Du Barry #1035b

This is the vintage pattern I purchased to make a new dress for Easter. I know it's actually a nightgown, but don't tell! I plan on changing the skirt to tea length and adding a neckerchief collar. Here's the fabric I've purchased. I can't wait to get started!

Back from the South

We returned from Florida last night; our cat has been showing his joy by alternately purring and howling ever since.

It was rejuvenating to be in a place where there is warmth and greenery! The flora of Florida is so different from here in the Midwest -- azaleas, hibiscus, Spanish moss, not to mention the ubiquitous palm trees. There is a beautiful Episcopalian church just a few blocks away from where my grandparents live, where we attended an Ash Wednesday service and a Welsh hymn concert on Sunday afternoon, in honor of the coming St. David's Day (March 1). With the help of my grandma and mom, I was also able to experiment with some new seafood recipes -- shrimp and mango pizza and sea bass with papaya salsa. Yum!

Ash Wednesday

Psalm 51:1-17

Have mercy on me, O God, according to your loving-kindness; in your great compassion blot out my offenses.
Wash me through and through from my wickedness and cleanse me from my sin.
For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me.
Against you only have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight.
And so you are justified when you speak and upright in your judgment.
Indeed, I have been wicked from my birth, a sinner from my mother's womb.
For behold, you look for truth deep within me, and will make me understand wisdom secretly.
Purge me from my sin, and I shall be pure; wash me and I shall be clean indeed.
Make me hear of joy and gladness, that the body you have broken may rejoice.
Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquities.
Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.
Cast me not away from your presence and take not your holy Spirit from me.
Give me the joy of your saving help again and sustain me with your bountiful spirit.
I shall teach your ways to the wicked, and sinners shall return to you.
Deliver me from death, O God, and my tongue shall sing of your righteousness, O God of my salvation.
Open my lips, O Lord, and my mouth shall proclaim your praise.
Had you desired it, I would have offered sacrifice, but you take no delight in burnt-offerings.
The sacrifice of God is a troubled spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

Peonies on my vanity

This faux peony arrangement was a St. Valentine's Day gift from my parents. They are my favorite shade of flower -- the most delicate blush of pink with a hint of cream and sunny yellow!

Lovebirds

A sweet little cardinal and his mate have been frequenting the bush outside our kitchen window this winter. Thanks to Geoffrey Chaucer, there is a tradition that birds choose their mates on St. Valentine's Day:

"For this was on seynt Valentynes day,
Whan every foul cometh ther to chese his make,
Of every kinde, that men thenke may;
And that so huge a noyse gan they make,
That erthe and see, and tree, and every lake
So ful was, that unnethe was ther space
For me to stonde, so ful was al the place."

--from "The Parliament of Fowles" by Geoffrey Chaucer, c. 1382

Apparently, Chaucer was responsible for the romance we now associate with St. Valentine's Day. Very little is known of the actual martyr(s) the day honors -- according to our Encyclopedia of Saints, Valentine was a Roman priest and physician, martyred c. 269 A.D. during the reign of Emperor Claudius II. Another Valentine (possibly the same man) was bishop of Terni, near Rome. The legends that have sprung up around St. Valentine (he fell in love with his jailer's daughter and sent her a last message before his death signed 'From your Valentine'; he secretly married couples during Claudius II's ban on marriage, etc.) seem to be just that -- legends.

Anyway, our cardinal and his "wife" were spotted cosily sitting near each other amidst the branches this morning, but they have been together all winter, so I think that blows Chaucer's tradition out of the water. :)

Handwritten letters

A longtime friend and I are working to keep the art of handwritten letters alive, literally. My homemade stationary was today adorned with all the earliest blooms of springtime -- tulips, narcissus, crocuses, snowdrops, and daffodils.

A favorite passage

"...This writing table, beautiful as it was, was no pretty toy where a woman would scribble little notes, nibbling the end of a pen, leaving it, day after day, in carelessness, the blotter a little askew. The pigeon-holes were docketed, "letters-unanswered," "letters-to-keep," "household," "estate," "menus," "miscellaneous," "addresses"; each ticket written in that same scrawling pointed hand that I knew already...

I opened a drawer at hazard, and there was the writing once more, this time in an open leather book, whose heading "Guests at Manderley" showed at once, divided into weeks and months, what visitors had come and gone, the rooms they had used, the food they had eaten. I turned over the pages, and saw that the book was a complete record of a year, so that the hostess, glancing back, would know to the day, almost to the hour, what guest had passed what night under her roof, and where he had slept, and what she had given him to eat. There was note-paper also in the drawer, thick white sheets, for rough writing, and the note-paper of the house, with the crest, and the address, and visiting cards, ivory-white, in little boxes."

--Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier, published 1938

Valentine tulips

You may have noticed a recurring theme in the photos I take around our home -- I love flowers, especially when brought indoors in a pot or vase. I think it's a good idea to splurge on buying bouquets at this time of year, when winter is dragging. Early spring flowers, such as tulips, are wonderful, because they are a reminder that spring will come!

"The flowers that bloom in the spring (tra-la!)
Breathe promise of merry sunshine --
As we merrily dance and we sing, (tra-la!)
We welcome the hope that they bring (tra-la!)
Of a summer of roses and wine."

--from The Mikado by Gilbert & Sullivan (1885)

Recollections of Oxford

I am reading A Severe Mercy by Sheldon Vanauken -- hence these resurrected photos. I was unimpressed with the book until Chapter IV, "Encounter with Light." Aside from being emotionally moving, it brought back memories of the time my brother and I spent in Oxford three years ago.

Both photos were taken by my brother, standing near C. S. Lewis' grave.

My embroidery workbasket

Excerpt from my current reading

"Emma's heart pounded a bit as her partner led her out by the fingertips and she waited in line for the starting signal on the violin. But her nervousness soon wore off, and swaying and nodding in time with the orchestra, she glided forward. She responded with a smile to the violinist's flourishes as he continued to play solo when the other instruments stopped; at such moments the chink of gold pieces came clearly from the gaming tables in the next room; then everything was in full swing again: the cornet blared, once again feet tramped in rhythm, skirts ballooned and brushed together, hands joined and separated; eyes lowered one moment looked intently into yours the next."

--Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert (translated by Francis Steegmuller), originally published in 1857

Blue bathroom

Detail of some of the new fixtures in my bathroom, including the new blue paint. The shade is what we call "Jack's Blend," because it is the same custom blend that a friend of ours used in his living room. In real life, it is about one shade lighter than your typical blue Wedgwood jasperware.

The sconce is from Restoration Hardware.

February dusk

"The light is fading from the day,
The rest is darkness and dismay."

--From "The Iron Tonic: Or, a Winter Afternoon in Lonely Valley" by Edward Gorey, published 1969

Thelma and Leora

This is one of my favorite pictures of my grandma, Leora Ackerman, who is on the right. She is talking and laughing with her lifelong friend Thelma Neterer. This was taken in 1952, when she and my Grandpa Don were home on furlough from their missionary work in La Ceiba, Honduras. Grandma says that the dress she was wearing was blue, and that she bought it in New Orleans on their way home.

I love this picture because it is so retro. The dresses! The aprons! The teacups! And of course the delightful expression on their faces, a testament to the blessings of true friendship between women.