A WINTRY TREAT

“In seed time learn, in harvest teach, in winter enjoy.” - William Blake

It was a real winter’s day today with almost non-stop rain, wind and cold temperatures. As the rain lashed the windows at work, some colleagues that had braved the elements came back wet, and through chattering teeth, mumbled: “It’s ghastly out there, today!” I had occasion to attest to the veracity of this when I went out to the bank at lunchtime. The street was full of people walking quickly with unfurled umbrellas and the traffic was quite chaotic (really, I do believe that rain dissolves the brain of most car drivers)!

In the afternoon we had a work social function at Docklands and we all walked there despite the weather, as we are all taking part in the Global Corporate Challenge and we have to clock up at least 10,000 steps per day each. We laughed and joked through the rain and wind and battled with umbrellas that turned inside out. I must say that this new job is great so far with a fantastic set of co-workers and a great company ethos and policies…

I got home later in the evening and it was wonderful to come into a warm house where some Mozart was playing and where smells of delicious cooking wafted through from the kitchen. We had a delicious meal, not the least part of which was a classic, good, old-fashioned, wintry dessert:

Apple Crumble
Ingredients
1/4 cup plain flour
1/3 cup soft brown sugar
1/4 cup raw sugar
3/4 cup oats
1/2 cup desiccated coconut flakes
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 pinch ground cloves
1/2  cup of melted butter
6 cooking apples (Granny Smith are fine), peeled, cored and sliced

Method
Slice apples and place on bottom of a buttered pie dish.
Mix all the dry ingredients well and add the molten butter, mixing well so the mix is crumbly.
Put the crumble on top of the apples.
Bake at 180°C for about 20 minutes or until golden brown.
Serve with whipped cream or ice cream.

This post is part of the Food Friday meme,

and also the Food Trip Friday meme.

AUTUMNAL ASCENSION DAY

“I’m singing in the rain, just singing in the rain; What a wonderful feeling, I’m happy again.” - Arthur Freed
 

Today is Orthodox Ascension Day. The Ascension of Jesus (anglicised from the Vulgate Latin Acts 1:9-11 section title: Ascensio Iesu) is the Christian teaching found in the New Testament that the resurrected Jesus was taken up to heaven in his resurrected body, [Acts 1:9-11] in the presence of eleven of his apostles, occurring 40 days after the resurrection. In the biblical narrative, an angel tells the watching disciples that Jesus’ second coming will take place in the same manner as his ascension.

The Ascension of Jesus is professed in the Nicene Creed and in the Apostles’ Creed. The Ascension implies Jesus’ humanity being taken into Heaven. The Feast of the Ascension, celebrated on the 40th day of Easter (always a Thursday), is one of the chief feasts of the Christian year. The feast dates back at least to the later 4th century, as is widely attested. The account of Jesus ascending bodily into the clouds is given fully only in the Acts of the Apostles, but is briefly described also in the Gospel of Luke at 24:50–53 and in the ending of Mark 16 at 16:19.

If it rains on this day it is purported to be a very good omen as the heavens opened up to receive Christ and any rain that falls down is holy.  Rainwater gathered and used for bathing has curative properties for all sorts of complaints, but especially so for eye disorders.  Well water from holy wells if gathered early on Ascension morning has similar properties.  Ascensiontide and Whitsuntide are favoured days for “well-dressing” so as to ensure a plentiful supply of water over the next year.

We are experiencing a wet and cold Autumn this year and there is no shortage of water falling from the heavens. Our water storage dams for the metropolitan area of Melbourne are 65% full this year, as compared to 54% last year at the same time. This is wonderful news as only a few years ago we were experiencing terrible droughts and ravaging bushfires. More rain is predicted for the next few days and it is wonderful to look out of the window and see the sheets of water falling down.

GOODBYES

“Don’t be dismayed at goodbyes, a farewell is necessary before you can meet again and meeting again, after moments or lifetimes, is certain for those who are friends.” - Richard Bach
 

Saying goodbye is hard. Especially if you know it’s adieu and not au revoir. It was officially my last day at work today and after handing in my keys, credit card, taxi card, phone, computer, and all things corporate, I made my goodbyes to the staff. It was a little melancholy, there were many nice words said, a lot of earnest hand-shaking, some hugs and the turning of a page that signified the end of an era and the beginning of another.

Walking down the stairs for the last time after closing the door of my office I knew that this was really the last time I would be there as an employee and henceforth, any time I chanced in the building again I would be a “member of the public”. While I had a good relationship with everyone, it was a small number of people that I considered closer than others and certainly none that I would class as friends. Work relationships are mostly purely professional and most people would not have it any other way.

Sad though the occasion was, once this chapter ended another begins and the new job beckons. That is the happy part. In all endings there are beginnings, in all partings there are also the promises of new relationships.

DON'T COMPLAIN!

“You can complain because roses have thorns, or you can rejoice because thorns have roses” - Ziggy (Single panel comic strip created by Tom Wilson) 

I am an early bird and get in at work at about 7:00 am. As I was walking into work this morning it was dark, windy, cold and showery. I mumbled something you don’t want to know about as I walked resolutely on, and grumbled quite a bit. However, I immediately bit my tongue and chided myself as I thought about where I live and how lucky I am to live my life the way I do. A quick reckoning of the pros and cons quickly convinced me that I am indeed very fortunate to enjoy the quality of life I do. A cold, late autumn early morning is a minor inconvenience – a useful and interesting punctuation mark perhaps in an otherwise peaceful, pleasant and quite wonderful existence.

I live in what I think is a very beautiful city: Melbourne is a lovely clean, safe city, blessed with many magnificent public buildings, great facilities for entertainment, education, leisure, public gatherings, theatre, arts, sport. It is a city that is easy to get around in, has a good standard of living, nice people (mostly :-) and has a good climate – not too hot during the summer not too cold during the winter. It is a hub of culture, the arts, sport and has a good, year-round selection of fresh produce available in its many markets. There is a wealth of interesting cafés and restaurants that are of very high quality and the cost of living is not excessively high by world standards.

I am lucky enough to have a rewarding, satisfying job, good friends and loving family and a stable, comfortable life that offers me what many people around the world can only dream about. It is churlish to sit and think that my life is unpleasant or beset by problems and countless issues. In evaluating all I have the only feeling I can muster is gratitude. I am indeed blessed with a life that is wonderful.

It is a good thing to stop and do this little evaluation whenever we feel down, displeased with our lot, angry or exasperated. Bringing to mind the millions of people around the world that have much more pressing, or even life-threatening problems to cope with every moment of the day is enough to make one a little more circumspect about complaining and grumbling about non-issues, relatively speaking…

MOVIE MONDAY - RED RIDING HOOD

“Fear makes strangers of people who would be friends.” - Shirley MacLaine

Lately, there has been a renewed wave of interest in all manner of things supernatural and fantastical and occult. I guess the trend started in earnest with the Harry Potter phenomenon, which generated a host of imitators, and then the Twilight saga that spawned another rush of vampire books and movies, the ever-popular comic superheroes that never really went away and now a flow of fairy tale reinventions that have been retold to appeal all the more to an older audience.

We saw last weekend Catherine Hardwicke’s 2011 movie “Red Riding Hood” with David Johnson guilty of writing the screenplay and starring Amanda Seyfried, Lukas Haas, Shiloh Fernandez, Max Irons and Gary Oldman. The film is a rewrite of the classic Brothers Grimm fairy tale, this version trying to cast the tale in the Twilight mould (and cash in on the fans of that saga). Red Riding Hood is not “Little”, but rather a nubile young village girl that is menaced by a werewolf and whose affections are vied for by two young village lads.

The plot becomes muddied by trying to be all things to all people and there is an attempt to catch as many slices of the market as it can, but the main audience is the young teen market with its penchant for creepy romances and neo-gothic horror tales. The reduction of the story to a corny love triangle with the (bad CGI) werewolf weaving in and out of the scenes periodically, all set in fake-looking scenery just didn’t hit the spot with us, but probably was OK for the juvenile market.

Add to that very poor acting by the young leads: Seyfried as Red Riding Hood gives a very bland performance (even though the script calls for her to be a little tinged with evil!), Fernandez and Irons as the rival lovers are banally bad (mere eye candy for young teen girls), while the older leads Billy Burke, Virginia Madsen and Michael Shanks have some really corny and trifling lines to deliver and try to do their best with what remarkably poor material they have been given. The best acting came from veteran actress Julie Christie (still looking remarkably attractive at 71 years of age) who played Red Riding Hood’s grandmother and Gary Oldman who camped it up as a sadistic priest, and who didn’t go far enough way out  as the script didn’t allow it…

In case you are interested in the plot, here it is, as supplied by Warner Brothers: “Valerie (Seyfried) is a beautiful young woman torn between two men. She is in love with a brooding outsider, Peter (Fernandez), but her parents have arranged for her to marry the wealthy Henry (Irons). Unwilling to lose each other, Valerie and Peter are planning to run away together when they learn that Valerie’s older sister has been killed by the werewolf that prowls the dark forest surrounding their village. For years, the people have maintained an uneasy truce with the beast, offering the creature a monthly animal sacrifice. But under a blood red moon, the wolf has upped the stakes by taking a human life. Hungry for revenge, the people call on famed werewolf hunter, Father Solomon (Oldman), to help them kill the wolf. But Solomon’s arrival brings unintended consequences as he warns that the wolf, who takes human form by day, could be any one of them. As the death toll rises with each moon...”

Well Warner Brothers, you have not even come close to the Brothers Grimm. The retelling of this fairy tale fell well short of expectations and the climax was a bit of a fizzer. Although, the ending did set the stage for a sequel (heaven forbid!). Don’t bother with this one, watch instead the now classic 1981 “An American Werewolf in London" or for more sexual tension and repressed beastliness see the 1984 “The Company of Wolves".

ART SUNDAY - BRAQUE

“Art is meant to upset people, science reassures them.” - Georges Braque
 

Georges Braque,  (born May 13th, 1882, Argenteuil, France - died August 31st, 1963, Paris), was a French painter, one of the important revolutionaries of 20th-century art who, together with Pablo Picasso, developed Cubism. His paintings consist primarily of still lives that are remarkable for their solid construction, muted colour harmonies, and often evoke a serene, meditative quality.

Georges Braque developed his painting skills while working for his father, a house decorator. He moved to Paris in 1900 to study where he was drawn to the work of the Fauve artists, including Matisse, Derain and Dufy, as well as the late landscapes of Cézanne. Meeting Picasso marked a huge turning point in Braque’s development and together they evolved as leaders of Cubism.

After a brief interlude in which he was called up to fight in the First World War, Braque’s style developed in the direction he was to follow for the rest of his life. In establishing the principle that a work of art should be autonomous and not merely imitate nature, Cubism redefined art in the twentieth century. Braque’s large compositions incorporated the Cubist aim of representing the world as seen from a number of different viewpoints. He wanted to convey a feeling of being able to move around within the painting.

From 1909 until his death, Georges Braque devoted himself to the still life-tabletop arrangements with musical instruments, pieces of fruit, and other objects. Of Braque’s fascination with objects, the painter Juan Gris once said, “In the guitar Braque found his new Madonna.” When the human figure did appear in his paintings, it was treated simply as another shape and was often subordinate to the other objects in the composition.

During the last years of his life Braque was honoured with important retrospective exhibitions throughout the world, and in December 1961 he became the first living artist to have his works exhibited in the Louvre.

The painting here, “Still Life: The Table”, of 1928 (Oil on canvas. 81.3 x 130.8 cm, Chester Dale Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.) highlights many features of Braque’s unique vision of the world through his art. There is the cubist element, the low-key colour scheme, the characteristic focus on inanimate objects, superpositions and contrasts that nevertheless unify the depicted objects and combine them in a complementary fashion. This painting reminds me somewhat of an exercise in meditation and its contemplation can give one a sense of tranquillity and inner peace. The texture of the paint and the colours appeal to me especially and as hobbyist/artist I am fascinated by the painting in terms of technique.

YARRA RIVER BY NIGHT

“Love is the river of life in the world.” - Henry Ward Beecher

A relaxing Saturday today, with the usual morning chores, some grocery shopping, then a relaxing afternoon and a wonderful evening out. Driving back home tonight, I couldn't resist stopping on Boathouse Drive by the Yarra and snapping a couple of shots of the city by night and the Swan St Bridge. The river flowed slowly, the night air was crisp and fresh and the only sounds I could hear were some distant traffic and the gentle lapping of the water. A quiet night as winter approaches and with most people warm as toast at home. It seems that only crazy photographers were out there taking photos...

Here’s Audrey Hepburn singing Henry Mancini’s “Moon River” from what is perhaps her most famous film: “Breakfast at Tiffany’s”.

EASY BREAD RECIPE

“Love doesn’t just sit there, like a stone; it has to be made, like bread, remade all the time, made new.” - Ursula K. LeGuin

In cold autumn or winter, when the days are short and rain maybe is falling, there is nothing better than freshly-baked bread straight out of the oven to fill the warm kitchen with its delicious smell and to have for brunch with lashings of molten butter. The following recipe is fairly simple and easy, making a tasty loaf of bread.

EASY BREAD

Ingredients

•    Melted butter, for greasing and brushing

•    250g plain white flour

•    250g plain wholemeal flour 

•    ½ tsp ground cardamon seed

•    2 tsp (7g/1 sachet) dried yeast

•    1 tsp sugar

•    1.5 tsp salt

•    175ml lukewarm water

•    100 ml lukewarm milk

•    ½ cup olive oil

•    Extra water, for brushing

•    1 tsp nigella seeds, for sprinkling (optional)

Method

1.       Brush a 10 x 20cm loaf pan with the melted butter to lightly grease. Measure all your ingredients.

2.       Dissolve the yeast and sugar in the lukewarm water and stir to mix. Add the milk and stir well.

3.       Place the flour, cardamon and salt in a large bowl and mix well to combine. Make a well in the centre and add the water/milk/yeast mixture and oil to the dry ingredients and mix well.

4.       Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 8-10 minutes or until smooth and elastic.

5.       Shape the dough into a ball. Brush a large bowl with the melted butter to grease. Place the dough into the bowl and turn it over to lightly coat the dough surface with the butter. Cover the bowl with a damp tea towel and then place it in a warm, draught-free place to allow the dough to rise.

6.       Leave the dough to prove until it is double its size, between 45-75 minutes at 30˚C. When the dough is ready, it will retain a finger imprint when lightly pressed.

7.       Once the dough has doubled in size, punch it down in the centre with your fist and knead on a lightly floured surface again for 2-3 minutes or until smooth and elastic and returned to its original size.

8.       Preheat oven to 200°C.

9.       Divide the dough into 2 equal portions and shape each into a smooth round. Place the portions of dough side by side in the greased loaf pan. Brush lightly with the melted butter. Stand the pan in a warm, draught-free place, as before, for about 30 minutes or until the dough has risen about 1cm about the top of the pan.

10.     Gently brush the loaf with a little water and then sprinkle with the nigella seeds if desired. Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes or until golden and cooked through.

11.     Turn the loaf immediately onto a wire rack and allow to cool.

12.     Once cool, store the loaf in a well-ventilated place at room temperature.

This post is part of the Food Friday meme,

and also part of the Food Trip Friday meme.

HAPPY DAY FOR NORWAY

“Permanence, perseverance and persistence in spite of all obstacles, discouragement, and impossibilities: It is this, that in all things distinguishes the strong soul from the weak” - Thomas Carlyle
 

Today is:
Cayman Islands - Discovery Day
Norway - Constitution (National) Day (since 1814).

It is also the anniversary of the birth of:
Edward Jenner, English physician, pioneer of vaccination (1749);
Joseph Norman Lockyer, astronomer (1836);
Erik (Alfred Leslie) Satie, French composer (1866);
Dorothy Richardson, writer (1882);
Alfonso XIII, king of Spain (1886);
Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, Iranian extremist (1900);
Jean Gabin (Jean-Alexis Moncorgé), actor (1904);
Maureen O'Sullivan, actress (1911);
Birgit Nilsson, opera singer (1918);
Dennis Hopper, actor (1936);
Kathleen Sullivan, actress (1953);
Grace Jones, singer (1955).

The thistle, Onopordum acanthium, is the birthday plant for this day.  Astrologically, this is a herb of Mars.  It symbolises defiance, independence, austerity desolation, grief and rejection.  It is the emblem of Scotland, adopted during the eight century when a Danish attack on Stirling Castle was unsuccessful because the barefooted Danish scouts cried out in pain when they encountered the plant, thus warning the Scots.  The thistle was adopted as an emblem with the motto: Nemo me impune lacessit (“Nobody provokes me with impunity”).  The thistle flower closes up before rain and was used as a weather oracle.

Erik Satie (1866-1925) was a French composer who rebelled against romanticism with his unorthodox and often whimsical compositions, such as Socrate (1918).  My favourite works of his are the Gymnopédies, especially the Gymnopédie No 1 (perhaps not so unorthodox, but certainly very beautiful).

Norway is a Scandinavian country that was united with Denmark since 1397 and with Sweden since 1814.  It gained its independence in 1905.  It has an area of about 323,000 square km and a population of about 5 million people.  It is a mountainous country, its coastline dominated by fjords.  The capital city is Oslo, other major cities being Stavanger, Kristiansand, Bergen and Trondheim.  It is rich in natural resources with crude oil and natural gas produced in abundance.  Chemical production, metal industries and paper manufacture rely on the cheap, hydroelectrical power that is produced.

Died on this day: 

In 1163, Héloïse, French secret wife of Abelard; in 1510, Sandro Botticelli, Italian artist; in 1935, Paul Dukas, French composer.

BAKED BEANS, GREEK STYLE

“Hope is important because it can make the present moment less difficult to bear. If we believe that tomorrow will be better, we can bear a hardship today.” - Thich Nhat Hanh

A recipe for today, as the weather keeps getting wintrier here in the Southern Hemisphere. This is a classic Greek dish perfectly suited to falling temperatures, increasing rain and shorter days!

Fasolatha (Greek Baked Beans)
Ingredients
160    g dried haricot beans
2    litres water
1    large celery heart (stalks and leaves)
2    large onions
2    tablespoonfuls tomato paste
1    240 g can of peeled tomatoes
2    large chopped carrots
4    rashers of bacon (optional)
1    cupful of olive oil
1    handful of chopped parsley
2    stock cubes
    salt and pepper to taste

Method
Soak the beans in water for a couple of hours and then rinse them thoroughly in a colander under running water. Put them in a kettle with the 2 litres of water and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer. In a second pan brown the chopped onions in the hot olive oil and add the finely chopped bacon and stir in the chopped carrots and parsley. When these are well coated with oil, add the tomato puree and chopped peeled tomatoes, stirring well. Pour the vegetable mixture into the simmering beans, add the stock cubes and continue to cook slowly until the beans are very soft, adding more water if you need to.

Fasolatha is the national dish of Greece and is traditionally considered a poor person's dish, since beans are very cheap. Adding more water makes the dish more of a soup, while less water makes the dish more substantial and more suitable as a single course meal, served with slices of crusty bread and washed down with some red wine. The addition of bacon is an extravagance that was usually out of the means of most people having this dish.

Given the dire economic straits that Greece is finding itself in, it seems that recourse to this dish as a regular staple may be the only solution to many a family’s hardship…

CHANGE AGAIN

“There is nothing wrong with change, if it is in the right direction” - Winston Churchill

I blogged last month about a change that was about to happen in my life and a couple of my readers were rather disappointed that I had not divulged what it would be. Well, it is time to spill the beans! I have been working at my last place of employment for 4.5 years and the place has developed considerably and I have contributed much to the improvements that have occurred there during this time. It is a tertiary private College delivering higher education and vocational education courses, but it is rather off the mainstream.

A couple of opportunities came up recently and as they were in areas that interested me greatly (tertiary education, flexible learning, e-Learning), I applied and went through the interview processes. I ended up being offered two of those positions in two different institutions. It was hard to choose between them as both were great opportunities and both were back in the mainstream University system here in Melbourne. After a lot of cogitation and much discussion with friends and family I made up my mind and signed on the dotted line of a new contract.

This is an exciting time for me and I look forward to the challenges of the new job, but at the same time I am a little sad to leave the old job behind me as I did develop some good working relationships with a lot of the staff there. Nevertheless, the time was ripe for change and I am really looking forward to beginning a new chapter in my life.

The new job involves a higher level managerial/strategic role in one of the prime tertiary education providers in Australia, which holds a linchpin position in distance education and e-Learning. This is an interesting position, which promises to hold many opportunities and professional development, but at the same time it will be one where I shall I play an important role in the lives of many people who wish to educate themselves in an innovative and time-efficient manner.

Changing jobs can be a stressful time and there is a lot to absorb, much to learn, new people to get to know, many changes of routine and a new working environment to get accustomed to. The good thing is that I shall still be in the City and my commuting schedule will stay the same. I love using the train to get to work and this is one part of my routine that will not change. I think that the older I get the more accommodating I can be to change and the easier it is to adapt to a new environment. Certainly experience, knowledge, lived life lessons all help to make transitions easier and less stressful.

MOVIE MONDAY - UNKNOWN

 “I am interested in madness. I believe it is the biggest thing in the human race, and the most constant. How do you take away from a man his madness without also taking away his identity?” - William Saroyan

We love a good action/thriller movie and at the weekend we watched a good one. It was the 2011, Jaume Collet-Serra’s “Unknown” starring Liam Neeson, Diane Kruger and January Jones. The screenplay by Oliver Butcher and Stephen Cornwell was based on the novel “Out of My Head” by Didier Van Cauwelaert. The production was slick the direction crisp and slick, and the acting excellent with Liam Neeson doing an excellent job an action hero, or should that be antihero?

The plot involves a research biotechnologist (Neeson) who arrives in Berlin accompanied by his wife (Jones) for a conference at which a scientist and his Arab Prince backer will announce breakthrough research that will change the agribusiness landscape around the world. While his wife checks into the hotel, he grabs a taxi to return to the airport for his briefcase, left at the kerb. On the way to the airport, an accident involving the taxi he is in and he is saved by the attractive taxi driver (Kruger). He is in a coma though, from which he awakes four days later without identification and with gaps in his memory. He goes to his hotel where his wife refuses to recognise him and another man has claimed his identity. With help from a nurse, the taxi driver, a retired Stasi agent, and an academic friend, he tries to unravel what’s going on.

The film was engaging and involving, with a few twists and turns in the plot, peppered with some great actions sequences. It reminded me a little bit of the good old Hitchcock movies and was most enjoyable. We recommend this to people who like a good action thriller.

MOTHER'S DAY ART

“Some are kissing mothers and some are scolding mothers, but it is love just the same, and most mothers kiss and scold together.” - Pearl S. Buck

Happy Mother’s Day to all mothers! 

An Art Sunday inspired by this international day of celebration of motherhood.

When he was born to a family of wealthy cloth merchants on 16th July, 1796, Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot seemed destined for a life in business. Even though he started out in the family’s business, his talent and inclination were sufficient to convince his parents to allow him to study art. Abandoning his commercial career at the age of 26, Corot began to study under the academic landscape painter Victor Bertin, learning classical composition both in the studio and in his travels to Italy, the Netherlands and England. Because of his family’s wealth, Corot was able to paint without the necessity of selling his work.

Corot’s gift for landscape was immediately apparent, and by 1845 he was critically acclaimed and selling his work regularly. His close alignment with nature, while not idealising the concept of the happy yeoman that his contemporary Millet presented, nor the romantic view of nature as an antidote to increased urbanisation and industrialisation of the age proposed by Rousseau, brought him into the realm of the Barbizon school.

Today, Corot is most appreciated for very different kinds of landscape: For plein air sketches, never destined to be exhibited themselves but painted outdoors in preparation for studio pictures, and for lyrical views of the countryside he called souvenirs. The soft, silvery souvenirs recapture a poetic response to nature. Their fresh touch and light atmosphere are informed by outdoor studies and combined with a strong sense of form retained from classical French landscapes of the seventeenth century. Corot's work was an important influence on younger Impressionist painters.  Well-loved by his friends, peers and pupils, Corot was a generous and noble soul. He gave unstintingly of both time and money, thus earning the nickname “Père Corot”. Camille Corot was deeply mourned when he died in Paris on 22 February, 1875.

This painting “Mother and Child on the Beach” painted in 1860 is now exhibited in the Philadelphia Museum of Art (United States). The painting treats the subject with a straight-forward and earnest simplicity, yet there is a monumental air to it also, foreshadowing perhaps Picasso’s early work. The mother tenderly looks after her baby on the beach, with the activity in the background suggesting labour more than fun. The mother’s earth-coloured dress contrasts with the background and the dress of the baby, both in shades of steel-blue and gray. This is a tender mother, but also one who works as well as looking after her child. Corot is making a social statement as well as observing the intimate relationship of motherhood.

AUTUMN REFLECTION

“The man who has seen the rising moon break out of the clouds at midnight has been present like an archangel at the creation of light and of the world” - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Another busy Saturday with a morning full of chores and the usual rushing around to try and get the things that accumulated during the week done. Thankfully the evening arrives and it was time to relax and enjoy a quiet time while the cold wind blew outside. What better than to relax with some heavenly Bach? Here is the adagio from the Concerto in C Minor for Violin and Oboe BWV 1060 by Johann Sebastian Bach.

AN AUTUMN SALAD

“No man can taste the fruits of autumn while he is delighting his scent with the flowers of spring.” - Samuel Johnson

As the days continue to shorten and the temperatures continue to fall, we know that Autumn is progressing inexorably towards Winter. It is lovely to feel the bracing coolness in the air and hear the patter of the rain, especially if one is in a warm bed – the rain may then lash the windowpanes and the cold wind may blow, it is but a lullaby that sends one to sleep.

Seasonal fruit and vegetables figure prominently on our table and as always we love our salads. We could not imagine a meal without some sort of salad playing either an accompanying part or having starring role in the proceedings. Today we had a lovely salad that was put together with whatever was in the fridge and whatever could be gathered from the garden. These impromptu seasonal salads are tasty and surprisingly fresh and healthful. The carrots and last of the season’s tomatoes were from the greengrocer’s. The tamarillos, spring onions and herbs were from our garden. We have a lovely little tamarillo tree (Cyphomandra betacea) that is very productive and every autumn we enjoy its fruits.

Carrot, Tamarillo and Tomato Salad

Ingredients

4 carrots

3 tamarillos

1 large tomato

2 spring onions, chopped

1 tbsp chopped parsley

1 tsp chopped dill

1 pinch of dried oregano

1 tbsp capers

2 tbsp balsamic vinegar

3 tbsp olive oil

Salt, pepper to taste

Method

Grate finely the carrots and place in a salad bowl.

Add the finely chopped onions and herbs, and season with salt and pepper.

Mix well and then add the vinegar and oil, tossing well through the carrots.

Peel the tomato and dice finely into 0.5 cm cubes, arranging it on top of the carrots in the centre of the bowl.

Peel the tamarillos and dice finely into 0.5 cm cubes, arranging it around the tomato along the periphery of the bowl.

Garnish with the capers.

Toss at the table before serving.

This post is part of the Food Friday meme,

and also part of the Food Trip Friday meme.

LAG B'OMER

“The more you praise and celebrate your life, the more there is in life to celebrate.” - Oprah Winfrey
 

Many Jewish communities around the world will observe today the Lag B’Omer holiday, also known as Lag BaOmer, which falls on the 18th day of the month of Iyar in the Jewish calendar. The name of this observance means “the 33rd day of the counting of the Omer”. The Counting of the Omer is a time for spiritual growth and some Jewish groups forbid haircuts, weddings, dancing and other forms of entertainment in this period. However, Lag B’Omer is a time of celebration and these restrictions are either lifted for one day or ended. Many people hold picnics or barbecues, sing, dance, and encourage their children to play outside with bows, arrows, bats and balls. In Meron, Israel, three-year-old boys are given their first haircuts on this holiday.

In Israel, Lag B’Omer is a school holiday. In the weeks or days beforehand, children and young people gather waste wood, particularly old doors and boards, to pile into huge bonfires. On the evening at the start of Lag B’Omer, the bonfires are lit. The bonfires may symbolise fires lit to communicate and celebrate that a war or period of fighting has ended. People may also offer “Chai Rotel” by donating or offering 18 rotel (about 13 gallons or 54 liters) of liquid food or drink to pilgrims attending the celebrations at the Hilula of R’Shimon bar Yochai in Meron, Israel. Many people believe that anyone who does this will be granted a miracle. An example of this would be that a woman who cannot have children through pregnancy may miraculously become pregnant.

The Lag B’Omer holiday originates from the time of Rabbi Akiva, a scholar and teacher of Jewish law who lived approximately during the years 50 to 135 CE. In a number of Jewish documents, there are passages, which report that 24,000 of his students died in a plague, because they had not respected each other. The plague ended on the 33rd day of the Counting of the Omer, a period of 49 days between the Jewish holidays of Passover and Shavuot.  Some scholars think that the “plague” refers to the Roman occupation of Jewish lands and that the students died resisting the Roman army, perhaps in the Bar Kokhba revolt in the years 132 to 135 CE. The bonfire connection may be made here, perhaps.

Many visit the resting place (in Meron, northern Israel) of the great sage and mystic Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, the anniversary of whose passing is on this day. Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai (ca 100-160 CE), was the first to publicly teach the mystical dimension of the Torah known as the “Kabbalah,” and is the author of the basic work of Kabbalah, the Zohar. On the day of his passing, Rabbi Shimon instructed his disciples to mark the date as “the day of my joy.” The chassidic masters explain that the final day of a righteous person’s earthly life marks the point at which “all his deeds, teachings and work” achieve their culminating perfection and the zenith of their impact upon our lives. So each Lag B’Omer, the Rabbi Shimon’s life and the revelation of the esoteric soul of Torah are celebrated.

Kabbalah |kəˈbɑːlə, ˈkabələ|(also Kabbala, Cabbala, Cabala, or Qabalah ), noun.
The ancient Jewish tradition of mystical interpretation of the Bible, first transmitted orally and using esoteric methods (including ciphers). It reached the height of its influence in the later Middle Ages and remains significant in Hasidism.

DERIVATIVES
Kabbalism noun,
Kabbalist noun,
Kabbalistic adjective
ORIGIN: From medieval Latin cabala, cabbala, from Rabbinical Hebrew qabbālāh ‘tradition’, from qibbēl ‘receive, accept’.

MOONSTRUCK

“Every one is a moon, and has a dark side which he never shows to anybody” - Mark Twain

Last Saturday we were treated to the closest and largest full moon of this year. Astronomers call this sort of close full moon a “perigee full moon”. The word perigee describes the moon’s closest point to Earth for a given month. But last year, when the closest and largest full moon occurred on March 19, 2011, many used the term “supermoon”, which was once again used to describe this 2012 close full moon. The word supermoon didn’t come from astronomy, but rather from astrology. Astrologer Richard Nolle of the website www.astropro.com takes credit for coining the term “supermoon”. In 1979, he defined it as:
“…a new or full moon which occurs with the moon at or near (within 90% of) its closest approach to Earth in a given orbit (perigee). In short, Earth, moon and sun are all in a line, with moon in its nearest approach to Earth.”

According to Nolle’s definition, he says that:
“There are 4-6 supermoons a year on average.”

Well, what’s all the fuss about, then? Saturday’s close full moon lines up much more closely with perigee (the moon’s closest point to Earth) than Nolle’s original definition. At perigee, the moon lies only 356,955 kilometers away. Later this month, on May 19, the moon will swing out to apogee (its farthest point for the month) at 406,448 kilometers distant.

The moon won’t come as close as this month’s extra-close moon until August 10, 2014. Even the proximity of full moon with perigee in today’s moon isn’t all that rare. Looking further into the future, the perigee full moon on November 14, 2016 (356,509 km) will even be closer than the one on March 19, 2011 (356,575 km). The perigee full moon will come closer than 356,500 kilometers for the first time in the 21st century on November 25, 2034 (356,446 km). The closest moon of the 21st century will fall on December 6, 2052 (356,421 km).

All full moons bring higher-than-usual tides, and perigee full moons bring the highest (and lowest) tides of all. Each month, on the day of the full moon, the moon, Earth and sun are aligned, with Earth in between. This line up creates wide-ranging tides, known as spring tides. High spring tides climb up especially high, and on the same day low tides plunge especially low. Last Saturday’s extra-close full moon accentuated these monthly (full moon) spring tides all the more.

Did you know that each full moon every month has its own name (for Northern Hemisphere):
January: Old Moon, or Moon After Yule
February: Snow Moon, Hunger Moon, or Wolf Moon
March: Sap Moon, Crow Moon, or Lenten Moon
April: Grass Moon, or Egg Moon
May: Planting Moon, or Milk Moon
June: Rose Moon, Flower Moon, or Strawberry Moon
July: Thunder Moon, or Hay Moon
August: Green Corn Moon, or Grain Moon
September: Fruit Moon, or Harvest Moon
October: Harvest Moon, or Hunter’s Moon
November: Hunter’s Moon, Frosty Moon, or Beaver Moon
December: Moon Before Yule, or Long Night Moon

About once every 19 years, February has no full moon at all. Moreover, in 7 out of every 19 years, two full moons will fall in the same calendar month. The second of the month’s two full moons is popularly referred to as a Blue Moon. The next Blue Moon by this definition will happen on August 31, 2012.

RED CROSS/RED CRESCENT DAY 2012

“Compassion is not religious business, it is human business, it is not luxury, it is essential for our own peace and mental stability, it is essential for human survival.” - Dalai Lama
 

May 8th is World Red Cross/Red Crescent Day. This day was chosen to honour the birthday of Henri Dunant (1828 –1910), the Swiss founder of the Red Cross. His idea of a volunteer-based humanitarian organisation has grown into an international movement made up of 185 member Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. People all over the world, united in their belief in humanity and their desire to make the world a better place, will take a moment on World Red Cross/Red Crescent Day, to recognise past achievements and look towards a better future.

Dunant received a Nobel Peace Prize for his commitment to peaceful pursuits, which directly contributed to the creation of the Geneva Convention in 1864. Within this treaty, 12 nations agreed to grant neutrality to those willing to care for the wounded on the battlefield until recovery, and expedite supplies to those bearing the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent’s (IFRC) symbols.

The resulting global observance of the World Red Cross and Red Crescent Day dictates the annual themed focus representing the organisation's long term goals. The 2012 theme is “Together for Humanity”, representing a vision not unlike Dunant’s 148 years ago. Red Cross/Red Crescent youth volunteers worldwide will be on the move to lead positive change today in celebration of World Red Cross Red Crescent Day. It is gratifying to know that of the 13 million IFRC volunteers worldwide, half of them are young people.

The vision of the Red Cross/Red Crescent is to:

• Initiate efforts for the reduction of deaths because of illnesses
• Alleviate the impact of any kind of injury and death due to any sort of disaster
• Decrease the rate of public health emergencies
• Empower the Red Cross/Red Crescent and civil society along with local communities in order to ensure quick response to emergencies and vulnerable situations
• Reinstitute human dignity at all the time.

All those who want to be a part of World Red Cross/Red Crescent Day celebration can do the following:

• Support the Red Cross/Red Crescent and its programs or efforts
• Send donation to Red Cross/Red Crescent Society near you
• Donate blood
• Become a volunteer of Red Cross/Red Crescent
• Appreciate and recognise the efforts of the Red Cross/Red Crescent volunteers.

IFRC is the world’s largest humanitarian organisation, providing worldwide relief during times of disease, famine, disaster or war. It has around 97 million members and volunteers in some 170 countries and helps more than 230 million people every year. It represents the best of humanity, where compassion, fellow-feeling, kindness, concern, empathy and active help of one’s fellow human beings is manifest.

The Australian Red Cross is active both in Australia and overseas and is always in need of donations and volunteers. Make every day of the year a Red Cross/Red Crescent day by contributing in some way to the humanitarian work of this important body. The web page has many ways in which everyone of us can help the IFRC’s work.

MOVIE MONDAY - THE AMERICAN

 “The pleasure of expecting enjoyment is often greater than that of obtaining it, and the completion of almost every wish is found a disappointment” - Samuel Johnson

We watched a rather disappointing film with George Clooney at the weekend. It was Anton Corbijn’s 2010 film “The American”, starring George Clooney, Paolo Bonacelli, Thekla Reuten and Violante Placido. I must say that a few films with George Clooney that we have seen lately have been lemons (who can forget the super lemon “The Men Who Stare At Goats” or the other super lemon “Syriana”?). This last film we watched was a mini lemon, suffering from a pedestrian script and a self-important, “we-are-making-a-serious-art-film-here-and-don’t-you-forget-it” type of attitude.

The plot was simple enough (and that was part of the problem): Jack (Clooney) is an assassin, a hitman, a murderer, but also a master craftsman who can modify guns to specification. He is an American who is working in Europe. A job in Sweden ends more messily than expected and he tells his contact, Pavel, that his next assignment will be his last. Jack goes to the Italian countryside, where he takes up residence in a small apartment in a small rural town posing as a landscape photographer. The assignment, as specified by a Belgian woman, Mathilde (Reuten), involves a gun being modified to specification. Jack is befriended by the local priest Father Benedetto (Bonacelli) and pursues romance with local hooker, Clara (Placido). However, things begin to sour when double crossing enters the equation.

First let me say that everyone acted well, there is no arguing with that. Second, the countryside and Italian townscapes provide for plenty of opportunity for good cinematography. The sound track is appropriate and the production values high. That summarises the good things about the movie. Now as for the bad, where do I start? At 105 minutes run time the film feels like it’s at least three hours long. Although it is described as an action thriller, this is a slooooow film, ostensibly about the feelings and moral dilemmas that a contract killer has. The script is laughable and the pretence of the basic idea makes this film tedious. There is a lot of gratuitous nudity and sex in the film, not necessarily relevant to the plot – I guess that was to make it more saleable? Really, nowadays? There were plot holes and the movie failed to engage the viewer. As if all that wasn’t bad enough, we are expected to feel sorry for Jack the contract murderer.

In the end, all we could muster was: “Oh? Is that all? Ho hum!” The film could have been made more exciting, more action-packed and the characters more engaging. I could not work up enough sympathy for poor old George and in the end could not help thinking he got what he deserved – he was a killer after all. His redemption was half-hearted and unconvincing. It was a boring film and too steeped in its own inflated self-importance. There were too many clichés and what was meant to be an exciting edge-of-your-seat thriller ended up being a love story and a soppy one at that.

This is a movie for George Clooney fans, very definitely one to appeal more to a female audience. I was quite bored and I am usually quite forgiving and want to give films every possible chance. I would not recommend it unreservedly and would suggest that if you watch it, do it while you are doing something else as well.

ART SUNDAY - BYZANTINE MOSAIC

“It is the neglect of timely repair that makes rebuilding necessary.” - Richard Whately

Hagia Sofia (Aya Sofya) is the legendary Church of Holy Wisdom in Istanbul, Western Turkey. Dedicated on December 26th, 537 AD by the emperor Justinian, the great church of Haghia Sophia was the religious centre of the Byzantine Empire for nine hundred years, in what was then the capital of the Empire, Constantinople (now Istanbul). After the Turkish conquest of Constantinople in 1453, The Hagia Sophia served as an imperial mosque of the Ottoman Empire. After the foundation of the Turkish Republic, it was turned into a museum in 1935.

The present structure dates from the reign of Justinian (527-565 AD), and was built by his architects Anthemius of Tralles and Isidorus of Miletus. Isidorus the Younger, nephew of Isidorus of Miletus, supervised significant restoration after an earthquake in Justinian’s time. Buttresses were erected much later by Emperor Andronicus Palaeologus in 1317 and minarets were added by Sultan Mehmet II (the Conqueror), Beyazit II, and Murat III.

The church was sumptuously built with rich carvings, marble facings, semiprecious stones, a solid silver iconostasis, and richly decorated with frescoes and mosaics throughout the centuries. The mosaics either depicted the Virgin Mother, Jesus, saints, or emperors and empresses. Other parts were decorated in a purely decorative style with geometric patterns. During the Sack of Constantinople in 1204, the Latin Crusaders vandalised valuable items in every important Byzantine structure of the city, including the golden mosaics of the Hagia Sophia. Many of these items were shipped to Venice, whose Doge, Enrico Dandolo, had organized the invasion and sack of Constantinople.

Following the building’s conversion into a mosque in 1453, many of its mosaics were covered with plaster, due to Islam’s ban on representational imagery. This process was not completed at once, and reports exist from the 17th century in which travellers note that they could still see Christian images in the former church. In 1847–49, the building was restored by two Swiss Italian brothers, Gaspare and Giuseppe Fossati, and Sultan Abdülmecid allowed them to also document any mosaics they might discover during this process. This work did not include repairing the mosaics and after recording the details about an image, the Fossatis painted it over again. In some cases, the Fossatis recreated damaged decorative mosaic patterns in paint, sometimes redesigning them in the process.

The Fossati records are the primary sources about a number of mosaic images now believed to have been completely or partially destroyed in an earthquake in 1894. These include a great mosaic of Christ Pantocrator in the dome, a mosaic over a now-unidentified Door of the Poor, a large image of a jewel-encrusted cross, and a large number of images of angels, saints, patriarchs, and church fathers. Most of the missing images were located in the building’s two tympana. The Fossatis also added a pulpit (minbar) and the four large medallions on the walls of the nave bearing the names of Muhammad and Islam’s first caliphs.

Illustrated here is a particularly fine 12th Century mosaic (most likely from 1118 AD) of the Virgin Mary and the infant Christ flanked by Emperor John II Comnenus and the Empress Irene (Eirene). The inscription above the emperor reads: “John, in Christ the Lord faithful Emperor, Porphyrogenitus and Autocrat of the Romans, Comnenus”. The term porphyrogenitus means “born in the purple”, i.e. a legitimate son of the reigning emperor. Keep in mind that the first son of the preceding emperor did not always live long enough to be crowned himself (in fact, John’s two eldest sons died before him).  Also known as Kaloiannis (John the Beautiful), he was apparently quite ugly (the term beautiful apparently referring to his pious character). He married the daughter (later to be the Empress Eirene) of King Ladislaus I of Hungary. The inscription above her head reads: “Eirene, the most pious Augusta”.

This mosaic exemplifies the high art and technical expertise reached by the mosaic artists of the Byzantine era, who created shimmering, sparkling works with vivid and fresh colours. Mosaics have a high degree of permanency and that these mosaics survived for centuries and numerous attempts at defacement is a credit to the skill of the artists and craftsmen, as well as the permanency of the medium of mosaic.

With the Greek Election occurring today it is perhaps appropriate that one considers the persistence of the Greek people and the ever-recurring resurrection of a country and people that has been conquered, enslaved, subjugated, razed and humiliated on numerous occasions. The recent economic crisis and its numerous attendant misfortunes is yet another of these obstacles that will be overcome and Greece will rise from its ashes once again. It will be like a mosaic obscured by time, neglect, daubing with plaster, which is revealed by loving restoration.