Category: Weekly Events

R is for Renoir: La Loge

Published on by Margaret5 Comments

Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841 – 1919), French Impressionist Artist

I’m spoilt for choice, but on reflection I think La Loge (1874) is my favourite painting by Renoir.

The ‘loge’ is a box at the theatre nearest the stage. This painting is my favourite Renoir because of its fine detail within an Impressionist painting. I love the precise depiction of the lady’s face and jewellery, the soft fabric of her dress, its flimsy lace bodice and cuffs and the splashes of red against the black and white. She is the focus of the painting with the gentleman behind her in the background, but my eyes are also drawn to him with the light glinting on his opera glasses.

This is a painting that draws our attention to where the people are looking – the gentleman is looking up at other people and the lady has put down her opera glasses and is maybe showing  herself to the audience. There is an ambiguity about this painting, which always has me wondering just what is going on.

There is a detailed description of this painting on The Courtauld Gallery’s website, where the painting is held. I was disappointed it wasn’t on display when I visited a couple of years ago.

An ABC Wednesday post.

Age Appropriate – Booking Through Thursday

Published on by Margaret9 Comments

btt button

Do you read books ‘œmeant’ for other age groups? Adult books when you were a child; Young-Adult books now that you’re grown; Picture books just for kicks ‘¦ You know ‘¦ books not ‘œmeant’ for you. Or do you pretty much stick to what’s written for people your age?

I read regardless of whatever age books may be aimed at. I loved the Harry Potter books and I enjoy re-reading the books I loved when I was younger. I’ve been hooked on watching Dr Who on TV from the beginning, although I haven’t read any of the books and now I’ve thought about it I can’t imagine why I haven’t – too many books and too little time, I suppose.  Philip Pullman is another author whose books appeal to all ages.

There are many more. For example, a while ago I re-read Kenneth Grahame’s The Wind in the Willows which I’d first read when I was about 12. I’d liked it the first time for its story and characters; this time round I saw different things in it – the mysticism, the spirituality and the portrayal of human nature. It’s not just animals messing about in boats on the river. I suspect it may be like that with other books – Little Women seems so moralising now, much different from how I viewed it as a child.

And did I read adult books as a child – yes, of course I did. Amongst other books, I remember borrowing Radclyffe Hall’s The Well of Loneliness from the library also when I was twelve – a bit different from The Wind in the Willows.

Saturday Snapshot – Pets

Published on by Margaret15 Comments

I’ve dug back into our photographs looking for photos of Zoe, our Golden Retriever. She was our first dog we had when our son was 5 years old – he’s grown up now with children and dogs of his own. I can’t find the one of him holding Zoe when we first brought her home, but this is one taken a few months later in the back garden. She lived with us for 13 years and we had many happy times with her – she was the most faithful and gentle of dogs.

Here is one when she was older, with me and our other dog, Ben:

 

A Saturday Snapshot post.

ABC Wednesday: P is for …

Published on by Margaret10 Comments

… Peter Rabbit and Beatrix Potter

Peter Rabbit first made his appearance in 1902 in Beatrix Potter’s The Tale of Peter Rabbit.

Peter was a very naughty rabbit, who disobeyed his mother, despite being told the terrible fate of his father who had had an accident in Mr McGregor’s garden and was put into a pie by Mrs McGregor. He squeezed under the gate into the garden, ate lots of vegetables and then came face to face with Mr McGregor and escaped by the skin of his teeth.

Helen Beatrix Potter (28 July 1866 – 22 December 1943) was an English author, illustrator, mycologist and conservationist best known for children’s books featuring anthropomorphic characters such as in The Tale of Peter Rabbit which celebrated the British landscape and rural lifestyle. (From Wikipedia)

Her original watercolour paintings and sketches are in the Beatrix Potter Gallery at Hawkshead, Cumbria. Hill Top, the house which she bought with the proceeds from sales of her books and which she used as an artistic retreat from London, is in Near Sawrey, near Hawkshead. She left it to the National Trust. It is open to the public and it remains just as it was when Beatrix lived there.

I love the watercolours in her books and this is my attempt at painting Peter Rabbit, copied from The Tale of Peter Rabbit.

Peter Rabbit 002

An ABC Wednesday post.

Weekend Cooking – Forever Summer

Published on by Margaret15 Comments

Although it’s not yet summer here, it’s been feeling like it this last two weeks. We’ve had some gloriously sunny days, which made me think of cooking something from Nigella Lawson’s Forever Summer. This is a book full of recipes to give you that summery feeling all year round. There are recipes from around the world and I decided to make Strawberry Meringue Layer Cake.

Nigella writes that this is an Oz-emanating recipe that she scribbled down from a friend after a gardenside Sunday’s summer lunch.

It’s a combination of Pavlova and Victoria Sponge: make the sponge mixture by creaming 100g very soft butter with 100g caster sugar, beat in 2 egg yolks, fold in 12g plain flour, 25g cornflour and 1½ teaspoons of baking powder, add 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract and stir in 2 tablespoons of milk to thin the batter. Divide this mixture between 2 x 22cm Springform tins.

Then add the pavlova mixture – whisk the 2 egg whites until soft peaks form, gradually add 200g caster sugar and spread a layer of the meringue on top of the sponge batter in each tin and sprinkle over 50g flaked almonds.

Bake for 30 – 35 minutes in a preheated oven – 200°C/gas mark 6 until the almond scattered meringues are a dark gold. Let the cakes cool in the tins until you’re ready to assemble the cake.

Whip 375ml double cream and hull and slice 250g strawberries and sandwich the cream and berries between the two cakes – meringue on the base layer and on the top.

I made this last weekend when we had the family round,  As Nigella suggested I placed more strawberries in a separate dish to eat alongside the cake and it was half gone by the time I remembered to take a photo of it. It’s definitely a recipe I’ll be making again – it’s scrumptious.

Strawberry meringue layer cake

Weekend Cooking is host at Beth Fish Reads and is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book (novel, nonfiction) reviews, cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, fabulous quotations, photographs. For more information, see the welcome post.