Category: TV

Carolina Moments: Raleigh & More

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RALEIGH RAMBLE #2

MOORE SQUARE

We are continuing our Abroad at Home project.  You might say we are exploring our new region in nibbles. I mean that in terms of food, of course, but also in terms of how much ground we cover on each outing.  Lunch is the highlight, but beforehand we wander the several blocks adjacent to that day’s restaurant and see what we can see and maybe even go in a business or two.

Enjoying the sun in Moore Square
Cart with activities schedule

This week, the Chief Penguin and I focused on Moore Square.  This is a large square and a center for programs for kids, performances by buskers, craft activities, and the like.  A wide concrete walkway cuts through and in a few areas, beds of colorful zinnias beckon.  A low wall along one side provides a place to sit.  A photography exhibit, Click!, graced temporary wire fencing. This square also boasts a visitor’s center and clean public restrooms.

Photos are by Jeremy Janus

Moore Square was originally called Baptist Grove.  This was in honor of a small wooden church (built 1872) at the corner of Blount and Hargett Streets.  It was one of the first fully integrated churches in Raleigh and served several congregations there until 1896.

We strolled around the area, noting the brick sidewalks (a la Cambridge, MA) and the brick buildings. We stopped in the small art gallery across from City Market where we had an engaging conversation with two women artists about art in the city and election politics.  

Later, looking at a sign about historic City Market and its current tenants, a pleasant-looking man asked if we needed help.  He proceeded to tell us he had worked nearby for many years and highly recommended Sosta Cafe in the Red Hat Amphitheater for its menu’s French slant, while also acknowledging Big Ed’s southern restaurant next door.

DIM SUM LUNCH

Restaurant with transit center behind

We had a reservation at Brewery Bhavana, a welcoming light-filled big space.  As its name suggests, it has more than 20 of its beers on tap plus wine and cocktails, all to accompany a menu of dim sum and other dishes.  Part of their attraction is a book-lined wall in the back and selected new books and beautiful bouquets of flowers for sale up front. 

Ladies at lunch in Brewery Bhavana

I am not much of a beer drinker, but I did sample Brisk, a very low alcohol Pilsener, while the Chief Penguin went for a very hoppy IPA.  

We shared and loved the pork and scallion dumplings, curry chicken filled buns, and an order of the cucumber salad with Szechuan vinaigrette.  There are lots more temptations on the menu, and we must return!

VIEWING: THOUGHTFUL BRITISH CRIME SERIES

RIDLEY, Season 2 (PBS or Prime Video)

Adrian Dunbar as Ridley (whro.org)

Detective Inspector Alex Ridley is retired, but acts as a consultant to Carol, one of his former colleagues, in this new season of Ridley.  Alex Ridley is a brooding guy and a musician, still haunted by the deaths of his wife Kate and daughter Ella.  Part owner of a local club, he regularly plays and sings there.  At work, he’s apt to go off on his own, then returning to offer his cogent thoughts.  

The episodes in this season are all in 2 parts.  There’s a depth and complexity to them which make for rewarding viewing.  A case involving a former colleague and an earlier murder is especially poignant.  Compared to Moonflower Murders, which we are also watching, this series probes character, while the other is slick and sometimes amusing.  Ridley is serious stuff.  Recommended! (~JWFarrington)

A BIT OF FUN

RAZZMATAZZ SENIOR DANCE TROUPE

(Facebook.com)

I had the fun of seeing Razzmatazz perform this past week. They are a group of senior women who love to dance and who perform to Broadway hits old and new. With lots of kicking and a different sparkly, sequined costume for each number, their enthusiasm was infectious. The audience smiled, tapped their feet, and even bobbed along. At the end, each dancer introduced herself and gave her age. They ranged from 65 up to 81 years, the oldest of these limber dancers. Fun!

Note: Header photo was taken in Moore Square. All unattributed photos ©JWFarrington (some rights reserved.)

Carolina Comments: Having Fun!

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KINDS OF FUN

With all the tension in the world and around the upcoming election, it can be helpful to have an outlet that distracts us, makes us laugh, or gets us up and moving around. This week, you get a TV series, a fun novel, and Olympics for the mature set.

ADVENTURES IN WINE MAKING, KIWI STYLE

Under the Vines, Season 3 (Prime Video)

William, Louis, & Daisy (primevideo.com)

In this latest season of Under the Vines, Daisy and Louis, co-inheritors of Oakley Wines, are challenged by the arrival of obnoxious William, who claims to own part of the winery.  Their focus is on scheming both legally and otherwise to get him to leave, while Daisy plans her upcoming wedding.  

The supporting cast includes the mostly silent, but talented winemaker Tippy, their local friends Nic and Vic who are awaiting the arrival of twins, and Gus, who returns when his relationship with movie start Griff collapses.  Add in their chief competitors Don and Marissa and the somewhat flaky Hilary, fortune teller and devotee of the occult, and you have a spirited ensemble.  

 This comedy-drama is fun and occasionally silly, an energizing change from crime shows.  It’s best to start with the first season, but I think this one is the best.  Recommended!

FINDING ONESELF THROUGH FOOD

The Paris Novel by Ruth Reichl

Reichl (austin.eater.com)

Ruth Reichl’s The Paris Novel has a bit of everything: scenes of Paris, that famous bookstore Shakespeare & Company, and appearances by literary figures like James Baldwin, John Ashbery, and Allen Ginsburg. And of course, food and cooking.  Knitting it together is Stella’s somewhat delayed coming-of-age story.  

At her mother’s death, Stella is left with money and the directive, “Go to Paris.”  She has lived a sheltered, controlled life.  She wasn’t close to her mother, she works as a copy editor, and she hasn’t ventured out of her comfort zone.  Paris overwhelms her, and Stella flounders a bit until Jules, a kindly older art collector and widower, takes her under his wing.  

She discovers the bookstore, drops in there, and reluctantly becomes a Tumbleweed, those who help in exchange for the privilege of staying overnight in an alcove.  Stella’s main quest has to do with finding out about a piece of art (Jules is helpful here). Secondarily, she wonders about the mystery father she never knew or was told about.  In the process, she samples all manner of French dishes and is pleased to learn that she has a discriminating palate and perhaps even talent in the kitchen.

There’s a lot going on in this novel, probably too many strands, but it’s a fun adventure—watching Stella expand her horizons while vicariously savoring all those luscious French meals.  For those who might not know, Reichl was the editor of Gourmet magazine for ten years. Bon appetit!

MATURE OLYMPICS

Brightspire Olympics

Who would have thought that senior living communities would host an annual Olympics?  Well, to my surprise and skepticism, four Continuing Care Retirement Communities (CCRCs) in North Carolina compete each fall in a host of activities, both physical and mental.  There are some obvious events like bocce ball, pickleball, and walking races, but also timed puzzle contests and a quiz bowl.  Residents sign up in the summer for their preferred event and practices are held.  There are even cheerleaders, decked out in short skirts and tops with pompoms ready!

For those of us, like me, who were spectators only, highlights included cheering the arrival of the other teams midst band music, the opening parade of all the competitors (lead athlete with a torch, of course), chair dancing and line dancing performances, and witnessing the nail-biting last round of the quiz bowl competition.  A spirit of fun and camaraderie reigned all day at Glenaire.  It was hard not to get caught up in it!

Showcasing Olympic smiles

Note: Unattributed photos ©JWFarrington (some rights reserved.)

Carolina Comments: Park, Drama, & Book

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OUT AND ABOUT:  POCKET PARK IN CARY

Kay Struffolino Park

The Meeting Place

Initially, this parklet on the edge of downtown was named “Meeting Place Park” for the sculpture in its center. Later it was renamed in honor of Kay Struffolino, a long-time Cary resident and active volunteer with the town’s parks and recreation and the cultural arts. 

The Meeting Place is a ceramic sculpture house by Danish artist Nina Hole (1941-2016) commissioned by the town.  Building and firing it involved 36 volunteers and 175 hours over three weeks from mid-October to early November 2012.  

From the town website: Her method of using slabs as modular building blocks enable her to make very larger sculptures which she raku fires in situ wrapping the structure in a blanket of high temperature refractory fabric that acts as the kiln during the firing. She uses a number of assistants and considers the process, including the stimulating communal experience of working with a group of people, as important as the final product. Fired through the night, the spectacular effect of the glowing form as it is unwrapped is the peak moment of the event. 

Kay Struffolino Park

VIEWING: A BROTHEL IN WARTIME

Madame K (Prime Video & PBS)

Mr. Metsla and Mrs. Kukk (rmpbs.org)

In this dramatic series, a group of young women with diverse backgrounds work in an elite brothel run by Mrs. Kukk aka Madame K.  The setting is an elegant villa in Tallinn, Estonia, beginning in October 1939.  Foreign Ministry Counselor, Mr. Metsla, friend and suitor to Mrs. K., is instrumental in moving the brothel to this house.  Their clients include Baltic Germans and then high-ranking Russians.  New girls are added, the war intensifies, dark secrets are revealed, and events at hand take on a deeper, somber tone.  

The 10-part series is in Estonian with subtitles and presents yet another facet and face of WWII. Recommended!

READING:  CARRYING ON AFTER A SUDDEN DEATH

Us, After:  A Memoir of Love and Suicide by Rachel Zimmerman

When Rachel Zimmerman’s 50-year-old husband, without any warning, jumped off a bridge, she was both devastated and worried for her two daughters, ages 8 and 11.  Seth was a noted and driven robotics professor; Zimmerman a seasoned reporter who worked for the Wall St. Journal at one time. 

Trained to be observant, Zimmerman becomes hyper focused on looking for answers to why he did it: contacting experts, raising many questions, and, along the way, excavating the layers of their courtship and their marriage.  Simultaneously, she embraces parenthood and seeks to be both mother and father to her girls.  

In part, the book is an exploration of one’s public persona versus one’s private self, Seth’s especially, but also her own.  A no-holds-barred discussion of their lives, it describes how she and her resilient girls re-surface and re-engage with the world.  It is raw reading at points, but ultimately uplifting as this threesome moves forward. (~JWFarrington)

Note: Header photo is a close-up of the sculpture in Kay Struffolino Park. All unattributed photos ©JWFarrington (some rights reserved.)

Maine Moments: Art & Drama

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FARNSWORTH ART MUSEUM: PART 1

The Farnsworth Art Museum is in Rockland around two hours north of Portland.  It’s noted for its extensive collection of works by three generations of the Wyeth family and its focus on Maine and artists working in Maine.  The Chief Penguin and I visit this museum annually; this time our motivation was a new exhibit of Jamie Wyeth’s work, but more about that exhibit in a future blog post.

This week we enjoyed Magwintegwak: A Legacy of Penobscot Basketry, were impressed by Louise Nevelson’s paintings and sculpture, and were introduced to a tsunami of color in Lynne Drexler’s recently restored pieces, Color Notes, Paintings from 1959-1969.

WABANAKI BASKETS

The Penobscot Indian Island Reservation, informally known as Indian Island, was the site of basket weaving going back to 1800. North of Rockland along the Penobscot River, part of it extends to Bangor.  Wabanaki weavers here made a variety of baskets for daily life as well as more decorative artistic ones.  For many years, they set up basket-selling tents on well-traveled routes and sold their handmade creations to tourists and others. Their baskets were, and still are, generally made of brown ash and lovely fragrant sweetgrass.  

Curly bowl Penobscot basket, 1920
Glowing Sunset Carrabbassett, Sarah Sockbeson, 2011

Robert Anderson spent much of his life collecting and documenting the basketry of these Penobscot weavers, learning from his grandparents Leo and Florence Shay and from successive generations of weavers.  It’s thanks to his legacy that this exhibit was possible.  The Wabanaki also made miniature baskets to use or to show off their skills.

Strawberry, blueberry & pumpkin miniatures

LOUISE NEVELSON: SCULPTOR & PAINTER

Child from a collection, Nevelson

Louise Nevelson was born in Ukraine, but grew up in Rockland after her parents emigrated.  Years later, she was astonished and delighted to discover this wonderful art museum in her small hometown.  She donated many of her works to the Farnsworth, and this exhibit is just a sample from the collection.

I liked the small black figures and also her two self portraits. She favored black for virtually all of her sculpted work, but later she created an elaborate and monumental wedding piece in white. The Farnsworth owns one column from it.

Woman with a Red Scarf, self portrait, 1947

COLOR NOTES: “I COULD ALWAYS FIND THE COLOR”

Lynne Drexler (1928-1999) was considered a second-generation Abstract Expressionist whose work was influenced by time spent in Hawaii, California, and Mexico.  She created with colored chalk, crayons, paint, and colored pencils. Later in her life, she lived like a hermit on Monhegan Island. Years after her death, this little known artist’s paintings sold for more than a million dollars.

Shimmering Rays

Some of her works use different materials that make the colors pop and look alive like this vibrant study in pinks, greens, and lavender.

Untitled, Lynne Drexler

WATCHING: SPANISH SOAP

Betrayal (PBS Passport)

Roberto backed by mother and siblings (rmpbs.org)

Passport offerings curated by Walter Presents are generally very good.  I’m less sure about Betrayal, although the Chief Penguin and I seem to be committed enough to keep watching.  We have completed six of the eight episodes.

Influential, well-connected attorney Julio Fuentes and his firm were close to merging with a UK law firm when he died suddenly.  His family—widow, three daughters, and one son—are in disarray when his death is ruled a murder and when another son, Carlos, unknown to them, shows up. 

Emotions in this group run high with shouting, angry outbursts, and hasty actions.  Son Roberto wants to divorce his wife and has another woman; brother-in-law Victor, the firm’s financial manager, has personal money troubles; and sister Almudena’s son Sergio is suspicious of his stepfather’s behavior and believes he’s lying to his mother.  Meanwhile matriarch Pilar works mightily to control everyone’s actions to her bidding.  

This is just a sampling of the layers of complexity, the lies, and the secrets.  Who is betraying whom or how many betrayals are there?  And who killed Julio Fuentes?  Overall, the plot is less than convincing, the characters lack depth, and yet we keep tuning in!  In Castilian Spanish with English subtitles.

Note: Header photo is a point basket by Ganessa Frey, 2006. Unattributed photos by JWFarrington (some rights reserved.)