d.Sharp Journal

Merci.

Want to say Merci to Lynne at Paris Hotel Boutique Journal for a lovely little interview about antiquing, collecting and creating. I am in love with everything in her shop and I know if we went flea marketing together, it could get ugly/roller derbyish {you know, going after the same stuff}. Still, I would love to meet her one day. Her blog is a great read, check the interview here.

{some of our souvenir buildings, and below, some more globes - yes, its a sickness.}

If you haven't already, peruse the floors of Paris Hotel Boutique, some lovely stuff :

We would have to arm wrestle over this trophy if we were flea marketing together, it would "need" to be in my collection.

I have this same dresser! I used to refinish and sell these vintage metal dressers too. {My husband's back is thankful I am out of that biz.}

Covet!!!!

 

twelve.

My word. Looking at these pictures - we are both so much younger { and me thinner!} they look like they could be our First Communion photos.

But, that's what it's about - growing old together.
20 years together, 12 married, many more to go.

One of the reasons I love my town.

On Saturday we met some friends to watch the Adult Soapbox Derby, a veritable Portland institution. It involves some unbridled creativity racing down an extinct volcano.

We have tried to go every year for the last 8 years, we have missed a few, but it is one of our favorite summer traditions. In years passed, we have marveled at a mirror mosaic-suited man at high speed, a plywood Winnebago, a bathtub full of girls in towels, and a full size office cubicle {complete with a worker at a computer, office plant, a secretary ready to take notes, and a water cooler} hurtling down Mt. Tabor.

This year included a Viking boat, a couple of huge logs, some gorgeous high speed racers, a Paris themed snow globe{brilliant} and a giant butt. If you want to see some great photos, check here.

Here are a few pictures I managed to take:

A banana split.

 

This vehicle went by us for one race, a red semi-truck. On the second run, it stopped right in front of where we were sitting - for a moment everyone thought there was a mechanical problem, then it lifted up and transformed into a Transformer, music and all.

 

A huge Big Wheel.

beauty queens gone bad

 

Rock band.

There is also another group of cars that are built for speed, some really gorgeous ones. One thing that is so interesting is that one of the few rules is that builder not spend more than $300 on their soapbox car, so they get pretty creative working around that rule with donations, trades and borrowing.

Watermelon granita

I knew eventually this day would come - the day I take a photo of food that I have prepared. When I first started reading blogs, I was all  "these folks are so interesting and they sure take a lot pictures of what they had for dinner."

Anyway, this is a picture from a week or so ago of my favorite summertime dessert. Watermelon Granita. I don't use a recipe, but here is a link to one  similar to what I do. I don't bother with the sieve, as I use a blender for this - but do remember to use a metal pan, I have a smallish enameled baking pan.
I am kind of a nut about watermelons, {our houseshold has been clipping through them at an alarming rate this summer and by household, I mean me.} so granita is a great recipe if you end up with a melon that isn't the best for salads or eating in chunks.

Years ago, I used to like to make coffee or espresso granita, but that was when I could consume caffeine at any hour of the day or night and still hit the pillow and fall right asleep. So I need to stick to fruit granitas - I think I will try something new, maybe cantalope or some kind of berry. I will report back.

Kelly at DesignCrush posted a different watermelon granita recipe a few days back which would be great to try -  check out her Daily Eats posts for this past week, all include the mouth watering watermelon.

What is your favorite way to eat watermelon? Do you miss the black seeds?

A nice clean room - a moment after this photo was taken, the room practically imploded.

Painted M's room a few weeks ago. I should say finished painting. I had started before our trip. This took me a long time. Number one, because the walls had been a  deep red, as the room used to be my husband's office. Three full coats, ughh. Number two, with a room full of furniture, toys, globes, stuff and various detritus that nine year-olds deem necessary, I had to move it all to one side while I paint the other side {three times!} and then shuffle around the rest of the room that way. I can't really say if this picture is very accurate colorwise, but I am happiest with the paint color in the daytime. I know for certain this picture is not very accurate cleanwise, it is my nine year old's room after all.

Time is When

Another vintage book rescued from the discard pile. Time is When, published in 1960. Happy to score a book illustrated by Harvey Weiss, a talented and prolific writer, illustrator and sculptor.

Born on April 10, 1922 in New York City, he went on to study at New York University, the Arts Students League,  and The National Academy of Design.

Weiss's career has spanned early years in advertising, the authoring and illustration of over 40 children's books, and a twenty year affiliation as a professor at Adelphi University. His sculpture is part of many public and private collections including The Nelson Rockefeller collection, The Joseph Hirshorn collection, The Albright-Knox Art Gallery, the Krannert Museum, GE Corporation and The National Academy of Design. He is also a recipient of the New York Herald Tribune Spring Book Festival Honor Book award (1957, 1958, 1961), Ford Foundation purchase awards (1960, 1961) and the Olivetti Award (1969).

Plus, the guy can draw! I like the playful use of crayon, matching the medium to the reader.

Time is When is a great introduction to the concept of time for little ones - breaking it down into elementary and understandable ideas, explaining time from the micro {seconds} to the macro {years, seasons, the future}.

 

I hope my future includes finding more books illustrated by Harvey Weiss.

A future in marketing?

M and C are sharing a small chocolate milk at the grocery store, a rare treat. M exclaims after his first sip " I can actually feel the calcium fortifying my bones."

Oh - well in that case dear, let's get enough to fill the kiddy pool.

Behold - Globes

 One day, as a little psuedo gutter punk Morrissey wannabe teenager, I was sitting downtown with some friends and this man walked through the square holding an enormous globe {as there was a globe store beneath the courtyard} and we all spontaneously serenaded the gentlemen with "He's got the whole world in his hands". The volume of our singing, the fact that we only knew pretty much that line, and the general good looks of our motley bunch perhaps had something to do with his quickened pace. We laughed.... then lit up a clove. Oh, the eighties.

The silver globe is the first one that I bought and is still my favorite. I nabbed it at an estate sale super cheap about 13 years ago. I have only seen one other silver globe since then, on Ebay {but I'm not looking.} Geez, you think I would have dusted it better for the photograph.

One globe was fine for a while, but then like most who collect, they spawned. Here are a few others that I think are neat.

The small tin globe on the left is one of the older ones we have, dating before WW1. One interesting thing about dating globes is finding out what countries existed {that are no longer} or were named during a certain time period. The globe behind it is vintage French. The one on the right is unique because it is all cardboard, even the faux-wood stand. The cardboard piece on the top is used to measure airplane travel.

This globe below is kind of funked out, but I love the cast iron rings that rotate around it - they show, along with the pointer on the base, the solar and lunar cycles according to season and even month of the year.

Sledgehammer.

I love this photo so much I am going to post it twice.

Photo by Jean-Baptiste Mondino, more at the Times slideshow.

Fashion in motion

Pucci /Gymnastics

 In honor of the Olympics, Chinese luxury retailer Lane Crawford commissioned 12 fashion designers to each design a uniform for their favorite sport. The pieces will be on display in Beijing through the end of the month and then the uniforms will be auctioned off to benefit Unicef’s relief funds for the victims of the Sichuan earthquake. See more here.

Alexander McQueen / Fencing

vintage aviary

These little birds by Jim Mullan are serious charmers. Using antique decoys and hand carved models from the 1930's to the 1950's, each is constructed with found objects and vintage relics - rare birds, indeed.

got me pegged.

Would it be odd to say that I have a fondness for pegboard? Brings back fond memories of the metal shop in college - all of our tools were outlined in sharpie, floor to ceiling in the tool closet, and I loved being a studio tech. I also inhale deeply when I walk past the saw blade sharpening place near our house - weird, I know, but the smell of ground metal also reminds me of that time and place.

These laser embossed cardboard pieces by Dan Funderburgh are so engaging. These pieces were featured at the Fellow Traveler show at Riviera Gallery. It was a while back, but I just rediscovered this bookmark of mine. Each tool was produced in an edition of five.

One cannot escape Catholic guilt

EVEN ON VACATION.
Article in the Telegraph: Italian nuns set up inflatable church to save the souls of beach bums.

Maybe if they serve the communion wafers as ice cream sandwiches..
{can you tell I grew up Catholic?}
Still much more enchanted by this.

type and pattern

From the portfolio of Yehrin Tong, wow.
 

via NotCot

Thank you

I wanted a chance to thank Krissy at Paper Schmaper for featuring me yesterday in her Paper Artist Wednesday column. Judging by the other paper artists that she has featured, artists that I much admire, I am in great company - thanks again.

More thank yous to The Little White Book{ a great wedding blog for you brides-to-be} and Bricolage {fun, fun blog - must dive through the archives, plus the cutest puppy.} for featuring me. Awfully flattered.

Cake Wrecks.

Step away from the pastry bag.

Cake Wrecks is a blog of professional {sad, yes.}cake wrecks. Funny.
 

 

Lotta prints

I checked out Lotta Jansdotter's new book from the library a bit ago and it is pretty fun. Lotta Prints: How to Print With Anything From Potatoes to Linoleum shows simple and straight forward printing projects on all sorts of surfaces, employing all sorts of techniques, from rubber stamps and leaves to stencils and homemade screens. The book also includes some stencils of Lotta's designs to use. I especially liked the idea of embellishing clothing with stamps, transfers and stencils.

  

Finger-licking fingerlings

My husband: Um, why did you take a photo of potatoes?
Me: Because they are cute.

Well, they are, aren't they? I picked up these fingerling potatoes Saturday before last at the Portland Farmers Market with my friend Cara. You can see that some of those in M's hand are as small as blueberries. I roasted them with a little olive oil and kosher salt and the skins got kind of crispy, which I love - I threw them on top of a salad of greens with lemon tarragon/mustard dressing and a spot of grilled salmon.  I have to say, yum. The dressing sounds kind of precious, but it is just Lemon Tarragon by this brand and then I added some dijon and a drop more honey, pinch kosher salt.

Hope to find some more fingerlings at the market this Saturday, and stock up on peaches! I adore peach season, I could write poems about peach season.

friends alfresco

Doesn't this look like a great little haunt? I would take a little spot like this with a few of my girlfriends over some trendy cafe any day. Although, I would have to ditch those teacups for something tall and icy. I have some close girlfriends in town that I really need to get together with, it has been too long and we have all been too busy.
{image from my clipping archive, I think from Maison Francaise}

Deepest Sympathy.

It was exactly two weeks ago this afternoon that we left this lovely house at the beach and returned home; my father and stepmother, joined by my brother and his children, stayed on until following weekend.

 It was with great shock and sadness to hear that a small aircraft crashed into the house early this morning, killing five people. With deepest sympathy, our family's thoughts and prayers are with all of the families effected by this tragedy.

Western Spagetti

Don't know if you have already seen this clever video by PES. Did I already say CLEVER?

          

Will be out today. Hope everybody had a great weekend.

See and Say

A few more illustrations from this amazing book I shared here. The woodblock endpapers, below.

 

Every time I look at this with the kids, I am so intent on studying each illustration that I think they get quite bored with my dereliction of page turning duties. The spread below is my favorite.

 

A Kiss Is Round

Here is another book I scored from the discard pile - unfortunately, it is not in the best shape, but I couldn't resist the illustrations. A Kiss Is Round, c. 1954, was illustrated by Vladimir Bobri. Ukrainian born Bobri, born in 1898, was a gifted illustrator, author, composer, educator and guitar historian.  He started his career as an art director for Saks Fifth Avenue and soon became a prolific and celebrated graphic designer in New York, with innovative advertisements and contributions to Vogue, the New Yorker and Harper's Bazaar, among many other publications.

I have my eye out for few of his other children's books, I love his use of line in these illustrations. I would love to see more of his work, I think when I have a moment I will snoop around for examples of his commercial work.

Reading more about him on Wiki - he got caught up in the Russian Revolution, fighting on various sides in the civil war before managing an escape in 1917. As a refugee, he traveled on a handmade passport - his skill at calligraphy adept enough to pass the English, French, Italian and Greek consular authorities. During those years he "painted icons in the Greek islands, played the piano in a nickelodeon in Pera, painted signs Istanbul, discovered an important Byzantine mural in an abandoned Turkish mosque, and earned his passage to America by designing sets and costumes for the Ballet Russes in Constantinople."  He emigrated to the United States in 1921 {that is quite a life to live all before you turn 24!}

Beautiful Losers

Looking forward to this movie.{ Note to self : get babysitter.} Check here to see if it is coming your way or for information on getting a screening happening near you.

From the site:

In the early 1990's a loose-knit group of likeminded outsiders found common ground at a little NYC storefront gallery. Rooted in the DIY (do-it-yourself) subcultures of skateboarding, surf, punk, hip hop & graffiti, they made art that reflected the lifestyles they led. Developing their craft with almost no influence from the "establishment" art world, this group, and the subcultures they sprang from, have now become a movement that has been transforming pop culture. Starring a selection of artists who are considered leaders within this culture, Beautiful Losers focuses on the telling of personal stories. It speaks to themes of what happens when the outside becomes "in" as it explores the creative ethos connecting these artists and today's youth.

More, here, on the artists in the film, including Mike Mills and Shepard Fairey.

I feel like such a tramp.

via ffffound

Portland Peeps

A few random notes on some local ladies I have the pleasure of knowing:

  

We all know that Amy Karol, of Angry Chicken and the author of Bend The Rules Sewing is one awesome crafting woman. Our local weekly has now crowned her Best Resource For The Obsessively Independent in their annual Best of Portland issue, read it here. The woman knows how to make so many things so crazy great - I think that if there were ever such a thing as Fantasy Craft Teams {think Fantasy Football} she would be my first draft- officially in the sewing position {natch}, but as the woman can make her own deodorant and can bake up a storm, she would be my power player, versatile.

She is also super kind. Amy was generous enough to include my blog when asked recently by Venus Zine to share some of her favorite links. Here.

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Portland Bride and Groom featured the charming work of baker Jocelyn Barda on its cover and in a drool-worthy  feature. I love the white on white simplicity of these wedding cakes. Jocelyn is the owner of Bakery Bar, you can see more of her fun pieces here, or click on the pic below to read the short interview by Portland Bride and Groom.

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Portland Bride and Groom also interviewed Pam of Housemartin and Ink and Peat Floral Design. Click above to read. Her floral work is gorgeous and even more exciting, last week her new shop, Ink and Peat, opened - I can't wait to visit.

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 I just fold paper, but Alicia Paulson, she crochets the magical gossamer trails left from fairy wands and weaves the flutterings of butterfly wings and whips up merangue from the positive thoughts of strangers far away. Or at least that's what it feels like when I look at the gorgeous photos of her work and home and read her posts at  Posie Gets Cosy. I love it there. Her first book, Stitched In Time, is due out in late fall.

 

Because of his name?

Kathie Steigerwald, a Dearborn, Mich. businesswoman who said she voted for Hillary Clinton but now plans to support McCain... 

"I feel John McCain is a true American and I want to support a true American," she said.

But isn't Obama a "true American?" she was asked.

"I don't know," she said after a measured pause. "I question it."

Why?

"I don't know — maybe because of his name?"

In the same article, it was noted that 25 percent of respondents in a recent Newsweek poll wrongly believe he {Obama} was raised as a Muslim and nearly 40 percent errantly thought he attended a Muslim school while growing up abroad.  Is Barak Obama a Muslim? {that site found via}

My money is on the guy with the shell.

If you are like me and always root for the underdog, you might like this photo as much I do - all of the 'athletes' here are underdogs, the humble snail. From here.

Thao with the Get Down Stay Down

This second video for Bag of Hammers is pretty great and the song is funky and pretty addictive. { I want one of those cameras!}

From We Brave Bee Stings and All by Thao with the Get Down Stay Down.

Magnum C.I.

We are going to have to draw the line at the hairy chest toupee and the short-shorts.