For You, Dad

Over hill, over dale
We have hit the dusty trail,
And the Caissons go rolling along.
In and out, hear them shout,
Counter march and right about,
And the Caissons go rolling along...

photo credit:

A Continuous Lean

is one of those perfectly amazing blogs; here, a

couple of West Point cadets from the Class of '38

learn a thing or two about Field Artillery.

The Ghost of a Chance

You might want to a look a these.

I keep stumbling across images of old

or abandoned Army posts and Navy bases.

It's a boon that Richard Nickel of Kingston Lounge

(via Rooms) has taken the time to document this,

and this, some of it--most of it--incredibly haunting.

I'm more than a little sorry to see so much of it go.

There are utterly magnificent buildings out

there, just crumbling, and it seems a shame.

But it is a swell photo opportunity.

All Kingston Lounge photos, above,

are in the vicinity of NYC.

Rooms: Worth Returning To

From Rooms. 

These photos arrive via a swell blog...the image at top is one of my all-time favorites (originally found at Badminton). 

The poor dear tumbling down the staircase in the next photo finds herself in the home of Edward Gorey (no additional explanation necessary). 

Rooms. Visit. 

Reads: The Smart Set

This will perk-up your reading list, no doubt.

Whoopee Ti-Yi-O

Caterina notes that this is a good idea. 

Thought I should pass it on. 

"Singing is the key to long life."

Sounds pretty good: sing, dance, go camping... 

and you live longer.

Sign me up.

Here's the Thing: Archetypically Speaking

"All nomads, professional and otherwise, bring along reminders of the places they have left behind them." This, according to Guy Trebay in t+l this month; likewise, he claims that Toland Grinnell's 2008 installation of traveling trunks--what? you didn't go to the Brooklyn Museum to see it?--"called to mind not excess so much as the practicality of military furniture from an earlier era, ingeniously devised to provide home comforts to, say, Napoleon's army on the Egyptian campaign."

Well. That explains it, somehow. For a military kid who was practically born in the pineapple fields and later lived in Oklahoma, California, New York, Kansas, Stuttgart, Crailsheim, Virginia, Georgia, Connecticut, New York again, California again, and so on and so forth...suitcases and campaign furniture have always been, perhaps, the archetypes I unwittingly long for. And the nomad camper in my heart continues to squirrel away treasures, pining for connection with...what? Lord knows.

"Objects unlock memories," according to the French-American psychiatrist Clotaire Rapaille, who consults for major companies on the psychological underpinnings of consumer goods. "We want to live in an archetype and we want a car and jacket that are also archetypes."

Bring on the suitcase: archetypically speaking, I suppose going somewhere is just where I want to be.

Millions of Books. Free.

 

I kid you not.

Chris Messina on Defense Against Fear

From Chris Messina:

"Sharing and giving away all that you can are the best defenses against fear, obsolescence, growing old, and wrinkles. It isn’t always easy, but it’s how we outlive the shackles of biology and transcend the physicality of gravity."

"If we are Generation Open, then we are the optimistic generation."

I fall somewhere between the generation of parents that Chris mentions and "Generation Open." When I read his work, I wonder what we all have to learn. (And what we've honestly learned, thus far.) I fear that I skew closer to the parents. It makes me wonder what I'm missing.

He seems unfalteringly optimistic about this new, open world.

Optimism, if you haven't noticed, is in short supply these days.

Perhaps I should go back for seconds.

screenshot via chris messina, flickr

Hendrik Kerstens + Luke = ohdeedoh

this, from Hendrik Kerstens, 

via brilliant Crooked House

(it's the reason Luke ended up looking a little like

Marie Antoinette in search of cake, below)

cool new news! Luke made ohdeedoh...go see, it's very clever indeed!

Cake: In Which I See Luke and Remember How Much I Love His Mother's Work

Crooked House Rocks.

Here, Luke channels a disgruntled Marie Antoinette? 

"Maman! Petits fours glacés! Quickly, quickly!"

[Let him eat cake.]

Nymphenburg and Sue

I really love 20x200 

and the concept behind it

(everyone needs art).

Jen Bekman is a genius.

 Field Museum Sue, above.

[My biggest regret is that I didn't get Nymphenburg. Bummer.]

And I wish I were going to be at PULSE.

(If you're in NYC march 5-

march 8, you oughta go. See Jen.

Tell her I said hi.)

Kevin Miyazaki

Kevin J. Mizayzaki

takes pictures.

(All photos, copyright kjm, are from Mizayzaki's blog.)

Linda the Beautiful

Here, again, is the amazing Linda Gavin, who creates some of the most unique and marvelous things I've ever seen. She's just started a new toy blog, here! Her portfolio is something else. Amazing.

Did a post on this earlier, but it had a little blog hiccup. Decided this gave me the great opportunity to post again...especially since there's a lovely new set of pictures of wonderful her.

It's easy to remember that Linda means Beautiful, isn't it? (Here, I should mention that my sister's name is also Linda...and she's another one who makes it easy to remember: beautiful!)

Scratch School

from Linda Gavin

fresh air

We've had an angel (from Germany) visiting us.

She boards a plane, tomorrow, to return home.

She is a breath of fresh air; we have

enjoyed having her here immensely.

We will wish her God Speed,

hoping to see her soon again.

Boys Will Be Boys: Three of the Brightest

Meet JP, from The Selvedge Yard (above, with sons), and friends: it's these guys who've given me hope, in the past few weeks, that there's good news coming down the pike. These bloggers can write. They've got a keen sense of history. And they seem to be able to find just the right look, these days, to lift spirits and soothe economic fearmongering. Hey, what could be simpler or more honest than a sturdy work shoe, a brief history of weathered barns, or the tried-and-true look of sailors at sea? Check out their blogs for all of the above, and more.

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy...there's a good chance Jon Patrick of The Selvedge Yard will cover all of these in the near future. JP has already featured Jackson Pollock (above), Sailor Jerry, James Dean, and a handful of good men who know their way around Fifth Avenue. Look for excellently curated photographs, also, and beautiful, concisely written historical briefs: this blog is absolutely worth watching. 

A Continuous Lean, from the remarkable Michael Williams, consistently brings us unabashedly beautiful images that are also unfalteringly masculine. And if you don't believe a tea party is masculine, think what Hemingway himself would've given for the little beaut, above. The Old Man loved such well-appointed gizmos. The Williams brilliance that brings us ACL also publishes The Material Review. Go, see Michael, and make thyself cooler.

This moment in tartan is from the "Lost Boy" (see his caps post) at Restless Transplant. There's some really beautiful work here. Best of all? Perhaps it's an appreciation for plaid that goes unmatched. Foster Huntington, I think we'll be seeing an awful lot of good stuff under your tutelage. Looking forward to it.

San Francisco, In the Gloaming

This is why I love San Francisco.

Yesterday, after a splendid trip to

the California Academy of Sciences, this

was the scene in the Park out front....

children were making huts out of

newly-trimmed branches.

It was really completely lovely.