Dreams.

Maybe. Just maybe if I put these pretty pictures out there. Maybe we can have a nice weekend weather-wise to look forward to. And I promise to post something original over the weekend, not to just keep on regurgitating all the neat things other people find.


These images are by Jan Von Holleben via ???.

Asako Narahashi.

Even Cleveland has been posting a lot of different water themed items lately, which naturally I love. I really like the shots by Asako Narahashi for the project Half Awake and Half Asleep in the Water. Also worth about 1 minute of your time is the surf video she posts under Holding On. So cool.

Well said.

From New Math via Hula Seventy.

Idea.

More on this coming soon. I'm putting it out there in an attempt to prevent myself from blowing it off because it requires a commitment and an early weekend morning doing something sort of awkward.

Path to Progress.

Katy and I went downtown and walked a 5k to show support and raise money for the ABTA and brain tumor research this weekend with a bunch of old friends. We started at Soldier Field and looped past the Field Museum, Planetarium and Northerly Island. It was my first time looking at the city from some of these angles. Unfortunately I didn't really get any original shots. Here's one of the stragglers at the end of the line of about 6,000 people.

If your're ever wondering where you might like to donate money, consider this cause.

New Adds.

There are so many interesting people and things on the world wide I can't stand it. My mind feels like this car.

This particular car came through Automatism after Lori linked me to Zoobezoobezoo. I remembered seeing something like it on Simply Photo.

I thought they were just so great and random, then I wondered who did them, and what for? Turns out they were designed for a resale store in Paris called Merci, that sells all kinds of things from clothes, book and fresh flowers and furniture. Remodelisa also blogged about Merci here. All these things connected make my head spin. There is so much to look at and read about.

Last night Dave sent me to Lena Corwin's blog ~>O<~ for a look at Elizabeth Schuppe's studio. I've seen that blog link around but never clicked on it before.

I poked around a bit and realized that she collaborates with Port 2 Port Press making some books called Lines & Shapes. She also designed the flaps and inside cover for the book Wallpaper Projects, put out by the people who run The Curiosity Shoppe in San Francisco. All super cool projects.

Just a coincidence, one of her posts included this image of a card, which you can buy on Etsy, and it reminded me of today. Funny.

I have a lot more people to add to my list of likes. Even more than these:

3191.
2 or 3 Things.
Remodelista.
Simply Photo.
Zoobezoobezoo.
Port 2Port Press.
Lines and Shapes.
~>O<~

And this guy just makes me smile:

Pacing the Panic Room.

Happy Earth Day Everybody.

I can't get a good looking image of the silly daffodils en masse, but here you go. I think the impact will be a lot better next year when the quantity has doubled, but I couldn't be more pleased with the results on the first go. My neighbor actually asked me today, What's with the daffodils? I responded, Aren't they fun? He said, A little odd, but yeah. Agreed it is odd to have them just pop out of the lawn, but I think that's what makes them special.

Probably back in 1991 (good guess) I read Douglas Coupland's Generation X. I thought this book was very cool back then. I should read it again for a fresh perspective, but what has stayed with me all these years – in my memory at least – was this part where the main character planted all these daffodils for his sweetheart or something. I don't think it was clear that a gesture like this would take about six months before the result was realized. Maybe that was the point. I can't remember.

Anyway, without recalling the actual specifics, I thought the concept was neat. To randomly spread and plant the bulbs where they landed. I think the guy in the book planted 70. I started with 40. I think they all bloomed, and I just about died when they started to show up a few weeks ago.

I have carried this idea around with me now for about 18 years.

Dream realized Spring 2009, when the bulbs I planted at random last October decided to make an appearance.

Just a list.

I have millions of these.

Kelly Brannon.

Looking at those paintings by Elizabeth Schuppe got me thinking about Kelly Brannon. It's been a long time since I went and looked at these. The top image, Hanzel and Gretl, has always been one of my favorites. It would look great in my living room over the new cabinet.

Island of Discontent would look amazing in my bedroom, although that title kind of depresses me.

I like that her paintings are kind of illustrative to me. I can imagine what they are depicting, and wonder how she was feeling and what she was thinking about when she painted them. That's a fun thing to do. It would be cool to see how we each perceive them, or even just one of them. Tell me what you think if you feel like it.

Collide.

Kiss Me Kontiki.

Two.

Elizabeth Schuppe.

The artwork by Elizabethe Schuppe makes my chest hurt. I like every single piece I have seen on her website and flickr pages. It reminds me of me. Inside. I don't know if looking at a painting has ever quite made me feel like this before.





I learned about Elizabeth Schuppe through Katy Elliot. She recently reminded me of her again.

Thanks for sharing.

Spring Sprang.

Eames® Lounge Chair & Ottoman by Herman Miller®

This is the chair I want for the living room. Room & Board makes this one. It's not cheap.

Then there's this one. It's a mid-range copy.


Or, even this one. This is a pretty decent looking fake, right?


Personally I think the cheap one looks better than the mid-range, but check out how much better the Room & Board one looks. I'd like to use a word like Lush, but that reminds me of Dave and I feel guilty for even thinking that. I wish I didn't have such a materialistic tendency toward the authentic, the true designer-backed reproduction of the original, but I sense I'd feel the other one looking at me saying, I'm an impostor, every time I walked by it. Ah, is that worth $2,000? It's crazy, but to me it sort of is?

This is the argument then I present myself with. The classic, authentic, is a chair that will work in any home you have for the rest of your life. It will never go out of style, and if it's the "real" thing, made by a quality company that stands behind its products, you can trust that it will last. It has integrity, beauty and endurance. Plus it's made in Michigan!*

Then there's the cheap one. It's less than half the cost of the high-end. I wouldn't have a heart attack too bad if someone spilled on it, or Fatty and Blackie decide they need a scratching post. Once it was in the house and not sitting next to the other one, would you even notice? (I'd know). At least when the arm fell off or it lost a button, I could comfort myself with, Well it was never the real thing anyway.

For the record, I don't even have the cash to buy the cheap one. I just like to think about these things a lot. I like to think about dining room chairs a lot too. These kill me. They're almost $650 a piece.


In this case, I would sacrifice the integrity and the dream, though, for these. About 10% the cost of the chairs that would be perfect. So that would mean the good lounge chair would be worth it, right? I just saved about $2400 on dining room chairs.

This is what's on my mind. I want that $3600 chair and ottoman. I can hear my Mom in the background, whispering, Just get it, you know you'll never be happy with the others.

* I've noticed that just about every piece I look at at Room & Board is made in USA. There's a little map with the location highlighted and, Made in Michigan or whatever. It makes me feel better about spending too much money on trendy, over-priced furniture. Or rather, it makes me feel good that rich people are spending it, on stuff that's keeping Americans working.

Drink More Tea.

Drink your tea slowly and reverently,
as if this activity is the axis
on which the whole earth revolves.
Live the moment.
Only this actual moment is life.

– Thich Nhat Hanh

Image by Jen at Simply Photo.

I'd like this bag.

Wouldn't this be perfect if it ever got warm and the sun came out? Doesn't it look like it just wants to carry magazines and sunscreen to the pool? It's from India Rose and just because I won't stop reminding you until it's over... ah... my birthday's coming up. Even closer than it was before, or even before that.

The Coop.

I was just looking through old emails to see if anything inspired me. So happy to come across these. Ever since that book showed up, I am kind of obsessed with the whole chicken thing all over again.

Three things are troubling me:

1. The life span. That means this is looking to be about a __ year commitment. Not so bad, if they are laying eggs all the time. But –

2. They supposedly have a rapid decline in egg production after the first 18 months*. What does this mean? Before that if you're getting, like, 80 eggs a week, it tapers down to 4? Or, are you getting a dozen a week and tapering to 1-2 every four months? I'm going to need to figure this out, and how I feel about the answers.

3. What's the deal with health care? I need to find out if any of my local vets care for these animals, and also how often they will need to visit. Well, and I guess I also need to find out if it's even an option keep them in my town, but I just have this strange feeling it is. Or could be.

Regardless of the answers, why do I still think having them would be so much fun? I can't even imagine the level of excitement I'd experience the day I brought them home. Joy. Glee. Delight.

Image from The Habit of Being.

These guys just got two chickens. They named them Ira and Clementine. How fun would it be to pick the breeds? And name them!? Get this: If you want to start with chicks, you can order them and they show up through the mail, just 2 days old, in a box cut with air holes, chirping away. Can you imagine? Then you have to teach them how to drink and lead them to their food. And keep them inside and under a heat lamp for about 8 weeks. You're thinking, What a pain in the ass, right? Me too kinda. But kinda not and maybe worth it?

I mean, get a load of this coop. Could it be any cuter? This one was from a Craig's List ad Kyle sent me months ago (he likes to torture me). How awesome is this!? It would fit in my backyard perfectly! (I'd make the run quite a bit larger).

What if... ?

*I read this in the last issue of Conscious Choice magazine, an article called "Yes, We Chicken".

Good Floor.

Floors like this make me happy. I have some pretty great floors that happened to come along with my new place, but if I had the means and/or the need to replace them, this kind of authentic broad plank thing would be my "go-to". I don't even know how you replicate it, but I beg anyone who has them to please restore, rather than replace. Thanks.

Image via somebody's, sorry I can't remember, Deco files ala Domino.

Rare Breeds.

Dark Indian Game

Yesterday I had a nice surprise. Someone had left a book between the screen and back door of my house, titled Rare Breeds – Endangered Farm Animals in Photographs. No clues, no note.

Wensleydale

I have been ever so slowly noticing my developing love for barnyard animals over the past, say, five years. I not-quite-secretly dream about living on a farm one day, or even having a couple chickens, right here in my suburban backyard. I wouldn't even say I'm particularly an "animal lover", and espeically not a "bird lover", but chickens and their diversities of color and pattern just make me crazy, and swoon with this strange need to have some.

Girgentana

I say not-quite-secret, because I have admitted this love to a handful of people. My brother has even gotten me the book Keep Chickens, and an old boyfriend once surprised me with Barnyard in Your Backyard, that describes the basics of caring for cattle, chickens, pigs, goats and sheep. But when this book showed up, I was truly baffled. The only people I could think that might come across it and think of me were either instantly ruled out (Katy and Steve), or live out of state, thus eliminating the option to hand deliver it.

Gloucestershire Old Spots

It's like a coffee table book, with large images and short descriptions, and all of the pictures and animals are great. Some even have what appears to be the owners standing proudly with them, letting you know that most are surprisingly are huge. I just love looking at them! The feet on the chickens, the hair over the eyes, the way the pigs look like they are smiling... So very great, and yet a complete mystery.

Aren't they wonderful? I'd love to show them all but so many were spreads and they wouldn't scan well.

Belted Galloway

What's really great is, as it turns out, I think the giver thought I would like this book, but probably had no idea I would love it. I can almost guarantee she has no clue that I daydream about putting a chicken coop in my backyard, an idea that would almost assuredly mortify her. But she did think I might use it as inspiration to paint or draw from, which I am sure I will. These pigs, chickens and cows are practically begging for it!

So thank you to Carolyn, my sweet friend, fill-in Mom, and a thoughtful artist herself.

Rare Breeds is introduced by Roger A. Caras, written by Lawrence Alderson, and photographed by Robert Dowling.

Rays.

Seems like everyone is anxious for evidence of springtime. Got this shot with the message, "6:24 and we still have 2 inches of sun above the horizon from the roof."

Snapped on a cell phone by my brother, just as the sun was about to set behind the mountain, the view from his rooftop deck.

Out of Africa.

A while ago, my weekend "to do" list included watching Out of Africa. This movie is from 1985, and it was nominated for and won a bunch of Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Cinematography, Best Art Direction and Best Music. I vaguely remember all the hype of it from back then, but since I was only in Junior High at the time, it passed way above my radar as a "must see".

My recent watch was maybe my second start to finish viewing. I did see it a couple of years ago, and then also stopped on it clicking through channels to catch a little bit here and there. It is a very long movie, so it's somewhat of a commitment if you decide to take it all in, but I highly recommend it. After seeing it again all the way through, I think it's one of my favorites. Without giving it too much thought, I might even put it on my list of Top 5, and definitely Top 10.

It is so beautiful to look at. The colors of the landscapes really get me, the expanses of space and movement of herds. There is a scene when Merle is combing through coffee beans on her farm that I just want to step into. The home and farm are amazing. I love all the details.


I love the bravery and strength of Merle Streep's character. The time period. The clothing. And while it is a love story, it's almost more a love story with Africa. I know I place a lot of emphasis on the look of a movie, so that has a lot to do with my appreciation of this one. Also, the movie's pace is slow, and I like how it grabs me and eases me through the story – a true story and an adventure.

Anyway, if you're looking for a lovely film to fill about 3 hours of a weekend or evening, I recommend it. Then tell me what you think.