Don Quixote at the Atlanta Ballet

In June or July 2022 I watched an interview with the dancer and choreographer Mikhail Baryshnikov on the TV show CBS Sunday Morning. The music from the short clip of him dancing sounded very familiar; I did not know from which ballet this was. For the next several weeks I tried to find out on the Internet where this short dance came from. Finally I found out that it was called the Basilio Variation from the Ballet Don Quixote. I really wished to see this ballet that I had never seen. I had attended ballet performances in Paris at the Opera Garnier, at the San Francisco Opera House, Odessa National Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre in Ukraine, and during my first stay in St. Petersburg, Russia, at the Mariinsky Ballet and Opera House, but never seen this ballet. It had been at least 5 years since I attended, with my late husband, the Moulin Rouge ballet in Atlanta, Georgia.

Then I researched for a while to find where this ballet might be performed within the next few months. I checked all the large cities ballets, such as New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Miami, Chicago and more. Then I checked Paris, London, Amsterdam, Zurich, Vienna and Venice - It had been performed there in previous years but not in the near future. I almost gave up and then checked Atlanta. Surprise! It was on the Atlanta Ballet season for 2023, in March. I could not believe that it was so close to home. I waited for tickets to be available and quickly bought one last November. Then my younger daughter told me they were all going to San Salvador for spring break and would fly back into Atlanta just a couple of days before the performance, so I was lucky to find two tickets next to me for my daughter and granddaughter for the Saturday March 18, 2023 matinee performance at the Atlanta Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre, where ballets take place.

Now I had time to do my favorite thing - research the story, history of the ballet, the music, the artistic directors and choreographers, where and when it had been performed for the first time and more. I found some interesting facts. First of all, the Spanish epic novel Don Quixote was written by Miguel de Cervantes in two parts, in 1605 and 1615. It is considered the first modern novel and one of the greatest. It has been translated into 50+ languages and is the best-selling novel of all times (at least 500 million copies so far.) It has had a great influence on Western books, plays, movies and works of art since then. It offers universal truths, commentaries on social life and provides escapism. Below is Miguel de Cervantes (29 September 1547 - 22 April 1616.)

and some book covers of his novels in several languages; the bottom right one one is an e-book. (Click on collage to enlarge.)

Italy in the 17th and 18th centuries was the European country where one should travel to visit Roman ruins, or view statues, paintings and so forth. But starting in the 19th century, around 1820, travelers switched their interest to Spain. Writers like Victor Hugo, Alexandre Dumas and others thought that Spain offered more inspiration and adventures. French and Russian writers, painters, musicians, and choreographers were inspired by Spain. Europe as a whole shared a fascination for Spain.

Alexander III (1845-1894) Emperor of Russia, was a patron of the ballet, and requested a Spanish-themed ballet be shown in Russia. The imperial theatre commissioned Marius Petipa to mount and choreograph a work in the Spanish style. Below photo of Petipa.

I found the life of Marius Petipa fascinating. Victor Marius Alphonse Petipa was born in 1818 in Marseille, France. His father Jean Antoine Petipa was working as principal dancer and Maitre de Ballet in Marseille. Petipa's mother, Victorine Grasseau, was a drama actress playing tragic roles. His brother Lucien became a distinguished dancer and his sister, Victorine, a noted singer. They were a close-knit family. His father began teaching ballet to Marius when he was seven, and at the age of nine he made his stage debut in one of his father's ballets at the Theatre de la Monnaie in Brussels, Belgium. Marius was appointed to the Ballet of Nantes, France, as principal dancer then in Bordeaux. Below is the Petipa family, with Marius on the left, then his brother Lucien, his sister Victorine and mother Victorine.

In 1843 Marius started a 3-year working tour in Spain where he became master in Sevillian dances and castanets. He then began to choreograph his own ballets. He had already spent time in Paris where his brother Lucien was principal dancer at the Paris Opera. Lucien worked also in Russia and provided Marius with an invitation to travel to St. Petersburg, Russia, in 1847 to become principal dancer at the Imperial Ballet. A year later, in 1848, his father joined him there to be a teacher at the Imperial Ballet School (call the Vaganova Ballet Academy of Russian Ballet since 1957, and shown below.)

Marius Petipa signed a one-year contract in St. Petersburg but was to live there the rest of his life. Following his father's path as a ballet dancer he then had a career in choreography where he created more than 60 ballets, reworked 20 old pieces and re-arranged the dancing in over 35 operas. He also prepared galas and divertissements for court performances, royal nuptials, etc. The St. Petersburg's public adored the ballet and expected brilliant performances; news media reported every detail. Petipa had to keep the highest standards of excellence and perfection, and he did. Tsar Nicholas I attended Petipa's debut performance in October 1847 and a week later presented him with an Imperial gift of a ruby and diamond ring, the first Royal gift in Petipa's long career. The Russian Emperor's treasury (who at the time was the world's wealthiest person) - lavished millions of rubles a year on the Imperial Ballet and Opera, and demanded opulent ballets with perfect technique. Petipa became the Imperial Chief Ballet Master and principal choreographer until 1903 - at 85 years of age.

When Petipa in early 1869 was asked by an Imperial Special Commission to mount a Spanish-themed work he suggested that Ludwig Minkus write the music for the ballet he was considering, a tale from Cervantes' Don Quixote. I read on Minkus - he was also an interesting man. Ludwig Minkus was born on March 23, 1826, in Vienna (at the time the capital of the Austrian Empire.) Minkus' father was a wholesale wine merchant and owned in a district of Vienna a restaurant with its own orchestra. Ludwig started playing the violin at age four and made his public debut at a recital at the age of 8. Later he had an orchestra that competed with another Viennese conductor, the young Johann Strauss, II. In 1853 Ludwig immigrated to St. Petersburg to be the conductor of the orchestra for Prince Nikolai Yusupov. He went on to serve as conductor and principal violinist in the orchestra of the Moscow Imperial Bolshoi Theatre, and was then promoted to the prestigious position of Inspector of the Imperial Theatre Orchestras in Moscow. Below photo of Ludwig Minkus (1826-1917) taken between 1865-1870.

Minkus was an excellent choice to compose the music for the Don Quixote ballet. He was a connoisseur of ballet craft. His music bubbling like Champagne invited artists to dance. Petipa and Ludwig worked well together to create cheerful music and dances in the Spanish and Gypsy styles. Ludwig Fyodorovich Minkus (also known as Leon Minkus) became known as one of the greatest ballet composers who co-created with Petipa some of the most famous of classical ballets including La Source (1866, composed jointly with Leo Delibes,) Don Quixote (1869) and La Bayadere (1877.) Today, Minkus' ballet music is still quite popular and performed in the traditional classical ballet repertory. Cervantes' novel had been adapted into a ballet several times: in Austria in 1740, in Vienna in 1780, in 1809 in St. Petersburg, in 1839 in Berlin and in 1843 in Turin, Italy. For this new production Minkus reworked and expanded the score and supplied music filled with a great variety of Spanish-styled flair. The premiere of Don Quixote on 26th December 1869 for the ballet of the Imperial Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow was a resounding success. Below painting of the Imperial Bolshoi Theatre in 1939 by Alexandr Benois, Russian (1870-1960) followed by the current Bolshoi Theatre and interiors.

The Don Quixote Ballet was so successful that Petipa and Minkus wrote a revival libretto in 1871 which was shown at the St. Petersburg's Mariinsky Theatre and became a classic. It still enchants the public today and is presented in various productions by different companies all over the world. Petipa went on to create spectacular ballets such as Sleeping Beauty, Giselle, the Nut Cracker, and many others. Petipa married and had 3 children. At the age of 76 he received Russian citizenship while permitted to keep his French citizenship. A year later he worked with Peter Tchaikovsky to stage the ballet Swan Lake. He is a legend, a lord of the dance, and came to be known as "the father of Russian ballet." His work is in the repertoire of most current companies. He retired in 1903 and spent his final years in Crimea where he died on 14 July 1910 at the age of 92. He is buried in the Alexander Nevsky Monastery in St. Petersburg. Below photos of the Mariinsky Theatre circa 1859, Petipa's grave, the Don Quixote's Dream Scene at the Mariinsky and the playbill.

Don Quixote has been staged in many versions, with different music scores and choreography. In 1900 Alexander Gorsky staged a revival of the ballet with music from French composer Antoine Simon. A modern version in 1965 was created by American choreographer George Balanchine to the music of Nicolas Nabokov. In 1966 Rudolf Nureyev danced and choreographed the ballet for Vienna. In 1980 Mikhail Baryshnikov mounted his version of the ballet as well. I always loved watching Mikhail dancing (born in Latvia in 1948.) He truly is one of the greatest dancers of his generation with flawless technique and incredible high jumps. He seems to float across the stage. Misha is a superlative dancer combining balance, control and artistry. He is semi-retired for now as he opened in 2005 the Baryshnikov Arts Center in New York City, where he is active. Below are photos of Mikhail Baryshnikov in his younger years, dancing the Don Quixote ballet and receiving the prestigious Royal Academy of Dance's Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Award at Buckingham Palace on November 16, 2022, presented by Camilla, the Queen Consort (her first solo reception since she assumed her new role.) Camilla, wearing a ballerina brooch on her coat, told him "It's a great honor to be able to give you the award. Nobody deserves it more."

Below is the YouTube clip of Mikhail that indicated to me last summer that I was looking for the Don Quixote ballet. Looking at the Atlanta playbill I was pleased to see that the choreographer Yuri Possokhov (born in Lugansk, Ukraine) and the artistic director Gennadi Nedvigin (born in Rostov, Russia) had based their Don Quixote production of March 17-19, 2023, after Petipa and Minkus.

Saturday March 18, 2023 was a cool but sunny day in Atlanta. We arrived in plenty of time to walk around the foyer and take some pictures. As you can see from the photo of my grandaughter and me walking toward the orchestra seating of the theatre that she is about as tall as me at 9 years old (I am 5ft 3.) She takes after her mother who, in the photograph, is 6 ft tall with heels.

Another lovely scene from the ballet is Kitri's Entrance in Act I. It is danced by the talented Manuela Nunez in the video below. She is an Argentine-British ballerina born in Buenos Aires on March 23, 1982 and now principal dancer at the Royal Ballet in London. Drawn from an episode in Part II of the Cervantes' novel this was a two hour but fast moving ballet. I enjoyed the vintage and cheerful Minkus music. The lavish and colorful costumes, the many male dancers (more than in other ballets.) the flamenco dancers, the cheeky humor and the comedy were delightful. Sancho Panza, the trusted sidekick and squire of Don Quixote, brought many laughs. The horse Rocinante, a puppet manned by two Atlanta Ballet students, was entertaining as well. Don Quixote by the Atlanta Ballet had been a fast-paced production with impressive dancing and amusing comedy. I was pleased to have found this enchanting ballet in Atlanta.

Photos courtesy the Atlanta Ballet, Atlanta Constitution and Arts Atlanta as photos were not allowed in the theatre.

What's in a name?

In my last couple of trips to my Georgia house I concentrated on cleaning out the garage which was totally full. It's almost empty now. But thousands of books are still there. When I pass by a bookshelf, I'll pick one up at random. As I leafed through a book of quotations, I read the well known Shakespeare's quotation from Romeo and Juliet (Act II, Scene ii.) "What's in a name..."

The 4 1/2 hour drive back to Nashville gave me time to ponder on this quote and all its meanings ... roses...I had a rose garden in Georgia... I grew more than 150 rose cultivars: hybrid teas, floribunda, polyantha, a climber, a rambler, old-fashioned or heirlooom roses and grandiflora. One of my favorite roses was a strong tall bush, a grandiflora named Queen Elizabeth, with glorious pink blooms (as shown below.) I could see it from my kitchen window. It was introduced in 1954 to mark the Queen's coronation in 1953.

This royal rose was well named. My garden is long gone; now I just have a framed drawing of this regal rose. But maybe when I have more time I'll introduce this rose to my Nashville garden. I used to belong to the Deep South District of the Rose Society in Atlanta. At monthly meetings we would discuss roses and have a great time - I went there for years. Members were usually much older than me and came from every walk of life - we were united by our love of roses. It was a kind and fun crowd sharing rose information. I miss them. I still have the silver platter I won for 1st prize as a novice in the Atlanta Rose Show with my rose Mr. Lincoln.

"I don't know whether nice people tend to grow roses or growing roses makes people nice." (Roland A. Browne, American author.)

The names of my roses escaped me but last week I found a list of my roses. Below are top left The Peace Rose next to Dortmund (a rambler,) below left is Chrysler Imperial next to The Cherokee Rose, which is Georgia's official state "floral emblem."

In the Shakespeare's play, Juliet is telling Romeo that names are inconsequent and trivial. I take issue with this. Names are part of our identity, they influence us and how others perceive us. They can carry familial and cultural connections. Other people can make judgments or assumptions about us through our name. This reminds me that years ago, when I was expecting my first child, my husband told me that if the baby was a boy he liked the name Colin. The baby would be registered at the French Embassy as a French citizen through me, and then as a US citizen through my husband. The name of the child should sound fine in both languages and colin, in French, is a fish, a pollock, a cousin of the cod. The colin/pollock fish is popular with cooks because of its mild taste and flaky texture.

My grandparents came often to eat with us on Sundays in Paris and my mother would usually start the meal with a cold "colin" mayonnaise, as shown below.

I could not call my newborn a fish in French. Altough maybe with some French people who understand English, it might not sound so bad, but my French relatives did not speak English. Fortunately, our first baby was a girl (our second child was a girl as well.) In English, as well, names can be a problem, as I learnt at work. During my first ten years at Lockheed-Martin I was in charge of trainees coming to our plant to study our cargo aircraft the C-130 Hercules. My first duty when the trainees arrived was to draw a list of their names, birth dates, check their IDs or passports if they were from overseas so our Security Department could issue entrance badges to them. One time I made a list of Mexican trainees. I picked up the name of their country from their passports. As you can see from the picture below, it says "Estados Unidos Mexicanos" so I translated it as "United States of Mexico." Below map of Mexico overlaid on map of the USA.

Oh my! I received a telephone call from an irate Security Officer telling me that I had made a grave error in my document. He told me that only the United States of America can use the term "United States" and certainly not Mexico. He was returning my document and wanted me to correct the country's name. I was not sure what to call it. One of the Mexican trainees was standing near me and explained that they are aware of how defensive and possessive the USA is about the term "united states" and refuses for any other country to use it. He added that they translate it in English as the United Mexican States, placing the "united" first and "states" last to avoid hurting sensibilities here. So this is what I did. You see, names are important and can cause problems. Whatever one wishes to call the country of Mexico, it does have many states - 32 I believe. A photo of Mexico overlaid over Europe shows that it is a large country. (Click on collage to enlarge.)

Some countries are very strict about baby names; they even have laws on it. Denmark provides a list of 7,000 pre-approved names for parents to pick. If parents have another name in mind that is not on the list they will have to get special permission that will be reviewed by government officials. In Germany the first name must show the gender of the child, so you cannot use last names. The name must also be approved by the Standesamt (German Civil registration office.) If the name is not approved, you can appeal; if you lose you can submit another name and pay a fee. In Iceland the name has to be accepted by the "naming committee." It must contain letters in the Iceland alphabet and fit with the language, must be gender specific and won't embarrass the child in the future. In Sweden the Tax Agency has to approve the name, and it will be rejected if deemed not suitable. Portugal has banned the shortened versions of names as official names, so you can name you son Frederic but not Fred, and they also have a 4,000 list of prohibited names. In France, Napoleon Bonaparte created a law in 1803 showing which names were acceptable. In 1993 this law was repealed but if the registrar believes the chosen name could be damaging to the child's interest, he or she can refuse to confirm the name; the court needs to provide further consideration. But there are still banned names in France.

In 2015, a French couple wished to name their newborn girl "Nutella" afer the chocolate spread. (Photo above courtesy Imperial Sugar.) A judge denied their request stating that other children might mock her. The judge approved the name Ella instead (take it or not...) In France children cannot have the last name of a parent as a first name. Other names rejected were: Automne (fall in English) Joyeux (happy in English) Vanille (vanilla) Gentil (kind in English) Ravi (Indian name.) The name Manhattan was denied because it is the name of a known place. In the US I have heard people called after names of places, such as Lorraine (a French province) and its capital Nancy (a city) Rochelle (a French town by the sea) Chelsea (a London neighborhood) Paris (a capital) Africa (a continent) Asia, etc.

Most countries will not approve names that could be "detrimental to the child's interests" and have ratified the legally-binding international agreement of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) adopted in 1989. It acknowledges that children have basic fundamental rights. You can read it here . It is the most widely ratified human rights treaty in history with 194 countries having done so. Only three countries have not ratified this human treaty: Somalia, South Sudan and the United States of America. The US says that it could interfere in the private lives of families, such as discipline. But then I found out that Former President Jimmy Carter signed the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) on July 17, 1980, and this treaty has never been ratified by the United States of America either. Could it be the reverse then, that the US state can interfere in the private lives of women? This treaty has been ratified by 189 countries. The countries that have not are: Iran, Palau, Somalia, Sudan, Tonga and the USA. But people can name their babies anything they wish here in this country.

Some US celebrities have given their poor children outrageous names - after cardinal points, seasons, colors, and more, such as Sage Moonblood, Audio Science, Bronx Mowgli, Denim and North. I found a list with appalling names given legally to US babies in 2022, such as Furious, Renegade, Billion, Luxury, Envy, Whiskey, Paradise, Exit, Handsome, Capone, Corleone (after the Godfather movie) Fairy, Rooster. How would you like to be named any of those? A name is powerful; it is an important part of our identity and should not be trivialized.

The top red rose was my winning Mr. Lincoln rose. I think "rose" is a good name for the flower, it is the same in French and English and calls to mind a delicate plant with lovely blooms and fragrance. If we changed the name of the rose to "cockroach" or "dung beetle" it might still smell as sweet as Juliet said, but would its image be as evocative and meaningful? No, let's keep calling it a rose, shall we?

May birthdays and other happenings

More pictures from Pittsburgh and New Orleans need to be downloaded for my posts.  But I am back in Georgia now and my main camera is in Nashville.  Today I'll write an eclectic post.   Before I left Nashville we celebrated my little granddaughter's 6th birthday.  She is growing so fast and is almost as tall as her brother, who is about 2 years older.  Below are some photos taken last month while she was on holiday with her mother visiting friends in Malaysia, Singapore and Borneo - am not sure where each of the photo was taken.

Her May birthday was on the 10th.  Her father, my son-in-law's birthday is May 25th.  My own father-in-law's birthday was May 9th and my sister-in-law's birthday is May 30th.  My late mother's birthday was on May 12th and I wrote a post on it in 2009: "Mother's Birthday, l'anniversaire de maman" (birthday in French is anniversaire.) Click on title to read it.  Mother loved hydrangeas, so I'd always give her one, a different color every year.  Now I have hydrangeas growing in the front yard in Georgia.  I'll need to move them to Nashville.

My birthday was last March, on the 26th.  In my post of February 2nd, Books in the Mountains, I mentioned that Nancy Pelosi was born on March 26 as well.  Then strange things started to happen.  I am not making them up, because what would be the use.  Since I am going through my late husband's books to give away, I usually pick up one or two to read while in Georgia.  That one evening I found 3 books by an author I did not know.  Her name is Amy Blackmarr.  The three books were: "Going to ground: a simple life on a Georgia pond," "House of Steps" and "Dahlonega Haunts: Ghostly Adventures in a Georgia Mountain Town."  I started to read the ghost book on Dahlonega as my husband and I went often to that little town in the mountains, then decided it might be too spooky for that evening.  Instead I started Going to Ground.  In it, Amy Blackmarr was recounting how she went back to live in her grandparent's cabin, far away from people.  I checked to see how old she was when she moved there and found out she was born, as me, on March 26, but in 1958.  Coincidence.

I took all three books back with me to Nashville.  As I remember, I was tired that evening after the long drive, February 10th, and decided to watch the 61st Grammy celebration which was in progress on television.  Diana Ross, the American singer, record producer and actress, came to perform.  They mentioned that they were celebrating her 75th birthday, one month early.  I wondered what day she was born in March.  I looked it up - she was born March 26, 1944.  Another coincidence.  Pictures below are hazy, taken from my television.

I returned to Georgia in March.  That first evening I was ready to read some new books from my husband's collection on the long bookshelf in the upstairs hall.  I picked up 2 at first:  "Collected Poems" by Robert Frost and "Memoirs" by Tennessee Williams.  Then I saw a book on the floor with a shiny cover, "The God Delusion" by Richard Dawkins.  As I picked it up I saw an old candy bar stuck behind the shelf, a Stuckey's Pecan Log Roll, certainly ancient.  I started the Robert Frost book and it opened on the poem Ghost House ...

I dwell in a lonely house I know,

That vanished many a summer ago,

And left no trace but the cellar walls,

And a cellar in which the daylight falls,

And the purple-stemmed wild raspberries grow....

...I dwell with a strangely aching heart,

In that vanished abode there far apart,

On that disused and forgotten road ...

OK, enough I thought.  I am back here in my old house in Georgia and don't need to become even more gloomy.  Instead I picked up Tennessee Williams's Memoirs and started to read it.  I wondered where in Tennessee he was born, because of his name.  I looked it up - he was not born in Tennessee, his father was.  Then I saw when he was born: March 26, 1911.  Another coincidence again, thought I?  So I checked Robert Frost, why not - he was born March 26, 1874 (the plot thickens?) Just to make sure I also checked Richard Dawkins - he was born March 26, 1941.  I was apprehensive when I checked when the pecan log merchant, Stuckey, was born.  I found out that Williamson Sylvester Stuckey, Sr., was born on March 26, 1909.  Too weird.  All right, enough, I decided not to read but to listen to music.  I went to bed and played music on my cell phone.  It was Beethoven's Romance No. 2 - so beautiful and soothing.  At least I knew Beethoven was not born on my birthday, I thought he was born in December.  To make sure I checked - yes, Ludwig van Beethoven was baptized on December 17,1770.  But then I saw it ... WHAT? and I got goose pimples.  Beethoven died on March 26, 1827.  Am I going crazy? Is someone playing with my head?  What is this?

Is this what is called synchronicity?  Wikipedia says: "Synchronicity (German:Synchronizität) is a concept, first introduced by analytical psychologist Carl Jung, which holds that events are "meaningful coincidences if they occur with no causal relationship yet seem to be meaningfully related."  I checked several sites on the Internet.  Judy Orloff, MD, says "Synchronicity is a sign that we are intuitively attuned, not only to our immediate friends and family, but also to the greater collective."  Another site indicates: "Synchronicity is an unconscious awareness of life.  It is a set of messages.  Synchronicity is an unlikely or impossible coincidence that cannot be explained by luck and chance."  Another site says "Often mistaken as coincidences, these amazing synchronicities are actually universal nods, confirming that you are on the right track.  Synchronicities, when recognized, are meant to be road signs to help steer you in the best direction.  Quite helpful at times when you are feeling confused or lost in some way."  In an article on synchronicity in Psychology Today it said "When you're on the right path, the universe winks and nods at you from time to time, to let you know."  I like this, the universe nodding at me :-)  I searched for a photo symbolizing the universe - but I don't have one in my collection.  May be one of the secret paintings of Dr. Seuss (Theodor Seuss Geisel, Children's books author and cartoonist, American 1904-1991) can give some feeling about it?

This time, back in Georgia, I am reading one of my books, in French - the childhood memoirs of Marcel Pagnol (French novelist, playwright and film maker, 1895-1974.)  It was a magical time for him in Provence and a delight to read.  The Kidney Foundation called saying they would come by this week to pick up any clothes, books, etc.  During the days I have been busy collecting some of my husband's clothes.  There is so much of it as he kept everything.  I found a bag full of socks, at least 200+ pairs, some old, some brand new with tags.  I even found two uniform work shirts from when, as a teenager, he worked for a Coca-Cola bottling plant.  They are from 1955 at least.  They are in pretty good shape for being so old.  Here they are below.

Looking at some of the shirts or sweaters given to him for birthdays or Christmas was kind of sad.  I tried not to think about it.  But again, something happened.  I was not going to mention it, but since I told you about the happenings around my birth date I'll tell you what happened yesterday.  I had already filled 3 large black plastic bags with his clothes and shoes.  The 4th bag was almost full.  In the back of the closet was a green pair of slacks.  I knew them well, as he wore  them often on trips, usually with a plaid shirt.  Should I give them away?  I could not decide.  I cannot wear them and both of my sons-in-law wear different sizes.  With a heavy heart I placed the slacks in the bag.  Then I saw the plaid shirt.  I started feeling tears coming up.  No, can't do that.  I placed the shirt in the bag, then I took it out again.  Placed it in the bag once more, and finally took it out thinking I'll think about it tomorrow.  Moving the bags through the hall filled with books is not easy.  As I pulled this heavy bag, some books fell; I walked on a paper sack.  When I came back upstairs I stopped in the hall to pick up the books and the sack.  Several pennies had fallen out of the sack, a pencil and a piece of paper.  I turned the paper over - it was a photograph.  When I saw it I was completely bewildered.  I looked around, no other photographs anywhere.  I don't know how it got there in that sack.  I went downstairs with the plaid shirt and took the green slacks out of the bag to take a photo so I would not think I imagined it all.  The picture was of my husband wearing that exact pair of slacks with the shirt in front of an angel statue somewhere by the sea, I think in Mexico.  How in the world this happened, I don't know.  I took most of our old photos to Nashville and they never were in the hall anyway.  Another strange happening, or synchronicity?  What do you think?  Here is the picture below.  As I write this I still can't believe it.

I guess I should take this as a sign that it's OK to give away the clothes since I can see them in the photograph, and not be sad.  Actually my son-in-law, whose family is from India, has invited me to come to his cousin's wedding in Atlanta next weekend.  This will be a fun occasion - weddings from Indian families are big events, all the women wearing colorful saris, good food, dancing and more.  I have some Indian clothes but they have long sleeves and the weather predicts 97 F (36.1 C.) in the shade.  I bought an Indian made tunic with tie-die indigo stripes and will wear white linen slacks with it.  Most of my shoes now are sneakers because of my bad ankle.  I found a pair of white lacy Mary Jane style shoes and will wear them this week while dancing with some music so they become comfortable, like boogie shoes!  I used to have great red leather flat shoes for dancing, but they are long gone.  Here they are below with a white pantsuit, photo taken in San Francisco decades ago.  Also shown is the tunic from the catalog, and future boogie shoes.

My record player is still here with all my albums.  I found some old disco LPs so I can exercise a bit with my new shoes.  Here is a video of one of the tunes, from the 1970s - "Boogie Shoes" by K.C. and the Sunshine Band.  Might as well wink at the universe and end this post with a song!

Christmas time in New Orleans

It has been raining all day here in Nashville.  I came back from Georgia on Wednesday December 18, 2018, as I did not like to fight the rain on the highway; the trip is tiring enough as it is.  Thinking now about New Orleans is pleasant.  From the start New Orleans was a party city.  In my last post I mentioned that 2018 was New Orleans 300th Anniversary.  The city was founded in May 1718 and named La Nouvelle-Orléans  in honor of Philippe II, Duke of Orleans, a nephew of French King Louis XIV.  Philippe loved music and to party.  Already the first Mardi Gras in the United States had been celebrated there in March 1699.  The music, parties, creole cuisine and festivals have kept up.  New Orleans is fun and keeps sadness away.  Music is everywhere.  Walking along Royal Street after visiting the Gallier House I went by a band playing in the middle of the street.

Later on, as I stopped in Jackson Square to rest on a bench, there was a band playing in front of me, under the sign "Church - Quiet Zone."  :-)

Then I heard more music coming down the side of the road.  I walked up to it - it was a "second-line" wedding parade.  "Second Line" is a brass parade tradition in New Orleans.  It is believed that it started in West African circle dances from a long time ago.  The "first line" of the parade consists of the band, the grand marshal and the people who obtained the parading permit.  The second line is made up of the rest of the party and anyone who would like to join the parade.  Second line parades for funerals are well known but these other parades are also used in many types of celebrations such as the opening of a business, or the anniversary of a neighborhood, or a wedding, or a birthday, or Mother's Day, or the birth of a baby, or the start of a convention, or any reason, really.  So, as you may be walking in the French Quarter, a second-line parade with a brass band can be coming toward you, with people following with handkerchiefs, parasols or umbrellas and, if you like, you can join the fun.  As I was watching this second-line parade the new married couple came after the band, each with a Champagne glass in hands, the guests were behind dancing and twirling their napkins in the air.  Below are examples of second-line parades.  (Click on collage to enlarge.)

I walked back from Jackson Square to our hotel on Canal Street (helped by my cane.)  The French Quarter, unchanged since 1721, is about 13 blocks wide and easy to navigate.  Below is a map of it, courtesy Wikimedia Commons.

Along the way, I walked first by an interesting couple wearing period clothes, just talking to each oher then I saw some pretty Christmas decorations on balconies and doors.  The two little snowman and woman were Saints fans.  The Saints is New Orleans famous football team.  The fleur-de-lis is the symbol for the city of New Orleans and you will see it everywhere.  The New Orleans Saints' team has a variation of the fleur-de-lis in their logo since 1967.

My two youngest grandchildren were flying in from Nashville with their Chinese au-pairs later on that afternoon.  I was looking forward to taking them to a couple of historic hotels to look a the Christmas decorations.  Our hotel had a pretty Christmas tree in the lobby.

In May 2012 our daughter attended a conference in New Orleans as well.  My husband and I stayed at the Hotel Monteleone then.  I wrote about the hotel in a post called The Ambiance of New Orleans (click on it to read it.)  The hotel was founded in 1886 by an Italian family and their descendants still own the hotel.  It is one of the last family-owned hotels in the USA.  It is an historic landmark and a member of the "Historic Hotels of America."  It has been a favorite of many southern authors.  When in New Orleans Ernest Hemingway, William Faulkner, Tennessee Williams, Truman Capote and many others were frequent guests.  Below is a vintage postcard of the hotel.

A girl choir was caroling in the hotel lobby, with gusto and great voices.  Bright lights were all around - coming from the polished marble floor, the gleaming brass appointments, the glittering chandeliers, the sparkling lights in the Christmas trees.  Even the old grandfather clock was surrounded by a garland of lights.  The antique grandfather clock dates from 1909 and was hand carved.

In the evening my two grandchildren and I walked to another historic hotel close by, the Roosevelt Hotel.  This hotel was originally named Hotel Grunewald and was opened in 1893 by a German immigrant, Louis Grunewald.  A new tower was added to the hotel in 1900 to house 400 more rooms.  A nightclub there, called The Cave, was one of the first in the US.  The hotel stayed in the family until 1923 when it was sold to a business group and renamed The Roosevelt Hotel in honor of President Theodore Roosevelt.  It was rebuilt with nearly 800 rooms.  Some of their past guests included Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, Marlene Dietrich, Audrey Hepburn, Bob Hope, Ray Charles and more.

The Roosevelt Hotel is now managed by Waldorf Astoria Hotels & Resorts.  It has had a $145 million renovation since Hurricane Katrina.  Walking in the block-long lobby under the fantastic display of arching lights and shining trees is quite an experience.  Before I could take some pictures we heard a band coming down the lobby.  Yes, it was a second-line parade for the opening of some conference with the attendees walking noisily behind with drinks in their hands.  I took some photos, but because of the large group walking so close the pictures came out blurry.

While they passed by we stayed on the side near the classic furnishings.  We had time to look from the mosaics tile floor to the lights in the ceiling as well as the grand piano and paintings on the wall.

We slowly walked under the trees covered with lights and ornaments.  There has been a Christmas display in the hotel since the 1930s.  It includes 112,000 lights, 1,610 feet of garland, 300 bows and 4,000 glass ornaments decorating 46 Christmas trees and 78 birch trees.  It certainly was stunning!  We ended by the central French clock, called "The Paris Exhibition Clock" crafted by Farcot and Carrier de Belleuse around 1867.  It stands about 10 feet high on a large base carved from solid Algerian onyx.  A bronze sculpture of a robed woman holding a scepter sits on top.

All the glitter, glitz and glamour are back in the Crescent City, as New Orleans is called.  Now I am here in Music City, as Nashville is also called.  No decorations and lights around me, just my faithful Christmas cactus, showing abundant blooms.

It had been a fun Christmas time in New Orleans, just like Louis Armstrong sings in his 1955 melody.

I wish you all a Merry Christmas, if you celebrate it, and a very Happy New Year.