T for Tuesday - Tuesday 25 July 2023 - T for veils, Pluto and castagnets

Hello lovely ladies, Tuesday comes round so fast! Here we are again. 

I have a postcard of beautiful work of art which my friend Maggie sent me. She sent it in an envelope because she was afraid it would get damaged. The sculpture is called Cristo Velato (Veiled Christ) by Giuseppe Sanmarino (1753) and it can be found in the Museo Cappella Sansevero, Napels.

It is amazing how the artist can hew what looks like a thin veil out of marble.

Wikipedia says: 

Veiled Christ is a carved marble sculpture by the Neapolitan artist Giuseppe Sanmartino completed in 1753. The sculpture is formed fro

m a single block of white marble, and was commissioned by Raimondo di Sangro, a prince of Sansevero, as the centerpiece of the Cappella Sansevero, in Naples, Italy. Wikipedia

It reminds me of an assignment I did in art classes a few years ago here in Caniles. I was asked to draw the Veiled Virgin:

                                                                

That is a much later work but it's the same idea. I think it is a test of skill for the artist. 

The Veiled Virgin is a Carrara marble statue carved in Rome by Italian sculptor Giovanni Strazza, depicting the bust of a veiled Virgin Mary. The exact date of the statue's completion is unknown, but it was probably in the early 1850s. Wikipedia.

Of course I didn't really do such a good job of drawing as I am no artist, but it was an interesting exersise.

Last week I said that one particular stamp, the Pluto stamp, had a bit of a story.

This is a stamp in question from  Carola's envelope.  It's entitled Pluto Explored! I left it for this week as it has quite a story to it.  It features Pluto, a far-away planet:

Originally in 1991 the US postal service issued a stamp about Pluto:

It was part of a series of stamps about planets:

In 1991 Pluto was indeed not explored, but in 2015 it was!

The stamp’s designation was not missed by the New Horizons mission team, which placed the stamp on the New Horizons spacecraft. Launched Jan. 19, 2006, on one of the fastest rockets ever built, New Horizons’ speed varied on its 3.26 billion mile trip to Pluto, but it reached 36,000 mph on the July 14, 2015, flyby. To place the rocket’s power in perspective, it took three days for Apollo 11 to reach the moon. New Horizons passed the moon in nine hours.

The 'Pluto not yet explored' stamp got into the Guinness Book of Records:

WASHINGTON — A 1991 Pluto: Not Yet Explored stamp traveled more than 3 billion miles on a spacecraft to the dwarf planet has earned the GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS achievement for the farthest distance traveled by a postage stamp. The stamp also served as NASA’s rallying cry to set the record straight for exploring Pluto.

“In 2006, NASA placed a 29-cent “Pluto: Not Yet Explored” stamp on board the New Horizons spacecraft on its way to Pluto and beyond,” said U.S. Postal Service Chief Marketing and Sales Officer and Executive Vice President Jim Cochrane. “That historic flyby with Pluto took place last summer — July 14, 2015, to be precise — after New Horizons travelled more than three billion miles in its nine and a half year journey.” 

So, what have I been doing? I have been to Granada to accompany a friend to a medical appointment. It was very hot.

The funny reads: I'm not going to Granada again at 4 in the afternoon.

The other day I went to pick up something at the women's association and I found myself in the middle of a castanets lesson. I don't know what they are called in English.

These are what I mean.  They are a percussion instruments played by clacking the two parts together.

They are very popular with the Spanish ladies. Here is a short video of some of my acquaintances learning to play the castanets:

I'm sorry but I can't get the video to work.

This week I went out to lunch again. Again I was invited. This time by my friend Dian. We went to the roadside restaurant that my husband and I used to frequent. We used to go there every Tuesday for many years. So the family that run the restaurant know me very well and there were hugs and kisses from all of them

As this is T for Tuesday, I need to show you a drink. Well here it is, a bottle of water on the table and a glass (with a slice of lemon in it).

My friend Antonia's daughter makes her own rye bread. She buys organic grains, then mills them herself and then bakes the bread. She insists it not difficult. She game me a loaf:

It's delicious and she's going to teach me how to make it.

Talking about bread....This is for Bluebeard:

And this is for Elizabeth:

I hope that made you smile. The kitten is cut out of a watermelon!

That is it ladies.

Wishing you a happy T-Day,

Hugs,

Lisca