Things are getting seasonally grouchy again...

Now that the clocks have gone back, and with Hallowe'en out of the way (at last), out comes the tinsel and frills and we're into the C******** season. "Peace on earth and goodwill to men" and you can bet it's the women doing the shopping and cooking and wrapping the presents and writing the cards. Bah humbug.

Good to see that Posy Simmons has been updating that old favourite, Dicken's Christmas Carol, translating Scrooge into Cassandra Darke - read an excerpt here -

(via)

An important part of the seasonal jollification (aka consumerism) is the John Lewis Christmas advert. Perhaps I'm the only person in the UK who hasn't ever - to my knowledge - seen it in years past, but I'm aware of its cultural clout and what a wonderful topic of conversation it is. When will it air? Are the shop's windows a clue to what's in the ad? Oh my ... speculation is rife...

Caveat emptor. Or do I mean Cave canem? No, not that either. Aha, here it is - a thought to hold on to even in the midst of grumpiness and excess, in spite of everything ...

- carpe diem -

Some late summer breakfasts

... with favourite domestic locations, china, and diversions.

Xmas traditions

The traditional angel on the tree, and traditional candles
carefully placed - they will be lit in the evening instead of the electric lights

The wreath from 2013 ... or maybe 2012 ...

... once again is revived with fresh greenery and woolly flowers,
including a daffodil because they're blooming in some parts of the UK

"Merry Christmas, EVERY one!" as Tiny Tim said.

Viennese crescents, Vanillehoernchen, Kipferl ...

... they may have other names as well. Around our house they are THE Christmas cookie. The recipe is given in American cups (8 fluid ounces).

1 cup butter
1/4 cup caster sugar
1 cup ground almonds (a 150-gram packet)
2 cups plain flour
1 teaspoon vanilla essence

Mix the ingredients, adding them in order and blending well each time.

Roll small balls of the dough between your hands and shape into crescents. Put on baking trays and into a preheated 180C oven for about 30 minutes, till they are slightly brown.

Let cool, then roll in icing sugar. Makes about 4 dozen, depending on size.

Art I like - Linda Ekstrom

No sooner had someone asked me, "Are you ever going to get back to your lines?" than I came across the "Wreadings" of Linda Ekstrom.

Wreadings (Edward Jabes) 2003

She says: "Wreadings is a process in which the artist writes the text simultaneously as she reads the text. Considered drawings, these works are created in the style of blind contour drawing in which the artist looks only at the words of the book and never at the marks on the page." (What would a blind drawing of a journey on the tube or bus look like?)

Another of my ongoing interests is erasures, and Linda also does erasures ("Erasures reveals within the text of the page underlying patterns and repetition of words, and uncovers hidden meanings by erasing the extraneous") -

Erasures (live/veil/evil), 2003

Word is central to Linda's work, as related to the body and to space and memory. She seeks to construct meaning out of the common and domestic forms that abound in her world, "and to insert my practice into larger currents of religious thought, history and ritual expressions which define life, lived-out within the cosmos."

This is a view of her 2006 exhibition Unravelling, showing some of the other forms her work takes -

Do visit her website to see more.