Recollections of a Vagabonde

Some of my needlework…

2012-01-31T09:51:00.002-05:00

This morning I had problems publishing my post. It did not appear in Google Reader. The original post is below. Please place any comments there, thank you.

Some of my needlework…

2012-01-31T07:30:00.002-05:00

Last week was the Chinese New Year. This would have been an excellent trip destination which I would have enjoyed, indeed, in China or anywhere the Chinese New Year was celebrated. But I was in Georgia, knitting and crocheting baby blankets. On 23 January 2012 (or year 4710 under the Chinese calendar) the Year of the Dragon began. It started 15 days of celebration by over 1.3 billion people in China, millions more ethnic Chinese around the world and many other nationalities. The Year of the Dragon is one of the most revered years in the Chinese calendar and considered the luckiest.

Celebration picture taken in Beijing, China (courtesy Feng Li/Getty Images)

In Chinese tradition the Dragon is not the demon from western literature but a symbol of intense power and good fortune. It is regarded as a divine beast. Those born under the sign of the Dragon are said to be innovative, enterprising, self-assured, passionate people who are free spirited, colorful, confident and fearless. That’s the good characteristics and the only ones I’ll mention since I was born under the sign of the Dragon! Some of the people born under the Year of the Dragon are Florence Nightingale, Sigmund Freud, Salvador Dali, Martin Luther King, Jr., and John Lennon. You can Google “Chinese Zodiac signs” to read up on each of the 12 Animal signs.

Dragon by Utagawa Kuniyoshi, Japanese 1797-1861

I am not planning any trips right now but have been busy knitting or crocheting baby blankets. My mother was a talented seamstress (see post on her here ) and taught me how to saw and embroider. She did some crochet work in later life but I was taught how to knit and crochet by the mother of my childhood Armenian friend in Paris. We must have been 4 years old at the time as I remember it was before I started kindergarten.

Painting by Lillian Westcott Hale, American 1880-1963

In the 1970s I made many needlework cushions, pictures and other things. Below is a little cat I made then – my cat Cody now looks almost like the picture. I have to watch him though because he loves to jump into my needlework basket. (Click on pictures to enlarge.)

I knitted a rainbow blanket for my first grandchild as well as two “car seat” blankets – little blankets to be placed around him in a car or in his small seat. Then when he entered daycare I knitted another blanket in the blue variegated tones. Here he is below hiding behind his blue blanket.

When the second grandchild came along I again knitted another rainbow blanket and crocheted a couple of car seat blankets. Here he is below lying on the blue blanket and later on sleeping with one of the car seat blankets.

Every year since I retired in 2008 I have been watching the Tour de France live on television. I watch it from about 8 am to 11:30 am each day for three weeks! I use this time to knit or crochet then I don’t watch much TV the rest of the year. In 2010 one of my daughter’s best friend and his partner were having a little baby boy. My daughter’s friend said that he would like a blanket in the form of the French flag. I was happy to make one and also a small car seat blanket.

I enjoyed using the French “bleu blanc rouge” (blue red and white) instead of the usual blue colors. There are so many beautiful yarns to choose from really – when we were in Oslo I would have liked to purchase some of the lovely yarns displayed there.

Norwegian women knit intricate gloves, hats and other items. I admired many in various shops, like below.

After looking at the daycare blankets I had knitted and crocheted for my grandsons, the receptionist of the daycare told me that her area was kept very cool and she would love to have a blanket of her own … in the pink and purple tones – hint hint. I was pleased to make one for her – she was totally overwhelmed when it was given to her as she did not expect it.

Then my daughter said that she would love a heavy scarf to go with the embroidery on her dark winter coat. She selected the colors.

After that it was time to knit a sweater for the eldest grandson. I made it large so he could wear it a couple of years, maybe.

My daughter has an Iranian friend whose baby boy had difficulty breathing so he needed a blanket with loose stitches. I made the one below for him. The dark stripe is green.

A third grandson came along last July so I knit another rainbow blanket during the Tour de France – slightly different. I also knitted a car seat blanket but in brilliant colors. I placed the little suitcase lock near the blanket to show its relative size.

Below is the blanket around its little owner.

I knitted another car seat blanket for the third grandson – 4 large squares in yellow and green. But since I had so much yarn left it was fun making another two car seat blankets for the other two grandsons.

January 2012 came along - time for the third grandson to start daycare and time for another blanket. I did not have time to wait for the Tour de France in July so I crocheted one while watching Downton Abbey on week-ends and Comedy Central with Jon Stewart. I finished it in two weeks. Here is a picture I took without a flash – it shows more depth.

With flash the colors are more vibrant.

I put my yarn away and thought that I was done making baby blankets for the year, but then…. a friend announced the birth of her new grandson….. I swiftly returned to some pretty blue Turkish yarn I had…

and promptly made another car seat blanket. To show its relative size, I placed it with the 1880 edition of the Complete Poetical Works of Alfred Tennyson, Poet Laureate. Maybe this baby may grow up to be a poet?

In addition, I crocheted another car seat blanket for him in more vibrant tones. I placed a French paperback this time on the blanket. It is “Enfance” by Nathalie Sarraute. It has been translated into English under the title Childhood. Here it is below with close-ups of the blankets.

I don’t see any more baby blankets this year.

Knitting by Harold Knight, English 1874-1961

This break in needlework will give me more time to read the two new books I received this morning: "Novel Destinations – Literary Landmarks from Jane Austen’s Bath to Ernest Hemingway’s Key West." I have been to both places already but will read the rest with interest. The other book was written by my bloggy friend Cloudia of the blog Comfort Spiral . It is entitled "Aloha – Where you like go?"

There are still so many places I’d like to know – I’d better start reading…

Reading by Gerald Gardiner, English 1902-1959

Selecting travel destinations (Part two)

2012-01-25T11:31:00.001-05:00

This is the second part of my post on my reasons for selecting some special travel destinations but, first, I’d like to thank all my bloggy friends who came to read the first part and commented. I am so pleased that you liked the paintings of Paris that I posted and also, that you like my hometown. Below is another painting of Paris. It is the Rue de l’Abreuvoir painted in the late 1800s or early 1900s. This street is behind the Sacré-Coeur of Montmartre. I could walk to this street from where I lived in Paris; it would have taken about 15 to 20 minutes.

La Rue de l’Abreuvoir à Montmartre by Alfred Renaudin, French 1866-1944

I’d like to answer some questions asked by my bloggy friends. Jenny Woolf asked “can you say whether you found the places you visited lived up to your expectations?” I can sincerely declare that I have never been disappointed. I don’t have expectations I just go and enjoy each trip.

Rosaria asked “How did you manage to get away so often? “ The company where I worked closed between Christmas and New Year so I could take time off then. After so many years I also received one month paid vacations. In addition I worked often on week-ends and evenings and received “compensation time” or paid time off which I could add to Holidays or week-ends.

Fennie said “…personally I like returning to where I know..” I feel the same. This is why for example I have been to Tunisia 4 times, to England a dozen times or more and Italy at least 10 times. If not I would have visited more countries.

Rauf said “Cost is my deciding factor.” It is mine too. I came to the USA with $1,000 cash. From then on I worked. I was fortunate to get extra work, like Tour Guide for French speaking tourists, French voice-over on training videos, translations, modeling, etc., in addition to my regular position. I also always waited for a “good deal” which is why I waited sometimes decades to visit a certain country.

But when in Paris I always return to the Place St Michel….

La Place St Michel by Eugène Galien-Laloue, French 1854-1941

To get back to some of the reasons for my trips -

Radio Show

My radio station in Atlanta used to broadcast a show every Saturday afternoon from Public Radio International called “AfroPop.” The show is no longer on my radio station but is available online. Georges Collinet is still the radio host (mother from Cameroon and father French.) The music is from all parts of Africa and is not “African-American music” but genuine African music.

Georges Collinet and singers Baaba Maal and Youssou N’Dour from Sénégal

I enjoyed the music so much that I had written to Georges to tell him that he should get a group together to travel to Africa to listen live to some of the music. He did call me later on and said that it was a good idea and was going to do just that. This is the way I joined his group and went to Dakar, Sénégal for 10 days. I’ll write a post on this as it would be too long now. Below is a picture of part of our group eating lunch in the Island of Gorée (off the coast of Sénégal.) Georges is at the top of the table on the left.

Below is another photo I scanned – it’s of me on the same day in the Island of Gorée.

Books and Roses

I used to grow roses in my garden. I had up to 150 bushes but now that so many of our trees have grown there is too much shade in our yard and most of the roses are gone. Then I belonged to the American Rose Society and drove to Atlanta for monthly meetings. They would often speak about the famous International Rose Test Garden in Portland, Oregon – and I longed to visit it. Several years later my husband and I, who are total book addicts, learned about Powell'‘s Books – an independent bookstore in Portland that offers more than 4 million new and used books in a large store which uses a whole city block. This was a double reason to visit Portland. Some years later an airline offered cheap flights to Portland, Oregon from Atlanta, so we went.
We visited both places - the rose garden and bookstore. Below is a scanned picture of me in the rose garden

and a postcard of Powell’s Books.

Because of the name of a city

One year I was searching the Internet for something in Paris, France. Another Paris came up – Paris in Kentucky. As we were planning to drive to Columbus, Ohio to visit my husband’s family I checked the map and saw that we could make a slight detour and visit Paris, Ky. I wished to visit it because it was called Paris. I had requested some information from the Tourists Office there and told them I was from another Paris, in France. They offered to give us a guided tour of their Paris. We went and had a lovely time with the gracious Parisian ladies from Kentucky who gave us an entertaining driving tour. I did not take many pictures with my film camera but below is a vintage postcard of a thoroughbred horse farm in Paris. The whole area around Paris, Kentucky is covered with famous horse farms. (Top picture is a second floor of store in Paris, Kentucky.)

Vintage postcard of Claiborne Horse Farm in Paris, Kentucky (home of Triple Crown winners.)

Cats

Since childhood I have had pet cats. My husband and I love cats and they have shared our home. We have two right now – Cody and Mitsou. A while back (a long while back) I had read a short story of Ernest Hemingway where he mentioned his cats. I also had a book just on his cats.

I found out that in his Key West house he had cats with extra toes in their back paws or 5 toes (polydactyl ) and more than 40 of the cats descendants still lived at the Key West property. What a great destination… cats in Key West! In 2010 we were able to go to Key West and we visited Ernest Hemingway’s house and garden – and saw the cats. My husband bought me another book there which is giving me another special destination, but this will be coming up in May, so I’ll speak about it then. Below is a polydactyl cat I photographed in Hemingway’s garden.

Bloggers

I started my blog in March 2009 and have enjoyed it tremendously. I also like to read a variety of blogs. In late 2009, a Norwegian blog I read RennyBa’s terella wrote a post inviting bloggers to a “Blog Gathering” in Oslo in August 2010. I had never been to a blog meeting and did not know any bloggers then. In addition I had always wanted to go down the coast of Norway on the freighter ship which stops at tiny villages. At the time we had enough frequent flyer miles on Delta to get free round-trips to Europe. Renny had organized the gathering offering many discounts to the city sights and hotel. So we went and had a super great time. I have written 3 posts on Norway starting with Norway – Arriving in Kirkenes, but I still have to write several more.

Part of the port of Oslo, Norway taken from a hill in front of the castle

Film

Last September we were going back to Columbus, Ohio to visit family. I searched the Internet for interesting places around Columbus and found out that the film “The Shawshank Redemption” which is one of my all time favorites had been filmed in and around Mansfield, Ohio, about 1 hour from Columbus. I did more searching, found a motel and also found that the Tourist Office offered a driving guide to the major film sites. I mentioned this already in my post on my 2011 year of travel but I’ll write a post on it later on as I have many photos. We drove to Mansfield because of this film. Below is a door in front of the historic Ohio State Reformatory.

I have more special destinations to write about but this is getting too long so I’ll write about them in the future. In the meantime I’ll keep observing and reading and I am sure, finding more unusual reasons for trips in Georgia, the USA or abroad.

Painting by Claude Grobéty, French born in 1940

Selecting travel destinations (Part one)

2012-01-19T22:53:00.003-05:00

Not long ago I read an article on the Internet written by travel marketers on the destination selection process of travelers. It said: “…How, and when, do leisure travelers decide where to go? What factors influence the decision to visit a particular destination? … for travelers everywhere, the destination decision itself is complicated and highly personal.” This made me think about my travel decisions. When my parents were still with us a great majority of my travels were to visit them in Paris. (Click on pictures to enlarge them.)

A Parisian Street with Sacré-Coeur by Luigi Loir, French 1845-1916

Starting in 1963 until 1982 I went to Paris every two years or 9 times. Then after my widowed mother was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease I traveled to Paris twice a year from 1982 to 1999 or 34 times. From 1999 until she passed away in 2002 I went to visit her 3 times a year or 12 times, and since then I have gone back about 4 times, so let’s see, that is a total of about 59 trips to Paris. That may sound like a lot of trips to France but many people visit their parents at least once a year or more – it just happens that mine lived in Paris. These were not “tourist” trips to visit Paris – I did not take many pictures, just family pictures. I started taking pictures of Paris in the last 5 years or so – usually in the same areas – where I used to live and go to school.

Place St Michel et Notre-Dame by Edouard-Léon Cortès, French 1882-1969

Many of my other trips were for the usual reasons – interest in the cities or countries and airline sales. So far I have traveled to 56 countries and islands - and some of them several times. However, I did plan trips because of unusual reasons. I’ll recount some of them below with the reason for the trip or the chain of events.

Stamps

When I was a child I started a stamp collection. Some of my favorite stamps were from the islands of St Pierre et Miquelon. I was totally intrigued by what they represented and dreamed of one day going there.

These islands are an integral part of France. They are France’s oldest remaining North American territory. For fun I would sometime ask American friends where in North America was French land. They never guessed. St Pierre & Miquelon is south of Newfoundland – you need a passport to go there and they use Euros. I finally traveled there in 2008, about 58 years after first hoping to go! I have written several posts on this blog about my trip, starting with the post here. This trip was a result of my early interest in collecting postage stamps and made me enormously happy.

Top right: View of the Ile aux Marins (Sailor’s Island) (a small inhabited island across from St Pierre) – near port of St Pierre Island - lower picture – my husband and I on a Zodiac Raft going to l’Anglade Island near St Pierre.

Postcard

On my posts I have shown many of my postcards. I started collecting postcards when I was a wee child (after my grand dad gave me his collection when I was 5 or 6 years old.) Once when I was about 11 years old or so I wrote my name at the end of a chain letter which was supposed to bring me many postcards. One girl, from Martinique, sent me a postcard of the style of clothes worn in Martinique. She became my pen pal - I’ll have a post on this soon. Because of this postcard (which I misplaced along the way) Martinique was another French island I dreamed to visit. Finally this last December we were able to visit Martinique. Below is a postcard I purchased showing the pretty Martiniquaises.

An unexpected trip to Canada because of a Bus trip

When I came to the US I had a “Greyhound” bus pass which I had purchased in Paris – 3 months of unlimited bus travel for $99. I visited about 23 states. On a Friday on a bus journey in Michigan, a middle-age French lady sat in the seat next to me. We started talking. She told me she was traveling to a small city near Toronto, Ontario Canada to see her daughter who had a farm there. When I exclaimed that I would love to visit Canada, she asked me to come with her. I did not know her but she seemed very nice, so impulsively I said "OK" and went with her. I had a great week-end at the farm with her daughter’s family. On Saturday we drove to Toronto. I don’t recall exactly everything I saw but I distinctly remember watching a wedding at what they called “Casa Loma” castle. I was taking slides photos them with my Voigtländer film camera. Below is an vintage postcard of the castle.

Article in National Geographic magazine

We had a subscription to National Geographic for several years. In one issue, the January 1983 issue I believe, was an article about Borobudur, the 9th century Mahayana Buddhist monument in Central Java, Indonesia. It was a fascinating article – it explained how this huge monument lay hidden for centuries under volcanic ash and jungle growth and had been rescued. It was restored and placed on the UNESCO World Heritage List. I entered this monument on my destination list. Then in 1991 because of a “sale “promotion from Singapore Airlines I was able to go to Indonesia from Paris and visit this beautiful site (I’ll write a post on this in the future.) This was an extraordinary trip and I am pleased I read that issue of the magazine.

Picture taken at Borobudur with my Canon 35 mm film camera

Art Exhibit

Somewhere in 1997 I read an article about Claude Monet, the famous French impressionist painter. It explained how, after a trip to the French Riviera in 1884, followed by trips to Antibes, France in 1888 then Venice in 1908, Monet had tried to capture the transitory effects of light in that area. His idea was to paint the same landscape at various time of the day. For example he had painted Cap d’Antibes at least 4 times in the same location, in the morning, noon, evening and so forth.

Cap d’Antibes by Claude Monet, French 1840-1926

These paintings had been sold to museums and private collectors around the word but never exhibited together until…..Joachim Pissarro (great-grandson of Camille Pissarro, a contemporary of Monet,) then curator of the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, Texas, assembled 70 works from Monet’s trip in the Mediterranean. This way one could see the paintings side by side for the first time. For example there were four paintings of the same olive trees at different time of the day – they had never been exhibited together. This was in June 1997 – it was our 30th wedding anniversary month – a perfect reason to celebrate in Fort Worth and visit the museum. We flew to Fort Worth – we spent a whole day studying Monet’s light effects. I still remember this “once in a lifetime” exhibit with fondness.

Book purchased at the exhibit below picture of my husband standing next to a Monet museum sign

A Song

The radio stations we listened to when I was a teenager in France played a variety of music, unlike in the US where a radio station only plays rock, or country music, or classical. The stations played everything, every style from many countries. One of my favorite genre of music was the Portuguese “fado” (from the Latin fatum which means fate or destiny.) I had bought some 45 rpm records of the Portuguese fado singer Amalia Rodrigues.

I could listen to Amalia for hours. One of my favorite songs was “Lisboa” (Lisbon.) So it was that in 1955 Lisbon became another city that I dreamed of visiting. It would take until 2004 for me to go there. In early 2004 I had already booked a trip to France with Air France when they sent me an advertisement for cheap flights to Lisbon from Paris – finally I could see Lisbon. My husband and I had a great time in Lisbon. We visited the “Fado Museum,” listened to much fado music and brought back several CDs of fado songs and instrumental music. Below are photos (scanned from my 35 mm Olympus camera) showing a couple of rooms inside the Lisbon Fado Museum.

Below is a clip showing the major sights of Lisbon, Portugal with the voice of Amalia Rodrigues in the background.

Next week I‘ll list several more destinations that were on my travel list because of unusual reasons.

More to come…..

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Note: Top photo is a view of the Ile des Marins (Sailor’s Island) - an abandoned settlement close to St Pierre Island.

Goodbye 2011 – Hello 2012!

2012-01-13T17:39:00.037-05:00

This post is late because after being away from my computer for several weeks I tried first to catch up reading all my bloggy friends’ posts. I am almost caught up but we are already two weeks into the New Year. In France we send few Christmas cards but many New Years cards and we have to the end of the month to send them – I sent mine yesterday morning, Thursday the 12th. (Please click on pictures to enlarge them.)

It seems to me that 2011 went by very quickly. It was a year which brought joys and sorrows as each year does. We lost two very good friends, one in Ohio and the other in Florida. There were earthquakes in various parts of the world including New Zealand. The tsunami in Japan brought the terrible meltdown of the nuclear plant in Fukushima. But there were also good moments such as the touching romantic wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton. In addition we applauded the selection of three women from Liberia and Yemen as recipients of the Nobel Peace Prize of 2011. They had worked hard in their countries in the pursuit of justice and human rights. Tawakkul Karman of Yemen said in her Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech: “…I certainly see the beginning of a humane, prosperous and generous history full of love and fraternity….” It is good to be optimistic.

Tawakkul Karman of Yemen with her Nobel Peace Prize (Internet photo, unknown author)

My year 2011 went well. Certainly one of the nicest events was the birth of our third grandson in July. We saw him at New Year and he is a sweet baby growing well.

We were also delighted to hear in late December that our daughter in California had found a great position in a Southeastern state and is moving closer to us very soon. She is leaving Long Beach, California and will miss it. We are pleased that we visited her twice in Long Beach in 2011. At this time last year we were preparing our first trip of 2011 – a cruise on Cunard Queen Victoria. It took us from Long Beach to Hawaii and back in 14 days. In late December 2010 I happened to open their advertizing email offering a great “two for one” cruise fare promotion which only lasted a few hours. It was valid only for the voyage starting on 30 January 2011.

Arriving in Hilo, Hawaii

I wrote a post on Hawaii starting here and two more after that, but still have many pictures for future posts. Here is a picture from Kauai below.

We stopped in Maui, Hilo, Honolulu and Kauai. The ship made a stop in Ensenada, Mexico as well – below is M.S. Queen Victoria in Ensenada.

I’ll do a recap of our 2011 trips so I won’t forget them. When we returned from Hawaii we stayed with our daughter Céline in California. In Hollywood, we visited with my bloggy friend Naomi of the blog Here in the Hills . In March we drove to Tennessee, near Nashville, where our other daughter, her husband and the two grandsons live. I published several posts on all these visits. Below is the little squirrel that comes regularly to Céline’s porch in Long Beach.

Starting in late April and for 3 ½ weeks we were in Europe. We stayed with my cousin, near Paris, and enjoyed her gourmet cooking as well as walking in her town. We liked to walk around the medieval castle, shown below, which is close to her house.

It was fun to take the TGV train (fast speeding train) to Brussels to visit with my childhood friend. I did publish several posts in June on this visit. Below is a picture of the statue near the Grand Place in Brussels which is said to bring good luck. It is also said that if you touch it, as the lady below is doing, you will come back to the city. I touched it!

After coming back to Paris for a couple of days we went on a four day-trip to Vienna, Austria. I still have to write posts on the great time we had there. Below is a picture of some of the delicious pastries offered in Vienna.

Back in Paris we stayed in a small studio in the Marais district. We were invited to attend a spectacular show given by the Garde républicaine (The Republic Guard of Paris.) It was fascinating and I took many photos (to be posted later.)

In May the weather was very warm and we spent many hours in the Paris gardens as the one pictured below.

As usual we went back to the Latin Quarter to my favorite little restaurants and bookstores.

We walked so much but also rested on benches and watched people around us – that is one of the most fun things to do in Paris. It is always entertaining to watch people and their dogs.

Since I retired in 2008 I have been spending the first three weeks of July watching the Tour de France live on TV while knitting or crocheting baby blankets. This year was a blanket for our third grandchild expected around Bastille’s Day (he came one day early on the 13th of July.)

In late August till early September we flew to Columbus, Ohio, to visit my husband’s family. I wrote a post on the superb Ohio State Library here. But I did not write yet on three other enjoying trips we made in Ohio. One was to Mansfield where we admired the brilliant floral display in the Kingwood Gardens. This is the 47-acre former estate of Ohio Brass industrialist Charles Kelly King – it is truly a very attractive garden. Below is a small area of the garden.

The main reason we went to Mansfield was to drive the “Shawshank Trail.” One of my favorites films the Shawshank Redemption was filmed there and the tourist office has printed a driving trail brochure which includes the major sights in the film.

We spent a full day at the historical Ohio State Reformatory where most of the movie was filmed. It is a fascinating place and I took many photos while there - below are just two of them.

We drove about 10 miles from Mansfield to the Malabar Farm State Park. It was the home of Ohio author Louis Bromfield (1896-1956.) He wrote 30 books – all best-sellers. Many of his books were made into movies such as Mrs. Parkington and The Rains Came. Bromfield was a friend of Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall. They were married on his farm – we saw their bedroom. It was a very warm day and we spent a delightful time at the farm (future post coming up.)

In late September we spent several days in New York City where we stopped at Zucotti Park and watched the “Occupy Wall Street” demonstrators. I am still trying to figure out some of their signs – including the one below.

We were very moved when we toured the Ground Zero Memorial and Museum – see my post here.

We also spent a week in Long Island, New York, and toured lovely gardens and historical places (posts coming up.)

October to mid-November was spent around our state of Georgia. We observed the fall colors in the North Georgia Mountains and I wrote several posts on this, but I still have more pictures for future posts such as our walks in Amicalola Falls State Park and Sweetwater Creek State Park which are shown below.

Thanksgiving was in Long Beach with our two daughters and the grandsons. We returned to Rancho Palos Verdes to see the sunset near the Wayfarers Chapel (post here.)

Back in Georgia we only had 5 days before flying to Fort Lauderdale in Florida where we stayed there for three days (future post coming up.) Below is a picture of Las Olas Boulevard, near our hotel and one of the canals.

Then we boarded the MSC Poesia in Port Everglades. We had been on a Mediterranean cruise in 2009 on the MSC, an Italian cruise line, where we stopped in Barcelona, Spain, Tunis, Tunisia, Malta, Sicily, Rome and Genoa, Italy, before returning to Marseille, France (there will be posts on this sometime.) The MSC comes to the West Indies and Caribbean in winter and had a great promotion for December 2011. We stopped in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Antigua & Barbuda, Grenada, Martinique, St. Maarten, and Nassau in the Bahamas. It was a wonderful relaxing trip and I took many pictures, of course (posts coming up…) but I caught a nasty cold on our last night in Nassau.

Click on collage to enlarge, then click on each individual picture to see better

We started and ended 2011 on the water it seems, which is where I love to be. I spent hours watching the waves and many colorful sunsets.

But now we are in 2012. Where will we go? So far only a spring trip to New York City is planned. We are also going to attend a wedding in Chicago in late July. Maybe we could go one week early and travel somewhere close to Chicago? We could rent a car and travel to Michigan? So many possibilities, so many roads inviting us….

Country Road by Peter Mork Monsted, Danish 1859-1941

Recollection: A New Year party to remember

2011-12-26T23:13:00.002-05:00

Christmas has passed and new memories have been made. A good blogging friend, Pondside, wrote about a Christmas memory, a Christmas in 1960. That made me think about a New Year memory, mine was just one year earlier, Christmas 1959 - New Year 1960. I went to London for the Christmas vacations when I was 13 ½ years old in 1953, and had a great time. Every year after that I always went to London to spend the holiday season (was a lot more fun than in Paris.) The English family where I stayed was like my family and I had many friends from having gone to school there in 1957-58. My girl friends in Paris went to the winter resorts in Austria or Italy, but that never tempted me – Christmas and New Year for me was to be in the only town for that merry time, and that was London.

London Fog, photo courtesy Jeff Moore

In 1958 and 1959 I started to really enjoy listening to jazz, modern jazz like the Modern Jazz Quartet, Art Blakey and the Messengers and Gerry Mulligan among others. I belonged to a small group in the Latin Quarter in Paris. We listened to records of our favorite musicians in the little coffee bars around the Sorbonne after school and also went to venues and concerts to watch them.

Gerry Mulligan

We also went to dances, at least twice a week, mostly in the Caveau de la Huchette, a jazz club in a 16th century cellar in the Latin Quarter (off Boulevard St Michel.) There, the jazz was New Orleans style. The band was Maxim Saury’s, a well-known French jazz band (Sydney Bechet had joined him in this club several time earlier. ) I danced a lot but don’t remember drinking alcohol. It was just plain innocent fun. While in England I had started to really like Traditional Jazz and enjoyed going to dance clubs playing that type of music.

Famous American jazzman expatriate Sydney Bechet top right,
Caveau de la Huchette in 1957 at the bottom.

For two years in a row my little French group also went to London at Christmas time. I ‘d stay with my English family for Christmas then would join my French friends for several days around New Year in a bed and breakfast close to theirs. (I scanned the photo at the top of this post – don’t remember where it is in London, but I stayed in a bed and breakfast in that area.)

London in winter (Grand Union Canal)

There were anywhere from 8 to 12 of us. We would go to record stores and listen to jazz for hours, and then would purchase some records to bring back to Paris. It was a lot cheaper to buy the Blue Note record label in London. I still have many 45 rpm records. In France, Maxim Saury signed a couple of them on the back cover, but it can hardly be seen now.

We went several times to listen to jazz at the Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club. It was in a basement in Soho – I think it opened in late 1959 in Gerrard Street.

I liked to be with my group of friends to go to Soho as it was a bit seedy then (and a bit naughty too.) I did not want to meet some rough “Teddy Boys” if alone on the street.

There were many jazz/coffee clubs in Soho at the time, some with even French names and French owned like La Poubelle, La Bastille, etc. One place was called Les Enfants Terribles, another Heaven and Hell and another Le Macabre – the tables were shaped like coffins and the gothic décor included bones, cobwebs and skeletons – they also recited beat poetry there. We would go to little Italian upstairs restaurants for a cheap meal.

I found a clip, from around that time that shows the type of music played in the London basement clubs.

Now that I have given the background atmosphere, let me get back to that particular New Year‘s party. For this holiday time, as usual, I had taken the train, then ferry in Dieppe to Newhaven, then train ride to London. I’d much rather take the ferry than fly. It took 3 hours and the English Channel was rough in December, which I liked. I’d stay on top deck and loved to watch and feel the high waves and the boat rolling back and forth. It was a rough ferry boat, not a cruise liner.

Close to New Year I joined my French friends in London. We had planned to go to a French-English basement club in Soho. The entrance fee included a couple of soda drinks and breakfast after the New Year celebrations. I knew many people at the club and danced a lot – to records – this was a small club - no band there. My favorite band at the time was Chris Barber’s Jazz Band. I still feel like dancing when I hear his music now. Here is “Wild Cat Blues” below (I have it in a 33 rpm record.)

Other favorites were Humphrey Lyttelton Jazz, Ken Colyer Jazzmen and Lonnie Donegan and his Skiffle Group. Everyone I knew loved UK Skiffle music. This lasted until 1960 when rock and roll started to take hold. Skiffle was a rough mixture of folk, gospel, blues and jazz. Below is Lonnie singing “I’m Alabammy Bound.”

You could not call this dancing relaxing – it was more like exercise. I was pretty slim then. I don’t have a picture of me in London but found one taken in Paris around that time. I am on the left wearing the light hat.

That evening, after a round of exhausting dancing, I came back to the bar to get a cool soda. The barman or owner, I am not sure who he was, asked me if I could help with making coffee. The girl who was at the machine needed a break, or was sick I can’t recall. I said “sure I’ll do it” without really knowing how to use the expresso machine. I made a couple of cups of coffee but then somehow I did not push the handle properly…. - you can see the large handles in a similar expresso machine below -

The handle sprung back quickly, into my right eye – or so I thought. It hurt and blood came rushing. Actually it just missed my eye and had lodged between my eye and eyebrow. My friends did not know where the closest emergency clinic was in Soho but someone took me to one. It was already 11:30 pm. There was no one in the admitting room. A nurse came, looked at me eye, cleaned it a bit and said I would have to wait because the staff was in the back ready to celebrate New Year 1960 but someone would come after that. I did not like this and told her so – that I might be losing my eye while doctors were having a drink – that this was an outrage and so forth…. She went to the party looking for a doctor then came back followed by a young looking guy with a Champagne flute in his hands. He was handsome, in a British sort of way – in the actor Hugh Grant style (my other eye could still see clearly…)

The young doctor laughed and asked if I wanted to share a drink. I asked him if he could help my eye but also if his hand was steady. He said that it would only take 4 or 5 stitches – "no worries." By then it was 11:45 pm. He went ahead and stitched below my eyebrow. Then after that he poured half his drink into a glass and gave it to me – and said “Happy New Year and Bonne Année Mademoiselle.” It was midnight. I smiled and drank the Champagne. Then he left with the nurse to the noisy party I could hear in the back. They never charged me for this and several years later the scar was gone.

After I left the clinic I went back to the basement club. When I arrived the barman/owner asked me “I say, can you keep making coffee now that you are patched up?” I replied “It is 1960 now and I shan’t make any more coffee on this machine.” I did help with the frying of the eggs for breakfast for a while.

I went to many New Year’s parties since, but I can’t recall one that was more fun or scary.

Here is a Happy New Year vintage card.

It’s an old card but a hundred years later this good old fashioned wish is still true.

Christmas in the Tropics

2011-12-21T17:46:00.001-05:00

This year we celebrated Thanksgiving in California.. We came back home to Georgia just for a few days then departed again for the Caribbean, West Indies and Bahamas. I caught a cold in Nassau and upon arriving back in the US last Saturday it had turned into a bad cold. I have been staying in bed for the last four days with my nose stuffed up, eyes running, and sore throat. Reading some Agatha Christie’s mysteries have helped as well as listening to light Operettas like the Der Zigeunerbaron (Gypsy Baron) and Die Fledermaus (The Bat) of Johann Strauss, II. Although with the coughing fits and weakness I sound more like Mimi from Puccini’s opera La Bohème! It’s not a pretty picture, but I found a nice sneezing vintage lady and placed her in a cute holly frame to give her a more holiday flair.

While on our trip I thought I would take as many pictures of holiday decorations as I could find and publish them in a post upon my return. Well, that has been very difficult to almost impossible. The Christmas Season being so important in the US, and the country so large, one comes to believe that other countries celebrate it just as much – it is not so. Growing up in France I loved Papa Noël and the presents he brought. Then as a teenager I enjoyed celebrating Christmas in London a lot more because there was a lot more partying than at home. But I still was very surprised at the extent of the celebrations in the US, where it is celebrated the most in the world. I did find some decorations in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, but this is still the US.

I tried to find if there were Christmas Traditions peculiar to the Caribbean. Many Caribbean Islands’ economies come from tourism and since most of the tourists come from North America, there has been an Americanization of Caribbean Christmas celebrations. There are festivals and parades at that time but also great local food, drink and regional music. In our two week trip I saw only two “Christmas Tree” in individual’s front yards – a small palm tree and a green shrub. That is all. I was riding in a van and could not take clear pictures of them. I did find one lamp post decorated in St Martin (the French side of St Maarten Island.)

In some grocery stores one could find imported Christmas candies, mostly from England and the US. Santa Claus, not indigenous in origin from the Caribbean was only present in the tourist malls. Because of the influx of tourists during the Holiday Season Christmas is celebrated there by Christians and non-Christians alike as a special holiday with non-religious aspects - well, many tourists are not religious… I was told, in Nassau, that there are many branches in the Rastafarian religion there – some even celebrate Christmas – but on January 7th as other members of the Christian Orthodox religion. In a bakery in Old San Juan, Puerto Rico, I did find some holiday decorations, behind the counter.

The weather was quite warm. Walking in 90 degree temperature (32 C) it was easy to forget the Holiday Season as depicted in Western countries with Santa and the snow. Even luxury malls devoted to tourists had very little decorations. On purpose I walked in the main street of Philipsburg, the Dutch side of St Maarten, which is a shopping Mecca. But it was slim picking.

But then, in an alley – success – there it was – a Christmas tree!

If we had been in luxury hotels or restaurants I think I would have found more Christmas decorations, but we did not. So, in conclusion, if someone wants to get away from the heavy commercialization of Christmas, coming to the West Indies, the Caribbean Islands or the Bahamas close to that time is a good idea. It’s always a surprise to see a Christmas theme decoration under a vibrant sun – even in Florida for that matter (like the photo at the top of this post.)

Here in the US, it is easy to forget that not everyone celebrates Christmas in the same way. Just typing “True origins of Christmas” or “Real History of Christmas” in Google or Yahoo bring thousands of answers, like in the link here .

Some Christian groups are offended by the secular nature that Christmas is now taking and say that its religious meaning should be brought back. Other groups states that the roots of Christmas came from ancient pagan festivals, thousands of years old, and not Christianity. These festivals were celebrated on December 25 as the birthday of the invincible sun. They claim that in 320 AD when Roman Catholic Pope Julius I declared that the 25th of December would be the official date of the birth of Jesus Christ - to absorb and Christianize the Yule celebrations - he took over their ancient holiday but they still have the right to celebrate it. Then there are other Christian churches like the 7th Day Adventist, and some branches of the Mennonite and Amish churches that forbid the celebration as not being Christian, just a pagan cross-over. Whether religious, secular, pagan or simply non-religious I think Christmas is a great time for joy and a spirit of giving, sharing, and peace.

I could not find in my postcard collection a “tropical” type Christmas card, but here is a vintage card without the snow.

Joyeux Noël to all!

Blog Intermission no. 18 (entr’acte) Dim Sum in Gardena, California

2011-12-09T07:00:00.003-05:00

On our way to the Los Angeles Airport we stopped for lunch at a “Dim Sum” restaurant. This restaurant is located in Gardena, not far from the airport and was recommended by my daughter.

The Sea Empress Seafood Restaurant is known as an authentic Chinese restaurant serving high quality dim sum.

When I lived in San Francisco I used to love to go to Chinatown to eat – a dim sum meal was a favorite. Dim sum, a Cantonese specialty, started as a snack rather than a full size meal. The dishes are prepared as small-bite size or individual portions of food. They are served on small plates or small steamer baskets.

Service is fast because as soon as you sit down the servers come to your table with rolling carts containing tantalizing food.

Some of the food is cooked in front of you, like the tasty greens below. They are delicious with the sauce provided.

I especially liked the tiny fried fish below.

As the server passes by with the cart, you select the small plates. A card is stamped each time so that at the end of the meal all the dishes will be added for the bill. Once the dishes are on the table each person selects what they wish to eat, such as har gow, sui maj, turnip cakes, dumplings and a large variety of delicious things whose names I don’t know.

Sometimes I am not sure what the dish is, but it is fun to find out (and sometimes I ‘d rather not know …)

The little buns below – don’t know their names – made of bean paste with sesame seeds are a good dessert. I had one, then took another.

The meal was quickly finished which was good since we had a plane to catch. The children were sleepy but enjoyed the meals apart from the baby who wondered what all this was about.

It was time to leave, but not before I took some additional pictures of the restaurant décor.

It was clear when our plane took off and I could see Los Angeles from the air.

The sun was rapidly setting though and colors were changing to golden hues.

Au revoir, Los Angeles!

Sunset at Rancho Palos Verdes, California

2011-11-30T01:34:00.002-05:00

We flew to California to celebrate Thanksgiving withfamily. We were in Long Beach only 5days, but we packed many activities intothis short time. Before we left we boardedour cats Cody and Mitsou at the veterinarian even though they would have lovedto come with us. (Click on pictures to enlarge.)

Another cat was waiting for us when we arrived.

Ten people, three children and a baby were going to be atthe Thanksgiving meal, but it seemed that we prepared enough food for thirtyfive at least. We did buy the pies at alocal bakery where they offered a good variety – including mince pie, my favorite, which isvery difficult to find in Atlanta.

The menu included many of our family’s favorite dishes.

We were pleased to see our three grandsons, including the 4 ½months baby who keeps growing.

The eldest grandson’s 5^th birthday was alsocelebrated that week. The cake wasdelicious.

On the deck, a visiting squirrel wanted to come inside toget a piece of cake I think.

On Friday afternoon – what is called Black Friday by thestores; they offer big sales and huge crowds go shopping – we did not goshopping – we drove for about 30 minutes to Rancho Palos Verdes along thePacific Ocean. My youngest daughterwould have liked to be married in the chapel there, the Wayfarers Chapel, butit only held 100 people, so she was married in Savannah, Georgia. TheChapel was built in 1951. At the time itstood alone on an almost deserted cliff overlooking the Pacific. Now trees, flowers and shrubs are surroundingthe Chapel.

The architect, Lloyd Wright, son of the famous Frank LloydWright, was inspired by the majestic California Redwood trees. He wished to create a “tree-chapel” - redwoodpillars were used in the Chapel and coastal redwood branches can be seenthrough the glass walls from anywhere inside the Chapel. The glass walls offer protection from theelements but also create a sense of outer and inner space. Nature and architecture unite to create anatural sanctuary.

Below is a 1960 era postcard.

This Chapel is part of the Swedenborgian Church of NorthAmerica. It serves as a memorial to itsfounder, Emanuel Swedenborg, born in Stockholm, Sweden (1688-1772.) Swedenborg was a scientist turned mystic. Hewrote anonymously articulating a new understanding of Christianity. His writings promoted a Church based on loveand charity rather than multiple churches named after their founders based onbelief or doctrine. His ideas were endorsed by AmericanTranscendentalist thinkers like Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry James, Sr., andEnglish Romanticists such as William Blake, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, ThomasCarlyle, etc. More modern adherents wereHelen Keller, J. L. Borges and William Butler Yeats. The well-known Zen author D. T. Suzuki wrotea book called “Swedenborg: Buddha of theNorth” (which I have had in my library for quite a while – but have not readyet…)

My husband and I were married in the Swedenborgian Church ofSan Francisco in 1967. It is a lovelysmall church and the only one in San Francisco designated a National HistoricLandmark. It was built in 1895 withnatural materials by an elite group of early California pioneers including thenaturalist John Muir. This churchallowed non-members of the Swedenborgian religion to be married there. We took our wedding pictures in theirgardens. The gardens of the WayfarersChapel are also enchanting. There is a reflectingpool in front of the garden and next to it an apple tree dedicated to JohnnyAppleseed. John Chapman (1774-1845) wascalled Johnny Appleseed because he introducedapple trees to large parts of the Midwest. He was also a missionary for the Swedenborgian Church.

We visited the Chapel in the afternoon and decided to stayuntil sunset. We walked along the gardenwhich is beautifully maintained. In2004, Eric Lloyd Wright, son of the architect, created a Landscape Plan whichwas adopted to guide future botanic development.

As we waited for the sun to come down we admired theoutstanding view and the outline of Santa Catalina Island in the distance.

The view towards the hills was also impressive.

The sun was going down quickly creating golden shadows.

I was behind a tree – it was hard to have a good view of thesun

so I hurried closer to the cliff to see better.

I purchased the little Self-Guiding Walk guide. In the back is this poem –

Pausefor a moment, Wayfarer,

on life’sjourney,

Let thebeauty of holiness

restoreyour soul.

May theharmony of sky

and water,leaf and rock,

Nourishthe creation and growth

of yourinner being

As yourfare through this life

and oninto the life beyond.

Blog Intermission no. 17 (entr’acte) Return to Gilbert Smith Gardens

2011-11-23T12:31:00.001-05:00

Last August we visited a garden not far from our home called the Gilbert Smith Gardens and I wrote several posts about it, please click here to read part 1. It is a small garden but there was so much to admire that I wrote 3 posts on it. Last week since the weather was so nice and the foliage vibrant we decided to return to the gardens to see them under the autumn colors – we were not disappointed. It was a magnificent display. It is hard to believe that we were the only ones in this garden. Below is the Japanese garden area. (Click on collage to enlarge.)

There were so many rich hues of colors that I kept taking pictures with my 3 cameras. I took about 332 photos – now it will be difficult to decide which ones to show. Looking down to the dried Hosta then up to the top of the trees was like an overload of brilliant colors – from pure gold to brilliant orange, saffron, Chinese Lacquer red, alizarin crimson, faded plum and still some greens to shades of browns – a kaleidoscope of colors.

I remember my grandfather saying that when he had to babysit me when I was a child he would walk to the lavender fields and let me wander there – I could stay in there for hours never crying. I guess I kept this interest in the colors and scent of nature – I could have been staying in the garden all day looking at the fiery glow of autumn there and delighting in the scent of the drying leaves. There were some flowers too but since some were close to bee hives I did not get too close.

The various hollies would look good on Christmas cards. I had not seen the pale yellow berries of the Chinese Holly (Ilex Cornuta d’Or)– they would be striking in a dry flower arrangement.

I just went to take a look at the pictures on the posts I published last August on these gardens – everything was so green. Just take a quick look back there – it is such a difference now. I just could not stop admiring all the myriad shapes of the leaves, such as on the Jack Tree below.

What about this Lace Leaf Japanese Maple? So delicate - Isn’t it a beauty?

J’etais inlassable – in English – I was tireless – could not stop looking at all these gorgeous exhibits of nature. But while I was jumping from tree to shrub to flower to sculpture my husband was patiently waiting and looking at the sky.

Looking up myself I realized he was watching a low flying airplane.

I went to see if the roses were still blooming – they were.

One rose had a delicate scent and a lovely butter cream color with a dash of pale pink on the outer petals. It was called Julia Child – a perfect rose for Julia.

Close by was a sculpture I had not noticed last time I was in the gardens. It was a metal and granite piece by John Van Alstine, American, born in upstate New York in 1952.

The Parsley Hawthorn which in August had a vivid green color was turning gold and produced petite crimson berries.

Looking down there were some interesting foliage

and looking up I could see some trees with branches with interesting shapes as well.

In the distance I could distinguish some color – this was the camellia garden. I had not seen the camellias last august as most blooms come in the fall. Many cultivars of camellias were giving the right burst of color among all the gold. From single-to double flowers with rounded shiny green leaves they invigorated the pathways. Some were pale pink

some had a pink color, which we would say in French “plus soutenue” maybe I could say a bolder pink…

then some had the pink turning toward the mauve

Then I came upon a camellia bush which was covered with a multitude of white blooms. It seems that hundreds of cottons balls had been dispersed on it – the petals were overlapping – the blooms were spectacular.

Further on was another white camellia, but this one had single petals – fresh and dainty.

I had spent a long time going from camellia bush to camellia bush and needed to find my husband. I found him by the pond behind the waterfall – meditating or looking at a frog maybe.

Not to disturb him I walked away toward the little waterfall. There I was bedazzled by the enchanting waterfall surrounded by amazing colorful trees. I took many pictures from the side of the fall

then facing the fall.

Walking by the bonsai garden I was surprised to see that their leaves were no longer green – they are trees after all, not house plants.

After passing the fast moving koi

I thought I would see the dog on the porch, like last time, but no – the dog was gone and in its place was … a rabbit!

It was time to go to the picnic area to have a look at the Chinese Parasol tree I photographed last August. I found it - its leaves were now a shade between a sunglow and light tan.

And there by a picnic table was my husband with a Thermos of strong black coffee – just the thing to end this enchanting promenade in the Smith Gilbert Gardens.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

I wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving – here is a vintage postcard from my collection. In the back it says “from Vera to Grandma – 1911”

Note: Blogger Break - Post pre-programmed –

Meeting with Bloggers – encore

2011-11-18T11:19:00.001-05:00

Yesterday evening I published the post below but it did not feed into Google Reader – that is, it did not update or show as a new post for my blog. This is a test to see if it is working properly now. If this post appears in Google Reader please read the real post below and place any comment there. Thank you.

By the way for the records, this current “post” will be the shortest one I have ever published!