Mermaid Music

The song (Aime Minogue) and photographs (G. Schilhab) are wonderfully soothing and inspiring! Not to be missed.

(click image to to view)

Teakettles, spring cleaning, and pretty things.

Once again, it's been far too long since I dropped in and posted anything here ... but I've received a couple of very nice comments recently and that inspires me! Motivates me! And in the end there is *always* something more to say, see, show, share ...

I love my cup of tea. The simple ritual of it, filling the kettle, the brief wait for the boil, the unwrapping of the teabag (unless you are a real stickler and use actual tea leaves!), the water turning a shade of delicious amber ... coffee is great and has its place, but for comfort nothing approaches the cuppa.

Doesn't much matter if the kettle is modest, or even dented. In my dreams, however, the Windsor Kettle from Stonewall Kitchen reigns supreme. Shown here in chrome, it also comes in the classic copper, which looks like something straight out of Tasha Tudor's kitchen.

I have undertaken an early Spring cleaning/purge (very sloooowly, best not to upset the routine). Said routine is haphazard at best, but I try. In a completely tidy and organized room I find myself flailing in a sea of correctness. Where are the stacks of books! The paper from three Sundays ago? The little pools of spare change I might just need one of these days? Too perfect is not for me.

I used to own a couple of scented books of poetry and prose published by Penhaligon's (maybe they are probably still up in the attic somewhere). Yes, scented books! Full of lovely words and paintings. Not surprising, given how unbelievably beautiful the Penhaligon perfume bottles are. Here is an example:

This is rapturously pretty! I love it. Even if it is terribly old fashioned. Oh let's be honest, because it's old fashioned!

Kim Naumann Artwork

I am loving these ... Kim Naumann's artwork as seen on her blog. Magical stuff!

Inspired and inspiring.

I've long been inspired by Cath Kidston's designs, but there is a woman in Germany who goes by the name of Shabby-Roses-Cottage who blogs and has a very fine flickr photostream showcasing her Cath-inspired handmade items.

So sweet and CREATIVE! I'd be jealous if I weren't so impressed.

Now for something a little more serious.

Though it strays from the general categories of this blog, I do feel compelled to tuck something serious in here every now and again. My head is actually not full of this fun stuff all day (that would be boring in the end, wouldn't it?)

I was visiting a local library yesterday and displayed staff picks for good reads led me to pick this one up. I'm 54 pages into it and so far so good. For some reason I have a weird, completely out of place (for me, anyway) mild fascination with military history. Can't say why, though I suspect it's part of my nascent fascination with history in general.

History, a subject I cared very little for until about a year ago. Until the History Channel forced me to confront the fact that the world is very large, very complicated, and has been around a very long time.

So much still to learn. I guess you could read nothing but history for the rest of your life and still have books left untouched as you breathe your last. This is intriguing to me.

The last book I read about history was Norman Cantor's Inventing The Middle Ages, published to acclaim in 1993. A dense book, it demanded far more background knowledge about Europe than I knew then (or will probably ever know), but it was cool all the same.

I don't feel dumb when I read books that are above me. I feel spunky for trying. You know, that old "reach for the stars" thing?

Finally got my hands on something Cath!

Cath Kidston is a U.K. designer of domestic stuff, and I've been an admirer for a long time. The fact that her stuff is difficult, if not impossible, to find in the U.S. and must be ordered from Britain (at a shipping rate which beggars belief) has meant I could admire on paper only ... (or on the monitor, as it were!)

But today ... a fortuitous find. Two Cedar Mugs in Gypsy Green (pictured) and two Cedar Mugs in blue/stars (couldn't find an image, and my camera went belly up). These were five dollars each in an off-price store. Brand new, labels still on them, five dollars a piece! I now own four of the mugs which -- had I purchased them from overseas -- would have cost me probably in the area of U.S. $100 (as in hundred) with those exorbitant shipping rates.

What can I say? The world is falling down around us, the polar ice caps are melting, the economy is in the toilet, but for this hour, this evening, I am happy over this very little thing.

Hey, I take it where I can get it.

Miss Mary's malady.

My best friend, who also happens to be my housemate, is the parent of a beautiful cat named Miss Mary. Not JUST "Mary", mind you: Miss Mary. She is the queen of cats, and will not respond to anything less than the appropriate nomenclature.

This sweet and kind little beast was just recently diagnosed with feline kidney disease. Ugh. It's progressive and terminal, and though the vet caught it in its earliest stages, it will eventually take her life. Double ugh.

I didn't think I could love another cat as much as I love my own, but ... I was wrong. To absorb this information and see her in the throes of not eating, not drinking, enduring the indignity of at home subcutaneous re-hydration, totally off of her game, well it was nothing short of heartbreaking. I honestly didn't know I cared as much as I do.

There is a "Miss Mary"-shaped place in my heart.