British Museum - Greek Eye Opener Tour (part 1)

Back in January,  I stole an hour out of my otherwise 'oh so busy' schedule to head over to the British Museum for another of the 'eye-opener' tours:  this time 'The Greeks'.



Corinthian White Clay...

I will say, the eye-opener tours are always great, and I LOVE a guide who begins by warning us abour her intentions, so that those who want something different can leave before it begins. 

Since her 'warning' was about her intention to look at pottery, I was not dissuaded! My inner potter was in bliss!   :-)  Indeed, rare is the tour that leaves me feeling quite so grounded... literally... in stuff out of the ground!

First lesson? Different communities were working with different colours of clay. I don't know why this should have been such a surprise, but it was! (maybe because I know I can go to the store and order clay in just about any colour imaginable).


Black figure decoration (scaping off)

 I rather forgot that people might be using the kind of clay they could dig up in the area they lived in).

So, for example, the Corinthians were working with white clay, while the greeks were using red clay.



The guide talked to us about black figure decoration (basically, where you put layers of coloured slip on the pot and then scraped it off, to reveal the colour underneath).



Red decoration (adding on)

On the other hand, there is red figure decoration, where they instead added the colour to the outside of the pot, leaving the figure itself in the colour of the bare clay.

Two different methods, but both of which show off the beautiful red of the underlying clay body in greek pottery.



Egyptian and Greek from the front...

Another thing I learned? That you can tell the difference between egyptian and greek statues from the period by checking out their backsides.

The Greeks felt you would be asking for trouble if you left the statue unfinished.

...and from the back

The Egyptions, on the other hand, were comfortable with the back of the statue being clearly a part of the block of stone.


The guide also told us to watch the faces, and that the Greek statues (in the earliest period) had a bit of a goofy smile going on.... she referred to is as an archaic smile... i like the turn of phrase.

Both statues had some similar stances from the front, but you are not likely to get a well-developed buttocks on an egyptian statue.

Duncan is, as an aside, still deeply enamoured with the Rick Riordan Percy Jackson series, and in the last book, we spent tons of time hanging out with Ella the Harpy (click here to read more about her on Riordan's website).

A harpy on a tomb

As such, it was a treat to wander past the facing on a tomb, and see a Harpy carved there (holding a person in their arms). It was fun to see an original version (complete with bird legs!), having become rather attached to Riordan's modern day intepretation of the harpy!

Rugby!

getting ready to play

Inspired by Arta, we got a new camera with a much better zoom (well... since our last camera had only a 3x zoom, just about ANYTHING would be better!).

Steve gave the new camera its first workout today at Alex's game:  Finchley v. Fullerians.



Duncan and I watched from the sidelines (with Kiwi, of course), while Steve ran up and down the  sidelines, shouting out suggestions to the players, and trying to get good photos!  :-)






steve on the sidelines



It was an adventure to watch, even if I still don't know how to score.  Further, even though I know that a 'scrum' and 'rucking' are different things, I still don't really know how to describe them (other than to say both leave me certain that there will be a major injury at any moment).



moving the ball

And injuries there were, but nothing requiring medical interventions.  Alex took a knee to the head, and later a knee to the groin.  Ouch.  But... he is still standing!

 

in the scrum



a line out

stretching out after the game



The Finchley team did really well (winning 38-10), which leaves them just a bit closer to the possibility of moving up to division 1 next year.

Fun! (if terrifying)









A week in the life...

It seems like life is just running so fast, and there is no time to capture it, let alone summarize. So... in the interests of moving along, highlights of the last week or so have have included:



Dress as your favourite character day...

1.  At Queenswell, they had a "Dress up as your favourite book character" Day.  Duncan and I went out shopping at the second-hand shops to see if we could find him an outfit for a mafia guy.  We found a suit jacket, a white shirt AND a hat!   The only thing we were missing was the dark glasses. 



A hat tip to those who guessed correctly



Duncan was a bit irritated when he came home at the end of the day, since so few people had guessed correctly.  Some had guessed Tony Soprano (which is a bit close), but then others had guessed James Bond, Johnny English ("Mr. Bean's" interpretation of a spy), the Blues Brothers and Charlie Chaplin.   When Steve came home, and we asked him what the costume looked like, he gave us the same list!   Now THAT is the sign of a versatile costume! 

2.  A great family night out:  we headed off to the National Gallery for a 15 minute tour of room 45, to see how many Van Gogh paintings we could identify (we have been working our way throught the "Art Sticker Book" which is full of paintings held only in the National Gallery).  The answer is SEVEN. 

Wands for sale at Forbidden Planet

 

a crowded tube

Then we had a 'proper burger' at Byron's along with a 'proper milkshake'; then headed off to check out Forbidden Planet (with its stock of Harry Potter Wands sitting close by the South Park Collection), and then got stuck in the most crowded tube line ever.  Perfect evening!

will Duncan win this match?....

or will Rebecca be the lucky one?

3.  Playing Backgammon.
While I sometimes am defeated by the younger player, othertimes I kick his butt.  The only question on this occasion was "Do you feel lucky, punk?"

 

alliterative beer labels

 4.  Pre-screening beers for Glen's visit next week.This one is really Steve's moment of happiness: he has been out looking for interesting beers (so my fabulous uncle Glen needn't waste his time on less varieties when he and Janet come for a visit next week). 

These two labels made me laugh, in part because had Alex introduced me this year to the strange viral phenomenon of "Dancing Badger" (and no... i don't understand it in the least, let alone why it would go viral, but it unfortunately sticks in your head... and thus having a beer company named "Badger" made me smirk).  And of course, after months of hearing my kids complain about Brits not pronouncing their "th" properly, and saying "fink" instead of "think", it was hysterical to see that lovely bit of pronunciation reflected in a beer label: nothing like a "fursty ferret"!





a Friday market in North Finchley

 5.  Discovering that there is actually a market in Finchley every Friday. I had no idea.... only took me 7 months here to figure that out! 

I got a new t-shirt (black, of course!) for 2 pounds.... i will be going back next week!



Rewallpapering the upstairs bedroom



6.  Finally repairing the wallpaper in the upstairs bedroom!   It wasn't well installed in the first place, and, when we first moved in, there was a piece hanging loose.  Duncan discovered that a little tug leads to a bigger tug, and that an attempt to just pull off one piece can end up producing a mighty big hole:  a lesson many of us have learned.  I did, however, manage to procure a matching roll of paper (way back in August).  It took until the last two weekends for Steve and I (mostly steve) to figure out how to strip and re-hang the paper.  Yea!!!!  the job is finally done! 

Ranciere in London

7.  Heading off to Birkbeck to listen to Jacques Ranciere give a lecture. The room was swarming with people, but i was there 30 minutes early, so got a good seat.  It ended up being on soviet art and film in the 1920s!


I was so happy to be there, and also so exhausted from the past few days that I actually dozed off in part of the lecture. ARGH!!!! I am turning into my mother! I forgot to go swarm the front at the end to have him sign my copy of Dissensus (which is the one book I brought with me from Victoria on sabbatical)....sigh. Ah well...



spring blossoms at night



8.  the gift at the end of the day was walking home in the dark, under the apple and cherry trees which have already started to blossom. Night blossoms. Nothing sweeter! 

 

Blossoms on Woodside Avenue




What a Doll! (oops... what a DHAL)



Arta's Dhal Variantion




I can't believe it. I actually made my first batch of Dhal!

Arta made this for me while she was here visiting, and then left me the recipe...or rather... two different recipes with notes on her modifications. :-)

I took the bull by the horns and tried it. Yum, yum! .... especially with a dollop of Geeta's Premium Mango Chutney (or the Chili Lime Chutney if you prefer that!)

And, as we all know, given my past history in the kitchen, if "I" can cook this, then ANYONE can cook this!  :-)

 

"Arta's Variations on a Dhal-Theme"

Serves 4
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 35 minutes
Total Time: 45 minutes

Ingredients:
• 1 T. sesame oil or, alternatively, olive oil
• 1 cup finely chopped white onion
• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1 T. finely chopped fresh ginger


• 4 cups water or vegetable broth
• 1 cup dried red lentils, rinsed and picked over
• 1 t. cumin
• 1 t. coriander
• 1 t. tumeric
• ¼ t. Cardamom
• ¼ t. cinnamon
• ¼ t. cayenne pepper
• 1 t. salt, or to taste
 • 1 cup of canned coconut milk
• 1 yam (which was already cut into cubes and boiled until soft)
• 2 cups (or so) of fresh spinach, roughly chopped.


Preparation:
1. In a 3-quart stockpot or other medium-sized soup pot, heat the sesame oil over medium heat. Once the oil is hot, add the onion, garlic and ginger. Cook, stirring often, until the onions are translucent, about 6 minutes.
2. Stirring constantly, add the water or broth, lentils, spices and salt. Bring to a low boil, then turn down the heat to low, cover and let the soup simmer for about 20 minutes, or until lentils are very tender
3. Stir in the coconut milk, and yams and spinach, and cook several minutes more, or until the soup is desired temperature and consistency, adding more water to the dahl if needed.

Then add the chutney of your choice, and eat with naan bread.  yum!

Half a Key is not quite as good as a Full Key...

You know... it was just one of those days.  A day that I decided to spend the afternoon at some Birkbeck lectures (on the Tudoreque, and on Aboriginal Notions of Place), telling the boys to just take care of themselves after school.  I mean, what could possibly go wrong?  Duncan has his own key, after all, and knows how to let himself in.

You will note that the key in this photo is a bit 'short'.  Most keys are somewhat longer than this one.  Of course, several hours ago, the key WAS somewhat longer than it currently is. That is because the other half of the key is still inside the lock mechanism

Who knew that today would be the day that the key revealed its deeply bifurcated nature, and that one half would refuse to leave the locking mechanism behind, clinging to its one true love, and abandoning its other half?

Amazingly enough, Duncan, using the broken half, still managed to jimmy his way in, and stay at home to open then now broken door for others.

So much for my "what could possibly go wrong?" attitude.

The locksmith is on the way!

 

The Hermitage - Ceilings and Floors

When I first arrived back in London from the trip to St. Petersburg, I spent an hour showing my mom the photos I had taken. I had to confess a bit of surprise as I was showing her my shots of the Hermitage.  Rather fewer than expected photos of art, and rather more of the building.



Below the pillars, looking up



 It seemed clear that I had indeed been overwhelmed by the size of things: it all seemed 'too much' in a way.   So while I wanted to look at 'the art', I found my view being continually pulled up to the ceilings around me.  The number of pillars in the building (in granite, marble, malachite or lapis lazuli) did pull in this direction, drawing  your eyes up to the details above.



Going up the central stairs



Ceiling in a blue room...



Chandelier in the Assembly Room




a gold room



a white room



the small throne room

















Ceiling in the Malachite Room

 

Ceiling in the Boudoir



Looking down from the second floor...



And frankly, it wasn't much easier when you drew your eyes from the ceiling, and tried to look back down. 

Even my attempts to focus on a small field of vision left my overwhlemed.  Because even here, the detail was staggering. 

The parquet floors, for example. Each room seemed to have a completely different style of inlaid wood. 

Sometimes the pattern was symetrical, othertimes like filigree, and sometimes completely organic.

It is not like i have never seen a beautiful wooden floor before, but this was, like.... 32 km of variable inlaid floors?!  

It seemed almost a crime to be walking on them. 

We were there in the middle of winter, and, like the other thousands of people who were pouring in, had boots covered with snow and dirt.  i cringed thinking about the work it must be to keep the floors in good shape.



cleaning up behind the tourists

 Somehow, this shot just seemed to capture it for me.... a guy out with what looked like a pretty ordinary vacuum cleaner, sucking the dirt up off the carpets up the main staircase.

Housecleaning.  Yep.  The building is stunning, but I don't know how they can possibly have enough people (or resources) to do the work necessary to maintain the place.  The small throne room, for example, was totally covered with silver.  Having done all those silver smithing courses, i can appreciate the dull sheen of tarnished silver, but can only imagine what the room would look like if the silver were polished.  But who is going to have the time/resources to do the polishing?! 

Anyways, I was torn between being overwhelmed by the beauty of the Hermitage, and being overwhelmed by the sheer imperial excess of it all (and thinking about the deprivations that would have been necessary to produce such a place of luxuriant excess). 

Still not sure what to really think about it.  It was a mind-bender.

The Hermitage - my encounter with Matisse

Arta had warned me that the Hermitage was huge, and that I might want to set aside more than one day to explore it.

No doubt! It is huge. That is an understatement. It is made up of 6 buildings (Palaces), and has a collection of over 3 million items.  It is something like 32 kilometers to walk all of its halls (or so says wikipedia!) 
 

The Hermitage...seen from the water



a favourite book of mine

 Point in case: my favourite art book at home is this one: Impressionism and Impressionism.

I poured through this book a million times both before and after exploring the National Gallery in Washington.  I could pretty much 'check off' the paintings that I had seen there. 

I also spent time studying the pictures of paintings the book told me were held by the Hermitage, feeling pretty certain that they would be beyond my ability to ever see in person (except in the context of travelling exhibitions, perhaps). 


Matisse's "Red Room"



looking at the trees out the window



But there I was, walking the halls of the Hermitage, when I came upon the painting which graces the cover of my book! 

Seeing the painting there on the wall was such an unanticipated pleasure. 

I felt more than a bit overwhelmed, standing up beside the painting, looking more closely at different parts.


There were the trees outside the window, which left me wondering if the white was supposed to be snow, or rather blossoms like we have on the cherry trees in the Victoria springtime.
 

checking out the fruit

And there was the bowl of fruit on the table, the colour blends reminding of still life paintings of fruit by Cezanne. 

former "Green Room" still visible...

 

And you could see around the edge of the painting the 'green' that was underneath of the red.

While the painting is now known as the "Red Room", it apparently was first done with a green background.


Signature by the chair, green edge?

Later, Matisse decided that there was too much green, and he repainted portions of it to turn it from a green room to a red room.

What a treat to get up close and see the green peeking out!