Jelisava

Stars and shadows on the back porch / December 2006

This wooden star has been hanging outside for several years. Its de-laminating "arms" seem to be reaching out to embrace the world.

Peace be with you, oh Night,
Through whose darkness the lights
Of heaven sparkle!

    -- Kahlil Gibran

Pink Clouds highlight a December Sunset

The other night I walked into town after dark. There is a wonderful freedom in feeling secure walking about in the dark by yourself. You can be anonymous in a way that you can't during the day. It's particularly nice at this time of year because of all the holiday lights. Walking home I thought of people who live in places where they never feel safe outside. I could hear the dull roar of traffic in the distance, but up close all I heard was the thump of my boots against the ground and the occasional gentle music of wind chimes.

Teach us that wealth is not elegance
that profusion is not magnificence,
that splendor is not beauty.
-- Benjamin Disraeli

Crewel Embroidery by Katherine Shaughnessy (The New Crewel: Exquisite Designs in Contemporary Embroidery)

Yesterday's post on embroidery reminded me of another update of traditional design. Crewel is the art of embroidering by hand with wool thread on fabric. Often the scenes are replications of embroideries from the Colonial period. Wool & Hoop offers a line of crewel kits with creative and original designs by artist Katherine Shaughnessy that are wonderfully modern and fun.   

Embellished Toile Sofa from designer Richard Saja (via Apartment Therapy)

Toile de Jouy prints with white or off-white backgrounds and repeating pastoral motifs have been around since the 1800s. Richard Saja of Historically Inaccurate Decorative Arts in New York takes this conventional fabric and uses his imagination to go wild with color and embroidery on pillows and sofas. Check Richard's site for ladies with punk hairdos and men with punk clothes.

Rock Candy Swizzle Stick from Casona / Dec. 2006

Last night my knitting group had our annual Christmasfest at Casona (authentic Cuban and nouveau Latin cusine) in Collingswood. If you go, be sure to try their melt-in-your-mouth "Tres Leches Cake" (three milk). With my cake I had a cup of Mighty Leaf Ginger Twist tea that was served with a rock candy Swizzle Stick! What fun! Like a tiny knitting needle! I can't say how it tasted because I didn't want to use it and brought it home instead. (You can buy the swizzle sticks in bulk at Groovy Candies.)

717 Deslonde St., New Orleans, LA is on the National Register and located in the Holy Cross Historic District; 9th Ward (via Squandered Heritage)

Squandered Heritage is a blog about housing preservation. It is documenting houses in New Orleans and trying to prevent unnecessary demolitions. Each post tells a story about a house and its history. Often the comments give more background or an update about the status of the house.

717 Deslonde: This is a beautiful shotgun house in Holy Cross on Deslonde near Royal, former home to “two little old ladies” who presumably only took it out on Sundays. While I was taking pictures, Willie White with the PRC drove by and told me that the PRC is now renovating it, and that if it’s still on the FEMA 106 list it should be taken off.

Status:  Saved.  PRC renovation.

Here it is Christmas / Offset photomechanical print / Detroit Publishing Company Postcards in the Leonard Lauder Postcard Collection NYPL / Digital Record ID: 128964

Image Caption:
Here it is Christmas, and they began saying goodbye in August

Fragrant Rosemary Growing on the Window Sill / December 2006

I rub the leaves of this evergreen shrubby herb between my fingers to release the wonderful scent.

It helpeth the brain, strengtheneth the memorie, and is very medicinable for the head. (Roger Hacket writing about Rosemary, 1607)

(And the brain needeth all the help it can geteth.)

Franciska's View / Pastel, Summer 2006 / Mountain House Gallery

Life isn't long enough for love and art.
-- W. Somerset Maugham (The Moon and Sixpence)