Sanctuary - Silbury Hill

This is Silbury Hill in Wiltshire, England. I took this photo one day last year when I was visiting. It's a beautiful and serene spot. I felt such peace there. It was a wonderful place to be alone with my thoughts and relish being alive :-)

~ Dori

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On This Day:

On this day in 1889, the Eiffel Tower was opened in Paris. 

You can read more via history.com here.

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On This Day:

On this day in 1981, President Ronald Reagan was shot by a lone gunman in Washington.

You can read about it and watch a video from BBC On This Day here.

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On This Day:

On this day in 1981, thousands of people competed in the first ever London Marathon. 

You can read about it and watch a video via BBC On This Day here.

Arts and Culture : Graduation Day at the Barbican

Hi everyone, and a very Happy Saturday to you all.

I'm REALLY excited today, as I'm graduating this afternoon after four wonderful years of study!  I live in the far west of England, but chose to graduate at the Barbican in London, as I'm from London originally, my close family still live there, and it makes for a great day out.  A weekend away is always a bonus, too.  I remember going to a classical music concert at the Barbican when my husband and I were first dating, but that was years ago (Okay, not that long!), and I hadn't realised what a fascinating place it is.  I thought it might be interesting to show you a little about it, and, if you like, they have a dedicated YouTube channel where you can watch more of what goes on there.

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Quote for the day:

 

“Your life is an occasion. Rise to it.”

 ― Suzanne Weyn, Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium 

 

 (from: http://www.goodreads.com)

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On This Day:

On this day in 1905, fingerprint technology was used for the first time in London in a high profile murder case.  Read about it via history.com here.

Food: Food Porn - Kiwi

 

 

Today my food post is about a food that's healthy as opposed to my previous food porn post. I believe in enjoying a little bit of this and a little bit of that. These are kiwifruit and they're one of my favourite things to eat. They're tangy and sweet at the same time. I'm sure that many of you have already tried them, but if you haven't, please give them a try and tell me what you think. They are also just gorgeous to look at when they're sliced like this. Before they're peeled they look like furry little balls, but they're the ultimate in not judging a book by it's cover ;-)

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On This Day:


On this day in 1973, women were admitted to the Stock Exchange in London.

Read about it via BBC On This Day here.

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On This Day:

 

On this day in 1918, the composer Claude Debussy died in Paris aged 55.

 

(from: http://www.historyorb.com). 

 

You can watch Angela Hewitt play ‘Clair de Lune’ via YouTube here.

Sanctuary

Sanctuary at Chatsworth House, Derbyshire

 Hi everyone, and a very 'Happy Monday' to you all!

I've been thinking about 'Sanctuary' and what it might mean to different people.  I'm sure we all have different ideas about it, and why we might need or seek it sometimes.  If we look at dictionary definitions we can see that it comes from the Latin Sanctus (holy) and can mean:

1. Refuge or safety from pursuit, persecution or other danger

2. A nature reserve

3. A holy place; a temple.

(From: http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/sanctuary)

I'm wondering what Sanctuary means for you?

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On This Day:

On this day in 1918, German Forces crossed the Somme river advancing against the British 5th Army. 

Read about it via history.com here.

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On This Day:

On this day in 1918, Paris was hit by shells from a new German gun. 

You can read about it via history.com here .

Style/Home: Nods to the Past

Recently when I was out on one of my Saturday trips doing some home store browsing, I had the chance to buy something that really appealed to me because it reminded me of back home. And I find that when I come across little things that remind me of the house that I grew up in, I'm drawn to them whether I buy the item or not. Things like this are subtle reminders of my roots and that is important to me especially since I live in a different country now.

So here's the piece that I found:

It's a little footed glass dish with a lid. It's not anything remarkable but it appealed to me because it reminded of a footed sugar bowl that we had around the house when I was growing up. The sugar bowl was clear glass and this one has a pinkish hue, but they are so similar. One of the things that I used to love to do when I was a kid was to fill the sugar bowl. I'd watch my mom like a hawk when she made her coffee. I'd peek around her to see if the bowl was close to being empty. And when it was I would plead with her to let me fill it. Usually I was given the chance to do it. This made me very happy.

When I saw the new piece my mind was instantly taken back to my childhood, so I had to have it for nostalgia's sake and maybe something deeper. I guess indeed it was all about roots for me. I bought it for about £5 ($8 US) which was a bargain.

This made me think about how it's important to create your own identity in your home. It's great to have the chance to create the look of your home with bits of what you like now and also sometimes nods to your past. This dish is my nod to my past :-)

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Quote for the day:

“Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood. Now is the time to understand more, so that we may fear less.” 

~Marie Curie 

The Creative Maze: Costume-making for Film

Hello again, and welcome back to the Creative Maze.  Today’s post concerns costume-making, as a certain member of my family wants to work in the film industry when she’s older, and has asked me to make some costumes for a film she wants to shoot in Scotland later this year.  I thought it might be interesting to document the progress, and, hopefully, they’ll turn out alright!

Sewing has always been part of my life.  My mum made dresses for me when I was a little girl, and knitted cardigans and jumpers too, and I wanted to have a go and be able to make wonderful things like she did.  Mum taught me early on how to use her sewing machine.  Sewing was just something we did, and I loved it.  In fact, I don’t remember not sewing –  I recall patching small pieces of fabric together, and trying to make little dresses for my dolls when I was quite young.  It’s great that these sorts of skills are having such a huge resurgence at the moment, and I’m particularly enjoying the second series of The Great British Sewing Bee currently showing on the BBC.  I think it’s so important to be able to divert from the digital in the modern world, don't you?  Anyway, I digress, so back to the costumes...

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On This Day:


On this day in 1999 the British comedian Ernie Wise died aged 73. 

Read about it via BBC On This Day here and watch a short Morecambe and Wise sketch via YouTube here.

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On This Day:

On this day in 1966 the football World Cup was stolen from an exhibition in London.

You can read about it and watch a video via BBC On This Day here.

Recipe: Quick Chocolate Mug Cake

2014 is a year of great change in our house, and the biggest change will hit in September when number one son goes off to University.  It’s going to be strange, and there’s going to be a hole in the household (which I’m hoping Skype can fill), but for him it’s all part of becoming an adult and I’ll just have to get used to it.  I thought it would be a great idea to start blogging some quick and simple recipes that he (and others out there) might find useful, so I’ve been looking for ideas in my recipe books and on the web.  I came across this recipe on YouTube for a Simple 5 Minute Mug Cake from the Simple Cooking Channel, which fits the bill, and it tastes great.  I’ve done my usual thing and cut down the sugar quantity, but you can stick to the original if you like.  I just prefer things not so sweet!  Here’s how to make it:

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On This Day:

On this evening in 1953, for the first time, the 25th Academy Awards ceremony was broadcast on TV in the U.S. by NBC.

(from: http://www.history.com)

You can watch the opening on this clip from YouTube here.

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Photo courtesy of Wikipedia
 

On This Day:

 

On this day in 1967 the Beatles’ single, ‘Penny Lane’ went to number 1 in the U.S.

 

(from: http://www.historyorb.com)

 

Have a listen via YouTube here.  

Book Club - Dori's Review of The Picture of Dorian Gray

Today it's my turn to bring you the next instalment of our monthly book review. My pick for this month is a book that I've been wanting to read for a long time, but have never gotten around to reading. I bought a copy quite a while back, sometime last year and put it into my pile of books that I was planning on reading once I finished the degree that I was working on. Well, once I finally finished with my degree, I realized that my pile of books had grown quite a bit. So one day I just closed my eyes and picked one from the pile and The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde was the lucky one.

I enjoyed the book from the very beginning and it seems that the story doesn't take long to get going which is always a plus for me. We meet Dorian Gray quite early on after the initial conversation about him between Lord Henry Wotton and the artist Basil Hallward.

I don't want to give away any spoilers for those of you who haven't read it, so I have to be careful here. First of all, it's definitely an excellent book and is a cautionary tale that makes me think that we must be careful what we wish for. Dorian Gray is a handsome young man and desires to stay as young and handsome as he is in the portrait that Basil paints. He wants the portrait to take on the signs of aging instead of him. He gets his wish. The portrait takes on all the harshness of life whilst Dorian does all manner of things and remains unspoiled on the outside.

The book goes on to explore this interesting plot and it really makes you think about what beauty really is. I won't go any further so that I won't spoil the book for those who haven't read it. I really enjoyed this classic novel by Oscar Wilde. It lived up to my expectations and that doesn't happen all the time with books that you've heard so much about. I will give it 4 and a half stars out of 5!

Have you read this book? What did you think of it? If you haven't read it, are you thinking of giving it a go? Please leave a comment if you'd like and let us know what you're currently reading. Val will be here next month with another book club selection. I look forward to finding out what's next on her reading list and yours.

Until next time...

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On This Day:

On this day in 1845, a Bristol baker, Henry Jones, patented self-raising flour.

(from: http://www.historyorb.com)

Read about him via Wikipedia here.

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Photo from Wikipedia
 

On This Day:


On this day in 1850, Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel The Scarlet Letter was published.

(from: http://www.history.com)

 You can read more about it via Wikipedia here.

ARTS & CULTURE: Spring-time and accessing art.

Hello, and welcome.  Today, I’m writing to you from London, and it feels like Spring has finally ‘sprung’.  This week we’ve had long periods of beautiful sunshine and everyone seems to be celebrating the fact that it has finally stopped raining!  Everything outside looks renewed and refreshed; the trees are covered in blossom, daffodils are bobbing their cheerful, bright yellow heads about and there are countless buds and shoots bursting out all over.  It makes you want to go out and enjoy it; perhaps sketch or paint what you see...  There’s a sense of seeing things anew in Spring, don’t you think?  I guess it’s because light and shade are now more clearly defined and the shapes of the living things around us change as they grow.  We’re aware at this time of year of growth and life, and the riot of colour that rings out from various spring-flowering bulbs and blossom.  So light and warmth bring life and enjoyment, which leads me (finally!) to the point of today’s post.

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Quote for the day:

 

 

 “Sometimes the questions are complicated and the answers are simple.”

 

~ Dr Seuss

 

 

The Creative Maze: Photography

Hello there! So this is our next entry in the Creative Maze series and I'm here to present a way that I like to get creative. Last Friday Val featured her crafting skill as she demonstrated how she made the Yellow House flag for my sixth anniversary over at my blog. You can read that entry here.

I have a lot of interests in different areas of creativity as many people do. One of my favorite things is photography. I have loved taking pictures for as long as I can remember. I even used to make believe that I had a camera as I ran around our yard when I was a kid. I'd pretend to take pictures of our pets and the different birds. 

So as I've grown up, I've held onto that interest and I'm trying to become better at taking pictures. Even if I never get great at taking pictures, I'll always do it for the love of it, you know? Sometimes the love of something just fills your soul with happiness so it doesn't matter about anything else :-)

Here's a photo that I took last year. I pulled it out because it makes me think of the daffodils that are blooming now. When I took these pictures originally, I decided to play around with my computer and I put them into a kind of collection in one place. So here's the result.

I'm hoping to do more creative things like this with my photos and I'll be showing them here. Do you have any ways that you love to express your creativity? Why not let us know in the comments :-)

Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend!

~Dori

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Photo courtesy CBS
 

On This Day:

On this day in 1971, Barbra Streisand appeared on the Burt Bacharach Special on CBS TV

(from: http://www.historyorb.com)

You can see a clip from the show via YouTube below.

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Remembering those who died and suffered in the tragedy at Dunblane school in 1996. 

Read more about it here.

Food: Salivating Over Food Pics

Today I wanted to share a food porn pic. I love salivating over pictures of food. I know...I'm greedy, but actually there are many food porn lovers out there. For those of you who don't know what food porn is, here's a semi-official definition from Wikipedia:

'Food porn is a glamorized spectacular visual presentation of cooking or eating in advertisements, infomercials, cooking shows or other visual media; foods boasting a high fat and caloric content, exotic dishes that arouse a desire to eat or the glorification of food. Food porn often takes the form of food photography and styling that presents food provocatively, in a similar way to glamour photography.' (from Wikipedia)

There are whole blogs and websites like Food Porn Daily that are just devoted to this subject so I'm not alone in my love of this little hobby ;-)

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Photo courtesy of thestandardedition.com

On This Day:

On this day in 1921, Giovanni Agnelli, the chairman who turned FIAT into an international company, was born. 

You can read about him via History.com here.

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On This Day:


On this day in 1955, Alexander Fleming, the scientist who discovered penicillin, died.

Click here to read about him on BBC On This Day.

Sanctuary - Self

I love this quote.

 

Very wise and true!

 

 

 

 

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On This Day:

Charles Frederick Worth, an English fashion designer and considered by some to be the father of haute couture, died on this day in 1895 in Paris. 

You can read about him in Wikipedia here and from the Metropolitan Museum of Art here. 

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Photo courtesy of biography.com
 

On This Day:

 

The English author Vita Sackville-West was born on this day in 1892 at Knole in Kent. 

 

For more information click here.

Style/Home: Japanese Style Influences

For today's post I'd like to share this video of a beautiful house in California which is an amazing blend of 16th century Japanese architecture and 21st century design and technology. I think that this is such a gorgeous home and it just gives off this air of serenity. I love the sleekness of the design. The beautiful Japanese gardens outside do something that I love...they compliment the interior and bring nature inside. This house is one of those that's the ultimate in high end design and is out of the reach of most of us, but as I've mentioned before, it's fun to see what's out there. Seeing homes like this often inspire me to create my own take on the designs. I hope that you enjoy taking a look around this beautiful home.

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On This Day:

On this day in 2001, the wreck of Donald Campbell’s speedboat, ‘Bluebird’, was raised from Coniston Water in England’s Lake District, where it had lain since 1967. 

Click here to read more.

The Creative Maze: Creating the Yellow House flag.

Hello there, happy Friday and welcome to the Creative Maze.

A couple of days ago, you may have seen this post celebrating Dori’s six year anniversary at her ‘From a Yellow House in England’  blog, and as we had decided to embrace creativity here at Labyrinthus XXI, I thought it would be fun to design and make a flag for her.  Having never made a flag before, I sort of made it up as I went along, apart from the initial sketch that I scrawled on a piece of lined paper during our recent Skype chat.  This post shows you in pictures how I did it.  I’d really love to hear what you think of it, so please feel free to leave a comment below, or email me through the link on the sidebar.

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On This Day:


Janet Guthrie, the first female Indy 500 racing driver, was born on this day in 1938 in Iowa.

Read about her here and watch a feature from Daytona Speedweeks via YouTube here.

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On This Day:

 

Remembering those who died on the Herald of Free Enterprise just outside Zeebrugge on this day in 1987... 

 

You can read about it via BBC On This Day here.

Recipe: Lovely Lemon Drizzle Cake

There are so many wonderful cake recipes to try, and I've tried a few, but I keep getting requests from my family for this really simple, but deliciously zingy Lemon Drizzle cake.  It's taken from a little book called 'Teatime Recipes' by Carole Gregory, and I've done my usual thing - I've reduced the amount of sugar by a third, as I don't like overly-sweet cake.  If you do, just increase the sugar amount back to the original 6 ounces.  For me, with less sugar it tastes better and the lemon flavour really comes through.  So, without further ado, we'll get on with it!

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Photo courtesy: biography.com

 

On This Day:

 

On this day in 1963, the American singer Patsy Cline died in a plane crash near Camden, Tennessee. 

 

 You can read about her on Wikipedia here and watch a video via YouTube here.

Happy BlogaBirthday to Dori, 'From a Yellow House'

Hello there.

Just a very short post from me today, wishing Dori and her 'From a Yellow House in England' blog a very Happy sixth Birthday.  Congratulations on reaching this milestone!

I didn't get you a card Dori...because I made you a Yellow House flag instead.  Hope you like it! :o) xxx

You can visit Dori at fromayellowhouse.blogspot.co.uk.

 

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On This Day:

 

 

On this day in 1975, Charlie Chaplin was knighted in a ceremony at Buckingham Palace, London. 

 

Click here for more information and a video.

Sanctuary - Music

Welcome to the Sanctuary.  Today I'd like to share some beautiful music from YouTube with you.  I've been looking for a track that emanates peace and a sense of escape, but I didn't realise how long it would take me to choose the 'right piece' to share.  As a result, after hours and hours of listening (oh what bliss...), I couldn't decide!  So, here are three of the pieces that really shouted out to me.  Why not let me know what you think in the comments section below, or tell me which piece of music represents Sanctuary to you?

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Quote for the day: 

“Life isn't about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.”  George Bernard Shaw 

 

(From: http://www.goodreads.com).

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On This Day:

On this day in 1969 the supersonic airliner, Concorde, made its maiden flight in France. 

Read about it here.

Arts and Culture : The Power of Film

Many people talk about the power of film, and I was struck by this ‘power’ just last week whilst watching Paul Greengrass’s magnificent ‘Captain Phillips’.  Based on the true story of the hijacking of Captain Phillips’ ship off the coast of Somalia, the film is a thriller with tension levels off the scale.  Tom Hanks, in the title role, gives a phenomenal performance and Barkhad Abdi’s portrayal of Muse, the Somali pirate captain, was so good he won this year’s BAFTA for Best Supporting Actor – pretty amazing, as this was his first film role.
As a family, we felt we’d all been on a journey through watching this film.  We were all completely immersed by its tension and characters.  We talked afterwards about what made it such a ‘good’ film, and here are some of our responses:

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On This Day:


On this day in 1711, the first issue of The Spectator was published in London.

Read about it in Encyclopaedia Britannica here.