N + M = P

Austin Kleon

Came across a wonderful article by writer and artist Austin Kleon about creativity and integrity and truth in art. Inspiring, interesting, and fun to read. here 

Austin creates poems by blacking out newspapers: "Newspaper + Marker = Poetry"

This is one of my favorites...

Subtraction

via a subtle revelry

horse crazy

My sister is nine years older than I am. She was my idol. In many ways, she had more influence over me than our mother did. We shared a bedroom and a bed. Everything she loved, I loved - art and horses, especially. Unfortunately, in our family there was room for only one of each kind of child. My brother was the mechanical genius and recluse. My sister was horse-crazy and a natural born artist - the popular one. I was the "baby" - specifically the "cry baby." But that is all another story...

I was a lonely and constantly alone child. I relied on books and my imagination for company and pleasure. One of my favorite pasttimes was playing with my sister's Breyer horses. My favorite was the rearing appaloosa. I had one horse - a little white pony. I still have her. Sadly, White Fluffy Love knocked her off the windowsill and broke her leg. Luckily, she's not real and her leg can be mended with glue. She will be with me for the rest of my life.

While browsing a new-to-me blog - Live and Enliven - I came across a link to a beautiful etsy shop that sells vintage goods. Look what I found...

 ethanollie

Alas, my wallet will not allow me to indulge my nostalgic heart.

Below is a photo of my precious childhood friend. Notice any similarity with the prone pony above???

Rain Pony

archival beauty

I've been diligently (read: left till last minute) working on my mother's birthday present. Her birthday falls on Easter Sunday this year - a few days from now. I have little money. She's at the point in her life where she wants nothing - especially if it needs to be dusted. Her granddaughter, my little J, is the love of her life. The only thing my mother ever asks for is photos of J. This year is a "0" birthday. To make the collection extra special, J and I have painted some small pictures and written notes saying why and how much we love Mom/Grandma to include with the photos. As I've been going through the archives and printing photos, I came across this one - taken only a month ago...

My love...

i spy, then i cry

A month or so ago, I heard about a show titled Polar Bears: Spy on the Ice. Cameras are cleverly hidden enabling the documentary team to follow mother bears and cubs and producing incredible close-up images of these magnificent animals. It's been running on Animal Planet. Every time I try to catch it, something comes up. Last night, I was looking for something to keep me company between The Killing on AMC and Breakout Kings on A&E (don't hate me; I have a thing for crime shows. I blame it on my Mom - her favorite "literature" is murder mysteries.) I happened upon the Polar Bear show...

Beautiful imagery...I lasted about 10 minutes into it. After egging on the cub trying to make it through the snow. Then, I lost it when one of the mothers and her cub didn't make it to the iceberg in time and were left stranded on the barren island with no food...

I LOVE animals. I CANNOT watch nature shows or movies. I just can't. 

lined beauty

illustrations by Ana Laura Perez

more loveliness here

swimmingly

corps de ballet

by Howard Schatz

here

just rosey

o'2nd Spring Ad Campaign

photographed by Tim Walker

via fashionising

spindrift

color - as seen by women vs men

via HELLOkatey and design blogs all over the web

what would the neighbors think?

Children's Backyard Tipi by Reliable Tent of Montana

8'6" diameter, 10' poles, colored streamers for top of poles included (!!!)

An adult wouldn't be able to stand up straight in it. J would love it. It would be lovely to lounge in.

I wonder how it would look in the front yard...

horse in fashion

So perfect for J - horses and fashion. So perfect for me - horses, fashion, and organic cotton. If only my wallet agreed. Sigh.

From Stella McCartney Kids. The print on the dress comes from a photo by Linda McCartney. So Cool.
available here.

icky sicky

sick. very sick. again. strep throat this time. so very, very tired of feeling unwell.

later...

too sad for words

Beautiful, precious Joy. We love you so.

We are devastated by our loss.

infinite possiblities

Not only is another world possible, she is on her way.

On a quiet day, I can hear her breathing.

Arundhati Roy

Peace Rose

via Word for the Day from gratefulness.org

stuck

Texas, 12/13/2010

spring is in the air...

...can summer be far behind...

This body of mine does not wear bathing suits. When I swim, I wear a t-shirt over a swim suit - always. Precious, perfect J on the other hand loves swimsuits as much as she loves shoes - that's a lot. Love that girl! And, since I can't buy swimsuits for me, I buy them for her. We don't have a pool, but our neighbor does, and another neighbor does, and we go swimming at the public pool nearly every day during the summer. We are both counting the days until the water is warm enough to swim. Until then, I've been perusing kids' swimsuits. So fun!

Here are my favorites - so far. It was really really hard to narrow it down to this many.

left to right, top to bottom:

Marysia, Burberry, Frankie & Daisy, Hurley

Juicy Couture, Juicy Couture, Lily Pulitzer, Kate Mack

Luv U Lots, Kate Mack, Shop Justice, Shop Justice

Submarine, Roxy, Flowers by Zoe, Xhilaration

I thought I would ask J's input. She looked over all the photos. Below are her picks. The blue one is her favorite. You'll notice that not one she chose was on my list! Gone are the days when she and I had the same taste - in anything. Although to be fair, I love the swimsuits below, as well. She does have good taste - just so different from mine. Alas.

Kate Mack, Frankie & Daisy, Ralph Lauren, Frankie & Daisy, Marysia

There are so so many more...

flying pigs seen over california

No...this isn't an April Fool's joke...

Over the last two days, I - procrastinator extraordinaire - actually listed new photos in my etsy shop. I'm ashamed to say, it has been at least two years since I have done so. Bad, bad me...

left to right, top to bottom:

curtains, pow, settee, upper bedroom, upper bathroom, upper hall detail,

doors, graduation dress 1, graduation dress 2,

fancy dancer, faded beauty, miami in capay,

meow, squire wright door, paint

Rosemarie Brown Photography etsy shop

poppy walk

The walkway to my house, today (please, ignore the weeds and overgrown lawn). The sun has been out for two days and the poppies that have taken over my yard have finally begun to bloom. Within a week or two - depending on the weather, the entire front yard will be golden...

taken with my iPhone, because I was too lazy to unlock the door and go back into the house to get my Nikon.