[poem + 3 recipes] celebrating the queen’s platinum jubilee

June 3, 2022November 21, 2022 ~ jama ~ 40 Comments

“It’s all to do with the training: you can do a lot if you’re properly trained.” ~ HM Queen Elizabeth II

Happy Platinum Jubilee Weekend!

We’re here to raise our teacups and nibble on a few treats as Her Majesty the Queen celebrates 70 glorious years on the throne. At age 96, she’s ruled longer than any other monarch in British history, and is currently the oldest and longest-serving incumbent head of state in the world.

*The official Platinum Jubilee emblem was designed by 19-year-old graphic design student Edward Roberts from Nottinghamshire.*

When she pledged to devote her life to service on her 21st birthday, little did she realize she’d actually be Queen just four years later. In fact, she never expected to wear the crown in the first place, since the line of succession was supposed to pass from her grandfather, King George V, to her Uncle Edward, and then on to his children. Of course Edward’s abdication to marry Wallis Simpson changed everything.

*Coronation Day portrait by Cecil Beaton, June 2, 1953 (Westminster Abbey).*

I remain in awe of someone who accepted the cards she was dealt, got on with the job, and has remained a beloved, steadfast exemplar of duty, devotion, and public service despite rifts, divorces, deaths, scandals, and challenges to the monarchy’s relevance during rapidly changing times.

*“I have to be seen to be believed.” ~ HM Queen Elizabeth*

Seven decades = a LOT of smiles, handshakes, white-gloved waves, receptions, charity events, walkabouts, fittings, sittings, tours, state banquets, royal performances, garden parties, teas, carriage rides, and HATS. 🙂

God Save the Queen!

We’re thrilled and honored to welcome HM back to Alphabet Soup. You may remember when she first visited for a quick cuppa eight years ago. This time, we were anxious to try a couple of recipes from Carolyn Robb’s new cookbook, Tea at the Palace (Weldon Owen, 2022).

Robb was Personal Chef to TRH the Prince and Princess of Wales for 11 years. Her 50 sweet and savory recipes are tied to twelve of Britain’s most stunning palaces and residences, and is a nice mix of traditional, contemporary and whimsical dishes.

We selected three recipes just for the Queen and enjoyed a lively chin wag. She ‘spilled the tea’ on her least favorite granddaughter-in-law and told us about the time she found a slug in her salad (ugh!), but she would not reveal what she carries in her handbag (a lady is entitled to her secrets after all).

Ring when you’re ready and enjoy!

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marie assénat: happy happy bonjour bonjour!

May 31, 2022May 28, 2022 ~ jama ~ 8 Comments

Vrroom, vrroom!– we’re off to discover Marie Assénat’s fun and colorful world!

Bonjour, Mes Amis. If you’re in the mood for big smiles, you’ve come to the right place.

Marie’s a Parisian illustrator currently based in Brooklyn. Her distinctive style is all about simple lines, bold colors, lots of quirk, and a certain je ne sais quoi that’s absolutely irresistible. So charming, so French!

It was while studying graphic design at La Cambre in Brussels that Marie discovered her love of illustration. In her last year of art school, her instructor showed her work to a publisher, and that led to her first children’s book.

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[review] Viento, Vientito/Wind, Little Wind by Jorge Argueta and Felipe Ugalde Alcántara

May 27, 2022May 26, 2022 ~ jama ~ 21 Comments

Can you feel it gently brush across your cheek? See how it tickles flower petals. Listen for the quiet rustling of leaves. Wind.

Mi nombre es Viento
pero todos me conocen
por Vientito.

My name is Wind
but everyone knows me
as Little Wind.

In Viento, Vientito/Wind, Little Wind (Piñata Books, 2022), award winning poet Jorge Argueta celebrates the power and movement of air from the perspective of a playful child, who after introducing himself, proudly declares:

Nazco por todos lados
y voy a todos lados
de nuestra Madre Tierra.

I am born everywhere
and I go all
around our Mother Earth.

Little Wind explains he can be a swift and happy ‘hummingbird’ wind; ‘zummming’ here and there, but just as quickly, not be anywhere. Still, he’s everywhere – he comes, he stays, he goes.

Little Wind is mysterious too. You can’t see or touch him, but you can feel him. And he has many other names: “north wind,” “draft,” “breeze,” “gale,” and the more worrying “hurricane” or “tornado.”

There are so many things Little Wind can do – become a “Quetzalcóatl Wind,” a river Wind, traveling in serpentine trails, twisting and tangling, rising and falling, zummming as he draws near then speeds off. Can you hear him singing “through valleys and mountains, towns and cities”?

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Sarah Bowman: In and out of the Window

May 24, 2022May 22, 2022 ~ jama ~ 3 Comments

A cup of tea, a sweet treat, and a lovely view: who could ask for more?

British artist Sarah Bowman is known for her ‘though the window’ paintings, which impart a soothing sense of peace, calm and serenity.

This unique hybrid of a still life in the foreground with a landscape beyond invites the viewer to enjoy a dual narrative, with the chosen objects and the space around them telling one story and the outdoor scene another.

Bowman has said that her landscapes are derived from memory; they’re an amalgamation of places she’s visited such as Cornwall, Devon, the Scilly Isles, and Andalucia.

She actually lives in Ashburton, Devon, where she works at home in an attic studio. She and her husband own the White Space Art Gallery in nearby Totnes, a market town with a thriving arts community.

Sarah works in oil on board or canvas, using a gentle, muted palette. A harmonious blend of subdued greens, blues and greys with pops of pinks, yellows, oranges and purples speak of idyllic coastlines, stone quays, fishing villages, patchwork fields, quaint cottages and rolling hills dotted with sheep.

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remembering what truly matters

May 20, 2022May 19, 2022 ~ jama ~ 26 Comments

REMEMBER 
by Joy Harjo

Remember the sky that you were born under,
know each of the star's stories.
Remember the moon, know who she is.
Remember the sun's birth at dawn, that is the
strongest point of time. Remember sundown
and the giving away to night.
Remember your birth, how your mother struggled
to give you form and breath. You are evidence of
her life, and her mother's, and hers.
Remember your father. He is your life, also.
Remember the earth whose skin you are:
red earth, black earth, yellow earth, white earth
brown earth, we are earth.
Remember the plants, trees, animal life who all have their
tribes, their families, their histories, too. Talk to them,
listen to them. They are alive poems.
Remember the wind. Remember her voice. She knows the
origin of this universe.
Remember you are all people and all people
are you.
Remember you are this universe and this
universe is you.
Remember all is in motion, is growing, is you.
Remember language comes from this.
Remember the dance language is, that life is.
Remember.

~ from How We Became Human: New and Selected Poems 1975-200l (W.W. Norton, 2004)