a double ribbon of dancing buttercups...

"The road to Lowbridge was a double ribbon of dancing buttercups, with here and there the ferny green rim of an inviting grove."

-L.M. Montgomery
Anne of Ingleside

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Image credit:
Photograph by World of Anne Shirley.

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Created May 24, 2022. Last updated April 19, 2024.
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What's in a Name? Rainbow Valley: L.M. Montgomery, Johnny Cash, Love Affair, and John Wayne

I recently finished a book called Forever Words: The Unknown Poems by Johnny Cash. This collection of Johnny Cash's poems and lyrics was published posthumously in 2016. It's a great book if you're a fan of The Man in Black.

So how does this relate to L.M. Montgomery? Well, as I was reading the book, I read the lyrics for a song Johnny Cash wrote in the 1970s called "Chinky Pin Hill." (It's now been recorded in a beautiful rendition by I'm With Her). The third stanza of the song reads:

We'll stop in Rainbow Valley
Where the church is standing still
And we'll be newlywed married
On Chinky Pin Hill

Seeing the name "Rainbow Valley" got my attention because it's the name of the seventh book in the Anne of Green Gables series. L.M. Montgomery's Rainbow Valley was published in 1919.

Johnny Cash had capitalized Rainbow Valley as a real, definable place. Could Cash have come across Montgomery's Anne series on a bookshelf somewhere and remembered the name? Or was there a real Rainbow Valley out there?

I started digging around the internet. It turns out that there is a Rainbow Valley on Mount Everest where many climbers have fallen to their deaths in their colorful gear. Well, I was clearly following the wrong thread there.

I continued searching and came across a cheerful song called "Rainbow Valley" by a band from London called Love Affair from 1968. The lyrics are sweet and charming:

The sun always shines
down in my Rainbow Valley.
There's one that's always mine,
down in my Rainbow Valley.

Maybe this song title made its way into Johnny Cash's lyrics? I also wondered, could Love Affair have been inspired to name their song by L.M. Montgomery's book?

Going back even farther, there's a 1935 film titled Rainbow Valley starring John Wayne. I wonder what inspired the title of this film. Were all these people simply influenced by rainbows in valleys, or could they have been inspired by one another?

What's in a name? My hours of digging provided me with no definitive answers. Sometimes art is all about hidden dialogues and connection, picking up inspiration from people, words, sounds, and observations and putting them all together in unexplainable ways to create something new.


Created May 10, 2022.
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The sea has one only...

 

"The woods call to us with a hundred voices, but the sea has one only—a mighty voice that drowns our souls in its majestic music. The woods are human, but the sea is of the company of the archangels."

-L.M. Montgomery
Anne's House of Dreams

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Photograph by World of Anne Shirley.

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Created May 5, 2022. Last updated April 19, 2024.
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Limited Time Deal on Rilla of Ingleside Audiobook

If you love audiobooks, there's a great deal on a new version of Rilla of Ingleside by L.M. Montgomery at Chirp right now. For the next 25 days, you can purchase Rilla of Ingleside as a digital audiobook for $1.99. The regular price is $15.99.

This new digital audiobook was just released by InAudio on February 22, 2022. The book is read by Erin Bateman, and the run time is 11 hours and 32 minutes.

Chirp describes the book as follows:

"This follow-up to the treasured classic Anne of Green Gables has over 21,100 five-star Goodreads ratings! On the brink of World War I, Anne and Gilbert Blythe’s youngest daughter is still a teenager. But when she falls in love with a soldier and her brothers enlist in the conflict, Rilla must summon all of her courage as her life changes forever."

Publisher's description:

"Rilla is Anne and Gilbert Blythe’s youngest daughter, an excitable 15-year-old who is unaware of how the world works, and is only interested in having fun. But the world is on the brink of a global war, and soon Rilla’s family and life are turned upside down, as several of her brothers enlist in the army and are sent to fight overseas.

The book follows Rilla’s life through the duration of World War I, as she grows up quickly from the responsibilities put on young women in this time. She adopts an orphaned child and raises him, runs the local Junior Red Cross, falls in love with a soldier just before he deploys, and even assists in the elopement of a soldier to his beloved.

This novel captures the anxiety of living with one’s family away at war, as well as captures the unique perspective of a woman’s life at home during the First World War (and is the only Canadian novel that shows this perspective written by a contemporary of the war). Through the sadness and bleak moments brought to the world in this war, and the loss that the Blythes face, there is yet again hope to be found in the love of the families and neighbors of Ingleside."

Created May 1, 2022.
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Anne Of Green Gables "When I Read, I Dream" Barbie Doll

Twenty years ago, in 2002, Mattel released an Anne of Green Gables Barbie doll. Mattel’s eight-inch-tall Anne Shirley doll was part of their “When I Read, I Dream” Timeless Treasures Collection.

Which dolls were part of Mattel's “When I Read, I Dream” collection?

This collection included the following four dolls based on storybook heroines:

• Anne from L.M. Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables
• Heidi inspired by Johanna Spyri’s Heidi
• Fern from E.B. White’s Charlotte’s Web
• Jo inspired by Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women
  

How did Mattel describe their Anne of Green Gables recreation?

The back of the doll's box introduces the collection and Anne Shirley:

"When I Read, I Dream™ collector dolls celebrate the friends we make between the pages of best-loved books. Meet Anne Shirley, the lively and talkative little girl from Green Gables of Prince Edward Island.

The spirited Anne is always full of surprises, not only for her adoptive parents, Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert, but also for delighted readers of the L.M. Montgomery classic.

She is re-created here in a Victorian-style peach-and-green print dress, boater hat and, of course, her 'life-long sorrow'—her signature red hair. Standing at the Green Gables gate, she looks ready for adventure, perhaps a drift downriver in a leaky boat or a trembling walk through the 'Haunted Wood'!"

Mattel's Technical Product Details webpage for the doll (Product# 50726) describes it as follows:

"When I Read I Dream™ collector dolls celebrate the friends we make between the pages of best-loved books. Anne is re-created here in a Victorian-style outfit in soft shades of peach and celadon green. Her dress has a peach sailor-like collar accented with a celadon bow and a crisply pleated peach linen skirt. Atop her head is a boater hat trimmed with a green ribbon. Off-white tights and white shoes add finishing touches. Anne is beautifully detailed, right down to her green eyes and, of course, her “life-long sorrow”—her signature red hair."

The Barbie Collectibles Website provides the following description of the Anne Shirley doll:

"From the beloved children's story Anne of Green Gables comes this darling 8" doll. Anne wears a delightful peach and green sailor-style dress accented with a green bow, and a pleated peach linen skirt. Her ensemble also includes off-white tights and matching shoes, and a straw-like boater hat accented with a green ribbon. Her darling red hair and sparkling green eyes make this doll perfectly precious!"

According to Planet of the Dolls, the doll’s body was based on that of Barbie’s little sister Stacie from the 1990s.

Is the Anne of Green Gables Barbie doll still available?

Mattel's Anne of Green Gables Barbie doll is no longer available in retail stores, but you can still find it on ebay and other resale websites.

Created April 27, 2022.
© worldofanneshirley.com

A real poet...

"You can never be a real poet if you haven't made at least one poem about spring."

-L.M. Montgomery
Emily of New Moon

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Photograph by World of Anne Shirley.

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Created March 21, 2022. Last updated April 19, 2024.
© worldofanneshirley.com

I hate this war...

"'I hate this war,' said Rilla bitterly, as she gazed out into the maple grove that was a chill glory of pink and gold in the winter sunset."

-L.M. Montgomery
Rilla of Ingleside

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Image credit:
Photograph by World of Anne Shirley.

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Created March 11, 2022. Last updated April 19, 2024.
© worldofanneshirley.com

Anne of Green Gables 13-Month Undated Planner and Diary

I came across a beautiful Anne of Green Gables planner and diary today on Etsy by CALIKET. It's called "Anne Story" and is a classic story diary. This 13-month undated planner can be used to keep track of your day-to-day tasks, and you can also fill it with drawings, quotes, and diary entries. It looks so pretty and has such sweet drawings of Anne Shirley.

The CALIKET Etsy shop sells several Anne of Green Gables greeting cards too, including one with the sweet image of Anne Shirley featured above and one with Anne under a blooming cherry tree.

Created February 7, 2022.
© worldofanneshirley.com