A Christmas Carol, Pohutakawa and Bottle Brush

Magnificent flowering pohutakawa in New Zealand from wikipedia:
I love the colours of Christmas in New Zealand.  All along the beaches of the Auckland waterfront the pohutakawa trees are in bloom with picturesque crimson colours beside the sea shore.  In many of the parks
and seaside coastal areas can be seen this spectacular Christmas Tree of nature.  There have also been tree planting programmes known as Project Crimson.

I was in Cleveland, Brisbane a few weeks ago and the streets of the town were lined with wonderful bottle brush trees which add so much beautiful colour to the Christmas season.  Also the beautiful purple of the jacaranda trees were in full bloom giving a magical splendour.



Bottle Brush from wikipedia: a wonderful colour at Christmas:

I do hope one day for a White Christmas.  It is quite wild and stormy on the Gold Coast of Australia today
but a relief from the hot weather of previous weeks.

Looking forward one day to a White Christmas:

Christmas Carol:  In the Bleak Mid-Winter:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRobryliBLQ

Merry Christmas to all,

Seasons Greetings

Poetry in Paradise

Poetry in Paradise was

again a delight and wonder to listen to

the poetry recited by talented poets of

the group.

From attending these sessions each month

I believe that I am gaining more insights and

broadening my horizons and scope for what is

possible in the field of poetry. I also enjoy recitals

given of bush poets, for example, Banjo

Patterson and Henry Lawson. These poems certainly

are special from well known poets who had a love for

the outback of Australia.

I enjoyed listening to Marta's poem about words being

like people and harmonise as people do in a

marriage.

All quite fascinating!

Vincent's poem was quite poignant and descriptive about a dolphin who

longed for a distant sea.

I look forward to more Poetry in Paradise meetings next year.

It is also a wonderful get-together where social occasions have

been included this year as with Banjo's camp-fire poetry and

Joan Small's Hawaii -theme Celebration Party.

Best wishes

The Hacienda: My Venezuelan Years by Lisa St Aubin de Teran

I loved this story which is a fascinating account of

Lisa St Aubin de Teran's early years living on a hacienda

in Venezuela. The hacienda was located in the Andes

mountains, a remote area and a place which seemed to

have been lost in another era of time.

There were the molienda harvests of the sugar cane and

later the avocado crops. There were “la gente” the people

of the estate, the workers and their families. Gradually,

by the late 1970's and with the drop in the sugar prices, many

of the families who had lived on the hacienda for generations

were moving to the cities.

The author of the book was given a unique and very powerful

role from a young age when she found that she was in charge

of the hacienda and the many workers who lived there. She

married at a young age and left London to live in Venezuela.

Thee Teran family had been the first settlers from

Spain who arrived on the second voyage of Christopher Columbus

via Santo Domingo.

She often assisted with medicines for the people, helping with

their health-care and also assisting to teach some of the children

literacy.

Throughout the theme of the story was the thought

“Que diran?” (What would people say?) if the author might do

or say something unexpected out of the ordinary, e.g. standing on the

road in the pouring rain trying to get a

lift into the town to take her baby to see a doctor.

A graphic description of the hospitals of the time (early 1970's)

is also given in the novel. Lisa St Aubin de Teran certainly

had to look out for her baby in the hospital as the nurses were

preoccupied watching television and her baby had inadvertently

been given medicine which was prescribed for another patient.

The author mentions in her story that the people of the hacienda

“la gente” have been the greatest influence on her life and work.

She also describes her early attempts at writing.

This book gives

wonderful descriptions of life on the hacienda, the lives of the

poor people, their beliefs and also gives an understanding and unique

observations of life in a remote area of the Andes in Venezuela,

which people would not otherwise have known about. Descriptions

are also given of the magnificence of the beauty of the plantations,

the sugar cane, and the verdant lush scenery. This was a tropical

place and there were incessant rains during the rainy season and

steaming heat after the rainfall. It must have given a beautiful

aspect to the mountain ranges with the changes of colour when the

sun came shining through after the rain. There are black and white

photographs included in the book with pictures of the hacienda.

I did a read a book by the same author “The Palace” which was set

in Venice and was impressed by the wonder

of a book where a palace was built for the love of a woman.

I love reading books of interesting and exciting places. This book

describing life on a hacienda, the early Venezuelan years is quite

special and different. Touching, sensitive also, as the author befriends

people of the hacienda. Worth reading! I enjoyed reading the book

of the author who became a Dona at such a young age. Eventually,

she returned to live in London.

There was once a book I read of an English family living in a castle

in Italy in the early years of the twentieth century. There was a man

in the village who remembered seeing the last Duke riding through the town

in his carriage and horses.

Hawaii-theme Celebration Party

A wonderful Hawaii -theme celebration party was held

by Joan Small in which talented poets and singers

contributed their works.

The songs by Deborah were magnificent, some old favourites:

an Andrew Lloyd Weber song, “Love changes everything” “The

Prayer” an Italian opera song, “Mi Babino Caro” which was very

beautiful and Deborah's last song was “Climb Every Mountain”

from the Sound of Music which was a wonderful rendition. Deborah

chose this song as she was brought up in a convent by the Blue Mountains

of Sydney and she did get to see two musicals which she loved. “My Fair Lady”

and “The Sound of Music.” The

mother superior in the film, The Sound of Music, told Maria that love

between a man and a woman also came from God. The Mother Superior

did not wish for Maria to remain in the convent. Maria may have believed

that she would be serving God by staying in the convent.

Deborah had not sung in public for

12 months previously and she sang beautifully.

There was also a folk singer, though I did leave before I

heard this singer. I am sure that the folk songs would have been

wonderful also.

Poems were recited by talented poets and an actress gave a

comical show of living a prim and proper existence in England and

then leaving to live her life in Australia, where customs, clothing and

manner of speech altered. This acting was very good.

There were many published authors which was very inspirational.

A veterinarian who had written a book of holistic medicine for animals, who

attended with her 91 year old mother and a poet who had published

a book of poetry. Another writer, who had written a book of his time

in Poland during the Second World War.

Some people were celebrating milestones and hardships which they

had overcome in the previous year and were looking forward to the

next year with hope and a positive outlook with good wishes for the

future.

The food was wonderful, deserts included, though did miss out on the

chocolate treat as I left early. A writer had written a book

of natural chocolate and there were to be treats of this chocolate also.

Joan also made wonderful fruit punch for the occasion.

The bright colours and Hawaii- theme with leis

worn by so many people enhanced the magic of the happy occasion.

A short speech was given of the seven principles of the Hawaii Way

which help to gain a more positive approach to life.

Joan Small gives workshops to assist people with publishing their own

works and I am thinking that it would be good to attend one of

these work shops early next year or when there is a next available

work shop. I am finding that writing a blog is good practice for self- expression.

For further information:

http://www.joansmall.com/2011/12/06/celebrating-is-energizing-celebrate-every-day/

My best wishes

More on favourite characters of the French Court

While looking at blogs in my spare time I have noted

that there is a blog of “I wish I were living in France”

and “I wish I was living at Versailles.” I have not clicked

on to this later blog yet as I am often pressed for time on

the internet.

However, this question, I have often asked myself: “Would I

be happy to live at Versailles?” I believe that the answer to this

all empowering question is “No.” Life could not be the same

living there without the enduring presence of the king. Perhaps

if Louis XIV was to be there life would be different. The reign of

the Sun King is believed to have been the best of times. I love

wandering through the magnificent chateau and viewing the places

where Louis XIV lived with his court. The atmosphere of warmth

can be felt in the king's bedroom and it must have been a beautiful

place at one time in which to live. The galleries and paintings,

furnishings, art works and chapel can easily take a day's viewing

leaving little time to view the beautiful gardens.

Versailles and the Schonbrunn Palace in Vienna can also be remembered

as happy places for the last queen, Marie Antoinette.

It is interesting that recently a new hotel is being established to

overlook the Orangerie. It is difficult to contemplate thelP reaction

of Louis XIV to this concept as the mass tourist market would

not have existed during his time. However, people always did travel,

but most likely in those times, they may have been diplomats,

pilgrims or members

of the aristocracy and later in the century perhaps people involved in trade.

Of my favourite characters of the seventeenth century court of France, Louis XIV

comes first, closely followed by the beautiful and elegant Louise

de la Valliere, a popular favourite of the court.

The wife of the Duc de Saint-Simon was also noted as being very nice,

friendly and popular and was often invited by the king to attend Trianon or

Marly with a few select friends.

The Palatinate Princess, Liselotte, as mentioned in a previous post, called a spade

a spade, but at the same time there was a special quality about Liselotte, which

brought people to her and she was admired and was popular at court.

She was the second Duchess of Orleans, after the misfortune of the first Duchess

d'Orleans, Princess Henriette

of England, dying at a young age. She seemed to be more in control in her marriage

to the King's brother. This had not been the case with Princess Henriette's marriage

to the Duc d'Orleans. This may have been as Liselotte was older by this time. Her son

became the Regent following the demise of the king, Louis XIV in 1715. This would

have been a source of pride for Liselotte.

Princess Henriette was beautiful, waif-like, sister of Charles II of England. She had

been sent with her servant to the court of France at a young age. Her mother, Queen

Maria of England may have wished for a marriage for Princess Henriette with

Louis XIV. As Henriette was young at the time she arrived at the court, Louis XIV never noticed her until

after she was married to his brother, Philippe d'Orleans. Princess Henriette would have danced

in many of the ballets in the earlier years at the court.

At the time of her marriage

Princess Henriette was sister to a king of England without a throne and who was living

his life in dire poverty travelling in Europe. Princess Henriette may not have been seen

as a suitable candidate for the prospective bride of Louis XIV. For reasons beyond the control of Louis XIV

at the time, as he was still young and Cardinal Mazarin and his mother, Anne of Austria, were in control, Charles II found that his time at the French Court was limited and he had to move on.

He eventually made his way to

The Netherlands and fathered a child with Lucy Walters, the Duke of Monmouth. In the book “Mad Madge: The extrordinary life of Margaret, Duchess of Newcastle: The First Woman to live by her Pen” ( a story of the second Duchess

of Newcastle) by Katie Whitaker, it is

mentioned that the Duke and Duchess of Newcastle requested a loan from Charles II while in exile. They had

followed the king into exile along with many of his royalist supporters. However the king

said that they were probably better off than he was but that he hoped that one day he might be

able to help them. Even though Charles II did not have children to succeed him on the throne

of England, from his mistress Louise de la Kerouaille, (who had been in the retinue of Princess Henriette of England) Princess Diana is a descendant from the son with Louise de la Keroualle, the Duke of Richmond.

A favourable account has been given of the Duke de Gramont who was a friend of Louis XIV.

This account is given in the book “Louis XIV” by historian, Vincent Cronin. He was very upset and retired to his room in tears when it was believed that the king would not survive his last illness.

Louis XIV also made friends with creative and talented people and his court would have been very lively at times with the flourishing arts, music and literature.

The Grande Mademoiselle, Duchess of Montpensier, was also likeable and popular at the court. Unfortunately,

she may have been vulnerable at times, falling in love with the
Duc de Lauzun, whom she subsequently married after many disappointments and let -downs

by people she believed she could trust. The Duc de Lauzun, who had spent many years in

prison until the Duchess de Montpensier eventually bought him his freedom.

More favourite characters of the court to follow at a later stage.

My best wishes

A Christmas Song

I am the intrepid wanderer:

Looking to the Night-time Sky:

which paves its way

across my Universe

Twinkling in time honoured memories:

Shining stars from Heaven's grace

Falling leaves

and the Song of the Meadows chaste:

Of magic in the night-time air,

the sound of crickets stir so near

and in the day-time the birds so dear

Ring with magic loud and clear:

Gliding across the Great Milky Way

The Stepping Stone gems-

guiding my Way

on Life's Pathway:

Crystals so near and far

and furtherest star

Finding the magic

On Christmas Day.

Ring the truth from the night-time sky:

There the reasons are found on high:

Beauty of the night-time sky:

Joy-bells ring

On the clear night sky

And Angels sing

of a birth on nigh:-

Sing forth your love to us

On this Christmas Day

Heaven will call to thee

Guiding thy Way:-

Joy-bells ring

Wise men bring

In from the night-time cold

as was told

by travel on camel

Myrrh, incense and gold

for the new-born king;

Shepherds tending flocks of sheep

Saw from afar

the beauteous “Star”

A Message to keep

“The Promise” of Christmas Day:

For all the lonely ones

alone on the hills

Heaven will sing to thee

As God only wills:

The Song of the Universe

Sing unto thee:-

Play your sweet Melody

In thy Rhyming Verse:

Balance and Harmony

In the great Universe

Time takes a step,

As Angels rehearse:

Glorious the wondrous chime

In Sacred Time:

Sing choirs of angels

Sing in the air;

This is the Song of Love

This Christmas Year:

Over the hills of love

As green turns to gold

The desert flower springs to life

From sands of old:-

Trumpets will hail the Lord

Snow – bells on high:

Lamp-light from Heaven

Shines down from the Sky:

On little Bethlehem

Where a baby is born:

The bright new message

Of a new Christmas Dawn:

Palm-trees and oceans

enhance from within

The Song of the Leaves

whispering in the wind:

Of all the magic

Of this Christmas Day

Peace and serenity

come into Play:

And to Bethlehem

A great Holy Town

The Little Christ Jesus

was to be found:

Pilgrims and worshippers

Praise unto thee-

For the world

He set free:

Shine forth your Grace on us

on this Christmas Day

Lend forth your Light to us

from Heaven's Way.

The Mistress of Nothing by Kate Pullinger

Gliding down the River Nile on a “dahabieh” would

have been an idyllic way of visiting the ancient sites

and temples of Egypt in the nineteenth century. A time

when Egypt was a popular destination for English

travellers.

The sands of the desert, the summer sand-storms, the stifling

heat of the summer months and the beauty of ancient ruins and

towns are depicted so evocatively in the book “The Mistress of

Nothing” that it is almost as though the reader is there.

It is with empathy and understanding that the reader can relate to

Sally's story

which is told in the first person. Sally,

who had been indentured into

service at a young age by her aunt when she and her sister were

orphaned. Sally's story is quite poignant. At a later stage in the

book Sally does wonder about her aunt and the reasons that she

and her sister were sent into domestic service in the first place.

Sally eventually becomes a lady's maid for Lucie Duff Gordon, who because

of ill health is advised to spend the English winters abroad. Eventually

Lucie Duff Gordon settles for Egypt and adapts well to her new environment over many

years. Unfortunately, she does miss her family, mother, children and husband.

For many years

Sally was a devoted lady's maid. During the times in Egypt

when Lucie Duff Gordon's family was not visiting, over the months the

boundaries often blurred between employer, servant and dragoman (An

Egyptian servant who assisted Lucie Duff Gordon and Sally in the ways of Egypt.) They became

more as friends, did away with the formal Victorian English clothing in

the heat of Egypt and chose more comfortable Egyptian style clothing,

which was seen at first as a little scandalous by Sally, but she also finally succumbed

to more comfortable Egyptian clothing as also many of the formalities of lady

and lady's maid were disregarded by this time.

After months of travelling on the Nile River and visiting temples and ancient

ruins of great beauty and mystery Lady Duff Gordon chose to settle in Luxor at a

French House, notable for literary talent of famous people who had previously

stayed there. When diseases broke out in the towns and distant villages the house

was used as a base to dispense medicines and help the poor people overcome their illnesses.

Sally often assisted Lucie Duff Gordon in this regard.

Over time with months spent travelling with Lucie Duff Gordon and her dragoman,

Sally does eventually fall in love with Lucie Duff Gordon's dragoman. This is quite

a riveting story and extremely well written with great understanding and beauty. However,

Lucie Duff Gordon's attitude was entirely unexpected and in this regard the reader is left

with a mystery as to the reason for Lucie Duff Gordon's attitude. Sally also spent much time in

speculation regarding these matters. She certainly did have the time as she was cast adrift. However, given the social mores and customs of the time in England and the requirements of service as a lady's maid, Lucie Duff Gordon's attitude towards Sally may not have been entirely unexpected. Later,

Sally is informed by her sister, who was acting as a Lady's maid for Lucie Duff Gordon's daughter, that it was believed by members of the family, that Lucie Duff Gordon had been unnecessarily harsh on Sally.

The story is excellent for the descriptions of market places and life as it was in nineteenth

century Egypt.

The colours of the market places and towns, the beauty of the moonlit nights over the temples and ruins, the river, the palm- tree and desert scenery and authentic

depictions of the characters in the story, including English

gentry and Egyptians whom Lady Duff Gordon befriended are wonderful and make for

a descriptive and lively novel. Lady Duff Gordon enjoyed her entertaining and discussions

with her friends. Both Lady Duff Gordon and Sally became fluent in the Egyptian language

and read many novels. Sally became well versed and educated from reading so many novels

and on many levels she was indebted to Lady Duff Gordon. Lady Duff Gordon, in her turn,

was an excellent employer, provider, educator and dispenser of medicines and also

proved to be an effective mid-wife when unexpectedly required, this being over many years.

The story is based on a true story of Sally and the Dragoman who fell in love. There is a

picture of Lucie Duff Gordon on the inside cover of the book and a picture which seems

to be an early photograph of her Egyptian dragoman, Omar.

The idyllic settings and beauty of her surroundings eventually become but a distant past

for Sally, who attempts to find her way in Egypt on her own with a baby. As the title indicates,

“The Mistress of Nothing!”

All in all, a wonderful read of a novel which says so much about life and gives a sympathetic

account of Sally and Omar's love. Sally became a welcome visitor at the home of Omar's

parents and his first wife. In Egypt, the laws of marriage were different and

Omar was allowed to have two wives. Lucie Duff Gordon may not have approved of this. This may

be another reason for Lucie Duff Gordon's attitude. Sally also had not informed Lucie Duff Gordon

of her situation and had kept her pregnancy a secret from her. Sally was quite old by

nineteenth century English mores and customs. She had not married and was well past the

age of 30 by the time she eventually married Omar.

A beautiful story of endurance, hardship and love. Love also for a little baby, Abdullah, who meant so much

for Sally. A wonderful story of

nineteenth century Egypt! I loved the descriptions of life in Egypt at a time which now seems so distant from twenty-first century living today. For me this was one of the fascinating aspects of the book. The seemingly idyllic life-styles in Egypt, also the descriptions of the employer-servant relationship in England of the nineteenth century, when at the beginning of the book the story was based in England. The servants arguing amongst themselves about whose turn it was to take in the cups of tea and cakes when Lady Duff Gordon and her husband were entertaining.

A fascinating page-turner of a story with all the elements of charm, grace and beauty enlivening this novel. Wonderful summer reading!