Southern Sonoma Country Life

Tickets Now on Sale for the California Artisan Cheese Festival, March 27th to 29th, 2020

Tickets are now on sale for the country's premier cheese festival, the California Artisan Cheese Festival, March 27-29, 2020.  This year’s weekend-long Festival  takes place in and around the Sonoma County Fairgrounds, Santa Rosa’s historic Flamingo Hotel, and at various local farms, restaurants, creameries and tasting rooms of artisan producers. The Festival brings together cheesemakers, farmers, educators, authors, chefs, cheese mongers, brewers, distillers, and winemakers from all over California for three days of cheese tasting, education and celebration.     Tickets are also on sale for  the ever-popular Farm and Producer Tours; Saturday night’s Cheese, Bites and Booze! celebration; an exciting new crop of educational hands-on Seminars and Pairing Demos; Sunday’s delectable Bubbles & Brunch; and the weekend’s grand finale Artisan Cheese Tasting & Marketplace.  Some of the noteworthy Seminar topics being offered this year include a Hands-On Cheesemaking seminar where attendees will learn to make mozzarella, chèvre (fresh goat cheese) and burrata; and a Build Your Own Cheese Board seminar where guests will learn tricks for creating their very own visually stunning, Instagram-worthy cheese board. Details about more of Friday and Saturday’s exciting tours and seminars are as follows:   Farm and Producer Tours & Lunch      Back by popular demand are two days of intimate producer tours taking place on Friday and Saturday around Northern California, where guests will explore various local farms, creameries and artisan purveyors. During the guided walking tours, guests learn how cheese, ciders and other products are made, meet the producers, farmers and cheesemakers behind our favorite local products and, of course, taste the fruits of their labor. This year’s Festival is offering six tours on Friday, and two on Saturday, and every tour includes round-trip transportation and lunch.   Many of the tours grant behind-the scenes access to new producers who do not regularly offer tours. For example, Friday’s Tour B gives attendees the opportunity to meet and taste one of the state’s newest cheese and butter producers, Bivalve Creamery, which operates out of the former Cowgirl Creamery space. Guests will also wind their way up Highway One to enjoy lunch in Point Reyes Station at the original Cowgirl Creamery, where their famous Red Hawk cheese is produced using milk exclusively from Bivalve Dairy. Finally, attendees will tour Bivalve Dairy, overlooking Tomales Bay, and learn about their commitment to sustainable farming practices. As always, every tour allows guests to observe behind-the-scenes aspects of the farms and meet the hardworking farmers behind the state’s incredible artisan cheeses. Each tour includes round-trip transportation as well as cheese tastings and lunch. Cheese is also available for purchase at many of the farm stops.    The Farm and Producer Tours are always the first to sell out; for specific details including locations, timing, and to purchase tickets, please visit www.artisancheesefestival.com; $150; Friday, March 27 and Saturday, March 28.    Seminars and Pairing Demonstrations  Bringing attendees face-to-face with the experts who work with and create some of America’s best artisan cheeses, the Saturday seminars and pairing demonstrations tend to sell out early every year. Taking place at Santa Rosa’s historic and beautiful Flamingo Hotel Conference Resort & Spa; Relish Culinary Adventures in Healdsburg; and Kendall-Jackson Wine Estates & Gardens in Fulton, industry experts will engage and enlighten guests on a variety of topics, such as:  “Taste the Future: California’s Newest Cheesemakers,” an intriguing exploration of the state’s rich dairy history and a delectable introduction to the newest cheesemakers on the block with author and cheese expert Clark Wolf;  “Build Your Own Cheese Boards: Get Your Knives and Go!,” an interactive and informative lesson about how to build gorgeous, Instagram-ready cheese boards while sipping wine and sampling cheese with author and cheese board aficionado Laura Werlin; “Cheers to Cheese,” kicks your cheese tasting up a notch by pairing local favorites with fine sparkling wines from California’s acclaimed Roederer Estate, with author, journalist and Planet Cheese publisher, Janet Fletcher and Roederer’s very own winemaker Arnaud Weyrich; “Cheese and Cocktails: The Basics of Bitters, Booze & Cheese,” a flavorful lesson that teaches attendees why bitters and spirits aren't just for happy hour. Vanessa Chang, ACS CCP and Lassa Skinner, Author and Co-Founder of Culture: the word on cheese, will distill the basics of the various spirits, demystify the universe of bitters, and help identify the cheese to round out cocktails like Manhattans, Mai Tais, and more; “Hands-On Cheesemaking: Mozzarella, Chèvre, Burrata,” this hands-on, three-hour class will teach attendees how to make three fresh cheeses while talking through the history of cheesemaking, important facts about milk quality and differences, as well as the complex biology and chemistry behind turning milk into tasty cheese curds and protein-rich whey.  This seminar will be taught by ACS Certified Cheese Professional and founder of FARMcurious, Nicole Easterday; and “Cheese & Wine: Better Together,” a delicious and unique lesson about cheese’s favorite pairing partner with one of Sonoma County’s foremost cheese experts, Chef Tracey Shepos Cenami of Jackson Family Wines. Set at the picturesque Kendall-Jackson Wine Estates & Gardens, Chef Tracey will guide tasters through five cheese courses, pairing each with wines from Kendall-Jackson and her homemade, signature accompaniments.   Seminars and Pairing Demonstrations to take place at the Flamingo Hotel in Santa Rosa, Relish Culinary Adventures in Healdsburg, and Kendall-Jackson Wine Estates & Gardens in Fulton. Tickets are from $75-$125. Seminar details, including price per seminar, location and start time may be found at www.artisancheesefestival.com.    In the week leading up to the California Artisan Cheese Festival, cheese aficionados can expect to find special cheese-focused dishes and menus at some of their favorite local restaurants, tasting rooms, and businesses around the state for the second annual California Artisan Cheese Week. These businesses will be showing support for their favorite cheesemakers and guests will have the opportunity to enjoy their favorite standbys and discover new artisan cheeses in creative dishes, impressive cheese plates, special discounts, unique pairings and more. Specific details on participating restaurants and other businesses to be announced soon.   The Flamingo Hotel and a number of other Santa Rosa hotels are offering special discounted rates on rooms for Festival-goers.   Links for discounted booking can be found here:  https://www.artisancheesefestival.com/lodging.

Are You Ready for an Unforgettable Virtual Roadtrip From the Sonoma Coast Ranchlands Into the Emerald Triangle? Order Your Copy of Big Green Country Today!

Rain is falling heavily over our beloved Sonoma County and neighboring regions. It's colder than usual for this time of year and nights close in early. Perfect timing for a gripping and gritty new novel. 

Big Green Country is published and I have copies. Please do order directly from me for now if you're in the U.S. It is available online, but prices seem to fluctuate on Amazon and my price of $19.99 beats the big mega beast at the current time. I'm also offering bulk discounts for holiday gifts and happy to ship for free in the States. Go to the homepage of this blog, scroll down to the right to find my PayPal store. 

The Kindle price does not fluctuate, so if you're a tablet reader, head to Amazon for the e-book. 

I can't wait to see books in our favorite North Bay bookstores. If you'd like to support a local author and an indie bookstore this Cyber Monday, stop into Copperfields or Book Passage, or Reader's Bookstore in Sonoma, Point Reyes Books . . . and ask to special order a copy. They are available for distribution by Ingram. Hopefully our local bookstores will decide to stock a few more for the holiday season. 

Also, I will have more details to post tomorrow on my first meet and greet with books at the former Seed Bank in downtown Petaluma this Saturday, December 7th during the annual Merchants' Holiday Open House event. Pick up copies from me during the day. 

 

128 Black Friday Wildfire Fundraiser for Kincade Wildfire Victims — Treat the Family to a Wonderful Day of Wine Tasting in the Alexander Valley

Looking for somewhere you and your family can go after Thanksgiving? Explore the wineries along Taste Destination 128 for a day of family fun. Fifty % of all ticket sales will be donated to the United Way of Wine Country in supporting Kincade Wildfire victims, survivors & evacuees immediate needs. Visit eight Alexander Valley wineries, each offering holiday wine special and delicious holiday food bites!

The festive participating wineries are: Alexander Valley Vineyards, Hanna, Hawkes, deLorimier, Soda Rock, Trentadue, Simi and Zialena.

Take in the gorgeous views of Wine County in what’s known as the hidden gem of Sonoma County, Alexander Valley.

Fri, November 29, 2019

11:00 AM – 4:00 PM PST

Location

Alexander Valley

95448

Pre-Sale Tickets $50 General Admission | $40 Members | $15 Designated Driver Purchase Tickets

View Map

Shopping for friends and family this holiday season, look no further. Wine makes for a perfect gift for your loved ones. Share the joy of your favorite wine from Alexander Valley with your family and friends.

Tickets include a wristband to taste at all 7 wineries, a food ticket per winery, and a Taste Destination 128 logo glass.

Pre-Sale Tickets:

$50 General Admission | $40 Members | $15 Designated Driver/ Children

Please select your check in winery when purchasing tickets.

 

Participating Wineries:

Alexander Valley Vineyards

Tomato Soup Shooter topped with Grilled Cheese

 

deLorimier

Sweet Potato, Ham and Bean Soup

Paired with our 2017 Primitivo

 

HANNA Winery & Vineyards

Winter Squash Gratin and Stuffed Pork

 

Hawkes

Fall Apart Ribs with a Savory Cabbage Slaw

 

Simi

Nonna's Meatballs with Tierra Farms Polenta

 

Soda Rock Winery

Beef Short Ribs Over Polenta

 

Trentadue

Caramelized Shallot and Blue Cheese Tarts with Crispy Leeks

 

Zialena

Grazing Table from Field and Farm Bountiful Boards & Tables featuring Gourmet Cheese, Charcuterie, and more!

Cover Reveal for "Big Green Country" — A Novel by Frances Rivetti — Available Very Soon (Late Nov 2019)

It's with great excitement and some nail-biting that I'm finally able to announce that after three-and-a-half long years of work my debut novel "Big Green Country"  is available to pre-order on Amazon and will be in print in time for Christmas. An e-book will also be available in the coming weeks. 

I've just decided to add an option to buy directly from me as author/publisher via PayPal as soon as the book is uploaded and ready for print. I will add that button to buy here on my blog site and will share via an updated post and social media. 

Big Green Country is a gripping and unforgettable family suspense story lifting the veil from the shrouded secrecy surrounding the ugly underbelly of Northern California's complex cannabis culture.

Culling from my research as an independent journalist at home at the gateway to the region's infamous Redwood Curtain, I have painted a gritty, graphic fictional portrait of the contemporary Green-Rush from one women-driven family's unique perspective — the lure, the benefits, the potential for boom and bust, but most importantly, its impact on the human condition and the real and present danger posed to young women attracted by large cash earnings.

Big Green Country is a controversial crisis of rural poverty, environmental issues, immigration, addiction, a broken health care system, alternative medicine and the stark reality of human trafficking within the region known as the Emerald Triangle.

This book is suitable for readers 18 and over due to its graphic content.

I'm also delighted to unveil a brand new FrancesRivetti.com website for my books, indie published under Fog Valley Press. 

Please take a few minutes to explore my new site, produced by the wonderful and talented Dana Weitzenberg of Southern Sonoma County-based Lobstervine Web Design & Development. Do sign up for my book release newsletter. I promise not to send too many mailchimp e-missives, only when there's book news to report such as launch events, readings and signings which I will be planning in the New Year. 

I'll be working on getting Big Green Country into physical bookstores as soon as possible, it may take a couple of weeks from the first orders for print books to arrive, so please be patient. The good news is I am printing with IngramSpark and as Ingram Content Book Group is the world's biggest book distributor, book stores should have no problem ordering copies. 

If you do purchase hard copies before Christmas and I hope so, I encourage you to bring them for me to sign at one of my launch events after the holidays. 

 

 

 

A Midsummer Night's Tea and a Vibrant, Modern & Inventive Open Air Afternoon Performance at Shakespeare's Globe

Whenever I am in London, I make a date with my dear friend, Bev, who I met in journalism school in Harlow, Essex in the late 80s. We pick out something special to do together for the day and given that Bev lives in the greater London area, something central is usually on the cards. This summer, we opted for afternoon tea at stylish and super-view positioned Swan on the South Bank by the Thames for lunch, followed by an equally memorable matinee performance of A Midsummer Night's Dream right next door at Shakespeare's Globe theatre, Bankside. 

Located at the iconic Shakespeare’s Globe, Swan is a stunning Bar and Restaurant set over two floors, with great views of the river and St Paul’s. It's open all day serving modern British food, high tea and available for morning breakfast to evening cocktails and everything in between. Despite its touristy location it's a smashing spot to celebrate something fun or special, or just to hang out. A proportion of the revenue from Swan goes to the Shakespeare’s Globe Trust, a charitable organization set up to further the experience and international understanding of Shakespeare in performance.

How could we resist? Swan’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream afternoon tea is inspired by the journeys of the characters: from the pea flower of Oberon’s love potion, the apricots Titania feeds to Bottom and mulberries from the lovers’ tree.

Love may not look with eyes, but beautiful traditional tea treats, presented on bespoke crockery designed by Annika Wester, are almost too pretty to tuck into. If you go, for tea or other refreshments at Swan, click here. 

No photos are allowed during performances in the Globe, but the school groups who were enthralled by the modern, upbeat and creative production of A Midsummer Night's Dream were clicking away on their phone cameras before the show started, so I snapped a couple of quick pix to show you how fantastic the reproduced Globe truly is. I have toured a couple of times with the boys when they were younger, but never had the time to catch a full performance. It was well worth the wait! 

Go London described the producers as having: "created a carnivalesque atmosphere, with fairyland an explosion in a neon-coloured dressing-up box." And The Guardian: "The fully populated stage looks like the clean-up operation after Pride. Bafflingly, fairy queen Titania lives in a flower-laden recycling bin, her fairies resemble the results of a hurricane in a craft show, and Bottom’s ass is a papery rainbow piñata. The direction is sometimes scatty and the fairy scenes feel like filler, rushing through the words in favour of visual spectacle."

But I thoroughly enjoyed it and so did Bev. We thought it was brilliant in that the hundreds of school kids in the largely open-air audience were thoroughly enthralled and rapt by this up-to-the-minute take on one of Shakespeare's most fantastical tales. And isn't that just as fantastic in this day and age? None of them were looking at their screens once the cast took to the stage. It helped that the whole cast could sing and contemporary music made it all the more compelling for those who might otherwise have wished they were anywhere other than stuck in a theater watching Shakespeare. 

If you go, plan your visit ahead of time by clicking here.  

This landmark attraction along the South Bank is actually the fourth reincarnation of what was Shakespeare’s original theatre. London’s first purpose built theatre was on Curtain Road in Shoreditch in the 1500s, and named “The Theatre”. Shakespeare began his writing career in earnest and his earlier plays were performed here.

The Bard and his company are believed to have run into trouble with their landlord and were forced out of the The Theatre until one of the group spotted a loop hole in their contract and discovered they actually owned the wooden structure. A plan then emerged. According to info on the Swan's website, it was over the Christmas holidays while the landlord was away that Shakespeare and his company literally stole the theatre over the course of four nights and when the weather improved and the river Thames thawed they floated the timbers across the river on barges, over to the Las Vegas of London, Bankside, on the south side of the river.

It took seven months to rebuild The Theatre, renamed The Globe, presumably so no one would notice they’d stolen it. The Globe ran from 1599 until 1613 until an incident involving gun powder and other over-zealous special effects caused the theatre to burn down during a performance of Henry VIII.

The replacement Globe was rebuilt within a year, however this time with a tiled rather than thatched roof. Although Shakespeare died in 1616 the Globe continued without him until the 1640’s when the puritans took hold and all the theatres were pulled down.

It wasn’t until the 1940’s when American actor and visionary Sam Wannamaker came to London and was shocked to find nothing but a small plaque to commemorate Shakespeare’s work in London that a decades long campaign was launched to rebuild the Globe, which finally began in the early 1990s. Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre that we know today, the fourth of its kind, opened in 1997, half a century after Wannamaker’s campaign began. 

 

Night of the Iguana by Tennessee Williams, Starring Clove Owen, Lia Williams and Breaking Bad's Anna Gunn

With time in my travel schedule for just one West End play (plus an afternoon performance at Shakespeare's Globe), imagine my delight when Clive Owen popped up on my play search newly staring as a suitably disheveled the Reverend T. Lawrence Shannon in a summer opening of Tennessee Williams' The Night of the Iguana, joined by a cast including the super talented Anna Gunn (Skyler White of Breaking Bad fame), Lia Williams and Julian Glover? Everyone has a heart-throb actor, or should have and Clive is mine! Though I've seen him in theater in a Pinter Play on Broadway in New York, the last time he played London's West End was in the wake of 9/11.

The Night of the Iguana was first staged as an one-act play in 1959, before eventually settling on a three-act play in 1961. A film adaptation was released in 1964, starring Richard Burton as Reverend T. Lawrence Shannon. This is one of Williams' lesser known works, though it has been revived numerous times across the West End and Broadway, with actors including James Earl Jones, Eileen Atkins and Alfred Molina all having a The Night of the Iguana credit to their name. This new production includes a star-studded cast of a similar calibre and a terrific set design which transports audiences to the 1940s to meet a clergyman at a hotel in Mexico, who has recently been ousted from his religious circles for referring to God as a “delinquent”.

Facing an identity crisis, Owen is imperfectly convincing as the unbalanced reverend who takes on a new career as a tour guide. As the story unfolded, I learned a lot more about the other people at the hotel including the manager and a group of German tourists, especially when a torrential storm loomed over the area. Anna Gunn's Maxine, the hotel's widowed proprietor is no slouch on stage and Lia Williams was also great as the nomadic artist and granddaughter of a basically homeless nonagenarian poet, played by veteran English stage, tv and film actor and recipient of the Laurence Olivier Award, Julian Glover. There's a deep sadness surrounding the captivity and projected fate of the iguana on the one night that brings all the characters together and ultimately leaves them all forever altered. 

Watching a play written pre-1960s that is so full on WITH political incorrectness was a bit flinch-worthy. A young German woman sitting to the left of me voiced her discomfort at Williams' portrayal of German tourists, prompting a brief discussion during the interval as to post Second World War attitudes and stereotyping. Similarly, The Reverend Shannon's backstory would blow up a Me-Too backlash if it were today. 

Playing at the Noël Coward theatre, London, until September 28th, 2019. 

 

 

 

Rupert Brooke's Grantchester

It was poet and idealist Rupert Brooke's picture-postcard Grantchester long before it was the brilliant, charismatic, crime fighting fictional character, clergyman Sidney Chambers', lead of the popular Masterpiece tv series set in the quiet Cambridgeshire village of the 1950s. 

Still, the two seem to co-exist peacefully in the long, lazy, summer shadows that stretch across the green meadows by the River Granta attracting visitors to this sleepy little setting situated about two miles up-stream from Cambridge.  

James Runcie is the son of ex-Archibishop of Canterbury, Robert Runcie. His six book series The Grantchester Mysteries was first published by Bloomsbury in 2012 and is currently airing its fourth series on U.S. television.

Grantchester was the site of Roman and Anglo-Saxon settlements and it was mentioned in the Doomsday Book. Queen Elizabeth I processed through Grantchester en-route to Cambridge from London in 1564.

Rupert Brooke was born in Rugby, Warwickshire, son of the public school housemaster, in 1887. He was considered a young Apollo for his striking good looks and golden hair and said by the poet W.B. Yeats to be the handsomest young man in England. He won a classics scholarship to King's College, Cambridge, where lectures on Literature, Philosophy and Art were of most appeal to him. Brooke enjoyed a big group of eclectic friends, including the writers E.M Forster, Henry James and Virginia Woolf and playwright George Bernard Shaw. 

His tutor recommended he move out of Cambridge to focus more fully on his studies. In 1909, Rupert Brooke took rooms in Grantchester in a former farmhouse called The Orchard and later, next door to the vicarage. This was a serene and gloriously happy time for him, walking, camping out under the stars in summer, berry and fruit picking. 

After the start of the First World War, a by-then world-traveled 27-year-old Rupert Brooke was posted to Belgium. He wrote and published numerous war poems, including The Soldier. In 1915 his troop ship sailed to the island of Skyros, Greece, where he died after developing septicaemia from an insect bite. He was the first Fellow of a Cambridge College to die on active service in the First World War and Winston Churchill wrote his obituary. 

I'm a big fan of Rupert Brooke's poetry and Sydney Chambers of the Grantchester television series (played by the handsome James Norton) and so I was more than happy making a pit-stop in the village this July while traveling from my parents' home on the Lincolnshire/Cambridgeshire border, south to Kent, to visit one of my sisters and also my sister-in-law.

After a pot of tea in a deck chair the bucolic gardens of Orchard House and a walk along the river, the sight of a big group of people gathered outside of the vicarage and church had me wondering if there was a walking tour I hadn't read of. Turns out it the production crew was on location that morning making plans for the upcoming shooting of Season Five of Grantchester. A brief chat with one of the producers informed me that it takes one week to shoot the Grantchester scenes of an entire series, with locals appearing as costumed extras. 

It must be a bit of nuisance to villagers to have their narrow streets and pubs and church commandeered for a whole week, but I'd imagine charitable causes such as the church fund benefit from the production fee. 

Grantchester is just enough off the beaten track to remain a glorious, gorgeous, unspoiled English village of the story books. If you go, do plan on a cup of tea at The Orchard Team Room & gardens. 

                                                                                                                                      Rupert Brooke 

Grantchester's Robson Green as Detective Inspector Georgie Keating & James Norton as Sidney Chambers

The Old Vicarage, Grantchester
(Rupert Brooke, Cafe des Westens, Berlin, May 1912)

Just now the lilac is in bloom,
All before my little room;
And in my flower-beds, I think,
Smile the carnation and the pink;
And down the borders, well I know,
The poppy and the pansy blow . . .
Oh! there the chestnuts, summer through,
Beside the river make for you
A tunnel of green gloom, and sleep
Deeply above; and green and deep
The stream mysterious glides beneath,
Green as a dream and deep as death.
— Oh, damn! I know it! and I know
How the May fields all golden show,
And when the day is young and sweet,
Gild gloriously the bare feet
That run to bathe . . .
                                 ‘Du lieber Gott!’

 . . . would I were
In Grantchester, in Grantchester! —
Some, it may be, can get in touch
With Nature there, or Earth, or such.
And clever modern men have seen
A Faun a-peeping through the green,
And felt the Classics were not dead,
To glimpse a Naiad’s reedy head,
Or hear the Goat-foot piping low: . . .
But these are things I do not know.
I only know that you may lie
Day long and watch the Cambridge sky,
And, flower-lulled in sleepy grass,
Hear the cool lapse of hours pass,
Until the centuries blend and blur
In Grantchester, in Grantchester. . . .
Still in the dawnlit waters cool
His ghostly Lordship swims his pool,
And tries the strokes, essays the tricks,
Long learnt on Hellespont, or Styx.
Dan Chaucer hears his river still
Chatter beneath a phantom mill.
Tennyson notes, with studious eye,
How Cambridge waters hurry by . . .
And in that garden, black and white,
Creep whispers through the grass all night;
And spectral dance, before the dawn,
A hundred Vicars down the lawn;
Curates, long dust, will come and go
On lissom, clerical, printless toe;
And oft between the boughs is seen
The sly shade of a Rural Dean . . .
Till, at a shiver in the skies,
Vanishing with Satanic cries,
The prim ecclesiastic rout
Leaves but a startled sleeper-out,
Grey heavens, the first bird’s drowsy calls,
The falling house that never falls.

God! I will pack, and take a train,
And get me to England once again!
For England’s the one land, I know,
Where men with Splendid Hearts may go;
And Cambridgeshire, of all England,
The shire for Men who Understand;
And of THAT district I prefer
The lovely hamlet Grantchester.
For Cambridge people rarely smile,
Being urban, squat, and packed with guile;
And Royston men in the far South
Are black and fierce and strange of mouth;
At Over they fling oaths at one,
And worse than oaths at Trumpington,
And Ditton girls are mean and dirty,
And there’s none in Harston under thirty,
And folks in Shelford and those parts
Have twisted lips and twisted hearts,
And Barton men make Cockney rhymes,
And Coton’s full of nameless crimes,
And things are done you’d not believe
At Madingley on Christmas Eve. . . . 
But Grantchester! ah, Grantchester!
There’s peace and holy quiet there,
Great clouds along pacific skies,
And men and women with straight eyes,
Lithe children lovelier than a dream,
A bosky wood, a slumbrous stream,
And little kindly winds that creep
Round twilight corners, half asleep.
In Grantchester their skins are white;
They bathe by day, they bathe by night;
The women there do all they ought;
The men observe the Rules of Thought.
They love the Good; they worship Truth;
They laugh uproariously in youth;
(And when they get to feeling old,
They up and shoot themselves, I’m told) . . .

Ah God! to see the branches stir
Across the moon at Grantchester!
To smell the thrilling-sweet and rotten
Unforgettable, unforgotten
River-smell, and hear the breeze
Sobbing in the little trees.
Say, do the elm-clumps greatly stand
Still guardians of that holy land?
The chestnuts shade, in reverend dream,
The yet unacademic stream?
Is dawn a secret shy and cold
Anadyomene, silver-gold?
And sunset still a golden sea
From Haslingfield to Madingley?
And after, ere the night is born,
Do hares come out about the corn?
Oh, is the water sweet and cool,
Gentle and brown, above the pool?
And laughs the immortal river still
Under the mill, under the mill?
Say, is there Beauty yet to find?
And Certainty? and Quiet kind?
Deep meadows yet, for to forget
The lies, and truths, and pain? . . . oh! yet
Stands the Church clock at ten to three?
And is there honey still for tea?"

 

 

British Fashion Icon Mary Quant Whose Designs Are Still Fresh as a Daisy — Visiting an Exhibit at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London

"The whole point of fashion is to make fashionable clothes available to everyone," 

Mary Quant

From miniskirts and hot pants to vibrant tights and makeup, Mary Quant took the sixties by colorful, riotous storm, launching a fashion revolution on the British high street and around the world. An exhibit at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London showcases over 200 garments and accessories, including unseen pieces from the designer's personal archive.

I was lucky enough to be in London for a few days of selfish pursuits which was a rare commodity for me in the midst of an overdue extended family trip to Sicily and the UK and a multi-generation family reunion to celebrate my dad's 80th birthday.

Inventive, opinionated and commercially minded, Mary Quant was undoubtedly the most iconic British fashion designer of the 1960s. A design and retail pioneer, she popularized super-high hemlines and other irreverent looks critical to the development of the 'Swinging Sixties' scene. Exhibit fashion collections include examples of her famous designs from across the 1960s and 1970s, on loan from women who responded to a call for original Quant designs hanging in their wardrobes. 

I'm not sure if my mum had any original Mary Quant outfits in her closet during the years of my childhood, if she did, she didn't hang on to them, but she certainly dressed in the Quant style and likely bought affordable Mary Quant tights and makeup. 

Quant was a self-taught designer, attending evening classes on cutting and adjusting mass-market printed patterns to achieve the looks she was after. Once technically proficient, she initiated a hand-to-mouth production cycle: the day's sales at Bazaar paid for the cloth that was then made up overnight into new stock for the following day. Although exhausting, this cottage-industry approach meant that the rails at Bazaar were continually refreshed with short runs of new designs, satisfying the customers' hunger for fresh, unique looks at competitive prices.

Quant's developing aesthetic was influenced by the dancers, musicians and Beatnik street chic of the Chelsea Set, and the Mods (short for 'Modernists'), a subculture that helped define London's youth culture in late-1950s Britain, with their love of Italian sportswear, sharp tailoring and clean outlines. Quant's first collections were strikingly modern in their simplicity, and very wearable. Unlike the more structured clothes still popular with couturiers, she made"relaxed clothes suited to the actions of normal life". Pairing short tunic dresses with tights in bright, stand-out colors – scarlet, ginger, prune and grape – she created a bold, high-fashion version of the sorts of practical outfits she'd worn as a child at school and at dance classes.

Quant is frequently credited with inventing the decade's most iconic look: the mini-skirt. Who first took hemlines north of the knee is up for debate, but she certainly was one of the frontrunners. 

Capitalizing on the sixties love affair with new materials, Quant was the first designer to use PVC, creating 'wet look' clothes, and different styles of weatherproof boots in her footwear range, Quant Afoot.

As London's boutique scene continued to build, Quant was cementing her position as a commercial and cultural powerhouse around the world. In 1962, she signed a lucrative design contract with American department-store chain JC Penney.

In 1990 Mary Quant was awarded the prestigious Hall of Fame Award by the British Fashion Council, recognizing her outstanding contribution to British fashion. She published her second autobiography in 2012, and became a Dame in the 2015 New Year's Honors list.

The printed dress above was made for the American market in the seventies. It would not look a stitch out of place today, lovely fall colors!

Red and white platforms are a little too rock and roll for me but I would love a pair of these multi colored heeled sandals and a red pair with ankle straps further on.

The Manhattan is perhaps my favorite. 

The Mary Quant exhibit runs through 16th February 2020. If you go, tickets are 12 pounds and it's a good idea to click here and book ahead to avoid lines or disappointment if the museum is too full. 

Mary Quant smashed fashion norms and traditions and her designs still have a lot of influence on contemporary designs.

Top Pick for Weekend Warriors — Windsor's Notre Vue Estate Hosts 4th Annual Tour de Cru Wine, Food, Music, Running, Biking, and Hiking Event

Wine lovers and fitness enthusiasts are invited to experience one of the most scenic and inspiring workouts in Sonoma County. Notre Vue Estate Winery in Windsor will welcome guests for a day of wine tasting, exploring the property, an outdoor lunch from The Wurst and live music from Rag Tag Sullivan on Saturday, June 29, from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.

Guests will be able to hike, bike and run along the Estate’s private trails. Tickets are $55 per person, and kids’ tickets are $25 and are available at http://www.tourdecru.com. The winery is located at 11010 Estate Lane in Windsor (95492).

 Chamomile and mustard will be in full bloom as guests traverse the scenic trails winding through the 250 acres of vineyard and along the 350 acres of open space. Red-tailed hawks, turkeys, hummingbirds and perhaps a Golden Eagle or two will soar above as bikers, hikers, runners and walkers enjoy the views of the estate’s lakes and rolling hills. At the highest point on the property there are sweeping views to the east to the mountains above St. Helena and to the west as far as the Pacific Ocean. The Notre Vue Estate encompasses both the Chalk Hill and Russian River Valley appellations.

 There are five hiking, running and biking trail options which accommodate both novices and experienced athletes, ranging from 1 mile to 5 miles. Following an active morning on the trails, at 12 p.m. guests will return to the winery, crush pad and lakeside pavilions to relax and enjoy wine tasting followed by a lunch by The Wurst and wines from Notre Vue Estate and Balverne Wines. 

Notre Vue Estate encompasses 700 acres and was founded by Bob and Renée Stein in 1992. Approximately 350 acres are dedicated to open space and classified as “Forever Wild” under an agreement with the Sonoma County Open Space District. The vineyards are planted to 18 varietals.

Balverne Wines was established in 1972 at this property and continues today as a line of wines within the Notre Vue portfolio. The name Balverne comes from a hybrid Anglo-French term referring to the beauty of the site, with a literal translation as “A Place of Trees.” The label pays tribute to the wildlife on the property with the image of the red-tailed hawks that fly through the vineyards.

The winery welcomes visitors for tours and tastings seven days a week between 10:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. Reservations are recommended. Notre Vue offers an assortment of tastings and experiences, including the Nouveau (a flight of the estate wines), Eau de Vie (a lakeside pavilion tasting), Cultivar (a tasting accompanied by paired small bites), Heritage (an educational tour with the winemaker, including a walking tour of the vineyards) and Sauvage (a tour, tasting and luncheon outdoors).

Beginning June 2, the winery is starting Summer Sundays, welcoming guests for an afternoon in the sun from 12:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m., with live music by Jason Bodlovich and food from the fig rig (the girl & the fig’s food truck). There will be lawn games and more: there is no charge for attending but reservations are suggested, by contacting https://www.notrevueestate.com/events/June-2---Summer-Sundays. The series continues on July 7, August 4 and September 1, with a variety of musicians and food vendors. Food at these events is available for purchase.

Another fun event will be a drive-in movie on September 6.

 

Visit https://www.notrevueestate.com/ for more information.

 

Canadian Captain Wendy Williams to Lead First Virgin Voyages Ship

I have yet to take a cruise, but if I was to take one anytime soon, this would be a good place to start. Virgin Group Founder Sir Richard Branson and Virgin Voyages President and CEO Tom McAlpin have announced the appointment of Captain Wendy Williams as Master of cruise ship Scarlet Lady. When Captain Williams takes the helm of Scarlet Lady in spring 2020, she will become the first Canadian woman to be captain of a ship for a major cruise brand. The company also announced a brand-new lineup of itineraries for their premier 2020 season.

“Captain Wendy's extensive maritime background makes her an excellent choice to lead the Scarlet Lady, but it is her spirit and drive to approach life at sea differently that make her the perfect fit to join the Virgin Voyages family,” said Tom McAlpin, president and chief executive officer for Virgin Voyages.

Originally from the coastal city of Sept-Îles, Quebec on the Northeastern coast of Canada, Captain Williams resides on her hobby farm on Vancouver Island in British Columbia. Captain Williams has more than 28 years of experience working on ships at sea. Her extensive background includes more than a decade as a deckhand in commercial fishing off the western coast of Canada as well as working as a ferryboat captain. Although she has spent more than 15 years working on the bridge of mega cruise ships, her role with Virgin Voyages will be her first promotion to Master of a cruise ship.

“I have salt water in my veins and nothing brings me more joy than being at sea,” said Captain Wendy Williams. “It's a dream come true to be working with Virgin Voyages, a company that is focused on creating an incredible experience not only for our Sailors but for our Crew as well; while also taking action to minimize our footprint on our oceans.”

Just last year, Virgin Voyages announced its Scarlet Squad program, an initiative dedicated to bridging the gender gap in leadership roles across the maritime industry, where women represent less than three per cent of the workforce. The program aims to recruit, support and mentor female shipboard talent, and to grow opportunities for leadership roles in marine, technical and hotel management positions on board.

While Virgin Voyages is still in the early stages of the crew for Scarlet Lady, the company has already recruited Captain Williams as well as nearly a dozen other female officers, including Jill Anderson as hotel director, Christin Wenge as safety officer, Lindsay Kerber as environmental officer, among other incredibly talented women engineers as well as second and third officers.

Virgin Voyages' intention is to create an onboard environment where everyone has an equal opportunity to reach their full potential.

New Voyage Offerings

In response to the U.S. government's frustrating new restrictions on travel to Cuba from the United States, Virgin Voyages has developed a lineup of new itineraries featuring destinations that its sailors expressed interest in exploring while on a voyage aboard Scarlet Lady.

Continuing the company's mission to provide its sailors with epic day and nighttime experiences, the all new itineraries will feature multiple late-night sail aways, including a midnight departure on all new sailings.

Virgin Voyages will now offer five-night Riviera Maya sailings to Cozumel/Playa Del Carmen, Mexico. Cozumel and Playa del Carmen offer opportunities for sailors to experience some of the world's best diving, as the area is home to 26 coral species. Sailors will also have the opportunity to explore ecological and archeological treasures, including Mayan ruins, or opt to explore neighboring Tulum, the elevated Bohemian sanctuary with picturesque beaches and diverse nightlife.

For those who just want a quick getaway, Virgin Voyages' four-night sailings will now become Fire and Sunset Soirées including a sunset departure from Key West and a midnight departure from Bimini. Sailors will experience the cultural and boating paradise of Key West, paired with a day of rejuvenation in Bimini, Bahamas that's topped off by an exclusive late-night beach bonfire soiree. This celebration under the stars is exclusive to these sailings, and the artistic fire installations draw inspiration from the fireball sculptures on Branson's Necker Island and the alluring communal nature of a traditional beachside bonfire. Sounds great to me!

In response to Sailor demand for longer voyages aboard Scarlet Lady, Virgin Voyages has developed special seven-night sailings for the 2020 festive holiday season. Those looking to get a jump start on their holiday planning can opt for the all-new Holidaze and Nights and New Year's Ahoy voyages, which fall over the Christmas and New Year's holidays respectively, and feature stops in Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic and late-night sail aways in both Bimini, Bahamas and San Juan, Puerto Rico.

All voyages will feature a stop in Bimini, Bahamas, home to The Beach Club, a private club for Virgin Voyages Sailors while Scarlet Lady is on the island.

For more information on Scarlet Lady, future Sailors and First Mates (travel partners) are invited to check out Virgin Voyages by visiting www.virginvoyages.com.

ABOUT VIRGIN VOYAGES

Virgin Voyages is a global lifestyle brand committed to creating the world's most irresistible holiday. With operations in the US, UK, and Europe, Virgin Voyages currently has four ships on order with master shipbuilder Fincantieri.

With its inaugural season scheduled for 2020, Virgin Voyages' first ship the Scarlet Lady was designed to reflect a yacht's sleek luxury. Featuring spaces designed by some of the top names in contemporary design, the Scarlet Lady will be Adult-by-Design, a sanctuary at sea for the 18+ traveler.

A dose of 'Vitamin Sea' will be naturally intertwined across the entire ship, with well-being activated through a mix of high-energy moments coupled with relaxation and rejuvenation. The Scarlet Lady will also feature alluring entertainment and 20+ world-class intimate eateries on board. Putting a twist on luxury, which the company refers to as Rebellious Luxe, Virgin Voyages will offer incredible value for its sailors with all restaurants, group fitness classes, soft drinks, and many more Virgin surprises included within the voyage fare.

Scarlet Lady will sail from Miami to the Caribbean in 2020, hosting more than 2,770 sailors and 1,160 amazing crew from around the world. Keep watch on virginvoyages.com for more updates.

 

Follow Virgin Voyages:

Instagram: @virginvoyages

Facebook: @virginvoyages

Twitter: @virginvoyages

LinkedIn: Virgin Voyages

YouTube: Virgin Voyages