My September books

This is an overview of the books I have finished in a month (not necessarily started in the same month) and those I have read to Gundel (marked with 😸).
I will be adding a short explanation why I chose a book or how I found it and possibly if it's a re-read candidate, but I'm usually not going to add real reviews or ratings (Gundel also refuses to give ratings). Should you want a little more information on a book you're interested in, though, just let me know.

"The Palm House" by Gwendoline Riley, first published in 2026 

The story of the friendship between Laura and Putnam. And some other people.

A new entry on OverDrive.
Maybe it would have helped if I had been interested in any of the characters or even liked them. Or could it have been the style? "Blabla," he said. "Blubb," he said. "Yes," I said. "Blah," he said. "No," I said. My English teacher would have thrown the blackboard eraser at me if I had written like that. I just didn't DNF because I didn't want to start my month like that.

"Gaudy Night" by Dorothy L. Sayers, first published in 1935 

Harriet Vane returns to her alma mater, the all-female Shrewsbury College in Oxford, for the Gaudy, a reunion fest for alumnae.
When poison pen letters and ugly graffiti appear in the college and there are acts of vandalism, the dons ask Harriet for help because they want to avoid a scandal. She can't solve the puzzle by herself and asks Lord Peter Wimsey for assistance.

I can't tell you how often I have read this book. It's an unusual mystery for sure and thanks to the many classic quotes and the length it's probably not for everyone, but I love it and it's a real comfort read for me.

"Effi Briest" by Theodor Fontane, first published in 1895 (the spelling "Effie" on the cover is a typo!) 

As a young man, Baron Geert von Innstetten courted Luise Briest, but couldn't marry her because of his status at the time.
Now he comes to ask for the hand of Effi, Luise's daughter (if you wonder, she's 17, he's 38), encouraged by Luise.
Effi is attracted by his improved social status, but with the difference in age and disposition the marriage is not what both of them have hoped for, especially when Effi meets the charming Major Crampas.

This is part of my personal challenge to read at least one German classic a month.
I really enjoyed this novel which is an example of literary realism.

"The Fairy Ring or Elsie and Frances Fool the World" by Mary Losure, first published in 2012 

1917. Cousins Elsie and Frances can see fairies and goblins and to stop their family making fun of them, they take photographs with paper dolls drawn and cut out by Elsie. They hadn't expected to catch the attention of fairy believers such as Arthur Conan Doyle.

The story of the Cottingley Fairies told for children was a very quick read. It never ceases to amaze me how readily some people accepted this to be true. However, Frances claimed until her death that the photos may have been a hoax, but that she had indeed seen fairies.

"Deadly Nightshade" by Elizabeth Daly, first published in 1940
(Henry Gamadge 2)

Detective Mitchell asks Henry Gamadge - consultant for old books, letters, etc. - to help him with a case of nightshade poisoning. One child dies, one is missing. Was it an accident or is something more sinister behind it?

This was a recommendation on The Internet Archive. I have to admit that I'm still a little confused, but still interested to try more Gamadge books.

"Under Water with Ogden Nash" by Ogden Nash, first published in 1997

A collection of Ogden Nash's poems about animals in and around the water.

I searched for something else and the cover drew me in. The poems are mostly very short, so it just took minutes, but I really enjoyed both them and the beautiful illustrations.

"After Tea and Other Stories" by Dorothy Whipple, first published in 1941 😸

The short stories delves into human relationships - between parents and children, friends, couples, siblings, neighbors - and how they can change in certain situations.

I had really enjoyed Whipple's "High Wages" and the same goes for these stories.
I also learned that Gundel doesn't have much patience being read to when it's too hot (the summer made us both quite crabby), so this one took us longer than usual, but now that temps went down a little, we got back on track 😄

"A Tiger's Wedding: My Childhood in Exile" by Isla Blair, first published in 2011

Actress Isla Blair's parents were part of the British Raj in India, her father managed a tea plantation. As usual in those times, children were eventually sent "home" to Britain to go to school there.
Blair talks about her childhood experiences, years without parents except for rare visits and how she and her sister had to build up the relationship again after her parents finally returned home when plantations were taken over by local managers.

This was a random find on The Internet Archive.
It's hard to imagine how it must be to be that far away from your parents as a small child, and the school memories were quite sad. The parts about India seemed a little clichéd, but I can't say if it was due to the content or the way those memories were described.
The last part about how Blair started her career and then had her own family felt kind of tacked on to me because it was rather short. 

"I See You've Called In Dead" by John Kenney, first published in 2025 

Divorced and middle-aged obituary writer Bud Stanley makes a big mistake. After a failed blind date he gets drunk and publishes his own obituary.
Suspended from his job, he happens to meet a woman going to the wakes and funerals of strangers encouraging him to do the same to learn about life.

A new entry on OverDrive.
At first I wasn't even sure if I wanted to read it because I didn't know what to expect - turns out it was laughter and tears. I read the book in one day because I couldn't stop.

"An Island Rooing" by Joan Grigsby, first published in 1933 

The book tells of an expedition to Shetland the author went on in 1931. It's divided in four parts - The Isle, The Croft, The Fishing, Landfall.

Liz from "Adventures in reading, running and working from home" reviewed the book on her blog (you can find the post here) and I was looking for something out of my comfort zone aka usual genres, so I read it. I won't claim understanding everything (I know nothing about shipping), but what I enjoyed most were the parts about the knitting and the baskets used for the herrings.
The copy I read online also had a little something for my librarian's heart.

I'll suggest the wet weather part to my own department 😉

"The Three Investigators in The Mystery of the Nervous Lion" by Nick West (the books were published attributed to Alfred Hitchcock), first published in 1971 😸
(The Three Investigators 16)

The Three Investigators are called to Jungle Land, a wild-animal farm. George, the tame lion, is supposed to appear in a movie, but he has been very nervous lately. Will the boys find out why?

Not a favorite in the series. Firstly, we don't like the idea of farms like this one and secondly, a black panther (!) was shot. We also didn't approve of the cover illustration.
I read this series a long time ago and am going through it again bit by bit after writing a blog post about it.

"The Match Between the Winds" by Shirley Climo, first published in 1991 

The book retells a folktale from Borneo. The West Wind and the East Wind who are cousins have a contest. Who will be able to blow Kodok, the tree frog, from his leaf?

Another minute read. I'm a huge fan of the cartoonist, animator, children's book author, and illustrator Liz Climo. I hadn't known that her mother is a children's book author before Liz mentioned it on her Instagram. I looked her up and the illustration by Roni Shepherd drew me in.

"The Astral Library" by Kate Quinn, first published in 2026 

Alix is at a low point in her life when she gets invited to become a patron of the Astral Library and choose a book to live in.

A new entry on OverDrive. I loved the idea of living in a book. What the book turned into was a comment on the purpose of libraries and their future in a money-oriented world.
While I agree on many of the issues mentioned - I'm a librarian of the old-fashioned sort -, the combination of them with fantasy just didn't work for me and I struggled to make it through. I also found the book to be quite repetitive and too wordy for this plot (if I run away from someone, I don't indulge in descriptions of fashion, etc.). Too much different things crammed into one book.

"Miss Elizas englische Küche" = "Miss Elizas English Kitchen" by Annabel Abbs, first published in 2021 

Eliza Acton is known for being the author of one of Britain's first cookery books (published in 1845).
The book tells the story of how and why she got started and of her assistant Ann.

This was a random find at my library. Although I hardly ever cook myself, I like hearing and reading about it. I would have liked to read more about food than about poetry, but it was a quick read.

"The Two Mrs. Abbotts" by D. E. Stevenson, first published in 1943

We are in 1942 and things have changed. Barbara and Arthur Abbott have two children now, Jerry Abbott's husband and Arthur's nephew Sam has gone off to war.
We meet people who are new to the Wandlebury circle.

I found this book which is the last one in the "Miss Buncle" trilogy even calmer than the second one. I enjoyed it and it was really just right for the day I read it.
Nevertheless, it felt more like single stories that were connected in some way and not so much like a flowing narrative if that makes sense - and of course I would have liked a lot more Barbara and Arthur than we got!

"Cotillion" by Georgette Heyer, first published in 1952

Matthew Penicuik has brought up the orphaned Kitty, a school friend's daughter, in his home. Now he wants to make his will and tells his great-nephews that the one among who will marry Kitty will get his money. He has been counting on Kitty and Jack marrying, but Jack has refused to be put on the spot like this.
So Kitty persuades Freddy to fake a betrothal and take her to London in order to make Jack jealous.
Things don't go as they both have expected it, though.

I love a Georgette Heyer re-read and "Cotillion" is one of my top favorites of hers.

"The Snark Was a Boojum" by Gerald Verner and Chris Verner, first published in 2015 (Gerald Verner wrote the book in 1957, his son Chris finished it in 2015)

Someone is committing murders based on Lewis Carroll's nonsense poem "The Hunting of the Snark".
Amateur detective Simon Gale investigates with the help of solicitor Jeff Trueman.

I think this was a recommendation on The Internet Archive and the title drew me in as I have read "The Hunting of the Snark".
Interestingly, I found that - although I enjoyed this whodunit - I really prefer detectives who are more on the quiet, elegant side, maybe with a touch of humor. Simon Gale didn't speak, he cried, boomed, growled, roared, he was impatient, furious, banged his fist on the table, and was altogether a bit too much for me.

"Die Abenteuer des starken Wanja" = "The Adventures of Strong Vanya" by Otfried Preußler, first published in 1968

Farmer's son Vanya is told that he's destined to become Tsar, so he sets out for adventure.

This was a re-read for a blog post, therefore the very short description.

"Someone Saw a Spider: Spider Facts and Folktales" by Shirley Climo, first published in 1985 😸

The book is a collection of interesting facts about spiders and of folk tales from Africa, Japan, Portugal, Scotland, and other countries.

Liz Climo (see above) mentioned this book her mother wrote on Instagram the other day.
I think spiders are absolutely fascinating.

"Die Erscheinung" by Anselma Heine, first published in 1912

On a ship back to Germany after spending time on the island of Nauru, Dr. Arnold Riedhammer meets the Dutch lady Johne Stevens. They are so attracted to one another that they want to stay together once Johne is free from her unhappy marriage, but one day Johne is suddenly gone.

I read this novella because an episode in a silent movie I watched was based on it.

"Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont" by Elizabeth Taylor, first published in 1971

The widowed Laura Palfrey moves into the Claremont Hotel in London as one of several elderly residents. The only family she has in town is her grandson who never visits her.
Then she meets young Ludovic, an aspiring writer, when she falls in front of his building. They start talking and eventually she asks him to pretend to be her grandson to stop the other residents wondering about her family.

Deb from Readerbuzz shared a book by Elizabeth Taylor (not the actress) the other day. It sounded interesting and I randomly picked this one to read by its title.
It was undoubtedly a good read and I will definitely look for more of Taylor's books, but I also found the book utterly depressing, maybe because the humor was too gentle and I imagined myself in that situation, being old and lonely like that.
Before reading it, I didn't know about the 2005 movie, by the way.


If you write book reviews or blog posts about other book-related matters - even movies based on books - please check out "A Good Book and a Cup of Tea", a monthly bookish blog link party that I co-host with  Lisa from Boondock Ramblings and Erin from Still Life, With Cracker Crumbs. You can find out more about it here or directly click through to the current party via the image in the right hand column.

Random Saturday - "Litfaßsäulen"

What are "Litfaßsäulen", I feel you think.
You may know them as advertising columns (or pillars), but maybe you don't have them in your area anymore or just haven't given them much thought.
In fact I have been walking by one every time on the way home from the bus, but I'm so used to it, I hadn't even been aware of it.
What brought the columns back to my mind actively was this tin. It used to hold gingerbread, a co-worker gave it to me for Christmas years ago. I put it with my Steiff animals because of the Steiff "poster". The mix of "advertisements" is a bit strange, but it's a pretty tin.
The picture in the center on the right is one of the Litfaßsäulen that still exist in town.

I have no idea what the highest number of Litfaßsäulen in town was, but not all of them still exist.
This is a bad picture (a cutout of an old postcard from around 1940) of one that isn't there anymore. Actually, the houses behind it aren't, either. You can just about see that the column has a pretty domed roof and some kind of pattern underneath.
The few I still know of in town today are very simple with flat concrete roofs and none of those in my area have any posters up at the moment.

Most advertisements are on billboards, old-fashioned ones, but of course also more and more digital ones. While the old column has become rare compared to old times, it's not gone completely, though.

Where did "Litfaßsäulen" come from and why the strange name?
They were invented in 1854 by a Berlin printer, Ernst Litfaß. His suggestion was to use them for advertising to avoid people putting advertisements and pamphlets just anywhere from walls to trees (and of course he wanted to make money with them). The city of Berlin granted Litfaß a monopoly until 1865 under the condition that news were also posted on the new columns (for free), and the first ones were put up in 1855.

Lithography by F. G. Nordmann, ca. 1855
Public domain via Wikimedia Commons 

The columns became so popular that the idea spread to other cities in Germany and also other countries, with designs such as the "colonne Morris" in France.
Some of them were not only used for advertising, but could/can also house public toilets, phone boxes, ticket machines, and even flower shops!

A little selection of "Litfaßsäulen"  (via Wikimedia Commons)
1. Flower shop in the street "Lange Reihe" in Hamburg (1975)
Picture by Norbirt, CC BY-SA 3.0 
2. Colonne Morris in Paris 1910. Picture by Eugène Atget, public domain
3. Concrete "Litfaßsäule" in Trostberg. Picture by LepoRello, CC BY-SA 3.0
4. "Litfaßsäule" in Vienna with a poster recognizing the cultural importance
over 170 years. Picture by Blausonorisch, CC BY-SA 4.0

In 2019, people in Berlin were shocked to hear that a big part of the existing 2,548 columns were about to be dismantled. One of the reasons given was the age and condition and concerns about possible asbestos in the concrete.
As I said above, you are so used to them that you don't really pay any attention, but to many the idea of them being gone felt like taking down history. There were protests and art installations. After determining the historical value, however, only 24 of them were chosen to be protected as historical monuments.
Maybe there wouldn't have been such an outcry if the new standardized columns didn't look so boring? I doubt they have the charm of this Art Nouveau example from 1901 in Karlsruhe.

No machine-readable author provided.
Ikar.us? (based on copyright claims),
CC BY 2.0 DE via Wikimedia Commons

Let's come to a famous column now, though. If you are a fan of classic movies, you may know this one, but do you also know that it wasn't real?
Of course I mean the column in "The Third Man". For those who don't know the movie - the American writer Holly Martins comes to post-WW II Vienna to meet his friend Harry Lime who has promised him a job. He learns that Harry has been killed in an accident, but one night he spots him in the street and follows him to a square - but Harry is gone.

The column is an entrance to Vienna's sewer system where the last chase after Harry takes place at the end.
Vienna still has four such columns, but the one in the movie never existed. The scene was filmed at the square Am Hof, but the only column you'll find there is a 17th century Marian column.

Picture by Gugerell, CC0
via Wikimedia Commons

I said to Martins: "Did you look inside the newspaper kiosk or was it locked?"
"Oh, it wasn't exactly a newspaper kiosk," he said. "It was one of those solid iron kiosks you see everywhere plastered with posters."
...
We stopped at the kiosk. "You see he passed behind here and simply vanished - into the ground."
"That was exactly where he did vanish to," I said.
"How do you mean?"
An ordinary passer-by would never have noticed that the kiosk had a door, and of course it had been dark when the man disappeared.
...
"It's one of the entrances to the main sewer."
(from the novel "The Third Man" by Graham Greene)

In the shot, the Marian column was hidden and the kiosk was just a prop.
I'm aware that this might be a bit of an anticlimax to the end of the post, I'm sorry. Nevertheless, I hope you enjoyed this little glimpse in the history of the "Litfaßsäule".


Sources and further reading:

1. Andrea Westhoff: Vor 165 Jahren - Die Geburtsstunde der Litfaßsäulen. On: Deutschlandfunk, December 5, 2019 (in German)
2. Andreas Becker: Streit um Litfaßsäulen-Austausch in Berlin: Säulenheilige verschwinden. On: Deutschlandfunk, July 25, 2019 (in German)
3. Kate Connolly: Last stand for Berlin's ageing concrete advertising pillars. On: The Guardian, March 31, 2019
4. "Litfaßsäule" on German Wikipedia

Weekend Traffic Jam - Week 175

Welcome to the Weekend Traffic Jam Reboot!

My posts for the link up will go live on Thursdays at 9:30 p.m. EDT or, if you live in the future like I do, on Fridays at 3:30 a.m. CE(S)T.

I bet you didn't know that one of my sidelines is being a paparazza - at least according to Gundel.
"What??" "Nothing. Just taking a picture of you looking cute sleeping on the wooden chest between a soft pillow and a soft blanket, you little weirdo." "Hear who's talking. Now get your weird self and that camera out of my eyes, I'm trying to take a nap."
Great. Told off by the mistress of the house again. 

***

And now my contribution to Anne's and Olivia's "Friday Book Snippets" where you share a quote - a sentence or short paragraph - from the beginning of a book you read at the moment and one from page 56 (or another).

Today, mine are from the 1957 book "The Snark Was a Boojum" by Gerald Verner and Chris Verner, his son, who finished his father's novel in 2015.
As so often, I looked for something else and came across this book named after a sentence of Lewis Carroll's nonsense poem "The Hunting of the Snark" (which I first came upon through an episode of the British crime show "Lewis").
A murderer uses his victims to recreate scenes from the poem and amateur detective Simon Gale investigates.
Verner wrote a lot, but I had never heard the name before. I only just started the book, so I can't say yet if I'll like it.

Beginning (leaving out the quote from the "Snark" poem): "I realised, afterwards, that murder must have been in the mind of the murderer long before the dinner party at Hunter's Meadow."
Page 56: "The first people I ran into in the high street whom I knew were Mr. and Mrs. Hope. Mrs. Hope was shoehorned into a tailored suit, and Mr. Hope wore a suit of plus-fours in a hideous shade of ginger. They spotted me before I could find a way of dodging them, so I resolved to make the best of it, praying Hope wouldn't start another of his share deal sagas."

***

Back to the Weekend Traffic Jam.
As part of the reboot, we will be featuring a different blog every week.
How about stopping by and saying hello? Let them know we sent you.

This week our spotlight is on Road Gypsies - Val and Holland.

Val from Road Gypsies - Val & Holland says: " Hi 👋 We're Val & Holland Redmill … living our Life Story as silver-haired Road Gypsies in our 5th wheel RV Home~40 months married & 60,000 miles traveled across America; covered in grace every Day & trying mightily not to lose our sanctification during the bad & ugly times. I post everywhere - about everything: and if what I post can help someone else, I'm glad for the experience. But from sunrise to sunset, we live our Life for US. Trusting Elohim every step of the way!" 

Marsha from Marsha in the Middle started blogging in 2021 as an exercise in increasing her neuroplasticity. Oh, who are we kidding? Marsha started blogging because she loves clothes, and she loves to talk or, in this case, write!

Melynda from Scratch Made Food! & DIY Homemade Household - The name says it all, we homestead in East Texas, with three generations sharing this land. I cook and bake from scratch, between gardening and running after the chickens, and knitting!

Lisa from Boondock Ramblings shares about the fiction she writes and reads, her faith, homeschooling, photography and more.

Cat from Cat's Wire has what she calls a jumping spider brain. She has many interests and will blog about whatever catches her attention - crafts, books, old movies, collectibles or random things.

Rena from Fine Whatever Blog writes about style, midlife, and the "fine whatever" moments that make life both meaningful and fun. Since 2015, she's been celebrating creativity, confidence, and finding joy in the everyday.


Here are some of my picks from last week's link up.

Soma invites everyone to participate in an art challenge.

Lydia talks about the dangers of AI companion bots.

Debbie has done some Halloween crafting.

Judee tells us a story about a Boston duck mama and her ducklings.

Katharine shows us how to extend your wardrobe with a three piece set.


Let's link up!

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Silent movies - The Eagle

The moment had to come eventually. I can't watch silent movies and leave out Rudolph Valentino forever. You might expect I'd start with "The Sheik" (which was the only movie of his I had heard of before starting my project), but instead I chose "The Eagle" from 1925 without knowing much about either film. Let's see if it was a good choice.

This is the plot (with spoilers).

We dive right in with Lieutenant Vladimir Doubrovsky from the Imperial Guard saving a runaway carriage with a lovely young lady (and her aunt) in it.

He has been watched by Czarina Catherine the Great whose favorite horse he has unknowingly taken. She's more than impressed by the handsome lieutenant, she even hints at making him a general ... but there's a price Vladimir isn't prepared to pay.

He declines and leaves when Catherine goes off to slip into something more comfortable. Understandable ... maybe. Smart? Not so much. The snubbed empress puts a price on his head.
To make things even worse, he learns from a letter that his father has been tricked out of his estate by the new neighbor Kyrilla and wants him to appeal to the Czarina. Bad timing.
Coming home to find his father dying, Vladimir swears vengeance against Kyrilla and his kin and becomes The Black Eagle (just look at that clever mask).
One day his gang brings back Kyrilla's daughter Mascha. She's the young lady from the carriage, but she doesn't recognize him and lets him know that "she doesn't associate with masked men as a rule". Of course he lets her go.

At the post station, Vladimir meets Monsieur Le Blanc, the new French tutor for Kyrilla's daughter. He decides to pose as the new tutor himself, and just when he wants to stab Kyrilla, Mascha comes in. When they shake hands, Mascha notices the signet ring she has seen on The Black Eagle before, but Vladimir says that he had been held up by the bandit who gave him the ring to pass it on to her.
After a "little dinner", Kyrilla asks Vladimir to go to his wine cellar to get a bottle. It's a cruel trick he plays on guests as there's a bear on a chain in the cellar. Mascha is outraged and goes in there. The chain snaps, the bear turns on her and Vladimir shoots him.

The camera started at the end and then traveled
backwards along the middle of the
long table, an amazing shot!

At night, Mascha notices how The Black Eagle goes into her father's room carrying a pistol and she follows him. Despite her father imploring her to shoot him, however, she tells him to go.
Her father appoints the "French tutor" to be his bodyguard and Mascha doesn't know what to do knowing who he really is.

Finally she threatens to give away his identity, but can't do it. Meanwhile Kyrilla's cossacks have found The Black Eagle's second in command, but before he gets whipped, Vladimir admits who he is.
Mascha confesses her love to him and they escape through a secret passage, but they get caught between the Czarina's and Kyrilla's cossacks and Vladimir is imprisoned.

The death warrant is signed and Vladimir's last wish - to marry Mascha - is fulfilled.
The Czarina is not willing to forgive Vladimir even if General Kuschka (who was not as averse to Catherine's suggestions as Vladimir) tries to convince her to let him go. When hearing about his execution, however, she's overcome with grief - and when Kuschka asks her to sign the passport for a "Monsieur Le Blanc" and she finds out that the shots she has heard were just a demonstration, she graciously waves to the young couple driving off into their future.

General Kuschka, you sly old fox.

I really didn't know much at all about Rudolph Valentino. I knew he was born in Italy, that he became the first "Latin Lover", that he had a lot of female fans, and that he died young, with only 31 years (100 years ago on August 23th). In fact, this was one of his last movies. And what a fun one it was!
After a Hollywood hiatus and studio change in the early 20s, "The Eagle" was an attempt to bring Valentino back, not only for his female fan base, but also male viewers.

We know how successful Douglas Fairbanks was with his mix of adventure, stunts, and humor, and "The Eagle" has all of that as well. I had expected the adventure and stunts, but I was surprised at all the chuckles right from the start.

Vilma Bánky as Mascha and Valentino had a great chemistry, also because she's not just the helpless lady who needs saving, but stands up to The Black Eagle. I think I'll have to look up some of her other films as I really liked her a lot in this one.
Louise Dresser was wonderful as Catherine, especially in the scene with Vladimir. That scene is particularly funny to me because it puts Valentino on the other side, not being the one seducing the woman, but being shocked by her trying to seduce him. His looks were hilarious.
The adventure may not offer much new - think "Robin Hood" or "Zorro" - but it's very well done (the only scenes I didn't like were those with the bear and I don't think I have to explain that).
The production design was beautiful and the costumes were amazing!
I enjoyed the movie immensely, so to reply to myself - yes, it was a very good choice! (Sorry, Doug, I still love you.)

A selection of funny scenes
1. The horse balks just when Catherine wants to get up.
2. Vladimir is disappointed when he finds Mascha hasn't waved at him, but her aunt.
3. Catherine tries to get Vladimir drunk, but they both pour their vodka into plant pots.
4. When Mascha is abducted by the Black Eagle gang, her aunt tries to sic Caesar on them.
5. Distracted by Mascha's beauty, Vladimir has put much too much pepper in his soup.
6. Mascha thinks Vladimir is trying to strangle her father, but it was just a massage for his
headache (the most violent one I've ever seen!).

P.S. If you want to read my reviews on two talkies about Catherine the Great, by the way, you can find them here: "The Scarlet Empress" with Marlene Dietrich and "The Rise of Catherine the Great" with Elisabeth Bergner.


Sources and further reading:

1. Gwenda Young: The Eagle. Essay for A Day of Silents 2023. On: San Francisco Silent Film Festival
2. Fritzi Kramer: The Eagle (1925) - A Silent Film Review. On: Movies Silently, February 4, 2013
3. Lea Stans: Rudolph Valentino - The Man Behind the Image. On: Silent-ology, March 12, 2019

Purple and pink and "bead chicken"

In my last post about the cube and bugle earrings I wrote that I also might try out the beaded triangle tutorial using Delicas and shorter bugles as intended.

I hadn't expected it to happen so quickly, but when I put the long bugles back in storage (that was fast this time!) I noticed a tube with short purple bugles.
My first plan was a pair of dark mysterious earrings, maybe in black and purple. I still like the idea, but when I went through my beads, a tube of magenta ones urgently demanded to be seen.
Okay, so not dark and mysterious, but bright and bold? As you wish.

Delicas "clicking into place" has something incredibly satisfying that I don't get from other beads. You can't really hear it, but feel it, no matter if it's between two other beads in peyote technique, between warp threads in bead looming or on top of each other in brick stitch.
Had you told me, by the way, that I would be saying something like that when I was stringing endless chains from very irregular seed beads at my schoolmate's house at the age of 11, I would have laughed at you.

For the third color, I chose galvanized berry from my really old stash, a kind of dusty rose.
While beading the first triangle, I already thought about the finished earrings, which leverbacks to use and where to attach them.
Yeah, didn't happen.
A little tip, if you're not sure whether you have enough beads, weigh or count them before you start a project unless you are a pro at yarn chicken like me (I used to be a knitter) - or "bead chicken" in this case? - and are ready for any outcome.
Just five more bugles and I could have made earrings. Gaaah!
Sometimes I wonder if I subconsciously do this on purpose to create a challenge for myself. Perhaps I'm just a little stupid, though.

Okay, new plan. A pendant after all. Not just the one triangle though, also because I had really wanted to use those bugles up now. In the smaller triangle the bead colors are reversed.
Talking about reversing - I hadn't even noticed at first that the pendant is reversible now. Funny how those things happen.

Triangles always remind me of Art Deco. Maybe I can take this design a little further eventually?
For now, however, I'll take a break from this shape.

The working box and what came out of it this time

Let me tell you about my working boxes. At the moment, I have more than one unfortunately.
There are times when I'm terrible about organizing my beads. Not in general. I have storage boxes and drawers for my bead and sort by type.
The problem is that beads that make it out of those for a project don't always make it back in there when I'm done. Instead they move to working boxes. For example, there's one box with a headless Barbie in it that I have started beading an outfit for in spring. I was struggling with one part, so I had to take a break from it. As outfits are beaded directly onto the dolls, I have to hold the whole doll - that's why the head has to come off to avoid neck splits from handling - and that can be very awkward. So far I haven't mustered the motivation for a new attempt.

Storage box turned into a working box for now.
Bead tubes tend to fall over one one another if you move
the box. And there's always thread in it and sometimes
little test pieces, but they are hidden under the lid here.

A working box can be around for a while. Maybe I pick beads for another project and afterwards they end up in the box. Eventually, I make it a challenge to make something just using what's in the box now which can be big fun. More often than not a piece starts out as a vague idea and then changes completely.
My current box is actually the storage tin for the cube beads. It also holds a few other bead types that came with the same surprise order and didn't get put away. Among them are large bugles.
I don't use bugles often. There are some in Christmas ornaments and I used up a big batch on my first bead embroidered sneakers, but those were shorter ones.

These twisted bugles are 12 mm, though, and I hadn't even intended to use them because I had no idea how.
What I wanted to make were some simple bead triangles and add a charm in the center. I have never beaded a triangle before, not a flat one, not a 3D one, so I went to YouTube to get an idea ... and once again walked off the path when I saw a tutorial using Delicas, but also 6 mm bugles that looked like fun.
It's one of those graphic 3D tutorials, and as I'm terrible with tuts in general, I had to get used to that format first and therefore went through a few mistakes and ripping.

These are some big triangles, over 2 1/2 inch on each side.
The way the twisted bugles catch the light is really beautiful and once again I like the contrast of matte and shiny in the cube beads. Nothing inconspicuous about these babies!

3D peyote triangles of two layers that are connected in the last row. What that second layer taught me was that I'm terrible at working clockwise. Note - don't do that next time.

Maybe I should try the same design with smaller bugles and Delicas? Say goodbye to the cubes for now and start a new working box? Spoiler alert - smaller design yes, new box no.