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A quick post today to share some vintage valentines with you. The title above was taken from my favorite one that you will see last. It is very Elizabeth and Mr Darcy.
<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/9NIlQXyuw-I&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="https://www.youtube.com/v/9NIlQXyuw-I&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object> This is my first sing along post :) If you're faithful to your daily practicing Do mi so do do so mi do
Do mi so do do so mi do
Do mi so do do so mi do
Ev'ry truly cultured music student knows
You must learn your scales and your arpeggios
Bring the music ringing from your chest
And not your nose
While you do your scales and your arpeggios
You will find you're progress is encouraging
Do mi so mi do mi so mi fa la so it goes
When you do your scales and your arpeggios
Do mi so do do so mi do
Though at first it seems as though it doesn't show
Like a tree, agility will bloom and grow
If you're smart, you'll learn by heart
What ev'ry artist knows:
You must sing your scales
And your arpeggios
Someone asked the question recently here or on flickr about whether I had managed to obtain any new smooth stones to work with so I thought I would start the first installment in the stone diary.
The first stones to arrive were from the very wonderful Pat. She sent two stones that her daughter collected from Girl Scout camp (Comstock) at
Cayuga Lake by her lovely daughter.
Very soon after that I received a lovely parcel that was kind of beaten up by the journey from Elizabeth in Denmark.
The two stones in the left upper corner are from Pat and the others from Elizabeth.
Next the postman with the very strong back brought us a large parcel from Lisa with treasures from the British Isles. LIsa and her son Ishi go out rock hunting almost every day. I am so very jealous. This parcel was wrapped so beautifully and included some really lovely surprises for me and the 3 kitties.
I just adore Marcel the very special poisson and each of the kittens has a new lou,lou & Oscar ribbon. And as if that wasn't enough she sent me a wedding bird ( she is now wed just over one month to the handsome Adam who has yet to be unveiled on flickr). The bird was made by the ever talented Nicole in case you didn't recognize it.
She just smiled. It is from the sweet Maiz and her two adorable sons who worked really hard to make sure the stones were very clean. They did a remarkable job. Another amazing fact is that she just had to step out into her LA backyard rock heap to find these treasures. Again I find myself feeling just a little jealous.
Maiz sent a lovely letter including pictures of her sons having a great time cleaning the stones in the sink.
I have already covered a few of these stones but I haven't had a chance to photograph them yet.
There you have it the first installment of the stone diaries. Thanks so much to Pat, Elizabeth, Lisa and Maiz for supplying my very serious stone habit. I can't wait to share what I make with these treasures.
Or maybe I should be asking do you have a button box? In the 19th century every home kept a button box which held buttons removed from discarded worn out clothing and also odd buttons suitable for completing repairs. Over the years I have collected a number of these boxes from garage sales, thrift stores and rummage sales.
You don't have to spend a great deal of money to have a rich and interesting life. Take my weekend for example.
An entire month has already passed since Christmas and I still have some things that I have been wanting to share that I received. One of them is an ornament from a very talented woman named Sandra Field. I think it has to be one of the most exquisite ornaments I have ever seen or held in my hands. It is made from recycled and repurposed materials each chosen specifically to tell a tale.
The Inuit have over 30 words in their language for snow. I was thinking about how I would try to describe snow to someone who had never seen or felt it before if I was only allowed to use a few words. The adjectives that first came to mind were pure, white, sparkly, chilling and ephemeral. Some of you have left comments about the icicles like "I haven't seen ice like that in a long time" or " we used to see those when we were kids" and this left me wondering if my children will one day say to their little ones , "I remember those days when winter was synonymous with snow." I really hope that doesn't happen but just in case it dose I am taking lots of pictures of snow to share one day with my future grandchildren and great grandchildren. Pictures like these ones because snow is such a fantastic thing to photograph.
Someone on flickr asked how this was made. I thought it would be so much easier to post the explanation here. It is really quite simple and very similar to the frozen doilies. Take a metal serving tray. I have so many of these since I collect them and interesting vintage tins from the thrift stores. Lay some sea stones or anything else you like ( nuts, seeds, flowers, leaves.....) in the shape of a heart. Çover with water and freeze. I use that big giant freezer called my porch. When frozen , which I think was about one hour during our deep freeze last week , loosen from the tin by bringing it indoors briefly or bending the metal tray ever so slightly. Voila!! It really is that easy.
Today the temperature rose and the icicles started falling off the roof so we decided to collect some and make a little snow and icicle creature. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend.