Grab Your Glasses Dahlings! French Sampler is Two

Norman Parkinson, photo shoot for Vogue at the former Paris home of...actually I will let you guess, if you need a clue look at the photographs on the piano.

 It's two years ago today, that I tentatively put finger to keyboard and wrote my first blog post, after I pressed the publish button, I thought to myself, well it's out there now.  I kept checking my post to see if there were any comments, but there were none, I considered deleting it and forgetting about the whole thing but something made made me persevere. My blog did not have a raison d'etre in fact it still does not know what it wants to be when it grows up, let's just say French Sampler is continually evolving.

The thing that amazes me the most about the blogging process are the friendships and support I have made and received from fellow bloggers, readers, commenter's and people who follow this blog, you guys are wonderful. Your blogs continue to; inspire, educate, make me think, make me laugh and sometimes cry, have my jaw dropping by the sheer beauty of your content, poignancy of your words and your boundless creativity, and yes, all too often you make me want to part with my money! You are an incredible bunch of talented individuals,  I raise my glass and I make a toast to you, cheers.  

Waldeck, Make My Day, For No Reason Other Than I Love It

 

From the album Ballroom Stories

When I first saw the video it reminded me of something else, it reminded me of this...

 From the film 'Frida'

Oh and whilst we are on the subject...



 From the film 'Easy Virtue'

Wishing you all a happy weekend.

XXX

Cocooning

 The lovely Jean Shrimpton, all cosied up. Dressed by Yves Saint Laurent, photo taken by David Bailey for Vogue 1964.

Au Revoir Loulou

Loulou de la Falaise
4th May 1948 - 5th November 2011

 Great style speaks for itself...

Loulou talks about her collaboration with Oscar de la Renta

Au Revoir Loulou.

Something for the Weekend

Cecil Beaton and Jean Shrimpton by David Bailey

 Cecil Beaton and David Bailey

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend.

XXX

Greyhounds

Erté

The Greyhound, one of the oldest breeds; beautiful, elegant, loyal, gentle, kind and frequently depicted in art...

The greyhound has deep roots in the history of the world. Evidence of the existence of greyhounds over 4,000 years ago is found in murals, sculpture and paintings of dogs strikingly similar to the hounds we see today.

Greyhounds claim descent from the desert dogs of the pharaohs and Arab sheiks. These ancient dogs were held in high regard in the Middle East and were the companions of Egyptian and Arab princes. Etchings of greyhounds have been found on the walls of the tombs of ancient pharaohs. The pharaohs prized greyhounds both as pets and hunters. The Bedouins, too, so admired the greyhound that it was the only dog permitted to share their tents (a high honour in nomadic tribes) and to ride atop their camels.

 Bedouin with Salukis, relatives of the modern day Greyhound and the oldest domestic dog breed in the world.

Greyhounds are the only canine mentioned in Holy Scripture. In the writings of King Solomon (considered to be the wisest of the wise) greyhounds are described as one of the four mighty beings no one should go against (Proverbs 30:29-31).

Greyhounds were introduced in England just prior to the ninth century through the many conquests, crusades, and wars with Middle Eastern tribes. Their speed, agility, and keen eyesight made greyhounds highly prized as sporting dogs by British royalty. Canute enforced laws which stated that only free men could own and hunt with greyhounds. These restrictions, enacted to keep poachers out of royal forests, became known as the "Forest Laws."

Misse and Turlu, The Greyhounds of Louis XV

Eros, Prince Albert's favourite Greyhound, Sir Henry Edward Landseer, 1841

Thomas Gainsborough, portrait of Elizabeth Jackson, C 1760, stroking a young Greyhound

Marchesa Luisa Casati, Giovanni Boldini

Jean Gabriel Domergue

Margaret Gorman, the first Miss America, with her Greyhound 'Long Goodie' 1925

Today Greyhounds are used for racing and hunting unfortunately all too often there are reports of extreme cruelty, abandonment and worse.  Earlier today I was reading about the plight of the Galgos (Spanish Greyhounds):

The Spanish Greyhound, or Galgo, is one of the most persecuted dog breeds. Galgos are used to hunt hares in the Spanish countryside. They spend their lives in damp, tiny, dirty holes or windowless shacks deprived of daylight, exercise and affection. They are typically fed only water and stale bread. At the end of the hunting season, countless are abandoned or worse.

Sadly, the Galgo’s native land still views it as a second-class animal and few Spaniards will own them as pets. They are bred carelessly and used for hunting by galgueros (Galgo handlers). At the end of the hunting season in Spain, the Galgos deemed worthless or too costly to maintain are destroyed in a variety of inhumane ways – including being hung, dumped into abandoned wells, shot, and even burned to death. 

The lucky ones are rescued by a handful of shelters in Spain, operated by dedicated individuals. Almost all of the resources to help the dogs come from outside of Spain, namely the U.S., U.K., Belgium, Denmark, France, Holland and Germany. 

There are a handful of Spanish shelters dedicated to saving the Galgos and other unwanted animals of Spain. Although more and more galgueros are willing to give their unwanted dogs to the shelters, the abuse and torture of Galgos continues. Organizations like GRIN are dedicated to the welfare of the Spanish Galgo and sighthounds worldwide, and assist the Spanish shelters with adoption, veterinary care, and fundraising. 

I have been looking at some horrific images today, I will spare you the details, I was in tears at one point.  Fortunately there are many organisations all over the world who rescue sight hounds and try to re home them. Greyhounds make wonderful pets, people seem to be put off them because they are under the misapprehension that Greyhounds need a lot of exercise, like all dogs they do need exercise but nothing excessive, they are actually rather lazy and enjoy nothing better than lounging about, they can exist perfectly happily in apartments and like to give and receive lots of affection.  I would love a rescue sight hound as a companion for Crusoe, he would love a girlfriend!  I just have to persuade MG.  I was looking at galleries of the dogs up for adoption...more tears, I want them all.

http://galgorescue.org/
http://www.galgonews.com/
http://levriers.net/

http://www.retiredgreyhounds.co.uk/
http://www.greyhoundrescue.co.uk/

http://greyhoundgap.org.uk/

http://www.greyhoundsinneed.co.uk/topFrame.htm
http://actuanimaux.com/

www.gap.grv.org.au

If you would like me to include an organisation, let me know and I will add it to the list.

 Bedouin with Salukis

Haunting Inspirations

Glamis Castle, Angus, Scotland, home to Michael Bowes-Lyon, the 18th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne. Birthplace and childhood home of Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mother. Reputedly one of the most haunted castles in Britain.  William Shakespeare chose Glamis Castle as the setting for 'The Scottish Play'. I can't bring myself to write the true name of the play, old habits die hard and I am a bit superstitious!

Top Withens, Nr Haworth, West Yorkshire, the plaque below explains...

Whitby Abbey, Whitby, North Yorkshire, easy to see why it inspired Bram Stoker to write Dracula.

Daphne du Maurier at her home, Menabilly, Cornwall. The house she fell in love with, the house that inspired Mandelay and Rebecca.

I hope you will all be hauntingly inspired this Halloween.

XXX

Nice, The Friendliest City in France?

Crusoe on the Promenade des Anglais

A slight intermission in blogging due to a spur of the moment decision for an interlude in Nice. I have driven through and round Nice many times but this was the first time I have actually visited, and yes, I think it possibly is the friendliest city in France.  The friendly, laid back attitude of the locals did not just extend to us, Crusoe has never had so much attention, he was admired and fussed over wherever we went, bar and restaurant staff could not do enough for him, his every wish was catered for, even fellow diners at the local restaurants and cafes were eager to indulge him by feeding him titbits, if like us you like to travel with a furry, K9 friend, Nice is the place to go.

The Royal Salon, The Negresco Hotel

The friendliness, laid back attitude and love of dogs is apparent even in the smartest hotel in town; The Negresco, although unfortunately we did not reside there we did pop in for a look round and an early evening coupe de Champagne.  We headed for the bar but we spied the resident cat in there, fortunately before Crusoe spotted him, now Crusoe positively loathes cats and if we had taken him in there all hell would have broken lose and I really don't think the other patrons of the bar would have appreciated an impromptu re-enactment of Tom and Jerry.  We went in search of the other bar, located in the Carousel restaurant, we were warmly greeted by Madame La Patronne; Jeanne Augier, the rather eccentric owner, she just happened to be dining in the restaurant as we arrived, she is The Negresco. Madame Augier and her hotel have a rather fascinating story; here.  I found the Carousel restaurant slightly bizarre it is just like being on a carousel, with the music and horses to match, we ordered two coupes, unfortunately, the Champagne was flat and my glass was chipped, we informed the waiter, who opened a new bottle and brought us two fresh glasses.  Needless to say without having to ask a very large bowl of water was served to Crusoe.

The rest of the time was spent exploring, with many eating and drinking stops, I especially loved the old town, the colours and the architecture are magnificent, bearing in mind that Nice was part of Italy until 1860, sometimes it's hard to figure out if you are in an Italian town or a French one.

The other highlight for me was the huge flea market in the Course Saleya, held every Monday, I could have had a field day, there were some fine antiques on offer and the vendors were perfectly happy to haggle, so there are plenty of opportunities to bag a bargain, I wondered around in my element until the market just about wrapped up.  Due to the space limitations of a two seater sports car with tiny boot space, my only purchase was a beautifully made mirrored and chrome, hexagonal Art Deco tray (something I have been after for a while) haggled down from 50 to 25 Euros, next time I am coming in a van!

Crusoe, in Nice, working his baby seal impression, he has no shame!

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend.
XXX