Tea at Trianon: Apple Season

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Saturday, August 28, 2010

Apple Season

Apples and Flowers
by Pierre-August Renoir

Apples

by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings

Apple cobbler, apple-cake,
Apple sauce and apple pie—
No one can resist their taste,
Or pass an apple dumpling by!

Cinnamon and powdered clove,
Grated nutmeg, sugar, crumbs,
Make apple Betty fit for kings,
And sweet as sugar-plums!

Apples by the bushel box—
Everyone can help himself,
Children never beg for sweets,
With apples handy on the shelf.

When Eve put her white hand forth
And picked an apple from a tree,
She helped all housewives’ menus out,
And planned six months’ dessert for me!

(Via Under the Gables)

Alexandra said...: Don't you just love those colors! Thanks for sharing this Renoir.; November 8, 2008 at 4:36:00 PM EST
elena maria vidal said...: You're welcome!; November 10, 2008 at 9:58:00 AM EST
Enbrethiliel said...: +JMJ+

Yay! Poetry! =D

This is a very cheerful poem--and I love the twist in the ending. Isn't it lovely that the Resurrection has made it possible for us to smile at even something as tragic as the Fall? A felix culpa, indeed!

Thanks for sharing this, Elena. The painting is beautiful, too. =); August 28, 2010 at 5:14:00 AM EDT
Julygirl said...: Been around for centuries, free for the taking, now you pay $1.50 or more a pound for them.; August 28, 2010 at 8:02:00 AM EDT
elena maria vidal said...: Great observation, E.!

Julygirl, I have apple trees in my yard, so I have the opposite problem! ;-); August 28, 2010 at 9:07:00 AM EDT
Mrs. Rudd said...: Oh, yes! Wonderful time - I've got my pots and pie plates and jars at the ready.

"…apple pickles, apple tarts and apple pastry, apple dumplings, not to mention – apple sass!
Apple fritters, light as thistle, and for folks to wet their whistle – tangy apple cider…
Apple pie and apple cake…"

(Some of the many uses for apples, courtesy of Disney's "Johnny Appleseed"); August 28, 2010 at 9:39:00 AM EDT
elena maria vidal said...: Now I have lots of ideas!; August 28, 2010 at 9:57:00 AM EDT
tubbs said...: Apple appriciation I will save for Fall. Up north here for a few days, and I am soooooo loving the local peaches ( and New Jersey corn and tomatoes ).
ps, Enbrethiliel - LOL, EM has given the apple's 'felix culpa' all new meaning.; August 28, 2010 at 5:45:00 PM EDT