Snowflakes That Stay on My Nose and Eyelashes-A Few Favorite Things

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I have told this story before but...While buzzing through Trader Joe's one afternoon, trying to beat the crowd, I was appropriately in the freezer area when I came upon a sweet little one tucked into the front of a carriage who was singing her favorite holiday songs.  Suddenly she broke into My Favorite Things in full voice-how could I not join her!  it is my favorite too and of course it has been in my head all this week!!.  So with  apologies to Julie and Rodgers and Hammerstein..here are a "few of my favorite things"...just in time for the holidays--

Raindrops on Roses...

 

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Get me back into the garden--without the weeds of last summer please.  One way to keep my fingers in the dirt is to plant bulbs -I have containers with amaryllis, paper whites, hyacinth...all over the house.  Good sources for all things bulbs Living Gardens,  Eden Bros. and  John Scheepers, ...and if anyone is listening--- on my garden book wish list is Flowers from Carolyne Roehm

Whiskers on Kittens---

 

 

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Truth be told I am a Puppy person but all things with paws need love.  This season visit a shelter and maybe rescue a new friend for the New Year! or make a donation to your local shelter to help them care for displaced and homeless paws.

 

 

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Bright Copper Kettles---

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My favorite time of year to be in the kitchen is winter. Some of the cookbooks on my Wish List include: The Model Bakery Cookbook,  Deb Perelman's  The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook,  Donna Hays' Seasons , Valerie Gordon's Sweet Bouchon Bakery ,Heirloom Cooking With the Brass Sisters: Recipes You Remember and Love, The girl & the fig cookbook: More than 100 Recipes from the Acclaimed California Wine Country RestaurantDorie Greenspan's Baking: From My Home to Yours and anything from Ina! Barefoot Contessa Foolproof: Recipes You Can Trust

...and while we are talking books at home

Warm Woolen Mittens---

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I'm a Knitter don't forget so this is MY favorite Thing thing.  Give me a basket of yarn and a pair of needles, maybe an classic old movie and a comfy chair and  call me in the spring!  I have not knit a pair of mittens in forever but maybe with all the snow we have been having The Let it Snow Mittens should be my first WIP of 2014??

Brown Paper Packages Tied Up with String---

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Anything wrapped and presented is always a happy thing--and YES it is THE thought that counts so THINK before you wrap it up!  but I love a beautifully wrapped package almost as much as what might be inside!  As for the String Thing of course that would be in the form of pearls of course!

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Girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes---

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Aren't you glad Pretty is back!  Of course for some of us an elegant dress with a perfect bow has always been the happy dress!  I have a few fashion books on the wish list this year: Diana Vreeland  Memos, Charles James: Beyond Fashion,
 Dior Couture ,Grace: A Memoir, Fashion: The Definitive History of Costume and Style, In Vogue: An Illustrated History of the World's Most Famous Fashion Magazine 

YSL velvet dress, "Paris rose" satin bow, Haute Couture Collection, FW 1983. Photo by Gilles Tapie.
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Snowflakes that stay on my nose and eyelashes---

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 We have had our first real snow followed by bitter cold and another snowfall which covered up all the ice so not quite a holiday card view underneath it all.  I like the frosting kind, just enough to dress the trees and maybe enough to build that snow-friend-a date for New Year's perhaps?

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Silver white winters that melt into springs---

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Winter is often the season we hibernate and snuggle in, and for me that means curling up with the knitting and a stack of books.  I love a snowy day but I also love those days when the melting begins and small signs of spring like the snow drops begin to appear. 

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Sadly for many winter is the most difficult season, so many without the warmth and shelter we take for granted, and they need our help!-please remember those in need as you count your favorite things this season.  
May the the holidays be filled with joy and peace!

Boston Common at Twilight, by Childe Hassam, 1885-86

When the dog bites

When the bee stings

When I'm feeling sad

I simply remember my favorite things

And then I don't feel so bad.

Not a "Common Man"-In Apprecation Peter O'Toole

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"I'm not an actor, I'm a movie star"  Peter O'Toole in My Favorite Year.

Peter O'Toole was both and so much more...an actor with a capital A on both screen and stage.   His was a face and a talent that you could not take your eyes from.  He commanded and owned the stage or the screen he played upon, and considering the company he kept from Olivier to Burton to both Hepburns that was impressive in and of itself.

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In a journal entry when he was 18 O'Toole wrote:

“I will not be a common man. I will stir the smooth sands of monotony. I do not crave security. I wish to hazard my soul to opportunity.” 

  It was in David Lean's Lawrence of Arabia in 1962 that O'Toole came to stardom portraying T.E. Lawrence, he beat out Marlon Brando and Albert Finney for the role that he would be identified with his entire life and the one that brought him his first Oscar nomination. He was nominated 8 times for an Oscar and first refused an honorary turn hoping another Oscar-worthy role would come his way telling them to wait til he was 80-‘‘I am still in the game and might win the bugger outright.’’He did accept his honorary award in 2003.  

 

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He looked like a beautiful, emaciated secretary bird … his voice had a crack like a whip … most important of all you couldn’t take your eyes off him … acting is usually regarded as a craft and I claim it to be nothing more except in the hands of the odd few men and women who, once or twice in a lifetime, elevate it into something odd and mystical and deeply disturbing. I believe Peter O’Toole to have this strange quality. - Richard Burton

He was a smoker, a drinker, a hellraiser...flamboyant, outspoken and charming with glorious blue eyes that captivated co-stars and audiences alike.  I'm not sure when my crush on Peter O'Toole began-perhaps it was watching Lawrence of Arabia, The Lion in Winter, Goodbye Mr. Chips, or My Favorite Year but probably it was  How to Steal a Million opposite Audrey Hepburn-charming, suave, funny, utterly adorable.

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In July of 2012 Peter O'Toole publicly retired from acting stating: "...it's my belief that one should decide for oneself when it is time to end one's stay." and bidding "the profession a dry-eyed and profoundly grateful farewell."  It is safe to say that they don't make 'em like that anymore. Adieu Peter O'Toole.

My Favorite Year via The Guardian

 ‘‘If you can’t do something willingly and joyfully, then don’t do it,’’

"It Always Seems Impossible Until it is Done"-Nelson Mandela

1994 Nelson Mandela photographed by Herb Ritts via

"No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite."

The news was not unexpected, yet when I heard that Nelson Mandela had died today I was still brought up short, pulling to the side of the road to listen to the reports and to hear his voice in audio clips -a voice that healed and united a country-the voice of a man whose spirit could not be kept behind bars.  His name at birth meant "shaker of trees" , or troublemaker, and he would go on to shake the greatest tree and change his country and the world .

1964 Mandela is taken to prison via

“For to be free is not merely to cast off one's chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.”

 Mandela released from prison 1990 via

"Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world." 

 

1994-Mandela revisits his prison cell at Robben Island via

“Do not judge me by my successes, judge me by how many times

 I fell down and got back up again.” 

Nelson Mandela is sworn in as President of South Africa, 1994 via

 I have always been so grateful to have come of age at a time when it was possible to witness one man change the world. Thank you Madiba.

"When a man has done what he considers to be his duty to his people and his country he can rest in peace.  I believe I have made that effort and that is, 

therefore, why I will sleep for the eternity."