Green Thumb

When I was pregnant with Danielle, I read that how you cared for houseplants would be reflective of how you cared for your children. ("Really!? That's horrible!" I thought, looking out over my sea of over-watered, under-watered, goodness knows what's wrong with them now plants.) This comparison terrified me, as any comparisons ought to. (Comparing being the thief of joy and all.)

June

I immediately got rid of any houseplants, living, non-living and kept all plants at a distance, while deeming my residence as not having enough room or the "right amount of light" for houseplants. This plant-raising-comparison-thought has shamed me: Followed me around like a really good, tiny, mad idea does. 

July

This summer, I'm on a mission to tidy up some spaces that in the last two years I meant "to get to." And in tidying up my photos, I found some proof that that tiny, mad idea is not real. (Boo-yah, out with YOU, tiny, mad idea!)

August

Ahh, my soul can rest.  Photographic evidence of children being raised in the right light, with enough room to grow.

If I can do it, I know you can, too. Whatever it is, you can do it. Go easy on yourself. And take care, friends.
xoxo,

Big B&W Art

Today, these.  Just because I love them...

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Miles to Go

My parents, Danielle, Will and I just returned from a 4,500 mile (!) car trip.
12 states in 5 days.
We saw the beautiful deserts of Arizona and New Mexico;
the Pacific Ocean and the San Diego Bay;
the red rocks of Utah
and the Rockies in Colorado;
the plains of Kansas and the familiar hills and valleys of Missouri and Iowa.

I am *so* happy to be home!
Though I have miles to go on my projects, it is so good to see them all again.

Hello everything that needs new upholstery, crazy mirror template, crooked pictures and candles and small boy in the mirror, who is so happy to be home. 

(He circled the house about three times and gave me about four hugs this morning.:)

Piano and plates and green chair: Hello to you, too!

 (Gah!  No Upholstery Fairy?)

 I missed you blue buffet.

God bless everyone and Keurig, too.

Hello paper bag portrait and my favorite blue bird from my favorite girl.

 Hello chairs and chalkboard and plant that lives on despite my neglect.

Hello shelves to be trimmed and tractors and trucks.

Hello Home! I am staying put for a while!

Safe journeys to you and yours.  

Take Care, 

Fringe!

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Fake Foul

Okay, confession time.  Antlers remind me of fingernails.  There. Now you know.  And wish you didn't.

The older I get, the more creeped out I am by any kind of taxidermy.  Too many childhood visits to the butcher where your brothers dared you to stand under the huge (long-haired!) bull's head (who-can-stand-there-longest-style)?  Possibly.  Does that mean I'm vegetarian?  Heck no.  There is still a place in my life for meat.  And I still go to that butcher - Best sausage around!  (Though writing that sentence made me a little sick just now.)

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While I can appreciate "animal" in home design,  I have a lot of questions that I really don't want the answers to:  Swiffer or vaccuum?  Which attachment?  At some point those hairs/feathers, start shedding, and they go where?

 

I have a friend who thinks donkeys are funny (I think they're just a@#$%. :)  But, I get it now, because lately I really do find that ducks, and geese, kind of adorable.
That goose is hilarious.  If it's not shedding stuff, that is.

Lately, I've been setting aside a lot of time to daydream about the following spaces.  Which has me really pumped to hunt down the perfect the non-shedding, dust-collecting version of one of theses fine, funny, foul.   

D&S

D*S

      

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Are you Team Taxidermy or Team Decoy?  Team Donkey or Team Goose?
Love to You!

Not too late for love...

Thinking of all of you & sending you belated Valentine wishes!

Pamela Griffith's Botanical Art with Soul

Meeting people is one of my most favorite things to do.   I love being part of a group and listening to and learning from other people.  I'm especially drawn to people who are natural teachers.

Magnolia

You know that person in a crowd who is gutsy enough to "break the ice"?  The one who, with one well-placed story, question or observation can get the whole group talking and having a great time?   On my trip to Taliesin, I met the loveliest lady who has just that ability. 

Poppy Plant

Pamela Griffith is a beautifully talented Australian artist, who works in nearly every possible medium and through her sense of place and appreciation of the Australian landscape "brings art to everyone."  

Pamela has designed for the Kleenex brand of Kimberly Clark; designed commemorative toile fabrics for the Australian Bicentennial and the Beatification of Mary MacKillop; and, if youhappen to be in New South Wales, she designed the waratah flower logo on your driver's license. (I had to google waratah, too.  Here it is!)

Blue Wrens Nesting

In her printmaking studio, Pamela also creates etchings and prints that celebrate the fascinating Australian landscape.  There are so many beautiful paintings and etchings to browse through on her site, but if you're lucky enough to be heading to (or in!) Australia, you can check out Pamela's exhibition in person:

If you go, tell Pamela, "Hello from Wisconsin!"  :)

Here are some more of my favorite etchings I couldn't resist sharing with you!  Enjoy!

        

Feathered Gliders in Gum Blossom & Black Chinned Honeyeater in Gum Blossoms

Wren and Fern

         

Poppies & Christmas Bells

Cheers to 40 Years!

Today is the day!
Happy New Year to Me!
Celebrate with me!...

Live the moment...

...Put on your party pants and just dance...

...Smile big, just because!

After all, the sky is the limit!  Or is it?  As one great explorer once said:  "To Infinity and Beyond!"  :)

And a favorite quote from one Mr. Thoreau:  

Do you know what you are? 

You are a marvel. 

You are unique. 

In all the years that have passed, there has never been another child like you. Your legs, your arms, your clever fingers, the way you move. 

You may become a Shakespeare, a Michelangelo, a Beethoven. 

You have the capacity for anything.

– Henry David Thoreau 

You have the capacity for any.thing. (!)

Ah, to be new again! Hooray for today!

 Love to You!

Gwyneth, Nora, and Me, Myself and I

Many of you have seen these style picks from Goop and JCrew, but there are two reasons this pick is still on my mind.  That of course, I must tell you about!  :)

1. #7 is the basic uniform I wore while student teaching in 1994.
Jacket, jeans, dress shirt. I even had wine colored slippers with a pink monogram on the top.

I thought I was so smart, "mixing" professional (jackets & tops) with jeans.  I'm sure other people were doing it too, however, my supervising teacher did not appreciate my jeans, jacket, dress shirt look.

She took points away for "dressing too casually."  This was particularly crushing because I thought I was being "creative" and "thoughtfully dressing" for being on my knees next to a student's desk or out on the playground supervising.  Also, I loved my supervising teacher and wished her criticism had come sooner (maybe she mentioned it and I missed it).

I still wear a version of this outfit almost everyday - You too?

2.  Gwyneth and I share a (momentous) birthday (this week), and, really, is there anyone's life that could be more glamorous?  And aren't we all a little relieved when someone glamorous faces the same challenges that we face?

goop.com

On My Mind

This dining room, specifically the Schumacher Chenonceau, has been on my mind lately.

Country Living

This idea keeps nagging at me:  Use white colored pencil to recreate a wallpaper look on a dark wall.  

Maybe using a stencil?

This one (imagine the black & white reversed) could work...(Are these stencils thick enough to trace with pencil?).

I'm also thinking of making my own stencil and utilizing this tool to keep things straight.  What do you think?