It isn't Just Pie in the Sky!

I know Halloween was just here and the pumpkins and witches are still on the front walk...not to mention the candy wrappers on the lawn! With the bags of Halloween candy gone that can only mean it is time to talk Turkey-actually if you have visited a mall lately Santa is about to appear at any moment!

It is true that from the kitchen perspective Thanksgiving is all about THE Bird...but let's be honest THE Bird is just the exit ramp to PIE!..Pumpkin Pie, Sweet Potato Pie, Pecan Pie, Apple Pie..somehow, some way, Yes, there is always room for pie. But did you know that "Pie Heals"??!!

Once again this year Community Servings, an organization that delivers free meals to critically ill patients, is holding their Very Special annual event Pie in the Sky .

Come Visit Pearls of Grace

BeWitched

On Pedro's Mound

"I don't know if you realize this, but because of you guys in some ways, I might be at times the most influential player that ever stepped in Yankee Stadium. I can honestly say that...I said it before, when you have 60,000 people chanting your name, waiting for you to throw the ball, you have to consider yourself someone special, someone that really has a purpose out there." Pedro Martinez


When Pedro Martinez left the Boston Red Sox it was literally breaking news. The press conference was carried live, stations interrupted programming-Pedro was gone.

Tonight he is back. Back on the biggest stage in baseball...The World Series, but not in a Red Sox uniform. Pedro is pitching on the mound at Yankee Stadium-it may not be the same Yankee Stadium that was the scene of the greatest heartbreak in Red Sox fan history---you remember, when "he who shall not be named" ...well never mind-too painful to go back...but the ghosts have followed Pedro to the new Yankee stadium-he is after all Pedro Martinez...and every broken hearted Red Sox fan will be watching a World Series we could care less about ---that was until we learned Pedro was pitching. Come Visit Sitting in the Bleachers

For the Frill of it! Beyond Bridesmaid-Reasons to Get Ruffled

Chloe



With Halloween only a week away I am noticing a lot of costume looking pieces hanging on main line store racks---

Net-a-Porter

leaving me to wonder what designers are thinking...what are buyers and merchandisers thinking??? Does everything need a ruffle on it???

In all fairness to Seventh Avenue though it could be that I am just still haunted by BAD Bridesmaid memories. Once upon a time I was forced to be seen in public looking like a blueberry with ruffles and since then I break out in hives whenever I am within 100 yards of anything polyester/acetate and ruffly.

I am not alone on this one, on a recent episode of Project Runway Heidi Klum declared that she was "not a big fan" of ruffles either. Even if you have been scared by one too many bridesmaid dresses you cannot help but notice that ruffles are having their day! Wherever you look you can see that designers are incorporating ruffles at necklines, hemlines, on shoes, coats, bags...

Ralph Lauren

The Runways and Red Carpets are All-a-Ruffle as is The First Lady



I may never walk out in public, short of October 31, in a lot of the be-ruffled wear of the season but even this former bridesmaid admits that ruffles done well have their place....

Valentino

Come Visit The Shopping Bag Chronicles for the Frill of it!!!... and if like me you have been inspired to play with a Ruffle here or there Please turn to Winding Yarn for ruffles from the needles...

Kim Hargreaves

A Signature Flair-Charlotte Moss' Halcyon Days

The silent muse does speak. She speaks to me everyday, an inner voice coaxing prodding, pushing urging. "live for today...today is all there is." Learning how to really live, to cultivate a flair for living in all you do, is a lifelong process. Charlotte Moss

Charlotte Moss: A Flair for Living

When Charlotte Moss closed her West Village shop she did not leave us high and dry without her "Flair for Living". It seems that you cannot open a design magazine without seeing her featured and she has just been included on Traditional Home's 20 Top Design Icons of our Time List.

Pickard

The Charlotte Moss style and signature is now showcased through her partnerships with homeware manufacturers such as Brunschwig and Fils and Fabricut for fabrics and wallpapers, Pickard for China and table accents, and Seibert-Rice for Garden accents.

Seibert-Rice

Brunschwig and Fils


All of her design work starts with the people and places that have been inspirations to Charlotte Moss throughout her life. Her travels,a good book, gardens, special treasures she has found for her collections... are all reflected not only in her design work, but also her philosophy for living.

Just introduced is her new Muse Collection for renowned enamel treasures retailer Halcyon Days, suppliers of "Objets d'Art" to the Royal Family and specializing in antique and current collections that are created in the same manner as 18th century English enamels. Halcyon Days is known for their precious hand painted enamel and gilt edged boxes and clocks.



Charlotte Moss' Muse Collection is a group of "forever" items that belong on a dressing table, powder room, bedside chest, entry table and even in an evening bag. I love these for perfect gifts as each piece expresses an individual personality. Come Visit A Well Appointed Life

A Reluctant Adieu to a Lost Season

I still have a pair of flip flops by the back door. The T shirts and shorts are still on the shelves but are slowly and reluctantly being exchanged for Turtlenecks and Woolen cardigans. It is getting dark earlier and earlier and SUDDENLY it is fall...OK it has been fall on the calendar for a few weeks now but for me Summer JUST ended. It ended at Fenway Park today.

This baseball season for the Boston Red Sox has been much like the summer season itself this year...very strange. They were a team in command of the American League---they would "win it all"---yet it never felt right and as July came to a close the Yankees were not just over our shoulder they were sitting in the front seat.

Today this season that felt like it never really got going ended with a sweep by the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim(is that any name for a baseball team!) at home with a two run lead and two outs in the 9th and THE closer on the mound. In the blink of a bat swing the chance for a 4th game and my summer were gone.

Bart Giamatti was right---Baseball"... breaks your heart. It is designed to break your heart. The game begins in the spring, when everything else begins again, and it blossoms in the summer, filling the afternoons and evenings, and then as soon as the chill rains come, it stops and leaves you to face the fall alone."

With that cheery thought in my head, I dejectedly walked outside feeling the loss of a season cut short-it is October after all, the best time of year for baseball. To console myself I grabbed my trowel and a bag of bulbs and went to dig my way to Spring Training. Time is moving so quickly as it seems like I was just pushing away the old leaves to make way for the spring flowers to make their appearance. As I plotted out corners of color, grumbling to myself with each dig into the earth, I looked up and saw that I am not the only one who is not ready to put the flip flops away...My roses and hydrangeas and sweet daisies have not given up and in many ways their "last blast" is their best. Come visit Down the Garden Path to see The Gardens of Camp MP bid adieu to summer 2009---it's all up to you Tom Brady!

A Sweater AfFAIR-Classic Fair Isle Inspiration

Every knitter loves the Fall...new yarns, gorgeous patterns, crunchy knits in glorious colors. I think this Fall's designs are among the best collections in many years---I don't know where to start! There are books and skeins and needles all over the place as I rework and redesign and just play! Love it!!

Kim Hargreaves

I really cannot remember a time when I was not a knitter. I try to think back to what brought me to cast on my first stitches. I do remember falling in love with a sweater and thinking "I can make that!" Whenever I walk into a shop or open a magazine or catalogue I have sweater radar and zoom right into designs that inspire. I am famous for standing outside a shop with a pad and pen and scribbling and sketching something I just saw(not polite to do it in the shop!)

Gorsuch

Somehow,however, I always turn back to go forward. I love classic. The new knitting has been a lot about architecture-form, fit, angles...and its all fabulous and interesting and fun to knit as it pushes us as knitters to knit out of the box. For my knitting style,however, I find particularly at this time of year that I am reaching for design that fits any mood and any decade. Sweaters my Mother wore and sweaters that are a joy to knit.

Vogue Knitting

Vintage Vogue is a great resource that inspires me , but I often turn to Ralph Lauren who has never strayed very far from bringing looks that echo history yet move easily in a new age.

Ralph Lauren

Ralph Lauren has captured classic and made traditional style his own with his design signature that echos classic American Prep, Western Prairie, Ski Chic,English Country House and Grace Kelly Elegance. Time and again the Lauren runway returns to the classic Sweater Girl look and it often starts with one of my favorite techniques to knit come fall -Fair Isle. Come Visit Winding Yarn.

New Pages-In Search of Lovely Lit

I don't belong to a book club--too restricting. I don't really pay too much attention to the Best Seller List---too commercial! I love to roam the aisles of a wonderful bookstore and discover treasures on my own. Like a lot of us, I don't have nearly as much time to curl up with a book as I would like so in the precious moments when I can sit and read I want to LOVE what I am reading.

Now I know that no book comes with a money back guarantee so I trust my own instincts. Those instincts,however, can often lead me down the same aisles with the same genre of literature---sometimes you need a fresh page! Come Visit Applause!

The Answers are Blowing in the Wind-In Appreciation, Mary Travers

“We’ve learned that it will take more than one generation to bring about change," Mary once said. “The fight for civil rights has developed into a broader concern for human rights, and that encompasses a great many people and countries. Those of us who live in a democracy have a responsibility to be the voice for those whose voices are stilled." Mary Travers

She was the emotional and physical center as she stood and sang from her soul between the "boys" Noel Paul Stokey and Peter Yarrow as the heart of Peter, Paul and Mary. Mary Travers' powerful and passionate presence with her blond swingy hair transcended the traditional folk music audience.

Peter, Paul and Mary made folk music accessible, they introduced Bob Dylan to a mainstream audience and believed that folk music could reach all people across race and economic lines. Their music was the background theme music for the extraordinary events and change this country went through in the 1960s and it was also an instrument of that change and a catalyst for a movement of peace and equality.

Unlike a lot of the "pop culture" of the decade,however, Peter Paul and Mary's music did not fade as the country changed and they "showed up" wherever there was injustice, whenever the country needed to hear their voices they were there-anti-nuclear, anti-apartheid, worker's rights...and at the center was Mary Travers. Her voice resonated through halls, and across parks and in auditoriums throughout the country-audiences came for the music and left believing the world could be a better place. To achieve that change Peter, Paul and Mary shared the music, believing the music should be passed on to generations as they did in Peter, Paul and Mommy
and my favorite Peter, Paul & Mommy, Too . I love the PBS specialPeter, Paul and Mommy, Too [90 Minute Concert] [VHS] and watching Mary sing from her very core to her grandchildren was a memorable three Kleenex moment that should be shared with all ages.

The trio sang together for nearly 50 years. They won five Grammy's,had 13 Top 40 hits including songs such as "Blowing' In The Wind," "If I Had A Hammer," "Leaving On A Jet Plane," "Where Have All The Flowers Gone," "500 Miles" and, of course, "Puff, The Magic Dragon." "If I Had a Hammer" became an anthem of the Civil Rights movement” as they sang at the 1963 March on Washington where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his legendary “I Have a Dream” speech.

Their roots were in folk music but it was Mary Travers presence that helped them reach beyond the coffee house tradition and reach top 40 status and who kept their music out in front as an instrument of change and the sound of political action for every decade since. Traditionalists criticized that perhaps they "sold out" but Mary Travers would argue that they were accessible and singing to so many more people- moving them to action with their voices and reaching more than one generation with their call for freedom and justice.

"I'm not sure I want to be singing 'Leaving on a Jet Plane' when I'm 75," she said in one interview. "But I know I'll still be singing 'Blowin' in the Wind.' "
Their work may be best known for the anthems they sang during the anti-war and civil rights movements but they continued to be out in front of the movements that were to change the direction of America, championing the rights of the disenfranchised and the legitimacy of those who fought for fairness. They proved time and again that music can change the world and Mary Travers voice peace and justice and a better planet will be missed.

"I have a sort of sampler in my head," Travers said, "that--paraphrasing the rabbinical scholar--says, 'It's not your duty to finish the task, it is your duty not to neglect it.' If war and hunger and racism were easy things to get rid of, I would assume we would have gotten rid of them already."

In Rememberance, Moving Beyond

(Arzu)

I think what I will always remember most viscerally about that morning is the sky. It was a September sky, that rare blue, clean and clear, that reflects the perfection of a late summer/early fall New England day. I wonder now how often I looked at the sky that day. How could a sky that glorious have held such horror?

On the morning of September 11, 2001 I was watering the late summer flowers willing them to keep summer going a few more weeks. I drove to my office with only a small news blip of a plane having flown into a building in New York. By 2:00 as I drove back home there were no planes flying in the sky. When the roar of a plane's engine streaked through the complete silence of that afternoon I pulled the car over with my heart pounding as I realized the aircraft I heard were fighter jets from one of the Massachusetts bases. Once again I looked to the sky.

Living in Boston we all had six degrees of connections to the thousands of tragic stories of that day. Some of those stories lived their lives less than a mile away. Susan Retik and Patti Quigley lost their husbands, David Retik and Patrick Quigley, on flights that left from Boston that day. Susan was pregnant with her third child and Patti was eight months pregnant with her second child. They became single Mothers, Widows, living within a drama that changed everything for all of us but for their lives most of all.

Patti and Susan watched as the country prepared to strike back somehow in some way and saw that the women of the country that housed and trained their husband's murderers had been left alone too. The stories of the women of Afghanistan moved these two American women to action, to turn an unspeakable, deeply personal, tragedy into a promise of hope. Susan and Patti soon learned about the vast number of widows in Afghanistan who had no support, financial or emotional, for themselves or their children. They felt a connection to these women whose lives were shattered by war and had nowhere to turn to rebuild their lives, none of the support that helped Patti and Susan get through. From that connection came Beyond the 11th "...to help provide financial and emotional help to these widows and their children and to give them hope for a better future." Please Visit Pearls of Grace

Ready to Read-Jumpstart Opens the Pages

Back to School, Back to Books! I admit I miss this time of year when new boxes of crayons and fresh unopened books await on a clean desk. I have been known to stroll the aisles of Staples and pick up a cute folder or a fresh box of Crayolas just because it is September. I also find myself in the picture book section of the bookstore, lovingly flipping through copies of my favorites...Pooh of course is always in the pile.

I don't think there is anything more wonderful in my childhood memories than someone reading to me. My lifetime love for books and reading grew from those very special hours. Reading to a child is such a simple act, yet there is nothing that brings more joy or value to a child's educational development than reading to them. Books open worlds for kids, especially kids who don't have access to wide educational opportunities.

This is why I am such a fan of Jumpstart, a wonderful mentoring program partnering preschool children and college students and community volunteers to build reading and educational skills through one on one mentoring. The goal of Jumpstart is that every child entering school will be fully prepared to succeed and will also become lifetime readers.

Jumpstart shares that children from low-income communities typically enter kindergarten with one fourth the vocabulary of their middle-income peers. The importance of early learning cannot be overstated and so many kids do not get that "Jumpstart". A child’s reading level in 1st grade is one of the best predictors of his/her future performance in 10th grade and without that early involvement kids will be constantly playing catch up and may just fall behind or simply drop out.

Jumpstart began in 1993,and since then more than 70,000 preschool children across America have benefited from millions of hours of Jumpstart mentoring. This year, Jumpstart volunteers will share more than one million hours with 15,000 preschool children in 80 communities across America.

On October 8, Jumpstart's 4th Annual Literacy initiative National Read for the Record Day, considered the world's largest reading event, celebrates the joy of reading. Read for the Record Day is a very simple idea-a worldwide effort to read the same book on the same day to pre school children...last year 700,000 readers read Corduroy all over the globe in classrooms, libraries and I would guess by bedsides too. This year the goal is one million readers and Jumpstart has released a special edition of The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle in celebration of the classic picture book's 40th anniversary.

This version comes with instructions on how to encourage literacy and create readers. Visit Read for the Record to sign up, get involved and download the tool kit. Get your copy to read along at a local school or community group or at home or donate a copy to a family or community in need or make a $50 donation which will provide a library of 20 books to a preschool.

You can also join or create a Virtual Book Drive with the goal of 250,000 books donated to low income families and communities . For every $10 raised Jumpstart will donate a book to a child in need.

No greater gift to give a child, or yourself, than to share a new book and the joy of reading!

Into the Wind-Your Cause features David's Sails

You may not always be able to change the wind but you can learn to adjust your sails.

Somehow it is fitting that on Labor Day weekend, the last Summer weekend, YourCause.com will feature David's Sails on its homepage. YourCause.com is a terrific site that promotes fundraising through personal cause web pages. Anyone can go to the site and create their own cause supporting selected charities. Yourcause.com receives and distributes the donations for the chosen charities. On the site you can promote a cause, support a cause, learn about specific charities and organizations, publicize events for your cause and discover volunteer opportunities. It is a great way to gain attention and potential funding for the organizations you care about supporting and an important way to honor someone you love.

"I don't worry about the storms, I am learning to sail my own ship."
-- Louisa May Alcott (1832-1888),

David's Sails was created in loving memory of my brother David who sailed with his soul and steered with his heart.

Music and Sailing brought David joy and light which he shared with contagious enthusiasm.

David's Sails seeks to celebrate the passions of my brother's life by aiding organizations that focus on sailing and music to help at-risk youth and children with physical and emotional challenges. Please Visit Pearls of Grace


"He is the best sailor who can steer within the fewest points of the wind, and exact a motive power out of the greatest obstacles."
-Henry David Thoreau

Oh So Pretty! Sara Campbell Style

Most days pulling yourself together to get out the door means less about how you want to look and more about how fast you can get ready to go. There are days,however, that you just need to feel pretty...for those days I go straight for the pieces in my closet that say Sara Campbell.

Sara's clothes are all about feeling special, clothes that go anywhere, totally wearable,timeless...and just simply pretty. Whether for dress up or work days or heading out for fun, Sara's clothes fit in everywhere. The pieces in the collection are tailored not just for great style but also to be worn in a real life--not only do you feel pretty you are comfortable being pretty....Come Visit The Shopping Bag Chronicles

A Voice for America, The Last Lion-Senator Edward M. Kennedy

"We've lost the irreplaceable center of our family and joyous light in our lives, but the inspiration of his faith, optimism, and perseverance will live on in our hearts forever... He always believed that our best days were still ahead, but it’s hard to imagine any of them without him. "

Kennedy Family Statement

It is a postcard summer morning in New England...the kind of morning that Cape Cod sailors love, a morning you would expect to see a sailboat off of Hyannis Port. This morning, however, the sailboats off the Cape sail without him.

Around here he was known simply as "Teddy" and we cannot remember a time when he was not "our" Senator. The loss of Senator Edward M. Kennedy feels personal as we have never known a time when he was not there, not at the center of an important vote or championing the causes that matter. He was a father figure to not only a family that relied on him no matter their sadness but also to those of us who knew he would be at the helm, in the forefront of important fights, doing whatever it took make it better for us all. Such was our faith in this man whose power grew along with the respect he earned. His personal demons and political mistakes shaped him and helped him become a rarity in American politics, a true leader we trusted.

"The commitment I seek is not to outworn views but to old values that will never wear out. Programs may sometimes become obsolete, but the ideal of fairness always endures. Circumstances may change, but the work of compassion must continue. It is surely correct that we cannot solve problems by throwing money at them, but it is also correct that we dare not throw out our national problems onto a scrap heap of inattention and indifference...."

The news of the loss of "Teddy" Kennedy is not a surprise but a jolt nonetheless. Through his battle with brain cancer The senior senator from Massachusetts made some extraordinary public appearances and never stopped working. In recent weeks, however, he was unable to attend his sister Eunice's funeral and he issued an urgent plea for the fight for health care reform that he spent over 30 years tirelessly fighting for and the issue he declared "the cause of my life."

Perhaps we just thought he would always be there,as he has been for nearly five decades, fighting the good fight as the last liberal voice, devoting his career to achieving rights and dignity for those who did not have the privileges of the Kennedy name,serving as the family patriarch whose strength and love brought such a center to a family torn by tragedy and pain time and time again.

No matter what this nation faced Ted Kennedy was visibly involved. Even if he stood alone he stood for the people of this country, the people who most needed a voice, and what a voice it was. Senator Kennedy was a tireless force, and one that was respected by both political friends and foes. His voice was genuine and reassuring and committed to fulfilling the "dream that never dies". Please Visit Pearls of Grace


"...Let this be our commitment: Whatever sacrifices must be made will be shared and shared fairly. And let this be our confidence: At the end of our journey and always before us shines that ideal of liberty and justice for all...For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die."

Senator Kennedy,1980

"I am a part of all that I have met
To [Tho] much is taken, much abides
That which we are, we are --
One equal temper of heroic hearts
Strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield."
Tennyson

Are You IN? Project Runway is Making it Work on Lifetime

We all have our TV guilty pleasures and mine is Project Runway. I will not miss an episode and in its absence have re-watched all 5 seasons on DVD. I sit in judgement beside Michael Kors and Nina Garcia(now of Marie Claire). I shake my head along with Tim Gunn and tell the designers to lose the trim, lift the hem, add a pleat and "Make it Work". I declare when a designer should be OUT, throw a stiletto at the screen when a talented designer blows a challenge, and I wish them Aufedersein along with Heidi Klum.

Christian's Avant Garde Challenge Winner

I love the fashion, I love the challenges-a favorite was the Hershey Store, Rami's Candy Wrapper Dress

I love the surprise of seeing a designer pull out all the seams and wow the judges, I love seeing a talented designer who Really wants it show their best, I love the drama of couture- I have missed Project Runway!

Jillian's Couture Challenge Winner

As you know in fashion, "one day you are in and the next day you're out!" and it seemed for months that Project Runway might be out. After a year long court battle over who would get to own the airing of the series, Project Runway returns tonight, no longer on Bravo and no longer in New York. The new Project Runway airs on Lifetime, a network that could use good style something "Fierce", and is set in LA. Will the show lose its New York edge and go Hollywood? Apparently most of the series will maintain its familiar "pattern" but now it is Garnier not TRESemme and Macy's not Bluefly.com who sponsor the styling. As judge Nina Garcia is now with Marie Claire, Elle Magazine is no longer the showcase publication. Mood Fabric even opened a temporary LA shop for Runway and instead of Parsons the sewing base camp is The Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising. Being in LA means more celebrities including a rumoured visit by Nicole Kidman??? The plan is that Runway will alternate between New York and LA each season.

Opening night on the Runway will include a 2 hour reunion competition with past designers and the premier of Project Runway's spin-off Models of the Runway...Count me IN!

Lipstick on His Collar-Dressing Well is the Best Revenge! MAD about the Style, Betty Draper's Closet

Close the laptop, shut off the cell phone, cancel all plans...Tonight the third season of arguably the best series on television, Mad Men, premiers. The series is graced with pitch perfect writing that is filled with carefully and slowly revealed characters, characters that individually and collectively portray and explore the extraordinary period of change that was the late 50s and 60s. These are characters you care about, love to hate and are amazed by. Mad Men keeps you wanting more. The show is exquisitely crafted with sets that stage the era, which is truly the central point of Mad Men, to every detail. The story line captures the extraordinary shift in lifestyle and culture this country would undergo in those years. The performances pull you into that world of smoke filled rooms and Mad Men is flawless in its representation of the most fascinating time in the twentieth century, a time of revolutionary societal change. Watching Mad men,however, you stop and wonder how much has really changed!

Annie Leibovitz for Vanity Fair


Mad Men is a reason to sit and watch TV at a time when there is not much reason to do so,this is appointment viewing! I love to re-watch Mad Men to look at , yes John Hamm, but also the clothes, the styling, the jewelry... The fashion and the "look" of Mad Men is meticulously selected to not only define the characters but also carefully and subtly show the changes that they experience and that the country was experiencing. The fashions of the series tell so much of the story, especially about women and their role---and it is a powerful one.

The wardrobes are to envy and sitting in flip flops and cut off shorts I wonder how my Mother did it ...and I want everything in Betty Draper's closet! Come Visit Applause and The Shopping Bag Chronicles

Out from the Shadows, Into the Sunlight of Useful Living-Salvaging Lives, In Appreciation-Eunice Kennedy Shriver

Let me win,
but if I cannot win
let me be brave
in the attempt.

In a family of competition, prestige and power she was a force. In an era of constraints of gender and social standing she was ambitious, determined and a leader. Eunice Kennedy Shriver was the fifth of 9 children and the one daughter to step out front and stand toe to toe with her famous brothers who were groomed by their father for politics and power. She did not sit on the sidelines in her family or in her life, choosing instead to get on the field and play ball with the boys.

Eunice Kennedy would make her own mark and live her own life of service leaving a legacy of extraordinary accomplishment in the fight to bring mental and intellectual challenges out from the shadows. Her younger sister Rosemary was institutionalized most of her life and was given a lobotomy in a treatment that would be unheard of today in many thanks to the work of her sister Eunice. Please Visit Pearls of Grace

"You are the stars and the world is watching you. By your presence you send a message to every village,every city,every nation. A message of hope. A message of victory."

Clutch Player

Everything Baseball

The Major League Baseball Trading deadline has come and gone but the need for a Clutch Player (or if you are from Boston- Play-ah) goes on...The Red Sox clearly need one-NOW! Maybe these can help???? Doubtful, but I think they're great no matter if you are running the bases or just playing the field...Come Visit The Shopping Bag Chronicles

Woven wicker, Vivre

Celestina Mango Shell, Barneys

Raffia Tassel Clutch, Vivre



...and Do Not Miss In the Clutch and on the Needles in Winding Yarn Shell Seekers, The Stitch Poet

A Mouthful of Maine

Drive the coast of Maine to visit Lighthouses. Drive the coast of Maine to experience the scenes and vistas that inspired Winslow Homer, Sara Orne Jewett, Rachel Carson. Drive the coast of Maine to restart,revive and renew as coastal villages and harbors take you into a way if life unique to this very special corner of New England. OR..drive the coast of Maine if you are hungry...even if you aren't you will be!! Grab a fork and a bib and come for a Delicious Drive! Please Visit The World at Your Feet

A Mid Summer's Knit Dream-Confessions of a Knitter's Season

Medano Beach,Heidi Kirrmaier

A highway patrolman pulled alongside a speeding car on the freeway. Glancing
at the car, he was astounded to see that the blonde behind the wheel was
knitting!
Realizing that she was oblivious to his flashing lights and siren, the
trooper cranked down his window, turned on his bullhorn and yelled, "PULL
OVER!"
"NO!" the blonde yelled back, "IT'S A SCARF!"

I dream in skeins of yarn. Knitting patterns dance in my head while I go about my day...they tap me on the shoulder in the middle of emails and meetings telling me to shorten the sleeve, knit in alpaca, use two strands... 24-7 I am a KNITTER. I have been known to fall asleep with a skein of yarn by my side, a knitting needle in my hair and a pile of patterns under my feet.

The knitting needles Never Rest, even in the Summer, but in the summertime I do approach my knitting a bit differently. The projects are quicker, smaller, leisurely, easy on the brain cells-perfect for kick off your shoes, put up your feet, grab a cool drink, a good book just and sit and knit! Come Visit Winding Yarn for a Summer's Knit Dream

Anacapa, Kendra Nitta from Knitting in the Sun. Kristi Porter

We Choose the Moon

Camden Maine July 4, 2009

We go into space because whatever mankind must undertake, free men must fully share... I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth. No single space project in this period will be more impressive to mankind, or more important for the long-range exploration of space; and none will be so difficult or expensive to accomplish... But in a very real sense, it will not be one man going to the moon--... it will be an entire nation. For all of us must work to put him there.
President Kennedy's Message to Congress May, 1961

On July 20, 1969 Apollo 11 Commander Neil Armstrong stepped onto the Sea of Tranquility on the surface of the moon. The moon! A man walks on the moon! It was a time when we could still be surprised. A time when we could still be unified as a country, as a planet as human beings, in awe. Over time moon shots and space exploration became "common" occurrences and we didn't look skyward in amazement as much. Forty years later,however, the lessons of walking on the moon are as relevant as they were in the Cold War and amidst the turmoil of Vietnam, race riots and a nation passing the torch to a new generation with new vision. A nation that believes can achieve. We are there again. We are a nation in need of a moon shot. On July 20, 1969 a man walked on the moon. On July 20, 2009 we can look to that moon as it looks down on us and be reminded that we can be surprised, that we can be moved and that we can achieve.

“We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win . . . ”
--President John F. Kennedy, address at Rice University, September 12, 1962

The Anchor of Our Lives-In Appreciation, Walter Cronkite

"Our job is only to hold up the mirror - to tell and show the public what has happened." Walter Cronkite

In an age before Twitter, Blogs, Blackberrys, texting, email and even cable news, there were three networks that televised the news, but there was one man behind a simple desk that "delivered" the news.

Each evening America had dinner with Walter Cronkite and the CBS Evening News as the man who would become the narrator of our lives reviewed the events of our communal day.

Walter Cronkite died yesterday at the age of 92. It is safe to say there will never be one of his kind again...no one will unite this country each evening, collect all of us in one place at one time to review events, inform us and discuss "the way it is". The news media is too vast and fragmented, as perhaps we are as a country.


"Walter was always more than just an anchor,... He was someone we could trust to guide us through the most important issues of the day; a voice of certainty in an uncertain world. He was family. He invited us to believe in him, and he never let us down. This country has lost an icon and a dear friend, and he will be truly missed." President Obama on Walter Cronkite

Listening to all the reports on his life it is the voice that resonates. The voice that united a country through tumultuous days, the voice that quavered as he announced a young President had been assassinated, the voice that filled with the glee of a wondrous little boy as he declared that .".. Man on the Moon...oh boy", the voice that America had dinner with each evening as they waited to hear about their day. The cadence of that voice was a part of the soundtrack of our lives. He was the source, if he said so then it was so. A voice that informed without talking at his audience or down to his audience but rather with his audience, taking them through the facts. His was the voice that told us the way it was.

It was an era when one man could unite a nation, inform a nation, but not just any man. At one point his audience was so large, and his presence in American life so entrenched, that he was declared the Most Trusted Man in America. Please Visit Applause!

Happy Happy Hydrangeas! The Gift the Rains Left

The sun is finally out! We don't know if this is just a tease or the Real Summer but we'll take it. I took advantage of a day without an umbrella and grabbed my clippers to clean up the gardens of Camp MP. What a treat I found...all that rain left the gift of mounds of hydrangeas. Come Visit the gardens at Down the Garden Path.

Never Want to Let You Go-Follow the Flock and Fall in Love, Swans Island Spins a New Yarn!

If you ever have been fortunate enough to wrap yourself in a blanket, scarf or wrap from Swans Island you know the true definition of simple luxury! I consider Swans Island blankets to be Elegant Comfort Food for the Soul and Self-from a loom. Now they are giving every knitter a gift... and I am in love! Come Visit Winding Yarn...

Rain Rain, Go Away!...In Search of Summer Color!

La Vie Claire

For tomorrow may rain, so I'll follow the sun

I have spent a lot of time in the water so far this summer...No, not at the beach but in the puddles. We have had nothing but Wellies Weather this June and I am finding I need the real thing..sun and
ocean...so I went looking for colors that will at least make me feel that summer is really here!

I need to think Sunshine, Yellow can help. and for a Day at the Beach mood, Turquoise.

So grab an umbrella, click your wellies three times and let's pretend the weather matches the calendar with great accessories and looks in the colors of a summer day! Come Visit The Shopping Bag Chronicles

Angela Moore

The Calendar Says... Summer!

I wonder what it would be like to live in a world where it was always June.
-- L. M. Montgomery

Daddy's Gifts

Run your own race,baby. He could have said it a dozen other ways. “Be independent.” “Don’t be influenced by others.” But it wouldn’t have been the same. The words he chose touched my heart and have remained with me all through my life. Whenever I’m at a crossroads, I ask myself, “Am I running my race or somebody else’s?” What a gift he gave me. Marlo Thomas on her Dad Danny Thomas' advice to her.


This Father's Day weekend is not my first without my Father but like every year at this time I try to keep the mascara from going by hugging the memories and opening his gifts to me. Please Visit Dealing Old Maid

Get Me Rewrite! Out of Print-Losing a way of Life, The Disappearance of the American Newspaper

A good newspaper, I suppose, is a nation talking to itself.
Arthur Miller

I just received a terrific gift. A shopping bag filled with newspapers. I know it's not a new bag or bracelet but I was thrilled none the less. I won't be wrapping fish or dishes in them...these are keepsakes to be put carefully away. They include copies of papers from Inauguration Day from all over the country and they will be stored along with so many other papers I have collected ever since I can remember...papers reporting and commemorating important events that chronicle my time elections,championships,tragedies,celebrations, even snowstorms.

So many daily life memories that I cherish include the newspaper...digging through the snow to find the morning paper, my dog tearing the Sunday paper to shreds in clearly an act of rebellion from paper training days, my Grandmother cutting out coupons, my Grandfather taking his daily walk to buy the paper, my Dad on the couch with the sports section or any section and my Mom picking those sections up off the floor where he had dropped them.

I learned to read from the newspaper-sitting on my Daddy's lap sounding out word by word the sports section and the Funnies. Miss Peach, Mutt and Jeff, Peanuts...were my reading buddies. Dr. Seuss came along later but by then I already knew how to make out the words. My relationship with newspapers started that early and a daily paper has been a part of my world ever since. Please turn to Political Woman

I read about eight newspapers in a day. When I'm in a town with only one newspaper, I read it eight times.
Will Rogers

A Note of Regret-The Closing of Mrs. John L. Strong

I love getting mail...not email, though sometimes that can be nice...usually I spend more time hitting delete than reading. The mail I love to receive is handwritten, in an envelope, with a stamp. Like most of us, I live my life typing emails. To open the mailbox and receive a handwritten note on lovely stationery is so rare but such a joy and the ultimate gesture. For someone to take the time to sit and actually take pen to paper to write me means they care.

I grew up with a love for beautiful paper and will always believe that handwritten matters! So it was with sadness that I learned of the closing of Mrs. John L. Strong. Since 1929 the stationer created paper for royalty, presidents, world leaders, socialites, icons of style such as Jacqueline Bouvier, The Duchess of Windsor,Diana Vreeland, Anna Wintour,celebrities and people who just wanted to make that special impression.

Mrs. Strong began selling engraved papers, invitations, calling cards, etc. to her New York social register clientele from her sister's trousseau shop and eventually grew to take her own atelier at 699 Madison Avenue. Mrs. Strong also sold through Gump's and Henri Bendel's and was considered THE source for occasions, announcements, invitations and that important daily note. Come Vist A Well Appointed Life

The Garden Waits for No Woman-A Clematis Calls

In the hope of reaching the moon
men fail to see the flowers
that blossom at their feet.
- Albert Schweitzer

Sometimes we are so busy coming and going that we forget to look around. You can miss a lot that way as I was reminded by a Clematis in the gardens of Camp MP this week. I caught site of it through the corner of my eye as I pulled out of the drive. I had no idea it was in bloom...I almost missed its shining moment! I pulled over, got out of the car and thanked my Clematis for reminding me that living life at a blur isn't really living a life.

If you pass by the color purple in a field and
don't notice it, God gets real pissed off.
- Alice Walker

Service with a Smile??-Make Me Happy!

“Give the lady what she wants!” Marshall Fields

I think we all have stories of waiting endlessly on hold for someone to give us an answer to a question about our phone service, airline reservation, credit card bill, misplaced order...or standing in line only to have the person waiting on us not know what the price was or where to find what we want, or worse yet not caring... I simply don't get it!

There is only one boss. The customer. And he can fire everybody in the company from the chairman on down, simply by spending his money somewhere else.”
- Sam Walton

In the current economic climate how much sense does it make to do your job poorly? Can you tell I have had some customer service issues of late! As a Marketing Professional the first rule I play by is that the customer is ALWAYS right-even if they are Wrong!

Nothing but nothing keeps me coming back to a store, a service or a contractor then how I am treated by their representatives. I believe you don't get second chances with any customer and the impression you leave reflects back on the entire organization or company.

In the past two weeks I have dealt with truly BAD customer service on all levels of the consumer chain-a credit card company that was rude, a phone service provider that did not have a clue how to fix an issue and declared there was nothing to be done, a major retailer with not one but two on-floor sales people that refused to take the extra step to help, a contractor who could not be bothered to call me back, a contractor whose office representative made no effort to work with my schedule to set an appointment, an auto repair shop that did a bad job and would not take responsibility...trust me, the list goes on! Why don't people care?? Now more than ever Customer Service is the single most important marketing tool any company can have. Please Visit Dealing Old Maid and the Shopping Bag Chronicles

The customer is why you go to work. If they go away, you do, too.

David Haverford

A Woman's Place...is Out in Front!-Girl Power Takes The Preakness

"People don't think she can do it against the boys...but its not about gender, its about the best athlete...Gender doesn't matter. A thoroughbred wants to run! If a filly is as good as the colts, then she ought to compete..."-Jess Jackson, new owner of Rachel Alexandra

Her name is Rachel Alexandra, she is three years old, she never ran against boys, but yesterday she showed what Girl Power can do. The boys never really had a chance with her in the race!

In a field of thirteen horses entered into yesterday's 134th running of The Preakness Stakes she was the last to load into the starting gate,at post 13, and the first to cross the finish line. After a stumble coming through the gate she went from seventh to first in a blink of an eye and won by a length shaking off only one serious challenge down the stretch from Kentucky Derby winner Mine that Bird. She was a 9-5 favorite but no one thought she could seriously challenge the boys despite her convincing win at Kentucky Oaks. Her former owners refused to enter her into the Kentucky Derby assuming the conventional wisdom that a nice girl should not run with the rough boys.

It has been 85 years since a filly, Nellie Morse in 1924, won the Preakness. This race wasn't supposed to be for girls, her former owners were not going to enter her and rival owners tried to block her entry-maybe they saw what was coming? After a strong win in Kentucky Oaks she was sold and the new owners made the decision to enter her despite the advice that she should only run against other girls. Obviously she has something special as Calvin Borel,the winning jockey from the Kentucky Derby, opted to ride Rachel Alexandra and not Mine that Bird-"She's the best horse in the country right now,bar none," Borel said. You Go Girl! The Lady is a Champ!

Voices in My Head-Mother's Day and Everyday

Don't go into Mr. McGregor's garden: your Father had an accident there; he was put in a pie by Mrs. McGregor. The Tale of Peter Rabbit

Sweater, n.: garment worn by child when its mother is feeling chilly. ~Ambrose Bierce

Let's just acknowledge from the start, much like Peter Rabbit we don't listen to our Mothers either...not with our ears anyway. Momspeak after so many years can become the Muzak of our lives. "Why are you wearing that?" is the hit single we can all dance to . But I promise you Moms, we may not listen...but we hear! How else do we grow up to sound just like you?? Please Visit Dealing Old Maid

Camp MoneyPit Gets Published!

A big Thank You to Hillary Black the Editor of Cottages and Bungalows for selecting Camp MP for a spot in the magazine. So much fun to see my jewel strut her stuff in print. Cottages and Bungalows comes fromt he editors of romantic Homes and is a great resource for anyone who loves cottage style. Be sure to check out Hillary Black's book, Vintage Vavoom: Romantic Decorating with One-of-a-Kind Finds a wonderful look at living with vintage treasures creatively. Camp MP and I are proud to be included in Cottages and Bungalows.

Losing Their Stripes-Henri Bendel Closes the Closet Door

Of all the indicators of the economic times we are living through perhaps the most interesting to observe is what is happening in retailing. As the stock markets begins to rebound ever so slowly we all know there is a long way to go, but to think we will ever return to "normal" is foolish. The "norm" was never healthy and it is time to change how we spend and how we shop...Did the world really need a Gap on ever block? To see Mall stores fold is sad for the people who lose their jobs,but for those of us who have a romantic notion of retailing there is no loss in store after store after store of "the same".

Shopping was once a joy, a special time shared with good friends or your Mom. We all have memories of shopping for our first party dress, our first pair of heels, our grown-up occasion outfit, our first love of a handbag. Shopping is no longer a collection of special memories but a blur of shopping bags filled with things we don't remember buying.

It is sad to watch the great stores, the stores that invented American retailing and that have been a part of building special memories for generations disappear. In Boston they are all gone. This week yet another retail legend Henri Bendel ,the store that introduced Coco Chanel to America,added to the shift that retailing is going through with their announcement that they will no longer carry luxury clothing and instead will focus on accessories and cosmetics. Come Visit The Shopping Bag Chronicles.

A Baby in Bloom-Spring Awakens at Camp MP

While sitting at my favorite salon having my haircut this week I thought to myself that I am not the only one due for pampering and a fresh snip.

Just as my hair has been stuffed beneath hats and scarves for the past 4 months, the Gardens of Camp Money Pit have been buried beneath piles of snow and ice and sand--it's time for a new season.

Under a milk sky the temperature today reached close to 90 degrees! A welcome piece of joy. It is still April after all, but with a winter of ice and snow and shovels and sand and boots finally gone, I threw open the doors and windows, flicked on the ceiling fans and listened to the birds chirp through the skylights...time to wake up the garden! Come Visit Down the Garden Path for a Report Card on the Gardens of Camp MP Spring 2009

Preserve,Protect,Plant-Earth Day 2009

The human race is challenged more than ever before to demonstrate our mastery - not over nature but of ourselves-Rachel Carson

She Dreamed a Dream...and Got the Last Laugh-A Fairytale Comes To Life

Don't live down to expectations. Go out there and do something remarkable. ~Wendy Wasserstein

"I'm going to make that audience rock" she said as she waited to take the stage.

When Susan Boyle walked on to the stage of Britain's Got Talent television show to audition the live audience giggled and snickered, and the judges could be seen rolling their eyes. She certainly didn't look like a would-be star. A bit pudgy, in need of a makeover ,but clearly feisty and confident in her own voice with a twinkle of "Just wait" in her eyes.

When Simon Cowell asked her the completely inappropriate question about her age she told him she was 47. The audience laughed at her-"and that's just one side of me"she said with great self deprecating humor. She is really 48, "unemployed but looking", lives alone in a village in Scotland with her cat Pebbles, "never been married,never been kissed". This "frumpy" middle aged spit fire sings in her church choir and wants to be a professional singer as famous as Elaine Paige. She had decided to audition after battling depression after losing her Mother-she had not sung since her Mother passed away and had never sung in front of a large audience. Her confidence in tact, she proceeded to turn the phrase "don't judge a book by its cover" into a dream come true. In one amazing performance, that no one but her saw coming, Susan Boyle lifted the spirit of everyone who watched not to mention every woman over 40 and anyone who has ever known they were good but couldn't get past the first impression. Come Visit Dealing Old Maid and Applause

EGGceptional-Easter by Faberge

The Hen Egg was the First of the Imperial eggs crafted by the House of Faberge in 1885. Tsar Alexander III presented it to Tsarina Maria Feodorovna on Easter. Within the white enamel shell is a removable gold yolk which separates to reveal a gold hen with ruby eyes. When the beak of the hen was pushed there was another surprise of a ruby egg pendant within a diamond replica of the Imperial crown. This piece's whereabouts are now unknown.

Each Easter a new egg was created, each more remarkably detailed, jeweled encrusted and surprising than the last.

Lillies of the Valley Egg, Easter 1898

Inspired by Tsarina Alexandra's favorite flower.

My favorite of the Imperial Eggs-The Orange Tree or Bay tree Egg. Presented by Tsar Nicholas II to the Dowager Empress on Easter 1911. A Silver key opened the surprise within the top of the jewel dusted topiary. Within the leaves was a winding mechanism, a portion of the tree would rise, music would begin and a Nightingale would appear, chirp along while moving its beak and flapping its wings. When the music stopped the bird descended back into its nest within the top of the topiary egg.

Photos from Forbes
For more information on the history of the Faberge Eggs, seeFaberge's Eggs: The Extraordinary Story of the Masterpieces That Outlived an Empire

Forget TWEETS-It's All About the PEEPS

Everyone is busy Tweeting on Twitter

Chicago Tribune

but if you really have time on your hands you can still enter the National Geographic Peeps in Places Challenge starring the headliner of every Easter basket-Marshmallow Peeps.

Peeps may send you into a sugar coma but somehow it just isn't Easter, or spring for that matter, without their little faces appearing on the shelves of drugstores and markets. Peeps are the ultimate in nostalgia candy and these days I think everyone is looking for reminders of comfy and fun.

Give PEEPS a Chance

Peeps also makes bunnies and tulips in a wide range of colors, including chocolate,but it is the little yellow chick that appeared over 55 years ago that remains the most famous in the nest and leads his(her?) flock on great adventures each Easter season.

Peeps contests that stretch the talents of the Marshmallow Chicks and their gooey friends are everywhere this time of year. In addition to the National Geographic Photo Challenge, many major newspapers including The Chicago Tribune and The Washington Post hold Peeps Diorama Contests. This year over 1100 sugar coated entries were submitted to The Post displaying scenes played out by chicks and bunnies. Many entries reflect what all PEEPS are Twittering about and many are just Sugar Coated fun! Come Visit Applause! for favorite entries and Winning PEEPS!

Let Them Eat Jelly Beans!

Washington Post

Planting Seed-Stitches! Run for the Needles, Spring Knitting Blossoms

Little Cotton Rabbits

The skies are grey. The Home Opener was postponed. The gardens are covered in winter kill as the buds and bulbs struggle to show their faces...I need Spring!

Blue Sky Alpacas

So what do I do? Head for the Yarn Shop!

Classic Elite Heather Bagni

I have packed away the winter projects of wools and the skeins of tweeds and Alpaca. It's Cotton-Time! Drapey cardigans, Elegant Tanks, Shrugs and wraps and easy to wear in Colors that make you smile. Skinny yarn, Luxurious cotton blends, Eco-inspired fibers.

Rowan-Sarah Hatton

The spring patterns have arrived like a welcome bouquet-Run for the Needles and Come Visit Winding Yarn for some of my favorites from the spring collections.

Vogue Knitting-Shiri Mor

Play Ball! Opening Day 2009

It breaks your heart. It is designed to break your heart. The game begins in spring, when everything else begins again, and it blossoms in the summer, filling the afternoons and evenings, and then as soon as the chill rains come, it stops and leaves you to face the fall alone. ~A. Bartlett Giamatti

A good friend of mine used to say, 'This is a very simple game. You throw the ball, you catch the ball, you hit the ball. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, sometimes it rains. " Think about that for a while---Bull Durham

"I Do Hugs"-The First Lady's Real Fashion Statement

"If you want to know the reason why I am standing here, it's because of education... "I never cut class. I loved getting A's, I liked being smart. ... I thought being smart is cooler than anything in the world."

Azzedine Alaia

This week Michelle Obama stepped onto the world stage in her Jimmy Choos and did more than show off her Thakoon clad style...she showed her heart.

While the President carries the weight of the world with a desk filled with nightmares, it is Michelle who is the uplifting presence, spreading inspiration and hope with a warmth and spirit that is genuine-winning over even Her Majesty.

Isabel Toledo

While watching the First Lady enter to meet the Queen I got a rush of excitement for her. The little girl from the South Side of Chicago, who shared a room with her brother while growing up, was having tea at Buckingham Palace with The Queen of England!...and she looked very much at home.

Thakoon Coat

Much has been written about her wardrobe this trip of course-she chose versatility and designers that reflect her personality from Michael Kors to Azzedine Alaia, Isabel Toledo, Thakoon and J.Crew!

As she stood next to Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, pussycat bow to pussycat bow and kitten heel to flat,I thought one of these women is playing a role- costume design by Dior of course, and the other is being who she is-independent, strong, smart, glamorous and yes, real! An American woman living her life under extraordinary circumstances while staying true to her core.
Junya Watanabe Cardigan

It was at the Elizabeth Anderson Garrett School,however, her first solo of the trip, that Europe had the chance to see up close the woman that is Michelle Obama. Please Visit Political Woman and Pearls of Grace.

Mrs. Obama's Garden

And he gave it for his opinion, that whoever could make two ears of corn, or
two blades of grass, to grow upon a spot of ground where only one grew
before, would deserve better of mankind, and do more essential service
to his country, than the whole race of politicians put together.
- Jonathan Swift, Gulliver's Travels


When you see images of the White House Lawns they are always perfectly manicured, graceful and stately. Jacqueline Kennedy and Lady Bird Johnson created gardens that lend a backdrop of peace and beauty to a residence that has the weight of the planet on its doorstep each day...but peas and beets, carrots,spinach and tomatoes??-Change has come to the White House gardens!

A kitchen garden in the backyard-the South Lawn to be exact- of the White House is now settling in and soon will be sprouting- providing veggies that the White House chefs will pick and prepare for the First Family and their guests. The first veggie garden at the White House since Eleanor Roosevelt planted one during WWII, Mrs. Obama's garden is also a teaching garden, is there a better classroom than a garden? Come Visit Down the Garden Path

At Long Last-Spring!

All through the long winter, I dream of my garden. On the first day of spring, I dig my fingers deep into the soft earth. I can feel its energy, and my spirits soar.
Helen Hayes

Facing It!-My Annual Search for a Whole NEW Me!

There is an annual journey I take each year. Determined that This will be the year that I find flawless skin. No more blotchiness, no more breakouts, no more spots,bumps,flakes,pores you can plant potatoes in...no more lines and creases before their time! Is that too much to ask?

I really am not a product junkie..but somehow with each passing year I find more and more jars,bottles,brushes,glosses,STUFF living in my bathroom and still I am back out there on the trail.

Off I go in search of the Dream moisturizer that doesn't make me look older!... A spot concealer that doesn't peel my whole face off.... a mascara that doesn't give me eyelashes that look like One BIG Lash! How about a gloss that actually stays on my lips? I also go on a fragrance safari-sniffing my way around the globe trying to find body lotion that doesn't make me smell like a fruit stand or a fragrance that doesn't put me to bed with a migraine.

It is now March...I am exhausted! and so is my credit card...

I have explored every skincare line known to womankind. Read Every magazine article(PLEASE publication world STOP writing about Getting Great Skin at Any Age-it ain't happening!) Torn ads out of magazines, done on-line skin analysis surveys, printing off the results and carrying them with me-I need how many products???!!

I have spritzed and sniffed and shmeared and dabbed and buffed and brushed and been made up and put down. ENOUGH!

Here's what I learned from this year's odyssey along with some products that I think are worth checking into,obviously everyone's skin care needs and likes are different but hopefully it will help you on your next "I Hate My...."day. Please Visit The Shopping bag Chronicles

Island Hopping! Lunch on the Beach-Grand Case, St. Martin

With shopping taken care of in Saint Barths (Hello Longchamp) we saved time for lunch on the beach in St. Martin-Hungry? Head for Grand Case!

For lunch we settled into Le Tastevin .

Come Visit The World at Your Feet

Happy Birthday Doll!-Barbie in Bryant Park

Barbie and I don't speak. We haven't in years! She used to live with me, her clothes and pumps everywhere. My dog would grab her by her hair or swallow her little pink heels, which was often a source of great upset at our house...me for Barbie and her missing shoes which were essential to her "Look", the rest of the family for the dog.

A special day involved a trip to the toy store to buy a new outfit or a new accessory.

Robert Best, Mattel
I designed clothes for her, I dressed her and her friends in only the best and most recent styles and hung them all carefully in her closet on teeny plastic hangers. She traveled with me, packed in her own travel case with the appropriate wardrobe for the trip. She had a life filled with ball gowns, great hair, sunglasses, shoes!! - at 9 years old I could only dream about such a life, and did. Looking back on all those hours buttoning itsy bitsy buttons, I think I have to give Barbie a lot of the credit for inspiring my life long love of fashion, elegant style and beautiful clothes. She was, and is again, every little girl's fashion muse. We did had a lot of fun together,but...

...then I grew up. I became a student of women's history and the impact of popular culture on girl's self image and the development of their self esteem. Barbie became the negative poster girl for the damage that a skinny youth based culture can impose on not only little girls but women of all ages. Playing with Barbies became something that enlightened Moms did not allow their little girls to do despite growing up with her themselves. She became a target and lost her cache. The ideal of perfection, long legs, skinny frame, perfect eyelashes and lips could be seen going hand in hand with the rise in eating disorders, demand for plastic surgery and low self esteem and achievement for girls. Can a toy cause such emotional impact...maybe, but I am ready to make peace with Barbie. Yes, she has in her "life" embodied the "ideal" and that is a dangerous goal for little girls to attempt to achieve. Barbie,however, is a cultural icon whose "life" has reflected our history as women and the changes we have been through and the lives we live today... Quite a load to pin on a 9" piece of plastic, but somehow Barbie has weathered it all and shows no signs of sitting back on her pink sofa and kicking back her pointy heels...and on March 9 Barbara Millicent Roberts(who knew?) turns 50.!

To celebrate this milestone what did Barbie do???-Botox, Lip injections, Lipo...??? NO, instead Barbie hit the runway at New York Fashion Week

Koi Suwannagate

with her own show in Bryant Park. Come Visit The Shopping Bag Chronicles

Sunshine and Shopping Bags-Island Hopping, St. Barths

4400 miles from Paris nestled along the Caribbean is the glorious island of St. Barths. Settled in 1648 by French colonists who left behind their Chanel bags,patisseries and their exquisite yachts. Come Visit The World at Your Feet

Toes in the Sand! - Island Hopping, Virgin Gorda

When Christopher Columbus first saw this jewel of an island he decided it looked like a reclining rotund woman and thus named it Virgin Gorda.

The third largest of the BVI islands it is only 8 square mile-but what miles! Please Visit The World at Your Feet

What's Next? -"Let's Go Change America"

"Today I say to you that the challenges we face are real. They are serious and they are many. They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know this, America - they will be met...
...Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America. "



It was a day unlike any other in memory or history. The world literally stopped, watched, and absorbed the moment. A moment that so many never believed would happen. A moment that will be held tightly as a seed of hope and determination for young lives...kids that did not have a reason to believe before this day now have a real role model to shine the path for them. A moment that so many did not live to share but whose ghosts sat proudly as every step was taken today. The significance of the day seen in the faces and emotion that flooded Washington. There was the grace, the pomp and the tradition of a seamless transition of democracy between two men who could not be more ideologically different, but who worked together to transfer power through ballots not bullets.

FDR was shaped by his time...Barack Obama will transform his.

The expectations are palpable. No mere mortal could meet the historic challenges,the hopes, the expectations. It is important to wake up in this new era and remember that Barack Obama for all his many gifts is not a Super Hero,he is a man...a man who has been handed a world in turmoil and a nation in pain. He cannot, and will not, approach what sits on his desk as any president before him has, and we cannot expect him to achieve,conquer,and change doing business as usual.

"What the cynics fail to understand is that the ground has shifted beneath them - that the stale political arguments that have consumed us for so long no longer apply. "

He takes this office because he earned this office in a different way than anyone who has ever run for the presidency. He called on Americans to get involved in their own destiny. Now, we must work along side him, this skinny kid with the funny name who holds our hearts and our hopes.

"What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility - a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation, and the world, duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task.
This is the price and the promise of citizenship."

If we just sit back and wait, sit back and not respond, sit back and just watch, then our future will be of our own folly...that is not what this time is about. A nation that became lazy,fat and spoiled now must remember history and understand that the lessons of this election, the lessons of the men and women who fought to make this moment possible, can alter the world.

"This is the meaning of our liberty and our creed - why men and women and children of every race and every faith can join in celebration across this magnificent mall, and why a man whose father less than sixty years ago might not have been served at a local restaurant can now stand before you to take a most sacred oath."

This time is indeed about "Responsibility". It is also about stepping out of the divisive circles and forging a new future. It is scary out there and breaking old habits and beliefs will be difficult for so many,but there is no other way to do it. The old ways failed and failed miserably. If we do not learn from history then we endanger what we were given to safeguard and to build upon.

"Let it be said by our children’s children that when we were tested we refused to let this journey end, that we did not turn back nor did we falter; and with eyes fixed on the horizon and God’s grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future generations."

We hand him our hope and he gives us our chance.

Preserve, Protect and Defend-History!

We remain a young nation, but in the words of Scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things. The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit; to choose our better history; to carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea, passed on from generation to generation: the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness.

President Barack Obama- January 20, 2009

Inaugurating Pride

"...What gives me that hope is what I see when I look out across this mall. For in these monuments are chiseled those unlikely stories that affirm our unyielding faith - a faith that anything is possible in America. . ..And yet, as I stand here tonight, what gives me the greatest hope of all is not the stone and marble that surrounds us today, but what fills the spaces in between. It is you - Americans of every race and region and station who came here because you believe in what this country can be and because you want to help us get there... never forget that the true character of our nation is revealed not during times of comfort and ease, but by the right we do when the moment is hard. I ask you to help me reveal that character once more, and together, we can carry forward as one nation, and one people, the legacy of our forefathers that we celebrate today."


If you watched any coverage of this weekend's kickoff to the Inauguration you had to have seen the kids of Ron Clark Academy. They are singing their "Dear Obama" anthem everywhere! Their faces for me the definition of Joy... and, yes, Hope and Change... They believe in the promise this time holds and most importantly they believe in themselves... and I believe in them!

Watching the kids of Ron Clark Academy and listening to their words of thanks and enthusiasm I began to understand what has been missing from every other Presidential inauguration I can remember-Pride. Come Visit Political Woman


This is a letter to Barack Obama…it’s our way of saying thank you.

Thank you for showing me that no doors are closed.

I have the power to control my own future.

Thank you for showing me that I can stand tall and be proud of who I am.

You have given us strength, courage, and hope

And for that we all say Thank You!...
And today is a new day where we can all see a new hope for our country...

And we know that along your journey, people said mean things to you and about you. But you never gave up and that gives us the strength to never give up. You are more than a President. You are a role model, a father figure, and a man we can all look up to, and for that we say Thank You.

Dear Obama ...You’ve broken down doors

No limits anymore

We all agree that Yes We Can

Sincerely, every child, every family, everyone…

Barack Obama – We Thank You!

RonClark Academy Kids

Baby it's COLD Outside-Who Cares! Run for the Needles...The New Vogue Knitting

The icicle encrusted thermometer read Minus 7 this morning...Balmy compared to Fargo I know. The driveway is an Olympic Skating Rink. 6 more inches of Snow en route...It's Winter in New England-I love it! Why? It's KNITTING Season!! and the Perfect excuse to surround myself with skeins of Alpaca, Merino, Mohair...Why stick my nose outside?? The New Vogue Knitting is in the mailbox! Put your bunny slippers on and Run for the Needles! Come visit Winding Yarn

Comfort and Change-OK, it's January!

We spend January 1 walking through our lives, room by room, drawing up a list of work to be done, cracks to be patched. Maybe this year, to balance the list, we ought to walk through the rooms of our lives... not looking for flaws, but for potential. ~Ellen Goodman

What a strange week the first week of the New Year is! You have to plug your brain back in from months of Holidaying and deal with all that you said would get done"After the Holidays".

January means literally tossing the old year in the trash. I sent 2008 and all those days of appointments and meetings and the "everyday" into the recycle bin. With the 2008 datebooks and calendars gone so is another year of my life and you cannot help asking..."What did I do with all those 365 days I was given?" "What can I do with a fresh batch of days, how can this year be different?"

Hitting the restart button on your life is the definition of the month of January. January itself doesn't help much! It is cold, it is bleak, it is snowing, it is icy ...CNN is scaring us back into our pajamas, and rather than a revolution in our life we need a hug! How to balance the opportunity of the New Year with the inclination to stay under the covers??? Baby Steps! January can actually be useful, but you cannot ask too much of a month that is the month with the number 1, so use these days to make an EASY transition. Come Visit Dealing Old Maid

2009 Sparkles by SweaterGirl

Centennial

sometimes when one person is missing, the whole world seems depopulated.
- lamartine


My family has suffered far too many losses in recent years. It is often very hard to swallow the world without the ones I love close by, none more so than my Grandmother.

Nana was the harbor that we all sailed toward. She was the force, and quite a force it was, that instilled a sense of belonging,commanded attention and kept the string of connection tied tightly to her.

It will be four years this coming April that we lost her. At 96 you should be accepting and grateful for such an amazing lifetime. It will tell you a great deal about her presence to say that anyone who knew her was thrown by her loss. None of us could really imagine that there would be a time when she would not be here to direct us all. Without her we have been cast adrift. There is no longer a center point, a guiding light, a command post. She captained all of our lives and planted an NPS in me (Nana Positioning System) that makes me stop and ask WWNS-What would Nana Say? I know she would have a lot to say!

This month would have been her 100th birthday and she would have expected a party! Please visit Dealing Old Maid, and celebrate my Nana on her centennial birthday.

Some people care too much, I think it's called love.
-- Winnie the Pooh

What Day is it? Turn the Page, 2009 Calendars

"What day is it? - 'It's today' - squeaked Piglet. 'My favourite day' - said Pooh."
- A.A. Milne

Fred Flare

I am not a fan of New Year's as a holiday. Honestly I feel the same way about New Year's as I do about Birthdays-Do I need to celebrate that another year of my life has flown by?

What I do love about New Year's is that it gives us all a clean slate. Turn the page and you have 12 brand spanking new months to get it right. That is probably why I love calendar shopping. I live in a deadline driven world so a calendar is essential. I have them everywhere and I still never know what day it is! Please Visit The Shopping Bag Chronicles

joie studio-Etsy

Peace 12/25/08 by SweaterGirl

In This Season of Giving-Give When You Give, Gifts That Make A Difference

Heifer International

It would be nice to think that we Give all year round, not just in the weeks between Thanksgiving and New Year's. We should always reach out, show our affection, remember those who make a difference in our daily lives. We don't always do that though, nor do we stop and remember to care and give to those who may not share our good fortune. No matter what this New Year brings we all have much to share,even if it is just our time.

There are some very simple ways to give. Celebrate the season by cleaning out the closet and donating coats that your kids have outgrown, each time you open a gift, give something away to make room for that gift-that is the tradition of Boxing Day. If you are still shopping then the perfect "Don't Have a Clue" present is a donation to an organization that makes a difference in a child's life such as The New England Home for Little Wanderers, Alex's Lemonade Stand, First Book...This year especially your local Food Pantries are in need as are local shelters...Holiday Season 2008 requires us all to Give!

Presents for a Purpose

You can also give when you shop! Now there's a No Brainer! Here are some organizations and companies that are making a difference through their products and their extraordinary work. Please Visit Pearls of Grace!

Wrap it Up!-These are a Few of My Favorite Things

The Weather Outside is Frightful...and my plan to take you on a tour of my favorite small, wonderful, jewel box of shops has been curtailed by over a foot of snow and a virus that has left me in my jammies.

I know what the date is but truly it's OK! There is a frosting on everything outside and we look like a Classic Holiday greeting card setting the mood for some serious shopping. There is GOOD news. EVERYTHING, I mean EVERYTHING is on sale. In fact,items I purchased on Thursday because I thought "How Low Can They Go??" are marked even lower this morning! The stores and the economy are making us all, even this Pro, dizzy! BREATHE! Go put your bunny slippers on,brew a mug of English Breakfast and curl up with your laptop. There is still Free shipping and These are a Few of My Favorite Things!

All Favorites can be found on The Shopping Bag Chronicles!


Raindrops on Roses-Blooming Gifts for the Gardens and their Gardeners-Visit Down the Garden Path


Bright Copper Kettles-Cookbooks!! Visit Oven Mitts


Warm Woolen Mittens-Knitters Gifts-Visit Winding Yarn


Girls in White Dresses with Blue Satin Sashes-Lovely Gifts - Visit The Shopping Bag Chronicles


Brown Paper Packages Tied up with String-BAGS, Accessories and Surprises!! Visit The Shopping Bag Chronicles


Whiskers on Kittens and Puppies-Gifts gone to the Dogs-Visit The Shopping Bag Chronicles

Cream Colored Ponies-Its all about The Kids-Visit The Shopping Bag Chronicles- A Special Guest helps me out on this one!


Wild Geese that Fly with the Moon on their Wings-Gifts for THE Guy you love-Visit The Shopping Bag Chronicles

Silver White Winters that Melt into Springs-Just Give me Books!!-Visit Applause!
Sources for Favorites Shown-Charleston Gardens,Williams Sonoma,Lantern Moon,Anthropologie,Orla Kiely,Mackenzie-Childs,Restoration Hardware,Marie-Antoinette and the Last Garden at Versailles

It's the Thought That Counts!!-Really!

I've been a busy bee of late, trying to balance a bad economy, that looks as if it will only become gloomier, with the need to thank so many who are loyal and come to me for consulting services. Throw in sales and discounts that no Shop Girl has ever seen...well it's tough NOT shop these days. Give me 40% off on top of a sale and...I buckle!

My philosophy about Gift Giving has always been ..."Think Before You Wrap!" It is easy in the Holiday crazies, especially as THE day gets closer, to "just do it", to buy ANYTHING to be done. I really do believe that it is better to give nothing, or to just send a card, than to give a mindless or useless gift that will end up in the bottom of a drawer or worse a trash bag...how wasteful and really how insulting. How do you feel when you open a thoughtless gift?

Now more than ever when gift giving means pulling out that over used piece of plastic we all need to STOP,breathe and THINK!!

We live in an overly consumed consumer age...and clearly it has taken its toll, and we all are paying the price. I have found myself of late popping in and out of stores thinking "why is all this stuff here"...so much out there that is just "stuff". Where is the Wonderful? Where is the Beautiful? Where is the Special...?? If I see one more box of peppermint bark...well let's hope I don't!

Now,I am NOT saying Don't Shop... My Gosh! I would be put to bed if that ever happened! What I am saying is- Shop Smart, Shop Carefully, Shop with your Heart and your Head. Put some thought into it! Care about the money you are spending, and care about the gift you are giving! Is it something that fits the recipient or is it just a box to wrap and give and be done with it?

Be creative in your shopping and your giving. What would that person like that they would not necessarily go out and buy...that is always a good path to go down. You do not have to spend a lot to show you have thought about them! Here are some ideas to get you thinking...

-Fill a bag with their favorite childhood treat-Mallomars,Cracker Jack,Twizzlers...
-Give a subscription to a great magazine-there are deals as low as $5 a year! -Wrap up a few spring bulbs to be forced this winter or some seed packets
-Tie a bow on a bag of gourmet popcorn and two movie tickets
-Give a Special Day-plan a visit to a museum,the zoo, lunch, a picnic...
-Scoop up last minute/bargain tickets to a show,the ballet or a concert
-Give a Day at the Game, buy tickets to your team's minor league club for the upcoming season.
-Wrap up a Download certificate for their iPod

If spending is just not a good idea this year you can still put some thought into a Gift...

-Create a picture album filled with pictures from a special trip,event,occasion
-Print out Gift Certificates offering your services babysitting or dog sitting
-Create Special Day certificates telling them they can do whatever they wish on one special day. You can drive them around, run errands for them, do the laundry, walk the dog...
-Give a favorite book that you treasure off your shelf and write a note telling them why you love it.
-Knit them a quick one skein scarf
-Bake their favorite cookie
-Send them A Thank You note letting them know how important they are in your life-put a ribbon on it!

Finally and most especially if you can't think of anything or find anything...then Give!!! This is a very tough year for non profit organizations and their resources are strained to the breaking point as the need for their services is at an all time high...GIVE!! when you GIVE! Better still, give when you Shop. Watch for Pearls of Grace's Favorite Things for a list of ideas. Keep an eye out also for ideas I have given some thought to..Some of My Favorite Things.

The Jewel of Giving-The Joan Hornig Collection

Usually when you make a donation to your favorite charitable organization you might receive a tote bag, maybe a mug, a calendar or a Tshirt. Of course you are not giving to receive but to give. Jewelry designer Joan Hornig has turned the phrase "...it is better to give than to receive" on its ear, or earring as the case may be.

Please Visit Pearls of Grace

Send Me a Card-Just Pop-It in an Envelope!

Victoria and Albert Museum

I live my life surgically attached to an email box. I think at last count I have 6 email addresses that actually get used, you can get dizzy hopping from one to the other and sometimes I forget which box I am in. Strange life for someone who loves all things paper. I still have the very first birthday, holiday and Valentine cards I ever received. I have cards from so many who are no longer with me but I have their notes and their love in an envelope forever, can't get that with an email! Visit A Well Appointed Life

MOMA

Tossing Pumpkins-The Winter Garden

How do the weather gods know the second the Thanksgiving leftovers are in the fridge? It seems as if the moment the last balloon floats past Macy's someone flips the switch and says OK-WINTER!. You can get serious whiplash in the transition from Thanksgiving to Holiday...Bam! Goodbye pumpkins and cornucopia..hello snowflakes and silver bells..forget that that every retailer has been playing White Christmas since Labor Day! Come Visit Down the Garden Path

Window Shopping-Design on Display

Bergdorf Goodman

Oh how I love to window shop! If you don't actually go into the store you have a better chance of not spending anything! OK you can go on-line but ... This Holiday Season perhaps more than any other in many years we are all simply Window Shoppers. If you "need a little Christmas, right this very minute" but you know that your credit card has been locked in the deep freeze why not just press your nose against the glass and soak in some Holiday style.

If you are a Shopper then beautiful store windows are your museum exhibits-no entrance fee required! Holiday store windows are probably how many of us became SHOPPERS. We bundled up and strolled mitten to mitten along downtown streets sparkling with lights and animated dolls, teddy bears and trains. The windows captured our imagination and filled our heads with dreams. Visiting department store window displays also became a tradition of family holidays and a signature of American retailing. Lord and Taylor
Our memories may have made those windows more special than perhaps they were but it seems as if window designers have tried each season to capture the nostalgia and reach for our heartstrings. Window displays I feel are an art. You need to grab passersby, make them stop and most especially entice them to want to visit inside and shop! all while creating an expression of style. Come Visit The Shopping Bag Chronicles and A Well Appointed Life
Saks Fifth Avenue

OK Cookie-Let's Swap!

Do you know that it is a well known fact that the broken off feet or arms of a Gingerbread person have NO calories!!

Each year around this time I take out one of my most favorite and dog eared cookbooks. It is covered in spatters of batter, some of the pages have confectioner's sugar dust and flour prints, a few even have a smear of chocolate...I have marked the pages with pieces of paper towel so I can find my recipes and clean up!

I have owned the original The Wellesley Cookie Exchange Cookbook

(the Sequel!!)

for probably 25 years and I would never part with it! Probably the best known Cookie Exchange there is and my favorite Cookie Book...Grab the Mixing Bowls and Cookie Sheets and Come Visit Oven Mitts!

Wild for Anna's Flora-The New Anna French Collection

I know I know...it is Thanksgiving weekend and I should be making lists, shopping on line, decorating the gardens...still time for all that! Watch this space!

...but today is the first truly bleak looking New England day, snow flakes are forecast and the clouds have enveloped the gardens in a chill of things to come...I need flowers,color, and light today. Hello Anna French! Anna's new Wild Flora Collection brightens the day...

Come Visit A Well Appointed Life

Giving Thanks 2008 by SweaterGirl

Get Out the Datebook-Back to Classics, the 2009 Masterpiece Classics Season

I grew up on a Sunday ritual of Masterpiece Theatre. Each week a new episode filled with great characters and stories. The original mini-series format can be found in Masterpiece's Upstairs Downstairs and the Forsyte Saga. The heart of the original series,however were the classics. I really do think that one of the reasons I am a Reader is because of time spent with Masterpiece Theatre.

This week Rebecca Eaton, Executive Producer of Masterpiece, unwrapped an early Christmas gift with the announcement of the 2009 Season of Masterpiece Classics and its new host! Please Visit Applause!

A Whole New TWIST-Run for the Needles--The Winter Twist Collective

Mari Muinonen's Sylvi

I am a magazine junkie...if it has pages I subscribe to it. There are piles of unread issues that I never seem to have time to catch up with and loose leaf notebooks stuffed with pages of design details, fabrics, recipes, wonderful inns, great bags...and of course knitting ideas!

The magazines I always find time for are my knitting magazines, but lately they have let me down...not a lot that grabbed my needles---that was until the Twist Collective

Technically the Twist Collective is not a magazine but a Webzine, you don't flip through the pages...you click through the pages. Now the whole on-line magazine/periodical thing, webzines, has not caught on with me. I still like the feel of the New York Times in my hand, and love to curl up on a rainy day with a pile of unread Vogues and Traditional Homes and Town and Countrys and...You can't curl up with a laptop and you can't tear the pages out!

Pam Allen's Ariosa Cowl with Watercolors by Eloise Narrigan

That is why I was skeptical when I first heard about The Twist Collective--a knitting magazine on-line???? How could that work???

Tuulia Salmela's Cabled Cuff Gloves


WOW... was I WRONG!! This is not your Mother's Knitting magazine!!What a Joy! The new Winter Twist is ready and online and it is just beautiful!! A visual treat filled with lovely articles with the centerpiece of course being the collection of patterns that will have you running for the needles! Visit Winding Yarn!

Sadie Dayton Photography from Twist Collective

Go Bare!-The Promise of Peonies

I know I should be thinking pumpkin pie, squash and cranberries but I look out the greenhouse window and I see my poor hydrangeas who have finally given in to November. I will go clip them back, leave some dried on the stems for the winter garden, and tuck them in for the winter, but I am delaying saying "so long". The white roses of Camp Moneypit have not given in just yet but their time is near as well, they know it and, sigh, so do I.

Knowing I was going through my annual "I miss my garden" mood, a good friend sent me a "cheer up" email. She knows me well and this email had two of the best mood changers-Peonies! and a Sale! Come Visit Down the Garden Path.

Change Has Come to America-President-Elect Barack Obama

"There are no red states, there are no blue states, there is the United States"

Change has come to America...with no balloons, no confetti, no fireworks...just a voice,somber, real,passionate. Tonight,there are no colors...the face of the American map, as he told us 4 years ago, is not about red states and blue states...it is about the people of the United States.

The campaign saw the shift, knew the body politic had undergone a seed change demographically, enviornmentally, technologically,emotionally...and they knew those were the paths to reach change. They built a coalition, a movement, one American at a time.

Did the rotten economy help? Sure. Did the choice of a quirky right leaning inexperienced Sarah Palen help? Yes. Did the profound unpopularity of Bush help? Absolutely...but this election from the start was a rocket ride for Obama. His intelligence and ability to understand this country,read the faces of this country, resulted in the realization that we will never be the same.

A country that just 4 years ago re-elected George W. Bush woke up and realized that their destiny was in their own hands..they did not and could not accept life as we have lived it the past 8 years...Barack Obama led us to that place.

It was about the numbers. The faces behind those numbers are not the same that they were even 4 years ago...the faces in Chicago in Grant Park,hundreds of thousands, were made up of the real America. An America that needed leadership, that needed to be "fired up" and it was Barack Obama who knew how to do this and who reached out to every corner of this country and created a force.

There are those who will never accept this election, as perhaps they cannot accept change, fear and ignorance may keep them from understanding that there is a new electorate, a shifting electorate, the torch as been passed. Please Visit Political Woman and Pearls of Grace

Yes, it Matters!

The Good StoryTeller-In Appreciation, Studs Terkel

"My epitaph? My epitaph will be 'Curiosity did not kill this cat..."

He was an Author, an Actor, an Activist,a Radio Personality and an American Original. He devoted his life to a simple act-listening. Studs Terkel also had a lot to say and through his writing and radio show he chronicled his conversations that recorded the social history of the second half of twentieth century America. He told the stories that define the American fabric. He celebrated the uncelebrated lives in this country.

Studs Terkel was a national treasure. It is so sad that he would leave us just days before an historic election filled with stories he would have loved to tell.

Please Visit Applause!

From the Top! The Sweet Potatuh Sweater

You're the top! You're the Coliseum.
You're the top! You're the Louvre Museum.
You're the melody from a symphony by Strauss.
You're a Bendel bonnet,
A Shakespeare sonnet,
You're Mickey Mouse!
You're the Nile! You're the Tow'r of Pisa.
You're the smile on the Mona Lisa.
I'm a worthless check, a total wreck, a flop!
But if baby I'm the bottom, you're the top! Cole Porter

I suffer from a disorder...ADKD, Attention Deficit Knitter's Disorder...I am always itching to move to the next project, always designing the next thing up on the needles...I can't wait to finish what I am working on so I can start casting on the next great thing!!

That is why I am so excited to have rediscovered Knitting from the Top, or Neck Down Knitting...when you are done..you are done! Move on..cast on the next one..Love that! Visit Winding Yarn

All We Are Saying...A Timely Anniversary Celebration

You know that everybody has a voice
And how they use it is their own free choice
But in your glory I will not rejoice
If you choose the ways of war...While the winds of war rage on
Let mine (oh let my small voice) be a voice
for peace...Let it start here with me...Dan Fogelberg, A Voice for Peace

OK, so I am a "little" late with these Birthday wishes, but Happy 50th Birthday Peace Symbol!! You still look good!! The actual event was February 21st but I think as we hyperventillate our way toward this Tuesday its a good time to Give Peace a Chance!

The Peace Sign first appeared amidst the British Anti-Nuclear Protests 50 years ago. Designer and conscientious objector Gerald Holtom fashioned the symbol from the flag signal alphabet using the N for Nuclear and D for disarmemement and placed them within a circle to symbolize earth.

Mr Holtom explained that the symbol also demonstrated a person in despair with their arms stretched downward but later regretted that analogy as he wished that the sign be inverted so that the "arms" would be upward in celebration of Peace. The Peace sign would be carried across the Atlantic and grew in popularity and use throughout the civil rights movement,into the 70s anti-war movement and the anti-nuclear protests of the 80s. Today it is considered nostalgic and retro but remains the dominate symbol and internationally recognized sign for PEACE.
Barney's Hippy Holiday

Please Visit Political Woman and Pearls of Grace

Trail Break-Politics on the Shelf, History on View

Duck for President


Barack Obama is taking a break from the Trail, his beloved Grandmother is very ill and he has left the campaign just 12 days before the election-remarkable, admirable.

Well, if Barack can take a break I guess we can too. I think we all need one...I really don't care how much Sarah spent at Neiman's...it didn't help! She should have asked Cindy to take her shopping...

With 12 days to go in this amazing election, Stop,Breathe,and go curl up with a good movie or book...you may just come away ready to care... and ready to vote! Please visit Applause! and Political Woman

Moonlight in the Gardens of Camp MP

It has been difficult to find time to tend to the gardens at Camp MP of late. Today's weather was more late November than October, making me long for just last week when we had perfect days that just couldn't be missed. On one of those perfect October afternoons I decided that the everyday stuff could be tossed aside to make room for Fall in the gardens. I spent all day and soon found myself gardening by moonlight like Morticia, only I keep the blooms. Come Visit Down the Garden Path

Take the Picture! Take the Picture! Silent Stories, The Photographs of Richard Avedon and Yousuf Karsh

Yousuf Karsh


"The endless fascination of these people for me lies in what I call their inward power. It is part of the elusive secret that hides in everyone, and it has been my life's work to try to capture it on film. Yousuf Karsh

We live in a media crazed time. Images and sound bites and noise come flying from every corner-especially now. So much gets lost in the frenetic pace of how news is now delivered. There is no time to reflect, no space to understand, no moment to just stop and see. I need the still , the quiet, the contemplative style that only a single image can give you. The work of Richard Avedon and Yousuf Karsh would be welcome to this moment in time. A new book and a celebratory exhibit are good places to escape for a bit. Please visit Applause!

Richard Avedon

Let's Make a Deal-The Annual Leap of Faith

Each Columbus Day I enter into serious negotiations...not for a new business deal but with the winter residents of my gardens. The gardens at Camp MP have admirers but they are not the type who ooh and aaah and walk on..no these have fuzzy tails and think my gardens are a country club, dinner included! Each year I make a deal with the Nutkin Family. The Nutkins are an ever populating bunch and they have taught one another all the best places to shop, my gardens being the Bergdorf's of bulbs. The squirrels and I have long discussions and I make every effort to hold up my end of the bargain..they,however.... So here's the deal, if they leave my newly planted bulbs alone they can feast on whatever they can shake out of the bird feeders all winter...Squirrels are not to be trusted! Visit Down the Garden Path and Go Dig a Hole!

Better than Mac and Cheese! Run for the Needles!

I know, I know...it has been a wild, rough and tumble week. Unless your name is Warren Buffet the news has not been cheerful. Stock tickers combined with the noise from the election, which even this political junkie has had enough of, you may just want to crawl under the covers...not so fast!...not without your knitting.

I admit to knitting a la Madame Defarge this week....through debates and playoff games and Dramamine rides on Wall Street- I have gone running for my needles! How to cope...well, not a lot you can do and that is maddening in and of itself...so you might as well breathe and knit! This is knitting season!! and no matter the news casting on a new project always brings us back to what matters most...yarn! So much better than Macaroni and Cheese to provide comfort don't you think?!

Tammy Eigeman Thompson

Where to start??? Here are some thoughts to get you to turn off CNN and run for the needles! Please Visit Winding Yarn

The Reluctant Icon-In Rememberance, Paul Newman

" I was part of my times", Paul Newman to Barbara Walters,2008

"I'm a great believer in luck..good luck, bad luck, medium luck... my interest in philanthropy is a composite picture of all that..what could be better than to hold your hand out to people less fortunate than you are..."

He believed it was all about luck. He was an Actor with a capital A. He was a Director, an Activist, an extraordinary Philanthropist, a passionate and successful Race car driver("Racing gives me grace", he would say)...and Yes he was a Legend...a word that we toss around too lightly and one that would certainly make him cringe. He defined Cool. He was sexy, seductive, tough, charming, funny,smart...perfect even in his flaws.

Butch Cassidy screenwriter William Goldman said of him "...I don’t think Paul Newman really thinks he is Paul Newman in his head.” He spent most of his career avoiding being "Paul Newman"...the "Paul Newman" the world created was not how he led his life and he would credit his success to "Newman's luck".

'If my eyes should ever turn brown, my career is shot to hell," he once said. Please visit Applause and Pearls of Grace

Designer's Choice-Politics Hit the Runway

Narciso Rodriguez

The first Presidential Debate of this fleeting campaign season is in the books...who won?? Depends upon where you sit. My guess is there was not much movement in position coming out of last night's (almost didn't happen) debate. The issues are extraordinarily complex and there will never be a simple answer to resolve the magnitude of a mess this nation is in...you have to ask, why would anyone want that job?? It is a frightening time but if you love the political game it is a great ride.

This has indeed been an historic campaign and for years and years to come the 2008 Election will be studied and analyzed. Maybe with all we face, with all that is at stake in this election we need to step back from the political attacks, strategic games, well placed insinuations and very tall tales of accomplishments, and ask "What Do You Wear to the most important election of our time?? Please Visit Political Woman and The Shopping Bag Chronicles

Tory Burch

Playing in a Jewel Box-Henri Bendel and The House of Lavande

Wall St. is imploding on a roller coaster ride like we have never seen; portfolios, pensions and financial security are teetering without anyone giving answers that make sense; the election is just weeks away and there is no clear view to the finish line; hurricanes have tossed homes and lives adrift; the cost of even getting out of bed is insane and polar bears are losing their ice pads...what are we supposed to do??? Change the station!..at least for a few minutes, not a lot we can do anyway and if we keep watching CNN we really will never get out of bed!

In the midst of all the gloom I found a sunny sign...OK so it was in WWD not the WSJ but we all need our diversions. Two of my favorite passions are together---Henri Bendel is launching a new department to spotlight the House of Lavande .Come Visit The Shopping Bag Chronicles.

A Place at the Table-The Art of Detail

I inherited my love of table details from my Grandmother, like so many gifts she gave me. I still have pieces and pieces of her many sets of china still snuggled tightly in their bubble wrap that I have yet to unwrap---each time I open a teacup it is like opening another gift from Nana... so I suppose it will be a long time before I get through all of those packages.

I have more place settings than I do people to invite for dinner, but that doesn't stop me from scouting new patterns and being drawn to the precious details that a pattern can hold. Please Visit A Well Appointed Life

The Women who Applaud

The election of 2008 has been an amazing ride for those of us for whom watching politics is a sport. Now we are in the Playoffs! The balloons have dropped, the confetti swept up(do you think they recylced it?)and the pundits have gone back to their corners awaiting the first debate.

This election has been about many things, but for me the spotlight has been on the women of campaign 2008. Of course there are the candidates...Hillary made history and secured a position for not only her future ambitions, but also for any woman seeking to create change... and Sarah...well she is making waves. Her presence on the scene has ignited the McCain base but can she play in Portland, Poughkeepsie, or Peoria?? We will see, but we do know that Emily's List has to be in their glory this season. Women have arrived at The Party, they may have been at the party for many years but only to serve hors d'oeuvres, finally their voices are not only being heard but are moving voters- and not just the traditional women's block.

The women that really interested me through the conventions,however, are the women whose role it is to not run for any formal office but to ride the campaign trail and support "their guys". Nothing new there for the wife of a candidate, but the women at the side of these candidates are not sitting watching in quiet reverence. They are drawing crowds of their own,not staying on script,and making the case with an energy and emotional drive that doesn't necessarily fit who you might think they are. Given an election year that has never played by the rules why should we be surprised.

(Dolly Madison)

Please Visit Political Woman

Don't Shrug it Off..It's Just a Little Something

(Kristen TenDyke,CEY) (Teva Durham,Loop-D-Loop)

It is only the 2nd of September and it never fails, every year the minute you turn the page from Labor Day the air changes course en route to the W word. I'm not ready to toss the flip flops just yet but I am ready to play with my fall projects. So maybe just a little something!!?? Come Vsit Winding Yarn

First Day-First Book

"We have a little girl in our program, a pre-school child. She liked her book so much, she slept with it every night under her pillow. She wouldn't part with it for anything!"

What's your favorite book? Do you remember the first book that was your very own? How about a book that inspired you? Maybe there is a special book that introduced you to new horizons, brought a new kind of magic into your life and set you on the path to a lifetime of reading? Books are a treasure in my life and I cannot imagine my world without them. Please join me in a Back to School Celebration by supporting First Book-Please Visit Pearls of Grace

Fall in Bloom-The The Runway Gardens

(Roberto Cavalli) (Missoni) (Oscar De La Renta)

It may be Labor Day(ugghh!!) but the hydrangeas and roses are still going strong. I'm not leaving the garden and apparently the Designer Collections agree. The Fall Collections in Bloom-Please visit The Shopping Bag Chronicles

Political Gamble, Reckless Choice

I have never thought of John McCain as an irresponsible politician. Maverick at times yes, but always smart and cunning. The move he made yesterday cemented for me the real threat that he could be to this country, that is something that I never processed about him.

The selection of Gov. Sarah Palin was a move made by a campaign that clearly saw it needed to pull the rug out of the momentum that the Obama campaign forged in Denver this week. They may have very well succeeded. By launching the biggest surprise in campaign politics the McCain-Palin ticket swiveled the national spotlight in a whip-lash. Once the dust settles and the media moves on,however,-there is a massive storm heading for a very fragile gulf coast this weekend-there are questions about John McCain's judgement that must be examined. Did this get the results he wanted? Absolutely. Gov. Palin fills many holes that McCain had problems with especially with conservatives. Gun ownership, right to life,the woman's vote...looks like he smashed or made huge dents in each block in one very daring decision.

This decision,however,demonstrates a John McCain that we have not seen a lot of this campaign-he was supposed to be the candidate that was safe, secure...

This was an Absurdly reckless choice! which is unbelievably insulting to women and demonstrates McCain's antiquated narrow thinking. Please Visit Political Woman

Preserving the Promise-Hope,Legacy and the Face of Change

With profound gratitude and great humility, I accept your nomination for
presidency of the United States

With those words on a perfect cloudless late summer evening surrounded by over 80,000, the skinny kid with the funny name turned history on its ear. History that 45 years ago this day was set in motion on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.

Even John McCain paused on this night to recognize the almost overwhelming significance of this moment by airing a congratulatory advertisement smack in the middle of convention coverage, a gracious and necessary gesture.

History was the elixir in the air last night, there was no escaping it. We watched as 68 yr old Rep. John Lewis of GA. reflected on the moment. John Lewis, the son of sharecroppers, who was brutally attacked, having his skull beaten in, by Alabama police on Bloody Sunday as he led over 600 peaceful protesters on the march from Selma to Montgomery in early March of 1965, and who wears those scars today. John Lewis who stood with Dr King and 45 years later would speak before an overwhelming crowd that was there to watch an acceptance speech by this democratic nominee for president.

"You cannot escape the fact that it's the day Dr. King delivered that
magnificent 'I Have A Dream' speech, and the nomination of Barack Obama will be another down
payment on making that dream real "

This week of emotion and cheers, of politics and theatre, grew each evening as the democrats built their case for change. Please Visit Political Woman

The Polyvore Playground

When I was growing up my favorite after school activity was art class. In camp it was always arts and crafts... that got me through archery! One of the projects I loved working on were collages, pulling bits and scraps and cutting pictures out of magazines. Later I went on to decoupage and took the images and covered anything that didn't move with everything from the cover of Vogue to greeting cards to strips from the funny pages. So you can imagine how excited I am about this site...Polyvore is the playground I have been waiting for but could never have imagined. If you love design, shopping, style, trends, art,color... GO! but don't say I didn't warn you... this could get addictive. Come Visit A Well Appointed Life and The Shopping Bag Chronicles

Joe's the Ticket!

CNN ruined all the fun! Many of us have been checking our text messages and email for the past week waiting for Barack Obama's big decision...who would be his running mate???? We knew a rally was scheduled for Springfield Illinois today so it was to be at any moment this week that anyone who signed up to hear "first" through text message and email would be alerted...Thanks to the adorable John King and the annoying CNN, who reported Barack's choice around midnight, the big "hear it first" was a 3am turnover and go back to sleep...3am??? perhaps the Obama campaign's answer to Hillary's "who answers at 3am"...Joe Biden! Oh well...now we know and the media vetting can begin.

Gravitas…Gravitas…Gravitas! Good choice Barack. Visit Political Woman

Sticks and Stones... Style!

Pebbles Flintstone eat your heart out! Decorative accents reflecting nature are nothing new, but as we focus on Greener living with Style Nature's Inspiration has taken some really fun new twists...Viva Terra does it best...Come visit A Well Appointed Life and The Shopping Bag Chronicles

Good Sports!

Most days this time of year the Boston airwaves are filled with groans and gripes, bleacher umpiring, player bashing and amateur managing as the baseball season rolls on and every fan in Red Sox nation has something to say about how their beloved team should be playing. For two days each August,however, all baseball angst is put aside as sports radio station WEEI and cable sports NESN once again team up in a magnificent effort to raise money for The Jimmy Fund at The Dana Farber Cancer Institute.

(oldtimebaseball.com)

Another sports fundraiser of note this week..the Old Time Baseball Game.

Please Visit Pearls of Grace and Sitting in the Bleachers

The Bag Lady Reports-A FLEEting SALE and Jane's Bags are a Marvel!

(Jane Marvel)

The weather in New England this month has been in a word Wet! Where's the sun?? I want my toes in the sand! Well nothing makes me feel better than a new bag...except maybe a bag sale! Visit The Shopping Bag Chronicles for the Bag Lady's news. (FLEE Bags>

The Self Destruct Button-John Edwards and the Promise Lost

Oh John! How stupid for such a smart guy!--but I seem to remember saying that about Bill Clinton who broke my heart as well. Yesterday John Edwards confirmed very publicly what he had been denying very publicly for months, he had an affair. Normally I cast these things off as “none of our business”. I don’t believe that a public figure’s personal “affairs” are a barometer of their ability nor should their human flaws be a part of the judging process…til they lie to us. My anger with Bill Clinton was not because of what he did, talk about stupidity not to mention really bad taste,but that was between Bill and Hillary -not the nation. It only became an issue for most of us who believed in him when he lied and dragged this country through Tabloid Hell while paralyzing such a promising presidency.
In his interview with Bob Woodruff on Nightline last night John Edwards was prepped to take the hits. He basically used the same rationale that Clinton had-he did it because he could. He had reached a point of ego that allowed him to feel invincible. I didn’t feel satisfied,however, by what was an extraordinary admission of vanity. I was left feeling there is more... and of course now he has the whole world watching and looking for more, and it will all come out at a time when the Democrats do not need the distraction. We are left simply not trusting a man who framed his whole political career on a higher ground, John Edwards if you remember was one of the most outspoken critics of Bill Clinton’s behavior.

More important than all the tabloid trash talk,however, is that John Edwards in his public life stood for something truly important. He had the opportunity to continue that message and create action to bring change, perhaps even in an Obama administration. Edwards was in a unique position this election year, he had delegates, he had respect, he had campaigned we believed with honor above the fray. He could have carved out an important role even out of politics as someone who would spend his life working for the causes and the people that need a spotlight. His voice for the disenfranchised was a powerful one and that message,that promise,may now be silenced forever—not because of his actions but because of his efforts to cover it up while campaigning as the honest moral candidate. Visit Political Woman

Run for the Needles-Inspired to Knit by Michele Rose Orne

(Interweave Press)

I am a Pattern-a-holic,think I've mentioned that before...I have a knitting library to envy,but for me it is about the designs. I adore the design process and am happiest sitting on the floor surrounded by skeins and skeins of yarn designing my next project. For anyone who is a KNITTER Michele Rose Orne's new book Inspired to Knitis a treasure! I have always been such a huge fan of Michele's and was so excited that she was finally doing a book of her own...and the magazine we wait all summer for--the new Vogue is out!Come be Inspired --Visit Winding Yarn

Iron Clad Gardens

Mrs. Powers Garden Gate-Mackenzie-Childs

Popping up among among the hydrangeas and roses this year are fabulous garden elements that fall into the "everything old is new again" category. We are seeing perfect solutions to seating, planting and design made of durable iron. Many have an antique feel and I have spotted great original vintage pieces at antique marts made of iron go for huge dollars so these new pieces that are reminiscent with great style caught my eye...

Plant Strong!

Singing Frog Planter -Horchow

Please Visit Down The Garden Path and A Well Appointed Life

A Tigger's Life-In Appreciation Prof. Randy Pausch

"The brick walls are there for a reason, they are there to determine how much we want our dreams... the brick walls are not there to keep us out but to show how badly we want something ...brick walls let us show our dedication... they are there to separate us from those who really don't want to achieve..." Prof. Randy Pausch 1960-2008
On September 18,2007 Carnegie Mellon professor Dr. Randy Pausch gave his "Last Lecture--"(titled such as a tradition at Carnegie Mellon,ironically, if you had one last lecture to give before you die--- what would it be about)-Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams.

A boyishly handsome, self-deprecatingly funny, brilliant and charming presence who stood before an over flowing crowd in a lecture hall at his beloved Carnegie Mellon University to talk about realizing dreams---how you can achieve your dreams and enable the dreams of others. Dreams would seem an interesting subject for a man dying of cancer to talk about, but Randy Pausch was not lecturing on dying, he was about living and that day he "head faked" his audience by giving a lecture about how to live your life. The little boy who had painted his dreams on his bedroom wall had grown up to teach millions who have since viewed or read his lecture how to live their lives and how to dream. "You just have to decide if you're a Tigger or an Eeyore", he said...pretty simple, huh!?
Please visit Pearls of Grace

Something to Talk About-wowOwow, "A New Way for Women to Talk Culture,Politics and Gossip"

“There’s some deep, atavistic need women have to get together with each other and talk. It’s as essential to us as food, shelter and love. Maybe it’s something ancient leftover in us from when the cavemen went off to hunt, and we sat in a circle with each other back at the cave, waiting. When we go a long time without this kind of female conversation we feel deprived. And when we do sit and talk, we feel better.” Lesley Stahl

wowOwow, Women on the Web, is that fascinating, sparkling, interesting conversation at the next table that you always wanted to join...Please Visit Applause!

In Design Circles

(McGuire)

Do you ever feel like you are going around in circles?? That seems to be a perpetual state for me these days, but that is a subject for another time. Going in circles can be a good thing sometimes and apparently the design world agrees because we are seeing circles everywhere! Please visit A Well Appointed Life

When Life Brings Lemons-Fighting Childhood Cancer One Cup at a Time

"I'm Alex, I'm 8 years old. I have Neuroblastoma and I raise money for pediatric cancer research with the help of other kids and grown ups through my lemonade stand. I give the money I raise to research to find cures for pediatric cancers. " Alexandra Scott 1996-2004

Like many little girls Alexandra Scott wanted to set up a Lemonade Stand in her front yard, but Alex was not just any little girl. First of all she was all of 4 years old when she made this entrepreneurial decision and she also made the decision that the profits from her lemonade stand would go directly to her doctors to find a cure for other children like herself, children with cancer-"...because all kids want their tumors to go away." Please Visit Pearls of Grace

Pack a Picnic!

I love picnics but I know better than to plan elaborate menus weeks in advance. The best picnics are spontaneous, easy and weather proof. Living in New England where the weather can change around every corner you learn to be prepared. Pack for a beach day but prep for a picnic on the kitchen floor! Please Visit Oven Mitts

A Penny for Your Search?

Next time you want to look up an old boyfriend, find the temperature in Santorini in May, look for a recipe for blueberry muffins or whatever it is you might be "Googling" around for, head to Good Search.
8 Billion (with a B!!) dollars are earned through ad placements on popular search engines annually. The founders of GoodSearch, brother and sister Ken Ramberg and JJ Ramberg, figured there were a few dollars to spare there that just might do some good. Please Visit Pearls of Grace

Sheep at The Beach-The Summer Knitting Season

(Miss Bea's Seaside-Rowan)

Too Short! That's what the Summer knitting season, much like Summer itself, is all about. After countless Summers of knitting myself nuts trying to get Summer knitting done before Labor Day, only to be met with a September of -"OMG! its Fall and I haven't started ANY Fall knitting",I learned to STOP knitting myself in circles and just sit and knit. Visit Winding Yarn

Beach Bag Books

Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read. --Groucho Marx

In summer I read books like some people eat chips...in handfuls. Visit Applause! for favorites to fill your beach bag!

SummerTIME

Oh! Do not attack me with your watch. A watch is always too fast or too slow. I cannot be dictated to by a watch.
Jane Austen,
Mansfield Park

I would be very happy living my life never wearing a watch, or shoes for that matter-particularly in summer. So why do I own so many watches(not to mention so many pairs of shoes!!)?? Summer of all seasons really should be the time of year when we can walk around not caring what time it is....but I love the look of a great watch-Visit The Shopping Bag Chronicles

Sunday Mornings without Tim-In Appreciation, Tim Russert

I am blessed with the opportunity to spend an entire week reading and thinking and preparing for Meet the Press. It is sobering to think that on a Sunday morning across the table at Meet The Press you are making history,but you are ....Tim Russert Please visit Applause

The Storyteller-Remembering Jim McKay

Long before Sportscenter, the ESPN crawl and the SuperBowl Halftime extravaganza, in places that would never have 60,000 seat stadiums or 50 million dollar salaries, there was Wide World of Sports, and Jim McKay. Please Visit Sitting in the Bleachers

Summer Prep Part II, Bagging It!

Confessions of a Summer Bag Lady...


(Scout Bags) (Garnet Hill) (Tory Burch)

(Kate Spade)
This is a Bag Lady's Season! There is no time of year that is all about "I need a new bag", "Let me grab my bag" ,"Throw it in my bag"more than now. You need a light organization bag for the office, a bag for that wedding you don't want to go to, a bag for an evening at an outside concert, a bag for day trips, a bag for the beach, a bag for the ballgame,a bag for the farmer's market, a bag for the weekend away, a bag to head into the city, a bag to make you remember a special summer night...Clutches, totes, straw,satchels,baskets,shoppers all in fabrics and materials that make you want to change your attitude and your outfit. Visit The Shopping Bag Chronicles for this season's favorite ways to carry it off...

Voting History, Voting Hope

"I am sick and tired of being sick and tired...Nobody's free until everybody's free..All of this is on account we want to register [sic], to become first-class citizens, and if the Freedom Democratic Party is not seated now, I question America. Is this America, the land of the free and the home of the brave where we have to sleep with our telephones off the hooks because our lives be threatened daily because we want to live as decent human beings - in America?"Fannie Lou Hamer,1964

Traditionally in contemporary American politics primary campaigns have been more of a yawn and less of an awakening. Who cared? Who actually went to the polls? Who watched debates? Network television barely covered nominating conventions. This time, this year, this election, has been to say the least a whole new ballgame in American political history. For a political junkie this has been the World Series, the Superbowl and the NBA finals rolled into one. For a woman who has never questioned that a woman's place was in fact in the House and in the Senate, this was a time that was long overdue. For a student of history, 44 years after Fannie Lou Hamer stood with her Freedom Democrats and challenged Mississippi's all white delegation to the Democratic convention, this was as if a very old window that had been nailed shut has fallen off its hinges and blown open by an insistent breeze.

Tonight after 16 months of a campaign that people actually cared about,actually showed up for, actually watched and participated in-after a campaign during which extraordinary numbers of people got involved and voted, many of whom had never been interested, involved or even voted before, Barack Obama, the junior senator from Illinois, achieved enough delegates to become the Democratic nominee for President of the United States. A new chapter begins-Please Visit Pearls of Grace and Political Woman

Celtics-Lakers!

Havlicek reminded the new generation, "With your jersey it carries a lot of great tradition. Go Celtics. Beat LA." (Boston Globe)



Fasten your seat belts...we are heading back to the future ..destination-Dream Date!

12 months ago if you had told any Boston sports fan that the Red Sox would win another World Series, the Patriots would go undefeated in the regular season and ...oh yeah, the Celtics would have the best record in the NBA and win the Eastern Conference championship, they might challenge you on the first two but as for the Celtics...they would laugh you out of the bar. It all came true! and last night the Celtics defeated the Detroit Pistons clinching the Eastern Conference title and waking up the Leprechauns.

One year ago the Boston Celtics had won only 24 games all season and no one in Boston cared...it was too hard for anyone over say 35 to care and everyone else didn't remember or know they should care. The Celtics have not been in the finals since 1986...the whole planet has changed since then and in 22 years an entire generation has grown up in Boston without knowing what it is to be a Celtics fan. Visit Sitting in the Bleachers

Weeding Life

Weeds are flowers too, once you get to know them- A. A. Milne, Eeyore from Winnie the Pooh

But make no mistake: the weeds will win: nature bats last.- Robert M. Pyle

The Gardens at Camp MoneyPit did not exist 2 years ago. There was literally nothing to salvage, nothing to "grow" from or keep. For a small cottage that took 18 months to breath life into you cannot imagine the panick that set in every time I started contemplating the landscape. Camp MP has no less than 7 different areas surrounding it , each with its own challenges...I of course chose to take them on all at once! My flaw as a gardener, as in my life, is that I want to make everything right, make it better, make it beautiful and make it into what it can and should be...I do that with people too-they don't always respond as well as the hydrangeas!

So it should be no surprise that my need to control and keep everything blooming beautifully does not really leave a lot of tolerance for weeds! Gardening for me has become the corner of my life that insists on teaching me...my gardens have a stubborn student! The gardens are determined to show me that I may hold the trowel, I may dig and amend, and plant and water, and nurture and hover, and.. but I am not in charge, nor do I determine the success. I am just a "player" in this ever changing "landscape".

Visit Down the Garden Path and Dealing Old Maid for this Weeder's Tale.

Summer Prep-The Basics Part I

What dreadful hot weather we have! It keeps me in a continual state of inelegance.-- Jane Austen
With Memorial Day weekend here(how did it get to be Memorial Day already??..my tulips are still up!)we traditionally launch the start of everyone's favorite season-S U M M E R!! Get Prepped with The Shopping Bag Chronicles

Confessions of a Yarn Lover

(Knitter's Review)

Yes, I am a yarn-a-holic, thank goodness! I cannot imagine my world without yarn. Every room in my house has yarn, lovingly arranged as I arrange vases of flowers, with careful attention to color that work with the design 0f the room. I love to play with yarn and the good news is...I am not alone! Visit Winding Yarn

Magical Maine in May

(Sally Caldwell Fisher )

On the coast of Maine, where many green islands and salt inlets fringe the deep-cut shoreline stood a small house facing the morning light. All the weather-beaten houses of that region face the sea apprehensively, like the women who live in them.-- The Country of the Pointed FirsSarah Orne Jewett

Pack your bags for the Magical Maine coast...Visit The World at Your Feet

Waking Up the Garden

All through the long winter, I dream of my garden. On the first day of spring, I dig my fingers deep into the soft earth. I can feel its energy, and my spirits soar. Helen Hayes

After a worrisome winter it has been a Topsy Turvy spring, but at last the Gardens at Camp Moneypit are waking up! Did the new "kids" make it through?? Come Visit Down the Garden Path

Crazy About Cranford!

PBS' new Masterpiece celebrates what it always did best with Cranford. Visit Applause! for all the details on this Don't Miss! series.

Blue and White and Read All Over

It is blue-butterfly day here in spring....Robert Frost

Blue and White is everywhere this season and in my design scheme everyday. Come visit A Well Appointed Life and see how Blue and White can change your outlook and your view!

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Mother's Day in the Bag!

Visit The Shopping Bag Chronicles

Kinderblogging

When you are a Bear of Very Little Brain, and Think of Things, you find sometimes that a Thing which seemed very Thingish inside you is quite different when it gets out into the open and has other people looking at it.Winnie the PoohThe House at Pooh Corner

Well here I am in BlogLand!

Pretty funny place for me to be spending time. I have lived days, weeks, hours, late nights here... reading, learning, trying to understand and make friends with this new planet. I have a Headache that may not go away til 2010!

You see, my concept of good technology is a pair of knitting needles and a ball of yarn- so you can imagine what trying to decipher HTML does for me. Although I suppose if you are not a knitter and you tried to read a knitting pattern you might feel the same way. I guess it is all about learning a new language and though I think French is much more elegant I am trying to speak BLOG. Like mastering any new skill I find something I didn't know each time I step to the plate.

I may not do everything in Blogland the way it was supposed to be done but that is probably true for most everything I do in my life.I will speak Blog with my own style.

As I write this I have to giggle to myself. You know the old adage "if a tree falls in the woods..."and no one is there to hear it, does it make a noise??? Well I think the same has to apply to this new adventure. If I write and no one is out there...OK so I am talking to myself---what else is new? My hope is that eventually "if you build it they will come" will kick in here.

So why do this?? now THAT is a question I have been asking for weeks as I was trying to decorate this new space without any fabric or paint but with only "code". Can't I hang wallpaper here somewhere??

I suppose the easy answer is that I have always had a lot to say, but probably the truth lies in my need to create a world that stands apart, that functions as a beautifully upholstered cosy chair,safe from the day to day annoying and the CNN style noise. A world where color, gardens, music , literature, skeins of yarn,beautiful spaces and the perfect handbag matter.

Do not think that I exist as a vapid piece of fluff ,or that I live an oblivious life filled with "stuff" not substance-far from it! People matter and politics is one of my favorite sports(forgive me Red Sox). This is a planet in a great deal of pain and I will chat a lot about that and about every individuals role in healing this world, and this country.

I just know that now more than ever I need to fill my corner of the world with all that brings me joy. I don't think I am alone in feeling this way. So many of us are so caught in the current of our lives that we risk being taken out by it. I have come to realize,however, that many simply don't know how to do it. Thus this space. It is my goal to share what I know, what I find, and what I love.

The name of this Blog is Strands of Pearls which comes not just from my goal of having each post bring "readers"(you will be there,right?!) a gleaming pearl of style, design, advice, literature,travel,recipes, gardening...and oh yeah shopping! but is also about pearls themselves. Pearls come from the sea I love, formed miraculously in a protective shell. Each is unique and precious on their own and can speak so much when strung together.

Wearing Strands of Pearls has come to define Classic. Pearls have been worn for centuries by women who have helped define their time and indelibly influenced our style.

As I thought about the feel for this space I wanted a sidekick, a"mascot",someone to come along for the ride who would act as the visual for the style and tone I want to create here. I expect my choice of sidekick will change with the subject, but as I designed each section of the blog I kept finding Audrey. No, not just for her famous pearls but also for the life she led. A life dressed by Givenchy, but filled with her commitment to her children and the children of the world. Audrey became an icon for many, a cliche for some, but beyond her fame she was a real woman, a Mother, a Humanitarian. She transended her celebrity and lived beyond, and above, the "little black dress" we all love. She not only wore her pearls but taught us all how to truly wear the pearls in each of our lives. Today, May 4, would