These freesias and roses were a birthday present for Y and I hoped that the muted creams, blues and greens, against our gently coloured wallpaper might be sufficiently subtle not to offend Bungus's over-stimulated sensibilities.Perhaps the bamboo stand is a little vivid!
Thank you Jill for joining the 'bright & colourful' team. As you say, "What would be the point of autumn colours in sepia?"
Photo 2 is Andy's brilliant pen and ink drawing, and he couldn't have given Y a present she would value more. The likenesses of all three are quite remarkable. And me in the bottom right corner, looking rather like a burglar who has misplaced his 'bag marked swag'.He has perceptively summarised Y's interests. Egypt, taking Ruby and Elli to the Park, The Crossword, Books and The Telegraph (I love the front page story about white-water Gran) and, on the sports page Chelsea winning the Cup (his interest not Y's but an artist is entitled I think?). The white-water rafting, Sudoku, and the Garden.
We had lunch at Joan's which was nicer than going to The TreeTops. She had done grilled-pepper soup and rolls, followed by Cheese & Ham cobs. The soup was great, full of flavour and good hefty bowls full. Loads of coffee. Opposite to Joan's lived an elderly Polish lady. She has recently died and her house has been cleared. While we were there, a lorry arrived to remove the skip, full of possessions which no-one wants. So So sad - but I suppose it comes to us all. She was a charming woman. Although her English was typical 'polish-english' (i.e. almost indecipherable) she was fiendly and eager to say hello.
I'm relieved that the Blog doesn't seem to have altered much and I guess the glitch with word-verification will sort itself.
Our Art History class moves onto The PreRaphaelites tomorrow. Love 'em or hate 'em. Y loves them but I've never been so sure. Individual paintings I like a lot and they were certainly a talented grouping. But they all seemed to have difficulty with women's hair. You could identify a PRB painting at 50 paces just by looking at the ladies' hair. No doubt we shall all be better informed by tomorrow afternooon when our tutor has enlightened us. I like Rosetti, and his poetry, although I prefer his sister's. I once won brownie points in a Police College Quiz team by knowing what PRB stood for.
Watch this space tomorrow, for full-colour reproduction..........
Touche! And the bamboo is just enough.
ReplyDeleteOn reviewing your blog pictures, the pumping station was a bad choice of ‘too bright colours’ (they appeared so only on a print I made to show Sandra, so it is down to my printer). The Liquidamber better illustrates the subjective point I was making. Apologies.
But I do prefer my autumn tints through a light mist. I suspect that the fabled New England Fall would be far too gaudy for my delicate taste.
As will be seen in my additional comment on yesterday’s blog, I could not allow Jill to ruin anyone’s experience of the true delight of a Nottinghamshire Apple Dumpling by sacrilegiously eating it with cream rather than milk. Custard would be even worse, of course. Some things cannot be allowed to pass without comment/protest. Wars have been fought over lesser matters.
I agree that absolutely personal presents like Andy’s drawing are something special, particularly with the surrounding details. And you have obviously been put in your place good and proper.
Stephanie went through a phase of painting on glass and illuminated a plain but elegant 15” diameter fruit bowl as a wedding present for a cousin and her groom, decorated with map and imagined scenes of their extended pre-nuptial honeymoon spent cycling across far flung places such as India and Australia. The gift was much appreciated and admired, as I am sure will be the case with Andy’s picture.
I can admire the Brotherhood’s work without much liking most of it (except as a ground for added speech bubbles of a coarse or satirical nature).
I would have suspected that many in the Force would have thought PRB to mean something like ‘Police Riting Book’. Lucky they had you.
I like the following recently discovered Nigel Slater recipe for crumble (I have only tried it with Bramley apples). It uses only one fifth of the usual (Delia) sugar and is delicious unaccompanied, although cream or ice-cream (or, probably, custard) do not spoil it.
ReplyDelete2 lb apples, peeled and chopped, (or plums, stoned) in a casserole with
a whiff of cinnamon (almost the less the better)
Top with 4 oz soft white bread (I use stoneground organic) whizzed to coarse crumbs and mixed with 2 oz muscavado (or other brown) sugar
(I also add a good sprinkle of ground almonds)
Pour 2 oz melted butter all over
Bake until light brown and crisp, 35 to 40 min at 190C (gas 5)