Vienna 12-19-13

Hat isn't warm enough. Need a larger fleecier one. I've turned into a weather wimp.

Stephensplatz Christmas market

A chocolate bar almost as tall as Richard.

Champagne in a sardine can.

St Peters ...heard an organ concert here this afternoon.

Wanted: A Warm Hat

Vienna Christmas Light - davidmixner.com

I'm packing warm clothes to wear in Vienna for Christmas and started thinking about hats. I looked up beaver hats (information from the Hudson's Bay Company) which I remember were always claimed to be warmest.

Just like the cigar salesmen I've been reading about lately, who made outrageous claims about the benefits of cigar smoking, the beaver hat guys claimed that wearing one of their hats made you SMARTER. Like some kind of wizard hat. 

Rubbing the fur oil in your hair, they claimed, would improve your memory and best of all for people like me, a deaf person would regain hearing by wearing such a hat. 

We're going to Vienna because at the last minute, we cobbled together a Christmas trip using frequent flyer miles. We're doing a lot of flying to get to Vienna (Emirates via Dubai) but we're looking forward to a good time once the miles are covered. Hats will be essential as temperatures are forecast to hover around 5 - 7 degrees C. with Christmas day being the warmest at 8 degrees. Brrrr.

In Vienna we rented an apartment right downtown within walking distance of most of the Christmas markets and concert venues. We've had good luck renting apartments on-line. This time we used Airbandb. Sometimes the photos are more flattering than the real thing - kind of like Match.com.
We'll see....

Apartment kitchen

Living room

We have tickets, also purchased on-line, for a couple of Christmas concerts: one on Christmas Eve and one on Christmas day. 

Vienna Concert Hall

The Christmas markets are supposed to be great fun. Look at the woman shopping in this photo...add 35 years to her, change her hair color, add a beaver hat (maybe) and it could be me!!

washingtonpost.com

We usually buy one Christmas ornament a year. Looks like we'll have a few to choose from!

Here's the scoop about beaver hats in case you're interested: 

In the 17th century hats were an important item of clothing and denoted an individual's social status and occupation. They were extremely valuable and might be passed on from father to son. Hats were made of fur felt, and the best quality felt was made from beaver. The fur of the beaver had little barbs on the end which, when pressed, would interlock and make a solid fabric. This process was called "felting". The felt was then taken and formed into a hat.

During the reign of King Charles I of England (1625 - 1642) the fashion in Europe was for dashing beaver hats trimmed in Ostrich feathers. But by this time the beaver was virtually extinct in Europe. Fortunately, North America, covered as it was by vast forests and subjected much of the year to cold temperatures, provided an alternate source of supply. And so the fur trade was born. The huge demand for hats in the 18th and early 19th century caused the fur trade to boom. Hudson's Bay Company was created to explore and develop new lands in the ongoing search for this most precious raw material. In fact, in its earliest days, the Company promoted itself by presenting complimentary beaver hats (total cost £34) to important men in London to encourage their investment.

Originally centred in France, the European hat-making industry was to a great degree the preserve of Huguenots (French Protestants). But when the Edict of Nantes (1598), which had allowed them the freedom to practise their religion, was revoked in 1685, over 10,000 hatters emigrated to England. France's hat-making industry collapsed while England became the centre of production.

Beaver hats were water-repellent. This fact, coupled with the fact that many hats had wide brims, may help explain their popularity in a rainy climate prior to the invention of the umbrella. Superstitions surrounding beaver fur may also have contributed to its popularity. It was said that wearing a beaver hat made you smarter. It was believed that by rubbing the oil into your hair you would develop a remarkable memory. It was also rumoured that a deaf person would regain their hearing by wearing a beaver hat.

Beaver felt declined in the mid-nineteenth century when silk velour was found to be less expensive yet just as stylish. Prince Albert, consort to Queen Victoria, popularized the wearing of silk hats in the 1840s.

Madiba Flash Mob

Hub and Betty

"My family is from Winnipeg." said my pretty dental hygienist in Fallbrook, blond ponytail swinging back and forth as she worked in my mouth. Her bright blue eyes twinkled through her safety goggles as she picked and scraped. "Argh,…warggle fghes thetkljshhe skeldhljl jlejfhljsi." I replied, trying to nod my head. Translation: "Hey, I'm from Winnipeg too."

And so I met the wonderful Beth who as time went by, became a very good friend. Our Winnipeg connection grew and grew as we found things in common. After her mother died she and her siblings inherited a huge and wonderful photo collection. When I saw the prompt for this week I thought immediately of her photo of Hub and Betty, her parents, at the beach.

Hub and Betty

They look so happy and worry free! Like the couple in the prompt photo, they have their camera with them on the beach blanket. The handle means it was likely a Brownie box camera. In the back ground are slides of some kind that you climb up, slide down and plop down in the wet sand or water. Were they a precursor of the water park slides? Hub and Betty liked summers, the water and the sand. It made sense that later they would pack up the family, kiss the relatives goodbye and head for Southern California. But that was after the war.

en-wikipedia

When World War 2 began, the carefree beach days were put on hold. Hub joined the Royal Canadian Air Force. He flew DC9's and Mosquitos.  Hub and Betty married on Boxing day, when he came home for Christmas break during the war.  My parents married on Boxing day too (December 26th) - something else we have in common.

deHavilland mosquito

From Wikipedia: The deHavilland Mosquito was called either the "Wooden Wonder" or the "Termite's Dream" because of its unusual plywood construction. Although it's construction did provide drawbacks in tropical climates, in the European theatre and Canada the aircraft proved to be outstandingly successful. Its wooden construction made it one of the first stealthy aircraft in an era of radar. It was probably one of the most versatile aircraft of the Second World War being used in fighter, bomber, reconnaissance, anti-shipping and even in transport roles. Bomber and reconnaissance variants carried no defensive armament relying instead on their high speed for protection.

 A total of 7,781 Mosquitos were built including 1,032 in Canada.

After they were married, Hub was stationed in Montreal and they both lived there in a quonset hut which had nothing more than drapes separating the different families.  

Beth relates, "He flew mostly transport to northern Africa.  He said they would land the plane and the men would come running out knowing he carried cigarettes and booze.   My brother recently told me that he arrived back at his base and he was totally confused about where where all the planes went and where were all the men?  It was D day and because he was away flying he never knew the plans that had been made for that famous day.  "  

Hub in his RCAF uniform

I think Beth looks a lot like her father, don't you? Except she actually has cigarettes and booze!

Beth in her book club party mode. Cigarettes and booze props only.

Close - but no cigar

Where did the expression, "Close - but no cigar" come from?

The Oxford English Dictionary states that the first such instance was from March 6, 1930 from the Cleveland Ohio Plain Dealer, where a bowling match was described:
"Peters..toppled the maples for 120, 100 and 100. Scott was right behind him with 113, 115 and 117. Close—but no cigar."

"Toppled the maples" should have become embroiled in our language too, meaning winning with a bang.

Some people take chances while visiting Cuba and smuggle cigars back into the US. If you're caught, not only are the cigars confiscated, but a fine as large as $25,000 can be imposed.  Those airport sniffer dogs are likely pretty good at locating an item with such an aggressive aroma as a cigar.  We went the safe route and brought home a scrap book full of cigar labels and a couple of cigar box labels.

Where did we find these? The tour gave us a break from our packed schedule to allow us to wander a book fair in Havana. We had 45 minutes. As we started walking among the vendors we realized there was a treasure trove of antique books on sale plus the usual stuff: lapel pins, Cuban military insignia and a ton of fake Fidel and Che memorabilia. It was overwhelming; time was very limited.  As a tchotchke acquisition strategy we had to pick out something to shop and bargain for. I homed in on a Cuban scrapbook filled with so-called vintage cigar labels.

I'm sure they're fakes; since I've been home I've been searching them on the net and you can buy replicas, bad and good, for prices all over the map. Worthless or not, they're still interesting. I've found myself engrossed in stories about the various cigar companies and I've bumped into some fascinating history about cigar bands. This is from Cigar Aficianado

However, by 1900, four of every five American men smoked cigars, and brand competition was fierce. Printing costs had been reduced, and attractive custom bands were priced at an irresistible 70 cents per thousand--2 billion bands were sold that year in the United States alone. Catalogs contained hundreds of stock choices, so generic bands could appear on dozens of different cigars at an even lower cost. Even inexpensive cigars could afford lovely, full-color bands such as those sported by Tansil's New York City knockoff of the classic Cuban Punch.

European bands were typically sold as part of a matching set including inner and outer box labels, edging, top brand, flaps and band--all marketed and sold as a package. The more individualistic U.S. cigar makers chose each element of their packages, sometimes buying labels, bands, flaps, inner paper and edging from five printers.

Bands arrived cut to shape and wrapped in thread-tied bundles of 100. Before bands were applied (almost always by women) cigars were rolled, aged, selected, packed, pressed in boxes and then removed for banding and reboxed. Traditionally bands were put on by hand, secured with a dab of plant-based glue, which the worker delicately applied with the tip of her third finger. (The operation hasn't changed much to this day.) This operation is not as simple as it sounds because bands must be put at the same height on each cigar and the glue must not ooze out, causing the band to attach itself to the cigar and risking damage to the wrapper when removed. In cigar states like New York and Pennsylvania, children were usually hired after school for the less demanding job of packaging cigars in foil, cellophane or tubes.

With 2 billion bands a year deposited in ashtrays, dropped on floors or left on cigars which were later tossed into gutters, it's no wonder that collecting bands became a turn-of-the-century mania. Cigar companies sold complete sets of colorful new bands for a dime. Albums to hold them were given away by promotion-minded tobacconists and shopkeepers.

In its drive to smash competition, the American Cigar Co. offered premiums in exchange for bands. Its huge, illustrated 1904 catalog included nearly everything a homemaker could desire. A set of children's silverware or four-collar buttons could be had for collecting a mere 50 bands. Amass an additional 179,950, and a baby grand piano would be delivered to your door. You could sleep in a four-piece bedroom set made of bird's-eye maple for a mere 44,000 bands, ride in a rubber-tired surrey for only 32,000 and kick your own football for a paltry 1,200. If the mechanical wonders of the modern age were your forte, a year's subscription to Scientific American was a scant 600. For purposes of redemption, cigar bands from American's 28 brands of cigars could be mixed with the tin tags from the company's chewing tobacco as well as paper coupons from smoking tobacco and cigarettes.

"I can remember going for walks with Mom when I was around six years old," says Carl Eike, now retired in Tucson, Arizona. "She would hang onto my hand so hard it would turn white, because every time she'd let go, I'd dive into the gutter for another cigar band off a butt." Tales like this leave little doubt as to how turn-of-the-century children earned the sobriquet "guttersnipe" as they searched for the 150 bands needed to claim a baseball glove at one of the more than 20 redemption centers located from coast to coast.

Bands that weren't turned in were often pasted on. The art of decoupage with bands reached its zenith in the first decade of this century. Magazines published tips on covering ashtrays, vases and other objects with decoratively placed bands. Truly ambitious hobbyists spent weeks carefully covering chairs, desks and even dining-room tables with arrangements of matched bands.

All this came to an end as tens of thousands of cigar companies rolled their last leaves in the 1920s and '30s. Demand and competition declined, the variety of cigar brands dropped dramatically and interest in bands began to wane.

This punch label seems to my uneducated eye to be authent

Can I import Cuban cigars into the U.S.?

No. The allowance for bringing in up to $100 worth of Cuban cigars if you were on authorized travel to Cuba is no longer in effect. All importations of Cuban cigars are illegal, including Cuban cigars that were acquired in other countries (such as Canada, England, or Mexico).

There is now an across board ban on the importation into the United States of Cuban-origin cigars and other Cuban-origin tobacco products, as well as most other products of Cuban origin. This prohibition extends to such products acquired in Cuba, irrespective of whether a traveler is licensed by Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) to engage in Cuban travel related transactions.

Criminal penalties for violation of the Regulations range up to $1,000,000 in fines for corporations, $250,000 for individuals and up to 10 years in prison. Civil penalties of up to $65,000 per violation may be imposed by OFAC.

Foreign residents and visitors to the U.S.(i.e., French, Mexican etc) may not bring in goods of Cuban origin under any circumstances.

Sepia Saturday: Bad picture, Good man

This week the Sepia Saturday challenge is to find a photo which ignores all the golden rules of photography - focus, perspective, composition. I think what makes this week's challenge even more interesting is the fact that such photos are still around!! You'd think we would toss them out, but we forget in the days before digital, film was expensive and even if the photos were bad, they may have served to trigger memories of significant events. The bad photos survived in spite of themselves. 

I found this photo dated Dec. 23rd, 1967. Bad as it is, I could never throw it away. The occasion is my cousin Maurice's ordination as a Catholic priest. Somebody had a polaroid camera and shot this scene probably from a seat in the first row. Maurice, the subject of the photo, is the face - well, the partial face between the candles on the right. The empty chair accidentally became the focal point of the picture. The upright cross bisecting the altar cross distracts the eye. The ladder-like metal work in the rear makes you look twice. What is it? The white altar cloth is indistinguishable from the white robes. Maurice may be the most least important figure in the composition. To add to the confusion, the whole thing is barely in focus; only the centrally featured chair achieves a bit of clarity. It's a bad picture of a very good man.

Maurice has led an exemplary life. At first, he chose the contemplative religious life and was a Trappist monk for many years. He served in "Our Lady of the Prairies" monastery in St. Norbert, Manitoba living in silence, poverty and prayer.

If you're interested in the monastic life, regardless of what you believe, this web site of the order is a very pleasant respite from the hustle and bustle of the holiday season. A virtual museum, it gives details of the daily rituals of the monks. There are six Cistercian abbeys left in Canada and only a few hundred nuns and monks, many of them senior citizens. Still, they manage to subsist selling hand-made specialty food products and hosting retreats. Some of the abbey communities  have been very successful in business and the subject of articles in business magazines such as  Forbes. Here's a link to one of them:
Forbes 

Looking backwards for a minute, here's Maurice and I as children nestled in my father and grandfather's legs. Who would guess one would have so much faith and the other, me, would end up with so little?

Later Maurice became a parish priest and was honored with the title of Monsignor, which in the parlance of the church means he has served in a distinguished manner and has been honored by the Pope for his service. In 2007, his parish, Our Lady of Perpetual Help, celebrated the 40th anniversary of Maurice's ordination.  This photo of him is so much better:

Because I've lived in the U.S. for decades and rarely visit Canada, I've seen little of Maurice over the years. Whenever a relative died, Maurice said the funeral service and I'd see him briefly. Pastoring a flock of his size is very demanding...even if you consider just the weddings and funerals, he has little time left over for the quiet life he once led. When we were burying my mother, he strolled around for a short while in the cemetery pointing out the many "residents" for whom he said funeral masses. Even though he has all the gravitas you'd expect from someone in his position, after a few minutes together, the years vanish and I feel towards him just as I did when we were little kids sitting on the steps in Letellier, Manitoba together.

I enjoy reading his notes (see below) in the parish paper of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, because he writes so openly and honestly. His earnestness and modesty amaze me. Because he always loved skating and hockey, it makes me smile to think he still skates with the kids at the parish school.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all my Sepia friends!

For more delightfully bad photos, grab your polaroid and rush over to Sepia Saturday


"PASTOR’S VIEWPOINT 

It is important to note that the feast of the Immaculate Conception will be celebrated on Monday the 9th because the Advent Sunday has the power to displace the Virgin’s feast. This is only a liturgical displacement. Mary has been important in my life and will still keep that privileged place as Mother. When still in university I was invited to chair a group of students who met once a month to study and try to appreciate who Mary was and is for us. I really did not know much and went through the motions of chairing meetings. Then when I entered the monastic life, the name of the Abbey was/is Our Lady of the Prairies…and the influence of St. Bernard with his love for Mary made some head way into my life, but not enough. I am barely getting to know Mary and learning to appreciate her presence. I am shoveling my way through debris and snow during this Advent season to rediscover how much I am in need of renewal of honest devotion to Mary and my other friends enjoying the festivities of heavenly parties. I am writing these few lines on a beautiful snowy winter evening. The tractors are out buzzing around trying to disturb the peace and quiet I enjoy so much. No doubt that I have seen many a winter night with snow blowing and playing around my head, yet I never tire of the beauty and marvel it brings to my consciousness of the presence of God. Someone told me all snowflakes are different, one from the other. I believe it. Then I consider all the persons twirling in my life and I marvel even more at the love and tenderness of God…each one different, and I have no difficulties in realizing that…but I have to remind myself that God created them in His image and has chosen to live right there, in them, so close to me. Now, only a silent thought can fill the awareness of tender love. "

"I tend to look back at the many years of trying to become a pastor, and tend to dare look ahead and measure the length of days I should keep on skating with the grade 2 students at St. Charles school numbers are piling on and add up, one year at a time…and yes, I wonder in awe at the beauty of the passing days of life…knowing that only more beauty and more love is the destination we need to keep in sight, and to know God’s power manifested in tenderness and forgiveness so as to pass it on effectively. Lord let me see you in my experience of the snow, the people around me, the deep yearning of fulfillment expressed to me by so many of your friends. ~ Msgr. Maurice Comeault "

Gluten Free Guacamole

Avocados do not contain gluten. Most of the ingredients used in guacamole recipes are gluten free: garlic, salt, lemon juice, chiles, tomatoes, onions. 

Our gluten free avocado grove

Use cucumber or jicama spears for scooping the guacamole and you'll still be gluten free. Only if you use crackers or other processed food containing grain products do you have to worry about gluten. 

Check the ingredient declaration of any processed food for wheat or grain products or their derivatives. The FDA labeling regulations regarding gluten free claims, long and complicated, are worth reading and understanding if you are gluten sensitive.

Gluten free labeling of foods

Meanwhile, eat all the guacamole you want!

Sepia Saturday 206: Two ladies on the line

Two ladies on an assembly line? First thought: The dark haired woman resembles my grandmother. Second thought: The line is moving too slowly. The delicately extended finger on the light haired lady and the serene expression on her face leads me to think somebody needs to crank up the speed on that conveyor. 

For more information on conveyor belt speed and productivity, watch my personal standard of excellence: Lucy and Ethel wrapping chocolates in a candy factory. Click on the link for the
priceless video. 

  Lucy and Ethel. 

Note the lack of pinkie finger extensions. And don't you love the supervisor? 

Here's my maternal grandmother Pulcherie Fortier, who looks a little like the assembly line lady. 

Fishing was one of her favorite hobbies and she fished until she was very old. She lived to be 100 and fishing may have contributed to her longevity. 

Convey yourself over to Sepia Saturday for more stories about aprons, permanent waves and family photo treasures. 

Fuser Studio

A world famous muralist, Mr. Fuser was just recovering from surgery when we visited his studio. The place is a riot of mosaic fantasies. 

Surrounded by the wild colors and shapes, I got a bit dizzy but the mild discomfort was worth experiencing the marvelous swirl of the whole place. A little like a circus ride and the Gaudi Sagrada Familia in collision with aspects of the Watt's Towers tossed in.

The Cuban art we saw in galleries was mostly abstract. I loved the bright colors and whimsy, but I couldn't live with most of it on a daily basis. I've found I like bare walls, they are less distracting and this could have something to do with my vestibular nerve and wavering horizon. The blank spaces are calming. 

My own souvenier art purchase was a portfolio of antique cuban cigar bands and a few pieces of cigar box art. I'm enjoying researching each of the cigar brands; as there are over one hundred, I could be busy with this for some time.