surprise ball

I bought this Surprise Ball for Seth from Tail of the Yak in Berkeley. You can make your own following directions here.

Click the image to see it larger.

more camping...

Here's a look at the cabin...

It's really not even camping, is it, when you have a microwave, a flat screen tv, and easy access to a shower and toilet?

Here are Seth and Rich preparing the corn on the cob for the big potluck picnic Saturday night. We picked up the corn from a farmstand on the way and it was some of the best corn I've ever had. Mmm mmmmm good.

My father spent almost the whole weekend whittling a block of wood. I'll show you a picture of it when it's done....it's almost there. Any guesses?

camping sweets party

Rich was like the pied piper, calling children to the Sweets Party with the pinata.

And they came a'runnin!

Seth helped make cupcakes. Aren't they fun?

And we put together bags of all of Seth's favorite candies.










And then the pinata fun began...first, Kylie tried with a little swat.
Then Jason.

Seth tried.

Ariana gave it a whack.

Angela gave it her best try.

But it was Nick's big swing...that did the donkey in.

sweets party, camping edition

My parents and Seth will be here in just a few hours. Seth is so excited to go camping with us and has decided we should have another sweets party. He requested a piñata filled with candy and toys. I think we'll go find one today. Just now I called my mother and he picked up the phone breathless to say that he remembered the Slurpee machine.

I have some last minute cleaning to do. And the Verizon guy is coming today to bring a new box for high-def. Oh, and guess what comes with the package? One of those fancy, Tivo-like thingamajiggies. Pause live-tv? You betcha. Maybe I'll become a tv junkie.

the la-la song

As I backed my car out of the parking spot, something on the radio took me back immediately to a sweet memory. It was a song in which the singer sung "la la la la" instead of words to a song. Something about the quality of his voice and the intimacy of the wordlessness took me instantly back to my childhood and the song my father sung to us.

My parents rocked us each to sleep until we were entirely too old for such things. I distinctly remember my long legs hanging over the arms of the rocking chair as my father would rock wildly (it was always much more fun when he was the rocker). The old chair creaked to keep time with my father's song. It seems to me he only ever sung two songs: Go Tell it on the Mountain and the La-la song.

My brother hated the la-la song. He would cry, making the job of rocking him to sleep even tougher. He'd put his little hand over my father's mouth and scream "no more la-la's!" and my father would just chuckle. Imagine my surprise when I overheard my brother singing to his own son Seth the very same but (evidently) no longer detested song.

I asked my mother today if she knew the name of the song. She said that she knew it was by "The Singing Nun". I did a search online and found it. It is called "Sister Adele".

It's jarring to hear the song outside of our family and sung with such a high voice. I tried to find the song in its entirety...I know Jennifer and Jessica will want to hear it. I could only find a sniplet...the la-la bit just begins at the end. Click here to hear it.

I think when we're camping this weekend I'll ask my father to sing it before I go to bed, for old times' sake.

scrap journals...and more!

More scrap journals just arrived! Plus, vintage tickets, adding machine numbers, and (my personal favorite) vintage executives' club member badges!

Click the images to deliver you to their place on the online shelves.

lots of letters

I just packaged up a large letter order that's on its way to foggy Londontown. Here is the destination...and here

is a peek inside the shop.

It's fun to think of all of these letters finding their way into the homes of nice British people.

I've taken the letters down from the shop, if just temporarily. It's a bit overwhelming to make so many at once (like I just did for this large order). I've noticed lots of other folks making them. Let me know if you're in the market for them and I'll point you to another whose making them.

On another note, my sweet friend Melanie said she can't see the photos on my blog posts these days. Anyone else having a problem? Have any ideas why this might be happening?

inspired...

My friend Lorraine (of the pink palace) showed me this book last week when I visited and I've been thinking of it ever since. I bought my own copy this weekend and have spent this morning thumbing through, dreaming and scheming.

What I really adore about these looks is that it pairs traditional shapes of furniture pieces with shockingly saturated colors and large scale (but traditional) patterns. I love how patterns are mixed together so generously. I especially love the idea of mixing different panels of window treatments. I'd never seen this done before and I'm so intrigued by it.

I have a lot of traditional shaped furniture in my living room...the red linen camel back sofa, the two caned bergere chairs. But I've kept the colors fairly traditional and the patterns safe and subdued. I'm looking at this room a bit differently now, after looking at this new book.

This is a gorgeous book, beautifully produced with vellum pages and an embossed velvet design on the cover. The interiors, as you can see, are over-the-top wonderful.