Good Luck, MissM!

When MissM was a little girl
she had to do her SATs tests.
MrsM wasn't very happy about this
because MissM was only 7
and she had only just stopped writing backwards.
MrsM decided not to make a big fuss about SATs.

On the morning of the first test
as they were driving to school
MrsM said, in a nonchalant kind of way,
"Today, you are going to have a little test"

It was very quiet in the back of the car
and then a tiny voice said
"Do you mean a drugs test?"

*******

Today MissM starts her GCSE exams
and MrsM is not worried about those either.
Not because they are not important - they are!
But because MissM has worked hard
and is very calm in exams.

Good Luck MissM!
We are going to have our fingers and toes crossed
until the end of June.

Pride Goeth Before Fall

You may think this looks good enough to eat...

but you need to know
that I spent so much time admiring it
that I forgot to take the greaseproof paper
off the bottom of the top layer of cake.

Home Alone

I am sitting in the downstairs room at Loop with Domesticali, Dottycookie, Dragonfly, Quilt While You are Ahead and Kristina. This is not a frivolous outing - it is a serious Knitting Workshop and we are concentrating. My phone buzzes. I mustn't stop thinking about mattress stitch because I have waited all my life to learn how to do it and I can't afford to miss out.

Our tutor is Linda Marveng and she has prepared a wonderful presentation with examples and notes. She patiently helps us cast off with three needles. She shows us her fabulous knitted wardrobe - all Perfectly Finished. We GASP in unison. Linda is a great teacher and an inspiring knitter - thank you Linda.

We meet Susan Cropper who owns Loop. She seems perfectly happy to have Blogland annex her downstairs room for the day and does not complain about the gales of laughter drifting up the stairs - thank you Susan for being so helpful about the organisation of this lovely day.

And then it is lunch and we are in the charming little park behind Loop and there are too many things to talk about. We must hear about the book-making course that Ali and Monica have just been on and hear news of the Adorable Misses Small; we need to appreciate the delicious quiche made with eggs from Dragonfly's hens and decide whether Kristina should be promoted to a unique status as The Honorary Blogger? There is the small matter of finding a corkscrew to occupy us. We are busy, busy people.

It was a little bit worrying
to read the text at the end of the day.

All I can say is that it is now an ex-tree.

And I am O.K. about that.

Separation Anxiety

MrsM is going to be spending the day in Blogland and MrM is anxious.

He has checked the times of the trains and given her plenty of options. The bus would be best from the station - there are two suitable routes - the bus stop is easy to find. He has drawn a map of the route from the bus stop to Loop. It looks complicated but he is giving MrsM a pocket sized A-Z as back-up. Does MrsM need a spare mobile phone? How will MrsM recognise the people she is meeting? Do they have spare mobile phones?

He has plenty to do so he will have no time to mope. In fact if he does everything on the list it is possible that MrsM will not recognise ChezMagpie when she returns.

MrM has one question:

"What shall I have for lunch?"

Doris Emrick Lee (1905 - 1983)

I have become obsessed with Doris Lee.
Is that allowed?

Doris Lee by Yasuo Kuniyoshi 1940

She had a wide ranging art education
and travelled and studied in France and Italy
at a time of Impressionism and Abstract painting.
She came home and developed a unique style
which was dismissed by some as 'whimsical'
but was recognised at an early stage by influential institutions
such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Johnnie Appleseed - no date

I want to know why she started her career
painting detailed images of energy and humour
and finished her painting life
with flat abstractions of mangrove swamps.

High Tide, Mangroves - no date

Was it because the sponsor of the Logan Prize
at the Chicago Art Institute that she won in 1935
with the intimate and delightful Thanksgiving
was outraged by the decision of the judges?

Thanksgiving - 1935

Was it because the murals that she painted
for the new Post Office in Washington, D.C.
were criticized as caricatures
"the heads of the figures were too large for their bodies"
by the Inspector and lost their sparkle
as she attempted to fulfil the conditions of the commision?

Afternoon Train - 1945

Was it because she married Arnold Blanch,
head of the influential school of artists at Woodstock
and acted as hostess and patron to a continuous stream
of young artists such as Bruce Gregory?

Arnold Blanch by Konrad Cramer 1950

Was it some deeper force within her
which rejected the optimism of her youth?

Sun and Surf - no date

I don’t know the answer to this question
but I wish that I had met her.
In a transcript of an interview that she gave in 1964
to Joseph Trovato of the Smithsonian Institution.
she describes her house and says:

it's a difficult thing to pass by an old beautiful bottle on the beach or an old broken piece of iron or artifact...we really have too many things, they clutter up our house a little bit.

Basket of Lilacs - no date

I think I would have liked her.

An Anniversary Album

This is my local nursery.

It doesn't look much from the road
but inside the plants jostle for space

and the colours shimmer under the glass.

They are celebrating the 70th anniversary this year,

the kind, friendly people who welcome me every summer.

I am invited to a party with a five piece band
(and the mayor will be there too!)

It is a family business
and it was started as a way of escaping from factory work.

I took these photographs to make a gift album
because I have enjoyed every moment
I have spent in these tranquil greenhouses.

For the first time I realised
how much more confident my photography has become.

This time last year
I would not have asked for this photograph.

Shadow Lives

On Monday we visited the exhibition of American Prints
at the British Museum.
It is headlined as The American Scene
and features classic images of American life:
small towns and big cities,
Prohibition and the Depression,
War and survival,
brutal sport and stark industrial landscapes.

Martin Lewis (1880 - 1962) Shadow Magic, 1939

As I walked around I found myself drawn to the pictures
featuring the lives of women and those by women artists.
It is only a small selection
but it gives a tiny insight into private worlds,
quite diferent from the larger perspectives
of the majority of prints.

John Sloan (1871 - 1951) The Women's Page, 1905

This woman sits and reads a magazine
surrounded by evidence of poverty and deprivation.

Martin Lewis (1880 - 1962) Quarter of Nine, Saturday's Children 1929

Here the shopgirls of New York,
“Saturdays Children” who work hard for a living,
step out with energy and optimism .

Doris Lee (1905-1983) Helicopter, 1948

I discovered Doris Lee for the first time!
How I love her naive style which records domestic life
with such intimacy and detail.
This picture reminded me of Angie at Children in the Corn

Edward Hopper (1882-1967) East Side Interior - New York 1922

This image touched me.
She sits by the window
on the boundary of her internal domestic life
and looks outwards at the world.
It captures what blogging is all about for me.

Sushi, Sushi

This post is for Breadbox who loves sushi

There is something slightly hypnotic
about a sushi restaurant.

You perch on your stool
and the coloured plates pass before you
on the endless conveyor.

Each plate has a different confection to tempt you;
beautifully balanced colours, shapes and textures.

You have no idea what you are eating
but it all tastes good
and there is a continuous supply of miso soup

And before you know where you are
the empties have stacked up.

How do Japanese people stay so thin eating sushi?

Human Interest

Waterloo Bridge

the number 59

Lovers at Euston

Turquoise sari outside King's Cross

Father and Son share a joke at St. Pancras

******
The following photo
is not part of the collection of pictures above
but I wanted to share it.

One of the things that we did yesterday was to visit the British Museum to see the extraordinary painting from the Ethiopian Christian Church. As it was the last day of the exhibition representatives from the Ethiopian Church were in the great Atrium giving a musical performance. The resonance from the drum and the chanting filled the huge space and it was very moving to see the enthusiasm of the friends and family who had come to support the priests and musicians.

Ethiopian Christians at the British Museum

Bank Holiday Chores

MrM polishing the Player of the Season Trophy
in his capacity as
Important Person in the London Irish Supporters' Club.

Please note how confident he is
with his inner Cath Kidston.

******

In the past five days
AOL has been blocking all email from Blogger and GMail.
It is not just a problem with my account
but it has created problems for me responding to comments.
I apologise.
I hope that the power struggle between AOL and Google
will be resolved quickly
but in the meantime I have transferred my blog email to
chezmagpie@gmail.com

******

Today is a National Holiday
but MrM and I have to go St. Pancras
to monitor the performance of the Champagne Bar.

No slacking allowed here at Chez Magpie.