ho, ho, whatever

Ornament-shaped flask.

We'd need a treeful at our place.

Source: foolish gadgets.

Damn, I forgot to memorise some Latin Christmas carols from Bestiaria Latina.

hissssssssssssssss

(My jealoussss hissssss at not getting thisssss for Xmasssss)

Lalique 'Serpent' amber glass vase, c. 1924 (US$57,000 at auction here).

lap cat

John Aldridge, Lady With Cat (c1950).

From the Fry Art Gallery, Saffron Walden. 

Found via ancient industries.

wish-list

I'm guessing that I won't be getting this for Christmas.

Pablo Picasso, La Minotauromachie (1935). 

Recently sold for a record £1,273,250 at Sotheby's. Source: artdaily.

pineapple

I love this:

But then again I also love the Big Pineapple.

Read about the pineapple in Georgian London. 

Image: the Dunmore Pineapple (1761), Dunmore Park House, Falkirk, Scotland (via the tiny pineapple)

boutonnières

Bring back the boutonnière: more at the art of manliness.

Not so cute I'd pay $35 postage to Oz

$12 for a calendar. $35 to post to Australia. Yeah, right.

Source: urban outfitters. Found via modern cat.

balls

Love this:

via serious eats from box vox.

Ambler

I'd buy these just for the covers, but the books are also involved and well-written late-1930s' espionage stories. It's sort of weird to see them as "Modern Classics" though. 

 

Eric Ambler's Epitaph for a Spy; Uncommon Danger; Cause for Alarm;  

Journey into Fear; and The Mask of Dimitrios.

Pillycater

Next birthday is a big one.

Seriously considering this cake.

Source (apart from The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle):

coco cupcakes (via wolf eyebrows).

Squirrels

Squirrels for sale in Australia! It's the Northern Palm Squirrel. Runs 15kph and needs a harness and desexing. Only in N.S.W. though, so none for me. From $1200...

Image: SMH.

Links: 

• Sydney Morning Herald (where the breeder says he can't see much potential for them becoming a pest!!).
• I first read about it at Made By White.

Tiny Things

Dalton Ghetti's alphabet pencils,
found via paper tastebuds
(with many more images here).

If you like little things, check out little people.

Now Lies the Earth...

I was reminded of this gorgeous, sexy poem while reading (the excellent) The Girls of Slender Means by Muriel Spark:

Now Sleeps the Crimson Petal (Alfred, Lord Tennyson)

Now sleeps the crimson petal, now the white;

Nor waves the cypress in the palace walk;

Nor winks the gold fin in the porphyry font;

The firefly wakens, waken thou with me.

Now droops the milk-white peacock like a ghost,

And like a ghost she glimmers on to me.

Now lies the Earth all Danaë to the stars,

And all thy heart lies open unto me.

Now slides the silent meteor on, and leaves

A shining furrow, as thy thoughts, in me.

Now folds the lily all her sweetness up,

And slips into the bosom of the lake.

So fold thyself, my dearest, thou, and slip

Into my bosom and be lost in me.

Titian's Danaë (1553: Prado, Madrid)

Chicken of the Sea

"Chicken of the Sea" - now why hasn't that brand survived?

From found in mom's basement, source of many wonderful things.

Kitchens

Could I live without over-counter cupboard space? 

It's unnerving.

Mostly I dream about a new bathroom.

Top: from the kitchn.

Bottom: from canadian house & home via the sadly defunct decorno.

No Squirrel Love

I recently spent a few days in Perth (Western Australia) which has Australia's only squirrel colony. Sadly I saw neither hide nor hair of the Northern Palm Squirrel (Funambulus pennantii). It has a mean look...

Image: Wikipedia

Link Love

Some food bits and pieces:

• ezra pound cake's Mama's Trash-Good Orange Crush Sherbet. Containing the goodness of condensed milk and orange soft drink.

• the art of manliness' campfire cooking: 9 easy and delicious foil packet recipes

• beverly hsu's helvetica cookie cutters

• results of the annual jell-o mold competition

• what can i substitute for chicken condensed soup? - from the kitchn (the answer is quite terrifying)

• gherkins & tomatoes on the history of eating cats

• not quite nigella's 5 minute chocolate mug cake

Lego

Lego storage boxes.

More info from HomeShoppingSpy.

I so want that head.

Feline Mascot

"The feline mascot of the light cruiser HMAS Encounter,

peering from the muzzle of a 6 inch gun" (World War I):

Australian War Memorial collection (no. 304910).
Image source: Australian War Memorial.

Papier

Currently addicted to Papier d'Arménie -- "Le plus ancien désodorisant naturel de l'air ambiant" ["The most ancient natural room deodorizer"]. From the website:

Created more than 120 years ago, the famous "Papier d'Arménie" booklet contains detachable strips of brown perfumed paper. It is still produced in the same factory in Montrouge, where only traditional manufacturing methods are used.

The paper owes its unique pleasant fragrance to benzoin resin. Without it, "Papier d'Arménie" would never have become what it is. Whilst on a trip to Armenia, Auguste Ponsot discovered the resin's disinfecting qualities and subsequently decided to introduce them to France. Renowned since ancient times for its antiseptic, healing and expectorant properties, benzoin balm has been traditionally applied externally to treat asthma, coughs and hoarseness.

How to use: Tear off a strip, fold it accordion-style and place it on your "Papier d'Arménie" burner. Light the paper, blow gently so that the paper begins to glow (it should not burn quickly).

It smells a bit 'soapy' before you light it, at which point it is transformed into the most wonderful church incense smell. Lots of smoke too; most impressive.

In Australia I found it at Simon Johnson in Sydney. 

Other sources: papier d'arménie site and amazon.

Link Love

• Yum... Lemon Layer Cake with Campari Frosting (from serious eats).

• Sassoon at the Cambridge University Library (from war poetry)

• The Old Foodie explores a scrumptious menu for the Royal Family during Ascot Week 1938. I can't decide whether Consommé Jeanne Garnier would have been divine or foul: a chicken consommé with pigeon added when the consommé is clarified, then champagne is added; then a final garnish with rice and prawns.

• Dr Clelia Mosher, the Dr Kinsey of the late Victorian era: an early sex survey from the Stanford archives (via arts & letters daily)

• Eye candy: Diem Chau's (pleasure of tiny things) carved crayons for Nike for the World Cup.

A Sign

Maybe I should print it out and stick it on the monitor?



Source: brocantehome

Mag Mogs

Two covetable magazine racks
(hi-fidelity cat by Fornasetti; Neko by Paolodesign).
Found via jeri's organizing & decluttering news.

Heysen

Hans Heysen exhibition: National Gallery of Australia - details.
Image: Spring (1925), Private collection.

Able to Leap Tall Buildings...

Seen at moderncat. Available at giftlab.

DM

DM

Peter Porter

1929-2010.

Obituary: The Australian, 27/4/2010. A handful of poems.

Still Life

I've finally framed these beauties from Still Life with Wallpaper:

Still Life with Drawing Pins (above) & Found Objects - Coins (below)

Image source and (c): still life with wallpaper.

Want, want, want

'One Bedroom Cabinet', by Ferm Living (via design my world).

I'll go back & look at these properly...

1. Anthony Gottlieb on What do philosophers believe? And what do people ask them in mid-air? (from More Intelligent Life).

2. The Journal of Ancient Fingerprints (via ancientworldonline).

3. Emails From Crazy People (via georgie love).

4. 'One Day I Will...' go to macaron classes at the Paris Ritz (via paris breakfasts).

5. Ancient Industries' on Marianna Kennedy's resin and glass works.

6. Elizabeth Berrier's wire sculptures (via modern cat -- below, the life-size wire portrait 'Fluffy and Mask'):

7. And let's buy some foolish gadgets: Skunk Duster, USB surgeon drive and maybe a Benedictaphone.

Religieuse

A memorable mid-morning snack in Paris... Ladurée's Blackcurrant-Violet Religieuse: choux pastry, blackcurrant and violet crème patisserie, violet icing, crystallized violet on top.

Butter

From a supermarket in Santa Margherita Ligure, Italy. I'm already missing lovely butter and wonder if redoing the pantry with this print as wallpaper might help...

I'm off...

To be more precise:







Image sources: Rome, Genoa from posterclassics.com; Santa Margherita Ligure, Menton, Nîmes from internationalposter.com; French Riviera from travelpostersonline.com; Marseille, Paris from allposters.com.

Leftovers

Miniature Champagne bistro chair. Note to self: carry pliers in handbag.

Source: image from, and instructions at, design*sponge.