True Blue

...The stony street

Displayed the stillness in which buildings stand,

The street-lamp’s vigil....[Delmore Schwartz]

[photograph via a blog & I don't want to link it-- too weird. Via we heart it]

La Danse, le ballet de l'Opéra de Paris

Just returned home from AFI where Frederick Wiseman's documentary is playing in the gorgeous Art Deco Silver Theatre. Now back to real life. [photograph via La Danse site on Facebook]

Week's End - Woman at the Window

Salvador Dali's 1925 painting at the Philadelphia Museum of Art via Artcyclopedia. The Dali print is in my bath & the plumber is entranced by it. (I think it's the colors, he's not quite sure yet.) Meanwhile, he feels that I am unhealthily fixated on the photograph & that it does not belong next to the Dali. While noting his opinion, I respectfully disagree. Mostly so I'll stop thinking about the subject. I hope. Good night.

[The photograph via we heart it from an unidentified tumblr blog, here]

Happy Thanksgiving!

On verge of birthing a cow as I'm running late & afraid I'll look like one in my dress. Ah well. Here's what I'm taking to hosts (whom I don't know well). Flowers, chocolate, & stinky cheese. That should do it. (Arriving with half-a-Frenchie famille, so this won't be out of order). Hope everyone has a happy & safe holiday.

[Images via we heart it, Whole Foods blog]

Flowers for India

First Lady Michelle Obama meets with Mrs. Gursharan Kaur in the Yellow Oval Room of the White House, Nov. 24, 2009. (Official White House Photo by Samantha Appleton) Because they look beautiful (the ladies) & the flowers are great. Spiffy title eludes me. The photograph is much nicer in large format, here.

Vanity

You must not find symbols in everything you see. It makes life impossible.
--Oscar Wilde

No bloody kidding.

[photographs: Chrissie White; voscheveuxmagnifiques/tumblr; unidentified; all via we heart it]

Week's End - Lena in Black & White

Glamorous Lena in 1948 (in Paris & NYC). I cracked up listening to various versions of I Feel Smoochie (LH reportedly singing it in close-up club shot). I could not pull off saying it, much less singing it, & be glamorous. (Yes, I know I am not glamorous no matter what. Don't rub it in! Snarl.) Julie the Cat seemed to enjoy a few versions of the song but then, being a modern sophisticat, she barfed onto the modem, nearly shorting it out. This sums up the last few weeks.

Update: 9 May 2010 - RIP, Lena. She did a lot more than look fabulous; she fought for civil rights - her own & others (notably, African-American GIs in WWII). Obituary, here. It's more than annoying that everyone seems to have chosen "sultry" for their headlines. Ah well.

[photographs by Yale Joel & W. Eugene Smith for LIFE archives/Lena arriving in Grand Central Station via myvintagevogue]

Black Ruffles

Unwell...so not a swan song but a little break. ciao.

[monochrome photograph of black swan via animalphotos]

Sunday Shopping

Perhaps not so much pretend shopping as actually pondering. I saw this Wallis Camel Statement Collar Coat on Liberty London Girl. It reminds me of coats my mother wore. The coat advertisement is not the same but the camel coat is the theme here--never goes out of style. The second image is Charm magazine's December 1948 cover. It startled me. A few tweaks & it could be a cover this year. (first image via myvintagevogue; second via myvintagevogue/tumblr /JUST COVERS)

Have a good Sunday evening (hello to Aussies & Kiwis...starting out your work week).

xo/svs

Week's End - Blue Ribbon

So you think you want to be a muse, huh? No, you really do not. Especially when circling a former a-mused's book (painting, photograph, etc). Today venturing out into rain, draped in knitted layers & boots. Hiding under huge polka-dot umbrella. Go here to see the best little gray riding hood, possibly ever.

As for the ribbons. If I can't wear one 'round the waist at moment (see previous avoirdupois agony), the others are pretty. Yes, I am working on something other than looking at girly ribbons, etc. (Laughing at cat-bow photo title - Your life, it seems extravagant. I would place emphasis on 'seems.')

[photographs - blackcigarette: style era; the cherry blossom girl; your life, inspires/tumblr via we heart it]

Cupcake Consequence

Oh woe. I can't even be funny about this now.

And then...the postman accidentally threw 3 large (soft-sided) packages at me when I opened the door after the first thud. He was mortified, poor man. The cat made a break for it when I opened the door. Then boom, boom, boom. If I've told her once, I've told her a 1,000 times: It's overrated, the big outdoors.

[photographs by D Sharon Pruitt via Pink Sherbet Photography's Free For Creative Commons & LIFE archives/Nina Leen]

Dim-out Fashion

A way to divert attention away from one's waistline. And making do...[Andreas Feininger photo essay in LIFE archives/1943]

The Dawn Comes Round Again

From, here.

[photograph Funambula/tumblr via we heart it]

I'm Looking Through You

You don't look different, but you have changed...

I just typed a whole bunch of words & poof. All gone. I've decided to take it as a sign. Just don't want to keep seeing that glowing red poppy at the top of the page. It's reminding me of too many things (that are not good). Off to swim & perhaps to change. The cat photo business has got to stop; Julie has a blog of her own. Please visit it & find out about IKEA's Soft Toy Animal campaign.

There were words to go with necklaces, boots, dresses, & so forth. Leaving the photos in anyway. Still can't believe I did that...

[photographs via we heart it. Two of the feeds are messed up & give error messages when I tried to visit the original site. So the cat is by scarlipop/tumbler, the others are pearls & tea/tumblr, & Ped Shoes ]

Red Poppy

To all those serving now or in the past, in the Commonwealth. In the States, Veteran's Day is Wednesday. Whatever your feelings about the wars in Iraq & Afghanistan, today & Wednesday are days to remember. For non-US readers, our Memorial Day in May is often marked with red poppies--where I am, anyway. It seems to have increased in popularity in November, as well.

Here is a lovely birthday & Remembrance Sunday post by From the Desk of Bee Drunken for her brother in Afghanistan.

[public domain illustration]

Week's End - Presidential Peek-a-boo

"In 2008, half the people who watched the Fox News Channel were over sixty-three...oldest demographic in the cable-news business...the majority...who watched the most strident programs, such as Sean Hannity’s and Bill O’Reilly’s shows...were men. All that chesty fulminating apparently functions as political Cialis. Fox News shows should probably carry a warning: Contact your doctor if you have rage lasting more than four hours."

Louis Menand's New Yorker [November 2, 2009 issue] Comment made me laugh out loud on the Metro recently. I thought, "I know someone like that..."

More cuteness from the White House flickrstream. It serves two purposes: a quick week's end because I'm sick (the thermometer says so anyway) & it'll clear the bile in my system at a family member who ranted at/about me (on my dime!) about things political. So it's official: I am a communist-fascist-America-hating...something or other. Oh, & I'm an Obamaton, or some weird thing like that. This person was in the throes of post-Glenn-Beck-or-similar hysteria. Someone needs an etiquette lesson.

[President Barack Obama plays peek-a-boo with Maeve Beliveau, the daughter of Director of Advance Emmett Beliveau, in the Outer Oval Office, Oct. 30, 2009. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)]

Amaryllis & Paperwhites

There's still time to start amaryllis & paperwhites for the holidays. There are newish varieties of paperwhites that don't scent-offend about 50% of the population. (That would be 'Ziva' who so annoys.) If you can still get your hands on the 'minor' bulbs (e.g., muscari) or smallish narcissus, tulips, & so forth, do so, pop into the fridge & follow directions, here. It makes you feel like a genius when they bloom & bunches of tulips are at a premium.

Here's a link to Persuading the Paperwhite, godawful pix & all, from Giulia Geranium blog last winter. For containers, look around the house or apartment before buying a thing; I've forced flowers in just about everything not porous; when done, bowls & so on go straight into the dishwasher & serve as food vessels again. (For near-instant gratification, grab one of the amaryllis or paperwhite kits on sale in food markets right now & water. But do pop in & find some other bulbs for later in winter.)

[Flower photographs via White Flower Farm. Image of Amaryllis via artmagik]

Time, Timing

Time stays long enough for those who use it. --Leonardo da Vinci

That know-it-all.

[lovely & timely photographs by Aimee Ketsdever at deviant art; thelovelyexile/tumbler, & etreh - all via we heart it]