A Week End In Connecticut

Summer in New England always reminds me of happy childhood vacation, as my family would spend a few weeks every August in Cape Cod. Sometimes on our way we would stop to visit my mum's best friend from high school, Mary Alice, for more magical and sunny moments. This weekend, I fled New York City's stifling weather and joined Mary Alice in her dreamy Connecticut home. What lushness! From my bedroom window, among the trees, I could glimpse at a stunning red house - a remodeled barn.
In the evening, we attended a production of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night on the green in Guilford. For our picnic, I had made asparagus lasagna, and the Good Humor truck was there to provide treats.

At the yacht club, while we had lobster rolls, a seagull too was having lunch... One of the things I enjoyed was checking out the names of the boats - a sailboat owned by some physicians is called Ouch!, which I thought was very funny, but my favorite was the typographically witty one above...

Benjy On The Road

Benjy just loves riding cars. So he needed no encouragement to hop into my car, aka Red Chief, and we drove down Pacific Coast Highway from Malibu along the ocean. Remember how last week I wrote that I would be announcing some important news? Well, here it is: we're leaving Malibu and moving to Venice!
In the days and weeks to come, I'll be posting pictures of Benjy's new abode, his garden view and my decoration efforts...

Afterthought: based on your comments, I realize I should have mentioned that we're moving to Venice, California, not Venice/Venezia, Italy.

A Sailboat Sail

Isn't this sailboat sail just spectacular against Malibu's sunny sky?

It reminded me of Reiter 8, an Etsy store that offers bags and pillows made with recycled sails - you can also watch a video to see how the designer makes them, or check out her blog.

The Wave

Creatures Of The Beach

Seashell, Shadows & Flowers

2009

The sun rises on a new year.

Wishing you a year of champagne and roses...

And as I promised, here is our very own Oracle, Benjy, gazing towards the horizon to figure out what 2009 will bring. Ask him questions on the year to come, and he'll answer - if cryptically, as is all oracles' wont.

Low Tide

Flying Benjy, our Oracle guest blogger will be here on January 1st to wish you all the best for 2009.

If you have questions about the year to come, Benjy is the one to ask.

A Foggy Day On The Beach

Benjy and I went for a walk on a cold foggy beach a couple of days ago. It was a bit eerie, yet beautiful. Especially striking in the haze was an old pagoda-style house perched on the escarpment. And surfers of course were on the waves and on the sand, spider-like in their wetsuits.
The colors of the 2 top pictures weren't photoshoped at all; the fog really made the beach appear straight out of a black and white film. As for the last one, I slightly enhanced the pink hue, but as the surfers were heading West at sunset, that's pretty much the color reality was when I snapped the photograph. Beautiful, eerie California.

Can you spot teeny Benjy, here pictured with colleagues he met on the beach?

A Walk On The Beach

Benjy On The Beach

On My Walls

A couple of weeks ago, on this blog, I wondered what images to decorate my walls with.
Finally, I went with this poster (you can buy it here), a retro Californian photograph by Don James with great typography.

I also pinned up the first page of the Los Angeles Times November 5 edition, the Election Issue, using it as a happy poster, as well as pictures of friends and relatives. Those are my beautiful mum and sister in black and white... Regular readers of this blog may also recognize adorable baby Arthur, and fans of the talented Fifi Flowers will spot at once her whimsical design on a card she sent me (just because she is so sweet...)



Make sure to visit this weekend, for a very special trip to the beach...

Driving Into The Sunset

Oh beautiful California!

My Paradise Cove

Several of you have asked to see more pictures of the place where I live, so here are some! I live in a small studio attached to a house (top picture) - go up the steps and knock on the door on the left if you're around, and I'll make us a cup of tea. Paradise Cove is the name of this "community" in Malibu and a befitting name it is indeed. It has dramatic views of the Pacific Ocean, and paths leading to the beach, where Benjy is learning about the sea... It's also a very green area, replete with colorful flowers. I particularly love the trees here, and how the banana trees and the eucalyptus trees stand side by side; it reminds me of Uruguay somehow, as my grandmother used to have a banana tree in her Maldonado garden, in the middle of a eucalyptus-planted neighborhood. At night in Paradise Cove, the scent of eucalyptus fills the fresh ocean air, and it's heavenly.


In the days to come, we'll step into my studio, which I'm redecorating to make my own...