Steel and Wood and Fabric

I am in the midst of last minute deliveries to clients, shopping, cooking and general Christmas chaos. After shopping and before a dance performance I stopped into Wilko, in Tucson's Main Gate University District. I had forgotten how much I love the open, airy feeling that is counterbalanced with solid wood and steel pieces.  I absolutely adore the collection of oddly colored vintage stools and light fabric lighting. The Moravian star lights are perfect accents. Take a look...

By the way, the coffee was superb and very welcome on a cold rainy day in Tucson.

One of my dreams of the past 20 years has been to spend Christmas in Denmark. My husband is one half Danish and still has many relatives who live there.  We spent several weeks visiting during the summer and I fell in love with the people, the traditions and the sense of civility that pervades everything we did while there. Every year we receive photos of candle-lit Christmas trees and family dinners, and I renew my resolve to make it to Denmark, someday, for the holidays.

While visiting my in-laws a few years ago I picked up a book on Danish Christmas Traditions and made several crafts. This year I pulled the dog-eared book out again and made one of my favorite Danish crafts, woven Christmas heart baskets.

You can learn how to make the hearts here. I recommend this craft for older teens and adults, it is a little tricky.  However, the end result makes up for all the hard work! I added homemade tassels and pom-poms for extra color.

Restful and affordable!

I am not usually a fan of monochromatic color schemes, but something about the mix in the new Public Hotel Chicago  from Ian Schrager speaks to me. Maybe it's the affordable rooms rates (starting at $135) but more likely I'm drawn to the classical elements and comfortable symmetry mixed with clean modern lines, antique accents and perfect lighting. I am ready to go. Thanks to the folks over at Cool Hunting for sharing.

Now if I could only translate these images into a more tranquil mindset during this hectic holiday season...

 I love odd color combinations for holiday decorations. I suppose it comes from too many years spent as a visual manager at a major department store where Christmas started in August.Green and red.  That was Christmas for me, exhausted and embracing the holiday as  simply a day off to see a movie or go out for Chinese. Now, a major move, two kids and my own business later, I enjoy twisting the traditional a bit.  A little red blends well with the chartreuse of the desert, brown  and brilliant tangerine. I picked up a few rolls of wide satin ribbon and had some fun.

Classic, comfortable and unique Tucson

Last weeek I made a quick visit to the Arizona Inn with a friend for some old-school Arizona inspiration. The Inn opened in 1932, built by the intrepid Isabella Greenway and has maintained its simple, classic demeanor ever since. One of my favorite areas is the pool house. A crystal clear pool, small dining room and charming bar make it a wonderful place to have lunch, a drink or in warmer weather, a swim. 

Painted windows give privacy to the small dining room by the pool.

Lounge chairs in front of the pool breezeway.

The outdoor bar at the pool

The enticing pool area, even on a cloudy day!

The fireplace in the poolside dining room... so cozy on a winter day.

We walked across the beautifully kept grounds .....

Past the ping-pong palapa- 

into the main building and the  Audobon Bar where we found another beautiful mural and

dinner!

Meanwhile, back at the territorial

 Its always fun to go visit a job site on demolition day.  Everything is torn up, the dumpster arrives, old cabinets are lined up for recycling and the clients are excited and happy. Usually long lost items are found. In this case it was an earring that had been missing for years. Time capsules are revealed behind the walls--tacky old wall paper and grocery receipts from  the seventies along with tiny school pictures of toothless kids that are now in their twenties and thirties. I spent quite a while specifying locations for lighting, measuring soffits and demanding dimmers, darn it!

Everything is moving along beautifully!

cold, crisp red and white

Today it is the same temperature in Tucson as it is in Montreal. My daughter texted from her school a few minutes away from home that it was snowing  at 8 am. Fortunately my garden wasn't frozen. I pulled these lovely French radishes out this morning and had them for lunch. Yum. It started me thinking about red and white.....

A spectacular pineapple quilt from the 1880's, 1st dibs

A crimson orchid in my mother's greenhouse

One of my favorite Kravet Patterns: Natchez

A Oaxacan blouse

A delicious dessert set from Copeland, 1st dibs

Pagoda style lamps and their shades....




I think I need to find a way to add some more red and white to my life--maybe for Christmas.

Picture therapy

 Last weekend my computer crashed, my printer locked up irreparably and on Wednesday I had dental surgery. Needless to say, I have not posted until today. I have done some small work on my I pad, enough to order a fancy new computer which I will set up tonight. Meanwhile, my I pad therapy has also included gazing at some beautiful prints from Natural Curiosities: the Paule Marrot collection. I find these prints created from

original textile designs to be exactly what the doctor ordered: bright, colorful, creative and infinitely inspiring. 

Stay tuned for some more consistent posting, and a whole new look in the coming month!

Another Try

After a bit of a panic attack on Wednesday I took down my privet post because I found out the berries are poisonous. Well, they will make you really, really sick if you eat them. Apparently, so will poinsettias. So given the fact that our Thanksgiving group was comprised of no one under 14, I decided to go ahead and use them and be very careful. Here they are combined with some pears, pomegranates, tiny blooms from my mother's garden and olives from the tree in my garden. I create almost all of my arrangements from whatever is around or what I can "requisition" with permission from the gardens of friends and family. The pots are from my $10 Rule collection.

.

 

Sour cream coffee cake

 Last night at 8 o'clock I remembered that I needed to bring a coffee cake for an event at my daughter's school at 7:00 this morning...after I finished digging through the refrigerator and throwing away half of what I found the holy grail of last minute cooking showed its blessed face.. sour cream! The expiration date was remarkably far off so I pulled this old recipe out of my notebook and got to work. I have no idea where this came from, but I  know it well enough that mutiny was inevitable if I didn't have some for the family at home. I made two.

 

"Old School" Style coffee cake.

3/4 c. butter 

1 c. sugar

2 eggs

1tsp vanilla

1 c. sour cream

2 c. flour ( I use some whole wheat,about half a cup it helps redeem a total health disaster in this recipe)

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. nutmeg

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

topping:

1 c. brown sugar

1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1/3 c. chopped pecans

1/3 c. chopped walnuts

1 Tbsp. melted butter

Mix topping together and set aside. 

Preheat oven to 375

Cream butter and sugar until light. Add eggs and vanilla and beat well. Stir in sour cream. Sift together dry ingredients and add to butter mixture, stir just to mix. Pour half of batter into prepared tube pan. Spread with half of the topping and cover with the rest of the batter. This is challenging, the batter is stiff so put small amounts in like drops. Sprinkle with the rest of the topping. Bake 45 to 55 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

I am headed out to clip some greens from a neighbor's house for Thanksgiving arrangements that you'll see tomorrow. Have a happy fall day!

Some Tole

 Yet another of my recent design fascinations has been with Tole ware. I first recognized it in my neighbor's house. (No, not the artist of the bookcases and the studio tour, another neighbor. Have I mentioned what a terrific neighborhood I live in?) A fabulous piece from the 70's that her mother purchased through an expensive designer in Atlanta. A penetrating but not obnoxious terra cotta color double lamp with switches  that control both sides. Sometimes when I am over there I switch it on and off, back and forth. The metal shades push all the light down, it is a fantastic trick. Anyway, I love the look. 

 On yet another of my Thrift forays I recognized the pierced metal shade and odd coloration and picked up a few mid-century tole ware lamps of my own. A little research revealed that tole is actually a generic term for paint on metal.

 When I searched on 1st dibs I found quite a variety of wonderful tole pieces. Mine are but a mid-century interpretation of an old and highly evolved decor style.

  

Tole trays, another post!

Great Garden, Great School

 When I volunteered to provide transportation for my daughter's high school dance tour of elementary schools I had no idea that I would happen upon a beautiful garden. Borton Primary School already played a large part in our lives, both of my daughters attended the school and we remain friends with their kindergarten teacher and many of their classmates. I heard there was now a vegetable garden and chickens- but I didn't know it would be so inspiring, even in winter. I plan to get back at harvest time and take some more pictures but here are a few.

A beautiful mural, installed with the help of the Ben's Bells Project . The chicken coop is on the far left.

Harvested gourds and mosaic garden art.

Gourd vines climb a sculpture/fence of re-purposed bicycle parts.

Late tomatoes on the vine.

A terra cotta bird bath outside a portable classrom.

The chore board.

Beautiful work from small hands

.

The farm stand where the vegetables are sold, farmer's market style, to local families. This garden is an excellent lesson in many ways for these very young kids!

To read more about the garden, click here and here .