Of this and that and some added magic

As promised I will talk a little bit about this and that.... 

Firstly, why don't you go here and read a little about book recommendations I have for you all to read this coming winter.

There is much, but I am sure you will browse right through it....

There are also children's and teen books here!

Well, but if you decide to stay here for a moment, I'll take you to a special place...

Secondly, it's of course all about my recent travels to Savannah, GA. 

I spent only a (long) weekend with my husband, but it was just wonderful.

I discovered a hidden gem, a magical place.

A villa right in the middle of town, where time truly has been  standing still. But it's neither a well kept museum, nor a residence of an old ghost...it's an antique shop with a secret....

Will you follow me?

Let's knock on the door...

Only a small sign points out the shop behind the door....

A kind lady or gentleman will open and ask you inside.

You may browse at your leisure.

It is a long, ground level room, filled to the brim with tables and chests, shelves full of frames, books, prints.

Mirrors at every bend, disorienting the visitors. Have I been here already?

There are small and smallest rooms, carpets, street signs, lamps, chest of drawers from all kinds of periods, all breathing the times past.

A box filled with old photographs draws my attention.

As I look through them a framed picture, showing a lovely bride with a huge bouquet of flowers, catches my eye. Why do I feel such a connection? It's a Savannah bride I am told, from 1919!

I hold her gently in her gold frame, tattered silk hanging from the back. 

I make my way through rooms, where baby carriages sit on top of tables, windows have faded curtains. I find a tiny enclosed garden.

As I turn a corner I find an old staircase leading upwards what looks like the outdoors. How can this be, there is a garden on the ground just behind me...

As I climb to the top I realize I am standing on a porch. A porch familiar to me...

Looking around I suddenly connect the dots. Back in July I had visited Savannah numerous times and of course taken endless pictures of every possible romantic spot.

The back porches on this grand old house had me enthralled from the first moment I saw them.

Here is an image from then:

Now I am suddenly standing inside and the autumn sunlight warms up the old chairs, inviting me too sit and soak up some sunshine. 

But that has certainly to wait, this house opens up like in a dream.

Turning back I find myself at the main floor and a grand entrance.

Beautiful, how the the light streams into the hall!
I can see the main entrance, far back!

There is no way I can take this all in at once.... The crumbling walls and ceiling, countless objects, paintings, chandeliers....This has not been touched for at least 80 years.

I wander around in a haze. My mind travels back, I begin dreaming. Of dinners and life, parties and the times back to the Civil War and beyond.

I slowly get a feeling for the house. The central hall divides the house in two almost identical halves. Two large rooms left and right from the grand entrance would have welcomed visitors, open in the back equally to two more, slightly smaller rooms. Behind these on either side a small cabinet and the large porch outside.

The impressive staircase reaches up gracefully at least two more floors. Realizing closing time has come and passed I find my way back downstairs again only to be invited back the next day...

Shops do close early in Savannah, usually 5:00 to 5:30 PM every day. I snap a few more picks and take the bride home with me. She belongs with me...Only a few Dollars exchange hands and I smile as the friendly shop owner wraps her in newspaper! 

Just look at the amazing wall paper!

And the crown molding and the medallion above the chandelier...

Everything has enchanted me and I would have spend the night here if I only had been given the chance. I saw a few chaises... I am all excited to return first thing the next morning to explore the rest of the house. Oh, I can't wait...

Of course I have been back and, not to strain you as well, I will return tomorrow and  show you the rest of the house, believe me, it seems endless and wonderfully mysterious. Nothing reveals the treasures, quietly waiting behind these windows, when you look from the outside up the magnificent front!

All pictures taken by V.Zlotkowski

Hacker

Today I realized that a hacker has moved into my e-mail accounts and has send ridiculous mails to all my contacts!
So, if you have received any strange looking (viagra related) mail from my e-mail, please be advised it was not send by me. 
I apologize for any upset ....
: (

On a happier note:
Over the last weekend my husband and I travelled to Savannah,GA to celebrate our anniversary.
It was wonderful and there is nothing so invigorating for a marriage as a few days alone together.....
Filled with great walks and talks, food and drinks, perfectly grown up entertainment....ahhhh!
The picture above was taken by me in a in an amazing house, about which I will tell you more tomorrow. It was a discovery of sorts, perfectly fitting for Savannah! 








Image by V. Zlotkowski

Little anniversary journey

We are celebrating 16 years...of a happy, eventful and adventurous marriage. And we make it our own this time by having a little weekend getaway just for the two of us...
We have fallen in love with each other many times over, and this year we actually fell in love with this place together...
Can you guess where we are going? A little hint: Glorious Spanish moss laden trees in many squares around town!

See y'all back on Monday!

Nate Berkus Show

It's all about small spaces on small budgets! 
This Thursday, November 3rd, 2011 the latest Nate Berkus Show will be aired at NBC at 2pm New York time. Check your listings.
For this episode Nate teamed up with the popular design magazine, DWELL, for their annual small space issue and helps them solve America's toughest small space dilemmas.
A few selected pieces will be used to create little space miracles.
Among the items will be:

   A Rug (unifies small space to create illusion of size) --From FLOR tiles.

  Two occasional tables (they serve double duty) --  from IKEA 

   Marimekko pillows (pattern draws eye into room) - MARIMEKKO from Crate &   Barrel.


And of course there will be more, the studio audience, as always, will have many surprises and give aways awaiting them!

Click image to enlarge: 

I am a fan of his show and his affordable and clean lines! Go, have a look! It looks like super fun!



PS: And don't forget to look at my children's book recommendations here! The holidays are just around the corner....





Image through Nate Berkus Show, items above via websites.

Winter?

Reading the forecast there was snow mentioned.... End of October, are you kidding?!

I think I will need something  for the season!

What do you think? And the place to go with it...

Or this?

And I love this!

From the Milli Collection. And the equally incredible timeless Stephen Gambrel! You can find it here and here!

To see some of the winter weather around here check out my other site! It's rather hard to believe!

All images via Milli collection and Stephen Gambrel websites.

New treasures

I scored two lovely treasures. I found a beautiful tea pot and a lovely silver tray for the holidays!  My source for many hunts is Etsy and you can easily follow me there. 
From Falcon and Finch came both: The tea pot looked like nothing much upon first seeing it, but I loved the shape.


This is what I'd gotten:

And the result after some really hard polishing: On the bottom it reads 1883 
B. Rogers Comp. silver on copper 1200. And silver shiny it is now. The two dark parts on the handle seem to be bakelite.

The Reed and Barton silver tray was already beautiful, I just gave it a once over and voila! Perfectly ready for coming parties!

A little green next to it....

Right at my window!
And here one more look at the tray and tea pot!

I just love it!

PS: Don't forget to check out my House and Living part, where my latest post is all about recommendations for children's and teen books! Think holidays!

Have a wonderful last October weekend! Halloween is coming too! 


: )







First image FalconandFinch, last four by V.Zlotkowski

Reading, writing and living

I can't say that fall lends itself more to reading then any other season for me. Although the notion sounds romantic, with days shortening and the fireplace beckoning.
There is not more time than on long summer days, beach side. Or snow covered winter afternoons, when others go skiing. Reading has been for decades on top of my priorities. It's what I do. My family will attest to it. And the dirt under the sofa as well.
I am also a survivor through reading. For books have always helped me cope. And imagine.

I have begun writing too, which now takes the other half of my time, after I care for my family. And read. I have become more reclusive, turn away from much entertainment and hole myself up, happily.
It's a strange state of affairs. I still can't fully think of myself as a writer.
But writing I do.

Image

I picked up a writer's magazine yesterday, showing a sad and painfully thin Joan Didion on it's cover.
I have read her haunting account of her husband's death in  'The Year Of Magical Thinking'. A book which filled me likewise with sadness and hope.

Joan Didion

She has an extraordinary eye for reality. Her essays have interested me more then her other writing, telling me of an America from the 6o's and 70's I never knew.
Now she has written a new memoir, about loosing her daughter. The book is called 'Blue Nights'. It will be out this November.
So many of my own fears and feelings, I imagine, will be touched.

Image


It reminded me also of the writer Isabelle Allende's daughter Paula and her untimely  death at age 28 and Allende's subsequent book with the same name.
I always fear the loss of any of my four children, a fear, parents experience at many given challenges to let go. And yet, mercifully, we rarely experience the death of a child in our days, thanks to the advances in medicine and our daily awareness of luring danger. (I am aware that it is not so in many parts of the world until today)
When it happens, it seems, we are struck harder. Although I think of it as a misconception, since neither the mass death of children through epidemics or common childhood deceases could surely have had anyone getting used to it. Nor the death of a single child. Maybe hardened. I can see why mothers hardly smiled in pictures of long ago. How many of them experienced terrible losses?
Of course there are other ways of loosing children. Through divorce or alcohol, drugs or neglect.
Having experienced it myself I know what millions of divorced parents feel. Also as a child, coming from a family where divorce would have been a better choice for so many reasons.
So much is touched and broken open again.
Yet there is hope for me, all my children are well and my husband sitting next to me.
I am writing and filling in the pains of years past with my own magical thinking, my
writing and memories. I capture them and make them obey to the demands of my soul.

I

Image
There are other books which have given me a chance to think back to experiences I tried to come to terms with, the oddness I felt as a child, the not belonging, my teen years living with an abusive, alcoholic father and a weak, depressed mother.
Just a few days ago I finished reading Jennifer Haigh's novel 'Faith'. A book about keeping or loosing faith in people, a family under extraordinary circumstances. A book through our book club, which I liked against my previous thoughts.


A few days ago a 20 year old boy from our neighborhood was found dead on the street.  A suicidal overdose after a short career of alcohol and drug abuse, a young mind criminalized through his habits, coming from a 'dysfunctional' family and what must have been unimaginable hopelessness and loneliness. I did not know the boy, nor his family, but it did not let me sleep. I kept thinking about him and his missed life.


And again I am pushing myself to think positive, stay optimistic and hopeful. Against doubt and the dark walls, which sometimes build themselves up around me.
These are the moments, when I feel the most connected to life, when I feel my soul intact and guiding me towards the future, my dreams and the one's of my husband and children. Where I see what's possible and what I still can do!
I am a reader.
I am a writer.
I am alive.