Tue - January 13, 2009Key WestOh yeah, I went on vacation
Sunset is a big deal in Key West.
Mallory Square at the harbor fills up with artists and performers and tourists.
Boats of all shapes and sizes put out for a
cruise.
![]() ![]() ![]() Our hotel was at the intersection of US 1 and FL A1A (yes, as in Jimmy Buffett's Trying to Reason with Hurricane Season) but the photo didn't turn out. But here I am at the start of the world: ![]() Posted at 07:42 AM Home Tue - February 6, 2007StatuesAround the world and here in town
Via Granny Geek (who's up and moved down
with the Texans): haha.nu's Strange Statues
Around the World. (NSFW) Since I haven't been to my birthplace in
quite a while, somebody'll have to tell me where this one
is:
![]() What I liked about most of them was the obvious sense of humor. I thought I'd toss in a few of my favorites from around town. From Laumeier Sculpture Park: ![]() ![]() My kids have been known to read in that position... What you can't tell about the disjoint ballerina from this photo is that it has the head of a circus clown. From the Missouri Botanical Garden : ![]() ![]() Cora's glasses are an unauthorized post-installation addition. The family sculpture is my favorite in the whole garden. Pure joy. ![]() ![]() Statues by Carl Milles, glass by Dale Chihuly, dome by Buckminster Fuller himself with his grad students. I enjoy the four ladies tucked away in a corner of the bulb garden for both their shape and the way they are set against all the green of the hostas and the trees. Tags: statue , Laumeier , MoBot , St. Louis Posted at 07:44 AM Home Wed - December 20, 2006ChandeliersMore holiday decorations
My mom said, 'Where are the pictures of
the chandeliers?"
From an idea in Southern Living magazine. I took photos the first year so I can recreate it fairly accurately every year. The dining room light, which is on a chain: ![]() ![]() The breakfast nook light: ![]() Tags: holiday , Christmas , decorations Posted at 06:46 AM Home Tue - December 19, 2006Seasonal cheerThis place is getting boring
Too many whines, all words, no pictures.
Let's brighten up the blog a
bit.
I've told y'all I'm not really the artsy decorating type. I can copy something and make it look good, but pulling different pieces together or making something up by myself... 'tain't happenin'. However, I did do something a couple of years ago that turned out so well I'm pretty proud of it. I got pegged to do the annual couples Christmas party for my chapter of an international social / philantropic non-academic sorority to which I belong. I knew I was doing it for three or four months beforehand, so I had a little time to ponder the situation. I was seating about 20 people, so rather than crowd 12 of us in the dining room (it can be done, but it ain't comfy) I put up a card table in the family room. A couple of the other women in my chapter are decorating-competent, so I didn't want to just slap down tablecloths and call it done. I wanted it to look nice. I puzzled and puzzled 'til my puzzler was sore, and somehow it worked: ![]() Here's the dining room. The walls and curtains are Wedgwood blue, rose, and cream. I found the tablecloth at Target; the velvet cream border has rose-colored ribbon-roses. I love the look of hurricane shades filled with stuff around taper candles, but I didn't have the shades. I did have several of the plain glass vases that the florists use for bouquets of roses. I lucked into tapers exactly the color of the tablecloth (without having the cloth along -- goooood karma!) and filled around them with cranberries. The greenery is holly and ivy (sing along...) and long-needle pine from the yard, interspersed with Pink Lady apples, yellow pears, and walnuts for an old-fashioned feel. The candles all sit on the cheapest glass candle holders available, but since you can't see them, it's all good. You're thinking, "But the dark green pillars and the cranberries don't really go." They tie the room decorations into the rest of the house: ![]() The kitchen and family room have cranberry, navy, and forest green in the walls and curtains, as well as rose, Wedgwood blue, and slate green. The kitchen table ended up with gold tapers, I think because that's what I had available when I went to put it all together, and the heights worked better in there than on the card table. They looked good with the brass bell party favors and the bows on the chandeliers, anyway. (The chandeliers are another post.) ![]() The card table in the family room was a problem -- I didn't have a square cloth and I didn't want someone fighting the tablecloth every time they stood up. So I made up a couple of bows out of leftover wired ribbon, stuck them on floral wire, and gathered up the excess. The tablecloth is a waffle-weave, so holes were not a problem. The best part of this whole project was that Hubby sat and watched me put the dining room table together, then asked, "How did you do that?" I replied, "I've been thinking about it a while." Tags: Christmas , holiday , decorating , table Posted at 08:15 AM Home Mon - December 11, 2006Some flowers to brighten your dayBecause it is wet and gray outdoors
![]() I heard a bird sing in the dark of December, A magical thing and sweet to remember; ![]() "We are nearer to spring than we were in September," I heard a bird sing in the dark of December. -- Oliver Hereford ![]() Tags: flowers , rose , photo Posted at 10:23 AM Home Fri - December 8, 2006A little slipperyAnd causes cold birdy feet
![]() Notice that there are no birds in this tree, just a couple of leaves that were still clinging before the storm. It wasn't really conducive to perching. The warming trend earlier this week took care of that problem. Now if the weekend will just be warm enough to get rid of the ice pack on the driveway... Posted at 02:22 PM Home Tue - December 5, 2006Wiped outEmpty again
![]() Funny how fast the feeder empties when there are a couple of inches each of ice and snow everywhere. Tags: photo , bird feeder , weather , winter Posted at 07:52 PM Home Sun - November 19, 2006Late November WalkTook my camera
It was finally sunny today after days and days of rain or cold, gray clouds and wind. So I took my camera with me on a little walk down the street. Click on the photo to see the new page , or on the chick with the camera in the sidebar to see the table of contents for my public photo album. Tags: pine cones , photo , fall , nature Posted at 03:49 PM Home Wed - November 15, 2006Va-voomWell-placed
![]() This one looked great standing out against that pine and spruce, and framed by the not-yet-turned oak. Tags: fall , foliage , leaves , color , tree Posted at 09:34 AM Home Mon - November 13, 2006Show-offsFlashy and fragile
![]() Early in October, the Bradford Pear trees in Great Place Elementary School's parking lot showed off against the more sedate greens and golds of the oaks and hickories in the nature preserve on the hill behind the school. The entire south facade of the school used to be lined with Bradfords, but ice and evil summer windstorms over the last few years split so many of them in half that they were all removed last summer, even the undamaged ones. These two in the island of drive leading to the cafeteria's back door are the sole survivors, posing no danger to anything except the light pole between them. Bradford Pears were highly touted by landscapers and nurseries 20 - 25 years ago. Fast-growing, snowballs of blooms in the early spring before they leaf out, no messy fruits, and magnificent fireballs as they turn in the fall. But they are susceptible to disease and the aforementioned forces of nature, and are gradually being replaced as they are all diagnosed as damaged beyond pruning repair. And those pretty white snowballs of spring? They smell like rotten fish. Tags: trees , Bradford Pear , fall color Posted at 09:09 PM Home Mon - November 6, 2006Early colorTaken about a month ago, when the color was just
beginning
Posted at 08:35 AM Home Thu - November 2, 2006Nobody's homeCome back next year
![]() There is a drainage creek behind our back yard, with subdivision common ground between it and the property lines of the houses on our street. Some of the neighbors have put out bird houses on the trees in the common ground, but of course they are abandoned once the last clutches of the summer are fledged. Tags: bird , birdhouse Posted at 02:52 PM Home Tue - October 31, 2006Happy Halloween!From left to right: #2-Son's, Daughter's,
#1-Son's
![]() Posted at 12:43 PM Home |
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Total entries in this category: Published On: Jan 13, 2009 07:46 AM |