princes and post

I have been thinking about that other prince, the one who also just got married to a commoner but who is not visiting our fair land

for you see, Albert and I were born on the same day.

He may be richer and more gallant, than I, but I think I have retained my youthful appearance far better than His Serene Highness has done. I certainly have more hair, though I'm not sure which of us had more hair when we were born.

And, since my mother kept all the envelopes these cards came in, I can see that Aunt Millie was the first to send hers. I believe I was born around 5pm, but am not certain. I also notice on all the envelopes that they were addressed to my mother with the name of the hospital ... some had the city, some not. And all were received for a 4 cent stamp! Now that seems to me to be excellent service. Stamps now cost 59 cents (plus HST) for inside Canada and you better include the full address, along with the postal code, or who knows when you may get the letter. And you don't get such clear, dated postmarks - with the city and time - anymore, either. I am hoping for some post-strike mail tomorrow. 

me as a wee babe (with not much hair) in my mother's arms
p.s. Albert and I have never met

the hill - part deux

There was a devastating fire on a cold winter's night in February 1916 in the Centre Block of the Parliament Buildings.

Original Centre Block
Imagine what went through everyones mind, with the young (barely 50 years) country embroiled in the first world war. But it turned out it was not part of anything as sinister as enemy sabotage. It is believed the fire was most likely the cause of careless smoking in the Senate Reading Room.
Firemen Spray Water
The only part of the building to survive was the Library of Parliament (designed by Thomas Fuller) at the back of the building due to someone taking the time to close the big iron doors as he was fleeing.

Library After Fire

Library Windows after Re-opening 2006
In spite of the war, rebuilding took place almost immediately. As you can see from the top archival photo, the new building was built in a more modern Gothic Revival while the original was a High Victorian Gothic Revival (and as such much more ornate). There are 25 different types of stone and marble used in the construction with much of the exterior done in sandstone from a local quarry.

Parliament Fresh Start

Time and the weather has not been kind and a massive renovation project has been underway since 2002 on all three buildings which is expected to take until 2025.

The stone from the gates are slowly being cleaned and restored to their original glory.

this bell was taken from the ruins

of the clock tower destroyed by fire

February 3, 1916
"The fire raced fiercely for hours. the main tower was not touched until about 11pm, and one of the most pathetic incidents of the night, which moved the spectators, was the striking of the midnight hour by the old tower clock. There seemed almost a human touch as its familiar tones boomed out from the mass of flames"

archival photos from CanadaOnline
then
now

'the cottage'

Thanksgiving 1981?

Fred and the infamous outhouse

and a bonus - a pair of glasses!!

behind me is the built in shelves

Monday AMuse

Record covers come to life via

Sleeveface.com

Photo Hunt - stripes

More flowers - and look: they're pink! (not my favourite colour, remember?), but they are stripey, in a broken stripe sort of way.

Or, have a gander at this wall mural I found in a part of Toronto called The Beaches.
I'd like to say, any day now we can get out our striped t-shirts and head out to the water...

but at the moment it is cold and rainy and very, very windy.
We had a dry March - not a flake of snow during the whole month (for the first time in 50 years since records have been kept), but the rain is making up for it this weekend.


to see what other stripes were found from around the world, check out PhotoHunt

Monday AMuse

1935

1943

1935

1938

1958

a television show can make me drool

There was just the teensiest bit of excitement in the household last night. A night for elegant voyeurism.

The return of Poirot.

Granted, it was a very old episode first shown exactly 20 years ago. And I understand there were new ones made in 2008 and that David Suchet wants to continue until he has done every single story written.

So far he has done over 60. That's right - bet you didn't realize there were so many. I certainly didn't, as we probably keep getting the same 2 dozen every time, repeated.

Still.

It is that 1930's decadence. The glamour. That art deco style. That apartment!

Much of Hercule Poirot's world is influenced by the art deco movement and the television series has been permanently set in 1936 to take full advantage of it. The architecture and artifacts are just as much a star of the show as Poirot, Japp, Hastings and the ever efficient Miss Lemon (with her curls on her forehead!). All of them play off each other beautifully as an ensemble and often with understated hilarious effects.

But it is the houses and the artifacts within that really hold my attention. Someone pours tea and I freely lust after that tea service. It is all a visual delight and the many closeup shots of the details only add to the feast.

Merry Christmas

To all who celebrate Christmas in Winter

Merry Christmas

To all who celebrate Christmas in Summer

St Nicholas begats Santa Claus

St Nicholas was apparently a very shy bishop and and was known to travel mostly at night. Once, so a legend says, he wanted to leave some money for a family without being seen, so he dropped some coins down a chimney where they landed inside a little girl's stocking. St Nicholas, in continental Europe, became all about gift giving whereas Father Christmas, in Britain, was still about merry making and feasting.

Having the two combined, was too much for the Puritans who succeeded in having him and Christmas banned. Apparently there was an awful lot of drunkenness and overeating of mince pies and looting of houses if the merry makers were refused entry. They also didn't like that St Nicholas was a 'saint'. He seems to have survived in Northern Europe during the Reformation because he had moved beyond the Church and was so beloved. In Europe, his feast day, December 6th (or the night before), is the main gift giving time over Christmas, December 25th (or the night before). The Netherlands is the only Protestant country to maintain the legend of St Nicholas. The Puritans certainly didn't bring him along to the New World with them.

After the American Revolution, the New Yorkers who stayed, glad to be rid of the British, remembered with pride their nearly forgotten Dutch roots and made St Nicholas the city's Patron Saint. Pretty soon the satirists got into the act and caricatures and poems were appearing. St Nick, or Sinterklaas as he was affectionately called in Dutch, changed from looking saintly to a portly Dutch guy with a pipe. The poem 'Twas The Night Before Christmas' sealed the image of this un-St Nick-like Santa Claus, as did the cartoons and drawings that were based on this entirely made up tale. By the 1920's Santa's image had become more consistent and by the time Coca Cola had hired an illustrator for advertising, gift giving had become a huge phenomenon what with mass production and importing and this was just what was needed to symbolize the gift giver. He became more and more associated with commercialism and less of charity.

Father Christmas

I was looking for a funny vintage Christmas card for my Monday post ... and became sidetracked. Mostly, I got sidetracked by Santa. And Father Christmas. And St Nicholas. There are so many variations and permutations of this soul over the centuries. His image has changed greatly, from his outfits to his weight, even his attitude. The one constant seems to be his flowing white beard. It all started with my wondering about his coats of many colours - blue, purple, green, brown, red. What a fashion statement he was!

In reality they are not one and the same person.

First up: Father Christmas.

He has been around a very long time. He wasn't called Father Christmas then, of course, because he originated as a pagan figure. Don't we get all our best religious festivities from the pagans? He represented the coming of spring and appeared mid-winter wearing a long, hooded green cloak, and a wreath of holly, ivy, or mistletoe.


When the Saxons invaded, they added their own solstice tradition of Father Time (or Old Winter or King Winter as he was also known) and an old guy would be seen representing him by dressing up in a long, hooded fur cloak and wandering from house to house to be welcomed with food and drink. It was thought that if you were kind to Father Time you would get something good in return (a mild winter, perhaps? or an early spring?). Then came along the Vikings who, with their God Odin, celebrated their own mid-winter as Jultid by dressing up as one of Odin's 12 characters Jul. Odin was a little heftier than Father Time and eventually the once svelte Father Christmas becomes bigger. He changes into a blue cloak and gets to ride a horse and was claimed to have magical powers to know whether people had been bad or good, dispensing gifts to the good and punishment to the bad.
Finally, the Normans came along and brought the story of a 3rd century bishop with them. St Nick came all the way from Turkey and was especially kind to the poor and to children.
So we have a figure who evolved from one who would bless your winter to someone who paid attention to your deeds to someone who loved children.

...the story of St Nicholas and Santa Claus continues.