Happy Birthday To Riza!

So It Was A Special Saturday Afternoon,

Riza poses with Diana in her new dress,

Mark called in for a few hours,

Grieg from Sisterz called in for a drink and a chat,

along with Tom,

and the ever jovial Mr. Tony,

Big Jim called in with some home made mashed potato,

and Grieg's girlfriend Nok helps Riza with one of the tilipia's we caught a few days ago,

some of the food is served, bar-b-qued pork and chicken, spring rolls from Grieg, mash from Big Jim,

Mr. Tony's sausages disappeared almost before I could get my camera out!

the girls downstairs with the barbie, I think Nok is a little upset as just as it was time to start eating the fish Grieg had to go to work, hopefully Grieg will remember a spare key next week!

Diana, Riza and Jil's ex maid Goh all tucking into the fish,

then the favorites came out, Mike brought round two huge pots of ice cream, the rum and raisin one was so nice I had to have a second helping!

and a birthday cake, good job I was on a diet so I only had one slice,

then it was a huff, puff and a birthday wish!

Mr. Tony really enjoyed the cake!

then for a birthday drink the girls decided to have a Tequila,

Diana still has not gotten used to drinking alcohol! then talk took a strange turn, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's name was mentioned and I remarked how he believed in fairies and put his name to the 1920's great fairy hoax, the Cottingley Fairies, which then brought me on to one of the greatest fairy artists of all time Richard Dadd, (1819-1887) who is recognised as one of the most individual of English painters,

the story of his sad life is now quite familiar: he was born in Chatham in Kent, after a routine art training at the Royal Academy Schools he entered upon his career as an artist in the circle of painters known as The Clique, in the years 1842-43 he travelled to the Middle East and Greece with Sir Thomas Phillips, on his return from this trip he suffered a bout of insanity in the course of which he murdered his father, (he cut his throat with a cut throat razor),

for the rest of his life Dadd was confined in the asylums of Bethlem and Broadmoor, in which latter place he died in 1887, I have know of him as for some time he was in a hospital in Beckenhan where I have lived and worked in my tropical fish shop for most of my life, and have visited the hospital there, (not as a patient, my mother worked in the pathology lab there) called the Bethlehem Royal Hospital which was originally called Bedlam and is where the Imperial War Museum in London Stands today, it was at one time on the site of Liverpool Street Station, which then lead on to a discussion on the origins of the words bedlam and mayhem

considered by many to be Dadd's master piece, The Fairy Feller's Master-Stroke, in The Tate,

one of his other works from his travels with Sir Phillips in the Middle East went missing for a number of years until it was rediscovered on The Antiques Roadshow some years ago, it is titled 'Halt In The Desert' now in The British Museum, I have read, although I can not remember where, that the seated character by the fire on the right is Dadd himself, it was a great chat for the culture vultures, but as usual it all went pear shaped so we started telling jokes again, "Cheers!"