Author: Judith Sandiford

  • What colour is your hair?

    Part 1 My mother told me this story. She and I were on a train. I was about 2 years old. We were probably travelling from Sarnia, where my father had a war job of some sort, to Toronto, where my grandmother lived. I was restless and was standing in the aisle. One row up…

  • The Pardoner and his Tale, Jan 19 2021

    Today (January 19, 2021) everyone in the U.S. is busy guessing who will be on the pardon-list of that outgoing guy. The official list will be documented here: https://www.justice.gov/pardon/pardons-granted-president-donald-trump#Jan202021 Meanwhile, let’s find out how a person who Pardons does it. Geoffrey Chaucer’s character The Pardoner, and his tale in The Canterbury Tales (1387) come to…

  • Noguchi sculpture appears in the Rose Garden, Episode #2

    How your intrepid blogger discovers new answers to her puzzles about the Noguchi sculpture … on Dec. 1 Timothy Harleth and Nikki Pisha in the Rose Garden. On Dec 1, 2020 at 10:00 am, the White House Historical Association host an online two-panel symposium on “The History of Diverse Artists in the White House Collection”.Between…

  • Noguchi sculpture appears in the Rose Garden, Episode #1

    How a surprising news story in the US leads us to a Noguchi sculpture, a White House puzzle, and an unexpected update a week later … Breaking News, Friday Nov 20, 2020 “First Lady Melania Trump is pleased to announce the installation of Floor Frame (1962), by Isamu Noguchi (1904-88). The sculpture will be located…

  • East Enders vs the Republic of China

    How a small news story about East-Enders and the Chinese Embassy takes us on a big ride through family history, via the Battle of Cable Street and the mural … Ron’s late mum Alice Weihs was an honourary East-Ender. She was dubbed “Ellis the Ken-eye-dian” (cockney accent). She went off to London UK on her…

  • Women of Twilight by Sylvia Rayman

    White Bear Theatre, London One of the highlights of our visit to London was a most ambitious production at the White Bear, a tiny pub theatre in South London. It was Women of Twilight, Sylvia Rayman’s all-women play from 1951, powerfully performed by a profit-share company of eleven, appropriately called 11F.  Unmarried women who find themselves…