Curious(er)

Yikes. It's an Alice Day/Night.

[illustration by Arthur Rackham via Liam's Pictures from Old Books]

Irving Penn

Irving Penn's death in Manhattan was announced a few hours ago; he was 92. It is difficult to think of who--or what-- he did not photograph in his long illustrious career. To say he was just a fashion & celebrity photographer is not enough. (But, of course, that is the headline.)

[photographs by Irving Penn/Masters of Photography via Ballet Photography]

Gourmet Café Closed

Update on Wednesday. 7 October afternoon: High scary winds felling trees & wreaking havoc with our power supply. More later but please, if so inclined, go to Made4Aid & do a little early (do-gooder) holiday shopping. Pretty please?

Why, what are you doing? Looking at photographs from the GG blog. Looking at piles of to-do lists. Wondering where, what, how...oh yeah, the truth. Nah. Figuring out if I should have Cheerios or make real dinner. (Real dinner. I'm an adult, fer cryin' out loud.) Thankful I have a choice. Pondering riddles & perturbed at much...yet, none of these should be in a blog. So closed for business today.

Here's a link for free city photographs (for nonprofit use). Pictures of Amsterdam.

PS: No. Way. Gourmet magazine now kaput? I just heard this...no way. I am upset. I'm sitting here with one on my lap looking for a recipe. &^%$&%$^ Bleep. More-than-bleep. Hey, deal with the stuff I do, you need Gourmet magazine. And no, looking at Epicurious-freaking-dot-com is NOT the same.Bleep.

Mercedes

RIP, Mercedes Sosa.

[image via Aleposta via Wikimedia Commons]

Week's End - The Trouble with the Truth

If you want to tell people the truth, make them laugh, otherwise they'll kill you. --
Oscar Wilde

Well, then. This weekend, I'll be keeping my mouth shut in public (mostly). Having to self-censor--more than usual.

Yesterday, I enjoyed the new film, Paris. Very good cast, very French, & non-clichéd. It's not for people who will be upset that the Eiffel Tower is seen but briefly. But it is much, much more the 'truth.'

ciao/xo/more & better posts soon/maybe

[photograph by Peter Stackpole for LIFE]

Birthday Roses

...to my mother. I sent her this bouquet for her birthday (this Friday). While I was spending an inordinate amount of time, money, & shattering my last nerve* having the new laptop fluffed & folded, she called to say it's beautiful. At the hairdresser's last week, I flipped through Martha Stewart Living to see how inadequate I am (lately). There was an advert (& a 15% discount code through December 31) for the collection. The code is LIVING15. Cheers.

*and that of a friendly, patient young college student who had the misfortune to be on duty when I arrived with my list of questions & worries.

[Martha Stewart Radiance Birthday Bouquet via 1800FLOWERS]

Monday

[Robert W. Kelley for LIFE, 1960]

Week's End - Slow Down & Look Around

People in town for the National Book Festival. People calling. People soliciting advice. People seeking the counsel of someone afraid of her new laptop? Think about it. Here's good advice for writers (& in general) at any level. The photograph synchronizes with Giulia Geranium today because, frankly, the bewildering assortment of photographs & images on hand is, well, a jumble. My tiny kingdom for a camera. Yesterday's foray to the new farmer's market near the White House (& assorted wanderings) called out for one. On the desk sit about-to-bloom pink lilies & stripey grasses from a cut-flower farm, Wollam Gardens, featured in yesterday's Washington Post.

And that's that. Happy weekend.

(Easy Day by gloeckchen via we heart it -via deviant art. The artist's gallery, here.)

La Coiffure

It's no wonder that this is from Cute Overload via We Heart It. It's from a GG post last holiday time but I wanted to see it over here now. Maybe it will balance out my sarcasm. The great kitten hunt is on after the weekend. A gift for Julie/Giulia (& me).

Against the current, ceaselessly

"They were careless people, Tom and Daisy--they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made..."
The Great Gatsby

It's F. Scott Fitzgerald's birthday (see here for novelist Leslie Pietrzyk's tribute & a bathtub gin recipe); he's buried not too far away. It's sad beyond measure. I resist dipping into an abundance of photographs--personal & otherwise--to illustrate reckless, careless people. I do possess some common sense, no matter what I've written (or allowed to be quoted publicly--in print--for crying out loud) the past several years.

Instead, I will be at the new farmer's market near the White House. (Thank you, Michelle Obama., I love you.) While I'm riding the rails, I will muse on a newly-acquired phobia (& how to exorcise it). I'm convinced that my much-anticipated, first laptop will connect itself, without my assent, to the neighbor's wireless service. Before it has its configuration day spa outing at the local Office Depot. "It" has already indicated a willingness, nay, an eagerness to zip over & grab the hot spot. I will have a cow & kittens if this happens.

Friends have queried, why isn't the DSL working yet? Why not the wireless? Have you even turned the freaking laptop on after spending months researching it & driving us crazy with questions? Well, OK, man, geez. This, this...thing was delivered on September 3. It is September 24. The evening of the 19th, after 4 hours of looking at it (not full-time!) on the coffee table, I turned it on. It fully charged & the mess called "Vista" loaded. I activated the anti-everything -bad programs. Then I turned it off & Julie the Cat returned to lounging upon it. I feel this was a major success but have been told otherwise.

I am reminded that...I was unaccountably afraid of a chainsaw in my Washington, DC garage. (If an inanimate object can be accused of lurking, it lurked. This is why I avoid horror films, books.) Friends thought it hilarious then & still do. This is not helpful, people. You want me to communicate faster, better, watch those YouTube thingies...& even do things for you (ahem) that require resolution of this problem. So maybe razzing me--no matter how amusing--isn't the way to go. (No, these are not careless & reckless creatures...though they've re-enacted my in vino veritas chainsaw confession to others. For which I will never forgive them. OK, I will.)

Photographs are from a series by Frenchman Yannick Vigouroux. He's part of a cellphone photography (photophonie) group. Eh, bricolage. Yannick's project is called Au coeur des pixels. Which I love. I stress that these Parisiennes-on-the-Métro are not careless (insofar as I know).

Session over; carry on.

Maintaining One's Composure

First, obtain some composure. It's on the to-do list. This photograph of Suzy Parker is by Nina Leen via myvintagevogue. Here's a link to Nina Leen photography. Where I learned that I have misspelled her first name. For over a year. The shame will eat at me while I am out today... no time to correct the attributions. This is seriously compromising any composure that I have had for a few hours. (I am not kidding. It is a sickness.)

S.

Week's End - To Autumn

Where are the songs of Spring? Ay, where are they?/ Think not of them, thou hast thy music too,

--John Keats, complete poem...

Oh no, another Keats post? You bet. Thank you, Jane Campion, for your new film Bright Star. I heard high school students talking this afternoon & the word 'Keats' floated through the air between them. This wasn't in a school building.

Keats arrived in Rome (via Naples) 21 October 1820; the ship was quarantined & he did not arrive in Rome until 15 November. Though he did not write poetry in what were to be his last months, he wrote one letter, to his friend Charles Brown. It's heartbreaking, especially the last two lines. "...I can scarcely bid you good bye even in a letter. I always made an awkward bow."

The photographs are from the Keats-Shelley House near the Spanish Steps; the salon & Keats' bedroom. In these very rooms & at the Protestant Cemetery, I have disgraced myself several times with squeaky sniffs. Once, I embarrassed a younger sister & have not yet been forgiven. Ever after, I have visited alone.

A lovely weekend to all. (Sniff.)

Lungo Tevere by Giampaolo Macorig via flickr; Keats-Shelley House photographs by frattaglia via flickr; Protestant Cemetery, Keats' grave by Piero Montesacro via wikimedia commons.

Gloria in Black & White

We will have real health care reform in this country or I'll eat my huge, polka-dotted umbrella.

[Photographs by Yale Joel for LIFE, 1965]

La Rentrée

Returning is decidedly difficult. Too many to-do lists. So off to make phone calls to remedy the situation, to swim, to ease la rentrée. It's usually one of my favorite times of year. (Except for natal day dread; more about which, perhaps, later.) Jumping into the autumn city swirl would be more graceful, I'm sure, if wearing a blue coat like this 1962 Yves Saint Laurent. One could glide in anywhere & no one would dare yell "You lie!" Yes, I'm still annoyed about the incivility towards our President. I keep referring to Professor Forni's Choosing Civility to keep myself under control. Yesterday I had it with me at a table wherein I had to hear all about why we [the organization] were wrong, misinformed, the usual. I kept glancing at my open tote, the book's title visible. It helped.

So that I don't just list complaints...I can report that I have been able to purchase some new clothes, books (a pile!), renew subscriptions, memberships, & so on. I am grateful.

bisous

PS: I first saw this Paul Schutzer photograph in myvintagevogue's flickr stream. Jessica has several terrific archival blogs. Her lovely official website, here.

Week's End - See You in September

One Christmas morning, a parental nod, go ahead. The only walking child, three to follow. A record player & a few 45s under the tree. It had to be for me. For me? For me? Really? It remains a highlight, that day. Music. On demand. My own. I can't play music, of any kind, in the background...or I stop listening to anyone, everything.

It's (way) past time to take a break, make & keep appointments/lunch/dinner/drinks, gather photographs for Giulia Geranium, cause a little (well-meaning) trouble. What else. Oh, yes, finish up some projects, send the little darlings out into the world. Waiting is the hardest part...'tis true.

Have a great couple of weeks; I hope you get up to no end of (harmless) nonsense. I'll be stopping by the links on this page & those on GG, too. xo

[top photograph by Nick Bartoletti/used by permission/Clise Mansion shoot set on flickr, here. Thanks, Nick! /Child enraptured by what she is hearing at Mountain Music Festival, 1947, by W. Eugene Smith, LIFE archives]

Lion

So many memories, most very good. We'll miss you, Teddy. xo

[photograph by Peter Andersen via Wikimedia Commons/Creative Commons License]

Sylvie in Black & White

..and one in color. I've been privileged to see most of the great ballet dancers (male & female) perform or rehearse, from the mid-60s through the present. (One of my sisters nearly went in that direction .The grueling Royal Academy examinations--yikes. My mother was nearly driven to her own mad Giselle scene dealing with the specs for examination tunic sewing.)

The Royal Ballet had not been to Washington, DC for at least 10 years (not looking it up) & I was so upset that I'd not seen Sylvie Guillem, French-born, prima ballerina of the Royal. When in London, not the season. Of course. So when word came of a tour stop here, I was very excited. The man in my life? Not so much. He was no slouch in the culture department, it just didn't get him (he said). So one asks, as one should, "Bad experience? Five thousand Nutcrackers your only exposure to ballet?" No. Never been. Aha! So you can't really say that you dislike it, can you? No, which one should we go to? I thought, OK, Swan Lake since it's important in the canon (though I'd seen 5,000 times) & because Sylvie Guillem was scheduled for several performances. I told this man that she was beautiful & French & he would be dazzled. Yeah, yeah.

We didn't take two pair of opera glasses to the performance. We were quite close, really; still, as soon as he laid eyes on Sylvie, that was it. Hogged them the rest of the evening. I don't think he's over it yet. I'm going through a clothes clear-out/reorganization & just found the pretty blue Royal Ballet sweatshirt he bought me that night. I thought they were too expensive but he wanted to thank me for his introduction to the ballet (read: Sylvie). A success.

By the way, AUREA has a good post on dance books; and artist Tina Tarnoff at Thought Patterns has a beautiful papercut of Sylvie in her etsy shop. Which I covet.

[Photographs of SG: 1) www.brisbanepowerhouse.org; 2) via www.dance.net/balletphotos; 3) baletinky.blog.cz/0708/4. Searching for original photographer names. I usually don't post unless I have them, but today, that's the way it'll have to be.]

The Pensive Reader

The Pensive Reader & The Reader (Lydia Cassatt) via Mary Cassatt - The Complete Works.

Sunday Shopping

Hyperventilating from spending a lot of (necessary) money today. So I'm "pretend" clothes shopping. September magazines are piling up, including Vogue. I'm reading/looking at fluff instead of writing. I need a day off. The poetry & literary landslide has to wait for tonight. Overwhelmed.

Though it's a January (1962) date, I couldn't resist this image from Just Covers, another Jessica aka myvintagevogue project (the tumblr blog is also in the right sidebar--you can see the high-resolution image there). I have three (3!) broken SLRs here so no decent photograph of Julie the Cat. Still putting one in...

Have a good Sunday evening/Monday (depending on where you are)!

Week's End - Umbrella Girl

Off to procure a large, safe (beautiful) umbrella to weather threatening storms on their unwelcome way. Getting wet with Gregory Peck would be lovely; with the slim pickings in Washington, DC (over the age of interns), I'm choosing the bumpershoot* route. Have a great weekend wherever you are. xo

*or 'bumbershoot'. Stop the arguing over slang for 'umbrella'! Only on the Internet...

[photograph by Constantin Joffe, 1947 via myvintagevogue]

Taking the Waters

Rereading, ruminating, & taking the waters. Apartment style, alas, not in a Czech spa town. Though I have done.
[reading in the bath by Nina Leen/LIFE archives; film still/Unbearable Lightness of Being/still photographer Phil Bray]

Blue Solution

So no one has advice on laptops. Well, I could just buy an Olivetti & be done with it. A blue one. This photograph is via alexkerhead's flickr set Cameras, Typewriters, Telephones, & Radios. Very cool.

Horse Sense

"A friend asking "Lady Wonder," the talking horse, about important decisions." Richmond, VA, December 1952, by Hank Walker.

A new low. Even for me. But that's what came up under "decisions" in the LIFE archives. Seriously.

If I log on Thursday (this being written on Wednesday) & haven't made a laptop decision, I'm going to flip out. If you see this, tell me. But not to get a Mac -- I'd love to. I can't. Don't tell me your horror stories about the evil laptop that ruined your life. Just give me some ideas. My eyes are crossed. I'm on the verge of polling complete strangers because my friends don't want to discuss it anymore. I don't blame them. Help!

Wishful Thinking

A recent post on The Clever Pup about redecorating (it said, 'dream on' - I know, I know) inspired a look at books o' clippings. Why oh why didn't I keep the whole magazine -- or at least the photographer & writer credits? Because I didn't know I'd be doing this, that's why. House & Garden (also called HG in one incarnation) published a terrific article in the early 1990s on Isabella Rossellini's New York apartment. Her bedroom & bath are very elegant; but as I wrestle framed photographs, hats, & my desk into submission (sort of), these shots are most helpful & entertaining. The dogs at the desk are adorable & hard to resist. (The dachsund is wearing a scarf with considerable élan.)

HG went kaput for good in 2007 and is missed. A Google search for the HG archives leads directly to Architectural Digest. This is a publication that elicits a loathing in me totally out of proportion to its actual existence/importance in the world-at-large. The source of this disgust is a mystery...now I'll find out that a friend just went to work for them. Or something.

Polka Dot Peek

Another one running around the house...causing mayhem...am I really going to do this?

[photograph from Holga {Paint with your Holga and shoot from the heart} via we heart it.

Flowers from England

"This is such a charming item - it's a little table-cloth hand embroidered with a scattering of bright flowers....The cloth itself is a fairly fine cotton ...and the embroidery is done in a mixture of embroidery cottons and some wool in stem stitch, satin stitch, french knots, blanket stitch, chain stitch - possibly some others I don't know - and a bit of couching in the middle..."-from Made4Aid.

A few weeks ago, I successfully bid for this lovely tablecloth at Made4Aid. Sally of the Lettuce-eating blog & other like-minded souls had a great idea. Artisans & artists around the world contribute items for auction & proceeds are donated to the World Food Programme in Darfur (for their first project). Many items are made from recycled materials &/or use vintage textiles. It could not be easier to bid & complete the transaction. The starting bids on the most wonderful items are very reasonable; the shipping is also quite low. I recommend a visit -- something is sure to pique your interest. (Today, there are beautiful cards for sale to anyone. No bidding necessary.) Of course, you can donate any amount without purchasing a thing.

I'm so very grateful to Mme Lettuce & her compatriots for their efforts & for linking to Darfur Peace & Development Organization (DPDO) in their recent update.

Thank you Made4Aid!

[The photographs are via Made4Aid/used with permission; Made4Aid is a registered member of the National Council for Voluntary Organisations, membership number 11190. For more information, please visit their website.]

Sunday Summer Soup, Menton

A quick & wonderful soup that I make a lot. This is a tweaked post from last August (2008) on Giulia Geranium. While I have since acquired a new blender, I remain camera-less (save a disposable), & so yes, this is a scan of a basil sprig. What can I say? Last summer I was a bit stir-crazy. Enjoy & think of Julia Child as her birthday was yesterday (August 15). Ciao!

Soup Menton

This is an excellent summer soup that allows you to take full advantage of your garden (or the farmer’s market). A few shelled peas or several tiny cauliflower flowerettes may be added to it.

8 tablespoons olive oil
2 onions, finely minced
1-pound fresh ripe tomatoes, peeled, seeded
2 cups new potatoes, cut into small cubes
2 cups young green beans, cut into 1-inch pieces
Salt and freshly ground pepper
3 small zucchini, cut into cubes
½ cup broken-up spaghetti*
1-cup fresh basil leaves
4 garlic cloves, minced
3 tablespoons freshly grated parmeggiano cheese (if you don’t have fresh, leave it out, you’ll live)
3 egg yolks (optional, but see note below)


1. In a large casserole heat 3 tablespoons olive oil. Add the onions and cook without browning for 3 to 5 minutes.

2. Add the tomatoes, potatoes, & beans. Season with salt & pepper & cover with 6 to 8 cups of water. Bring the mixture to a boil & reduce the heat. Simmer the soup partially covered for 15 minutes, or until the potatoes are almost tender.

3. Add the zucchini & spaghetti and continue simmering the soup for 12 to 15 minutes more or until all the vegetables are tender. Do not overcook. The soup must retain its freshness.

4. While the soup is simmering, combine the basil, garlic, & parmeggiano in a blender. Add enough of the remaining olive oil to make a smooth paste. You will need about 5 tablespoons.

5. Just before serving (off the heat), whisk the basil paste into the soup. Correct the seasoning & serve.

For a more refined soup, mix the egg yolks with a little more of the broth, & whisk the egg-yolk mixture into the soup. In this case, the soup must not come to a boil again or the yolks will curdle.

A firm tomato, peeled, seeded & cut into tiny cubes, is a lovely addition to the soup just before serving. When including peas in the soup, they should be added no more than 5 to 8 minutes before the soup is done. Cauliflower flowerettes can be added together with the zucchini.

©Recipe from Perla Meyers, The Seasonal Kitchen, A Return to Fresh Foods, Vintage Books edition, 1975.

*Remarks. Ahem. This is an old (early 1970s) cookbook & some things might drive the au courant version of a food snob mad, such as breaking up spaghetti & tossing it into a soup. Stop the hissy fits, it’s so unbecoming. Intentional pasta breakage occurs in Italian & French kitchens every day of the week. It is a good way to use those odd bits at the bottom of boxes & such. Just don’t do it when you’re serving pasta as the star.

About the eggs: it makes a divine difference & highly recommended to non-vegans & French-fancy-averse cooks who are chicken (ha!) about it. Still, don’t do it if you aren’t going to use the egg whites for omelettes or soufflés or meringues (freeze them). Egg whites make a fabulous facial masque, by the by. Haven’t done it in years, but I'm fairly sure egg whites haven’t changed. Anyway, the yolks aren’t necessary but do try it at least once to show how open-minded, sophisticated, & non-alarmist you are about eggs-as-lethal weapons.

NOTE: In the sidebar, under Dept. of Travel, Jilly Bennett has two wonderful photo blogs from the South of France. She lives in Menton & the soup post led me to her photography, blogs, & her animal rescue work in France. She's been so very generous in allowing me to use a few photographs on Giulia G's blog. She's featuring a lavender festival in Sainte-Agnès currently--it's a gorgeous series.

Week's End - City That Does Not Sleep

No one is sleeping in this world. No one, no one./
I have said it before. --Federico García Lorca/read here.

[WH office at night or 'remind me why I wanted this job anyway' & Edward R. Murrow by Joseph Scherschel/LIFE archives/color photograph via http://juliette-binoche.net/gallery/index.php]

Signorina Destiny

"Painted in 1900. This picture was given to the Artists War Fund, in support of British casualties of the Boer War. The girl is drinking a toast to the departing warriors, whose ships can be seen in a mirror in the background. Once again the painter produces a highly attractive female, and moreover one of real flesh and blood, in contrast to the more stylised figures of Edward Burne-Jones, with whom his work is so often compared. The Italian origins of the painter’s art are also apparent."* Painting by John William Waterhouse.

No matter the foregoing, Signorina Destiny has always evoked Venice for me. And curiously, or not, The Wings of the Dove (Henry James). Yes, I'm distracted (slightly) as I wend around & wade through heaps of reading & research; but wanted to post it as it's so very pretty.

[*Image of 'Destiny' & text in italics via a lovely website jwwaterhouse.com, maintained by Mr. Alan Do.]

Night 'roo

"Model from Sydney, Australia Loretta North with small kangaroos at the Washington D.C. Australian Embassy during a party given for her and for them. Putting a sick kangaroo to bed."

LIFE photographers must have had a blast in the good old days of big budgets. I hope the 'roo wasn't really sick. Washington was more fun back then, I guess. Keeping kangas in the house is not recommended, surely. (The things one finds in an archive while looking for something else. But of course.) G 'night.

[photograph by Hank Walker, 1952, Washington, DC, LIFE archives]