~~Christmas at Mrs.Beales Grey Gardens~~
Greetings Grey Gardeners,
As is with each season , a past, a present, a future,our time at Mrs.Beales was
free of time. It had taken me years to undertstand , to know what had remained
so elusive.
There within the great house a host of guestions, yet never one too pressing
that it could not wait for an answer. Time had stopped in the confines of our
world, I felt unsure of what it was then, today I ve been granted the wisdom to
begin to see the freedom in a new greater light. It was a new season , not for
the time of day to reveal, nor the calling of others into our world, we
three,had for weeks on end , known only each other.
It was the drying of the leaves on the shutters, the migration of the many birds
that told of a winter, therefor a Christmas. I set out in the brush for a
tree top, one I could collect, that would not include my cutting it down,
needing only the tree top.
There in a corner where Mrs.Hill had kept a season of
plantings did I discover evergreens. Finding one tree top from the r second
floor porch, I then set out to the thick over growth for our Christmas Tree. It
being only a foot or so waas easily collected, found T. Logans old tools , which
were handy in every season.
The effort in finding one tree top was a first step, retreiving it was a
skill. Time for a Christmas at Mrs.Beales mansion begun with a tree top, from
the very garden that concealed in until the leaves had fallen , and the shutters
had been revealed.Hurried up to the centre bedroom to ask permission to enter ,
it was given .
The jesture that only Mrs.Beale could own was that of complete grace, as is
reflective of the very gesture shown, when Lois Wright had given Mrs.Beale a
memo pad for her dear birthday, Mrs.Beale was then 79 years of life.Christmas
had now arrived, with the gesture of a true aristocrat who had known great
luxury , and kept it close to her heart.
Each year no date chosen we shared our human family, three kindrid spirits from
each end of the social ladder , had embaarked on a tour of our lives , with a
celebration of simple dignity, and that of our freedom.
It has revealed its spirit more each passing year, for no one time could
reveal the joy of being alive.
A Merry Christmas to all, Grey Gardeners
Marble Faun Of Grey Gardens - Musical Trailer
Dear Jerry,you are such a beautiful poet the way you tell us the story of Christmas at Grey Gardens with Mrs. Beale and Edie.How you searched for just the right tree and brought it home to your family.It is like a wonderful Christmas movie I watch every year,to hear your stories of Christmas with the ladies.Thank you so much for sharing all your memories with us all year and remembering us.We love you so.You are family to us,too.I am making Christmas cookies right now and I send you some warm out of the oven across the season night. Blessings to you and yours,and Best Wishes for the New Year.God Bless you Jerry,you are very special and I am so thankful to have you in my life.Love,Pattie
Jerry, I so enjoy your stories of this incredible home and the ladies who occupied it. The Beale’s have captured out hearts in so many ways. I find the two Edie’s the most fascinating women. They lead quite a life.
I just saw the orignal documentary Grey Gardens again last week and I love it everytime I watch.
Thank you Jerry for keeping Edie and Big Edie alive with your incredibly fascinating stories of a time gone by…
Merry Christmas Jerry and to all!
Jerry,
What a wonderful gift to all who read, to have the combined treasure of your artistic talent of creating and the rare experiences you had with such wonderful friends.
I sure do think that world of you and I am so thrilled to have you sharing.
Sincerely,
Allen Busby
I wish you a very merry christmas and a wonderful new year jerry,I thank you always for your kind replies,Im still in love with Grey Gardens ,I will be forever,what a wonderful gift little edie and big edie and yourself jerry when you gave us Grey Gardens xx paul
Greetings my friend,Paul,
It is a dark night here in NYC, in that it the tempertura has dropped some,it takes me back to the single most important time in my life.
It has been my duty to share whtat I love, all of what I love, freely.
Is there a greater purpose then sharing our lives, it brings us together ,we have some thing in common.
Yes in my late nights on a deep dark night I drift into the hallways of a mansion, long time since, Paul I would have loved to walk you through the great mansion. In everyway a fascinating rarity.
~~A very Merry Christmas to you dear Paul~~
Dignity. I was struck by the way that Big Edie and Little Edie lived, when I first watched the documentary. Not by the squalor in which they lived, but by the quiet life of dignity which they existed in, hidden behind those vine covered walls.
Mrs. Beale’s sense of dignity seemed ethereal in its nature, as if it were something that resided within her innately. Something that was born with her. It seemed they lived a life of complete freedom within their minds, while simultaneously they lived a life of imprisonment, in their reality.
I wish they were still here, there is so much more that they could have taught us.