blowing in the wind

Whenever I see a Tibetan prayer flag, it makes me smile. There is something so cheerful about the colors and how each cloth flag gently dancing in the wind. These flags are a pretty common sight where I live, probably having to do with the progressive politics and diversity that Madison is known for. I did a little reading to learn more about these colorful flags, and I found what I learned to be so interesting. 

The flags are covered in wood-blocked text and images. They aren't covered in prayers to a god, but rather the purpose of these flags is to promote good will. Tibetans believe that when the wind blows these flags, the prayers and mantras printed on them will be carried in the wind and spread compassion, peace, wisdom and strength to the surrounding space and those in it. Isn't that a lovely idea? 

colorful flags with so much meaning

vegetable garden fence - finished!

We've finished 1 of our big summer yard projects and couldn't be happier with the results! You might remember a vegetable garden fence sketch that I posted awhile ago - well, the fence is now complete. I think it's perfection - kudos to my husband for building the fence! 

the fence plans 

the finished fence - just a few alterations
from the plans

It's still relatively early in our growing season, so we've been enjoying lots of salads. I am excited for our tomatoes to come in - we've planted a bevy of varieties. One of my favorites is called Juliet (pretty name too!) and is a high yield plant with a Roma-like fruit. So that I can keep all of our tomato types straight, each is labeled with a simple name tag.

Hello, my name is Juliet

Stay tuned for more scenes from our vegetable garden!

read: the imperfectionists

The debut novel by Tom Rachman, "the imperfectionists" renewed my enthusiasm for fiction - this story follows the lives of reporters, editors, and publishers of a Rome-based English language newspaper. Rachman's book is so well written, so entertaining, so witty, all with a true-to-life grasp of human folly. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and would highly recommend it to anyone looking for a storyline so well intertwined that it keeps you engrossed. I couldn't wait to learn what happens next. Rachman's perfectly developed characters are vulnerable enough that you want to protect them and flawed enough that you wish someone would knock some sense into them! 

"spectacular"
"magnificent"
"beguiling"
all true!

I think what Rachman does especially well is his ability to create great dialogue between his characters and balance this with descriptions of scenes that vividly convey a mental image for the reader. Here's an example of the later:

Many of the buildings in central Rome were colored as if from a crayon box: dagger red, trumpet yellow, rain-cloud blue. But the paper's dour seventeenth-century building seemed to have been colored with a lead pencil: it was scribble gray, set off by a towering oak door large enough to swallow a schooner...

Doesn't your mind's eye have a crystal clear image after reading those words? I'd share more of Rachman's excellent writing, but I think you should read "the imperfectionists" yourself to enjoy this book to its fullest!

Berkeley 57

Berkeley 57, a painting by the American artist Richard Diebenkorn, resides in the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. This is an oil on canvas from 1955, and Diebenkorn's landscape is a great example of Abstract expressionism. The artist's use of bold colors and brush strokes is what caught my eye. I'm especially partial to the colors. 

Richard Diebenkorn,
American painter 1922-1993

tour: the City by the Bay

A quick tour of some of San Francisco's sights. What a beautiful city! Looking forward to going back there - hopefully sometime soon.

the Golden Gate Bridge from above

these trees had such
interesting limbs!

a cable car and a rainbow flag -
quintessential San Francisco!
Did you know the rainbow flag
originated there?

the Transatlantic pyramid
from Chinatown

the Dewey Monument
in Union Square -
Victory is atop the column

a fantastic and
very old Italian restaurant

Saints Peter and Paul church 

light and reflections

Summertime sunsets - aren't they the best?

how many colors are
in the sky?

flowerful Friday

I cut a few peonies from my garden a couple weeks back, and the heavenly scented blooms made our living room smell divine!

delicate and so fragrant

Happy Friday!

(re)read: The Secret Garden

On a recent shopping outing to one of my favorite shops, Anthropologie, a beautifully bound saffron colored book caught my eye. Picking it up, its title - The Secret Garden - instantly took me back to my childhood. I adorned this book when I was young, and I ended up buying the book and was excited to reread it as an adult. 

a childhood classic revisited

I've finished rereading "The Secret Garden" now and its words, imagery, and theme transported me back to childhood and reading it for the first time. I love the idea of a long neglected secret garden being stumbled upon by a young girl - I know I loved this theme as a child and I still think it's delightful. The transformation seen in the two main characters - Mary and Colin - are changes brought about by the kindness of others and the magic of gardening. And the author, Frances Hodgson Burnett writes in a way that so well illustrates each of her scenes - here she writes about the spring season in the book's namesake garden:

They drew the chair under the plum-tree, which was snow-white with blossoms and musical with bees. It was like a king's canopy, a fairy king's. There were flowering cherry-trees near and apple-trees whose buds were pink and white, and here and there one had burst open wide. Between the blossoming branches of the canopy bits of blue sky looked down like wonderful eyes.

Absolutely lovely!

une autre peinture par moi

Some of you may remember a post entitled, "ex animo - from the heart" from 4/6/11, where I showed 2 paintings of bright flowers that I had done. They were born from an itch to paint something. I recently had a similar urge, and I just finished another painting! 

This one is more abstract that my 1st two - flowers, summer colors, and recently seeing great works on exhibit at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art were my inspirations. I still don't claim to have much painting skill, but I do enjoy it! C'est amusant pour moi.

I'm calling this one "fleurs d'ete"

(summer blooms) because

everything sounds better in French!

a tour of homes

Stepping out my front door and walking around the neighborhood I call home, I pass so many charming houses. Most of the houses in the neighborhood date from the 1920s and 1930s. There are some that are so particularly lovely, that every time I walk past the house, my neck turns to keep looking. On a recent morning walk, I snapped a few of the houses I am most partial to. Each one has its own signature style with little details that sets it off. 

classic storybook -
beautifully cared for

I'm always draw to the tree
they've pruned to grow
in such an interesting way

a grand Tudor - very handsome

a homey Dutch Colonial

quite large with a huge yard

perhaps my favorite of all -
not the biggest, but it has
so much character

after the rain

There is something about the way water beads on leaves after a night-time rain when the sun is out and shining brightly that I find so appealing. A recent rainy night followed by a sunny morning did not disappoint, and I snapped these photos with my camera phone. The contrast of the quicksilver-like water clinging on verdant leaves makes me feel like it's summertime through and through.

beads of water on the
leaves of an iris 

little pools collecting on ivy

bigger water drops on sedum

like little beads of glass
resting atop hosta leaves

happy Father's day!

Wishing all of the dad's out there a very happy Father's day, most especially mine. My dad is one of a kind - and I count my blessings to have him as my father. Happiest of memories include him spinning me around in the yard to my heart's content (I apparently seemed to enjoy dizziness when I was little), dancing with me in our living room while early 80s tunes played (my dad has the true talent of being able to do the twist to any song at any tempo - it is a gift!), teaching me to ride my bike without training wheels (which by the way spawned an entire neighborhood father "teach your daughter how to ride her bike" afternoon that was in hindsight, comical to say the least!) to more recently like when my husband and I were married and my dad made for the most handsome father of the bride as he once again twirled me on the dance floor while the band played "It's a Wonderful World". What an appropriate song when one has such a loving, generous, kind-hearted dad to call their own. 

my dad and my husband -
this photo fills
my heart with joy!

light and reflections

Playing around with my camera's settings, I took a photo that looks almost unreal... 

blurred reality

flowerful Friday - special edition!

Today is another special edition of the flowerful Friday post - all floral photos from my recent trip to the City by the Bay, San Francisco. Both times I've been to this beautiful city, I was struck by its lushness; it's green everywhere you look! Even in the smallest of yards, you can tell that residents take pride in their gardens. Here are a few photos I snapped of flowers that caught my eye.

Happy Friday!

postcards lend a punch

Postcards are one of my favorite souvenirs from the trips I take. I like the ones that have a vintage feel, not those photographic ones with colors that are too intense, you know the ones I'm talking about - the ones that are fake looking and a little kitschy. I like artsy postcards so much because they are such an inexpensive souvenir, they're so easy to pack in a suitcase, and you can find some real gems that make fantastic little pieces of art when framed nicely. Below are two that I picked up from Seville last November and one I bought in Venice almost two years ago. I recently framed them in beautifully ornate frames. I think they totally light up the wall by adding so much color and visual interest - they lend a colorful punch, don't you think?

framed postcard from Seville

another from Seville, this one
with a little Art Deco feel

a postcard I picked up in Venice -
it looks as if it were a
watercolor original!

the landing - colorful and bright
with pieces that bring
back happy memories

One last, and probably the most important reason postcards make such a nice touch to decor, is that they will always remind you of the places you've been and hopefully, like in my case with Seville and Venice, locations that were wonderful vacations filled with happiest of memories. When combined with other pieces that have meaning to us - a beautiful vase we received as a wedding gift, a Balinese dancer bell given to me by my great-uncle years ago and other pieces that I've collected over the years - it makes an otherwise perfectly fine landing punched up with color.

San Francisco's Chinatown, part 3

In my opinion, one shouldn't visit Chinatown without enjoying some truly delicious food because it's hands' down the best Chinese food in the US. On my visit, my friend and I had our minds set on dim sum. I love eating at "ethnic" restaurants where the majority of the clientele is of that ethnicity. This was true of the dim sum restaurant we went to, and we were delighted by the experience.

I snapped a few shots of our delectable dim sum selections with my camera phone. 

I don't even know what this was -
but it was so tasty!
Crunchy on the outside,
gooey on the inside.

BBQ pork buns - a dim sum classic

hot chili oil, a requirement in my book!

YUM!

my all time favorite dim sum -
steamed shrimp dumplings

the scene at our dim sum spot

a love supreme

Today marks my parents' 42nd wedding anniversary! Kudos to them, right?! I've been blessed to witness my parents' love for each other. Their love is truly a love supreme. Wedded in 1969, their story is one that makes even the cynical at heart think fate just might exist. Born and raised on opposite sides of the world, their paths crossed in college and their lives have been united since. I think they are the perfect duo; a true ying and yang couple possessing shared values that bind them. 

Happy anniversary Mom and Dad! 

classic color combinations #2 - blue and green

I've always been of the mind-set that if a color combination occurs in nature then it's fail safe. A recent walk around my neighborhood inspired me and made me realize how blue and green is one of the most calming color combinations. Think of all greens and blues that can be seen outdoors and all of the senses that are triggered from those colors. As I write this I can see a light blue sky and an abundance of emerald green leaves, but I also hear the breeze through those leaves as if the wind/sky gives sound to these colors. When you think about how intertwined our senses are, isn't it quite remarkable? 

a neighbor's gorgeous irises -
aren't they striking?

I love the silhouette of trees against the sky -
blue and green at its classic best!

also photographed from a neighbor's garden -
there's a certain regal whimsy to these flowers

could there be any better spotlight to
showcase these light blue flowers against
their deep green backdrop?

from the garden - a simple salad

Our garden's first "harvest" yielded a deliciously simple salad. The addition of dill and chives - also from the garden - enhanced our arugula and red and green leaf lettuces with herbal freshness. Olive oil, balsamic vinegar, sea salt and freshly ground pepper made for the perfect dressing.

There's something so gratifying about growing a vegetable garden. I'm looking forward to more and more freshly picked veggies from the garden over the next months.  

fresh from the garden

lovely shades of green

light and reflections

A sparkly, ceiling to floor piece of art at San Francisco's Museum of Modern Art. I love how it catches and reflects light against both a black and white wall. The pictures don't really do it justice - quite mesmerizing in person!