Galas Galore and the Brock Blues: Monday, November 4th!

A king can stand people's fighting, but he can't last long if people start thinking. -Will Rogers, humorist (4 Nov 1879-1935) 

Hi Patrice!, It was very nice to see you both on your way through the Valley and hope you had a nice time in the big city! The weather of course has been spectacular and we have been taking advantage and getting out for lots of nice walks etc. Yesterday we went and visited some friends who live in Fort Langley and had a beautiful walk around Brae island.

http://www.metrovancouver.org/services/parks/parks-greenways-reserves/brae-island-regional-park 

On Saturday I dusted off the old Cannondale and met a friend to ride around the seawall starting from and winding back up at Gerry and Sue’s place in Strathcona. What a spectacular afternoon and enjoyed the scenery so much. I expected it to be absolutely jammed with people but strangely was quite lightly travelled and easily navigable. We stopped for tacos on a little place on Denman and Jamie joined me back to Science world before turning around and heading back over the Lion’s gate as he lives in North Van. Colleen had taken the train down and proceeded over to Pat’s pub meeting her sister Maureen along the route. I went back to Gerry and Sue’s place to put the bike away and then drive them over to meet the goils. 
 

We had a nice beverage, Colleen a cider and myself a pint of 1615 on tap ..I thought it was a typo on the chalkboard and that they must mean a 1516 which as a popular beer from Okanagan springs of which you are familiar I am sure!. Nope, it was not a typo and another local craft brew which I have to say was fantastic and highly recommended for the next time you are in town or perhaps I will pick some up for our next visit rich body and medium brown colour full of flavor..yum!

Now Monday Morning and tapping away on the old keyboard catching up with emails but should start to concentrate on some design work for my new Germaine Koh studios project. You will appreciate this one (attached) as it involves a bench along the still creek bike path where you can stop and plug in your phone to charge it by pedaling on a stationary unit. I also have another project in the works for her which is substantially larger and is a series of flagpoles with metal pennants on top which can rotate in the wind. That is far a new apartment building down in Brentwood where the high rises are literally springing up like Mushrooms! 

I also got a call from one of her associates at the city involving some more public art called sewerscape lol, it involves a 6 foot diameter concrete pipe lined with wood and mounted with earth berms on either side along Nanaimo street as part of their beautification effort. Fortunately for me with all the new development going on and the fact that they are all required to put a percentage toward public art or improvements it has created a bounty of potential projects for Germaine and thus for me. I should go and attend to my other responsibilities now but hope you have a spectacular day, my love to Corinne and Chloe and your soon to be grandbaby 😊. Cheers, Al P.S. I normally respond through your Jacquie Lawson card program but they have changed the format and are trying to get you to sign up or threaten to follow you with cookies! I am sure this will mean they will start bombarding me with unsolicited email promotions etc., so am happy to receive them but don’t think I will respond via their program. Arrivederci! 

Aladdin and the Magic Lamp
Note: The story was originally set in China

Illustration: Rene Bull (from the book The Arabian Nights Entertainments, 1898)

Hi JL Cookie Monster and Grumpy Marilyn! Thanks again, for lovely visit and delish soup, even if Marilyn was not amused by snapola! Grand that you have been enjoying the wonderful Fall weather, walking and biking. Pleased to hear that you are back in the saddle again. Keep it up. Went for an invigorating ride, myself, this past Friday. 

Very, very impressed with your latest projects so thanks for sending along snap and plans. Metal pennants look terrific and bicycle seating to power devices is a terrific idea: exercise and digital addiction all in one fell swoop! Makes me thirsty for a pint of 1615! Have not heard of brewery so will be keen to taste. With all your coming projects you'll be able to afford a keg to bring up to The Burns Street Bistro to have on tap for all the Freeloaders! Must away to start dehydrating my third batch of Gala apples. [Did first batch Saturday morning, second on Sunday morning.] Fondestos from Lady Dar, still in her dressing gown, to her favourite sunny, Sunshine Valley Folk! Stay well. Cheers and Arrivederci, Patrizzio!

Image: Tomi Dufva

Hello Bidders Galore! Thanks to Josinta for hosting this evening. It was most enjoyable to have two full tables. As mentioned, at the end of the evening, Lady Dar and I will host this coming Monday, anytime after 6:30 pm. I know most people indicated they were on but please let me know if you will be playing and we'll plan accordingly. Don't forget to wear your poppies. Thanks and Cheers, Patrizzio! Pics: Two-tables!

Thanks Jos for hosting, awesome time together. I am in this coming Monday. Cheers to all. Mike Thanks Jos and Patrick. Great evening. I am in for Monday. Dianne I am coming Cheers Carol I will be there Susan

City of Eros by Timothy J. Gilfoyle: In the mid-to-late 1800s, the most scandalous place to be in New York was the French Ball: "The demand for new forms of public erotica culminated in the most sexually charged Victorian institution -- the 'French Ball.' Sponsored by the Cercle Francais de l'Harmonie, this was an annual erotically charged masquerade held in a leading public auditorium. For over two decades, the Academy of Music (1866-87) housed the proceedings; it was succeeded by the Metropolitan Opera House (1888-90, 1892) and by Madison Square Garden (1891, 1893-1901). The French Ball was probably the most significant public forum for testing the boundaries of urban sexual behavior. According to a frequent participant, one could find everyone from Wall Street businessmen to prostitutes and gay drag queens at masquerades.    The annual event included a one-hundred-piece orchestra and was usually sold out, attracting over four thousand partic­ipants in 1876 and seven thousand by 1882. "Masquerades were not unique to late-nineteenth-century New York. In eighteenth-century London, the Haymarket Theatre was renowned for the gorgeous prostitutes attending such events. Similarly, antebel­lum brothels, taverns, and inns held weekly 'balls' to attract customers. Even private households sponsored masked balls, inducing the short­lived Society for the Suppression of Vice to call for their prohibition.  In 1829 and 1848, the city reacted by passing laws to restrict such masked affairs. While the former mayor Philip Hone conceded that some mas­querades were 'conducted with decorum and propriety,' he feared their abuse, enabling 'licentiousness to go abroad in public places with its face concealed.' "Despite vocal opposition and legislative prohibition, masked balls con­tinued to flourish at mid-century. Municipal statutes tended to go unen­forced, and during the 1850s the French Association (nicknamed the Friends of Gayety) staged 'fancy dress balls' at Tammany Hall. Local ward leaders like Jim Turner also sponsored masked balls, which by one account were 'attended by hard characters and a sprinkling of politi­cians, at which dresses and manners were decidedly free and easy.'  By the Tweed era, New York's Democratic party organization promoted numerous masquerades as part of its fund-raising efforts. 'Young men were lured by the fascinations spread for them at these monster but usually vulgar entertainments,' claimed the Times.

"The popularity of the masquerade reached its height after the Civil War, and the most conspicuous of these erotic assemblies was the French Ball. Despite the overt sexuality, sponsors of the event aimed at a cross section of New York society and even invited public officials.  One observer concluded that male patrons ranged from 'maskers plebeian [to] mas­kers of Knickerbocker descent.' A wide variety of females, too, partici­pated. One reporter insisted that there 'were modest and well-behaved women, and there were women not burdened with modesty. 'While most ladies in attendance were usually "of the highest respectability," others came "whose presence would be tolerated only at a masquerae."' "For middle-class New Yorkers, the French Ball represented an excursion from propriety to concupiscence. The Times described it as 'the "naughtiest" of the respectable masked balls.' The annual event offered a liminal social space where participants could probe the limits of public sexual behavior. Through fantasies of dress, New Yorkers temporarily dropped their standard conceptions of proper, 'respectable' behavior. 'The costumes were daring,' wrote one observer; 'in many instances they were more than daring.'  Police Chief George Washing­ton Walling wrote that 'women in black tights, women in red tights, women in blue tights, men and women in every picturesque garb imag­inable,' from that of Cleopatra to that of Oscar Wilde, moved about at the ball. 'Husbands and wives often go,' Walling observed, but 'gen­erally with somebody else's wives and husbands.' The ball climaxed in 'a bacchanalian orgie -- a hot and crazy revel, a whirl of passion.'"City of Eros, Timothy J. Gilfoyle, W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.,1992