what's in your hare?

Lorena Guzman

H A P P Y   E A S T E R !

it's a PAAS colored world

H A P P Y   E A S T E R

the rundown: Karen Graham photographed by Irving Penn, David Hockney, "The Arrival of Spring in Woldgate, East Yorkshire" 2011, Shelley Duvall in Vogue 1972, Antique Pigments, Paul Gauguin Portrait of a Young Woman 1896, Erte Illustration 1968, Adrian Cubist Dinner Dress, Queen Victoria and Family, Home of Bonnie Cashin, Bert Stern photograph of Halston beret Vogue March 1962, Doug and Gene Meyer Studio, Jane Forth photographed for Harper's Bazaar, Devotee of Vishnu, Pushkar, Rajasthan, India by photosadhu, Paul Klee, MGM's Easter Parade

jelly bean

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apologies to Ellsworth Kelly

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in your Easter Bonnet: or in memory of Blue Birdie

a favorite series by  E F Benson, the Mapp & Lucia books can be revisited over and over-
and over.
with this Easter weekend of bonnets parading down the Avenue, I am reminded of the last of the six Benson books-Trouble for Lucia. 

 In Trouble-Mrs. Wyse's budgerigar , her parakeet, Blue Birdie bites the dust, has flown the coop, departed from the earth-only to be revived, for the moment, at a seance conducted by the ever elegant Lucia.

The seance becomes a neccessity when Mrs. Wyse can't part with the dear one- Blue Birdie that is-and takes to topping her current chapeau with the dead one-even launching it into the soup at luncheon.
Imagine the havoc the deceased Blue Birdie wreaks on the upper echelons of Tilling.
Not only spoiling luncheon-but the bridge table too!

-Feeling the Spirit of Blue Birdie

Lulu Guinness  above & below,  Stella Tennant

If you haven't read the books-do so, If you have it might be time to Revisit them all-Queen Lucia (1920, Miss Mapp (1922), Lucia in London (1927), Mapp and Lucia (1931), Lucia's Progress (1935, also known as The Worshipful Lucia) and Trouble for Lucia (1939)
There are so many memorable scenes from the books-any favorites?

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a kiss

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 And often-times, to win us to our harm,

The instruments of darkess tell us truths;

Win us with honest trifles, to betray us

In deepest consequence.

Shakespeare

the Kiss photograph by Clarence H White,1904

the Met

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and so it happened here

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Zeus on Olympus dispenses many fates;

The gods bring many things surprisingly to pass.

That which we expected does not happen;

A god finds means to bring about the unexpected.

And so it happened here.

Euripides

painting by John Koch, Father & Son ,1955
first seen at underpaintings: here



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in your Easter bonnet V

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 Edith

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in your Easter bonnet iv

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Ottoline

image from the National Portrait Gallery

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in your Easter Bonnet iii

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 Vita

by Lazlo

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in your Easter bonnet ii

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Liane  
~de Pougy

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in your Easter bonnet I

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Mistinguett

by Nadar

When Mistinguett hiked up her skirts to expose her well-publicized legs (she once insured them for $3,000,000), even the sober members of her audience remarked that they were extraordinarily well preserved. In her comic numbers, Titina and Je Cherche un Millionaire, her Parisian brashness and high spirits seemed unimpaired. She kidded with the audience, snatched women's hats, put them on bald-headed ringside patrons, succeeded in getting nightclubbers to stand and join her in singing a final round of Paris.
"It's something electric," Mistinguett explains. "I take them like this. 'Come near me,' I say, and I draw them to me."
Why had she decided to come to the U.S.? "I like to move. I love New York. Everyone goes so fast. I do not like that people go slow." Mistinguett, whose shrewd business head has left her with a bulging bankbook, a safeful of jewels and three big houses, had another reason. "I love money. Not just to spend. I like to keep it—wash my hands in it." For her Manhattan engagement, the Martinique nightclub is paying her $4,000 a week.  Time magazine here (from 1951,Manhattan gets its first look in 28 years at Mistinguett)

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craving coconut cake

I can just see my Mother rushing about on Saturday putting the finishing touches on my Easter outfit. One year she sewed a linen shift, cream with blue trimmings and a blue linen cape to match. I'm sure a hat was involved- or maybe just a new ribbon for my hair. Beautifully turned out-except for the white patent leather shoes-of course they should have been cream-but clearly-that wasn't happening.

Mother sewed for me- Daddie shopped for me. He always leaned toward sailor ensembles. There was a sporty navy jacket with brass buttons and pleated skirt-a stripe top,  finished off with a white beret-red, white and blue ribbons streaming from the side. I loved that hat. Yes, tailored sailor suits for his little girl- after all he was a Naval man.

As evidenced by the cape, Mother preferred something more feminine. But then again navy blue seemed to be a  style choice both parents embraced. A spiffy navy and white hounds tooth spring coat with matching dress that boasted a very smart bib front made of crisp white organdy ruffles. A white bowler  finished off this look and worked the white patents , but I wore the black, so I could carry my favourite handbag-granted that was the only one I owned at the time.

I am sure the Boys (my brothers) got new ties or something like that.

Mother was busy during this holiday-besides doing wardrobe- every Easter she always baked a coconut cake. Her artistry knew no bounds. Having studied art at UNC-G back in the day, our coconut cakes were quite painterly.
Not just any coconut cake but one that looked just like an Easter bunny-Didn't everyone have one? Yes, an Easter bunny cake-replete with jelly beans made from scratch.
 It followed-Easter =New Dress= Coconut Cake.
The coconut cake's decoration evolved as her children grew older.
The bunny turned into a fresh green (coconut food coloring) lawn (a sheet cake) and flower buds  (jelly beans) hidden in the landscape (icing).
Mother no longer bakes-in fact-she never was a baker-but come Easter, come Coconut Cake.

 

 just like this-it's lovely really but Mother is an artist
and Our Bunny was quite painterly (the cake from here)

Corsages were the thing that said Easter. Occasionally my Grandmother would make one for my Mother and me, oft times the florist was called in and corsages were dropped off on Saturday. Flowers to match please! Something just perfect for a sailor! My mother looked particularly beautiful on these Easter Sunday mornings. None of the hectic Saturday "wardrobe mistress" showed, nor the evening rounds of Sunday school lessons and overseeing my Saturday night shampoo, set, and style. Mother always looked right- whether dressing up in the nautical style we so embraced, or wearing a yellow two piece slub linen suit. A yellow just the colour of the hundreds of living  peeps (not the marshmallow kind) at my great grandmother's over the last few weeks prior to Easter.

The formidable Ma Ma & her daughter Eustean raised chickens-hence, little biddy-peeps were always popping up to strengthen the brood. The kitchen was prime real estate for the appliance size boxes full of chicks. That country kitchen housed a massive much used wood burning cook stove and assured the chirping yellow masses would be warm-toasty even. Holding them as tightly as allowed, I thought of the sad little purple and greens biddys I had seen at the dime store.
Did they ever survive?
They looked so sad-I pitied those little peeps.
Poor peeps- likely their fate was no different from Ma Ma's chicks, or for that matter my brother's pet duck, "Mustard," whose life was "cut short" when he went to live with Ma Ma. Ma Ma & Tean were of sturdy German stock, little sentiment was allowed when it came to a pet duck versus a savory Sunday lunch on the table, but that's another story.

After my new wardrobe took in Sunday services, a long awaited Easter Egg hunt at Naomi and Lewis's (my grandparents-they liked to be call by their first names) commenced; hidden eggs, cousins, and a  prize. I don't remember what the prize was, probably money. I never won, but with each egg I collected, dozens of Easter memories were being put away for a day like today, when nothing but a new hat, and coconut cake will do.

Happy Easter-whatever your preferences might be.

(last year's little augury Easter Posts here and here)
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Pageantry

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 Easter &  Spring Pageantry circa 1965

little augury-1st row ,2nd from left 

the greatest story by the greatest painter of his time

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the first time I saw the Giotto images as an art student- I was captivated, that was 31 years ago-Nothing has changed. I hope to see the faces of these frescoes face to face one day.



Giotto di Bondone 1266-1337,
detail of the Capella degli Scrovegni here,
The Capella degli Scrovegni site here
more here
secret Giotto found in Florence's Saint Croce Chapel here

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Betty Anne's Name Day

a page from my mother's baby book

Betty Anne Cushwa

one of the many mementos my gramma lovingly saved for Sugar Cushwa

as a young lady

as a young mother

Happy Birthday BA, April 12.

I'd like to be the air of spring, At flowering of the dawn.

I'd hover low on gentle wings , ruffling blades of grass
Spilling jewels in sparkling array, As I tiptoe past.
I'd beckon trees on bended knee, And watch them bow to me.
Then with a whisper, I'd kiss the flowers
Tenderly, tenderly, Never mussing a fragile petal.
And with the full bloom of dawn, I'd gather my robes about me-
And disappear with only a whisper-
I was here-
I was here.
~Betty Cushwa Tapp

Easter Parade

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(above)Easter Bonnet... the Cushwa Girls. My Mother and her mother and sisters~ (l to r- Bessie Mae Pettigrew Cushwa-Gramma, aunt Hank, BETTY ANNE center, ( My Mom), aunt Annette Mae, aunt Helen Charles.

My mom tells the delightful story of her sister Hank, yes that's her name, Really! a nickname lovingly bestowed upon her by the only Cushwa "boy" George. BACK to Story. Betty Anne and Hank were at church one Sunday and both enthusiastically reached for the hymnal and the nettings, flowers and such in their hats got tangled helplessly together and they were stuck. Giggles, laughing, and I am sure deft parting ensued.

(below)Today's Catch...My Father (Norman Louis) as a little- in motion redhead, his nickname- RED, with pet bunny, Hon.

When asked by me about the picture- He would say "we were so poor I had to go out and catch my dinner if I wanted to eat!" That was my dad conjuring stories, the true and the "tall tale" kind that prevailed throughout my life as his daughter.