Tuesday, June 29, 2010


oh those red soles...

inspired by
this classic photo, i think
GIRLS IN THE WINDOWS
by Ormond Gigli
photographed in 1960
read more about it here

Monday, June 28, 2010

June 27, 2010

MAIRA KALMAN
Various Illuminations (of a Crazy World)

By Ingrid Schaffner
144 pp. DelMonico/Prestel. $34.95.


This monograph, the companion volume to a traveling exhibition of Kalman's work being presented by the University of Pennsylvania's Institute of Contemporary Art, features essays, drawings and paintings, including a portrait of the young Nabokov, 2006.
Everyone who reads this blog knows how much I admire Maira Kalman's work. So I was thinking of driving down to Philadelphia to see this exhibit. But then I discovered that the exhibit will travel to the Jewish Museum in NYC this summer. Better idea, visit the exhibit in NYC, then read the monograph in my backyard, while relaxing on the wicker swing in the shade with some sun tea.

To get in the groove - here is an article - click here

You may also enjoy this interesting interview on Maira Kalman - click here

Sunday, June 27, 2010

This is where I go to recharge my batteries...
a walk with libby on a glorious summer day...
I march straight through the barn
and pop out again in the brilliant sunshine.
The grounds are decked out for the annual farm fete;

the catapult is set for action to entertain the guests
and the tractor and hay bales are ready for a ride around the farm.
But this is why I went to the farm:
a walk,
a sit,
and my weekly greens.

Thursday, June 24, 2010

Why is it that we are drawn to heart shapes? Especially organically shaped hearts - that have grown directly from nature - like the heart tree above. I wonder about that. This tree does have a look of cutting shears, but maybe not. Could it be a gift of nature? Look at how the branches create the undulating top of the tree. Photo from MA BELLE.

But back to the reasons we are drawn to these lovely shapes: love love love, warmth, happiness, serendipity, chance, simplicity...

Everyday that I drove miss is to school (40 minutes away), mostly she took the bus or drove herself, but back to the story, I would see an island in the middle of the river as I crossed the Sikorsky Bridge. I called it the love island - it was uninhabited, just a spit of land covered in grasses - long, tall, waving to me as I drove by. And it was shaped like a heart. The only way to see the heart shape is from the car as I drive across the bridge - see above - a little dangerous trying to snap the picture from the moving vehicle while travelling 60 mph - this is the best shot of the island ... can you see the heart shape? It always makes me smile and think happy thoughts, no matter how difficult or traumatic my day has been.


Then there is the rock on my desk...one day it was just there...I have no idea when or where I found this rock, but I love it and it makes me smile.... When life is hard or troubling, it is soothing to look at the hard stone shaped in a heart. It gives me hope.

Imagine my surprise when I turned the rock over during my photo shoot! A little, magical inscription delighted me - from miss is at a tender age. I did not know this wonderful sentiment was inscribed until yesterday. Serendipity...to find this inscription as I write a post about love.
Seabeans, the wonderful shop in Wilton where I sell my frames and memento boards, has lots of heart shaped stones mounted on boards... picture to follow...

and my friend, jeanne over at nantucket mermaid, is always finding heart-shaped rocks and painting them for her studio - check it out here - and here, or better yet, visit her when you are on Nantucket.

and read this wonderful post from mackin ink about "the love of her life"...it is beautiful...words to remember...read it all the way through - click here

Monday, June 21, 2010

first day of summer
blue sky sparklin' day
Ambler Farm
If any of you readers have young children
you will love this cd:
blue sky sparklin' day by elizabeth mcmahon
One of the happiest group of songs
we listened to when miss is was a little girl

Sunday, June 20, 2010

dads

A sweet candid shot of daughter and dad
(dh as he is known to me)
at miss is' graduation last week
and a "smile for the camera" shot
My father and some of his brood
daughters, granddaughters and one son-in-law
Here we are celebrating Dad's 81st birthday
after a tennis match
Granddaughter JM smashed the competition.

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.”

—Seneca, Roman philosopher

9via swissmiss - via @cameron)


a little bit of this would be nice

but the right kind of fortune...

"the goddess fortuna

might bring good luck or bad,

could be represented as veiled and blind

and came to represent life's capriciousness" wikipedia


Saturday, June 12, 2010


Peonies have been everywhere in the blogosphere lately,
so I decided to join the party.
And they are bloosoming everywhere in my neck of the woods these days.

An image from today: the Offinger's farm up the road.

I love having a party in June when I can buy bushels of peonies from the Offingers.
The effect is beautiful and the scent, delicious.

Just last week the Writer's Almanac posted this poem. Lovely

PEONIES

Grandma called them pineys, and I didn't know why.
They smelled so good, the full lush petals
crowded thick, the whole flower heavy on its stem,
the leaves dark and rich and green as shade in Chatauqua Woods
where each spring I hunted for violets. What could there be
to pine for on this earth? Now I think maybe it was Missouri
she missed, and maybe that was what somebody she knew
called peonies there, before she traveled to Ohio,
a sixteen-year-old bride whose children came on as fast
as field crops and housework. Her flowers saved her,
the way they came up year after year and with only a bit of care
lived tender and pretty, each kind surprising,
keeping its own sweet secret: lily-of-the-valley, iris,
the feathery-leaved cosmos, lilacs in their white and purple curls,
flamboyant sweet peas and zinnias, the bright four o'clocks
and delphinium, blue as her eyes, and the soft peony flowers
edged deep pink. In her next life I want my grandmother
to walk slowly through the gardens in England and Kyoto.
I want to be there when she recognizes the flowers
and smiles, when she kneels and takes the pineys in her hands.

Thursday, June 10, 2010


DREAMS
by Langston Hughes


Hold fast to dreams
For if dreams die
Life is a broken-winged bird
That cannot fly.

Hold fast to dreams
For when dreams go
Life is a barren field
Frozen with snow.

-------------------------

And to my dear miss is
on the day of your commencement
well done
we are so proud of you
xo m

off you go - enjoy the ride - we love you!
xo

Thursday, June 3, 2010

My monogrammed frames have been SOOO popular.
This order was done on a rush basis
and funny that one of the monograms was
ASAP
Well I delivered - in less than 1 week.

This collection is going to a group of young ladies
who are graduating this weekend
from a top New England college
congrats!
and these to some graduating seniors at Holton Arms in Bethesda, Maryland

more for some seniors at Holy Child in Potomac, Maryland
and a group of 3 frames with "the beach"
maybe for a reunion.

I did another very special frame
but I can't show it yet
Would not want to spoil the surprise.
Stay tuned.

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

marnie in blue
marnie in fuschia
marnie in green
no, i have not turned into a total ego-maniac
even though some say that blogs are nothing
more than ego-centric puff pieces
marnie in yellow
marnie in mustard
it's just that this fabric was named after me...
imagine my surprise
and of course delight
especially because i have such a fabric fetish...
when I discovered that
Jennifer Paganelli of Sis Boom fame
named this fabric pattern after me!
a first...
Jennifer,
friend and designer extraordinare
thanks for the nod...
Check out Sis Boom's new line called "poodle"
click here to see more delicious colors and patterns.

And guess what? I have a fun and energetic 5 year old poodle too
named Libby.

She often sits with me in the studio
but more often sleeps.