Those of you who read about my pony yesterday with his gallant efforts at the virtual GRAND NATIONAL will be glad he has ditched his jockey and is now having a well earned rest.
His name is not really Storyteller, but Bee-Bee, in memory of a well loved real pony named Bruno. My own daughters had riding lessons at a very young age in Epping Forest and would borrow a pony from the stables to enter gymkhanas. His name was Tiddlewinks and I was surprised at the generosity of the stable owner to allow my little girls rename him Bruno. It was only after six months, I learned my indulgent husband had bought the pony and we were paying expensive livery bills! Talk about ganging up against mother. How many of you have experienced girls getting around dad? As the years went by, the mounts got bigger and grander. An interest in horses stays with them. Not me.....I tried the riding once and was terrified!
Today's title is All the Bees so it is time for me to show one of my treasured Hermes scarves from Paris. The title of the scarf is Napoleon and was designed by Philippe Ledoux in 1963 to pay homage to Napoleon Bonaparte. We will gloss over that quickly. After all, it is a French scarf. I told you my husband was very indulgent.....he bought me many Hermes scarves back in the Sixties, but I have not unearthed them all yet. This is not particularly one of my favourites but the central vignette shows his arrival for coronation framed by the Legion of Honour Chain. I was privileged to hold this medal in my hand last year in Cyprus, awarded by the French quite recently to an English friend for his services in WW2. These friends, Dennis and Friede, like us, are in lock down. Also on my scarf are fine white horses, (incidentally, never many greys in the Grand National) and lots and lots of bees.
You will notice my website name of BusyBee. My grandchildren have never called me Nana, Grandma, Gran, Ga-Ga (yet)...... it was always Granny Busy Bee, shortened to BusyBee and now the three great grandsons know me by that name only. The youngest two recognise me by enforced isolation FaceTime video calls involving buzz-buzzing sounds and antics from a crazy elder!
Now look where this bee business has got me, writing a daily blog about my scarves. Why didn't I name myself Lazy Daisy?
A demain!
Busy Bee, Scarf Face!
Blog 11