Carolina Comments: Flower Artistry & More

ART IN BLOOM

Puple poppy anemones

This is the second year we have gone to Art in Bloom at the art museum in Raleigh.  I enjoyed this year’s paired arrangements (flowers with paintings or sculpture) as much or more than last year’s.  A few I found too drab or just not interesting, but overall, there was a plethora of showy and unusual blooms in vibrant colors creatively constructed to evoke some resemblance to the art piece.  Here are photos of some of the arrangements.

Part of opening exhibit
Riff on brass & copper
Shades of purple

This time, I focused more on the shapes of the blooms themselves or their vivid coloring.   

Delicate colors
Note how the blooms echo the vase
Burst of yellow

In some cases, representing a painting with people or animals in it in flowers was a real challenge. The lion in a standing arrangement was spectacular and complete with long tail and paws.

Lion’s head in a massive upright arrangement
Roses & more in pinks and orange
Great pairing with the art object in the background!

RECENT READING: THE OTHER ROOSEVELT

The Old Lion by Jeff Shaara

Jeff Shaara (us.macmillan.com)

Author Jeff Shaara is perhaps best known for his Civil War trilogy focusing on several of the key battles, bookending novels written by his father. Years ago, I read The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara, a fascinating portrayal of General Joshua Chamberlain and the Battle of Gettysburg.

In The Old Lion, another historical novel, Jeff Shaara takes up presenting aspects of Theodore Roosevelt’s life and career.  Done partly as a memoir, with a young reporter interviewing TR in the last year of his life, it provides detailed accounts of Roosevelt’s explorations in the American wilderness, his service in the Spanish American War, and his dangerous expedition in the depths of Brazil.  Interspersed are briefer passages about his political life, his accomplishments in government, and his personal life with his wife Edith.  The book is long, and while Shaara captivates Roosevelt’s ebullient, brash, and sometimes flamboyant personality, I got bogged down at times in too many details.  Recommended for American history buffs.

Watching: The Forsytes (PBS)

The Chief Penguin and I watched and throughly enjoyed Season 4 of Bridgerton focusing on second son Benedict and his love for a household maid. I thought it was excellent and the best of the four seasons. Season 5 is currently in the works.

Forsyte clan (thebottleyard.com)

Netflix hugely hyped and promoted Bridgerton. Likewise, PBS has been advertising and promoting The Forsytes for several months. Lots of short clips and a whole series of lavish video vignettes focusing on different characters and various aspects of this 19th century series. It finally begins this evening.

This series is not a new version of The Forsyte Saga, but rather a re-cast rendition of John Galsworthy’s novels focusing more on the women in the family with more contemporary, i.e. faster, pacing. I’m a big fan of the Forsyte Saga, having read it several times and, excited by all the teasers, I’m very ready for The Forsytes!

Note: Flower photos ©JWFarrington (some rights reserved.)

Lazing in the Caribbean

ISLAND INTERLUDE

Tropical foliage

Last week, we took the kind of vacation we hadn’t had in years.  We returned to beautiful St. Lucia after 20 years away.  Same lovely lush island, but a different resort this time.  The air was warm, the breezes soft, the sun mostly out, and the occasional rain showers brief and almost magical.  

Porch dining
Greek style lamb chops
Coconuts at rest

We spent the bulk of the time outside, reading, relaxing, eating too well, and just being lazy.  It was a welcome respite from our busy retirement life.

LEISURE READING

When you are spending all your time lazing around, what do you do?  If you are like me, you read and then read some more.  I read a stack of books, nearly all virtual books on my Kindle.  They were generally light fare, fluff or a good mystery.  Here are two of those titles:

Beach Vibes by Susan Mallery

(booktrib.com)

Beth is divorced and the owner of a popular sandwich shop.  She has just started volunteering at the local food bank where she meets Jana, a single mother of a 4-year old, who has a job and is going to community college part time.  The two become friends and then Beth’s brother Rick, a surgeon, asks Jana out. Jana lives with her brother Teddy and his three kids since his wife died several years ago.  

When Beth later meets Teddy and starts dating him, life for these friends and their sibling brothers quickly becomes complicated.  Teddy is protective of Jana and Beth of brother Rick.  Beach Vibes is an engrossing romance that is as much about friendship and family loyalty.  A great beach read!

The Woman in Blue by Elly Griffiths

(crimefictionlover.com)

The Woman in Blue is the eighth book in the Ruth Galloway series and is one of the best I’ve read.  I’m approaching this series slowly with many books in between each title and the next one.  Published in 2016, the setting is Walsingham, England, a real shrine town with an actual cathedral, to which Griffiths has added some fictional buildings.  

When a beautiful former model, Chloe Jenkins, a patient at the nearby hospital, is murdered, DCI Nelson and his team are on the case.  Meanwhile, Hilary, an Anglican priest and a college friend of Ruth’s surfaces, and shares threatening letters she’s received denouncing women clergy. 

A second murder occurs, and Ruth, advisor to Nelson and the single mother of his young daughter Kate, becomes more closely involved in the investigation.  Who has sent the letters and did the same person kill both women?  It’s a winning combination of likable complex characters, some ancient history, and a bit of religious myth tossed in.  

If you like archaeology and local history, then you will be quickly captivated by Ruth and Harry Nelson.  Recommended! (~JWFarrington)  

Palm trees at night

Footnote

Today is the 2nd anniversary of our move from the Florida coast to North Carolina. It was so much the right thing to do, and we remain delighted with our new home! To celebrate, we had lunch downtown at Zest: Sushi and Small Plates, one of several favorite Cary restaurants.

Note: St. Lucia photos ©JWFarrington (some rights reserved.)

Carolina Comments: A Book & A Meal

RECENT READING: DAILY LIFE LIVED WELL

The Irish Goodbye: Micro-Memoirs by Beth Ann Fennelly

The term, “Irish goodbye,” means leaving a party or a gathering quietly without saying goodbye to anyone.

Poet Fennelly in 2013 (en.wikipedia.org)

The Irish Goodbye is a collection of short to extremely brief writings by the former poet laureate of Mississippi.  It ranges from her quick thoughts on married life (a cracked knee when presenting a 25th anniversary ring to folded oven mitts in a drawer), to contemplating friendships old and new, to mourning the sudden death of a sister, to facing the deaths of other family and friends.  Much space is devoted to Fennelly’s recollections of her sister and the deep hole she left in Fennelly’s life.  Mixed with the sadness and the wondering, there is also humor and wit.  

I found this book a delight.  As it progresses, Fennelly removes a few more layers and candidly exposes more of herself.  Her prose is succinct and precise and often sparkles. She makes you smile as you admire her adept turn of phrase.  Recommended for book clubs looking for a short powerful punch! (A version of this review appeared in BookBrowse online.)

Another recently published book, getting quite a bit of attention, is also entitled The Irish Goodbye.  It is a Read with Jenna Book Club Pick and Heather Aimee O’Neill’s first novel.  I have not yet read it.

EATING OUT: A FOCUS ON BEEF

Tribeca Tavern (Cary)

Interior (tribecatavernnc.com)

A group of 12 of us went to dinner at the expansive Tribeca Tavern.  The interior features warm dark wood tables and floors and is both rustic and comfortable with a fireplace in one section.  The restaurant’s mission is “pasture to plate,” and they partner with local farmers and ranchers to provide fresh ingredients.  On the menu are more than ten burgers, a host of sandwiches, small plates ranging from beet hummus to wings to brussels sprouts, and a number of salads and entrees.  If you’re not a carnivore, choose from jambalaya, fish tacos, shrimp, or salmon.  

Many in our group ordered burgers with fries or chips; the Chief Penguin and I took a different approach.  I like fried green tomatoes and was eager to try their rendition.  Finished with bourbon bacon jam and pimento cheese, they were delicious.  I also sampled the French dip which was a generous and tasty sandwich on focaccia, while the C.P. went for shrimp and grits, another good-sized portion.  

He had an Old Fashioned, while I sipped a local lager from Clayton. The drinks list is long, and if you’re so inclined—it is a tavern after all— there is also a separate multi-page whiskey list.  Whiskeys from the Carolinas, bourbons and ryes from Kentucky, Tennessee, and everywhere.  Most impressive.  Our young waitress did an admirable job serving our table and, liking the food, we’d happily return.

Carolina Comments: February Adventures

MOVIE TIME:  A PSYCHIATRIST IN CRISIS

A Private Life (Cary Theater)

Lilian & Gabriel (moviefreak.com)

Having discovered the delights of our local movie theater, the Chief Penguin and I walked downtown again.  This time to see Jodie Foster in A Private Life.  A French film in French with subtitles and a few snatches of English, it’s a little bit of everything: murder mystery, love story, and psychological portrait.  Foster plays Lilian, an American psychiatrist in Paris, who lives a polished, well-ordered, and meticulously arranged life.  

The news of the death of a favorite patient, Paula, presumed to be suicide, puts her into a tailspin.  Lilian’s convinced that it’s murder and comes up with a variety of theories based on conjecture.  She engages her ex-husband Gabriel in her investigations, and they go rogue pursuing her ideas.  In between, she sees a hypnotist, her imagination goes wild, and she insults her son Julien at a family dinner.

The film doesn’t completely work or hold together.  The best moments are the tender scenes between Lilian and Gaby and Lilian’s apology to her son. The two leads are wonderful and probably what makes the film worth seeing.  Jodie Foster transforms from brittle to serious to finally, smiling with laughter; a convincing range of moods.  Daniel Auteuil, an ophthamologist, is warm and approachable, ready to go along with Lilian, and comforting like a teddy bear.  (~JWFarrington)

BLACK HISTORY IN NORTH CAROLINA

In celebration of Black History month, local speakers presented talks about remnants of the Underground Railroad in this state and a Raleigh park devoted to Black resilience and the quest for freedom.  Heather Leah, self-dubbed the Hidden Historian, shared information on the freedom roads, tunnels, and other means of escape used by enslaved people in North Carolina.  Her new book, Lost Towns of North Carolina, was released this month.   

Khadija McNair, Park Manager, introduced us to the relatively new (opened August 2023), North Carolina Freedom Park in downtown Raleigh. It’s “a tribute to the spirit of the African American struggle for freedom and universal ideals of liberty, resilience, and equality.”  Reddish orange panels bear quotes from notable African Americans in North Carolina’s history, and in the center of the park is a 45 ft. flame, the Beacon of Freedom.

View of Freedom Park (raltoday.6amcity.com)

The park is part of the North Carolina African American Heritage Commission and one of a number of historic sites, including the International Civil Rights Center and Museum in Greensboro.  The C. P. and I visited the impressive Greensboro center some years ago, but still newish residents, we need to explore other historical sites.

EATING OUT: LAOTIAN REPRISE

Saap (Downtown Cary)

Dinner at Saap the other evening reminded us why we like this place so much.  It’s a short walk away located on the back side of the Cary Downtown Park, and the food is always tasty.  For this meal, we ordered the special shrimp and pork dumplings which were superb and the tiger shrimps on skewers, also excellent.  Both came with appropriate dipping sauces with some heat.  

We also shared the basil and garlic stir fry with crispy chicken. The garlic was definitely present, but there could have been more basil leaves.  There’s a choice of shrimp, tofu, or chicken.  We thought the chicken would have been better either less battered or not fried at all.  It came with white rice.  

A wide selection of drinks includes beer on draft and in cans, wines by the glass or bottle, classic cocktails and specialty ones, along with some zero alcohol offerings.  To end the meal, our waitress brought us a saucer with tempting little chocolates topped with a bit of pomegranate.