August 2015 – Miss Julie's Weird Universe

Tulip time at Filoli in Woodside, California

When you are craving tulips, there’s no place like Filoli in March. Filoli is a country home in Woodside, California, situated on 654 delicious acres of the San Francisco peninsula. The home, designed and built between 1915 and 1917, is lovely, eclectic, very large, and allows for expansive fantasy habitation. It is the 16-acre Renaissance garden, however, designed between 1917 and 1929, that brings us back season after season for another look.

In March, it is time for the tulips.

The name Filoli is derived from the credo of the original owner and builder, William Bowers Bourn: “FIght for a just cause; LOve your fellow man; LIve a good life. Mr. Bourn made a fortune in the gold-mining business in Grass Valley, California, and also owned the Spring Valley Water Company, the southern tip of which now comprises the Filoli estate. His home certainly reflects the part about LIving a good life!

In 1975, Mrs. William P. Roth, the owner at that time, donated the house and 125 acres to the National Trust for Historic Preservation and it is now open for visitors between February and October, Tuesday through Sunday. No picnics or tripods!

So, let’s stroll through the garden take in the tulips.

Since it’s March, there are also rhododendrons,wisteria, and the beginnings of peonies.

There is a garden shop that uses lively merchandizing to sell plants and other odds and ends.

Another reason to go to Filoli is the classes. It is possible to get a certificate in botanical art, floral design, or horticulture. The decorative arts classes offer unusual subjects like embroidery and porcelain painting. Just for a laugh, here is how my embroidery looked after a six-hour “White Work in Color” embroidery class taught by the charming Lucy Barter, a graduate of the Royal School of Needlework whose certificate was actually signed by Queen Elizabeth II. (For you Call the Midwife fans, Chummy is also an alumna of this college.) It wasn’t Lucy’s fault it looked like this.

This is Miss Ellie’s, who was much more adept.

Well, back to the tulips.

Cats in Greece

There are a lot of cats in Greece–domestic, feral, and stone. Here are a few from the Greek Islands:

And here’s a dog:

Baby Luigi at 6 weeks – He wants his mommy

Here is Luigi the blue merle cardigan corgi at six weeks. He has just been weaned but that doesn’t stop him from trying to follow his mom, Tosca. You can see her tail as she walks away to the right. Poor Luigi! His ears are up (the first of his litter) but the stone steps are a bit of a challenge.

Movie Stars in Mill Valley! MV Film Festival – From a Photographer’s Eye

It is almost time for the California Film Institute’s 2015 Mill Valley Film Festival (October 8 – 18, 2015) and that got me thinking about last year’s festival when I worked as a photographer. That was when I decided for sure that I didn’t want to be a movie star.

The opening event is held at the Outdoor Art Club. It’s a private women’s civics and conservation club dedicating to preserving a beautiful Arts & Crafts building designed by architect Bernard Maybeck and the lovely garden. It has the added convenience of being located across the street from the Sequoia Theater in Mill Valley, where the opening night film, “The Horsemen,” was shown.

The Opening Night VIP party is attended by everyone: filmmakers, producers, locals, people involved in this festival, people from other festivals, even you, if you buy a ticket in time here.

There are, of course, artists and actors, although Hal and Myrna Tatar were actually across the street in line for the movie.

Everyone had a camera.

Meanwhile, the official photographers rushed around shooting pictures, taking names, and trading sightings.

But the main event is when the star of the show arrives for the opening. Hilary Swank flew in from Paris and appeared in a gorgeous blue movie star gown. She was swept into the little garden behind the club, away from the party, and posed with the director of the festival, the president of CFI, and the sponsors. Here is how she looked:

But this is what it looked like:

She generously turned her head as photographers called her name (here, with CFI President, Jennifer MacCready). Here comes my turn:

And there she goes:

After this, Hilary went into the club for a private Q&A with the big wigs. When this was finished, she was hustled into her black SUV, driven around the block, and deposited at the Sequoia after the viewers were already seated inside. This is what it looks like when a movie star gets out of a car and there is no red carpet “step and repeat”:

Hilary was very gracious, even when I was setting up my tripod inside the theater and accidentally jabbed her with my elbow as she waited through the introduction before walking down the aisle.

At last, here she is meeting her public at the screening of “The Horsemen” with Mark Fishkin, Director of the Mill Valley Film Festival:

Another red carpet MVFF event was the screening of “Like Sunday, Like Rain” attended by filmmaker Frank Whaley and stars Leighton Meester and Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day. This was one held at the Rafael Theater in San Rafael.

Leighton Meester is very, very pretty in person with perfectly symmetrical features and luminous skin. But on camera? A knockout! No such thing as a bad angle.

And here she is talking with the press:

Here is filmmaker Frank Whaley speaking with interviewers:

And here is Billie Joe Armstrong:

And all three for a final pose:

It takes a lot of grace to be a movie star, and a lot of stamina to stand up to the demands of the public. That’s why I’m staying on the shy side of the camera.

Cooking School in Florence, Italy

There are many great things in Florence, Italy–the architecture, the art, the gardens–but there is no question that one of that best things is the food. So, while in Florence, why not learn to cook? Some lucky visitors stay for a week-long cooking course, but even if you have only a free day you can learn to make a decent pasta and tiramisu.

We went to a cooking class at the Food and Wine Academy of Florence. They offer a variety of cooking classes and tours, including pizza and gelato making, wine and olive tasting, a Tuscan wine trail tour, and our class, the “Chef for a Day” cooking class that included a trip to the Florence Central Market. We had, quite unusually, not planned in advance and considered ourselves extremely lucky to fit into a class the next day.

Our cooking class met in the morning and we took an easy stroll to the Central Market in Florence. You begin to understand why Florentine food is so great when you see what they start with.

There’s the funghi and the ham:

Every kind of delicacy:

And, of course, a classic Italian butcher:

We crammed into a little stall for a private tasting of olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

We also tried a lot of tasty artisanal treats and came out with our winner, the truffle honey.

Once we had our supplies, we proceeded by foot to the cooking school. The kitchen was high-ceiled with smooth plaster and looked the way kitchens aspire to look after a high-end remodel. We were issued our aprons and found a place at the table.

First, we all ate some bruschetta with perfect tomatoes. We didn’t make this, but we were given the recipe and instructions to make it at home.

Next, we made our dessert, the tiramasu. We did a lot of whisking.

Then we layered our crema and chocolate in glass bowls. We all designed our tiramisu with a personal touch so that we could identify our own bowl later after the dessert chilled.

Then, the main event. We learned to make pasta and, while we were at it, a couple of different sauces. First the pappardelle:

And then the ravioli:

And the results were startlingly professional!

After we ate–sorry, too busy eating to take a picture–we all received our certificates. What a delicious and instructive way to spend a day in Florence!

Penguins on the Falkland Islands

How unlikely to find oneself on the Falkland Islands. We decided it was time to round Cape Horn and found the perfect itinerary on Holland America: Buenos Aires, Uruguay, the Falkland Islands, the Straits of Magellan, Tierra del Fuego, around the Horn, and up through the fjords and volcanoes of Chile to Santiago. It was all wonderful, but there is no question that the highlight was a visit to the penguins at Volunteer Point on the Falkland Islands.

Upon arriving in Stanley, four of us boarded an impressive Toyota Landcruiser and joined a convoy through the peat bogs to Volunteer Point. This part was an adventure in itself as there are no specific roads, just tracts that the convoy leader chooses based on what looks good that day.

One of the vehicles in our convoy broke down so we squeezed a Russian-speaking woman into our Landcruiser and tied the spare tire to the roof rack.

On the way, we saw our first penguin, a little Magellan.

Eventually, we arrived at penguin heaven.

I was totally unprepared for what awaited us. I had bought a zoom lens for the trip and practiced photographing water birds at a distance in our bay. In an effort to minimize my equipment, I took only the zoom lens on this excursion. Well, of course, it turned out that the penguins were utterly underfoot. I had to back up to try to get pictures in focus. To the penguins, we were just another animal. We would bump into each other, bark a bit, and each go on our way. For an insightful discussion of fear in penguins, read The Thing with Feathers, by Noah Strycker

There are about 1,200 penguins and three different species each claiming their own roosting spot at Volunteer Point. The first we came across was the group of gentoos. The fledglings are adorable.

Next, the baby Magellans huddled together. They seemed to have a preference for mud.

On the hillside, the nearly yard-tall king penguins roosted.

But it was the beach that was astonishing. Hundreds and hundreds of penguins–all types–swimming, marching, preening–enjoying icy, pristine, turquoise waters.

Sometimes the king penguins stood on their heels.

Sometimes they marched in a circle.

The gentoos flapped.

Or conversed.

Too soon, our time was up. We had some sandwiches that were an odd combination of chutney and other random ingredients, and bumped our way back to Stanley.

What a spectacular day! If you are ever offered the privilege of visiting Volunteer Point, jump at it! Or, stay home and consider sponsoring a penguin here.

Guided Tours of Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires, Argentina

All right, I’m just putting it out there. I’m a huge opera fan. So when I was in Buenos Aires, I naturally had to see the storied Teatro Colon even though it was summer and the theater was dark. Since I couldn’t see a performance, I settled for a guided tour.

The original Teatro Colon was built in 1857, but was demolished in 1888 to make way for the building of the Banco Nacion. Work on the new Teatro Colon began in 1889. Today’s Teatro Colon opened in 1908 with a performance of Verdi’s Aida. The hall immediately became famous for its outstanding acoustics. All the opera greats found their way to Buenos Aires, touring there as readily as to the Met and La Scala. The theater went to seed a bit over the years, but a restoration was started in 2005 and the theater reopened in 2010. What a restoration! The theater is absolutely beautiful, even without the performers.

A really good description of the architectural history of the theater is here: http://www.en.wikiarquitectura.com/index.php/Colon_Theater But here’s a thumbnail version: there was a competition that was won by Francisco Tamburini, an Italian architect who had worked in Buenos Aires for many years. Just as the work on the theater commenced, Tamburini died. The project was taken over by Victor Meano, who was murdered in his home. This theater started to feel like King Tut’s tomb when even an Italian financier, the licensee of the Colon, died suddenly. Finally, Meano was succeeded by Julio Dormal, a Belgian, and the curse was broken. The final building demonstrates both Italian and French styles, highly ornamental with complicated decorative elements.

The concept of the architecture was to allow the opera-goers to ascend to a higher plane as they entered the theater. This first approach is the grand staircase topped by a spectacular dome.

The hall of composers is full of busts of composers guarded by cherubim.

The most elegant area of the theater is the Salon Dorado, or Golden Hall. Only ticket holders in certain sections of the theater are allowed access to this salon.

Sorry about the pictures–I always seem to be looking up.

When we were finally about to enter the house, the sala, full drama kicked in. The group assembled behind a curtain and—voila!–it was whisked aside and there before us was absolutely the most beautiful theater I have ever seen. I am not a crier, but I cried when I saw it. Even now I get goosebumps when I think about the house. In fact, I was so overwhelmed that I didn’t even take a picture. That’s overwhelmed.

Here are some interesting things about the theater. Along the sides of the orchestra seats there are grates. These enclose boxes that were for the exclusive use of women in mourning who would naturally not want to be seen at the opera but, even more naturally, would of course still want to attend. These look like the grates in old churches that allowed the cloistered nuns or anchorites to attend mass.

The top galleries–the cheap seats–are known as the chicken coop.

There are separate standing room sections for men and women; these are the “cazuela de pie solo para mujeres,” (standing room for women), behind the cazuela section, and the “tertulia de pie” section, one floor above for men.

Here are some cute Mormon missionaries taking the tour in Spanish. Hi Mom!:

While some tours include a guide who likes to sing, alas, our tour did not include a demonstration of the fabulous acoustics.

For more information about performances at the theater, visit the website here. The opera season runs generally from April to July, and then September, November, December. The ballet season is interspersed, playing in March, May, August, October, with the inevitable Nutcracker in December. This is bad news for opera fans traveling to South America during the South American summer season, but that’s where the theater tours come in. There are many concerts, theater productions, touring companies, and special performances throughout the year.

The Teatro Colon is at Avenida 9 de Julio. Guided tours of the theater are given daily, every fifteen minutes, from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. They last about 50 minutes. Tours are given at different times throughout the day in English, Portuguese, or Spanish. You can reserve tickets in advance by emailing here. You can also get the tickets at the theater on the day of the tour. The entrance to the box office is at Tucuman 1171, around the side of the building. Be sure to go early if you want to get one of the English tours. Once you have your ticket, you can wander around but come back to line up at least fifteen minutes before the tour begins. Only 34 people are allowed per tour.

The Volunteer Drought Garden

We are having a drought here in Northern California, so my vegetable boxes went unplanted this summer. Never fear! Amaranth seedlings, volunteering from one tiny plant I bought at the farmer’s market a few years ago, have sprung up everywhere and the pendulous spikes of fuzzy magenta flowers now grace my otherwise dreary garden. What a remarkably versatile plant. You can cook the grain or eat the leaves or just enjoy the crazy flowers.

In other surprises, two amaryllis plants that were supposed to be dying back (since Christmas) have pushed up marvelous summer blooms. I suppose that’s the natural thing for them to do, after all. One is an ordinary red one from Trader Joe’s that is many years old. The other is a ‘Lady Jane,’ putting on a much better show than it did at Christmas.

The last surprise is the little forest of daylilies that arose from a bulblet cloned by my daughter in freshman biology lab at Mount Holyoke, oh, six years ago now. For many years we didn’t know what we had as we got only a sad single shoot that would die back. It probably didn’t help that the poor bulblet had been rattling around in my daughter’s backpack for about three months before resurfacing.

It was fairly discouraging until I was advised by Mike’s Backyard Garden to repot and be patient. With all that growing and dying back, the five-year-old bulb finally got the oomph to put out a flower and the elegant Stella was born, shown here with Luigi.

While she was at it, Stella threw off several potfuls of baby bulblets. I replanted the bulbs and put them outside to brave conditions beyond my indoor intensive care unit. This year we are watching to see what we will get. More of the same or an oddball mutation? The first of this year’s plants has just bloomed!

So, while my drought-stricken garden is bare of tomatoes, we still have some things to watch and cheer along.

Mosaics of Ravenna, Italy

A pilgrimage to Ravenna is rewarded by glorious, awe-inspiring, Byzantine mosaics.

As I was snoozing through slides in my first college art history class–it was so nice and warm and dark, after all–I suddenly snapped to attention when I saw Ravenna. Image after image of massive gold and green mosaic domes. Patterns jammed next to each other in the craziest way that really worked. Birds, harts, saints, Empress Theodora, all marching across ceilings and walls. Where is this place? The professor said it was really essential to spend a full day in Ravenna in one spot watching the light change on the tiny tesserae. I filed that away for future reference and went back to sleep.

First, A BIT OF HISTORY. If you just want to know where to go, skip below.

Ravenna may have been founded by ancient Etruscans, but the history is unclear. The Romans took over in 89 B.C.E. and in 49 B.C.E. it is where Julius Caesar mustered his troops before crossing the Rubicon. In 410 A.D. King Alaric of the Visigoths took hostage Galla Placidia, the daughter of Emperor Theodosius I, but she later returned to Ravenna with her son, Emperor Valentinian III. This is important because one of the most beautiful sites in Ravenna is the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia. This is misnamed because she is not in fact buried there, but it’s nice to know who she was anyway. During the period of relative peace following her return, several of the major Ravenna monuments were built, including the Orthodox Baptistry, San Giovannia Evangelista, and the (not really) mausoleum of Galla Placidia.

The Ostrogoth king, Theoderic the Great took Ravenna in 493 and established the capital of the Ostrogoth kingdom in Ravenna. Among other buildings, Theodoric built his palace church, the gorgeous Sant’Apollinare Nuovo.

In 540, the Eastern Orthodox Christian Byzantine Emperor Justinian I (with his extraordinary wife, the ex-circus performer Theodora), based in Constantinople, then called Byzantium now called Istanbul, conquered Ravenna and established the Byzantine seat of government in Italy there. From 540 to 600, the Byzantine bishops in Ravenna went wild building amazing churches, including the spectacular Basilica of San Vitale.

Alas, Justinian and Theodora never actually visited the Basilica that features such glamorous portraits of them. Justinian’s court historian, Procopius, wrote a comprehensive history of Justinian’s building projects in his book, Buildings . For a juicy look at the real doings of Justinian’s court, however, read Procopius’ The Secret History . At this point, we stop our brief history because it is the Byzantines we love.

A LITTLE SOMETHING ABOUT THE ART

Byzantine art is exclusively religious, specifically Eastern Orthodox Christian, in subject. Even the famous mosaics of secular rulers Justinian and Theodora show them in a religious context. Within this rubric of religious art, however, there is much room for decoration with pattern, flora, fauna, and color.

The “painting” is done with tiny glass tiles called tesserae. The singular is tessera. Many of the tesserae used in Ravenna were clear glass on two sides, sheathing a gold leaf center. This allowed for the light to reflect off both the glass and the gold, creating a glittering, luminous effect. While most of the terrerae were made of glass, often the faces, rough garments, or natural features like rocks were made from tiles of marble or limestone.

A beautiful historical and critical study of Byzantine art, much of it about Ravenna, is Andre Grabar’s Byzantine Painting. This picture is from Byzantine Painting. I couldn’t get that close!

RAVENNA TODAY

Ravenna itself is an industrial port city on the Adriatic coast, unprepossessing on first approach. Once you get to the Byzantine center, a UNESCO World Heritage site, all that changes to magic. There are the classic small streets and dead ends, stone buildings, lots and lots of churches. But it is what’s inside the buildings that brings us here. Prepare to be totally bowled over by the mosaics. These were our favorites:

Mausoleum of Galla Placidia.

The earliest of the famous Ravenna monuments, the “mausoleum”–quotes because Galla Placidia is not actually buried there–is a small brick building in the form of a Latin cross. The mosaics ornamenting the barrel vaults and dome here pre-date the Byzantine conquest and are Roman, not Byzantine. The high windows are glazed with Alabaster, giving a warm golden light.

The symbolic and decorative mosaic patterns soaring above the marble walls are amazing. It is so small a space that you are engulfed by the art. You are only allowed in for a limited time, and maybe that’s just as well considering that one could easily be overcome by the closeness and glory of it.

When we went for the second time, it was very early morning and no other visitor had yet arrived. After our allotted visit time, the guard, who recognized us from the day before when we were evacuated from the Archiepiscopal Museum during a fire alarm, spoke to us in Italian, mostly concerned that my ticket didn’t show that I had been to the museum when clearly I had. When I answered accidentally in my default Spanish that it was a new ticket since I had used up my previous one the day before, he announced with delight that he was actually Spanish and we had a nice conversation. He invited us back into the mausoleum and we had it to ourselves until someone else arrived. Heaven!

In fact, here is the starry night of the dome–almost heaven. It is said that Cole Porter was inspired to write “Night and Day” by a visit to the Galla Placidia.

Basilica of San Vitale.

A masterpiece. Absolutely. The apse will make you gasp. On facing walls are the famous portraits of Justinian and Theodora with their retinues. But look around! Peacocks, saints, flowers . . . there is no moment in the mosaic unadorned.

This is looking from the apse into the dome over the nave, which does not have Byzantine mosaics but is still beautiful:

And while you’re there, look down! The floors are gorgeous, too.

While I was at San Vitale early one morning with only a few fellow viewers, a basso profundo was chanting somewhere in the mysterious depths of the church. This was a fine reminder that this is a sacred site, notwithstanding the hoards of tourists tromping through. Early arrival is key!

Church of Sant’Apollinare Nuovo.

In the rectangular, airy nave, you are surrounded by miracles and processions. Along the top on one side are 13 small mosaics of Jesus’ miracles. Under them is a procession of 22 mosaic virgins led by the 3 Magi, identified here for the first time as Balthasar, Melchoir and Caspar. Keep an eye out for these wise men because they sport fantastically outrageous outfits that would make really great pajamas.

On the other side of the nave are 26 martyrs, a few saints, and above them, 13 mosaics of the passion of Christ. Most of the figures and faces are similar and undistinguished, giving a rhythm to the whole.

While you’re at Sant’Apollinare Nuovo, swing by the nearby Basilica of Saint Francis, burial place of Dante Alighieri. Despite the fact that he is known as a Florentine poet, he spent most of his life in exile, expiring in Ravenna in 1321.

HOW TO GET THE TICKETS

You need to get a 9.5 euro ticket which will give you entry to each of five major mosaic sites: Basilica of Sant’Apollinare Nuovo, Neonian Baptistry, Basilica of San Vitale, Mausoleum of Gallo Placida (at certain times of year there is a 2 euro surcharge for this), and Archiepiscopal Museum and Chapel. This is the biggest bargain in Italy. The ticket is valid for seven days but only good for admission to each site once. All of the sites are within walking distance. It is worth making the effort to see them all, even if it’s hot. The ticket offices are near the entrances to the monuments and well marked:

San Vitale – via Argentario 22

Sant’Apollinare – via di Roma 53

Museum Arcivescovile – piazza Arcivesovado 1

Battistero Neoniano – piazza Battistero.

More information about tickets is available here.

WHERE TO STAY

We stayed at the M Club De Luxe B&B, just at the gates of the old town. It is a quirky bed and breakfast in a building built by Venetians in 1452 for the noble family La Torre-Magni. It has been in host Michael Scapini Mantovani’s mother’s family, the Melandris, since the end of the 19th century. His father, an architect, restored the house from 2002 to 2006. Michael is an earnest host, eager to please you with his breakfast, advice, and parking skills. The décor is amusing, including an alligator skin, many paintings, and lots of angels.

The rooms are spacious, if charmingly irregular, and are identified by the predominant color used in the decor. Our room was the green room, advertised as “the most elegant at the M Club.” We certainly liked it. The window in the little nook looked over the 5^th Century Gate of Adrian. Be sure to make a reservation for private parking at the M Club (10 Euros) as it is absolutely necessary. You cannot drive in the old town. The M Club is very near to San Vitale Basilica and Galla Placidia, the gems of Ravenna. Information about the M Club De Luxe is here.

IF YOU WANT TO MAKE YOUR OWN MOSAICS

The Mosaic Art School di Luciana Notturni, near the Basilica di Sant-Apollinaire Nuovo offers courses in the art of mosaic. There is an introductory five day course where you make two projects, one a copy of a Roman/Byzantine mosaic and one a contemporary piece. Once you have mastered this, there are classes in mosaic portraiture, carpet-floor mosaic technique, 3-D mosaics, micro mosaics, and mosaic restoration. More information about the school can be found here.

OTHER EVENTS IN RAVENNA

In the summer, on Tuesdays and Fridays there is a special night time festival called “Mosaico di Notte” (Mosaics by Night). San Vitale Basilica and the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia are open and guided tours are available of the archeological sites of the Domus of the Stone Carpets and the Rasponi Crypt-Roof Gardens. You must book in advance for these sites. Concerts in the forecourt of the Church of Santa Maria Maggiore and poetry readings in front of the Basilica San Francesco are part of the summer festival. There is also an International Festival of Organ Music. You can get more information on these events here.

Baby Luigi

Here’s the thing about baby corgis, nobody believes they’re a real kind of dog. Do not get a corgi puppy, especially a blue merle cardigan corgi, if you value your privacy. People will jump out of their cars to talk to you about your dog. First, they will ask what kind of dog he is. Then, they will tell you that he is not a corgi. They will tell you he is an “interesting mix.” Sometimes they propose that he is an Aussie-Basset or maybe a husky mix. It is best just to nod agreeably because you will never convince a doubter that he really is a corgi.

Junior corgis are particularly marvelous vocal stylists. But that’s another day…

	Steve&Vicki on Mosaics of Ravenna, Italy
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	Merri Burns on Luigi at the Beach
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