Joan yesterday expressed her intention of making pumpkin soup. I gave her my customary advice on the subject:- Make it carefully with good ingredients, from a reliable recipe - then throw it away. Don't even bother tasting it because it's bland and awful.
Great day today. Steady start - few bits in Eastwood and then to The Mechanics for lunch. The restaurant was not too busy - then our class. Excellent today. We both learned a lot. Picture 1 is very well known. Millais' Ophelia" for whom the model was Lizzie Siddal. Poor girl had to lie in a bath for hours at a time. Lizzie was very popluar in PRB circles and no mean artist herself. But it ended in tragedy because she committed suicide with an overdose of laudanum. We had to zoom through to get as far as their acceptance and Ruskin. By now we have reached the mid 19th century and photography is beginning to be important.
In one painting 'Autumn Leaves' there is a girl with a half eaten apple. Y knew all about the symbolism because many years ago she had to do an essay on that precise subject as part of her University course, but she modestly kept 'shtum' while others had a crack at it. All the symbolism in PRB paintings could be read by the Victorians like we read a longhand note. Next week we move onto Whistler.
When we left we went straight to Morrisons and did some shopping for general use and Saturday in particular. We want to spread the load. Most of the nibbles and stuff we plan to buy ready-made from Marks & Spencer. The days when we woud tackle complicated horses 'ooves and canapés and big roast joints have long since past.
I took Picture 2 in the dark when we returned home at around 4.30pm. And it is going to get darker, earlier, till 21st December 'innit? Chris's dictum of 20mins a week does seem to be true. The subject is the smoke-tree (cotinus) and still in leaf. The blacking-out-the-background effect, that the flash confers, appeals to me and I intend to use it more during the winter. We have plenty of holly, covered with berries (on one tree, nothing on the other) that is crying out for this treatment. I shall be interested to see how the camera handles the reds.
These reds, on the smoke-tree, seem sufficiently muted, and should not give Bungus a head-ache. Only joking. It's just a relief that the Nikon will actually produce reds - the Casio hated them.
Burton Joyce day for Y tomorrow, and I have loads of little jobs outstanding. The basil seedlings desperately need potting on. They seemed to start off 'leggy' and they are even 'leggier' now. Nipping the tops out seems the only solution, unless I can find some 3" pots that are 9" deep - ha ha! Then, after I've collected Y from the tram, it's Camera Club night.
Just watched Strictly Come Dancing, and Y started to watch the football. It didn't hold her interest though, so she has gone back to her book.
Byeeee.....
Pumpkin is an excellent and very nutritious thickener for soup but it should not be relied on for flavour. We had Butternut Squash & Lime soup as a starter at Sandra’s sister’s on Sunday (nice bit of alliteration there). For me, the squash was too sweet and the lime too sharp – not recommended.
ReplyDeleteOphelia has failed to change my mind about the PRB stuff.
Quite right! The red is too much for me. Different shade but it brings to mind some super TV shots of cardinals at John Paul II’s funeral. (I was impressed by these and photographed the screen. See gmail).
Once again Word Verificatioon has failed.