victoria thorne

8.12.10

instructive game of poets

back to indiana

chockablock

with beauty

the lilly library

7.12.10

handle

john giorno

via swiss legacy

sow

city farmer

paint

Every day you may make progress.
Every step may be fruitful. Yet
there will stretch out before you
an ever-lengthening, ever-ascending,
ever-improving path. You know you
will never get to the end of the journey.
But this, so far from discouraging,
only adds to the joy and the glory of the climb.

winston churchill

6.12.10

chapman's ware

rutgers university library
nineteenth century children's chapbook collection

[& a bit more chap]

chapbook cinderella

here and here and here and here

what i remember most about

chapbooks is that i made a few

in seventh grade. i was pretty

obsessed by them. probably

shouldn't say was. will say am.

do what's possible

Start by

doing

what's necessary.

Then do

what's possible.

And,

suddenly,

you are doing the impossible.

5.12.10

so we very quickly learned to be absolutely quiet about it

"Since people didn't deal with children and things like that,

it would have been considered a nonsubject or a silly one.

And at the time, when we said we studied nursery rhymes,

we were considered an oddity. So we very quickly learned

to keep absolutely quiet about it. Also, had we been to

university, we would have realized that everybody knew

so much, but because we didn't know what was and wasn't

permissible and possible, we just went forward. (Iona

learned German and Italian in order to work on our books.)

And, equally, we were not only enthusiastic but also self-

critical; we went on criticizing ourselves until we felt that

there couldn't be much wrong with what we were doing."

Peter Opie to Jonathan Cott,
Pipers at the Gates of Dawn

images:
m. goose 1691, rare book buyer
alphabet, sc libraries
& street football, gubog

transport

another favorite

focus

"...it's a daily task:
Focus on the good and the things you can change/improve in your life.
Appreciate what you have and surround yourself with good people.
Live in the moment."

via two favorites (together):
swiss miss at the happiness project

photo via another favorite:
little augury (whom i believe lives by the motto above)

+ another bday shout-out to my beloved [favorite] sister,
who's taught me worlds about these very concepts. xox.

3.12.10

happy, happy days

wishing a most joyful weekend

to both of our sweet birthday girls

(and everyone who wanders by the

little blog for the next few days)

photo: herriott grace

rdio: not counting sheep

more carter berg

because i thought you needed to see this

really

photos: carter berg

for the love of old , by

mary randolph carter

su wu: guest curator

su wu

here

le wo and we

here

and here

"make something with your hands, pure of heart"

a fair at the beach.

go, see beth's magic

highly recommended gifts

yes

i wish i had gotten there quick enough

to get a little one at least. oh well. here.

(happy update: snow melted servers.

& now they're back up. want? here)

highly recommended gifts

imperfect postcards V

a little christmas from mary randolph carter:

"Last Christmas day my sister Nell and I dragged in this long weather-worn trestle table from outside and set it up in the front hall of Muskettoe Pointe Farm. There would be forty of us for our sit-down holiday dinner, so it was a last-minute solution! My father had built it and another years ago for one of our weddings. Mother said no one would sit there because it was off the beaten track, i.e. not in the main dining room near the tree and open fire. Her instincts are usually right, but not that night. It was the most popular seat in the house. I think because it was something new and totally improvised. A few hours before dinner began, my son Carter caught the imperfect table perfectly!"

photo: carter berg

imperfect postcards

2.12.10

"This photo of my Mother and Father was taken in the sixties by a good friend who would often visit Muskettoe Pointe Farm, our home in Virginia. It is the most romantic image of them caught in the fields beyond our house. They were in love from the time they were 12 years old."

imperfect postcards

And how can you say I love you to someone you love?

please see

image: carter berg

latecomer

entering into silence enables us

to enter into stillness...if

[getting things done, which is important]

is all we do, then we really are

living one-dimensional lives.

we're living on the surface.

m. bodo

image: lithesome toast

the landscape of our heart

every landscape that we love is

the landscape of our own heart

fr. m. bodo

image: the Most Excellent tea and cactus

1.12.10

imperfect postcards [and splendid lovely style court]

from mary randolph carter:

"This pic from the book (page 213) was taken by my son Carter Berg in his blue Ford pick-up that he lets me borrow to go junking. From the looks of it and the smile on my face it was a successful hunt! I am wearing my favorite old torn-up black and blue checked flannel quilted work shirt that I bought over twenty years ago in a local work wear kind of store. It's so comfortable and comforting."