Longing for Mexico

It's raining and I miss Mexico - it's noise, it's color, it's civility, it's age.

Some pages from when I first started my travel journal: Yucatan November 08. I don't journal much but traveling seems to bring it out in me.

Here's one of my favorite pages from my Chiapas trip.

It says, " the river of life"....I had just come back from witnessing a beautiful Easter procession in the town of Zinacantan......And I had been interested in exploring the egg shape..a young Mayan girl (who was selling trinkets with her brother) made the drawing on the bottom of the page and gave it to me when she was done.

Oaxaca anyone?

Retail Therapy at Terrain

If it weren't for blogging I never would have discovered one of the most inspiring stores I've been to in a while. Sara at Saipua (which by the way is my go to blog for great flower shots) wrote about a store called Terrain in Pennsylvania. Hmmmm, I was in Pennsylvania and I think a trip such as this is just what GPS systems were made for. I had high hopes as the store came well recommended. I was not disappointed.

Words and photos cannot do the experience justice.

It was whimsical.

It had high drama.

And quiet beauty.

It was part garden center/hothouse -

part kitchen store - part apothecary.

Kind of like Etsy met Smith & Hawken on steroids.

There was total attention to detail, a strong point of view, and some really great buying going on.

A little googling and I discovered Terrain is the love child of the Anthropolgie/Urban Outfitters visionaries. Of course it is. Click here if you want to go to Terrain's site but don't be disappointed because (like so many stores), the site is just a faint shadow of the store itself.
Nonetheless, I almost never encounter a store I really love and this was it.

Thank you Terrain for giving me something special.

Going to the Big City

Becky & I went on a buying trip to Seattle a few weeks ago. And yes, we do go to stock up on amazing goodies for the store but we also go to, well......just to go....to be somewhere else - to look at things a little differently.

One morning, Becky spied this cute little lamb sign -hmm....

1818 is a long time ago.

We looked up to see that lambikins is the logo for the venerable tailor Brooks Brothers.

Next day we looked in the window.


Gotta love those pincushions that look like tomatoes.
It was a beautiful old time display.




And then Becky gave me a little lesson in tailoring - specifically different techniques for making the collar stiff. I love looking in store windows......especially in the big city. Inspires me to make our front window really amazing too. You never know who might be looking in.l

Visiting Jeweler Susan Goodwin

I always love it when my jewelry reps Thomas & Greta bring me samples of Susan Goodwin to order - like in this picture.

But it's even more fun to visit her studio which I fondly think of as "Susan's Garden of Earthly Delights". Becky & I recently had the pleasure of a visit when we were in Seattle.


It is a working studio and there are bowls of gems and pearls and findings all organized -

And shells and glassware for containers.



Collections of optometrist's tools.



And of course the most beautiful collections of pearls.


Everything has a quality of clarity and brilliance.

And my favorite part of her studio is this wall of women's portraits. They look down upon her big work table that seats four. I imagine Susan is making jewelry for all these types of women - As she is working she's having conversations with each of them.

Then she served us a little cup of Mariage Freres Marco Polo tea -
and put on some Miles Davis music.

And we looked at a book of Alexander Calder jewelry.
They're having a Calder show at the Seattle Art Museum through April this year. I really want to see it.

Susan gave me a little lesson in how pounding metal makes it change shape and move.

So now whenever I see these earrings of Susan's, they will always be inextricably linked with the mobiles of Alexander Calder.

Christmas at the Brandywine River Museum

I recently had the pleasure of visiting the Brandywine River Museum while having a little mini holiday with my mom in Philadelphia. It's a fine little museum with a quirky mix of specialties.

Amongst the slightly macabre collection of Jamie
Wyeth oversize paintings of pigs and crows and male ballet stars, they had it all decked out for the holidays .....

It's a totally homespun affair using only what they have gathered in the surrounding field and gardens.

I imagine hordes of volunteers let loose to give flight to their fancies......

There were lots of animals



Kind of like Granny Craft meets Do It Yourselfer.





I was completely charmed by the treetoppers.

And I know just where I can get a firecracker allium like this one for the top of my tree......
Makes a pretty nice star, don't you think?

Lane County Farmer's Market - Adieu

Passionflower is two blocks from our local outdoor Farmer's Market. Here's my bounty from sometime last summer. Eremurus (Foxtail Lily- do you see the foxtail), Callas, Monarda, and Golden Yarrow. Lucky the florist who can buy this two blocks from their shop.

It's a funky, slightly crowded, market with the usual amazing farmer's market greatness - stands of greens and roots, honey, and vegetables....and new in the last year or two, a great
bakery stand from Hideaway...

But I am always on the prowl for the strange........and different-

Did you know you can buy mushroom growing kits down there? You take home these big plastic bags of spores and sawdust (and other stuff) and whoa......oyster mushrooms....and you can eat them.

Here's some pink ones....I love this color pink.....so fleshy.......

I can sense a little inspiration kicking in.....I want to use these in flower arrangements....not sure how they would hold up for a couple of days....

Probably won't be using these voodoo lilies in anything. But then again, you never know.

Here are some beautiful lily bulbs.....They remind me of some vaguely succulent type flower.


And last but not least, I was happy to be able to buy my canned tuna from a guy who caught it.....better get busy eating tuna if I want to use those cans for flower arrangements.
I will miss the downtown Farmer's Market until next year.

Field Trip - The Florist Wholesale House

I went to Portland yesterday on a hunting, gathering expedition. Here's the big warehouse you first walk into.

It is here that I can lust after various tools of the trade.

Plus there's a whole section devoted to local growers.


Always something seasonal.

More beauties to lust after.

These big yummy yummies are grown in Tillamook.

Hanging Red Amaranth. Also called Love Lies Bleeding.

Looks like big underwater creatures to me.

And every once in a while there's something I've never seen before -

Like this cardboard box full of wierd and strange fruits.

Apparently they're some kind of wild cucumber (?).

Stunningly beautiful. Hunter Gatherer Happiness.

What I've Been Doing Instead of Blogging

It's been a long time since I've done a post.....Been busy.

I went to New York City and worked the Gift Show for 5 days.

Where I saw my beloved friends Ted (from Watson Kennedy in Seattle) &
Jo Ellen (from Coco & Toulouse in Portland)


Then I came home and had a fabulous birthday. Here's the crew whooping it up.


We revamped our whole upstairs space for a new Bedding Area.

Then we had Marcia's fabulous jewelry trunk show for 3 days.

And I'm having a sauna built into the back of my garage by

the amazing woodworker Sean Kelly.

And by the end of this week we've got to get our costumes together for the

Eugene Celebration Parade. It's time to bring out the Meditations for Women Who Do Too Much book. Hopefully, computer glitches aside, all will be back to normal in blog world in the next week or two.