Justaskjudy

For the next several days, I will be posting photos from our decorating at the Mansion this week. First: the library, with the Hurricanes theme. That's our hockey team, the Stanley Cup Champions!


My boss, Mel Day, did the mantel and the wreath above it, incorporating hockey sticks, skates and helmets, along with banners and small stockings. I know the photo is dark, but it couldn't be lightened any more without changing the colors too much. The walls of the room are not really yellow, but creamy white.


The room has a large round table, where the Governor has luncheon meetings sometimes. Here I did a centerpiece incorporating a Hurricanes mascot doll and a banner.



A close-up of the Hurricanes doll.




A close-up of the wreath. We use foliages cut from the grounds of the mansion and other government buildings, and this year we had various pines, boxwood, cryptomeria, magnolia, cedar, privet, dried hydrangeas, painted branches, pinecones and holly. Part of the fun of decorating there is that we never know exactly how much we will have ready to use, and we have to make it all work out, no matter what.

More in the library:

1. a small coffee table centerpiece, incorporating natural bird's nests and cardinals, our state birds. I used corkscrew willow, pines, cedars, red ribbons, holly and two bird's nests, which were gathered near Roxboro, NC.





2. Atop a tall bookcase, I did two arrangements to flank a bust, and added gold beaded garland.
3. A potted weeping cherry tree sits at the top of the stairs in the foyer. Every branch is wrapped with little white lights and the whole tree appears to be showering light down the stairs.

I sort of feel like that guy at the top tonight. We started working at the Governor's Mansion this morning and I was on my feet from 8am to 6pm (again). I tripped on a drop-cloth today and my back feels like it could have been in that position for a while......lol


Do you remember when I told you about the Jim Valvano Gala fund-raiser last August? Cirque du Soleil members were the featured performers. I thought you might like to see a few photos. (I didn't take these pics; I found them on the Jimmy Vee web-site.)

Those two guys in the gold lame bikinis were awe-inspiring. Every movement they made was done in slow-motion, which I am sure makes it even harder to do. Can you imagine being in a split like that and being able to come back upright without jerking your body?






The bottom photo is most of the cast after the show. Their costumes were so very colorful and exquisitely detailed! I sure hope I get to see one of their full shows someday.

On Wednesday, during a cold, driving rain being pushed along by fierce gusts of wind, I did some things I've never done before. I ate at Dream Burger, and I met two bloggers for the first time. Tiff and Renn work not too far from me. They are two of the most humorous women I read on a regular basis, and I look forward to clicking on their sites every day to see what on earth they have come up with next!


We met for lunch and I think we clicked right away (I could be wrong, since I am old enough to be their mother, but I hope not). It is interesting how well and easily you can converse with people you have not met before, but only know through their blogs. We plan to announce the formation of the HIRABA (as Tiff named it), meaning the Highly Irrational Raleigh Area Bloggers Association. We are not really irrational, but seeing as how we braved high winds and driving rain to meet each other.......well.....you get the picture. I think we should call it (HI) RABA.

Tiff's blog is http://noaccentyet.blogspot.com
Renn's is http:// rennratt.blogspot.com

I owe them a debt of gratitude for introducing me to the Dream Burger. I highly recommend the single cheeseburger - and if you order it "wild style" they will add mustard to the meat before they cook it, which Renn says is great! I forgot to ask for that this time, but you can bet I will remember next time I go there. The fries are very good as well.

NOTE: If you are a Raleigh - Durham - Chapel Hill area blogger (or further afield) please let one of us know if you are interested in a casual get-together after the first of the year.

P.S. Starting tomorrow, for almost 2 weeks, I will be decorating various clubs, restaurants and homes for Christmas, and I will not be able to keep up my daily schedule of blogging. So if I don't get around to read and comment, you'll know why. See you soon.

POSITION : Mother, Mom, Mama, Mommy, Ma


JOB DESCRIPTION:

Long term, team players needed, for challenging permanent work in an often chaotic environment. Candidates must possess excellent communication and organizational skills and be willing to work variable hours, which will include evenings and weekends and frequent 24 hour shifts on call. Some overnight travel required, including trips to primitive camping sites on rainy weekends and endless sports tournaments in far away cities. Travel expenses not reimbursed. Extensive courier duties also required.


RESPONSIBILITIES:

The rest of your life. Must be willing to be hated, at least temporarily, until someone needs $5. Must be willing to bite tongue repeatedly. Also, must possess the physical stamina of a pack mule and be able to go from zero to 60 mph in three seconds flat in case, this time, the screams from the backyard are not someone just crying wolf. Must be willing to face stimulating technical challenges, such as small gadget repair, mysteriously sluggish toilets and stuck zippers. Must screen phone calls, maintain calendars and coordinate production of multiple homework projects. Must have ability to plan and organize social gatherings for clients of all ages and mental outlooks. Must be willing to be indispensable one minute, an embarrassment the next. Must handle assembly and product safety testing of a half million cheap, plastic toys, and battery operated devices. Must always hope for the best but be prepared for the worst. Must assume final, complete accountability for the quality of the end product. Responsibilities also include floor maintenance and janitorial work throughout the facility.


POSSIBILITY FOR ADVANCEMENT & PROMOTION:

Virtually none. Your job is to remain in the same position for years, without complaining, constantly retraining and updating your skills, so that those in your charge can ultimately surpass you.


PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE:

None required unfortunately. On-the-job training offered on a continually exhausting basis.


WAGES AND COMPENSATION:

Get this! You pay them! Offering frequent raises and bonuses. A balloon payment is due when they turn 18 because of the assumption that college will help them become financially independent. When you die, you give them whatever is left. The oddest thing about this reverse-salary scheme is that you actually enjoy it and wish you could only do more.


BENEFITS:

While no health or dental insurance, no pension, no tuition reimbursement, no paid holidays and no stock options are offered; this job supplies limitless opportunities for personal growth and free hugs for life if you play your cards right.

Top: the private chapel
Below: detail of other ceilings

Le Chateau de Versailles, started in 1668 by Louis XIV, grew around the hunting lodge of Louis XIII. The opera house was added in 1770 by Louis XV.

It seems that my photos of this palatial home focus mostly on the ceilings, which are rivaled only by the Sistine Chapel, in my opinion. I took so many photos that I have mixed them up and cannot tell you which rooms they were, except for the Hall of Mirrors, which you will see later.

Versailles remineded me of St. Peter's Basilica in that everywhere you look there is ornament; painting, carving, gilding, statuary or detailed plaster treatment. The only smooth surfaces are those of stone or marble.

On October 17th, we took the train from Paris to Versailles, to tour the Chateau de Versailles, the palatial home of Louis XIV, begun in 1668. But first, I want to tell you about the best bakery ever! It is the Boulanger Patisserie in the town of Versailles, just up the street from the train station.



The photos speak for themselves. (And please DO click to enlarge!) What more could I say about such luscious fare? Such works of art are the cakes, such feasts for the eyes and tongue are the eclairs! The tiny quiches and palm-sized pizzas. It is a good thing I don't live in France.


I ate a pistachio eclair; the green "hotdog" shape above. It had a wonderful creme filling in pistachio flavor, was topped with pistachio icing and as you can see, one end was dipped into chopped pistachio nuts.
Heaven on earth, it was. I was tempted to have one in every flavor (I am ashamed to admit).

But look at the cakes in the last pic. I am sure that they also tasted heavenly, because how could something that looks like that not taste like ambrosia? They are truly too beautiful to cut. If you go to France, go directly to Versailles; do not pass go, do not collect $200 - find the Boulanger Patisserie and be hungry!





Tomorrow I will show you photos of the palace, and they are worth waiting for!

Top: Winged Victory, found on the island of Samothrace, and The Venus de Milo, both Greek statues dating from the Hellenistic period (late 3rd to 2nd century BC) . If you don't know anything about these statues and you are interested, Google them. I studied these in college art classes, and I am very grateful that I got to see them in person.

Two views of the famous Eiffel Tower, built for the Universal Exhibition of 1889. It is 1,046 feet tall and was the world's tallest building until 1931 when the Empire State Building in NYC was finished.

We were standing under the tower at night when I took that second pic. The area it covers on the ground is huge, which was surprising and unexpected to me at first, but when you think about it, something that tall almost has to have a large footprint.

We went all the way to the top (the third level) which holds 400 people at a time. There were long lines the night we were there, and it was chilly and very windy. We had to stand outside on the bottom 2 viewing levels waiting for the elevators, and we made conversation with 3 other couples from the USA. You could hear nearly every language imaginable that night. The atmosphere was very clear and we could see for miles and miles, but it was too cold to stand in the open area for long. I hope some day I get the chance to go up there in the daytime.

Another view of the Pyramide at the Musee du Louvre. We met a friend of Miss Kenju's from the US at the pyramid that day, and toured the museum with her. She was an art major, so she added an interesting perspective to the tour. We got lost, though.

I hope that I don't offend any French people by saying this, but the Louvre maps and printed materials are not easy to understand, even if they are printed in English too. We asked so many guards where to find a certain Egyptian statue, and everyone we asked gave us a different answer. Except for the two statues above, and the Mona Lisa, we saw precious little else because we were always trying to find which set of stairs (and there are many) led to the section we wanted to see.

The next three photos are of Notre Dame, the famous cathedral; outside, the doors, and the rose window. It is a beautiful place, but it has many rivals in Italy, and by that time they had all begun to run together in my mind.

The Renaissance lobby flowers. Tall flax with branches, berried ilex, red amaryllis, white lilies and green hydrangeas, surrounded by a fluff of red mesh fabric. The entire arrangement was about 7' tall.







Looking toward the Louvre, and the obelisk. Claude will have to tell us about the obelisk, as I have forgotten already. (Shame on me!)













The Louvre and I.M. Pei's glass pyramid. The Louve began as a palace in the 1190's and became a museum in 1793. Later I will show you some of what we saw there.







Looking down the Seine toward the Ile de la Cite, where Paris began in medieval times.

Top: this tree tableaux sits atop the cooler at my local floral wholesale. They put it up back in August (before their Christmas Open House) and I have loved looking at it ever since. The colors all go together so well. Shortly after I saw this for the first time, I saw a woman in a blouse almost exactly like the fabric panel with all the circles, only her circles were smaller. I did a double-take as I walked by her.

I went out to run errands today and stopped at my usual place to eat. Sitting in my car, I spotted this double tree trunk, with papery thin, peeling bark. I don't know what kind of tree it is, but the bark is interesting.







The autumn leaves have all but fallen hereabouts. Many of the trees are like this one; half full of brightly colored leaves. I wish I had seen it when it first turned color; it must have been spectacular.









Remember when I posted photos of my blooming ivy this summer? Here is what resulted from those blooms. It was so nice and warm and sunny today that I spent a great deal of time outdoors. I looked at the ivy and it is heavy laden with these berries. I guess I should take a photo of it on the vine, instead of on the kitchen counter (yes, it really is bright yellow and I'd love to change it)!

Top: The restaurant where we had a most excellent Swiss fondue. Miss kenju had eaten here with her sister and nephews five years ago and liked it, so we had lunch before boarding the train for Paris. Most of the cafes here had outdoor facilities also, minus the umbrellas so common in Italy. The day was somewhat dreary, so we ate inside. The fondues were served in small "hibachi" type pots, and we were offered bite-sized pieces of good bread and small cooked potatoes to dip into the cheese. It was very good.


The second photo is a close up of the cow, whose head you can see on the left wall of the first pic. The cow is painted with scenes of Zurich.

Third: another of the charming scenes that met us at every turn.
There are eleven photos in this series; please scroll down to see them all. Comments are open under the last pic.

Here I am again, making fun of a perfectly good word.






The statue is Burgermeister Hans Waldmann. I don't know why he merited a statue, but I guess he was instrumental in Zurich's history.
















The twin towers of Grossmunster Church, which was endowed by Charlemagne.

The guidebook says that there are more than 30 museums in Zurich, but we didn't see any of them, being there only overnight and six hours on Sunday. I could have spent days there. If you go to Switzerland, plan to buy chocolate. The two best known brands are Sprungli and Lindt. The latter is now available all over the US, but as far as I know, Sprungli is not. I saw in the latest Town and Country Magazine that in a poll of over 200 movers and shakers all over the world, Sprungli chocolates came in first place. I bought seven boxes of it to give to friends, but would you believe I didn't eat even one piece? That's true, I didn't, and now I am sorry! Oh, and by the way, take lots of Swiss Francs if you plan to buy it - cause it ain't cheap!

I wonder how many tourists have taken photos of this sign and others like it? "Ausfahrt" means exit in German, but we laughed anyway.

I forgot what the function of this building was, but the architecture intrigued me, chiefly because of the gargoyles (shown below) which were at every window sill along the side of the building. There must have been 20 of them, all different, but I only took a pic of one, a small sleeping boy. I thought gargoyles were suppose to frighten evil spirits, but he wouldn't frighten anyone, would he?
Another of the wonderful river scenes, plus the carousel (dead center). I think that cities with rivers in them have it all over cities that do not have a body of water. I could have spent many more days exploring Zurich, but we only had a small window of time.

At dinner in the hotel in Zurich, Miss kenju ordered a hamburger and this came with it. Doesn't it look like a tube of toothpaste? It is actually mustard. I couldn't believe it was packaged in a tube, but think how functional that is! I am impressed. In the US, we have clumsy little packets of mustard that you usually spill all over yourself when you are trying to open them. No such problem with this little gem!

We stayed at the Hotel Athenaeum on the Via Cavour. I took a few photos of the lobby and the courtyard, but they didn't turn out well. It is a very nice hotel, but the decor is not to my taste; running to the sleek, ultra-modern contemporary style.


There was an exhibit of Leonardo Da Vinci's machines and other things he developed, such as his wooden bicycle. We did not see this one either, but the bicycle was on the street in front of the gallery, to entice patrons. If this exhibit ever comes to the US, I WILL see it!


The most magnificent object in Florence is Michaelangelo's David. He lives in the Galleria dell' Accademia (The Gallery of Fine Arts) , on the Via Ricasoli. Sculpted in 1504, when Michaelangelo was only 29, David is a huge nude statue of the biblical hero who killed the giant Goliath.

David is the epitome of the male form at its best. None of my guidebooks tell the height of the statue, but I estimate he is at least 15 feet tall. One can hardly believe he is carved from marble; he could come to life at any moment. He is beautifully proportioned, but his hands are larger than one would expect. It is said that Michaelangelo made them larger so as to be symbolic of his strength in killing the giant.

Added: I read somewhere that someone asked Michaelangelo how he went about carving statures. He answered something like this; that the statue is in the marble - he only finds it. Amazing.

If I had any complaint at all, it is to say that David is not housed in an area that befits him. It is nice, but not large enough, not spacious enough to allow one to see him from all angles at a distance. The area behind the statue is only about 8-10 feet from the rear wall, which doesn't allow good perspective for photographs. Of course, they don't allow photos now (though they did previously). I bought a postcard of him, while many others defied the signs and the guards and snapped photos right and left. I would say the "Ugly American" was alive and well that day, but to be fair, there were tourists from every part of the world and all of them seemed to be taking photos but me.


"The Rape of the Sabine Women" by Giambologna, is housed in the Loggia next to the Uffizi, Italy's greatest gallery. I didn't get to see this gallery either. Bummer!

This statue was supposedly carved from a single block of marble. When you see it, that fact is hard to believe. The power and dynamism in this statue are unbelieveable. I had studied it in art classes, but seeing it in person is a whole different thing than in photos.


If I ever go back to Italy, I would like to have 3-4 days to spend in Florence. There are so many things to see here and we couldn't do them all due to time constraints. That was unfortunate, and I would avoid that at all costs if I ever get the opportunity.

We ate both lunch and dinner on this piazza, a large expanse in Florence. The arch in the first photo leads into the old section of the city, which we failed to see. We didn't carry a good guide book with us in Florence, so we didn't know that we should go through the arch. Maybe next time?

Dinner was at the Papillon Ristorante, to the left of the carousel. I had eggplant Parmesan; an excellent version.

We had gelato after dinner, from the place in the bottom photo, Corona's Cafe.



The carousel was one of many that we saw in Italy and in Zurich. They didn't have many riders the day we were there, since children were in school at that time. I have a better photo of it, which I will show you tomorrow.
If you find yourself in Florence, make haste to Corona's and order gelato! I preferred it here, rather than at Giolitti's in Rome. The pistachio gelato here had small pieces of pistachio nuts in it. The juxtaposition of sweet, creamy and salty and crunchy was almost too much to bear!

This bridge was built in 1345 to replace an older one. It is lined with gold and jewelry shops, and has been since 1593. This is the only bridge across the Arno in Florence not destroyed during WW2, and it also survived floods in 1966.
It is, to me, the most picturesque structure in Florence.



The bottom 2 photos were taken while on the bridge, looking back at the river.