sweet november: old

It seems I have a fondness for old things. Some like to call them vintage but I think there is a tiny bit of magic in the oldness of it all. Most of my things, my old things come from family. They belonged to my mother or my grandmother. The rest were salvaged from thrift stores simply because I fancied them so. That lovely portrait up there is of my Great Aunt Mabel. I have always felt a kinship with her and met her when I was only a baby. In my childhood I could swear she was talking to me from this portrait. It all sounds a bit creepy now but back when I was all skinned knees and tow-headed I thought she was like a fairy whispering secrets of the past to me. Oh how I wish she really could. My mother told me that she never married and that she was a follower of Sister Aimee. She wore a pale blue velvet cape and played the tambourine along with the other women who followed Sister Aimee's gospel. Sister Aimee was caught up in all sorts of scandal.  If you ever get a chance, PBS put out a short documentary on her. I watched it searching for a familiar face and I do believe my Great aunt Mabel popped up in a frame or two.

 

And this bit of beauty if a small washboard, a recent gift from my brother as I wanted to bring one to the school to play. The sister a-go-go and her fella picked me up one last summer that we have outfitted with straps and the mister got me a horn AND a kazoo to add to it but now I think I want to keep it simple. I am not nearly as musically inclined as mr. a-go-go but I so have a good beat that can be danced to. A washboard makes for a pretty nifty percussion instrument if you do not want to fuss with drums. I'm still a bit shy and won't play in front of the mister but I do air-play when I am listening to this song (ya gotta start somewhere, right?) which by the way is from my new music obsession. Good golly is that Esther Rose just dreamy or what?

I'll end with the motely crew of old pillowcases on the not-so-made-up bed. Two of the three were thrifted and the top one was handmade by me from vintage fabrics that belonged to my mother. That yellow and pink bit is actually from one of her handmade dresses. So there you have it. A wee peek at some old things that I have surrounding me write now until...you know...I unpack that darn pink room!

sweet november: black and white

 Again I have to admit that I kinda sorta ran out of time here. I took this photo a week or so ago when many of the family a-go-go hit up a Haunted Hayride in an apple orchard. The hayride itself was not really all that haunted and was shorter than short (the folks at the orchard could probably use a new copywriter) but it was still fun and sweet and we enjoyed the short wander around the herb garden.  Thanks to fun photo sites that let you alter your pics, I was able to convert this one to a sort-of black and white picture....it's a nice sentiment don't you think. Love does indeed grow here.

sweet november: special

I came to searching for heart-shaped rocks a little late. The beaches in Southern California lean towards sand, not rocks and I wasn't often to be found ocean-side anyway a I grew up without a car and a parent who did not fare well in our sunny sunny light. Now? Now my favorite kind of beach is practically in my back yard and I am in heaven.

sweet november: to do list

This is my to-do list. One of many. I wanted to be all awesome and original with this list but didn't pick the best window to write on for a good background.

Of the items on the list, so far I have done zip, zilch, nada. But that's okay. I now have it in internet print which means I can't take it away and make it unseen because I know someone out there in  internetland has read it and that will keep me somewhat accountable.

sweet november: inspiration

I know most people consider snails a pest but have you ever really watched a snail before? Or even looked at one or two at the same time. I've always had a thing for snails. Back in school, for a child development class I wrote a series of snail books. I doodle them on paper, stop to watch them when I spy them, and adore the recent art and kitsch that they have inspired. This photo was taken last winter at the beach. The snails were trekking across the sand and I noticed how absolutely gorgeous their shells were slick with rain. Each one the same but not. Some had purple in them, others grey, and even a little blue or green speckled about. So simple and so pretty to me. If you look closely you can almost make out my shadow reflected in the shell. Also, the grains of sand? Another bit of gorgeous in its simplicity. Each grain a different color. I pulled these colors out of the photo, from the snail, from the sand...such a pretty collection, different from my usual go-tos of orange and pink. Who would have thunk it?

sweet november: handmade

I made this loteria garland back in May when I probably should have been doing something else. I was so smitten with the idea of it when it hit me that I dropped everything I was doing (like laundry and packing) to make it and then I wanted to make more but couldn't find my stash of loteria cards. I do have two more of these in the works...shorter in length than this one and another bit of loteria-garland fun coming up. Those will be in the shop sometime after...you know...I (all together now) unpack that darn room!