Welcome to this week’s Reading Roundup! With everything that is going on in this house, I suppose that I am lucky to have finished one book this week.
Blood of the Mantis by Adrian Tchaikovsky
My book this week was Blood of the Mantis by Adrian Tchaikovsky, #03 Shadows of the Apt. Here is the blurb:
“A DREAD RITUAL CASTS A DEADLY SHADOW
Driven by the ghosts of the legendary Darakyon, the seer Achaeos has tracked the stolen Shadow Box to the marsh-town of Jerez – but he has only days before this magical artefact will be lost to him forever . . .
Meanwhile, the forces of the Empire are mustering for their next great offensive. Stenwold and his followers have only a short time in which to seek allies before the enemy soldiers are on the march again, conquering everything in their path. And if they cannot hold them back before spring, then the hated black and gold flag will be flying fly over every city in the Lowlands before the year’s end.
And should the Shadow Box fall into the hands of the power-mad Emperor, then nothing will save the world from his relentless ambition.”
Another good read from Tchaikovsky. Unfortunately, I had to take quite a long break from reading about three quarters of the way through the book, so that somewhat spoiled some of the momentum. The characters are now becoming very well fleshed out, with some newer ones added. The plot has moved to a broader and larger place and we have some new areas of interest. All in all, the book and series, so far, are really worth reading.
I will now take a break for a while before returning to the series, as I need a change!
Apologies for this bare bones post today, but it is difficult to write very much when you are sharing a bed with an ill Lovely Husband! He is trying to read the newspapers whilst I am trying to compile this post. Hmmmmm …
Welcome to my blog! I do hope that you all had a good weekend, better than ours at the very least. Lovely Husband and I are still stuck in bed. OK, that sounds quite amusing if you don’t know the background. The “story” is that, for many years, I have been almost permanently bedridden, due to multiple health issues. I can venture downstairs a couple of times each day, but even that is very difficult and exhausting for me. LH has had to join me due to a fall and severe sciatica. We have been trying for days to get a doctor’s appointment, but, with the NHS in crisis, we simply cannot reach the end of the telephone queue and get any response. I am really worried about how we will manage!
Anyway, on a more cheerful note, the good news is that posters on The Purse Forum have initiated a new thread for the Hermès Autumn/Winter 2023 scarf season. I do love to see all of the early images and hints about the new scarves…
…even though I am, of course, NOT going to purchase any!
Definitely not…
Finally, here is an image I am using to cheer myself up…
Once again, apologies for not referencing the image. I have totally forgotten where I found it and am too muddled today to go searching for the source.
What a time we have had! It all began a week last Wednesday when Lovely Husband began to feel a horrible pain in his right leg. He has suffered from severe back problems and sciatica for years and has learned how to bear the pain and discomfort, but this was something worse than usual.
I won’t go into any more detail, but it has been a very difficult time, although we have been able to find some rather dark humour in our situation. I suppose it could be seen as amusing that we are both stuck in bed! We are trying to keep ourselves occupied by reading, watching TV on the iPad, and chatting about this and that. I have forced myself to go downstairs far more than usual and we have been leaning on Elder Son too.
Anyway, this is why I have not been able to get dressed or wear anything nice this week. And as for modelling a scarf!!!
Let’s hope that LH recovers soon and we can all return to our “normal”, perhaps even better than normal!
Well, I have a confession to make this week: I haven’t been able to finish a book! Lovely Husband is ill, so we are sharing the bed and I am dragging myself up and down the stairs to fetch the necessary provisions. When Elder Son has a day off he takes over, so it is not so tiring for me.
Anyway, all this means that I have been unable to read a book. LH wants to chat and I can manage a bit of web surfing in between, but cannot concentrate on my book. I hope he gets better soon (not because I need to read, of course!).
This is an unusual Scarf of the Moment post in that it includes two amazing formats of one design. I have done this before, with the 90cm and twilly versions of Dans un Jardin Anglais and also with the 90cm and cashmere/silk shawl versions of Plumes en Fête. Here are the 90cm silk twill scarf and the cashmere/silk giant triangle versions of the gorgeous Tulipomanie designed by Aline Honoré. Information about both will be interspersed throughout this post.
The silk twill scarf
Before the new Spring/Summer 2023 Hermès scarf designs began to appear online, I had already decided that I was not going to purchase any more scarves or shawls of any size until the price fell, if it ever did. That was a firm decision.
Really, it was…
Definitely…
Oh well, my firm “resolution” lasted a few weeks! One of the new scarves began to attract my attention. I quickly realised that I loved it in many of the colourways. This is very unusual for me as one colourway usually stands out beyond the rest, but this scarf looked wonderful across the board.
Eventually, I decided that one particular scarf might work with my wardrobe with the scarf’s blues, silver grey and purples. That scarf is Tulipomanie designed by Aline Honoré, 90cm silk twill, colourway #02 Argent, Violet, Bleu, Ref: H003964S 02.
Tulipomani 90 cm scarf by Aline Honoré for Hermès
Description of the silk twill scarf
The scarf in a beautiful study of different kinds of tulips. The flowers are arranged on a plain background with space between them so that an onlooker can distinguish between each carefully drawn tulip. Every bloom is a gorgeous delight of colour, contrast and shading. Some of the scarves have a wide variety of colours, others, such as #16, have a more limited palette. In this case, oranges and greys. I also loved the scarf with the pink background, #03, but, as my previous purchase was Robe Légère with a similar pink background, I felt like I had to ignore this!
The colourway that I chose, #02, has a pale silver-grey background and the tulips are drawn in shades of blue, purple, violet, pink, and yellow. Some of the flowers are of the full-blown “parrot” varieties, others have the stripes associated with “viridiflora” types; some are tightly furled, others have wide open petals. The whole scarf is a study in colour and pattern.
NB: Please let me know if you notice any inaccuracies in my writing about tulips. I know that I love them, but am also aware that I don’t know enough about them!
Colourways for the silk twill scarf
These are the colourways for the Spring/Summer 2023 silk twill 90cm scarves. I have added in the codes to help those of you who may wish to purchase a scarf.
The Autumn/Winter 2024 season has some gorgeous scarves and shawls, but I was thrilled to see another version of Tulipomanie: a cashmere/silk giant triangle. I haven’t purchased this format before, although I have some cashmere/silk 140cm shawls. The triangle shape works really well and is far less expensive.
Anyway, I had a bit of a dilemma about which colourway to choose. I loved the one with the navy background, but I recently bought a shawl with this colour background: Le Jaguar et le Colibri. So, I decided on the one below. The purchasing code is H363964S 03, the dimensions are L 188 x H 94 cm, and the colours are Vermillon / Bleu Cobalt / Fuschia.
Tulipomani giant triangle by Aline Honoré for Hermès
Description of the cashmere/silk giant triangle
As I own such a pretty and subtle colourway of the silk 90cm version of the design, I decided to choose something completely different! I was a little concerned that the very bright vermillion background might swamp me, particularly since my hair turned grey, but I loved the colours of the tulips and the overall effect of the shawl. This is a real mood lifter! How could anyone feel miserable wearing these amazing colours!
The six beautifully drawn tulips are placed carefully across the triangle and are coloured in many hues: cobalt blue, fuchsia pink, green and white. There is also an interesting shade of yellow and a pale orange. Each flower is outlined in black and the rolled edge of the scarf is in white.
Colourways for the cashmere/silk giant triangle
These are the gorgeous giant triangle cashmere/silk versions of Tulipomanie, produced for the Autumn/Winter 2024 season, together with their purchasing codes:
There is also an incredible embroidered version! The purchase code is H593964S 20. The Hermès website says the following about this beautiful (and very expensive scarf)…
“The delicate Tulipomanie design by Aline Honoré is printed on silk twill in a black and white version. A shower of multicolored and iridescent confetti is thrown onto the fabric and embroidered by hand.
Dimensions: 34.8″ x 34.8″ | As this scarf is hand-rolled, the dimensions indicated may vary.”
Hermès has announced that a 45cm gavroche, Tulipomanie Detail, is planned for the Autumn/Winter 2025 season. I am adding the colourways as I come across them. The full details will also be written here as soon as I see them. Please let me know via the comments if you have the Hermès codes for the ones I have just uploaded (26/06/25).
Here are some closeups of my scarf in a slideshow format:
Details of the cashmere/silk giant triangle
Here are some close-ups of my shawl in a slideshow format:
How I wear the scarf and giant triangle
As I have been so poorly recently, I have not had much opportunity to wear either version. Well, the weather certainly isn’t suitable for cashmere/silk at the time of writing. I have, however, taken photos with the silk scarf to show a variety of knots (see the next section). This time I decided to try the scarf with different cashmere jumpers in a range of colours. You can see how the scarf reacts to differing background colours…
Tulipomanie scarf with a variety of cashmere colours
The cashmere sweaters are from Marks and Spencer, John Lewis, Pure Collection and WoolOvers and in the colours: navy, light grey, purple and lilac.
Here is a collage I made of one outfit:
Outfit of the day 26/11/23 with Hermès Tulipomanie scarf
I have tried on the giant triangle. It will look great with clothes in navy and cobalt blue. This is what it looks like with a bright blue, oh and it definitely needs lipstick!
Tulipomanie giant triangle with bright blue
Scarf ties
I have tried on this scarf in a variety of ways. At the moment, as it is so new, the silk fabric is very crisp and stiff so doesn’t fall easily into soft folds. Anyway, you can get the general idea of how it looks when worn. The mother-of-pearl scarf ring is by MaiTai.
Tulipomanie scarf ties
I don’t know all of the names of these scarf ties, but here goes:
From the top left, downwards: cowboy cowl knot, cowboy knot, half bow knot. Centre, downwards: asymmetric wrap, cowl knot. Top right, downwards: something I made up (!), criss-cross knot, something else I don’t have a name for 😂😂😂.
As for the giant triangle shawl, I need to experiment to find out which ties will work best. I did try out a couple, see above, but I am sure that there are more ways to wear this beautiful shawl. Any ideas?
Background information
I tried to find some background information about the wonderful artist, Aline Honoré, but could not find anything worth posting here. It is about time someone wrote a piece about her work! Edit: I have found a video, added below, that does give us information about this artist!
Here, I have listed a few sources of information about tulips themselves, plus something about Tulip Mania.
Royal Horticultural Society: Tulip https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/tulip Set of pages about these flowers with information about the types of tulip and how to grow them.
And, of course, there are numerous videos of the wonderful displays of tulips and the growing fields in The Netherlands. In fact, there are so many that I couldn’t decide which ones to post here, so I have left that search to you! Have fun 😊.
When I updated this post to include information about the cashmere/silk shawls, I came across this video about the silk twill version of Tulipomanie. It is excellent!
I hope readers have found this exploration of Tulipomanie both interesting and useful. Once again, if you find any errors or have any additional information that I could add, please don’t hesitate to contact me.
Love and best wishes,
Anne
Updated 07/08/24 to add information about the cashmere/silk giant triangle, general updating and a new video.
Welcome to my blog! Today, I have been sorting out my massive load of photos and images on the iPad and came across these two random snaps that I took quite recently. I have a drawer of fairly cheap and cheerful scarves that I have collected over the years. Most of them are silk, but of varying quality, and the designs are in a huge range of colours and patterns.
These are the photos:
Outfits of the day – early April 2023
Well, you can see that the photos were taken before and after the recent visit to my hairdresser! In the image on the left, I was wearing my recently purchased pink jumper from Lands’ End, and on the right, my purple cashmere jumper from Pure Collection.
Colourful silk scarves
I have owned these two pretty scarves for quite a long time, at the very least from before the start of my Hermès obsession. Therefore, I have unfortunately forgotten where I bought them. It probably says so somewhere on my early blog posts and I have been trying to find some mention of them, but I cannot trace them. Never mind, they are lovely and colourful and lift my outfits very well.
Over the weekend, I am planning to put the final finishing touches to a new Scarf of the Moment post for my latest Hermès scarf, Tulipomanie. I hope to be able to upload the final version on Monday evening, 17th April, all being well.
I do hope that you are all enjoying your own reading. Over the last week or so, I have been struggling to concentrate, but I have managed to finish one book…
Dragonfly Falling by Adrian Tchaikovsky
The book was Adrian Tchaikovsky’s Dragonfly Falling (#02 Shadows of the Apt). I read part one a few weeks ago and enjoyed it, so bought the second and third books in the series straight away. This is a very long series, so I am not sure if I will retain my enthusiasm right up to the end, but we shall see!
This is the blurb:
“EVERY HERO MUST BE TESTED
The armies of the Wasp Empire are on the march, and first to feel their might will be the city of Tark, which is even now preparing for siege. Within its walls Salma and Totho must weather the storm, as the Ant-kinden take a stand – against numbers and weaponry such as the Lowlands have never seen.
And after his earlier victory, the Empire’s secret service has decided veteran artificer Stenwold Maker is too dangerous to live. So disgraced Major Thalric is despatched on a desperate mission, not only to eliminate Stenwold himself, but to bring about the destruction of his beloved city of Collegium, and thus end all hope of intelligent resistance to the remorseless imperial advance.
While the Empire’s troops are laying waste to all in their way, the young Emperor himself is treading a different path. His thoughts are on darker things than mere conquest, and if he attains his goal he will precipitate a reign of blood that will last a thousand years.”
So, this is part two of a ten book series and I am wondering if I will reach the end. I am pretty certain that I will do so, if the author can maintain the level of engagement that his best writing brings!
Some parts of the book were a little overlong, but others were very exciting and clever in the twists and turns. The characters continued to interest me, although I did find it a little difficult at times to remember who they all were and where they were situated in the world. I had to check the map quite a lot. Also, perhaps a silly grumble, too many of the names began with “S”, which confused me even more!
In the end, I gave this a generous four star rating and have gone straight on to the next book in the series! As ever, Tchaikovsky’s imagination is phenomenal and his writing absorbing and entertaining.
So, I hope to be able to review the third book, Blood of the Mantis, next week, then I will change tack to a different book or series afterwards. Well, that is the plan at the moment.
Welcome to a new week on my blog. It was Bank Holiday today, so I hope that those of you who had a day off enjoyed the break.
Well, that was not a great weekend for me and my chaps! I wrote about my new hairdo in Friday’s post and mentioned that I was feeling unwell. The illness continued to develop over the weekend with more d&v (sorry!), extreme tiredness and horrible black depressive thoughts. It really was awful and worried Lovely Husband and Elder Son, who were trying to look after me.
I have been feeling slightly better today and am hoping that this mystery illness is coming to an end. Now that I can think a little more clearly, I can remember that I suffered something very similar back in December, just before Christmas. I wonder what it is?
I really need to shake this off and return to my usual levels of managing my health. After all, the Scarf of the Moment post about my latest Hermès scarf, Tulipomanie, needs to be written! I must actually try it on and attempt some lovely scarf ties!
OK, I will cheer myself up by posting some more photos of it in a slideshow…
Hi, and welcome to Friday’s post. At last, I was able to go to my lovely hairdresser yesterday ! I hadn’t had a haircut since December, which seems such a long time ago. Anyway, Lovely Husband drove me there and back and I just about managed to sit and be smartened up.
Here are the before and after photos:
Before haircut 06/04/23After haircut 06/04/23
I feel so much better!
I was also able to put together a nice outfit:
Outfit of the day 06/04/23 with Hermès’ Zebra Pegasus gavroche
The outfit consisted of a lovely turquoise jumper by M&Co, navy cord trousers by Lands’ End, and silver shoes by Hotter. I carried my navy Africa midi Selene handbag by Massaccesi, wore Halcyon Days’ turquoise enamel bangle and tied my Hermès’ Zebra Pegasus gavroche around my neck. This cute silk square comes in teal, purple, navy and white. Below, is a larger image:
Zebra Pegasus gavroche by Alice Shirley for Hermès
Unfortunately, when we arrived home I started to feel really unwell. As the day moved towards evening, the tiredness became exhaustion and I developed a rather nasty condition (which I will leave to your imagination!). This continued into the night and this morning.
I am now writing at around midday in the UK and, at last, feel quite a lot better. I hope this recovery is sustained!
Let’s hope for a good Easter weekend. LH is planning a sumptuous Easter Sunday dinner with all of the trimmings, so I had better be well enough to enjoy it.
Former professional school librarian, now retired through chronic illness. Trying to keep cheerful by reading, drinking lots of tea, blogging my new life, and my love of bling!
The Librain
The Librain......retired 
Dear Lauren, you always write the loveliest comments! Thank you so much, love Anne X