Garage Sale finds : stamps

Got the handful for a dollar.  Nothing beats old wooden handled stamps.  What should we announce at dinner?

Pittosporum done wrong

Don't get me wrong, I love a good topiary.  Sometimes all I want to see are some beautifully pruned boxwood hedges.  And sometimes plants clipped this tight can create an energetic Dr. Seuss effect.  (One of my dreams is to create a Dr. Seuss inspired garden.) I don't think that is the intention here, or in most yards I pass that have poor plants being shaped into mangy blobs.

This plant is meant to branch out freely.  As my new friend pointed out, pittosporum has such a lacy texture to it.  When clipped, you can't see this lovely effect.

Right across the street from the yard pictured above is another yard, with the same plant.  As you can see in the pictures below, its graceful form is allowed to grow.  

Lila has discovered catmint.  It was love at first sniff.

Birds of LA

Made a friend today at the park in Santa Monica.  She comes out most days to take some air.

Bug Brooches

When I was a kid in New Orleans, cicada season brought with it lots of natural bug brooches in the form of discarded cicada shells.  Some girls thought they were gross, but I wore them proudly.  

In the same vein, I'd wear any of these brooches proudly.

All from ebay: (six legged?) spider, cricket, aquamarine spider, amber cicada.

Dispatch from the estate : morning

The orange light is sifting through the trees, the cats are playful, and the parakeet on the porch next door is chirping quietly.  My bike awaits, and I'm off to another day of work.

Been seeing these guys everywhere!  Reminds me of that story of the lucky cricket on the hearth. 

I know, watches and katydids don't necessarily go together.  Except, in my world, they do.

Uniform : accessories

My dad has passed many things on to me, including his love of fine watches.  He recently sent me this Girard SeaHawk, sans band, which I have worn nonstop with a black ribbon band since receiving it.

Green Kong

Dispatch from the estate this morning, a green sentinel along the walk. 

Watercolor/Letterpress

These water color swashes are so beautiful, and remind me of moving water.  And the combo of soft brush strokes and a deep bite is perfect.  Even though I got married less than a year ago and had the Best Invitations Ever (co-designed with my huz), these make me want to do it again.

Custom letterpress invites by Minnesota based PrinterettePress.

Uniform

 

 

We've got another couple of months of really warm weather here in LA, but the rest of the country is gearing up for fall.  This is my uniform for the cooler months: Barbour Bedale jacket in black, white tee,  J Crew toothpick cords, and my mariachi boots.  If I'm not wearing this, I'm wearing some kind of vintage dress.  

Scientific Purposes

All sad images from ebay: top, middle, bottom.

The Far North

image via Top Flyer

I've been reading this old book lately called David Goes to Greenland, written by a 13-year old boy, David Binney Putnam, in 1926 who gets to tag along with his father on an expedition to Greenland.  He tells fabulous tales of icebergs and walrus and polar bears and narwhals, although I had to put the book down when all the hunting became too much (they kill just about every animal they see, albeit for scientific purposes).  I picked it up when my mom and I went to the dump in Vermont, which has a large free section, with as many books as any hoarder could want. 

Coming across these paintings today on Design Sponge, by artist Jeremy Miranda, reminded me so much of what David must have seen.

The closest I've come to seeing Greenland was on a flight from Glasgow to Chicago, and I stared out the window for hours looking at the white ice formations below.  They slowly changed to brown as we flew over Labrador, and I could begin to pick out the signs of arriving civilization, skinny road by road.  I'll never forget that flight, and the flight attendant that got mad at me because I wouldn't close my window screen so others could see their movie better.  It was well worth the glares from the lady in the seat next to me.

One of my other favorite arctic books is Kabloona, although it is a much more in depth look at the people of the far north, written at about the same time.  Both of these have stirred in me a strong desire to see the arctic before it's too changed/gone, but for now old photos and dreamy paintings like this will have to do.

Native Pollinators

 

I've been into bees for awhile, but only just started to understand how many different kinds there are.  I knew my old garden, pictured above, was a healthy living thing when I could feel it buzzing with bug life.  Upon closer inspection, I noticed the buzzing-ones were all sorts of bees.  They'd be huge, like the Valley Carpenter Bee, or tiny, like a Sweat Bee.  I was even seeing some beautiful zebra striped ones in black and white, which I believe are Plasterer Bees (I'm still learning).  They are all really difficult to get pictures of with a point-and-shoot, so my images are limited.  I do know that many of these are ground bees, whose little homes spot the garden like above.

These bees are not just flying stingers.  In fact, some don't even sting and it's the European Honey Bee that's the worst offender in terms of stings.  These native pollinators are extremely important for the plants and other animal life.  I understand the Honey Bee has had some issues in the past few years, but we should really encourage more of the native bees.   The best resource I've found for this is this book, Attracting Native Pollinators by the Xerces Society.  It really opened my eyes to the wonderful selection of helpful bugs. 

Gaudier-Brzeska

I just discovered the birds of Henri Gaudier-Brzeska.    I'm convinced we're related through the mysterious French side of our family. 

My fig picking assistant today...

I've been going to pick figs every other day, and last time I saw this guy, but had no camera.  I didn't think he'd still be there two days later, but sure enough, his home is this one branch.  Not a fan of the big eye of my camera, he scurried around a lot while I tried to get a picture.  Then he landed on the ripest fig of the bunch as if to say, here, try this one. 

I'll visit him again on Saturday.

Lavender Peach Crostata

Peaches were on sale at the farmers market on Sunday, so we bought a ton.  I love feeling rich in seasonal fruit.  Craving a crostata, I loosely followed this recipe, but did without the orange and added lavender instead.  I think it's a winner.  I had to take some pics because the pink salt looked so pretty on the flour, and it was such a photogenic little desert.

Al Fresco Bathing

Image via Design Sponge

Image via Design Sponge

The lucky-duck that gets to live here has two choices: the outdoor bathtub or the dramatic but eco-friendly plunge pool. 

via Design Sponge