TO HAVE A REPUTATION

Anyone who knows me well knows my love of scissors. I simply love them and I feel happy just looking at pictures of scissors. I think they are one of the most beautiful and most useful things ever invented! I'm not afraid of scissors at all 😀 When I was small, I had a reputation for cutting shapes with unlikely exactness. Unsurprising, given my love for the thing!

You can, of course, imagine my joy when I found these illustrations in the book The Embroiderer's Story. So lovely! It says that, in Elizabethan times, metalwork centers like Toledo and Cordova produced scissors especially for embroidery and shears for cutting fabrics. Wow! How I wish I worked in a center like that 😎

Sometimes scissors can have negative connotations. For the Ancient Greeks, the last of the Fates, Atropos (Άτροπος), is the one that cuts the thread of life. So, at the Fates table (special meal given three days after a birth, to placate the fates) no scissors or knives are allowed. The life of the baby is hoped to be long. The Fates table survived in Christianity as the table for Virgin Mary. Cool! 😎

The book The Embroiderer's Story is by Thomasina Beck. It's a fantastic history of embroidery. I bought it second hand because it is out of print.

Scissors are, for me, elegant and connected with femininity- embroidery, sewing, trimming. They have a bit of magic, too, like all things beautiful! 😀💝💖💋❤️
#scissors #Greece #Fates #embroidery #beauty #femininity #books#Spain #TheLipstickPapers #VirginMary

BB IS FOR GODDESS

Thankfully, Brigitte Bardot made long dark roots on dyed blonde hair fashionable! So now we look cool even when the day to dye the hair approaches. BB is a Goddess and the epitome of cool.

Here I am with a lovely new book, called Coffee Tea and Chocolate: Consuming the World! It is by Yao-Fen You and has just been published by Yale UP. In the middle photos you can see it with a cute tea mug I bought from the supermarket.

Obviously I have not read the book yet, but I read some pages. It is a cultural overview of coffee, tea and chocolate; the three beverages are studied in terms of consumption, attitudes, objects (coffee pots, tea sets &c) and articles in the periodical and popular press.

Personally there is nothing I don't love about coffee, tea and chocolate. Even the words make me feel good! Yum!

Have a good night, always with beauty and a book! 💖❤️️💝💋❤️😀💝💝
#books #coffee #tea #chocolate #TheLipstickPapers #beauty#BrigitteBardot #Goddess #blonde #hair #hairdye

THE JEWEL IN THE CROWN

Going back to the CVAR exhibition, I left the best for last! Here's the Ecaterina Cornaro (Αικατερίνη Κορνάρο) portrait by Tiziano!

Ecaterina Cornaro was the last Queen of Cyprus. She ruled Cyprus until 1489, whereupon she was deposed by the body of merchants who ruled Venice. Cyprus back then was a Venetian colony, and the Cyprus royal family had Venetian origins. Apparently Ecaterina was a popular ruler, and the people were not too happy she left. Recently, I read a book (you can see it in the photo) claiming that Venetian rule in Cyprus was less unfair and oppressive than usually assumed. I think the same is claimed for Crete, which, under the Venetians, experienced its own cultural Renaissance.

Tiziano or Titian is one of the best known Italian artists. I don't think he ever visited Cyprus, though they say Leonardo Da Vinci did.

Apart from a capable ruler, it seems that Ecaterina was beautiful too! I loved this painting, and I think it is the most amazing of all the exhibits at CVAR.

Have a great Saturday night, with beauty always with you! 💋😀💝💄❤️❤️️💖💝
#TheLipstickPapers #Renaissance #Venice #Cornaro #Cyprus #Titian#Tiziano #art #beauty #books #Italy #Italia

BENVENUTO INVERNO!

Lovely Christmas exhibition today at Bellissimo e Carissimo here in Larnaca! This exhibition opens three or four times a year, reaching its apogee in the Christmas or Winter holiday season. As Radio Italia said this noon, "benvenuto inverno", welcome winter!

Bellissimo e Carissimo is located at an amazing antique house near the Larnaca metropolis (meaning the city's church seat). The house itself is owned by the organizers and is absolutely beautiful with carved doorways, wall drawings, patterned tile floors, tapestry hangings and other unique and fairy tale stuff!

The exhibition products are handicrafts, artifacts and exclusive imports from Italy and the US.

There was also the unmissable buffet with free coffee, drinks and sweets! The Ancient Greek tradition of Xenia (philoxenia, φιλοξενία) care and respect of guests, is still basic in our culture 😀

It was really great to visit this event today. In the last picture you can see the two nice little things which I bought.

Have a good start to the week, with beauty always with you!!! 😀💖💋💄💝❤️️
#Christmas #winter #RadioItalia #artifacts #handmade #TheLipstickPapers