Cemetery Saturday

Copp's Hill Cemetery, founded in 1660, Boston's 2nd oldest burial ground.

What with Halloween and Day of the Dead just past, I've been sifting through my graveyard photos and thought I'd share some here on the blog. I've never been one to visit at night for the spooky/scary aspect, rather I like to visit in daylight hours. I'm fascinated by the old tombstones and the inscriptions. I find the atmosphere restful and feel an abiding sense of peace.

These skull and crossbones are ubiquitous in graveyards throughout New England.

From the Bookshelf

"Decorative Patterns from Italy contains a wonderful collection of patterns reproduced from some of the country's most beautiful Gothic and Renaissance churches. Most of the designs are taken from floor mosaics and wall friezes in churches and have been carefully restored and digitized for contemporary use."

Found this while roaming around Amazon. And it looks like a lot of fun. There are several others in the series, and all come with a CD-Rom including all the patterns. Eye candy in the book and on the computer!

Grab a Chair!

How fun are these?

Great stripes, colourful chairs and bags with bling!

At the Boston Museum of Fine Art on the cafe wall.

Cigar Box Wednesday

Again, a lunchbox, serving the purpose of a cigar box (to hold the stuff!). This one is cowgirl on the outside and cowboy (and Indian) on the inside.

Those wonderful little 2" high figures that I spent so much time playing with in my misspent youth.

And here's a view of the "cowgirl cheesecake"
on the sides of the lunchbox.

Yee-haw!

Fall Colour

This is a beautiful mural in Philadelphia. I don't remember where exactly, but I know my daughter and I came across it on a walk one day . She lived in Philly for a couple of years and we went back to visit several times.

Philadelphia is jammed packed full of beautiful public art work - painted murals, fantastic mosaic murals and sculptures. And of course, it also boasts one of the best art museums in the country.

Mlle. Bouton & Madame Ruban

Mlle. Bouton

The dress forms for these two "ladies" are from Cost Plus World Market. Mlle. Bouton wears a skirt made up of 21 coloured tags that feature all kinds of buttons - vintage, new, wood, glass, horn, plastic and metal with everything from flowers to the Eiffel Tower.

detail of above

Madame Ruban

Madame Ruban's skirt is made of dozens of snippets of ribbon - silk, satin, plain and patterned, vintage, retro and new. Both of these Parisian fashionistas sport a length of vintage French ribbon across the bodice, and are now available for purchase in the Shabby Chic gallery on my Altered by the Sea website -here & here.

detail of above

Life on the Coast

Sunrise along the boardwalk at Moonstone Beach in Cambria.

Pretty, Pretty Maiden

I found this vase years ago, in a little antique shop on State St. in Santa Barbara. She sits on a shelf in my bathroom and makes me happy every time I look at her. Here she is with a headdress of precious pink posies!

From the Book Shelf

A marvelous new book that showcases 40 artists. Lynne Perrella had mentioned that she was featured in this volume which is why I first picked it up. Each artist has an intro page that tells a bit about them and their art and then there are a dozen or so pages featuring their work. It's nicely edited and well designed, with great graphics. I think what I enjoyed most was seeing the extremely wide range of artwork presented - from stark minimalist to "more, more,more". A great book for inspiration and stunning eye candy.

The 11th hour of the 11th Day of the 11th Month

WWI, the war to end all wars (if only mankind could have learned) ended 92 years ago today at 11:00. The above shows King George V laying a wreath on the newly erected Cenotaph at its dedication on Nov. 11, 1920, two years after hostilities were stilled. The Cenotaph is the site each year of remembrance and the traditional two minutes of silence to honor the fallen.