Land Girls

I've been taking a break from blogging since the passing of my dad.  Things that normally appear on my blog seemed a lot less important as I spent time with family.  Thank you to everyone for the well wishes.  I'm going to continue looking for the good and lovely things in this world.

One thing I stumbled across recently was the BBC One show from a few years ago called Land Girls.  (It's on Netflix.)  It's about the girls who worked the farms in Britain during World War II.  I especially like the lovely floral prints of the girls' blouses and dresses.

Chai-Spiced Milk Chocolate Ice Cream

Remember when I posted about this cookbook I got at Williams-Sonoma?  Well this weekend I attempted my second ice cream recipe from it.  I made chai-spiced milk chocolate ice cream!  You have to steep the milk and cream with star anise, whole cloves, cardamom pods, peppercorns, and cinnamon sticks.  You also have to chop chocolate to use (I used Ghirardelli).  It turned out to be quite a tasty treat!  I think that the spices made it seem more like a winter treat than a summer one (which was perfect because we're still buried in snow...).

The Secret Garden Collection

Liberty Art Fabrics Interiors has introduced a new collection based on the much-loved book, The Secret Garden.  The collection of fabrics and wallpapers is so beautiful.  I have really fallen in love with floral prints (especially from Liberty), and I think that they should overrun everyone's home.

Barr-Co. Hand Cream

Time for a new tube!  Barr-Co. hand cream in the original scent is the greatest thing ever (if you live in a bitterly-cold climate, like I do).

Thomas Cole's "The Voyage of Life"

Last weekend we made one of our 24-hour trips to St. Louis.  While we were there, we visited the St. Louis Art Museum, which is really great.  It's housed in one of the permanent buildings from the 1904 World's Fair and is free to visit.  Right now they have a special exhibit featuring all four original paintings from Thomas Cole's "The Voyage of Life" series.  (A second set hangs in the National Gallery in Washington, D.C., and we saw them last spring.)  The paintings are visually typical of the Hudson River School, and I like the allegory of man traveling the river of life.  This is the first, titled Childhood.  The Munson-Williams-Proctor Art Instituted in Utica, New York, owns all four pieces.

Bodum Electric Kettle

One of the really handy things that we've found recently is this electric kettle by Bodum.  Hotel rooms in England typically have kettles like this, and we used them to make instant oatmeal (or porridge, as they call it).  They're also great for hot chocolate, or anything that calls for boiling water!

Latter-Day Home Art

Have you browsed Latter-Day Home lately?  They have some really lovely art.  I especially like the Utah/pioneer-themed prints, like this one of seagulls.  And this letterpress version of The Living Christ document is so beautiful.

Liberty Valentine's Gifts

Liberty has a lovely Valentine's Day Gift Guide on their web site.  If we had tons of money and nothing to spend it on, I would ask for this beautiful bumblebee ring.  I've also been thinking lately about sewing patches of Liberty fabric onto shirts - so imagine my surprise when I saw this sweater!  (At 320 pounds, I think I might be able to make one that's more affordable...)

Seashells

When we were in Florida in January we found tons of fascinating seashells.  We found so many that we had to mail a box home.  I decided to display them in a glass jar.  I made a little tag with the date and location to tie around the top.  What a fun memento.

Beyond France

Here's a great source for beautiful vintage European linens for your home.  I was looking at the UK Country Living web site, and it led me to Beyond France.  I especially love these indigo-dyed tea towels and grain sacks.