Assortment

Book Lookin

2012-02-22T13:54:00-07:00

Target practicing :: letter writing :: chess-ing :: biscuit making :: googling :: walkie-talking :: star-gazing :: screenplay writing :: building :: drawing :: card playing :: dueling :: inventing :: book-looking :: thinking

Some of the ‘other’ ways of learning, here, lately

While Waiting

2012-02-20T14:08:00-07:00

In some ways, it feels the same as expecting a baby.

There are months upon months of planning, days upon days of preparation.

Lots of stretching.

The gathering of needed things.

And you wonder if the waiting really will one day come to an end, or will you be expecting forever?

It will come. It will, you hear yourself say.

So, in the waiting, you make things. That is what one does when expecting, right? You make things for this something new that’s coming into your life?

Like tea towels from the yards upon yards of natural linen, bought last summer on sale. Tea towels, nice and large, with wide hems and mitered corners, circles of applique, and a twill tape loop for hanging. Seven of them. Yes, indeed. At least seven.

Then you remember the vintage fabric sitting in that dresser drawer, and you think how easy it would be to transition from tea towels right into throw pillows, and, gracious, how about pot holders, too? Window shades?

Yes, yes, and yes.

And, of course, there is the ever-present Joy of Gardening lying open, there, dropping its good advice for growing whenever you have a minute to read a line or two.

When your hands are busy in soap suds and dinner dishes, you think of soil-block makers and seeds, compost and wide rows. You think, too, that it’s probably not a bit too early to start collecting canning jars from thrift store shelves.

And couldn’t you figure out some way to rig up some grow lights?

Hmm

This is the waiting.

Hello lovelies! Hello Monday! I have a feeling this day will be full of story books read-aloud and cups of tea with honey – just the thing for young ones beneath the weather. Have a love week’s beginning, friends!

About Big Things

2012-02-17T12:47:00-07:00

When you find yourself face-to-face with a big thing,

Look it square in the nose, and grin!

Have a lovely weekend, friends!

Sweet Crush

2012-02-15T12:34:00-07:00

My loves dived into that tray of sweet crush like they’d been waiting for months.

Maybe because they had!

Spring Hope

2012-02-13T18:48:00-07:00

When you sit in the sun and look at the river flowing by, you think about things.

You think about how snow has come and gone all winter, how the river’s ice is only hugging its banks now, and how it’s getting thinner with the warming. You think about spring and its promises of new.

Thoughts bubble to the surface and pop with the splash of rocks breaking the surface. Many rocks, picked and thrown from the bank by wandering boys.

He’s there, too, the man by your side, the one whose thoughts, most times, are yours and yours his.

Those thoughts, which, months and even years ago, when first breathed, seemed only to ever be dream, to hover with ethereal translucence, always just out of reach.

The sun soaks deep and layers are shed. Skin is warm and tingling.

And you can’t quite believe how the plow of time has turned new ground.

When you look up at that dreamy mist now, suddenly, it has three dimensions.

Hope springs new.

Winter Good

2012-02-10T11:40:43-07:00

I knew the tease of spring was over as I ran around the pond in sideways-blowing-snow this morning. Only a bunny rabbit and I had been by so far to make tracks in the freshly fallen from the sugar shaker.

More winter.

A bit more is good, though, I think. For baking, if nothing else. Spice cake muffins just don't have the same appeal on a 80 degree August day as they do on a twenty-something degree day in February. You know what I mean. And you can't pad around the kitchen in wool slippers in August, either. Nor can you comfortably knit a wool throw blanket in your lap.

So, more winter it is.

I lick the cream cheese frosting from my lips.

I'm good with that.

Have a lovely weekend, friends!

Please, Be Seated

2012-02-08T11:07:23-07:00

Image source

I've been thinking about bench seating and eat-in kitchens. Like in The Waltons. Oh, those Waltons. I've learned a thing or two just studying the set. And speaking of television and interior design inspiration, I've been trying to nab Anne of Green Gables from the library for several weeks now because there's a small apothecary cabinet hanging on the wall in Marilla's kitchen that I must see again. Ill catch up with it soon, I know, but today, it's all about dining benches.

Image source

This room was designed by Suzanne Kasler and featured in Veranda. The worn trestle table is fabulous, as are the slipcovered benches. Such a great way to get the most from a small space. And how about the slip-covered wing chair by the window? So, so good.

Image source

If you have only two amazing dining chairs, this works beautifully. That's all you need when two sides are seated with benches, and let's not forget about the storage option underneath.

You know the feeling when you've landed on a good thing?

This is that!

From the Horse's Mouth

2012-02-06T18:05:00-07:00

Here’s a thing or two, straight from the source:

- It’s February 6th and the pussy willows are swelling down by the river

- It’s February 6th and I really think pussy willows should be swelling in a vase on my table (as opposed to what I had swelling in a vase on my table last year)

- It would help if I had a vase and a table (okay, I have a “table” but not a table)

- There’s a lot of mud outside

- There’s a lot of mud inside

- Should it be that way?

- No Yes

- It’s February 6th, which means there are eight days until Valentine’s Day, which means only one more week until I can safely take the ingredients out of hiding (since December) and make peppermint bark for my loves

- Yes, peppermint bark can work for either Christmas Day or Valentine’s Day

- I decided that on December 23rd

- It’s February 6th, which means I have a few short weeks until the reveal of something wonderful and different around here

- The reveal of this something wonderful and different hinges on my ability to retain and operate with the mental faculties that have been bestowed upon me (meager as they seem to be) during the here-to-fore mentioned few short weeks, and restrain myself from throwing my computer into the river

- Maybe the peppermint bark and pussy willows will help

A lovely Monday and new week to you, my friends!

What’s happening in your world on this February 6th?

This Moment

2012-02-03T13:16:00-07:00

Joining in over at Soulemama with ‘This Moment’ today.

Have a lovely weekend, friends!

Three Great Things

2012-02-01T14:01:00-07:00

I have a decorating theory that goes something like this:

What if you begin with a simple room and a few simple furnishings…

… and then add three great things:

-a square, off-center painting (off-center is key, here!)

-a wall-mount library lamp in oil-rubbed bronze, and

-a dark block-print fabric on the settee cushion

And just like that, the room goes from sloop-eyed yawn to catch-your-breath gorgeous!

Photo cover of Elle Décor or House Beautiful, sometime last year