Settling Back In

It is finally time. 

See you after I clean up a few things around here...

xx isa

Happy Monday.

A new week ahead...
filled with
endless possibilities,
inspiration
&
joy.

Putti plaque of stone from my garden.


Happy Monday.
xo isa

_____~*~_____
Sources & Credits
Putti Plaque photo by Isabeau Grey

Goodbye 2011

As I stand on the proverbial threshold with 2011 at my back and 2012 in front of me, I have to say that this has been the strangest year. I wanted to immediately say it was the fastest year I have experienced - but that would be incorrect. Fast doesn't describe it. It is more surreal -- a time warp. All of a sudden I am at the end of it.

When I was well, I measured the year in what all I accomplished, and I would feel so proud of all the projects completed, the beauty created in the gardens, my home, my work.... this year, I fell down on most of that if you use those terms. I certainly didn't blog as much as I wanted -- but please know that I wanted to, and I think of all the people that have touched my life through blogland.... all the beauty that was shared with me, all the inspiration that affected me
... and I thank you.



This year, my measurement for the year is that I lived to see it. I am tougher than the cancer that is trying to take over my body. I am more than that. I am not defined by that. It is a whole new way of seeing things and I am still adjusting to my new reality.

I look so forward to a new year, and to be able to spend it with you. Thank you - each and every one of you for what you added to my world. I am eternally grateful and wish you all the best that life has to offer in this upcoming year - and always.

Happy, happy new year.
xo isa

---~*~---
CREDITS
Swan photo - source unknown.

Take Flight...

It has definitely been one of those weeks. Because I marked my calendar incorrectly, I missed participating in Marsha's lovely International writing party. There is no such thing as being fashionably late when it comes to something like that. I am so disappointed that I missed it, and in myself for doing so. I truly apologize.

The theme was What we have always wanted to do, but have never done... I was excited to write about it, and it has been on my mind so heavily, so I want to share, in short version, what my heart has always longed for... don't laugh.

I wish that I could fly.

My only recurring dream, and one I have had since I can remember, is that I can fly. It is always the same. It begins over the ocean, it is in slow motion.... I soar lazily over the sea, along the face of a beautiful cliff and over treetops and up towards the sun. There is nothing but the gorgeous scenery in my dream, and the feeling of total freedom and total bliss. I love that dream.

I found this amazing video of starlings in flight at dusk (with the London Symphony Orchestra as background) -- it's very different from my dream, but it is something to behold.

Enjoy.

Happy weekend, my friends. See you Monday.
xo isa

The heart wants what the heart wants...

and it whispers it to your soul...






when you happen upon beauty that reaches you on such a deep level.







Your heart races...




It is the same feeling




of being in love.







Do you ever wonder why you respond to certain things this way?




What are the beauties that make your knees buckle?




Whatever it is for you, I hope that you are surrounded in its beauty all weekend long. I am picking out paint colors. The magic begins anew in our little McMini by the Sea...
See you Monday.

xo isa

________

Sources & Credits

Photo 1 - Photography by Eugène Atget. (French, 1857-1927) Museum of Modern Art - Abbott-Levy Collection. Partial gift of Shirley C. Burden. MOMA.org/collection Photo 2 - Tumblr HERE Photo 4 - Driftwood Baroque Chandelier by Mark Sage. Photo 5 - Interior Design of ID & Artist Elise Valdorcia Photo 6 - Bella Notte Linens -- Photo 7 - via PlumSiena. photography source and publication unknown other than it is connected to Axel Vervoordt. If anyone knows the credits, please let me know as I would love to list them. Photo 3 - Photography by Irene Suchocki, available for purchase

Bound For the Heart...

You can't get a cup of tea big enough or a book long enough to suit me. -- C.S. Lewis

We are avid readers here in Museville. Nothing quiets the world like a weighty book in hand, a big, soft chair and a hot cup of tea. The hustle and bustle of life fades as the lovely departure commences into distant lands, others hearts, dreams and lives. Their love stories, history and adventure unfold as you lose yourself within the pages.

I have books stacked in every room of my house. On the shelves, the tables, under the tables... One of my guilty pleasures is collecting breathtakingly beautiful books -- everything is art, isn't it? Your soul begs to be surrounded in beauty. Life is just better inundated in beauty.

Well, how lucky am I when the book doubles up with the absolute obsession I have with ancient reliquaries and antique religious art...

Wait until you see these.
You might want to sit down.

SPANGENBERG, JOHANNES. Postilla. 1794 (Silver binding). The information was written in olde German, but translate loosely to: Interpretation of the Epistles and gospels, on all Sundays and most distinguished celebrations by the Gantz year, written in pieces for Christians. Luneburg, Ster niche Buchdruckerey, 1794.

Manuscript painting and bookbinding: Dionysius the Areopagite, Works 14th Century
Constantinople between 1403-1405. Binding: Paris, circa 1360 and end of the 14th, rebuilt in the 17th century. Offered by the Emperor Manuel II Palaeologus to the abbey of Saint-Denis

Gospel of Saint Aure
9th century school of Reims. Binding of ivory and silver.

Coptic Binding, 7th or 8th Century. Detached from: The Gospels, in Coptic.
Illuminated manuscript on vellum
Egypt: Monastery of Holy Mary Mother of God, Perkethoout near Hamuli, the Fayum, 7th or 8th century. Goatskin over papyrus boards; decorated with onlaid panels of red leather tracery sewn to a gilded leather ground, with plain edges
MS M.569. Purchased by J. Pierpont Morgan, 1911

BIBLE: PSALMS, WITH PETRUS LOMBARDUS: THE GREAT GLOSS

Binding: Paris, France, c. 1200, massive wooden boards with metal fittings, sewn on 5 thongs, with a 15th c. painting 21x13 cm of the Flight into Egypt by the Master of the Osservanza, deriving loosely from Fra Angelico’s panel in the Museo di San Marco, Firenze. It is held in place by 4 strips of copper gilt, Romanesque Mosan work with repeated stamped impressions of a palmette within an arch, struck from stamps used in the workshop of Nicholas of Verdun and his circle in Köln (ca. 1181-1230). 4 metal gilt beaded-edged frames divided into rectangular compartments enclosing purple velvet, lower cover with red velvet. The original central enamel or ivory plaque was replaced by the present Master of the Osservanza panel in 1724.

Treasures of the heart. There just aren't words. So I'll just leave it at that.

Have a beautiful weekend.
xo isa

________

CREDITS
photo1: Bromer Booksellers, photo 2-4: RMN Grandpalais, photo 5: stmaterne, photo 6: RMN Grandpalais, Photo 7: Schoyen Collection. Information compiled by Yamo Bato.