Category Archives: Writing

Ten Beautiful Children’s Story Books…

25 Wednesday May 2011

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© Joan Currie

To read more
get better in math
make more friends
 more good manners
clean up my room more
get better at sports…
This printed list of resolutions fell out of my daughter’s ballet book (#5 below).

There was a teary moment when I discovered this grade one list today, however, my daughter did accomplish all the items on it – including becoming an architect, bibliophile (especially of Jane Austen books), cross-country runner, and having many, many wonderful friends.

Here are ten of our well-loved, beautiful children’s books:

1.  The Balloon Tree by Phoebe Gilman
2.  Corgiville Fair by Tasha Tudor
3.  Amy’s Goose by Efner Tudor Holmes, illustrated by Tasha Tudor
4.  Masquerade by Kit Williams
5.  Of Swans, Sugarplums, and Satin Slippers by Violette Verday, illustrated by Marcia Brown
6.  Little Grey Rabbit’s Storybook by Alison Uttley, illustrated by Margaret Tempest
7.  Ox-Cart Man by Donald Hall, illustrated by Barbara Cooney
8.  Beatrix Potter The Complete Tales by Beatrix Potter
9.  The Eleventh Hour by Graeme Base
10. Who Goes To The Park by Warabé Aska

Short Stories Revisited…

24 Tuesday May 2011

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© Daryl Barko Barnett

The writer should never be ashamed of staring. There is nothing that does not require his attention. – Flannery O’Connor

I loved going to the dentist’s office when I was a child because it was there in the waiting room that I first discovered The New Yorker magazine and the literary short story genre within its pages.

Below are the short story books that I return to again and again:

1.  The Collected Short Stories of Colette, edited by Robert Phelps
2.  The Art of Eating by M. F. K. Fisher
3.  High Lonesome by Joyce Carol Oates
4.  Flannery O’Connor, The Complete Short Stories
5.  The Portable Chekhov, edited by Avrahm Yarmolinsky
6.  The Portable Dorothy Parker, introduction by Somerset Maugham
7.  The Night in Question: Stories by Tobias Wolff
8.  Close Range: Wyoming Stories by Annie Proulx
9.  The Love of a Good Woman by Alice Munro
10. The Complete Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway: The Finca Vigia Edition
11. Six Tales of the Jazz Age and Other Stories by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Model: Lauren DiMarco

Ten Beautiful Children’s Picture Books…

15 Sunday May 2011

Posted by in America's Next Top Model, Art, Photography, Reflections, Writing

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© Khrystyana Kazakova

Children are made readers on the laps of their parents.  – Emile Buchwald

I love the illustrations in children’s books. Tasha Tudor fans may be interested to know that the Medici Society in London published some of the most beautiful paperback picture books that I have ever seen. They may still be found in used books stores, particularly in Britain and Canada. Many of the authors’ work is still for sale in the form of posters, postcards, and prints.

Here are the books my children liked the best from the series:

1.  An ABC For You And Me by Margaret Tempest.
2.  An Alphabet by Molly Brett
3.  Katy Laura and The Dream Boat by Elizabeth Foster
4.  Poems illustrated by Sandy Nightingale
5.  The Margaret Tempest Picture Book
6.  Tom and the Enchanted Flute by Jean Gilder
7.  The Adventures of Plush and Tatty by Molly Brett
8.  Let’s Meet Some Baby Birds by Ella Bruce
9.  The Racey Helps Picture Book with verses by Celia Barlow
10. Freddy the Teddy by Audrey Tarrant

Model – Khrystyana Kazakova

Ten Beautiful Things My Mother Taught Me…

08 Sunday May 2011

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statuepamse

I never look back – life is too short. – My Mother

1.  The basic ballroom dance steps at a very young age so that I would always feel at home on the dance floor.
2.  Lyrics to practically every big band and show tune.
3.  How to throw a large party and be a great hostess.
4.  A glass half-full attitude that included not dwelling on the past and appreciating the here and now.
5.  How to sketch, draw, and compose photographs.
6.  The correct way to apply lipstick, eyeliner, and false eyelashes.
7.  How to bake, especially pies, bundt cakes, and butter tarts.
8.  A love of the written word – how to type, write copy, read a literary novel, and recite poetry.
9.  How to finesse a trick in bridge and win at gin rummy.
10. How to pack for a trip, including – take your own brand of teabags wherever you go to ensure that you will always have a good cup of tea.

Thanks, Mom! Happy Mother’s Day!

Books that Made a Difference Early on…

04 Wednesday May 2011

Posted by in Fashion, Photography, Reflections, Writing

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© Lydia Hudgens

Books, like friends, should be few and well chosen. Like friends, too, we should return to them again and again for, like true friends, they will never fail us – never cease to instruct – never cloy. – Charles Caleb Colton 

For better or for worse, my view of the world was shaped early on by the following books:

1.  Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery
2.  The Agony and the Ecstasy by Irving Stone
3.  The Edible Woman by Margaret Atwood
4.  The Story-Makers edited by Rudy Wiebe (particularly the short story, Guests of the Nation by Frank O’Connor)
5.  A Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce
6.  Lust for Life by Irving Stone
7.  My Family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrell
8.  The Sun King by Nancy Mitford
9.  The Major Victorian Poets edited by William H. Marshall
10. Mythology by Edith Hamilton
11. A Passage to India by E. M. Forster
12. Gift from the Sea by Anne Morrow Lindbergh
13. Hedda Gabler play by Henrik Ibsen
14. The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James
15. The Stranger by Albert Camus
16. A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf
17. Hills Like White Elephants, short story by Ernest Hemingway
18. Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
19. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
20. Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
21. Metamorphosis, novella by Franz Kafka
22. The Penguin by John Lennon
23. Lord of the Flies by William Golding
24. Women in Love by D.H. Lawrence
25. The Mountain is Young by Han Suyin
26. Love Story by Eric Segal
27. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
28. Romeo and Juliet, play by William Shakespeare
29. 1984 by George Orwell
30. Animal Farm by George Orwell
31. The Divine Comedy, epic poem by Dante
32. The Odyssey, epic poem by Homer
33. Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
34. Tales of the South Pacific by James Michener

I would love to know what books top your list?

Model: Lauren DiMarco

Ten Beautiful Things to Know about Treasure Island…

03 Tuesday May 2011

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© Lauren DiMarco on Oakland Bay Bridge near the Island

Within the portion of San Francisco Bay lying inside the city limits are the natural islands of Alcatraz and Yerba Buena and man-made Treasure Island, created for a world’s fair in 1939 and later turned into a naval base (1941–93). – Encyclopedia Britannica

1.  Best location to view San Francisco’s nightscape and holiday fireworks!
2.  Spectacular views of San Francisco Bay, especially during Fleet Week in October.
3.  Easy access to the city of San Francisco via the Oakland Bay Bridge (no toll required).
4.  Former military barracks have been converted to affordable rental housing.
5.  Event facilities are available for corporate and private events (such as weddings, concerts).
6.  It is home to a feral cat community.
7.  Sea lions frequent the waters nearby.
8.  Halibut, stripers, rockfish, and shark have been caught from along its western shore.
9.  Clipper Cove is home to the Treasure Island Yacht Club.
10. Great spot to view the construction of the eastern span of the Oakland Bay Bridge.

Joan Currie

Model – Lauren DiMarco

The Artful Engineer…

18 Monday Apr 2011

Posted by in Design, Photography, Reflections, Relationships, Writing

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EngineerM

© Joan Currie

Practical ends are achieved through the application of scientific principles. 

When I asked an engineer how his remote control worked, just before Masterpiece Theatre last evening, all I wanted to know was how to turn the device on. His eyes lit up when he sensed that what I really wanted to know was every excruciating detail about the principles of operation – mechanical, electrical, and infrared.

Feigning interest, I made the mistake of nodding my head and this he took as a go ahead for a further in depth discussion about material science – plastics and metals strength, fatigue factors, and wear characteristics. To really drive home his points, he decided to disassemble the remote control to expose and speak to the major components of each subsystem contained therein.

As he addressed assembly time, I asked if perhaps he could show me the series of steps necessary to put the device back together so that I might watch my show. Unfortunately, he detected an opportunity to improve on the design of one of the many pieces now arranged in a geometric grid on the coffee table before us and disappeared into his workroom to obtain just the right tool for the job.

I never did find out how the remote control worked but did learn wherein his passions lay.

Limericks…

16 Saturday Apr 2011

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© Joan Currie

There once was a white bunny named Feaster
Who ate all the chocolate eggs for Easter
The children were quite sad
And his mom was so mad 
That she spanked him on his fluffy keister. 

and

There once was an odd-looking chick named Sue
Who was at a loss for something to do
She went to the town fair
And had a good time there
But came home still feeling lonely and blue. 

These surreal looking animals and some Godiva chocolate served as prompts for the limericks. Inject some fun into your day – try writing a limerick yourself!

5 Beautiful Ways to Beat the Winter Blues…

20 Sunday Feb 2011

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© Joan Currie

Perhaps when we find ourselves wanting everything, it is because we are dangerously close to wanting nothing. Sylvia Plath

It has not stopped raining for days and more rain is predicted for the next week (ditto for snow). Here are some ways to combat the winter blues, especially if you are alone:

1. Connect with others – phone, G-chat, IM, send an e-card, comment on a blog, go to a coffee shop.
2. Complete one task, no matter how small – organize a desk drawer, bake chocolate chip cookies, read a magazine, fix your bike tire, sew on a button.
3. Embrace the weather – if it is safe, don your rain (or snow) gear and head outside for a walk around the block, hike, ski, snowshoe, skate.
4. Play upbeat music – rediscover 70s disco favorites, cheesy wedding songs, check out YouTube videos of bands reunited.
5. Take a trip down memory lane and look at old family photographs, it really helps you appreciate who you are and where you have come from. If you have gotten off track, looking at a photograph of you as a child can help you reset your compass and resolve to do better.

Ten Beautiful Things I Use Every Day…

20 Sunday Feb 2011

Posted by in Design, Fashion, Photography, Reflections, Writing

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© Studio La Donna

Form and function should be one, joined in a spiritual union.
Frank Lloyd Wright

In addition to my umbrella (it is raining heavily today), below is a list of my favorite things:

1.   iPhone (a friendship that has turned to love)
2.   Eiderdown comforter (800 fill count)
3.   Chronicle Books Journal by Julia Rothman
4.   2001 BMW X5 (nothing beats driving it on mountain roads)
5.   Swiss Army knife (Boy Scout Explorer model)
6.   Coach black high heel shoes
7.   Elna sewing machine (I have replaced the motor twice and will not part with it)
8.   Vintage Beaver Canoe sweatshirt (very cozy)
9.   KitchenAid countertop commercial mixer
10. Lululemon yoga pants (very slimming)

Model – Lauren DiMarco