When you can’t travel to new destinations, then it’s best to enjoy what’s local and watch or read about other times, other places. We did some of both this past week.
ORCHID SHOW—LOCAL COLOR
For their 45th annual orchid show, Selby Gardens honors founder Marie Selby and celebrates the 100th anniversary of women gaining the right to vote. Entitled, Women Breaking the Glasshouse Ceiling, the displays in the conservatory feature purple, white, and gold, the colors most closely associated with the suffrage movement. The orchids are beautiful as always, and this year, some of the arrangements revolve. There’s even a mobile of orchids and cut-outs.
Music from the 1920’s and period furnishings provide an appropriate backdrop. It’s all quite stylish.
The show runs until November 29 and is definitely worth a visit. There’s much more to see besides this exhibit. For a a video preview, click here.
EXOTIC LOCALES—VIEWING AND READING
The White Countess (Amazon Prime)
With a star-studded cast including Ralph Fiennes and Natasha Richardson as the principals, plus Lynn and Vanessa Redgrave, this is Merchant Ivory’s last film. It’s set in Shanghai in 1936, and former American diplomat Todd Jackson is a recluse. Now blind, his life marred by tragedy, he aimlessly whiles away his nights in sleazy clubs. He’s well off, but a displaced family of Russian emigres lives crowded together in the ghetto.
Among them is former countess Sofia, who works as a dancer and prostitute to support her young daughter Katya. Sofia becomes Todd’s muse and inspiration for creating his own elite nightclub. Watching these lost souls cautiously connect before the Japanese invade is a long drawn out process. The overall great cast makes this an enjoyable escape from the everyday. Thanks to my friend Mary for recommending it!
Singapore Sapphire by A. M. Stuart
Set in Singapore in 1910, this is the first in a series of mysteries featuring Harriet Gordon, a young widow and former suffragette, and Inspector Robert Curran. Harriet is a relatively recent arrival in Singapore. She volunteers at the English-style boys’ school headed up by her brother and takes on freelance typing jobs.
When Harriet goes to retrieve her typewriter from a recent client, Sir Oswald Newbold, she finds him dead and his study ransacked. Curran, a former military policeman and cricket star, is assigned with his team to find the killer. Other suspicious deaths and disappearances follow and Harriet, both curious and restless, gets involved too. Add into the mix, art and artifacts, ruby mines, and gem dealers and you have an engaging, even exciting, plot. (~JWFarrington)
Note: Photos ©JWFarrington (some rights reserved).
