MUSIC SATURDAY - LIEBESTOD

“Let no one who loves be called altogether unhappy. Even love unreturned has its rainbow.” - J.M. Barrie

In the early 1850s, Richard Wagner (1813-1883) began reading the works of the German philosopher Arthur Schoepenhauer (1788-1860). For Schoepenhauer, music occupied a station above all other arts, including poetry, which meant that the text of an opera was relegated to a supporting role. Wagner resonated to this ad he started to show evidence of his exposure to Schoepenhauer by the mid-1850s. “Tristan und Isolde”, the composer’s major operatic project of the decade reflected this influence and the music of the opera assumed an overarching role, soaring above and beyond the lyrics.

Until “Tristan und Isolde”, no one had quite imagined the extent to which music alone could embody drama. In one long musical utterance, Wagner lays bare the inner lives of the opera’s title characters, as their love, doomed from its beginning, finds fulfillment in death. The “Prelude and Liebestod” (Love-Death) comprise the beginning and ending of the opera.

The Prelude opens with the cellos softly playing four notes. The last note fades into an extraordinary chord played by oboes, bassoons, and English horn. This chord, the famous “Tristan chord,” sounds strange because it is an unresolved dissonance, an academic way of saying that it sounds like it is leading to something which our ear finds acceptable and “final”. But because Wagner, at this point, withholds resolution, the chord is, at this point, a beginning without an end.

What follows is a lush orchestral work that charts the psychology of the opera, which itself explores the unexplainable, primal nature of love. The chord returns during the course of the opera, but it is only resolved during the work’s final, ecstatic closing “Liebestod”. It is the culmination of the opera’s tragic events, set in motion when Tristan and Isolde drink a love potion. Tristan, though, has claimed Isolde on behalf of his lord, King Marke. When Marke discovers the lovers together, one of the king’s knights stabs Tristan, who returns to his fortress to die.

Isolde has just arrived to find Tristan dead when the “Liebestod” begins. Her worldly surroundings fade away as she contemplates sinking unconscious into supreme bliss and finally consummating her love with Tristan in death. The passage builds to a climax as “waves of refreshing breezes” begin envelop Isolde (at the words “Heller schallend, mich umwallend” i.e. “Sounding more clearly, wafting around me”) and again as she imagines expiring in “the vast wave of the world’s breath” (“in des Welt-Atems wehendem All”). She sinks down as the winds, over luminous violins, float to a final and satisfying resolution of the “Tristan chord” from the Prelude.

Here is the orchestral version of the “Prelude and Liebestod” played by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra conducted by Georg Solti.

And here is Stephen Fry exploring the “Tristan chord” and its significance to modern music.

And the painting above is “Tristan and Iseult” depicted by Edmund Blair Leighton (1853–1922).

FOOD FRIDAY - RATATOUILLE

“If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.” - Marcus Tullius Cicero

One of the prime joys of our back garden is the great variety of flowers that we have growing. Many annuals, flowering perennials, many rose bushes, Spring bulbs, summer tubers, etc. To have fresh blossoms for one’s vase, to wander in amongst the greenery and inhale the fragrance is wonderful. There is also a secondary joy, which is the inclusion of seasonal vegetables in amongst the flowers. Now in the summer garden, we have a couple of zucchini vines, some patio tomatoes, cucumbers, eggplants, capsicums and of course herbs.

It is so good to be able to pick garden fresh, organic produce from one’s own garden and make lunch or dinner! We made such a dish a couple of days ago, with our very own produce. Here is the recipe. If you do not have a garden, you are allowed to buy the vegetables at the greengrocer…

Ratatouille
Ingredients
2/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 tbsp. dried, chopped herbes de Provence (tarragon, savory, sage, thyme, marjoram)
6 cloves garlic, smashed and peeled
2 large yellow onions, quartered
1 bay leaf
2 medium zucchini (about 500 g), cut into 5 cm pieces
1 medium eggplant (about 400 g.), cut into 5 cm pieces
1 red bell pepper, stemmed, seeded, and quartered
1 yellow bell pepper, stemmed, seeded, and quartered
10 whole peeled ripe tomatoes (or use canned tomatoes)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1 tbsp. chopped fresh basil leaves
1 tbsp. chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

Method
Preheat oven to 200˚C.
Heat oil in a 6-Litre Dutch oven over medium heat. Add herbes de Provence, garlic, onions, and bay leaf; cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft and fragrant, about 10 minutes.
Increase heat to high; stir in the zucchini, eggplant, peppers, and tomatoes and season with salt and pepper. Uncover pot, transfer to the oven, and bake, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are tender and lightly browned, about 1 and 1⁄2 hours.
Stir in basil and parsley, transfer ratatouille to a serving bowl, and serve warm or at room temperature.
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CORNFLOWERS

"A flower cannot blossom without sunshine, and man cannot live without love." - Max Müller

Centaurea cyanus (commonly known as cornflower, bachelor’s button, bluebottle, boutonniere flower, hurtsickle or cyani flower), is an annual flowering plant in the family Asteraceae, native to Europe. The name “cornflower” is also used for chicory, and a few other Centaurea species; to distinguish C. cyanus from these it is sometimes called common cornflower.

It is an annual plant growing to 40-90 cm tall, with grey-green branched stems. The leaves are lanceolate, 1–4 cm long. The flowers are most commonly an intense blue colour, produced in flowerheads (capitula) 1.5–3 cm diameter, with a ring of a few large, spreading ray florets surrounding a central cluster of disc florets. The blue pigment is protocyanin, which in roses is red because of the specific chemical environment of the rose petals.

In the past this flower often grew as a weed in cornfields (in the broad sense of the word “corn”, referring to grains, such as wheat, barley, rye, or oats), hence its name. It is now endangered in its native habitat by agricultural intensification, particularly over-use of herbicides, destroying its habitat; in the United Kingdom it has declined from 264 sites to just 3 sites in the last 50 years. In reaction to this, the conservation charity Plantlife named it as one of 101 species it would actively work to bring ‘Back from the Brink’. It is also, however, through introduction as an ornamental plant in gardens and a seed contaminant in crop seeds, now naturalised in many other parts of the world, including North America and parts of Australia.

Several cultivars have been selected to grow as an ornamental plant in gardens with varying pastel colours, including white, pink and purple. Centaurea is also grown for the cut flower industry in Canada for use by florists. The most common colour variety for this use is a doubled blue variety such as 'Blue Boy' or 'Blue Diadem'. White, pink, lavender and black (actually a very dark maroon) are also used but less commonly. It is also occasionally used as a culinary ornament.

Cornflowers have been used and prized historically for their blue pigment. Cornflowers are often used as an ingredient in some tea blends and herbal teas, and are famous in the Lady Grey blend of Twinings tea. A relative, Centaurea montana, is a perennial plant which is also cultivated as a garden plant. Cornflowers germinate quickly after planting in full sun. It flowers all summer. The cornflower is considered a beneficial weed, and its edible flower can be used to add colour to salads.

In folklore, cornflowers were worn by young men in love; if the flower faded too quickly, it was taken as a sign that the man’s love was not returned. In traditional Western herbalism, a decoction of cornflower is used in treating conjunctivitis, and as a wash for tired eyes. The blue cornflower has been the national flower of Estonia since 1968 and symbolizes daily bread to Estonians. The blue cornflower was also one of the national symbols of Germany, while in Austria the blue cornflower is a political symbol for pan-German and rightist ideas.

In France the "Bleuet de France" is the symbol of the 11th November 1918 armistice and, as such, a common symbol for veterans (especially the now defunct poilus of World War I), similar to the Remembrance poppies worn in the United Kingdom, Australia and in Canada. The cornflower is also the symbol for motor neurone disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

The cornflower is also often seen as an inspiration for the German Romantic symbol of the “Blue Flower”. A Blue Flower (German: Blaue Blume) is a central symbol of inspiration. It stands for desire, love, and the metaphysical striving for the infinite and unreachable. It symbolises hope and the beauty of things. The blue flower also symbolises the joining of human with nature and the spirit, so that a complete understanding of nature and the human’s place in it is reached.

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme,
and also part of the Blue Monday meme.

POETS UNITED - THE INANIMATE

“And you left your mark on me... With the destruction of us, finally, we became no one.” ― Nadège Richards

This week, PoetsUnited has as its Midweek Motif, “The Inanimate & The Non-Human”. We humans are so anthropocentric that it is seldom that we do not imbue the inanimate and non-human with human qualities… Here is my poem:

Your Door

When I loved you, I loved you so

That even your door, shut as it was,

Was a thing beloved.

When I loved you, I loved you so

That I had to spend each night outside your window,

Until you turned off your light.

When I loved you, I loved you so

That tears would flow from my eyes,

Whenever I but thought of you.

Now so much time has passed,

That your door, even though open wide,

For me has no appeal.

Now so many things have come between us,

That even though your light burns all night,

I would not even know it.

Now so much has my heart hardened,

That the tears that you may shed for me

Are but scattered raindrops in a parched desert.

TRAVEL TUESDAY #13

“Egypt is not a country we live in but a country that lives within us.” - Pope Shenouda III

Welcome to the Travel Tuesday meme! Join me every Tuesday and showcase your creativity in photography, painting and drawing, music, poetry, creative writing or a plain old natter about Travel!

There is only one simple rule: Link your own creative work about some aspect of travel and share it with the rest us!

Please use this meme for your creative endeavours only. Do not use this meme to advertise your products or services as any links or comments by advertisers will be removed immediately.

The Great Pyramid of Giza (also known as the Pyramid of Khufu or the Pyramid of Cheops) is the oldest and largest of the three pyramids in the Giza pyramid complex bordering what is now the suburb of Cairo, El Giza, in Egypt. It is the oldest of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, and the only one to remain largely intact.

Based on a mark in an interior chamber naming the work gang and a reference to fourth dynasty Egyptian Pharaoh Khufu, Egyptologists believe that the pyramid was built as a tomb over a 10 to 20-year period concluding around 2560 BC. Initially at 146.5 metres, the Great Pyramid was the tallest man-made structure in the world for more than 3,800 years. Originally, the Great Pyramid was covered by casing stones that formed a smooth outer surface; what is seen today is the underlying core structure. Some of the casing stones that once covered the structure can still be seen around the base.

There have been varying scientific and alternative theories about the Great Pyramid's construction techniques. Most accepted construction hypotheses are based on the idea that it was built by moving huge stones from a quarry and dragging and lifting them into place. There are three known chambers inside the Great Pyramid. The lowest chamber is cut into the bedrock upon which the pyramid was built and was unfinished. The so-called Queen's Chamber and King's Chamber are higher up within the pyramid structure.

The main part of the Giza complex is a setting of buildings that included two mortuary temples in honour of Khufu (one close to the pyramid and one near the Nile), three smaller pyramids for Khufu's wives, an even smaller “satellite” pyramid, a raised causeway connecting the two temples, and small mastaba tombs surrounding the pyramid for nobles.

This post is part of the Our World Tuesday meme,

and also part of the Wordless Wednesday meme.

MOVIE MONDAY - THE RED SHOES

“The dance can reveal everything mysterious that is hidden in music, and it has the additional merit of being human and palpable. Dancing is poetry with arms and legs.” - Charles Baudelaire

Last week we watched a classic old film, which although I had heard lots about I had never actually seen. It was Michael Powell’s and Emeric Pressburger’s 1948 film “The Red Shoes”, starring  Anton Walbrook, Marius Goring, Moira Shearer and Robert Helpmann. It is loosely based on a Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale, but is more of a chronicle of the world of ballet dancers, teachers and impresarios. It is one of the early British colour films and it quickly became one of the most popular British films in the post-WWII period. The film is included among the “1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die”, edited by Steven Schneider.

The film has original music by Brian Easdale and cinematography by Jack Cardiff, and is well regarded for its creative use of Technicolor. Filmmakers such as Brian De Palma and Martin Scorsese have named it one of their all time favourite films. The movie employs the story within a story device, with the lives of the dancers, choreographers and impresarios being the main story, and a ballet they are producing being the other story. The film includes a staging of the ballet they are working on, which runs for about 15 minutes.

The plot is as follows: Under the authoritarian rule of charismatic ballet impresario Boris Lermontov (Wallbrook), his protégés realise the full promise of their talents, but at a price: Utter devotion to their art and complete loyalty to Lermontov himself. Under his near-obsessive guidance, young ballerina Victoria Page (Shearer) is poised for superstardom, but earns Lermontov’s scorn when she falls in love with Julian Craster (Goring), composer of “The Red Shoes”, the ballet Lermontov is staging to showcase her talents. Vicky leaves the company and marries Craster, but still finds herself torn between Lermontov’s demands and those of her heart.

Pressburger originally wrote the screenplay for Alexander Korda as a vehicle for Korda’s future wife Merle Oberon. After some years had passed without the film being made, Powell and Pressburger rewrote the screenplay, including more emphasis on dancing, and produced it themselves. Powell and Pressburger decided early on that they had to use dancers who could act rather than actors who could dance a bit. To create a realistic feeling of a ballet company at work, and to be able to include a fifteen-minute ballet as the high point of the film, they created their own ballet company using many dancers from The Royal Ballet. The principal dancers were Robert Helpmann (who also choreographed the main ballet), Léonide Massine (who also choreographed the role of The Shoemaker), Ludmilla Tchérina and Moira Shearer.

Boris Lermontov is the film’s dominant character, and is an obvious portrait of Sergei Pavlovich Dyagilev (1872-1929), one of the 20th century’s greatest cultural figures and the driving force of the ‘Ballets Russes’. Walbrook plays this character with restraint and is a perfect “bad guy” in a gentlemanly sort of way. Shearer and Goring as the lovers are rather more conventional leading actors and give good but perhaps slightly clichéd performances. Nevertheless Shearer is quite enchanting once she starts to dance.

The film gives an insight into the creative process in the arts, especially so the ballet, but also highlights the sad lot of the composer of the music used in ballet… The conflict between professional life and personal is well depicted, as well the way that true artists are passionate about their art. One exchange that stuck with me was: “Why do you want to dance?” Boris Lermontov asks Victoria Page; “Why do you want to live?”, is her response.

The 15 minute ballet “The Red Shoes” is a highlight of the film and this is a gloriously cinematic view of a ballet sequence. The music conducted flawlessly by Sir Thomas Beecham suits the action well and the choreography by Robert Helpmann and Leonide Massine is amazing. The glorious Technicolor cinematography by Jack Cardiff is quite stunning. Incidentally, we watched the film on Bluray, which was the copy of the 2006 digital restoration of the film done by Warner Bros. Motion Picture Imaging. The digital pictures were frame by frame digitally restored at Prasad Corporation to remove dirt, tears, scratches, and other artifacts, giving the film its original look.

Quite an amazing film and indeed well worth looking at, especially if you like ballet, music, the arts and the creative process.

ART SUNDAY - ANDRÉ DERAIN

“I do not innovate. I transmit.” - Andre Derain

André Derain (1880-1954) was considered by leading critics in the 1920s to be the most outstanding French avant-garde painter and at the same time the upholder of the classical spirit of French tradition. He was born on June 10, 1880, in Chatou, and began to paint when he was about 15. He studied at the Academy Carrière in Paris (1898-1899), where he met Henri Matisse. Derain was a close friend of Maurice Vlaminck, with whom he shared a studio in 1900 and also his radical views on painting, literature, and politics.

Derain was drawn, through Vlaminck and Matisse, into the art movement known as Fauvism. Derain’s first artistic attempts were interrupted by military service (1901-1904), after which he devoted himself exclusively to art. He experienced impressionism, divisionism, the style of Paul Gauguin and Vincent Van Gogh, and Vlaminck’s and Matisse’s techniques by applying them to his own work. He copied in the Louvre and travelled a great deal in France to paint its various landscapes. He spent the summer of 1905 at Collioure with Matisse and that fall exhibited with the Fauves.

The art dealer Ambrose Vollard signed a contract with Derain in 1905, and the following year the artist went to London to paint some scenes of the city commissioned by Vollard. Derain’s Westminster Bridge is one of his Fauve masterpieces. About 1908 Derain became interested in African sculpture and at the same time explored the work of Paul Cézanne and early cubism. He became a friend of Pablo Picasso and worked with him in Catalonia in 1910.

In Derain’s work, which comprises landscapes, figure compositions (sometimes religious), portraits, still lifes, sculptures, decors for ballets, and book illustrations, we can discern various periods, all of which are distinguished by masterpieces. About 1911 he was attracted by Italian and French primitive masters; he also admired the “primitive” art of Henri Rousseau.

After World War I, during which Derain served at the front, he studied the masters of the early Renaissance and then Pompeian art. All these left traces in his work. Finally he emerged as a realist and intensified his contact with nature. In rejecting the cerebral art of cubism and abstraction, he defended the return of the human figure to painting. His development as an artist was dramatic, and although Picasso called him a guide de musées, in other words, not an innovator but a traditionalist, Derain's best work will survive many of the experimental attempts of his contemporaries because of its inherent painterly qualities.

Toward the end of his life Derain lived, practically forgotten, in his country home at Chambourcy. The retrospective exhibition in Paris in 1937 was the climax of his fame. He died in Garches on Sept. 2, 1954. The large retrospective exhibitions organized from 1955 to 1959 established a new appreciation of Derain as a major artist.

The painting above is “The Dance”, painted in 1906. After receiving an African fang mask in 1906 by one of Derain’s fauvist contemporaries, Derain started an impressive collection of African art. “The Dance” is an example of the influence that Derain’s African art collection had on his painting. The painting features a brightly coloured landscape, with three main human figures and one figure in the background. The piece references both African art and Fauvism. With the wildly, vibrant colours its apparent that the painting is fauvist in nature. The rest of the painting references African art through African masks, primitive body painting, and curvy forms that reflect ancient stylised female figurines. These heads reflect African fang masks, in particular the face of the figure on the very left. Overall, the canvas is full of vibrant colour, exuberant movement and a rhythm that typifies vivacious African dances.

MUSIC SATURDAY - HÄNDEL's CONCERTI GROSSI

“Where words fail, music speaks.” - Hans Christian Andersen

Our memories are one of the fundamental things that define us, and to a certain extent, influence who we are and how we shall react to present and future situations. Many of those memories, for me at least, revolve around music. Music that we first heard on a certain occasion, background music that assumed special importance because of what was happening to us at a certain moment, music that was recommended to us by a special person our lives, music that was given to us as a gift, music that we heard at a concert where we were with someone special, music that we perhaps played on a particular moment when there was nothing else that we could do except play music…

Rallentanda, one of the readers of my blog (hello, Rall!), reminded me the other day through one her comments of a special moment in the past when I was first told to listen to a magnificent set of concerti by Georg Friederich Händel. The one that recommended them to me was my music teacher in High School, the one who also encouraged me to take up the study of music theory and the one who played on the piano my first compositions. I remember with fondness and gratitude that very special person who first saw sparks of musical talent in my nature and fanned them into a flame that has been kept alight for decades now. And these concerti always remind me of her, whenever I hear them (and that is often)!

So here are Georg Friedrich Händel’s Concerti Grossi Op 6, Nos 1-12, played by  The Avision Ensemble, conducted by Pavlo Beznosiuk.

Concerto Grosso in G Major, Op. 6, No. 1, HWV 319:

0:00:00 - I. A tempo giusto

0:01:33 - II. Allegro

0:03:17 - III. Adagio

0:05:52 - IV. Allegro

0:08:28 - V. Allegro

Concerto Grosso in F Major, Op. 6, No. 2, HWV 320:

0:11:21 - I. Andante larghetto

0:15:31 - II. Allegro

0:17:50 - III. Largo - Larghetto andante e piano

0:19:58 - IV. Allegro ma non troppo

Concerto Grosso in E Minor, Op. 6, No. 3, HWV 321:

0:22:22 - I. Larghetto

0:23:28 - II. Andante

0:24:57 - III. Allegro

0:27:23 - IV. Polonaise: Andante

0:32:22 - V. Allegro, ma non troppo

Concerto Grosso in A Minor, Op. 6, No. 4, HWV 322:

0:33:42 - I. Larghetto affettuoso

0:36:25 - II. Allegro

0:39:23 - III. Largo e piano

0:41:48 - IV. Allegro

Concerto Grosso in D Major, Op. 6, No. 5, HWV 323:

0:44:47 - I. [Larghetto e staccato]

0:46:20 - II. Allegro

0:48:33 - III. Presto

0:52:38 - IV. Largo

0:54:46 - V. Allegro

0:56:58 - VI. Menuet: Un poco larghetto

Concerto Grosso in G Minor, Op. 6, No. 6, HWV 324:

1:00:01 - I. Largo e affettuoso

1:03:17 - II. Allegro, ma non troppo

1:04:56 - III. Musette: Larghetto

1:09:58 - IV. Allegro

1:13:01 - V. Allegro

Concerto Grosso in B-Flat Major, Op. 6, No. 7, HWV 325:

1:15:29 - I. Largo

1:16:25 - II. Allegro

1:19:23 - III. Largo, e piano

1:22:31 - IV. Andante

1:26:18 - V. Hornpipe

Concerto Grosso in C Minor, Op. 6, No. 8, HWV 326:

1:29:34 - I. Allemande

1:36:08 - II. Grave

1:37:41 - III. Andante allegro

1:39:36 - IV. Adagio

1:40:41 - V. Siciliana: Andante

1:44:12 - VI. Allegro

Concerto Grosso in F Major, Op. 6, No. 9, HWV 327:

1:45:40 - I. Largo

1:47:11 - II. Allegro

1:51:04 - III. Larghetto

1:54:24 - IV. Allegro

1:56:10 - V. Menuet

1:57:30 - VI. Gigue

Concerto Grosso in D Minor, Op. 6, No. 10, HWV 328:

1:59:45 - I. Overture

2:01:14 - II. Allegro Lento

2:03:26 - III. Air: Lento

2:06:24 - IV. Allegro

2:08:37 - V. Allegro

2:11:22 - VI. Allegro moderato

Concerto Grosso in A Major, Op. 6, No. 11, HWV 329:

2:13:13 - I. Andante larghetto, e staccato

2:17:24 - II. Allegro

2:19:07 - III. Largo, e staccato

2:19:38 - IV. Andante

2:24:03 - V. Allegro Concerto Grosso in B Minor, Op. 6, No. 12, HWV 330:

2:29:21 - I. Largo

2:31:20 - II. Allegro

2:34:13 - III. Aria: Larghetto e piano

2:37:34 - IV. Largo

2:38:24 - V. Allegro

FOOD FRIDAY - ZUCCHINI

“It's the 21st century. It's healthier for us, better for the environment and certainly kinder to be a vegetarian.” - Ingrid Newkirk

We have a couple of zucchini plants growing in our garden in amongst the rose bushes. They have been very happy and productive this year and we have been using the zucchini in all sorts of recipes, this one below being quite a tasty one, but also quite healthful.

Vegetarian Quiche Squares

Ingredients

1 tbsp olive oil

1 large onion, finely chopped

3 zucchini, grated and squeezed dry

1 tsp salt (or to taste)

Pepper to taste

3 large eggs

80 mL milk

3 carrots, peeled, grated and squeezed dry

150 g coarsely grated cheddar cheese

1 tbsp chopped dill (optional)

Method

Heat the oven to 190°C. Lightly coat a 20 cm square baking pan with non-stick cooking spray.

Heat oil in a large non-stick frying pan over medium heat. Add onion and sauté until softened, for about 3 minutes.

Stir in the zucchini and carrot. Increase heat to medium-high; sauté until zucchini is soft and the liquid has evaporated, for about 7 to 10 minutes. Stir in the salt and pepper. Remove from heat.

In a large bowl, beat eggs, milk and add the vegetable mixture, cheese and dill. Spread in prepared pan.
Bake until quiche is just set in the centre, about 45 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and cool for at least 10 minutes before cutting. Serve warm or at room temperature.

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ANEMONES

“The starry, fragile windflower, Poised above in airy grace, Virgin white, suffused with blushes, Shyly droops her lovely face.” - Elaine Goodale

Anemone is a genus of about 120 species of flowering plants in the family Ranunculaceae, native to temperate zones. The genus is closely related to Pulsatilla (Pasque flower) and Hepatica; some botanists even include both of these genera within Anemone. In Greek anemōnē means “daughter of the wind”, from ánemos the wind god + feminine patronymic suffix -ōnē. The windflower often grows on craggy hilltops exposed to the wind and the name signifies that the wind may blow the petal open, but will also eventually, blow the dead petals away.

Anemone are perennials that have basal leaves with long leaf-stems that can be upright or prostrate. Leaves are simple or compound with lobed, parted, or undivided leaf blades. The leaf margins are toothed or entire. Flowers with 4–27 sepals are produced singly, in cymes of 2–9 flowers, or in umbels, above a cluster of leaf- or sepal-like bracts. Sepals may be any colour. The pistils have one ovule. The flowers have nectaries, but petals are missing in the majority of species. The fruits are ovoid to obovoid shaped achenes that are collected together in a tight cluster, ending variously lengthened stalks; though many species have sessile clusters terminating the stems. The achenes are beaked and some species have feathery hairs attached to them.

Anemone coronaria is the type species and is a single flower found in red, magenta, mauve and white forms. Found growing wild in the Mediterranean countries, Anemone coronaria is also widely grown in gardens for its decorative flowers. Numerous cultivars have been selected and named, the most popular including the De Caen and St Brigid groups of cultivars. The De Caen group are hybrids cultivated in the districts of Caen and Bayeux in France in the 18th century.

Greek mythology linked the red anemone to the death of Adonis. This handsome young man was loved by both Persephone, queen of the underworld, and Aphrodite, goddess of love. Adonis enjoyed hunting, and one day when he was out hunting alone, he wounded a fierce boar, which stabbed him with its tusks. Aphrodite heard the cries of her lover and arrived to see Adonis bleeding to death. Red anemones sprang from the earth where the drops of Adonis’ blood fell. In another version of the story, the anemones were white before the death of Adonis, whose blood turned them red. Christians later adopted the symbolism of the anemone. For them its red represented the blood shed by Jesus Christ on the cross. Anemones sometimes appear in paintings of the Crucifixion.

Anemone coronaria means “crown anemone”, evoking regal associations. The Arabic name is shaqa'iq An-Nu’man translated literally as the wounds, or “pieces”, of Nu’man. One possible source of the name traces back to the Sumerian god of food and vegetation, Tammuz, whose Phoenician epithet was “Nea’man”. Tammuz is generally considered to have been drawn into the Greek pantheon as “Adonis”. Tammuz's Phoenician epithet “Nea’man” is believed to be both the source of “an-Nu’man” in Arabic which came through Syriac, and of “anemone” which came through Greek.

Another possible source of the name is An-Nu’man III Bin Al-Munthir, the last Lakhmid king of Al-Hirah (582-c.609 AD) and a Christian Arab. An-Nu’man is known to have protected the flowers during his reign. According to myth, the flower thrived on An-Nu’man’s grave, paralleling the death and rebirth of Adonis.

In Hebrew, the anemone is calanit metzouya. “Calanit” comes from the Hebrew word “cala” לה" which means “bride”, while “metzouya” means “common”. The calanit earned its name because of its beauty and majesty, evoking a bride on her wedding day (remembering that traditionally brides wore brightly coloured clothes on their wedding day in the Middle East). In 2013 Anemone coronaria was elected as the national flower of the State of Israel, in a poll arranged by the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel (החברה להגנת הטבע) and Ynet. Anemone coronaria grows wild all over Israel, Palestine and Jordan. During the British Mandate for Palestine, British soldiers were nicknamed “kalaniyot” for their red berets.

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme.

POETS UNITED - IDENTITY

“In all affairs it’s a healthy thing now and then to hang a question mark on the things you have long taken for granted.” - Bertrand Russell

This week, Poets United has as its theme “Identity”. Participants write a poem that fits into this suggested theme and the results are shared with other participants of the challenge. Here is my contribution:


Mistaken Identity

You think you know me,

Because you buy me the cologne I favour,

Currently…

You believe you can guess my thoughts,

Because I smiled when you said you read my mind,

Yesterday…

You assume you understand me,

When you ordered lunch for me, without asking me what I wanted,

Last week…

You’re convinced you read me like an open book,

When you had the room painted with what was my favourite colour,

Last year…

You trust my feelings for you,

Expecting me to carry on loving you, undeservedly,

Forever…

Well think again – don’t dare to believe;

Assumptions are unjustified;

Your convictions are hollow:

You have mistaken my identity,

I am not who you have the effrontery to imagine I am.

Love feeds on love and a reciprocation of feeling,

Not on Pavlovian bells, nor on concessionary gifts.

Love grows when tended tenderly, like a delicate flower,

Not swamped with deluges, nor burned with Summer sunshine.

If you want to know who I really am, ask me, and I shall tell you.

TRAVEL TUESDAY #12

“We live on an island surrounded by a sea of ignorance. As our island of knowledge grows, so does the shore of our ignorance.” - John Archibald Wheeler

Welcome to the Travel Tuesday meme! Join me every Tuesday and showcase your creativity in photography, painting and drawing, music, poetry, creative writing or a plain old natter about Travel!

There is only one simple rule: Link your own creative work about some aspect of travel and share it with the rest us! Please use this meme for your creative endeavours only.

Do not use this meme to advertise your products or services as any links or comments by advertisers will be removed immediately.

Symi, also transliterated as Syme or Simi (Greek: Σύμη), is a Greek island and municipality. It is mountainous and includes the harbour town of Symi and its adjacent upper town Ano Symi, as well as several smaller localities, beaches, and areas of significance in history and mythology. Symi is part of the Rhodes regional unit. The economy of Symi was traditionally based on of shipbuilding and sponge industries. The population reached 22,500 at its peak during that period. Symi's main industry is now tourism, and its permanent population has declined to 2,500, with a larger population during the summer.

Geographically, Symi is part of the Dodecanese island chain, located about 41 kilometres north-northwest of Rhodes (and 425 km from Piraeus, the port of Athens), with 58.1 square kilometres of mountainous terrain. Its nearest land neighbours are the Datça and Bozburun peninsulas of Muğla Province in Turkey. Its interior is dotted with small valleys, and its coastline alternates between rocky cliffs and beaches, and isolated coves. Its main town, located on the northeast coast, is also named Symi and consists of the lower town around the harbour, typically referred to as Yialos, and the upper town is called Horio or Ano Symi. Other inhabited localities are Pedi, Nimborio, Marathounda and Panormitis. Panormitis is the location of the island's famous monastery which is visited by people from all over the world, and many Greeks pay homage to St Michael of Panormitis each year.

It is a small, picturesque and quiet place to relax and perfect for a Summer holiday. At the same time, there are quite a few activities and places to visit, while in Summer there is entertainment to be had in the evenings also…

This post is part of the Our World Tuesday meme,

and also part of the Wordless Wednesday meme.

Please link your entry using the Linky tool below:

MOVIE MONDAY - THE DRESSMAKER

“There is much to support the view that it is clothes that wear us, and not we, them; we may make them take the mould of arm or breast, but they mould our hearts, our brains, our tongues to their liking.” - Virginia Woolf

For Movie Monday today, an Australian film, the 2015 Jocelyn Moorhouse movie “The Dressmaker” starring Kate Winslet, Liam Hemsworth, Hugo Weaving and Judy Davis. The film is based on Australian author Rosalie Ham’s Gothic novel first published by Duffy & Snellgrove on January 1, 2000. The story is set in a 1950s fictional Australian country town, Dungatar, and explores love, hate and haute couture. The novel is divided into four sections, each named after a different fabric and representing different phases in the story: Gingham, shantung, felt and brocade. I have not read the novel, but the quirky film was interesting and entertaining.

The plot centres on Myrtle “Tilly” Dunnage (Winslet) who returns home to rural Australia after spending time abroad becoming an accomplished fashion designer. Much of the story hinges on her childhood: As a child Tilly was sent to a boarding school in Melbourne by Sergeant Farrat (Weaving) as she was accused of killing the boy who bullied her. Her mother, Molly (Davis) initially doesn’t recognise the adult Tilly on her return o town and thinks she is dealing with an impostor. Molly eventually accepts her into her home and Tilly transforms it into a couturier’s salon where she begins to make haute couture clothes for the women of the town. In the meantime, she becomes romantically involved with Teddy McSwiney (Hemsworth) whom she has known since they were children. The town still hasn’t forgiven Tilly for apparently killing the boy and believe she is cursed. Tilly’s plan is to exact revenge on all those who did her wrong and she will apparently stop at nothing to succeed...

The film is episodic in nature and difficult to classify into a single genre. There is quite a great deal going on and there are many characters introduced throughout. Many familiar Australian actors get lines in this movie and it’s great to see them doing their thing so well. Kate Winslet assumes a fantastic Australian accent and it certainly complements Hemsworth’s drawl. Judy Davis is fantastic in her role, which deserves a supporting actress Oscar.

There are moments of hilarious humour, moments of poignancy, great sadness, frustration and quirkiness. A true roller-coaster in terms of everything that is going on. Part of the film’s charm perhaps is because of this failure to classified and pigeon-holed and it can be considered to mirror life in this respect. There is poetic license, of course, and an almost magical realism about the situation as well as an unconventional ending. Given the film’s title and the short publicity blurb I read about it before seeing it, I thought it was going to be a standard chick-flick, but no, it doesn’t fall into that type either.

The sets, costumes, cinematography and authentic touches of the 1950s era were extremely well done and one felt transported back in time, watching this idiosyncratic tale. I would recommend it anyone and I would say that it was quite an entertaining two hours we spent watching it. The film has a great message, as well, about the few bad people who are hasty in making terrible judgments and who are able to influence a whole lot of others, thus making life miserable for everyone…