A Shelf in the Life - Home Portrait #2

Above you can see: an altered matchbox from the Santa Fe Flea Market, 3 little New Mexican pottery birds, a blue fish angel I got at Jackalope, a miniature South American casa, a fabulous fused glass frame partially hidden by a floor lamp, outsider art by Helene Lacelle, a small tile by one of the cool Zinnia peeps (maybe Joe?), a Ganesha tile, and a piece by the lovely Linda Woods. This, and all of the snaps following, are sections of the scene seen along our mantel, including the lower section. The last shot shows how it all lays out across the left side, to the middle of the fireplace.

Continuing to the right: an elephant from one of the several San Antonio Zoo Mold-A-Ramas, a Hindu wooden block set I made, a tiny Lakshmi statue and postcard, a cool lime enamel frame with a print of Krishna, an unidentified but nonetheless lovely vintage photograph, a Guan Yin statue nestled within a cloth poppy, a photo of some kids in Rwanda taken by one of my kids, a snapshot of one of my great-aunties in a darling enameled frog frame, and finally an almost deco $1 Buddha from a grocery store in Little Tokyo (LA).

Pass Buddha to find: a retro pearlized glass birdie from Urban Outfitters, via Lisa, shells from a shop on Balboa Island, big hunks of seaglass from Merchant Voyage, a couple of slender starfish, a Holden McCurry ceramic Prayer Tower with bird, a found photo of two girls in a boat, in a swell rhinestone frame, a shell a bird dropped in front of me as I rode my bike on a visit to my mum in Sebring, Florida several years before she died, a darling little piece by Erika Tysse in a seashell frame and a votive holder from St. Thomas. . .

Sand collected from here and there (ongoing), and shells from Florida . . .

Continuing down the mantel: Doggie Taco (well, that's what we call it) by Caroline Douglas (you can check her out in time lapse work mode in the YouTube clip below!), little stones Silver gave me, a shell fossil I found years ago on the rocky, windy, Oregon coast, another exquisite little piece by Caroline Douglas, (with a removable head!), a framed copy of a piece by Jennifer Davis, a silvered shell from Merchant Voyage, another altered matchbox with a glittery Arizona scene, a vintage glass glitter star, a Snow Baby reading box, a glittered up pine cone, which when open, reveals a tiny fox curled up in his nest, another framed miniature by Erika Tysse, a glass pup that was my dad's (wearing Colin's "Gerety" baby bead bracelet), and a darling little tin poodle JoFish gave me, which always makes me think of a book I got from my Great-gram Hon when I was 10, called The Davenports and Cherry Pie, written by Alice Dalgliesh.

This (right) section of the mantel is dropped down - I will include a pic of how that works in a later post: The colorful vintage vase is from Spain; I found it at a junk shop years ago, the sunflowers are from my Tournesol garden, the small birdie-topped picture frame is so pretty I have never even bothered to put anything in it. That's a portrait of me in my sunglasses by the amazing artist Jennifer Gordon, the pink and blue canvas is another by Erika Tysse (can you tell how much I love her art?), and the polychromic stencil piece at the end, well, that one is mine.

Above is a pic to put it all into perspective. It's grainy for some reason I couldn't discern, but I think you'll get the gist. As you can see, I didn't include every inch of the mantel in the running description, and obviously this only shows across the first half of the wall. Hope you're enjoying my "home tour"! More soon. . .

Oh, the weather outside is frightful

We had our holiday party last Saturday night (the 8th); our little house was comfy and cozy, filled with candlelight and the sweet smell of hot cider. Snow fell thick and fast all day and throughout the night - no one much made it in from Boulder, Denver, Hygiene, or Loveland. Even a few friends in town decided they would curl up at home rather than venture out. Those who did brave the elements all seemed to have a good time. We had retro green and turquoise lights (the big ones) in the little aspen copse in the SE corner of the yard, and glitter light snowflakes artfully "fallen" onto the pretty cotton-batting "snow" filling the clawfoot bathtub. This will be our last year to create that particular effect - we kinda decided it might really be a fire hazard - don't ask! - but it was pretty while it lasted. Caterina's Lakshmi (not quite paid for) hung above the cd player and received well-deserved attention. There was wine, cider, soda, tea, hard berry, and swamp rockets to drink, lots of nuts, tangerines, chocolate, rugalach (3 kinds) and even more delicious treats. A few of Colin's friends from swimming were here, and a few artist types, and neighbors and friends and family.

I really looked forward to and enjoyed the party, especially after the troubles we had that week with our little old border collie, Josie. She had a rapid onset of idiopathic vestibular disease and we didn't think (at 14) she would survive. She did though, but now has a peculiar head tilt and a seemingly permanent list.

Then, there's the weather. Bad enough to worry over one's kids who live nearby, but now Silver and Heather in Vermont, and Sierra-Marie, Gina and the kids back in Massachusetts are being inundated with blizzard conditions, too. Silver called this morning to ask me to look up the weather in the Brattleboro area on the computer, I said, "Baby, look out your window!" He said, "Everything's white." I said Heather had better take a Snow Day. (When my kids were in school we had a family tradition of Snow Days called by - well, me.) Then SM called to say Gina and Kayla were stuck somewhere between their house and Gina's mummy's rather than at the airport or on their way to Seattle, and that she (SM) had locked herself and Marcus out of the car, they had no food in the house and she had never made it into work, so had to get there tonight to pick up things she needed to work from home. Oy. No wonder I am looking so aged these days. No wonder people move to - well I'm not sure where - maybe Over The Rainbow. . .

Here it is less than two weeks until Christmas and I have yet to finish much of anything on my list. I have been feeling rather like crrrrap for the past few days, just when I really need a burst of energy to finish out the year. Haven't yet made good on more than one promise, and have a feeling my name is going to show up multiple times on a certain Naughty List for laying on the couch looking pale, alternating with flushed and feverish. But as Scarlet said, Tomorrow's a Brand New Day, and though I may not be a Brand New Girl, I bet the world will still be waiting for me to make good!

Until then, here are some more pics you might want to borrow from my vast
Image Resource library! More images can be found here. You'll be able to find the original photographs and postcards of some of them in my etsy shop in the next few days.