July
Yesterday evening, I sat outside sipping my tea, watching the birds come and go. I have a nest of magpies in one of my pines and they have become quite tame (and cheeky). I tried to get a shot of a woodpecker who has been making my ad hoc birdbath a regular stop, but he flew off before I got the camera. I did get a pic of mama maggie though, perched below her nest, keeping an eye out for her brood. They stay year round. Then the sun began to sink in the West and the twilight fell. My very favourite hour, perhaps because I was born at that time? Anyway, I got a couple of pics. In the middle you can see how my meadow is maturing. So exiting! And at the top, the view over my back fence as the last rays disappear. Enjoy.
My daughter Genevieve's boyfriend proposed to her last night. We had just had dinner on the deck - buffalo burgers that he, Oz, had made, mixing blue cheese and red onion in with the meat, before grilling on the barbecue - just delicious! Potato salad made by me using fresh herbs from the garden and red potatoes from the farmer's market. A big green salad, with cherry tomatoes (from my pot) avocado and a crisp, cold pinot to wash it down, made for the perfect Summer evening, and it seemed like a typical evening Chez Moi, with the family. After dinner, with Natalya and Tatyana sorted with plenty watermelon and ice cream, my daughter Angelica inside, reading a book, Oz (as we affectionately call him) asked me to tell Gen to go talk to him in the potting shed. Natalya the spy reported first! "He was on his knee and now they are kissing." She made a face. "Slobbery kisses." Gen arrived next, teary eyed. "Oz asked me to marry him!" She sounded like a woman in love should. A toast was drunk and happiness was shared by all! Now we have a wedding to plan! We have time - they want to do it on 11/11/11. Today my mini roses bloomed and today is also Oz's birthday. They met three years ago, moved in together a year and a half later. He's definitely a member of our family and I couldn't be happier for them!
Where I was born and grew up, today is the Winter Solstice, but here it is high Summer and I have spent the morning in the garden. Baby lettuce and Nasturtium are springing up in their pots, as are Petunias (that's a recycled tire planter in front of the shed) and the tomatoes and herbs I grow year round, inside and out, in containers Natalya ate her first ripe Strawberry off one of the plants yesterday, and the blackberry is starting to peek out of its basket. I love Summer, upside down or not! Happy Solstice everyone!
At least 19 people were killed in Tehran, Shiraz, and Isfahan Saturday in clashes between reformists and security forces, sources in Iran have reported, bringing the number of people killed in the riots that erupted following the Iranian elections up to nearly 50...
Let Freedom Ring! For the brave people of Persia, a prayer. A song of Hope from the heart. Real change always starts from the ground up, when people say "Enough!" Real change is never manufactured, nor is Hope bottled like Coca Cola. Real change is in the air. The Revolution is being Twittered. This blog will keep you up to date! Do not remain silent! Bear witness!Raise your voices! Light a candle! Spread the word! Let Freedom Ring!
Waking up this morning to rain pouring down, made me very happy it was a day off for me! I spent a couple of lazy hours on my sofa, doing little more than read a book while sipping a cup of coffee. I watched the birds come and go through the windows, seemingly unperturbed by the flood from above. Magpies chattered to each other as they tried (in vain) to shoo away the sparrows and finches encroaching on their turf (very territorial birds, these Magpies.)At noon the sun broke through the clouds. The rain has stopped and I'm going outside to battle with the weeds again!
Most mornings and evenings I'm in the garden, weeding, mulching and watching the birds, bees and butterflies that are so much a part of why I am committed to wild gardens. I am a rather lazy gardener; letting Nature balance the land rather than attempting to control it. In addition to several fruit trees and shrubs, I have planted aspens, now in their third summer, and blue flax has sprouted among the grasses. In the raised beds in front of the cottage, I have iris, poppies, daisies, roses, lilies, columbine, cinquefoil, Russian sage, woodruff, sweet william and a berry patch, with strawberries, black berries and raspberries. The berry patch - which is in an odd corner - is cluttered with all sorts of stuff - heart shaped rocks and stones, broken or cracked, terra cotta pots and angels reconstructed into vignettes. Baskets with berries inside them, driftwood and other bits and pieces I find pretty or interesting. I planted the berries last year and now they are coming back to life. I also grow a lot of stuff in pots like the geraniums which provide me with flowers year long, inside my south facing windows, and colour my deck in summer. Cherry tomatoes, baby greens and herbs are all easy to do in pots.That's lavender beside the front doormat. We have a short season here at this elevation - 7000ft - but right now, in late spring, it couldn't be sweeter
Funny how changing a few things in a room seemingly affects the light - I know it's just the way the light is catching the nuances of the texture and colour that is layered in this room, but it definitely feels magical! A few more views of the living room and I'll move on into the rest of my little cottage on Monday. The spindle-legged, gate leg table and the wonderful basket beside it, were found for a song recently. There is a sad side to my recent luck with finding great things for very little. As I make my rounds of my favourite haunts in Taos, I'm seeing amazing amounts of antiques and art being put up for sale at ridiculous prices. I feel for these families who have been so hard hit by this economic meltdown, that they have to let go of these pieces in order to eat! My prayers go out to them. Have a lovely weekend, wherever you are!
I recovered my old chairs in toile, which they have had on them before, added a shade to match and mixed up old and new. My need for white is tempered by the colour and gentle play of pattern and texture. I also like the way the kitchen/dining area feels seperate from the living room.
This was taken today in the early morning light. I'll be back tomorrow with more rooms! I've been on a tear changing and rearranging everything!
Excuses aside, as you can see, I've been busy! It began with an unhealthy craving for shocking pink - easily satisfied by throwing a couple of scarves over a chair holding a basket of dried roses - but it did not end there! Suddenly I had to have eau de nil - nothing but nothing else would work. And - big and - I needed a full on sofa. Not a pretend modern affair, but something substantial like a Camelback or Chesterfield. This I knew was madness because I've never liked sofas and have mostly avoided them, making divans out of single and double beds, instead. I let the sofa idea simmer on the back burner while I satisfied myself with a tiny but exquisite pillow cover from Common Thread, a divine shop here, in Taos. Then a day later, at one of my favourite treasure hunting spots, Pieces, my friend, Stacey pulled two lemon yellow, vintage linen pillow cases from a pile and thrust them on me with a "they'll look great in your house." I bought them and looked at them for a day before my epiphany! They now upholster my Louis XV chair. I used nail heads for a rustic vibe. The floral chintz was also given to me by Stacey and tucked away in the fabric stash waiting to become cushion covers - that darned pink again! A few days later, back at Pieces,with Stacey - who is decorating her house to the max right now and we'll visit her soon - I saw the sofa! It was in perfect condition - not a spot on its gorgeous silk/linen upholstery - a sage green - almost eau de nil - check that went perfectly with the cushion! It was big enough, old fashioned enough, comfortable enough and big plus - it had legs! The price? Unbelievable. $250.00. I kid you not. It appears to have been redone - cushions and upholstry - very recently. It's an old piece - 40's I'd guess and very well built. Curtains were made to match and came as part of the deal. I used one to cover a seat and foam I had cut to fit the French chair,( which needs to be recaned but until I find someone who does it reasonably...this will suffice) it matched the linen perfectly and used the other to drape over the sofa, beneath the antique North African textile I have over its back. The matching cushions are going on my outside bench as soon as it's warm enough. It's in this manner that a home evolves. The best homes are never done - they are a continual, ongoing reflection of their inhabitants lives. Right now, I like many others on the planet, want to feel safe, cosy and comfortable when I come home and I suppose my sofa reflects that need quite accurately. But mostly, it makes me laugh with its happy riot of pattern and colour that hankering for bright pink and a single little cushion cover initiated. I plan on having a fitted (white of course) slip cover made pronto for the moment I tire of all the colour, and tire I eventually will and the whiteout will commence, but right now I think I'll have a cup of tea and enjoy my bright pink blossoms!
I'm back after a month of intense projects - writing deadlines, work and life in general - not least of which has been a spring cleaning demon that has had me in its thrall! Today,after a week of glorious weather, it snowed again! In the coming days I'll post some pics of my newly arranged home but for now, I'll wish you all a lovely weekend and see you on Monday!
It was a friend's birthday this week so I had an excuse for a small party! Dinner for eight insane writers and artists! An eccentric, very dapper sculptor and artist, a former Kirov prima ballerina, fellow South African film maker (who used to be married to the prima ballerina and once dated another of my guests - a gorgeous blonde bombshell very chic boutique owner, plus skier extraordinaire, surfer, in fact -all round jock!) A colourful group to put it mildly! The birthday boy is an English ex-pat, a writer with a deadline (new book) a very funny, handsome and intelligent guy. I invited a few mutual friends and another writer he had not yet met. John Nichols wrote the Milagro Beanfield War, among other (numerous) works. John is a bit of a hermit, who loves to complain about the writing life being a life of rejection. One of my other guests, is the son of an iconic Hollywood director, and a not too shabby writer, himself. He and I had a good laugh over John's whinging, as we know too well about that aspect of writing for a living. But looking at John's (large and published) body of work, it doesn't appear to be the result of too much rejection! John is a great raconteur, and kept us in stitches with his stories all evening! Because my table seats only six, I pulled up the little, green painted one that sits in the corner, and brought in a few extra chairs I store in my shed, and use outside in the summer. We stayed at the table till the wee hours, eating a very home cooked meal of roast chicken with rosemary and lemon, basmati rice,steamed broccoli and a big salad of mixed greens, hothouse tomatoes and baby cucumber, accompanied by plenty of wine. I served coffee with a chocolate (kid's - one candle) cake I baked, with whipped cream, infused with vanilla beans and some other decadent chocolate confection, the birthday boy brought over! Above is the table right before I went to get ready. The freesia was my gift to the guest of honor and that's the cake hiding in the cupboard!
The Simple Home
ALL the arts are modes of expressing the One Ideal;but the ideal must be rooted in the soil of the real,the practical, the utilitarian. Thus it happens that architecture, the most utilitarian of the arts,underlies all other expressions of the ideal; and of all architecture, the designing of the home brings the artist into closest touch with the life of man.
Charles Keeler
The Simple Home
