tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37070024.post7177509863791567826..comments2023-10-31T15:39:09.651+01:00Comments on box elder: A splendid afternoon at QuessquitricoteLucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09764296105901909328noreply@blogger.comBlogger19125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37070024.post-72117031226173217642014-10-05T21:15:24.796+02:002014-10-05T21:15:24.796+02:00And again thanks, sorry I'e been neglecting so...And again thanks, sorry I'e been neglecting social media rather lately in favour of knitting, going out, reading books...<br /><br />Stella - not late at all, I'm a slack blogger these days, lovely to see you anyway.<br /><br />Ellena - my hands are yet another part of myself I've never been keen to look closely at, though ageing seems to have improved them a bit, or I've got used to them. You are a kind-eyed beholder!<br /><br />Wendy - sorry to hear about the eye op, glad you got the message from the market. Get well soon!<br /><br />Isabelle - oh I'm not a bit dignified and certainly not very tall, even amongst the Bretons! But thanks.<br /><br />R - I kept burying my nose in her coat, it was so lovely.<br /><br />Robbie! I don't mind what you comment where of course, but I'd have it anyway, since they all come through by e-mail. I still get the odd one on the unofficial Aztec Lady Reunion site from about five years ago, remember, to say nothing of the occasional wandering soul nostalgic for Nutch in a glass and glad to know they didn't imagine it all. But thank you so much, I thoroughly enjoyed your comment, parts 1 and 2 both. And do you know I've never in fact read Charlotte's Web, though it was a great favourite of my brother who talked about it a lot in our childhood. So I was prompted to look up the last words (via 'Look Inside' on Amazon, it's not available on Kindle, which seems an oversight), and am very touched indeed. Regarding the pea gravel, I also wonder how she managed a five-year-old (me) around her feet at my age too.<br /><br />Marhel - On aurait aime t'avoir avec nous! (Est-ce que c'est bon comme francais? Je suis nul au niveau des conditionels, et en plus mon app pour les accents ne fonctionne plus, helas...) A la prochaine de toute facon!Lucyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09764296105901909328noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37070024.post-76082393448695866292014-10-05T15:20:31.460+02:002014-10-05T15:20:31.460+02:00Quel bel article!!
J'aurais aimé être avec vou...Quel bel article!!<br />J'aurais aimé être avec vous...<br />J'espère la prochaine fois ;)<br />A bientôt!Marhelhttp://lacaverneatricot.canalblog.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37070024.post-55316155959004646832014-10-05T09:41:23.814+02:002014-10-05T09:41:23.814+02:00Part Two.(I fear I ran on a bit)
We always know l...Part Two.(I fear I ran on a bit)<br /><br />We always know less than we think about our parents. The withholding of details about that initial meeting eventually becomes more important than if the facts - possibly banal - had been disclosed. Inevitably you are able to come up with "peacock blue" which, had the circumstances been reversed. I know I couldn't. There is thick glass pane between us, males on one side, females on the other. Perhaps I might have recalled something technoid about my mother's double-keyboard typewriter but I know, in advance, it would not be a telling detail. <br /><br />I slip forward and your Mum is outdoing you (though she doesn't realise it) in the matter of pea gravel. You are no longer a child and the comparisons are adult vs. adult. You wonder how she managed, as do we all about our mothers. The routine slavery of the domestic life. <br /><br />The latter paras are your own reflections, not mine to trammel. There are, as with us all, the misgivings and - most terrible of all - the missed opportunities. The sadness of ill health viewed from the outside. I haven't shaped any of this because at all times my mother intruded; not suprising since this post was of course about mothers as well as your mother. Ironically our mothers do lead shaped lives since we are bound to shape them. My first impulse was to say you did her proud but I have learned to discard first impulses. You appear to have done her true, stayed honest, ached here and there. It isn't entirely exact but I find myself evoking - so often in such circumstances - the final words of Charlotte's Web. For the sentiment rather than the words themselves.Roderick Robinsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16828395545197001637noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37070024.post-21746587725740438092014-10-05T09:39:45.747+02:002014-10-05T09:39:45.747+02:00I have not truly caught up with Quessquitricote an...I have not truly caught up with Quessquitricote and have only just decoded its titular ingenuity; greetings from Quessquise'debat. I have wanted to write about your Mum for ages and had it in mind to slip in a comment back in distant September 9 and leave it there, as it were, under compost, perhaps never to be discovered. But in the end vanity - as always - got the better of me; I cannot afford not to be read. <br /><br />We, your readers, must approach your Mum in a way you cannot. In responding to her life we inevitably dwell on what we regard as her greatest achievement but I (representing your readers) must on this occasion push that to one side. Even if it you're not capable of blushing you can, I know, give in to the emotionalism of events and I do not wish to create that kind of disturbance.<br /><br />Your Mum steps into my life and immediately animates my sense of the past. To be born a Masters posits some kind of destiny, not merely a life. If I'm not careful I'll stray down fictional corridors where your Mum, by virtue of her surname, becomes a prefect, a Captain in the Girl Guides and then a suffragette. Time as you can see will get all out joint, a victim of my non-sequential view of history. I must stick to the point.<br /><br />Even so anachronistic tendencies won't leave me alone and your Mum, through a combination of her name and that first photo, emerges as if from E Nesbit's The Bastable Family (which we discussed <i>il y a longtemps</i>). Which means she is born with a high sense of individuality and with frailty more or less held at bay.<br /><br />As part of her destiny she is later to give birth to a daughter given to linguistic precision (viz. taupe). And to leave traces of herself via her handwriting here and there in the way that D. H. Stringer did for me. For these traces are proof that she wrote when writing left a spoor behind and that, eventually, will mean a great deal.<br /><br />Already your Mum is developing, becoming sympathetic, and I must pass quickly over the image of her beneath one of those terrible metal helmets at the salon. Those always terrified me on behalf of womankind because they appeared to demand submission.<br /><br />Your Mum "looked for so much of her youth like an old lady". An impression augmented by the fact that, to you, she was always the adult par excellence. For you she could never have been a little girl, since how could a little girl have protected you?<br /><br />The hard life which was time-shared before the compound verb was invented. Was Hastings seen as a treat? If so a very "adult" treat, the sort of thing a child could never appreciate. A chance to talk shop - a phrase often sneered at but actually one of those under-rated secret pleasures.Roderick Robinsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16828395545197001637noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37070024.post-29945021550640670362014-10-05T03:21:56.240+02:002014-10-05T03:21:56.240+02:00Yes indeed! Hurrah for the many wonderous things. ...Yes indeed! Hurrah for the many wonderous things. Irène is a sweet one and I am happy to see she received fur ruffles and warmth.<br /><br />Thank you for the delightful images!Rouchswalwehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01393987883437907945noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37070024.post-79480294030263697742014-10-03T15:23:40.039+02:002014-10-03T15:23:40.039+02:00What a lovely post, apart from the poor greyhounds...What a lovely post, apart from the poor greyhounds. So glad that there are people around to rescue them, or at least some of them.<br /><br />I think you look lovely. Similar to how I imagined, but maybe not quite so tall and dignified (not undignified, though! Just very approachable-looking). Pam https://www.blogger.com/profile/12641269043817163165noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37070024.post-16128578337263549732014-10-02T17:10:27.473+02:002014-10-02T17:10:27.473+02:00Wonderful post, Lucy, full of colour and texture l...Wonderful post, Lucy, full of colour and texture like the subject matter. And life-affirming, just when I need it. I adore the dog, brings memories of my beloved lurcher Rufus. By the way, thank you for buying the legends book at the market - I've been out of things a bit having an eye operation. WMhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00538232588833342802noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37070024.post-49683103191581144552014-10-01T14:57:14.485+02:002014-10-01T14:57:14.485+02:00So much to comment on here - Hooray for you Lucy i...So much to comment on here - Hooray for you Lucy is meant to say it all.<br />You did not need to tell me which of the hands were yours. The same are holding the camera up there. Thanks for letting us get that close to you, beautiful lady.Ellenahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14965850008354379369noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37070024.post-51768954398202123822014-10-01T05:55:12.502+02:002014-10-01T05:55:12.502+02:00I am late reading your wonderful post, so vibrant ...I am late reading your wonderful post, so vibrant and full of beautiful images. A joy to behold! Stellahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10789646495307544390noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37070024.post-46558062726386214312014-09-29T21:01:03.887+02:002014-09-29T21:01:03.887+02:00Thanks all.
They are really fabulous dogs, amazin...Thanks all.<br /><br />They are really fabulous dogs, amazingly serene, obliging and affectionate even when their experience of humans hasn't been at all favourable, though they seem quite sad and distant on first impression, in fact they are more fun and responsive than they initially seem. I agree it seems unthinkable that they should be abused in the way they are, perhaps it's because they are so gentle and patient. People can be bastards.<br /><br />They're good with other dogs too, and though some of them don't live very happily with cats, which I'd always understood to be a problem, as they are conditioned to chase and catch small furry things that run away from them, but the refuge publicity shows many in affectionate friendship with cats. Irene's owners said that while they were careful initially about letting her off the lead she had never given them problems with recall.<br /><br />These Spanish 'galgo' types are smaller and slighter than the racing greyhounds, there's also a breed called 'podenco', rather like Ibiza or pharoah hounds, smaller and stockier with big ears, nice dogs but harder to train. <br /><br />We won't be getting one now, but if I were looking for another dog I would certainly consider a galgo, and it seems as though there will never be any shortage of them needing homes.<br /><br />Soize et Lyse: Blaise Pascal a dit 'je m'excuse de vous ecrire une telle longue lettre, je n'avais pas le temps de faire une plus courte' ou qch comme ça! C'est un peu pareil - j'ai écrit un message aussi compliqué car je n'avais pas le temps de faire un plus simple!<br /><br />Desolée mes copines, j'apprecie que vous vienez et lire quand même!<br />Lucyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09764296105901909328noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37070024.post-73144650970408027352014-09-29T17:48:47.695+02:002014-09-29T17:48:47.695+02:00Congratulations on having a coco-de-mer tomato!
Ir...Congratulations on having a coco-de-mer tomato!<br />Irene is beyond enchanting. Just when I think I have identified my favourite dog breed (Scottish terriers), she walks into my life via your blogging. I recently encountered the word 'irenic' in a Gary Lopez book, and had to look it up - it means something like peace seeking/making, and this Irene looks to fit the description. Glenn xAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37070024.post-56576397688931699102014-09-29T15:05:59.182+02:002014-09-29T15:05:59.182+02:00Moi non plus je n'ai pas tout saisi, j'ai ...Moi non plus je n'ai pas tout saisi, j'ai simplement compris , et c'est aussi mon impression, que dans notre petit groupe , il y a une belle complicité et une entraide magnifique.<br />Merci pour ce joli article Lysehttp://lysevaine.canalblog.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37070024.post-3645653336214192212014-09-29T09:19:47.050+02:002014-09-29T09:19:47.050+02:00Google et moi n'avons pas réussi à tout tradui...Google et moi n'avons pas réussi à tout traduire, mais je pense avoir saisi l'essentiel.<br />Merci pour ce bel article, il reflète vraiment bien notre extraordinaire après-midi :-)Soizehttp://tatisoize.canalblog.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37070024.post-51126146979463814042014-09-29T05:30:05.329+02:002014-09-29T05:30:05.329+02:00I love the pics of you, and the dog (such a sad ex...I love the pics of you, and the dog (such a sad expression!) and all the rest. What a wonderful day and lovely people. Crochet reminds me of my Maman who was very good at it but I never thought of asking her to show me how. I must post a photo of a marvellous crocheted wall-hanging she made out of brown string.Natalie d'Arbeloffhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07757081405040926647noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37070024.post-51342753311079139092014-09-29T01:48:16.118+02:002014-09-29T01:48:16.118+02:00What a great post!Full of wool and friendship and ...What a great post!Full of wool and friendship and gifts and dogs and pictures of glorious Lucy!<br /><br />Herhimnbryn xAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37070024.post-43741213679850787402014-09-29T01:20:26.365+02:002014-09-29T01:20:26.365+02:00as catalyst said - i had to look at the two photos...as catalyst said - i had to look at the two photos again and again (and again!) to make sure it really was you in both. <br /><br />what a beautiful gift you were given - clearly some people don't find you to be the abysmal abomination that you think you are. but then again, most of us are hard on ourselves - somehow the photo never captures the vivacity that makes us who we are, does it?the polish chickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09929281676865641560noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37070024.post-22795410202453258092014-09-28T23:47:51.037+02:002014-09-28T23:47:51.037+02:00That lacework piece is amazing, especially in the ...That lacework piece is amazing, especially in the second picture when you can see its size. A remarkable gift. I think you are much loved by your friends.<br /><br />Without the sweater, I would never have known the two pictures are both of you. While I like smiling faces, I love the second photo. And I think I can see why you ARE much loved by your friends.<br /><br />Beautiful dog, too, but I'm not sure she's pleased about her modeling duties.Catalysthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03804837416104556928noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37070024.post-45986548243873369942014-09-28T22:55:41.628+02:002014-09-28T22:55:41.628+02:00Oh Irène is beautiful!Oh Irène is beautiful!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37070024.post-47260279755167132602014-09-28T22:27:26.499+02:002014-09-28T22:27:26.499+02:00The lacework reminds me of ancient polynesian navi...The lacework reminds me of ancient polynesian navigational maps of sticks and strings. <br /><br />We've met a few greyhounds, they are just lovely creatures. As well as beautiful. No idea how anyone could hurt them, they are so dear and delicate. Zhoenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03515663141425057088noreply@blogger.com