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Spring is here my friends… And if you can’t be certain because you just happened to gaze outside and caught a glimpse of rain, well then it is essential to get out and head down to the Beaverbrook Art Gallery … Continue reading 

Louis Louis, oh no, We gotta go Aye-yi-yi-yi

I said Louie Louie, oh baby
We gotta go

(Okay okay … I’ll stop singing ;) )

Within the home and workplace, chairs are usually regarded as simple, functional objects that provide seating and a degree of comfort. But chairs offer a fascinating historical study of artistic, technical and engineering developments in ornamental styles. The chair emerges as intricate artistic development that embodies creativity in design and reflects and reproduces in a variety of socio-cultural, economic and political values.

I choose to look at the French style of “The Louis’

Not only is it suitable that all our guys are named Louis, it also makes some practical sense. The Louis all came from the House of Bourbon. It was during the reign of Louis XIII that furniture majored and became comfortable. It’s not surprising that the furniture styles were named for the reigning monarch. Spanning centuries, fashions came from the top, down – unlike now, where you can see street fashion on the runway. Each new king had his own style that distinguished his supremacy from the others. With comfort in mind, that fixation did not take off until the 18th century.

Louis XIII (1610-1643)

Louis XIV (1643 -1715)

Louis XV (1715-1774)

Louis XVI (1774 – 1792)

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Louis XIII chair – Late Renaissance Style:

Louis XIII style chair was short in the back and square in shape.

Louis XIV– Baroque Style:

There was a development in chair creation, with the back becoming higher and the seat becoming larger to accommodate the more ample space required by the fashions of his day. Later the chair legs and arms became heavily curved, similar to the cabriole, still somewhat massive but more graceful. Chair backs departed from the rectilinear and swept upward in a curve.

Louis XV – Rococo Style:

 After 1700 the legs became more slender, approaching those of the Louis XV period in style.

Louis XVI – Neoclassical Style:

Although tastes gradually transitioned from the curved lines of the Rococo to the straight line of the neoclassical all through the 18th century. By the time of Louis XVI, the curved lines of his father’s furniture were absolutely old-fashioned.

Fiddle-Dee-Dum

As New Brunswickers for us, fiddleheads strike the end of winter and the arrival of springtime. And my, how we treasure the reward of steaming bowlfuls of fiddleheads doused in vinegar and melted butter. Little did we know at the time that we were participating in a seasonal ritual that springs back into the depths of our provincial culture.

In April and May, you can pick the fiddleheads along river and stream banks, in open woodlands and at the edges of swamps and marshes across New Brunswick, Quebec and Ontario. Fiddleheads are one of the world’s coolest greens. These unfurled fronds of the ostrich fern are known as fiddleheads because they resemble the finely crafted head of a fiddle.

If you like fiddleheads, chances are you’re from New Brunswick-or you were acquaint with to them from someone who was. Although they are found across the region and indeed in spots across Canada, the farther you get from New Brunswick, the less likely it will be that folks have heard of them, much less eaten them. To this day, New Brunswick remains the epicentre of fiddlehead culture, hosting several local fiddlehead festivals and exporting hundreds of thousands of kilograms of fresh and frozen fiddleheads worldwide each year.

Emerge yourself in some Fiddling culture this spring/summer:

Salmon and Fiddlehead Festival in Doaktown August 3-6, 2012
http://www.doaktown.com/community-events/2012-salmon-fiddlehead-festival

“Fiddlehead Festival”
(The village of Plaster Rock, the village is also the home of the World’s Largest Fiddlehead Sculpture)

 June 22-2, 2012  -”Fiddlers on the Tobique
Event combines two time-honoured New Brunswick traditions: fiddling and canoeing. A flotilla of canoes carries almost 200 musicians down the Tobique River while they play old-time fiddle music. The river run, which is the most popular event of the weekend, begins at 1 p.m. in Nictau, at the Forks, on Saturday which is also Canada’s National Canoe Day!

Fiddle Frolic and Fiddle Heads / Opening Weekend
Kings Landing Historical Settlement,   5804 Route 102 • Prince William, June 2012

Happy Easter Every Bunny!

I said a hip hop the hippie the hippie to the hiphip hop, a you dont HOPPIN’…

These Easter bunnies have been hoppin’ to show you some great ideas for this Easter Weekend of fun!!
Take a look: