Manger

I know, I know. I don't write.* I don't call. I will. Meanwhile, I know everyone will enjoy this fairly new blog, Manger. Lovely photographs/recipes/more by Mimi Thorisson (currently living in the Médoc). This cake & this cake - wow. Really it's mainly in the low-key French decorating (yes, that's a thing).

xo/Susan

*I am writing. Just not here.

(photograph by Manger)

Copenhagen Christmas Tree

I've been going through the photographs on the Giulia Geranium site & sizing, correcting attributions, etc. I loved this photo in 2008 & I still do. Worrying about getting a tree home (tricking/fast-talking taxi drivers was wearing on my nerves; asking busy friends was also nerve-wracking), I loved the idea that it was possible somewhere in the world to do-it-yourself on wheels. Here's Mikael's Christmas tree tag with cyclists & their arboreal hauls.

Also, I've read posts bemoaning the lack of space for a tree. I think they grew up with gigantic trees (I did & I love them) & would rather have no tree rather than "give in" for a small one. I think this because whenever anyone gives them ideas for a smaller version, there's a digging in of heels & a setting of jaws. "No, no, cannot." Hmm.For the rest of us, here's a take on a Christmas tree that made the rounds back in 2008, too. A great idea, especially if you have a lot of "stuff."

Do you put up a tree? Will you have a photograph of it that we can see? Now, off to the market to provision the pantry & make these orange-y delights. Cheers!

(photograph by Mikael Colville-Andersen of Copenhagen Cycle Chic)

Toast Travels

I just walked in from a belated birthday lunch & it was wonderful. A chilly breeze has made everything a bit too cold & Julie is asleep in a pile of blankets next to the desk. The area around the desk looks much like this photograph from Toast (though I made my jam).

Toast has a little blog, Toast Travels, where they post on a wide variety of topics. I particularly like the latest one In Defence of Darkness.

The other online thing I loved this weekend was looking through Jilly's Menton Daily Photo. I'm behind in everything but enjoyed the ongoing wedding series. You have to follow the thread back as there's not a dedicated label. It's worth it. (I really really really get sick of everyone's wedding festival look-at-me stuff - this is so very different.) Also, Jilly's photographs of (male) flamenco dancers are gorgeous.

Have a lovely start to the week tomorrow.

(Happy Monday to Australians)

Angy's Tea Room

No, I'm not in a tea room but that would be dandy. Instead, I'm in a coffee shop trying to catch up with email & all manner of things. There's a heat emergency in most of the States, including here in DC. And. For the first time since I've had a computer, the internet is down for a considerable time. And no, that is not a good thing. I will not read more books or anything. It is a tremendous inconvenience & I have to make what living I can with the internet.

I was going to urge everyone to visit Angy's Tea Room ages ago & life intervened. I just noticed that the Angy of the Tea Room is on The Sartorialist today. She's just darling. Also, though I follow the blog, I did not know it was a Blog of Note until two minutes ago. Sorry Angy.

Back as soon as I can.

xoxo/Susan

(photograph of Angelica Ardasheva by Scott Schuman)

Simple Pleasures

Certain labels draw me back over & again. Lori's label simple pleasures is a favorite. I'm not alone, judging by the comments. There is nothing simple about the rest of life. But boy are there plenty o' simpletons around. *Clears throat*

PS: If you're on Twitter, remember President Obama's first tweet-up at 2pm EDT. Hashtag #AskObama

(photograph by Susannah Conway)

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)

Pumpkin Ginger Vanilla Pudding

The cat-pudding has repaired to the room with The Dragon (a heater), freeing up my Aran pullover upon which she snoozes quite often (see grainy photograph). One more holiday do-gooder event in which I have admin duties.

I did make a pumpkin ginger vanilla pudding & it went over well. More of a custard but the word 'pudding' is much more fun to say. It's a combination of three recipes, so a codified version is forthcoming. If the power stays on. (Hiss)

A few notes: Angie has a Romanian childhood holiday memory & chocolate recipe, here. Also, Vanessa's very helpful & delicious index of recipes. Carina in Copenhagen's "I want to" series is fun.

Back Where You Belong by Tina Tarnoff

This elegant & romantic piece was a summer surprise from San Francisco-based artist Tina Tarnoff. I wore it frequently with two linen tunics, too low-cut for comfort. Worked like the charm that it is, no sewing & lots of compliments. The last photograph shows two winter possibilities. I highly recommend that you hop over to Tina's justly-popular Etsy shop & her inspiring Thought Patterns blog. (Her husband, novelist Terry Tarnoff has a terrific website, too.) Tina's 18 sets of cards (update - 17 sets, sorry) are based on her intricate original papercuts. If you're like me & can't afford much this year, these are a great deal. I've given several sets to a variety of people & they are always loved. Thank you so much to super-generous Tina.

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.

Week's End - Noir sur blanc

Fun under $5.00. Download a Beatles song that you somehow do not have & two Françoise Hardy songs. I like her 2010 album La pluie sans parapluie. I was reminded of this when visiting the newish tumblr, le temps perdu, created by blogger friend agelessbeautyalways & secret fragile skies. She connected to a YouTube video of Il est des choses, here. (Noir sur blanc is one of Julie The Cat's favorite songs.)

On FH's beautifully designed website there are some videos & a slide-show of lovely FH photographs by Jean-Marie Périer. These include two with Bob Dylan, who wrote the poem referencing FH for the liner of Another Side of Bob Dylan. Bob--she wasn't interested in you. Men. They are so cheeky & clueless sometimes. (No this doesn't mean you, you.). Abonnez-vous à la newsletter de Françoise Hardy, ici.

What does this have to do with anything? Well, it really doesn't have to be, eh? Playing the Beatles & Françoise has calmed Julie. She's had one long asthma attack since Thursday evening. It's really upsetting.

Busy trying to track down the dust or whatever the offender may be, making bread, visiting fabric, knitting, & other textile blogs & sites. I really like Kitty Couture by a bilingual Frenchwoman, Isabelle. Her tagline: No garment is complete without kitty fluff. (If it's going to happen anyway, do as a cat & act like that was the plan all along.)

Giveaways I have seen lately: Cabbages & Roses fabric via Lobster & Swan. She has links to 3 other blogs holding C&R giveaways - all themed to different colors. Leave a comment by 29 November to enter.

Photographs via the website & Annie's Poetic & Chic's Bang Envy series. I still laugh at this (not at her!)...someone stopped me once a day last week: I love your bangs/hair. Why don't they have some cut then? Ooh. I don't think I can. It's what I hear about hats & why people can't wear them. Yes they can.

Once at a fairly large wedding, I was the only person, seriously, to wear a hat. If nothing else, it protected me from the blazing summer sun. Oooh. IloveyourhatIcannotwearthem. Later that summer, I took approx. 15 wedding guests - one at a time - hat shopping. They all looked great.

Still Life & Tabletop

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)

Peek into la Pup's Paris Notebook

Hazel of The Clever Pup is writing about her recent Paris adventures (warts & all, what a relief) at The Clever Pup's Paris Notebook. I hope she's working on a badge because the little Pup who went to Paris is sporting a Breton shirt, beret, & ballerinas. Mignon. Please hop over & say bonjour. (Cartier-Bresson photograph via Christine Haynes, who, oh happy day, has a sewing blog. Which is sort of like saying Cartier-Bresson took snaps. The artist & cute little girl in Monmartre is by Eisenstaedt via LIFE Archives)

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)

Sweetness & Light

Many new bloggers have asked where/how to collect images if they don't have huge piles of magazines & books, etc. If you look at the beginnings of both blogs, you will see that I didn't know much. (OK, anything. It still looks clueless but lacking tech funds does not help.) The following is in no way all-inclusive. So many people I link to here & on Giulia Geranium (& on the back of blogger profile) are excellent resources.

Canadian illustrator Lori Langille's automatism blog is an excellent place to be inspired but also to see attribution etiquette in best practice mode. I turned to Lori in December 2008, a few months into Giulia Geranium, for permission to use a personal vintage Marie Claire Maison scan. Lori is also the brains & talent behind the Benevolent Postcard Society, of which I am a proud if not very imaginative member.

Sweetness and Light is a relatively new label on automatism. Lori kindly linked to bricolage a few weeks back. She did so through Pinterest (via Facebook). Before the usual outpouring of Facebook-hate, listen up. I'm not that active on Facebook & you don't need to be. Remember that about any social network. No one said you have to update constantly. In fact, unless you are hilarious (& it's not just your mother who thinks so), I beg you not to. Still, it's your right to do as you wish & I'll adjust my settings accordingly. I'm sure the few who follow me on Twitter are dismayed by my bummer re-tweets. C'est la guerre.

Tina Tarnoff's Thought Patterns is wonderful, just as you'd imagine any artist of her talent would be. Visit often. You'll see such a variety of images & Tina's thoughts about them, where she found them, etc. She's always helpful & generous.

Sarai of Colette Patterns posted a very clear & helpful tools on the web for cataloging. It's now my go-to link to send to folks asking for advice.

I just realized as I was to hit 'publish' that there's an important category of photography/images that I use. That has to do with humanitarian, animal welfare, & other goody-two shoes stuff of which I am rightly accused. That will have to be another post because it's more complicated (of course it is, sigh, why wouldn't it be?) But if you need something right now go to IRIN (humanitarian news & analysis via UN) & register for fair-use photographs.

(Photograph is by windswept ribbons via audrey hepburn complex)

To Bend with Apples

Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness,

Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;

Conspiring with him how to load and bless Conspiring Working together; literally, to conspire is “to breathe together” (OED)

With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run; thatch-eves Thatch-eaves, the edge of thatched roofs

To bend with apples the moss'd cottage-trees,

And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;

To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells

With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,

And still more, later flowers for the bees,

Until they think warm days will never cease,

For summer has o'er-brimm'd their clammy cells.-first stanza, To Autumn (John Keats)

I cannot help it (the Keats business). It's all Tina at the English Muse's fault because she mentioned yesterday's NYTimes Sunday travel section. I was perhaps unnaturally happy yesterday morning when I saw the Protestant Cemetery mentioned in a 36 Hours in Rome bit. But there you are. More To Autumn posts. Last night I was tossing about & thinking about Keats & his politics. His horror at the gap between rich & poor (about which he knew quite a lot first-hand). He would be agonized by today's lack of progress. So I'll leave it there & just pick up stanza by stanza. (I'm sort of kidding.) Someone else preoccupied today with autumn & poetry today is secret, fragile skies. Lovely photograph, too. (photograph via bohemea tumblr & on Julie's blog here)

PS: I've been fussing about to get the poem layout properly & Blogger is being defiant. So in it goes, unformatted. I'll try again later. Update - I hit publish on this yesterday with the wrong time on it & the feed stuck. So if you think, I saw that yesterday. Yes, you did. It's me, not you.

Echoes of Hopper

So I'm not a genius (I knew it. Double rats.). But I have seen flashes of "Hopper" in Mad Men shots, themes, motifs. Never more so than a quick frame from last week's episode, Hands and Knees. Just took a quick look at Basket of Kisses before I head out this morning. Here is Art Imitating Art. (image via Tate (UK) org) Update - later that day...another post from last year--they don't miss a thing, those clever Basket Cases.

Paris Breakfasts in Washington, DC

Same photograph as GG blog...I'm only, oh, a week late. Still, if you're in DC (or will be), you might want to attend the opening reception tomorrow at 6.30pm for Carol Gillot of Paris Breakfasts. (Let me know if you'll be there...I'm still planning on it. You can email or tweet to juliethecat.) Below is from l'Alliance Française website because they already wrote it & I'm having a mini meltdown. (Paris sunset via places I wish I were tumblr. Good name.)

*****************
New York City–based watercolor artist Carol Gillott travels to Paris three or four times a year to soak up inspiration and shoot thousands of photos to paint from.

Her Alliance Française exhibit, Paris Façades, features her charming paintings of Parisien boulangeries and patisseries.

For the artist, the heart and soul of Paris is revealed at street level by its shop façades where “There's just as much glamour and mystery in the quotidien boulangerie or fruitier as the grand Michelin restaurant"

It is this bright contrast that makes Paris the perfect subject for Carol Gillot and her delightful watercolors of everyday Parisian scenes, from les boulangeries to les lèche-vitrines.

Visit carolgillott.com & www.parisbreakfast.com

Opening reception is free, but reservations are required. Call 202-234-7911 x31 for reservations.

Reservations will be accepted until 4pm the day of the event. The exhibit runs through 1 November 2010

Paris Awaits Pup

The Clever Pup will be visiting Paris soon. I await her distinct take on la belle Paris sans saccharine sentiment. (She will be solo.) Sibiliance. Susurrant. Silly Sunday. Pfhttt. Thwap. I can barely type. La Pup has already mapped out a few excellent walks.

In other breaking canine news, Benjy the Oracle on AUREA, has been visiting & granting everyone the benefit of his Dachsund Wisdom. He's another pup in Paris at the moment. (His maman is in Los Angeles. Don't ask, just go see.) Herewith, his latest postcard. Also, another amusing & fashionable pup is London's Posetta Baddog, Liberty London Girl's sister's dog. OK, it's funnier than that, see Chien Lunatique.

Yep, I'm goofing off. Oh, & on Giulia Geranium I'm hawking, uh, suggesting a fashion night thingy for charity...but mainly I wanted to re-use a beautiful photograph of an equally beautiful blue YSL coat.

So what are these photographs? Well, they are Paris gowns that are pretty but also funny, sorta fishy looking. (ah ouais). I think I'm so snippy ce soir because I can't watch Mad Men until it downloads in iTunes - tomorrow. Which means I must also avoid a related weakness, Basket of Kisses, the Supreme Mad Men Blog (says moi). It's written/wrangled by two smart, sassy sisters.

[fishy frocks by Louise Dahl-Wolfe via LIFE archives but also on myvintagevogue]

Week's End - Fiammetta

It's too soon for autumn leaves but the photograph reminds me of fiammetta - little flame. Or, if you want to be picky about it, fiammette (plural, I am assuming & I'm not checking my dictionary. Correct me, I don't mind at all.) I've been reading Boccaccio via Keats (Isabella and the Pot of Basil). I was vaguely aware that Bocaccio was another Italian inspired by a woman who didn't look at him twice. (Petrarch, too.)

This past spring, I won La Bella Lingua by Dianne Hales from Michelle Fabio's Bleeding Espresso. Dianne wrote a charming chapter on Italian's Literary Lions. As soon as I read, "For years I barely glanced at the white marble busts of Italy's grandi that line the shady paths of Rome's Pincio, the gardens above the Piazza del Popolo," I thought/yelled "I noticed!" But Dianne was doing something I have never done in Rome--jogged. I salute her - it's a great place to run.

I'm in more fragile health & feeling Keats-y, so if there today, I'd be walking by that gorgeous view & sighing. Mainly about the horrible news from Italy & France that Roma are being treated worse than usual. I'm beyond upset. (You just knew I'd turn this into something sad, right? An editor once said to me...you turn a lovely poem into the apocalypse every damn time. Crikey. -- he was English. Then he went on to say something rude about melancholic Welsh ethnic stuff. Harumph.)

Where are the writers, the artists, the poets, the philosophers? (They are actually still valued in some fashion in Europe, unlike here in America.) Well, there are protests, yes. I'll find individual names as soon as I post this. But Italy. France. Shame. Your noble pasts will be so much cold marble statuary lining grand avenues if you continue this outrage. We'll leave WWII out of this, ahem, for now. (I'm talking to you, too, Hungary.) Scapegoats. Remind you of anything? Suddenly, flaming red maples, little flames licking at the blue sky don't seem so innocent.

Apologies to Dianne, for using her charming love letter to Italian in this manner. I did not plan it (obviously, or I'd taken more care with grammar). But that's it; I can't do much more today or the rest of the weekend. Here's where you can buy it (& visit Dianne). I definitely recommend it. This know-it-all didn't know most of it (so far). Giulia Geranium is supposed to start again on Tuesday; but I'm postponing it until I see friends off to Sudan next Sunday.

(The beautiful Jen Gotch photograph via Joanna Goddard's Cup of Jo)

Liberty London Girl

Update/Explanation: I drafted the post below on 1 November 2009. It's posting today with no editing (until a point in abstract future) for a few reasons. 1) Whatever happened on Mad Men last night has even non-Mad Men posters busy as bees. So I'd best download it from iTunes & watch. 2) I feel like hell. More about which later this week (because I'll know something then). 3) I arrived home from my lovely house/cat sitting gig on Saturday evening....to open windows & the a/c chugging away. By the date on the "we're finished rehabbing your bathroom"slip (no you are not & I've busted you to the property manager), this state of affairs went on for at least 4 days. No money coming in & everything going -- literally -- out the window is causing huge upset. 4) Sasha, author of Liberty London Girl, is in the midst of blog troll visitation & it pisses me off. (I should explain that LLG was anonymous at the time of this draft; she has since popped out of her shell & is doing very well indeed.)

The Laura Burlton photographs (via here) reminded me of a sister who was a ballerina-in-training. And the sorts of things we used to get up to in old tulle & netting, as thunderstorms approached from Canada, on Lake Erie. It felt so wild & free. Very unlike today.

27 August 2011 Update - Laura Burlton, excellent photographer, stopped by with her new website address.

*********************************

I enjoy this compilation of tidbits on fashion & life (not really in that order) by an English fashion editor living in America. I don't go looking for blogs often as so many of you have great links & recommendations; that's how I came upon this one--sorry but I don't remember where (perhaps, Wee Birdy). I instantly visited as Liberty of London patterns & fabric (& the main store in London) have been important touchstones to another era. One is wrapped around my neck quite often, my grandfather's WWII-era silk paisley scarf. More about which another time.

LLG's post Ex-pat Friends reeled me in again yesterday (Saturday). I can identify, though I'm not an ex-pat at the moment, I know what she means because I could easily be one of the Americans in her group. LLG's LinkedWithin widget popped up a post called Why I Never Lose Hope In America. I was intrigued & clicked on the video. Along with a strongly brewed coffee, it provided the oomph to get on with it another day.

As I watched the video, I thought of the young man who asked me to talk about the Human Rights Campaign & gay marriage last week. I was on my way to arrange my local Amnesty International group's gift-wrap-for-donation gigs at a local bookstore. I was feeling mighty crabby but I know what it's like to pitch one's cause (though I've not done so on a street corner in a zillion years*).

I thought about him, standing up there in the rain, when I watched this video. (And a younger cousin, who is gay & married--& I'm not putting that in quotation marks.)

Thanks, Liberty London Girl. (And for all your excellent tips, too.)

*At 15 (1/2) years-old, I was surrounded, swarmed really, by the meanest bunch of capitalist hyenas in Pittsburgh. They yelled & cursed as I handed out flyers for a Democratic candidate near the plaza of the then-U.S. Steel Building. Two of them were from my church & I thought they were rescuing me from the pitchfork-wielding villagers. Nope. They were incensed that a "nice girl " of their acquaintance was doing this (outrageous, um, Constitutionally-protected) deed. I busted them--to our seminarian, a friend. They were lectured by our minister & shamed into apologies. I think they only felt bad that they swore at a girl from their church. (This was also the minister's opinion & it upset him very much.) Though many steelworkers & other union guys came to my aid, it was a traumatic experience. It felt imminently violent. I can't claim it for sure, but my successful plans to escape to another country for an unspecified amount of time might have been sealed that day.