A Certain Slant of Light

Autumn photos! Well, one at the very beginning of autumn, with only a few yellow leaves, and two others with a little higher autumn color.

( The covered bridge )

( Autumn tea )

( The trail through the park )

I took a lot of bird photos while I was in England. Specifically, I took a lot of photos of waterfowl, because Caitlin and I discovered a hitherto unsuspected kinship in our fondness for watching birds paddling about on ponds. We kept making plans to bring a scone or a crumpet or something and feed them, but somehow we always ended up eating all the baked goods we bought. Oops?

( Whoever made this sign is not in touch with their inner child )

( Swans )

But the most puzzling bird was the statue. Specifically, ( The giant blue rooster in Trafalgar Square )

***

On an unrelated note, The Caramel Macchiato Kiss is 99 cents for the next few days, mostly because I wanted to see what would happened. Mostly what has happened is nothing, but my undergraduate advisor seemed suitably impressed by its existence, which is nice. And a little terrifying. But mostly nice!

I am leaving today for England! Looking forward to seeing motetus and illittorate. (If anyone else in England wants to see me, I will be in London mostly with side-trips to Glasgow and Cambridge.)

In preparation, I have downloaded all the photos off my camera. Behold! The fruits of my last weeks in Bloomington.

( The morning mist )

( Bananas Foster French toast )

( The piper )

Looking forward to my trip! I will be popping in on LJ occasionally for the next three weeks, but probably not that often.

Can it be that this cruel winter might finally, haltingly, draw to a close? I saw the first crocuses of spring today.

( Crocuses )

I've been selling off my old academic books with the help of my friend Paula, and as we were attending a ballet together this evening, we decided we should spend the proceeds on a delicious, delicious pre-ballet meal.

The mussels were tasty. The pizzetta with gorgonzola and prosciutto and honey was great. But at the end of the meal, we got chocolate pecan caramel pie a la mode, and it was...well.

( It looked like this )

I am returned from Chicago! And I come bearing MANY PICTURES, because Chicago is super photogenic, although these mostly are not photos of the things that are supposed to be photogenic like the giant statue of Goethe wearing nothing but an artfully draped cape. Because that is just how German writers dress, apparently?

Oh, but I do have a picture of paintings of the skyline! My friend Rachel booked us for a surprise painting class - I must admit my first thought when I heard this was GAAAH - but actually it turned out quite well; I haven't painted for years, and it was fun to slop about paint on canvas attempting to create some facsimile of the Chicago skyline.

( Our paintings )

Before the painting class, we went to the glorious empanadas place. (When Rachel and I first planned this visit, I was all "WE'LL GO TO THE EMPANADAS PLACE AGAIN! Also do other things, which we will figure out in due time. BUT EMPANADAS."

( Beautiful empanadas! )

We were thinking about going to the 1893 World's Fair exhibit at the Field Museum, but sadly Rachel's friends who have gone thought it was disappointing, and neither of us wanted to lay down thirty dollars for disappointing. So instead we went to the conservatory, which is like a tiny tropical vacation in itself, and then the Lincoln Park zoo.

( Conservatory and zoo photos )

And one last photo, because I can't let a visit to Rachel go by without taking the opportunity to take a million photos of her adorable cat!

( Cleo the adorable cat )

It's been a long, hard winter, but during the intermittent snow melts, I've taken a few walks and a few more photographs.

The stream winds through the golden grass...



And a couple of photos of the Well House, an odd little stone gazebo on the edge of the woods. In the late afternoon - and, I imagine, at dawn - the view seems enchanted, as if the arched windows are a gateway into fairyland.

( The Well House )

I had the Nutcracker this evening! And beforehand I had a Nutcracker tea, for which I was going to make scones, except I was missing one of the ingredients and did not feel like battling the snowstorm to drive over to the store. So instead I walked to the bakery and bought cupcakes. The chocolate-orange cupcakes were a big hit!



And the Nutcracker was splendid. I always think it's too bad they don't have a photo opportunity after the show, because of all the beautiful costumes: the peppermint costumes were particularly stunning, and it's just too bad that I can't share it with you all.

My wonderful penpal poeticknowledge sent me an autumn tea set as an early Christmas present. Clearly, I needed to arrange an autumn tea post haste! (I realize the first few weeks of December are still technically autumn, but nothing will ever make them feel autumnal to me)

So I invited over my friend Chelsea.



As you can see, there are two teapots. There were but two of us, so I used the small pot for tea and the big pot for a centerpiece.

( The extra teapot )

We also had a couple of extra teacups, which I put out because they made the table look more balanced. "I hope you brought your imaginary friend," I told Chelsea.

"Of course," she said. "That's Sir Bob, and that's Orville Redenbacher."

( Orville Redenbacher's teacup )

I've been trying to get proper photos of the leaves for ages now. I'd almost given up; I was sure the rain would wash the leaves away before I got them.

But today, when I left my apartment, the every picture I took seemed to be perfect. The sun and the leaves did all the work.

( Silhouettes under the golden trees )

( Shadows )

I have been remiss, remiss in documenting my tea parties this autumn! This is partly because some of them did not yield good photos, like the Belgian chocolate tea party, which was scrumptious and involved scones and Belgian chocolates (my parents visited Belgium in September)...but somehow boxes of chocolates just don’t make very exciting photos. It’s a rectilinear grid with chocolates in it, it’s only exciting if you’re picking which one to eat.

Some of them, however, have been more successful on the “exciting photos” front. Way back in September, soon after I acquired my Grecian urn, Caitlin and Emma and I had a Keats tea.

( Photo of Keats tea )

We read “Ode on a Grecian Urn,” stanza by stanza. Emma, our resident Keats expert, got to read the final “beauty is truth” stanza, as is right and proper.

And this Saturday, Caitlin dropped by my place after the farmer’s market for an impromptu tea. I just recently got the scarf on the table at the Feast of the Hunter’s Moon - another occasion that didn’t photograph well this year! - and I think the white open work looks very well on the dark table.

( More tea photos )

And finally, today Emma and I had a Hadley tea, in honor of Hemingway’s first wife Hadley, as I had just finished reading the novel Emma loaned me about Hadley. We meant to have champagne - you can’t celebrate a twenties author without champagne - but the stores in Indiana don’t sell intoxicating beverages on Sunday, so instead we had sparkling cider and fudge and the last of my dates stuffed with bleu cheese.

( Still Life with The Paris Wife )

My next literary idea is for a Narnia tea, to celebrate C. S. Lewis's birthday on November 29th. But we are all agreed that a Narnia tea would be incomplete without Turkish delight, and as none of us can face the thought of eating it, the Narnia tea is probably not to be.