Happy Weekend!

I am very excited about this weekend.

J's garden's official opening was a couple of days ago so we will be celebrating. Dinner with good friends, free music at Golden Gate Park, picnics and wine.

The weather is cool and breezy  and we are happy.

Have a good weekend!

Impending rain by RR

Recording our Dreams (Wim Wenders).

Today I woke up to the news that the future is finally here: Some scientists are working on a machine that will be able to record our dreams.

Top row shows images subjects saw on video. Bottom row shows the corresponding images reconstructed by a computer based on the subject's brain activity. (AP photo/University of California, Berkeley, Shinji Nishimoto).

I was transported back to my teens and to one of my favorite movies: Until the end of the World by Wim Wenders (better known for the movie Buena Vista Social Club). 

Over a decade in the making, filmed in 15 cities of 7 different countries, Until the end of the World was released in 1991. The setting is 1999 and the plot is part mystery, part science fiction, and the ultimate road movie. For the score, Wenders asked various artists to write songs as they thought music would be like in 1999. The result is one of my favorite soundtracks of all time. I listened to it ceaselessly! Even my dad would hum to the songs. I bet he can still remember them today.

A dream recorder seems like a very cool invention with tons of practical uses, but judging on how things turn out both in Until the end of the World and this other movie (coincidentally also set in 1999), I am not quite convinced it is a good idea.

I am pretty sure I would spend more time than necessary watching and re-watching my dreams.

What do you think?

Va Va Voom!

Image via Pinterest

I love, love, love Christina Hendricks and her beautiful curves.

She is such a breath of fresh air amidst stick thin actresses.

Gorgeous.

Art and image by el lohse. Purchase it here

Original piece and image by Jayne Tunnicliffe.
Make it yours by visiting here.

I also just found out that she has friends with an Etsy store and sometimes models their creations!

You can see here doing so by visiting Black Bird Design House.

Sigh...

Then and Now.

Mick and Bianca Jagger wedding portrait by Patrick Lichfield.
St. Tropez May 1971 (Image from here).

Kate Moss and Jamie Hince wedding portrait by Mario Testino. Cotswolds, England July 2011(image from Vogue)

Androgynous beauty, again.

In my previous post about androgynous beauty I mentioned I wished I knew what Bitch Magazine's take was about that particular dilemma. I know they have often in some form or another dealt with the topic of gender boundaries, but in their recent issue they have an interesting article titled Pink Scare about boys that display "girly" behavior and the possible impact such actions have on their development. 

In honor of that, and of androgyny in general, here are some fun photos of strong, talented females in masculine attire:

Frida Kahlo, far left, at a family portrait. Circa 1929. (Image via here)

Annie Lennox. (Image  via here)

Cher as Elvis. (Image via here)

Lady Gaga for Vogue Hommes Japan, photographed by Nick Knight (photos via here).

Welcome.

Welcome to our home, you cute polydactyl creature!

Horse shoes (Sam the farrier)

Recently I spent time with the horse and donkey and while I was there Sam the farrier stopped by to tend to their hooves. Sam is very friendly and has been shoeing horses for 18 years now. 

I loved to see him at work, feeling like I was a witness to a very old skill. I bet most of the tools and techniques have not changed in his trade for a long, long time. He did, however, have a fabulous modern trailer outfitted perfectly for his needs. You can see bits of it in the following photos. Sadly I did not take a full picture of it, but it looked pretty much like this one. 

Sam's wide smile.

Sam's trailer is outfitted with a furnace, and anvil and a radio that blasted classical music while he worked.

Sam's trailer is pulled by a wonderful truck from 1953.

Impending Harvest.

Lately there has been an increasingly louder buzz around Wine Country about the impending grape harvest. 

Apparently the first grapes are already being harvested in Carneros and Healdsburg.

The ones in our back yard look pretty close. 

Can you see the little green grapes? That is called "chicks and hens", an uneven growth of the cluster caused by cool and wet weather while the vines bloomed. The uneven ripening is an issue, since they will have to separate and toss away the green grapes so the resulting wine is just right.

On a different note, last night we went out to celebrate our wedding anniversary. The weather was incredible. We ended the night playing Bocce ball and had a great time even though we had no clue of the rules.

Spoonflower's free swatch day.

In my post about Rickshaw Bags I mentioned Spoonflower in passing. I have since meant to tell you a bit more about them, and could not do it on a better day than their free swatch day.

Spoonflower is a site where you can design and print your own custom fabric. How cool is that!

They also sell other people's designs in seven base fabric choices to choose from.

If you order between today and noon tomorrow you will be able to pick a free swatch of any of their fabrics... with free shipping!

They are doing so in Support of Heifer International, suggesting that you donate the $5 that the swatch would cost to them instead.

Here by, some of my favorite fabric designs:

Morel dilemma by helenklebesadel

Flock of birds by Sequingirlie

Acrobats by totallysevere

Pegs on the line in color by Ldj_design

Hornet moths fabric by gollybard

cactus by holli_zollinger

Arome by nadja_petremand

White anemones by pattysloniger

Conservatory of Flowers: Wicked Plants (Amy Stewart)

Last weekend J and I went to the Conservatory of Flowers to see their Wicked Plants exhibit based on Amy Stewart's book Wicked Plants: a book of botanical atrocities. I really like the book, so I was exited to finally visit.

While the exhibit was sweet, the best part of our visit for me were the building and the orchids, while for J (as always) was the dahlia garden.

If you want to meet Amy Stewart, she will be at the Conservatory of Flowers on October 6th at 7pm to talk about her Wicked Bugs book. 

The Wicked Plants exhibit will be on until October 30th.

Martian orchid

More martian orchids