Today, which would have been my Dad's 128th birthday, we're finally having Christmas dinner. At this point I'm past it and would as soon move on, but Handsome Son really wants to do it, so okay.
I finally, after years and years of meaning to, have borrowed The Golden Bough.
Just to find out what the gist is. It's about religion, early beliefs and who knows what else, and it's high time I at least opened it. I've seen so many references to it.
And here are a few images from a really lovely blog, Spitalfields Life, about London and local history and characters. Today's is a departure, a post about a collection of fruit wrappers!
There are more, if you go to Spitalfields Life. I have it on my feed, and it's endlessly interesting. I have no particular stake in London, but this blog makes it interesting, with quirky events and people and all the small handmaker businesses to be found if you know where to look, and they do.
Happy day everyone, enjoy your day even if you're not quite up for it!
I know you’ll enjoy Christmas dinner! Take care.
ReplyDeleteI expect I will once my inner scrooge is retired.
DeleteEnjoy your Christmas dinner. Those fruit wrappers are so lovely.
ReplyDeleteThese are Spanish ones. There are also US ones, Florida and I think California.
DeleteHere's to a yummy Christmas dinner. Wow, 128 years. Those wrappers are pretty cool. Cheers, Ivy.
ReplyDeleteThe fruit wrappers remind me of the beautiful artwork that used to adorn the crates that citrus was shipped in. Each grove had its own unique artwork. Google "vintage citrus crate art" if you're interested.
ReplyDeleteWell, Merry Christmas, I guess. So funny that your son still wants his Christmas dinner.
Interesting point about the origins. The ones I showed are largely Spanish and I don't think they specify groves.
DeleteEnjoy your Christmas celebration with your Handsome Son - blessings to both of you!
ReplyDeleteThank you!
DeleteI started to read "The Golden Bough" many years ago. It's written in a classically dense Victorian style. Got a few pages in and ditched it. Besides, any insights or new ideas it might have contained when published have long since either moved into the common understanding of mythology or have been superseded. And remember he wrote from a viewpoint replete with Eurocentrism, imperialism, racism, male supremacy, misogyny, homophobia, etc etc etc. which in those days was not questioned at all.
ReplyDeleteAlk this is probably why I haven't done this before. But I'll still take a look, maybe a brief one. Partly it's a literary pilgrimage to find out why some of the characters in Some Tame Gazelle want to write sermons on it!
DeleteHave a merry Christmas dinner with the boy.
ReplyDeleteThank you! I'm simplifying in honor of my reduced energy.
DeleteFruit stickers, I put them on a large fridge magnet sheet that was on a phone book.
ReplyDeleteCrikey to the fruit wrappers. F recalls when fruit was packed in wooden crates (and papier mache trays and tissue wrappers) - which could double as furniture and a handy resource for 'making stuff' if your parents let you .... Their wooden boxes were reused (after wood was replaced by cardboard) for picking apricots at a local orchard every year. She seems to think the tissue wrappers were plain by then but remembers purple/lavender tissue.
ReplyDeleteThese wrappers definitely conjure up some memories. I remember the wonderful smell of the local green grocery -- shop with only fruits and vegetables. Mostly citrus.
DeleteI checked out the Golden Bough decades when I was doing a lot of reading about the origins of religion, which incidentally turned me into a non-believer in the Abrahamic religions (not the book particularly but all the reading I did). I'm not an atheist per se but have a very metaphysical view of the universe et al.
ReplyDeleteI love the fruit wrappers. As a child I used to collect banana stickers, which is sort of a similar thing, I suppose! I should add Spitalfields Life to my blog sidebar so I see it more regularly.
ReplyDeleteI think you'd get a lot out of it, being able to explorer some of their ideas in person.
DeleteEnjoy your meal and time with Handsome Son. Thank you again for the gloves!
ReplyDeleteThank you and you're welcome, I enjoyed the making.
DeleteThink of it as just having a meal and a nice visit with your son.
ReplyDeleteWell, that's the plan.
DeleteGlad to read that you will be able to have a Christmas dinner with your son, even if a bit late, and how ironic that it falls on the occasion of your father's 128th birthday! The fruit wrappers are not only colorful but interesting.
ReplyDeleteBetter late etc. I really like the fruit wrappers, a whole world of design I didn't know about.
DeleteI trust you had a good dinner with Handsome Son, and a good rest afterward. I've heard many references to The Golden Bough, but will rely on your review rather than seeking it out on my own. The graphics on those fruit labels are quite creative, and Spitalfields Life looks like the proverbial rabbit-hole. When reading about Charles Dickens' inkwell, I came upon this: "Dickens used black iron gall ink", which circles back to you, if I recall. Small world!
ReplyDeleteChris from Boise
I'm glad you fell into Spitalfields Life. All sorts of byways in there. Probably wise to wait till I read Golden bough though.
Delete