Autumnal
‘Tis the season to be raking – which is tiresome; but at least I like looking at the red ivy. It gives me a chance to exercise silencing my mind, something I consistently fail at.
Work on the Madonna was completed succesfully:
On the other hand, unfortunately, an artist to whom I’d entrusted some paint work on an 18th century table spent 6 months with said table and hadn’t even begun work. A very simple job of filling in the missing bits. I was exceedingly annoyed and took the table back, now I have to find someone else willing to do the work. (If god existed, I’d pray for the artist to get food poisoning that lasts at least from Christmas to New Year’s – for annoying me!)
I’m a fan of Italian painted furniture, so it’s right up my alley, but this one will probably end up for sale at an auction house once it’s presentable again. In good news, I’ve found a rug the right size for the landing upstairs.
My Mazamet 
They say that science makes the world a cold sterile thing, just to be examined and not appreciated. I find the red ivy quite lovely and my appreciation is enhanced because I know why it turned red. (The re chemicals were there all of the time, just obscured by the brilliant green of the chlorophyll. When the chlorophyll production goes down due to diminished sunlight, the red (or orange or yellow) shows through.
Beautiful, as is your home.
I can’t but notice the look of pain on the Madonna’s face. I guess I would have a headache, too, had I one of those things stuck into my head.
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So does the chlorophyll act as the equivalent to “blood”?
The Madonna is an Our Lady of Sorrows, hence the expression; and the halo like affair attached to her head is known as a resplandor (spanish) or resplendor (portuguese.) She might look in pain, but a good one of those attached to a head pushes the value up (easily) by 25 to 35% 😀
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I assumed it was “halo” or the equivalent, I was just trying to make a joke (obviously feeble).
Wait a minute, what has Mary, the Mother of God, have to be Sorrowful about. She helped Jesus accomplish his mission, resulting the salvation of any who believe. What more could a mother ask of her life? ;o)
Chlorophyll is the chemical that allows leaves to absorb sunlight (mostly the UV in sunlight) and convert it into chemical energy in the form of chemical compounds that can be circulated through the leaf to be used to do leafy things (grow, maintain, etc.) so it is not the blood but the equivalent of a mouth (through which sustenance flows … and as are the roots of plants/trees such mouths). A byproduct of this chemical process is oxygen on which we are all dependent (we all have “chemical dependences”: oxygen, water, various food chemicals).
Interestingly, the search for life on any of the many, many extrasolar planets is just this: a search for oxygen. Oxygen is so chemically reactive that if it is not continuously resupplied into the atmosphere, it would disappear in short order. Only living things, like trees, can replace the oxygen that we take out of the air to live and burn our fuels. So, if oxygen is found to exist on one of these planets, then so does life of some form.
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Here ivy doesn’t change colour. It’s green all year round and seems to grow vigorously through all four seasons making it too invasive for most gardens.
Having just spent 7 weeks in Japan i do envy those to live in climates where deciduous plants predominate. Seeing entire hillsides, even entire mountains in shades of red and gold was absolutely breath taking. It makes our year round dark green folliage rather dull and foreboding in comparison.
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I didn’t know that! I thought New Zealand had a slightly milder version of European weather. What’s the coldest it ever gets?
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I live approximately 150 km north of the southern top of the North Island. Daytime winter temperature can drop as low as 5 degrees Centigrade but us more typically around 10. Winter overnight temperatures can drop to zero and we do have around a dozen frosts each year. We get a light frosting of snow once every 10 to 15 years.
The lower half of the South Island has colder winters, probably similar to England. However very few native trees are deciduous, even in the South. There is some autumn colour in the south but it mostly comes from imported European species
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All very lovely, ivy, Madonna, table, rug…you have exquisite taste.
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Thanks 🙂 I can’t take too much credit, I have to go with the flow of the market. Sometimes pretty things, sometimes monstrosities.
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I can’t imagine you giving house room to any monstrosity . I’ve just sold a modest painted Italian table on etsy, incidentally
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Aaahhh, house room is another story. The carpet is mine, but the madonna and Italian table are business 😉
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I understand that too.
My house is a moveable feast of keepies and sell on stuff. Sometimes I can’t make my mind up anyway.
When the RDC is finished, it will be a studio/ gallery/ exhibition space. I can’t wait
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Do you by any chance do the sort of painting that’s on the table in this post? The pattern can be copied from the other side, so it’s a fairly simple restoration.
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Painted then lacquered is it?
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What I need is just the reproduction of the design (done in a bole red colour.) The design is then gilt, but I can do that and the finishing 🙂
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Well I could certainly manage that. I’ m an excellent draughts”man”! I do gild also but you might prefer to do that.
Email me off blog and we can talk
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FAB !!!!!!!
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Oh Pink, I love the Parquet. What I wouldn’t give for a decent wood floor here in the US. Everything must be covered with vast swaths of hideous carpeting which in my opinion is like a shit sponge from the 70’s.
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I love it too. We had terracotta in Spain, which was much less pleasant to walk on. So is the US still not over the carpet phase? The UK started moving away from wall to wall carpeting as the standard floor by the end of the 90’s.
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God, guns, Gatorade, and indoor/outdoor carpeting. Not always in that order, but close. There may well be parts of the US who embrace Darwin and a decent flooring but not here in the 8th circle of hell we know as High Hair and god’s country.
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Autumn is pretty, but raking sucks. Maybe you could put a harlequin smiley mask on that Madonna… “Cheer up lady! The End is Nigh.”
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What a very beautiful face your house has. A pleasure to rake up leaves outside it. I think the ‘ivy’ might be Virginia Creeper or similar. Do its leaves drop off later in the winter?
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Yes, all the leaves do drop! A horrendous mess to clean up. Is that Virginia Creeper?
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Sounds like it. It is deciduous. You need one of those hoover type machines that suck up leaves. I don’t think they’re too expensive 🙂
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The creeper is looking awesome! Another 2 years and it should be complete coverage. Nice!
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I don’t think my mind would let me silence it…it jabbers away fifteen to the dozen.
At the moment it is coveting that rug, wondering why all our decent rugs are still in Spain and planning to fly Avianca next time to get the larger baggage allowance which might – if I can inveigle enough people to travel together – allow me to reclaim them…
The house looks very welcoming in its red dress.
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The house and the rug make me green with envy, but I’m glad you’re selling the Madonna. I know she’s meant to be sad, but the expression on her face would give me nightmares. I hate the thought of anything being in pain, even a piece of scuplture? Is it sculpture or something more obscure??
Oh and be glad you only have to rake. I’ve been half killing myself mowing knee high grass with a battery-driven lawn mower. The lawn mower is actually very good, but the job is Not fun.:/
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Just Merveilleux indeed! Tell us more about the rug!
I was checking your blog a lot recently to see if you had any comments on the recent Salvator Mundi… 🙂
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The Salvator Mundi was amazing to watch. I think Rybolovlev is brilliant, but I’ll stop myself there 😉
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You do have such beautiful things.
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