Tar ar ais, a pháiste...

Predicition.

Sometimes you and I worry about where we're going to end up —if we'll be together, if we'll be "successful" if we'll fall in love with other people— and so on. It's obviously difficult not to think about it and when thinking about it it's difficult not to imagine the worst-case scenarios.

I was trying to find a way to put your mind (and mine) at ease about this and when I came across the picture below while stumbling, I knew it was perfect.

A crystal clear example of how bad we are at predictions. So don't worry, it might never happen.

Yours, etc.

K

Dracula.

Look what I found:

Our Library (Part 11)

"It's the blue book. You know, the one featured on Oprah..."

Who to trust?

Bed...

Why do we get out of bed? Is there any feeling better than being in bed? What could possibly feel better than this? What is going to happen in the course of my day that will be an improvement over lying on something very soft, underneath something very warm, wearing only underwear, doing absolutely nothing, all by myself?

Chuck Klosterman, Downtown Owl.

Favourite Children's Books (Part Eleven)

The Redwall Series by Brian Jacques. Wow. Ali was given a few of these books from Liz one summer and we've never looked back. How could we? A typical extract:

"Furlo Stump the cellar-keeper poured himself a beaker of October Ale. 'Be you not careful, marm, an' Martin'll sit on yore knee agin an' scoff all that bread'n'cheese, I'll wager!' he chortled.

"Rolle put aside a platter which had contained chestnut and blackberry flan and banged the tabletop with a soup ladle. 'Come on, you young 'uns, how's about a bit of song and dance for your poor elders before we fall asleep from boredom!' "

And yes, I did type that from the book I am currently reading...


Yours, etc.

K

Favourite Children's Books (Part 10)

I hate to call anything a 'favourite' (apart from you, you are my favourite) but this book was just my favourite book for enough of time that it warrants the f-word. It's crazy but still brillinant and now the title reminds me of you. I give you: Mrs Frisby and the Rats of NIMH.

Yours, etc.

K

Favourite Children's Books (Part 8)

I've been holding off writing about this one a bit. Largely because I'm not sure I could deal with the mocking I might be subject to. This is the book that I read after I was forced to watch the remake of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre. I have no regrets about that and I've decided that I should consequently have no shame. So here we go: one of my very favourite books as a teenager was an American novel about horse-riding youths who solved crime.

I know, doesn't sound like my kind of book at all...

Yours, etc.
K

My day...

I was stumbling today, looking for something to put up here for you. I came across a blog I hurt, I am in fashion. (ihurtiaminfashion.com) I'm not sure how I feel about it, I think it's an interesting idea. The blogger takes fashion photos and adds captions that highlight the surreality of the industry. Some are good, some are weird, some aren't great. I like sharing my day with you though, and this has affected it so, for you:

Our Library (Part 7)

There will be ladders in our library, I assume.

Favourite Children's Books (Part 7)

Dear N,

I know this may be considered cheating, after all I've already put up a post about Enid Blyton's books, but I can't leave them out. Malory Towers are brilliant books! Perhaps too jolly hockey-sticks and Protestant for your taste, my love, I adored them. Can I remember a single plot line? No. Do I care? Quite the opposite, it will only make the books more enjoyable when I read them again!

Yours, etc.

K

Favourite Children's Book (part 6)

Dear N,

I wanted there to be something on the blog for you to find. So I was thinking about what you might like to find, then I remembered trying to find the duck in the Usborne Farmyard Tales, good times!

I hope you know what I'm talking about.

K

Favourite Children's Book (Part 5)

In deference to International Women's Day:

The Paper Bag Princess
story by Robert N. Munsch
art by Michael Martchenko.

When Elizabeth was a beautiful princess, she lived in a castle and had expensive princess clothes. She was going to marry a prince named Ronald.

Unfortunately, a dragon smashed her castle, burnt all her clothes with his fiery breath, and carried off Prince Ronald.

Elizabeth decided to chase the dragon and get Ronald back. She looked all over for something to wear, but the only thing she could find that was not burnt was a paper bag. So she put on the paper bag and followed the dragon. He was easy to follow because he left a trail of burnt forests and horses' teeth.

Finally, Elizabeth came to a cave with a large door that had a huge knocker on it. She took hold of the knocker and banged on the door. The dragon stuck his nose out the door and said, "Well, a princess! I love to eat princesses but I have already eaten a whole castle today. I am a very busy dragon. Come back tomorrow."

He slammed the door so fast that Elizabeth almost got her nose caught.

Elizabeth grabbed the knocker and banged on the door again. The dragon stuck his nose out the door and said, "Go away. I love to eat princesses, but I have already eaten a whole castle today. I am a very busy dragon. Come back tomorrow."

"Wait!" shouted Elizabeth. "Is it true that you are the smartest and fiercest dragon in the whole world?"

"Yes," said the dragon.

"Is it true," said Elizabeth, "that you can burn up ten forests with your fiery breath?"

"Oh, yes," said the dragon, and he took a huge breath and breathed otu so much fire that he burnt up fifty forests.

"Fantastic," said Elizabeth, and the dragon took another huge breath and breathed out so much fire that he burned up one hundred forests.

"Magnificent," said Elizabeth, and the dragon took another huge breath, but this time nothing came out. The dragon didn't even have enough fire left to cook a meatball.

Elizabeth said, "Dragon, is it true that you can fly around the world in just ten seconds?"

"Why, yes," said the dragon, and jumped up and flew all the way around the world in ten seconds. He was very tired when he got back but Elizabeth shouted, "Fantastic, do it again!"

So the dragon jumped up and flew around the whole world in just twenty seconds. When he got back he was too tired to talk, and he lay down and went right to sleep.

Elizabeth whispered very softly, "Hey, dragon,"

The dragon didn't move at all.

She lifted up the dragon's ear and put her head right inside. She shouted as loud as she could, "Hey, dragon!"

The dragon was so tired that he didn't even move.

Elizabeth walked right over the dragon and opened the door to the cave. There was Prince Ronald.

He looked at her and said, "Boy, you are a mess! You smell like ashes, your hair is all tangled, and you are wearing a dirty old paper bag. Come back when you're dressed like a real princess."

"Ronald," said Elizabeth, "your clothes are really pretty and your hair is all neat. You look like a real prince, but you are a bum."

They didn't get married after all.

Favourite Children's Books (Part 4)

Mr. Men have to be mentioned. This is my favourite, as you know.

Favourite Children's Books (Part 3)

Did you read these in your house? My Naughty Little Sister... by Dorothy Edwards

Penguins!

Favourite Children's Books (Part 2)

Things we learnt from the Famous Five:
taken from foreveramber.co.uk

When I was a child, I was addicted to The Famous Five books, by Enid Blyton. To this day, I cannot drink ginger beer or explore a network of secret underground passages without thinking about good old Julian, Dick, George, Anne and Timmy the dog. I loved Enid Blyton’s other books, too (The Adventure Series was my favourite, although there is also a special place in my heart for The Magic Faraway Tree) and, to the horror of my friends and family, I will occasionally re-read these books if it’s been a particularly long, hard winter and I’m in need of some comfort reading. I recommend it. Not only will you be swept away into a world of crazy smugglers and sinister old castles, but you will also learn some important life lessons, such as:

1. All underground caves have a stream running through them. If you find yourself trapped in one (by smugglers, natch), all you have to do is follow the stream to the place where it breaks ground, and you will be freed.

2. You will almost always end up trapped in an underground cave during the “hols”, so you better have been paying attention to point 1.

3. Don’t worry, though – your faithful dog or other animal friend will guide you through the dark, winding tunnels to safety if the underground stream thing doesn’t work out.

4. If you don’t have a handy animal, the circus folk camping near you will lend you one.

5. There will always be circus folk camping near you.

6. Some of them will secretly be smugglers, though.

7. About those tunnels… If your animal friend has been, say, poisoned by the smugglers/circus folk, you should unwind a ball of string or make chalk markings on the walls as you walk, so that you can find your way out again.

8. You will use your torch to see these chalk markings/bits of string

9. You do HAVE a torch on you at all times, don’t you?

10. While escaping from the smugglers, remember to always observe regular meal times, even if you are underground/in grave danger.

11. It’s OK: you will always discover a bag of Barley Sugar and some potted meat sandwiches in your pocket.

12. Right next to the notebook and pencil that you carry with you AT ALL TIMES.

13. Friendly farm folks that you meet on your travels will supply the barely sugar, potted meat and also: ginger beer. You’ll have to supply the pencil and notebook yourself, though.

14. Ginger beer cures almost every ill.

15. And while we’re on the subject: food that you eat outdoors always tastes SO MUCH BETTER, don’t you think?

16. If the people you meet along the way have slightly ridiculous names, they can probably be trusted. Examples: Nobby, Fanny, Dimmy. (No offence to anyone called Nobby or Fanny, by the way. If your first name is ‘Dimmy’, though, well, good luck to you.)

17. If the people you meet along the way are crazy old men who warn you to NEVER GO NEAR THE OLD CASTLE AT NIGHTFALL, you should wait until nightfall and then go there immediately.

18. Not if you’re a girl, though. If you’re a girl you should remain at home, preparing a slap up dinner for the hungry adventurers, with lashings and lashings of ginger beer and some delicious ices for afters. Remember: you may like to think that you’re "as good as a boy" any day, but you’re really not.

19. But back to those smugglers…

20. Don’t worry too much about the smugglers, because most arch villains are relatively harmless.

21. I mean, they may tie you up and leave you in an underground cave (in fact, they almost certainly will), but they will not otherwise lay a finger on you.

22. You’ll be able to use your penknife to cut the ropes that bind you and escape by the light of your torch, though.

23. What do you mean, there’s no room for a penknife in your pocket, what with all the ginger beer, torches, notebooks and barley sugars?

24. OK, the monkey will carry the penknife for you.

25. You WILL encounter a monkey at some point in your adventure.

26. Thank goodness all monkeys are friendly, eh?

27. Also: all dogs can climb ladders. Which is lucky, because how else will you get down into the caves?

28. All islands and castles have a dark secret.

29. It normally involves smugglers.

30. As soon as you arrive at the sinister old castle you will be holidaying at, you should seek out the secret passage. This will save you a lot of time later.

31. The secret passage is located behind a sliding panel which you will find either in your bedroom or in the library

32. Every building has a secret passage. And a library, come to think of it.

33. The secret passage leads to underground caves.

34. Which are used by smugglers.

35. So you better have paid attention to point 1, eh?

Favourite Children's Books (Part 1)

"Piglet sidled up to Pooh from behind. "Pooh?" he whispered.
"Yes, Piglet?"
"Nothing," said Piglet, taking Pooh's hand. "I just wanted to be sure of you."
(A.A. Milne, Winnie the Pooh)

Cheirsh your solitude...

Happy

Le Guennec; How Did I Miss This?

The Curious Case of the Le Guennec Picassos

How did Pierre Le Guennec—a 71-year-old French electrician—come to possess a cache of more than 250 previously unknown or presumed missing Pablo Picasso works, valued at more than $60 million? The artist’s biographer about their provenance.

By John Richardson

WEB EXCLUSIVE December 9, 2010

The announcement last week (Nov. 2010) that Pierre Le Guennec, a 71-year-old French electrician, was the owner of 271 previously unknown or presumed missing works by Pablo Picasso, has created a furor on both sides of the Atlantic. For installing burglar alarms on Picasso’s homes, including the villas near Cannes on the French Riviera, Le Guennec claims that the artist and his second wife, Jacqueline, gave him the drawings, prints, and collages, dating from 1900 to 1932, which are estimated to be worth upward of $60 million. When shown the works, Picasso’s son Claude confirmed that they were authentic but suggested that they must have been stolen.

It is my belief that this treasure trove belonged to a massive group of some 70 portfolios of works on paper which the artist had been obliged to remove from his Paris apartment on the Rue la Boétie and his studio on the Rue des Grands Augustins after the French government enacted regulations preventing people from having multiple residencies. Picasso had tried and failed to fight this injunction, but since he had apparently forsaken his Paris properties to reside in the Villa La Californie at Cannes, he was unsuccessful. To his rage, he was forced to relinquish them and have their contents stored or sent down to Cannes.

Douglas Cooper, the celebrated British Picasso collector, and I happened to be visiting Picasso when this vast shipment arrived. He asked us to help him go through some of the portfolios. The next two days were spent sitting on the floor of the principal studio rediscovering these treasures. He hadn’t looked at most of the material for 20 or 30 years, Picasso said, and the contents were as much a surprise to him as they were to us. The artist’s excitement was infectious and his comments fascinating.

The contents, which had never been photographed or catalogued, were exceedingly varied—and anything but systematically organized. Virtually everything was on paper, so you never knew what was going to emerge. Nor were the contents confined to the artist’s work. One portfolio had nothing in it but blank sheets of rare paper, which Picasso collected: 17th- and 18th-century sheets, French, Italian, Japanese. Another portfolio might contain little of consequence—exhibition catalogues, pamphlets, mementos from his Russian Ballet years. It was the luck of the draw.

Picasso was especially excited to re-discover a group of portrait drawings (circa 1900) of fellow members of Els Quatre Gats, a Barcelona group that was sacred to his memory. These portraits have reappeared in Le Guennec’s cache. Picasso would never, in my opinion, have given away these works—so relevant to his early development—not even to his wife.

As soon as I heard about Le Guennec’s Picassos, I realized they had to have been part of this horde that had arrived in Cannes more than 50 years ago. How such a large chunk of the artist’s private collection ended up in the possession of Le Guennec is another matter. Picasso was exceedingly generous with his work, but he never gave away anything from earlier periods, always from whatever he was working on at the time and available in the studio. Also, when he gave someone a drawing or a print, he always signed and also inscribed it. Of the 271 works said to be in Le Guennec’s cache, reportedly only one of them bears the artist’s signature, and none of them is inscribed.

The Le Guennec affair puts me in mind of the large collection of works, mostly on paper and mostly executed at the end of the artist’s life, belonging to the heir of his driver, Maurice Bresnu, which appeared on the market in the 1990s. Bresnu (nicknamed “Nounours”) and his wife endeared themselves to the Picassos. At first mistakenly thought to have been fakes and, later, to have been stolen—only a fraction had been inscribed—they were ultimately O.K.’d by the Picasso administration and put up for sale at Christie’s (November 19, 1998). It will be interesting to see how the Picasso administration, not to mention the French judiciary, reacts in this new, far graver case.