Autumn Cottage Diarist

Chilly Dreams of Venice Again

Things quiet at Autumn Cottage after the Christmas hustle and bustle, so I am enjoying the time to sit down and write a PowerPoint presentation for a new writing course I will be running face to face for the first time in February.

It is being written in unusual circumstances, though, because right now I am typing on my laptop computer in front of the fire, instead of in my chilly office. As is the way of the world, (otherwise known as "Sod’s Law"!), the heating, cooking and hot water system at "my" end of the house (where my office is situated) broke down on Christmas Eve. So we have been bundled in cardigans and scarves in the outer reaches of the house, and VERY grateful for big fires and hot water from the other end of the Cawley residence.

Added to which, there have been some family problems with Alec’s elderly relative, which has required some to-ing and fro-ing for him – and a lot of heartache in between, Fortunately, he and his siblings are all very supportive of each other, and in agreement about what needs to be done, it is just frustrating for them all that certain providers take a plaguey long time a-doing of it.

But in between all this "bummer-life-stuff" I am able to say that I was once again immensely lucky in the gifts that I received on Christmas Day. Santa-Alec brought me a digital projector with which I can now give much more professional talks (I am currently producing one about my recent visit to Venice and the journal on which the visit was based). And now that Alec knows that HIS gift from me is (another!) visit to Venice in the spring,  I can also feel free to talk about it here. Phew, has it been difficult to keep that a secret for the last couple of months!

Still no camera, (and I am suffering severe withdrawal symptoms about that now – no Christmas photos at all this year - Bah!), you will, I am afraid, have to put up with yet more images of Venice.

Enjoy the peace of the year as the year turns round. I’m writing my list of "Goals for 2007" at the moment – what are some of yours?

Early Gifts

Every year I give myself a treat by giving me a birthday present :-) Two days late this time, so what I bought in Hungerford this morning is instead, I have decided, an early Christmas gift. It is a limited edition copy of a book of costume designs of the Opera of Der Rosenkavalier" staged as part of the 1980 season at Glyndebourne. The special thing about this book of designs is that it is actually signed by the costume designer, the extraordinarily imaginative Romain de Tirtoff, known for most of his stage career as "Erte" (R-T)

I have long had a fascination with his extremely stylised but I think utterly beautiful designs, which have appeared on everything from note books to china, apart from their original destination of the stage. What is their appeal?

I don't know, other than to say that it maybe is part of the same reason why I love Venice - a complete absorption with the decorative, the elegant, the richness of colour and shape which appears everywhere, from the little jewel box shops around St Marks Square to the interiors of the grandest Palazzi. Erte would have been at home in Venice, I think!

Someone else who shares my love of Stage costume design is my stunning cousin from Hong Kong - who has just celebrated her (ahem) birthday in splendid style, on a cruise around Hong Kong Harbour followed by a celebration dinner at the Hong Kong Hyatt hotel, all  organised by her devoted husband. Here she is a-cruising... Isn't she just gorgeous?

We have both inherited this love of costume and textiles from our respective fathers (and cousins to each other) who both, in their own way, at various times, made the stage a home from home. (I suspect it also goes back a LOT further, to Joseph Amici, our Great-Great-Great Grandfather, and merchant of the City of London in 1760. Living in a street almost entirely inhabited by textile merchants, does it not seem more than likely that he was too?).

And since it's that time of the year, I'll leave you with Dad exhibiting his own love of stage design in his "walk down" costume from his Pantomime days. His Panto Dames outfit, (made by me, played by him), would have been admired, I am sure, by Erte - though what he would have thought of the other "Modes de Couture" that Dad modelled at this time of the year, I really cannot say!

I also cannot possibly say who Dad's Ugly Sister could have been.....

(Oh, yes you can!.....Oh, no, I CAN'T!!)

I'll leave it for you to guess! But for now, enough silliness from me - I will leave you, I hope, with laughter - one of the greatest gifts - and from the Horses Mouth..... a Merry Christmas to you all!!

Bounty for the Birthday Girl

I seem to have been particularly blessed with wonderful gifts for my
birthday today. Some of which I have requested, some of which have been
pure bounty.

The requested gifts were given by Alec. I had hoped for one
- I got two....

The series DVD that you see here includes all
12 programmes covering a year in the life of a group of historians and
archaeologists who lived in the manner of cottagers and farmers of the
1620's at a renovated farmstead in Wales. The whole project has been
running for 17 years before the TV series was made....)

Since I live myself in a 17th Century cottage, I was glued to the few
programmes that I managed to watch myself, for an insight into how the
original inhabitants of Autumn Cottage might indeed have lived. When I
discovered that a DVD was available (and also discovered that my blog-
friend Rowan had actually visited the site!) onto the gift-request-list
it went!

The second generous gift was an Italian language course, produced
by Rosetta Stone. Their "immersion" courses are used by Embassies,
Government establishments and schools all over the world, and after
trying an example lesson, I felt that it would be very valuable for me.
My heart, as well as my ancestry is in Italy - and after my recent visit
to Venice, I am longing to become more fluent, to enable me to enjoy
future visits even more.

A third, unexpected "gift" was the arrival in the post of a journal I
had bought on eBay, the record of two cruises taken to Europe (I think
by an American author) in 1905 and 1909. Of course, I knew it would
arrive sometime, but Fortune brought it today. And by an extraordinary
co-incidence, the entries for August 14th-16th 1905 show that the writer
stayed in exactly the SAME hotel as "the 1906" ladies whose footsteps we
followed just two months ago. I am still stunned by the discovery, and
of course, cannot wait now to transcribe the journal. The first visit,
in 1905, includes many places in the UK - so there will be some more re-
tracing of steps to do with this book in hand, in the coming year.

And the other gifts? Well, even before my birthday started, I was taken
to London yesterday to see a production of Mel Brooke's "The Producers"
at the Drury Lane Theatre. Alec was once again the generous benefactor,
Tim travelled up with us, and Hugh met us in Covent Garden "At the
Golden Carousel".

It was an afternoon of freezing fog, hot mulled wine, minced pies,
street performers, the smell of the greasepaint and the chortle of the
crowd, outrageous performances and wonderful almost-pantomime, extremely
gay costumes, an old English pub, Italian food and good wine - but most
important of all, the most precious gift of all, was having my family
around me.

All of us having a wonderful time, good conversation, fun, laughter and
gratitude for our good fortune. We all know what really matters, apart
from wonderful material gifts..it is the fact that we all have each
other. Through trials and tribulations, good times and not so good, we
are all there for each other, and we do our best to offer each other
support.

And that is a gift beyond price.

Exquisite Mystery

Sorting books this morning (the story of my life!) when I came across
this beautiful paper item, taken from a Victorian scrap album which I
own, from the 1880's. Now note that the whole image, background
included, is only 7 x 11 cms. (Roughly 2.75 x 4.5 ins.) Click on the image for a closer look - it is well worth it.

I have two questions....how on EARTH was the background cut in such a
fine filigree? Today we would say "laser cut" - but in 1880?? Perhaps
punches? I don't know. What do you think?

The second question is - what is the subject matter of the image?
Dressed in white tissue, with what looks like a prayer book in her left
hand and with an almost sword like candle in her right, in what ceremony
is the beautiful lady taking part? Corpus Christi? A Christmas
celebration? Marriage? I think not the latter - unless she is becoming a
Bride of Christ? What are your thoughts on this?

And in case you are wondering what has happened to photographs appearing
here on blog, well, they have gone to the Great Delete Bin in the Sky
for now - I left my camera out in the rain overnight after photographing
the garden a couple of weeks ago, and now I am afraid that the camera is
no longer functional. Woe is definitely me, as my camera is normally an
extension of my hand - but until Santa has been paid, no new cameras
here!

Fun For Jolly Good Fellows

Another purchase from the book sale on Saturday - "Cassells Book of Sports and Pastimes" from 1893, a two inch thick tome on how Chaps could entertain themselves. This is the way to become "Manly" should any of you wish to do so!

How about starting with a little light football practise?

 

Moving on to more "Manly" wrestling?

Or perhaps Lacrosse is a fellow's best choice?

With a bit of gentle putting to finish?

And when beddybyes comes - however old the participants (the book is written for lads of under 14, by the tone of the text) - there is this universal pleasure to carry out when tucked up in bed, by candlelight...(no, not that!!).......the universal delight of making Animal Shadows.

How many of you have done this in your childhood - and how many of you can still remember all the "shapes"? For those that have faded from memory, here is a refresher - click on the image to enlarge it, then right click to print - and have fun when you are yourself tucked up tonight.

The elusive Christmas Spirit is still hanging around a little distance from my house at the moment. I've been too pre-occupied over the last few days to do  nything very "Christmassy". I don't know what it is - perhaps the fact that my boys have grown up and away, perhaps its the fact that I am in considerable discomfort at the moment from a combination of arthritis in both wrists and some RSI in one (the result of cutting up images for 10 hours for use in collage work) and all I long for is the cold weather to be over, for spring to be here...and for me to be able to start to plan another visit to Venice!

I was more pre-occupied on Saturday than is even usual for me, as I went off to the monthly book sale held by my book dealer friend, Martin
Smith, in the little Village hall at Penton Mewsey, just outside Andover. Martin was the gentleman who supplied the Venice journals to me in my book and print dealer days, and seems to have an ever changing stock of the most enticing books in the world. (Email me for his 2007
book sale dates).

I was going to be good - "just popping down to look, not buy" - oh, well Ha flipping Ha, my dear! Not buying books is a physical impossibility for me - so home I came with - ahem - three boxes. MOST of which, I hasten to add, will considerably enhance the library of books that I keep available for participants in my workshops to borrow or use in class.

Some others will be for personal learning, and one or two will be cut up and used for collage and art journaling. Out of forty-odd books, here are just some that I acquired ....have you read any of these - and if not, which ones do you fancy reading??

"A Venetian Affair - The true story of an impossible love in the 18th century" - Andrea de Robilant

"The Anatomy of the Spirit" - Caroline Myss

"Imagining the Soul - a history" - Rosalie Osmond

Swiss Hotel Pioneers - (Victorian Hoteliers)

"The Closing of the Western Mind - The Rise of faith and the fall of
Reason" - Charles freeman

"Fifty Nature Rambles - a series of open air talks for young people
(1907)" - W. Percival Westall"

The last book in this brief list has given me another idea. It would be fun to do my own fifty nature rambles throughout the year - and see just how much difference there is in the times that things happen one hundred years after the book was written. Now where have I heard of that idea before??

What's Happening to the Weather?

One of the reasons that I have been absent from here for so long is - oh,
well, you know how it is, one of the reasons is just the approach of
Christmas and that feeling that I have once again been disorganised and
left things too late, battling with the other side of me that does NOT
want to be steam-rollered into doing "stuff" for Christmas weeks and
weeks before hand. I can't win, I guess.

But one of the OTHER reasons for being absent is that I have been trying
to get some sort of order into Autumn Cottage garden - which chiefly
meant trying to sort out rotting apples from long grass from heaps and
heaps of leaves. Needless to say, this took a little while.

But while I was clearing the leaves, I came across something which I
don't often come across in early December. I came across snowdrop,
crocus and daffodil leaves all pushing their way heartily to the
surface. This is VERY, very early for my garden.

More surprising still, something that I have never seen before in the
garden, in December - a Red Admiral butterfly, fluttering happily from
alcoholic apple to alcoholic apple. It must have been one very tipsy but
very happy butterfly by the end of the day.

And down in the pond, (which was also full of leaves, because I did not
get my act together to net the pond earlier in the autumn), a third
unexpected sight, of lily leaves still green and floating, when in all
other years, they would by now be disintegrating at the bottom of the
pond. Heaven knows when the frogspawn will appear - I would not be at
all surprised to see some soon, in weather that is reminiscent of spring
days rather than early winter.

Surely, all are signs of global warming - pleasant to live in for now,
(I don't particularly long for snow and slush and freezing nights) - but
what is the effect going to be even next year, when all the bugs that
didn't die off come back to haunt the garden - I think there will be
some real battles on our hands to see who gets the upper hand.

But for now, enjoy the low winter sunlight through the bare branches of
the old apple tree in Autumn Cottage garden, while I get on with
clearing these leaves........