Blue Books at Bella

 My dear friend Zita from Mlle Magpie brought these wonderful French blue vintage books all the way from Montreal to give to me at Silver Bella.

I love this one with the marbleized paper cover...

 

 ...and this lesson book with rows of hearts across the front!

...and isn't the soft blue color dreamy on this one?

 This is one of a series that Zita has been collecting over time and now has shared with not only me but all the girls at our table in Colette Copeland's class!

Colette, who is from Toronto remembered reading this series in school.

Isn't Zita a doll?

Thank you so much!

Next week is not only Thanksgiving, but also my birthday!

To celebrate and because unbelievably my 600th post is almost here...

...it is time for a Give Back!

Time for me to give back to all of you!

Check back tomorrow for details!

:)

Time To Buckle Down!

Still playing with Picnik.

I took this photo while in Lucca, Italy...it was just last year around this time.
We had an amazing trip which included a special visit with Vale and Paola from
Les Cotrions!

It has been fun to look through my photos and remember all the beautiful places we saw and all the things we did while on our trip to Italy.

I couldn't resist playing with some of the photos!

...in fact, it is getting hard to resist tinkering with every photo!

However...
it's time to tackle some big projects...

...so I better stop playing and get down to business!

Hope your week is off to a good start!
:)

Remember This Blue

This past weekend we had such beautiful weather....



The forecast is for a week of rain beginning later tonight...

I intend to remember the beautiful blue sky of last weekend...
...to remember this gorgeous, rich, deep blue...
...to hold it in my heart and mind's eye until the next sunny day!



This little vintage blue book...The Easter Eggs... will surely help me remember...



...and these shiny, satiny blue beads...





What do you want to remember?
What do you hold in your heart and mind's eye?

Wishing you a happy Thursday with sunshine on the inside... if not outside!
:)

Can't Help Feeling Bleu....Bleu-gris, Blue-vert

Time keeps on slippin', slippin', slippin'
Into the future...

I want to fly like an eagle
To the sea...
Fly like an eagle
Let my spirit carry me...
I want to fly like an eagle
Till I'm free...
Oh, Lord, through the revolution
(lyrics by Steve Miller)

Feeling a bit melancholy tonight....can you tell?

The good news is that I will be flying soon...next week,
... in fact I will be flying to the sea!

And while I'm there I will be visiting my parents and in-laws and sweet sister Lynn.
It is just for a week but it will be a nice transition period...
...a time to think about my plan of action...

I'm looking forward to some warm weather... walks on the beach...late night chats with my sister...early morning coffee with my mom and dad...
...Why am I melancholy? Gee, I just cheered myself up!

Too bad Starla and Mr. Flea are staying behind...
...but somebody has to hold down the fort!
:)

Don't you just love blue-gray...blue-green?
The colors of the sea.....

No?

If you could only see one color....which color would it be?

Weekend Plans

We'll be enjoying the company of son Dan, some of his fellow law students and a few other good friends at the lake house this weekend....We're looking forward to having a house full of bright, interesting and fun filled students....



The thing about the lake house is .... we spend a lot of time in the kitchen....preparing meals and washing dishes....no dishwasher!



But I love it! I love having all these happy, relaxed young people around and contributing to their good time with food and lots of it!



Entertaining up here is still a lot easier then when my great grandmother was the hostess back in the 1930's and 40's....at least we don't have to pump our water and the bathrooms are inside!



Besides... I have lots of my kitchen collectibles up here and get a chance to play and use both my old and new dishes... like these pretty green and white ones from le Comptoire de Famille



...I'm sure I'll have lots of help this weekend...My Mom has already made brownies, a chocolate pie and her famous bark...



Actually this group will be easy....they are all twenty something and totally self sufficient...quick to lend a helping hand... affording me plenty of time for a little R & R of my own!

I hope you all have a happy and relaxed weekend!
:) Laura

Weekend Tales

On Saturday, Kate and a college friend reunited and planned to go to the Museum of Modern Art in NYC.......Rob offered to drive them in and I seized the opportunity to ask if he and I could check out the Hell's Kitchen Flea Market on West 39th Street..........so off we went.....the 45 minute drive produced beautiful views and we even got to see the parade of the Tall Ships which were on their way up the Hudson River to Croton-on-Hudson to the Clearwater's 2009 Great Hudson River Revival.

We dropped the girls off near Central Park West where they met another friend and then Rob and I headed to our own adventure.......

The flea market was fun and interesting....Rob bought me this little book from the Netherlands with wonderful illustrations......





and we found this French enamel clock face.....

Within sight of the market and upon the recommendation of one of the dealers....we stopped for what turned into a delightfully long lunch at the most wonderful little Trattoria.....
The restaurateur was outside tending his grapevines that were strung up and over the sidewalk.....he had window boxes of parsley....tubs of basil and tomatoes growing on his little piece of real estate there in the middle of NYC......
The only customers when we arrived were three police officers seated at a back table......One of them jumped up and showed us to a table .... he produced menus and alerted the owner to our presence......We were served an exquisite meal....complete with homemade Pinot Grigio. Issac also makes homemade Sangria and Grappa with flavors of fig, prune, rose, pineapple and apricot........Issac was charming, hospitable and gracious. He told us all about his history....his cooking and his singing career......He is very proud of his establishment and claims to make the best Paella in New York....I do not doubt him!
We really had a great afternoon.....and are making plans to come back with family soon.....

Sunday morning.....we inexplicably became involved with cleaning out the garage which was filled to the rafters and housed everything except cars........the effort ended up taking the entire day....



This old garage with its dirt floor is home to all sorts of critters and three generations of stuff...... it was a dirty and exhausting job......



But it yielded treasure.....

I discovered things that I hadn't seen in twenty years!

We managed to clean out a lot of junk.......and consequently made room for more!