Well here we are again, another trip around the weekly wheel and it’s time to play in the Scattered Life Collective. While Cynthia, the SLC founder, is taking a blogging break in November, I’m still geared up and ready. So come take a peek into my week.
out the window: You’d be hard pressed to know we had temps in the 60s at the beginning of the week. Now we’ve settled into the gray, with occasional snow flurries popping up to remind us summer is well and truly over. No more holding out from hauling out the winter coats.
on the menu: While officially the calendar might not agree, faux-winter’s arrival has brought on full-blown cravings for soup. Here’s my choice for tonight. Mushroom and Wild Rice Soup.
good things:
- Vintage postcards with fabulous graphics. Isn’t the toadstool-sitting gnome playing an accordion a delight?
- All things related to my brother. It was his birthday this week and I baked a pineapple upside down cake. Seriously yum! Besides giving a shout out of love to him, I’m also celebrating that he’s okay after having a nasty fall off a ladder. He’s got some fabulous technicolor bruises to mark the occasion that rival the best pop art, but gratefully nothing more serious to show for it.
- A fabulous catch-up letter from a friend. She’s always a tremendous source of delight to me, and I swear the simplest conversations with her are like plugging into a 4000 watt stream of creative inspiration. We have to pace ourselves or else brain circuits start smoking and idea books fill up instantaneously.
- An incredible and delightful example of how-does-this-stuff-happen?! A friend found in her inbox an email marked as new and unread that I had sent to her over a year ago. The email was exactly a perfect reminder of something – one of those fabulous cosmic winks that no amount of skepticism can tarnish. We’ve been laughing delightedly ever since.
- I’m keeping up with the NaNoWriMo challenge of 1666 words a day for the month of November, inching my way to the 50,000 word total. I had a bit of a temporary setback this week as I was under the weather and largely hanging out under the covers for a couple days, but I’ve powered through with a couple catch-up sessions now.
reading: Nothing finished to report this week. There was a lot of reading of the insides of my closed eyelids though.
watching:
- I was fascinated by this brief video about a particular kind of mushroom.
- I’m also recommending the series Jack Irish about an Australian lawyer turned private investigator. Quirky and fun.
listening: My Brightest Diamond’s We Were Sparkling
favorite word of the week: frustraneous. Adj. meaning useless; unprofitable.
project I’m loving to support: I’d love to see this Kickstarter project get fully funded: Mirror Mirrored: An Artists’ Edition of 25 Grimm’s Tales
on the wish list: Sabina of Mount Royal Mint creates gorgeous and slightly whimsical felt spirit bears and other delights. Loving cherry blossoms the way I do, this Sakura Spirit Bear has me totally captivated.
adornments: I’m adding a new category this week. Because I adore adornments.
- This traditional Kosovo bridal adornment seriously ups the standard for fabulousity in face painting.
- I unfortunately carry the genes for less-than-perfect teeth. My dental history has been long and checkered, and although I do everything in my power to keep my pearly not-so-whites in healthy condition, historically it’s an expensive and losing battle. But now I’m inspired– who doesn’t want crown art?
out and about:
- This project delights my heart on so many levels. Artist Jillian Tamaki was commissioned to create embroidered covers for three Penguin Classics books.
- Keeping with the book theme, here’s a little Victorian era treasure. Have your book and a bracelet too.
- Unbelievable leaf-cut art by Omid Asadi
- Letters to the Living No. 5: On Gentleness, Wrestling with a Wounded Angel by Andréana E. Lefton
- Lori-Lyn Hurley’s The Magic Begins Where Fear and Passion Meet posted on the Over the Moon blog
And there you have it – some of the highlights of my week. Now tell me about yours. Had any fun with fungi? Feeling more bookish or peckish this week? Prefer cherry blossoms or bears or want a combo of both? Keep a home for a gnome? Do tell – you know I love to hear.
Deborah, I love the vintage postcard! Also love the Sakura Spirit Bear, so sweet. It’s always fun to read your posts and take a peek into your week. Thanks for sharing.
That postcard IS grin-worthy isn’t it?! So glad to have you stop by Nancy.
That gnome is delightful! As are the birds surrounding it. I would love to stumble across that scene in the woods.
I keep seeing photos of mushrooms and it is making me want to go mushroom hunting. Someday. The season is over here; my world is covered in more than a foot of snow.
Off to check out that Kickstarter. You reminded me that I saw an article about the true story behind some of those old fairy tales. They were perhaps more gruesome than the stories! (I didn’t realize how dark the Grimm Brothers’ tales were until I was much older.)
Yes wouldn’t it be a delight to stumble on that woodland scene! I’m utterly fascinated by fairy tales and the Grimmms indeed didn’t shy away from the dark. With so many of our tales Disney-fied I suspect the original tales would be quite unrecognizable.
Thanks for another lovely blog! I’m sorry to hear you were under the weather. Hope you’re continuing to feel better each day. Congrats on your brother’s birthday – even though they are belated.
About today’s blog: I loved the mushroom hunt video. Amazing! Also, thanks for the embroidered book covers and the leaf cut art. Setting up a blog like this would take me over a month and yet you delight us with this lovelilness on a daily basis. You’re a *gem* yourself!
Hugs,
Karin
Thanks for the very kind words Karin! And how fun you visited today when I have the gnome on the red and white mushroom. I’ve never actually seen a red & white mushroom in real life, but the photo you send me one autumn not only was proof positive that they did exist (I had doubts!) but makes my heart happy every time I look at it. It’s pretty hard to doubt there’s magic in the world when red and white mushrooms exist. 🙂
Great post. And I enjoyed the mushroom vid. I’m currently on the lookout for the Chaga mushroom here in Upstate New York. I have captured tons of “shroon” shots here. Very cool. Aloha…keep warm! My soup of the day is ham and white been with cabbage.
Oh cool Vicki – how fun that you’ve been photographing our little fungi friends. I had to look up Chaga for a visual – pretty neat. Good luck in your search. And your soup sounds delicious as well. One of my favorite things about the cooler weather is all the soup opportunities.
Oh Deborah – I’m really looking forward to trying that mushroom soup. Lately I’ve been hedging toward the cream variety and this looks much healthier and heartier. I’ll have to add wild rice to my supermarket list. I had no idea mushrooms had been along that long or had so many health benefits. Thanks for the education with the video. I was first introduced to this Scattered Life Collective idea on Amy P.’s blog. What a wonderful idea! Thanks for sharing.
Do try the soup – it’s delish. I learned a lot from that little mushroom video and now my curiosity is piqued even more. You may not have heard the last of this from me. 🙂
I’m so late getting here! Delightful post. I love love love that little gnome!
Makes me laugh too. Thanks for stopping by Liz.