Hopefully, everyone enjoyed their Christmas or any other holiday they celebrated, and the end of year festivities. Since my husband, because of his illness (Alzheimer's,) did not know what season it was I had not planned to do anything for Christmas. But then ...listening to Christmas music, reading holiday blogs and seeing all the bright lights everywhere I decided to get a little Norfolk Pine plant and decorate it. (Click on collage to enlarge.)
Our Christmas ornaments were away in boxes plus they were too large for the little tree. I found the ornaments bought a couple of years ago in St. Petersburg, Russia, but the little doll ornaments in folk dresses were too heavy. I then placed my wooden matryoshka nesting dolls in front of the tree until our cats thought they were cat toys and started pushing them around ...
I bought a 2017 cat calendar for my husband - each day a new cat! We bought some pecan pralines for us and as a treat to myself I bought some French imports from Le
Marché shop in New York: my favorite Amora mustard for my vinaigrette, some specialty hard candy "Bergamot de Nancy," some bouchée from Suchard - they are dark chocolate you can buy by the piece in French grocery stores. I could not pass up a 1980s vintage mystery paperback in a second-hand bookstore. We received some good candy and other gifts from family as well. My French blogging friend, Claude, sent me a couple of souvenir magnets, very useful hot pads and tricolor paper napkins (to be used on the 14th of July! (Bastille Day.)
So that Mitsouko, our Grey Korat, would not bother our little tree I had to place on my iPad cat videos that she loves to watch.
The decorations were not removed from our tree until yesterday, January 7th, in honor of my late father who was an Armenian Christian Orthodox. As I mentioned in earlier posts, while Christmas decorations have been taken down in the USA and many countries, other countries following the Eastern Orthodox Church, such as Armenia, Russia, Ukraine, Serbia, Georgia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Ethiopia, etc., celebrate Christmas on January 6 and 7th according to the Julian calendar. The Julian calendar pre-dates the more commonly observed Gregorian calendar. (I explained this in my post of January 2011, click here to read it.) Below is an Armenian Christmas card (written in English and Armenian) I received on January 6th. Next to it is the Holy Etchmiadzin, the Armenian cathedral located near Yerevan, the capital of Armenia. Bottom left is Russian Ded Moroz (Grandfather Frost) next to his grand-daughter Snegurochka (Snow Maiden.) (See more on them in my post of January 2015, click here to read it, although in Russia New Year is a bigger holiday.) Bottom right is a group of Ukrainian ladies celebrating Christmas in their folk dresses.
As 2016 came to a close, we were reminded of the many people we lost, such as David Bowie, Leonard Cohen, George Michael, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Gene Wilder, Prince, Robert Vaughn, Patty Duke, Merle Haggard, Leon Russell, jazz great Pete Fountain, Frank Sinatra, Jr., The Eagles' Glenn Frey, Carrie Fisher, Debbie Reynolds, French actresses Michele Morgan and Nicole Courcel, French composer Pierre Boulez. In sports we lost Arnold Palmer and Muhammad Ali. We also lost writers Harper Lee, Nobel Peace Laureate Elie Wiesel, Pat Conroy, Umberto Eco, and Franco-Belgian writer Francoise Mallet-Joris. Two founding members of the rock group The Jefferson Airplanes also left us this year - guitarist Paul Kantner and vocalist Signe Anderson. The Jefferson Airplanes were a rock band from the 1960s from San Francisco who pioneered psychedelic rock. I saw them performed live in San Francisco in the mid 1960s.
We also lost Papa Wemba, a Congolese singer and musician, called "The King of Rumba Rock" - I have several of his CDs. Another terrible tragedy was the loss of 64 members of the Alexandrov Ensemble, also known as The Red Army Choir. The choir was founded in 1928 by composer and conductor Alexander Alexandrov and has a worldwide reputation for excellence. The Ensemble had been dubbed "Russian's singing weapon" by British Prime Minister Winston Churchill after he assisted at their performance at the Yalta Conference in 1945. I have several of the choir's CDs, too. They have powerful voices; there are also dancers in the group. (Photos courtesy Alexandrov Ensemble.)
At the end of my 29 December 2013 post I mentioned that we had seen a Russian choir in Atlanta and attached a video of one of my favorite Russian's folksongs, The Monotonous Little Bell. I wrote down the lyrics in French and English (click here to see them.) I had noted then that it was a melancholy song - a song of remembrance. This folk song is also in the Alexandrov Ensemble's repertoire - listen to it below. Isn't it beautiful? (Photos by Alexander Shadrakova.)
Another personality we lost in 2016 was David Bald Eagle, a Lakota Chief. He passed away at age 97 after a long and extraordinary life. He was born in a traditional teepee on the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe Reservation in South Dakota. He only spoke Lakota until he was 12 and at 15 he underwent the traditional Sundance ceremony. During WWII he was awarded the Silver Star for fighting at Anzio, Italy. Afterward he parachuted into the fighting in Normandy, was injured by German soldiers and saved by British commandos.
He married an English teacher and they became ballroom dancers. Unfortunately she died in a car crash. David Bald Eagle then took up skydiving and was a stunt double. He also drove race cars and was in the rodeo circuit. He toured in a Wild West Show as a rodeo performer and while in Brussels at the World's Fair in 1958 he met his second wife, Josee Kesteman, a young Belgian actress (seen in collage below.) Bald Eagle appeared in over 40 Hollywood films including "Dancing with Wolves." He achieved more than I can tell here and had an outstanding long life, well lived.
On television I watched the celebrations and fire works for the end of 2016 and the start of 2017.
On New Year's Day I made the traditional Deep South recipe to bring us a prosperous year with good health and good luck: Hoppin' John with collard greens and cornbread. Hoppin' John is made with black-eyed peas, rice and bacon or smoked turkey (I have my own recipe.) Black-eyed peas being for coins, collard greens - green being the color of money, and cornbread which is the color of gold ... we usually pour some spicy pepper sauce on the collard greens. I started making this dish for New Year way back when we moved to Georgia and have made it every New Year's Day, except one year we were in Columbus, Ohio, and I could not find fresh collard greens there and last year when I was in bed with pneumonia. The next night I was not too hungry so used the "pot liquor" or pot likker - it is the brothy juice left from cooking the collard greens. It is full of nutrients and is very tasty. Now for y'all not to believe that I have lost all my French ways, I did start the meal with a little bit of "pâté
de campagne"(country
paté) and "cornichons" (French sour pickles) and ended with a piece of Camembert cheese - both with crusty French country bread and a glass of red wine ... voila!
On January 2nd, I watched the Pasadena Rose Parade. The Armenian Rose Float presented "Fields of Dreams." It was the 2017 winner of the "Past President's Trophy" for the most creative use of floral and non-floral elements. It comprised 18,000 white and red roses and other flowers near the rendering of Mount Ararat. Other elements such as pomegranate, lentils and nuts covered the Artsakh stallion.
Now it was time to remove our old calendar and replace it with the new 2017 calendar. We went from St. Petersburg, Russia - a calendar I bought a couple of years ago there, to a new Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, calendar that our daughter Celine sent us. She moved to Pittsburgh after her July wedding and is hoping to entice us to visit her. We will but not now when it is so cold there (a blustery 14 F (-10 C) feeling like 0 F (-17.7 C) today, Sunday January 8, 2017.)
Actually today is also the coldest day in Georgia at 28 F (-2.2 C.) It snowed a bit during the night of Friday to Saturday. Saturday morning, January 7th, I took some pictures in our backyard. The snow was not deep but the surface had a sheer layer of ice on it. It was very sunny though.
It was so sunny that our cat Cody decided to jump back by the window-sill for a nap. No birds were close by although I could see by their tracks that they had tried to get some water from the frozen bird bath.
Today, from the computer room upstairs I can see the front and side of the house. It looks the same as yesterday - light snow on the ground, full sun and no traffic. People have been told to stay indoors because there is "black ice" on the roads. This is what happens when the sun hits the surface of the roads and melts the top of the snow. It ices again and becomes invisible. It is a real hazard when driving.
But in Georgia the weather warms up quickly. We will be back in the 60s F soon, and 66 F (18.8 C) is predicted within four days, on Thursday January 12, 2017. Sunshine, blue skies and a good year ahead, that is my wish for all of you. Let's look forward to 2017, hoping for less noise and more joy. We need to look and see the beauty that is all around us and also remember that we live on the same planet and need to take care of it. The French fleur de lys vintage postcard below says "On
vit de souvenirs et d’espérance" - we live from memories and hope.
Troops from Australia and New Zealand were guests of honor in Paris national celebration day called "le 14 juillet" in France (but Bastille's Day outside the country.) The two Oceania countries were invited to commemorate the Battle of the Somme, one of the bloodiest battles of World War I. This battle centenary was celebrated on July 1, 2016, in Thiepval, Somme, France. I wrote about this in my last post. The Australian Imperial Force (AIF) had sent 295,000 men to France and Belgium to serve in WWI between March 1916 and November 1918. Of these, 132,000 became casualties and 46,000 lost their lives.
New Zealand Forces had a total of 364 Pacific Islanders and 2688 Maori in addition to regular troops serving on the Western Front in the 1916-1918 war. A total of 18,500 New Zealanders died in or because of the war and nearly 50,000 more were wounded.
The Australian and New Zealand Army Corps suffered more than 30,000 casualties in the Battle of the Somme alone, and their sacrifice has not been forgotten by France. As guests of honor Australia and New Zealand marched in the parade. Eight Maori warriors were at the head of the parade, followed by 72 New Zealand soldiers and 133 Australian soldiers. It is the first time that the flags they were carrying had been paraded together outside of New Zealand. A party of Maori warriors opened the parade this morning. A Maori warrior, Private Adrian Te Aonui, ran along the Champs-Elysees in a dress rehearsal and was photographed by the international media.
I got up at 4:30 am this morning, July 14, 2016, to watch the parade live on my computer (10:30 am Paris time.) I took several photos from my screen, but some are not very clear.
The parade was led by Maori warriors followed by an 85-strong New Zealand Defense Force (NZDF) contingent, many wearing replica World War One uniforms. There were also regimental colors and banners representing NZDF units that served in WWI. Lieutenant Colonel Eugene Whakahoehoe was leading the contingent and wore the Ngā
Tapuwae kahu huruhuru Māori feather cloak in recognition of his exemplary conduct and contribution to the NZDF. (Click on collage to enlarge.)
A TV reporter interviewed one of the Maori warriors and asked about his weapon. He explained that it was a "taiaha" a traditional weapon made of wood and used for short, sharp strikes with quick footwork from the wielder. The warrior had also placed a new engraving showing the trip to Paris drawn as a friendly link between New Zealand and France.
The Maori warrior party in the parade was comprised of personnel from all three services of the NZDF. The Maori warriors were known as a fierce, unforgiving slayer of the South Seas. The Parisians were quite impressed (and so was I.)
Prime Minister John Key of New Zealand and his family attended this Bastille Day celebration in Paris with French President Francois Hollande. New Zealand Chief of Defense Force Lieutenant General Tim Keating said it was an honor to march in one of the world's oldest and largest military parades. "This is an historic occasion for the New Zealand Defence Force and a fitting opportunity to reaffirm our enduring relationship with France, especially during the First World War centenary" he said. He added that there were more New Zealand service personnel with known and unkown graves buried in France than anywhere else in the world. The nine New Zealand Army regimental colors, including the Queen Alexandra's Mounted Rifles guidon, carried World War I battle honors and represented regions across New Zealand. The Governor-General of Australia, Sir Peter John Cosgrove, was also present. The Australian Defense Force marched in a "position of honor." Contingents included the Royal Australian Navy, Army and Royal Australian Air Force and a tri-service flag party, or in total 140 members. It is the first time that both Australian and New Zealand forces have paraded in Paris since 1880. France and Australia have deepened their ties since Australia signed a contract last April to have France design and build a 34 billion euro ($39 billion) next generation submarine for them.
The parade had a total of 3,239 men and women walking, 241 on horses, 212 vehicles, 55 aircraft, 30 helicopters and 35 specialized working dogs. The only novelty this year was that the French Customs (Douane) personnel were marching down the Champs-Elysees for the first time in almost 100 years. They had come down once before, in 1919, for the Victory parade celebrating the bravery of their agents during WWI. The Customs services were re-activated after the 13 November 2015 terror attack in Paris at the Bataclan. To enable them to march in unison the 49 Customs agents were trained for 6 hours during three weeks.
I was pleased to have gotten up during the night to watch this parade live. The fireworks would come later on but I wanted to watch the Tour de France next. I went down to the kitchen for a quick cup of coffee and turned on the television at 7:30 am to watch the 12th stage of the Tour. I did not want to miss this stage because I knew they were supposed to finish at the top of Mont Ventoux. I remember the Mont Ventoux well from when I was a wee child. I lived close to its base, in the small town of Vaison-la-Romaine, with my grandparents until I was about 4 years old. It is called the Giant of Provence, rising 350 to 1,912 meters high (6273 feet) with a lunar landscape at its top. Since 1990 it has been listed as a Biosphere reserve by UNESCO. It has a unique biodiversity of more than 1,000 species of plants, flowers, trees, 120 varieties of birds including golden eagles and duck hawks. In my 2009 post about the Tour de France I wrote about the Mont Ventoux - click here to see it. In that post I showed a photo of my granddad and me in Vaison. I returned as a teenager and stayed in my grandparents' friends' farm in Vaison, near lavender fields, for monthly vacations.
Since then I always wished to return to Vaison-la-Romaine. I went back to Provence several times but never made it back to Vaison. We did go to Nice in October 2012 and rented an apartment not far from the Promenade des Anglais for a week, but we did not have a car. I included a picture of the bay of Nice I took in late October 2012 in the collage above. That picture was in a post on Nice I wrote on another Tour de France in 2013 - click here to read it. I still have many pictures of Nice and need to write another post in the future. But let's get back to the Tour. Because of fierce winds, with gusts measuring 104 kph, it was decided that this stage would finish at Chalet Reynard, a ski resort restaurant, about 9.5 km (approx 6 miles) from the top. So far the cyclists had had a good run, although the wind, called "le Mistral" was blowing hard.
Thousands of spectators had been already camping along the route to Mont Ventoux and had to retreat to the small restaurant. The crowd was immense along the narrow road as they had to assemble at the finish instead of being along the 6 mile road. The Chalet Reynard is an old ski refuge dating to 1927 which was updated as a restaurant. It stands at 1,417 meters (4650 ft,) alone, on the road to the top of the mountain. This is why this stage ended in chaos.
As I watched TV in disbelief, the yellow jersey (winner of the Tour so far) British Chris Froome, was walking then running up the road without his bicycle! A first in all the years I have been watching the Tour. What had happened is this - less than 1 km from the finish the camera motorcycle had to stop in front of a wall of 100-200 people standing on the road. Australian cyclist Richie Porte collided violently against the stopped motorcycle and Chris Froome piled on top of him. Then another motorcyclist ran over Chris' bicycle and broke it. Without a bike Christ started to jog up the mountain for a couple of minutes so as not to lose time. Spectators watching this and other cyclists passing him were in shock. It certainly was a mess, it was crazy. Then he was handed a "neutral" bike that he tried to ride a bit, but could not. Finally he was given another bike and finished, but late.
The Tour de France race jury ruled that Chris Froome had lost his bike through no fault of his own and let him retain the yellow jersey. Chris said "Ventoux is full of surprises ... I am happy with the jury's decision." It certainly was a wacky conclusion to the 12th stage today. It is a farce for the Tour that will be talked about for years. I think that the race organizers need to keep better control of the crowds, and above all on Bastille Day when everyone is out; they need to respect the cyclists. It is like if spectators were allowed in pools while swimmers were in a swimming match - that is not right. Anyway it had been a fun Bastille Day and I am pleased I got up to watch all of it. I came back up to the computer this afternoon after watching the Tour to write this post and now, at 7:15 pm, am finally going down to fix dinner. I am still reading on Brexit and will try to talk about it in my next post.
o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
Addendum - Friday 15 July, 2016. Yesterday evening after finishing the above post I went downstairs and saw the end of the news on TV. My husband had been watching but because of his Alzheimer had not understood what had happened in France. I was stunned by the horror of the tragedy: a massacre of happy families with children and tourists on the 14 of July enjoying the fireworks in our lovely city of Nice - truly a city for joie de vivre. The Promenade des Anglais (The English Walk) is beautiful and a destination for happiness, not despair. The truck, without its lights on, zigzagged on the Promenade for over a mile mowing adults, children and babies - he killed at least 84, including 10 children, and there are over 200 in hospitals including 52 critically injured. A hero jumped in the cab and seized the driver's revolver. This hero saved many lives by stopping the truck on its murderous route. The police was able then to shoot the terrorist down. I did not feel like going back up to the computer last night and publish my happy post about Bastille Day. Now I added a sad cartoon by Plantu to my heading picture. What can I say? I just have intense grief. How many more cities and countries can we keep adding to - je suis Charlie, je suis Paris, je suis Beyrouth, je suis Bamako, je suis Bruxelles, je suis Orlando, je suis Bagdad, je suis Bangladesh, je suis Istanbul and now je suis Nice? Je suis infiniment triste (I am infinitely sad.)
Time is moving so fast that I almost missed Bulloch Hall 34th Quilt Show "the Great American Cover-up Quilt Show." Fortunately I read a notice about it in a newspaper, just in time. This year the show was held between March 4 and 13, 2016. It featured a special exhibit of quilts made by fiber artist Christine Cetrulo of Lexington, Kentucky - however photos were not allowed. But it was OK to photograph this year's great variety of quilts, about 200 of them, displayed throughout the historic 1840 house museum. We went on Tuesday, March 8, 2016, a beautiful sunny and warm day - 76 degrees F (24.4 C.) It is always a pleasure to visit this imposing antebellum mansion in Roswell, Georgia.
My dear readers have seen several of my posts on Bulloch Hall quilt shows and at Christmas time, when the home is decorated for the Holidays. This is our 4th year visiting the quilt show; chick here to see the 2013 show, here for the 2014 show, and here for the 2015 show. Major Stephen Bulloch built this outstanding home for his wife Martha and their six children. As I mentioned before, their daughter Millie married Theodore Roosevelt, Sr. Subsequently Mittie and Thee's elder son, Theodore, became the 26th President of the United States. The Bulloch's younger son, Elliott, was the father of Eleanor, who married Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the 32nd President of the United States.
As usual, we were greeted by large quilts hanging in the front hall. (Please click on collage to enlarge.)
Below, my husband is reading the show brochure while seating in front of quilt no. 1 "Crazy Daisy" by Diane Knott, a local guild member. This quilt is feature on the cover of Ms. Knott's book "Scrap Quilt Secrets." More of her work is displayed in other areas of the house.
In the back of the front hall was a striking blue quilt, called "Trees in the Moonlight" by Wanda Rose Stewart next to "Stwabewies Peese" by Devon Pfeif that was inspired by her granddaughter.
Then we walked into the dining room. By the fireplace was a quilt that looked like a portrait painting. It was "Life Journey" a self-portrait by Devon Pfeif who says "Upon completion of a project there are always bits and pieces leftover. Those are what make up this quilt. They have traveled with me for 30 years and are my life's journey."
The warming room contained some intricate geometric designed quilts, a quilt on a table and a quilt showing some sweet dogs.
There was also a bright red quilt from Diane Knott's book. A quilt placed on an easel, called "Caged Bird" by Joyce Daniels, had been inspired by Maya Angelou's book I know Why the Caged Bird Sings. On the wall was hanging a large quilt made from a multitude of little squares. It was called "Nationwide Swap" by Sharyl Dawes. She explained that the squares were accumulated through a Facebook Group. Each month they exchanged 20 different mini charms.
In the back hall quilt no. 52 "Santa Fe Arch" by Ann Quandee was machine appliqued, hand and machine embroidered. It was inspired by photos from Santa Fe, New Mexico.
The "Wicked Challenge" quilts were hanging along the staircase. The 20"x20" quilts were made of specially died green Cheerywood fabrics. Up at the landing were a colorful owl "Ready for Carnival" and a fun "Night at the Circus" quilts.
I liked quilt no. 77 by Gail Oliver, called "Awakening Wicked." She says "Elphaba decides to trust her beliefs and not judge right from wrong based on others' values."
My husband's favorite quilt was very large and pretty austere - white with blue border. It is called "Welsh Beauty Celebrating Love" and was quilted by Karen Hallacy's mother to celebrate Karen's 25th wedding anniversary.
More lovely quilts were exhibited in the upstairs hall, and in the two bedrooms. Quilt no. 108 below, near the chest of drawers, is called "Magnolia" and was made by Virginia Bradley, age 12, in Edgecomb County, North Carolina in 1863. Virginia died a year later due to the diseases of the Civil War.
A guild volunteer was working on a quilt in one of the bedrooms. She told me the pattern was called "stained glass window." On the bed, a blanket had white applique designs - it is no. 91 called "Snowflakes" by Nancy Summa (top right below) who says "Since my husband is a retired Army, the use of his Army blanket makes the piece more meaningful." I had never seen a plain wool blanket embellished like this. It looked very pretty, indeed, for a rough Army blanket. No. 84, in the center below, is "New Zealand Memories 2015" by Emily Wert. She says "My husband surprised me with new wedding bands inscribed in Elvish on our 34th anniversary trip to NZ." This quilt is made with fabric printed pictures and New Zealand fabric.
The quilt behind the bed is called "Kneeded Distraction" and was made by Shari Chastain of Kennesaw, Georgia (top right below.) It is a play on word as she says that she stitched the blocks during recovery from two knee replacement surgeries. Quilt no. 100, on the bed, is called "Swoon" by Jan Antranikian and is shown at the top of this post.
On a table in Mittie's bedroom was a sweet little quilted piece near the book "Mittie and Thee - An 1853 Roosevelt Romance." The quilt is called "Les Coiffes Catalanes" by Jean Sands. She says "Six vintage traditional head gear from the Pyrenees Orientales region of France were disassembled to make this wall hanging." Below are two postcards of French ladies wearing the traditional costume from that area, next to a map of France showing Departement no. 66, the Pyrenees Orientales (bottom of map and filled in red.) This French Departement is located near the Spanish border and the tiny nation of Andorra.
The pictures of the ladies on the little white quilt mentioned above are wearing Victorian clothes and go well with the lace and trim around them. Even with an old-timey style this quilt has more the approach of a modern "improvisation" quilt because of the asymmetry of the background.
Most of the quilts exhibited at Bulloch Hall were of the traditional style, and they were gorgeous. But I also like the artistry of modern quilting - the improvisations that show the personality of the quilter. My blogging friend Ruth of the blog "Birds of the air quilts" is a creative modern quilter - below are two of her quilts: "Nancy's macarons" inspired by a painting of Paul Klee, and an urban modern garden improv from Virginia Woolf's book Mrs. Dalloway.
Both of these gifted ladies have a new approach to quilting that is original and innovative. Their quilts are stunning and I thank them for letting me show their work on my blog.
Another quilt I liked very much was called "Raven Stealing the Sun" by Stella Lang.
Stella says that her quilt was inspired by legends from Indians of the northwestern United States. But when I saw it, I immediately thought it was representative of Canada First Nations people, especially Coast Salish artists. We went to Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada, three times and I bought several postcards of drawings made by Pacific Northwest Native people. Some of these were drawn by artist Joe Wilson, born in Koksilah, near Duncan on Vancouver Island. See examples below. I love the great native art on Vancouver Island.
Now I still have photos from the quilts in the attic of Bulloch Hall, plus the sewing room and two rooms downstairs - they will be included in part 2 of this post.
Just a couple more drawings before I go - I saw these Native American cartoons by Ricardo Cate and could not resist showing them to you all. Ricardo Cate, of native Kewa Pueblo heritage, is the only Native American cartoonist carried in daily mainstream newspapers. (cartoons courtesy R. Cate.)
