Here is the Royal Family with, now, Princess Beatrix, the outgoing monarch.
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| Photo - Daily Mail |
Tuesday, 30 April 2013
King Willem-Alexander & Queen Maxima!
Congratulations to Holland on the inauguration of their new King and Queen! Looks like blue was the order of the day with Queen Maxima bringing out the massive Melloria Sapphire Tiara!
Here is the Royal Family with, now, Princess Beatrix, the outgoing monarch.
Here is the Royal Family with, now, Princess Beatrix, the outgoing monarch.
Sunday, 7 April 2013
London Weekend with The Mikhailovsky Ballet
Last weekend I spent in London watching my most favourite ballet of all Don Quixote and not only that 2 of the 3 performances were performed by the world's best Kitri and Basilio - Natalia Osipova and Ivan Vasiliev! DonQ is rarely performed in the UK so when it is on I have to go see them all if I possibly can, although the Royal Ballet are doing a new production in the Autumn so I will be in 7th heaven! The Mihailovsky Ballet comes from St Petersburg in Russia and whilst this was only their 3rd trip to the UK I really like them and hope they come again.
I started the weekend with Giselle and very lovely it was too...
I started the weekend with Giselle and very lovely it was too...
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| Man and wife team Oleysia Novikova & Leonid Sarafanov |
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| Friday's Giselle - it was lovely. |
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| Saturday's DonQ here the Don and Sancho Pancha take a bow |
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| Stars of the show Natalia Osipova and Ivan Vasiliev |
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| I was very lucky to get such good curtain call pics and to meet Natalia and Ivan afterwards at the Stage Door! |
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| The little ballerina statue in Covent Garden. |
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| I really like this sculpture. There is something restful about it. |
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| The plaque. |
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| At the Don Q Sunday matinee - Ekaterina Borchenko as Queen of the Dryads |
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| Oksana Bondareva and Denis Matvienko were the stars. Love the dress! |
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| Vladimir Tsal is the matador for the Fandango. |
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| How elegant Oksana looks standing en pointe for the curtain calls! She was an elegant dancer. |
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| Here with conductor Pavel Bubelnikov. |
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| Oksana and Denis again. Lovely tutu! |
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| Whose ears are these?!! |
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| Why Jimmy the Donkey who was Sancho Pancha's mount in the ballet! He was SO cute! He had to wait in his box for the evening performance which is how I came to see him - it certainly had passersby wondering what on earth was a donkey doing in the middle of theatreland LOL! |
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| The final performance on Sunday night - here Irina Kosheleva as Queen of the Dryads. |
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| Natalia and Ivan as the stars again. |
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| They are a very popular couple - and are engaged in real life too! |
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| A last farewell. Come back soon! |
Sunday, 24 March 2013
Royal Friendship Knot!
The Duchess of Cambridge is a Scout Volunteer and on Friday attended a training day for volunteers in Cumbria. The weather was very snowy as it has been over much of the UK this past few days. Anyway what caught my eye was that Catherine was wearing her UK Scout scarf with a teeny weeny Friendship Knot - woohoo!! Here is the proof! Pics from the Scouts website/Daily Mail (I think!)
Thursday, 21 March 2013
Cleaning Hermes Scarves
Disclaimer - I accept no responsibility for any accidents you may encounter by following what I have written below! Hermes do not recommend washing scarves and say you should dry clean. However, I have washed scarves and this post is based on my own experience. If you decide to proceed you do so at your own risk. Sorry to say this but got to cover my back - hope you understand.
In reply to a query - I have always washed my flat Hermes scarves. Plisses cannot be washed as you will mess up the pleating and plisses are a specialist clean preferably via Hermes themselves.
It is a risk to wash scarves, and is against Hermes advice, but the modern ones seem to be fine in my experience with a quick hand wash. I believe that older vintage scarves can bleed colour due to different dyes being used in earlier times. I have had no problems with my silk twill 90cms or vintage silk 70cm in fact the 70cm are the best for washing.
To wash I use Woolite or Stergene which are delicates hand wash liquids. It is important to use cool to cold water to avoid any dye runs - wear washing up gloves to protect your hands from the cold if you need to. Some people put some colour catcher cloths into the water as well to be double safe. Fill a clean washing up bowl or clean sink with cool/cold water and add a small amount of washing liquid - you don't need much. Keep the water as cold as you can bear - or wear washing up gloves to keep your hands warm. Then in with the scarf - work quickly and keep the scarf moving at all times do not let it sit in the water that is how colour runs can start. I tend to squeeze the water through the scarf several times. Once you feel the scarf is clean take the scarf out of the water and gently squeeze the excess water out of the scarf and drain the bowl or sink. Then fill your bowl or sink with fresh cold water and rinse, repeat this with fresh water as many times as you feel is required to get the detergent out of the scarf completely.
To dry the scarf I place it onto a clean towel and roll it up then wring the towel gently, this will remove a lot of the water. Then I iron the scarf dry with a clean cotton man sized handkerchief between the scarf and iron in case of spits from the iron. I gently push the side of the iron up against the roll of the hems from the scarf side, but do NOT iron over the hems they will have to be left to dry naturally if you want them to remain plump. Washing scarves does allow you to re-plump hems if you have acquired one that has been ironed previously.
For stains:- if I know of any stains then I gently work a little drop of the washing fluid into the spot before washing the scarf - I have also found for make up stains that a gentle face wash gel can be good for removing make up. I guess some stains like oil will require specialist treatment - you can try with those silk wipes you can get in tie shops and M&S or go to a reputable dry cleaner.
With dry cleaning scarves ensure that you speak to the cleaners first - impress upon them that the hems must not be pressed and that they should not pin or staple any tags into the scarf -the label is OK but not he scarf as this can cause irreparable damage. Check that the cleaners are using "perk free" chemicals as otherwise the silk can be damaged.
Hope this helps but don't blame me if you have any accidents!
In reply to a query - I have always washed my flat Hermes scarves. Plisses cannot be washed as you will mess up the pleating and plisses are a specialist clean preferably via Hermes themselves.
It is a risk to wash scarves, and is against Hermes advice, but the modern ones seem to be fine in my experience with a quick hand wash. I believe that older vintage scarves can bleed colour due to different dyes being used in earlier times. I have had no problems with my silk twill 90cms or vintage silk 70cm in fact the 70cm are the best for washing.
To wash I use Woolite or Stergene which are delicates hand wash liquids. It is important to use cool to cold water to avoid any dye runs - wear washing up gloves to protect your hands from the cold if you need to. Some people put some colour catcher cloths into the water as well to be double safe. Fill a clean washing up bowl or clean sink with cool/cold water and add a small amount of washing liquid - you don't need much. Keep the water as cold as you can bear - or wear washing up gloves to keep your hands warm. Then in with the scarf - work quickly and keep the scarf moving at all times do not let it sit in the water that is how colour runs can start. I tend to squeeze the water through the scarf several times. Once you feel the scarf is clean take the scarf out of the water and gently squeeze the excess water out of the scarf and drain the bowl or sink. Then fill your bowl or sink with fresh cold water and rinse, repeat this with fresh water as many times as you feel is required to get the detergent out of the scarf completely.
To dry the scarf I place it onto a clean towel and roll it up then wring the towel gently, this will remove a lot of the water. Then I iron the scarf dry with a clean cotton man sized handkerchief between the scarf and iron in case of spits from the iron. I gently push the side of the iron up against the roll of the hems from the scarf side, but do NOT iron over the hems they will have to be left to dry naturally if you want them to remain plump. Washing scarves does allow you to re-plump hems if you have acquired one that has been ironed previously.
For stains:- if I know of any stains then I gently work a little drop of the washing fluid into the spot before washing the scarf - I have also found for make up stains that a gentle face wash gel can be good for removing make up. I guess some stains like oil will require specialist treatment - you can try with those silk wipes you can get in tie shops and M&S or go to a reputable dry cleaner.
With dry cleaning scarves ensure that you speak to the cleaners first - impress upon them that the hems must not be pressed and that they should not pin or staple any tags into the scarf -the label is OK but not he scarf as this can cause irreparable damage. Check that the cleaners are using "perk free" chemicals as otherwise the silk can be damaged.
Hope this helps but don't blame me if you have any accidents!
Monday, 18 March 2013
Farewell to Venice
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| The main courtyard. |
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| The Bridge of Sighs. |
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| The view from inside the Bridge of Sighs across to S Giorgio Maggiore - this is the last view the prisoners would have seen on their way to be incarcerated - hence the name "Bridge of Sighs" as the prisoners would sigh at their last glimpse of Venice. |
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| The beautiful marble stairway. |
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| The Palace Courtyard |
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| Venice Street by night. |
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| Cafe Quadri (I think) at the end of the day! |
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| On the last day there was an Aqua Alta with resulting floods in St Marks Square - it made for some lovely photos! |
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| The Basilica reflected. |
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| The Square like a mirror! |
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| Here you can make out the water draining away as the tide recedes. |
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| Snowy white gulls replaced the grubby pigeons in the Square! |
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| My trip back to the airport took me up the Grand Canal. |
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| A large gondola - Traggetto - a public bus equivalent! |
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| Approaching the Rialto again. |
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| The magnificent sunset as I arrived at the airport. A fitting end to my trip! |
Saturday, 16 March 2013
Goodies from Venice
I got a few nice things in Venice:-
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| I like to buy local art - this tiny picture caught my eye. |
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| I found a lovely silk crepe scarf with pansies on.... |
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| and the shop had a matching raspberry fur collar..... |
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| It was a bargain €19 reduced from €99!!!!! |
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| and has a useful clip on the underside. |
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| I missed Pegase but found an "alike" at Trevisan. |
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| I really like this colour. |
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| My red Murano glass necklace (as before) |
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| And my pink necklace. |
Friday, 15 March 2013
The Food of Venice
The foodie shops of Venice make for some delicious looking photos:-
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| The Rialto Market |
 Lovely dried spices - reminds me of the Hermes Aux Pays d'Epices scarf!   | ||
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| Nuts, sun dried tomatoes, fruits.... |
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| Fruits and beans |
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| Fresh squid and fish |
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| Lovely selection of cabbage, Romaneso cauliflowers etc |
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| Clememtines. |
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| A delicatessen with lots of fabulous hams! |
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| The cheese shop! |
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| Semifredo ice cream "cake" |
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| Traditional ice creams. |
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| Italian cakes and biscuits. |
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| Marzipan and glace fruits. |
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| Fabulous coloured pastas! |
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| Every colour and shape possible! |
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| My ice cream - Strawberry and Crema del Doge - delish! |
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