Advent

 I know we are not a religious group, but we all celebrate Christmas I know that.

Here are three Christmas images that, to me, bring Christmas a little more personal.



This first one, you all recognize. You remember the moment lying there with that ultrasound wand poking your tender belly. And seeing the little image on the fuzzy screen. 














The second is a modern day Mary in southern California. By Patty Wickman. Symbols of the future. Love it. 

December Book Lunch... The Husband's Secret

Well... they all certainly had their secrets now, didn't they?

Pandora opened her box and BOOM-BOOM-BOOM out came this little secret, that little dirty lie, the other musky tidbit.

Cecilia opened her letter and BAM-BAM-BAM her world turned upside down. Good old John Paul wasn't quite the saint he was named after now was he?

Tess listened to Will and Felicity's admission of love and POW-POW-POW her job and entire life with husband and cousin were cast in a totally different light.

Rachel sitting in the hospital heard Cecilia whisper that "John Paul did it." KA-BOOM! What went through her mind? We don't think forgiveness. We think acceptance? Reconciliation? Understanding of her own mistake, compassion for John Paul's? Closure? And that closure leads to openness to life moving forward?

Could you forgive your daughter's murderer?
Could you forgive your husband's violent act, his fit of rage?
Could you forgive yourself a moment's vengeful act?

Liane Moriarity, you wrote a good story. You developed some good characters. We love Cecilia. We don't get Will. We ache for Rachel.

Liane Moriarity, well done. Not excellent. But well done. We will watch you develop over the years.

And who exactly are "we"? Our holly, jolly 2013 Christmas photo... We missed you Jane and Betty R. 

Knowing this was going to be a festive occasion as set out by the invite, our hostesses (Mary, Cathi, Rita and Betty V) opened up the fun with red and green Tomato-Basil Soup. (Get it, red and green?) Sliding into zesty Veal Picata, risotto and pancetta peas. Sipping some bubbly while relaxing over Sabayon with Forest Berries. Sparkling balls and reindeer. A photo of last Christmas to greet us. 

Ladies, you pulled out all the stops. And we thank you. Thank you. Thank you!

So, you are wondering, next month? Wonder no more. In fact we have chosen for January AND February. 

January 10th we will step outside our comfort zones and read a book of short stories. By 2013 Nobel Prize winner Alice Munro. Dear Life. Alice is thought as the best English language short story writer alive. At 84, she has said this is her last book. Let's dig in. Betty R and Jane are hosting us. 

Moving right along. Since the whole table gets starry-eyed when someone mentions the name 'Donna Tartt', we have to read her latest book. Just have to.  It took her 10 years to write this latest book. 784 pages. Yes, get up off the floor, it's a long one Edith. So we are announcing now, The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt is our book for February.

Ladies, enjoy the Christmas season. 

Friends, 

families, 

memories, 

adventures. 

Smiles, hugs, laughter. 

 Much love, sara

Me before You to The Husband's Secret

Jojo Moyes

Me before you. 



...I am me standing before you.
...I consider the needs of me before the needs of you.
...I used to consider the needs of me before those of you.
...From now on, I will not consider the needs of me before you.
...Does a mother, when thinking of her child, ever say "me before you?"
...I was a different me, before meeting you.
...When we die, it will be me before you.


We thought these all.
Great title.
JoJo Moyes, thank you for this book.
Mary, Jane, Jackie, Linda thank you for recommending.




Camilla Traynor, you aren't such a bad mom. Ice water runs in your veins, but boy you love your son.  You love him like a lioness in the Serengeti, not afraid to literally rend your own heart in two when it is done for Will. Wow.

Steven Traynor, can't really get a read on you. Except you do get your son, and understand what he has to do. You will move on.

Will, I know people like you.  Like you were. My heart aches for you. You evolve into the very definition of a tragic hero.. Rescuing Lou as you slip away. Holding her up above the crashing waves, so she is safe and alive while you drown. A tragic hero.

Lou, love your spark. Love your willingness to give it your all. To be vulnerable. To love. To live. To move forward. I forgive you for your middle-school selfishness on the airplane back from Mauritius. You aren't perfect. The author, and Camilla, gave you a chance to redeem yourself. Should we all have a chance to redeem ourselves of momentary selfishnesses....  At the end, you have become a woman who embraces life. Just like in a romance novel....

Linda's cooking was superb.
 Julia Childs has nothing on you!
Cream of artichoke soup topped with marscapone and pancetta, spinach salad, samosas with coriander sauce.
Sprinkles of Lindor chocolates for dessert.
No one does leeks like you do, and I admire that.

Thank you Linda for the delishiousness!
Thank you all for the 12:15 sit down time.
And what a clean up crew! We all work together seamlessly.
Yippee Doodle!



So next month, Liane Moriarty's The Husband's Secret. December 6 at Interlachen. You will be hearing from a hostess.

Until then.... shhhhh!

Book lunch lunch on The Burgess Boys.

Elizabeth Strout's The Burgess Boys.

Oh how my soul sings having seen you all here today.
Loved it.
Just loved it all!

Recipes of our non-dairy, non-gluten, packed with anti-inflammatories, anti-oxidants, anti-cholesterols, and pro-biotics soup and salad are printed at the bottom of this blog post.

Now onto the soul.
And the book.

Forgiveness.
Forgiveness of others.
Forgiveness of ourself.

When you are able to view an individual person as a human being with a beating heart and wounded soul, your preconceived notions of that person are sometimes put on the shelf. To make way for truth.

And then you can forgive.

What's the deal with Somalia? Now I know.
Civil war.
Abject poverty.
Palpable sadness.
Bad rulers.
Not enough food.
Not enough safety.

Article from Lewiston Maine, regarding the past 10 years of Somali immigration to Lewiston.
Population of this town is 10% Somali.

Don't you just love Bob. Flawed, but oh so loveable.
So many secrets. And lies.
But these three Burgess kids, they stuck together.
Didn't like it. But they stuck together.

Perception and assumptions can color adulthood and the roles we choose.

What color is Jim to you? Bob? Susan? Helen?
Jim is Bright Red.
Bob is Light Blue.
Susan is Stark old fashioned hospital corridor Green, of course.
And elegant Helen is Camelhair beige.

In the movie, Helen would be Meryl Streep 20 years ago, Jim is played by John Hamm, and Bob is unanimously Philip Seymour Hoffman.
I forget who Susan was.


Forgiveness.
Parallel stories of forgiveness.
Thank you Elizabeth Strout.

Next month, Me before You, by Jojo Moyes.
See you Nov 1!

==================================

Creamy Curried Cauliflower Soup

Adapted from Smitten Kitchen, Serves 6-8

2 tablespoons coconut oil (can use olive oil)

2 medium yellow onions, thinly sliced

4 cloves garlic, minced (can leave this out)

2 16 oz bags frozen organic cauliflower florets

3 cups chicken broth (2 double Knorr’s Chicken Bouillon cubes in 3 cups water)

4 to 7 teaspoons curry spices (see note)

2 cups coconut milk

Salt and Pepper to taste (be generous with the freshly cracked pepper)

Optional for garnish:  ¼ cup roasted pepitas or cashews (350 for 5 minutes)

Heat oil in a large pot over medium heat until shimmering. Cook the onion until soft and translucent, 8-9 minutes.

Reduce heat to low, add garlic and cook for 2 additional minutes.

Add curry spices, cook an additional minute, until they start to give off aroma.

Add cauliflower, broth . Bring pot to a boil over medium-high heat,  then reduce the heat to low. Simmer until cauliflower is tender, about 15-17 minutes.

Use an immersion blender to purée the soup right in the pot. Stir in the coconut milk, warm the soup. Taste, then add more salt, pepper, spices if you’d like.

Note: Curry Spices. The amount and mixture depends on your taste. If you are unsure, use 4 teaspoons Spice Islands Curry Powder to start.

2 teaspoons Spice Islands Curry Powder

1 teaspoon Tumeric

1 teaspoon Cumin

1 teaspoon Coriander

=======================

Fennel, Arugula and Pomegranate Salad

Adapted from Bon Appetit, November 2008, Serves 4 to 6

1 large fennel bulb, thinly sliced

2 large heads belgian endive, thinly sliced

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

Juice of ½ lemon

6 cups arugula (about 4 ounces)

1 cup thinly sliced green onions

1/4 cup thinly sliced mint leaves

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

salt and pepper

½ cup walnuts, coarsely chopped

½ cup pomegranate seeds

Toss fennel, endive, 1 tablespoon olive oil, lemon juice in medium bowl or ziploc baggie. Sprinkle with 1/4 teaspoon salt. Keep refrigerated. (Planning ahead? I did this a few hours before serving.)

Right before serving, combine arugula, green onions, mint, vinegar, and 2 tablespoons olive oil in large bowl; toss. Season with salt and pepper.

Divide dark greens among plates.

Top with fennel and endive mix.

Sprinkle pomegranate seeds and walnuts over, with panache.

October is The Burgess Boys

There once were fourteen ladies from Winter Park

There once were fourteen ladies from Winter Park,

Who each month on an adventure did embark.

They read books, they debate.

Such scrumptious food, they lick the plate.

They've evolved into a Winter Park landmark!

June Book Lunch (behind beautiful forevers, Entry 3)

1 1/2 minute video of Annawadi, click here

Asha

Ladies,

My head is spinning.

Quite the crowd for June (10 of us), quite the enthusiasm for conversation, quite the food (thank you Jackie and WPRC), quite the Book Lunch (thank you everyone!)

behind the beautiful forevers is definitely a book I am glad to have read.

As the book's cover said, it was life in a slum of Mumbai. It was death. Many kinds of deaths.

None of us saw the "hope" as mentioned on the book's cover.

We tried to look for it, maybe saw it for a season in Sunil or Manju, but not when you looked at their entire lives.

 Hope in Abdul when he chose to stop selling stolen goods. He wanted to be something better.

A great passage:
“...and maybe because of the boiling April sun, he thought about water and ice. Water and ice were made of the same thing. He thought most people were made of the same thing, too. He himself was probably a little different from the corrupt people around him. Ice was distinct from - and in his view, better than - what it was made of. He wanted to be better than what he was made of. In Mumbai's dirty water, he wanted to be ice. He wanted to have ideals.”


This conviction to take the high road disappeared as he saw he couldn't afford to feed himself and his family. “I tell Allah I love Him immensely, immensely. But I tell Him I cannot be better, because of how the world is.”

A moment of hope at the end,  when Boo mentions that, in this cesspool of Annawadi, what's remarkable is that there are any moments of goodness. And there are. They shine like the stars in the sky over the steamy, black water.

What to do to help people climb up out of poverty? First of all, ensure there's a structure in place free of corruption so they are able to climb up.

Some beautiful paragraphs.

We feel very lucky we live in the USA.

Cynthia brought a NYT article on Amma (Mata Amritanandamayi). She is another side of India, a side of hope and love.  Unconditional love  “Love is our true essence. Love has no limitations of caste, religion, race or nationality. We are all beads strung together on the same thread of love.” —Amma

So for July, no book chosen. Many discussed.

The date, July 5 or 12. Email me to tell me if you could come to either July 5 or 12.. I will (tomorrow) email out the count of which date gets the most attending. Here at my house. Brown bag lunch style (I will provide water/iced tea.)

Stay cool and dry ladies...
love ya sara

behind the beautiful forevers, finished part 3 (entry 2)

Closed the book.
Placed it on the table next to me, folding a page corner to keep my place.

Just finished Part 3, 'a little wildness.'

Part 2 was 'the business of burning.'
Remember the burning?

One more part remains, 'up and out.'
Is it a person who rises up and out?
Will Abdul rise up, move out? Or will it be Manju? Or Mirchi?
Could it possibly be Sunil?
I'm rooting for Abdul.
But probability says it will be Manju.

The beginning chapters were sad stories. These 'undercitizens 'made the best of their plights. Sad, but they were survivors.  I'm rooting for them.

Now, in these past few pages, too many of Annawadi's people have been unfairly treated. Not just bad luck, but press their noses into the mud and smear it. Intentionally. Oh man. Beatings by police, corruption left and right... in the police and charities as well as in your community. Corruption is the river that propels India's commerce forward, this book is saying.

And me, just a simple reader of these stories. I think I have become immune to the horror of the injustices.  I read through their sad sad tales too quickly.

The first recounting of a bribe required for the wheels of justice to churn forward, I cringed. The first seemingly random act of unkindness, I paused. Thankful for my life. Thankful for my country. Thankful I'm sitting in Winter Park, not Mumbai. Not sitting in a 6' x 10' shack calling it my home.

Having read chapter after chapter of corruption and unfairness, have I become less compassionate? Do their stories move me less?  Kalu was brutally killed. I read on. Sanjay died drinking rat poison. Turn the page.

There's enough heartache one one page to fuel an entire novel.

How do you stay human in Annawadi?
How do you stay attuned to compassion, when you really need to close off your emotions to survive?

As inured to each individual's heartache as I thought I was becoming, had to step away from the pages for a breath of air.

Place the book on the table next to me.

When do they ever get a moment to breathe?
Why are tears welling up in my eyes?

behind the beautiful forevers, finished part 1 (entry 1)

I have finished the first quarter of behind the beautiful forevers. 

May I say that I personally applaud an author who decides to NOT capitalize a title. 

Got to add a map ... 

I like it.
Didn't quite know what to expect.

The author, Katherine Boo, writes with the voice of Abdul, a teenager living in shanty-town-by-the-Mumbai-Airport Annawadi.

A garbage scavenger and seller.

But he doesn't know much of a different life that the one he's living. He does know that he wants better, but not certain what that is.

Taking a deep breath,  reading about corruption. "...for the poor of the country, corruption was one of the genuine opportunities that remained."

Putting the book down for a moment, looking at my home. At my life, my delightfully stable and fairy tale life.  One family lives in a aluminum thrown together shack measuring 6' by 10'.

That's just slightly larger than the batter's box.

Or look at one of your 8' x 10' rugs, and subtract 2'.

Humbling.

The instinct for survival affects our moral baseline.

And I already know from where she took the title....

May book lunch: Ghana Must Go // behind the beautiful forevers

Thank you Cathi and Cynthia.
Delicious lunch. Gracious setting. Elegantly served.

The grande finale,  desserts from Ghana.
Banana-Peanut Bread and Strawberry Fool.
Fool is the best. Even those of us who don't dessert, took a bite.

Heavenly. Thank you!

Ah the book. Well once again I was the outlier. Everyone loved it. Just loved it. But me.

Loved the story of strong Fola, whose husband left her as a poor immigrant in America with four little kids. He was fired, didn't deserve it, tried to fix it, couldn't, so he left.

 In the discussion, they loved the entanglements of the damaged lives and relationships amongst the four kids and those two parents.

Gripping storyline. Fullness of characters. Abusive relationships, bulimia. In the end, as in the beginning, the father Kweku, dies. Married to Ama who is satiable. Broken hearted he doesn't try to save himself. A picture of young African immigrants' lives in America today.

Ling's father doesn't want her to marry Olu because in his mind, African men have taken over Asians as being great doctors, but African men aren't loyal to their families. He wants to protect his daughter.

 Sadie, Fola's favorite, blossoms through dance. Fola is strong.

Kweku's slippers, hiding the signs of an impoverished childhood, return at the end to Fola. Unsatiable Fola.

Beautifully written. Glimpse into the life of African immigrants' lives.

Did I hit on most points discussed? This book proved fodder for a solid hour of energetic conversation. That was cool.

Hope the next one does too. I think it will.

For June we are reading, with no capital letters in the title:

behind the beautiful forevers, by Katherine Boo.

Non-fiction, but why not?  It's the exceptions that define the rules...

;)

Map of Ghana (Entry 1)

Launching off into a new book can be like embarking on a trip.

Sometimes you want to just start walking, see where you end up.

Sometimes you want a map.

Just depends.

Personally I like maps.

Don't always look at them, but nice to know it's in my pocket.

Bon Voyage!

Chicago Entry 3

Enjoying 5 " of sun while on arch. boat tour of Chicago.  Great city for world-class arch.

This blue glass building along the river is intended to echo the river's curves.

Using every moment.- even got to Chicago History Museum and diorama of 1871 Fire.

Most incredible stained glass museum.  Tiffany glass collection beyond superb.  Taking me back to N Park Ave.

This is "Field of Lilies"

Love to Fiery Five and all back home











This is how I want my salad served at home from now on.
Okay Mike?










So as all good things must come to an end, we WELCOME our ladies back to their homes.

Can't wait to hear details. Rest in the moments. A sigh of joy for your travels.

Much love, sara

Chicago Photos Entry 2

More photos received
from our Chicago adventurers!

"We had a fabulous day at the Chicago Art Institute beginning with the Picasso exhibit and following with a tour of the Impressionist Gallery.  It was a great way to spend a rainy day!"



Here's their itinerary for the visit:







Tuesday, April 9th
weather: chance of rain ® (60%) H-51 L-41
12:45- arrive  MDW on SWA.

2:30- Kick off Party-Tea at The Peninsula-108 E Superior St-(312)337-­2888


7:00- Meet in Westin lobby for Girl and Goat

8pm- Girl and the Goat- 809 W. Randolph Chicago, lL 60617




Wednesday, April 10th  
weather: Chance of rain (20%) H- 51

2:00- Million Dollar Quartet- Apollo Theatre- 2540 N. Lincoln Ave.

5:45- Rose Bud Prime- 1 South Dearborn

7:30- Book of Mormon- Bank of America Theatre-18 W Monroe

Thursday, April 11th  
weather: chance of rain (40%)  L-43

10:30-Picasso Exhibit- Art Institute of Chicago- 111 S. Michigan Ave.

5:30- Blackbird- 619 Randolph (312) 715-0708

8:00- Second City- 1616 N. Wells Street (between Concord Ln & North Ave)





Friday, April 12th  
weather: Chance of rain (20%) H-5O L-37

3:25-  fly from MDW to MCO / CT

Tuesday in Chicago.. Entry 1

It's Tuesday, we must be in Chicago!

Our Fiery Five are.. enjoying the Windy City, each other. Living in the moment!

Emails have been flying. Everyone has done their part. Mary, I understand, is a born organizer.

Here's the first stop in Chicago. Tea at the Peninsula Hotel.  I see a tea pot, I see a tea tier of tidbits. And I see glasses of champagne. This is tea taken to the next level! 

Way to go girls!

After stopping at the hotel to drop the bags, the next stop was Girl and the Goat. Remember Stephanie Izard from Top Chef season 4? Well, here she is .. her first restaurant. Girl and the Goat. In her humble words,  “I’m just trying to make your whole mouth happy.”  As I hear, she does.

Some of our kids joined us too. We have five kids living in Chicago right now. Plus one in-law. 

Enjoy the moments! I wish I were there...

April Book Lunch! Wolf Hall Discussion...

Ten totally top-notch tintillating ladies. One superb restaurant, Park Plaza Gardens. They have expanded their back private room, did you know that?

We missed four of you.
:(

I wish I could report that the book Wolf Hall was a scintillating success, loved by all. OR at least that it inspired a wickedly wild conversation.

But I can't. 

The conversation was good, but not overly inspired by the book.

A few of us loved it. Okay, ONE of us loved it. A few thought it had pages of good parts that got you hooked, but then it dropped you like yesterday's socks and you were swimming in the pronouns trying to figure out what the heck-a-rooni was going on.

Some passages were magical. And clever. A view into Cromwell's mind and heart.

Some couldn't get past the syntax and the focus issues. Too many people, some real, some fictional. The perspective confused many of us. That "he" was usually Cromwell was tricky. You have to really be paying attention to this book. Not a book to pick up 30 minutes per day before bed.

If you asked the others in the booklunch if this was a book they'd recommend, I think three might recommend it, including me. That's not many.

Talked about Thomas More's depiction here versus in A Man for all Seasons. Mantel really really liked Thomas Cromwell. Thomas More, not so much.

How much of this was fiction, how much fact? We have little idea. There are some remaining artifacts from the 1500's; much had to be filled in.

Cromwell was one of the rare lower class people who rose in power and wealth at that time. His influence spread so far, yet he gets little credit for it.

Personally, I will read her second book, Bring in the Bodies. Don't think many others will.

For May, our choice is Ghana Must Go by Taiye Selasi.

I wish bon voyage to our Fiery Five off to Chicago this week. Our booklunch's annual field trip. Seeing Book of Mormon, Million Dollar Quartet, Second City, Picasso exhibit. And dinners all set up - Girl and the Goat, etc...  You all will have a blast. Send photos! Stay warm!

Kudos to Beth. I passed around my new little bracelet, asked people to guess what / how it was made? What new technology was used, that some people say will change our lives. Beth got it!

 3-D Printing. This is from "Nervous System" Jewelers. You go to this site, design your own bracelet, they print it out and ship it to you. It is separate from MOMA (I thought it was through them, they have one of their bracelets.) Try it.

Wolf Hall, Parts V, VI (Entry 6)

We knew where we were heading the entire book.
And still Mantel kept me reading up to the last.
I didn't want this story to end.
I didn't want to leave these people.
Here's how the book ends:

Before "Bromham," he makes a dot in the margin, and draws a long arrow across the page.

 "Now here, before we go to Winchester, we have time to spare, and what I think is, Rafe, we shall visit the Seymours."

Map of Wiltshire, 1600's

He writes it down

Early September, Five days. Wolf Hall. 

Well done. Mantel.

And, well done Cromwell.
More is stone cold.
Henry VIII is married to Anne.
Cromwell is expanding his empire.

The boy who started the book lying on the cobblestones looking at his father's boot, is now planning a stop over at Wolf Hall en route to visiting the King. A stop over where he sees a bright future.

King Henry with Cramer and Cromwell,
 giving bibles to the people, 
ruling over church and state

I'm a born and raised Episcopalian (Church of England). Always knew branched off from Catholicism due to Henry VIII wanting localized rule over the church and state. And that the cardinals in England had gone overboard, growing in wealth at the expense of the people they served. You had to buy forgiveness (indulgences) was the main thing I remember.

And yes that Henry wanted a divorce from Katherine. Now to have walked through the process of splitting from the church in Rome... wow.

With Martin Luther and the Reformation in Germany, was split in England inescapable?  If not over divorce,  would King Henry VIII have found another tenet to pull away power from the Bishop of Rome? And don't forget, to divert the money paid to Rome to his coffers instead?

We will never know.
And such marches forward the flow of civilizations.

Henry VIII

I have been walking in 1500's England. I have sat at More's trial, have stood in his prison cell. I have listened to Cromwell's dreams during his illness, was there when he told Richard he couldn't marry Mary. The realist. Accept fact, move on. It's just one more bump in the road.

Richard looks up. "He said this?"
"He left me to understand it. And as I understand it, I convey it to you, and we are both amazed, but we get over it." 

And I really like this guy.  Smooth talker that he is. He accomplishes things.  He stretches his hand down to pick up those beneath him. Some who will never do anything for him. He gives More several ways and means to recant, to rephrase.

What was his driving force? The power? The good of England? That he could benefit others, as he was benefited by the Cardinal?

So, a few passages that stand out.

1. "You think you can buy hearts?" Charles Brandon says. He sounds as if he would be sad if the answer were yes. 
He thinks, the heart is like any other organ, you can weigh it on a scale. 

Okay, here's the part of Cromwell which isn't pleasant. He carries out the orders Henry (or Cardinal Wolsey) request. Henry just doesn't want to know the details.

Thomas Cromwell portrait by Holbein

 But don't they say, politics is like making sausages, no one likes to see them made, but we all like a good outcome? Hmm.

2. For one never thinks of you alone, Cremuel, but in company, studying the faces of other people, as if you yourself mean to paint them.  

You make other men think, not 'what does he look like?' but ' what do I look like?' ... 

Still. Looking at that, one would be loath to cross you. To that extent, I think Hans has achieved his aim. 

Chapuys response to Hans Holbein's portrait of Cromwell.

And remember what Mark (house boy) said about Cromwell in the beginning of the story? I looked like a murderer. 

3. The saying comes to him, homo homini lupus, man is wolf to man. 

1534 Act of supremacy

Her it is, the second meaning of Wolf Hall. He has just been promoted to Master Secretary. He has his own barge, with his Coat of Arms flying next to Henry's. He remembers Cardinal Wolsey, when Duke of Norfolk came to fetch him.

4. the Act of Supremacy... It doesn't, as some say, make the king head of the church. It states that he is head of the church, and has always been. If people don't like new ideas, let them have old ones. 

Clever Cromwell. Very Clever.

Holbein's Sheba and Solomon

5. ... a miniature on vellum, which shows Solomon on his throne receiving Sheba.

 It is to be an allegory, he explains, of the king receiving the fruits of the church and the homage of his people. 

Hans gives him a withering look. "I grasp the point." 

Oh yes, you have to love this writer Mantel.

 I can absolutely hear those words coming out of Holbein's mouth.

Thick German accent.

Tired of the privileged getting their way. Just tired.

 Listening to Cromwell going over the details of this commissioned gift.

"I grasp the point."

6. The fate of peoples is made like this, two men in small rooms.

 Forget the coronations, the conclaves of cardinals, the pomp and processions. 

This is how the world changes: a counter pushed across a table, a pen stroke that alters the force of a phrase, a woman's sigh as she passes and leaves on the air a trail of orange flower or rose water; her hand pulling close the bed curtain, the discreet sigh of flesh against flesh.

Cromwell and Chapuys sitting in Cromwell's home. Yes, je agree.

7.  I keep you, Master Cromwell, because you are as cunning as a bag of serpents. But do not be a viper in my bosom. You know my decision. Execute it. 

All Cromwell said was, This is not going to be easy. Convicting More to die. Well, Henry wants none of that worry. Just do it, he says. And I wash my hands of the blood. Wow.

8.  Words, words, just words. 

Holbein Thomas More

He thinks, I remembered you, Thomas More, but you didn't remember me. You never even saw me coming. 

Did Cromwell harbor anger all these years? Towards the privileged More who didn't take note of him as a boy? Cromwell forgave Christophe easily for being the boy thief of gold plate from Cardinal Wolsey. But towards the high and mighty, no. Towards those with pride, who think they are pure white and innocent. No. Forgiveness doesn't come easily for this sin.

9. You can have a silence full of words. A lute retains, in its bowl, the notes it has played. 
The viol, in its strings, holds a concord.  A shriveled petal can hold its scent, a prayer can rattle with curses; 
an empty house, when the owners have gone out, can still be loud with ghosts.

Just think on this one. Cool.

Wolf Hall, Syphilis and Crests (Entry 5)

Sitting down at the table for six, entrees just placed in front of us. Bone-in strip steak with caramelized onions and shitake mushrooms atop polenta. Snazzy music playing, second glass of Volte just poured for me.

I ask the man to my right, "and ... so...  how are you so knowledgeable about syphilis?"

Thankfully his answer didn't go down the AWKWARD MOMENT path. He stated that he's an Ob/Gyn. Phew.

And how do we find ourselves in such alluring dinner time conversations, you might ask? By talking about Wolf Hall of course.

The scuttlebutt at the table was that Henry VIII had syphilis. All these potential heirs that died, despite the ultimate in prenatal care, at least for 1500's in England.

That little corkscrew virus which had recently found its way from the New World to Europe, can travel through the placenta and wreck havoc on the developing baby.

Stillborns. Weak in health infants. Or even premature births due to physical defects.

And the clues in Henry VIII himself were there: multiple partners, open sores not healing, eventually  loss of acute mental function.

Just a thought.

We also talked about books and television series glorifying Henry VIII. Which none of us thought this book did.

Actually, I am amazed at how two dimensional he is in Mantel's writing. We see him in person only briefly when Cromwell comes in to speak with him.  We hear of his demands. And of his antics.

It is really Cromwell who is the star of this show. We see him in full force. As I mentioned before, we see Cromwell in more than three dimensions. Love that.


So here are some coats of arms.

The first being the Tudors. Henry the VIII. The saying  is French for  "God and my right" (a fuller version of the motto is also quoted as "God and my right shall me defend")

This motto comes from Richard I in 1198. It was his battle cry, and they won the battle. It stuck.

With Henry VIII you get the idea he might be thinking, it's my DIVINE right...

Katherine of Aragon

Katherine of Aragon's crest is next.

Black eagle for St John. And also the black eagle is from her father's crest.

Lots of symbols for Spain - castle is Castile, pomegranate for Granada, etc.

Anne Boleyn

Then Anne Boleyn, as she will soon be marrying Henry VIII.

Flanking the shield, she has a gold leopard (from Aquitaine), and a white male griffin (her father's crest.) Now I know what a griffin is. 

Other symbols (such as blue and white checks for the Warennes of Surrey) are of distant relations of Anne's.








Remember  Cardinal Wolsey's coat of arms?

He has two Cornish Choughs (blackbirds) and a Tudor rose. The red lion in the center of the silver cross is for Pope Leo X who made Wolsey a cardinal. The blue leopard heads are for Suffolk, Wolsey's birthplace.






I couldn't find a good image for Thomas Cromwell's coat of arms. You see, he wasn't nobility.  The book says he had an azure horizontal bar (fess), then three gold lions standing up (rampant), a Tudor rose (smart move Thomas!), and two Cornish choughs (blackbirds, tipping his hat to Cardinal Wolsey.)

Off to read....