I picked up these ornaments for Peter and Lesley in London's National Gallery gift shop in July 2005, just a week after terrorist bombs blew up a bus killing 52 people two blocks from the university dorm where I was staying. Our students studying film in Britain had heard and felt the blast. After I arrived a week later the air was still numb with shock, and with every siren's howl I watched Londoners on the sidewalk pause in suspense. The sailor here is Lord Horatio Nelson, I think, although I don't know that he lost an eye. It occurs to me now that Lord Nelson's arm lost in war is fitting for the time in which I bought these. Stupid wars.
I'm afraid I don't remember who the red dressed woman is supposed to be from the London gallery, but I've named her Sicilienne, after Gabriel Fauré's: Sicilienne Op.78 (Pelléas Et Mélisande) in the YouTube below, performed on cello by Julian Lloyd Webber (son of William Lloyd, and younger brother of Andrew Lloyd), and on piano by John Lenahan. Brilliant art.
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Fauré wrote Sicilienne for the fairy tale play Pelléas Et Mélisande written by Maurice Maeterlinck who believed that human behavior is guided by two principles: Eros (erotic love) and Anteros (punisher of those who scorn love).
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Love and revenge. Art and war. Brilliance and stupidity. That about sums up human history. I wish for more love-art-brilliance in the year ahead.
We're in the major snowstorm that has swept across the country - expecting 10-12 inches of snow. I hope everyone out there is safe, warm and fed. I've added these photos to show the snow sliding off the barn roof. Then the last one is from inside the deck window looking out at Don going to tend to his ladies in the coop to see how they're faring in the storm and also gather eggs.
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