02-JAN-2016
A snowball fight can be fun…
My nephew, Mr Frimpong Bear, and I are living peacefully in our beloved Bearshire and, even though we don't receive many visits, we feel that someone didn't forget us yet.
I asked Frimpong if he misses his former life, when he was very busy with his official role of travelling bear, but he assured me that all changes in life are, in a way, a sort of trip and one should never remain stuck to the same situation forever. He didn't intend to quote a book of wisdom, but he stated that in life there is a time for everything and what really matters is being able to grasp when the time for a change's come and to find new motivation in everything one does.
Oh…I'm getting too serious in this reasoning. I don't intend to give you this impression at all. Frimpong and I still feel full of energy and interests and we enjoy every single minute of our daily life.
For example we have just come back from a bracing walk in the forest which ended with a very amusing snowball fight… Well, maybe amusing mostly for me.
Frimpong is complaining I exaggerated… Ah young generations are not what we used to be anymore.
20-DEC-2015
Until someone thinks of us, we'll exist.
I know, I know…I have not posted anything for a long time.
But time flies, mostly at my age. Since my beloved nephew, Frimpong Bear, came to live with me, here in Bearshire, after retiring from his frantic activity of travelling bear, my daily life has become quite busy. I need to take care of him, to cook good meal for him (he's always hungry like a bear) and we have also many entertaining activity to share.
He keeps me company and I'm very happy.
I'm deeply touched by your thoughtfulness, you never come physically to Bearshire, but I see that, virtually, you keep on visiting these pages every day and I think I should make an effort to be more present and to share with you our daily little adventures.
We are an imaginary small family of very peculiar bears, but in the kingdom of fancy everything which is deeply imagined, becomes quite real. So we are real if you enjoy thinking of us, and every smile we bring to you makes us even more real.
Here in this picture you can see me resting in our cottage living room, while my nephew Frimpong is finishing decorating our Christmas tree.
I don't know if inside himself he regrets a little that his life has changed so much since he retired. He has become sedentary now and he doesn't meet all the girls all over the world whom he was used to deal with.
But I think he's fine.
Enjoy the little things in life, for one day you`ll look back and realize they were big things.
16-DEC-2012
We went to Bearhampton on shopping...
We need to have a stock of delicious food and suitable drinks at home, in case all of us decided to pay us a visit.
It was a bit slippery, but luckly my dear nephew, Frimpong Bear, offered me his solid arm and his loving help. I'm really happy to have him at home with me.
I don't know if one day he will start travelling again all over the world, but for the time being he seems to be happy too, here in our wonderful Bearshire.
15-DEC-2012
In these long winter nights we practise a little of music.
My dear nephew, Frimpong Bear, accompanies me with his piano and we sing along old songs of the Bear Family.
It’s a kind of rehearsal.
In a few days we’ll perform officially in the centre of our village; you are all invited and, after the concert, there we’ll be a little reception here at our home.
13-DEC-2012
We hope that Bob will come to visit us soon!
Our life is not monotonous at all, my nephew Frimpong will be always happy to meet again all the wonderful people who have been his hosts during his career of Travelling Bear.
As for me, I’m always delighted to welcome visitors as well.
I’m aware that it’s not that easy to get to Bearshire for many of you, but we hope that at least our British friends might manage to find their way to our door.
Robert White is a very pleasant gentleman who gave hospitality to Frimpong in Norwich. My nephew Frimpong and Bob both enjoy sharing a friendly conversation and some good pints.
I have prepared my special Christmas pudding, with the secret recipe of the Bear Family.
We are waiting for you, Bob. Surely you know where Bearshire is, don’t you?
When you arrive to Bearshire, take the first road to the left and follow it until you see the sign “Bearhampton” which is our village and then you’ll see our cottage.
No problems!
12-DEC-2012
My dear nephew Frimpong Bear has started appreciating his new calm life.
I confess I was a little worried for him.
After working hard for so many years as professional travelling bear, visiting so many different countries in a quite hectic way, I was afraid he could find his new life, as retired bear, a little too monotonous, here in the charming but very quiet Bearshire with the only company of an elderly aunt.
Luckily he seems to have found his new rhythms suitable for his well-being. My nephew is happy and active and he keeps me a wonderful company.
Maybe the essence of traveling is being able to recognize one’s destination when one finds it and all trips follow a circular trajectory.
So all the travels of my nephew Frimpong were destined to lead him here, where he is now.
As you see his nature of artist is always there and he remains a cultivated and very creative bear.
We’ll never forget all of you and we are touched by your signs of affection.
07-DEC-2012
Oh, Frimpong, come to help me! Here are the presents from Máire!
Our dear friend and lovely hostess
Máire, from Dublin, Ireland, is always so thoughtful.
She sends me lots of present every year.
My dear nephew, Frimpong Bear, was delighted to spend some time in her company.
Now we have to take all the parcels inside.
I’m not sure I’ll be able to prevent my nephew Frimpong to open some of them ( or all) secretly before Christmas….
Thank you, Máire, we all miss you!
07-DEC-2012
Our dear Marjan will have always a special place at our home and in our hearts
“Aunt Violet, I know you love dearly all our friends, but they are too many to dedicate a personalized greeting card to each of them…”
“I’m afraid you are right, my dear nephew Frimpong, but let me try…Maybe I won’t be able to post a card for each of them, nevertheless I trust the others will forgive me and will understand that they are not necessarily neglected.”
“Aunt Violet, I know you too well to dare to insist against your decisions. It’s all right; I’ll try to help you in this project then.”
“By the way, Frimpong dear, what do you think? Would it be a good idea to invite all our friends for a dinner party here at our home in Bearshire?”
“Gulp, gasp…Aunt Violet! But they are hundreds! Then I’m not sure all of them might find their way to Bearshire…”
“Nonsense, everybody knows where Bershire is. Then I’ll not cook a very complicated formal dinner, just six or seven of my famous recipes…”
“Aunt Violet, you are, you are….”
“Your aunt, Frimpong dear, your aunt”
“Do you think
our dear Marjan remembers the time I spent with her in the Netherlands? “
“Don’t be silly, Frimpong, you know very well that every lady who has met you cannot forgive you….”
06-DEC-2012
Merry Christmas from the Bear family!
We don’t forget all our dear friends, who have followed our adventures and trips during so many years.
We are very touched by the affection you have given us.
It’s moving to keep on receiving many messages from visitors of our galleries even though Frimpong has decided to retire and he’s not a professional travelling bear anymore.
We are happy together here in our beloved Bearshire and we keep all of you in our heart.
Maybe one day we’ll come back to a more active life, with some surprises. For the time being we simply wish all of you happiness and serenity and don’t forget to pay us a visit, if you come to Bearshire. I’ll be happy to cook my special recipes for you and Frimpong will entertain you with various anecdote related with all his international trips and all the interesting people he has met.
We have always a huge stock of beer, you are welcome at any time.
Yours truly
Violet Bear
28-JUN-2012
Frimpong wants to be fit!
Many people have written to me since my dear nephew Mr Frimpong Bear took the decision to retire.
We have been deeply touched by the unexpected thoughtfulness of our followers (is it the right word to use? I’m an elderly lady and I’m not familiar with the modern language of Internet…) and we are really happy to keep in touch with all of you every now and then.
At present the official photographer of Frimpong it’s me. I’m not very skilled for that and I have just an old Polaroid, but at least the pictures can be good enough to give you a report of our quiet, but enjoyable daily life.
My dear nephew, who was in rather bad shape when he came to settle here in my cottage, has recovered marvellously, he has gained weight and he tries to keep fit with a little of physical exercise, as you can see from the picture.
I bought him a new red tie and all seems to be fine.
Maybe I’m spoiling him a bit too much, but you know how things are….It’s so splendid to have him with me again!
If you have a little time, check my diary every now and then, we’ll give you news and maybe there will be a surprise sooner or later.
In case you passed through Bearshire don’t hesitate to pay us a visit, we’d be happy to welcome you.
31-DEC-2011
Things must change....
Paraphrasing one of my forefathers, the great writer Giuseppe Bearmasi di Lambearusa, I think that if we want to stay as we are, we have to change.
This is a very wise and fundamental principle I have decided to follow at this stage of my life.
I’d like thanking all the people who have paid attention to the adventures and vicissitudes of the only two living members of the Bears family, my dear nephew Frimpong the travelling Bear and myself, your devoted friend Violet Gwendolyn Bear.
It has been very rewarding for us to have this exchange with so many of you during several years. Now the time of a change has come, in order to allow us to stay the same.
It’s not any paradox. Let me take advantage of your patience and explain my idea.
My beloved nephew , Frimpong Bear, who has kept his professional engagement for many years, travelling all over the world, is at present in Denmark, early next year he will come back from his trip and he will join me , here in my cottage, in our so dear Bearshire.
We have to discuss about some important changes in our life, but I can already anticipate that it’s practically decided that Frimpong will hand in his resignation from the charge of only official travelling bear.
I’m getting older and older and also Frimpong is now a mature bear, so we think it’s a good decision to spend more time together at a more relaxed pace.
As for me, I have been offered to write a book and I have been working hard on this project for many months, this is the main reason for neglecting , only apparently, all of you and for not posting anything in my diary.
It doesn’t mean you won’t have any further news from the Bear family, on the opposite! But things will change, as it’s right they do.
This is the most suitable day to mark a difference between and old period and a new one.
I wish all of you a New Year full of enjoyable and constructive changes, which will allow you to remain the people you like to be.
Visit our pages here, every now and then, if you have nothing better to do.
It’s possible you’ll find news about the future projects of the Bear family members.
Yours devotedly
Violet Gwendolyn Bear
26-APR-2011
I'm preparing a very special cake for two young friends...
Ah, I have been so busy lately!
One of my dear friend’s grandsons is going to get married.
They would have liked a very simple and private ceremony, but for reasons I won’t discuss here they‘ll have to face a little more formal wedding…
Also the reception after the wedding will be a bit pompous, I’m afraid and there will be many guests.
But I was asked by the young couple to make a special wedding cake for them, and I have trying to do my best to fulfil their wish.
Willie has always adored my sublime soft fruit cake, filled with the special Violet’s creamy delight and Katie is so skinny that she really needs something which might help her to get slightly plumper.
As my old friend Gorge Bernard said, marriage is an alliance entered into by a man who can't sleep with the window shut, and a woman who can't sleep with the window open, I think that success in marriage does not come merely through finding the right mate, but through being the right mate.
You might object that I must not speaking of marriage, since I have never been married, I might answer that , on the opposite, it shows and proves my deep knowledge of the whole matter.
Well, forgive me, but I have to leave you now, the decoration of the cake will take me still a long time and the fatal date is approaching….
01-APR-2011
Welcome to Violet's Saloon!
I had started thinking that daily life in Bearhampton (the peaceful and lovely little village of Bearshire, where I live) had become a little too monotonous and people tended to lose motivation in remaining active and fit.
So I decided to do something for the well-being of my community and I found an empty farmhouse near by which seemed to me very suitable for my project.
After some work of renovation the Violet’s Saloon was created!
Welcome to the opening night!
As some of you might remember, I have always liked dancing, all kind of dances are ideal to keep my elderly body active and dancing is the best gymnastic I know.
When I was young and I travelled, even though never as much as my beloved nephew Frimpong Bear, I had spent a certain time in USA and I had…hum…a loving friendship with a certain Bill, who claimed to be a great buffalo hunter, while in reality he was not able to catch anything at all and it was me the one who tried to teach him to shoot at least a little enough to be engaged later in a circus, but this is another story…
Anyhow, during my, hum, friendship with Bill I got familiar with a specific kind of saloon dance and I have decided to take good advantage of my past experience and to show all of you that, in spite of my age, I’m still slender enough to perform.
If you are by chance in Bearshire, you are welcome to visit my saloon, beer is free.
19-MAR-2011
Oops ! Have you at least a slight idea about the meaning of word « Privacy » ?
I feel a little embarrassed…
I didn’t expect that a few “paparazzi” could arrive here in this peaceful corner of Bearshire and surprise me in a very private moment….
I know my nephew is well known all over the world, but I’m simply an old lady….
You might wonder if taking a bath under a waterfall might be suitable for my arthritis…
Oh well, the spirit of nature and the energy of Spring is suitable for a better quality of life in every case.
15-MAR-2011
Thoughfulness is precious....
Here I am again. Did anyone miss me?
I’m afraid of the answer.
One should never ask similar questions, which imply possibly frustrating answers….
Anyway I’m home and my convalescence is going on smoothly.
Today I’d like thanking a dear Irish friend for the lovely card she sent me.
I think the value of little discrete gestures is enormous.
As you know I’m English and they say that between Englishmen and Irishmen there is more place for conflicts than for agreements.
I’m glad to be the exception which has not any intention to confirm the rule.
By the way some of the ancestors of Bear family were Irish warriors, as my nephew Frimpong has recently discovered.
But I’m wandering from the subject…It’s a feature of elderly people, I’m afraid.
I meant to thank Miss C. for the thoughtful card and to tell her that people who love good books are all part of a privilege universe, wherever they are from.
7-JAN-2011
New Year accident....
I’m sure you’ll forgive me if I could not manage to wish all of you a very Happy New Year…
The point is that I would have kept in mind that when a lady of my age decided to practise winter sports, she might run certain risks….
When my nephew, Frimpong Bear left for his new destination ( you might remember that his job is being a professional traveller) I started missing him enormously and to not remain at home on my own feeling lonely, I decided to react and to join some friend who had decided to spend New Years’ Eve on the Swiss Alps.
Well…you can guess the rest looking at me now.
I’ll have to stay quiet at my home for other months now…please don’t let Frimpong know about that, he would tell me off.
Ah, our children, when they grow adults, start treating us as if the roles had been completely inverted and maybe they are right….
Wisdom doesn't necessarily come with age.
Sometimes age just shows up all by itself.
But as my old friend Maurice used to say,
Old age isn't so bad when you consider the alternative….
Have a splendid New Year!
18-DEC-2010
Christmas card from the Bear family
My beloved nephew, Frimpong Bear and I, your humble truly Violet Gwendolyn Bear,
are glad to have this opportunity to brighten up your hectic Christmas week
with our musical talents.
Please, put your volume on.
Frimpong always manage to find the time to visit me at Christmas,
even though he can never stay for a long time,
as you know he’s a professional traveller
and he keeps on visiting different places all over the world.
But today he’s here and my old heart if filled with joy.
By the way, do you know how people who are afraid of Santa Claus are called?
Claustrophobic.
I think always over about Christmas every year and as Christmas is always the same also my thought are more or less always the same…
Christmas is a time when kids tell Santa what they want and adults pay for it.
Deficits are when adults tell the government what they want and their kids pay for it.
But this is, obviously another story.
Now, my dear readers of my diary let us sing for you and to wish you all the best.
03-NOV-2010
Classic ballet keeps me slender….
I have always had an artistic temperament, when I was younger I had a loving friendship ( I will not say anything more…) with a great ballet dancer, Rudolf, who managed to teach me a little classic dance and a little of Russian…
Ah, Rudolf, what a class, what a charm!
But I must admit I have never performed professionally on stage, even though I was told I had skills….
The picture you can see here shows me during an amateur festival ballet, held here in my beloved Bearshire, I think I have been a rather good Giselle, after all.
The only problem is that after the show my arthritis made me stay in bed for a couple of days.
It’s amazing, when I dance I feel like a butterfly, but when I’m back home I realize I’m an elderly lady bear.
09-OCT-2010
A solitary ride in the evening is a good way to stay fit!
Autumn might be occasionally gloomy here in Bearshire, but I like its wild and austere beauty.
I’m a little too old to jog, then I have found always a bit bizarre those people who jog all concentrated with the headphones on , quite isolated from the world they are in from a screen of heavy music.
I like listening to the sounds which surround me while I’m outdoors.
As I was telling you above, I’m definitely too old to jog, but not too old for riding!
My old friend Liz, who has a very important position here in UK, adores horses too and she still rides, when she has a chance, even though she’s not younger than me...
But this, of course, is another story.
8-OCT-2010
A nice, surprising find in my attic....
Hidden in a corner of my attic I found this old painting, under a heap of various stuff.
It reminded me immediately of a copy I had seen once in an Italian museum.
Of course I know mine is the original, even though the master had painted many version of it.
I found on the back of the painting, stuck into the golden frame, a letter written by Raffaello Sanzio, the painter, directed to one of my ancestors from the Italian branch of Bear family, Orsetta Luti, proving that she was the very first model for this masterpiece.
What a shame it was so dusty in a corner of my attic!
I should go there to clean a little more often...
People say I look very much like my ancestor Orsetta...what do you think?
4 - OCT - 2010
Would you like to give a virtual look at my attic?
I know I tend to neglect to climb up to my attic too often...
You see at my age there are days when you feel you would need a good dose of oil for your gears, since every movement produces worrying creaking and pangs.
But today I decided to come up here to try to tidy all this mess and also because there is always an unexpected find, when I rummage among all the stuff I have collected for years.
My nephew Frimpong Bear whom maybe you know, has invited me to get rid of all these old and dusty items once and for all and transform the attic into an astronomic observatory ( you know, I live in a very secluded part of Bearshire and there is not any light pollution here at night), but I cannot make up my mind.
So I’m trying to clean a little around here, and then, as soon as the attic will have a more presentable look, I’ll go to relax downstairs with a well deserved cup of tea.
My friend Stevie (one of my neighbours) had half promised to come to help me today, but then he decided instead to head off to the Lake District.
Ah..... men!
On the red carpet of the Film Festival of Venezia
I adore good cinema, and as a consequence of my long experience of life and show business, I have developed a certain knowledge of the “Seventh Art” and I have also met personally many important characters of the planet Cinema.
I have already explained to you that my absence was caused by different factors, trips and invitations.
Just to mention one of my recent engagements: I was invited to be a member of the Jury in the last cinema festival of Venezia.
Actually I had been asked to be the President of the Jury, but my good old friend Quentin Tarantino really wished to occupy that position so I was glad to leave the honour to him; as for me I was perfectly happy to be among the other members of the jury.
Definitely I voted for Sofia Coppola and I was happy her film won the Golden Lion!
Here you can see me on the famous red carpet, what a wonderful moment!
I was a bit worried because I had to climb the steps wearing high heeled shoes, so different from my familiar Bearshire-style slippers, but I managed to keep my balance.
How do you like my dress?
Quentin told me I looked divine!
29 - SEP - 2010
Mrs. Violet Bear is back
Did you really think you could get rid of me and my diary?
Time is an ephemeral barrier when the thoughts remain constant...
I’m not sure what it means, but it sounds nice.
Anyway here I am.
Even though I had become a sedentary lady for some years nothing obliged me to never change my mind.
I have spent some months travelling to visit old friends and to take care personally of my own properties and business.
It has been enjoyable, but a little tiring.
The feeling of tiredness reminds me always of my age, even when my mind tends to forget it. .
If some among you may be curious to know how I have spent the last few months, well, I think I’ll write some notes about that in the next pages of my diary.
For the time being, since I have just come back home, I need to rest and then to tidy up and to clean my cottage here, in my beloved Bearshire.
I visited some old dear friends too and the memories of the days spent in their company will brighten up my autumn days.
Nothing makes the earth seem so spacious as to have friends at a distance; they make the latitudes and longitudes.
20-APR-2010
I'm taking care of a very dear and unluckily ill friend...
I wonder of any of you have noticed my absence.
I have not updated my diary that often lately, but it doesn’t mean, obviously, that I have forgotten all of you...on the contrary I have deeply missed your virtual visits.
I think it’s time to explain the reason of my “French leave”,
I have dedicated most of my time to keep in touch with my nephew, Mr. Frimpong Bear,
who has had complicated vicissitudes during his professional trips and,
last but absolutely not least, to take care of a very dear ill friend.
I don’t know if I had already told you that I’m a professional nurse too,
I got my diploma many years ago and I practised in a war hospital in northern Italy,
where I had a romance with an American soldier,
Ernest, who a little later wrote a novel inspired to our love affair...but this another story.
Coming back to the main point, I decided to take the whole situation on my paws since my dear friend had been suffering for months with a painful disease, and to invite her to live temporarily with me in order to help her to recover with my special cares and cures.
As you probably know, Bearshire, where I live, is both real, since I’m a real lady bear, and imaginary, since it’s a fantasy place.
It means that my friend can be at the same time at her home, with her family and here at my home with me.
So my friend is enjoying this kind of ubiquity, which is created by the love we have all for her and it also means she is going to receive a double quantity of medical cures and loving cares, I can assure she’ll recover very quickly.
Now I must leave you, since she needs my help for her toilet, I have already tidied up her bed and now I’m going to help her with the shower.
I will serve her a light meal and then I’ll let her rest.
Too often nice people in perfect good faith don’t realize that their too long visits are only extremely tiring for ill dear ones.
What a person needs to recover is peace, calm, rest and quiet signs of affection.
Oh, I must really go...Try to not get ill, because at present my guest room is already occupied and I would not be in condition to take care of you and then I like imagining all of you perfectly healthy as your humble truly.
16-MAR-2010
It's nearly Spring in Bearshire!
I’d never be tired to recommend all of you to appreciate and value good friends and good books.
Nowadays good books are not so many, nevertheless their number always exceeds the number of good friends.
But when a good book comes together with a good friend, then we might consider to be really rewarded by our lucky fate.
Today I found in my mailbox, here in my quiet and beloved Bearshire, an anonymous parcel...
You can understand me, I’m sure; there is always something distressing in anything anonymous we receive.
I turned the parcel in my paws, hesitating, then I looked at the postmark and the stamp and I find out the country of the sender.
The parcel stopped to be an anonymous item and suddenly become the silent, but deeply meaningful voice of a real dear friend.
What a wonderful, thoughtful and discreet present!
A way to tell me “I’m here with you, to keep you company, without disturbing your life rhythm, but adding an enjoyable note to it.”
A book, a good one and the consciousness to have a good friend.
Spring mood has suddenly come to Bearshire.
Now I have to leave you...I feel like reading!
31-DEC-2009
Happy New Year!
New Year's is a harmless annual institution, of no particular use to anybody save as a scapegoat for promiscuous drunks, and friendly calls and humbug resolutions.
Youth is when you're allowed to stay up late on New Year's Eve. Middle age is when you're forced to.
Many people look forward to the New Year for a new start on old habits.
New Year's eve is like every other night; there is no pause in the march of the universe, no breathless moment of silence among created things that the passage of another twelve months may be noted; and yet no man has quite the same thoughts this evening that come with the coming of darkness on other nights.
People are so worried about what they eat between Christmas and the New Year, but they really should be worried about what they eat between the New Year and Christmas.
As for me, I have decided to invite only a bunch of selected friends for dinner....
I have just the time to wish all of you
If you have nothing else to do and you are not far from Bearshire,
feel free to join us,
my door is open!
27-DEC-2009
Bathroom philosophy...
Oh, you already know that I’m not very formal, but I hope you won’t consider me too cheeky if I write this page of my diary from my bathroom...
They tell me a revival is only temporary; so is a bath, but it does you good.
People often say that motivation doesn't last. Well, neither does bathing - that's why I recommend it daily.
Bathroom is a very important place at my home, I find it a suitable environment for relaxing and thinking over and when I have a little problem I often find a good solution for it while I’m taking my time in a fragrant bubble bath.
Anyway it is a mistake that there is no bath that will cure people's manners, but drowning would help...
20-DEC-2009
Our best wishes to all the readers of my diary!
Open your presents at Christmastime
but be thankful year round
for the gifts you receive.
I’m aware that I have not added any new page to my diary for a rather long time.
But I’ll be back to all of you soon.
Now I feel like thanking deeply all the lovely people who have written to me asking for news.
By the way I remind my readers that they can write to me at any time to my personal email address which you can read above and it will be my pleasure to answer all letters.
Many thanks in a very special way to Cynthia, who wrote to me from Australia and told me about their very warm weather.
I’ll tell Santa Pong to take his swimsuit, after work and to reach them for a break on a sunny beach….
20-OCT-2009
"Take rest; a field that has rested gives a bountiful crop."
As a very dear friend of mine, Ernest, an American writer, used to say
“I still need more healthy rest in order to work at my best. My health is the main capital I have and I want to administer it intelligently.”
Unluckily Ernest didn’t fully practise what he preached, but this is another story, not a very happy one, I’m afraid.
As for me, in spite of my elderly age, I have the intention to remain alive and kicking for a reasonably long time and I try to do my best to reach my goal.
I thank all the kind people who wrote to my personal email address asking if all was fine with me, since I had not added any new page to my diary for a while.
As you can see, I’m perfectly well and I’m still enjoying a kind of relaxing holiday break in a very peaceful and cosy resort.
I love to take things that are everyday and comforting and make them into the most luxurious things in the world.
Sipping a healthy fruit juice and meditating, what can be more luxurious for our well-being?
Anyway be sure I’m always present, even though you have not news from me for a while and you can always rely on me.
I’ll go back home very soon, maybe my dear nephew Frimpong will find the chance to pay me a visit before winter...
31-AUG-2009
It's always enjoyable to have dinner with a dear young friend...
I have several very nice young friends, who honour me with their trust and confidence.
I’m aware of my limited knowledge, generally speaking, because being conscious of one’s own limits is the only way to have a hope to get over them, but I have a certain experience of life due to all my vicissitudes and to all the enriching people I have had the luck to meet in my long existence.
I suppose my friends feel comfortable with me, because I’m a good and sympathetic listener and I never give lessons or unrequested advice.
When one of them has a problem or simply feels like sharing an important decision,I am usually honoured by a visit and we spend a few hours in deep conversation. Even though I never tell them what they must do I do my utmost to enable them to find the best decision by themselves.
I don’t want to be a dispenser of solutions, I prefer to be a catalyst for their personal choices.
Yesterday evening I went out for dinner with one of my young friends and I can assure you I felt envied by many young ladies who noticed us at the restaurant.
We had a very enjoyable meal and we shared both lighter and deeper thoughts.
I think it was important for both of us.
But if anyone asks me what we talked about, my response will be: "It’s private."
One of the best qualities of a good friend is discretion.
25-AUG-2009
It’s never too late for new experiences.
I think that in life it’s much better having a light dose of remorse than some heavy regrets.
Obviously it would be perfect to have none of them, but our nature is not perfect by definition, imperfection is the essence itself of our existence, so we have simply to cope with the fact that we might have committed some acts we have no reasons to be proud of or we have missed things we would have liked to do.
Remorse is defined in general as moral anguish arising from repentance for past misdeeds, but there are many different levels of importance in that.
If we have just some light feelings of remorse, mostly when we arrive at my age, then it’s not too heavy a burden to carry.
On the other hand, having regrets is feeling a sense of loss and longing for someone or something gone forever, or a sense of disappointment and almost distress about something that one wishes could be different.
I call “regrets” a catalogue of lost opportunities which might have given me a positive experience.
It sounds a commonplace statement, but it’s not too far from the truth.
I have often taken planes, as means of transport, mostly when I was much younger and I used to travel more often, but planes are just that, a means of transport, they have engines and they are quite noisy.
I had always dreamed to feel the rapture of a silent free flight...
The time has come for me to fulfil my wish.
I have bought an air balloon and I’m trying to learn how to drive it.
I’m already managing quite well.
So if you are in my beautiful Bearshire, look up and maybe you’ll see me flying over you!
17-AUG-2009
“Sometimes the most urgent thing you can possibly do is take a complete rest”
One of the few privileges of aging is having the chance to organize time at one’s own pace.
As Mark Twain used to say, age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don't mind, it doesn't matter.
So I enjoy my privileges and I don’t get too worried for the other matters.
A good book should always leave you... slightly exhausted at the end. You live several lives while reading it.
There is nothing sweeter than slipping slowly from a book page to a dream page.
Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on an old couch in a summer's day, listening to the murmur of wind, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is by no means a waste of time.
One reaches that wonderful status where one is not asleep, but it doesn’t mean one is awake.
Then I can slow all down... also the moment to get up.
If people were meant to pop out of bed, we'd all sleep in toasters.
8-AUG-2009
The importance of gloves...
Honoré de Balzac said once that there are no little events with the heart. It magnifies everything; it places on the same scale the fall of an empire of fourteen years and the dropping of a woman's glove, and almost always the glove weighs more than the empire.
I was thinking of that quote a few days ago, I don’t know exactly why, when I was trying desperately to find gloves that would match my dress perfectly (by the way finally I succeeded in finding the most suitable ones, as you can seen in the picture), because there are things which become quite obsolete with the changes of fashions, while in a former time they were considered nearly fundamental.
Nowadays gloves are mainly used in winter to keep one’s hands warm, but they have lost the refined role they had once, when they were necessary for an elegant lady.
Being invited by very dear friends ( whose identity I’m obliged not to reveal, and I apologize for that, but respecting friends’ privacy is fundamental for me) who are a bit formal, as befits their family traditions, I chose a specially accurate cocktail-dress and I paid a lot of attention to details.
A real lady must feel equally at ease wearing either a casual dress or a formal one. The secret is not to be a slave of fashions, but to wear what we really like in every different moment of our life.
As one of my dear Irish friends, George B.S., used to repeat,
“Fashions, after all, are only induced epidemics.”
Nevertheless I must confess I’m rather satisfied with my own style.
Do you find me elegant?
5 -AUG- 2009
Downtown for shopping
Today I had to go shopping.
I received an invitation to a quite smart party, I will attend in a few days and I needed to choose a suitable present and also an elegant dress.
I have mixed feelings about parties.
Usually I find them unbearably boring, but occasionally one can meet, with a little luck, one or two interesting and witty people there and in this case one can have an enjoyable conversation, while remaining slightly detached.
There is always so much to learn just observing people in different circumstances.
As for dress style, then I think that if one accepts an invitation to a official reception, then one has to dress in a suitable way.
It’s a matter of respect for oneself and also of aesthetics.
I’m not a frivolous lady, but I still enjoy a little coquetry...It’s one of the privileges of a woman my age.
I didn’t feel like driving downtown so I asked my chauffeur to fetch me.
27-JUL-2009
Summer is the perfect season for a little barbeque....
Here in Bearshire (there is not any other place better than my good old Bearshire, my nephew Frimpong will realize that one day...) we are accustomed to enjoy all the simple joys of life, but in the most accurate way.
I have learnt in my long life never to show off just for the pleasure of it, but to treat oneself as well as possible.
So even a common a barbeque becomes a wonderful experience if we pay attention to add a little style to it.
I would never wear shabby clothes even though I’m alone in my garden.
I would never use paper glasses...
I think that we have to respect ourselves first of all, if we want to be respected by others.
My sausage seems to be perfectly grilled, so you’ll forgive me if I leave you now...
15-JUL-2009
I’m very conservative and a bit chauvinist about mustard.
You know me, well at least a little...I’m an open-minded lady with a good dose of non-conformism.
I adore to be considered a little outrageous too; it’s one of the few advantages of aging.
But there are a few things I’m very firm about and I prefer not to change.
I occasionally try many different kinds of mustard, but I generally remain faithful to my favourite brand, definitely British!
We have to go back to 1814;in that year George III was on the throne and Wellington was preparing to defeat Napoleon at Waterloo...and one of my ancestors, Jillian Eunice Bear, was on very...uhm, familiar terms with a young flour miller, called Jeremiah Colman.
Jillian Bear had a solid business sense and she persuaded her friends to take over a mustard manufacturing business based on the river Tas, four miles south of Norwich.
They founded the new firm J & J Colman.
The partnership prospered and in 1836, a London branch was established.
Since then all the members of the Bear family have used only this brand of mustard for their daily cooking.
I don’t claim it’s the best one absolutely, but I think we have to be faithful to something that gives us points of reference.
By the way, I take advantage of my diary page today to tell a dear friend of mine that we have to trust the postal service despite all evidence to the contrary....
12-JUL-2009
The subtle flavour of out-of-fashion little gestures.
I think that we get really old only when we lose interest in learning new things.
Personally I certainly recognize the importance of computers, which have really changed the world of communication.
I have been probably the first one to have a computer in Bearlingham Green ( I must admit in my village there are not many inhabitants...) and I use it for all my practical needs and to make my daily life easier.
Nevertheless I still enjoy the subtle pleasure of handwritten correspondence.
I mean real letters, made of paper, which transport our words written by ink at a very slow speed compared with the instantaneous transmission of data by computer.
I like the nice little ritual of folding the letter, putting it into an envelope, sticking on it the suitable stamp and taking the time to walk down the street to a still existent mail box.
A real mail box has still a greater charm than a virtual one, because it gives us a tangible sensation and allows us feel the sender closer to us, since we can concretely touch the paper they have touched and so on...
Of course e-mail is a fantastic invention, which makes distances infinitely shorter and can almost change the dimension of time.
I think the best solution is taking advantage of both, in order not to lose anything but to have a double opportunity, as different circumstances may demand.
Today I not only posted some real letter to friends, but I also went to our local Post Office to send a parcel, we cannot do it by computer yet....
11-JUL-2009
Do you think I have made the right choice?
I had the opportunity to rent this small cottage, here in our lovely village of Bearlingham Green, the pearl of Bearshire.
It’s very close to my abode and I think it will be suitable for my nephew Frimpong, at least until he manages to build his own new cottage.
Of course Frimpong won’t come here very often, he’s a professional traveller, as you know and he’s very devoted to his job, but he needed a place where he could store his things. Now that he has sold his flat in central London, he could not fill my home with all his boxes either.
I can consider this cottage as a detached guest-room as well.
There is a very dear friend of mine who seems to be very determined to come to visit me soon, he has merely to push a door to get here, we live very close to each other.
In this page of my diary I’d like to explain the fundamental features of all the abodes of the Bear family.
We like living in an ancient building, which looks extremely small from outside, but inside it is obvious that there must be many different rooms, as you have probably already noticed from the pictures you have seen of my own cottage.
Generally speaking it’s not easy to find similar houses, but in Bearshire they are quite common. It’s another good reason to live in Bearshire, you see.
Whatever seems to be bizarre or impossible elsewhere can be real in Bearshire, but that is another story...
So do you think Frimpong will like this cottage?
I didn’t decide the name of the cottage yet.
If you have any suggestion, please do let me know, your advice will be of great help.
8-JUL-2009
Don’t’ be afraid, I’m not getting drowned...This is art!
You know I’m a lady of experience and I have many artistic interests as well.
Since I have started taking care of my beloved nephew’s, Mr. Frimpong Bear, photographs collections, that is I’m the chairlady of the world famous “Frimpong’s Project”, I have learnt to deal with all the nuances of photographic art too.
I have been told by one of my friends, a very fine and creative young photographer, that nowadays it’s very fashionable taking conceptual underwater photos.
So I decided to try and I had a lot of fun actually.
I think I really look like a mermaid!
I’m simply a bit concerned now because all that humidity has not had a very good effect on my rheumatisms.
Augh... I can hardly move!
I suppose I’ll stay at home very quiet for a while and I’ll need a series of massages with my special Bear-ointment.
Shopping for groceries...
I have had a very busy morning indeed.
My dear nephew Frimpong has practically emptied my fridge before leaving, so I badly need to go shopping for groceries.
Ah, by the way, I have received a couple of slightly worried letters asking me if Frimpong had really decided to stop travelling and settle here in Bearshire near me.
Don’t worry! He has not any intention of changing his lifestyle, he’s a professional traveller and still too young to retire.
He simply decided to sell his flat in central London and to have a cottage built here in our lovely village of Bearshire.
He will come to spend a few days in his cottage when he can take a break, as a kind of “holiday” for him.
But it will take some time before the cottage will be ready.
I’ll keep you informed, of course.
One of my kind and affectionate readers asked me the name of our village...oh my, I had forgotten to mention it.
For me it’s so natural to live here, that I thought everybody knew the name of the place.
My village is called
Bearlingham Green and it’s the pearl of Bearshire.
When I have to go shopping to the centre of the village I find it so handy to take my motor-scooter, mostly in summer.
Now I have to drive back home, I have to arrange my groceries and to bake a cake for Stevie, a dear young friend of mine.
I think he will pay me a visit one of these days.
If you want to have friends visiting you with joy, always keep a home-baked cake ready and your sympathetic ears open for them.
7-JUL-2009
The enjoyable ritual of a classy afternoon tea.
I suppose most of you already know that the invention of the tradition of afternoon tea is attributed to Anna, the 7th Duchess of Bedford in the in the early 1840's.
Traditionally dinner was not served until 8:30 or 9:00 in the evening and it seems that the Duchess had a solid appetite and often became hungry, especially in the summer when dinner was served even later.
She took the habit to order a small meal of bread, butter, and other delicacies, such as cakes, tarts, and biscuits, to be brought secretly to her boudoir.
When her little secret became known ( one must never trust the discretion of servants, they are the ones who know all, being present, even though apparently unnoticed, to all their masters’ most intimate circumstances) she involuntarily created a fashionable trend.
Her habit caught on and the concept of a small meal, of niceties and perhaps tea, became popular and eventually known as "afternoon tea".
Today in my mail I found also a very kind letter from an Australian lady I’m proud to have among my faithful readers, she asked me the veritable recipe of world famous Violet’s scones and with joy I shared it with her.
I take this opportunity to thank all of you for your letters and to assure you that I always write back promptly and I’m extremely glad to answer your questions and to give you my advice, not only on culinary matters, of course.
So now let me enjoy my afternoon tea in this glorious summer evening...
Even when I take it on my own I like keeping always a touch of class, it’s important, isn’t it?
05-JUL-2009
Sunset is the best time of the day for a hearty family chat...
My beloved nephew Frimpong and I had not had any real chance to sit side by side in front of a sunset for many years.
After our tea, we walked over the countryside to the lake (you know Bearshire, obviously, and you know that it is one of the finest districts of the UK indeed).
“I understand why you keep living in your beloved Bearshire, Auntie, even though you could stay anywhere else in the world,”
Frimpong told me after a long silence.
“Indeed, Frimpong. We might travel all over the world and enjoy so many different places, but we need that special place we can call “home” to feel comfortable. It’s not necessary to stay there constantly, but we need to know it exists and we can come back when we feel the need...”
“Auntie, I have decided to sell my flat in Central London and consider Bearshire as my “home” now.
When I have time in my hectic life of professional traveller I’d like to come back here and find my roots again.
Of course I’m not a child anymore, so I won’t disturb your daily life living under your roof.
I have the intention to build my own cottage near yours, so we can be close to each other and independent at the same time.
As soon as I sell my flat in London I’ll transfer the money to your bank account and I’ll be very grateful to you if you could help me with the business of building my new cottage.”
“Of course, my dear nephew, it will be my pleasure. I’m retired and I have a lot of spare time, while you are always so busy...”
“Thank you, Auntie; I can always rely on you”
“We are a family, Frimpong”
“Yes we are. What a special light the sunsets in Bearshire have...
There's no place like home!”
Many things might happen to a lady while she is taking care of her roses...
I was enjoying my garden and cleaning some of my roses when suddenly I heard someone walking over the path which leads from the gate to my cottage door....
I thought it could be Professor McLivet, my neighbour, who always runs out of something and comes to ask me to lend him this and that...usually a half bottle of sherry or a can of beer.
My surprise was immense when I realized that the visitor was none other than....my nephew Frimpong Bear, with whom you probably are a little familiar.
Frimpong doesn’t pay me a visit very often.
He’s a professional traveller and, when he can take a break, he usually stays in his own flat in central London,though usually for only a very few days.
Frimpong told me he had tried to phone me when he was in Norfolk, but it was my turn to be absent then.
“Frimpong," – I cried out loud- "you are not supposed to be in Bearshire, you, you....”
“Take it easy, Auntie, I simply felt like spending a day with you, I have something to tell you, then I’ll go back to my travel destination, my host will hardly notice my short absence, I told him I was going for a walk...”
If you feel like knowing what Frimpong had to tell me and why he had come to see me...be so patient to wait for my next post.
For the time being enjoy my roses...they smell so nicely, don't they?
Signals of love in my kitchen garden.
As you probably already know, I’m a lady of age and experience, so I have learnt from life not to be easily a victim of emotional feelings, but to keep always my feet (paws) on solid ground.
I like taking care of my garden and, even though it becomes a little more tiring year after year, I have still the great satisfaction to eat my own fresh vegetables.
I had started digging potatoes when one of them attracted my attention for its unusual shape...I’m glad to show it to you here.
I might consider it a kind of omen predicting a future love affair for me...
In case you might wonder what I did with it, I’m happy to inform you that I have already transformed this gentle symbol of love into a tasty plate of chips.
1-JUL-2009
If you feel comfortable there, it's never monotonous being at home...
I’m happy to be back home!
We always complain about repetitive habits, but then we realize they have also good sides.
I don’t like thinking of myself as a creature of habit, actually I have always been considered non-conformist and some respectable people have even called me an “outrageous old lady” in a circumstance I won’t reveal to you right now. Nevertheless I feel that we all need certain points of reference, which are not perceived as a burden if they are chosen freely.
Personally , I think that my abode and my books are among the most important points of reference, that give me the pleasure for life and the necessary serenity to cope with it in the best possible way.
I’d like to thank here all of you for your positive remarks on my slightly refreshed look and my new hair-style.
I think little changes are important to allow us to keep on being consistent in all the more serious elements of our personality.
So here I’m once again in my cottage in Bearshire,ready and willing to keep on sharing my diary with all of you.
20-JUN-2009
"If we want things to stay as they are, things will have to change”
One of my old friends, a Sicilian aristocrat, Giuseppe, Prince of Lampedusa, who was a fine writer, is mostly famous for a great novel which some consider a kind of epic story, sometimes compared to Margaret Mitchell's Gone with the Wind or to Marcel Proust's Remembrance of Things Past.
I met him in London, many years ago, when his uncle was Italian ambassador there.
In his novel,” Il Gattopardo” (The Leopard) he wrote:
“If we want things to stay as they are, things will have to change”
Of course in a totally different context, I dare to quote him, because what I learnt from him was one of the reasons for changing my look, willing to remain even more myself
I confess to you that I feel much better now and the closest friends, who have seen me, congratulated me for my slightly more fashionable style.
At the same time I’m always your devoted Violet Bear and I’ll be grateful if you’ll keep on following my adventures as you have done so far.
20-JUN-2009
This must be the right place....
I’m back to England, after my long holiday.
During these past days I have thought about many things...
They told me in this street there is an excellent beauty parlour...it must be over here....
Ah, here I am, and there is also the hairdresser I have heard miracles of...
I have taken my decision; it’s time for a little change.
I’ll see you again in a few hours....
31-MAY-2009
Yes, Frimpong dear, it's me...Can you hear me?
“How nice of you to call me, my beloved nephew!
Oh, I’m afraid you cannot come over with your friend Steve.
I’m not at home at the moment. I’m in Italy, on holiday.
I would have been delighted to meet Steve, I have seen the picture of him in your company and he looks so charming!
Don’t worry about me, I’m perfectly well and Tom takes good care of me. He sings all the time however, and he’s a bit noisy, but the villa is big so I can always find a little peace in my room.
Give my best regards to Stevie, good bye, Frimpong dear!”
25-MAY- 2009
I needed a break....
I have become basically sedentary at my elderly age; nevertheless, every now and then I break my own rules to please a friend, who is so kind to insist to invite me.
I have had a rather hectic time lately, since I became chairlady and general manager of “Frimpong’s project”.
My Staff is composed of very qualified people, but they need my constant supervision to be fully productive and to optimize their activity.
Anyway all was settled and I realized that age is a burden for an energetic Bear lady like me.
I felt exhausted, mentally and physically.
Exactly at that very moment I got a phone call from my old good friend Tom....
“Violet dear, we have not met each other for ages...”
“Time passes for both of us, Tommy...”
“Never for you, ma belle....
Why don’t you join me for a little while...sun, sea, songs, relaxation...and good drinks, of course...Does it appeal you?”
So here I am in my friend Tom’s villa on this lovely Italian island.
The only way to enjoy a holiday at the seaside is to get there when it’s not high season yet...It’s still rather calm now and really I feel perfectly well.
By the way, Tom told me he feels like composing another song for me. He had already dedicated one of his most famous songs to me some years ago...but I don’t dare to tell you the title...
I let you guess.
Now I must leave you, because my ice-cream is melting....
The beginning of a new career....
I have not kept up with my diary lately, but I have really been very busy.
Actually I've decided to start a new career, always to help my beloved nephew Frimpong.
I’m proud to inform you that now I’m chairlady and general manager of the world famous “Frimpong’s Project”.
I had already noticed that the members of the Staff who work for my nephew Frimpong are full of good will, but sometimes not perfectly efficient.
It’s not their fault, they are humans...but under the direction of an energetic lady bear their efficiency will surely improve.
So I’m now engaged in coordinating all that is related with Frimpong’s travels.
I’m very determined and I’m sure that the whole organization will become more modern and reliable.
Denis, Isabel, Máire, Rob and Marisa, must be veery careful...
Here you can see me in my new office that I have just finished decorating at my home.
17-FEB-2009
The unique charm of the Orient-Express
I’m basically a very sedentary old lady now, but when I was younger I used to travel quite regularly.
We all evolve even though we remain ourselves. With age I've learnt to appreciate the less evident flavour of little daily pleasures, rather than running abroad after presumed exciting novelties.
Anyway, when I need to go anywhere out of my beloved Bearshire, the only bearable means of transport for me is a train.
I find this mode of transportation very comfortable.
Railway stations are still full of old fashioned charm, while airports are always too busy, too gloomy, too noisy.
Waiting for a flight in an international airport is infinitely tiring for me. I have the impression of being in a no-man’s land, where the usual life has stopped, but the trip hasn't started yet.
Trains are different, at least if one can choose a comfortable one.
Time gets another dimension. All follows the rhythm of the wheels on the rails and it’s nice to slow down everything, including thoughts, to spend time on a book page or dream a little looking through the window as the landscape slides by.
After all the confusion of the Venice Carnival, my trip back home by train was really relaxing.
Here you can see a photo of me taken in the dining-car.
Immediately after that, I noticed that a very dear old friend of mine was sitting behind me; I didn’t know he would have been on the same train.
So we could enjoy each oth's company and the trip was even more pleasant.
18-FEB-2009
It’s so infinitely good to be back home!
As Oscar Bearwilde used to say, “Experience is the name every one gives to their mistakes.”
From this point of view, let’s say that my trip to Venice for the Carnival was an “experience”.
Anyway I took the opportunity to go shopping as well...How do you like my red Murano vase?
You cannot imagine how hard was travelling back with the vase and the painting of Orsetta Bear. I wonder if it would not have been better to be mailed in a cardboard box like my nephew.
I’m joking...of course I came back by train, the Orient Express, obviously.
I travel rarely, but always with class.
Now, as you can see, I have to catch up with my mail. Then I’ll show you, if you like, a photo I took on the Orient Express.
It’s always a pleasure to sit in my armchair, relaxed in front of a fireplace, in the quiet and cosy atmosphere of Bearshire.
I missed my slippers so much as well...Those high-heeled shoes were a real "bear" to wear! My paws are aching!
16-FEB-2009
It's charming when there's no crowd around....
Behind the mask...a bit of creeping boredom!
You know what? I’m getting really bored with this tedious ritual of carnival...
I wore my second costume (all masks must have at least two costumes...) and I went out for a walk, before the daily invasions of merry tourists.
Up and down up and down...all the steps of every little bridge, all my old bones are aching....
You cannot imagine how busy and hectic Venice is in these daysl; it’s full of photographers and visitors and they all push each other in the narrow ancient alleys as people on London Underground trains in the rush hours...
I am deeply missing my little cottage in my beloved Bearshire...
I want to put my slippers on instead of these uncomfortable high-heeled shoes. I want a little peace and silence around me. I want my kitchen. I want my books!
Did you know that Carnival had been quite neglected in Venice for a few centuries?
Only in 1980 did it start enjoying a revival...
In my humble opinion, now it’s a big business, but what is not a big business nowadays, after all?
Next time I’ll write another page of my diary it will be from home.
I leave you now, I have to go to pack up my baggage!
14-FEB-2009
Oh my! The lost portrait of Orsetta Bear!!!!
You’ll forgive me for receiving you informally, wearing a dressing-gown...
I’m here in Venice and this photo shows me in my friends' guest room with the wonderful and unexpected surprise I got from them.
Last night's ball was wonderful, but a bit tiring for a lady of my age.
When I decided it was time to stop dancing and go to sleep, I went to my room, opened the door and.....
The only portrait of my ancestor Orsetta was there!
In my family we have often spoken of her and her exciting and adventurous life, and we believed that this portrait of her must have been lost in the dust of centuries.
Miraculously, my Italian friends found this precious painting on a wooden table in an antique shop and bought it for me!
The sight of this treasure made me speechless (and you can guess it’s not easy to get me speechless!)
In our family we keep the manuscript of the memories of Orsetta Clorinda Bear and I can assure you that she was really a brave lady!
She was a...hummmm..close friend of a famous Venetian knight who you can see in her company in this portrait.
When he was imprisoned in the infamous prison “I Piombi”, he managed to escape in an extraordinary way. No one knew exactly how he did that, but we know from Orsetta’s memories that she had been the organizer of his flight, and without her clever tricks, the knight would have ended his days in a cell....
I cannot reveal what Orsetta did...it’s a family secret.
13-FEB-2009
I'm attending Carnival in Venice...
I’m aware I have neglected my diary for a while,
but it doesn’t mean I haven't thought of all of you with my usual affection.
You know with age I've become a very sedentary lady,
even though once I used to run a much more lively life,
but there are always exceptions...
I can reveal you now what has kept me so busy during the last weeks....
I had to create and sew my carnival costume!
Actually I decided to break my daily routine and go to take part in the Venetian Carnival.
Many friends had insisted for several years that I join them...
This time I decided to accept their invitation.....
I’m not writing these lines from my abode in my beloved Bearshire;
I’m arriving in Venice right now.
The carnival will officially start tomorrow,
but this evening there is a very special ball in a Venetian Palace, to which I'm invited.
I cannot share any details, since it’s a very private party.
I can only tell you that I feel so well in Venice,
a town very dear to my heart...
After all, one of my ancestors, Orsetta Clorinda Bear
was Venetian and had an important influence on very famous characters of that time, in particular a very handsome knight called Giacomo...
But this is, of course, another story....
22-JAN-2009
Come to taste my cake, my dear, it's for you!
Birthdays are the only celebration I like, because they are personal.
Besides that we are logically happy that our dear ones were born, so there is an excellent reason to celebrate their birthdays to thank them for being with us.
Tomorrow it will be the birthday of a dear friend of the Bear family, so I baked a special cake for her and I uncorked one of the best bottles in my cellar in her honour.
One of my late American friends, Ralph Waldo, used to tell me:
“Violet, the only reward of virtue is virtue;
the only way to have a friend is to be one.
A friend is a person with whom you may be sincere.
Before him you may think aloud.”
Ralph Waldo knew what he was talking about...
According to my experience I’d add that:
A true friend is one who overlooks your failures and tolerates your success.
Mrs. Máire Uí Mhaicín is not only a sincere friend of the Bear family (and we feel honoured for that), she’s also a precious person for all the people who are lucky enough to have her in their life.
“Whatever with the past has gone,
The best is always yet to come”
I’m infinitely older than you, as you know, so I dare to reveal you a secret to be always young.
Old people are fond of giving good advice; it consoles them for no longer being capable of setting a bad example. Keep on being gently nonconformist and give bad examples, without preaching. You’ll never get old!
Ah, by the way, if you feel like looking at
Máire's photo-galleries and - why not?- wishing her "Happy Birthday" too, click
HERE
10-JAN-2009
"Won't you Charleston with Me?"
Oh, dancing! It’s really a good way to keep fit!
As you might remember, I had started to give winter sports a try and, even though I had not performed too badly, after a while I realized that indoor activities are more suitable for a lady of my age.
First of all, I’d like to thank the kind Irish lady who called Professor McLivet to rescue yesterday.
I feel much better today and I think it’s time for my little dance exercise.
I’m here in the music room of my little abode; through the window you can see Professor McLivet's cottage.
The Charleston is a dance I’m very familiar with.
You might click
HERE to read a former page of my diary, so you’ll understand who had taught me how to dance Charleston as well.
09-JAN-2009
To do the splits is the most risky thing...
As you surely know, every performance of real French BearCanCan must end with splits.
So, following what I had learnt from my granny, Suzette Bear, I did that...
But I’m not the slender and flexible child I was when she taught me how to dance...
So, I don’t know how to tell it to you, but...uhm...I’m stuck!!!!
Please, is there anyone of you who could kindly call my neighbour, Professor McLivet, to ask him to come over to help lift me up again?
09-JAN-2009
The Real Bear CanCan
I didn’t expect to feel still energetic enough to dance like that.
But maybe it’s because this dance - the world famous BearCanCan - was invented by my granny, Suzanne Bear, so it must be in my genes.
Granny Suzanne had spent many years in Paris and I remember her telling me about “le petit Henri” the short Henri who had asked her to pose for his paintings many times.
Please, click
HERE to see the page of my diary dedicated to this episode of the Bear family.
07-JAN-2009
Irish dance is no secret to me...
One of my faithful visitors suggested I practise a little Irish dance if I want to remain lively and fit.
Excellent idea!
After all, one of my Irish ancestors, Máirebear Ó Mathúna,
a lady of very artistic temperament, was a great dancer
and I think I have inherited from her a certain natural predisposition for traditional Irish dancing.
I can give you one or two effective clues, if you want to try by yourselves.
First of all forget you have arms.
They are quite useless for Irish dance, You must pretend to have paralysed arms along your sides and it will be fine.
Opposite to that, you have to move your legs frantically, jumping as high as you can and striking your feet (or paws, it depends on whom you are) loudly on the floor.
I train in the basement, or else my neighbour,
Professor McLivet, would come running and shouting that there is earthquake....
05-JAN-2009
New Year resolutions...
I have decided to not give up my artistic talents only because of age.
Maybe I have already told you once that, when I was much younger, I had a liking and a real skill for dance. My teacher was also a dear friend, Fred, and we had performed together for a while, until a certain Ginger came to mess around...
But this is, of course, another story...
Well I’m particularly attracted by Spanish and Latino-American dances, so I really want to keep on pratising.
I phoned a guitarist, friend of mine, and he told me:
“Come, Violet, let’s see what you can do”
Well, I have still to perfect my style, but my friend told me my performance was not too bad....
03-JAN-2009
Aughhh, too much champagne, I’m afraid!
Luckily my nephew Frimpong is not here any more...I don’t dare to imagine how much he would have teased me.
Well, at Elton’s home they serve usually the best champagne. We sang so much. I felt thirsty and...
No excuses, I exaggerated.
At my age I should be more sensible.
I have a terrible headache, so you’ll forgive me if I’m not able to tell you anything more interesting than moaning:
“Aspirin, please, aspirin...”
But I’m also ready to reply to Frimpong’s kind reproaches.
Quoting one of my old dear friends, George Bernard,
“I'm only a beer teetotaller, not a champagne teetotaller.”
Oh, after all, tomorrow is another day....
03-JAN-2009
Ah, these Americans who don’t know Sir Elton John...
There is not only the barrier of the common language between us, the Britons, and our American cousins...
There is often also a gap in our mutual pop-cultural references.
All my fellow-countrymen have surely immediately identified my “mysterious” friend from the hints I have given, while my kind American visitors are in doubt and think of the late Elvis...
Elton is a Pop-rock icon and I must say his tastes are not exactly the most sober. Just to use a euphemism, he loves all that is redundantly glittering and baroque, even though recently his style has become just a bit less...uhm., flashy.
As you can see, his home also is not a model of traditional sobriety, but he remains one of the most important pop-rock singers and composers of all times.
01-JAN-2009
My friend and I going to a surprise party....
I’m definitely an old lady and I’m quite sedentary, as a consequence of my age.
Nevertheless, every now and then a friend insists on taking me out downtown for a party.
This time I decided to accept the invitation because my elegant New Year's Eve dress was readily available.
Besides that, the friend who came to my home to invite me out is an amusing person and a good musician whom I have known for a very long time.
He’s not that young anymore either and he has gained weight, which is very sad for him, so I decided I had to cheer him up.
We’ll end the night singing along together as we have done many times before. He plays the piano, I sing and, sometimes, I even give him the inspiration to compose a song...
Several years ago he composed a very nice song he wanted to call “Violet Song”,
because he said he had taken the idea for the main theme from a tune I was whistling,
but I didn’t want to show off,
so I asked him to not mention my name,
and he simply called the song
“Your Song”.
“You know it’s yours, Violet,” he told me.
So here I am in central London going to the party with my friend.
31-DEC-2008
Happy New Year!!!!!
I don't know what will be, nobody knows.
But what I have learnt is a simple principle which always works well in life:
"The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past,
worry about the future, or anticipate troubles,
but to live in the present moment wisely and earnestly."
"And in the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years."
Besides all these wise words I always keep in mind that:
"Never take life seriously. Nobody gets out alive anyways."
Happy New Years!
31-DEC-2008
Oh poor me, I'm still frozen.....
I'm afraid I exaggerated yesterday with my swim in the icy lake....
I cannot stop shivering today and I have to be ready for my New Year party.
But don’t worry I’ll come back at midnight to wish you all the best!
For the time being I’m sipping hot chocolate with whipped cream and a bit of whisky inside.
Believe me it’s the best medicine against the cold!
30-DEC-2008
What doesn't kill you, makes you stronger!
After the sauna and the run in the snow I had to jump in to the icy lake for a reinvigorating swim....
Either I’m going to die (we all have to go through that sooner or later)
or I’ll recover from my pain due to the ski fall of yesterday!
Oh, I feel already better.
I think I’ll remain alive!
30-DEC-2008
After the sauna one must run naked in the snow....
It’s well known that after a sauna
one is supposed to run naked in the snow to jump into an icy lake!
I’m not a lady who refuses to try new experiences, so let’s go on...
Don’t peep at me too much anyway....
30-DEC-2008
Nothing better than a sauna in pure Scandinavian style!
Nothing better than a sauna in real Scandinavian style!
Believe me, I needed a good sauna to recover from yesterday's excess of winter sport...
A dear Swedish friend of mine, a film director, Ingmar, used to tell me:
“Violet, my basic view of things is - not to have any basic view of things.
From having been exceedingly dogmatic, my views on life have gradually dissolved.
They don`t exist any longer.
So let dissolve your pain in a good hot sauna....”
Dear old Ingmar.....It was very hard to deal with him, not a very friendly character...
but I have learnt many things from him...
29-DEC-2008
Auuugh!!!!!!!!
Oh my...I’m afraid I have been a little too self-confident in my talents for winter sports.
I would have had remembered my age...I’m not as elastic and I was when I was young.
I feel pain everywhere, every single bone hurts...
But it was a gracious fly....
The problem was when I landed, who said the snow is soft?????
But I know what to do to recover from this fall...follow my adventures and tomorrow you’ll see!
28-DEC-2008
Wowwwwww!!!!!
I’m enjoying winter sports deeply!
I regret I haven't gone sledding for so many years, but it’s never too late.
Today I’m trying something more exciting than quiet and romantic ice-skating.
The most boring matter is to drag the sledge to the top of slope, but my kind neighbour, Professor McLivet, did it for me.
Unluckily he refused to get into the sledge in my company. I don’t know why...
“Do you know how to manage this, Ms.Violet? Have you practised this exciting winter sport many times?”
“There is a first time for everything, Professor; let’s go and try...”
“Uhm, do you know how to brake and stop the sledge, Ms. Violet?”
“Not really, Professor, but I suppose sooner or later it will stop by itself...”
At this point he refused to get into the sledge with me...Oh never mind...I’m having FUUUUUUUNNNNNN!
27-DEC-2008
It's time to practise a little some winter sports....
My nephew Frimpong, during his short and welcome visit, told me he had the impression I had become too sedentary...
I don’t want to disappoint him, and, in spite of my age, I have decided to start over practising some of my favorite sports.
Near my cottage there is a small pond which is now frozen, so I thought it was an excellent opportunity to take out my old ice skates from the trunk in the attic...
Don’t you think I can still skate graciously?
26-DEC-2008
Good Bye, Frimpong dear! Phone me every now and then...Have a nice trip!
“Your visit was the best Christmas present, Frimpong! Thank you for coming!
Take care of yourself, please!”
“Good Bye, Auntie Violet, the taxi is waiting for me.
Don’t stay out, it’s snowing and you can catch a cold...Good bye!”
“Don’t get sunburnt in South Africa, Frimpi!”
“Don’t worry, Auntie, you know I’m an experienced traveller.
I’ll go through Portugal soon as well.
I’ll send you postcards...I love you, Aunt Violet!”
26-DEC-2008
Good Morning, Frimpong, here is your coffee!
“Good Morning, Auntie Violet. Thank you so much!
I slept wonderfully well; it was so nice to sleep in my old room where I grew up...”
“I see your baggage is ready...”
“It’s time to go, Auntie; I have to catch a plane...”
“Do you want me to drive you to the airport?”
“Do you mean YOU, driving your small Smart at mad speed as usual????
Uhm, thank you. I’ll call a taxi!!”
“Oh, Frimpong...!”
25-DEC-2008
Oh, Frimpong, what a big bottle of Bearel n°5, my favourite perfume!
“I know, Auntie Violet, I know...It’s just a little present for you!”
“Thank you, my sweet nephew. I have been using this perfume for years...
When I was younger, only three drops of “Bearel N°5” behind my ears and I didn’t need any nightgown....”
“Oh, but it was long time ago, now I have to wear at least a flannel night gown, you see my arthritis...”
25-DEC-2008
"Oh, Frimpong, if only I had known you were coming, I would have cooked something more...."
“You took me by surprise, my dear nephew, so I can only share with you my own frugal meal.....”
“Don’t worry, Auntie, it’s just a snack, but it looks delicious. Any beer?”
“It’s nice to have you here, Frimpi. You are ALL my family...”
“Don’t get sentimental, Aunt Violet. Let’s taste the turkey before it gets cold. We're the members of the great Bear family and we never become too sentimental...”
“I love you too, Auntie, sigh...sigh...sigh...sob...sob...”
24-DEC-2008
Merry Christmas, Auntie Violet, here I am!!!!!
I cannot believe it!!!!
I was taking a nap, as it happens unluckily in the most casual moments to elderly ladies like me, when I was suddenly awakened by someone shouting into my ear!
Oh my, I could not believe my eyes...I thought I was dreaming....
Frimpong, my beloved nephew Frimpong is here!
“How many other nephews have you, Aunt Violet?”
“Frimpong, but you were supposed to be in South Africa. I got your postcard only yesterday and....”
“I was in South Africa, Auntie, but, you know there are flying machines called airplanes and...Well to make a long story shorter, I must confess to you, that I have had...uhm, a little flirt with a hostess and she could get a free flight ticket for me and...”
“How long are you going to stay, my little scoundrel?”
“Oh you know, Auntie, I’m a professional traveller and I have a very busy schedule. I can stay only one day with you, but it will be enough to taste your cooking.
What are we going to have for dinner???”
23-DEC-2008
Oh, look! I got the most important Christmas card!
My nephew Frimpong never forgets me!
He wrote:
"My beloved Auntie Violet,
I'm doing well here, so don't worry for me.
South Africa is a very interesting country.
Of course I miss you and you are always in my thoughts.
I bought a little present for you and I hope you'll receive it soon."
Oh, but in my mail box there was only the card...
I wonder how he managed to send me the present from South Africa.
Anyway I feel really in better mood now!
22-DEC-2008
Christmas Blues...
Probably it depends on my elderly age...
Maybe I got a bit too tired baking a huge quantity of cookies, cakes and biscuits.
The matter is that this evening I feel melancholy.
I cannot help looking at the path from my window, hoping to see suddenly my nephew Frimpong coming over.
Of course I know that Frimpong won’t come, he’s in South Africa now, doing his job of consistent traveller.
I’m glad he can have Christmas in a summer climate, just for a change and I know he’s well and happy.
Nevertheless I have to write a little gloomy page in my diary today.
I hope to see the photos of Frimpong really soon, it will be a little like having him with me.
20-DEC-2008
Now I'm ready for Santa Pong's arrival...And you?
Oh, at long last...All is ready the way it has to be.
Don’t you think that after all, this holiday period is a bit stressing, generally speaking?
Maybe it’s because I’m an elderly lady now and get tired more easily, or simply because I have always been a bit non-conformist...
I suppose you all know that the tradition of the Christmas tree decorated with lights was created by Martin Luther himself.
He liked trees very much and once he took a pine tree home and decorated it with candles.
Well the story was more or less like that. I was not there to see.
But maybe you might be interested in knowing that one of my ancestors, Katharina Von Beara, knew Martin Luther’s wife very well, They had similar names and were in a nunnery together, and both of them managed to run away.
But this is, of course, another story.
Let’s come back to the topic without wandering about!
All of you know Santa Pong, of course, the gentle bear who comes at night on the 24th of December.
I’m proud to confirm that he belongs to my family too.
Actually he always starts his night tour from my home and I prepare all kinds of cakes, biscuits and little gifts for him.
What are you thinking...that he’s the one supposed to bring gifts and not receive them???
But we are not speaking of the fat old guy with reindeer; we are speaking of Santa Pong!
By the way if you are around in Bearshire these days you can come along too!
19-DEC-2008
I went to present my season's greetings to a dear old friend...
You know that with age I have become very sedentary, so I leave my abode very rarely. But there are exceptions.
Once a year I always go to visit a dear old friend to her home.
For her it would be a little complicated to come to visit me, she cannot travel normally like you and me, so a lot of people are always involved.
It’s much easier for both of us to do this way, I go to have a dinner with her a few days before Christmas, we have a toast to our past and our future and then we exchange those little secretes which old ladies like sharing.
Don’t ask me to tell you more...our conversations are very confidential.
14-DEC-2008
May I show you the incredibly delicious pride of the desserts?
Here is Violet’s magic chocolate mousse Christmas log!!!!
I might sound too emphatic, but if you could taste just a bit of it, I’m sure you would become even more apologetic than me.
It’s a bit complicated to prepare this gorgeous dessert, so I make it only once a year.
Just to give you an idea, it’s composed of three different chocolate mousses, at three different levels of intensity, from white chocolate to dark bitter one.
The mousses are all composed in order to give you the effect of a cut log, when the cake is sliced and around them there is a thin and crispy layer of special dough, a kind of precious meringue biscuit with a smooth hazelnut crème...
The outside is not just a plain chocolate frosting; of course not...It’s something much more aerial, nearly liquid, soft, creamy...a half solid chocolate sauce.
I’m definitely proud of this peculiar recipe.
My nephew Frimpong will regret not spending Christmas with me...And you too!
07-DEC-2008
"The praise of Folly" is a very suitable book for this time of the year...
My dear friend Bertie, one of the finest gentlemen I have met in my life and also one of the most charming, has taught me many worthy things, even though he has never managed to make me become fond of mathematics.
He used to say that mathematics and philosophy were complementary disciplines, but I was more inclined to share his interest for the latter.
I remember with deep nostalgia all the conversations I had with Bertie, but maybe I’ll tell you more about that another time.
In a winter evening like this cold one the most enjoyable things to do in my opinion is sitting comfortably at home with a cup of hot tea and a suitable book to read.
I think Bertie would have approved of my choice.
Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam was helped to write this book by one of my ancestors, Beariderius Frimperasmus, a very cultivated gentlebear he had met in England. they were together an Cambridge in 1498.
It’s obvious that the witty spirit, typical of our Bear family, highly influenced the content of this book.
Do you think it might be a too heavy and boring reading?
A book is too heavy only if it falls on your head; this is what I think!
11-DEC-2008
On a winter evening nice memories are a welcome company.
I have had a quite interesting life.
I have been lucky enough to meet people of talent and to learn many things from them.
Of course I’m optimistic by nature and I trust I’ll meet special people also in future, but, on the other hand, some of my old dear friends were really unique.
No more melancholy thought!
Did you know that I’m a very good dancer?
Well I’m a bit out of exercise right now because of my arthritis, but once I was really remarkable, also because I had an excellent teacher.
Ah, I remember as if it was now the time when Fred and I danced together on stage, but unluckily one day a certain Ginger came over and she managed to mess around and...
Oh, but this is another story!
10-DEC-2008
Sharing my delicious Panettone with my friend Isabel...
Ah, it smells so delicious that I could eat all at once!
This is definitely my favourite Christmas cake.
It’s an excellent kind of typical Italian Panettone, enriched with chocolate pieces and candied pears
Proper Panettone is a light, airy, melt-in-the-mouth affair, designed to dissolve on contact with hot coffee.
There are many legends about the origin of this wonderful cake, the name of which might be translated as “Big Bread”;
the one I prefer is the legend of 15th century which credits the invention to the nobleman of Milan falconer Ughetto Atellani, who fell in love with Adalgisa, the daughter of a poor baker named Toni.
To win her over, the nobleman disguised himself as a baker and invented a rich bread to which he added flour and yeast, butter, eggs, dried raisins and candied lemon and orange peel.
The duke of Milan, Ludovico il Moro Sforza (1452-1508), agreed to the marriage, which was held in the presence of Leonardo da Vinci, and encouraged the launch of the new cake-like bread: Pan de Toni (or Toni's bread).
08-DEC-2008
A wonderful night at the Opera Theatre.
I have just come back home after spending an enchanting time at the Opera.
As you can notice I'm still wearing my evening dress.
Of course it’s not suitable for a lady of my age to go unaccompanied to the theatre and – even worse - to come back home on her own.
I’m very grateful to a few kind young gentlemen, old friends’ relatives, or my nephew Frimpong’s mates, who graciously offer to take care of me in my nowadays limited evenings out.
I have always had a liking for Opera, maybe because when I was much younger I counted a few composers among my closest friends.
But this is obviously another story....
The performance I was lucky enough to attend this evening was fully enjoyable.
“Carmen” is one of my favourite operas. Actually, it was inspired by my grandmother, Lucinda Consuelo Bear, who had Spanish ancestors and was a very close friend of Monsieur Mérimée.
Of course Lucinda Consuelo Bear knew Monsieur Bizet very well - "a deep romantic soul indeed", as she used to tell me, speaking of him...
I’m a bit tired now; I’m not young enough to stay up late at night, but I have the tradition of drinking glass of Champagne before going to sleep after a night at the Opera.
You’ll forgive me if I leave you now, but I’ll drink a toast to all of you.
Cheerio!
07-DEC-2008
Seasonal tasks...
I apologize for turning my back to you, but I’m working, as you may notice.
This year the time for decorating my Christmas tree has arrived.
I like doing this in the evening so I can immediately see the effect of the little shining lights.
The custom of decorating a Christmas tree probably had its origins in 16th century in Germany, though there isn't any specific person who can be identified as the sole originator of the tradition.
There are, of course as it always happens, various legends about the origin of the Christmas tree, so we can simply believe in the most appealing one for us or invent a new one...
Did you know that in England, the first Christmas tree decorated with candles, fruits and gingerbread, was sighted at Windsor castle in 1841?
Oh, I’m sorry , but I have to finish my tree decoration since as you can notice by looking at the table, I’m waiting for a guest, so all must be in perfect order before his arrival...
Would you like to know who my guest is?
Hum, I’m afraid this is another story...
04-DEC-2008
“Ach so, du bist ein Genie, Violet!”
Well in reality my dear old friend Albert exaggerated a little, because if there was a genius between us, it was he!
Nevertheless I must admit that once he was a little lost in finding the right equation...
I had gone to visit him in Bern, Switzerland, where he lived at that time and I was keeping him company while he was frantically trying to find something missing in his reasoning
I remember the moment as if it was now. Albert was a bit nervous, so I made him a cup of tea – when you feel lost and you don’t know how to manage, stop for a while and have a cup of tea...it’s a golden rule -, when I came back with the tray I gave a look at the blackboard and suddenly I told him:
“Albert, why don’t you try with a”2” at the place of that “3”?”
I don’t know why,it simply came to my mind...
Albert jumped from his chair, turned off the tea cup and changed the equation on the blackboard.
Then he hugged me and shouted
“Ach so, du bist ein Genie, Violet!”
Dear Albert....I miss him so much, but it was long time ago and this is, of course, another story...
01-DEC-2008
I have just finished this novel. I'd like to share it with you...
A friend, who is so kind to regularly follow my diary on these pages, suggested I read this book.
It’s the only novel the author, who died in February 2008, wrote.
Mary Ann Shaffer, an American, became interested in Guernsey while visiting London in 1976.
Guernsey is one of the so called “Channel Islands”; although it’s geographically much closer to France than the UK, it is loyal to the British crown. This loyalty can be traced back to Norman times when the Channel Islands first became part of the English realm and forms the basis of the island’s constitution.
Many years later she wrote this delightful little epistolary novel.
The plot is set in January 1946: London is emerging from the shadow of the Second World War, and writer Juliet Ashton is looking for her next book subject.
She will find it in a letter from a man she's never met, a native of the island of Guernsey, who has come across her name written inside a book by Charles Lamb.
As Juliet and her new correspondent exchange letters, Juliet is drawn into the world of this man and his friends, a wonderfully eccentric world.
Born as a spur-of-the-moment alibi when its members were discovered breaking curfew by the Germans occupying their island, the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society boasts a charming, funny, deeply human cast of characters, from pig farmers to phrenologists, literature lovers all.
I liked this humorous and moving book and I hope you’ll enjoy it as well.
Many thanks to Katherine, who gave me this pleasant literary suggestion.
1-DEC-2008
I'm back!
I’m back to my erratic diary and I enjoy the subtle pleasure of communicating with invisible presences...
I’m not speaking of ghosts and I haven't become a medium in the meanwhile. I’m still the old, rational and a little sarcastic Violet Bear, luckily!
What I intended to say is that you know who I am, but I don’t know who you are. I don’t know if you read these words either. I can only imagine that someone by chance, every now and then, lands at my pages' shores and maybe takes a minute to share pieces of reality and imagination with me.
Nevertheless, your invisible presence is company and an inspiration for me.
I know I've been absent for a while and maybe I’ll tell you why and where I was, but I don't feel any urge to do so at this moment.
I’m here now and I wonder if one or two of you have missed me a little.
When someone misses us, we can have the impression to be existent and, in all cases, it’s gratifying.
As you can see I have taken a little tour through a library, because when winter approaches there is nothing better than spending time with a hot cup of tea and good book as perfect companions.
I’m looking for something interesting, but not necessarily too heavy, in all senses.
Maybe we could exchange the titles of the books we have enjoyed lately.
Sharing what we like make the pleasure even more enriching.
I have to leave you now; I must find two or three books before going back home.
See you soon, always here.
24-OCT-2008
Just a matter of class...
I know that I can be considered totally old-fashioned, but I do think that a real lady, mostly when she is not very young anymore, should always wear a hat when she goes out.
It makes me think of the meaning of fashion, in my opinion we should not follow any fashion, but create our own.
Fashion is not something that exists in dresses only. Fashion is in the sky, in the street; fashion has to do with ideas, the way we live, what is happening.
Elegance is a question of personality, more than one's clothing.
Once again I cannot help to quote my great mentor, Oscar Bearwilde, he had his unique way to make all clear:
“A fashion is merely a form of ugliness so unbearable that we are compelled to alter it every six months.”
So I have decided to stay out from what people consider fashionable in general and to remain consistent to what I consider fashionable for myself.
I reveal you one of my little secret; I make my hats by myself.
I cannot be satisfied with any standard model I might find in shops.
05-OCT-2008
It's always interesting to visit our National Gallery....
I don’t know about you, but I don’t like visiting enormous art museums, in a compulsory way all at once.
When I have the possibility I prefer to go rather often and to dedicate my time to only a few paintings at a time.
Today I paid a visit to one of my favourite pictures.
You see I’m partial, because it shows a double portrait, and one of the characters is my ancestor Violet Boleyn, but besides my personal involvement, I do objectively consider it a real masterpiece!
Violet Boleyn was a very clever and charming young lady and a very, very important character of that time fell madly in love with her.
He was ready to do everything to gain her love, but Violet Boleyn was very wise and realized that the gentleman was not very reliable and a bit too quick-tempered.
So she refused all his proposals, but one. She agreed to pose with him for this portrait, to leave something of her to remember her by.
Then she refused to meet him again.
History tells us that later he fell in love again, and again, and again and among his beloved ones was also a distant relative of Violet Boleyn, who unluckily was not as wise as my ancestor and the poor girl had a very tragic destiny....
But this is, obviously, is another story....
Now I’ll have a break at the art gallery cafeteria...
You can meet me there!
2-OCT-2008
It's hard to stay fit....
The five S's of sports training are: stamina, speed, strength, skill, and spirit; the greatest of these is spirit.
But the most important, after all that is adding the consequent and fundamental "S"...
SLEEP!
29-SEP-2008
The original version of the famous movie...
Yesterday I mentioned one of my old friends, Alfred...
Later I received a message asking me if my friend Alfred was really THAT Alfred one might think of, considering the fact I had also told you about his activity as director.
Well, I went up to the attic and knew if I looked carefully enough I would find an old movie poster I had put in a trunk.
Just to tell you all the truth, you will never see this movie, even though it’s the original version of a film remade a little later.
Alfred didn’t want to direct it again in the second version, but was obliged by the producers...They wanted to add a commercial scene in a shower, which I had refused to play...
Oh, it’s not the case to judge now, probably you know the second version of the movie with the shower scene, but believe me, the original version was good too and I played my role with a lot of empathy!
Alfred had also another idea for a thriller. He was obsessed by thrillers and wanted to make a movie called “Bees”, where he imagined a lot of bees which suddenly became wild, attacking a peaceful community of bears. He had asked me to play the starring role, of course...
Unluckily things didn’t work out well, but Alfred kept the idea, which he developed later with birds in the place of bees.
He was not very happy. I remember he told me:
“Violet, without you the movie cannot be that good...”
But this is another story....
28-SEP-2008
Looking for old book and thinking of old friends....
My grandmother, Eglantine Aspasia Bear, a lady of deep intelligence and wit, used to tell me that if I were not sure to get an answer which would please me, it would have been much wiser to not ask any rhetorical question.
So I won’t ask you if you've missed me, since I haven't added any new pages to my diary for a few days.
My grandmother often said that flea markets are those places where people can buy all the useless things that other people have managed to get rid of and, as a consequence, the next step will be for them to try hard to get rid of the same useless things when they realize they don't need them either.
I slightly disagree, because I often visit flea markets hoping to find the hidden little treasure which could make my day.
Nevertheless, I have to admit that it hasn't happened yet...so maybe after all Eglantine Aspasia was not wrong.
She rarely was wrong and it was the only flawz of her I could not stand.
Anyway, I have found many old books in flea market stalls, and books are the only items I find hard to get rid of.
But we should all pay attention to nuances and differences alsos in our way ofs expressing love for books. There is a great deal of difference between an eager man who wants to read a book and the tired man who wants a book to read...
Well, let me see if I can find anything worthwhile here...
then I’ll let you know about the last books I've enjoyed.
By the way, the sarcastic attitude that one of my good acquaintances had towards books comes to mind.
Alfred was a genial film director, but not a sophisticated reader.
Once he told me. “Violet, this paperback is very interesting, but I find it will never replace a hardcover book - it makes a very poor doorstop.”
Ah, good, old Alfred...A very peculiar character...I have given him many suggestions for the plots of his movies and I also appeared in one of them, but that is another story....
14-SEP-2008
An old photo of one my casting tests....
One of my kind readers noticed an Academy Award on another mantel in my home.
Since I never starred in any movie, it was easy to deduce that I had not received it for my acting talent, but it was a gift from a friend.
Well, it seems I have to reveal to you another page of my life....
Many years ago, a dear friend suggested that I take a casting test for a movie, since he thought I would have been perfect for the role.
Actually, I was chosen because the director was extremely pleased with my performance.
The character was supposed to be American and I’m English, but it was no problem since my accent was judged excellent.
Unfortunately, when the moment to sign the contract came, the producers changed their mind and thought the world was not ready yet for a lady bear as a movie star....
The role was given to another actress, much less gifted than I, and my friend who had to play with her, was bitterly disappointed. I was told they didn’t get on well at all on the set.
My dear friend Clarkie had won the Academy Award for Best Actor five years before and offered it to me to cheer me up with these words:
“Violet, if they had allowed you to play with me in this movie, I would have won my second Academy Award and you would have won yours as well, so this one really belongs to you. Keep it as a remembrance.”
Clarkie was a gentleman... but the rest is another story....
Ah, by the way, can you hear the song?
Believe or not it's really Clarkie singing!
12-SEP-2008
No day is so bad it can't be fixed with a nap...
One of the privileges of getting older is allowing oneself to fall asleep at any hour one feels like.
I will not share with you too many intimate details of my private life, so I will not reveal if I still share my nights with anyone.
Nevertheless I have spent quite a bit of time thinking about the aspects of sleep.
Have you ever noticed that people who snore always fall asleep first?
Yesterday I received an email letter from a kind anonymous lady, who seems to enjoy reading my diary.
She obviously loves literature, although she "reads" books on tape, while I'm terribly old fashioned in that regard and still read old paper books.
I send my greetings to this lady, who will probably read this page of my diary as well.
You see one of the advantages of paper books is that they're not too heavy on your belly and if they make you feel sleepy and they slip away from your paws (sorry, I meant to say "hands") and fall down on the floor, they don't risk too much damage....
11-SEP-2008
Itinerant meditations
Sometimes, when I have to go to the village, I prefer to walk, rather than drive my car.
Of course at my age it takes a little bit of effort, but it’s also a good opportunity to meditate.
It’s not so appropriate meditating too deeply when one is driving.
Once I found myself and my car in the back garden of Professor McLivet’s home, while I was supposed to be along the country road...
But walking across the fields is safe for thinking things over.
I consider the action of thinking the highest activity we can practise and I dream utopianly that the world could be run by wise philosophers who put the value of logic and search for knowledge before the importance of showing off and the greed for power.
What I appreciate in the concept of philosophy is that one doesn’t receive the supposed absolute truth as an already packed up item, like the vegetables we buy in supermarket, but one gets the tools to use one’s own brain and to find the direction by themselves, without any guarantee of finding the absolute truth either.
Also in speculation, I think, what is worthy is the trip not the final goal.
In my rural walks nevertheless I try hard to keep a little elegance, I would never go around if I were not properly dressed.
Oh, I have to leave you...I've almost arrived.
08-SEP-2008
My little personal collection of paintings...
I had loaned a picture from my private collection to a French museum and today got it back.
It was painted by one of my grandmother’s friends; I think his name was Henri.
My grandmother, Suzanne Bear, had spent many years in Paris and I remember she used to tell me about “le petit Henri” the small Henri who had asked her to pose for his paintings many times.
They got on very well with each other, since they were more or less the same size, but not only for this reason, of course.
Henri – Granny Suzanne said – was a real gentleman, an aristocrat, a count, I think, but he was very unhappy. He felt very lonely and became an alcoholic.
I like this painting in a very special way. It shows my grandmother Suzanne in a café music-hall in Paris, where she invented a dance, which became very famous at that time, the "Bear Can-Can".
12-JUL-2008
A forgotten Polaroid photo of young Frimpong and his girlfriend Amy - A sad story
Someone asked me why my dear nephew Frimpong Bear hasn't started a family.
Actually he’s not looking for a steady relationship either...
If he were to be asked directly, he surely would answer that his life as a travelling bear is not suitable for any steady family relationship.
I can reveal to you that in reality some years ago when he was still very young, my dear nephew was deeply in love with a girl called Amy and he wanted to marry her immediately after taking his university degree.
At that time Frimpong was a passionate rock musician and, even though I have always preferred more traditional kinds of music, I can assure you that he was really a really skilled guitarist.
He played in a pub with some friends in a group called “Bears’ Dire Straits” and was the group leader.
Amy went to listen to them every night and if she was not there, Frimpong refused to play.
Another member of the group, a certain Mark, had a liking for Amy too, so just to make a - sad - long story shorter one night neither Amy nor Mark came to the pub.
Frimpong played guitar as never before and composed a song called “The Bear Sultan of Swing”, then left the group and started his life as a travelling bear.
Amy had broken his bear heart....
He tore up all his photos of Amy, but I just found one inside a drawer and you can see it here.
So now you know why Frimpong became a travelling bear instead of keeping on his rocker career and why he has never had a steady girlfriend since.
05-SEP-2008
" My dear Violet, sometimes I envy you a little for having neither children, nor husband...
As I wrote in the yesterday page of my diary,
I went to visit my old friend’s daughter.
She’s a bit formal, but it’s because of her life habits,
basically she would be very easy going, if she could.
I cannot reveal the subjects of our private conversation, of course.
I’m very reserved about my friends and acquaintances’ private lives,
even though they are all very open and trust me largely enough to open their hearts to me.
Nevertheless, since someone kindly asked me for that,
I can satisfy your curiosity about the present I had bought for Lizzie.
I offered her a DVD of a good movie called “ The Queen” directed by Stephen Frears (one of my favourite directors) and a little book by Alan Bennett called “The Uncommon Reader”.
By the way, and I beg you to believe it’s not a joke, I have a double copy of this book and I’d be happy to send it as gift to one of my few, but faithful readers.
Let’s consider it as the unpretentious prize for a little quiz.
I mention often some of my past and present friends, several of them were writers. The first person who will write to my personal email
Aunt.VioletBear@gmail.com
mentioning exactly, by their name and surname, at least two of the writers I could count among my personal friends, will receive the promised copy of the book (of course if they give me a postal address).
It will be a real pleasure for this old lady to be sharing a clever,
humorous and wise little book with someone loving fancy and reading.
05-SEP-2008
I went shopping in central London...
After a whole morning of shopping I decided to relax in one of my favourite pubs in Mayfair, Audley.
This immaculate late Victorian pub fits perfectly into classy Mayfair and it’s obviously suitable for a lady of my style.
I had in mind to buy a little present for the person I’m going to visit tomorrow.
I think I have already mentioned to you that she’s one of the daughters of an old friend of mine.
She’s not that young anymore, and my friend, her mother, unluckily passed away a few years ago...
Lizzie has had a life full of responsibilities, so sometimes she is gently envious of my freedom, but this is another story.
Now I have to leave you, because I feel like sipping my glass of Sherry.
My favourite Sherry is Amontillado, maybe it's because of its special colour...
A writer I knew, my old friend Edgar Allan, liked Amontillado and used to tell me:
" My little Violet, it has the same colours of your hair in the shade..."
Actually he wrote a novel called "The Cask of Amontillado".
But this is again another story....
03-SEP-2008
Would you like another cup of tea, Professor McLivet?
Professor George McLivet is one of my neighbours.
He comes over rather often to have a friendly conversation with me and to taste one of my special scones.
If you want to try my recipe, I cannot guarantee that you'll receive a visit of Professor McLivet as well, but you'll have delicious scones for your teatime.
For the dough you need
2 cups (280 grams) all-purpose flour
1/4 cup (50 grams) granulated white sugar
2 teaspoons (10 grams) baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons (85 grams) cold butter, cut into pieces
1 cup (150 grams) fresh blueberries
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon (5 grams) pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup (120 ml) milk or cream.
Start by preheating your oven to 220 degrees C and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.
Cut the butter into small pieces and blend into the flour mixture with a pastry blender or two knives. The mixture should look like coarse crumbs.
Gently fold in the blueberries.
In a small measuring cup combine the cream, beaten egg and vanilla.
Add this mixture to the flour mixture and stir just until the dough comes together.
Do not over mix the dough or the scones will be tough.
Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface and knead the dough gently four or five times and then pat the dough into a circle that is about 16 cm round and about 4 cm thick.
Cut this circle in half, and then cut each half into four pie-shaped wedges (triangles).
Place the scones on the baking sheet. Brush the tops of the scones with a little cream or milk.
Bake the scones until nicely browned, about 15 - 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the centre of a scone comes out clean.
"Would you like another cup of tea, Professor McLivet?"
"Yes, please, Mrs. Violet"
"What is the book you have on your bed table in these days, professor McLivet? You always have the most interesting reading for your nights..."
"Thank you, Mrs. Violet, I'm reading again, maybe for the 30th time, "Candide" by Voltaire.
Political satire doesn't age well, but occasionally a diatribe contains enough art and universal mirth to survive long after its timeliness has passed.
Candide is such a book.
And I think that nowadays we can find many points in common with the situation which inspired this ironical book by Voltaire"
" You are so right, my wise friend..."
3-SEP-2008
This is my today recipe!
There is nothing complicated in this recipe.
All you need is a few fresh and genuine ingredients like the ones I picked up in my garden.
Two big eggplants, the long ones rather than the round ones
Two tomatoes or even only one is enough, since I use beefsteak tomatoes, which are rather huge.
Then you need fresh basil, extra virgin olive oil, salt and dried minced chillies.
When you have collected all the ingredients you need some time to grill the eggplants, cut in thin slices.
It’s good to grill them, instead of frying, because they tend to absorb too much fat, so if you grill them, they remain lighter and healthier.
I use a stovetop grill/griddle that has ridges on it to make those lovely brown marks.
If you cannot grill them, you can put them in slices in your oven and to just brush their surface with a little, very little of olive oil.
When the eggplants are cooked, you have just to peel the tomatoes* and to cut them in small cubes.
Then put all nicely in a large dish as I show you in the picture and add a generous dose of fresh basil cut with scissors, not minced, then add olive oil, salt and just a little of dried chillies.
It’s perfect for a summer lunch.
*A friend across the pond told me that there was an excellent video on how to peel a tomato on YouTube.
She discovered it when a recipe called for peeling a tomato and she didn't know how to do it!
2-SEP-2008
Nothing better than the vegetables I grow in my kitchen garden...
Some of you might remember I had worked for many years as a governess and housekeeper in Lord Algernon Moncrieff’s service.
I could exercise all my talents as a refined cook and also learn a lot about human nature.
My talents for cooking have even increased during the last years, since I have been free to experiment and create many different recipes, while when I worked at Lord Moncrieff’s Manor I had to please his guests’ tastes.
We all know that too often British tastes for food are not adventurous...just to say it with a euphemism.
I have come to the conclusion that in culinary art, like in all arts; what is really important is a mixture of quality, accuracy and simplicity.
What is too involved, too complicated, too overwhelmed by different ingredients and different tastes can impress a superficial audience, but is never appreciated by experts.
In my way of cooking, I hope, this principle is carefully applied.
Today I'll cook for you a simple but delicious recipe, which is very suitable for one of the last hot days of summer.
You'll see it later, if you'll have the kindness to keep on reading my diary.
By the way, don't hesitate to ask me for suggestions and advice about all what is related to food too.
I’ll be always happy to give you some clues to prepare a tasty and well balanced menu.
I would also like to thank the person who wrote me to congratulate on my home.
It’s neither luxurious nor elegant, but it reflects my personality and I consider it very cosy.
This is what a home should always be like,
a place where all reminds us of who we are and what makes us feel content.
“A house is made of walls and beams;
a home is built with love and dreams.”
1-SEP-2008
Practising my curtsy....
I suppose you are wondering what I’m doing in front of my mirror...
Well, you know I’m a lady of experience and in life I have learnt that it’s good to know a little about everything, even though we don’t mean to constantly use all what we learn.
Experience is like a treasure in a safe which we can take out to spend, little by little, when it’s necessary.
A curtsy is a gesture of respect, made by a lady when she bends her knees at the same time as bowing her head.
It’s not a very common greeting nowadays, but I’ll go to visit one of my old friends’ daughters soon and she’s a bit formal about certain habits....
I know how to curtsy perfectly, of course, but I have not done it for many years, so the problem for me is not to learn how to do it, but to test if my old back and my tired bones can still cope with that.
It would be a bit embarrassing, if after curtsying in an impeccable way I needed the help of a couple of valets to get back on my paws vertically....
Being only formally mannered is not a great quality by itself, but knowing a bit of etiquette and hot to behave politely has never damaged anyone.
On the opposite if we were also more polite in the little details of our daily life, even though nobody can see us, I think life in general would be better for everyone.
Good manners cannot solve the big problems of the world, obviously, but they can be a way to better cope with them.
1-SEP-2008
Of course I can drive!
Of course I can drive, or else how could I go shopping downtown?
I live a bit in an isolated place, you see.
I can assure you that I drive quite well.
Actually I learnt to drive from an Argentinean friend, many years ago...
Ah, he really knew how...
His name was Juan Manuel, but I called him “El Maestro” as many of his friends did.
I think he was the greatest driver of all time.
He had a liking for Mercedes-Benz and once he insisted to offer me one....but this is another story.
I must have still a photo of Juan Manuel somewhere; we often danced tango together as well...but definitely also this one is another story.
Nowadays I don’t drive exactly a Mercedes, but my little car is very handy.
Ah, here it was...
I found the old photo of my driving lessons with Manuel...they were the days!
31-AUG-2008
“Would you like another glass of Sauvignon, my dear friend?”
I’m answering a letter here which was forwarded to me.
A very nice and pleasant lady, whom I feel honoured to have been in touch with, expressed in that letter her melancholy mood due to a decision she had made.
After many years dedicated to her long and gratifying lecturing career, she had just come to the conclusion that it was time to turn the page and retire.
I can understand that every decision of this kind provokes mixed feelings, even though as in this case it was quite motivated.
I refuse to fall into the marsh of rhetoric and the commonplace; it would not be in my nature; so I simply went to my cellar and took a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc and two glasses to have a virtual drink with my friend.
The soft orange light of sunset is burning in the sky, but night is still far away.
It’s time for a bit of thoughtful rest.
Being free in life means being responsible and one needs much more courage to accept one’s natural limits with dignity and serenity, rather than to push oneself behind those limits, only to deceive oneself and others.
“We must start to discern what we carry forward with us.”
This is the best starting point to consider every brand new day as the first day of the rest of our life.
Living retrospectively is a waste and constantly carrying too many things which have been part of a former cycle of life is a useless burden which doesn’t allow us to walk freely enough toward what we intend to do and to build up.
“Would you like another glass of Sauvignon, my dear friend?”
31-AUG-2008
I have a dream...
I have a dream.....
Dreams are part of the texture of reality in a way, because when we dream of something we really carry it inside us and make it evolve and grow.
So maybe my dream is already real and I have really met this person exactly in the place where I would like to meet him.
We spoke of many things, actually, but one of our main topics of conversation was the meaning of happiness and the paths to get to that.
Happiness is like a quiet lake made of serenity and consciousness where we can arrive following many different paths, but the lake is only one and it’s always the same.
It’s not that important which path we might have taken if we manage to arrive by the lake at the end.
Then, when we are there, we can sit on a log or a small rock and look at the lake surface, which will reflect our image and will make us understand that happiness is an inner matter after all and, even though we often take a long tour to get it, then, when we find a glimpse of it, it will be our innermost thoughts we’ll find.
17-AUG-2008
“I have the simplest tastes. I am always satisfied with the best.”
Ordinary riches can be stolen, real riches cannot.
In your soul are infinitely precious things
that cannot be taken from you.
You have your way.
I have my way.
As for the right way, the correct way, and the only way,
it does not exist.
Someone wrote to me asking for other recipes...
VIOLET'S SUBLIME APPLE TART
For the pastry you need:
1 ½ cups of white flour
A little more than ½ cup of butter (let it out from the fridge for a while so it will be soft)
1 egg
2 ½ tablespoons of very cold water.
For the filling you need:
½ cup of fresh cream (also half- skimmed one is good, even better...)
½ cup of sugar
1 cup of ground almonds
1 whole egg + 1 egg yolk
2 tablespoons of white flour
2 tablespoons of Calvados (apple brandy).
You still need:
4 apples, of a kind which gets soft after cooking, without melting completely
1 teaspoon of honey
1/3 cup of apricot jam
In a bowl mix together carefully the flour with a pinch of salt; add the butter, egg and water.
It should look like big crumbs. If it’s too dry add a little bit of water.
Don’t knead too much.
Make a ball with the dough and wrap it into a plastic film. Let it rest in the fridge for ½ hour at least.
Prepare the filling ingredients mixing them together, adding the Calvados at the end; you should get a kind of thick cream consistency.
Roll the pastry on a floured surface and put it into a round pie pan of about 25 cm diameter (for my American friends I’d say about 10 inch). Flute the edges and prick the bottom with a fork.
Put pastry into the fridge for a while.
Heat your oven at 200°C (400°F).
Take your pan with the pastry out of the fridge and add the filling by spoon, make a regular layer with it.
Peel and core the apples, cut them into quite thin slices, and arrange them in an overlapping spiral all over the filling.
Put the tart into the oven and bake it for about 20 minutes, then reduce the temperature to 175°C (350°F) and let it bake other 10 minutes at least.
Then take it out and add a lot of cinnamon on the top and put into the oven again for other 10 minutes.
Cool your tart on a wire rack, this is very important!
A little before serving warm up the apricot jam with a little water and brush it on the tart surface.
Add a last touch...some honey drops!
18-AUG-2008
How lovely are the portals of the night...
When I was very young I thought that one of life's bitterest truths was that bedtime so often arrived just when things were really getting interesting.
Now I could stay up all night and do all what I’d feel like, but I have realized that what makes things really interesting depends on our attitude to them.
Sometimes friends ask me if I don’t feel a creepy loneliness, living on my own in my country cottage, while my only relative, my beloved nephew Frimpong is always absent, too busy with his compulsory trips.
My answer is always the same, I don’t feel alone, because when one has a good and well balanced relationship with oneself, one is never alone; maybe it depends on age and I don’t want to consider it as a general and absolute certainty, but this is the way I feel.
When I go to sleep here in my cosy bedroom (maybe I was a little too cheeky in showing you this so intimate time of my life and my night outfit as well...) I feel in good mood, I read a book for a while, I think of all the positive experiences of my life, but, even though I’m a very old lady, I refuse to live retrospectively.
Maybe this is another little secret to be well... Thinking over about the past, remaining totally ready for the future.
What will tomorrow bring to me? I’m looking forward to that!
Anyway being serene doesn’t mean being constantly happy, I think that showing a never-ending happiness is very close to foolishness.
Ernest, one of my friends, an American writer I met in Paris many years ago, used to tell me:
“Violet, happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.”
Ah, Ernest...my nephew Frimpong reminds me a little of him, the same love for life, women, trips and drinks, but also the same intelligence and independence.
I trust Frimpong will have a different life from Ernest in his old age anyway...
When I was in Paris with Ernest he was a very lively and hectic person and he asked me to go with him to Pamplona, Spain, then he wrote a novel about our trip there and....
But this is another story.
18-AUG-2008
Do you like Mr. Puccini's Opera?
What’s better during a summer evening than sitting in one’s own garden, listening to music and enjoying the warm light of sunset?
Without music life would be a mistake, music is what feelings sound like; music is the poetry of the air.
I have my own particular sorrows, loves, delights, and you have yours. But sorrow, gladness, yearning, hope, love, belong to all of us, at all times and in all places. Music is the only means whereby we feel these emotions in their universality.
This evening I’m in the mood for opera, Italians are the masters of opera in my opinion, even though I don’t want to neglect composers from other countries.
I have always had a liking for “La Bohème” by Giacomo Puccini.
Here is Mimi, the delicate little seamstress who lives in a tiny chamber near the roof....
Do you know the subject of this opera, the “libretto” as Italians call the plot?
17-AUG-2008
Out for dinner with a couple of friends...
It’s a matter of fact that I don’t travel anymore, mostly because of age and then also because one traveller in the family is largely enough.
But I’m not necessarily a gloomy and sedentary person without any social life!
I have some good old friends I like meeting for a dinner every now and then.
Yesterday evening, for instance, I was invited by a couple of them.
They are really nice, but a bit formal, so I had to dress properly too.
I was a close friend and confidant of Charlie’s Granny; in spite of our different social classes we had a lot in common and she was very happy when she had a chance to come to have a Gin & Tonic with me in my kitchen in a very spontaneous and easy going way.
Don’t ask me to tell you more anyway, I’m a devoted friends and I deeply respect the privacy of my dear ones.
Everyone’s secrets are safe with Violet Bear!
17-AUG-2008
It's perfect! What a pity you cannot smell it....
I hope my dear readers realize that expert cooks, such as myself, often do not measure the ingredients for their recipes.
They just "know" how much to use of each item.
It is for that reason that this recipe might seem a bit lacking in content.
(I grew the long Asian aubergine from seed which a friend in the United States sent to me.
They call it "eggplant" across the pond.)
I like it very much because I can just slice it into bite-sized pieces.
The skin is very thin, so I don't have to peel it.
I also had a nice crop of small plum tomatoes, which you may know as "Roma" tomatoes, but there weren't enough for this dish so I added a large round tomato to it.
The peppers were mild yellow frying peppers, which I also grew.
I'm afraid that the borers got to my zucchini ( in French "courgettes", everything sounds so tasty if you say it in French, doesn't it?),
so I had to buy those in the market, where I also bought the mild onions I needed.
I have to allow at least an hour to prepare this recipe because it takes a lot of time to cut up each ingredient as well as to fry it separately.
You might be surprised that so much olive oil is used,
but that is a very healthful ingredient,
so I don't feel guilty using it - besides, it gives such a lovely sheen to my fur!"
VIOLET'S DIVINE RATATOUILLE
(about) 200 ml extra virgin olive oil (The aubergine, especially, will drink this up and you will have to add more)
500 gm zucchini (courgette) cut into 1/2 cm slices
500 gm aubergine (eggplant) cut into 1/2 cm slices
500 gm tomatoes, cut into bite sized pieces
about 300 gm frying peppers, sliced into bite-sized pieces (remove seeds and membranes from peppers)
3 medium sized mild onions cut into slivers
2 large garlic cloves, finely chopped or mashed through a garlic press
1 bay leaf
salt
pepper, freshly ground, of course.
The vegetables are browned separately, sauteed in oil over medium to high heat.
Start with the onions and peppers. Once each is browned, combine them together into one pan and continue to cook slowly, covered. Add bay leaf, salt and pepper at this time.
Cook eggplant next (in another pan), remove it and follow with zucchini, then the tomatoes with the garlic.
In a large pan, combine all the ingredients and cook over low heat for about 10 minutes. Serve warm.
My nephew loves eating this over pasta, so that's the way I serve it to him.
It is often served with a nice crusty loaf of bread.
Hint: Should you find that your pan is turning brown and the vegetables are sticking to it, add the tiniest amount of water while you are frying.
Don't add too much.
Ratatouille should not be mushy!
16-AUG-2008
Ratatouille has always a sweet taste of nostalgia for me...
Ratatouille is a simple but delicious and very healthy dish.
I learnt its real recipe many years ago, from a dear friend who was an American writer, but knew well Southern France cooking.
Actually Scottie and I had spent some unforgettable days in French Riviera, but this is another story....
Since I grow all the necessary vegetables in my own kitchen garden, I have often cooked this tasty recipe for my nephew Frimpong, to make him eat vegetables which are so very good for keeping his fur thick and shiny.
Frimpong adores my ratatouille so I wish he could be here to eat it in my company today.
Unluckily my nephew is somewhere else in the big world and Scotty, my dear American friend, died a long time ago....
I’ll have to savor my ratatouille on my own thinking of my dear ones...
By the way, I don’t know if I've already told you I’m one of the greatest cooks of the world; after all, I've worked as a refined cook for the most important noble families of Europe, so if you feel like knowing the details of my recipes, you can write to my email address and it will be my pleasure sharing my culinary secrets with you.
Now I must leave you because I have to clean these tomatoes. Then it will be the aubergines turn....
16-AUG-2008
There's no life without humour.
There's no life without humour. It can make the wonderful moments of life truly glorious, and it can make tragic moments bearable.
I have just received a message from a person who is going through a rather depressing period.
This gentleman honours me with his trust and he asks me to help him to see clearer inside himself to be able to turn the page and to start over again, possibly with a smile.
It’s a task I don’t take lightly, but I promise him that I’m doing my best.
He will have a chance to read my humble opinion in these pages very soon, if he will be so kind to give them a look.
He feels lonely at present and he regrets that his telephone doesn’t ring as often as before.
Well my telephone is here by me and he can call me, also metaphorically, if he feels like.
As Oscar ( Bearwilde, of course) said
"Experience is the name every one gives to their mistakes."
It means we shouldn't be too self-indulgent, since making mistakes is human, but repeating the same mistakes more than once, or, let me say, twice..., is a form of useless masochism.
If we are able to learn from our mistakes, at least all the troubles we have had because of them were not for nothing.
Oh, really I am so clever
that sometimes I don't understand a single word of what I am saying.
16-AUG-2008
“To listen well is as powerful a means of communication and influence as to talk well”
When one has lived a long and interesting life as I have it’s not too difficult to get a treasure of various experiences, which one can use to become more open-minded and understanding.
Very often, my neighbours come to visit me for a talk, when they have a problem.
I won't presume to solve their troubles, but I can assure you that often they feel relieved after opening their hearts to me and then they can find their own way to come out from a hard moment.
After all a psychologist, in my humble opinion, is a person who asks you for an hefty fee to do for you what a friend does for free....
That is listening to you with attention.
One of the greatest ancestors of our family, Socratesbear, who lived in Greece many, many centuries ago, was an extraordinary philosopher, he was familiar with many wise men of his time and met another philosopher, called Socrates, who unluckily was forced to commit suicide (but this is another story).
Anyway (I apologize for rambling about, with age I have taken this bad habit) we were talking of my ancestor Socratesbear who had developed a method of philosophical search based on dialogue and listening.
He didn’t inculcate his own ideas in others’ minds, but simply helped them think out their own ideas. In a way, he taught them how to use their own brains to find their answers.
That is the best way to help people who feel unhappy with their life or confused.
There is no miracle recipe to make them feel instantaneously well again, but the gentle art of listening and the consequent analysis of their situation can really relieve them.
15-AUG-2008
The purpose of art is washing the dust of daily life off our souls
My nephew Frimpong and I are very proud of our ancestors, who have given honour and distinction to our family.
I carefully keep all their memories and portraits, and my abode walls are covered with paintings.
Of course it’s a bit of work to keep all tidy and clean, but I do it with joy. Since I retired I have a lot of spare time, and my nephew is always absent, so busy with his trips.
Here I’m dusting an ancient photo of Oscar Bearwilde in the company of his great friend Oscar Wilde, the Irish writer.
The two Oscars got on very well with each other, both were real dandies and appreciated refined pleasures and had a great sense of humour and a gift for wittiness.
My Frimpong has inherited many of Oscar Bearwilde's features, among them his natural elegance and love for art and literature.
We know for sure from many old letters I have in one of my chests, that Oscar Bearwilde was in reality the author of many witty aphorisms which are commonly considered to be Oscar Wilde’s.
14-AUG-2008
We are all a bit artist in the family....
Do you know this old English song?
"Daisy, Daisy, give me your answer do
I'm half crazy all for the love of you
It won't be a stylish marriage
I can't afford a carriage
But you'll look sweet upon the seat
Of a bicycle built for two "
I often played it to make little Frimpong fall asleep.
I have a bit or arthritis in my paws now, so I cannot play as marvellously as I could do once, but I’m sure that Frimpong will be glad to hear this tune again, where he is in this moment.
Oh, by the way it’s nearly superfluous to tell you that this song was composed by Harry Dacre (I called him Frank, but this is another story...) for me.
He was crazy for me and he wanted to marry me, but of course I refused.
He tried to write the lyrics, after writing the music, and originally they were
“Violet, Violet give me your answer do
I'm half crazy all for the love of you ...”
But my name was a bit too long and didn’t fit the meter, then I refused to marry him and he changed flower...from Violet to Daisy.
This is the real story of the song.
14-AUG-2008
Memories of my loves
I never got married, but you must not consider me a kind of old spinster.
I have voluntarily decided to remain single, because like my nephew Frimpong, I value my own independence too highly.
I like paraphrasing my ancestor Oscar Bearwilde saying that the happiness of a married lady depends on the people she has not married.
Men marry because they are tired, women because they are curious; both are disappointed.
Nevertheless being unmarried doesn’t mean living without knowing passions and romances....
I have already told you I’m a lady of experience and have met many extraordinary gentlemen in my life who considered me as an ideal beloved one.
Sometimes I like thinking of past times and looking at the photos of my former boyfriends.
I have nice memories of all of them....
13-AUG-2008
My nephew Frimpong Bear on his graduation day
My beloved nephew, Mr. Frimpong Bear, graduated with full marks and honours in Travellingbearology and Litearature at Oxford University!
I was very proud of him.
I prepared 100 jars of his favourite jam for him, with a special secret recipe, which I cannot reveal to you, even though I’m ready to share all my other recipes.
Frimpong’s favourite jam is the delicious
“Violet’s special honey and beer jam”
He can eat a whole jar of it in a few minutes!
13-AUG-2008
Baby Frimpong Bathing
Eh, it was not the age of digital photography yet...
I had only a small camera and this photo was taken with a cheap colour film.
Then Frimpong, already as a baby, always wanted to move around, to change place, to discover, so I could not leave him in his bath without control, even for the short time necessary to take a photo.
I apologize for the bad quality of this old snapshot, but those were the days....
13-AUG-2008
Old photo of Baby Frimpong
My beloved nephew, Mr. Frimpong Bear, lost both his parents when he was just a baby and I brought him up with all my love.
I always repeat him:
“My dear nephew, to lose one parent may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose both looks like carelessness.”
13- AUG-2008
My humble abode.
I’m starting my diary on this sunny dlate summer day.
You can see me here in my garden, with my cottage on the background.
I have been living here since I retired, several years ago (but I will not reveal my age; I’m a lady).
My life has been interesting and full of various experience. I think all the members of our Bear family have this special skill for life.
I’ll share with you some memories of my life little by little, if you are so kind to occasionally read my diary.
Before my retirement I had worked for a rather long time as a governess and housekeeper in Lord Algernon Moncrieff’s service.
I could exercise all my talents as a refined cook and also learn a lot about human nature.
“The only thing that one really knows about human nature is that it changes. Change is the one quality we can predict.”
But I also think there are some features one can be able to recognize after a while.
Ladies and Gentlemen, let me introduce myself to you.
