Category Archives: Poetry

Heads Up

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Cameos are cool again.

Just thought I’d mention it, in case you hadn’t noticed.

262756959478882278_n29eMAmB_cThen…

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Amedeo

…and Now

150659550005429546_eW6SAjFL_cCameos & tats, who’da thunk it?!

890A4843Italian Vogue

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Victoria Hardstone via Fourtane

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muse-china-12-e1335986433479Arizona Muse via Vogue China

Old photo cameo

IMG_2071Amedeo  on Lexington Ave. in NYC is the place to buy cool cameos.

Screen Shot 2013-02-17 at 9.46.04 PMThey even customize.  A loved one, or perhaps a favourite pet, or just beautiful initials.

Screen Shot 2013-02-17 at 9.46.45 PMBoth images via Amedeo

Screen Shot 2013-02-17 at 9.42.34 PMThese are not your Grannie’s cameos

618_uktv_downton_abbey_s02e05_7BTW, shouldn’t the Dowager have a cameo on her collar?!

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890A1716A most beautiful head in the Palace of Versailles

marlon-brando-julius-caesarand the most beautiful head in movies.  No contest.

Marlon-marlon-brando-30617224-1259-1107right??

Heads are in-house too.

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383210-Stile_BKRugs by Stiles BK

the-libertine-magazine-campaign-january-2013-yatzer-patrick-gilles-and-dorothc3a9e-boissier-at-home-in-thier-flat-in-paris-3via The Libertine magazine

The trick is to keep a cool head.

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and don’t let it get all stuffy.

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Axel Vervoordt

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lanvin09Lanvin

Go big or go home.

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Ozymandias

I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: `Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed….

Percy Bysshe Shelley

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Screen Shot 2012-11-21 at 11.12.18 PMLanvin

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Just don’t lose your head  (Sorry)

L1080258and make sure to have fun with it.

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Hey-How about that last episode tonight?

What the…  :(

Still, we must soldier on. We’re British after all (caught up in the show much??)

Try to have a good week all the same.

~

(Buttons top photo, my own. Green desk photo via Pinterest)

BE MINE

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As Valentine’s Day is but a breathless day or two away,

I thought I’d gather a few of my roses for you.

Screen Shot 2013-02-12 at 12.24.26 AMSome fun with Instagram 

Screen Shot 2013-02-12 at 2.57.51 PMI zoomed these roses through a shop window in Paris. I think the glass had a beautiful effect on them, don’t you?

 

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The Beloved

It is enough of honor for one lifetime

To have known you better than the rest have known

The shadows and colours of your voice,

Your will, immutable and still as stone.

The shy heart so lonely and so gay,

The sad laughter and the pride of pride,

The tenderness, the depth of tenderness

Rich as the earth, and wide as heaven is wide.

~

Sara Teasdale

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L1010648From my garden.  

K, I’m ready for spring.

screen-shot-2011-02-13-at-1-41-21-pmDo you have any special plans for this romantic day that, let’s admit, has become just a tad commercialized ?

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Remember way back before political correctness when as kids in primary school we were allowed to send Valentine’s cards to whomever we wished and not necessarily the entire class, girls & boys both??

I DO. Oh, The Horror.

I will have dinner out with my husband of 25 years (this April. He would have sent me a Valentine in class) and then we’ll rush home to watch the opening season of “Survivor!”

I know. Can you believe how hot that is?!

 

Thank you to all you sweethearts that have voted for me in the final round of the  HOMIES . 

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And have a beautiful Carnation & Baby’s Breath-free Valentine’s Day!

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(moving pic & children via Tumblr)

God I Love Being a Mom (Part II)

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So…our “Baby” or “Stretch” as he is more commonly known around home is all tucked in at college and we’re officially Empty-Nesters.

WOOO HOOO!!

 Big Rave at our digs this weekend!!!

I must laugh at the image of letting the house go to pot (er…perhaps an unfortunate turn of phrase :) ) when the kids go away instead of the parents!

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Seriously though, it’s a major turn of the page but that’s what Life does…

If Kahlil Gibran hadn’t already written “On Children” in “The Prophet” I’d continue to wax poetic, but Kahlil pretty much said it all, didn’t he?

Thanks to all those who shared their kind words and wisdom on my previous post.

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Somehow “Harry” my son’s stuffed lion since before he could talk and Bob Marley co-habited without incident these last few years.

Oh, and BTW, thanks to all my son’s childhood friends for carving their names into his leather headboard whenever they slept over!

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Packing was majorly poignant.

Only for me of course, not for Stretch.

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Pretty much all my comments were met with “Uh…Don’t think so Mom”

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If I could only share his remark when I suggested he bring ‘dress shoes’ in case he had a date…

Alas,

that could seriously jeopardize my skype-ing chances with him.

The boy IS funny, I’ll say that.

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left behind

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I’m guessing packing up boys for college is very different  (and faster) than sending off girls!?

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“God I love being a Mom (Part I)” (from 2011)

Oh, and one more PS. – Son, if you’re reading this;

YOU FORGOT YOUR HELMET!

xox

~

Happy Easter!

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Wishing everyone a beautiful Easter Weekend.

 It was indeed an exquisite day here in Santa Barbara, though I’m fending off a touch of melancholy as has been my custom the past few Easters; reminiscing about egg hunts with our little boys and how those days are long gone for us now. Peculiar that this holiday more than any other affects me in this way.  I’ve one photo in particular of my little men with their Easter baskets that almost makes me weep every time I look at it. My older son’s hair is as gold as if the sun itself has bent to kiss him, and younger son is trailing along,  sporting overalls at half-mast and a look that suggests he’s not at all satisfied with the day’s gatherings just yet.

But…

As nature (and Khalil Gibran) remind us

“Life goes not backward, nor tarries with yesterday…”

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Slim Paley photos

 Columbines photographed today in the garden. I only have this colour at the moment, but I’m on the hunt for the coral and pale yellow combination as well.

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I love the little tails that shoot out behind these flowers. They are a sweet addition to a bouquet.

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Looks as if we’re going to have another bumper crop of roses this Spring and Summer!

I can barely stand how beautiful the colour of this rose is.

I could almost cry (again. Oh dear…)

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Merci to a dear friend for my delicious bonbons

 I hope you receive many treasures from your bunny(s) this Easter Morning!

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Looking back to Easters past (a post from 2010);  Peeps & Paas 


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And for newer readers;

 if you care to take a peek at the post I hold dearest in my heart  (I warned you I was emotional)

  Here; Bringing up Boys  (please do play the music)

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and once again,

Happy Easter and Passover to you all!

xoxo

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Haute Halloween

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This ghoulish fellow caught my eye as I was driving home from Ojai yesterday

I just loved his macabre farming equipment

Cape Agnes B, Dress Vivienne Westwood Gold Label

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Slim Paley Photo

Happy Halloween Eve All!

I have lots of Treats and NO Tricks for you so get your pillowcases ready!

PS. OK I know my photo is just a crow, not a Raven, but I think he’s striking a rather “Ravenesque” pose so please, work with me here ;

But the raven, sitting lonely on the placid bust, spoke only,
That one word, as if his soul in that one word he did outpour.
Nothing further then he uttered – not a feather then he fluttered -
Till I scarcely more than muttered `Other friends have flown before -
On the morrow he will leave me, as my hopes have flown before.’
Then the bird said, `Nevermore.’

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From The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe

In entirety here; The Raven  (1845)

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Gabriella Kiss earrings

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Nyasha Matonhodze

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TRUE! –nervous –very, very dreadfully nervous I had been and am; but why will you say that I am mad?

From “The Tell Tale Heart” also by Poe

Poor Poe…

Haider Ackermann.

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(Sorry- I’ve lost the credit. But I like a person who measures in gluggs. especially when it comes to cocktails)

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Remember this?

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Gareth Pugh

If you bought this too and we’re going to the same event, Callsies!

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Alexander McQueen

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photo via Vogue

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Alexander McQueen

Someone’s turning into a pumpkin…

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and has the shoes to go with…

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Haider Ackermann

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Find the No Bake recipe on Chocolate Shavings  

So easy a corpse could not bake them.

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Adapted from Betty Crocker

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A darkly sophisticated table setting

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Alexander McQueen

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McQueen

OK,  I could make these!

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photo Steven Meisel

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Steven Meisel (2003)

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Frankenstenia 

Not sure what it says about me, but I could have stayed on this website for hours. My parents used to put me to bed very, very early on weekend nights so I could get up at midnight to watch all the old horror films on “Nightmare Theatre” by myself.

 Strange child.

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.Photo Zhang Jingna

Alexander McQueen

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The Haunted Hotel Georgia Cocktail 

via Lola’s LA

“This is one of our new Fall / Halloween Martinis …all are an homage to Haunted Hotels. This is my personal fav!! It is a delightful old school mix of almond, orange and nutmeg with a frothy egg white top, so it is light,  yet carries those distinct Fall flavors .. yum !!” Lola

adapted from Hotel Georgia, circa 1945    

Ingredients:

1 egg white

1.75oz plymouth gin

.75oz lemon juice

.5 oz orgeat syrup (we use Giffard brand)

6 drops of orange blossom water

Method:

beginning with the egg, combine ingredients in a cocktail shaker.
Shake the mixture briefly. (dry shake)
Add ice and shake vigorously.  Strain through a fine mesh strainer into a chilled cocktail glass.
grate some nutmeg onto top of drink. Enjoy.

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I can’t seem to remember where I found these hEYE-ball glasses :)

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Hand painted pumpkins
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Slim Paley Photo

Also snapped on the way home from Ojai yesterday

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PS.  Now I hate to regurgitate…

but for newer Slim Paley readers who’ve never been Trick or Treating with me before,

A few links to Halloween Posts past;

FRANKENSTEIN Was the Only No-Show

We’re Getting Close!

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Movies, Monsters & What Will I Wear?

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Be Afraid.  Be Very Afraid.

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