My Month in Numbers 2013: June

Hi, hi.

• If you're checking out My Month in Numbers after seeing my article in Jot Magazine then ... Yay! Hello. Come in, come in. Isn't Jot great? You're welcome to have a look around and see how things work.  OR ...
• If you've heard of My Month in Numbers and are planning to give it a go this month for the first time [I know a few of you have mentioned that was your plan] then ... Hurrah! I told you it was easier than you first thought!  Link me up! I can't wait to see your debut! AND ...
• If you're a longstanding Number-counter then ... Hello you. You're looking delightful today. Must be all those numbers you've collected. They're clearly doing you the world of good.
• NOT FORGETTING ... Anyone who just likes to have a read through everyone else's monthly summaries - that's fine by me. You're always so well behaved, I hardly know you're there.  
• [If, by any chance, you hate numbers and don't like the way this post is heading then ... here, let me gently usher you out ... come back next month ... ]

OK, now we're all acquainted ... let's make a start ...

100 Years = 8th June 2013 marked the centenary of the death of suffragette  Emily Wilding Davison

I've got no photograph to represent this number yet because ... if you're reading this post on the day it goes live then I'll be attending part of the Beamish open air museum 'Suffragette Celebration Weekend' ... so, expect plenty of photos of the day's events to come!

As it turns out 2013 is not just the anniversary of this particular landmark in women's history ... it also marks the 200th anniversary of the publication of Jane Austen's Pride & Prejudice ... which is where my next set of numbers come in ...

23, 24, 25 = the number on our tickets when my Mam, sister and I went to see costume  historian Gillian Stapleton deliver her 'Jane Austen's Wardrobe' presentation

I took photos of these beforehand thinking [correctly as it turns out] that they'd take our tickets off us when we arrived. It's almost as if not everyone's a scrapbooker and they just don't understand the importance of keeping this kind of ephemera! I really should have asked to keep it shouldn't I?

1790s - 1820s = the time period -in costume - covered in the presentation

Picture the scene: the beautiful space of the Reference Library [think 'tiny portion of Hogwarts library]; rows of wooden chairs with monograms carved into the back and with comfy cushions on the seat; a room full of 'ladies of a certain age' ... and ... an hour long presentation all about history of the kinds of costume worn by Jane Austen's heroines with readings from Austen's novels and letters.

Fashion history is one of my longest standing interests - I remember an infant school visit to a museum where I used my 'spending money' to buy a colour-in poster of fabulous Victorian / Edwardian outfits. And as much as I loved the prose in last year's BBC Hollow Crown Shakespeare adaptations ... I was just as enraptured with the leather-work of the costumes. And don't even get me started on the millinery in ITV's Miss Marple ...

But I digress! In short ... it was a perfect afternoon for me! [Thank you Jo + Mam for humouring me and coming along! xx]

Chapter 49 = the chapter of Austen's Emma I just had to go and revisit after the presentation!
I think it was that outfit [on the left in the photo above] that really gave me the urge to revisit Emma and - more specifically - to wallow in the love declarations of Mr Knightley which, for me ... are quite simply some of the most romantic words ever ...

"I cannot make speeches, Emma," he soon resumed; and in a tone of such sincere, decided, intelligible tenderness as was tolerably convincing. "If I loved you less, I might be able to talk about it more."

[And yes, I am swooning as I type!]

Oh and, while we're on the subject of books ...

4 = the number of books I read  [all of which are now linked-up on my Pinterest board] 

• The appropriately numerical Eight White Nights by Andre Aciman
• The Manual of Detection by Jedediah Berry [if you like Jasper Fforde - this might be for you
• The Silver Linings Playbook novel by Matthew Quick [the film-makers kept pretty faithful to this original story - so if you liked the movie - you will probably like the novel]
• and The Messenger of Athens by Anne Zouroudi

2 miles = the approximate distance of the new route I've been taking on my morning walks

I feel like I say this on a near daily basis but ... I don't have a smartphone which means I don't have any apps that can measure the distance I've walked or the number of steps I take. So I've had to gauge this distance using Google maps. And the silly thing [for someone who counts things every month] is that I haven't kept track of how many times I've walked the route ... so I don't know my total!

And talking of walking ...

£3 = the amount I paid for these lovely frilly pink pumps in the sales [shown here standing before wording on the floor of the MIMA gallery. And yes, I did relax and wonder about Carl Andre's work.]

For £3 I can even overlook the fact that they kind of nip at my Achilles heel a little ...

4 = the number of craft magazine projects I worked on 
And half of them  were ... brace yourself now for I'm about to drop the 'C' word ... wait for it ... they were Christmas projects!

It's the same schedule every year and yet every year if feels so very unnatural to have to 'Ho, Ho, Ho' in June!

And finally ...

23 = the number of bloggers who linked me up with their May in numbers

Seems like memory-keeping-by-numbers is getting very popular with people called 'Jo'!

And the number of names on that list that begin with a 'J' is giving even my local crop a run for its money where ... at any given time we can - confusingly- have in attendance:

• a Jean
• a Jackie
• a Janet
• a Judith
• two Julies
• a Julia
• ... and one of the aforementioned 'Jo's!

OK ... so that's my facts and figures for June ... and now, whether or not your name begins with J ...

Here's how YOU can join in with us:
If you've never joined in before there's a lot more information on the Month in Numbers page - including a 'How To' guide to inspire you. [You don't need to follow any guidelines other than those I'm about to set out below ... everything else I'll leave up to your own creative  interpretation!]
**Please note: I can only 'pin' a post to the board if it contains at least one image/photo. Otherwise I can only leave a comment and smile at you from a distance**

So ... if you want to share a link to your Month in Numbers post / photo / layout etc for me to then visit, comment on, and pin to the communal Month in Numbers Pinterest board then ...

• Leave a link to your numbers in a comment on this blog post ... but ... 
• When you swing by my blog to drop it off - please leave a comment for me while you're there. Not because I'm needy ... but because it's nicer if you don't just throw your link on my table and leave without saying hello!  
• Please remember to link to my blog in your post. As much as I'd like to think that everyone who reads your blog already knows what 'My Month in Numbers' is [hey, it's nice to be popular, right?] ... the truth is, they don't. So unless you explain to your readers where the idea comes from and how they can join in too, they'll never know.
• And finally ... please try to take time at some point in the coming month to visit and comment on a few of the other posts too. It really does help build a community both around My Month in Numbers .. but also around your own blog space.

If - after reading through all the info on the Month in Numbers page of my blog - you still have any questions just get in touch. My email's in my right sidebar as are the links to my Facebook page and Twitter.

And, if you're waiting for the topic of our first big 'Communal Count' - where we'll all count something similar over the coming month and share our results at the end - then come back tomorrow ...

Thanks for coming today. See you tomorrow. Happy July to you!

Julie