dual personalities

Month: April, 2013

April 6, 2013

A little needlework

by chuckofish

Lately I’ve been itching to do something creative and when I came across this lovely (small and easy) sampler by Charlotte Lyons,

Charlotte Lyons' sampler

which I found via one of my favorite blogs, Soulemama , I just knew I had the perfect project. You can find the sampler pictured above and other designs at Ms. Lyons’ Etsy shop. Everything is very reasonably priced.

My current plan is to choose embroidery silk colors to match my downstairs bathroom wallpaper, which you will recall looks like this,

new wallpaper 002

and eventually hang the framed embroidery there. The blogosphere is full of amazing, dynamic and crafty women who produce incredible things at the speed of light. I represent the other side of the coin — those who are slow, untalented, and disorganized, but who nevertheless appreciate beautiful things and love the idea of having a perfect house even if the reality eludes us. And I’m going to start with my little sampler — just as soon as I get around to it!

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April 5, 2013

Fat Baby Friday

by chuckofish

RPC1

Fat Baby Friday returns! Here’s a picture of my life partner circa 1955. Poor kid looks like a turtle trying to right himself.

RPC2

Here he is a year or so later bright-eyed and ready for boarding school. Sunrise, sunset. Where do the years go?

Have a great weekend!

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April 4, 2013

A picture is worth a 1000 words

by chuckofish

littlegirl

 

I have always loved this illustration by Jessie Willcox Smith (1863 – 1935). I love the cranky little girl who has been sent to her room. I can relate. Her body language. Her droopy socks and carelessly dropped books. She is not a happy camper. And I am right there with that doll in time out. And isn’t that a wonderful wicker chair and pillow?

Smith was a prolific contributor to books and magazines during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, illustrating stories and articles for clients such as Good Housekeeping and the Ladies’ Home Journal. She also illustrated many books, notably A Child’s Garden of Verses and The Seven Ages of Childhood.

Here is a selection of her wonderful pictures on Pinterest. Funnily enough, my favorite is not included, but aren’t they great?

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April 3, 2013

Blue, blue is the grass about the river

by chuckofish

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Blue, blue is the grass about the river
And the willows have overfilled the close garden.
And within, the mistress, in the midmost of her youth.
White, white of face, hesitates, passing the door.
Slender, she puts forth a slender hand;

And she was a courtezan in the old days,
And she has married a sot,
Who now goes drunkenly out
And leaves her too much alone.

–Ezra Pound

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April 2, 2013

Happy belated birthday,Toshiro Mifune!

by chuckofish

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Yesterday was the birthday of the late great Japanese actor Toshiro Mifune (April 1, 1920 – December 24, 1997) who appeared in almost 170 feature films. He is best known for his 16-film collaboration with filmmaker Akira Kurosawa, from 1948 to 1965, in works such as Rashomon, Seven Samurai, Throne of Blood, and Yojimbo.

Who doesn’t love him as a samurai warrior? He is indeed the Best.

toshiro-mifune

But I like him as well in the 1949 Japanese police procedural film noir classic, Stray Dog. He is so young and handsome!

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He also stole the show as Toranaga in the 1980 miniseries Shogun.

Toranaga

So when you are trying to think of something to watch this week, think of old Toshiro Mifune.

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April 1, 2013

Welcome, happy morning!

by chuckofish

Easter turned out to be a lovely day in our flyover town. Warm and sunny. The boy and his bride joined us at church. We were surrounded by small children. They were adorable in their Women’s Exchange finery, but very distracting. I didn’t get a whole lot out of the service, but oh well. It was nice just to be in a (full) church with my family (such as it is with the daughters so far away).

The boy’s Best Man was in town with his girlfriend and they were also at church.

friends

After church we went to Easter brunch at the boy’s in-laws. I brought the dollar rolls and the sticky buns. I did not give the boy a basket this year since he is all grown up, but I had to give him some of these:

wrc

I worked in the yard a little when I got home, but since I hurt my back last weekend shoveling snow(!), I couldn’t do much. But it was nice to be outside, soaking up the vitamin D.

I spent a good part of this Easter weekend watching Ben Hur. My husband surprised me with the fancy 50th Anniversary boxed set (on super sale since that was 4 years ago!) Blu-Ray edition of the film–complete with a book about the making of the movie, a facsimile of Charlton Heston’s diary and a whole disc of special features.

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Never since the old Lord of the Rings days have I felt like such a nerd. But a happy nerd.

How was your weekend?

Here is the King’s College Cambridge version of one of my favorite Easter hymns which we never sing at church.. It does not include verse 4–my favorite–but I could not find the Radney Foster rendition.

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