No, I've not turned to drink. But I cannot see my tabletops right now & they are not "still life" in the classic sense. (Yes, I've tried squinting.)
Circumstances conspire to render me mostly silent (aren't you glad?) this week & post photographs & links & other people's giveaways. Circumstances do not involve my imminent capture by a butterfly-net wielding right wing lunatic (although, you never know). It's about the list of things I'm supposed to do/have said I will do. Many of them online.
There's a photography festival on here in DC (FotoWeek 2010). I'm trying to bite my tongue about the cutesy spelling...I've been guilty. More than once.
A couple of giveaways. Bleeding Espresso has one for a new cookbook (also reviewed), My Calabria. It's always fun to visit Michelle in Calabria, Italy.
The lovely & humorous Blue Gardenia has an exceptional giveaway that ends tomorrow (Tuesday, 9 November). It's a random generator winner, not an essay contest, & so can I just say something? Yeah, I can. Why do people shriek "I want I want" & the like on giveaways? It's so degrading. If the giveaway person gives instructions, I follow them. But I do not virtual-scream like a ninny. I'm sure you do not, either. The comments on this one, though, are tame compared to some sites I've seen. So no offense to BG readers. (photographs from Olga's Tabletop series)
Camus' view of autumn--Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower. How very cheerful, really. (I won't hold that against him, though I'm beyond crabby.) It's still mostly green here, the odd yellow leaf blowing past. This beautiful photograph uses the Orton effect (see here) & was taken in Germany by the generous Olga. I was going to sneak political & social commentary in but Arts & Letters Daily is not making it easy. (I saw something interesting & cannot access it within the minutes I allow self to do this sort of thing.) Oh well. I can whip up & fold in sneaky links any time. (You can enjoy the photograph much more on Olga's flickr stream.)
Reminder: Don't forget about this dress design contest. I cannot stress enough: you just have to have a good idea & sketch a bit. You don't have to sew it, make a pattern, etc. Shabby Apple Dresses, Dare to Design. The competition ends Friday, 15 October. Then we'll vote.
(Photograph by Olga via flickr)
Update - and now I can't OK comments. It just won't work, so thanks. I'm sorry. Let's see how long Blogger takes to fix it. If ever.
To make a 'beach of time' - as in carving out much-needed restorative time to be...it needn't be at a beach or near water of any sort. Or more than 10 minutes, perhaps. It's a saying. So brilliant those French (don't tell them I said so, though). [Olga's umbrellas, same as on GG on Holiday] ciao.
Update - Monday evening, 5 July 2010. It is over 100-freaking-Fahrenheit degrees. In some places near here it was 108F. At a certain point, however, over 100, it's damn hot. Worse to follow this week. The ocean was lovely but a distant memory & it's not been a week yet. So. Perhaps people will hop over to Julie's site & click some worthy links. Oof.
I love this photograph by Olga, taken in Sweden. It brings to mind an Inspector Wallander book (& PBS series with a brilliant turn by Kenneth Branagh as Kurt Wallander) & waving fields of golden-yellow flowers...on a midsummer's eve.* The series is shot in a rarely-seen part of Sweden & it's beautiful, wistful, melancholy, tortured, etc. So of course, I love it. (When you're finished reading Stieg Larrson's (sadly) final book, check out Henning Mankell's series, if you've not already done so.)Speaking of Sweden, Anne's Food, written by Anne (surprise) in Stockholm has excellent (impressively organized) easy-to-print recipes & wonderful photographs. Mother to an adorable baby boy, Titus, who made the scene in May 2009. She has cats. Her profession is "political secretary." All very intriguing & I've only had 3 years to find out more. Here are Anne's labels for 'midsummer'; it may be too late to bake/make anything now...but who says you can't do it later? Don't get into too much trouble tonight.*
Depending on where you are (sorry Antipodean friends, for being so Northern-centric).
[second image via Jane Austen's World - also a wonderful blog. I know. You're thinking, wha??? What's that got to do with Jane Austen. Well, go visit & find out!]
In ombra is (in the shade) in Italian. Two more beautiful shots by Olga. Now, I'm going to go lie down & see if the world is a little better after that. As ever, I ask to be allowed my delusions. If you are part of the Twitterati, please go to juliethecat & follow or tell me to follow you. I'm pretty easy that way. I need to build a bit of a following so that I can harangue people in 140 characters about upcoming events. I'll try to be entertaining.
Other matter at hand, yesterday was Holocaust Memorial Day (& there was a lovely PBS production of Anne Frank's Diary on last night; it shall be repeated, don't miss it. This production--no offense to others--is when I finally thought: That's Anne, the writer). April 11-18 are the Days of Remembrance. Here's the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum with activities & online virtual stuff if you're not here in DC. This year's theme is an elaboration on last year's (What You Do Matters). This year: Stories of Freedom: What You Do Matters. Here's last year's Giulia Geranium post on what would have been Anne's 80th birthday in June. Darling photograph of Anne & Margot at the beach.
With gratitude to Olga for her generosity.
ciao
