Revolution of Snow

Today we woke up to a revolution of snow,

its white flag waving over everything,

the landscape vanished,

not a single mouse to punctuate the blankness,

and beyond these windows...Snow Day, Billy Collins

Update - Saturday, 5 Feb 2011. Twitter re: Egypt. Feeling way under-the-weather. Even quite ill. Oof.

If you don't have access to Al Jazeera English (very rare in the States - though I can access it just fine), watch here.

Get Off of My Cloud

Thursday, 27 Jan 2011 Update - Due to massive snowstorm, Julie & I decamped to an undisclosed location. Will post winter break news after we dig out. xo/S.

Tuesday, 1 Feb 2011 Update - We're still not home. More ice on the way. Go watch Egypt (& Tunisia) news...more important than us:)

What to do about: spammers, hacking attempts, people in the followers list who are suspicious, maybe enable the follower gadget, it's just a mess. So creeps, in my best Mick Jagger sneer - Hey you, get off of my cloud.

On a more pleasant note...for sheer delight, check out Jeff Bridges's great website. Any admirer knows that he draws, loves his Widelux camera, & plays music. He's much more than that, though. He's a spokesperson (& co-founder in 1983) of the End Hunger Network. Read all the way down that link about his thoughts on how charities alone cannot end hunger. The series American Masters recently broadcast The Dude Abides about guess who & it was super.

I'm new to Indecision Forever, a site run by the entertaining wackos at The Daily Show. If you will be watching the State of the Union Speech tonight (SOTU to us wonks), you might want to check in over there. I'm weary of the post-mortems. Wait, you say. It hasn't been delivered yet! I know, dear. You must not know that speeches are dissected before they're given nowadays.

Out I creep into the freezing apt. to heat up some soup & run back into the bedroom. Julie is asleep after playing with my braid & taking off my sleep mask about 5,000 times last night. OK, about 100 times. I'll be back to post a suitable photograph (s) for the break.

Tulip Mood

In a tulip mood & this photograph via Tokketok Letterpress blog appealed to me ages ago. It just didn't go with the bright pink & white on today's Giulia Geranium post. BTW, Tokketok has some nice card sets. Icy cold rain here. Trying to get a photograph of Julie doing something other than sleeping--she is a lively girl. But as I said, "icy rain." Still in robe & worrying that I will turn into a female Dude. (See design*sponge's Living In today.)

Update - Sunday evening, 23 Jan. I'll be back shortly. Freezing cold, crazy spammers, etc. On positive note, my Pittsburgh Steelers just won a big game. I know, I wouldn't think me a football person either. My grandfather's team will always be my team. xo. Susan

Put the Kettle On

Imagine Ireland - more on it next week - has an elegant website; however it's not popping to the top of a Google search. So let's help it. If you have a Facebook account, please "like" it. (Update: Aha, ImagineIreland is now a-Twittering, here. Excellent.)

The Keats-Shelley House in Rome has done a wonderful rehaul of their site. I cannot recommend it enough. So happy about it.

You can enter the weekly New Yorker comic caption contest. You can vote as well. Fun(ny).

I'm so steamed by the terrible news out of Arizona that I can barely hold my virtual tongue. Time to put the kettle on. Cheers.

(The photograph is one of four by Rebecca Duke in Hannah Booth's article Anatomy of Style: Vintage in The Guardian. I might as well give in & give up the idea of minimalism. It's just not going to work for me.)

Thursday, 13 Jan. update: Still under-the-weather. Until I can find a photograph I can live with for 2+ weeks, the bath (above) remains. Cheers.

Calling All Designers

You do not have to be a traditional design professional (that's the point). It's Garmz.com.

One of the advantages to feeling unwell is a stack of unread magazines. (Although--if W doesn't get better & this new editor doesn't stop putting naked Kardashians in an "art" issue, euwww, it is so over. God, what dreck.)

Vote on designs uploaded by others & winners see their garment manufactured & for sale online. I do not know how well they are constructed, etc. The site is in beta. There are some good-to-excellent illustrations. There are also some that look like I dipped into my Crayola box. If you were fairly early to Etsy, you know there was (is) some "real junk on there." (That was a friend before I gave her some things from Etsy a couple of years ago. In other words, sift sift sift.) It's the same with Garmz. There are some Etsy folk on there, too. Here's an interview with one winner, Lauren Reeser aka American Duchess. Here's Lauren's pretty Etsy shop, & wonderful historical costuming blog.

Go forth & improve Garmz. (designs/illustrations by Scarlet Movement & Anika)

Beauty Secrets

I laughed when I saw this amusing Nickolas Muray photograph from the George Eastman House collection. My newly-in-touch friends from Strasbourg asked several things the past two months but often the first (& most asked): do you still roll your hair in socks? Answer: sometimes. So I guess it wasn't so secret...apparently I paraded around with argyles & stripy socks in my ridiculously long hair. (It really works.)

I'll be back sometime this week. Feeling not-so-well. I received some wonderful toys (video-cam, digital binoculars-wow) yesterday; but right now I'm going to draw a full bath & dip into a L'Occitane goody box--almond oil. Yum.

Happy New Year

I'm over-thinking this one. Meaning: no need to go searching for just the right photo, just the right quote, etc. Criminy, it's Saturday. Herewith Sharon Montrose's cute baby bunny on Giulia's site. (It is the Year of the Rabbit.)

I'm (sort of) making up resolutions on my baby deer pad from Sharon Montrose's Etsy shop. And cooking/talking on the phone/looking at blogs of eye-popping insincerity (no one you know). Waiting for the delayed Winter Classic hockey game in which my Pittsburgh Penguins will whoop the Washington Caps. Update - grrrr. (I'm lying low--I live in enemy territory.) Cheers, happy new year. And may I remind everyone that Christmas (traditionally) is not over until 6 Jan. I like it...I hate the idea that people run around like maniacs to "get it over with." Relax. (Baby Bunny No. 1 by Sharon Montrose, The Animal Print Shop)