Just a quick post to wish you a *happy new year* full of champagne kisses! (P.S. Drop a couple red currants in your bubbly and watch them dance ~ hee!)
Sigh...it's over! It all goes by so quickly. I hope your holiday was as lovely as mine. Lots of snow, lots of laughter, twinkling lights, and goodies under the tree. I have missed blogging though, and look forward to posting more in the next few days. Cheers for now...
The presents are wrapped, the cards are written, and I am finally off to join my family. Wishes to all of you for a peaceful and lovely holiday ~ from me (and cousin Harold!!).
Yesterday I had the thrill of attending the annual holiday open house at the White House. The theme this year was "Holiday in the National Parks" ~ with lovely natural-themed decorations. Simple evergreens decorated with bright red cardinals and soft nests. Golden pine cones and glittering leaves tied up with lime green bows. 33 trees, 232 wreaths, and 862 feet of garland ~ and as you can imagine it smells divine. I took a million photographs, but it is just so hard to capture the elegance of it all. Here's a little peek...
The pochoir endpaper from a 1920s pattern book book ~ and the sky (with ginko branches) on the way to work this morning.
(top image: endpaper from Jean Saudé's Traité d'enluminure d'art au pochoir, 1925, New York Public Library Digital Library)
Dressing for holiday parties is always such an issue for me. It's cold and I want to be warm. I also want room to expand while eating all those goodies. So, black pants and a ___? Too bad I can't raid the storerooms at the V&A ~ love this silk jacket. 
Finally ~ at last ~ my holiday book list! Just a few things to inspire the mind or delight the eye:
This is one of my recent finds from Maine. It is not inscribed, but it is probably from the area. Do you see the ghost?!
A friend just sent this to me in response to yesterday's post ~ I love seeing what you all come up with! A fresco from Augustus' palace in Rome (see more here). Thank you GP ~ xx!
These two lovelies are putting me in the mood for the holidays! Other wintery inspirations:
(images, top: Charles Francis Annesley Voysey, wallpaper or textile design, 1891; and bottom: William Morris, Bird and Anemone, furnishing fabric, 1881, both Victoria & Albert Museum, London)
Went for a walk at lunch time ~ and loved the wisteria ~ elegant in every season. The soundtrack for my wanders ~ A Winter Garden.
A little Greco-Roman inspiration from the Metropolitan Museum of Art. I love this color! Also love port2port's holiday book list. What fun! Will try to get my own book list together in the next couple days. I like looking at other people's bookshelves ~ don't you?
One of my holiday rituals is an annual trip to Strosnider's Hardware in Bethesda for paperwhite bulbs (KW ~ I miss you!). Strosnider's is one of those old-fashioned hardware stores, which carries everything from wrenches to wrapping paper (and all sorts of things you didn't know you needed, but can't live without). Anyway, what I love is that the paperwhite bulbs are loose in a large wooden crate, and you have to count out however many you want and put them in a paper bag. Usually I go right after Thanksgiving, but this year I didn't make it there until this past weekend, and I was seriously scraping the bottom of the crate. But I got my usual dozen ~ soon to be planted in a random assortment of vintage bulb dishes. This photo is from the farmers' market yesterday ~ a sneak peek at what I have to look forward to! Funny, these little holiday rituals...would love to know some of yours!
A Kodak "round" ~ early 20th century ~ photograph of a store window. What I love most about this image is the mundane subject and direct composition. Completely odd, and just a little experimental. I found it so long ago that I can't remember where (!!).
I have been thinking about new needlepoint designs, and find myself drawn to simple geometric patterns. Am so inspired by the simplicity of these two pieces ~ top: an Anni Albers fabric, and bottom: a detail from an 18th-century sampler.
(images, top: Anni Albers, Untitled, n.d., The Joseph and Anni Albers Foundation; and bottom: Gerarda Gerritsen, Sampler, embroidery on cotton, 1963, Victoria & Albert Museum, London, T.186-1921) 
It snowed this morning ~ a little. Like a dusting of powdered sugar. More expected later!
I am finally stitching again. This is a sneak peek at a needlepoint canvas I designed (and started working on) ages ago ~ part of a series of three. I have the hardest time finding interesting canvases, so decided to make my own. Inspiration? Anni Albers, whose wonderful textile work is so much about color and design.
The leaves are all but gone, but the pears are still clinging to the branches of the tree in my parents' yard, looking an awful lot like nature's Christmas ornaments.
Back from the north country, after a little bit longer of a break than anticipated. I hope you all had a lovely holiday ~ ours was filled with lots of love and food. Being home was sooooo good, especially seeing family, and doing a little antiquing. I found a bunch of wonderful new photographs to share with you all over the winter months (and few other little goodies). For now...just a few scenes from our Thanksgiving.
After a long day of travel yesterday (and many delays) I am finally in Maine with my family. I have been cooking all day with my mother ~ there is nothing more satisfying than making this meal, knowing it will be shared with family and friends. My thoughts go out in particular to those of you who are not with your loved ones this holiday, especially friends in Iraq and Afghanistan ~ be well and know we are thinking of you. And to all a happy and joyous Thanksgiving!
I am off to join the hoards at the airport. Wishing you all a wonderful Thanksgiving and safe travels... Cheers!
I guess I am into moody interiors these days. Perhaps channeling Uta Barth ~ this and this are on my Christmas wish list.
I found this tiny little cabinet card several months ago in Fredericksburg (click to view larger). I loved the casual nature of it ~ slightly unusual for the time period. I can imagine it tucked into a libri amicorum, perhaps threaded with a ribbon.
The other day I was reminded (thanks Fairfax!) of the digital archives at the New York Public Library, and realized it has been a while since I last explored them. And so to continue on the theme of friendship ~ this image is from a Libri Amicorum (or friendship book) of drawings, collages, autographs, poems and notes, compiled in the early 19th century by Anne Wagner, a friend of the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley. For more pages, see here. Enjoy ~ the book is full of such whimsy!
This time of year my thoughts tend to turn to food and friends ~ two things for which I am exceedingly thankful. In that vein, here some of my favorite food links (whose photographs, recipes, and words never fail to inspire):
I feel like I am desperately trying to hang onto Fall. It was so long in coming, and now ~ *poof* ~ Thanksgiving is almost here (and well, then...Christmas)!
I found this on eBay a couple months ago. I never get into bidding wars, but for this photograph I did ~ it is just that fabulous! Here's a little more eye candy for a friday ~ Ampersand Vintage (coveting a few things there), and Belle Muse's Urban Alphabet. Enjoy!
Need a little inspiration on rainy day? Go to the Louvre online database, and type in something random (mind you, it must be in French), and see what you find. I typed in "fleurs" and discovered these amazing terra cotta flowers, originally part of a crown (Cyrenaica, 4th-3rd centuries BC).
Happy birthday dear one! Here's a little inspiration for you. May you always dream of mobiles and castles in the sky. XX ~ Aunt Janet
Another quick post today ~ I feel like time has accelerated! I was up in New York on Monday (a quick trip) and had a chance to run through the Martin Puryear show at MoMA. Everyone should go see it! (And if you can't make it to New York, it is coming to Washington next summer). Really, really wonderful ~ I have long admired his work. The Georges Seurat drawings are fantastic too.
Just stopping by quickly to say hello after a busy weekend. I'll be back with more tomorrow...
Since I seem to be on a mid-century kick these days, I thought I would continue the theme today with another great photograph (click to enlarge) from The Art of the American Snapshot exhibition at the National Gallery of Art. I wish this one was in my collection! Alas! Again, I am plugging the catalogue (hee!).
Having just visited Fallingwater, it was interesting to see in the news that the Kaufmann's winter house in Palm Springs, California, is up for sale. The house, designed by Richard Neutra, was built in 1946 as an escape from the harsh Pittsburgh winters. The sale raises interesting questions about preservation, which I will not even begin to delve into here. What an amazing place! Let's just hope that whoever buys it has the vision and inclination to preserve it properly.
(images via The New York Times)
Just stopping in quickly to wish you all a HAPPY (and safe) HALLOWEEN!
Early Saturday morning we made our way to Kentuck Knob ~ a late Usonian house designed by Frank Lloyd Wright for I.N. and Bernardine Hagan in the 1950s, and now owned by Lord Peter Palumbo. The house and its collections of art and furniture really blew me away. The grounds too are amazing and dotted with outdoor sculptures. My favorites include two pieces by Andy Goldsworthy (see Floodstones Cairn, 1993, below) and several tonal sculptures by Harry Bertoia (see bottom image).
Just home from the most wonderful, refreshing trip to Western Pennsylvania! The mountain air was cool and crisp, and the foliage a cacophony of bright red, yellow and green leaves. The highlight of the trip (hands down!) was drinking wine on the terrace at Fallingwater at sunset (a truly surreal moment for me ~ true bliss). Afterwards we scrambled around on the rocks below the house and reveled in the autumnal evening. There is much more to say, but no time to say it, so more tomorrow...
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