Dec 10 2023 - The Royal Christmas Card

 

When did we decide to send pictures of ourselves as Christmas cards?  It was the royals who started the official Christmas card tradition - Queen Victoria in the 1840s. The rest of us... much later. The news has announced that Buckingham Palace has released an image of the Christmas card that King Charles III and Queen Camilla will be sending out this year.  It was taken in the Throne Room following the coronation on May 6th.  It is strikingly impressive.  Not like the family in the Christmas pyjamas or the Buffalo plaid shirts. Isn't red an excellent colour for Royals and for Christmas.  Here's the link to see the Royals' Christmas cards through the years.  Somehow Monaco's royal family slips into the series of images through the years.  How interesting it is to see what settings they choose for their photos.  Some boring and some delightful.  Some expressions truly charming and some unpleasantly strained.

And what about the most popular Christmas card ever?  We'll it is actually a greeting card - Hallmark's Pansy Card, 1939. The 1977 Three Little Angels card is the top-selling Hallmark Christmas card. Ruth Morehead was the artist - one of Hallmark's legendary contributors. What about this card from 2020? Millie the puppy and master of the house Baxter. Read more daily posts here: marilyncornwellblogspot.com Purchase works here: Fine Art America- marilyncornwell.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

Oct 4 2023 - The King of Spades

 

The king card is the oldest and most universal court card. It most likely originated in Persian Ganjifeh where kings are depicted as seated on thrones and outranking the viceroy cards which are mounted on horses.  High card by suit and low card by suit refer to assigning relative values to playing cards of equal rank based on their suit. When suit ranking is applied, the most common conventions from lowest to highest are: ♣♦♥♠ English alphabetical order. clubs, followed by diamonds, hearts, and spades.   That makes the King of Spades the highest ranking King: a wealthy king who carries a scepter and an orb. It is a symbol of power and authority. . The kings were associated with historical figures, although this tradition was dropped over time: The King of Spades is thought to be David, King of Israel from the Old Testament. King of Clubs: Alexander the Great, King of Macedonia, who conquered a vast region and lived from 356 to 323 BCE. The King of Hearts is the only king without a moustache.  He is Charlemagne, King of France and the first Holy Roman Emperor, who lived from 747 to 814 AD. King of Diamonds is Roman Caesar Augustus. Some sources say the king of diamonds is Julius Caesar, not Augustus. Some jokes are very lengthy and get to a punchline eventually.  Deck of card jokes are pretty short: What doctor also specializes in card games? The cardiologist. Why did a husband give his wife a deck of cards?  She wanted something with diamonds. What does Batman keep losing when playing card games?  He keeps attracting the Joker Why did the Kings, Queens, and Jacks stand before a judge? They’re court cards. My doctor tells me that a healthy serving of red meat is the size of a deck of cards.  Tonight I ate 52 slices of roast beef. A patient bursts into a doctor’s office, "Doctor, I believe I'm a deck of cards!"  Doctor : "Sit down, I'll deal with you later" Today we have a nice model railroad layout scene.

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Credit Chaucer

I am tracking down Geoffrey Chaucer.  His work is in the British Library.  They must have created their website a very long time ago - it is bl.uk. Not a very descriptive or identifying name. Geoffrey Chaucer wrote in the 1400s - this is hard work to read - it's "Old English".  The idea of Valentine's Day as a day for lovers is thought to come from his Parliament of Fowls. He would have spelled it "The Parlement of Foules". It describes a group of birds which gather together in the early spring to choose their mates for the year. It is humorous and philosophical in its exploration of the idea of love.   ‘For this was on seynt Volantynys day / Whan euery bryd comyth there to chese his make.’  Birds in England do not mate in mid-February. They mate later - and it has been proposed by scholars that Chaucer was actually referring to the 3rd of May - when Valentine of Genoa, a bishop who died around AD307 was commemorated.  There were quite a few Valentine martyrs in the 3rds century.  I found two stories on the earliest/oldest Valentine.  The first has the earliest surviving romantic Valentine missive written by Charles, Duke of Orleans while he was imprisoned in the Tower of London, after being captured by the English during the Battle of Agincourt in 1415. Written to his wife Bonne of Armagnac, the love poem repeats phrases using "Valentine" as a term of endearment several times: Je suis desja d'amour tanné Ma tres doulce Valentinée This French prose translates to “I am already sick of love, My very gentle Valentine” in English. Sadly, the Duke’s wife died before receiving the words of love of her imprisoned husband and today his words reside in the British Library. The next is a letter that might be called a valentine.  It was written in 1477 by Margery Brews - and says 'my right well beloved Valentine'.   If I may skip ahead to curious and entertaining Valentine's Cards - here's a series on bored panda.com  - they reference famous people - and are done by Ben Kling.  I apologize that they start with Hitler, but after that they are great. Please don't embargo my love Happy Valentine's Day - Fidel Leon Trotsky Thinks you're Hotsky Live without you?  I Kant. And the image today comes from a guard rail in Toronto - a wonderful little bit of graffiti for us to enjoy.

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Canada Blooms - Inspirations of Spring

Canada Blooms was so inspirational last week.  The perennial greenhouse was a delight of flowers, grasses, and fern leaves unfolding.  I took my favourite images and have made a set of greeting cards.  Here they are:

Getting Set for Valentine's Day

It's a few weeks away, so I've been thinking about Valentine's Day.  I was at Donlands and Danforth last week, and saw some wonderful red paint on a white wall.  It might have been graffiti or messy workers, I'm not sure.  As soon as I saw it, I intuitively  recognized a shape.  When I got it into Lightroom (yes the software is called the opposite of a film darkroom), I was able to bring out what I saw.  It was a half a heart, and I duplicated and manipulated it slightly to bring out an entire heart.  I have named it Heart Wide Open, an Urban Valentine.  


You can buy a card or print at redbubble and a bag (lots of types) at zazzle!