Perfect Now...

Loving this song by Sarah Blasko. Plus the animation in No Turning Back is worth checking out.
Clip from Daily Motion.

Possibly...

...the loveliest wedding ever. The light, the flowers, and the utterly gorgeous couple...

Images from Style Me Pretty.

Folkloristic...

 

Loving the folkloristic whimsy of Olaf Hajek's illustrations.

Images from Olaf Hajek.

The Darkling Thrush...

I leant upon a coppice gate

When Frost was spectre-gray,

And Winter’s dregs made desolate

The weakening eye of day.

The tangled bine-stems scored the sky

Like strings of broken lyres,

And all mankind that haunted nigh

Had sought their household fires.

The land’s sharp features seemed to be 

The Century’s corpse outleant,

His crypt the cloudy canopy,

The wind his death-lament.

The ancient pulse of germ and birth

Was shrunken hard and dry,

And every spirit upon earth

Seemed fervourless as I.

At once a voice arose among

The bleak twigs overhead

In a full-hearted evensong

Of joy illimited;

An aged thrush, frail, gaunt, and small,

In blast-beruffled plume,

Had chosen thus to fling his soul

Upon the growing gloom.

So little cause for carolings

Of such ecstatic sound

Was written on terrestrial things

Afar or nigh around,

That I could think there trembled through

His happy good-night air

Some blessed Hope, whereof he knew

And I was unaware.  

A little bit of Thomas Hardy on a Wednesday morning.

And it rained...

...and rained, and rained. This meant the boys and I perfected our cocooning routine, which among other things meant staying indoors, and eating lots of comfort food (ie. apple pie and ice cream). I also spent way too much time on tumblr and pinterest...so to balance things out I'm off to enjoy the crisp autumn sunshine. I hope your week is off to a good start!
Image Ellsworth Kelly Blue Over Orange.

Weekly what:nots...

Yippee it's Friday! I hope your week went well - ours was the usual blur of activities. What are you up to for the weekend? The boys and I are madly getting organised for their school camp, plus we are helping a friend plant out garden beds on Sunday (perfectly coinciding with 350.org's 10/10/10). I hope you have fun in your neck of the woods - here's what:nots for the week...

I have to admit I am somewhat obsessed by Patric Shaw's black + white images.

Yennie's lovely The Bear is the Forest illustration, inspired by Finnish folklore.

Loving Dsquared²'s Spring 2011 collection.

The timeless Regent Clutch from Asprey (just don't look at the price!)

Judith Binney's wonderful book on Te Urewera. The Ureweras are one of New Zealand's most mystical and unspoilt areas.

A fab eel skin cuff from Pratten.

J Crew's downtown skinny jeans - the most flattering and comfortable jeans yet. Seriously these are the.best.thing!

Love Miss B's Ocean Diamonds (via Elephantine).

The sweetest owl card by Sanna Annukka found on My Owl Barn.

And a lovely country drive-way I've had tucked away for years (I think it may been from Vogue Living...)

I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Images from Patric Shaw, Yennie, Fashionologie, Asprey, Booksellers NZ, Pratten, J Crew, Love Miss B, and My Owl Barn.

Spellbinding...

Utterly spellbinding photographs by Kim Høltermand. 
Images via Behance Network.

Ra rah Rasputin...

A little bit of disco on a sunny Wednesday morning!

Clip from You Tube.

Weekly what:nots (on a Monday)...

Well, well, well! Our weekend got off to a grand start. Friday night we went here (yum), Saturday it was scrummy pancakes for breakfast, and the Fall Festival in the afternoon, then R left for a week in NZ. Sunday morning the boys and I joined a friend and strolled her 'hood looking for garden inspiration, then slowly but surely things dissolved into utter chaos and anarchy! However, today is a new day and things are finally back in order. I hope you had a lovely weekend, and that your week is off to a good start. Here's last week's what:nots...

Fab black and white image by Patric Shaw.

Coveting this Madewell tee.

Simply + lovely homemade packaging found on Lisa's pinterest board. 

Crocheted coral from the Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef project.

Dante Terzigni's colourful little birds.

Chopin's wonderful prelude No. 15 Raindrop.

Pale + pretty blooms found on Design*Sponge.

A wise little owlet from Canoe.

And Linn Photography's serene autumnal print Here.

Images from Patric Shaw, Madewell, Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef project, Design*Sponge, Pinterest, Canoe, Dante Terzigni, Linn Photography, and clip from You Tube.

For no other reason...

...other than I really like this image. I hope you've had a swell week, I'm rushing about baking for tomorrow's school festival, and trying to get ready to go out for dinner. So little time, so much to do! I hope you're having fun in your neck of the woods - I'll be back over the weekend with what:nots.

Image from Dace.

Whiling away time...

Oh to be whiling away time on a swinging porch chair, gazing at the sky, looking out across a large untamed garden, watching squirrels and bees, just generally pondering this and that...
Image from flickr.

Fall, are you there?

On one hand I'm loving this late (if somewhat humid) summer blast, but on the other I'm kinda hankering after some cooler days and being able to wear jerseys and jackets...
Image from Elle.

Maira Kalman...

Enjoying reading back through Maira Kalman's blog And the Pursuit of Happiness on The New York Times opinion pages. Hilarious, informative, and at time poignant. Her book of the same name is due for release on October 14th.

Images from The New York Times.

Original version...

Loving the original Song to the Siren by Tim Buckley. And digging his incredible cheekbones and skinny jeans!
Clip from You Tube.

2011 calendar...

The uber-talented Romina Bacci has recently added some new goodies to her shop, including this lovely handwritten calendar.

Images from Romina Bacci.

Sparkling sunlight...

Oh my goodness summer has returned and with it clear blue skies, soaring temperatures, and sparkling sunlight. What a treat! 
Images 1. Pretty Light 2. Romina Bacci

Weekly what:nots...

Hello Friday! How was your week? I hope it went well, and you have a fun weekend planned. Our week flew by full of the usual, and with Saturday just around the corner I'm looking forward to a bit of weekendy-down-time, and catching up on a whole lot of letters and emails. In the meantime, here's what:nots...

The extraordinarily beautiful Katherine Hepburn.

New York artist Peter Pryor's colourful artwork.

 Graham & Spencer's Fall 2010 collection, which includes this perfect top.

Terrain's almost too-sweet-to-use tea towel.

Fab white capri's from Jazmin Chebar (found via aubrey road).

Hope's highly covetable bottle-green leather tote.

Pretty autumn colours captured by Irene Suchocki.

The lovely Hear Black Market's water-colour feather heart cards.

The Meadow, Portland. What could be better than a store that sells local flowers, artisan chocolate, and gourmet salt?

And Things We Forget's poignant Post-it notes left to their fate in public. 

I hope you have a grand weekend!

ps: thank you Blogger - I am loving your new add multiple-images thingy!

Images from Lisa Fremont Pages, Peter Pryor, Graham & Spencer, Terrain, aubrey road, Hope, Irene Suchocki, Hear Black, The Meadow, and Things we Forget.