Revelry

Photo: Torsten Blackwood/AFP/Getty Images

rev⋅el⋅ry [rev-uhl-ree]
–noun

15th century
unrestrained merrymaking, boisterous festivity

Happy 2010 to the folks down under!

Happy New Year's Eve - be safe tonight

Rear view

Ever witness an accident in your rear view mirror?

I did last night.

The worst part was knowing the car being hit and forced off the road was my husband's; the person I love most in this world.

I think my heart literally stopped.

I was in Bend for a meeting. Mark called and suggested I meet him at work afterwards so we could follow each other home (30 miles). He was worried about me driving in the snow. He was right to worry. I slid into an intersection on a side street on the way...couldn't stop at the stop sign. Luckily, nothing happened. I told Mark I thought we'd be fine once we got off the side streets onto the highway.

Five miles out of town, poking along about 35 miles an hour with the rest of traffic. The roads are snowy and icy. It is dark. No street lights on this highway. I see headlights pull out behind Mark and move into the fast lane. In the rear view mirror, I watch the car lose control and start sliding. Eyes forward momentarily. Eyes back. The car hits my husband's and both cars spin and slide off the road. Eyes forward. Trying not to panic, trying to find somewhere to pull over. I finally get off the road about 1/3 of a mile up, and start hiking back. The snow along side the road is half-way up my calves. It is slick. I can see both cars, and a pick up off the road, along with flashing lights. A policeman was a couple cars back. The combination of police lights and oncoming headlights keep me from spotting my husband until I am right there. He's fine. But the tears start as soon as I see him. He's fine.

Mark works for the Oregon Department of Transportation in the Heavy Equipment Shop. His job is to keep equipment like snow plows and de-icers running so other people can travel safely. He left for work this morning at 5:15 am. It is 15 degrees outside. I can't quite breathe.

High desert nights

“Loneliness adds beauty to life. It puts a special burn on sunsets and makes night air smell better.”

~ Henry Rollins

This is the view from our front porch.

Doesn't get much better than this!

Snow dog

"Dog. A kind of additional or subsidiary Deity designed to catch the overflow and surplus of the world's worship."

~ Ambrose Bierce

Perfectly content to sit in the snow for hours...

waiting...watching...there just might be a rabbit to chase!

The Drive

I don't know how many times we've made the drive over the mountain (to the valley where our families reside) since we moved to the high desert...a hundred? More? Every time we make this drive, it looks different. Familiar places, ever changing.

Starting out, close to home; freezing fog crystalizes the trees.

The summit - blue sky!

Hoodoo ski area - not much snow this year

The burn -

Lost Lake covered in snow -

The lava flow under snow -

Low clouds near Idanha -

Photos through the windshield and side windows...

gotta love 'em!

Sisters

Not the best photo quality,

but a treasured day with family and two of my sisters.

Hope your Christmas was wonderful!

Happy Holidays

Wishing you all the very best of the season.

I have always thought of Christmas time, when it has come round, as a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable time; the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys.

~ Charles Dickens

Cocktail party

"To me, being grown-up meant smoking cigarettes, drinking cocktails, and dressing up in high heels and glamourous outfits."

~ Lorna Luft

This dress...

adorned with this pin...

and this apron while serving...

while balancing on these kitten heels.

Champagne cocktail, anyone?

“When her guests were awash with champagne and with gin,

She was recklessly sober, as sharp as a pin.

An abstemious man would reel at her look,

As she rolled a bright eye and praised his last book.”

~ William Plomer

Christmas cards

First time ever...I didn't get my Christmas cards mailed.

image from Vintage Cru

Instead, a virtual message for you all...

Christmas gift suggestions:

To your enemy, forgiveness.

To an opponent, tolerance.

To a friend, your heart.

To a customer, service.

To all, charity.

To every child, a good example.

To yourself, respect.

~ Oren Arnold

Winter Solstice

+

Why I prefer vintage

The style...

the details...

1940's swing coat from Nifty Vintage

perfect!

Velvet tam beret from Southern Bella Vintage

Camera Obscura

I neglected to take any shadow shots this week so I'm sharing a link and photo to a gallery of Abelardo Morell's pinhole photographs.

Thanks for the introduction, Rachel!

“The belief that one's own view of reality is the only reality is the most dangerous of all delusions.”

~ Paul Watzlawick

More shadow shots can be seen at Hey Harriet

Pretty in Peace

The owner of one of my favorite shops on Etsy, as well as the creative writer of Tea and Honey Bread, T. Allen-Mercado creates jewelry and revels in the written word.

I treated myself to a new necklace, the Nirit,

and received many compliments last night on this stunning piece!

Santa Baby

Ok, I've got a thing for Santa Claus.

It started in first grade.

Mrs. Rosendahl (first grade teacher extraordinaire) was into making crafts so she had the entire class of 6 year olds make Christmas ornaments that year. She put a big pile of Christmas images on the floor, had us all sit around it in a circle, close our eyes, and reach in to pick out an image.

I cheated.

I had spotted Santa and I wanted him.

This is the first ornament I hang on the tree each year.

I don't know what to tell you about the rest...

they keep accumulating...

Reusing vintage linens

This idea isn't new, but it's a good example of what old linens (you know the ones, they're stained and torn, but the lace is so beautiful you can't throw 'em away) can be made into.

My sister-in-law, Nancy, made me this tiny stocking with old linen, lace and buttons.

Photos that reach out and grab you

Scotty Thompson, part of the creative duo at Living in the Gardens, has started a photo blog.

Bright color for winter doldrums...

and photos that make you look twice.

I saw the ocean when I first looked at this photo.

(maybe I'm projecting...)

I sit listening

To the surf as it falls.

The power and inexhaustible freshness of the sea,

The suck and inner boom

As a wave tears free and crashes back

In overlapping thunders going away down the beach.

It is the most we know of time,

And it is our undermusic of eternity.

~ part 4 of Spindrift by Galway Kinnell

In reality, it is fields in Eastern Washington.

Just beautiful.

For more of Scotty's work, click here

Creativity

"Art is the most intense mode of individualism that the world has known."

~ Oscar Wilde

What to do with empty toilet paper rolls?

Wall art.

Found at Growing Up Creative

~Scroll for tutorial

via here

Not typical

"I wanted an electric train for Christmas but I got the saxophone instead."

~ Clarence Clemons

Holiday Train Show

New York Botanical Gardens

Not your typical train set railroad decor.

I'd actually really like to see this...

Christmas dresses - redux

Whispering secrets to my sister, Chantele....

(I have no idea where this photo was taken...)

In our 1970's era living room, my mom's frugality shows.

(I'm in the back, sans bangs.)

She added wide yellow ruffles to the bottoms of our dresses to compensate for our rapid growth...and we were able to wear them for one more year. Initially, the dresses had red ties at the back of the waist. She switched them out to yellow to match the ruffles.

Ramada shadows

“Lovers, forget your love

And list to the love of these

She a window flower

And he a winter breeze ...”

~ Robert Frost

Ramada shadows...

Looking out the kitchen window.

Click Hey Harriet for more shadow shots

Borrowing ideas

Design article

An idea borrowed from here, with a fresh spin,

perfect for the youthful Santa Land decor.

Where do you find inspiration?

Best wreath design

Ever.

Available here

“When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace.”

~ Jimi Hendrix

Room for shoes

Imagine having a room devoted to shoes....

Found this image at Ikea Hacker, a fun site where readers submit photos of hacks done on Ikea furniture. In this case, a man named Philip hacked some pieces and built a shoe room as a surprise for his fiancée, Cat.

Nice.

Prize worthy

photos: Getty Images

Glasgow painter Richard Wright wins England's Turner prize for his large scale gold leaf fresco. See other entries here

Beautiful, but sadly, temporary.

The work will be destroyed once the exhibit is over.

Give it a chance

"We shall find peace. We shall hear angels. We shall see the sky sparkling with diamonds."

~ Anton Chekov

Christmas dresses

Rockin' the go-go boots

1970

The Four C's

Chantele, Charmaine, Cherise, Cherelle