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On the diningtable, "Mini Species Lilly"
Canon 70D with EF100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM
FalconEyes SKK-2150D flash set
Elinchrom Gold Umbrella
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30th June 2017:
True Brittany weather for you today, freezing cold, windy and it's raining. Are we really at the end of June ...
So I dived into the Happy Hippy bag to see what was in there for today's photo. Found this and then had great fun finding the best position to photo it on the dining table. Even I wasn't going to take it outside to get a better lit photo.
Mario was driving in really bad weather conditions, poor chap and Izzy kept walking across the road. ;O)
The collage of this months photos:
www.flickr.com/photos/44506883@N04/34788309194/
Better viewed large and thank you for your favourites. :O)
"Beauty on the diningtable", Gerbera
Canon 70D with EF100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM
FalconEyes SKK-2150D flash set
Falcon Eyes Softbox, Falcon Eyes Diffusion umbrella
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When it ceases to be fun, I'll stop and just stay in my restaurants. Emeril Lagasse
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It's been quite a few years since I've eaten there, but every time I did it was a party in my mouth! I was sorry to hear that it was closing.
HAPPY WINDOW WEDNESDAY
The area that was to become West Palm Beach was settled in the late 1870s and 1880s by a few hundred settlers who called the vicinity "Lake Worth Country." These settlers were a diverse community from different parts of the United States and the world. They included founding families such at the Potters and the Lainharts, who would go on to become leading members of the business community in the fledgling city. The first white settlers in Palm Beach County lived around Lake Worth, then an enclosed freshwater lake, named for Colonel William Jenkins Worth, who had fought in the Second Seminole War in Florida in 1842. Most settlers engaged in the growing of tropical fruits and vegetables for shipment the north via Lake Worth and the Indian River. By 1890, the U.S. Census counted over 200 people settled along Lake Worth in the vicinity of what would become West Palm Beach. The area at this time also boasted a hotel, the "Cocoanut House", a church, and a post office. The city was platted by Henry Flagler as a community to house the servants working in the two grand hotels on the neighboring island of Palm Beach, across Lake Worth in 1893, coinciding with the arrival of the Florida East Coast railroad. Flagler paid two area settlers, Captain Porter and Louie Hillhouse, a combined sum of $45,000 for the original town site, stretching from Clear Lake to Lake Worth.
On November 5, 1894, 78 people met at the "Calaboose" (the first jail and police station located at Clematis St. and Poinsettia, now Dixie Hwy.) and passed the motion to incorporate the Town of West Palm Beach in what was then Dade County (now Miami-Dade County). This made West Palm Beach the first incorporated municipality in Dade County and in South Florida. The town council quickly addressed the building codes and the tents and shanties were replaced by brick, brick veneer, and stone buildings. The city grew steadily during the 1890s and the first two decades of the 20th century, most residents were engaged in the tourist industry and related services or winter vegetable market and tropical fruit trade. In 1909, Palm Beach County was formed by the Florida State Legislature and West Palm Beach became the county seat. In 1916, a new neo-classical courthouse was opened, which has been painstakingly restored back to its original condition, and is now used as the local history museum.
The city grew rapidly in the 1920s as part of the Florida land boom. The population of West Palm Beach quadrupled from 1920 to 1927, and all kinds of businesses and public services grew along with it. Many of the city's landmark structures and preserved neighborhoods were constructed during this period. Originally, Flagler intended for his Florida East Coast Railway to have its terminus in West Palm, but after the area experienced a deep freeze, he chose to extend the railroad to Miami instead.
The land boom was already faltering when city was devastated by the 1928 Okeechobee hurricane. The Depression years of the 1930s were a quiet time for the area, which saw slight population growth and property values lower than during the 1920s. The city only recovered with the onset of World War II, which saw the construction of Palm Beach Air Force Base, which brought thousands of military personnel to the city. The base was vital to the allied war effort, as it provided an excellent training facility and had unparalleled access to North Africa for a North American city. Also during World War II, German U-Boats sank dozens of merchant ships and oil tankers just off the coast of West Palm Beach. Nearby Palm Beach was under black out conditions to minimize night visibility to German U-boats.
The 1950s saw another boom in population, partly due to the return of many soldiers and airmen who had served in the vicinity during the war. Also, the advent of air conditioning encouraged growth, as year-round living in a tropical climate became more acceptable to northerners. West Palm Beach became the one of the nation's fastest growing metropolitan areas during the 1950s; the city's borders spread west of Military Trail and south to Lake Clarke Shores. However, many of the city's residents still lived within a narrow six-block wide strip from the south to north end. The neighborhoods were strictly segregated between White and African-American populations, a legacy that the city still struggles with today. The primary shopping district remained downtown, centered around Clematis Street.
In the 1960s, Palm Beach County's first enclosed shopping mall, the Palm Beach Mall, and an indoor arena were completed. These projects led to a brief revival for the city, but in the 1970s and 1980s crime continued to be a serious issue and suburban sprawl continued to drain resources and business away from the old downtown area. By the early 1990s there were very high vacancy rates downtown, and serious levels of urban blight.
Since the 1990s, developments such as CityPlace and the preservation and renovation of 1920s architecture in the nightlife hub of Clematis Street have seen a downtown resurgence in the entertainment and shopping district. The city has also placed emphasis on neighborhood development and revitalization, in historic districts such as Northwood, Flamingo Park, and El Cid. Some neighborhoods still struggle with blight and crime, as well as lowered property values caused by the Great Recession, which hit the region particularly hard. Since the recovery, multiple new developments have been completed. The Palm Beach Mall, located at the Interstate 95/Palm Beach Lakes Boulevard interchange became abandoned as downtown revitalized - the very mall that initiated the original abandonment of the downtown. The mall was then redeveloped into the Palm Beach Fashion Outlets in February 2014. A station for All Aboard Florida, a high-speed passenger rail service serving Miami, Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach, and Orlando, is under construction as of July 2015.
Credit for the data above is given to the following website:
The central display for the Chinese New Year in the mall at the base of the Petronas Twin Towers - it shows a richly decorated Straits-born Chinese home, with the focus on the dining room as the family reunion dinner on the eve of the new year is the main event of the annual celebration. (taken using my smartphone)
On our diningtable "Pink Gerbera"
Canon 70D with EF100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM
FalconEyes SKK-2150D flash set
Elinchrom Gold umbrella
dec 16th, Congrats! The photo On our diningtable "Pink Gerbera" you added to the group FLOWERS IN ALL THEIR BEAUTY THROUGH PHOTOGRAPHY has been selected to be its cover photo.
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Cavendish Mews is a smart set of flats in Mayfair where flapper and modern woman, the Honourable Lettice Chetwynd has set up home after coming of age and gaining her allowance. To supplement her already generous allowance, and to break away from dependence upon her family, Lettice has established herself as a society interior designer, so her flat is decorated with a mixture of elegant antique Georgian pieces and modern Art Deco furnishings, using it as a showroom for what she can offer to her well heeled clients.
Tonight however, we are following Lettice’s childhood chum Gerald, also a member of the aristocracy who has gained some independence from his impecunious family by designing gowns from a shop in Grosvenor Street, a business which, after promotion from Lettice and several commissions from high profile and influential society ladies, is beginning to turn a profit. We trail Gerald’s little Morris Cowley four-seat tourer* as he heads south-west through the London streets away from his small Soho flat. Taking the Brompton Road, he drives through Belgravia and then Chelsea as Brompton Road becomes Fulham Road. He drives past the Brompton Cemetery and through the historic centre of Walham Green before going on through Fulham, finally turning south along the Fulham High Street. Passing the Hurlingham Club along the banks of the Thames he continues to go south over the river along Putney Bridge. He turns off the Putney High Street and into the tree lined avenue of Hazlewell Road. He drives along past double storey Edwardian villa after double storey Edwardian villa made of red brick with bay windows, set in neat gardens behind privet hedges or low brick fences, their windows aglow with the warmth of electric lights. Gerald’s Morris finally pulls up in front of one such Edwardian villa. It looks exactly the same as all the others on that side of the street: red brick with crenelled bay windows upstairs and down to either side of a porticoed door. In fact, the portico is one of the few differences that distinguish it from its neighbours either side. It has an arched portico which matches the arch in the lunette above the white painted front door, whereas its neighbours have square porticos with crenelling that matches that along the tops of the bay windows. Two banks of chimneypots at either side of the villa rise from the steeply hipped roof of shingles and a central attic balconette with French doors is flanked by oriel windows.
The villa belongs to Gerald’s friend, Harriet Milford, the orphaned daughter with little formal education of a middle-class family solicitor. Gerald met Harriet by chance at a haberdashery one day and they have formed a strong bond of friendship, of which Lettice was initially rather jealous. Since being orphaned, Harriet has taken in theatrical lodgers to earn a living, and millinery semi-professionally to give her some pin money**, but like Gerald’s fashion house, Harriet’s business has taken off substantially thanks to Lettice introducing her to a couple of her friends, who have spread the word about Harriet’s skill. Amongst Harriet’s lodgers she has a handsome young West End oboist named Cyril, who like all of Harriet’s tenants, is a homosexual. Since befriending Harriet and being invited to the Hazelwell Road villa and meeting him, Cyril and Gerald have become lovers, and both of them are pleased to have the protective closed doors of Harriet’s Putney villa as a place where they do not have to keep their illegal homosexual relationship*** secret and can be free and open like any couple. Tonight, Gerald is joining Cyril, Harriet and several of her other lodgers for a special dinner in honour of his and Cyril’s third anniversary, and will stay the night, sharing the bed in the small room with the oriel window up under the eaves of Harriet’s house with his lover.
Gerald smiles as he alights from his tourer, snatching up a bunch of pretty pink roses from the front passenger seat that he bought earlier in the day to grace the dinner table as a thank you to his gracious hostess. He pats his breast pocket and feels the small box concealed within it. He steps up to the black painted wrought iron gate flanked by two capped red brick pillars and opens the gate before walking up the garden path snaking across Harriet’s well clipped lawn. Standing beneath the arched portico, Gerald slips his latchkey****, given to him happily by Harriet so that he might come and go and visit Cyril and her as he pleases, into the shiny brass lock and turns it. Letting himself into the villa he steps across the threshold into the electric illuminated black and white tiled hallway stuffed full of Edwardian vestibule furniture.
“Hullo Hattie! Cyril?” he calls out cheerfully. “It’s only me!”
He can smell the delicious aroma of roast meat cooking in the kitchen towards the back of the house, yet he immediately ascertains that something is wrong as he hears the muffled sound of anxious voices and a strangulated moan from behind the closed dining room directly to his right. Opening the door slightly, Gerald pops his head around the jamb and observes a chaotic scene.
Harriet’s villa’s dining room with its heavy and dark Victorian era furniture, busy wallpaper, potted palms and aspidistras*****, and framed stern Milford family photographs is usually a neat and tidy space, as it is used by all of Harriet’s paying lodgers for their meals taken in. However tonight, rather than being laid with a freshly laundered snowy white linen tablecloth, Harriet’s mother’s gilt edged Edwardian patterned Royal Doulton dinner set and her parents’ wedding cutlery, the long mahogany stained dining table is covered in mess of books, scrap books, postcard albums and loose carte de visites****** all of famous London actresses from the late Victorian and pre-war Edwardian years. In one of the upright Queen Anne style dining chairs with red velvet upholstered seats sits Harriet, still dressed in her outdoor cream coloured Burberry macintosh*******, one of her fashionable cloche hats in a matching shade of cream with a tan grosgrain band upon her head, her imitation crocodile skin handbag on the table in front of her, consoling the other occupant seated at the table – Mr. Charles Dunnage. In his fifties, Charles is more mature than most of Harriet’s other borders who are in their twenties and thirties. He has white hair and an impressive, expertly waxed handlebar moustache, and is a regular Shakespearean actor at the Old Vic******** in Lambeth with a grand and dramatic personality to match. Usually a snappy dresser, tonight he looks dishevelled and his suit is visibly crumpled with dirt and grime marks marring the worsted wool. Glancing at one of Harriet’s teacups sitting before Charles with a soda syphon of tonic water nearly full and a bottle of Gordon’s Dry Gin********* sitting half empty next to it, Gerald quicky ascertains that Charles has probably been drinking heavily since about three in the afternoon. At the foot of the table, Cyril stands in his trousers and a white shirt undone at the collar, his suspenders showing since he lacks his usual vest, and the sleeves of his shirt rolled up past his elbows, exposing his delicately haired arms. He stands with his weight spread more heavily on his left side, his arms akimbo, a look of irritation on his handsome young, clean-shaven face.
“Come on Aunt Sally!” Cyril says peevishly, referring to Charles using his female nickname**********. “You can’t just sit there all night looking maudlin into your G and T, duckie!”
“Why not, silly Cilla?” Charles slurs back using Cyril’s female alias in return, looking up at Cyril with rheumy red eyes as tears spill down his chubby, florid cheeks. “My life,” He raises a hand dramatically to his forehead. “Is over!”
“Oh it’s not over, Charles darling!” Harriet insists. “It’s just a little setback.”
He hunches forward again as if the effort of lifting his head and hand was too much, and he takes a swig from his teacup. “Over I tell you!”
“You can’t just sit there feeling sorry for yourself, Aunt Sally, because Gerry’s coming to dinner!” Cyril replies thinly. “And I can’t be setting a nice table with you, and Edith Evans*********** and god knows who else spread across it like… like…” He gesticulates dramatically with his right hand, unable to articulate the word to describe the mess before him. “Can I?”
“Cyril!” Harriet chides mildly, giving him a hurt look with her soft brown doe eyes************.
“Who cares who is coming to dinner when my life is over?” Charles splutters.
“I do!” Cyril spits back. “I’ve been making the perfect Beef Wellington************* all afternoon, just so we can all celebrate Gerry’s and my three year anniversary, you ungrateful old queen!” He throws his hands in the air in exasperation. “Just because you are having your latest existential crisis, doesn’t mean the rest of us have to stop our lives for you!”
“Cyril!” Harriet says more firmly, giving him a more serious look, shaking her head slightly as she does.
“There, there, Charles darling!” Harriet coos, rubbing the older man’s back and right shoulder consolingly. “Cyril didn’t mean to be so thoughtless to your feelings. Did you Cyril?” When Cyril doesn’t reply, even though Charles is too self-absorbed in his own woes to notice, Harriet goes on. “He has been slaving over our oven all afternoon, and he’s spent a pretty penny buying beef fillets from the butchers. We don’t often get a treat like that, do we?” She gently continues to rub his back. “And since Gerry is rather a special guest… and this is rather a special occasion… if you would consent to clearing the table,” she cajoles. “We can help you.”
“In a hurry if you don’t mind, Aunt Sally!” Cyril quips. “Gerry will be here any minute!”
“Gerry is already here.” Gerald says, announcing his presence as he steps through the door and across the threshold of the dining room.
“Gerry darling!” Harriet says, glancing over and smiling across the room at him.
“Gerry my darling!” Cyril jumps with surprise, and then quickly recovering himself, flings his arms around Gerald’s neck with joy and kisses him on the lips passionately, a kiss which is returned with equal love and passion. “You’re here already!” Breaking their kiss, he spies the roses in Gerald’s hands, pink and fat. “Roses? For me, Gerry darling?” He releases his hands from about his lover’s neck. “You shouldn’t have… but I’m glad you did.” He goes to reach for them.
“Well…” Gerald says with an awkward clearing of his throat. “They’re really for Hattie for allowing us to have this little soirée for our anniversary this evening.”
“Oh Gerry!” Harriet gasps as Gerald steps forward and presents them to her with a flourish. “You’re so sweet! Thank you!” Accepting them, she buries her head into the bouquet, savouring the blooms’ sweet and light fragrance.
“What?” Cyril exclaims irascibly, dramatically, folding his arms again and giving Gerald a black look. “You buy flowers for Hattie, yet you don’t buy your own beloved Cyril a gift for our anniversary?”
“I’ll have you know, Cyril, I have something else for you in a small velvet jeweller’s box, for later,” Gerald replies in a cautionary way, patting his breast pocket. “But only if you are good, and not irascible and snappish!”
“Oh Gerry, darling!” Cyril exclaims again, flinging his arms around Gerald again and planting a barrage of kisses on his right cheek. “I’m sorry! It’s just been such a trying afternoon.” He stops kissing his lover and looks accusingly over at the older man sitting at the dining table.
“The flowers can be for you and me, Cyril darling.” Harriet ventures. “After all, I’m just the provider of the venue. You’re really the one whose been working so hard today as cook for this evening.”
“Yes, and our Beef Wellington will be spoiled if we can’t set the table, Aunt Sally!” Cyril puts emphasis on Charle’s nickname to try and get his attention. “I’m not having us eat such a fine repast at the table in the kitchen.”
“Oh, I don’t mind eating at the kitchen table, Cyril darling.” Gerald remarks lightly, thinking about his own small and piteously impoverished Soho flat with the curtain that he uses to conceal the tiny gas ring and trough sink that serves as a kitchenette – a flat too small to even have a dining table and chairs in – but all he can afford to rent at the moment with most profits from his couturier going back into the business to manage it. “After all, we’ve eaten off our laps on the sofa at my flat plenty of times, so any table, kitchen or otherwise, is a luxury for me.”
“No!” Cyril replies adamantly. “This is our anniversary dinner and I’m not having us eat it in the kitchen! I want it to be nice. I want it to be special!”
“What’s wrong with Charles?” Gerald nods in the older actor’s general direction.
“Oh, he’s just channelling his inner Ellen Terry************** again,” Cyril says in an offhand fashion, flailing a hand in Charles’ direction flippantly. “With his usual gravitas and melodrama, whilst our lovely dinner slowly overcooks, dries out and shrivels in the oven whilst he does.”
“What happened?” Gerald asks with concern, looking to Harriet, from whom he knows he will get a kinder and more straight forward answer from than his evidently frustrated lover.
“He didn’t get the part he was hoping for at the Old Vic.” Harriet hisses back quietly.
“Yes, Lady Macbeth!” Cyril adds spitefully.
When Charles releases an anguished moan, Harriet glares at Cyril. “Not helpful, Cilla!”
“Cyril,” Gerald gasps in offended tones. “Don’t be beastly. It’s most unbecoming.” he chides. “I’m sure you wanted this dinner to be perfect, but it isn’t Charles’ fault that today was the day he was denied a part that he really wanted.”
“King Lear***************!” Charles bemoans loudly, lifting himself up again, half stumbling up out of his seat before collapsing back into it again. “It should have been me, not that damnable Eric Adeney****************!”
“He started drinking this afternoon in here after he came back from the Old Vic, whilst I was preparing the Beef Wellington in the kitchen.” Cyril explains. “Hattie was out shopping. Then after a while, I’m not sure what time exactly, he slipped off and went to the Albany***************** in search of his beloved Edith Evans, but the porters wouldn’t let him in.”
“Damnable cheek, those porters!” Charles opines slurringly, raising his teacup before draining its remnants. “They dirtied up my nice Saville Row****************** suit I picked up second-hand from the Portobello Road*******************! I was wearing it especially for her.”
“He must have been a bit tight******************** by that stage, but not enough for the porters to call the constabulary thankfully.” Cyril whispers to Gerald, before turning his attention to Charles. “You’re lucky they just roughed you and your suit up a bit and didn’t break your nose or give you a split lip, Aunt Sally. That would be more damaging for your career as an actor. No amount of greasepaint can cover a broken nose.”
“How many times must you be told, silly Cilla,” Charles huffs irritably. “I’m a th… th… thespian, not a mere actor.” His usually deep and sonorous voice and clearly enunciated words are dulled by the gin he has consumed.
“Thespian or otherwise, Cyril is right, Charles,” Harriet says with concern. “They could have broken your nose,” She shudders as she thinks. “Or far worse.”
“After the Albany,” Cyril goes on quietly to Gerald. “He somehow managed to buy a box of Bassett’s Liquorice All-Sorts********************* from somewhere down Piccadilly and hailed an unwitting taxi driver to bring him home. I accepted him on the doorstep like a heavy parcel from the driver, Liquorice All-Sorts and all, and paid him out of Charles’ billfold, caught unexpectedly as I was, wearing Hattie’s apron the whole time.”
“We’re already known as the house of ill repute in Hazelwell Road,” Harriet giggles girlishly. “Without you wearing my apron on the doorstep, Cyril.”
“Now don’t you start, Hattie!” Cyril waves a finger admonishingly at his pretty landlady.
“Fear not, dear lady!” Charles sits up and stares determinedly at Harriet, his whole upper body swaying as he does. “I survived to tell the tale.”
“I ended up getting him in here,” Cyril concludes. “Which I now realise was a mistake.”
“How much has he drunk?” Gerald asks Cyril in a whisper.
“I’d say that’s the second bottle,” Cyril replies, shaking his head slowly. “I haven’t checked the cocktail cabinet, but I wouldn’t be at all surprised.”
“And the Liquorice All-Sorts?” Gerald goes on.
“About half the box I’d reckon.” Cyril raises his slender eyebrows.
“Oh dear!” Gerald exclaims. “Well, we know what that can do to even the most recalcitrant of a chap’s bowels**********************. I think we’d best get them off Charles, Hattie, and get him up to bed with a bucket and a chamber pot.”
“Yes,” Harriet sighs resignedly. “I think you’re right, Gerry darling.” Turning her attentions back to Charles she goes on. “Best give me those Liquorice All-Sorts, Charles darling.”
“But they’re mine!” Charles retorts sluggishly, his tired eyes widening and his hands reaching protectively for the box of colourful liquorice pieces.
“That’s rather ungentlemanly, Aunt Sally.” Gerald pipes up. “You usually share your treats with Hattie and the rest of us. Isn’t she deserving of a Liquorice All-Sort or two?”
“Or me?” adds Cyril. “After all, I’m the one who’s been slaving over the oven, whilst you’ve been galivanting up the West End without me!”
“Alright,” Charles agrees begrudgingly. “You can have some Hattie.” He pushes the box clumsily back across the photograph covered tabletop towards Harriet’s waiting hands. “Because you’ve been nice… and you Gerry… but… but not her.” He points at Cyril. “Silly Cilla! She’s been a mean and beastly old queen, and therefore doesn’t deserve any.”
Cyril rolls his eyes but does not reply.
“Come on then Hattie.” Gerald says. “Let’s get Charles upstairs to his bed.”
“Yes, come on Charles,” Harriet says, sliding the box as far away from the older man as she can manage across the cluttered table. “I think it’s high time you were in bed.”
“But I haven’t had my Beef Wellington yet.” Charles mumbles.
“Never mind, Aunt Sally.” Gerald says cheerfully. “Cilla will make sure that she saves you a big serving for tomorrow.”
“Will she now?” Cyril mutters under his breath.
“Yes, she will,” Gerald replies with purpose, turning his attention to his lover. “Or you won’t get your pretty jeweller’s box.”
“Bribery will get you everywhere, Gerry darling.” Cyril replies, leaning forward and kissing Gerald’s puckered lips lovingly.
“And since we may be a little while getting him to his bed, could you tidy up all of Charles’ theatrical memorabilia nicely and lay the table?”
“I’ve a right mind to sweep all that rubbish into the dustbin.” Cyril eyes all the photographs, books and memorabilia critically.
“Ahh, but you won’t, will you Cyril my darling?”
Cyril sighs. “No Gerry darling,” He sighs a second time, more deeply, and then, leaning forward to try and get Charles’ straying attention he adds, “Because in spite of him being a melodramatic old thespian, and a lousy old soak***********************, I cannot help but love him as my dear old friend.”
“Thank you.” Gerald says gratefully. Then he adds, “Oh, and if you do a really good job of tidying up and setting the table, I’ll permit you to accompany me on the invitation you’ve been dying for.”
“Don’t flatter yourself, Gerry darling!” Cyril teases. “Your Soho flat isn’t that salubrious.”
Gerald laughs. “I’ve just come from Lettice’s, where I just happened to run into Sylvia Fordyce.”
“You didn’t!” Cyril squeals.
“The Sylvia Fordyce?” Harriet gasps, catching her breath. “As in the famous concert pianist?”
“The very one, Hattie.” Gerald smiles like the cat who ate the cream. “Remember that Lettice decorated a wall for her at her country cottage a few weeks ago, and I accompanied her.”
“Oh yes!” Harriet replies. “Of course you did, Gerry darling.”
“She’s a lovely pian… pian… o player.” Charles manages to stammer before slumping back down again over his now empty teacup.
“I say!” Cyril pouts. “That’s jolly unfair! First you get to see Miss Fordyce’s secret country house and then you get to meet her in person, and yet I’m a bigger fan of her than you are!”
“Well, as I was chatting and having afternoon tea with Miss Fordyce this afternoon, charming her with my wit and sparkling personality.” Gerald goes on, making Cyril roll his eyes again. “She came up with had the most marvellous idea! She is planning to throw a small soirée at ‘The Nest’ with a few like-minded friends to celebrate the completion of Lettice’s wall and show it off. She’s asking some fellow musicians, artists and the like, and she thought that you and I might like to go along.”
The room falls into stunned silence, except for a few drunken snorts from Charles, as Harriet and Cyril gawp wide eyed and open mouthed at Gerald.
“You… and me?” Cyril manages to ask, the syllables catching on his breath as he speaks, barely daring to hope.
“Yes,” Gerald says with a broad smile. “After I mentioned that you are not only a great admirer or hers, and that you were insanely jealous of my going to ‘The Nest’ with Lettice...”
“I was not insanely jealous!” Cyril retorts in outrage, blushing crimson as he speaks.
“Yes you were.” Harriet corrects with another giggle.
“Damn right she was.” Charles mumbles into his own cup, his remark unheard by any of the other three.
“I may have been a little put out that you were able to go and stay there with Miss Chetwynd at Miss Fordyce’s pleasure,” Cyril pouts, holding his head aloft and giving Gerald as haughty a look as he can muster down his nose. “But I wouldn’t say I was ‘insanely jealous’. It wasn’t like she was actually there when you were.”
“Well, I would, Cyril.” Harriet chuckles. “You could barely talk about anything that weekend when you were my earshot, wondering what Gerry was doing and seeing at her house, even if she wasn’t there. You were seething!”
“Well, Cyril darling,” Gerald goes on. “When I told Miss Fordyce that you were also an oboist, it was the icing on the cake for her. She was thrilled and said you must come, as you will be in good company.”
“She didn’t?” Cyril gasps, his fingers rushing to his mouth where a broad smile quickly lightens his handsome young features.
“She did.” Gerald affirms. “In fact, she was insistent that you come. So not only will you get to see and stay at ‘The Nest’, you will get to have a whole weekend with Miss Fordyce.”
“Oh Gerry!” Cyril cries, throwing his arms around Gerald again and lavishing his face in kisses. “Oh, you really are a darling! Thank you. Thank you. Thank you!”
Charles snorts again as he starts to nod off over this teacup.
“Come on Aunt Sally.” Gerlad says resignedly. “If you’re going to sleep, I think it’s better that you do it in your own bed, don’t you? It will be more comfortable than an upright dining chair.”
He moves around the dining table and bends down. He carefully drapes Charles’ left arm around his neck and grasps it with his left hand whilst slipping his right arm around Charles’ waist. Harriet does the same on the opposite side of Charles to Gerald.
“Right Hattie.” Gerald says. “On the count of three. One… two… three!”
With a combined groan from all three of them, Gerald and Harriet manage to get the bulky Charles shakily to his feet with some coaxing and slowly they start to manoeuvre him around the dining room furniture and towards the open dining room door.
“Not quite how I think either of us imagined starting off our anniversary dinner, Cyril darling.” Gerald says between laboured breaths as they go. “But I daresay Miss Fordyce’s invitation will make up for any difficulties this incident has created.” He winks and smiles lovingly at his younger lover before turning away and helping Harriet get the drunken older actor through the doorway and into the hallway of the villa outside.
*Morris Motors Limited was a privately owned British motor vehicle manufacturing company established in 1919. With a reputation for producing high-quality cars and a policy of cutting prices, Morris's business continued to grow and increase its share of the British market. By 1926 its production represented forty-two per cent of British car manufacturing. Amongst their more popular range was the Morris Cowley which included a four-seat tourer which was first released in 1920.
**Originating in Seventeenth Century England, the term pin money first meant “an allowance of money given by a husband to his wife for her personal expenditures. Married women, who typically lacked other sources of spending money, tended to view an allowance as something quite desirable. By the Twentieth Century, the term had come to mean a small sum of money, whether an allowance or earned, for spending on inessentials, separate and in addition to the housekeeping money a wife might have to spend.
***Prior to 1967 with the introduction of the Sexual Offences Act which decriminalised private homosexual acts between men aged over twenty-one, homosexuality in England was illegal, and in the 1920s when this story is set, carried heavy penalties including prison sentences with hard labour. The law was not changed for Scotland until 1980, or for Northern Ireland until 1982.
****A latchkey is the key of an outer door of a house.
*****Aspidistras are a flowering plant native to eastern and southeastern Asia, particularly China and Vietnam. They grow well in shade and prefer protected places, which made them the ideal indoor house plant for dark Victorian and Edwardian houses which often only had diffused light seeing in through window treatments of venetian blinds, curtains, lace scrim or a combination of all three.
******The carte de visite (which translates from the French as 'visiting card') was a format of small photograph which was patented in Paris by photographer André Adolphe Eugène Disdéri in 1854, although first used by Louis Dodero in 1851.
*******Thomas Burberry established Burberry in Basingstoke in 1856 at just twenty-one years old, founded on the principle that clothing should be designed to protect people from the British weather. A few years later in 1879 he invented gaberdine, a breathable wearable and hardwearing fabric that revolutionised rainwear. The Burberry trench coat was invented during the First World War with epaulettes used to suspend military equipment, but in the inter-war years, with the Burberry check registered as a trademark and introduced as lining to their rainwear, it became a luxury brand for the wealthy.
********The Old Vic theatre in the London borough of Lambeth was formerly the home of a theatre company that became the nucleus of the National Theatre. The company’s theatre building opened in 1818 as the Royal Coburg and produced mostly popular melodramas. In 1833 it was redecorated and renamed the Royal Victoria and became popularly known as the Old Vic. Between 1880 and 1912, under the management of Emma Cons, a social reformer, the Old Vic was transformed into a temperance amusement hall known as the Royal Victoria Hall and Coffee Tavern, where musical concerts and scenes from Shakespeare and opera were performed. Lilian Baylis, Emma Cons’s niece, assumed management of the theatre in 1912 and two years later presented the initial regular Shakespeare season. By 1918 the Old Vic was established as the only permanent Shakespearean theatre in London, and by 1923 all of Shakespeare’s plays had been performed there. The Old Vic grew in stature during the 1920s and ’30s under directors such as Andrew Leigh, Harcourt Williams, and Tyrone Guthrie.
*********Gordon's London Dry Gin was developed by Alexander Gordon, a Londoner of Scots descent. He opened a distillery in the Southwark area in 1769, later moving in 1786 to Clerkenwell. The Special London Dry Gin he developed proved successful, and its recipe remains unchanged to this day. The top markets for Gordon's are (in descending order) the United Kingdom, the United States and Greece. Gordon's has been the United Kingdom’s number one gin since the late Nineteenth Century. It is the world's best-selling London dry gin.
**********Historically, queer slang emerged as a way for queer people to communicate discreetly, forming a sense of community and shared identity. Using female names or terms could be a way to signal belonging within this coded language. It was also used for protection, allowing homosexual men to talk about one another discreetly in public without the implication of homosexuality and the repercussions that came with it as a criminal act.
***********Dame Edith Mary Evans was an English actress. She was best known for her work on the West End stage, but also appeared in films at the beginning and towards the end of her career. Between 1964 and 1968, she was nominated for three Academy Awards. Born in 1888, Evans' stage career spanned sixty years, during which she played more than one hundred roles, in classics by Shakespeare, Congreve, Goldsmith, Sheridan and Wilde, and plays by contemporary writers including Bernard Shaw, Enid Bagnold, Christopher Fry and Noël Coward. She created roles in two of Shaw's plays: Orinthia in The Apple Cart (1929), and Epifania in The Millionairess (1940) and was in the British premières of two others: Heartbreak House (1921) and Back to Methuselah (1923). Evans became widely known for portraying haughty aristocratic women, as in two of her most famous roles as Lady Bracknell in The Importance of Being Earnest, and Miss Western in the 1963 film of Tom Jones. During her performance as Lady Bracknell, her elongated delivery of the line “A handbag” has become synonymous with the Oscar Wilde play. By contrast, she played a downtrodden maid in The Late Christopher Bean (1933), an eccentric, impoverished old woman in The Whisperers (1967) and – one of her most celebrated roles – Nurse in Romeo and Juliet, which she played in four productions between 1926 and 1961. When she was eighty-seven, she played the Dowager Queen in The Slipper and the Rose (1976), in which she sang and danced. Evans died at her home in Cranbrook, Kent, in October 1976, aged 88.
************Doe eyes typically refers to eyes that are large, round, and soft, often perceived as innocent and alluring, similar to the eyes of a female deer (a doe). The term is used to describe eyes that convey a sense of naivety, gentleness, and sometimes even vulnerability.
*************Beef Wellington, a dish of beef fillet coated with pâté and duxelles (a finely chopped mushroom mixture), then wrapped in pastry, is believed to be named after Arthur Wellesley, the first Duke of Wellington, likely in commemoration of his victory at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. While the exact origin story is debated, it's generally accepted that the dish is of English or French origin, possibly evolving from the French dish "filet de boeuf en croute".
**************Dame Alice Ellen Terry was a leading English actress of the late Nineteenth and early Twentieth Centuries. Born in 1847, into a family of actors, Ellen Terry began performing as a child, acting in Shakespeare plays in London, and toured throughout the British provinces in her teens. After a failed marriage to the 46-year-old artist George Frederic Watts when she was sixteen and a six year retirement during which she had a relationship with the architect Edward William Godwin, she returned to the stage in 1874 and was immediately acclaimed for her portrayal of roles in Shakespeare and other classics. In 1878 she joined Henry Irving's company as his leading lady, and for more than the next two decades she was considered the leading Shakespearean and comic actress in Britain. Two of her most famous roles were Portia in The Merchant of Venice and Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing. She and Irving also toured with great success in America and Britain. In 1903 Terry took over management of London's Imperial Theatre, focusing on the plays of George Bernard Shaw and Henrik Ibsen. The venture was a financial failure, and Terry turned to touring and lecturing. She continued to find success on stage until 1920, while also appearing in films from 1916 to 1922. Her career lasted nearly seven decades. She died of a cerebral haemorrhage at her home at Smallhythe Place, near Tenterden, Kent, aged eighty-one in 1928.
***************The Shakespearean play The Tragedy of King Lear, often shortened to King Lear, is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare. It is loosely based on the mythological Leir of Britain. King Lear, in preparation for his old age, divides his power and land between his daughters Goneril and Regan, who pay homage to gain favour, feigning love. It was regularly performed at the Old Vic theatre in London throughout the 1920s, with seasons in 1920, 1921, 1922 and 1925 to 1928.
****************Eric Adeney was an English actor born in 1888 in Tunbridge Wells, Kent. He was an actor, known for playing significant parts in Hamlet, The Merry Men of Sherwood and Heroes of the Mine. He died in 1953 in Trethevy, Cornwall, England, UK. Although I do not know what part he played in the 1925 production of King Lear, as a well regarded Shakespearian actor at the age of thirty-six in that year, I could imagine him playing the part of King Lear, having stamina enough to perform the demanding part.
*****************Albany, sometimes referred to as the Albany, is an English apartment complex in Piccadilly, near Piccadilly Circus. The three-storey mansion was built in the 1770s and divided into apartments in 1802. Resembling Oxford/Cambridge college living quarters, it has stone stairs, long stone corridors, a massive front door, but elegantly proportioned large rooms. Uniformed porters used to guard the front doors back before the Second World War. Amongst its many famous tenants, English poet and major figure of the Romantic Movement Lord Byron, former Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom William Gladstone and Edward Heath, English novelist Graham Greene and actress Edith Evans, lived there. During the Second World War, one of the buildings received significant damage from a German bomb, but was reconstructed after the war to appear as an exact replica. Still an exclusive apartment building today, it has the rather quirky rule that no child under the age of fourteen is permitted to live there.
******************Savile Row in London is a world-renowned street famous for its bespoke tailoring, particularly for men's suits. It's a destination for those seeking high-quality, hand-made clothing with a focus on craftsmanship and tradition. While the area is known for expensive bespoke suits, there are also ready-to-wear and made-to-measure options available.
*******************Portobello Road Market in Notting Hill, London, is a world-famous street market known for its antiques, vintage clothing, and diverse food stalls. It's one of London's oldest markets, dating back to the 19th century. The market stretches along Portobello Road, from Westbourne Grove to Golborne Road, and is particularly vibrant on Saturdays.
********************To get tight is an old fashioned term used to describe getting drunk.
*********************George Bassett & Co., known simply as Bassett's, was an English confectionery company and brand. The company was founded in Sheffield by George Bassett in 1842. The Sheffield Directory of 1842 records George Bassett as being "wholesale confectioner, lozenge maker and British wine trader". In 1851, Bassett took on an apprentice called Samuel Meggitt Johnson, who later became Bassett's son-in-law. His descendants ran the company until Gordon Johnson retired as chairman in the 1970s. Bassett's was first listed on the London Stock Exchange in 1929. They opened up a factory in Broad Street, Sheffield in 1852. The site moved in 1933 to Owlerton in another district of the city and remains there today. Unclaimed Babies were being produced during the Nineteenth Century, especially in the North West of England. In 1918, Bassetts launched their own range of the soft sweets which they called Peace Babies. They were re-launched as Jelly Babies in the 1950s and were allegedly thrown at the Beatles during concerts as they were a favourite of George Harrison. The Liquorice All-Sorts variety was created by accident when Bassett salesman Charlie Thompson dropped the samples of several different products in front of a prospective client. The client was taken by the idea of selling the sweets all mixed up and in return for the success, the company allowed the client to name the new brand. Barratt & Co. Ltd. was acquired in a friendly takeover by Bassett's in 1966. In 1989, the combined firms were acquired by the then-united Cadbury-Schweppes company in a deal brokered for ninety-one million pounds. In 2016, all the products were re-marketed under the Maynards Bassett dual branding.
**********************Liquorice is very soothing on the gut and it has, apparently, fairly significant anti-inflammatory powers. Also, liquorice is a very effective laxative.
***********************In slang, “soak” refers to drinking excessively, particularly alcohol.
This rather cluttered and chaotic scene of a dining room may look real to you, but believe it or not, it is made up entirely with pieces from my 1:12 miniatures collection, including pieces from my own childhood.
Fun things to look for in this tableau include:
The open book on the table as well as the closed one to the far right of the photograph are both books about the London actress Elen Terry, whilst the open postcard album featuring photographic postcards of famous Edwardian actors and actresses, including Ellen Terry, are all 1:12 size miniatures made by the British miniature artisan Ken Blythe. Most of the books I own that he has made may be opened to reveal authentic printed interiors. In some cases, you can even read the words, depending upon the size of the print! I have quite a large representation of Ken Blythe’s work in my collection, but so little of his real artistry is seen because the books that he specialised in making are usually closed, sitting on shelves or closed on desks and table surfaces. What might amaze you is that all Ken Blythe’s opening books are authentically replicated 1:12 scale miniatures of real volumes. To create something so authentic to the original in such detail and so clearly, really does make them all miniature artisan pieces. Not only did Ken Blythe create books, he also created other 1:12 miniatures with paper and that includes the wonderfully detailed floral lidded box which is full of letters, cards and postcards which have each been produced with extreme authentic attention to detail. Ken Blythe’s work is highly sought after by miniaturists around the world today and command high prices at auction for such tiny pieces, particularly now that he is no longer alive. I was fortunate enough to acquire pieces from Ken Blythe prior to his death about four years ago, as well as through his estate via his daughter and son-in-law. His legacy will live on with me and in my photography which I hope will please his daughter.
Also on the table, are scattered some small photographs of famous Edwardian actresses, including both Edith Evans and Ellen Terry. They are all real photos, produced to high standards in 1:12 size on photographic paper by Little Things Dollhouse Miniatures in Lancashire. The box of hand made chocolates and Bassett’s liquorice all sorts (all of which are removable) were also made by Little Things Dollhouse Miniatures with close attention paid to their packaging to make them as authentic as possible.
The larger carte de visites of famous Edwardian actresses including the likes of Sarah Bernhardt I acquired from a seller on E-Bay.
Harriet’s snakeskin handbag lying on the chaise, with its gold clasp and chain comes from Doreen Jeffries’ Small Wonders Miniature Shop in the United Kingdom.
The soda syphon on the table to the right of the photo was made by Beautifully Handmade Miniatures in Kettering. The bottle of Gordon’s Dry Gin is a 1:12 artisan miniature made of real glass. It came from a specialist stockist in Sydney.
Harriet’s beautiful Edwardian dinner and tea sets come from Kathleen Knight’s Doll House Shop in the United Kingdom, as do the Milford family photographs on the wall, the plant stand in the background and the aspidistra in the jardiniere. The red and gilded jardiniere itself is a hand painted example of miniature artisan, Rachel Munday, whose work is highly sought after.
The Queen Anne dining table, chairs were given to me as birthday and Christmas presents when I was a child.
The Welsh dresser in the background holding Harriet’s crockery comes from Babette’s Miniatures, who have been making miniature dolls’ furnishings since the late Eighteenth Century. The dresser has plate grooves in it, just like a real dresser would.
“In order for us to replicate the things we love the most about Italian food and cooking, we had to make these things ourselves by hand... that is the thing that informs and dignifies the cuisine and sets it apart from the everyday, common Italian dishes.”
- Chef Lisabet Summa
Credit for the data above is given to the following websites:
www.loopnet.com/Listing/185-Banyan-Blvd-West-Palm-Beach-F...
www.yelp.com/biz/elisabettas-ristorante-bar-pizzeria-west...
© All Rights Reserved - you may not use this image in any form without my prior permission.
Take a look at my redbubble and society6 shops for more interesting products.
Visit my Getty images for more of my work to license.
On our diningtable "Tulip Princess Irene"
Canon 70D with EF100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM
Falcon Eyes SKK-2150D flash set
Falcon Eyes Octabox,Jinbei Diffusion jumbo umbrella
IMG_8604ddp
I really like the dining table I made from scratch, it’s got flaws, but it’s got style. I saw a 3D printed one for sale, but I knew I could make one from wood dowels.
On our diningtable, Anemone coronaria "De Caen"
Canon 70D with EF100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM
FalconEyes SKK-2150D flash set
Jinbei Diffusion jumbo umbrella, Falcon Eyes Diffusion umbrella
CONGRATULATIONS!!
You have received the PICK OF THE WEEK Award from
~Simply Flowers~
IMG_7352ddp
"beauty on the diningtable", Anemone
Canon 70D with EF100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM
I used the Elinchrom Golden umbrella to create a warm atmosphere and even more the accent on the flower.
Falcon Eyes SKK-2150D flash set with Elinchrom Gold umbrella
IMG_0749ddp
From my neighbor's yard so colorful this time of year.
Yesterday we did a bit of bird watching and we saw cedar waxwings, eagle, osprey, kingfisher, herons, sandpipers, sparrows, cormorants, pigeons, starlings, Phoebe, eiders, and a catbird! Wishing my bird friends were here:)
Be well and see you next time!
after a number of drinks .... distortion ...
in my Diner Series and Distortion Series ; Pic # 1 ...
Taken Dec 30, 2016
Thanks for your visits, faves, invites and comments ... (c)rebfoto
On the diningtable, "Agapanthus"
Taken with natural sunlight in the garden.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agapanthoideae
Canon 70D with EF100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM
With use of a silver reflection screen.
IMG_6557ddp
“In order for us to replicate the things we love the most about Italian food and cooking, we had to make these things ourselves by hand... that is the thing that informs and dignifies the cuisine and sets it apart from everyday, common Italian dishes.”
- Chef Lisabet Summa
Credit for the data above is given to the following websites:
www.loopnet.com/Listing/185-Banyan-Blvd-West-Palm-Beach-F...
www.yelp.com/biz/elisabettas-ristorante-bar-pizzeria-west...
© All Rights Reserved - you may not use this image in any form without my prior permission.
"Still summer on our diningtable" "Agapanthus"
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agapanthoideae
Canon 70D with EF100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM
FalconEyes SKK-2150D flash set
Jinbei Diffusion jumbo umbrella, Falcon Eyes White umbrella
With use of MeFoto ROADTRIP BLUE Tripod and Canon RS-60E3 remote.
IMG_7003ddp
On our diningtable, "White Peony"
Taken out of our own garden.
Canon 70D with EF100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM
Falcon Eyes SKK-2150D flash set
Jinbei Diffusion jumbo umbrella, Elinchrom Gold umbrella
IMG_9520ddp
Allium Christophii (Albopilosum)
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allium_cristophii
Canon 70D with EF100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM
FalconEyes SKK-2150D flash set
Westcott Silver umbrella and Falcon Eyes Silver umbrella.
Florist: www.flora-inn.nl/
IMG_4518ddp
From our garden to our diningtable, "Peony"
Canon 70D with EF100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM
Falcon Eyes SKK-2150D flash set
Jinbei Diffusion jumbo umbrella, Jinbei White umbrella
IMG_9554ddp
Yesterday was my last day at work! :) Worth some celebration I reckon as I have taken a year off work to do some travelling. As we speak, I will be heading off to the airport for South America trip soon. Shall see you in April and please take good care in the meantime.
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About
The Dining Room of Napoleon III Apartment, Louvre Palace (Musée du Louvre), Paris, France
The Shot
3 exposure shots (+2..0..-2 EV) in RAW taken handheld
Camera :: Canon 5D Mark II
Lens :: Canon 15mm F/2.8 Fisheye
Photomatix
- Tonemapped generated HDR using detail enhancer option
Photoshop
- Added 2 layer mask effect of 'curves' for selective contrast
- Added 2 layer mask effect of 'saturation' (reds & yellows) for desaturating and darkening
- Added 1 layer mask effect of 'saturation' (greens & magentas) to remove chromatic aberrations
- Used 'free transform' (distort) to slightly correct fisheye distortion
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On our diningtable, Pink Dutch Tulips
Canon 70D with EF100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM
Falcon Eyes SKK-2150D flash set
Jinbei Diffusion jumbo umbrella and Westcott Silver umbrella.
IMG_7215ddp
The house has been open during December and decorated in some of the rooms to show a Victorian Christmas.