Wednesday 24 October 2018

The Last Hurrah - Sissinghurst




It looks quiet from up here on the tower parapet
but actually it was very busy
as people took advantage of another beautiful Saturday
to visit Sissinghurst before it closes for the winter.

















Back home I brought in the last of the Cosmos
in anticipation of the Arctic blast being  excitedly flagged up
by the tabloids for the end of the week.


The clocks go back, the days contract
and I have taken delivery of a new chair.
(I'll show it to you later.)
I see more sitting in my future.
There has not been much of that of late.

Tuesday 9 October 2018

Places to find some peace and (relative) quiet



Turtle spotting in Central Park.




A trip on the tramway (actually a cable car) 
over the East River to Roosevelt Island.
Very little to do there
but a stroll to the Four Freedoms Park
was pleasant enough and completely deserted.


The outright winner for tranquility was the Met Cloisters.






Monarch butterflies in the Conservatory Garden.


Purl Soho. A pilgrimage to see the knitting shop of online fame.

It was certainly quiet in there. Somnolent even.
I had to ask someone to help me 
because nothing is labelled for brand, composition or price.
After a short discussion and vague hand waving at the shelves,
 the young woman turned away, as I thought, 
to show me a pattern but to my consternation
fell into another assistant's arms for a prolonged embrace, 
much back stroking and murmurs of consolation.
I stood behind her wondering what I had done to trigger this collapse.
Eventually she straightened and wandered over to the rack. 

I came away empty-handed.

Saturday 6 October 2018

Holiday slides - New York



So much to see in a five day trip to New York.
But first stop every time - The Metropolitan Museum of Art.


 Chrysanthemums in the Garden at Petit-Grennevilliers 1893 -
Gustave Caillebotte 
a possible design for his dining room doors.
Want.



 Still Life with Flowers and Prickly Pears -
Auguste Renoir.


Bouquet of Chrysanthemums
Auguste Renoir.


A woman seated beside a Vase of Flowers
Edgar Degas.

She gazes, as the caption says, distractedly to the right.
I amuse myself by trying to guess what she is thinking about.

"Y aura-t-il assez de pommes de terres si Edgar vient dîner ce soir?"
"Cela prendra-t-il beaucoup de temps?"
"Je vais éternuer." *



And finally October in the Marshes -
John Frederick Kensett.
He was painting right up to his death in December 1872
and this series known as "Last Summer's Work"
is of meadows and salt marshes near Contentment Island Connecticut.



*"Will there be enough potatoes if Edgar comes to dine tonight?"
"Will this take much longer?"
"I'm going to sneeze."

My thanks, if it's correct, to Google translate for
helping out my schoolgirl French.