inSPIREd Sunday

Sally and Beth host inSPIREd Sunday!  

May 2019 - Rome Italy


The Basilica di Santa Maria in Trastevere (Our Lady in Trastevere), commissioned by Pope Callistus I, was founded during the third century, when Christianity was not yet widely accepted.
The inscription on the episcopal throne states that this is the first church in Rome dedicated to Mary, mother of Jesus, although some claim that privilege belongs to the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore. It is certainly one of the oldest churches in the city. A Christian house-church was founded here about 220 by Pope Saint Callixtus I (217–222) on the site of the Taberna meritoria, a refuge for retired soldiers.

The church’s exterior is notable for the stunning golden mosaics on its facade and for its bell tower, which dates from the twelfth century.

Near the top, a niche protects a mosaic of the Madonna and Child. The mosaics on the façade are believed to be from the 12th century. They depict the Madonna enthroned and suckling the Child, flanked by 10 women holding lamps. This image on the façade showing Mary nursing Jesus is an early example of a popular late-medieval and renaissance type of image of the Virgin. The motif itself originated much earlier, with significant seventh-century Coptic examples at Wadi Natrun in Egypt.

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The present nave preserves its original (pre-12th century) basilica plan and stands on the earlier foundations. The 22 granite columns with Ionic and Corinthian capitals that separate the nave from the aisles came from the ruins of the Baths of Caracalla, as did the lintel of the entrance door.

12th and 13th mosaics in the apse.

Domenichino's octagonal ceiling painting, Assumption of the Virgin (1617) fits in the coffered ceiling setting that he designed.

FIRE

One Word Sunday


February 2017 - El Quelite Mazatlan

Ancient Aztecs performed a fire dance dedicated to Xiuhtecuhtli, the god of fire. The Aztec fire dance is performed today for tourists in Mexico.

Too bad he didn't move the lighter LOL!

A Bull in a China Shop

Six Word Saturday

November 2019 - Toronto ON

At the Gardiner Ceramics Museum this week.

Kent Monkman is a favourite local artist.

Hot Chocolate

November 2019 - Toronto ON

November 2019 - Gardiner Museum Toronto

Saturday we decided on cheeses, pate and cold cuts for dinner, it's been a long time since we did this.

Sunday slow cooker lamb shanks stewed in dark beer with mashed potatoes.

Monday's forecast was dire with snow warnings. Fake news! It was more like rain. We did get a little accumulation but nothing much in the city.

I had a book to pick up downtown.

Toronto's soccer team, sadly we lost in the finals to Seattle on the weekend.

Coming up on Remembrance Day ceremonies on the steps of Old City Hall.

The modern glass tower in the centre is the Eaton's Centre.

Funny enough, later in the day I received an email from Andrew with a photo asking me if I knew the location. It happened to be almost the same spot as the photo above.
The white building was the iconic Eaton's department store.

Reading the Prayer of Remembrance.

Walking to the library branch in City Hall. Only banks and government offices are closed for Remembrance Day, oh, and the LCBO (Liquor Control Board of Ontario) only opened at noon, go figure.

I walked inside back to the bus. Inside the Eaton Centre.

Taken at Union Station.

Settled on bus.

Interesting patterns from our window.

Made my mother's gingerbread and we had it with spiced whipped cream for our afternoon coffee.

Decided to make a chicken pot pie and settled on this recipe (sorta) with the biscuits (gluten free flour) baked on top. Filling was delicious with white turnip, carrots, onions and peas. The biscuits were good, not great.

Tuesday

I decided to stay in for a change.

Made this naan bread  and gave up in frustration it was so sticky I threw it out.
I did make homemade tzatziki using John's recipe from years ago, but I used sour cream instead as we always have some since we get it from Costco. It was delicious. We had it with the lamb sausages I had bought a couple of weeks ago on the Danforth.


Wednesday John and I went downtown for an appointment and we picked up pork chops for dinner with broccolini and vegetable mash.

Thursday I met my BFF and we went to the Gardiner Museum, a ceramic museum. 

A new outdoor sculpture.
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Now covered in a blanket of snow, click here to see this garden in its green glory.

The crisis surrounding murdered and missing Indigenous women, girls, trans, and queer community members continues, with thousands of documented cases in both Canada and the U.S.

The Gardiner presents the Canadian premiere of artist Cannupa Hanska Luger’s Every One, a monumental social sculpture commemorating victims of the crisis. Every One visualizes the data behind the MMIWQT crisis, transforming large and abstract numbers into a representation of individual lived experiences. Responding to data collected by the Native Women’s Association of Canada, Luger created a call to action video shared through social media that invited communities across the United States and Canada to make 2-inch clay beads, each one representing a unique person who has been lost. Hundreds of participants held workshops, both with Luger and on their own, making the beads in studios, community centres, universities, and private homes. These experiences generated over 4,000 beads, as well as numerous conversations, stories, and occasions for healing through clay.
Every One references and stands in solidarity with the photograph Sister by Kali Spitzer. Spitzer explores the individual stories behind the MMIWQT crisis through portraiture and self-representation. She works in the medium of tintypes, a photographic process popular in the 1860s and 1870s, particularly with settlers in the Canadian and American West. Spitzer reclaims this process, adapting it to create images of contemporary Indigenous survivance.

Interesting that spell check doesn't recognize the word survivance. Wikipedia has a description.

The main exhibit was Savour. I will only include some highlights here and save the rest for Tuesday Treasures.
Food and dining were transformed in Europe during the age of Enlightenment by profound changes that still resonate today. What many of us eat, the way food is cooked, and how we dine continues to be influenced by radical changes that occurred in France from 1650 until the French Revolution in 1789.

Checking out some of the permanent displays. A French dessert typical table setting.

Gorgeous!

One Word Saturday.

Out the window from the museum, the ROM, Royal Ontario Museum is across the street.

Only the top two rows are real ceramics, the bottom three shelves are trompe d'oeil images.

The shelves are awaiting the Rosalie Wise Sharp's collection.

The Diana Reitberger Collection of Modern and Contemporary Ceramics stands out for both its breadth and focus. Its arrival at the Gardiner Museum significantly enhances the institution’s representation of Canadian artists across an extraordinary spectrum of contemporary approaches, including vessels, figurative sculpture, and abstract forms. The Reitberger Collection is significant also for revealing new connections between Canadian artists and leading international makers from the United States, the United Kingdom, and Japan. As a whole, it presents an overview of recent activity in the field of studio ceramics with an emphasis on Canada, yet an eye to the world.

Outside the museum.

The front of the ROM.

New and old at the University of Toronto.

Behind Union Station.

I had leftover brie that I wanted to use up so did a combination of this bacon brie pasta and this chicken mushroom brie fettuccine. I used the brie (natch) bacon and mushroom and added the chicken broth and cream to make a thicker sauce.

John said it was really good.


Friday we met an old friend for lunch on the Danforth.

BOOK ENDS

November 2019 - Gardiner Museum Toronto

I finished He Said She Said and I must say I was blown away by the outcome. Never saw it coming. One of the best books I read this year.

I'm not a big Anna Quindlan fan, but this popped up on my library wish list as available so I thought I'd read one of her later books.

Alternate Side was a good quick read with many provoking thoughts on marriage and parking spots. It focuses on first world problems of very rich New Yorkers but it was still a fun read.

Almost finished The Flight Attendant  which is an interesting thriller with the main character so incapable of making a smart decision that I am left shaking my head.


LINKING UP WITH
Beth hosts Weekend Cooking where you can post anything food related.
Sunday Salon
Seasons
Say Cheese
Monday Walks
Monday Morning Blog Club