I invite you to join me over at Vision and Verb where I recall ‘Chocolate Box’ memories.
This bronze statue entitled ‘The Slave Girl’ is displayed on the main staircase in the house at Cragside. It was modelled by the London sculptor John Bell and acquired by Lord Armstrong in around 1870.
The American Civil War and the publication of Uncle Tom’s Cabin had sharpened awareness of the plight of slaves. In an attempt to reflect this mood, Bell created a figure that was popular at the time, but may be uncomfortable to modern eyes.
In acquiring and placing the statue, Lord Armstrong was making a statement against slavery which was well understood by his generation. *
*From an information leaflet placed by the statue.
14 Comments CherryPie on Aug 23rd 2011
The first of the birthdays was celebrated with a party. It was a good excuse for many friends to meet up and share the occasion. A good time was had by all.
The second birthday was celebrated by a couple of days away from home in the Yorkshire Dales. It was a nice relaxing time, but it flashed by far too quickly. More detailed posts with photos to follow (soon) 
On my return from this break I had to quickly get sorted and packed for a train journey to the moon for the third birthday (a 40th celebration).
The train journey was quite relaxing despite an agitated Chinese lady, who was speaking continually on her mobile (loudly at times). She didn’t speak English and didn’t have a clue where she was, but needed to get off at Euston. The relaxing part was an ‘on train picnic’ of salmon, salad and potato salad accompanied (dressed with lemon vinaigrette) by wine. An added bonus was that I was able to catch an earlier connecting train, which meant arriving at my destination half an hour earlier than expected.
I was staying with family and one of the first things I needed to do when I arrived was remove my contact lenses because the journey had dried my eyes out. When I entered the bathroom to do this I was mesmerised by some rather sparkling black eyes! I was being assessed by a HUGE spider that was peeping out from behind the blinds. Each of us hoping not to be seen by the other… I made it out of the bathroom in one piece Then I arranged for the spider to be re-homed in the garden amongst the flowers. The window was shut so he couldn’t sneak in again.
The weekend was enjoyable but hectic and on arriving at Euston station for the return journey I did wonder if I was going to be able to get back home in time for work. There had been a major electrical fault at Watford Junction which had caused the signals to fail. In addition to that there had been a fatality on the line in another location. The amount of people milling around at the station was very reminiscent of weekday rush hour. The station information and advice to passengers wasn’t very clear, causing confusion all round. Some of the passengers had been waiting for over an hour, luckily I didn’t have to wait that long. When the train did arrive (half an hour late) it declassified the first class section so that all passengers from the previous trains could be accommodated too. The first class passengers were given advice on how to get a refund.
The joy of train journeys…
It is good to be home
18 Comments CherryPie on Aug 22nd 2011
Imagination is the beginning of creation. You imagine what you desire, you will what you imagine, and at last you create what you will.
George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950)
12 Comments CherryPie on Aug 21st 2011
12 Comments CherryPie on Aug 19th 2011
…that I wrote about my nephew’s eighteen birthday invitation. It is that time of year again and my second nephew is about to turn eighteen. He has invited family and friends to join him in celebration.
Although their birthdays are only a year apart they are two school years apart so he still has another year to decide what he wants to do next. As I write this he is waiting to see how well he did in his exams.
And time is still flying by…
16 Comments CherryPie on Aug 18th 2011
