dual personalities

This morning the DH ended up walking to work because the car had so much ice on it that it wasn’t worth waiting for it to defrost. Winter is upon us. Last week, before the weather changed, you’ll recall that I posted about Richard John Cuninghame, a zoologist and African adventurer. I came across him while doing a little research on the English illustrator, H.J. Ford. Ford is best known for his pen and ink drawings for the colored fairy book series (The Red Fairy Book, Blue Fairy Book, etc…). I have always loved his work. What could be a better way to start Friday than a look at a few of his drawings? Here, an exhausted black knight leans on his sword after battle.

In this one a young knight faces a very nasty looking dragon and what looks to be a giant. The odds do not favor the knight.

I like this picture of the lute player trying to cheer up a brooding king. It’s easy to imagine the sad king’s story.

This next drawing reminds me of my son Tim and his cat. She isn’t that big but she has the heart of a lion. Who is that bad man peering through the curtain? You just know there’s an enchantment involved.

It is happenstance and nothing more that none of the pictures I have chosen have women in them. Ford drew plenty of damsels and they weren’t all in distress. Nowadays fairy tales are not as popular as they used to be. Supposedly they do not empower women with feminist values (whatever those are) and they are too violent. I suggest that children are perfectly capable of recognizing that ogres don’t exist and prince charming won’t be perfect. Fairy tales have a great deal to offer; not only do they exercise the imagination, but they encourage creativity, resilience, and moral behavior. Read some fairy tales to your children and grandchildren and be sure to study the pictures! You won’t regret it.

Have a happy weekend and do not be troubled!

*Hans Christian Andersen. All images recovered from Google Image.

Contributors to this blog, I think it is safe to say, are not here for large lawn decor and overly-ghoulish Halloween festivities. That said, I (daughter #2) am all for adorable toddler costumes, ranging from baby pumpkins…

to more advanced character ‘fits. This year, Katie will dress as Madeline:

This was the clearest picture we could get, with my production assistant (DN) assisting with hat placement and book distraction.

I really can’t blame Katie for being anti-costume after a long day at school (and probably feeling hangry for dinner). Regardless, she makes a very adorable Parisian girl.

There will be no daycare parade or anything like that, but Katie is attending a Halloween playdate where the children will be in their costumes. (The invitation said, “parent costumes optional!” as if “required” might have been an alternative — no thank you.)

I am rather proud of this DIY costume. (Or is it semi-DIY, like “semi-homemade cooking”? I am certainly not at the skill-level of daughter #3, who routinely sews head-to-toe outfits. See twin dinosaurs from 2019 below!) I followed directions online to cut out felt pieces and glue them together into something approximating the hat and bow for Madeline’s outerwear. But I am happy to have only purchased a dress (to replicate Madeline’s coat) that Katie can wear again, and shoes that she will wear for the holidays. (She will wear sneakers to the playdate.)

As you might guess, having children reveals to you all of the things your own mother did for you, and all of the time and effort and emotion she spend doing those things. Here I am wearing a DIY Power Rangers costume in the 1990s:

Well, I seem to recall that I said something insulting like, “So-and-so had a real Power Rangers costume.” I cringe now to think of it. Sunrise, sunset. If you hadn’t guessed, I am finding all of this felt to be very touching.

Happy Halloween!

The post I planned was completely different from the one I have written. While I was putting together one topic, I ran across an interesting fellow named Richard John (‘Dick’) Cuninghame, a Scottish naturalist and African explorer/safari leader who was born in 1871 and died in 1925. He started off in the normal way of his class and time; that is, he attended Eton and then Cambridge. Exactly how he got into the life of a safari leader and explorer I cannot say, but he made a name for himself and became a fellow of both the Zoological Society and Meteorological Society. Here he is looking bemused in Cairo, Egypt in 1902 at the start of his first expedition.

Having made it into the African interior to collect zoological specimens with his friend Douglas McDouall, he promptly came down with a dangerous eye infection. Despite constant pain and complete blindness, he did not turn back. His diary entry for February 27, 1902, reads:

“I had had little sleep before the caravan arrived and on wakening noticed a peculiar gumminess around my right eye… the following day matters became serious and I lost vision in the right eye… After spending hundreds of pounds, and march[ing] hundreds of miles, though gameless, badly watered, and pestilential country, and to have just and only just arrived at the commencement of a really good game country, in a land but imperfectly explored, a combination of circumstances we had eagerly looked forward to for months past. Sitting, however, in the middle of a mountain range and pondering over regrets, in the dark, for by now I had lost the vision in both of my eyes, was of little practical use, so on the abating of the acute pain we decided to endeavour to reach the Nile again.” (From a Bonham’s auction catalog)

Though he was still blind when they embarked on the Nile, he managed to captain the boat anyway. Now that’s determination.  Fortunately, his eyesight gradually returned to normal and he was able to continue his explorations. Here he is a few years later, looking a little the worse for wear after a day of trekking.

Eventually, his reputation won him the honor of leading, from April 1909 to March 1910, the Smithsonian-Roosevelt expedition, the famous safari that Teddy Roosevelt took after his second term as president ended. According to Wikipedia, “Their route ran from Mombasa in British East Africa to the Belgian Congo, then to the Nile and along the river to Khartoum. More than 11,000 animals were shot or captured during the trip, Theodore Roosevelt and his son Kermit shot 512 large game alone. The organization on site, namely the selection of the almost 200 porters as well as the askari and the staff for weapons, horses and tents was the responsibility of Cuninghame. On at least one occasion, a hippopotamus attack, Cuninghame is believed to have saved Roosevelt’s life.” People didn’t exercise a lot of restraint in those days, but they did collect a lot of important specimens. As one would expect, TR and Cuninghame got along well. Here’s the intrepid Teddy with a waterbuck.

When WWI broke out, Cuninghame returned to England and tried to enlist only to be turned down on account of his chronic malaria. Not to be put off, he went to France and became an ambulance driver. Eventually, he returned to Africa, where he continued to serve and earned the Military Cross. After the war, he gave up the safari life and retired to his family estate, Hensol House in Scotland.

Called the “baby Balmoral”, the large estate recently sold for over 14 million pounds. I bet it’s cold and drafty inside. Cuninghame and his wife (the sister of his friend Douglas McDouall) never had any children, presumably because he was gone too much and by the time, he settled down it was too late. He died of a brain tumor at the age of 54 but at least he led a full life.

Just when I’m ready to give up on the Internet altogether, I come across some new and interesting story. I guess there is an upside to all the technology, although sometimes it’s hard to see it.

Have a great weekend!

I watched the Simpson’s Treehouse of Horror XXIII last night. Yes, the 33rd Treehouse of Horror. I’ve written about how many lines I use regularly from the early episodes before. Don’t worry, this won’t be a clip show of a blog post. After all, Susie told me you might start to worry about if I make references to shows with nerd fan wikis after my Buffy and Longmire hyperlinks.

Anyway, the point of bringing this all up is to say that I barely got any of the references. I felt way out of touch. Not to mention earlier in the day, I was reading something and it referenced some feud between two female writers I’d never heard of. When I looked the whole thing up, I actually read an article from the New Yorker trying to figure it all out. I was left feeling like a) who are these people–from the writers at the heart of the story to the writer of the article and b) who cares. OMG who cares?!

I feel like Lindsay Lohan playing Elizabeth Taylor in a made for tv movie when I think about our cultural elites a lot.

Once in a very rare while, something comes along that doesn’t leave me feeling that way. For the past two months, I’ve had Tuesday evenings to look forward to because a new episode of Only Murders in the Building would magically appear on Hulu. My mother has written about it–but it really was so refreshing to have something to watch. Something that was deeper than your average show but also didn’t insult me. Plus, it takes place on the upper west side (upper best side) and you know I love that. My mother, sister, and I would watch from our respective homes but text our favorite lines. Something about my mother texting “Welcome back you sexy thing!” and knowing Martin Short said it to Steve Martin just warms my heart.

In wine-related news, Rose season has ended and I’m beginning to drink my way through the red wines I got all summer from the wine club I joined at the start of COVID to support the wine bar up the street (I’m a hero). I’m hoping this is just a ploy for attention and clicks.

This weekend at the Vintique Mall (you read that correctly), I spotted these stickers.

There was a time when the idea of a Rascal Flatts quote on a sticker would have made me laugh really hard in a mean way. Now, I’m like whatever, that Rascal Flatts quote has a point.

I love the expression on little daughter #1 in this Halloween flashback from yesteryear. It is the one I wear frequently now as I drive around my neighborhood viewing the overwrought holiday yard decorations. People literally spend thousands of dollars on these ridiculous inflatables (because there are always three or four in a yard.) Zut alors!

I drove by this yard on the way home from the grocery store. (There were many others that were far worse, but there was nowhere to pull over and get a good shot without looking like a total weirdo.)

Have you noticed this new trend this year–the coven of witches/ghosts in a circle? We have a lot of these in our neighborhood.

Then there’s also the undead tea party…

Well, you get the picture. But these are just my feelings and me voicing my puritanical thoughts. You can certainly have giant inflatables if you so desire. And, please, go ahead and cover your shrubbery with fake cobwebs. It’s a great look.

Meanwhile I continue on my quest to find suitable places inside to put all my houseplants.

Having been hot and happy all summer out in the Florida Room (and in some cases doubling in size), they will be grumpy all winter. C’est la vie. Hopefully we won’t have any suicide attempts like last year.