From: "Alice Turner" <akt@ibm.net>
Subject: (urth) Proust etc.
Date: Mon, 26 Jul 1999 20:31:39 

My dear corncrake!

Chapeaux off to you indeed! One small correction: frangipane means powdered
or ground almonds, often mixed with fine sugar. Akin to marzipane, but dry.

Etamine can be a fine sieve in cooking, but also refers to gauzy feminine
garments, either chemises or gowns (think Josephine in those transparent
Empire frocks). My guess is that it here refers to the finely woven
altar-cloth (I have Proust in English right up there on the shelf, but I'm
not going to look unless you tell me exactly where this is).

Wayman's Garden Encyclopedia comes to the rescue:

Nymphaea (nim-FEE-a) A genus of hardy and tropical water-lilies belonging to
the Water-lily Family, with rounded leaves floating on the surface of the
water (sometimes colored underneath) and with flowers floating on the
surface or standing a few inches above the water; flowers white, yellow,
pink, red or blue, with many variations in the gorgeously flowered hybrids.
Some bloom during the day, some at night. The fruits are usually borne under
the water.

(This is quite lyrical for old Wayman.)

-alga


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