What wouldn’t I give to be able to be at the opening of Battery Park’s long-awaited SeaGlass Carousel! I love carousels but I prefer the more creative ones that aren’t limited to pastel-colored horses. This is just about the most imaginative carousel I’ve ever seen: New York’s New Carousel. They have done some lovely sound and light shows there, even before the carousel itself opens. Five dollars a ride? Sold! I’ll be there, next time I’m in New York.
Photo: Filip Wolak, http://www.timeout.com
I woke up this morning at dawn, in the tiny but cozy guest room of an old-fashioned lakeside cottage. The window, barely a foot from the four-poster bed which filled most of the room, looked out over a small lake which was so calm, it reflected the rosy sky like a smooth mirror. A slight mist rose off the water but all was silent. I lay back against the pillows and just gazed out at the water before picking up my book. What a joy, to have hours of uninterrupted reading time before breakfast, in such a lovely place. I love these simple cottages: uninsulated, plain wooden walls, simple sleeping porches, kitchens no bigger than the small galley kitchen in my first city apartment. Old, faded, soft furniture. Simplicity now!
Every Wednesday, I reflect on the week just past and think about three things that went well. It is a positive psychology exercise known as “What Went Well” or “Three Blessings.” What Went Well Wednesdays.
This week’s blessings:
I’ve “challenged” myself to write about a “travel trinket” and associated memories. Here are my trinkets:
Actually, only two belong to me: the top book, Wensleydale, and the third one down, Glorious Trees of Great Britain. They were written and illustrated by a Yorkshire-based artist named Piers Browne. My parents and I discovered him decades ago, when I was a twenty-something, tagging along with them on a trip to visit my mother’s family in England. I had been working at a very demanding job and they were worried about my stress levels, so they invited me to join them in Yorkshire, where my mother’s cousins lived. We stayed at a B&B run by the local pub, which meant that my parents stayed in one village home while I stayed in another, and we met up for breakfast at the pub. The home where I stayed had dozens of gorgeous limited edition etchings done by one Piers Browne. When my mother and I were admiring them, my hostess said that he lived nearby, that he sold his etchings out of his artist’s studio sometimes and that he didn’t mind visitors. So off we went, my middle-aged parents and I, to seek him out.
We drove through the beautiful rural Yorkshire Dales that are the subject of so many of his artworks, winding our way through remote lanes and up moors, until we reached his studio. And yes, he was there, and no, he didn’t mind visitors. We pored over his etchings and came away with a few, including one that my parents bought for me as a gift.
Fast forward twenty-five years. Continue reading
I am slightly obsessed with David Austin’s “English Roses.” I grow some in my own garden but alas! Without an English climate, I don’t achieve quite the same results. BUT David Austin Roses has a blog! With the most gorgeous photos. Enjoy.
Serenity Now Scents and Sensibilities 