology to the Drewes with a nice big check enclosed. I was angry with her for her indecision where Marigold was concerned but when she told Cora that she felt she had let Gregson down I knew she was thinking of him dead with his only child doomed to never hearing his name. From that moment on I thought she was doing the only possible thing she could live with and I wish her well.

Sidney and Mrs. Maguire are my favorite couple! They either make me laugh or cry in every scene they share. I'm also loving the religious talks between Leonard and Sidney, with Leonard taking the conservative side of the issues, contrary to our expectations. Well developed loveable characters and some pretty good mysteries -- I hope this one lasts a long time.

I'm starting to wonder if Baxter killed Greene because Greene was the scoundrel who seduced her and used her as a thief. I only want that if she doesn't get caught. Mosely and I love her.

If I shared a house with someone whose boyfriend was, say, a soldier who had been MIA for a year, and she had just heard that he was found dead. I think I would be tip toeing around her for a few days, or weeks even. I wouldn't need to have known him personally or know whether or not they had slept together, I still would have known she must be in a lot of pain and grief. When Mary lost Matthew, she had the household whispering around her for over six months, yes she had a piece of paper that made her love legal, but, even without that, you might think she would understand the pain of losing a man you love and grant Edith a few days sympathy to her six months. Bursting into the drawing room and spinning around with her new hair cut was intended to exact squeals and laughter from the group and was entirely inappropriate in the circumstances. Edith had every right to expect her family to gather around her in sympathy for a day or two. They knew she had, for the second time, lost the man she loved, and that should have been enough. That they would all fall willingly into Mary's plan to make it a "Mary's Daring New Look" party was just so Downton. Also, Lord Grantham's reaction was extremely unlikely. In 1924, bobbing hair was as shocking as a face tattoo today. Other young people might be impressed, but the reaction of a doting father would more likely by upset and grief that his darling had ruined her looks.

I think the actress who plays Mary is very pretty but I think her face is too flat for that forward falling hairdo. I guess it's just me though, because it seems to be driving all the men around Downton wild with desire. Apparently it also makes Mary courageous and strong. Too bad it didn't make her any nicer. I'm glad to see more of Mable but I would hate to see her take Tony back.

My vertigo is pretty much like Saber's. I think it's a fear of falling more than heights so I'm fine in a plane but get a little clutch of fear getting off a bus, but as Saber says, I would never even think of testing it in a balloon. In other Amazing Me, news I have hypothyroidism, full eyebrows but no leg hair at all! I love my leg hair story. Don't they have to submit videos and whatnot? Wonder what Kelsey thought that was all about?

I just loved how he heard her story and decided she was, "The victim!" Heh. I wouldn't go that far but I think it's adorable that he sees it that way. Her affection for him is even more sweetly rose colored. The man everyone else downstairs sees as a foolish, insecure person, deserving of ridicule, Baxter sees as a gentle, kind soul who would never ever try to control someone else.

You're probably right, KnoxForPres. To me she looks like a ten year old kid wearing a big giant Princess mask on Halloween, so I'm just grasping for reasons.

From the first night I've thought Britt was playing a very calculated game, using all the, " Ten Ways to Drive Men Wild," tips from the Cosmo articles. She has the long blonde hair even if she had to attach it with clips, the big red lips and lots of tight, bright clothes. She uses all the body language tricks, the twenty second hugs, the long lingering eye contact, the touching hands. She expresses fascination and excitement over every little thing he says and does with squeals of pleasure and jaw dropped amazement. She puts make-up on before bed, just in case, and wants whatever he wants from balloon rides to hundreds of kids. The only time she slipped was when she complained to Chris about Kaitlyn and she immediately realized she'd made a mistake. In view of all that I'm wondering; could she be not bathing on purpose to maximize her pheromone power? Napoleon famously wrote Josephine from a campaign, "I will return to Paris tomorrow evening. Don't wash." In fact he preferred that she not wash for at least five days prior to his visits and Josephine once said that Napoleon didn't just love her, he worshipped her. Just a thought, you never know what it might take to stand out from the crowd when you don't even have a dead husband.

Back in the 1980's she was one of my favorite actresses. Maybe she did the head tipping then, too, but it didn't seem to be as permanent. {I'm sorry I seem to have to edit everything, it might as well be my signature line.}

I can't decide if I think Cora was flirting excessively or not because she always has her head tipped to one side with a simpering smile on her face. Coy is her resting face.

Fishcakes quote: I don't believe this for one moment! A lady such as yourself would never have pushed my "like," button if your feelings weren't of the forever kind. I've already booked passage to the Pacific NW and packed a cooler of Waldorf salad.

LOL Kelsey's sister can try but there's just too much to overcome. Mean editing can't explain her conviction that as soon as Chris heard about her husbands tragic death he would want to make out with her and make her the front runner. Even her sister just doesn't get it that, even in the best possible light, getting on with life after a year or so, doesn't make her unique or a "role model." I do agree, though, that the crowd of camera people, directors and editors that we get a glimpse of whenever one of the girls runs off set with a panic attack, have a lot to do with how it's all put together at the end of taping, but I think it's probably more revealing than misleading. They have to hang around watching these "ladies," all day long and half the night so if they decide to black box Jillian's butt because she has constantly talked about how great it is -- I get that. If they show footage of Kelsey complaining about the group dates and saying she expects all the other girls to be jealous of her, and then follow it with last night's Wonderful Amazing Tragedy Adventure, then I believe it probably fits her over-all personality. If they decide to show Ashley saying Britt never showers, then I believe it and figure it's something all the camera people have noticed, just as they've probably noticed Britt telling the others that she isn't interested in marriage and children. Maybe Britt 's big fabulous weave is brand new for the show and she's afraid if she washes it she won't get it back in shape? I have no idea how these things work. I don't know what Britt's ultimate plan is but I don't think the show could be considering her for B'ette and still showing her weaknesses.

Yes, there were moments when Whitney seemed like the teacher in a middle school class. That reminds me of Kelsey sobbing on Britt's shoulder and Britt saying, "At least your pumps look great," and Kelsey grinning and saying, "I know!" I guess it takes one fakey fame whore to know another.

Remember the first night when we were all talking about this being the prettiest group of women? Now we know what they sacrificed to get that. Megan thinks New Mexico is another country. Ashley and Mackenzie are really only fourteen and Ashley's a mean girl Britt is running a preplanned script on how to win the game without a single sincere word in it. Kelsey made the little hairs stand up on the back of my neck when she started talking about how amazing her story was and how much she loved her story. What a lucky girl huh? To have a cool story like that almost as neat as Emily's only without the race cars! Carly is sweet. Whitney and Kaitlyn are too smart for Chris. ETA: Om gosh that obituary! It was so clearly written by Kelsey as an amazing opportunity to brag about herself. "Kelsey’s goal and Sanderson’s supportive commitment were achieved May 18, 2013 with Kelsey’s graduation with her Master’s Degree from the University of Texas in Austin." The photo of Sanderson wasn't very good either, he was probably always behind the camera taking supportive pictures of Kelsey.

I just read Shirin's bio and it reminded me of why I don't read the bios. Because I hate bragging, it would make me dislike the entire cast. I realize the show must encourage them to talk that way about themselves but, yuck. Paraphrasing Shirin's bio here's how it sounds to me: "I have an extremely high opinion of myself and admire myself inordinately for things others might find routine, like giving my mother money. The people I admire most are the ones who remind me of myself, and I tend to dislike those who aren't like me. One of the things I most enjoy is being unkind to people and I look forward to doing it inside the game."

Yes some doors were unlocked and as the parents knew their daughter was upstairs asleep when they left that morning, then they are the ones responsible for leaving without locking the doors behind them. The poor things must carry a lot of guilt about that .

I thought the tip question was interesting, too. I found this from Emily Post during that period, referring to guests in big country houses. I tried to discern whether Carson was being more stuffy than usual with Bricker but I couldn't say for sure. We know whose side he would be on if he had spotted any flirting -- or worse.

Exactly. People had enough experience with children, more than most have today, to know how much it grieves a child to lose it's mother figure, whether through her death or some other reason. Sad stories of children taken from their families and being sent to orphanages or work houses or even to relatives were the stuff of literature and art at that time. They had to know that separation hurts even when the child goes from poverty to great wealth as Fanny did in "Mansfield Park," and the Drewes are far from poverty level.

We've seen how happy that title and wealth has made Edith and she didn't have the social stigma hanging over her that Marigold will have. I don't exactly see the Drewes as the English Waltons but I do think they offer a warm wholesome family where Marigold will have two loving parents and a nice crowd of siblings. Yes, he's been needlessly cruel to Baxter, too. While we're calling out the whiners, Mrs.Patmore's self-pity has gone on all season and I've forgotten why I ever liked her. I'm ready for a spin-off featuring Mrs. Drewe and Mabel.

Oh yes. My four season defense of Edith is over. Last season, I had tried to believe that Marigold was only with the Shroeders a week or two and that Edith was going back to get her baby and claim her with any good story that came to hand but nooooo. How many times has Edith let Marigold down? 1. When she had unprotected sex with a married man. 2. When she listened to some harebrained medical who told her it would be a good idea to nurse the baby for a month before giving her up, making sure the baby went through the wrench of losing her primary care giver right off the bat. 3. Snatching her away from the Shroeders, presumably just when she was getting over the first loss and bonding with Mrs. S. 4. Keeping Marigold's third set of parents in a constant state of anxiety and confusion and interfering with that bond. 5. Considering, even for one moment, taking Marigold away from her third mother figure and placing her in an orphanage with a third incomprehensible language around her. Marigold is destined for the most severe attachment disorder in psychiatric history. The three faces of Marigold will all speak different languages and have an over riding fear of being carried off by strawberry blondes. I don't care how much pain Edith is in now, it's far too late for her to be thinking of herself at this point. The Dowager and Rosamund are only thinking of the family's reputation and not Marigold either but I do understand their fear. All it would take would be the Drewes to have a loud fight and Mr Drewe to shout that Edith was Marigold's mother within the hearing of someone from the village and the talk would be all over the county within hours. I can just hear it: "Did you hear that the little Drewe girl is really Lady Edith's accident? Yeah, remember when she went abroad for nine months? She's always been like that. You know that other farmer always tells it at the pub that she came over and drove his tractor and then jumped him in the barn! Oh yes, his wife had to save him an' all. That's probably why Sir Anthony left her at the altar, he heard about all the men in her past. Remember that young gentleman that died in his bed at Downton? Some say he was in one of the young lady's beds. I heard it was Mary, but it must have been Edith. I always knew Lady Mary was too proper for something like that." It's a whole Catherine Cookson novel waiting to happen.

Right, he had received papal dispensation earlier. The pope wasn't going to dissolve the marriage with Catherine so he could marry Anne, though, so he didn't want to keep Henry that much. Whether it was Henry's reason or excuse is up for debate, he may have sincerely believed that the reason he and Catherine weren't having lots of healthy children was God's punishment for an unlawful union.