Mr Squash
Some of you may have wondered - just who is Mr Squash? following yesterday's blog below. Well, here he is purchased, I might add, with Madeleine's hard earned dough from toy store Pandemonium.
London, England
Some of you may have wondered - just who is Mr Squash? following yesterday's blog below. Well, here he is purchased, I might add, with Madeleine's hard earned dough from toy store Pandemonium.
at 17:52
I find - and scan - this old post-card "Spenger's Fish Grotto" which has been in Berkeley for, like, ever. Johann Spenger, a Bavarian immigrant, opened a crab counter here in 1890 to complement a small fishing fleet. His son, Frank Sr., opened a restaurant in 1930 and died in '73, leaving it to his son, Frank Jr. This was in the way-back when the Berkeley pier an important dock for bay and Pacific crawlers and before the 80 separated the restaurant from the water, though the highway surely increased Spenger's customers - for many years it was the number one restaurant in America by volume and revenue. Go figure. The neighboring Brannon's, a blue-collar, old school Irish Bar with 75 cent vodka tonics as recently as last decade was in the Top Ten thanks, I would assume to Spenger's - what better way to hit the road then a belt of something following dinner? Moe and I used to go to Brennan's for carved roast beef and sour-dough sandwiches on the way back from his law office where I sometimes joined him on Sundays.
at 18:01
Eitan and Madeleine on their way to mufti day at school. So I investigate this expression. mufti, and here is what I learn: "Mufti, or civies (slang for "civilian attire") refers to ordinary clothes, especially when worn by one who normally wears, or has long worn, a military or other uniform." (Wikipedia). Now it is a day where schools allow the students and staff to wear normal clothing instead of their schoo uniform. In return, students are usually required to pay a small fee whose proceeds go to fund raising efforts - today, for Haiti.
at 09:15
Alexander McQueen took his life in Mayfair yesterday. At 40, he had become known for his unconventional designs and shock tactics. McQueen worked as head of Givenchy for five years before founding Alexander McQueen and McQ Labels. McQueen's dramatic designs, worn by celebrities like Rihanna, Bjork and Lady Gaga, met with critical acclaim and earned him the British Fashion Designer of the Year award four times. I first became aware of his work with his "lobster shoes," pictured, which are like nothing else - they are alarming and horrific, changing the model's dimensions and making her that much more objectified for it. Brilliant. Sonnet notes she acquired one of McQueen's costumes days before his death.
at 09:04
Re this pic, Eitan says: "I think I look famous and my teeth are whiter then usual and I look a bit broader." Yes, Eitan experiments with hair gel. The jacket, meanwhile, "is turned inside out because in the 1960s the jackets were very important." Tomorrow, you see, the weirdly named "muftie day" where the children dress as they wish and the theme ... 1960s. The kids study art - Art Week! - and the '60s seem to have some .. resonance. Eitan jingles "Lucy In The Sky Of Diamonds." They also do and watch drama and must bring in a re-construction of a London something. Most kids, including Eitan and Madeleine, do Big Ben though the craftier bring the London Eye or Tower Bridge. I suppose it depends on the parent's involvement and on this one we ain't.
at 19:25
This one from this morning, shortly before departing for school (Sonnet to work early and I get to do the school-run, lucky me). Our sad news yesterday: Monty died following a brief illness which sapped her strength. Madeleine momentarily destroyed considering how the hamster may have suffered. Eitan, too, upset but he internalises his grief without a tear. We tell Monty stories on the walk to school, like the time she was on the lam and the whole family on hands and knees to trap her excluding Sonnet who stood on a chair - who would have thought such weakness? Eitan notes that "our house shouldn't have a pet" following four goldfish and now the second hamster. I assure the kids this the way of the world: pets die and you get another one. Monty compares nothing to the passing of Robin's beloved Ray and I make sure, without undermining grief for Monty, that we keep life in perspective.
at 14:29
at 16:07
Madeleine warms up, pictured. All six notes are the same to me but God bless her - she drags her suitcase to school and back and no complaining. Monty bolts.
at 15:18
Madeleine turns eight - pictured, and takes breakfast in bed which has become a birthday tradition thanks to Sonnet. Note her "buddy" which is a gift from mom. Madeleine opens her presents which include books, a rocking chair from us and "Gross Magic" from Eitan (who hands me £12 or the amount he borrowed on top of his savings to get Madeleine's gift). My gift to Madeleine a bug box since bugs have fascinated her ever since I can remember. An added bonus (the promote tells me): "bees and brilliant garden pollinators while ladybirds and lacewings such as greenfly, blackfly and spidermite. One ladybird is able to eat more than 5,000 aphids ... " Go figure. This week Madeleine made a bug book with various garden bugs patiently observed, drawn and noted. The afternoon otherwise spent at the movies and home-made pizza for dinner - the birthday girl's request.
at 17:47
Any given day of the week, pictured. I am up early to see George the taylor and we are the only people alive in Fitzrovia. His shop is below street-level so I climb down a steep flight of stairs - he looks through the window tentatively to ensure I am a customer. Inside, his space cluttered with wide rolls of different cloth, finished and half-finished suits, thread racks and mannequins. Clutter. George has been a master of his trade since arriving from Cyprus in '49 and I have to assume his shop has been here ever since. While I am only picking up today we drink coffee which he boils on a bunson burner ("Turkish coffee the only thing the Turks have left" he says) and we exchange pleasantries. He pokes fun of my Jewishness and I his age - "you will be hunched over too, young man, what is important that you get something in return for what you have given up." What I like about him most is the twinkle in his eye - he loves his work - and he always has a joke. Today: "A man has a terrible disease and goes to his doctor - 'I'll pay you anything for a cure' he says. The doctor tells him he must drink the milk from a woman's breast. After a time, the man finds a willing woman and soon she whispers breathlessly 'may I offer you something more?' He asks: 'Do you have any biscuits?'"
at 07:40
Linda Evangelista whistling. Yes, I fetishise but don't we all? At least we did - the so called "supermodel" elevated to pop culture status by the '90s with multi-million dollar contracts, endorsements and campaigns. Beauty and glamour and money - we had it back then. These gals oozed confidence - Christy Turlington for Maybelline in 1991, Claudia Schiffer and Chanel; Cindy Crawford and Rolex while Kate Moss dated Calvin Klein. With Naomi Cambell and Linda above: the "Big Six" - a group who dominated magazine covers, fashion runways, editorial pages, and advertising. You name the medium, they owned it (Nb this group potted in the '80s: Cheryl Tiegs (owned that poster), Christie Brinkley (owned that poster too), Paula Porizkova and Elle Macpherson - while super, they did not reach similar celebrity status).
at 17:27
This beautiful sculpture greets visitors first thing at the V&A if entering from the Westward side. Shocking perhaps? I have seen her before.
at 16:46
Ana Carolina Reston, a 21-year old model from Brazil, passed away last week due anorexia. She weighed 88 pounds.
Last night Sonnet, Lizzie and I join favorite law firm Brown Rudnick for champagne and Jeremy Musson, an architectural historian, writer and broadcaster with a particular expertise in .. the stairwell. Brown Rudnick located at 8 Clifford St in a 17th Century brickstone which enjoys a remarkable foyer whose frescos, it is believed but not confirmed, by British painter Sir James Thornhill, famous for his Italian baroques (baroque BTW from pearls - as in their imperfections). Musson takes us on a journey through similar stunning entrances - Versaille, the Louvre, Chatsworth, Hardwick Hall, Hampton Court, Petworth; he describes the eye drawn upwards, towards light, presenting a viewer with geometricly pleasing shapes .. and paintings that, more often then not, depict some serious matter like Hellfire or Damnation. Musson explains the artist's challenge of creating something to appease the moving viewer who, afterall, is walking by the wallpaper. Not easy, he convinces us. It is hard not to admire Musson's ecentricity, which I find as interesting as his subject. He makes jokes over everyone's head. He name drops the Greek ancients. He gesticulates wildly. He is madly in love with his subject. There is no doubt in my mind that Musson went to the St Paul's school for the strangely talented boys. It is also clear that England's top 1% the smartest in the world, which they once ruled. God bless.
Me: "You call that cleaning the table?"
Eitan: "I would call it a rough job."
Sonnet: "Have you ever heard somebody lie?"
Eitan: "I have seen footballers lie."
Sonnet: "How does that make you feel?"
Eitan: "It is not respectful to the fans or the referee."
Madeleine: "Billy stepped on my foot and said he didn't."
Sonnet:
Madeleine: "To the teacher."
at 19:30
Photo from 2008. How these kids change. I have dinner at Zuma, London's hottest Japanese, with Gerrard and David who returns from Davos where he accompanied David Miliband as Special Advisor (an aside re Zuma: while the sushi sublime, it is the crowd that attracts, in particular the young women - 24 to 29, I would guess, toned, polished and on show. Colorful skirts and slender legs. Not the slightest trace of disappointment nor life's struggle. Theirs is tonight).
at 11:16
Well, the last time we saw Tony Blair was January 13, 2009, when he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by el presidente. Bush said Blair given the award "in recognition of exemplary achievement and to convey the utmost esteem of the American people" (pssst: poodle).
at 16:57
Madeleine blows the lights out on 7 - can another year have gone by? (I give Sonnet a kiss for being a great mother). Neither of us realise the impending over-night where the real work begins. The six kids, including Eitan, have ongoing boundless energy. They spread their kit on the top floor and hunker down for a night of .. screeching. Jumping. Wrestling and so on and so forth. Sonnet or I may bark occasionally but otherwise we are resigned for a wakeful evening, oh, boy. Finally, Madeleine too tired to continue and begs for her bed. A scuffle breaks out re who will join her room and I command: enough! and send each to his quarters. The separation seems to work and I hear only whispers (Madeleine to Jackson: "Don't lie too close to the radiator because you might catch on fire."). By 1AM, all is quiet. Home free, I think.
at 15:02
at 16:37
at 10:15