Red Cardinal: February 2018

Thursday, February 22, 2018

FLYING IN FOR A CHAT

Hello

It's time I flew in for a chat

At last a few days of cooler weather have arrived, and I hear the gentle patter of raindrops outside. Lovely.

I've been nesting lately...

and shocked myself by falling for the K-Mart blush pink velvet chair..

only $49 at a store near you...

It must be the heat. I keep furniture for forever and a day.

That little settee and its two matching friends were given to us just after we married, and the pair of gossip chairs (see one with green cushion) came from my father's home, so are very much older.

You can see my piano beside the pink chair.

My parents gave that to me on my 21st birthday.

Valentine's Day last week too.

I was a day late what with one thing and another, but as usual I made Mr C the Annual General heart-shaped sponge cake to celebrate.

I don't think I have ever missed a year, so did not want to spoil my record...

The heat brings on the tropical storms...

and sometimes a rainbow...

I thought this was a snake, but thank goodness the photo reveals a back leg (see foreground) which means it is a blue-tongued lizard.

Only several days later did I notice there is a second one in the photo, looking straight at me. You can see its face to the left of the big head. The upright branch covers the centre of the face and the eyes are to either side. It is clearer if you enlarge the picture.

I've been fossicking at the Antique Centre.

And I always did like a barnyard scene..

and was taken by a little blue glass vase for our bedroom...

After a long cultural drought, last week we went to the first QSO Maestro concert for 2018.

I remember years ago my piano teacher telling me about Ravel's Concerto in D for Piano (Left Hand) and Orchestra, 1931. Ravel wrote it for the pianist Paul Wittgenstein who lost his right arm at the Russian front in 1914 but who resolved to continue his career as a concert pianist. He commissioned many works for left hand alone, and Ravel's Left Hand Concerto was published as Wittgenstein's 'exclusive property'.

A long held wish to see it performed came true at our concert, thanks to French pianist Jean-Efflam Bavouzet. What an incredible performance, and amazing composition it was. A well-deserved standing ovation followed for Bavouzet.

Google image: Jean-Efflam Bavouzet performs the Left Hand Concerto, Ravel.

And it will surprise absolutely nobody, that when I sought some new pendant lights for above the kitchen bench, I chose these:

Stay out of the heat, or the snow, depending on your latitude.

XXXXX

Friday, February 9, 2018

GETTING BACK TO BUSINESS

Hello

I returned to rehearsal with my Ladies Choir today, after a long holiday break.

So much fun to see everyone again, catch up on news, lunch together...

And Sing!

A whole folder of new pieces to learn, including some Gershwin.

love Gershwin...

It has taken me much longer than usual to get back to normal after a month overseas travel. Perhaps it was the extremes of temperature, but I have been most depleted of energy, and struggling with several infections over the month since we returned.

Our absence during the height of Summer led to the loss of quite a few plants from the Red Cardinal Garden of Neglect.
A little too much neglect and they were unable to fend for themselves without adequate watering.

Getting some new colour and greenery has been part of 'nomality', and I have several bright new geraniums and other pops of colour...

and a fresh fern, replacing several lost ones..

'Normality' for me also includes a bit of sewing.

I am making a denim shirt dress - it's been months since I sewed anything..

Pablo Picasso 'Woman with parasol on the beach' 1933. QAG

and going back to being a guide at the Art Gallery.

Currently showing is a complete set of Picasso's 'Vollard Suite', on loan from the Australian National Gallery, Canberra.

Made during the 1930s, the Suite features many engravings of Marie-Therese Walter, perhaps the best-known of Picasso's many loves. That is her in the above painting, which belongs to the Qld Art Gallery and is also currently on display. Picasso was going through a 'Classical' phase, and he spotted the 17 year old outside a department store, attracted to her 'Classical profile'. In many of the prints, Picasso represents himself as a classical sculptor, with Marie-Therese as his muse and model.

Other favourite subjects of Picasso include the Circus, the Bullfight, Rembrandt, and The Minotaur, all represented in this autobiographical series of 100 prints.