flowerful Friday

Growing in my garden is a type of Columbine, called Aquilegia Dorothea Rose. They are pale pink, delicate, and quite adorable. This is an old-fashioned Columbine, and they're referred to as "Granny's Bonnets". They've been around since 1597!  I purchased mine through White Flower Farm - my most favorite of gardening websites and catalogs. Along with my new bud vases I think they made a lovely combination that I can't look at without smiling.

pink Granny Bonnets with peony leaves
in my new bud vase -
isn't it pretty?

Happy Friday!

San Francisco's Chinatown, part 2

One of my favorite aspects of San Francisco's Chinatown is that it's a real neighborhood with real people living and working. There's nothing fake about it. 

When I travel, I try to take candid shots of locals, which can be challenging for me, because I never want to intrude, so I try my best to be quite sly about taking pictures of strangers. I still have work to do to get better at this! Here are a few photos I did manage to shoot of a few Chinatown denizens. I think each speaks volumes about the vibrant community that is San Francisco's Chinatown.

elderly man waiting
to cross the street -
look at his face,
what do you see?

it might be hard to tell what's going on here - but,
it's a back alley game of badminton!
these boys were so fun to watch

locals out grocery shopping

an elderly lady -
I think she was going home
I like her pants!  :-)

pint sized friends

One of the major milestones in life is to see one's friends meet their future spouse or partner. For me, it's pure happiness to see my friends meet, fall in love with, and have share their life with someone who treats them with the utmost respect and love. 

The other major milestone that I'm now experiencing is seeing my friends become parents. This has been a joy! It's not only wonderful to see friends as loving parents, but I adore seeing my friends' babies  and children grow into little people with such big personalities - they are so much fun and they're my pint size friends. Once they start talking, the hilarity that they can express is priceless. It is an exciting prospect to think of each of these little ones growing up, and I know they are in such loving hands because their parents are truly wonderful friends, and I can't imagine how anyone who is a great friend would be anything but an outstanding parent too!

Here are a few of my pint sized friends...

the handsomest little fellow
and so cuddly -
the most amazing eyes, 6 months

my beautiful and tender
little God-daughter -
all smiles and giggles! 18 months

the sweetest little girl
with so much to say -
enjoying a little monkey friend
and a jasmine blossom
3 1/2 years

San Francisco's Chinatown, part 1

This past weekend, I met a dear friend in San Francisco - we both flew in for a little weekend get-away.  We saw some sights, ate amazing food, and took lots of photos. We're both into photography, and it was fun to have someone else to shoot with. 

San Francisco's Chinatown is a place where I love meandering and just taking it all in. There is so much to see and so much great food to enjoy. We had some delicious dim sum at a restaurant where we were in the minority by speaking English. It is a neighborhood like no other I've been to in the U.S. because it is still so distinct from its surroundings. I love that its residents have kept their culture so alive.  

the main drag in Chinatown

what a contrast!

typical buildings in the neighborhood

the sound of music

Thrilled isn't an adequate enough of a word to describe how I felt when our new piano arrived last week. I was positively elated, giddy, and ready to start playing! The delivery men seemed quite tickled to see such a enthusiastic, almost child-like response from me as they brought the piano inside.

Both my husband and I grew up in households with a piano, and we - though neither of us are exceptional players - felt that a piano was something that we wanted for our home too since we are both lovers of music. Don't you think there is something to be said about a home filled with music? The new piano has been a source of pure pleasure. There's lots of practicing to be done, but that's OK - there's absolutely no pressure for us to perform - it's simply a musical and creative outlet for both of us and has proved to be a great way for us to relax at the end of the day.

isn't it beautiful?

I think it looks lovely in our living room, the sound is glorious, and to me, the best part of our new piano is that we will have it and happy memories associated with it with us throughout our lives. The sound of music is so powerful!

a continual theme: still lifes of fruits

A month or so back I wrote a post about an art theme - still lifes of flowers and showed a few images of these types of paintings over the ages. I think it's just such an interesting way to look at art; you take one basic subject matter, like flowers, and see how through the years artists' portrayals of these very same objects change, sometimes radically. 

I thought I would bring back the "continual theme" post, this time with still lifes of fruit. The 3 images below were all photographed at the Art Institute of Chicago and range in date from 1630 to 1926. Interesting enough, each artist is French and perhaps unexpectedly, the oldest of these pieces was painted by a French woman. I think all of these paintings are beautiful in their own respective styles, but of course I have a favorite. Do you? Which one would you like to see hanging on your living room wall?  

Still Life with Basket of Fruit
and a Bunch of Asparagus
by Louise Moillon, French
this dates from 1630 

Fruits of the Midi
by Pierre-Auguste Renoir, French
this dates from 1881

Lemons on a Pewter Plate
by Henri Matisse, French
this dates from 1926

light and reflections

Do you have a favorite scent? I don't know if I have a favorite scent in general, but I do have a favorite candle. It's called Aloha Orchid, and is sold at Anthropologie, comes in a beautiful deep cobalt blue glass jar and smells divine - like tropical flowers in the afternoon sun. 

Doesn't the candle cast a lovely glow?

I wish you could enjoy the scent too!

Flowerful Friday

Antwerp, 1906

I've never been to Antwerp, but this oil on canvas painting by Georges Braque, makes me think it must be a delightful location. The painting dates from 1906, and is housed at the Art Institute of Chicago. The colorful, almost playful hues are so cheerful. Braque incorporates a lot of saffrony-yellow into this painting, which just happens to be my favorite color. Isn't it amazing how even the smoke stacks off in the distance look quite beautiful in Braque's rendition of this city? 

Antwerp, 1906
an amazing use of color, making
me think Braque was truly fond
of this Belgium city

I think Braque's career is incredibly interesting because while he started off as an Impressionist painter, his style morphed through the years. The next style or school of art to which he belonged is called Fauvism. This school, included fellow artist Henri Matisse, and is known for brilliant uses of color - representing an emotional response to the artist's subject. Don't you think this portrayal of Antwerp fits that category? Later on in Braque's life, he along with Pablo Picasso were the key players in the Cubism movement. 

tiers of joy

One of highlights of spring is when our lovely little crab apple blooms. The light flowers have a delicate scent. Their fragrance reminds me so much of being a young girl and playing outside in the springtime. There were crab apple trees at a nearby park that along with my best childhood friend, I would climb and sit up on the limbs for what seemed like hours.

One addition I decided to incorporate into our mostly white garden with our crab apple found just outside our kitchen, is an adorable 3 tiered plant stand - a wedding shower gift from family friends. In the pots, I planted the palest of yellow petunias. It makes for a joyful view from inside our house.   

petunias, flowering crab apple, herb garden,
and of course, our garden gnome

this old house's porch

One of the main features of our 1930's home that really sold us on our house for both my husband and me, was the screened-in porch. When we first looked at the house, we both were immensely excited with the potential of the space. It's not fancy, but we've turned it into a space where we spend hours of our free time during the warm months. We were lucky enough to receive lovely wicker pieces from my husband's side of the family - they were his grandparents' pieces, and I just adore them.

You'll find us on our porch for breakfasts on the weekends, dinners during the week, with a good read, and it's the perfect spot to entertain when we have friends and family over. There is almost always a nice cross breeze, making it the most relaxing & coolest spot in the house. It's free of pesky mosquitoes, which is a huge perk. Plus, our ginger tom, who is an indoor kitty, gets to enjoy the screened-in porch too. I think it's also his favorite room because he gets to watch birds, nap in the sun, and stay out with us in the evening. For us, it is the perfect screened-in porch, a totally peaceful place to put our feet up and relax in this old, yet well-loved house of ours.

eclectic mix of styles

a perfect reading corner, 

the blinds help with

privacy and to cut the afternoon sun

at night, everything is aglow!

traditional Northern Thai

lanterns we brought home with us

from Chiang Rai

my boys -

looks like something 

has caught Nino's eyes!

my little reading corner all lit up

within a budding grove, part 2

Every year, when lilacs bloom I am positively elated, because for me, lilacs stir up my own Proustian memory. Outside of my bedroom window, in the house where I grew up, were three immense lilac bushes. Now when I smell lilacs, I can instantly remember laying in bed at night with the window cracked ajar and falling asleep breathing in the lilacs' perfume. It was a perfect antidote for teenage angst, and I'm not sure if there's a better recipe for sweet dreams. 

One reason lilacs are so enchanting in addition to their glorious scent, is because of their almost lace-like blooms. The variety of lilac blossom shades is so wide ranging - from the purest white to deep and rich purple - and with so many variants in between, one would be hard pressed to find a lilac that doesn't suit your own aesthetic. Here are a few of my favorites that I photographed recently. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do!

pure white and elegant

creamy with the faintest hint of yellow

cool white blooms
with deep purples in the background

airy pink, as delicate as imaginable

a touch of lavender with
double blossoms

slightly deeper lavender
perhaps my favorite, though
it's too hard to pick just 1!

lovely pink lilacs

the name of the lilac pictured 1 above -
it fits perfectly, don't you think?

rather large blooms with a little bit
more saturated lavender - single blooms

a few buds still to open, showing
us various shades of pinkish mauve

blueish in color, 4 petals per bloom

also blueish in color,
but 6 petals per bloom

a little bit lavender, a little bit blue
double blossoms - divine!

a rich jewel colored lilac

eye-catching and regal, these purple
lilacs always grab my attention

within a budding grove, part 1

Lilacs are hands-down my favorite spring bloom. Their delicate little flowers are so charming, but their scent is to me pure heaven. Not but a mile or so from where I live is the most amazing lilac grove. Literally, hundreds of lilacs greet you with their visual beauty and their intoxicating fragrance and you enter the grounds. When I was there recently, it was a breezy day so their scent wafted in the air. Today's photos showcase the lilac grove and its surroundings. Check out tomorrow's post to see the lilacs up close!