Samhain Musings

Photo by Amy Parrish.

It's the most magical time of the year: the leaves are vibrant and the air is crisp.  My hair constantly harbors the smell of woodsmoke from a bonfire.  Bike rides through the woods are the most pleasant, and cider tastes refreshing whether hot or cold.  Fall is in full swing!

Which means Halloween, or Samhain, is upon us.  For ancient Celts, Samhain was a New Year's celebration.  It was the end of the "light days" of land cultivation and the start of the "dark days" of fall and winter.  It was also the time when the veil between this world and the next was the thinnest.  To this day it remains the most popular of Celtic celebrations, and the only one the Catholic church was unsuccessful in converting into a religious celebration- although they did manage to create All Saints Day on November 1st.  And so to celebrate, here are some Samhain musings.  Enjoy! 

~ Tonight I am making mussel chowder for a few friends and then we are all heading down to Ohio Village for the All Hallow's Eve celebration!  All Hallow's Eve is a 19th century Halloween celebration complete with curiosities, palm reading, fortune games and a re-telling of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, complete with a headless horseman:)  We've gone before and it was a lot of fun- if you're in the Columbus area you should definitely check it out. 

  A spooky photo Will took of me at the last All Hallow's Eve.

~ The song Gossip in the Grain from my favorite musician Ray LaMontagne always makes me think of cooler nights, bonfires and time spent in Scotland.  Have a listen if you like.  (He's coming to Columbus December 3rd!!!)

~  Jack-o-Lanterns: these started out as turnips in Ireland, but in New World turned to pumpkins because of their prevalence.  They are meant to keep evil spirits away, just as trick-or-treating evolved from leaving out food as a peace offering to these spirits.  There are so many fascinating carving ideas!

 

~ I heard the most interesting podcast on hoaxes from the Stuff You Missed in History Class series: one of the hoaxes was about the Cottingley Fairies.  The fairies appear in five photographs taken by Elsie Wright and Frances Griffiths in 1917, and caused a stir among the Spiritualist crowd.  The girls later admitted to faking the photos using cardboard cutouts, although Frances forever claimed that the fifth photo was real.

  The first four photos...

 ...and the fifth.

~ The White Forest, by Adam McOmber.  Doesn't his name just sound creepy?  Last night I started this novel about a young girl in Victorian London that can "discern the souls of man-made objects and enter the White Forest, a terrifying parallel realm".  McOmber's writing is contemporary enough for you to connect with the characters and yet he is able to capture the mystical feelings at the center of 19th century Spiritualism.  There's a whole movie playing in my head, which is high praise- if I can see the story, I can feel it.  Read a review here: I'd love to talk about it with anyone else who may have read the book! 

~ I used to perform in a show called Legacy of the Hanging Judge at The House of Seven Gables when I was at college in Salem, MA.  Every weekend of October, I sat in a small, chilly room in the Nathanial Hawthorne House (which is on-site) with two other girls pretending to be bewitched by tourists when they came to our room:)  It was a lot of fun, and you could feel the history on the grounds.  I loved the bustle of the people outside our window while we waited, and the general excitement of Halloween in Salem.  An experience for sure.

An event photo from Facebook.

~ And a crow, for good measure:)

  

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A Swan Lake Halloween

 My sister and I both adore the Swan Lake ballet.  So since we are co-hosting a Halloween party this year, we thought it would be fun to do a joint costume.  I saw a ballet costume on the front page of Etsy, and it hit me: Swan Lake!  We found these costumes on Ebay that we bought, and we're going to deck them out with feathers.  

Lindsey will be the white swan Odette, and I the black swan Odile. 

We recently watched this rehearsal for the 2011 production at the Royal Opera House in London:

I love the way the director guides them- he's quite hilarious!

Something I didn't know is that Swan Lake was not initially well received when it was first performed in Russia.  It was thought that the production and dancing were particularly poor, and no one paid much attention to the music.  I don't know about you, but I can't hear the main theme without getting goosebumps.  And I think if Tchaikovsky could see the production value of his ballet today, he would be very proud.

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PS: For the first five years of my life I dressed up as a ballerina- imaginative, aren't I? ;)

A Midsummer Night's Dream: The Original Romantic Comedy?

Tonight our outdoor performance of A Midsummer Night's Dream was cancelled due to high winds:(  But I started thinking- could Midsummer have been one of the first true romantic comedies?  As far as theatre history goes, you've got the Greeks and Romans (who had comedies but not necessarily romantic ones), then you have the Middle Ages with their Miracle and Mystery plays and then Shakespeare and his contemporaries.  And while I'm positive there are many plays in between that we have never heard of, that's about it for ancient theatre in the known world.  (I do also add the disclaimer that my knowledge of older theatre in the non-European world is sorely lacking.)

 Michelle Pfeiffer and Kevin Kline in A Midsummer Night's Dream.

But Midsummer has all the elements of a Renaissance romantic romp: mistaken identities, love triangles, beautiful and funny roles for both men and women (can't you just see the trailer?  In a world where fairies roam...)  Below are pictures from some of my favorite romantic comedies.  What are yours?

Pride and Prejudice 

You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love this movie:)

You've Got Mail

This is my favorite movie to watch when I'm not feeling well...maybe I just hope Tom Hanks will show up with daisies, haha.  (Plus, Meg Ryan's character loves Pride and Prejudice!)

Practical Magic

My sister and I have spent hours dreaming of living together in the house where Gillian and Sally live.  There's a little witch in every woman:)

Sleepless in Seattle

Ok, so maybe I'm a sucker for Tom-Hanks-Meg-Ryan match ups.  Guilty as charged.

Forgetting Sarah Marshall

Maybe this isn't a RomCom in the traditional sense, but that's part of what gives Marshall it's charm.  This one surprised me, and I totally fell for it.

When Harry Met Sally

The RomCom that created RomComs as we know them.  (They made a stage version?!)

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes

The list just isn't complete without the Monroe-Russell musical.

PS: This article by Mindy Kaling about romantic comedies (featured on A Cup of Jo)is absolutely hilarious.  Enjoy!

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Charles Cushman

I heard a fascinating story today on NPR about amateur photographer Charles Cushman.  Charles was an Indiana native who loved to travel and take color photos- in the 1940's!  He was an ardent user of Kodachrome, one of the world's first color films, which at the time was extremely expensive and hard to come by.  His 14,500 (!) photograph slides were bequeathed to the college from which he graduated, Indiana University, upon his death in 1972.  An excerpt from Mail Online about his New York City photos reads:  

He went around the city taking photos of architecture such as the Brooklyn Bridge and other parts of the Manhattan skyline - and it’s hard to believe they were taken while World War Two was going on. But what is even more intriguing are the street scenes and daily life Cushman documented in his photos, showing 1940s New Yorkers going about their daily business.  The images are even more significant at a time when Americans are remembering the fallen World Trade Center, showing that a city ultimately transcends its buildings.

Here are some of my favorites: Enjoy!

Plus, a story about photographer Steve McCurry: he heard Kodak was going to discontinue Kodachrome, and asked for the last roll of film.  They gave it to him, and you can read about his trip east and see the photos here. 

Midsummer Opens Tomorrow!

Hello All!  A Midsummer Night's Dream opens tomorrow at the Columbus Commons and runs through September 23.  All performances are at 7:30 and entrance is by donation.  Here are some pictures that were taken at last night's dress rehearsal by the wonderful Dale Bush.  Hope to see you there!  

 

 

 

Wedding Dress Shopping

Yesterday my mama, sister and future mother in law went wedding dress shopping with me.  It was a whirlwind of a day, and while overwhelming at times, I was so happy to have the three of them there to share in the ups and downs of the (surprisingly) emotional process that is gown shopping.  Above is a photo my sister snapped of my ring:)  

First stop was Wendy's Bridal in Dublin, where I worked with an amazing consultant named Lila who was extremely helpful and kind.  I was so glad for her guidance- when I walked in, I was feeling anxious about finding the perfect dress.  I had seen some vintage dresses I liked online, but I wasn't able to find anything similar at the salon.  Lila helped me to narrow my choices, and in the end, she picked the dress that was the clear winner.  It was a beautiful ivory lace sheath dress from Allure with a cafe silk charmuse slip underneath.  Oh. My. Goodness.  I have never felt so beautiful and comfortable at the same time!  I truly love the dress, and it is a frontrunner for sure!  Such amazing fabrics and attention to detail.  It looks similar to the dress below, but without the beaded sash.  (I won't be posting any of my real choices just in case you-know-who finds them!)

But I wanted to be sure it is the one for me, so on we went to appointment number two at David's Bridal.  Unfortunately they didn't have the two dresses I really wanted to try- we found out upon arrival that they had been discontinued- but we found some similar dresses and my consultant picked a lovely strapless ballgown with ferns embroidered on the bodice.  It was the best dress of the appointment, but I didn't get that same wow feeling that I got in the lace sheath dress.  (Ok, this one you can see.)

 I was feeling a bit overwhelmed and dissapointed that I didn't walk away with a dress, but my family was good to remind me that we had a fair amount of time (a little over a year!) and that all would be well.  My mom has found some other shops for us to try, and there's a dress online that I really love that looks similar to this one I found on Etsy:

And I know that there's a lovely lace number waiting for me at Wendy's if I find I can't get it out of my mind:)

In the mean time- here is a sneak peak at our engagement photos, taken by our amazingly talented friend Amy Parrish!

Falling for Hemingway

 

There's something about the crisp air of fall that makes me want to curl up in a knit sweater while reading A Farewell to Arms.  While Arms is not in itself autumnal, Hemingway's rustic and masculine style put me in the mindset of wilderness and bonfires, and to me that is fall.  I think it's the way you can practically breathe the fresh air Hemingway's characters are breathing through his words.  His writing has always struck me as rugged, honest: it smolders like a campfire.  And his love for cats moves him even further up on my list for sure.

Here are some fall fashions that have me thinking of Ernest and that first cool days of autumn...

 Yves St. Laurent

 

Mulberry

Madewell

  J. Crew

 

Uniqlo

 Hunter

 Maison Scotch

 Mango

Happy Fall.

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