Summer on the line

It's August in North Carolina, the hottest week of the summer. I'm lethargic and nostalgic, these dog days raising childhood memories of the weeks I'd spend at my grandma's house every August. And when I think of my grandma and her tiny 1950s ranch house on the outskirts of a small town in the Carolina foothills, I think of hanging laundry.

Laundry was a daily chore at my grandma's house: hauling the heavy, wet bundles to the line; hanging socks, shirts, and sheets neatly, according to her exacting system; pulling clothes off the line, sun-baked and crispy; folding them into tidy stacks. In that August heat, a load of clothes took only an hour to dry on the line.

I hope Vivi won't mine my appropriating her poetry-posting style, but one of my favorite poems comes to mind in thinking about these things. It's a Richard Wilbur poem, also about summer laundry:

Love Calls Us to the Things of This World

The eyes open to a cry of pulleys,
And spirited from sleep, the astounded soul
Hangs for a moment bodiless and simple
As false dawn.
Outside the open window
The morning air is all awash with angels.

Some are in bed-sheets, some are in blouses,
Some are in smocks: but truly there they are.
Now they are rising together in calm swells
Of halcyon feeling, filling whatever they wear
With the deep joy of their impersonal breathing;

Now they are flying in place, conveying
The terrible speed of their omnipresence, moving
And staying like white water; and now of a sudden
They swoon down into so rapt a quiet
That nobody seems to be there.
The soul shrinks

From all that is about to remember,
From the punctual rape of every blessed day,
And cries,
"Oh, let there be nothing on earth but laundry,
Nothing but rosy hands in the rising steam
And clear dances done in the sight of heaven.''

Yet, as the sun acknowledges
With a warm look the world's hunks and colors,
The soul descends once more in bitter love
To accept the waking body, saying now
In a changed voice as the man yawns and rises,

"Bring them down from their ruddy gallows;
Let there be clean linen for the backs of thieves;
Let lovers go fresh and sweet to be undone,
And the heaviest nuns walk in a pure floating
Of dark habits,
keeping their difficult balance.''

--Clothesline Photo by MissNathalie--

Smitten Kitchen

lemony zucchini goat cheese pizza

My friend, a bona fide foodie, directed me to the blog Smitten Kitchen. The photography of dish preparation is incredible, inspiring (even for this ten ingredients or less gal), and I was indeed smitten.

It seems as though this time of year brings out every person's inner foodie. There are so many fresh fruits, vegetables, and herbs available- so many culinary possibilities.

From summer pea and roasted red pepper pasta

fresh pasta and basic tomato sauce

cantaloupe salsa

peach and creme fraiche pie

Whenever I am feeling less than enthusiastic about the notion of preparing dinner, I visit this site. The images of epicurean delight get me dreaming of what could be on my table if I could just get my act together!

Paper treasures

Since the day my daughter was born, I've been keeping inventory of the childhood games and toys that I intend to force upon her the minute she's old enough to appreciate them. If she happens not to appreciate these things, I will resent her for it, then I will go off on my own and play with them anyway.

On the top of my list are paper dolls. And I have a big fat file on my computer to prove it.

At the risk of sounding old and crotchety, they just don't make paper dolls like they used to, so I have an ever-growing electronic collection of vintage paper dolls that I will one day print on sturdy cardstock. I have visions of my daughter unwrapping a box full of these painstakingly trimmed paper dolls and outfits on a future birthday, of us playing for hours on a rainy Saturday. (And if I actually spend the time it will take for me to do all that cutting, she darn well better spend rainy days playing with them.)

Most of my files come from the Flickr group Vintage Paper Dolls. Here are a few of my favorites:

Queen Holden Dolls and clothes from BARBARAJEAN, who has posted sheets and sheets of these amazing vintage paper dolls and dresses to the group:

The Gingham Girls--remember them?--and their clothes. From sydhamgoose:


A 1950s paper doll from Star1950 (the title image in this post is also hers):

Another source for my file is Betsy McCall: The First 10 Years, a site that provides scans of every Betsy McCall paper doll from 195-1961. In high resolution. A dream come true.

Here's 1951 Betsy:

And, though hers aren't vintage, the super-talented Hillary Lang of Wee Wonderfuls also generously offers free printables of her original paper dolls, along with instructions on how to print them on magnetic paper, so you don't have to cut tabs for the clothing. Now that's clever.


My daughter turns 3 in October. I'm trying to hold myself back from the paper doll plan until she's at least 4. I can just imagine her, in her clumsy three-year-old zeal, ripping limbs from my precious paper families. And I'm just not sure I can handle that.

John Hughes

image via fineartsla

It was so surprising and sad to hear yesterday that John Hughes passed away from a heart attack. I think for many of us of a certain age, his movies are are part of our history, our identity. His movies shaped and/or screwed up my ideas of romantic love just as much as the books I grew up reading ("Pride and Prejudice,"Jane Eyre"). Those stories made a certain kind of modern-day fairy tale experience seem possible (my room was as messy as Samantha's in Sixteen Candles so having Jake Ryan fall in love with me seemed a real possibility), but they were also a great comfort to watch when life broke your heart instead (Duckie dancing to Otis Redding in Pretty in Pink is pure happiness). So here's a little homage to John Hughes and childhood - sometimes it really is hard to imagine one without the other.

image via shoumi

"Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it."

image via HBO

Watts: "You break his heart, I break your face."

image via marriedandwhatnot

(Trying to get Kenny to give up his security blanket)

Jack Butler: "I understand that you little guys start out with your woobies and you think they're great... and they are, they are terrific. But pretty soon, a woobie isn't enough. You're out on the street trying to score an electric blanket, or maybe a quilt. And the next thing you know, you're strung out on bedspreads Ken. That's serious."

image via davidsdawson.com

"Dear Mr. Vernon, we accept the fact that we had to sacrifice a whole Saturday in detention for whatever it was we did wrong. But we think you're crazy to make an essay telling you who we think we are. You see us as you want to see us... In the simplest terms, in the most convenient definitions.

But what we found out is that each one of us is a brain...

and an athlete...

and a basket case...

a princess...

and a criminal...

Does that answer your question?

Sincerely yours, the Breakfast Club."

image via Looking Through Mauve Colored Glasses

Andie: "If somebody doesn't believe in me, I can't believe in them."

Thursday, an empty room, and Etsy

So we have decided that once a week one of us will take a space and "design" it using only items from Etsy- just some enthusiastic amateurs, and the site we love, taking on various projects. Every Thursday either a room in a home or a venue for a party/gathering will be tackled by one of us...and Etsy.
As you may have guessed, this is my Thursday. I am going to create a toddler boy's bedroom. The first order of business was deciding on a theme and I thought a forest inspired space would be fun and just different enough to be interesting.

The bedding: This quilt was just perfect- love the colors, the design , and it looks cozy.

Image courtesy of allthenumbers via Etsy

The furniture: Furniture shopping can be a challenge , but some serious browsing leads to a handsome, child-sized rocking chair.....

Image courtesy of LappWoodworks via Etsy

Bed and chair will only be more welcoming thanks to this pair of owls -

Images courtesy of fongstudio via Etsy

and a gnome.

Image courtesy of Pixelknit via Etsy

The art: Some friendly woodland creatures (uniquely represented in bold digital art) for the walls.

Images courtesy of johnwgolden via Etsy

Personalized art for the toddler starting to recognize his name. This seemed just right for the room.

Image courtesy of ameliaKDESIGNS via Etsy

A mobile looks good in so many spaces and this colorful pinwheel mobile with an earthy, "twiggy" pattern could hang just about anywhere in the room.

Image courtesy of mamax2 via Etsy

The accessories: Some grassy bookends, forest animal wooden toys, and stuffed squirrel and fox round out the look.

Image courtesy of pillowhappy via Etsy

Image courtesy of TheWoodGarden via Etsy

Images courtesy of sleepyking via Etsy

Just for fun, some gnomes and toadstools make any forest complete.

Image courtesy of CrunchyFamilyRising via Etsy

Image courtesy of WeeWoodNaturalToys vis Etsy

The storage: To keep everything in order, a toy box that is a piece of art.

Image courtesy of modmomfurniture via Etsy

There you have it- a toddler's woodland hideaway.

"Mad Men" and us

We are all such fans of "Mad Men" that we jumped at the chance to create our own avatars via "MadMenYourself." So here are the ladies of "Hiving Out"... (and, yes, steaming hot coffee cups are true to each of our identities as is, apparently, the same, um, dominant nose).

Lorelei

Mae

Vivi

origins of fur

Does this look like a book you'd like to see taking up room on your shelves? It's the fur-covered edition of Dave Eggers' "The Wild Things," the loose retelling of Maurice Sendak's "Where the Wild Things Are" and the yet to be released movie of the same name. It's an interesting gimmick though I have to wonder:

1) What wild thing is this cover supposed to resemble?

2) And haven't I seen this before?

I did a little bit of brainstorming to come up with a possible lineage of influence... do you think any of the following was the inspiration for this book's fuzzy cover?

image via AbeBooks

Could it be that Margaret Wise Brown's "Little Fur Family" (1946), illustrated by Garth Williams, was the big influence? It does have the Eggers' cover beat by over 60 years and it is about some mildly wild furry things... (If, in fact, it is an influence - at least Eggers' book is not covered with real rabbit fur as was the first edition of this children's picture book).

Meret Oppenheim's "Objet: dejeuner en fourrue" (Object: Luncheon in Fur), 1936

(info. about via MOMA)

Could this classic of Surrealism - fur covered teacup, saucer, and spoon - have stood the test of time as the originator of surprising things covered in fur? Is the Eggers' cover a shout out?

image via orble.com

Robert Downey Jr. looked soulful and hairy in "Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus," do you see a resemblance between this face and that book?

image via The Blue Harvest

Or is this handsome devil the original furred wild thing?

image via Cottage Way of Life

Could the influence of Little Edie's fashion, and the "Grey Gardens" documentary, have stretched to book design? I wouldn't be surprised....

image via nytimes' series "And the Pursuit of Justice" by Maira Kalman

Perhaps I'm not the only one who really got into the "John Adams" HBO series... Seems that Ben Franklin was one wild man while in Paris and everyone raved about his rustic fur hat.

image via AB IMO PECTORE

Or did it all begin here with a furry little wild thing and the desire to want to hold it in our hands?

Sunny Days

I came across this opening of Sesame Street from the 1970's and I loved watching it- granted I don't really have Sesame memories until the early 80's, but this felt like the beginning I so fondly remember.

Stumbling across this video had me wondering about what would now be termed "vintage" clips of Sesame Street. Back in the day I was a Grover or Bert gal, but this Cookie Monster song was too classic to pass up.

My siblings and I were definitely outdoor kids, but we always huddled around the television for Sesame Street and The Muppet Show. Almost three decades later, a passion for Elmo gripping my household, I started watching Sesame Street again. Although I missed some of the quirks and charms of the show I grew up with, there were plenty of new things to find endearing-such as the two numbers below. I also noticed now and again they throw in vintage clips for good measure and those nostalgic parents.



Videos courtesy of youtube.com
If you are ever in the mood to hunt down your own favorite Sesame clips to share with your kids or if you are looking to find their most beloved bit from the show , there is a video search on the show's website that is family friendly and full of then and now Muppet zaniness.