The Red Lion Getting Repaired

I am not a fan of High Wycombe as a whole, for a number of reasons. That said, there are some places and sights in Wycombe that I do enjoy. Among them, the Red Lion, from the old Red Lion Hotel. I blogged about it last May. It's kind of the officious emblem of the town. If you noticed on the picture I took, its tail was broken. Well, I learned that it is finally getting repaired. That's good news. I'm not sure it will convince me to visit High Wycombe any time soon, but if I do, I will try to take a new picture of the Red Lion.

The Red Lion

We went to High Wycombe last week. Not something I like to do very often. To be honest, I am not a fan of Wycombe. For a number of reasons, which I will not mention today. That said, the town has a few redeeming qualities and a few nice sights. Including this Red Lion, from the former Red Lion Hotel. It's an impressive beast.

Gladiators

As it is getting closer to Easter, I tend to get into a Mediterranean mood and read and watch stuff about Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome, for some reason. Maybe because I associate Easter to old swords and sandals films that were often featured on television next to the Biblical ones when i was a child, I don't know. Anyway, I once received, either at my birthday or at Christmas, a book about Ancient Greek and Roman history(ies). I often read it during the Easter holidays. It had a few very impressive images, including this one, of gladiators fighting animals in the Coliseum. It's just intensely dramatic and, well, absolutely gorgeous, so I remember it to this day. My father took this picture, at my request.

A new bookmark

We buy all sorts of things when we visit places on holiday (or just on special days out). When we stop at the souvenirs shop, I often buy bookmarks. It might not be as complex as collecting stamps or butterflies, but bookmarks are very useful and from experience, one can never have enough (not in this household anyway). It also makes for nice souvenirs: every time you use the bookmark, you take a moment to remember your visit and unlike many other souvenirs, it barely take any space at all. So when we went to Wildheart Animal Sanctuary on the Isle of Wight, I bought myself this bookmark. I love the lush dark green colour with the gold lettering. Oh yes, and if you cannot see it: on top there is a heart and a lion. Very fitting because, you know, it's from Wildheart. Anyway, I lov my new bookmark. Now I need to find a book for it. If you have any suggestions, please let me know in the comments.

Ancient board games

I found this picture on the Facebook page of the British Museum. It is part of this blog post, to be precise. It represents a lion and a gazelle playing maybe the most ancient board games in the world, senet. I found this article fascinating, because it shows how much playing has been suchan important part of civilised life, and also because it reminds me how much I have been missing playing board  games. In fact, after the pandemic, it is something I have been promising myself to do again: discover and rediscover board games,old and new. In the meantime, I intend to blog abot them more regularly, as a recurring topic.

Heracles against the Hydra

This picture was taken from Gods, Men and Monsters from the Greek Myths, one of the many books my brothers and I had about Greek mythology when we were kids. It represents Heracles (you recognise him easily because of the lion's hide he wears) fighting the Hydra of Lerna. I wanted to share it here, just because it is a darn good image, both very detailed and dramatic. One last note about the Greek hero: I always call him by his Greek name Heracles and not Hercules, which is the Roman equivalent. Mainly because I prefer to be as accurate as possible giving names (even though I call Ulysses by his Roman name and not Odysseus), but also because the original hero is far cooler than the watered down versions Hollywood has given us.

Des singes et des lions

J'ai pris cette photo à Chastworth House dans le Derbyshire. J'ai déjà blogué sur le sujet de cette oeuvre d'art ici. Hélas, je n'ai pas pris le nom de l'artiste, mais je crois qu'il est asiatique. Je n'ai pas grand-chose à dire, sauf que l'on peut voir un lion et des singes. Je ne sais pas trop pourquoi cette oeuvre me fascine, peut-être pour l'aspect harmonieux entre les différentes bêtes et leur environnement rocailleux.

The lions of the British Museum

This picture comes from the Facebook page of the British Museum. They shared it recently because it was World Lion Day. I did not know such day existed, but I digress. The information given by the Museum regarding the statue: "This is one of the old British Museum Lions – cast-iron statues designed by sculptor Alfred Stevens in 1852 to sit on a low railing outside the Museum. The lions are around 35cm tall, and it’s thought that the regal posture was inspired by a particularly impressive cat belonging to one of the sculptor’s friends. " As a cat lover, I have no difficulties believing this. Now the railing has been dismantled and from what I understand there are no lions at the British Museum. Be that as it may, it reminded me that I want to go there not only for what's in it, but to enjoy the building itself.

Les lions de Legoland

Comme nous sommes un peu confinés ici, j'ai demandé à mon père de m'envoyer des photos. Il m'en a envoyé une entre autres de lions faits en Legos. La photo a été prise lors de notre voyage au Danemark il y a trente ans environ, ce qui ne rajeunit personne. Nous avions passé une journée à Legoland et l'endroit nous avait beaucoup impressionné. C'est moins impressionnant de nos jours, d'autant plus qu'il y en a plus qu'un.

She-Sphinx

Last week, we went to West Wycombe Park, where there are a number of monuments and statues inspired by Greek mythology. As I am a Greek mythology buff and this is a time of year when I like to revisit Greek myths, I was quite excited. There were among the statues this she-sphinx, paired with another she-sphinx at the foot of a staircase. Now you may think that making the sphinx female was a mere flight of fancy, but in the myth of Oedipus, the sphinx who gives riddles to the future king of Thebes is actually depicted as female. So this statue is accurate to the myth. It also depicts the sphinx as it should, showing both femininity and menace.

La jungle comme tapis

Ainsi que je l'ai dit il y a peu de temps, nous sommes récemment allés visiter une garderie pour petit loup. Il y avait une section avec ce tapis, supposé représenter une jungle. Bon, je lion n'est pas à sa place (c'est un animal de la savane) et je soupçonne que le crocodile n'y est pas non plus, mais j'ai bien aimé malgré tout. En fait, j'aimerais savoir où ils ont trouvé ça pour pouvoir en acheter un à petit loup.

Un lion sur le mur

J'ai pris cette photo à Bute Park à Cardiff. Enfin, prise sur le mur qui était devant Bute Park. Il y avait comme ça bien des statues d'animaux, qui m'ont pour la plupart fait une forte impression. Toujours est-il que j'ai pris beaucoup de photos des bêtes, avec la caméra de mon ancien téléphone cellulaire, qui était hélas assez mauvaise. Ce lion a ceci de particulier qu'il a presque l'air d'un Sphinx, avec sa crinière qui ressemble plus à une chevelure humaine, ou à une perruque. Sans l'être entièrement, il y a un brin d'anthropomorphisme chez lui. Qu'en pensez-vous?

"Rooooaaar!"

Il y a un nouveau jeu qui amuse beaucoup mon petit loup: je rugis comme un lion qui vient de se faire piler sur la queue ou qui se sent teigneux pour une raison quelconque ("Rooooaaar!"), puis il fait de même, en ricanant. Des heures de plaisir.

The Sphinx

I took this picture in Derbyshire. I can bet it represents the Sphinx. The Greek monster, with his face mixing leonid and human features. The Sphinx from the myth of Oedipus, who gave a riddle to the hero that made him dictator of Thebes and also thus sealed his doom. I am blogging about it today because I am slowly getting into an Easter mood, as we see more and more displays of Easter in the shops. And I associate Easter with Greek mythology (see this post). I want to go back to it this year and re explore the myth of Oedipus.

Le Sphinx

Je fais encore une fois dans la mythologie grecque sur Vraie Fiction. Cette photo a été prise dans le Derbyshire. Je crois sans craindre de me tromper que c'est le Sphinx: les traits mélangent ceux du lion et de l'homme. Ça devrait être la Sphinx, et donc les traits devraient être ceux d'une femme: en grec, le nom Sphinx est féminin, on devrait dire la Sphinge. Mais c'est malgré tout une représentation intéressante de la bête.

Jungle Animals?

I took this picture last year. One of my colleagues had bought this for her son. Something struck me and being sort of academic about these kinds of things, I mentioned it right away: "This display is all wrong: elephants, giraffes and lions live in the savanna, not the jungle, and tigers don't even live on the same continent!" I could have added that the elephant seemed to be an Asian one. Anyway, one of my colleague teased me about this and said: "I can imagine you refusing to buy your son such a set, because it's not accurate". I would, but would also tell him that these are not all jungle animals. Anyway, I thought that what he said was funny enough to be a great unknown line. Even though I am right.

Des livres et des bibliothèques

Photo prise à la Fondation Anthony Burgess, il y a plus de deux ans. À part l'appui-livres, qui est pas mal plus impressionnant que la plupart de ceux que j'ai eus (un lion, c'est l'animal parfait pour orner les appui-livres), ça ressemble pas mal à ce que ma bibliothèque a l'air dans la maison familiale à Chicoutimi ou dans mon ancien appart à Montréal. Ca leur ressemble d'autant plus que j'avais (je les ai encore) des Anthony Burgess qui n'étaient pas dans la langue originale. Je regarde la bibliothèque bordélique que j'ai ici et j'ai franchement honte, avec ses rayons surchargés. Les meubles de l'appart sont fournis, alors la bibliothèque venait avec. Les locataires ici ne lisent peut-être pas assez. Bon, c'était bordélique dans mes bibliothèques avant, mais pas autant que ça et il y avait de la place. Assez de place pour des appui-livres, notamment. Je me suis déjà demandé avec nostalgie ce que mes bibliothèques étaient devenues. Je me le demande encore. Et en regardant ce que j'ai maintenant, il me prend des envies de me procurer une bibliothèque digne de ce nom. Avec des appui-livres qui ont de la classe.

Le Carnaval des Animaux: Le Lion

Je sais que je mets beaucoup de musique ces temps-ci, mais bon, j'essaie de mettre ce qui me passe par la tête et d'essayer d'oublier que le temps est gris, gris, gris. Je ne sais pas pourquoi, mais j'ai redécouvert Le Carnaval des animaux (sur mon iPod j'ai cette version-ci). Ce n'est pas mon oeuvre préférée de Saint-Saëns (ce serait plutôt La Danse Macabre), mais c'est quand même un ouvrage qui s'écoute avec plaisir et qui réussit à être évocateur malgré ou à cause de sa simplicité. Mes frères et moi, on l'écoutait en boucle avec La Danse Macabre. Si celle-ci est une oeuvre automnale qui s'écoute en se préparant à l'Halloween, le Carnaval s'écoute bien quand l'été se termine. C'est du moins l'impression que j'ai. Le lion est mon mouvement préféré, alors je le mets ici.