Knit & Purl

Because I love this photograph & because it would offend my OCD-like sensibilities if I allowed November to end without one post, here's a link to a 'learn to knit' post on Giulia Geranium. If I can do it, anyone with most of their fingers can - seriously. Back next week. xo

PS: Some good tips for holiday decorating/simple prep. If I do say so myself.:) And Sweet Paul's Winter issue is live, here.

(Vanessa Redgrave & Natasha Richardson, Rome 1968 via MSNBC)

Blue Moon

Have a wonderful long weekend if you're in the States and Canada. Wherever you are, enjoy the Blue Moon this evening. See this site for beautiful photographs, illustrations, & the best writing for astronomy lovers (who may not know all that much - I don't.) Here are more night sky posts on Giulia Geranium.

I'll be back soon. Somehow. Comments still turned off but feel free to pop in to Twitter (join!) or Pinterest.

Susan/xo

(photograph by Beata Rydén)

George

A little pick-me-up on a Saturday afternoon. It's George Harrison's birthday & so another mention of the Lost & Found guitar solo in Here Come's the Sun. It's been on Open Culture for at month but it's getting picked up a lot today. I eagerly await Martin Scorcese's George Harrison: Living in the Material World on DVD. HBO is soooooooo pokey about releasing their shows on DVD. (Grrr)

Here's a terrific rendition of the happy birthday song by Paul & his band (live in Moscow's Red Square). Enjoy!

(photograph via The Beatles - which is a fun website)

Something Sweet

A quick hello & some links.

For Valentine's ideas (including humanitarian), especially homemade cards.

Samantha Hahn's free Valentines, so pretty.

A Paris street photography blog (archives)

Quick Dulce de Leche & one way to use it.

I've disabled comments for now because I'm too tired to engage much except a bit on Twitter. Pls consider joining me there. xo

(photograph by Linda McCartney)

Central Park in Fog

I don't do gift guides & shopping posts (though I enjoy reading them) & I'm certainly not paid for anything I recommend. Occasionally, though, I like something so much that I do link to it. I've loved Canadian Irene Suchocki's photographs on flickr for ages, enough to click 'contact.' People use her photographs quite a lot without mentioning that she has an Etsy shop, Eye Poetry. {finger wag}

Eye Poetry features three calendars this season & some discounted prints; there's a Cyber Monday discount on other prints as well. These are excellent prices, though, even without the discounts. Her subjects are like a round-up of what-I-love. Italy & France, animals, New York, fairy lights, carousels.

The holiday order deadline is past for Europe (& obviously Australia:) but as I said on Giulia Geranium, subscribe to the idea of the Twelve Days of Christmas & relax, man. The deadline for the States is the 5th, Canada, the 6th. Love those calendars. This bridge in Central Park is featured on a small black & white vintage-photograph holiday card that I've sent twice. I really love these, too, though they are mass-produced.

Cheers all...

(photograph by Irene Suchocki)

Fragmented Flowers

Singaporean photographer Fong Qi Wei went deeper than just taking photos of flowers and created an amazing series of Exploded Flowers – images that show the radial symmetry of flowers.--from DeMilked (via Illusion)

A lovely & clever art project. See the entire series, here.

I had these on GG blog but I really like them so now they're here....and...I just noticed that I still have on nightclothes. Oops. *Damn you, Twitter*

Reasons To Be Cheerful

I was just listening to Reasons To Be Cheerful, Part 3 (here's the video) & decided to watch Manhattan. In a coffee shop on the corner. I don't know if this is a sign of cheerfulness or desperation.

Apologies to anyone who is tired of my using Giulia Geranium pictures & vice-versa. It's the best I can do under these circumstances. Hope you're having a terrific Sunday (or Monday - hi Aussies!). Back to the movie....

xo/Susan

(Manhattan stills credits)

Ice Cream

I'm having such an urge for ice cream (the good stuff) but I'm in a Starbucks & not giving up my side table away from the riff-raff. I ran this yesterday on Giulia Geranium; David Lebovitz makes such gorgeous ice cream & he does it here without a machine. I'm so going to do this when I house/cat sit next month. Although I think they do have a machine. Well, I'll set up a little comparison then. I've not made ice cream in donkeys years.

And now I really should go back to writing. Mimph.

(Françoise Hardy & Sylvie Vartan are the ice cream girls)

Happy Bastille Day!

...to my French friends & my Francophile friends. Sitting in a café is driving me mad. (Very loud. I need earphones.) I have to keep moving & that means posting no-matter-what. I was out & about yesterday at appts. & could not bear to drag the laptop with me in 100 degree heat (though there was free wifi). Back in my neighborhood (& cooler for the next two days), I am resisting a strong urge to see Midnight in Paris (money, you know). But I can see the theatre from the café's front door. Hmmm.

If you've been thinking about Twitter, please give it a try. If nothing else, it is one more skill/tool to learn. I really love seeing updates in real time around the world. I know it seems nuts if you've not tried it, but I find it comforting to be connected around the world & in my back yard. It can bring you material goods, as well. I recently won the whole line of L'Occitane's wonderful new angelica facial products. More on that (& Twitter) at a later date.

I hate not being able to log on the last three nights & ask "Did anyone hear jets scrambling? and sirens? Was that on the news, in the paper? If so, I didn't see it. Anyone?"

Anyone gets back to you in less than 30 seconds. I like it.

à demain...(ooh..there's an almost-handsome man having a video chat in French not 6 feet from me...hmmm again...*fluffs hair*)

PS: The Eiffel Tower site is really fun & in many languages. There are great ideas for children, games, etc. That third photograph is from an interactive design on the site. I made it for Julie the Cat on a GG post. Pass it on.

(photographs via Eiffel Tower & Martin Soler)

Tonight

The Mountain from TSO Photography on Vimeo.

As I said over on the GG blog, I'm officially obsessed with the night sky this summer. Where one reports this, I do not know. I guess that's why people have blogs, Facebook pages, & Twitter accounts. You know, just so I can obsess publicly.

Earthsky has a "Tonight" section for all your night-sky needs. The solstice is tomorrow so get ready. Also, check out Cig Harvey's exhibit news - I won't be in Maine to see it but here's the gallery link. (That's her lovely Devin & the Fireflies above the video.)

To The Mountain. It's just stunning, so please watch it. I saw it on Marvelous Kiddo (thanks!) in a stuck in my head post. Exactly. Now it's stuck in mine but I'm happy for it to hang out in my head. It's a gorgeous photography project & it's described beautifully by, who else, the photographer. So go go go... Rushing, rushing...out into the humid air.

Spring Things

Hello on this last day of April. I'm planning on regular posts beginning (update - the end of 2nd week) week of May. The idea of no April in the 2011 archives is against my compulsive nature. So a few photographs & links that I thought might entertain. I'm easily entertained lately.

1. The Vermont Country Store. I requested a catalogue last month & enjoy a flip-through now & again. As I told a friend: some things you wish hadn't gone away, some that should, some that should but who wants to see the end of Turkish Taffy or 1950s-style chenille bedspreads? Just on general principle.

2. David Austin Roses Handbook of Roses. That's a fancy way of saying 'catalogue'. Three online requests did not succeed, so so I emailed the office. A nice person there tossed one into the post. It arrived yesterday & I fell asleep slobbering over the Queen of Sweden. I was exhausted as I had finally, almost resentfully, arisen at 2.45am & watched The Wedding. Very grateful for PBS/BBC feed. I know people have yawned about their coverage but no commercials + fewer ignoramuses than other channels = fine with me. Definitely order the rose catalogue. The website has links to many countries.

3. Persephone Books Biannually. As I walked out yesterday, ta da. The oh-so-pretty & always interesting Persephone Biannually & a lovely bookmark had arrived via the Royal Mail. Made me wish I'd be in London for a few of the events. The Persephone Post blog is quite pretty, too.

4. The Guardian has a Camera Club - which I cannot be a part of as the teensy camera was a welcome gift but does not exactly make the proper photo for more than snaps. Anyway. The last Friday of each month there is a video of the next assignment (& a few tips). They have a flickr group & they also give out prizes. Woohoo. I looked for the May assignment but didn't see it. My understanding was that April was the spring month. Maybe I'm not reading it properly. Anyway, hop on over & watch lambs gamboling near the end of the video.

A head's up for those in the Washington, DC-area. The National Cathedral Flower Mart is next Friday & Saturday. I've a small spring tradition of buying a few coral geraniums there. It's always a pleasure to see the antique merry-go-round unwrapped & working those two days. I love carousels. Here's a little Easter Monday carousel post from Julie's blog - which I have been able to keep up-to-date lately. I've been quite silly, even more than usual, with videos. Sing along to Dean Martin (whom my maternal great-grandmother baby-sat. Yes, really. The stories!)

If you're on Twitter or are thinking of doing so, I'm at @juliethecat. Cheers! Little update: the best person blogging (that I know of) about the Royal Wedding, esp. the dress & detail is Liberty London Girl. Her tweets are informative & witty as well.

(French carousel by karmenrose; darling lamb by penwren; flowering quince at Brookside Gardens, moi w/teensy camera, do forgive)

Reindeer Cheer

Sunday Update (5 Dec 2010) - It's been that kind of week. I hope to be back by mid-week. Meanwhile, please check out Made4Aid, IKEA Soft Toy Aid, & Tina Tarnoff's Etsy shop (here's a Giulia G. post about a beautiful pin Tina sent me this past summer). And of course, check out all my comrades here in the right sidebar & on my profile page. And yes, I have a thing for reindeer. This cute dude is by John the Finn, here. xo/Susan

Change in the Weather

This illustrates what happens when you haven't really done the seasonal clothes rotation. Yet. UK Tights is a good tight-site. If you order enough & get them on the right day, little to no delivery charge from UK to US. Wolford are gorgeous but out of my reach (for now).

Just about everyone I know in the States, Canada, & Europe is trudging around in the snow. Here it's been in the 50s/60s & now zooming to a freeze. The last 15 hours have brought torrential rain, winds, & who knows what this afternoon-into-evening. This is mainly to switch over to December. Strasbourg at Christmas holiday soon, I hope, but things are still rather tangled here. Oops, there flickers zee lights.

Everyone in my sidebar & also on the profile page if I've not linked yet, have some great suggestions for holidays. (Joanna's always-entertaining Cup of Jo Gift Guide has just begun.) Giulia Geranium has ideas for good gifts that help. (photograph via audrey hepburn complex)

Week's End - Now, It's Up To You

I hesitate asking "do this in honor of" but I've been trying to decide for an entire week about what to do, hence the non-posts, the "hey look at this pretty picture (more than usual)" business. A very close friend's son died last week. He was studying to be a veterinarian & he also worked with children on his holidays & summer breaks. This was a sudden & horrible event & so please do this on his behalf.

I hope to return to regular posting soon. Giulia's blog will post daily as it is easier to set up & not so very personal (in the first-person sense).

Update: Monday. Thank you dear Carina for passing it on.

Cheers & have a good weekend. I hope you will pass on the information or do a post yourself. There is a toolkit on each IKEA website. Below is the text from GG's site:

Join GG in the Soft Toy Movement for every child's right to education. Please go to your country's IKEA website & click on Soft Toy campaign at the bottom of the homepage. There you will find all the information you need to pass the word on. It has downloadable wallpapers, a coloring book, a banner for blogs & Facebook pages, & videos.

This year, from November 1–December 24, for every soft toy sold, 1 euro (USD $1.35) will go to IKEA global partners UNICEF and Save the Children to extend and start new children's educational programs in 22 countries.

Pick up an inexpensive soft toy at IKEA & put it in a holiday gift donation basket if you don't need it. Giulia is holding a meow-in this very moment because she wants a soft toy this year. The spring has gone out of Celeste the IKEA Pig's curly tail. We'll see about an addition but Celeste the IKEA Pig (her full name) is not going anywhere...there's a familiar orange & white pink-nosed feline draped over her every day. (images via IKEA website)

London Light

Two of 16 photographs by Sally (aka Letty) at Made4Aid. More information is on Giulia Geranium blog. The cards are gorgeous, well priced, & they ship free anywhere in the world. (Here's the full set; you can choose which ones you'd like.) Hope to be back before too long. Cheers.

O Gattina!

Fussing with the new Giulia Geranium header & colors took a great big bite out of the weekend. Please take a look. I hesitate to say it's finished because that would undermine my as-yet unwritten manifesto on 'things are never finished' (it can get you out of so many jams. And into them, too.). Besides, it's not as though I do this professionally. It's all given me a tremendous headache. Speaking of headaches, of the feline variety....

The carpet above could be mine (same pattern) but mine is currently flecked, nay strewn, with holly berries & bits of sage, rosemary, oregano, & basil from a friend's garden. There are also apples & pears on the carpet. Julie usually goes for all things sparkly so I'm not sure what is up with this vegetal vandalism. That must have been some wild rumpus while I was out walking in lovely autumnal gardens yesterday. The must-do list is woefully lacking "done" ticks & now I have cleaning to do. I'll answer comments & visit people soon. I hope tonight. (A clean carpet via audrey hepburn complex) Update - Tuesday - Or maybe I'll catch up tonight. Oh dear.

PS: Today is the last day to vote for your favorite dress - Shabby Apple Dare to Design Contest. I still haven't decided.

Update - because I can't stand for people not to get a good deal & it's a kitchen sink post: Holiday Vogue Knitting patterns (over 1,300 to choose from) are all $US 2.99/per. Zee email just arrived- here's the link.

Week's End - Leetle Feet

Am attempting to redo Giulia Geranium's template. That scream you hear might be me. Anyway, on GG there's a post on New York City Ballet's website, the children's section. Wow. I just printed out pages from the coloring book. (No, I'm not coloring them in myself, I'm sending them to a niece. Well, OK, I did color one. Zen.) If any of you want to entertain your children or yourself for nearly-free (using the printer means not totally free) this weekend, especially someone who might begin to pester you soon about The Nutcracker, give these a try. Meanwhile, aren't these the cutest little feet?

Back later....Update, nope. That's it for today.

(little Italian tootsies by Alfred Eisenstaedt/LIFE Archives)

Fresh Flowers for Tough Times

For those of us residing in the State of Penury, here is an excellent idea by Sarah of Blossom and Branch, via Design*Sponge. It's a definite upgrade from our parsley-in-a-creamer. This is Sarah's second post in a twice-a-month series, Flowers A-Z. Take a look, you might be surprised by the ingredients.

That is from Julie's site today. I loved this idea so much that I scooped it up & placed over here. A relief from the gray & watery rumination chez nous.

I've looked on-line but not in the shops for prices per bunch/stem. I sniffed by them in the market in years past. My bad. It's very much bricolage in the French usage sense. Scent memories of cycling & walking past fields of decaying brassica on the outskirts of Strasbourg might have something to do with my aversion. I don't think that classy Design*Sponge would have anything on their site if that were the case. We shall see.

Reflections in the Water

Sally of Lettuce-eating posted these abstracts last January (2009) & there was much justified enthusiasm. She bowed to the will of the people: Voilà, they are cards. Yours are at Made4Aid's new Etsy shop. No shipping fee, no kidding. Even if you can't buy right now, it would do no small amount of good to "favorite" the shop (or some items you like). I loved Made4Aid auctions last year, but this will be easier for those who did not. (Wusses!)

I'm meandering about & muttering to the cat. About to go say hello to Hazel, who is back from Paris. Thinking about the Mad Men season finale (& whole series) & wondering why people use the term 'soap opera' about it. I had to bite my tongue overhearing people on the Metro. Apparently they grew up in a utopia starring Glinda the Good Witch as Queen. Many of these naifs have discovered Basket of Kisses (my preferred MM blog) recently. Man, I hope I didn't send them over there.

I'll take the "no comments" off of yesterday's post in case anyone wants to spill their guts about exciting exits. Extra points if you think it's funny now. You will receive much empathy if you do not think it funny--ever. (photograph by liquid sunny sky via deviantArt; collage made from Made4Aid images)

Week's End - Can You Hear Me Now?

Thanks to everyone for their good wishes & comments this last week (& always). I've been trying to get through to a friend in Sudan*. (Here's something free to do to help out.) She sent out an email earlier today saying that she wouldn't mind hearing some familiar voices. Everyone on the list must be calling at the same time. So while I'm stopping that for now, I just realized that I've missed coffee infusions, Julie's food supply is sketchy, etc. It's over 90 degrees here & I do not want to go out. Alas, it isn't up to me.

While surfing around, I read a review of Stephen Fry's new volume of memoirs, The Fry Chronicles in The Observer. And while shopping is out of the question, totally, there are some cool products to look at like these retro phones for Skype-ing.

And it is F. Scott Fitzgerald's birthday--happy birthday, dear Scott. Visit DC-area writer & novelist Leslie Pietrzyk at Work-in-Progress to enter a contest for her to buy YOU a literary magazine (there are limits, but as usual Leslie is very generous) in honor of one of our literary idols. You have until Monday, 27 September, 5pm EDT. (I haven't entered because Leslie feels bad if someone she knows doesn't win. Big-hearted Leslie.) Cheers, until later.

(*OK, the latest barking mad thing is going on over there & the Twitter-verse must be consulted.)