My (secret) Hermes Scarf

I received the Hermes Scarf as a present about 10 years ago. Yes, I've had it for 10 years and before this weekend I only wore it once. It was a Christmas present and I clearly remember how I felt about it - stunned! Of course I loved it, the orange box, the brown ribbon with Hermes woven into it and even the Christmas sleeve that covered the box and ribbon. It was like winning the lottery. But I only wore it once because it didn't go with anything that I owned and it's 100% silk. What if something happened to it? I couldn't take the chance that it might get wet, soiled, or snagged on something. So for 10 years it's been tucked safely in its box and protective sleeve. Occasionally I would take it out, look at it, and then carefully return it to the safety of its box.  I never told anybody about it, the secret scarf. We recently went to a birthday celebration in Westport. I noticed that there were a lot of women wearing big scarfs and I realized that my scarf would match my new jacket. After 10 years it finally went with something and now it's out of the box for good. I'm wondering about the folly of it all, having a secret scarf!

The New Light

The new light went up tonight. The bathroom isn't totally finished, but we just couldn't wait! You can't tell from the picture what it's made of - very thin wire that looks almost like a honeycomb and silk butterflies. I have to play with it a bit, to pull out the butterflies, to make them look like they're swarming around. It is totally awesome!!!





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Chandeliers

I love funky chandeliers. My favorite chandelier creator is Ingo Maurer and if money was no object, I would purchase his winged chandelier. It is made of twisted wire and bare lightbulbs and has feathery wings on the base of the bulbs. I tried to recreate this in my dining room with a chandelier that is made of bendable wire with milk glass orbs at the ends. I glued wings on it, but it didn't work. I like it anyway because it looks very cool. My next funky chandelier is a big crystal thing that's hanging in the hallway. It's really too big and grand but thats where it is. I bought it for Eugene. Let me explain. He was directing the play, "An Inspector Calls" and needed a big crystal chandelier. Unbelievably, I went to the flea market and found it for $20!! It was in a box in pieces, and had to be put back together. But it was all there. Wow! We put it in the hall after the play was over. It's crazy because I would never put it in my dining room! Now it's time to reveal the real reason for this post. We are redoing our downstairs bathroom and I needed a new light. The old one was a nice little antique chandelier, but I wanted something different. I could see it in my mind and I actually did see it in Ikea! It was this huge, dandelion like, ball. It was white, delicate and I think made of paper. That's what I wanted, but it was too big! I looked all over the internet but couldn't find anything like it. Finally I gave up and we bought a modern glass ceiling light. I didn't love it but Eugene really liked it. So that's what we had until today. Sometimes on Saturdays we go out to lunch at Salsa's in New Milford. After lunch we go to the library and then the health food store. We did that today but as we were walking past this neat store called Spruce, I had this urge to go in. Reluctantly, Eugene went in too. That's when I spotted it: a wire ball hanging on a branch. It was covered in white butterflies. This was it!! This was exactly what I had been searching for! Eugene smiled and said buy it if you want to, but you have to bring the other one back. I agreed. We are trying to figure out how to hang it. I will post a picture when it's up. It's awesome and somehow I can see a link to Ingo Maurer. I think he would approve.

Saratoga

This weekend was our "Saratoga weekend". We changed our routine this time and went to the town of "Ballston Spa" instead of Saratoga Springs. We (my sister Toni and sister-in-law Vicki) are trying desperately to hold on to the past. We can't. Nothing is the same. Over lunch we talked about starting fresh. It helped that we were in a new place but It just isn't the same. I don't know how to do it, how to start over. We are going through the motions but everything has changed. We've changed too. I'm not sure if we'll do Saratoga again. It hurts too much.



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The Girls

Last Friday afternoon I sat down for a little rest. It was hot and I was tired so I checked out what was on TV. Browsing the channels, I saw one of my movies listed. There it was, "Picnic at Hanging Rock", starting in 15 minutes. I've seen this movie many times and was excited to watch it again. But this time I felt like I was watching a new version of it because there were things that I didn't remember. Then there's the music! Haunting!! I can still hear it in my head. Fast forward to Saturday. My friend Deanne is back from Florida for a visit and we went out to some tag sales. It was at one of the sales that I found the picture. As soon as I saw it I thought of the girls at the Appleyard School. (If you're not familiar with the movie, the Appleyard School is in Australia and that's where the movie starts.) My imagination was running wild thinking about how I could use the picture for a card and somehow tie in the movie. But when I turned the picture over, I saw that the girls' names were listed on the back. Now there was a new meaning to the photo, something more personal, and I thought about them differently! This all happened because of the movie. If you haven't seen it, I would recommend it.  It's kind of creepy.....but in a beautiful way.

The Lion with Flare

I just purchased a new App called Flare. It's for my Mac and gives me the opportunity to edit my photos with a Hipstamatic feel. The above photo is my first attempt. I love Hipstamatic and thrilled with the new program. Speaking of my Mac, I'm in the process of downloading the big cat "Lion". I've done my homework and read a lot of reviews. I also checked the compatiblity of my printers and photoshop. Last night we went to the Apple store and I played with it. I'm a little nervous but ready! Nervous because I'm not sure I want the magic trackpad, but ready to do what I have to do to make it work. I'll let you know.....

Update: I loaded the Lion and all went well except ..... my printer didn't work after the update. I did fix it! (it only took about 2 hours) I'm having fun exploring the new features.

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The Locket

I've had the locket for a long time. The pictures are of my brother and me. It was my mother's and supposedly she gave it to my father. This I find hard to believe. I can't imagine him wearing a locket. He just wasn't that kind of guy. I remember when the picture of my brother was taken. One summer we lived at Rockaway Beach. My mother had a hamburger stand near the boardwalk and we lived in an old Victorian rooming house. I don't know how long we stayed, but to a child it seemed like forever. Oh, and I have to mention that my father wasn't with us. The picture of my brother was taken on the beach. I recently started wearing the locket again. When I open it it makes me stop and remember a time in my life that was kind of crazy. That's how it was with my mother. Kind of crazy!






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