RJ Treleaven

Showing posts with label Nature. Show all posts

Happy June, My Lovelies! This edition of the Tales of the traveling Tote will feature our anniversary trip to Amsterdam and our river cruise on the Rhine. I could write a dissertation about our trip because we saw and learned so much. But instead I'm featuring my favorite things about the trip. We left Birmingham on our anniversary (March 19th) which was the opening day of tulip season.

My favorite thing about Amsterdam was the Van Gogh Museum. We had special tickets and went early. There were very few people around, so we were able to take our time in the galleries. Here are some favorites:

The Bedroom

Arles, October 1888

oil on canvas

28.5" X 36"

We had seen this one before when it was on loan at the Art Institute of Chicago in 2016.

Sprig of Flowering Almond In a Glass

Arles, March 1888

oil on canvas

9.6" X 7.6"

Below is one of my favorite paintings. Van Gogh's Almond Blossoms was the most cherished paintings by his family, and it was heavily influenced by his interest in Japanese print making. The perspective is looking up through the branches toward the sky. This perspective loses the view of the tree in its entirety.

Almond Blossom

Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, February 1890

oil on canvas

29" X 36"

We also visited the Rijksmuseum which is located on the same campus. It was slightly crowded, but we really didn't have much trouble seeing everything in the galleries. I think most people were outside because it was the first pretty weekend after a cold, rainy winter. They were in the process of restoring The Night Watch which is Rembrandt's most celebrated painting. It shows citizens of Amsterdam protecting the city.

We enjoyed one of our best meals in Amsterdam at the Rijksmuseum. In the café they had these gorgeous (and huge) Delft tulipieres.

Our first stop on our cruise included an eBike tour of Kinderdijk windmills. We saw nineteen windmills in all, and we were able to tour one that is a working museum. It was very interesting seeing the millers go about their day and moving the windmills to catch the wind.

Kinderdijk windmills

One thing that has been on my bucket list as an adult is to see the Cologne Cathedral in all her gothic splendor. She did not disappoint, and I might have been slightly overhwelmed.

Another favorite activity one afternoon was viewing many, many castles along the Rhine from the boat. I sketched several of them while enjoying afternoon tea.

Ehrensfels Castle

near Rüdesheim, Hesse, Germany

This castle was actually rebuilt in 1212

One of my favorite places in Germany is Heidelberg. I've visited there several times, and I wanted Shanley Belle and Christopher to experience it, so we took a little side trip there. This was the only day without sunshine; it was very foggy for almost the entire day.

This is one of my favorite views at Heidelberg Castle. This is the moat, and at one time, it was a zoo for a very spoiled queen.

We were a little early in the season, but this area as well as many of the walls and ruins at the castle become covered in wildflowers in spring and summer.

My new favorite region of France is The Alsace, and we visited several World War II sites and villages. Below is a panorama view of Strasbourg. This region is known for its gingerbread, and it's enjoyed year round.

The last thing I want to share about our trip was a visit and hike in the Black Forest of Germany. This area is known for cuckoo clocks and Black Forest Cake. We took a class to learn how to make and assemble the cakes. It was a lot of fun! After sampling the cakes, it was nice that we had the opportunity to go on a little hike.

Mountainside brook in the Black Forest of Germany

Disclosure: La Countess de Monet was unable to make this trip because I needed a backpack for many of the biking and hiking tours we did. She was not happy, I tell ya! So in order to make it up to her, I took her to a flower arrangement class at a beautiful local farm here in Central Alabama. You can read about our adventure HERE.

La Countess de Monet at Stone Hollow Farmstead learning about floral arranging

Please visit the other ladies' blogs and read about their travels using the links below. Rita is hosting our giveaway!

Debbie with Miss Aurora @ Mountain Breaths

Emily with Miss Courtney Childs@ The French Hutch

Linda P with Miss Lola @ Life and Linda

Patti with Miss Kenzie @ Pandora's Box

Rita with Miss Luna C @ Panoply

Sarah with Miss Merri Mac @ Hyacinths for the Soul

Jackie and Miss Madi K @ Purple Chocolat Home

Ricki Jill and Countess De Monet @ The Bookish Dilettante

Please join me Wednesday, June 4th for my review of this new Civil War historical fiction novel.

Until next time...

Blessings!
Ricki Jill

Tales of the Traveling Tote: Rhine River Cruise and Amsterdam

Sunday, June 1, 2025

Oak Tree in Audubon Park

Happy Saturday, My Lovelies! It's Mardi Gras weekend, and we've recently returned from New Orleans. This Tales of the Traveling Tote post will feature our two most recent trips to New Orleans during December and last week.

Christmas tree with large bow at Mignon Faget

Mignon Faget is a jewelry designer and a favorite of our girls

We visited New Orleans the weekend after Thanksgiving for a debutante party. We had a wonderful time visiting with friends and finishing our Christmas shopping. We also ate at a few of our favorite restaurants including Vincent's on St. Charles Avenue, Commander's Palace, and District Donuts.

Mr. Bookish and I both love Tasc. This is where I buy my favorite yoga pants.

Le Petite Bleu is a coffee shop adjacent to Commander's Palace. We purchased their French Truck x Commander's Palace coffee for our SIL's stocking.

No trip to New Orleans would be complete without visiting my favorite shop, Aux Belles Choses.

Display shelves in Le Petit Bleu

The two photos, above, feature beautiful Christmas decor and treats from Aux Belles Choses.

Most of their Christmas ornaments are imported from France.

All of the stores were decorated so prettily for Christmas, both inside and outside.

This is just a sampling of the camellias and tropicals in bloom during Christmas.

We returned to New Orleans last week to visit friends and attend a Mardi Gras ball. The ball was such a special evening because one of our friends who stood up for Mr. Bookish in our wedding was King of the Krewe of Dorians, and another friend who stood up for Mr. Bookish in our wedding, his daughter was Queen of the Krewe of Dorians. How special is that!

I was also able to visit with several friends, including one of my closest friends from college and her husband. It was such a lovely night!

We usually stay near Audubon Park because we love walking around the park. I don't think I've ever featured The Tree of Life located near the stables in the park before on my blog. Here are a few photos:

"The Tree of Life"

The de Boré Oak

Planted circa 1740

Audubon Park

We spent a large portion of two days in and around the park. We also visited Aux Belles Choses again. I wanted to see what they had for Mardi Gras. I purchased a couple of things for our Mardi Gras decor, and I also purchased more soaps. (I always buy soaps from Aux Belles Choses.) The latest soap that everyone is loving is their donkey milk soap. I bought some, but I haven't tried it yet.

The soaps on the right were imported from Provence. The packaging is so pretty!

The king cake enamel boxes are so cute as are the crown ornaments.

Spring has sprung in New Orleans!

I will leave you with a couple of photos of ferns growing on oak trees in Audubon Park.

Here are the links for all the blogs participating in this quarter's link party.

Debbie with Miss Aurora @ Mountain Breaths

Emily with Miss Courtney Childs@ The French Hutch

Linda P with Miss Lola @ Life and Linda

Patti with Miss Kenzie @ Pandora's Box

Rita with Miss Luna C @ Panoply

Sarah with Miss Merri Mac @ Hyacinths for the Soul

Jackie and Miss Madi K @ Purple Chocolat Home

Ricki Jill and Countess De Monet @ The Bookish Dilettante

Be sure to enter to win this quarter's giveaway at the Pandora's Box Blog!

Be there or be square! ;p

Until next time...

Blessings!
Ricki Jill

Tales of the Traveling Tote: New Orleans (X2) and a Giveaway!

Saturday, March 1, 2025

Happy Literary Friday (the Thirteenth!), My Lovelies!

How are you? I hope you have had a wonderful week, and have fantastic plans for the weekend.

Today I'm sharing two wonderful books with animal characters: The Otters' Tale by Simon Cooper and The Full Moon Coffee Shop by Mai Mochizuki. I'll review The Full Moon Coffee Shop first.

According to Goodreads:

Translated from the Japanese bestseller, this charming and magical novel, inspired by the myth of cats returning favors to those who care for them, reminds us that it’s never too late to follow our stars.

In Japan cats are a symbol of good luck. As the myth goes, if you are kind to them, they’ll one day return the favor. And if you are kind to the right cat, you might just find yourself invited to a mysterious coffee shop under a glittering Kyoto moon. This particular coffee shop is like no other. It has no fixed location, no fixed hours, and seemingly appears at random to adrift young people at crucial junctions in their lives.

It’s also run by talking cats.

While customers at the Full Moon Coffee Shop partake in cakes, coffees, and teas, the cats also consult them on their star charts, offer cryptic wisdom, and let them know where their lives have veered off course—because every person who visits the shop has been feeling more than a little lost. And for a down-on-her-luck screenwriter, a romantically stuck movie director, a hopeful hairstylist, and a technologically challenged website designer, the feline guides will set them back on their fated paths. After all, there is a reason the shop appeared to each of them…

My review:

I read about this book online, and the reason why I wanted to read it is because I'm interested in Japanese culture, and since it's a huge hit there, I wanted to read it. Full disclosure: I am NOT a cat person. I'm highly allergic to them, and since we are dog and horse people, I have been subjected to their attention for most of my adult life at all the barns we've visited and boarded horses. How is it that cats can sense you don't want to interact with them, therefore they want your undivided attention? (Just ask Louis the Cat at Fox Lake Farms and he'll confirm.)

The human sized cats in this charming, magical realism story are helpful in that their purpose in running The Full Moon Coffee Shop is to give guidance to the people they've invited to the shop. There are no menus at the shop: the Master of the Cats determines what drinks and treats each guest receives based on where they are in their life's journey. The advice and treats are based on the guests' astrology. I am so not interested in this topic; astrology is definitely not my thing. I also don't think it's a big thing in Japanese culture just based on the lack of knowledge the human characters exhibit in the story. So you might be thinking: other than the reason that she's interested in Japanese culture, why in the world did she read this book if she's not into cats and astrology?

I was asking myself this same question about halfway through the book. But I am so happy that I didn't DNF the book because the mythology makes it so worth reading. As the Goodreads blurb says: Cats are considered good luck in Japanese culture, and if you're good to them, you will be rewarded. (If you're extra special you'll receive that coveted invite to the Full Moon Coffee Shop.) The magic of this book isn't the cats, it isn't the beautiful Kyoto setting as magical as it is, and it isn't even the advice the cats freely give to the humans. It's the connection these people have with each other and their goodness and kindness that make this book so very special. It gives the reader all the good feels by the end, and it has encouraged me to be a better person. I understand why it is such a hit in Japan, and I highly recommend it.

According to Goodreads:

Otters hold an almost unique place in the animal kingdom of the British Isles, being one of the very few creatures that give birth once every two years. They are the most secretive yet also the most popular mammals – they are found in every county but are so rarely seen that they have been raised to mythical status.

When Simon Cooper bought an abandoned water mill that straddles a small chalkstream in southern England, little did he know that he would come to share the mill with a family of wild otters. Yet move in they did, allowing him to begin to observe them, soon immersing himself in their daily routines and movements. He developed an extraordinary close relationship with the family, which in turn gave him a unique insight into the life of these fascinating creatures.

Cooper interweaves the personal story of the female otter, Kuschta, with the natural history of the otter in the British Isles, only recently brought back from the brink of extinction through tireless conservation efforts. Following in the footsteps of Henry Williamson’s classic 1920s tale Tarka the Otter, readers are taken on a journey through the calendar year, learning the most intimate detail of this most beautiful of British mammals. Cooper brings these beloved animals to life in all their wondrous complexity, revealing the previously hidden secrets of their lives in this beautifully told tale of the otter.

My review:

I found this book via an Indie Bookshop in Frome, England called Sherlock & Pages. It's a tiny little shop specializing in nature, conservancy, history, and heritage. I absolutely love their mission, and they do the most amazing job curating their stock. I've purchased several books from them (including a few fiction selections), and I feel confident I am set with several lovely reads for autumn. I highly suggest you follow them on Instagram @sherlockandpages. The reason this book caught my eye is that otters have returned to Lake Martin, Alabama, and I thought it would be fun to read about them even though they aren't the same species as the English ones.

Simon Cooper kept me mesmerized throughout this book as he weaves the story of Kuschta and her pups within their chalkstream habitat. I found it fascinating reading about what it takes to keep an otter fed considering they don't have fat stores. They tend to be nocturnal, and they are very territorial. There are several lessons I learned I probably could've done without. I learned more than I care to know about their poop called "spraint." Spraint is not only about marking territory. Otters use spraint like we use newspapers, to learn about other otters in their environment including otters just passing through. I also learned how brutal a mama otter can be when nature necessitates that she ostracize one of her pups to the point of death. An otter's life is brutal, especially for the young males without a territory.

But in spite of the harshness of otter life, I enjoyed the book so much, especially Cooper's voice. I also enjoyed learning about the otters' habitat, the chalkstream. There are only 200 chalkstreams in the world, and almost all of them are in England. I also enjoyed reading about how Kuschta and her pups become a part of the rhythm of life for Simon and his family at their millhouse home. The narrative spans the seasons within a year, and the descriptions of the immediate area, the chalkstream, the fields, and the hedgerows are enchanting.

If you enjoy nature writing, I know you will love The Otters' Tale. Even if you aren't normally a nature reader, you might want to expand your horizons and read it anyway!

Are you interested in reading either of these books?

Until next time...

Happy reading!

Ricki Jill

Literary Friday: Two Fun Books With Animal Characters

Friday, September 13, 2024

Happy September, My Lovelies!

Welcome to the September 2022 edition of the Tales of the Traveling Tote! I only have one short weekend getaway to share with y'all. After chemo and before my surgery we decided to go to Mentone, Alabama. Our trip was at the end of June, and it was nice to escape to a place slightly cooler than Birmingham.

La Countess de Monet at one of the Welcome to Mentone sites.

Mentone is a small town located in Northeast Alabama. It boasts the highest elevation of all of Alabama's towns on the crest of Lookout Mountain (1,736 feet). There are several private camps located in Mentone (Camp Alpine for boys is one), and it is close to the Little River Canyon and DeSoto Falls.

DeSoto Falls is one of the tallest and most visited waterfalls in Alabama. It is named for Spanish explorer Hernando De Soto, and the 107 foot waterfall and the picnic area is part of DeSoto State Park on Lookout Mountain.

Photo by Sam Dellaporta on Unsplash

Note: The day we went to the park, it was a little rainy so I left my camera in the car.

Did you know that Alabama has a canyon? Yes, we do! AND it's on top of a mountain!

Little River Canyon National Preserve is a United States National Preserve located on top of Lookout Mountain near Fort Payne, Alabama, and DeSoto State Park. The canyon is sometimes said to be the nation's longest mountaintop river. Little River is unique because it flows for most of its length atop Lookout Mountain in northeast Alabama. Forested uplands, waterfalls, canyon rims and bluffs, pools, boulders, and sandstone cliffs offer settings for a variety of recreational activities.

Here are some photos, also taken by Sam Dellaporta:

Little River Canyon

Little River

Most people visit Mentone to relax and enjoy nature by hiking. Annually Mentone hosts several art festivals, but there was really nothing going on the weekend we went. We walked, ate at one of my favorite restaurants, visited a lovely farmer's market, and enjoyed a few of Mentone's pretty gardens.

Below are some photos I took: