Previous month:
August 2008
Next month:
October 2008

Posts from September 2008

Complement and counterpoint

Butterick4685ribbon

Another hand-sewn variation on Butterick 4685; leaves of autumn fabric with ribbon trim on sleeves and a gathered neckline with ribbon tie / Sept. 2008

NIGHT AND DAY ARE INSIDE BLUE
"Yet blue is a strange colour. It holds night and day within it. Though the land is mostly without blue, this makes clearance to intensify the blue of sky and water. The earth could have no more perfect covering than the sky. Earth and sky complement and counterpoint each other so perfectly because each is invested with the predominantly absent colour of the other. The earth is green, the sky has no green. The sky is blue, the earth has no blue."

~ John O'Donohue


Celebrate the freedom to read

A google book online: Historical Collections of the State of New Jersey containing a General collection of the most interesting facts, traditions, biographical sketches, anecdotes, etc. / published in 1844

Did you know that this is banned books week? Did you know that google books has thousands of books that you can read online? Go to www.books.google.com and search any topic. The window above gives you a peak into one of the online books. You can search within this book (published in 1844), zoom in and out on the page, and browse up to 20% of the book.


A holy trinity

Mozzarella_2

Tomato - Mozzarella - Basil / New Jersey / Sept. 2008

My recent addiction has been tomato, mozzarella, and basil sandwiches. I've had one for lunch almost every day in September. The tomatoes have been particularly juicy and sweet. The mozzarella fresh and creamy. Basil, salt and pepper add spiciness. Fresh sesame seed rolls coated with olive oil keep it all together. If one of the ingredients is missing, a short run to the farmstand remedies the situation. I don't think I could ever tire of this combination (plus I love the fact that no decision needs to be made about what to have for lunch). But the weather is changing and we are at the end of the Jersey tomato season. I'll need to find a new addiction.


The artist paints the artist paints the artist

Theartists

From the Hot Sauce Fest Art Show: Pappy's sketch and test colors for a portion of his "Summer Day on the Lake" mural / Mountain House / August 2007

"An American, Bernard observed paintings in his travels throughout the states and Europe. He in fact became an ardent collector of hundreds of paintings of famous artists of which many (no, really all) are only photographs of the paintings he admired. Many of these paintings in his collection were the inspiration for this painting."

~ from a Description of the artist; written by the artist, 2003


Enchantments

Logart

Dancers in the Cherry Tree logs / New Jersey / Sept. 2008

AUTUMN
Cathedral of my enchantments, autumn wind,
I grew old giving thanks.

~ Czeslaw Milosz


Bewildered by billions in bonuses

Geraniums

Watercolor geraniums / Mountain House / July 2006

"In 2007, Wall Street’s five biggest firms — Bear Stearns, Goldman Sachs, Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch, and Morgan Stanley — paid a record $39 billion in bonuses to themselves.

That’s $10 billion more than the $29 billion loan taxpayers are making to J.P. Morgan to save Bear Stearns.

Those 2007 bonuses were paid even though the shareholders in those firms last year collectively lost about $74 billion in stock declines — their worst year since 2002."

~ Think Progress


Calm down

Porchposts_2

A Luxardo Maraschino toast to the refurbished porch posts (at least two of them are over 100 years old) / New Jersey / a cool September evening 2008

CONSOLATION
Calm down. Both your sins and your good deeds will be lost in oblivion.

~ Czeslaw Milosz

... and speaking of oblivion ... $85 billion dollars to bail out a company built on risk and paper? (... not to mention the millions-of-dollars-bonuses these "leaders" got every year)  ... why not $85 billion dollars toward sustainable energy sources or health care or a thousand other things that would improve the world? ... they say they had to do it to protect the economy from another blow ... well maybe the economy needs another blow to set it straight -- kind of like when you're feeling sick for a while, but when you finally throw up you feel better ... OK, I need to calm down now ... pour me another glass of Maraschino...

Continue reading "Calm down" »


Throw open the windows

Ljubljanawindows_4

A garden on the windowsills / Ljubljana, Slovenia / May 2005

AMAZEMENT
O what daybreak in the windows! Cannons salute.
The basket boat of Moses floats down the green Nile.
Standing immobile in the air, we fly over flowers:
Lovely carnations and tulips placed on long low tables.
Heard too are hunting horns exclaiming hallali.
Innumerable and boundless substances of the Earth:
Scent of thyme, hue of fir, white frost, dances of cranes.
And everything simultaneous. And probably eternal.
Unseen, unheard, yet it was.
Unexpressed by strings or tongues, yet it will be.
Raspberry ice cream, we melt in the sky.

~ Czeslaw Milosz


Savoring

Jackiesbrunch

J-girl's skewers of fresh watermelon, tomato, and basil with a balsamic sauce / New Jersey / Sept. 2008

She started the brunch with iced lattes while she finished cooking. It all looked and tasted fabulous. Mini-frittatas with pancetta and basil. Papaya and avocado with a lime-based dressing. Skewers of late-summer goodness. Warm cinnamon buns with mascarpone frosting. We savored every bite. Pap said that, he didn't know how, but that girls are able to talk and listen to multiple conversations all at the same time.