So I’m going outside the box again with my Barn Collective post. This is a piece that my mother-in-law painted years back that I really enjoy. My mother-in-law passed away in 1997 and we have reminders of her around our home. She grew up Kansas and she was a school teacher in a one-room school house. She lived with us after my father-in-law passed away in 1985.
Head over to Rose Street Reflections for The Barn Collective #15 to see some actual barns.
Marjorie Merriweather Post (1887-1973), heir to the Post cereal fortune, was the founder of Hillwood Museum and Gardens – her former twenty-five acre estate in Washington, DC. This is one of my favorite works of art that is housed in her former home.
This large painting depicts one of the most important social and political events of old Russia, a wedding uniting two families of the powerful boyar class that dominated Muscovite politics in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The artist has singled out that moment during the wedding feast when the guests toast the bridal couple with the traditional chant of “gor’ko, gor’ko,” meaning “bitter, bitter,” a reference to the wine, which has supposedly turned bitter. The newlywed couple must kiss to make the wine sweet again. The toast occurs towards the end of the feast when a roasted swan is brought in, the last dish presented before the couple retires.
For the rest of these photos I zoomed in on the painting above to get more of the detail to share…
The sumptuously attired guests at this lavish wedding feast fete the newlyweds in a candlelit dining hall replete with gleaming silver and gold and richly embroidered linens. Konstantin Makovskii painted this work in 1883, two hundred years after such an event would have occurred. The Russian revival style was quite popular at the time, as Russians were nostalgic for the traditions predating Peter the Great’s efforts to westernize the country.
Mrs. Post acquired the painting in the 1960’s. It was among her final major acquisitions as she and her curator, Marvin Ross, prepared to open her home as a museum.
On her death in 1973, Mrs. Post’s final and most important philanthropic gesture became reality when Hillwood, her last estate in Washington, DC, was bequeathed to the public as a museum. Her magnificent French and Russian collections remain on view at Hillwood Museum and Gardens, where her legacy of opulent beauty and gracious elegance continues to thrive.
I saw this next painting at the National Portrait Gallery. I was drawn to it again because of it’s Russian origin. The Samovar on the table suggests that it was a tea gathering. My parents and relatives were from the Peasant class so they never dressed up like this or had such a luxurious tea…
Many times at our Russian wedding receptions in the States the tradition of tapping our tea glasses with silverware to alert the newly wed couple that our tea was not sweet was performed. This was to inform the newlyweds they needed to stand and kiss each other to sweeten our tea. The Russian receptions that I attended did not serve alcohol so the “tea not being sweet” replaced the “wine is bitter” Chai nye slotky is one phonetic way to pronounce “the tea is not sweet”…
Despite myself I’ve had a productive week so far. I mowed the lawn, got some laundry done, cooked some new dishes, ran errands, payed bills, picked up books at the library, and did some shopping. I’m getting ready to take a few days off to have some fun with a bloggy friend flying into town. The main event we’ll be enjoying is the Sequim Lavender Festival on Friday. Of course you’ll be seeing what we did and where we went because neither of us will be forgetting our cameras…
Have a great Wednesday! I’ll be watching the U.S. Women play France in a World Cup semi-final.
HT: Hillwood Estate Museum & Gardens Tour Guide.
It’s time for Mosaic Monday hosted by Mary at Little Red House and Blue Monday hosted by Sally at Smiling Sally.
My mosaics and photos are all from the Getty Museum in Los Angeles, California except for one. If you are ever in the L.A. area and have the chance to visit this museum it is well worth it. The museum is free. Parking is $15.00. I will be sharing more photos from the Getty all this week. I’m starting with an outdoor mosaic. I spotted this hummingbird in the sunken garden at the museum.
I’m sure you will recognize the following works of art.
Irises ~ Vincent Van Gogh
Sunrise by Claude Monet
The Bridge over the Water-lily Pond ~ Claude Monet
The Rue Mosnier with Flags ~ Edouard Manet
Dancer Taking a Bow ~ Edgar Degas
My final blue is the pumpkin my daughter and a co-worker created for a no carve pumpkin contest.
Happy November everyone!
Photobucket is holding all my photos that I stored on their site from 2007-2015 hostage replacing them with ugly grey and black boxes and asking for a large ransom to retrieve them. It is a slow process to go through all my posts deleting the ugly boxes.
In my Sky Watch #10 Post I mentioned that I was trying to get inside St. Mary Magdalen Church in Camarillo to see their historic stained glass windows. A few Sundays ago we went to the church grounds to buy some home made Mexican food at a fiesta they were putting on as a fund raiser. While there I was thrilled to see the church doors open and I went inside and was able to finally see and take pictures of these amazing works of art.
Here is an excerpt written in a historical site about the windows.
“The most notable chapel fixtures were its magnificent 13 stained glass windows. These azure, crimson, green, and gold windows tell a double story — one of the life of Christ, the other of a world at war.
While on a trip to Europe, Juan Camarillo selected the windows in Munich, Germany. The year was 1913 and the early rumbles of the continent gathering its strength for conflict were growing with each passing day. Somewhere between the studios of glass-blower F. X. Zettler of Munich and the church on a hilltop in faraway Camarillo, the stained glass windows were lost. Zettler’s name can be seen at the bottom of the windows depicting the Holy Family (east side) and Christ with the children (west side). Despite the best efforts of the Camarillo family through consuls and ambassadors, the windows appeared lost forever. Mrs. Carmen Camarillo Jones recalled that her uncle Juan feared they were at the bottom of the sea. One day a letter arrived from a German official. This official in Munich had been noticing several large crates staked outside a building with Juan’s name on them. He had written Juan several letters and finally one got through at the end of Word War 1. Much to the joy and relief of everyone, the lost windows had been found. However, it was a painfully slow and long trek to Los Angeles, and then on to Camarillo, before they were finally installed in the thick brick and plastered chapel walls in 1919.”
After I had been in the church for about 5 minutes the caretaker came in and closed the doors behind me I figured my time inside was over.
To see more of the outside of this historical church click here.
For more ABC posts on the letter M visit the ABC Blog.
Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007-2015 hostage and they have blacked them all out. I’m slowly working at restoring my posts without their help. Such a tiresome bother!
John 13:1 ~ “It was just before the Passover Feast. Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love.”
“Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet.” I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.”
For more Word FIlled Wednesday click here.
I took this photograph yesterday in Thousand Oaks, California at the Gardens of the World.
The Gardens of the World is privately owned and operated by the Hogan Family Foundation.
This is a guest post from my daughter Katie about a class she’s taking this quarter. I’m including it in this weeks Tea Blog-a-thon, Dressed-to-A-Tea, as promised.
Chado – The “tea way”
This quarter I have been fortunate enough to get to take a class on the art of Chado, the Japanese tea ceremony. We meet once a week for lecture, and then once a week we go to the Japanese Garden at the Seattle Arboretum and practice in the tea room. This last week we got to bring home our “fukusa basami”, (pictured) little clutches containing our “fukusa” (ceremonial cloths), some papers for putting sweets on, and our fans. (pictured)
I also decided to buy a yukata and obi to wear for the class, though this is not a requirement. A yukata is an inexpensive, light, informal version of the kimono. Real kimono are pricey and require alot of care. An obi is the broad sash worn with kimono or yukata. My yukata has not yet arrived, but I received my obi early last week. My friend Mika tried several times to tie it for me, but complained that since I was smaller than her she couldn’t get the proportions right. When my instructor arrived she had me come in to the tea house and quickly and expertly tied my obi. I drove home wearing it so that my brother could take a picture. (pictured)
So far we have learned several bows, how to walk in the tea room, how to fold and unfold our fukusa properly, how to whisk tea, and how to take and serve sweets and tea. It’s alot of information to take in, but I’m loving it.
Thanks Katie! When you get your yukata I want another photo!
For more Tea Posts click over to Gracious Hospitality.
Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007-2015 hostage and they have blacked them all out. I’m slowly working at restoring my posts without their help. Such a tiresome bother!
Open a Book
Open a Book
And you will find
People and places
Of every kind.
Open a book
And you can be
Anything that
You want to be
Open a book
And you can share
Wondrous worlds
You find there.
Open a book
And I will, too.
You read to me
I’ll read to you
Unfortunately, I don’t know who to give credit to for writing this little poem. I’m laying low today reading and recovering from my lower back spasms. Thanks for your kind words and thoughts. I really do feel a lot better but am still moving slowly. Still working on memorizing 2 Corinthians 4: 16-18. Have a joy filled day!
April 6th – 12th ~ Share ideas and pictures that involve stitching for the tea table. Any kind of stitches count: sewing, embroidery, knitting, crochet, tatting, quilting, etc. The work can be yours or of someone else, but should be homemade rather than done by factory machines. Ideas are
napkins, tea cozies, table linens, and other creations made with tea themes.
I have always called these dish towels tea towels so I’m including them in my stitch post. The Tea Cozy in the center was a gift that a friend in England knit for me after I was so excited seeing my very first tea cozy at her house in 1973. The doilie to the right of the tea cozy is great for setting a teapot on. I have a lot of tablecloths and napkins that I use for pretty tea tables that do not have a tea theme in particular. Most of these items are in my home in Washington and I don’t have access to them for this post. I’m looking forward to my visits to your sites to see what stichery you have…
I forgot about these fancy teaspoons we inherited from my MIL and decided to add them to this post
For more Hospital-i-Tea blogathon posts on stichery click here.
Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007-2015 hostage and they have blacked them all out. I’m slowly working at restoring my posts without their help. Such a tiresome bother!
On mornings like today this old Mother Goose nursery rhyme pops into my head and I say it again and say it again and say it again and again…
One misty moisty morning,
When cloudy was the weather,
I chanced to meet an old man,
Clothed all in leather.
He began to compliment
And I began to grin.
How do you do? And how do you do?
And how do you do again?
When I was a school teacher we had a training session on how important nursery rhymes were to a child’s language development and future reading skills. So take that baby on your knee and have fun with all the nursery rhymes out there. Sing them instead of just saying them. I remember bouncing my kids on my knee with this one, too.
Ride a cock horse to Banbury Cross
To see a fine lady upon a white horse
With rings on her fingers and bells on her toes
She shall have music wherever she goes
There’s also a rhyme we would repeat in Russian that goes something like this…
This weeks theme is decorating with tea items, or tea collections etc. I’m getting ready for my posts and wanted to remind you that’s it’s not to late to join in. Head over to Gracious Hospitality for the themes each week. Then you can click on the link below my collage to see other posts for this weeks theme. Here’s my first contribution to Decor-a-Tea.
The tea set and dishes are Royal Albert Moss Rose. The napkins and napkin rings are Target clearance. The glasses and clear glass plates on top of the Moss Rose plates are from Goodwill. The tablecloth is a quilt I bought at T.J.Max. The runner is a piece of dotted swiss fabric with lace that I found at Goodwill, too. The salt and pepper shakers are a gift from a friend who purchased them in Victoria, B.C. I love to find things here and there to add to my different ideas for place settings. When I find bargains it’s easier to justify adding them to my collections. I’ve gotten a lot braver in throwing odd things together and most of the time it works out well. Enjoy…
I’m headed to the airport now to return to Southern California. I will add some more Decor-a-Tea posts from there. Have a wonderful week everyone.
To see more Decorating Tea posts click here.
Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007-2015 hostage. I’m working on updating my blog posts very slowly.
The Happy Wonderer ~ ellen b. 