summer afternoon

Lovely quote from Henry James.

Hand scripted for Amy Powers' Inspired Ideas summer ezine.

Sharing these summer afternoons with our beautiful new grandbaby.

in the flower garden

Stopping by to say hello --

we've had lots of rain here lately,

but today brought such lovely sunshine and

happily a chance to work in the garden among the flowers.

Now I'm ready for a shower and a lazy afternoon nap.

Hope you have sunshine or rain, whichever you need.

(still doodling with my Copic markers -- wait till you see what's up!)

weekending with mary engelbreit

Can you imagine a happier way to spend a girls' weekend than sharing Mary Engelbreit's birthday in her St Louis studio surrounded by her cheerful designs and crafting with the likes of Charlotte Lyons and Kathy Curotto? The weekend went by so quickly that I took barely any photos, but you can find more photos here, here, here and here. Mary made us all feel as though we were the very friends she wished most to share her birthday.

Hostesses Barbara and Mary

Red magnetic wall display

Mary's birthday included gift bags for us

Charlotte's class setting

Kathy's display board and a small part of her class supplies

The birthday girl blowing out her candles

During two full days of crafting, we all made our own version of the four fun class projects offered by Kathy and Charlotte. I wish I had photos of the very creative outcomes that proliferated in each class. But at least I can show you some of my weekend projects.


In her first class, Kathy had already sewn for us various sizes of canvas bags, straps and pockets so that we could chose our own combinations and move right to the fun part of embellishing. My bag includes a pocket inside and another outside, the latter sewn to the front on three sides with a folded-over flap concealing one pocket while another is open at the top right behind it. Since I hope to use this bag on my next visit to St Maarten, I used a Sharpie to write "on holiday" across the pocket. My trims all came from Kathy's room-filling stash of trims, buttons, fabric, and more. I enjoyed sitting next to Jen, a recent design graduate, who fashioned a small hand bag with a zipper and an embroidered octopus. Fun!


Kathy's second project was paper-based, again with a room full of stationery supplies, vintage papers and old books, boxes, ribbons and trims--enough for endless possibilites. Among her inspiration photos, Kathy had some folded book art, which I had never tried. She gave me a quick tutorial on some options and an article from Mary's Home Companion magazine. While others made their very different projects, I patiently folded my old poetry book page after page, imagining myself sitting on the beach since Kathy said that's where she and Mary and Barbara folded their books. :) Then I added some stickers and a banner reading "once upon a time", surely still the best lead-in to a book adventure.


Charlotte's final class was all about shadowboxes. Using cigar boxes and foam board, we divided and papered our boxes and added our collection of tiny items to tell a little story or showcase a vignette. Many of my items came from a little gift tin assembled by my sweet friend Amy for our trip. My shadowbox also includes a hidden fold-out section behind the Eiffel tower (from a gift bag at Kim's Moulin Rouge event), which proved to be just the place to tuck a little gift Cherie gave me at the end of class. Again each creation was so different and personal.

As we wandered around Mary's studio, enjoying all the creative vibrations and new friendships, it was not easy to leave this magical place. Finally, Amy and I did leave, but only with a lovely invitation to return tucked firmly in our pockets. :)

Mary plans to host another crafty weekend in her studio in November. Stay tuned.

doodle morning

This morning, with lots of weekend errands and inevitable car-sitting time (waiting for the vacuum-cleaner repair, for instance), I enjoyed the sunshine and doodled. I've been trying to discipline myself to stake out some time to get back into drawing more, but that hasn't been easy. For me, drawing requires a little patience and no interruptions so I can focus. But doodling seems to fit more easily, and it suffers less from change of focus.

So this morning, I took along a handmade journal, a black pen and some Copics. After starting one spread (the one with the curtain below), I lost interest in it when I came back to the car. So I happily flipped the page and started another one (above). Since I'm excited to be joining Pam Garrison for her journaling class at Jenny Doh's home studio in July, I doodled the spread above in homage to Pam. It is inspired by a wonderful page in her Sketchbook Project 2011 journal. I can't wait to practice at her elbow.


As you can see, I'm not exactly a minimalist. Since I'm used to working on large-scale paintings, up to 5 feet by 8 feet, I tend to crowd the page. But I do have fun. What is your doodling style?

my morning view

It rained all day Sunday while we were out on the sailboat

for the final day of the Heineken Regatta.

Even so, my nose burned except for the ridge of my sunglasses (not a pretty sight).

But today is another glorious morning.

Each morning I wake up around 6 am with the tumultuous racket of the birds

in the trees outside our balcony and the cool morning breeze through the open doors.

It will be tough to leave the island and to go home soon.

dessert at sarafina's in marigot

This weekend the annual Heineken Regatta is the main attraction on St Maarten,

with all classes and nationalities of sailing boats entered,

including the Merchant Marine boat (which won its class today).

We can watch the Regatta from its origin at Simpson Bay on the Dutch side

or as it passes our Rainbow Beach Club or in Marigot on the French side.

When we go to Marigot, we always go to Sarafina's, a favorite French bakery and

cafe, for lunch and dessert. Today's chosen desserts included

raspberry torte and tarte d'abricots (sorry, I couldn't wait to take a bite).

But there's always so much more to choose.

The savory crepes and the peach tea are delicious, too.

Tomorrow we'll be on one of the Regatta boats,

and maybe I'll chance taking photos to share.

60+ days

When Suzanne posted her beautiful self-portrait starting her 50-day countdown to her 50th birthday, I thought it was a clever way to mark the year's end-in-progress. But darn, I forgot and missed my counting date. Then this evening I needed to take a quick photo of myself for something else. Although I haven't found the right photo for that project yet, here's the come-as-you-are "self-portrait in a bathroom mirror" version, complete with bad lighting and bad focus, to mark 60+ days till my 66th birthday. (At least I'm IN the photo, which was no easy task.)


Dinner with friends on Saturday evening provided an interesting statistic to contemplate. Heidi, the young mother of a 3-year-old daughter, remarked that, among girls now 3 years and younger, one out of two is predicted to live to be 100 years old. Imagine!!
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paris in the afternoon

In the last minutes as we were leaving a sunny afternoon luncheon/reception,

shaking hands and kissing cheeks and lingering in the garden,

I turned around to take this photo across the shaded lawn,

where only a few empty glasses waiting to be cleared

reminded of our earlier presence.

Isn't the setting delicious?

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postcards from paris: un peu de bleu

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Elegant doorways can be found all over Paris.

But this photo is cropped at the knees because inelegant trash cans

lined the sidewalk edge just in front of the doors, as is often the case.

A little red, white and blue.

Another wonderful doorway, marred visually by posted announcements.

To control this, many public buildings still retain "défense d'afficher" warnings chiseled or painted in scrolling fonts along eye level (although the original 1881 law had larger intentions, including holding the "press" legally responsible for anything it printed).

Ways to maneuver around the city.

After a long walk, it's lovely to sit on a bench in a small tree-lined park

with one's pastry and Kindle, listening to the gentle fountain sounds,

feet up if possible.

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so much paris, so little time

My husband tells me he is battling traffic in hot, humid 95-degree-temps in Virginia while I'm zipping around in cool low-70's here in Paris. But there's not enough time in the day, regardless. This timepiece sculpture outside the St Lazare train station appeals to me, hosting weary pigeons who need a break, stretching the hours, setting the time forward or backward as you choose. If only. The serious clock is still there in the background.



Each day I am greedy to see as much as I can, slowly but surely exploring different arrondissements around each special site I visit. And I measure time by how much my feet hurt by the end of the day. (Not really complaining, you know.) If only I had one of these motorbikes, ubiquitous here, noisily maneuvering through traffic, parked on every square.


Or if only I had one of the little toy cars that must have wheels that turn at 90-degree angles to scuttle sideways into impossibly small parallel parking spaces. Speaking of parking spaces, have you been wondering what's behind those great double doors that punctuate the serried collection of connected block-long facades? Now you know. Why doesn't my garage look like this?

Now it's 1 in the morning, time for the Eiffel Tower lights outside my window to flash and dazzle from top to bottom for 5 whole minutes and then to darken, just like clockwork. So I'm off to bed.
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