How did angels lose their colour and why?

This will be my last post until some time in January, always excepting if something flutters by and settles disturbingly or enchantingly in my brain!

Anyhow, those who know me well know that I love to visit museums and art galleries. Usually I like to buy a couple of postcards as a memento... they're so reasonably priced and every now and then I take a look through my collection... or part of it!

At this Advent tide, I've been looking at angels, also inspired by the Twitter trend #angeltrail. I also enjoyed the Text Santa Downton Abbey spoof. In that, one of my heroes Joanna Lumley (so gorgeous) appears all dressed in white, with white wings, as an angel.

Going through my cards this morning I found this one 'A Choir of Angels' Simon Marmion (active 1449, died 1489) from the National Gallery in London:

So full of colour, aren't they? And as I recall, most angels up till the Renaissance at least, wore colourful robes and sported colourful wings. Probably some art buff (maybe my son-in-law Richard Ian Heys.. I'll have to ask him) would be able to tell me at what point in our history angels came to be white, but I have to wonder 'why'. Any thoughts?

Monday moan day

Not about life, you'll be glad to know, but once again about words and how they're increasingly being used. Or, in my book, abused.

First of all, I'm busy revising a teen novel intended for the North American audience. This means that I'm slaying 's's, in particular all those that go forwards and backwards and towards. These need to read forward, backward and toward. Why that is, I have no idea. Who decreed this to be standard usage? I note the trend in texts from the UK too, so have to think American colonialism is spreading ;-)

Another trend I've noticed while we're on this spot is the use of 'forward' instead of 'foreword'. I note that if I spell the latter without a middle 'e' my spell check changes to forward. Hey folks, the two are different.

So.

Now another usage that distresses me (chill, Brenda, chill) is the splitting of cannot into can not. It struck me that spell check might be the culprit, but it seems that isn't the case. Now I ask you, don't you think it's kind of contradictory when someone writes 'can' and then straight away 'not'?

Okay. Got that off my mind. To compensate for the rant, here's a cute story for you. My friend Heidi's mother, after living here for years, is still more German than Canadian.  Heidi taught her small dog a trick. She'd say 'Chill, Charlie, chill'. Whereupon he'd cast himself to the floor, and lie sideways and still. Wishing to replicate this, Heidi's mom commanded 'Freeze, Charlie freeze', complete with guttural 'r'. To her disappointment, Charlie only cocked his head and looked at her with a puzzled expression!

Running Errands

As I write my companion novel to 'Cape Town' I'm putting myself back in the South Africa of the late '80s. To my surprise I find, on going over newly-written pages, that sometimes I slip into a more modern, North American idiom.

Having said that, today I'd like to explore a phrase, in common usage here, that's seldom heard in SA or the UK. This is, running errands, as in: "I need to run some errands today".

So, what are those of us across the pond or down at the tip of Africa more likely to say? Well, the probability is that we'd be more specific. "I'm off to the post office", say, or my daughter in England would inform "I'm just nipping out to the coop" (i.e. the Co-op mini market). Add on the library, or whatever.

This means that the whole concept of going off to run some errands carries a different connotation for me. I'm influenced by the fact that the French verb 'errer' means to wander. Nice thought, hey? Also, think about an errant knight... He's not erring, or maybe he is?? So there's the possibility to err as well.

I think that 'running errands' somehow leaves you delightfully free. I intend to adopt that phrase in future!

A Moving Anniversary...

... not the kind that involves people, but houses.

A few minutes ago I was thinking with a touch of longing about our old car wash i.e. where we used to go so that the Golf looked clean and shiny. Seriously. The gas station was close by, it was familiar, it was good; and even ethical, in that the car wash closed down for a while when there was a water shortage in the area, which others, owned by larger oil companies, did not.

The thing is, I haven't yet adjusted my mindset to going elsewhere. And I'm thinking these kinds of old habits take time to let go. As I said in my last post, we moved about a year ago. We have (mostly) grown used to doing our grocery shopping in new stores, with unfamiliar set ups, but that wasn't so easy. Took time. To me these are the unexpecteds when you move to a different area.

On the other hand, I also like to shake things up a bit around the house. So I don't always sit in the same chair in the living room, but choose another or the couch from time to time. A couple of months ago, my husband and I swapped places at the dining table. Soon it will again be time to try a new view!

De-Cluttering?

Are you embracing this latest trend and decluttering by any chance? My husband and I downsized a year ago and offloaded quite a few possessions. That felt fine, and I'll soon be sorting a few more things and items of clothing to go out the door. Not that I don't regret the loss of a couple of the latter, but still... I think I read somewhere that you are likely to regret 20% of what you throw out.

Ah well.

So I was thinking... How bare do you want to go? Or shall we rather say, how stark? When I put my mind back into friends' houses that bring me the most pleasure, I have to say that you could probably consider them fairly cluttered. To some extent, the amount of leeway probably depends on the size of the dwelling-space. But even then... an artist friend of mine who lives in a small bungalow always has lots of decorative 'stuff' around, and I love it. Being in her home is a true delight.

Perhaps therein lies the clue. If the clutter actually beautifies, adds to a homely setting, then surely it's justified? Decorative items, books, framed photos, intentionally and meaningfully chosen, emanate a certain atmosphere that can be uplifting.

Always supposing you're willing to spend more time dusting!

Artist's date: the Van Gogh film

Anyone who follows or has followed (I did!) Julia Camerons' 'The Artist's Way' will know the concept of an artist's date, when you go out to seek inspiration, new perceptions, whether they be in nature or art forms other than the one you practice.

So, last week my daughter-in-law invited me to go with her and a friend to see the Van Gogh documentary 'A New Way of Seeing'. Great title, right? I decided to dress for the occasion and wear something appropriate, around my neck that is.

This is one end i.e. half the scarf.

Little things please little minds, hey?

Although I enjoyed the film, I have to say the promise of the title was left unfulfilled. The most interesting feature for me was to see and trace the places where Vincent was born, lived and worked. Views of various paintings were, of course, wonderful, eye-popping. But for me, not even a lit movie screen image can replace the experience of actually standing in front of one of his works. They have such presence. Wouldn't you agree?

Fringe and bang

My husband and I went to a concert last Wednesday, being big fans of listening to live classical music, although sometimes the more modern stuff can be interesting but somewhat painful to the ears and the soul. Anyhow, my husband was observing the musicians and in particular, one woman's hairstyle. He asked an interesting question to which I have absolutely no answer.

First of all he said, "What do they call a fringe here in North America?"
I answered, "Bangs."
"But why? How did that come about?"

For the life of me I could not bring any possible explanation to mind. And truly, this is one of the words I find more difficult to remember to use. I think my hairdresser is used to me by now, fortunately. In general though, I'm pretty well into the local vernacular. From time to time I remember how it was when we first arrived and how many confused stares I received... so unexpected, when I do speak English. Sometimes I thought it might make things simpler if I sounded more foreign, as if I were from Central or Eastern Europe for instance!

And now I'm trying to put myself back into the South Africanisms that I used before we emigrated. Yes, a new novel is on the way, also set in the time of the last days of apartheid and featuring a ballet student as its heroine.

And no, her hairstyle is traditional dancer and doesn't include a bang or a fringe!