Bags get bookish - Telegraph

I'm usually pretty uninterested in anything to do with fashion but the "Bags get bookish" headline in the Telegraph caught my interest.


Actress Natalie Portman carrying a "Lolita" clutchbag by Olympia Le-Tan to the Black Swan premiere in New York.

All the bags are handmade, and limited to only 16 of each design, with the 'first edition' The Catcher in the Rye by J.D Salinger handmade by Le-Tan herself.




Bags get bookish - Telegraph

Itty Bitty Book Review: "The Help"

"The Help" by Kathryn Stockett

This was a bookclub choice and I enjoyed reading about the 60's civil rights issues in a fictional context of the maids of white women telling their stories. This was an era that meant a lot to me. I still am stirred and moved to tears by Martin Luther King's "I have a dream" speech which I found on YouTube. I had only heard voice recordings of it before.




I heard Nina Simone sing at the Marco Polo Supper Club in Vancouver in the 60's and she probably didn't sing "Mississippi Goddam" since it was a primarily white audience and they had come to listen to mellow jazz. The record I bought at the time was pretty mellow stuff too. This was my first introduction to her and I became a tremendous fan and was so pleased to hear she eventually went to Europe and escaped all the racist nonsense. She died in the south of France in 2003 when we were there and Jim was doing a teaching gig.

I first heard the song when we bought a CD of hers in the south of France in 2002 when Jim was on his first teaching gig. The rendition on this CD is very powerful and angry quite different from the YouTube. Maybe I'll look at a few other ones on YouTube and see what they're like.

I didn't know she wrote the song in response to the bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, where the four little girls were killed.

"She says that after hearing about the bombing she ran home and attempted to build a gun out of her husband’s (an ex-policeman) various parts. However, she decided, “I knew nothing about killing, and I did know about music.” Thus, “Mississippi Goddam” was born. “Mississippi Goddam” was released one month after the March on Washington for jobs and Freedom and was soon banned in many southern states."



Addition:

So I found the rendition she did on the CD I have. It's shows off her piano playing skills too. There are just stills rather than the live performance. Pretty special for me to see that early live performance of the song.

Oscar lives on....

I love having this slide show of a couple of hundred photos of Oscar that greet me when I use my computer.

Happy Birthday, Mary!

Well...the big 60 comes to us all eventually...have a great day!

First of the Christmas videos...

It will be hard to top this one!

Mary's 60's Birthday

We all had a great time at Kate and Jean's to celebrate Mary's birthday and of course, Eliot, was the star of the show! Mary, I know you won't mind being upstaged by your darling grandson...just a doll.

Thanks so much. Kate and Jean, for inviting us and for the super dinner.

Thinking of sunnier times....

We had a beer here overlooking this great view in Nerja. We had to eventually move away from this table because we were sweltering.



Beach in Nerja. Many people were sunbathing but no swimmers.


We both went wading and realized why people weren't swimming...just a bit too chilly even for us.


Very warm in the sun in Nerja.


Jim on our balcony in our hotel in Granada.


I was going to post some photos of the snow but decided it would be more cheerful to post some photos of recent sunshine we experienced...

A couple of little videos from Spain

Most wireless services in hotels don't allow access to YouTube I guess because you are taking up too much bandwidth.



Paella loving kitty.



We just loved seeing and hearing these birds in the plane trees outside our hotel in the square.

A bit of a shock after the Costa del Sol

English Bay from our window yesterday morning.


Front of Victoria house.


Looking out from my sunroom in the back in Victoria.

Luckily we didn't have to negotiate snow driving in Vancouver to the ferry yesterday but it was bitterly cold as you can see from the photo I took in the morning. Hearing about the snow and problems in Victoria made for a rather tense ferry trip but in the end the Pat Bay was clear and although it got trickier as we got into Victoria the roads were well salted and sanded so not too bad.

I'm looking forward to my sunroom getting all toasty with the sun today and beginning to read our next book club choice, "The Help" by Kathryn Stockett. Getting good reviews by all reports.

Back home

We returned to Vancouver bathing in sunshine and a dusting of snow. Great to be picked up at the airport by Richard and not have that last wretched Victoria leg...it's such a killer after a long flight.

We had a good sleep last night and feel almost normal...so much easier coming this way for jetlag.

Today we went to The Sylvia Hotel for breakfast, had crepes from a stand that is just in front of us for lunch, and will head to Denman for dinner tonight. So nice not to drive.
Cracked open a bottle of Bandol red for lunch (notice we are having lunch on the coffee table I painted of the Hotel Splendide in Bandol) since it seemed like we were in the south of France with the sunshine and the view of the ocean.








Photo I took this morning when I got up.


Richard loved the knit tie (apparently very cool again) we bought for him at Liberty's in London.

More Malaga

Not sure why this shop is in Malaga!


View from our room...someone is raising pigeons across the way.


Cathedral


Port


Suckling pig

A few scenes of Malaga

We had fun walking around Malaga and getting almost lost in the winding streets but lots to look at. We went to the Picasso Museum here and it was excellent. Picasso was born in Malaga. Got down to the port as well and mainly ate and drank and enjoyed the ambience.

Last night we had a special tempranillo wine and Jim had suckling pig which was fabulous and I took a chance on a dish called Malaga Cod...a specialty of the region. I wasn't quite sure about it initially but Jim talked me into it (of course he was having the suckling pig and believe me I didn't get much...) The cod was prepared with cinnamon (or however you spell that) carmalized onions, raisins, and prunes. It turned out to be wonderful. The cod was sablefish (very fresh) and they served a huge portion (Jim got half. This was all of 13 euros...about $18. The suckling pig was more at 23 euro but very worth it.

We've felt Spain to be a great value...not something we have experienced lately in Europe but then London, Paris, the south of France aren't exactly known for being cheap.

Flying to Heatherow this afternoon, overnighting, then home tomorrow.




Cod a la Malaga


New style sculpture and the old cathedral in the background.


Almond seller and his buddies.


Oven for baking potatoes...a real meal with all the toppings.


I feel inspired to paint this campanille.

The cats of Nerja

This post is especially for my cat loving friends...

More Nerja

Sunny Nerja

View from our room.


Lots of British and German folk so turkey dinner for Xmas!



It's just great being in Nerja...so warm and relaxing although I don't think we'll be swimming. Went wading and a bit chilly. Sat at a beachside restaurant and drank red wine in the sun instead then wandered back to our hotel which is overlooking a square and even has a bit of a seaview and watched the sunset while drinking scotch and listening to loads of birds congregating in the plane trees in the square before they settled down for the night. A great location and we really love the feel of this little place...reminds us of Carqueirrane a bit when we had our place in the port watching the comings and goings and the view.

We haven't been doing much but sitting in the sun by the sea,drinking red wine or beer and eating. We had a great paella Tuesday in our favouite seaside restaurant. It was really great to get this wonderful weather in Nerja as yesterday (Wed) when we left for Malaga it was actually raining and also raining and dull in Malaga so didn't get a great impression of Malaga initially but it did brighten up and we've done some interesting wandering here in Malaga and will head to the Picasso Museum and perhaps visit the inside of the Cathedral here...magnificent on the outside.

Weve been very impressed with the prices in Spain for hotels, food and drinks. A glass of red wine or a beer pretty much anywhere is around three dollars. We paid about $36 for the paella for two...wonderful huge gambas (prawns) along with smaller prawns, clams, mussels, squid, sea bass. A black cat came up to us while we were eating the paella and meowed mournfully so of course got a bit. He or she seemed quite content after that and slept beside us in the sun. Loads of cats in Nerja...I counted 9 in the major square called Balcon de Europa. Someone had left them a bag of treats so they were in heaven either eating or lying in the sun. Elaine, you would have loved it!

We were feeling no pain after our paella so went for a teeter-totter...can't give people the royal bumps on these ones! Then watched some Germans enjoying their game of petanque.