I remember the first time I saw the movie Gigi, it was at the Prosser Public Library where they used to have a regular Friday night movie (also the first place I saw The Graduate- you just know they don't do this anymore). I was primed to love this movie for all the usual reasons but also because me & my brothers were quite sure the lyrics to the most famous song began with "Thank Kevin for little girls" & one of use was Kevin! So thrilling.
For those of you wondering why I am talking about this is, Gigi (& several other novellas & short stories- run, run to your public library) was written by Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette & her connection to today is....extremely tenuous. Back to Gigi for just a moment: it is a fairy tale: young girl in poverty etc. etc. marries the prince & lives happily ever after (I refuse to apologize for the spoiler, if you don't know how Gigi ends, you really need to get out more).
But today's Colette is an entirely different person...& personage. Saint Colette was born in 1381, in Corbin, France (a place that is not Googleable or Bingable so either it was spelled wrong, renamed or has Brigadoon-type qualities, guess which story I prefer). After a while she joined the Poor Claires & began reforming, but before that she was an anchoress. When I first learned about these women, I was fascinated & I still pretty much stop every time I hear about one.
An anchoress would wall herself into a room with no egress (if ever there was a time for the word "egress" I believe this is it)....with no egress except a window looking into a church.
I have been told I have the soul of an accountant. I don't think it was meant to be a compliment & my response at the time was I don't have the soul of anything, there is no such thing as a soul which I am sure the other guy thought pretty much proved his point. But I knew what he meant. While I like a good yarn as much as anyone, it takes me mere moments to get bogged down in the day-to-dayness of just about anything. Upon hearing of an anchoress, my first thought was how did she go to the bathroom, but our saint lived in a day of chamber pots so that was a no brainer. More problematic was how she managed to produce anything to fill a chamber pot. I picture the priest holding mass while altar boys chuck loaves of bread through the window behind him. Then there is the whole how did she get in there? How did she get out (she left the room after four years)? I cannot be alone in starting to wonder if this is how the whole Rapunzel thing got started.
Now for the Rapunzel detour: the Rapunzel story we know is almost certainly a German rip-off of a French story written by an actual known person, a woman as it happens: Charlotte-Rose de Caumont de la Force. Mademoiselle de la Force lived...quite the life & was well known in her day. More than a hundred years later, her stories were still being published in France under her name & then the Grimm Brothers sanitized it & it caught on everywhere else. Yes, yes de la Force ripped the story off from the legend of Saint Barbara (patroness of among other things firefighters & people who will die a sudden death--what?!?!?!), but she spiced it up plenty.
So here we are at the other Colette. She wrote, famously or infamously, under what I was taught was a pseudonym but turned out to be her last name, one of them anyhow. In fairness, the first stories WERE published under her husband-at-the-time's pen name but no one seems to have ever been confused about who really wrote them. It seems he often published other writers' works as his own. This doesn't make it not-plagiarism but does make it maybe a norm for the time.
Colette was described as a victim of her machinating husband/publisher who took all the credit & kept all the money. This story also had a Rapunzel ring to it, but it turns out she had a pretty good time herself. She died in 1954 & it is clear everyone knew who she was. She had a state funeral after all, having been much lauded while alive for all kinds of artsy & patriotic stuff. The French people adored her, the catholic church not so much; they refused rites because of her divorces. Apparently you can hide Jews from Nazis, etc but get two or three little divorces...
To recap: one Colette lived in a room with a window into a church & the other Colette lived large. One went on to a life of deprivation & the other did NOT. That's all I've got. Except today's word: machination. & Saint Colette's patronages: women who are trying to get pregnant, expectant mothers & sick children. The other Colette was by all accounts, including her own, a disinterested mother.
Showing posts with label word of the day. Show all posts
Showing posts with label word of the day. Show all posts
Friday, February 7, 2014
Thursday, January 2, 2014
52 Photos Project: One photo from the 1st day of 2014
This week's 52 Photos Project works nicely with my preferred photo....ethos? Yep, ethos. let's let that be the word for today ETHOS: shared fundamental traits. The assignment is one picture from yesterday, it being the first day of 2014. & here is my first day picture. I actually took three pictures of the same....subject, but this is the best one.
I bet you are wondering what kind of News Years Day we had: ever since we put in the new bigger water pump & tank our showers have been getting colder faster. This is not recent, but it has recently gotten cold here & I want to take a hot-Hot-HOT shower. So A said he would turn up the thermostat on the water heater. Which meant he has to shut off the power to the water heater. Which brings us to....
We had a our kitchen remodeled late 2012 & as a result of that there was some rewiring, codes having changed somewhat since the original wiring circa 1977. We carried over the info from the old circuit breaker legend (also circa 1977 & pictured in that lovely photo to the right). But it turns out it still wasn't quite right. Specifically, some circuits had changed pre-kitchen remodel & not been recorded. Some were always a bit strange (my sewing room, a handful of other outlets on the same side of the house & the exterior light by the front door are all on the same breaker).
Just to make things a bit more exciting, it took us a little time to remember that on the original floor plan, my sewing room was the master bedroom (the room we use as a master bedroom was originally the worlds smallest bonus room that a previous owner carved up, creating the worlds smallest walk-in closet & a very small bathroom, but a small bathroom in which we can now have hot showers).
In the end, I took the picture of the old moldy, damaged label & used the camera settings to highlight the notes & deemphasize the grime. Then we flipped every switch & checked it, learning some new things we didn't know along the way. During the kitchen remodel, we learned the range hood & the range in the kitchen was on the same circuit as the master bedroom closet. Yesterday we learned that the range is on its own circuit (in compliance with current code), the microwave is now also on its own circuit & so forth.
We found the water heater, turned it off, turned it up & turned it back on & now we have nice hot water. Which was wonderful, because it was a chilly rainy day. Last night while we were all happy & cozy, we discovered the roof is leaking. Apparently 2014 is going to be the year of water.
Wednesday, January 1, 2014
The new year in books
I have said I am not much for resolutions. But I am a huge fans of lists (I also like songs that count). I like numbered lists & consecutive lists...oh those lovely lists. So it should be no surprise that I make a Goodreads book count resolution type thing every year. Or at least every year since I joined Goodreads.
2013 was a good book listing year.
If it looks like I am some kind of over-achiever, I promise that is just not true. I read more than I said I would because I include picture books on my list & I want to mark them READ & there is no way to exclude them from the list. Unless I leave off the end date. Which I am too crazy to do. So a good chunk of that overage was read in under an hour. Well under an hour.
& finally I thought I would start off the year with a Word Of The Day. Today's word is OVERAGE. It is not the same thing as "over age" which is a different thing, but not entirely. It means
the above & beyond count in product. or money. Too fixed asset-y? OKay, it is a surplus of goods. For a long long long time this was considered a good thing (I grew up in Reagan's America), but maybe more isn't better.
Who am I kidding, more books read is always better! So in 2014 I am going to read....130 books. give or take.
2013 was a good book listing year.
If it looks like I am some kind of over-achiever, I promise that is just not true. I read more than I said I would because I include picture books on my list & I want to mark them READ & there is no way to exclude them from the list. Unless I leave off the end date. Which I am too crazy to do. So a good chunk of that overage was read in under an hour. Well under an hour.
& finally I thought I would start off the year with a Word Of The Day. Today's word is OVERAGE. It is not the same thing as "over age" which is a different thing, but not entirely. It means
the above & beyond count in product. or money. Too fixed asset-y? OKay, it is a surplus of goods. For a long long long time this was considered a good thing (I grew up in Reagan's America), but maybe more isn't better.
Who am I kidding, more books read is always better! So in 2014 I am going to read....130 books. give or take.
Friday, November 22, 2013
Bye Bye.....Blackbeard
The short version of this post is today in 1718 Edward Teach was shot & stabbed multiple times while battling his majesty's navy. Edward Teach might be better know to you by his rock'n'roll sobriquet: Blackbeard.
Last things first: yes, I said sobriquet. I have been working this one into conversation ever since I first heard Amelia Peabody use it in reference to a certain smuggler of Egyptian antiquities. I do mean listened, despite Amelia being no doubt long dead. Also fictional. Because I listened to those books on disc. Also, in this case sobriquet may well be the very word that Teach would have used himself, unlike nickname or handle. So I said sobriquet & I meant sobriquet. I encourage you to work it into your weekend, perhaps one of those descriptive nicknames favored by football players, but that is just a suggestion.
The thing about pirates, as any student of naval history knows, is that piracy is in the eye of the beholder. Pirates & privateers were often one & the same, privateers being the word for seafaring folk who loot the enemies of the crown & the crown turns a blind eye.
So. Captain Teach. Born in England, very likely in Bristol, one of the largest seafaring towns of the day. Raised in same & almost certainly able to read & write, a novelty for his day, Edward Teach joined the navy while quite young & helped plague the Spanish in the western Atlantic. When peace was reached between Great Britain & Spain, Teach was left unemployed...with one very specific skill. & no reason not to take any ship he could; certainly no reason to limit himself to just Spanish ships. Peace, like so many things, is relative.
You don't need me to tell you about Blackbeard. I could write a longer-than-usual post listing just the titles of books & articles about him, so I am going to skip it entirely. Chances are excellent you did not make it through today without running into a single news story about the anniversary of a famous death. Speaking of pirates, Clive of India died today in 1774, not of a gunshot but a stabbing. Probably. Maybe even self-inflicted. Today is also the official death day of Robin Hood.
Lastly, in 1963 both Aldous Huxley & C. S. Lewis died. So did someone else. History has done interesting things to all of these men, so I am going to leave you with one of my favorite death songs. Yes, I know people say its about a prostitute leaving the profession & returning to her mother. Maybe it is.
Last things first: yes, I said sobriquet. I have been working this one into conversation ever since I first heard Amelia Peabody use it in reference to a certain smuggler of Egyptian antiquities. I do mean listened, despite Amelia being no doubt long dead. Also fictional. Because I listened to those books on disc. Also, in this case sobriquet may well be the very word that Teach would have used himself, unlike nickname or handle. So I said sobriquet & I meant sobriquet. I encourage you to work it into your weekend, perhaps one of those descriptive nicknames favored by football players, but that is just a suggestion.
The thing about pirates, as any student of naval history knows, is that piracy is in the eye of the beholder. Pirates & privateers were often one & the same, privateers being the word for seafaring folk who loot the enemies of the crown & the crown turns a blind eye.
So. Captain Teach. Born in England, very likely in Bristol, one of the largest seafaring towns of the day. Raised in same & almost certainly able to read & write, a novelty for his day, Edward Teach joined the navy while quite young & helped plague the Spanish in the western Atlantic. When peace was reached between Great Britain & Spain, Teach was left unemployed...with one very specific skill. & no reason not to take any ship he could; certainly no reason to limit himself to just Spanish ships. Peace, like so many things, is relative.
You don't need me to tell you about Blackbeard. I could write a longer-than-usual post listing just the titles of books & articles about him, so I am going to skip it entirely. Chances are excellent you did not make it through today without running into a single news story about the anniversary of a famous death. Speaking of pirates, Clive of India died today in 1774, not of a gunshot but a stabbing. Probably. Maybe even self-inflicted. Today is also the official death day of Robin Hood.
Lastly, in 1963 both Aldous Huxley & C. S. Lewis died. So did someone else. History has done interesting things to all of these men, so I am going to leave you with one of my favorite death songs. Yes, I know people say its about a prostitute leaving the profession & returning to her mother. Maybe it is.
Friday, November 1, 2013
Fauvism: an early 20th century art movement marked by bold shapes, vivid colors & distorted forms
The word for the day on the word of the day type twitter account I am hooked on was FAUVISM. Not today, a week or more ago-I've been busy.
I don't think I had ever heard this word before which is just plain sad because I LOVE this word. Fauvism is...was an art movement, a painting movement really marked by bold shapes & colors, often distorted. I can think of quite a few paintings that are clearly in this...genre? Jasper Johns has always been a huge favorite of mine & I thought that was what I was looking at: Fauvism. If you are willing to take that leap, maybe you can take this one: the idea of African-American quilts being Fauvist.
If you know anything about art history you know I was way off; that is not Fauvism at all. This is what happens when you start trying to describe not-word things with words only. Fauvism was almost entirely French & not really all that abstract (when the dictionary says "distorted forms" those forms are still identifiable). The biggest name in Fauvism is Matisse. It turns out Fauvism is NOT the word for what I like, although I like Matisse et al plenty.
This whole business put me in mind of one of my favorite episodes of one of my favorite shows. The show was News Radio & wow do I miss it! The episode was "Super Karate Monkey Death Car". Let me give it to you in a nutshell: the wealthy eccentric owner of a news radio station (among other things) had written an autobiography that did not sell so well in the US but killed in Japan. So he decides to take the Japanese translation & translate it back to English. The book reading scene, the first time he actually reads his new autobiography, is a gift to the world. Seriously there is almost no slump so slumpy this clip cannot shake me out of.
That's it, that's all I've got. Except I guess I can start calling the art I like, marked by bold shapes, vivid colors & distorted forms Not-Fauvism. Because that's not confusing.
I don't think I had ever heard this word before which is just plain sad because I LOVE this word. Fauvism is...was an art movement, a painting movement really marked by bold shapes & colors, often distorted. I can think of quite a few paintings that are clearly in this...genre? Jasper Johns has always been a huge favorite of mine & I thought that was what I was looking at: Fauvism. If you are willing to take that leap, maybe you can take this one: the idea of African-American quilts being Fauvist.
If you know anything about art history you know I was way off; that is not Fauvism at all. This is what happens when you start trying to describe not-word things with words only. Fauvism was almost entirely French & not really all that abstract (when the dictionary says "distorted forms" those forms are still identifiable). The biggest name in Fauvism is Matisse. It turns out Fauvism is NOT the word for what I like, although I like Matisse et al plenty.
This whole business put me in mind of one of my favorite episodes of one of my favorite shows. The show was News Radio & wow do I miss it! The episode was "Super Karate Monkey Death Car". Let me give it to you in a nutshell: the wealthy eccentric owner of a news radio station (among other things) had written an autobiography that did not sell so well in the US but killed in Japan. So he decides to take the Japanese translation & translate it back to English. The book reading scene, the first time he actually reads his new autobiography, is a gift to the world. Seriously there is almost no slump so slumpy this clip cannot shake me out of.
That's it, that's all I've got. Except I guess I can start calling the art I like, marked by bold shapes, vivid colors & distorted forms Not-Fauvism. Because that's not confusing.
Saturday, August 31, 2013
Bird trap gone
- the swap that inspired this quilt doesn't close until Hallowe'en & then the blocks are due the last SAT in November 2013. You can get the details here or even better in the Facebook Quilt Block Swap group.
- I made way more blocks than I need for the swap. Enough for this quilt...& another top I have already started working on. In my defense...I have no defense, I just like this block. Or rather the guidelines that go into it as there is no exact "block".
- I don't think it hangs straight. I thought I had squared it up...mostly, but after I washed it, it got MORE crooked. I didn't know that could happen.
Oh, here is something new! The Quiltfest JAX form was a bit of a challenge. I could not decide "pieced quilt" or "art quilt". I polled several quilters & with one exception they all said pieced quilt. Then I took a look in the past pieced quilt winners & decided art quilt was the way to go. What can I say, those pieced quilts were so even & harmonious & regular. I am fully aware the Bird Trap Quilt cannot compete; I truly have no expectations of accolades of any kind. The competition is just as fierce over in Art Quilts. I just thought this would be too disruptive in Pieced Quilts. Also & I know this is no big deal, there is just the teeny-tiniest bit of embroidery.
& the word du jour is ERSATZ.
Thursday, August 8, 2013
52 Photos Project: Childhood Games
When I saw 52 Photos Project theme for this week, Childhood Games, I pictured (as I am sure so many former children of a particular age did) the iconic game closet. But the fact is I don't have a game closet anymore. I don't know anyone who does. We have a game drawer now with Trivial Pursuit, Barrel of Monkeys, Pit, Rummikub, Sequence & that's about it.
So I decided to flip back thru some old pictures to see if I could find a cache of board games. What I found was this: I am not the photographer, I am the subject.
So I decided to flip back thru some old pictures to see if I could find a cache of board games. What I found was this: I am not the photographer, I am the subject.
& this really was my favorite child hood game- being holed up somewhere, reading. I have no idea which Nancy Drew this was (I read them ALL...well all that were available at the time), but I like to imagine it is The Secret of the Old Clock. Because this was the first book our bookclub read together.
Before you decide this is completely goofy, think about it. When american women are interviewed (meaning they have done something someone considerers interview-worthy), they often name Nancy Drew as their first literary role model (take THAT Elizabeth Bennet...but don't take it too hard, we love you next). I can remember thinking who needs Batman, Spiderman, Superman & all their crap; Nancy has way more happening than any drug-dependent superhero. Wardrobe to die for: check, cool car: check, amazing powers of sleuthing & keeping the weight off from having dessert with lunch: double check. Also, she doesn't try to hide who she is, she isn't all melancholy hanging out in her mansion, she spends time with her friends, loves her family & treats her boyfriend like a favored dogsbody.
& let's have that be the word for today: dogsbody. Because everyone needs one. I know I do.
Thursday, May 16, 2013
Today's word: Bildungsromans
I am not saying I never saw the word bildungsromans before. I am sure I had. I probably once had the definition right there at the tip of my brain. But there I was in the library's digital catalog putting a book my mother had recommended (Tell the Wolves I'm Home) on hold. As I was clicking through I travelled across the "Subject" section & there it was: Teenage girls -- fiction, Loss (Psychology) --fiction, Friendship -- fiction, AIDS (Disease) -- fiction, Uncles -- fiction, Bildungsroman, Love stories.
First, let me say Spoiler Alert. Yep, I should have said it at the top, but I didn't. & naturally, I clicked it. Turns out there are >1k titles in our local library with that specific subject. Even more interesting there is one (1) book with the additional subject of Bildungsromans American, one (1) Bildungsromans -- Comic book etc, two (2) Bildungsromans -- England -- Yorkshire -- Drama, three (3) Bildungsromans -- Mississippi & a handful of other singles doubles & triples. Oh & one (1) Bildungswesen.
So the word itself: it means a coming of age story. I wonder there were only just over one thousand as so many many many stories are, at some level, coming of age stories.
First, let me say Spoiler Alert. Yep, I should have said it at the top, but I didn't. & naturally, I clicked it. Turns out there are >1k titles in our local library with that specific subject. Even more interesting there is one (1) book with the additional subject of Bildungsromans American, one (1) Bildungsromans -- Comic book etc, two (2) Bildungsromans -- England -- Yorkshire -- Drama, three (3) Bildungsromans -- Mississippi & a handful of other singles doubles & triples. Oh & one (1) Bildungswesen.
So the word itself: it means a coming of age story. I wonder there were only just over one thousand as so many many many stories are, at some level, coming of age stories.
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