Le temps des cerises

Tags

fables, fairy tales, France, life, literature

It is cherry time now, all markets have them and we are in the second part of Summer, though the weather has been hot and humid and living by the ocean is a good thing for the breeze it brings constantly.

I have been reading the book written by Lady C.  (Lady Colin Campbell) know as Georgie to her friends. She wrote and published a tell all book about Meghan and Harry entitled Meghan and Harry the true story. Lady C. does not like Meghan who the British Press now call Me Gain, for her rapacious quest for financial gains, the British Media is no kinder to Harry who they now call Blow Job Harry, apparently that is how Meghan won his heart. Lady C. got lots to say in her book and gives ample references.

Both of them come across as total idiots, she for not understanding or not paying attention to what she was getting into or as is now largely suspected she is a social climber and a gold digger who planned it all well and bagging Harry who is a dolt. He for seeking some silly revenge on his family for slights and for being the spare, well this is what happens in Royal Families, you simply have to carve a role for yourself. Meghan plays on Harry’s super emotional and sensitive nature prone to burst of rage, many anecdotes on that one from various people who were on the receiving end of his tantrums. Even the chef who cooked for both boys when they were kids, says that William was the mature practical one more like his father, while Harry was the air head.  The boy got problems, I now understand better the remark made during our visit to Kensington Palace a year ago that Harry had mommy issues.

The one drawback to the book, it needs more editing and Lady C. got the part about Canada wrong when she speaks about Margaret Trudeau, the 70 something mother of our current Prime Minister. The newer book by Scobie and Durand Finding Freedom, I will give a pass. The whole affair is unbelievable, why could Harry not marry a nice German Princess like in the old days.

Now this morning I read the blog of Dr Spo who is Carl Jung’s first cousin and living incognito in Phoenix AZ. https://sporeflections.wordpress.com

He was mentioning reading books from the family library entitled the 100 best stories. He was wondering if they really were the best stories written by some unknown authors. This got me thinking that Reader’s Digest once had books by famous authors in abridged versions and sold them in nice leather bound edition with gold trim, I do not know if anyone ever read them. I also remember thinking if you read one of those books could you really say you had read the book, it was an abridged version with sections cut out so not the actual complete work.

When it comes to stories the French literary scene has lots of authors but one in particular is Charles Perrault (1628-1703) who is said to have invented the concept of Fairy Tales. Another is Jean de la Fontaine (1621-1695) the famous fabulist. Both lived during the reign of Louis XIV, a golden age for the arts.

Perrault in my estimation is the classic story teller and his tales are world famous, immortal you could say. Little Red Riding Hood, Sleeping Beauty, Blue Beard, Tom Thumb, Cinderella, etc.. His tales all have a moral lesson attached to them and he writes to impress upon the imagination and plays on the fears of the common man. Symbolism is important, good and evil represented by the dark forest, the wolf, witches, giants and ogres. His tales delight and frighten everyone really as they did then. He appeals to our basic instincts as humans all the while telling his tale.

Jean de la Fontaine in his famous fables equally tells tales which draws upon lessons for life, with a heavy dose of morality with punishments for those who do not heed the warnings.

Both Perrault and Lafontaine I learned at school and at home, they were the classic authors you simply had to know. I wonder if children still read those stories or is it all about super heroes now and dinosaurs.

 

Montreal Baroque

Tags

art., life, Montreal

 

 

Music by J.S.Bach adapted from Hymns.

Brandenburg Concerto No. 7: III. Allegro (After J.S. Bach’s Der Himmel lacht, die Erde jubilieret, BWV 31: Sonata for orchestra) ·

Montréal Baroque:  Brandenburg Concertos Nos. 7-12 ℗ 2012 ATMA Classique Released on: 2012-05-01 Conductor: Eric Milnes Ensemble: Montréal Baroque Composer: Bruce Haynes

Lucy Maud

Tags

author, L.M.Montgomery, life, literary works, novels, Tragedy

While staying at the cottage at French River, we drove a few minutes down the road to the Birthplace of the author Lucy Maud Montgomery in New London. This is NOT the house every tourist will visit in Cavendish connected with the Anne of Green Gables story.  The old house which is quite modest and small and in keeping with the standard of homes in 1860 is set in a field at the intersection of two roads in New London. Her grandparents lived just a short ride away and their barn is now used as a museum to the author and her works, their home where Lucy Maud lived as a child is no longer in existence. It is interesting to visit the Birthplace because it tells you more about the author and her parents and family and how they lived before Lucy Maud ever became an author, you could say it is more personal, more intimate.

Lucy Maud Montgomery was born in November 1874, her father was Hugh John Montgomery and her mother Clara MacNeil. PEI had just joined the Canadian Confederation in 1873 and so the new Province was now part of the Dominion of Canada. Within 20 months of her birth, her mother Clara died of tuberculosis and her father decided to send baby Lucy Maud to his parents down the road to be looked after, he left the Island and moved to the North West Territories, which later in 1905 became the Province of Saskatchewan in Western Canada, truly frontier country back then, vast grassland prairies still mostly populated by Natives and the buffalo herds. Lucy Maud would not see her father until the age of 15 when she then migrated West, her father had remarried by then and Lucy Maud did not get along with her new Step-Mother and so returned to PEI within one year.

Picture below, her parents bedroom and Lucy Maud’s crib

Lucy Maud would later attend Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia and marry a Presbyterian Church Minister and move with him to Ontario to live mostly in Southern Ontario and finally in Toronto. Not a happy married life, in fact the marriage was a mistake, he was a manic depressive, given to hallucinations and hearing voices, ranting and raving. Lucy Maud would famously remarked one day that Women God wanted to destroy he married to Church Ministers. They had 3 sons and to this day the grandchildren live mostly in Ontario with some remnants of the family in PEI. She died in 1942 from what was said at the time to be heart failure but in 1974 on her centennial it was revealed in a CBC radio interview that she had committed suicide. She too suffered from depression, was obsess with her social standing and depressed that in Toronto the literary circles did not take her seriously as a writer despite her enormous success. Her son Chester also gave her many problems and was engaged in a life of petty crimes. Both her and her husband the rev. Ewen Macdonald used barbiturates and sleeping pills heavily.

Few knew the depth of Montgomery’s problems. She alluded to them in letters. “Remember me as I used to be, not as I am now,” she wrote.

“I envy those who die in their sleep,” she wrote in another letter. “I have a horrible fear that I’ll die by inches.”

Her final known journal entry was dated March 23, 1942. “My life has been hell, hell, hell. My mind is gone — everything in the world I lived for has gone — the world has gone mad,” it read. “I shall be driven to end my life. Oh God, forgive me. Nobody dreams what my awful position is.”

Montgomery’s Toronto home at 210 Riverside Dr. was indeed her journey’s end. She was found dead in her bed on April 24, 1942. Her son and her physician believed it was a suicide.

Next to Montgomery was a written page. It was dated and had a page number. It is not clear if it was a suicide note or belonged to a journal.

“My position is too awful to endure and nobody realizes it,” the page read. “What an end to a life in which I tried always to do my best in spite of many mistakes.”

Today, Lucy Maud Montgomery is immortal, her many books, poems, the Anthem to PEI, and the Anne of Green Gables series has guaranteed her place in Canadian literary pantheon. Her family and personal problems are all forgotten and only her skills at presenting Island life as a social comment to the era remains.

I enjoyed the visit to her birthplace because of the peace of the place and on offer are several of her books including 2 biographies. It is certainly not the commercial amusement park Green Gables in Cavendish has sadly become.

In reading about her life you see that much of her inspiration comes from her own personal life, Anne like Lucy Maud is an orphan, living with relatives, deceased or distant parents, going to school and the adventure of living in a rural setting. The small minds and pettiness of isolated surroundings and the hypocrisy of keeping up appearances, religious intolerance. It is in many ways a portrait of society in early days Canada.

Junction of Road 20 and road 6 in PEI about 45 minutes from Charlottetown.

Canada day in the countryside

Tags

Berlioz, crespin, cuisine, Food, Holiday, life, lobster, Music

We had a lovely day at our Friend Pam in Lower Montague at St-Andrew’s point. Will made a beautiful Lobster Quiche, he used a pound of lobster, my God it was so good and so rich, we drank champagne and for dessert he made a Summer Pudding of fresh berries, it was so light and refreshing topped off with freshly made whipped cream and more champagne.

Before the meal I made an appetizer of cucumber, large shrimp, cherry tomatoes and Bocconcini in fine herbs with a nice bottle of Pink Champagne. The weather was overcast but her house is on the water looking out unto the Strait and the Panmure Island.

It was a quiet day today all around, a bit unusual for Canada Day, no festivities and no fireworks because of the pandemic. Friday the Bridge re-opens for the first time in 3 months and people living in the Maritimes can travel only in the Maritimes without self-isolating. However today a bit of a stain on this good news,  it was reported that a passenger coming from Toronto on a flight to Halifax is suspected of having Covid 19. It still has to be confirmed. but if it is true, this may mean that Nova Scotia will be excluded from our Maritime bubble and have to go back into lockdown. No playing around with this matter.

There are also reports that the border with the USA could remain closed for a further year to all but essential travellers. The news from our southern neighbour is disastrous and very difficult to understand.

Today I thought of Hector Berlioz, Les nuits d’été and the first song Villanelle and I wanted a singer who had perfect French diction, so I chose Régine Crespin, (1927-2007) who had a major international career. Les nuits d’été (Summer Nights), is a song cycle by the French composer Hector Berlioz. It is a setting of six poems by Théophile Gauthier. The cycle, completed in 1841, was originally for soloist and piano accompaniment. The cycle was neglected for many years, but during the 20th century it became, and has remained, one of the composer’s most popular works. The full orchestral version is more frequently performed in concert. The cycle was complete in its original version for voice Mezzo-Soprano or Tenor in 1841.

Words are by Théophile Gauthier, Villanelle

Quand viendra la saison nouvelle,
Quand auront disparu les froids,
Tous les deux nous irons, ma belle,
Pour cueillir le muguet aux bois.
Sous nos pieds égrenant les perles,
Que l’on voit au matin trembler,
Nous irons écouter les merles siffler.

Le printemps est venu, ma belle,
C’est le mois des amants béni;
Et l’oiseau, satinant son aile,
Dit des vers au rebord du nid.
Oh! viens donc, sur ce banc de mousse
Pour parler de nos beaux amours,
Et dis-moi de ta voix si douce:
“Toujours!”

Loin, bien loin, égarant nos courses,
Faisant fuir le lapin caché,
Et le daim au miroir des sources
Admirant son grand bois penché,
Puis chez nous, tout heureux, tout aises,
En panier enlaçant nos doigts,
Revenons, rapportant des fraises
Des bois.

Fallacies about Art

Tags

Canada., culture, life, NGC, Ottawa

A few years ago I was a volunteer guide at the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa, Marc Mayer was the Director of the NGC and he was a great fellow as a director and very personable. He has an interesting background in Art, as a curator and art lover. Here is a short presentation on the 5 Fallacies about Art which is helpful to those who wish to appreciate art in its various forms. I find this presentation to be enlightening. These are some points I try to impart to visitors who come to the Gallery and who may not know how or have preconceived notions about art. Mayer debunks it all for us.

More urban planning

Tags

Germany, history, life, Potsdam, Renewal, Urban design

It was announced that on Wednesday 1 July Canada Day, Canadians will be allowed to travel to Europe for the first time since all international air travel for touristic purposes was stopped in mid-March. Already Air Canada and other airlines are flogging seats and tempting people with European vacations. On Friday the Confederation Bridge linking over 12 Km this Island to the mainland of Canada will also re-open for travel restricted to people living in the Maritime Provinces. People are already salivating for the opportunity to go to Moncton to shop at Costco, really people? You must be joking but hey so is life. A Costco run will cost $47. Canadian dollars to cross the fabled bridge and you can return same day the distance between Charlottetown and Moncton being only a total of 2 hours by car. I won’t be going, no Sir not me.

Continuing my interest in Urban renewal in Germany and in Russia, I have been following since the mid-1990’s the rebuilding of cities like Dresden and Potsdam, both heavily bombed by the Allies in the dying days of the Second World War. These old historical cities were targeted because of the art and culture centre they were. Dresden especially, being the old Capital of Saxony and a centre for porcelain Meissen and for the arts with its beautiful museum collections. Potsdam was known as the Secret Capital of Prussia, the Kings since 1701 lived in Potsdam and administered the Kingdom from this location. Berlin was the ceremonial Capital for Official Acts, receptions and the seat of Government and the Parliament. Think of Potsdam like we think of Windsor.

I first visited Potsdam which is 30 minutes by train from Berlin centre about 1997, the old market or Alt Markt was nothing more than ruins and craters full of weeds. Here and there a few University buildings built by the Communist regime in the brutalist style of the 1970’s and in the former gardens of the City Palace a 16 floor Hotel Mercure which was suppose to symbolize according to Socialist thinking modernity in the Communist State. The 3 Star Mercure chain in Europe and in other third world countries 63 in all, was then owned by France who used the brand to further French diplomacy and its agenda. Lobbies full of prostitutes often on government payroll and French wines. Marriott owns the chain today under Accor management.

The main attraction of Potsdam was the Royal Park with the palaces and other architectural gems. Sans Souci being the most important one and the Neues Palais being the other. Under Communism both had suffered from neglect and minimal maintenance and wholesale theft by the Red Army of 18th century fine furniture and works of Art.  Some of which was returned by the Russians after 1989. I was happy to visit Potsdam for its history and many sites but it would get better in the years after 2000.

What is interesting about any urban renewal scheme in former East German towns is the influence of former Communist politicians who sometime sit still on City Councils and will resist any move to renew cities and get rid of the old decrepit architecture and infrastructure built between 1950-1989. Given the constant lack of funds and building materials, buildings were quickly and cheaply built and decayed rapidly due to lack of maintenance.

Since 2000 the City Council in Potsdam has developed with private developers a plan to rebuilt the old Market Square (city centre) of Potsdam. The Square was before 1945 flanked by the St-Nicholas church, the City Hall, the Barberini Palace and the City Palace Residence of the King of Prussia. After the war only the City hall and the St-Nicholas church remained though is a ruined state. The other palaces had being bombed out of existence.

 Potsdam City Palace in 1945. It was rebuilt completely in the last 5 years and is now the Parliament of the State of Brandenburg.

Since 2000 a vast plan to re-build the historical streets, water canals of the city centre, historical bridges and churches is underway. The Finance Faculty of the University which was built in the 1960’s has been demolished and on this site the former buildings with historical facade will be rebuilt with modern interior for today’s use as businesses, apartments etc. Rebringing the baroque charm of Potsdam.

The City Palace today.

Across the street at the moment is a very large vacant lot where the Financial Faculty building was,  as of next year the area will be redeveloped with buildings along what was there previously.

This view shows 3 yellow squares of what was once the Faculty buildings, they were demolished a few years ago. The green dome is St-Nicholas church, the City Palace is in front. Behind the Palace is the Hotel Mercure with the former gardens of the Palace. It is hoped that this modern hotel will be demolished and the area returned to what it was once a garden space and parade grounds for the Grenadiers of the King.

Here are some views of the proposed new buildings in keeping with historical street scape.

More of the same idea has been developed in Dresden where the entire old city centre was rebuilt.

I remember the old Financial Faculty on this site and how ugly it was and out of place with the historical buildings. Though this kind of re-building may be seen by some critics as Disneyesque, the will and vision for the future is to allow Potsdam to re-claim its former baroque charm with its canals as the Venice of Prussia.

Here is a photo showing the entire area rebuild, green roof is the Palace, the colonnade connects the Palace to the former stables. By 2023 this should be done. The understanding being that though all buildings are historical renditions the inside are modern and adapted to the plans of each owner. It is very costly to rebuild in this fashion, many artisans and stone masons are required many of whom work on the nearly completed City Palace in Berlin and on many other sites in Germany.

If you wondered what the East German Finance Faculty looked like before it was demolished, here is a picture

Weekend

Tags

life, lobster, mussels, Oysters

The sun is shining and the weather is quite warm, so it is time to go out. Friday afternoon we returned for the first time since February to the Club. Much improvements and changes, new paint job, new light fixtures and redecoration. Exterior work has been done and it all looks better. After drinks in the garden we walked by to our home just down the street and decided to have dinner at the Water Prince restaurant, the owner came to chat and told us that the price of lobster is $6.49 per pound, it has not been that low in 10 years, the main factor being that external markets have disappeared. Currently with the economic war China is waging against Canada over that dreadful communist official Ms Meng of G5 /Huawei, who faces extradition to the USA for espionage and fraud and the hostage diplomacy China has engaged in, China is blocking Canadian exports. There are 183 Canadians at the moment being held in Chinese jails,  one is a Canadian Diplomat and the other a tour operator, the two Michaels. We know they have been tortured and held in solitary confinement for 18 months now. Our Ambassador in the PRC has been visiting them whenever he is allowed to do so.

We had a very nice dinner, I had a pound of Mussels, the food at the Water Prince is very good and it is always nice atmosphere.

Of course we must still follow the rules on health when in public, though given that we have NO cases in PEI now for the last 2 months, many feel it is over, but it is not, we are all bracing for the second wave in the Fall.

Today was another lovely day and we drove to Victoria by the Sea which is a very small settlement going West towards the Confederation Sea Bridge at Borden. Basically 4 streets and a small harbour for fishing boats. Our doctor lives in Victoria by the Sea,  her husband is a fisherman. It is about a 25 minute drive to Charlottetown probably faster if she uses the By-Pass around Cornwall.

Victoria in the last few years has seen the constructions of many new luxury homes, luckily they all blend into the natural scenery. There is one large house going up on a cliff extending out to sea, looking at it from a distance I thought like many, who would want to live there in Winter when a sea storm is coming in with the fierce and howling winds, the owners probably think it is probably romantic. The house is very exposed on 3 sides to the sea with no trees or any natural protection, it is a promontory. How strange.

 

We had lunch in the Sunshine at Richard’s, a very famous take-out place on PEI. Everyone swears by it and there is always a crowd. The specialty is lobsters served in various forms and oysters. This restaurant is the second one, the original Richard’s is in Covehead harbour on the North shore. Both are Seasonal and only open in Mid-May and will close by Mid-September. The lobster roll is wonderful, they use the old style hotdog buns that you can toast and stuff a lobster in the bread with a mix of celery and coleslaw. It is quite a meal and we walked around the village afterwards, again this year despite the fact that all the eateries are open, some shops are not opening and the Orient Hotel which is a pension is closed. This pandemic has played havoc with tourist traffic this year. Many businesses will go under or will be sold off to competitor. Though the Maritime bubble is opening allowing us to travel to Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Newfoundland without the quarantine period. The Government also allows people who own a cottage to come BUT they must ask permission first and give a time and date of arrival plus prove ownership of a cottage on the Island and give a plan of how they will manage their quarantine if they come from other provinces like Ontario. Those people from Quebec can cross by car from the Quebec border with New Brunswick and are allowed to drive all the way to Souris in PEI for the ferry to les Iles de la Madeleine which is a sandbar part of Quebec, the only problem is that they cannot stop anywhere on the way and this is a 12 hour car trip. There is also a requirement that they cross into New Brunswick after 8pm meaning that it is dangerous to drive in the dark, it is moose country and already an accident happened last week when a driver hit a moose which weighs on average one ton. No death this time only serious injuries and the car is totally destroyed.

Canada Day is coming up on Wednesday 1 July, this year it will be a virtual celebration and there are no public display for health reason. The weather says rain that day.

Fields of Lupins reminds me of Monty python.

Books I have been reading

Tags

Family, life, Russia, Stalin, USA, USSR

Well it is  time for another instalment about books I am reading. The latest is the new Biography written by fellow Montrealer Rosemary Sullivan, winner of several prestigious literary awards, on the life of Svetlana Iosifovna Stalina (1926-2011) know later in life by the family name of her late mother, Alliluyeva and when she became an American citizen as Lana Peters. The book is entitled Stalin’s Daughter.

She had brothers, one, Yakov Dzhugashvili (1907-1943) died at Sachsenhausen during the Second World War in a POW camp for famous prisoners. He was the first born son of Stalin and his first wife. Yakov spoke more Georgian than Russian and it is said that Stalin did not like him much. Her other brother was Vasili Stalin (1921-1962) Lieutenant General in the Soviet Air Force, a drunk who died of acute alcoholism. She also had another brother  by adoption Artyom Fyodorovich Sergeyev ( 1921-2008) the adopted son of Joseph Stalin. He became a major general in the Soviet military. Sergeyev’s biological father, Fyodor Sergeyev, a close friend of Stalin, died in a train crash in 1921.

Svetlana had a strange and sad life, she was known in Soviet Elite Circles as the Princess of the Kremlin. When her mother Nadezhda Sergeevna Alliluyeva committed suicide by gunshot at the age of 31 after a party in the Kremlin in 1932, Svetlana was a child of 6 yrs old. Her world went from a carefree childhood to one of harrowing unexplained events punctuated by the disappearance of uncles and aunts and other relatives. Svetlana was physically isolated within the Kremlin and saw her father only occasionally and being followed and guarded by the Secret Police. Because of her isolation she was unaware of the cruelty of her father’s regime. Only at the age of 11 she noticed that schoolmates also disappeared or heard of their parents being arrested by the Secret Police. Later at the age of 14 while learning English and having access to American and British magazine she discovered by accident an article claiming that her mother had shot herself and not died of acute appendicitis as claimed in Official Soviet version of her death. This caused her severe emotional distress. At the age of 16 she started to understand that those who had disappeared in her family had been shot on her father’s orders because he blamed them for his wife’s suicide instead of looking at his own sordid behaviour.

Stalin was cruel, vindictive, a misogynist  and distrusted everyone, always seeing conspiracies against him, always testing people, one wrong word could be a death sentence. Svetlana became afraid and careful of what she said around her father when she saw him. He in turn could be nasty, as he had been with his late wife, full of put downs and negative criticism.

The book also gives us a description of how the elite who all lived together in the old Imperial Senate building of the Kremlin, lived on a daily basis. Children had governesses, tutors, private health care and the best of everything. Wives of party officials and the family members of Stalin had access to all manners of foreign luxury goods, even in times of famine everywhere in the Soviet Union, they had access to the best food and wines. Their lives where like that of the Bourgeoisie before the Revolution.  There was also the Datcha’s ( luxury homes) outside Moscow and other old Tsarist Palaces in the Crimea on the Black Sea. Chauffeured limousine, private trains and planes. Still her life was restricted to Moscow and the surrounding countryside. She would not visit Leningrad (St-Petersburg) until adulthood after her father’s death.

A series of fresh crisis erupted with the death of her father in March 1953, the power struggle and the physical elimination of people like Lavrenti Beria who was the head of the Secret Service and managed the million of executions of so called enemies of the people. Svetlana finds herself in a difficult situation, the Central committee declares that as the daughter of the late Stalin, she is State Property and her life is managed by the new leadership. She withdraws from public view and in March 1956 with the widespread publication of Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev speech on Stalin’s crimes, she no longer dares go out in public, so afraid of the people’s loathing. She decides to change her name to her late’s mother family name, but this creates more problems for her. This is how kafkaesque the world of the Soviet Union was.

The book goes through her marriages both in the USSR and in the USA where she became an American citizen. Her famous defection in 1967 to the USA while in India to bury her husband Brajesh Singh. The publication of her first book Twenty letters to a Friend. Her 3 children, Joseph (1945-2008) Katya (1950) and Olga Peters (1971), two who are still alive live in Russia and in the USA. Olga does not speak Russian and was born in California.

Svetlana died in 2011 age 85 of cancer in Wisconsin, she also had a home in Portland. She never found peace nor did she ever get away from the ghost of her father or be reconcile with the death of her mother and became estranged from her children Josef and Katya, only Olga the American born daughter grew close to her. You feel sorry for Svetlana who like all children do not chose her parents and the accident of birth which haunted her life.

Svetlana Alliluyeva Stalina

We have been played…

Tags

dogs, home, life, Vet

Well we were back at the Atlantic Veterinary College, AVC at UPEI with Nick and Nora for their annual shots and physical exam etc. Our Vet, Dr West is a charming man with years of experience. Because of the pandemic the protocol is for us to stay in the small parking lot of the college, the lot is surrounded by gardens with mature trees and you can enjoy a nice breeze in the shade. One garden is dedicated to poisonous plants. Nick and Nora were whisked inside by the nurse. Dr West came out a little later to tell us what was happening and while talking about the hounds, Dachshunds belong to the hound family,  he told us something we knew from having dogs for 30 years, that they (Nick and Nora) were playing us to get what they wanted.  Walt Disney lied, they are not all sweetness, they are mostly calculating.

Reesie Of Chicago and Bundnie of Cairo in Ottawa in 1995 in the Fall on our home deck.

Nora of Capena and Fantastico Nicky in Ottawa in 2013 in our den.

Our Dachshunds we learned are too clever for words and by constantly observing us they get to know which buttons to push to get a treat, we say Biscuit or wanting to be put up on the sofa, or wanting their blanket re-arranged so they can nestle, go out for a walk, they usually decide where we will go or a myriad of other demands. They are also punctual about meals 07:30am for breakfast and 5:00pm for dinner and do not forget. We get dirty looks and low growl if the service is not punctual. Walks at 10am and then at 2pm and 4pm finally at 9pm.

Right now it is a few minutes, 10 to be exact, before dinner and already Nicky is moaning as if in pain for his dinner. Nora simply let’s him do it but gives pleading looks. We also have a routine for breakfast which is always followed by a small piece of banana, after dinner a small piece of cheese usually gouda. At cocktail time as I reach for ice for drinks, they expect a sliver of ice each. Little rituals we cannot depart from.  If food is being prepared they are in the kitchen and will not be moved.

When it comes to their health, we do watch carefully, last Thursday night I spent 5 hours at the AVC but it was worth it and yesterday Dr West confirmed that Nora was better and this week she would make a full recovery. Nick got his shots and will have to return for teeth cleaning and so will she. Hopefully it is just a cleaning not extraction. Vet service in Canada is very expensive compared to elsewhere in the World.

Though they are cunning, they are also adorable and we created this situation by spoiling them and catering to their needs. They learn very quickly if food is involved and never forget. Will often remarks how they cannot remember commands unless their meal is being prepared. Nora also has the habit of listening to you as long as you are in sight, the minute your back is turned, she will revert to what she was doing completely forgetting whatever you said. If we scold her for something she takes this offended look. Our Bundnie who was a short hair Dachshund use to turn her back on us if displeased with us.

Now it is just past 10 pm and Nicky has been sleeping next to me in the living room, he suddenly wakes up, looks at me with his big eyes, I ask him if he wants to go sleep  or Do Do in French and he jumps down and runs to his kennel and blanket because he will get a treat. Nora follows this little manège and does not move from the sofa but she too will want a treat. When she finally goes to bed she will get another treat and Nicky will wake up just so he too can get an extra treat. How they can go from deep slumber to wakefulness in seconds is beyond my understanding.

So we will just have to live with it I suppose and think of ourselves as personal assistants to them. As long as they are in good health and happy that is all that matters.

 

 

 

Kojo-no-Tsuki (荒城の月)

Tags

art., Hakone, Japan, Jazz, lalique, life, Tokyo, train

The title is Japanese and means Ancient Moon. This is a jazz piece by Koichi Sugii and is part of  Japanese Jazz and Salon Music from 1936-1941. It was very popular in Japan and even the Emperor HiroHito would request it be played by the Imperial guard, old 78 rpm exist out there for those who might like to hear it. Koichi Sugii (1906-1942) was a Japanese bandleader, composer, arranger, conductor, singer, accordionist and recording artist. He skilfully bridged Eastern and Western styles, combining American orchestral jazz with Japanese pop and Chinese folk music to create a sophisticated and melodic hybrid with broad appeal.

Sugii was born in Tokyo in 1906. His mother sang traditional Japanese music while accompanying herself on the samisen, a three-stringed instrument. An early familiarity with his country’s native folk songs later inspired Sugii to arrange these melodies in jazz settings.

Sugii took piano lessons from a Canadian teacher, and became an ardent admirer of Western classical traditions, jazz, and film music. In 1930, after graduating from Tokyo Imperial University, he was hired by the Osaka merchant shipping company, which assigned him to Buenos Aires. In Argentina the young business executive became fascinated by musical trends, especially the tango. Convinced his true interests were in music, Sugii returned to Japan in 1932 and found work composing and recording for a film studio. In 1935 he joined Sakurai Kiyoshi’s Sakurai y Su Orquesta, a Latin-influenced band which specialized in tangos.

Those years prior to the Second World War were years of great development in Japan and the wealth people enjoyed brought luxury products to Japanese markets and a fascination with Western habits. The brother of the Emperor had a complete Lalique Museum built after a visit in France where he and his wife had René Lalique’s house dismantled and rebuilt in their museum. If you visit Tokyo you can see it, fascinating.

This Art deco building built in 1933 is part of the The Tokyo Metropolitan Teien Art Museum. The museum is located in Minato ward, just east of Meguro Station. The Art Deco building interiors were designed by Henri Rapin and features decorative glass work by René Lalique. It was pure delight to visit it and showed how sophisticated Japanese society is and was then.

Another spectacular area is the open air museum in Hakone outside Tokyo is easily reach by train. Japanese trains are a dream, never seen anywhere anything like it. The  open air museum presents sculptures by Henri Moore, Constantin Brancusi, Barbara Hepworth, Rokusan Ogiwara, Kotaro Nakamura and Niki de Saint Phalle, 120 works in all, the green space was well thought out with trees, and shrubbery designed to bring peace and facilitate reflection for visitors, very much in the Shinto style.

There is more and another incredible find is the Lalique museum, yes more Lalique and  Le Train café restaurant, the actual train transported from France, it was in service until 2001 and was part of the Orient Express line. I was trying to imagine how do you transport a train car from Europe to Japan. You can have tea on board with all the actual dishes and linens, absolutely exquisite, very high quality. Again the train car is decorated by Lalique panels and is exquisite in terms of luxury. Reservations are a must.