liberty

*click on the book to go to full screen*

unfortunately it's not due out until September!

via Liberty Blog, The Liberty Book of Home Sewing

creatures

I find these illustrations of household monsters very endearing.

I think it may be the imaginative child coming out in me, but I can definitely envision having intense discussions with young kids about what monster might live in our home.

I'm sure we would come up with a few of these...

But I'm not so sure that I would buy these prints- even at a sale price of $199.95...

And definitely not the book at $1200....

But it does give some good ideas for projects :)

source: anthropologie

paul strand

I've always been enamoured with the photography of Paul Strand ever since I first learned about him in Intro to Photography many a year ago. I recently was made aware of this book by Paul Strand and I wish I could get a hold of a copy to see some of the photos inside.

Maybe there will be some similar landscapes like this in black and white?

But with a lot more local Scots of course.

shel

I like Shel Silverstein

one fish two fish red fish blue fish

Happy 105th Birthday Dr. Seuss.  

little plastic people

on Saturday SJ and I were doing some Christmas shopping and went into Waterstones to find a book his Dad had requested. On one of the tables, where books are stacked high in themes to lure unknowing buyers was a book called Little People in the City: The Street Art of Slinkachu.

I thought I recognized the art from the cover so I picked it up and with a squeal of "This is so cool!" I made SJ wait patiently as we flipped through the whole book. The artist's concept is to create tiny, about 1/83 scale models of people doing ordinary and not so ordinary things in the city and then to glue them down near where these actions would occur and then to walk away from them. I'm not sure why exactly they are so appealing, maybe it is the thought that whenever I hurriedly walk I may pass unknowingly some tiny person battling out life on a smaller scale.

Cash machine

Same Old Song; Covent Garden area

Same Old Song; Covent Garden area

Rush Hour

Rush Hour

Dear Son, near Victoria

Dear Son, near Victoria

At the end of our Waterstones visit I had renewed my love for bookstores and we decided that we needed that little book on the little plastic people.


See his blog here

very appropriate

When I went on Google yesterday I realized it was Beatrix Potter's birthday, see if you can see how I figured this out below...

back from the lakes part 3

Wednesday:  On Wednesday we set off for Beatrix Potter's first cottage in the Lake District, Hill Top Farm.  Of course, we used our bikes as our primary means of transportation from Chapel Stile to the village of Near Sawrey.

Our bike path (in blue).

Picture taken during a bike rest and map check.

We arrived at Hill Top Farm around 12:45pm, ready to find somewhere to eat our pack lunches, but we first went and bought our tickets, which gave us entry at 1:30pm.  I also bought a small book about Hill Top and Beatrix Potter (it was offered in two languages, English and Japanese).

We ate our lunch outside the small cottage and read the book.

Beatrix outside Hill Top.

Within two years of her purchase, Hill Top Farm had 10 cows, 14 pigs, some ducks and hens, and over 30 Herdwick sheep.  Beatrix added to her property whenever she could, buying land to extend her holding when it became available.  In May 1909 she bought a second farm in Sawrey, Castle Cottage, which met up with Hill Top land, and which she later moved into with William Heelis, whom she married in 1913.  Even after moving to the larger home she kept Hill Top exactly as it was to use as her studio and study, and as a place to entertain her increasing number of 'book visitors'.

SJ eating lunch and reading.

Part of her vegetable garden.

Being at Hill Top began to influence her writing and in the book there are many examples of illustrations from her books that are inspired by Hill Top.

The Entrance Hall and illustrations from The Tale of Samuel Whiskers (click to enlarge).

The Landing and illustrations.

The garden path and illustrations from The Tale of Tom Kitten and The Tale of Pigling Bland.

Pictures from her home and sketches that match with her book illustrations.

I find Beatrix Potter to be a great source of inspiration.  Not only did she strive to do what she truly enjoyed (and succeeded), but she was a very strong woman in other aspects.  For example, during World War I, with the men being called up at ploughing time and taking horses to the Front, Beatrix managed the farm herself, even working in the fields at harvest time.  In 1924 she bought Troutbeck Farm (which I would like to go to someday), near Windermere.

Through her friendship with Canon Hardwicke Rawnsley, who founded the National Trust in 1895, she became a strong supporter, particularly interested in land preservation, preventing the break-up of large estates and the destruction of old cottages, in stopping the building of cheap developments, and ensuring the continued breeding and maintaining of Herdwick sheep on farms in the district.

Beatrix left everything in her will to Willie for his lifetime, stipulating that after his death all her property should go to the National Trust: over 4,000 acres of land, and numerous cottages and farms.

After Hill Top we biked down to the lake to get the ferry across and then to take another ferry ride up to Ambleside.

Views from the ferry.

From Ambleside we biked 4 miles back to Chapel Stile, where we washed up, took our postcards to the pub and wrote while having a pint to cool down.

Adventures in the mountains tomorrow...

vacation: lake district

I probably won't be making new entries during the weekdays of this week because I am leaving for the Lake District in a few hours!  We're taking our bikes up on the train and it looks like the weather should hold out for us a bit during the week (knock on wood).

I'm really excited to see the scenery.  Sadly, I learned the most about the Lakes while watching Miss. Potter, the movie about Beatrix Potter with Renee Zellweger.  I'm looking forward to lots of preserved countryside and maybe some wildlife (besides pigeons)...  We have some of SJ's father's walking maps of the surrounding area, so we should be able to cover a lot of ground on bike and foot.

I still need to pack some t-shirts so I'll keep this short.  Here is a website from the Lake District National Park Authority about Miss. Potter and other links to pertinent websites.

Enjoy your week! 

-Ashley

petit prince

One of my favourite books is Le Petit Prince, though I do have many more 'favourites'.  I think it has a lot of really good life lessons hidden throughout.

Les grandes personnes ne comprennent jamais rien toutes seules, et c'est fatigant, pour les enfants, de toujours leur donner des explications.

Grown-ups never understand anything by themselves, and it is tiresome for children to have to explain things to them always and forever.

Voici mon secret.  Il est tres simple: on ne voit bien qu'avec le coeur.  L'essentiel est invisible pour les yeux.

Here is my secret.  It is very simple:  It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.

Ce qui embellit le desert, dit le petit prince, c'est qu'il cache un puits quelque part...

"What makes the desert beautiful," says the little prince, "is that somewhere it hides a well."

gusty winds may exist

Recently I read and finished Douglas Adams' The Salmon of Doubt. By recently I should say that I began the book when we reached Manchester on Saturday to see Radiohead, and I finished it on the journey back from Manchester on that Monday.

The Salmon of Doubt is is comprised of a collection of previously unpublished material by Douglas Adams that was collected and published after his death in 2001. It is divided into 3 parts: Life, the Universe, and Everything.

The first section, Life, focuses on Adams' own life through his boyhood and into his 'adulthood', including anecdotes about his large nose, his love for the Beatles, the lyrics to "Do-Re-Mi", and the English love of tea.

Next comes the Universe, which primarily focuses on Adams' love of technology and Mac computers, and his radical atheism. He talks about little dongly things (external power adapters), the idea of God and the four ages of sand, among other things.

One of my favourite anecdotes is called "Cookies".

Finally, the last section is Everything, and is really his unfinished last book about Dirk Gently. In a fax to his London editor about this book Adams said that

"Dirk Gently, hired by someone he never meets, to do a job that is never specified, starts following people at random. His investigations lead him to Los Angeles, through the nasal membranes of a rhinoceros, to a distant future dominated by estate agents and heavily armed kangaroos. Jokes, lightly poached fish, and the emergent properties of complex systems form the background to Dirk Gently's most baffling and incomprehensible case."

Unfortunately for us, we will never know what does happen to Dirk, but this book does offer the avid Adams fan one last chance to delve into his witty mind and catch a glimpse of his creative (and un-creative) processes.

Not good for a first-time Douglas Adams reader, but for someone who has read everything or almost everything, a must-read.

tribes

"She began now to comprehend that he was exactly the man who, in disposition and talents, would most suit her. His understanding and temper, though unlike her own, would have answered all her wishes. It was an union that must have been to the advantage of both; by her ease and liveliness, his mind might have been softened, his manners improved, and from his judgment, information, and knowledge of the world, she must have received benefit of greater importance."

I love Jane Austen and all things derivative of her. Her language and stories are enchanting and feel tied to reality. Mr. Darcy is by far the most attractive male love interest of all time. The perfect combination of aloofness, character, honesty, and affection. Colonel Brandon... Captain Wentworth... even Wickham and Willoughby are interesting characters. Her female heroines are also strong, but have their moments of weakness when it comes to the opposite sex (which I think we can all understand), but Elizabeth Bennett will always be my favorite :)

I also envy the clothing style of the early 1800s. The empire waists and gauzy fabrics. Women always looked feminine yet educated, sexy yet demure.

I think that the ultimate reason why I identify with the women in Jane Austen is that like all of her heroines, I am a family and friends person, which makes it very hard for me to be far away from everyone at home. I am lucky because they do try and visit and I have had many visitors in the past month. Another friend from home, Sara, is also doing a law internship over here for the next few weeks, so now I will have her company (for a short time at least :) ). But I am lucky even moreso because I have found my place and my new family over here in Chloe and David. The other day when they were driving me back to my flat we all got into a silly disagreement about how much a customer should be charged for some extra work that we did and it really felt like we were having a stupid family squabble. It was wonderful. When I was sick the past couple of weeks Chloe kept trying to find ways to make me well, mainly through making me ginger tea, rose tea, real fruit drinks, etc.

All of which adds up to me feeling like we all care about each other as if we are all related. It reminds me of a quote that says you can't choose your family. You take what the fates hand you. And like them or not, love them or not, understand them or not, you cope. Then there's the school of thought that says the family you're born into is simply a starting point. They feed you, and clothe you, and take care of you, until you're ready to go out into the world and find your tribe.

I've found my tribe

Books
Sense and Sensibility (1811) (read)
Pride and Prejudice (1813) (read)
Mansfield Park (1814) (to read)
Emma (1815) (read)
Northanger Abbey (1817, posthumous) (to read)
Persuasion (1817, posthumous) (reading)