The Water

The Concise English Dictionary, 1907

Which is incidentally sub-titled; Pronouncing Etymological, Scientific and Technical Phrases and Synonyms, Biographical, Geographical and Other Appendices…

I think I could easily say that this is one of my favourite books… Given to me by my Aunt Lily who frequently went to auctions in order to buy whole bookshelves (to store her many criminal stories…) She gave me the beautiful old books and kept the bookshelves for herself. Very much the opposite of Constable who said, when speaking of his sketchbooks, which he never let go of ; I sold the corn but kept the seed…  And so I came to possess countless leather bound books of poetry and prose mostly from another century.

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I studied this dictionary in detail and fell in love with the sound of words that don’t exist anymore. Riches! At the very back there is a KEY to Noted Names in Fiction and Mythology. This too awoke my interest and was a pointer for my early reading. An example of some of the entries;

Al Borak: A celestial animal of wonderful form that carried Mohammed to the seventh heaven.

or

Aldiborontiphoscophornio; A character in Henry Carey’s burlesque Chrononhotonthologos(1734) …

or

Glubbdubdrib; In Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels an island inhabited by sorcerers or magicians, who called up at Gulliver’s desire the spirits of many personages of former times…

or

Tartuffe; A hypocritical priest in Molière’s comedy of the same name; hence anyone who uses religion as a cloak…

There is also a section at the back of the book titled; Forms of Address – some very interesting titles in there. Another favourite section is the part on Principal Moneys of the World, and their approximate equivalents in English Currency…

One example -  Persia; The monetary unit is the krân, a silver coin. The krân is divided into 20 shâhis or 1000 dînâs, the dînâ being  an imaginary coin… (This was 1907 – some things never change!)

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No dictionary entry would be complete if I didn’t add a few of my favourite words… for example; 

Scapus  (L., a stalk) Ornith. The stem of a feather; arch. the shaft of a column 

Scatology (GR., skor, skatos, dung.) Knowledge of dung, or of savage practices in which dung or filth enters…

Synecdoche (GR., from syn, with, ek, out, dechomai, to receive.) A figure of speech by which the whole of a thing is put for a part, or a part for the whole…

And these are only a few of the S’s… I did come across serendiptiy ( the art of making happy discoveries by accident)  in here for the first time and other lovely words like epicurean… and lenticularly, capote and brandling (no, not a word from modern day marketing jargon… but the wonderful fishy sounding name for the parr or young of the salmon… a beautiful word.)

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From the section Words, Phrases and Noteworthy Sayings…  another favourite with which to close;

Esse quam videri. (L) To be rather than to seem

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Sledge rides 

One year when we were in Davos during the winter skiing holidays, we took a ride with the horse and sledge through a snowy valley at my request. Nothing can compare to that quietness. We travelled through the valley alongside a brook  and the sound of the water, the horses’ hooves softly clapping the packed snow and their bells were all one could hear. The soft fur-lining of the sledge - a pure and natural luxury. There were no roads so the only outside sound that penetrated the peace was the odd helicopter bringing someone important to the WEF in the village…

The horses were called Lucky and Index. We could smell their heat and watch their breath. The coach driver, a young country man was very knowledgable and told the children which animals had left which tracks in the snow. Our eldest daughter,  a horse lover was then allowed to sit up front for part of the journey…

When we got to the inn at the end of the valley we had a hot barley broth. I’ll share that recipe with you soon. Comfort food for the  minus 20°s…

This is one of the best ways I know  to get away from it all…

Unforgettable!

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 Leather suitcases…   

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Irish country roads… on a windy day

 and my old school… with its fleur de lis coat of arms…

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Kid gloves…

My beautiful cream coloured kid leather gloves… Now where is that claret coloured convertible jaguar from the sixties… and that Kelly bag…

Manufactum

Manufactum.ch is a wonderful pot-pourri of beautiful things…

I enjoy the act of looking at the Manufactum catalogue – I don’t need to have all theexpensive things. Some things inspire me, just knowing they are there.

However, I love tiny things; small inexpensive objects… some of my favourite things have cost nothing whatsoever… shells, drift-wood, old keys, buttons… discarded papers…

And most of my treasured items have been gifts;

My grandmother’s thimble – which she gave me when she was teaching me to ‘dolly’ linen sheets.

Historically, a vessel for artists!  The colour red was very precious and when painting with it, the artist filled the colour into a thimble…

In the house of Carnal Murals

The painter used it to hold a special red

He touched the lips and freshest bite marks with.

(‘The Thimble’ Seamus Heaney)

The Tilley Lamp; a visitor once brought me this prized object when we were staying in a cottage in Ireland, not realizing that I had always wanted one. The tiny oval shaped mantle is a delicate ivory coloured globe of shining silken weave… and like butterfly wings, shouldn’t be touched… Old fashioned oil lamps hold the brittle memories of my childhood – evoke the atmosphere of story-filled evenings at the generously logged, big open fire in my grandparent’s house in the mountains. They also remind me of a childhood where electricity breakdowns were often and pro-longed and the romance of toasting bread over the fire and cooking on a gas stove… I always loved electricity cuts.

My grandfather’s pocket mirror with built-in moustache comb – I loved him dearly. He taught me nature, imparted wisdom via osmosis.  Although humble, this was a very treasured gift.

A simple kaleidoscope which sits on my writing desk – all glass and mirrors, inside a basic silver-coloured case. Brewster invented the kaleidoscope in 1816 almost accidentally, while doing experiments on light polarization. It was intended to be a scientific tool but he made a capital mistake in the wording when patenting and his invention ended up being copied and sold as a toy. Like a lot of old toys, I find kaleidoscopes fascinating.  I bought this particular one as a present for someone else and realized when I got it home; I was of course buying it for myself. So I kept it.

Buttons especially white or mother of pearl buttons – they’re for opening things.

Fans… I don’t actually own one. But I have the memory of a very special intricately designed example…

A journalist friend, an elderly gentleman, when I was leaving Florence, placed a most beautiful fan which was a family heir-loom on the table for me, with a note that he wanted me to have it. There were no women in his life and he felt that I was the one person who could appreciate it, adding; it suited my dress. I had used it during my stay when we went to a Barock concert in the courtyard of an old monastery in Florence on a warm summer evening. I couldn’t accept it. (I was 24 years old at the time) –  I regret it to this day! One should never refuse a gift that comes from the heart. And one should never think when being offered a gift, whether one deserves it or not. It is to be received with grateful thanks and a warm smile.

Flowers leave some of the scent on the hand that bestows them…

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A trip to Lausanne…

Here the legendary Brasserie Bavaria where Bujard et Panchaud (the two characters from Alain Freudiger’s fabulous novel, ‘Bujard et Panchaud ou les Faux-Consommateurs’) meet up on page 20 and discuss their future life in Lausanne;

‘A eux Lausanne, ses cafés, son intense activité artistique et intellectuelle, ses Lausannoises et ses boutiques specialisées….’

Each year Lausanne celebrates young talented dancers by hosting an International Dance Festival with varied works of contemporary choreography. During the event all kinds of used ballet shoes get strewn on washing lines stretched from one end of the street to the other… 

- it really is magical!

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 A day to Zürich…

Nature in the city…

Just about

everywhere… 

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Nice shoes…

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The two deer I see from my window every morning…  

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