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52 Card Project 2022: Week 13: Spoons
Mar. 31st, 2022 02:05 pmI've been feeling, I dunno, vaguely fretful this week. The weather has turned cold again [c'mon, spring, where are you?] The news is so awful. I mean...setbacks in abortion rights, trans rights, corruption on the Supreme Court, inflation, the pandemic dragging on, the war in Ukraine. It is SO AWFUL.
My ability to deal mentally with SO MUCH AWFUL seems to have worn thin, to say the least. I was talking with a friend about how I seem to be short on spoons. (If you are not familiar with Christina Miserandino's Spoon Theory, the metaphor that uses spoons as a unit of cope, see here.) It's as if, I groused, there is a thief going around nicking my spoons or something.
So I've been diving into Bridgerton Season 2.
And I was thinking of that conversation, and why I found Bridgerton so comforting, as I noticed, well, all the spoons as I was watching the show. (After all, one character or another is always drinking tea. Soooooo many spoons).
And then I suddenly remembered, I actually do have some spoons. When I was growing up, my Nana (my mother's mother) gave me a differently patterned silver spoon on my birthday every year. I received twelve spoons before she passed away. It's a slightly odd custom if you think about it. I suppose the assumption would be that they would be useful to me once I established my own household, perhaps for serving tea to company. Perhaps she also gave me the spoons in a range of patterns with the hope that I might like one and choose it for my own when I became a bride and registered for gifts. It was a gift that hinted at the social class of my Nana's generation, a world more extravagant and financially comfortable than my own.
Here is a picture of my spoon collection. You can right click on the picture to open the image in a new tab and then double click on the photo to see the spoons up close. I am particularly amused by the spoon I received in 1968, the fifth from the right--it perfectly embodies late 1960s Flower Power.
Bridgerton shows a beautiful and appealing world that's comforting to escape into: where everyone is rich, and people from vastly different backgrounds (including races) are accepted. But there still are strains and struggles, and people fumble around trying to figure out relationships, especially love.
I started thinking about the parallels in my situation to the character of Queen Charlotte (frequently shown with a silver spoon in her hand, either to stir her tea or snort snuff up her nose). Queen Charlotte ostensibly has everything, but she's not truly happy. She is someone who (ironically - how meta) is also seeking escapism. Her husband George III is mad, and so poor Queen Charlotte tries to assuage her misery over her marriage and her restlessness with extravagant entertainments. She is also obsessed with the news, in her case the Society Papers of the mysterious Lady Whistledown. Queen Charlotte often fumes in anger about what she reads...but she always craves to read more.
A couple of extremely creative women, Abigail Barlow and Emily Bear, have actually written an unofficial Bridgerton Musical, releasing the songs on TikTok as they worked on them, so successfully that the resultant album has been nominated for a Grammy! Here is their song about Queen Charlotte, "Entertain Me." (I've bought the album, and it's awesome. Highly recommended). Edited to add Sunday night follow up: This album WON the Grammy for Best Musical Theater Album.
For this week's card, I have Queen Charlotte, framed by wisteria, seated drinking a cup of tea. In her other hand, she holds a copy of Lady Whistledown's Society Papers. Behind her is a semi-translucent close up of Lady Whistledown's Society Papers ("Extraordinary People. Extraordinary News.") Hovering above Queen Charlotte's head is a tiara formed from twelve silver spoons.
(With this card, at thirteen weeks I am a quarter of the way through the year.)
Spoons
Click here to see the 2022 52 Card Project gallery.
Click here to see the 2021 gallery.
My ability to deal mentally with SO MUCH AWFUL seems to have worn thin, to say the least. I was talking with a friend about how I seem to be short on spoons. (If you are not familiar with Christina Miserandino's Spoon Theory, the metaphor that uses spoons as a unit of cope, see here.) It's as if, I groused, there is a thief going around nicking my spoons or something.
So I've been diving into Bridgerton Season 2.
And I was thinking of that conversation, and why I found Bridgerton so comforting, as I noticed, well, all the spoons as I was watching the show. (After all, one character or another is always drinking tea. Soooooo many spoons).
And then I suddenly remembered, I actually do have some spoons. When I was growing up, my Nana (my mother's mother) gave me a differently patterned silver spoon on my birthday every year. I received twelve spoons before she passed away. It's a slightly odd custom if you think about it. I suppose the assumption would be that they would be useful to me once I established my own household, perhaps for serving tea to company. Perhaps she also gave me the spoons in a range of patterns with the hope that I might like one and choose it for my own when I became a bride and registered for gifts. It was a gift that hinted at the social class of my Nana's generation, a world more extravagant and financially comfortable than my own.
Here is a picture of my spoon collection. You can right click on the picture to open the image in a new tab and then double click on the photo to see the spoons up close. I am particularly amused by the spoon I received in 1968, the fifth from the right--it perfectly embodies late 1960s Flower Power.
Bridgerton shows a beautiful and appealing world that's comforting to escape into: where everyone is rich, and people from vastly different backgrounds (including races) are accepted. But there still are strains and struggles, and people fumble around trying to figure out relationships, especially love.
I started thinking about the parallels in my situation to the character of Queen Charlotte (frequently shown with a silver spoon in her hand, either to stir her tea or snort snuff up her nose). Queen Charlotte ostensibly has everything, but she's not truly happy. She is someone who (ironically - how meta) is also seeking escapism. Her husband George III is mad, and so poor Queen Charlotte tries to assuage her misery over her marriage and her restlessness with extravagant entertainments. She is also obsessed with the news, in her case the Society Papers of the mysterious Lady Whistledown. Queen Charlotte often fumes in anger about what she reads...but she always craves to read more.
A couple of extremely creative women, Abigail Barlow and Emily Bear, have actually written an unofficial Bridgerton Musical, releasing the songs on TikTok as they worked on them, so successfully that the resultant album has been nominated for a Grammy! Here is their song about Queen Charlotte, "Entertain Me." (I've bought the album, and it's awesome. Highly recommended). Edited to add Sunday night follow up: This album WON the Grammy for Best Musical Theater Album.
For this week's card, I have Queen Charlotte, framed by wisteria, seated drinking a cup of tea. In her other hand, she holds a copy of Lady Whistledown's Society Papers. Behind her is a semi-translucent close up of Lady Whistledown's Society Papers ("Extraordinary People. Extraordinary News.") Hovering above Queen Charlotte's head is a tiara formed from twelve silver spoons.
(With this card, at thirteen weeks I am a quarter of the way through the year.)
Click here to see the 2022 52 Card Project gallery.
Click here to see the 2021 gallery.