A Good Read

Burial Rites by Hannah Kent

In 1830 the last public execution in Iceland took place. (You can still see the specially commissioned axe in the National Museum of Reykjavik here). A man and a woman were beheaded for a murder committed on a remote farm. There being no prisons in Iceland in those days, the condemned woman had been held for the winter before her execution at a farm where she'd lived as a young girl, guarded by the farmer's wife and daughters. Hannah Kent has written her version of the real life story.

Horrified at the prospect of housing a convicted murderer, the family avoids Agnes as much as they can. Only Tóti, a priest Agnes has chosen to be her spiritual guardian, makes an effort to understand her. But as Agnes's death looms, the farmer's wife and their daughters learn there is another side to the sensational story they've heard, and after learning more about Agnes’ story the family become more understanding of her. 

It’s a very good read. The author has captured a dramatic existence in a hostile environment, beginning with the the endless days of an Arctic summer, "the sun warming the bones of the earth"; then, as Agnes's end approaches, "autumn has been pushed aside by a wind driving flurries of snow up against the croft, and the air is as thin as paper", and, by her last days, "snow lay over the valley like linen". The rhythms of farm work: shearing, lambing, milking, slaughter, and then the interval of the Icelandic winter when even in an emergency there is nowhere to go and no possibility of getting there anyway. I could feel the starkness of the time, the place and their lives.

∼ Happy Reading∼ 

Polly x

Ten Years Old

Yes dear reader my blog is ten years old!

Strictly speaking it's older as the first post was in April 2012 but I didn't start posting regularly until November 19th 2014.

∼ Be safe and well∼ 

Polly x

The Wallace Collection

Last Thursday was my daughter's birthday. We had a lovely day in London starting with breakfast at My Place cafe in Soho. We both had pancakes with maple syrup, strawberries, blueberries and cream, accompanied by coffee and a mimosa cocktail - how indulgent 😋

My daughter enjoys painting, and a short walk later we arrived at the Wallace Collection at Manchester Square W1. It's a national museum housing exquisite paintings, sculptures, furniture, arms and armour and porcelain, much of it in the beautiful Rococo style.

  

The museum is named after sir Richard Wallace who built the collection, along with the Marquesses of Hertford, in the 18th and 19th centuries. The Collection was bequeathed to the British nation by Lady Wallace in 1897, and was opened as a museum in 1900.

 

Madame de Pompadour by François Boucher

Interior of Saint-Gommaire: Lierre in Belgium by David Roberts

A Housewife at Work by Nicholas Maes. I thought her hair was a tad freaky!

The Dead Roe by Jean-Baptiste Oudry

 

Some of the paintings were hung so high up it was difficult for me to reach them

The Arab Tale Teller by Horace Vernet.

A Boy Bringing Bread by Pieter de Hooch

The Lion In Love by Camille Joseph-Étienne Roqueplan shows a scene of a lion allowing its claws to be pared after falling in love with a shepherdess so that he will not endanger her. I like this.

Shepherd and Shepherdess by A.Van Der Werff

Rebecca and Sir Brian de Bois-Guilbert by Léon Cogniet

There's quite a story behind this one which you can read about here

The Piazza San Marco Venice by R. P. Bonington

The Swing by Jean-Honoré Fragonard
I love this

It's just so delicate and pretty

The Arab Tent by Sir Edwin Landseer

and this one, I love the animals, especially the foal cuddling up to mum.

I bought a key ring of the Swing. I'm looking for the prints for this and The Swing.

Looking for the crumbs that fall from the Rich Man's Table by Sir Edwin Landseer

A Highland Scene by Sir Edwin Landseer

Mrs Robinson (Perdita) by Thomas Gainsborough 

Mrs Carnac by Joshua Reynolds

We finished our day at Westfield shopping centre for a bit of retail therapy, followed by coffee and cake before heading home.

∼ Be safe and well∼ 

Polly x

A Good Read

Flora and Grace by Maureen Lee

Switzerland, spring 1944. Seventeen year old Flora lingered a while, sitting on a bench, eyes closed, smiling, taking in the sweet, sharp late morning air. She had just said goodbye to the nice American lady who regularly visited the school that Flora attended. The train had left the station on its way to Zurich, the white puffs of smoke becoming smaller and smaller. Another train was approaching, travelling very slowly. It was a cattle train, long lines of slatted trucks. Flora didn’t take any notice of it until she heard sounds coming from behind the slats, but they weren’t cattle sounds, they were human voices. Agitated and frightened Flora walked alongside, waving her arms hoping to get someone's attention to stop the train. Suddenly hands appeared, tearing away the wooden slats, a woman shouted and a baby was thrust through the space. ‘Take him, his name is Simon’. A shocked Flora sat back on the bench with the baby in her arms, and watched the train disappear into the distance.
 
This will make you laugh and cry. It’s beautifully written with wonderful characters that I connected with from the start. Thoroughly recommend it.

∼ Happy Reading∼ 

Polly x

Remembering

In Flanders Fields

by John McCrae

In Flanders fields the poppies blow

Between the crosses, row on row,

That mark our place, and in the sky

The larks, still bravely singing, fly

Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago

We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,

Loved and were loved, and now we lie,

In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:

To you from failing hands we throw

The torch; be yours to hold it high.

If ye break faith with us who die

We shall not sleep, though poppies grow

In Flanders fields.

The Poppy Factory

M and I had a nice day out on Tuesday.

Situated in Richmond upon Thames in Surrey The Poppy Factory supports veterans and their families into employment, helping them overcome barriers.

The visit started with a presentation introducing us to the history of the factory. In 1921 artificial poppies were imported for the first poppy appeal from France by Madame Anna Guérin. The first poppies were made from silk for the petals, wire for the stem and bitumen for the centre.

In 1922 the Disabled Society, a charity established by Major George Howson MC and Major Jack Cohen, received a grant of £2,000 from the British Legion's Unity Relief Fund to employ disabled ex-service personnel to make remembrance poppies in England. Later that year, Howson wrote to his parents, "I do not think it can be a great success, but it is worth trying. I consider the attempt ought to be made if only to give the disabled their chance." They set up in a former collar factory on the Old Kent in London. Soon the factory was employing 50 disabled veterans. As demand for the poppies increased the old collar factory eventually proved too small, and in 1926 the factory moved to a disused brewery in Petersham Road, Richmond, Surrey. The current Art Deco Poppy Factory building was built on the brewery site and was completed in 1933. Their legacy has gone from strength to strength with 30 million poppies now being made anually.

The factory where the poppies and wreaths are made

There was a poppy to suit every budget.

The tiny one in the centre sold for 3d (62p today).

 

Royal wreaths left to right:

HM King Charles; Prince William; the late Queen Elizabeth II

The late Prince Phillip; Princess Anne; Prince Edward

The wreaths are kept here throughout the year and delivered to London

for the Remembrance Service.

Many denominations are represented in the Field of Remembrance

Regimental wreaths

The pretty blue one belongs to the SAS

the clock has its own wreath!

We made a poppy to keep.

These clever wooden gadgets were made specifically for veterans who had lost an arm. We were asked to put our dominant arm behind our back. First we put a green stalk into the vertical groove, then put the leaf over the stalk, followed by the petal and finally click the button in the middle. It's a great little gadget.

We finished our tour with tea and cake. I took the photo to show how pretty the carrot cake looked. It was delicious 😋

∼ Be safe and well∼ 

Polly x

A Very Sad Read

A Terrible Kindness by Jo Browning Wroe

It is October 1966 and William Lavery, a young, newly qualified embalmer, following in his father and uncle’s footsteps in the undertaking business, is having the night of his life at his first black-tie do. But as the evening unfolds, news comes in of the disaster in Aberfan, a landslide at a coal mine that has buried a school.

William decides he must act, so he volunteers to help. It will be his first job as an embalmer, and one that he will never forget. As he works he thinks about the little boy he was, and the losses he has worked so hard to forget. But compassion can have surprising consequences, because - as William discovers - giving so much to others can sometimes help us heal ourselves.

William’s life is interesting, he does have issues but at times I felt frustrated with his immaturity and stubbornness in his relationships with his mother and his wife Gloria. Everyone around him seemed to be so tolerant and forgiving of his behaviour for so long.

This was a book club choice, I'm not sure I would have chosen it myself.

Based on real events this is an extremely sad read, you will cry. The author has created a very original story taking the Aberfan disaster, the life of a boy chorister and embalming as a career choice.
 
For anyone not familiar with the disaster, in 1966 in the then coal mining village of Aberfan in South Wales a tip of coal waste had been created on a mountain slope. Heavy rain led to a build-up of water within the tip which caused it to suddenly slide downhill as a slurry. The avalanche of coal waste engulfed the town and the primary school killing 144 people, most of whom were young children.