Grannymar

The day dawned with a covering of frost, but the sun worked her magic and won the battle of the day.  My Toyboy arrived on time, if anything he was a few minutes early.  We are both good time keepers so that was not a problem.  I had made several suggestions for multi-story parking, but lo and behold he found a ground level car park right on the corner of Arthur Street!  How lucky can you get?  Last time I was that direction it was a building.

So on to the Restaurant.  We chose Café Vaudeville.  I remember the days when it was headquarters for the First Trust Bank. The website tells us

Cafe Vaudeville is located in Belfast’s  Arthur Street it’s most recent alter ego was as a Bank but prior to this  back in 1825 it was the headquarters of  Dunville & Co. Originally engaged in a variety of merchant trading operations, Dunville abandoned his tea businees to make room for the growing demands for whiskey.

In time Dunville & Co became the region’s premier whiskey distillery exporting throughout the world.

So from a former whiskey house through banking Cafe Vaudeville has transformed  once again to a Luxe Bar. Once you step through our doors it’s possible to lose all sense of time, enter a world thats totally Vaudeville.

Roasted Ratatouille

Preheat the oven to 220°C

In a bowl mix

• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 1 handful fresh basil leaves,
• 1 handful fresh parsley
• 1 heaped teaspoon coriander seeds, crushed
• freshly milled black pepper
• 1 rounded dessertspoon salt

Chop in chunky dice

• 2 medium courgettes
• 1 small aubergine
• 1 medium onion
• 1 each small red and yellow pepper
• 1 lb ripe tomatoes skinned

Add to oil mixture and stir until well coated.  Using a slatted spoon, spread in a single layer on a shallow roasting tray.  Roast on the highest shelf of the oven for 30-40 minutes, or until the vegetables are tender and tinged brown at the edges.
Serve with a baked potato or pasta and a side salad.

** When making this dish for one, I dice the potato and include it in with the vegetables and serve with a side salad.  A tasty lazy dish, just what I need today,

I now lead a simple life and ‘upset’ is not something I encounter very often.  Large or small ‘upsets’ are not good for my heart so I try not to let them interfere.  A Consultant said to me recently “You know your body very well, listen to it and deal with situations in the correct way!”  When you live alone you have to.  Were I to panic every time my heart went into spasm, it would make things worse and I would spend half my life in A&E or worse…..

On the World scale I am surrounded with natural disaster, disease, famine, war and the effects of greed.  I am unable to solve these problems on my own, so I must step back and hope that those more talented, capable and with the expertise will provide the solutions necessary.

Since I am human, well…. I think I am, nature has a way of raising the hackles every now and then.  It is usually something that others decide I must do, think or feel.

When I have a problem niggling at me, I go quiet, working it through in my mind.

I remember Jack saying to me once “Your mother was right!”

“In what respect?” I asked.

“She told me before we married, that if you were very quiet, to leave you to your thoughts, as you were working through a problem!”

“Really!”  I said.

“Darling, you have hardly spoken for three days, and only now have you shared what was on your mind.”

So, as in the Reinhold Niebuhr prayer: I am accepting the things I cannot change and moving on.  I change the things I can, and hope I have enough wisdom to know the difference between the ‘can’ and the ‘cannot’!

I drew back the heavy curtains and opened the blinds to a bright white world clothed in frost.

All of a sudden I gasped in horror.  The beauty of nature was spoiled by its alter ego when I spied the trail of bloody footprints.  They passed the full length of my picture window.  Donning warm layers I went to investigate.

At the corner of the house were the signs of battle.  It was not a fight to the bitter end since there were no bodies in sight, only bloody trails in differing directions.

The trail past my front doorstep, I think it was a cat limping off home.

The battle scene

Now, if the first row of paw prints were a cat - I say this because in snow and we had plenty this winter - the paw prints are usually left in a single row, what was the other combatant?

Two rows of prints widely spaced.

This second set of prints trailed all along the side of the house, round the back only ending where the patio met the shrubbery.

Do you think it was a fox?

The evidence has been removed, I cleaned and scrubbed until all was once more pristine, so arriving to investigate is a waste of time.  Is it any wonder I get tired?

The brighter mornings gladden my heart, at six thirty I was sitting up in bed contemplating breakfast.

Suddenly there was an almighty THUMP!  It sounded like it was outside and not far away.  At that hour my neighbourhood is like sleepy valley…. well sleepy hill top!  I looked out the window and there was no sign of movement or disturbance.  Moving to a room on the other side I lifted my eyes to the glass and bang in the middle, stuck on the outside was a clump of feathers!

Is nature telling me it is time to move?

Today we welcome the return of Anu and Ashok to our group of the Loose Blogging consortium which includes Conrad, Gaelikaa, Ginger, Judy, Magpie 11, Maria, Ramana and I, and most of us will pen our thoughts on the topic for the week, chosen today by Judy.

“If I could travel in Time, I would……..”

“Look at me, I’m in another world - a dream world that invites oblivion. People take drugs to achieve such freedom from their daily cares. I’ve never taken drugs. I’ve never needed them. I achieve a high through work.” ~ Erté

If I could travel in Time, I would like to go back….  Back in time to the world of Erté.

He was born Romain de Tirtoff in Saint Petersberg but liked to call himself Erté after the French pronunciation of his initials. Destined for a military career, Erté surprised a number of people by creating his first successful costume design at the age of five.

In 1912, some say at the age of 14, others say19, his father finally allowed him to move to Paris to fulfil his dream of becoming a fashion illustrator.  He was one of the foremost fashion and stage designers of the early 20th century.

His time in Paris covered a stint in the Haute couture house of Paul Poiret and a twenty-two-year association with Harper’s bazaar to the beginning of World War II.  During that period, Erte produced 250 covers for Bazaar; innumerable drawings for the magazine’s pages; fashion designs for some of the world’s most glamorous women; costume and set designs for Hollywood movies and stage productions ranging from scenes in Ziegfeld Follies of 1923, many productions of the Folies-Bergere and the Paris Opera. George White’s Scandals followed in 1988.

Erté pursued his chosen careers with zest and creativity for almost 80 years.  His appreciation of the sinuous and lyrical human figure was amazing, as well as the music-hall, Erté also designed for the traditional theatre.

Erté began a second career when he met London art dealer Eric Estorick in 1967.  Impressed by the superb work in the artist’s Paris studio, Estorick was determined to relaunch Erté’s career.  This effort was crowned with spectacular success in New York and London exhibitions of gouache paintings and drawings.  The demand for his work by not only those able to afford originals but young people of limited means was too large to be satisfied by the existing works.  This led to the decision to create multiples - first graphics and, later, bronze sculptures.

During the twenty-five years of Erté’s second career he achieved again the level of fame that he had in an earlier generation, but with an even wider public.  Those years saw also the publication of many books on Erté’s work, including two large-format books on the graphics, “Erte at Ninety” and “Erte at Ninety-Five”, and one on the sculpture “Erte Sculpture”.  By far, his best known image is Symphony in Black depicting a tall, slender woman draped in black holding a thin black dog on a leash. The influential image has been reproduced and copied countless times.

His work may be found in the collections of several well-known museums, including the Victoria and Albert Museum in London,   and the Metropolitan Museum of Art and a sizable collection of work by Erté can be found at Museum 1999 in Tokyo.

On his death in 1990, he was hailed as the “prince of the music hall” and “a mirror of fashion for 75 years”.

The genius of Erté

Some simple door handles provide colour

Pattern

Or a puzzle

Now that should keep you busy until LBC time

When you’re from the country ~ you look at things a little differently…

A Montana rancher got in his pickup and drove to a neighbouring ranch and knocked at the door. A young boy, about 9, opened the door

“Is your Dad home?” the rancher asked.

“No sir, he isn’t,” the boy replied. “He went into town.”

“Well,” said the rancher, “Is your Mother here?”

“No sir, she’s not here either. She went into town with Dad.”

“How about your brother, Howard? Is he here?”

“No sir, He went with Mom and Dad.”

The rancher stood there for a few minutes, shifting from one foot to the other and mumbling to himself.

“Is there anything I can do for you?” the boy asked politely. “I know where all the tools are, if you want to borrow one. Or maybe I could take a message for Dad.”

“Well,” said the rancher uncomfortably, “I really wanted to talk to your Dad.  It’s about your brother Howard getting my daughter, Suzie, pregnant.”‘

The boy considered for a moment.

“You would have to talk to Pa about that,” he finally conceded. “If it helps you any, I know that Pa charges $500 for the bull and $50 for the hog, but I really don’t know how much he gets for Howard.”

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Thank you Darlene for this weeks story.

My early efforts at needlework were mainly for a doll.

A christening dress, a few nighties, A duvet cover with full size clown appliquéd on it and a lampshade to match made to look like a hot-air Balloon complete with a little basket  and from it hanging upside down by a foot dangled a small clown.  Alas the pictures are committed to memory and not to photography of any type.  I wonder if Elly still remembers them?

Then a friend brought me a gift from the Lake District.  She was apologetic that the gift was so small.  It was about 3″ X 3″ in a little gift bag.  Little did she know how that three inch square would open up a whole world for me.

The gift was a small cross stitch kit complete with a picture, diagram, fabric, threads and a needle.  The fabric was blank!  Now I knew why it was referred to as counted cross stitch!  I would have to count every stitch.

I did!

E for Elly

For an idea of the size of the finished work, that frame is 9″ X 7″.  The nerves I felt when starting out soon evaporated and I relaxed into moving from row to row.  From that day on I found cross stitch work very relaxing.  At one time I used the technique to record a Family tree covering six or seven generations.  I worked out the design on large drawing office sized graph paper.

This Bell pull I worked from a Danish Kit back in 1984/5.  I saw a friend working on it and she told me that there were more than enough threads left over to make another bell pull, so she passed them on to me.  I had a piece of fine even weave and some lining in my work box so my bell pull cost me the price of the brass hanger and pull!   It hangs close to my well used fireside.

Over the years I have removed the brass bits, the stiffening and the lining before hand washing it carefully and rinsing well.  I lay it on a towel to dry and press with a medium iron on the back of the work before assembling it again.

A closer look at some of the birds:

Another

And a third

If you have not tried cross stitch before I suggest you start with a kit.

I found this partly worked piece in a box the other day.  To begin with I made one big error!  I folded the fabric years ago instead of rolling it.  I was trying to keep the pattern, fabric and threads in a plastic pocket.  Not good!  I have slapped my own wrist for that error.

You will notice I bound the fabric with masking tape, this prevents the edges from fraying and peels away easily when the work is complete.

The pattern is shown on squared paper and a colour guide with a thread colour guide below.  Stranded thread is normally used and once a length is cut separate the strands even if two or more are required, this prevents twisting, knotting and an uneven look to the work.  Never use threads longer than from your your wrist to your elbow.  With each pull through the fabric you are wearing it a little and eventually the thread will break.

It may sound complicated but I guarantee once started you will be hooked.

Enjoy!

Later in the week I have a date with a Toyboy  A REAL one!  The very Toyboy who first christened me with the name Grannymar way back about 37 years ago!

This handsome young man was still at school when I met him and in essence he has not changed.  Having read Law and worked his way up the ranks, made his fortune - enough to have two homes - one at home in Ireland and another in warmer climes, he retired at 50 to turn his hand to writing full time.  Blessed with the gift for words, I predict he will do well.

All down the years he has never forgotten me, meeting up when possible, sending cards, making calls and now texting or emailing me with news of his life from whatever corner of the world he is in, or just to find out how I am doing.

He checked with me yesterday that there were no hitches to the arrangements and  asked me to pick the venue saying “ Lets hang the expense and go the best and nicest place! My treat.”

I have the feeling that I might be spoilt for the day!

Now I wonder where we should go?

Sweet & Sour Pork

Serves 4
Preheat the oven to 200ºC

1 lb Pork Fillet diced
½ Green Pepper sliced
½ Yellow Pepper sliced
Few Green Beans (optional)
1 Carrot diced    I Onion chopped
8oz can Pineapple chunks drained (reserve juice)

Sauce
1tablespoon Cornflour
1tablespoon Caster sugar
1tablespoon White Wine Vinegar
1tablespoon Orange juice
1tablespoon Tomato Sauce
1tablespoon Sherry
Juice from Pineapple
Dash Worcester sauce
Seasoning to taste

Mix all sauce ingredients together.  Set aside.  Fry onions until soft.  Add peppers, carrot and beans and cook for a few minutes.  Remove from pan and keep hot.  Seal pork in the pan and then layer with Veg and pineapple in a casserole dish.  Pour over sauce
Cover and cook at 200ºC for ten minutes, then reduce oven to 190ºC for 30 minutes. Test and season to taste.
Serve with boiled or fried Rice.