Constant Curiosity | A Spot of Tea

Years and years ago, in almost another lifetime, I went to England with my mom and my sister.  We had afternoon tea at Harrod's, after a long, chilly tramp around London, and at the Pump Room in Bath, (and discovered that Bath buns referred to a type of roll and not a condition resulting in taking the baths...) and came home with a fascination for and an addiction to "having tea." This resulted in our having tea for any excuse whatsoever--Mother's Day, a new tea room to try, or just as an excuse to get out the bone china teacups.

 I've visited a lot of tea rooms, but tea at the Empress in Victoria, BC, sticks in my mind, because we visited during a very warm July, so...proper attire being required in the tea room, it looked sad for a moment until the hostess found an unoccupied dining area and the day was saved for my friend and me, as we had tea in lonely shorts-clad splendor. 

Afternoon Tea in Victoria

Another memorable afternoon tea was at the Ritz Carlton San Francisco after the Bay to Breakers race (we walked...all 9+ miles over hill and dale and along Castro St., a story for another time.)  My friends and I were all cold (very foggy day,)  and starving and still in our walking clothes when I decided tea at the Ritz would be just the thing (I never said I didn't dream big) and although there was a fancy party going on, the very gracious hostess found us a table and we had a lovely tea.  Talk about hitting the spot! 

I have also been treated to a fabulous birthday tea at the Ritz in San Francisco; you may be surprised to learn that I was in my best bib and tucker that time.  One of my fondest dreams is to have tea at the London Ritz at Christmas time.         

There is something inherently comforting and oh, so cozy, about sitting around a fragrant, steaming pot of Earl Grey tea, (my fave, oil of bergamot adding that little extra,) milk and sugar at the ready, beautiful bone china cups and saucers arranged just so on a tray or tea table, silver spoons, lacey linens and a tier of scones, cucumber sandwiches, cake, tarts, lemon curd, strawberry preserves and Devon cream.  High tea, with more substantial fare, can be a fine meal all by itself. 



If you have just come in out of the cold, say, after tramping the moor, a good, strong cuppa can be as bracing as a shot of good Scotch whiskey.  Not that I'm a devotee of Scotch, but I have a good imagination and a gift for hyperbole.

 

If the tea table is near a fireplace with a crackling fire going, and one has friends to share the tea with, there's no better place on earth.  This is especially nice during the holidays, because unless you live in the southern hemisphere (not southern California,) December can be oh so dark and dreary. 

So, if you suffer from that mid-afternoon "sinking feeling" (as the Duchess of Bedford said) and you're interested in having your own tea party and not sure where to start, visit your local public library:

Afternoon Tea Book

This blog is dedicated to my dear friend Laura, who is a brilliant tea companion and with whom I've murdered more than a few cups of tea.





Constant Curiosity | O Christmas Tree

"O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree, we gladly bid you welcome.  You shrink to very tiny size...spun out of silver, gold and glass, a pyramid of light you seem, a galaxy of stars that gleam.  O Christmas tree,

O Christmas tree..."

Marquise Christmas tree Pin

Those familiar with this old German Carol might not recognize the order of the verses, but I decided to adapt them to celebrate another kind of Christmas tree--very tiny size, but nonetheless spun out of silver and gold and a galaxy of stars that gleam.



Vintage Eisenberg Ice Rhinestone Christmas Tree Pin Brooch

A few years ago when I became fascinated with vintage costume jewelry, I discovered Christmas tree pins, many made by the same famous designers who made fabulous costume jewelry:  Eisenberg, Weiss, Miriam Haskell, Trifari, Butler & Wilson, Kirk's Folly, Ian St. Gielar, Stanley Hagler, Napier, Coro, Hattie Carnegie, even Avon.

Having always loved miniatures, Christmas tree pins became my new favorite thing to collect.  Plus they were exquisite, whimsical and very, very sparkly (all those rhinestones, dontcha know!) and unlike other holiday decorations, easy to store. 

VINTAGE HOLLYCRAFT RHINESTONE CHRISTMAS TREE PIN

Not only are these pins small and easier to put away after Christmas than ornaments and tinsel and have no unsightly needles that need vacuuming, they make lovely gifts--for yourself or anyone else on your list (except maybe the boys and they always want those shoot-your-eye out Red Ryder BB guns anyway.)

Happy Holidays, everyone!

Constant Curiosity | What we wear

"That season we were loaded with pizazz. Earrings of fuchsia and peach. Mind you, peach. And hats. Hats, Hats, Hats, for career girls. How I adored Paris."--Diana Vreeland. 

Although she was no DV, I credit my grandmother in part for my interest in fashion and beauty.  She was always known as "Nana," not Granny or Grandma, had a closet full of evening gowns and treacherous high heels; she was in her 70's when I got married and she wore an ecru lace sheath dress, champagne colored 3/4 gloves, high-heeled mules and a big picture hat.  I wore a home-made empire waist "granny" gown, with a big picture hat.  You can't pay for that kind of irony.

At any rate, I have always loved clothes, shoes, and adornments of any kind, except possibly those scratchy yellow party dresses my sisters and I had to wear when we visited Nana; our pedal pushers and Keds would just not do.  When we went to town, we always wore our little striped sleeveless dresses. 

I recall even wearing cotton gloves once. 

My mother, who had once wanted to be a fashion designer, was no slouch in the style department.  And my Dad wore Pendleton shirts with silk scarves tucked inside the collar (to keep his neck warm, of course.) 

So of course, I jumped at the chance to see the new film Diana Vreeland:  the eye has to travel all about the legendary fashion editor of Harper's Bazaar, editor-in -chief of Vogue magazine and finally a consultant to the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

What makes Mrs. Vreeland so amazing was that she had a natural eye for beauty and style--she was no beauty herself and had no real formal education, yet in her surety and audacity she became the most feared and revered fashion trend-setter of the 20th century.  She is credited with "discovering" Lauren Bacall and promoting Twiggy and famously said "The bikini is the most important thing to happen since the atom bomb."

                                                                      

"The only real elegance is in the mind; if you've got that, the rest really comes from it."  --Diana Vreeland.

Constant Curiosity | Wish Books

When I was little, maybe 7 or 8, I liked nothing better than to lie on the living room floor in a sunny spot and pore through the Walter Drake catalog.  We lived way out in the country and the nearest small town was nine miles away, so a wish book opened a whole world of amazing stuff unknown to my young self.  No money was no problem; dreaming was enough. 

I like the self-contained nature of catalogs; shiny paper cabinets of curiosities; treasures yet to be discovered.   The delicious anticipation when a new one comes...sit down, have a cookie and a cup of tea and just turn the pages.  Like being in the best kind of bubble.  Who needs Calgon?

One of my all time favorites is The Metropolitan Museum of Art catalog.  It's not the same as visiting the museum, but imagining the exhibits that inspired the beautiful objects contained within can be very diverting. 

If you sign up for a Harrods catalog, the form has a nice list of titles: Prince, Princess, Viscount, Viscountess, Wing Commander, His Royal Highness, Her Royal Highness, etc. in a pull-down menu for your convenience.

Fortnum and Mason, famous purveyors of hampers full of goodies for Christmas and other occasions, doesn't offer a catalog, but one can subscribe to their various magazines (online only, alas.)

 

As with Fortnum and Mason, the Internet has rendered catalogs somewhat redundant, even though, according to the National Mail Order Assn., some 20 billion catalogs are mailed each year (at least a million end up at my house.)  Ease of ordering and all; instant gratification takes too long.

That's not really what a wish book is for, at least in my view; the sentimental name sort of says it all--you can wish for something you never knew existed and never knew you could want or need.   You can let your imagination fly to parts unknown or to well-remembered places:  journeying via catalog can be a great way to armchair travel.

Constant Curiosity | Hunting & Gathering

A few years ago, I decided that owning a whole lot of plain old books wasn't enough (this was before e-book readers came out) and that I had to own first editions and even autographed first editions.  I think  this particular obsession was an offshoot of other collecting enthusiasms plus that old treasure hunting lust, that took me to a local thrift store.  While browsing books, (and why not?) I happened upon an autographed, first edition copy of The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde  in almost new condition. 

Well.  I was like a duck on a junebug.  A big juicy junebug.   Then came research on first editions, first state, second state, number of printings and a whole arcania of terminology and information that I never knew existed. 

Since I do nothing by half, I not only looked into identification and price guides, but also read books by other collectors:  Used and Rare by Lawrence and Nancy Goldstone and of course, fiction on book collecting such as John Dunning's Cliff Janeway mystery series.  It was all fascinating and kept me happily busy for a year or so. 

Finally, I had had plenty of fun and was able to go on to collecting other things.  But I did ask myself: does owning more than two of anything make one a collector?  Or is it a desire to own more than two of anything?  When does the hunting and gathering gene kick in, causing one to become a devotee of ebay and estate sales and second-hand (aka antique) shops?   Is it a trip to the bookstore or library to study one of the many antiques and collectibles identification and price guides?  Is it the need to watch Antiques Road Show on PBS every week?  Yes, yes, yes, yes and yes.

Actually, I've decided that it's probably not a good idea for me to delve too deeply into my own collecting habits, for fear of inviting comparisons to the famous Collyer brothers of New York.   It's still a lot of fun, though, and feeds my habit of research, the need to know all about whatever it is I'm interested in at the time.  And that's when I'm glad the profession I'm in chose me.

Constant Curiosity | Comfort Zone



        I own 3 Kindles and a Nook.  I know.  It's a long story.  It's a good thing I do, though, since the Library is going to start circulating Nooks this coming Monday.   Here's the Nook the library will lend:



Nook Simple Touch



Although some might call me traitor, I really like reading on e-book readers.  When I was not allowed to walk without wheelchair and crutches for six months, my e-book readers were lifesavers:  with wi-fi or whatever access the manufacturer provides, I could shop for books right on the device.  It was so cool.  I could light one book off the other without even having to pause for a bon-bon.   Although I did.  Once in awhile.  And it was so much easier to carry around than a stack of books.  And trust me, at the rate I read, it would be a stack.

Anyway, the library has offered e-books for over a year now and they have been very popular, so it seems a natural progression to offer e-book readers.  The readers themselves will come with pre-loaded titles, so you won't need to add your own, but for those who have wondered just what it would be like to read on a device instead of good old paper, ink and glue, here's your chance.

The other day I was reading a "real" book, as my husband put it, and it didn't feel too odd at all.  After all, reading is reading, at least to me.   And the more the merrier.  At last count I had over 2,000 books loaded to my various devices.   As Louisa May Alcott put it "She is too fond of books and it has addled her brain."  In my case, this is probably true. 

And now if I'm asked that famous old desert island question, I won't have to think.  I'll just take my Kindle or Nook as the case may be,  a solar powered charger and oh, yes, the island must have a wi-fi hotspot.  It might take me awhile to get through those 2,000 books, but you never know how long a stint it might be.  Think of Tom Hanks and Wilson.   Paraphrasing Groucho Marx:  "Outside of a volleyball, a book is man's best friend.  Inside of a volleyball, it's too dark to read."  Okay, I can hear the groaning from here.

But seriously, next time you're at the library, let your curiosity out of its comfort zone and ask about our Nooks.  You can even take one home.  It won't hurt a bit.  Trust me.

Constant Curiosity | Hidden Treasures

     Reading a novel, other than for the sheer pleasure of visiting other people and places, often yields treasures (to me, anyway) beyond what the story is ostensibly about.  Recently I read a book about an artist who was painting "cowboy angels" and as he painted, he listened to Gram Parsons and Emmy Lou Harris singing "Return of the Grievous Angel" (on Sacred Hearts & Fallen Angels) so nothing would do but I had to hear that song.  Right then.  Pandora and Youtube to the rescue.  

Later the artist listened to Carlos Santana and Yo Yo Ma's duet of George Harrison's "While My Guitar Gently Weeps,"  (sung by Indie.Arie.)  Really lovely, and the vision of the artist at work came to three dimensional life in my mind.  The book I was reading?  Marathon Cowboys by Sarah Black, unfortunately only available as an ebook.  Full disclosure:  it's a book that might be considered an 'alternative' romance, so fair warning.

This little adventure got me thinking about my many years as a reference librarian and being asked about books that appeared within books (or were mentioned in movies) and how to find them.  This was before the Internet, so it  involved actual research in books.  One of my favorites concerned the film "Four Weddings and a Funeral" when an inquiring mind called the reference desk to ask about the 'William Holden' poem recited in the film.  Fortunately I had seen the movie the past weekend so I knew it was actually by W.H. Auden: "Funeral Blues."

"Funeral Blues", or "Stop All the Clocks" as the Auden poem is sometimes referred to, is an actual poem, but an author might invent books that exist only in his or her extra-fertile imagination, sometimes as MacGuffins or just to further or enrich the plot and sometimes for just plain entertainment, probably for themselves as much as the reader.  Writing is serious business; who can blame a hard-working writer for wanting to dabble in nonsense now and then?

Some of the authors who seem to be having too much fun are J.K. Rowling in the Harry Potter books:  Dragon Breeding for Pleasure and Profit and Men Who Love Dragons Too Much; Lemony Snicket, a possibly (just saying) made-up author, has a wonderful list of
invented books, such as The Big Peruvian Book of Small Peruvian Snakes and Handbook for Advanced Apostrophe Use. 

One very popular invented book was Dean Koontz's Book of Counted Sorrows, which readers asked librarians and booksellers about all the time.  Koontz himself said he received up to 3,000 letters a year about this 'book.'  Koontz finally published several editions of his made-up book, now out of print and selling for up to $1800.00.

Of course I had to find more about fictional books. I couldn't help but wish that some of the titles listed were actual books, i.e.  How I Scaled the North Face of the Megapurna with a Perfectly Healthy Finger But Everything Else Sprained, Broken or Bitten Off By a Pack of Mad Yaks  as referred to in Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Series

What would you call your imaginary book?  My current favorite: (a memoir)   The Hazards of Reading in the Bathtub and Other Unlikely Places:  A Sometimes Soggy Adventure Story.

Constant Curiosity | Oh look, a duck!

Hello all and welcome to my blog.  They say curiosity killed the cat, but since I'm not a cat, I'm not too worried.  I am worried (just a little) about how to boil down all the interesting things I'm interested in and make them interesting enough for others to read about them.   

O.k., enough worrying.  I like books and art and music and movies and theater, and many, many other things.   When I read a book or see a film I invariably get curious about something or someone in the book and have to look it up.  I understand that one of Amazon's newest Kindles gives viewers a way to look stuff up in IMDB (Internet Movie Database) while watching the film on your Kindle in case you wonder where you've seen that actor before.  My own Kindle Fire offers word definitions at a touch as one reads.   It's a boon to the curious, but that's where the duck comes in.  

To my easily piqued curiosity and equally distractable nature a duck signifies for me yet one more random thing that has caught my attention.  I even know a quote about ducks:  "How fleeting are all human passions compared with the massive continuity of ducks" says Lord Peter Wimsey in Gaudy Night by Dorothy L. Sayers.

I'm lucky I work where I do and do what I do, but it's sort of a blessing and a curse, since one thing invariably leads to another.  I had to quit looking at old newspaper microfilm because reading all the articles other than the one I had been looking for was just too fascinating.  I found out one time that Oscar Wilde had actually visited Stockton.  The description of his outfit was quite vivid.  Something about brown velvet trousers and a big green floppy tie. 

These sorts of occasions make me long for the ability to move around in time the way characters in these books & films do: The Time Machine by H. G. Wells, Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger, Time and Again by Nora Roberts, films like Somewhere in Time, The Philadelphia Experiment and Time After Time, starring a young Malcolm McDowell (as H.G. Wells) and an equally young Mary Steenburgen.  David Warner played Jack the Ripper.  In case you were curious.

Well, you get the picture about what my various themes might be...oh look! A rabbit! (Harvey, 1950, starring James Stewart) but wasn't Harvey really a Pooka, a mythological being...sorry gotta go look something up.  See you next time.