St. Nicholas came last night

Home

 Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home.

Morning light

The morning light that streams in through our bedroom windows is not bad to wake up to.

Hand over hand, foot over foot

Venturing forth both to a new favorite place nearby & gaining confidence, bravery & ability. We don't need to go far for adventure & beauty.

For the birds

Draping bits of beautifully colored sheep's wool roving in the trees & bushes for the birds to find. Perhaps this spring will find many rainbow-hued birds' nests in our neighborhood?

Want more of this

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Princesses

Little M's fascination with princesses is catching. I, too, find myself enchanted with castles, keeps, moats, guards, tall towers with banners flying... and the little princesses who live there.

1. Princess Anne's pet bear

2. Princess Ingrid

3. Princess Anne

4. Princesses Grace & Stephanie ice skating

5. Princess Grace and little Princess Stephanie

6. Wee Princesses Margaret & Elizabeth

7. Princess Margaret all grown up with her own wee ones

Arthur Ganson Machines

Watching this had me mesmerized. I wish it would go on & on & on.

via The Golden Smith

Will Ashford

I like the story as well when you told it
found here via here

Mina Perhonen

Would I wear this jacket? Yes. Oh, yes, I would. I would wear it proudly.

Carlos Amorales

I like 'Black Cloud' by Carlos Amorales.

Swandives & Jackknives off the Couch

M & I love to dance to this song. The rug is the ocean, the couch is an island & the chairs are rocks & beaches. We play it again & again & again.

40 Years of Art & Books

This is the kind of place I would like to be living in when I am old & gray. The seeds have been planted, but it will take a long time to grow.

"The walls are covered in the artwork of the Austrian artists Kurt Kocherscheidt, Brigitte Kowanz, Joannis Avramidis and Maria Lassnig; wooden floors and Oriental rugs are found throughout the home.

Also on display are artifacts like arrowheads and figures from Mr. Reder’s research trips to the Sahara, Afghanistan, Syria and the Caucasus. A drawing by Walter Pichler, an architect and sculptor, hangs above the fireplace. It is one of many sketches by an array of artists and architects hanging on the walls throughout the apartment — even in the kitchen, which is a cozy alcove with a Saarinen round table and Thonet chairs.

Thousands of books line the walls of almost every room, as well as the guest bathroom, where a toilet sits like a throne at the back of a long narrow hall. “We were running out of space,” Ms. Reder said. “So the books spilled into the bathroom. We put crates of wine here, too, since it’s the coolest room in the house.” "

Dahlov Ipcar

"I have lived most of my life surrounded by the serenity and natural beauty of Maine, yet my art is done entirely from imagination. I strive to create my own unique vision of the world. I am intrigued and inspired by the endless variety of patterns and forms in nature; they arouse in me the desire to create forms and patterns of my own.

While many people view the world through the eyes of past artists, I feel that it is up to the artists of the present to reveal new ways of seeing the world and to create new worlds never before seen. Increasingly, I have come to feel that the reality created by the artist is more important than actual reality. The real world may come to seem oppressively dull and barren unless transformed and revitalized by imagination."


Images from here and here

These people are on to something

Roman & Williams from The Scout on Vimeo.

Mother Earth and Her Children

Somehow, M found this misshelved & lost book in the children's book stacks at the library. I'm glad she did. Everytime we settle down to read it before nap time, I get so lost in all the pictures... we both do.

The illustrations in this book are actually details of a single quilt created by Sieglinde Schoen-Smith. It's amazing for me to think that someone could make this by hand out of simple cloth & thread.

Mother Earth and Her Children

Illustrated/quilted by Sieglinde Schoen-Smith from a poem/book long-ago written by Sibylle von Olfers and translated by Jack Zipes

Schoen-Smith's design was inspired by the original 1906 illustrations by the author, Sibylle von Olfers. Very lovely too. You can view a complete digital copy of her book here.

Image above via Stadtmuseum Esslingen

I love Ozzy

As if little Ozzy Rabbit wasn't cute enough, he also has a removable vest with a polka dot lining.

Oh, Fanya. You are too much!

Mommy's Girl

So Baby M has got a big case of Mommy's Girl. It's gotten pretty bad. Only I can take her out of the highchair. Only I can wash her hands and face. Only I can pick her up in a crowd. Only I can read her stories, even though she loves being read to almost more than anything else in the world. You get the picture.

It's gotten so bad that last weekend, I picked up a little board book called Daddy Loves Me. Yes. Propaganda. We've resorted to propaganda. "Look, MarMar! Look at the daddy pushing the baby in the swing! That baby sure is happy. Look at that big smile!"

Funny thing is that she LOVES this book. She wants to hear it over & over again... but only if I read it to her. If R tries to take a turn, it's tears, snot & a panicky begging for "Mommy, hold you!"

I hope, hope, hope this phase will soon be over. Don't get me wrong. It's nice to be needed & loved, but I'd much, much rather share that honor (and the hand-washing & the holding & everything else).

Rules

I love this rule (and this song too):

158. The best thing to do in the rain is be quiet and listen.

Now, if only it would rain here...

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New Anthropologie Catalog

What a fun surprise! Today, I got a copy of the new Anthropologie catalog & lo & behold, the photo shoot was held just a few blocks from my house.

And yes, every surface in this town truly is plastered with crisply new & forlornly weathered rock posters. However, now I'm looking at them in a whole new way.