Cormac McCarthy Typewriter Sells For $254,500.

The now famous Lettera 32 Olivetti manual typewriter owned by the author Cormac McCarthy sold last month at Christie's for $254,500. The author's description of the machine reads: "It has never been serviced or cleaned out other than blowing out the dust with a service station hose. I have typed on this typewriter every book I have written including three not published. Including all drafts and correspondence I would put this at about five million words over a period of 50 years." A few titles include All the Pretty Horses, The Crossing, and Cities of the Plain (The Border Trilogy).

The unidentified buyer should be pleased that all proceeds will be going to the Santa Fe Institute. Cool. Read more via The New York Times.




Click orange square to subscribe via feed reader or email.

Seed Saving Envelope | Seedsaver Packet

Enlarge and print. Free Download. Turn the paper around and print another to get two on a page.

Make some over the winter for garden club sales in the spring. Order garden seeds in bulk and share with friends. The possibilities are endless. Enjoy and Share. All seed saving envelopes I have designed.

"Happiness held is the seed,
Happiness shared is the flower."




Click orange square to subscribe via feed reader or email.

New Year's Resolution Generator

This is so much fun. I found a site that automatically generates resolutions for you. Keep clicking until you find one you like. Designed for the extremely lazy person who wants to change. :)




Click orange square to subscribe via feed reader or email.

Maira Kalman's Final Post | By George

Say it isn't so! Maira Kalman's last blog post has appeared in The New York Times. It is dated December 31, 2009 which is very fitting for two lasts.

In her final installment of "In the Pursuit of Happiness," Maira considers George Washington's extraordinary life.

All of her previous installments are being turned into a book which will be charming for sure. I hope she does something else in the Times very soon. We'll all miss her, won't we?




Click orange square to subscribe via feed reader or email.

An Apple A Day

Eat more fruit this year is one of my resolutions. I love a big, crisp, tart apple like these shown in my wonderful Georgian glass bowl. Sometimes I cut them into slices with a sharp knife and sometimes I just take big bites. They are very healthy too. I think there is a lot of truth in this quote.

"An apple a day keeps the doctor away."




Click orange square to subscribe via feed reader or email.

Picturing the Past 10 Years

Looking back over the past decade. Designed by Phillip Niemeyer. Click to enlarge.

Source: The New York Times

Click orange square to subscribe via feed reader or email.

Happy New Year | Antique Fonts

"Be always at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and may each New Year find you a better man." Benjamin Franklin

I designed this greeting for you by scanning a whole alphabet from one of my antiquarian books and cutting out each letter with Photoshop to spell HAPPY NEW YEAR. Isn't it nice? It took a while to do and there was no letter W. I had to play around and stitch two Vs together and it worked. It's my present to you for the New Year. I hope yours is filled with health and happiness. Rosemary




Click orange square to subscribe via feed reader or email.

A New Years Resolution

I couldn't resist making this. Happy New Year everyone. Good luck with your New Years Resolutions. Organization is at the top of my list. I'll start with putting away all of my Christmas decorations neatly on New Year's Day.




Click orange square to subscribe via feed reader or email.

Charles Lamb | New Years Day

Happy New Year

ew
Years
Day
Is
Every
Man's
Birthday.

Charles Lamb

Happy Birthday Everyone.
The calendar is reborn and so are we. Rosemary
It's 2010 on the other side of the globe already.

Click orange square to subscribe via feed reader or email.

Build An Igloo Tutorial With Video

It's snowing like crazy at my house and maybe at yours too. The family in the video decided to make an igloo for the kids and it turned out beautifully. They used plastic storage buckets from Ikea to form the blocks. Watch, be inspired, and build one. This will definitely be something these children will remember for the rest of their lives. Agreed? Read the article.






Click orange square to subscribe via feed reader or email.

Photo Sharing To End The Year

Wonderful reading room.

Inspiring stairs.

Beech tree with human face.

Wonderful quote by Thomas Moore.

Some things that inspired me today while reading the blogs of others. Click on photo to see the source. Have a great last day of 2009. Later, Rosemary




Click orange square to subscribe via feed reader or email.

A Prosperous New Year To You

I saved this greeting to my computer a year ago when I did not have a blog. I have no idea where this 105 year old calligraphic image originated or I would give proper credit.

I am told by my friends who have grandchildren that in some school kids don't even learn cursive writing these days. Is that true? I loved penmanship in grammar school where I was taught the Palmer Method using a real ink pen that was dipped into a bottle of ink.

Actually I find myself writing less and less with my fountain pen and that makes me sad. There is really nothing more beautiful than fine penmanship on nice paper.

Before this day is over in my time zone, I want to send my thanks for all of your words of encouragement that please me no end. Another blogger was able to articulate this sentiment perfectly and I quote,

"To all those people who have commented or sent emails to which I've not replied because I was too busy or too lazy or forgot, and to the rest of the faceless silent hordes who traipse through this rest-stop and who, like me, find some measure of beauty or solace or interesting weirdness in this crazy world among the illustrated cultural history we are privileged to have access to online, I wish a peaceful and happy new year." I couldn't have said it better! Thanks, Peacay of BibliOdyssey




Click orange square to subscribe via feed reader or email.

Harmony Calligraphy

Don't you absolutely love this fabulous HARMONY calligraphy? Nice thought for the last day of the year, isn't it? Let's carry it over into the next year too.

Click orange square to subscribe via feed reader or email.

Vintage New Year Postcard

Nothing says Happy New Year like an elf riding a pig in the snow. Or is that a gnome?




Click orange square to subscribe via feed reader or email.

G. K. Chesterton | A New Soul

he object of a
new year is not
that we should
have a new year.
It is that we
should have
a new soul.

G. K. Chesterton




Click orange square to subscribe via feed reader or email.