(My) Fashion Trendsetters: GRACE KELLY

I don’t want to dress up a picture with just my face.
Grace Kelly

(This video has lovely pictures of Grace but i do not like the music so just do like i do: turn the sound off and enjoy the most fabulous photos of her!!)

“We all knew from the beginning there was something about Grace”
– Mum Margaret Kelly, from Princess Grace: A Biography, 1976 (Quoted in Hello Magazine online tribute to her).

”Her Serene Highness Princess Grace of Monaco, née Grace Patricia Kelly, was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on November 12, 1929. She was the third child of a family of four. Her father, John Brendan Kelly, was a businessman and an Olympic rowing champion ; her mother’s maiden name was Margaret Majer. She was the niece of American playwright, George Kelly, a Pulitzer prize winner.

Miss Grace Kelly’s scholastic studies took place at Raven Hill Academy Philadelphia, a convent run by the Sisters of the Assumption, and later at Stevens School, also in Philadelphia. Strongly attracted to the theatre, she attended the American Academy of Dramatic Art in New York, and graduated after two years. Her debut as a stage actress took place in New York, where she played the role of Raymond Massey’s daughter in Strindberg’s play, « The Father ».

After several parts in the theatre and on television, Grace Kelly went to Hollywood. There she experienced a dramatic rise towards the heights of the artistic career. Among her films were « High Noon » – « Mogambo » – « Dial M for Murder » – « High Society » – « To Catch a Thief » – « The Swan » – and « Country Girl », for which she received an Oscar in 1954, the highest American Cinema Award.’’ (Prince’s Palace of Monaco site online)

“Grace Kelly was ”characterized by an innate sense of style, classic beauty and inherent good taste. Always atop the “world’s most beautiful” lists, admired as a fashion leader and setter of trends, She “graced” the pages of many a glossy magazine with a dazzling smile, warm, enigmatic eyes and vivacious expression. “Grace Kelly style” is a well-known, well-used phrase in the English lexicon signifying incomparable beauty and all that is chic, natural and lady-like.” (Fashion Era.com)

Grace’s wholesome yet sophisticated look — neat twin sets, full skirts, and pearls — was perfect for the 1950s. It even caught the eye of fashion designer Oleg Cassini, to whom she was unofficially engaged before she met Prince Rainier. Kelly bag was born out of Grace’s desire to hide her pregnancy!* First produced in 1935, it was not until 1956 that the bag’s reputation became positively stratospheric when the newlywed Princess Grace of Monaco was famously photographed for the cover of Time magazine trying to shield her pregnant belly with a classic Hermes bag. The bag in question thereafter became known as the Kelly in her honour, and shot to global bestseller status, where it remains today. Fashion commentators at the time were quite clear about the association of bag and star: carrying a Kelly bag screamed class and old money, both then thought to be highly desirable. (Daily Mail online)

CELEBRATION of GRACE on October 15-26 in 2007 was 25 years since her death at the age of 52 in 1982. ”To commemorate the 25th anniversary of Grace’s tragic death at 52, the principality of Monaco is staging a major retrospective starting at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco (July 12 through September 23) and culminating in a special Sotheby’s exhibition in New York City titled “Grace, Princess of Monaco: The Life and Legacy of Grace Kelly” (October 15 through 25). Sotheby’s also will be conducting an auction during the Princess Grace Foundation-USA Awards Gala on October 25” (Harper’s Bazaar online)

According to the Newscom Australia her son Prince Albert said: “For my sisters and myself, this exhibition will revive happy memories we shared with our mother, who was a peerless woman.”

In the 1920’s, Somerset Maugham wrote: “Monaco is a sunny place for shady people”. That was all to change the day Grace Kelly married Prince Rainier of Monaco on April 19,1956.

“I’d like to be remembered as a decent human being and a caring one” Princess Grace, 1982

I have compiled a selection of these fashion trendsetters of mine and here are the others in that link plus an entry on The Little Black Dress in this link here.

Keep so well and swell. Rii xx

Sources:
* http://www.visitmonaco.com/mtny/style_icon.html
* http://img.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2007/10_01/gracekelly0710_468x390.jpg
http://www.harpersbazaar.com/magazine/feature-articles/princess-grace-0807
http://www.visitmonaco.com/mtny/life.html
http://www.visitmonaco.com/mtny/home.htm
Wikipedia on Grace Kelly http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grace_Kelly
http://www.who2.com/princessgrace.html

DUSTIN The Turkey …

Ireland has won the Eurovision Song Contest so many times that it got too much for the tiny nation to cough up the dosh to make a posh do aka to arrange the competition year in, year out, so that the representatives selected on the same from the Emerald Isle have not done well at all for years and years.

But this year there is a very amusing entry, for the Irish voters picked the children’s hand puppet as the best of six finalists in a decision that is likely to ruffle some feathers – LOL!! — at the event in May. The entertainer’s song Irelande Douze Points emerged as a clear favourite in the weeks leading up to the country’s vote.

Dustin has been one of Ireland’s leading stars since he joined The Den with fellow puppets Zig and Zag in the 1990. He is no stranger to being in the limelight, having recorded six albums and performed a host of comical duets with artists such as Bob Geldof, Chris De Burgh, Ronnie Drew, Dervla Kirwan and the late Joe Dolan.

Dustin was plucked – HaHa!! very apt word as we are talking about a turkey — from six finalists to win a televised poll programme in the Republic of Ireland on Saturday night. And such is the contest’s reputation for successful novelty acts that bookmakers have made him 10-1 favourite to win in Belgrade in May. His song is entitled Irelande Douze Pointe, a reference to the maximum of 12 points which each country can award to a song.  Dustin’s song, sung in a North Dublin accent, urges the contest judges to “give douze points to Ireland, for its lowlands and its highlands, for Wogan’s wig and Bono’s leather pants. We brought you Guinness and Westlife, 800-years of war and strife, but we all apologise for Riverdance.”

The Eurovision Song Contest, now in its 53rd year, is known for its glitzy but tacky costumes, bizarre songs and outrageous performances. An estimated 100 million people from 42 countries watched last year’s gala, which took place in Helsinki.

The background of this turkey vulture loved by many is according to the Wikipedia that “Dustin was introduced as a character when one of the puppets, Zag, who was trying to join the upper classes, entered a golf tournament with Tony Fenton the 2fm DJ and came last. The prize was a Christmas Turkey, and a chance to meet movie star Dustin Hoffman.

It transpired however, that the turkey shared the name of the movie star and was not only still alive, but had a Dublin accent and his own building company. Zig and Zag intended to eat Dustin for Christmas dinner, and only changed their minds when a frequent visitor to the show, artist and children’s novelist Don Conroy, provided his taxonomical opinion that Dustin was, in fact a cross between a turkey and a vulture, and therefore unsuitable for human or Zogling consumption (Zig and Zag are aliens from the planet Zog). He makes appearances outside of The Den, including an annual appearance on The Late Late Show Toy Show special at Christmas each year.”

See for yourselves his remarkable talent in this video:.

Tis for now, Rii xx

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/02/24/neurovision124.xml

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/worldnews.html?in_article_id=518091&in_page_id=1811

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dustin_the_Turkey

 

Festival of Secret Crushes/Loves…

He was born Pierce Brendan Brosnan on the 16th of May, 1953, in Navan, County Meath. Popularly known as An Uaimh, it’s about 30 miles north-west of Dublin, just inland from Drogheda. His father, Thomas, was a carpenter who left mother, May before Pierce was a year old. Needing a career to support her son, May travelled to London to train as a nurse, leaving young Pierce with her parents. Sadly, when he was 6, both grandparents died, so he was moved on to stay with relatives. He recalls spending lots of time in his aunt’s pub, feeling lonely and abandoned. “But maybe that’s where the acting comes from”, he says “from spending so much time alone with your thoughts”.

Pierce was enrolled at Elliott Comprehensive, and here it was rough.Though six feet tall by the age of 11, he was still bullied for being Irish – Irish was, in fact, his nickname. Painfully aware of his difference, he schooled himself in the London accent, becoming more of a Cockney than a Navan country-boy. Having to study his peers, copy their movements and voices, would stand him in good stead later.

YUP, I am talking about him! The video is an ad he did and it short, sharp and shows his good looks too so swell. Some more recent background on Pierce Brosnan:

He is an Irish actor and producer best known for portraying James Bond in four films from 1995 to 2002: GoldenEye, Tomorrow Never Dies, The World Is Not Enough and Die Another Day. Since leaving the role, Brosnan has gone on to star in films such as Evelyn and Seraphim Falls. In 1996, he also formed, along with Beau St. Clair, a Los Angeles-based production company named Irish DreamTime. His current projects include Butterfly on a Wheel, Mamma Mia! and The Thomas Crown Affair 2.

On September 23, 2004, Brosnan became a naturalized citizen of the United States, but he has retained his Irish citizenship. Brosnan has said that “my Irishness is in everything I do. It’s the spirit of who I am, as a man, an actor, a father. It’s where I come from.” (Wikipedia)

Brosnan was asked by a fan if it annoyed him when people get his nationality confused. He said: “It amuses me in some respects that they should confuse me with an Englishman when I’m dyed-in-the-wool, born and bred Irishman…I don’t necessarily fly under any flag. But no, it doesn’t bother me.”

Brosnan also raises money for charitable causes through sales of his paintings. He trained early on as an artist, but later shifted to theatre; during his first wife’s terminal illness, he withdrew from acting to be with her and took up painting again for therapeutic reasons, producing colorful landscapes and family portraits. He has continued painting since then, using spare time on set and at home. Profits from sales of giclée prints of his works are given to a trust to benefit “environmental, children’s and women’s health charities.” Here is the link to the online Gallery of his paintings.

 

This was my entry on Wednesday – part of the Festival of Secret Loves/Crushes @ Vinod’s great page! There are some excellent posts on the subject, so do have a lookie!

DO JOIN US with Your tale of crushes/loves kept secret up to now…

Dishy or what? lol – Riihele xx

Bonus:
PIC of The Day of PIERCE!!

Sources:

Pierce Brosnan official site
Tiscali.co.uk
Wikipedia
You Tube

MEME: ‘Tis Me

Rose is not a Rose by any other name.

“What’s in a name?
That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet.”

–From Romeo and Juliet (II, ii, 1-2)

I was tagged by LearningNerd the other day. The rules of this meme are simple: share eight random facts about yourself, pick eight bloggers to keep the meme going, tell the eight bloggers that you tagged them, and of course include these rules in your post.

1. I like to cook and try out my own inventions as well as recipes from all over the world.

2. My favourite ethnic food is Persian; number two is Middle Eastern and the third favourite cuisine is the Mediterranean.

3. I like to grow things. I planned, dug and planted my gardens in Ireland. I like the Old English Roses. Also I like the Callas and Lilies of various kinds and types.

4. I love to read, and read some more. If there’s nothing else to read, I will read the labels on the clothes, jars of food et cetera! Sad. I know, but true.

5. My all-time favourite movie is the WHITE NIGHTS with Mikhail Baryshnikov, Isabella Rossellini and Gregory Hines. I find this film an absolute nail-biter from the very beginning to the end.

6. I am a bit of an action woman but like to take it easy at times as well. Just to show what I mean read this and this!

7. My favourite colour is purple, the colour scheme on my other blog ye might have noticed. The next favourites are green and yellow, followed by the Royal Blue.

8. My favourite drink is Merlot – red wine – especially from Chile. Merlot with a Brie & other delicious cheeses plus a variety of fruit. Voila!!

 

Tis for now, Riihele xx.
© Photo: By Riihele. All rights reserved.

Unfortunately on this site, I do not know 8 people more to tag, so if you feel inclined to do this tag would you please let me know. Thanking you!

Winnie-The-Pooh: Wise Words from a Little Bear

I am very fond of The Winnie-the-Pooh. I got to know him and his pals – the link is into just-pooh.com – through my daughters while they were young. The story has the most marvellous fictional personalities like: Winnie-the-Pooh, Roo the Kangaroo, Owl the Old Wise One and The Always-Depressed Eeyore. Many a time I ask people which one of them is their favourite one – I have found that it tells a lot more of the person in question and their personality than one thinks. It is sort of a mini personality test of its own kind.

Here is the New York Public Library link to more trivia and interesting details of the story of the Winnie and his friends. My favourite character by a mile is Tigger – the link is into just-pooh.com – that bouncing, flouncing tiger of the happiest disposition ever! He makes me laugh so much. The actor who does Tigger’s voice is spot-on with the drawn picture of him. This is the way he often introduces himself:

“Tee aye double-guh err, that’s how you spell Tigger.”

I was reading today the book by A.A. Milne and E.H. Shepard called –Winnie-the-Pooh’s Little Book of Wisdom* – (The Methuen Imprint by Egmont Children’s Books Limited.) Here is a link to where the ‘original’  Winnie is at present. This tells more about the author and this gives background information to the story of the Winnie-the-Pooh.

I found such wonderful pearls of wisdom in this book which has this other title as well:
Wise Words from a Bear of Very Little Brain. Here are some pearls, the first 3 have been in an earlier entry as well but I like these very ones the best:

Don’t Procrastinate
If you are always saying, ‘We’ll see,’
nothing ever happens.

Insight
It’s best to know what you are
looking for before you look for it.

Organisation
Is what happens when you
do a search and you don’t all look
in the same place.

Don’t Worry
When you get a sinking feeling,
don’t worry, it’s probably because
you’re hungry.

A Little Philosophy
Sometimes, the more you think,
the more there is no real answer.

Companionship
It isn’t much good having anything exciting,
if you can’t share it with somebody.
It’s so much more friendly with two.

Take the Initiative
Like Rabbit, never let things come to you,
always go out and fetch them.

Gastronomic Disappointment
A Very Nearly tea is one
you forget about afterwards.

Manners
Always say Goodbye-and-thank-you
-for-a-nice-time.

Tis for now. Riihele xx

TREASURES in LIFE: True Friendships

These two friends are my daughter and her friend
in the countryside one summer in Ireland.
Photo by me.

“A FRIEND LOVES AT ALL TIMES”
(Proverbs 17:7 Ampl.Bible)

In some countries it is harder than in others to make the ‘cut’ – that is – to get into the mainstream of the life and the living but once you are in, ‘you are in’, for good! Finland, Sweden and Israel are like this. It requires much patience to get there. The Finns, the Swedes and the Israelis are cautious at first, then after a while they let their guard down and you will be firm friends for life. No matter how fiercely your opinions on matters differ and how much you would argue, at the end of the day; it only clears the air and strengthens the bond of friendship. I am not saying that this the rule 100 per cent in each and every case, but certainly in my own personal experience, it has been the norm.

The Irish give the ‘hail fellow, well met’ – impression of ease and quick skills of getting to know other people. That does not lead to lasting friendship, most of the time. It is just politeness, social skills or whatever one will call it. I am most outgoing but it was in Ireland that I found it the hardest of all to really get to know people where they would be genuine and real. No stereotype Irish, but the person, the people as they are.

A friend said this in one of her comments in my page on another entry on friendships:

“Funny how to put the differences in friendships in a cultural view, because I’ve had to deal with this issue myself. Americans are more like the way you describe Irish…easy get by with on basic social levels, friendly in that “hi, how ya doin, see ya” way.

But maybe because it’s so easy to become “friends” with them, you don’t realize that you aren’t really really friends, true friends, until you try to get closer and come up against a wall. I sound disparaging, but that’s the way I am. My Israeli friends often tell me that they see Americans as hypocrites, or pretend friends. And I find the Israeli friendships to often be suffocating. It’s worth knowing when you go to a strange culture.”

My response to her:

“Yes indeed, it is wise to know some basic things about the strange, as in different, culture one is moving to. It makes the adjusting so much easier. The Scandinavians, particularly, the Finns are considered ‘cold, aloof and distant’ by the others who don’t understand that the culture is such that people take their time ‘letting’ you through the barriers bit by bit.

Then once you are IN; YOU ARE IN for life. This kind of process takes a lot adjusting to do but it’s worth it in the end. I’m not a typical Finn in this aspect either but more Latin in my manner, style & personality in that I am not reserved in meeting new people, yet still Finnish in this that when I am your friend – I truly am your friend through thick & thin!”

Tis for now. Riihele xx

JOKE – Battle Axe

 

This is what happened at Ceres’s blog one day,
where she was writing so beautifully about the ‘ugly’ history of wars and the like
’til Da Blonde came along and said this:

“A quick comment of a sort.

You say:

‘What made people,
such as the ancient Greeks and Romans,
personify war as a woman?’

I say:

Is She not called a Battle Axe?!!”

What would You have said?

Tis for now Rii xx

Alien Corn in an Alien Land – Shavuot

Perhaps the self-same song that found a path
Through the sad heart of Ruth, when, sick for home, She stood in tears amid the alien corn;

Source: Line 65 of the Ode to a Nightingale by John Keats (1795-1821)

The story of Ruth is a story of an alien in an alien land as she originated from the neighbouring and somewhat distantly related country of Moab in the ancient times. I came to think of her and her story as tis the time of the year when this story is read and celebrated in Israel. Shavuot – the weeks – is what this word means; as does the word ‘pentecost’ meaning: fifty in Greek, which both count the fifty days – that is seven weeks – from the Passover to this festival as instructed.

I went to Israel at the time when the war had been going on in Irak for just a short while. Not the best time to go to the neighbourhood, I hear you think. True, but twas the time I had to get away to be totally in a place of absolute rest and recuperating from an extremely hectic time of work and whatnot. A time to get me head together again – not having to take anybody else into account in any way affecting me. I had given so much that I could not give no more, to put it bluntly.

The spa treatments, the complete rest and the time to be still did me wonders. Even with the F16’s and their relatives constantly flying really low – I was on the 12th floor in the hotel and they flew at that height over the Dead Sea between Jordan and Israel – did not disturb my recovery that much. I found the aisle seat to observe rather interesting, actually.

The temperature was just perfect – not too hot, not too cool – to take moonlight walks by the shore and while walking looking over the Dead Sea to the other side where the ancient Moab was and where the present day Jordan is situated, I came to think of Ruth, the Moabite – in that link there is a poem I was inspired to write about her. It must have been extremely tough for her to leave all that was home to her and go to a place unknown, unfamiliar and unsure. One has to be/have been an alien in alien land to get to the depths of her soul. I have been that several times in several countries. And like, Ruth, I did get integrated into the greater society as a member and not as an observer. Here some thoughts on the being an alien in the alien land as an immigrant that I wrote earlier on.

Ruth’s secret was the giving:

• She gave of herself to her mother-in-law unconditionally.
• She gave her birthright away in her own culture and country.
• She gave of every morsel of food she got to Naomi, too.

I am sure that there is more but these are the ones that spring to my mind while writing this here and now. Ruth also received blessings and fame beyond measure. Even today we know who she was/is.

The story of Ruth is the most beautiful love story that I have ever read. I hope that the people in Israel do think of her in the midst of the feasting on the mountains of cheesecakes and the fresh fruit as this also the Festival of the First Fruit – HaBikkurim.

Tis for now again. Riihele xx.

The mountains of Moab are the most gorgeous shades of pinks – one of these days I shall paint them.

PS.
The photograph is by me of one of my very favourite restaurants and it’s in the Old City of Jerusalem. The wall on the right is the actual wall from the 1500’s that surrounds the entire old city there.

Dignity: Personality Test

DIGNITY ~

Definition: excellence, nobility

Antonyms: lowliness.

iN BRIEF: n. – The quality of being worthy of esteem or respect; Formality in bearing and appearance; High office or rank or station. (Word Tutor)

I do not usually take ‘tests’ online, but I took a test on this site, called, Tickle.com. There is the sister company in the UK. One can do all sorts of tests like: Love, Relationships, Careers, and (Need!?) Therapy Test and so on. Emotions is the one, which I did, and this piece underneath was the result that I pasted here on the blog as it is:

“Riihele,

your emotions are triggered by your underlying belief in:
Dignity*

In other words, your commitment to leading a dignified life, and your belief in being respectful, directly affect how, and how often, you experience certain feelings.

For example, your test results indicate that you’re most fulfilled when you treat people with the decency all humans deserve. That factor is directly related to your fundamental belief in dignity and the range of emotions it triggers.

Based on your belief in dignity, where do you rank in the emotional landscape? Which of your emotions dominate your life? And how can you learn to control your emotions?”

All those questions left unanswered to tickle you to find them answers. I did not find but if one is so inclined, one can buy the full whack of this report for a bob or two! I was not. Twas fun, though. I did other ones as well on this site and in another one. Well, am gonna sit down and ponder with wondering could tis be me…

* dig·ni·ty (dĭg‘nĭ-tē) (Taken as defined in the Answers.com)

n., pl. -ties.

1. The quality or state of being worthy of esteem or respect.
2. Inherent nobility and worth: the dignity of honest labor.
3. 1. Poise and self-respect.
   2. Stateliness and formality in manner and appearance.
4. The respect and honor associated with an important position.
5. A high office or rank.
6. dignities The ceremonial symbols and observances attached to high office.
7. Archaic. A dignitary.

[Middle English dignite, from Old French, from Latin dignitās, from dignus, worthy.]

 Tis for now. Riihele xx.

PS. The TEST on EMOTIONS is in here.

Well, what did Ye get?