La Gymnastique

Nadia Comaneci

There is just so much to Love about the Chanel Spring-Summer 2012 Ready-To-Wear Ad Campaign. Chanel ads are almost always pretty wonderful but this one ~
The models (Saskia de Brauw & Joan Smalls ) are Outside...by the Ocean...at Cap D'Antibes...using their Muscles...and pointing their Toes...Breathing Fresh Air...wearing Chanel...oooohhhh...so much to Love.

Here's a nice little video

Wouldn't it be Fun if Karl Lagerfeld designed sweet Chanel-style leotards for the French Women's Olympic Gymnastics Team?

l'equipe francaise de gymnastique 1924

Nanny Cam

Vivian Maier ~ Street Photographer. I ordered this book three months ago and it finally arrived. Yay!

When I first read a tiny blurb about her in the New Yorker, I KNEW I had to see her photos. Vivian Maier worked as a nanny in New York and Chicago in the nineteen-fifties and sixties. On her days off she wandered around with her Rolleiflex, photographing the world around her. She passed away in 2009 at the age of 83 and was completely undiscovered until a young man, John Maloof, bought a bin of photos at a storage unit auction. Luckily for us, Mr. Maloof is a very smart cookie and he recognized genius. He worked to retrieve all of her carefully catalogued negatives. There are thousands of them, many of which have not yet been developed. Amazing. Just amazing. You can find out more here. 

A long time ago, in a faraway land ( France) I worked as a nanny. And on my days off I would wander around with my camera. Unlike Vivian Maier, I am far too shy to photograph people. I have actually shared with friends and family the few photos that I did take...and the reviews are not great. Oh well.. But I still feel that Vivian and I are kindred spirits. We shared an experience. She is the Artist and I am the Patron.

Here are just a few more of my favorites from the book :

 

Spring

Mother Nature's Dance To Spring

Jules Feiffer's "A Dance To Spring"

More Jules Feiffer:

How much do we LOVE Jules??!!!

Green Day

 According to wikipedia, the number of people in the United States who can trace their ancestry to Ireland is 11.9% of the total population. That's 10 times more than the number of people living in Ireland right now. Saints & Begorrah!

Made in Ireland

Made in California

Made in China

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

Room With A View

It didn't appear as though our living room had a view, unless you count the neighbor's shuttered windows as a "view." So we slapped this IKEA poster of la Tour Eiffel (which, I'm afraid, is no longer available...the poster, not the Eiffel Tower which I'm pretty certain is still there) on the wall so that at least we could imagine we were camped out in le septieme arrondissement de Paris.

But last night I noticed that, in fact, we DO have a View.....of the MOON ~ Oh la la La Lune ~

Yep, the same moon that you're looking at where you live.

String of Beads

THE STRING OF BEADS

THE STRING-OF-BEADS PLANT

(Senecio rowleyanus)

Tulle

I was in the fabric store shopping for a simple spool of thread when I got completely LOST in the TULLE section. When I returned home I asked my husband if he knew what Tulle was. He had no idea. Maybe it is a type of cookie? Good guess. That would be a tuile. Tulle is the fabric of tutus...and petticoats...and brides....and fairies.
He may not care. But some of us have an emotional attachment to Tulle. When things are going well in my life, I have a recurring dream that I am lounging in a nest made of Tulle atop a telephone pole overlooking the Roosevelt School playground, the elementary school of my youth. It is a Very Good Dream!
So here we go. A little twirl around Tulle ~

Sun and Roses