May 31, 2010

our privilege and our adventure (my 200th post!)


These gorgeous lamps by ceramicist Christopher Spitzmiller would make any room in my home happier. Look at this color palette! Of course, with prices ranging from $650.00 to $2250.00 per lamp, I'll be happy just looking. 

Which one's your favorite? Can you choose just one? I can't!

All photos via New York Social Diary.

We are each gifted in a unique and important way. 
It is our privilege and our adventure to discover our own special light.
  ~Mary Dunbar

*This is my 200th post!*


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May 28, 2010

goodwill and happy companionship



Our dining room is jealous of the living room. It's next in line for a makeover.


These rooms are nice:

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Eating well gives a spectacular joy to life
 and contributes immensely
 to goodwill and happy companionship. 
It is of great importance to the morale.
~Elsa Schiaparelli


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May 26, 2010

life's mater and matrix


All week, I've come home from work, fed the dogs, and headed for the pool. Floating in the quiet, gazing at the ever-changing sky,  time becomes irrelevant. The tranquility is like a drug.

It's an above-ground pool, and was here when we bought the house. We originally agreed we would leave it up through this - the first  - summer, and re-evaluate at the end of the season. I think my mind is already made...






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Water is life's mater and matrix, mother and medium.

 There is no life without water.
 ~ Albert Szent-Gyorgyi 



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brethren of the wood


I can't stop staring...

livingetc.com
Yeah, I know - stunning, isn't it? 


The oaks and the pines, and their brethren of the wood,
 have seen so many suns rise and set, so many seasons come and go,
 and so many generations pass into silence, 
that we may well wonder what "the story of the trees" would be to us
 if they had tongues to tell it, or we ears fine enough to understand.  
~Author Unknown, quoted in Quotations for Special Occasions 
by Maud van Buren, 1938


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May 23, 2010

supremely satisfied at the end


Don't you LOVE it when a plan actually works out like you'd intended? Thank you Jenny, and Anna, for the inspiration, and Jenn for all the help with the execution.

Ahhhhhh...


before:

after:
 
all photos mine

“Look at a day when you are supremely satisfied at the end.
 It's not a day when you lounge around doing nothing; 
it's when you've had everything to do, and you've done it.” 
~ Margaret Thatcher 



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May 21, 2010

follow the changes


I do love me some color. Look at these rooms - YUMMY!

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Colors, like features, follow the changes of the emotions.
~ Pablo Picasso 



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May 16, 2010

a dish and a spoon on the table danced...


Plate walls: perennial favorites that resurface as a trend every so often. I've been doing plates on the wall for - well, forever. 


Like mirrors and shelves, plate walls seem to always be a good design choice - dependably do-able, they pack a big punch, and are something I never tire of. When I'm ready for a change on the wall, the plates can go back in the cupboard. 


Slowly but surely I'm making Moss Hill look and feel like home. I'm certain a plate wall (or two!) is in the very near future. Inspiration is all over blogland (this is one of those trendy times) and I love the look. Mine will be (mostly) Blue Willow; I've been collecting this pattern since I was 14, and have amassed dozens of pieces. 


The top image is my favorite:

mouse over images for source

At the Sign of the Prancing Pony

There is an inn, a merry old inn
beneath an old grey hill,
And there they brew a beer so brown
That the Man in the Moon himself came down
one night to drink his fill.

The ostler has a tipsy cat
that plays a five-stringed fiddle;
And up and down he runs his bow,
Now squeaking high, now purring low,
now sawing in the middle.

The landlord keeps a little dog
that is mighty fond of jokes;
When there's good cheer among the guests,
He cocks an ear at all the jests
and laughs until he chokes.

They also keep a hornéd cow
as proud as any queen;
But music turns her head like ale,
And makes her wave her tufted tail
and dance upon the green.

And O! the rows of silver dishes
and the store of silver spoons!
For Sunday there's a special pair,
And these they polish up with care
on Saturday afternoons.

The Man in the Moon was drinking deep,
and the cat began to wail;
A dish and a spoon on the table danced,
The cow in the garden madly pranced,
and the little dog chased his tail.

The Man in the Moon took another mug,
and rolled beneath his chair;
And there he dozed and dreamed of ale,
Till in the sky the stars were pale,
and dawn was in the air.

Then the ostler said to his tipsy cat:
"The white horses of the Moon,
They neigh and champ their silver bits;
But their master's been and drowned his wits,
and the Sun'll be rising soon!"

So the cat on his fiddle played hey-diddle-diddle,
a jig that would wake the dead:
He squeaked and sawed and quickened the tune,
While the landlord shook the Man in the Moon:
"It's after three!" he said.

They rolled the Man slowly up the hill
and bundled him into the Moon,
While his horses galloped up in rear,
And the cow came capering like a deer,
and a dish ran up with the spoon.

Now quicker the fiddle went deedle-dum-diddle;
the dog began to roar,
The cow and the horses stood on their heads;
The guests all bounded from their beds
and danced upon the floor.

With a ping and a pang the fiddle-strings broke!
the cow jumped over the Moon,
And the little dog laughed to see such fun,
And the Saturday dish went off at a run
with the silver Sunday spoon.

The round Moon rolled behind the hill,
as the Sun raised up her head.
She hardly believed her fiery eyes;
For though it was day, to her suprise
they all went back to bed.

- J.R.R. Tolkien

Want more? The best collection of plate wall images around is right here.

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