English Proverb on Gardening

Maybe this is why my garden looks so dreadful this year. I didn't prepare it in my soul. The deer ate the tops off 2 of my 5 tomato plants too. There is hardly anything left. Boo hoo.

"The garden must be prepared in the soul or else it will not flourish."

English Proverb




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Dream or Daydream Depending on Your Time Zone

It's early and I have all day to daydream. Enjoy your Sunday. via




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Astor Courts | Chelsea Clinton's Wedding Site

• Photo #1. A view of the entrance to Astor Courts, designed by Stanford White and built in 1903.
• Photo #2. A closer view of the front exterior of the Stanford White design.
• Photo #3. The restored main reception room of the playhouse, now known as Astor Courts, where Chelsea Clinton's wedding will take place.

Learn more about the history of Astor Courts via The New York Social Diary. More photos too. Chelsea got a beautiful day for her wedding; one of the ten best days of the year in New York State. I can't wait to see the photos of the happy couple.




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Moseley Old Hall | English Manor House and Garden

The back gardens built from scratch by the National Trust as a faithful recreation of a 17th century garden. Moseley Old Hall on Flickr I've blogged about this place before . . . here. I still want to go. Who wants to join me? Have a great weekend.

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Billy Baldwin Loved A Roomful of Books

"The best decoration in the world is a roomful of books." Billy Baldwin




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You Can Never Have Too Many Drawers

If you're looking for a very clever storage idea, you might consider this one featured recently in Traditional Home magazine. I do much better with drawers than I do with closets for some reason. I love these drawers Down Under the stairs.




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Life's Little Instruction Book | Volume II | Page 17

I made a zucchini casserole last night. 'Tis the season.




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Craft Wrap Gift Compute in a Closet

Craft, Wrap & Gift Closet | The Inspired Room
I've always been a fan of offices in closets. Here's another idea for creating a craft, wrap and gift closet. Image from Country Living.




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Jantzen Swimwear is 100 Years Old

Boy, does this ever make me feel old. I loved Jantzen bathing suits and always bought them. I really didn't even realize they were still in business and I certainly did not know the company was founded in 1910. How very smart of them to revive the line thanks to all that free advertising on MAD MEN. I thought it was very bold of Don Draper to dismiss them the way he did on the season premier. They deserved it for being so narrow-minded. View their creative 2010 ad campaign here. Do you think bathing caps will come back too?




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Mad Men's Don Draper | Hockey or Football Fan?

This detail in Mad Men season 4 premier went completely over my head. Did you catch this goof in the sportscast segment of the show?
Don Draper was supposed to be watching hockey, not football, on Saturday night




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Happy Birthday Beatrix Potter

She did love her rabbits, didn't she. Today marks 142 years since her birth. Beatrix Potter was born July 28, 1866 and died December 22, 1943 but her books will live on forever. Enlarge the photo and you'll see that she's wearing a Sherlock Holmes Deerstalker cap. Elementary my dear Watson. image

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Magic Wands Free | Take One

Don't you love this? I have these dried weeds everywhere but never thought of them as magic wands. I'll let you know if they work; I could use a little magic right now.




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Matisse Exhibit at MoMA

Jill Krementz Photo Journal - Matisse at MoMA | New York Social Diary
Matisse: Radical Invention, 1913-1917
July 18-October 11, 2010
The Museum of Modern Art

For lovers of Matisse, there's a large-scale show of this great artist's work at MoMA. Comprising nearly 110 of the artist's works -- paintings, sculptures, drawings and prints -- this show sheds light on Matisse's evolution as an artist and explores his working process and the revolutionary experimentation of what Matisse called his “methods of modern construction.”

Click on the link above and take a tour via The New York Social Diary with author and photographer Jill Krementz. The next time you're invited to an "event" and feel that you don't have anything to wear, you'll especially enjoy the "outfits" the patrons wore to the opening. Anything goes, so just close your eyes and pick anything out of your closet. Nobody really cares what you are wearing. Footwear noted includes flip flops, clogs, and L.L.Bean Duck Boots worn by Bill Cunningham from The New York Times.

Keep scrolling and you will get to the part of the article that features numerous photos of the Matisse art on exhibit at MoMA. It's almost like being there. Enjoy!




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Bookcases Make This Reading Room

I love this room of bookcases. It's a wonderful reading room for one. I would add only a matching ottoman. Absolute heaven.
Book. Book. Book.

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The Authentic Tudors | National Portrait Gallery

Mary Nevill, Lady Dacre and her son, Gregory, Baron Dacre. Lady Dacre's life reads like an historical novel with a twist - a common tale of murder, plague, hanging and multiple marriages with this formidable lady bullying Henry VIII into doing what she wanted. Rare for a woman, Mary is placed on the left side of the pairing, a position traditionally reserved for male authority. The position may reflect her strength of character and power in the family and contemporary accounts indicate that Gregory was dominated both by his mother and later by his wife Anne Sackville. Oil on panel 1559, by Hans Eworth (1540-1573) the most talented painter working in England following the death of Hans Holbein. National Portrait Gallery, London. Please enlarge the powerful image to fully examine the Elizabethan period costumes worn by Mary 36 and Gregory 21.

I tried my best to get really interested in The Tudors on Showtime but just couldn't. I thought the actor playing King Henry VIII was just too slight of build to be believable. The Tudors in this double portrait have some meat on their bones.




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