Italian Words discovered

It is Sunday and tonight on Duolingo the top learners in the Leaderboard go up to the next level. So I am learning extra new words.

Italian - English

architetto - architect

architettura - architecture

Cinema (ponounced chin ay -ma) - cinema 

circo - circus

concerto - concert

classico  - classic

dentista - dentist

elefanti - elephants

galleria - gallery

gallerie - galleries (feminine plural ends in e)

idea - idea

locale - local

medicina - medicine

nuovo - new (like the English word novelty)

romantico - romantic

scena - scene

speciale - special

vestito - dress (as in the old-fashioned word vestment, still osed to describe the dress of Roman Catholic clergy)

voce - voice

English - Italian

architect - architetto

architecture - architettura

classic - classico

cinema - cinema

circus - circo

concert - converto

dentist - dentista

dress - vestito

elephants - elefanti (plural ending in Italian is i, like the word spaghetti)

gallery - galleria

galleries - gallerie

idea - idea

medicine - medicina

new - nuovo 

romantic - romantico

scene - scena (prounounced shen -uh) 

special - speciale

voice - voce

Websites

duolingo.com

wikitravel. com prhasebook

Haworth and the Brontes in Yorkshire

Emily Bronte's wedding dress, recreated, in the Haworth Museum, .

 I had visited Haworth years ago and visited the Bronte Parsonage Museum. I remembered seeing what I thought was Charlotte Bronte's dress. However, the museum has been extensively adapted and updated. On my most recent visit in August 2023 we saw Charlottle's sister Emily's dress, a reproduction made for a film. It shows the pattern Emily chose, when she bought the fabric for the dress.

The museum is suitable for all ages. For children, in one area there is a dress up corner with a rail of clothes and hats to try on. In another place children were engrossed in creating a poem from a selection of words printed out.

Wikivoyage gives a handy list of annual events.

• Haworth 1940s Weekend. in May. Events take place throughout the village, including vintage vehicle displays, evacuees event, re-enactments, speeches from Churchill, jive dancing, singing and bands playing. (updated Aug 2022 | edit)
• Haworth Arts Festival. A week of music, comedy and other arts in late July. (updated Aug 2022 | edit)
• Scroggling the Holly: a modern pseudo-Victorian ceremony in late November to early December, gathering holly to decorate the town, and parading with brass bands in period costume.
• Haworth Steampunk Weekend. early October. (updated Aug 2022 | edit)
• Torchlight Procession is held over a weekend in early December.

Useful Websites

http://www.haworth-village.org.uk/

http://www.haworth-village.org.uk/brontes/parsonage/parsonage.asp

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Haworth

I left my stuff - for things you forgot at hotels

Yes, we've all done it. Left things behind in hotels. I have arrived home with a left shoe. A right hand glove. Having left contraceptives under the pillow. A child's teddy bear in a cot.

I read that a famous film star left a dress behind at a five star hotel. When she returned ten years later, the dress was hanging up in the wardrobe for her.

I once asked hotel reception in the USA for a connecting lead to power my mobile phone. They had a box of them. No way of knowing who had left them behind in the sockets of public rooms in the hotel.

Now there's an answer. 

Clubs

I also left a swimsuit behind at a club. 

And lipsticks and medicines at Security at Heathrow airport.

Useful websites

https://www.fodors.com/news/hotels/ileftmystuff-reunites-travelers-with-items-left-behind-in-hotel-rooms

https://www.ileftmystuff.com/

Now is the time to buy Union Jack Souvenirs - on Amazon, in supermarkets, everywhere

 

All this year you can celebrate the platinum Jubilee year and buy from the abundant supply of Union Jack items. 

Even friends and family who are not avid supporters of the royal family can find something amusing. My relatives were delighted when somebody gave them a vase in the shape of a Corgi dog. 

All from Amazon.

Dresses from Asda supermarket, UK, label George,

and from AliExpress, China but you pay postage to the UK.

Useful Websites

Cheapest Union Jack t-shirt but distressed pattern

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Union-distressed-colour-patriotic-Medium

11.99 pounds sterling from Amazon Union Jack t-shirt with sleeves

What can you do with old, unworn and unwanted shorts sets and sarongs? Turn them into dresses

Mdo and mend, said government leaflets on the UK in WW2.

Are your cupboards full of items bought abroad, which no longer fit, are the wrong style?

Are they sitting at the back of your cupboard, doing nothing, taking up space?

A friend of mine, Timmy, told me, "When my father died, I found boxes of shirts, unworn, in the packets, still with the labels on. What was he saving them for?"

I found electronic items still in the box unused at my late uncle's home. Plus neck ties.

Unused clothes are the easiest leftover items to deal with.

WW2

My mother lived through WWII when you could not get new fabric. Clothes rationing was introducd on June 1st 1941. The catchphrase was Make Do and Mend.

Food rationing did not end until 1952. The government issued booklets on recipes using leftovers, and how to reuse items.

Householders became adept at repurposing items.

Sheets Re-used
I remember how my mother would cut up old white sheets to make hankies when somebody was suffering from a cold.

Sheets which had a hole in the middle were recycled by cutting them down the middle lengthwise and sewing together the outside seams.

Could you turn a white cotton sheet into a wedding dress?

For weddings dresses, parachute silk was reused.

Covid-19 Masks
More recently, during Covid-19, I have seen videos showing how you can make masks out of scarves and socks.

I have been stuck at home for weeks due to homestays in Singapore.

I started going through my wardrobes, looking out old items to wear. I found at the back of cupboards, unworn items.


Short and T-shirt Sets
Look at these two sets of shorts and tops, one green with seahorse, one blue with mushrooms. They

had sat in my cupboard for years.

This week I got them out. I wondered whether to wear the tee-shirt without the top.

The tee-shirts fitted. To my surprise, I could get into the shorts. they were uncomfortable, tight on the waist. Besides, with my being overweight, not very elegant. However, I was loathe to start taking the scissors to them, in case the experiment did not work.

I asked my hsuband, "Should  I wear the outfit with the shorts?" 

He told me, "I don't like shorts on women. Or on men, for that matter."

That settled it. Nothing to lose. I had to cut up the shorts. I considered several possibilities. Make them into a scarf, a hat, a jacket. How about a simple edging to extend the length of the tee-shirt?

More recently, during Covid-19, I have seen videos showing how you can make masks out of scarves and socks.
the first hing I did was cut off the waistband. I considered pulling out the white rope. However there were several rows of shirred stitching. So I decided to make that into a headband.

Once the waist band was cut off, the straight top could be sewn onto the tee shirt's hem.

I pinned both ends together with safety pins. Previous experience had taught me that if you start with tow items together at one end, as you sew along, one slips so that one piece overhangs. To prevent this happening, I started sewing from the middle, held both ends tightly together, and sewed along.

I did a running stitch on the reverse for fast results.

This is the result.
I am so happy with my new dress. I love the seahorses. I love the colour.

My next post will show the blue outfit.

About the author
Angela Lansbury
Author of How To Get Out Of The Mess You're In
About the author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

I and my family have lived in the UK, Spain, the USA and Singapore. I am a travel writer and photographer and teacher of English A level and English as a foreign language.

Please come to a Toastmasters International Club where the English clubs have a language evaluator or grammarian.  We also have French, German, Mandarin Chinese, Tamil and other language clubs based in Singapore and many more online around the world which because of Covid-19 are now meeting online.

I am President of Braddell Heights Advanced, meeting the first Wednesday of the month, Usually on Zoom. But the other Wednesdays have workshops on app learncool.sg

Incoming president Faith from July 15th 2020 change dates and platforms so please contact the club.

Latest is only two meetings each month.

For meetings learncool it is quicker to type and easier to remember: 

 tinyurl.com/BHACOOL

Useful Websites On Speaking and Languages

https://www.toastmasters.org/find-a-club
translate.google.com
duolingo.com

https://www.duolingo.com/enroll/vi/en/Learn-Vietnamese

https://www.facebook.com/groups/polygotcommunity/

Other Useful Posts By Angela Lansbury Author

https://travelwithangelalansbury.blogs
https://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com/2019/04/how-to-say-thank-you-in-several.html
https://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com/2019/05/introducing-yourself-in-english-spanish.html
https://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com/2020/01/second-set-of-portuguese-words.html 

Please share links to your favourite posts

How to make a Quick caftan dress with a DIY Newspaper pattern

My DIY dress made from a scarf. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

Here's a story of two dresses, the blue caftan with the V shape neck I made years ago, and the even easier red slit-side shift dress above from a scarf which is nearly no cut and nearly no sew.
.
I made my first dress years ago when I was a member of an Australian Women's expat sewing circle in Singapore.


Copying a Caftan - With A Paper Pattern - and The Help Of A Sewing Teacher
I took a paper pattern along to the class. I needed help. Each piece had a series of parallel lines for different sizes of dress. Which size should I cut?

The girls gathered around full of advice. What size was I? Er - um. Maybe 3X. When I was a teenager I was British size 8 or 10. Then I went up to 12. I was probably now 14.

Really? big bust. Big bottom. Better check. 'Your body expands in the heat,' the sewing teacher told me, diplomatically.

We made space on the floor for the pattern. Whilst the others, including two sewing teachers, tried to tell each other what to do, I retreated.

Malay Dressmaking
One girl, a Malay, was sitting. alongside, watching with disdainful horror, pursing her lips and shaking her head.

I asked her, "Do you know how to use a sewing pattern?"

She shook her head. "No need. Waste of time and money. It's a western thing. In school we were taught how to make clothes without patterns. Take off your dress."

I obeyed. I took off my dress. A good thing I had taken the precaution of wearing a slip underneath!

She shouted to the hostess, "Hey - Sue - do you have some newspaper? And scissors"

Sue was busy. The scissors were guarded like gold bars.

I pulled out of my tote bag a free newspaper I had already read..

Paper Pattern Problems
How big was the seam allowance? So many pieces, looked like more than would fit onto my dress length - how should I arrange them, big piees around the edge, in the middle, from the top down. Some of the pieces were mirror image, you Had one piece for the upper sleeve and had to cut and then remember to reverse it. And if you had a repeating pattern on the cloth, you needed to decide where to join the seams so they matched, how to have a big orchid in the middle, not lopsided.

Before using the paper patterns, I thought I would start with caftan as practice. Less cutting out. Just fold it over helf way. Run up two seams.

I used a cheap cotton. Not much lost if the experiment went wrong.

The first challenge was how far in to place the vertical sewing lines. That depends on your girth. If you already have a cheap caftan to use as a pattern, that helps. If not, take any dress which fits loosely.

Failing all else, use a tape measure to measure yourself. No tape measure? Use a piece of string, or the edge of a towel.

No pins? Scared of pricking yourself? Use paper clips. Use hair clips. Use bulldog clips from your office or study. Use washing line clips, wooden or plastic clothes pins. (UK clothes pegs.)

My Malay Newspaper Pattern
My new friend drew around my caftan with a pen. She folded the newspaper along the edge of a table, pressed the creases, and carefully tore the newspaper along the lines. Hey presto, a sewing pattern. You have to use the fabric inside out in case the newspaper makes black print on a pale fabric.

The first set of girls had cut out two large oblongs for my caftan, with a v neck. The dress was too long. The piece cut from the hem could be a belt or scarf to match. The piece of fabric cut out to make the v neck could be used as a pocket in the side seam, a patch pocket on the front, or twisted in a spiral to make a mock flower.

My Recent DIY Dress From A Scarf
I made a dress by folding a long piece to make an oblong shift dress shape. I cut down the top of the long side to make an armhole.

For the shoulders, I seamed from the two short side corners, from the top left and top right outsides of the short top section. I left a space in the middle large enough to go over my head.

 Yes, it must allow your whole head, not just your neck, unless you cut out a v shape notch at the front and edge it with fancy ribbon, or make a short seam at the centre back to fasten with ribbons, a hook an eye, or press stud or zip.

About the Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.
I and my family have lived in the UK, Spain, the USA and Singapore. I am a travel writer and photographer and teacher of English A level and English as a foreign language.

Please come to a Toastmasters International Club where the English clubs have a language evaluator or grammarian.  We also have French, German, Mandarin Chinese, Tamil and other language clubs based in Singapore and many more online around the world which because of Covid-19 are now meeting online.

I am President of Braddell Heights Advanced, meeting every Wednesday, on zoom the first Wednesday of the month but the other Wednesdays are workshops on app learncool.sg
Or quicker to type and easier to remember:  tinyurl.com/BHACOOL

useful Websites
https://travelwithangelalansbury.blogs
https://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com/2019/04/how-to-say-thank-you-in-several.html
https://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com/2019/05/introducing-yourself-in-english-spanish.html
https://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com/2020/01/second-set-of-portuguese-words.html Please share links to your favourite posts
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8384769/Major-breakthrough-hunt-Madeleine-McCann-police-identify-German-suspect.html
https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lista_de_patrim%C3%B3nio_edificado_no_distrito_de_Faro
translate.google.com
duolingo.com

What Went Wrong At Weddings Or Dinners What you can do to avoid trouble

Safeguard Honeymoon Money
First, don't embezzle the honeymoon money. 

Safety On Stag Nights
Second, don't take the groom on a stag night in which everybody is so drunk that they have black eyes and don't enjoy the wedding. On one or two stag nights the groom or best man has been badly injured or even gone, missing, immediately or much later found drowned. Sometimes, the bride sees the photo of the groom kissing the near naked stripper and cancels the wedding.

The wedding ceremony - money 
In France at the church a cup or box is passed around collecting money. This is not for the bride and groom but for the poor. So do not put into the box the gift for the bride and groom because they will not receive it!

If the minister is not paid but received a 'donation', the best man has to ensure the correct money is in an envelope with the minister's name, and must work out when to discreetly hand it over.

1 Forget to reply to the wedding RSVP in the UK
Why is this wrong? The wedding dinner is costing the bride or groom or their families easily 50 or 100 pounds sterling per seated guest just for the meal. If five couples don't turn up, that is 500 hundred pounds or more spent unnecessarily, wasted food, looks like their friends don't love them, their friends who were left off the list to make room for you will be annoyed, and when you fail to send a gift and confess, "Oops I forgot!", your friendship may sour.
Remember the RSVP!

Ushers should know the seating order. Family at the front. Bride's family on one side, groom's family on the other side.

If you mislay the wedding invitation and reply, you might get lost between the wedding ceremony venue and the reception venue and miss the dinner.
Don't follow other guests.
One group followed another car and ended up outside the local hospital. They had followed a doctor who was on call.

2 Deliver gifts to the bride's home in advance. Gifts at hotel go missing. 
Traditionally wedding gifts are not delivered at the wedding. Only close family would give money.
At a wedding I attended, my gift and all the others were stolen from the family\s hotel boot in the hotel car park.

3 The best man should make sure the groom reaches the wedding venue. If there is a delay or cancellation, he should tell the bride and venue.
I was supposed to be a witness at a wedding on a cruise ship. The groom did not turn up. the ship's staff called all the local hospitals. The groom had evidently done a runner. 
Unfortunately, his parents were already on board, on the one week cruise, sharing a dinner table with the bride's parents. The cruise ship said they could not move the table seating,because all the other tables were families and friends who would not wish to be separated. I don't suppose anybody else wanted to be forced to try to be jolly sharing a table for a week with the jilted bride.

2 At dinner, don't talk with your hands. Even if you are Italian.
Why not?
a) You look like a foreigner.
b) You are likely to knock the red wine over the bride's white dress. Would that make you popular?
The groom will assume:
You made a mistake. You are an idiot.
You did it deliberately. It might start a fight.

3 Do not not get drunk and do not start a fight.
Why? The hotel will charge a lot of money.
The wedding party giving speeches next door will not be pleased about the noise.
(I heard about this from a hotelier in the UK.)
The groom will spend the night in jail.
The bride will never forgive you. (Her mother will say she was right about you all along.)

Hire a wedding car - and have a backup.
In Australia I was sent videos of out-takes by a wedding video photographer.
In one video, the best man was distracted and left off the handbrake. His car rolled downhill into the car of the bride's father. In addition to the damage, they needed two cars at short notice to get to the wedding.
In another video, the best man's group thought it was funny to cover all the groom's car windows with  several inches of shaving foam. He could not see to drive to the airport. He was in a hired suit. I have never seen anybody look so angry.

Don't deliver items to the honeymoon suite or make an apple pie bed nor allow anybody else to do so.
The best man or so called friends so often wreck the room that many hotels will not allow anybody else in. Because the bride and groom will sue the hotel for running the wedding and the hotel in turn will sue the guests or bride and groom for damage to the room.

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Author of
Wedding Speeches & Toasts
Etiquette for every occasion.

Christmas Meetings - dress and gift exchange

Problem
I've been invited to several meetings where I have been surprised to find the theme was Christmas or a gift exchange.

I think to be on the safe side I should wear red and white and green from now until Christmas. Also carry a spare gift in case there is a gift exchange.

Vietnam what to see, do, photograph and buy

Vietnam attractions
Bay - Beautiful bay
Bridge - Golden stone hand bridge
Vietnamese clothes and hats




Bay

Bridge



Clothes

From Wikipedia. Ao dai dress and leaf hat. The dress is most popular in white but can be other colours.

Tunnels


Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer.

Marilyn Monroe's dress on display in Ireland brings back memories of the Sixties

Marilyn Monroe's dress, which she wore to sing, Happy Birthday, to President John F Kennedy, is going to be displayed in kildare, Ireland. The dress is decorated with Rhinestones.It will be auctioned, along with many other items.

Peter Lawford introduced her jokingly as, 'The late Marilyn Monroe'.

You can see her singing on YouTube. (The words are in Wikipedia.) Then two chefs in high white hats carry in a giant cake with candles. Finally, President Kennedy goes on stage and says, "Now I can retire."

She died a few weeks later. She was born and died in Los Angeles. She died age 36. Her birth year and death year are easy to remember with the last two digits reversed, 1926-1962.

He also died, assassinated Nov 22 1963. I've seen it said that some people felt Kennedy's assassination was karma, that he had killed her and therefore he was killed. I've read at least three books on the death of Marilyn Monroe, each equally convincing. If I remember rightly, it's hard to summarise but these are some of the theories:

First, I was convinced by the theory of a Kennedy brother and Peter Lawford both in a car stopped by a policeman in Los Angeles for speeding, secretly seeing her earlier the day she died.

Then the cover-up theory that the autopsy was false, because it claimed no injection marks. Yet an innocent injection mark from something like a vaccination should have been noticed and listed.

Then I was convinced by the idea that two doctors, deliberately ordered to arrive in quick succession but not meeting each other, independently, innocently each gave her half a fatal overdose.

Finally, I was convinced by a video of her housekeeper blaming Marilyn's doctor-cum-psych. The theory toes that he killed her accidentally by injecting into the wrong place when trying to revive her.

If only life was so simple, the true reasons for everything were so quickly revealed, and justice was so quick, that no miscarriages of justice ever took place, and all facts fitted such a neat pattern.

Happy Birthday Saturday May 19 1962. On YouTube.

The dress will be auctioned in Los Angeles, USA in November 2016.
Irish newspapers report on a Marilyn Monroe lookalike appearing to help promote the display. Lonely Planet has a list of sites to see in the USA connected with Marilyn Monroe.

Memorial Flowers
I was disappointed that she has no great memorial grave, just her name and dates on a wall. I recall reading about the flowers placed every year by her husband Joe DiMaggio. For years the donor of the flowers was kept a secret.

Joe
When I read that Joe refused to shake hands with Kennedy, blaming him for Marilyn's death, I immediately thought, that's the person who placed the flowers for her every year. Joe was the man who cares deeply about her, the man who many years after the divorce, the end of the relationship, has still not moved on. Later I learned that my guess was proved right.

The Newbridge cutlery company's museum is named one of the top five attractions by the tourist board. Look at the company's website and you can see lots of dresses. They have memorabilia from Audrey Hepburn, Princess Diana and the Beatles.

Watching all the videos, all sorts of secrets and facts are revealed. What was Marilyn wearing underneath? Nothing. The dress split at the back. You can see the place where it was quickly sewn back together.

Museum of Style Icons (MOSI)
Newbridge Silverware
County Kildare
Ireland

https://newbridgesilverware.com/mosi
https://www.lonelyplanet.com/usa/travel-tips-and-articles/77391
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Happy_Birthday,_Mr._President
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWaEGH2nImU
http://www.irishmirror.ie/whats-on/whats-on-news/most-significant-exhibition-marilyn-monroe-8295733
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

Preparing For The Party: H M The Queen's 90th birthday

In case you'd forgotten, the queen's 90th birthday is coming up. Celebrated in Britain and no doubt around the world. Any excuse for a party, especially if you support or are fascinated by the royal family. The supermarkets have kindly reminded us to prepare. 

Waitrose has an iced fruit cake, decorated with a yellow crown, the letters ER, the number 90.  Around the edge of the cake red and blue bunting.

It costs £10, is vegetarian with lots of organic ingredients. You can read the ingredients on the Waitrose website, though they do warn that recipes change so check the ingredients in store if buying in store. 

If you were wondering about making your own centrepiece cake, or individual teacakes to match the central cake, here are some ideas for colouring and motifs.

To celebrate or picnic at home, a great offer on English sparking wine by award winning Nyetimber. We stood by the offer checking online for the usual price, the year, the maker, and our own stocks of wine. (If you have a short memory, keep last week's shopping list.)

An article about Nyetimber is in this week's Weekender free newspaper from Waitrose which you can pick up in the store. (Lots of great articles. My favourites from this issue were on tracking whether you have hedgehogs in your garden with a hedgehog tunnel which records hedgehog footprints. Another article features looking after bats.

Twinning tea tin with patriotic red, white and blue design.

To carry home or store your goodies and tea time treats, a bag featuring tea pots.

Another design of bag, this time more red.

My experience is that you need plain coloured clothes to go with a patterned bag, plain bags to go with patterned clothes. So if you are buying a red white and blue bag, look out your plain red, plain white, or plain blue dress or travelling outfit. I just bought a white baseball hat which goes with everything.

When is it? Thursday 21st May, but H M THE QUEEN will be performing walkabouts the day before.The place to be, or watch on TV, is Windsor. Expect the queen to walk about, and horse guards in a pageant.

More information from:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-36025967 (Details of the Queen's events.)
http://www.waitrose.com/shop/DisplayProductFlyout?productId=497938#BVRRContainer (cake)

http://www.hellomagazine.com/royalty/2016040130677/the-queen-90th-birthday-plans/

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

Funerals worldwide, mourning birds warning and fasting for safety

Scrub Jays (observed by researchers in California) gather around dead birds, apparently mourning, and signal to other birds when they see a dead bird or a predator. This protects the group from danger.
I read about this in the news on the internet. Information about birds 'mourning' not only increases our appreciation of animal behaviour but helps us analayse why we like to be informed of predators and deaths which might indicate danger in our vicinity.

I had to research the reasons behind mourning customs after the death of my father, following instructions as to how to prepare the house for the funeral prayers.  Was I supposed to dress a certain way, prepare food, expect others to bring food, not eat?

From the research on birds I can see that not eating when mourning the dead has dual benefits. I always thought human mourners stopped eating because they were too upset. A secondary reason is being too busy with funerals to cook.

Not foraging gives mourners more time (as some animals spend all day eating). The mourners, especially birds and animals, spend less time hunting alone which could endanger you (whether bird/animal/human) from predators. What's more, you eliminate the danger of the family mourners, or others in the vicinity, eating something poisonous which killed the dead.

To give a few examples: poisonous berries on a nearby plant killing birds, salmonella in the household chicken, serial killer in the office or wicked stepmother or stepfather.

The group funeral makes the youngsters come together and learn about danger. This strategy protects the group, even if nobody knows the source of the poison or even that the dead bird/animal/human was poisoned.

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Please share links to your favourite posts. I have other posts on funerals in different countries, Christian and Jewish.