Sleep On It

On a search though it won't be these...& the poem &/or essay is not about safety railings & crib recalls.

A friend (who never comments here) sent an e-mail memo detailing what is wrong with the blog...ahem. She meant well but a bit of advice: if someone hasn't asked for your opinion about a painting, a poem, a song, your new hat, your latest wacky outfit, etc...stifle yourself. I know that's supposed to be a bad thing, but I don't think so. People have blogs for different reasons. I've been quite clear about mine. (And I am looking for a new bed frame, so this is fun. A lot of white rooms but I'm not feeling that tonight. Next week.)

Off to gardens tomorrow with Maria Caterina di Perugia. The only thing is, I find very few lovely straight (single) men go to these gardens. Well, it'll keep my mind on the David Austin rose collection. (Sob.)

[photographs via here, here, here, & here]

Wishful Thinking

A recent post on The Clever Pup about redecorating (it said, 'dream on' - I know, I know) inspired a look at books o' clippings. Why oh why didn't I keep the whole magazine -- or at least the photographer & writer credits? Because I didn't know I'd be doing this, that's why. House & Garden (also called HG in one incarnation) published a terrific article in the early 1990s on Isabella Rossellini's New York apartment. Her bedroom & bath are very elegant; but as I wrestle framed photographs, hats, & my desk into submission (sort of), these shots are most helpful & entertaining. The dogs at the desk are adorable & hard to resist. (The dachsund is wearing a scarf with considerable élan.)

HG went kaput for good in 2007 and is missed. A Google search for the HG archives leads directly to Architectural Digest. This is a publication that elicits a loathing in me totally out of proportion to its actual existence/importance in the world-at-large. The source of this disgust is a mystery...now I'll find out that a friend just went to work for them. Or something.

Summer Sleep

Just finished listening (mostly) to Terry Gross (on NPR's Fresh Air) interview Woody Allen. Unfortunately, I was distracted by something (I think it was Corine at Hidden in France, yes. It was. It's her fault.) I recommend the podcast. It was good to hear him; I didn't gnash my teeth or talk back to the radio once. Terry asks good questions & allows people to answer thoughtfully. Or not.

I thought: what would make me happy, materially, right now. No one lecture me about 'materialism' -- not until you're in my shoes-with-holes. Don't you dare. (Woody's list, along with non-material 'things' is quite similar to mine. I don't know if that's good or bad. It's amusing.).

I'd like to have an antenna so I can watch the BBC News feed on PBS at 6pm; watch Dave Letterman's monologue, tape Craig Ferguson & puppets (don't judge), & see the scenes from Iran today. Or watch anything but 'here's how you fix your freaking TV that you thought was digital.' And for the record, before one more well-meaning person says it's a blessing in disguise: I have no problem, whatsoever, ever-ever, with turning off the television. I have taken to old-guy behavior of circling programs for the week. Because even here in DC, there are few daily prompts to watch World News or Frontlline. When it's your choice, it's one thing; when you've no choice, that's elitism talking. Oh the poor will be so much better off it they do not have their telenovelas..

This is an excuse to start posting photographs of rooms-I-like. Some are white, some are multi-colored, all styles. I'm not a magpie...I can be happy with many different styles. I am not so high-maintenance that it has to be 'roses' rather than 'liles' (or vice versa...anyone who read The Rose Thief knows about the parsley-in-creamer jug.) Beautiful peonies at the market this afternoon...surprised I wasn't charged to sniff.

So other than replacing/fixing everything that is tattered, & making sure this computer doesn't crash, & of course a camera...what would make me happy? A bed-frame that is not broken & propped up with old art books. It is far beyond bohemian, I assure you. Other people romanticize this kind of life. No, I want a bed-frame & to send out the carpets to be cleaned properly. Mary Cassatt's poppies, while lovely, are not helping. Unless I had them here, in a one of my favorite vessels. These Mediterranean photographs were torn from a magazine many years ago & stapled into notebooks. I think it might be Marie Claire Maison.

I resisted the urge to crop out the Louis Vuitton trunk in the Med-bedroom.(my reverse snobbery). I have to take the html out later but I'll leave it in for now. The scan of the room with all the 'stuff' is my reply to "toss everything out' articles I've seen (especially lately). Someone (paid) to pontificate in the Washington Post wrote recently "throw out those little paperbacks..." & keep the hardback books. Whaaaaaa? I'd have to buy them back. I have volumes of poetry & vintage paperbacks. I re-read them. Why on earth would I toss them out? This was written by a person who does not read, I am convinced, much less re-read. Oh, yeah, I'm really going to toss out vintage first paperbacks of Plath, Camus-and-Gide-in-French (1950s) & a few copies of New World Writing (that's what I can see from here, where I sit. Literally.).

Back to being upset that I don't have the magazine information. I'll do that tonight & then back to rereading Gatsby, as I do every summer (at least once). Just to keep myself in check. I actually know a Tom & a Daisy (unwillingly). Yeah, I do. Believe it or not.

[I must insert something about Iran: Have been "tweety-birding" with some friends there. Also, the Post today is so very incorrect about the polling in Iran. They are wrong. I can hardly believe my eyes & ears at times. If you are interested in Iran (& you should be, for all kinds of reasons), pay attention to Robin Wright. She's at the Woodrow Wilson Center, used to be at the Post before they bought out people-who-know stuff. Robin & Geraldine Brooks are the two Westerners I trust about Iran. Read them; their books are wonderful. I'm so very glad that I did not "toss them out." They love Iran, too, so the snoot factor is not there.]

Week's End - Tangled up in blue-black ink...

Update: At 12:07EDT, it's definitely Week's End for archival purposes. Hoped for amusing photos like last Friday's & the time/energy/computer cooperation to do something with them. Not happening. Good weekend to all, wherever you are.

Apologies to Bob. I hate doing that...was gonna use some really obscure Dylan line but I took the easy way out. Not week's end yet...(Waterman pen by Phil/ShutterSparks who has the coolest stuff)