Currently • December 2019

‘Twas two weeks before Christmas…

READING:

• Home and Home Work by Julie Andrews: I love her as Mary Poppins, as Gru’s mother in Despicable Me, and mostly as Maria von Trapp and I can’t wait to take the Sound of Music tour when I’m in Austria next spring. I love that I saw her in Victor, Victoria on Broadway. I love that she was married to Blake Edwards who directed the Pink Panther and, of course, Breakfast at Tiffany’s. I love her four octave soprano. I love her honesty and humor. I just really love Julie Andrews and her voice is so strong in both of these autobiographies.

• Reading People by Anne Bogel: I really liked Bogel’s I'd Rather Be Reading: The Delights and Dilemmas of the Reading Life and I enjoy her blog, Modern Mrs. Darcy, so when this book dropped at $2 in iBooks, I grabbed it without reading the description. Since Bogel’s aforementioned book and blog focus on reading and books, I assumed that Reading People was about people who read. Instead it was about using various assessments to determine how your personality impacts your responses and reactions. The timing on this book was interesting since we have been talking a lot about our personality types during our Onward book study with coaches and administrators. For the record, I am INTJ - The Architect on the Myers-Briggs and I’m an Enneagram Type 3 - The Achiever. That should tell you a lot about me!

WATCHING:

• The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel Season 3: I still love the fast dialogue indicative of Amy Sherman-Palladino’s writing and the amazing clothes (although, this season, I didn’t like the abundance of Shriner-style fezzes), but this season Midge isn’t as funny, the supporting characters whom I loved in seasons 1 and 2 have become farcical, and the end of the season was annoyingly predictable. Despite the disappointing season, this is still one of my favorite shows and, spoiler alert: There are some great guest appearances this season including Jason Alexander, Sterling K. Brown, and a certain almost unrecognizable Gilmore Girls alumna.

• Project Runway Season 18: It surprises me that the new seasons now start in November and December rather than in fall, but since it’s too dark and cold to do much more in the evenings these days, I’m happy to have something new to watch.

• Christmas movies: I look forward to my favorites every year — White Christmas, Love Actually, Miracle on 34th Street, A Charlie Brown Christmas, and of course, It’s a Wonderful Life.

LISTENING TO:

• My Christmas playlist: Everything from Band Aid to Bing. Occasionally, I add something new, but this list has been my classic go-to for decades.

  • “Do They Know It’s Christmas” (Band Aid, 1984)

  • “Happy Christmas - War is Over” (John Lennon)

  • “It’s Christmas (Baby, Please Come Home)” (U2)

  • “Christmas in the Caribbean” (Jimmy Buffett)

  • “Holiday” (Vampire Weekend)

  • “Little Drummer Boy/Peace on Earth” (Bing Crosby + David Bowie)

  • “When My Heart Finds Christmas” (Harry Connick, Jr.)

  • “White Christmas” (Bing Crosby)

  • “Blue Christmas” (Elvis Presley)

  • “Jingle Bell Rock” (Bobby Helms)

  • “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” (Brenda Lee)

  • “Here Comes Santa Claus” (Elvis Presley)

  • “Santa Claus in Comin’ to Town” (Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band)

  • “Rockabilly Christmas” (Big Bad Voodoo Daddy)

  • “Feliz Navidad” (José Feliciano)

  • “It’s Beginning to Look a lot Like Christmas” (Perry Como)

  • “Santa Baby” (Madonna)

  • “All I Want for Christmas is You” (Mariah Carey)

  • “Please Come Home for Christmas” (The Eagles)

  • “Christmas Eve/Serajevo” (Trans-Sibierian Orchestra)

  • “Mary’s Boy Child” (Harry Belafonte)

  • “Ave Maria” (Perry Como)

  • “Oh Holy Night” (Perry Como)

  • “The Christmas Song” (Johnny Mathis)

  • “Joy to the World” (Julie Andrews)

  • “Let it Snow” (Lena Horne)

  • “Sleigh Ride” (Glenn Miller Orchestra)

  • “Theme from National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation”

  • “Twelve Days of Christmas” (John Denver and the Muppets)

  • “Christmas Canon” (Trans-Siberian Orchestra)

  • “Les Cloches du Hameau” (Celine Dion and Family)

• Other favorite Christmas albums (Are they still called albums?):

  • Harry Connick Jr.’s When My Heart Finds Christmas

  • Brian Setzer Orchestra’s Dig That Crazy Christmas

  • Glenn Miller and His Orchestra’s In the Christmas Mood

  • Jimmy Buffett’s Christmas Island

ENJOYING:

• This Soft Surroundings La Parisienne Faux Fur Throw — a gift from Nan to remind me to linger. Piper loves it too!

PLANNING:

• An early Christmas celebration chez nous: Everyone is so busy this year, so we’re celebrating on Saturday, December 21 — the first day of winter. I’m excited that Rob, Heidi, Alec, Chase, Mary Ann, Keiji, Lucky, and Rémy will all be at our house to celebrate with Eric, Piper, and me. Now, if only we’d get some snow!

• A relaxing week off with good books, snuggling with Piper by the fire, a trip into Milwaukee, and maybe even a road trip to Sturgeon Bay. Now, if only we’d get some snow!

Modern Vision: European Masterworks from the Phillips Collection

“To collect works of art is good, to collect only what one particularly likes is better, and to collect only such works as mingle agreeably together is to make the best kind of collection.” — Duncan Phillips.

These are the paintings that I particularly liked.

“A Modern Vision presents a selection of the most iconic works from The Phillips Collection, America’s first museum of modern art, which opened in Washington, DC, in 1921. The exhibition features 50 masterworks by towering figures of European modernism, including Edouard Manet, Gustave Caillebotte, Claude Monet, Berthe Morisot, Vincent van Gogh, Paul Cézanne, Edgar Degas, Pierre Bonnard, Wassily Kandinsky, Amedeo Modigliani, and Pablo Picasso.

Ranging from the early nineteenth century to the mid-twentieth century, the paintings in the exhibition reflect the vision and influence of collector Duncan Phillips (1886–1966), who viewed art as “a universal language” and brought together, in his words, “congenial spirits among the artists from different parts of the world and from different periods of time.” — mam.org

I don’t know Oskar Kokoschka, but I like his signature.

I love this 1935 Kandinsky - a precursor to mid-century modern fabrics and prints.

I’m not a big Modigliani fan, but I like that bow tie.

Week 49 - Storytelling: Storms

“There is peace even in the storm.” - Vincent Van Gogh

#dogwoodweek49 #dogwood52 #2019dogwood52 #storm #weather

Cave of the Mounds

“Do not run away from the darkness. Remember the beautiful lakes which are hidden inside the dark caves. In the least expected places, there exist the most beautiful treasures!” - Mehmet Murat Ildan

Week 48 - Inspiration: Current Events

I’m dreaming of a white Christmas, but so far, we’ve only had rain.

#dogwoodweek48 #dogwood52 #2019dogwood52 #sparkle #bokeh

December • Colors of the Month

“What is the colour of Christmas? Red? The red of the toyshops on a dark winter’s afternoon, Of Father Christmas and the robin’s breast? Or green? Green of holly and spruce and mistletoe in the house, dark shadow of summer in leafless winter? One might plainly add a romance of white, fields of frost and snow…” ― William Sansom