trouvée: thanksgiving dinner

No inscription or date, but if you look carefully you'll see the turkey front and center. A Thanksgiving meal of a day gone by. {click image to view larger}

Eat, drink and be merry with a few new twists on some old holiday classics:

* sweet potatoes + marshmallow biscuits
* a squash crumble
* and a little something for the morning after

Happy Thanksgiving to friends and family near and far!

Cheers!

(I'll be back monday with one last book week post.)

trouvée: grandpa's lima beans

A recent find, an old cyanotype printed on postal card. It reads: "Aug. 29th 06 Dear Cousin / This is Grandpa among / his lima beans taken last / summer. With Love from Lucy." The back is postmarked North Anson, Maine, 29 August 1906, and addressed to Mrs. A. E. Hilton. {click image to view larger}

I just love, love, love it.

Some things:

* Camille's view of Maine
* The Clothesline
* and the dump (Yankee ingenuity)

I'm home sick I suppose (wish I was headed north for Labor Day).

Have a good weekend friends!

trouvée: a kiss

My parents were married 44 years ago today. And after all those years, they still enjoy a good kiss. (This is not them, but if I'd had access to their wedding album. . . I would have pilfered a photo). Happy Anniversary to one swell couple. xo {click image to view larger}

Happy,

happy

weekend all!

(the gentleman and I are playing hookey today, shhhh)

trouvée: the picnic

No date. No inscriptions. Just two lovers in the woods. My favorite photo find of the year. {click image to view larger}

Some beauties today:

* From the Winter Woods
* Bucks Mill Cabin
* and 3191 gets a makeover!

Here's wishing you all a wonderful weekend.

I have something very nice planned. . .

. . . but before that, the gentleman is taking me out to dinner.

xo

trouvée: at the shore

This was given to me by a dear friend, one of many photographs I will treasure. There is no inscription or date.

I am off to the Eastern Shore for the weekend with some old college friends. Not sure I'll wear my pearls, but my old straw hat will be a must! As will a pile of Maryland crabs and some cold beer.

Here's wishing you all a wonderful weekend, and if you have time, check out the new Kinfolk magazine. Beautiful photography and recipes!

Cheers!

trouvée: white linen and boater hats

A tiny snapshot, with big style. Measuring just 2 x 1 1/4 inches. No inscription or date. Simply stamped: "Jenkin's Camera Shop / Jacksonville / Florida." {click image to view larger}

Some photo news:

* Billy the Kid goes to auction
* the "riot kiss" (mystery solved)
* and The Alice Behind Wonderland

Happy weekend!

Cheers.

trouvée: the three graces

No inscription, no date. Barbara's beautiful women in white made me think to dig this snapshot out. There is just something about summer fabrics and soft breezes. Simply looking at this photograph makes me feel cooler. {click image to view larger}

Lots of goodies this week:

* New York is on the half-shell
* Stéphanie de Rougé is On your Roof (via Simply Photo)
* George Washington's garden is revamped
* and Mary Boykin Chestnut's Diary is reprinted (to mark the 150th anniversary of the beginning of the Civil War)

Here's wishing you a wonderful weekend. . . xo.

trouvée: the back yard

Inscribed: "Kincaid's back yard. / Bethlehem, Pa." Date stamped: July 1954. This one pretty much sums up my personal feelings about the advent of bathing-suit season. {click image to view larger}

Better pull out my straw hat and get my summer reading in order:

* Caleb's Crossing, by Geraldine Brooks
* The Violets of March, by Sarah Jio
* and some Great Food. . . where to start? (I am leaning towards The Joys of Excess)

Warmth is in our forecast.

Have a great weekend.

trouvée: the hollyhock

Don't you wish you knew the story behind this one?! Alas, there is no inscription. But, I think it safe to say that was one prize-winning hollyhock! {click image to view larger}

Some things:

* Howard Sooley (Emile reminded me of his work the other day by mentioning Derek Jarman, whose famous garden Sooley so eloquently photographed)

* and an advance copy of this impressive tome (832 pages) just arrived on my desk! Having had the pleasure of assisting on it over the past 5 years, I can say with authority. . . it is REALLY well done. (You should order a copy.)

Have a great weekend. Cheers.

trouvée: an english wedding

An old Wide World press photo, dated 25 February 1938, and labeled "An Asquith Takes A Bride." The caption reads: "Binfield, England -- Michael Asquith and his bride, the former Diana (Didi) Battye, London society girl who disappeared for nine days last June and was found on the steps of her fiance's home, leaving All Saint's Church after their wedding on Feb. 17."

Exact details of the story are sketchy in contemporary news reports. Miss Battye disappeared while staying with her friend Viscountess Long in Oxford Square, and was feared kidnapped (she had been attacked with a razor on the evening of the coronation of George VI several weeks earlier, and her fiance Michael subsequently received an anonymous letter threatening her well being). However, she turned up several days later in Regents Park, near the home of her future mother-in-law. She was suffering from what The New York Times called "nervous strain" and "memory loss," but was otherwise unharmed. The couple married and had three children, but ultimately divorced in 1952.

Today's English wedding was surrounded by far less intrigue. Lovely in every way! A new, fresh approach for the British monarchy, I think.

Some of my favorite bits:

* the dress!
* the flowers
* the kiss(es)
* and that Aston Martin

Well done! And a happy weekend to you all. . .

trouvée: a-tisket, a-tasket . . .

. . . a green and yellow basket! Little baskets and big bows, some chocolate eggs and jelly beans ~ Happy Easter! {click image to view larger}

Some spring things:

* bluebells (and more bluebells)
* pasta with peas and mint
* a simple soup
* dogwood
* and one very old Easter rabbit!

We planted our roof garden last night. Flats of basil, rosemary and lavender ~ tomatoes with jaunty names like "Big Boy" and "Stripey" ~ and pots of sweet banana peppers. Amazingly, the oregano, thyme and mint survived the winter and already are going strong. I think it will be no time before mojitos are on the menu!

Have a good weekend friends.

trouvée: a bit of spirng

This young lady puts me in the mood for spring! Unidentified and undated, holding a bouquet of wildflowers. {click image to view larger}

Some more fresh and lovely:

* red and white in Infinite Variety

* Jillian Tamaki: some new threads for Penguin

Have a wonderful weekend. I have a little trip planned next week, which includes meeting up with a wonderful mystery blogger ~ can you guess?

Cheers!

trouvée: a little behind

Happy April, fools! Just a little reminder not to take life too seriously (from an anonymous group in Wisconsin).

Some more fun:

* Queen Victoria's underwear (what scandal!)

* a kiss from Keats

* a balloonist photographer

* and some mug shots (they just don't take them like they used to)

And, if you are in Pittsburgh next week, be sure to take a little time to celebrate Fallingwater's 75th anniversary ~ with a symposium: Private Domains, Public Displays: The Modern House Interpreted, April 5, at the Carnegie Museum (one of my favorite guys is speaking!).

Enjoy.

Have a good weekend. . .

trouvée: two broads and some bread

Just couldn't resist ~ because it's friday, and I thought we could all use some levity. Throw in a 1937 Ford and you have a little bit of fabulousness. This one found somewhere, in some box (I can't remember exactly). {click to view larger}

I have been working hard, and thinking hard this week! I am ready for the weekend and a margarita (!!!).

Two nice things:

* Seton Smith has a new show opening
* and Jane Eyre opens in Washington tonight (and I have a date to see it!)

Have a good one. Enjoy.

trouvée: une jeune parisienne

Inscribed in French: "A ma meilleure amie Hélène, / ceci en souvenir d’une jeune parisienne / en regardant cette / photo pense quelquefois / […] et aux bons moments / [...] nous ensemble à Reims – / 20 Avril 1903 / Loéline Adam." Some of the inscribed words are cut off along the edge, so part of the message is missing. But I suppose this is enough to spark your imagination. {click image to view larger}

Some interesting photography:

* portraits by Hellen van Meene
* on the streets with Vivian Maier (via Chris Storb)
* and a little voyeurism. . .

Have a good weekend.

trouvée: joie de vivre

This photograph just makes me smile ~ such great spirit! A recent acquisition, with no date or inscriptions.

So many good things, so little time:

* The Diary at the Morgan
* Stieglitz, Steichen and Strand at the Met
* Marin Watercolors in Chicago
* and a little Eye Wonder !

My friends, here's wishing you a happy, cozy weekend.

Be well.

trouvée: two girls

Other than the fact that I found these two anonymous ladies in the same box (and that they have similar paper borders), there is really no reason to think they belong together. I just feel that they do. They don't appear to be related, but then who knows. Each is wonderfully striking in her own way. {click to view larger}

Perhaps of interest:

* Charles Ryskamp: a life of collecting
* and a second season for Downton Abbey !!!

A quiet weekend of house chores and healing is in store for me and my gentleman. Until next week. . . cheers!

trouvée: o christmas tree

Another from the gentleman's collection. Found in Michigan (as the rather large "M" hanging on the tree might suggest). Trimmed with popcorn strings, paper hearts and tinsel bows. I always love Victorian Christmas trees! {click image to view larger}

Happy holiday things:

* a very snowy Amsterdam
* buying oneself a little present (!)
* comfort food
* the long road home
* and remembering what it is all about

Merry, merry to you and yours.

See you next week.

trouvée: the librarian

This one comes from the gentleman's collection ~ a young librarian with some heavy reading. Uninscribed, but likely dating to the 1880s.

Recently the gentleman and I received an extraordinary addition to our already burgeoning library ~ more than a hundred history, art, architecture, and garden books. Along with biographies, published journals and diaries. A carefully curated archive, a treasure trove of information, given to us by a true scholar. Oh, the gift of knowledge is a most glorious thing!

With visions of English pleasure gardens dancing in my head, it is hard to image that I have room for much fiction. But, oh I do! My winter reading list:

* Curiosity, by Joan Thomas (due out in the US in March)
* Walt Whitman's Secret, by George Fetherling (this and the above, via The Overdecorated Bookcase)
* The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet, by David Mitchell
* Parrot and Olivier in America, by Peter Carey
* The Professor and the Madman, by Simon Winchester (one piece of non fiction!)
* and of course, finishing up those Stieg Larsson mysteries!

Happy weekend, happy reading. Cheers.

trouvée: the shoppers

This has to be my hands-down favorite find of the year. I picked it up in Texas this past April and I have been chuckling ever since. Inscribed: "This is Garnet & I as / we were shopping in / Decatur / Garnet was talking / so her mouth was / open Ha Ha as it / usually is." {click image to view larger}

Counting the days until the March 2011 release of the new Jane Eyre movie. I won't tell you how many times I have watched the trailer (it would be embarrassing to admit). Filmed on locations throughout Derbyshire, including Chatsworth, Haddon Hall, and North Lees Hall (the latter generally thought to be Brontë’s inspiration for Rochester's Thornfield Hall).

Happy weekend. The gentleman and I have some festive plans (which include shopping for a Christmas tree).