“If all flowers wanted to be roses, nature would lose her springtime beauty and the fields would no longer be decked out with little wildflowers.” — St. Thérèse of Lisieux
Bloodroot
White Trillium
Virginia Bluebells and Brunnera
White Bleeding Hearts, May Apples, Ferns
Violets
Heptica
"I don't know why we bother with corsets. Men don't wear them and they look perfectly normal in their clothes" — Lady Sybil Crawley, Downton Abbey
“Dressing the Abbey features 35 beautiful costumes from the internationally acclaimed television series Downton Abbey. Each costume represents a moment in the lives of the aristocratic Crawley family and their staff, who lived on the Downton Abbey estate. This fictional series follows members of the household from the sinking of the Titanic in 1912 through the first World War and into the summer of 1927.
The end of the Edwardian era, at the outset of the first World War, marks dramatic shifts in both the lives of the English aristocracy and the fashions they wore. By the end of the war years, the grand Yorkshire estate of Downton Abbey seemed like an old relic in the norm-busting era of the Roaring Twenties.
With societal change came new fashion, especially for the young women of Downton. Shorter hair and hemlines replaced corseted silhouettes and long skirts. Women began to engage in politics and social causes.
Inspired by period fashion plates, magazines, paintings, patterns, and photographs, the exhibition’s wardrobe is a mixture of old and new designs. Some costumes were custom made for the series. Others are original period pieces. A few costumes in the exhibition were created by the award-winning London-based costumiers, CosProp.”
The Charles Allis English Tudor-style mansion, designed by Alexander Eschweiler — a prominent local architect and completed in 1911, is at once elegant with its marble hall and staircase, functional with this cutting-edge lighting and plumbing, and whimsical with its basement bowling alley. I lived across the street from the museum for two years in the mid-1990s and never visited until last year. It’s certainly worth a tour even after the Dressing the Abbey exhibit closes after this weekend.
"Purple puts us in touch with the part of ourselves that is regal. Purple is the queen in all women; it helps us keep our backs straight and heads held high." — Byllye Avery
“Very Peri” Pantone’s Color of the Year 2022 Around the World
The 10 Most Beautiful Villages To Stay in Provence, France - I’ve visited Cassis, Èze, and Saint-Paul-de-Vence.
Best Flea Markets in Paris for Bargain Shopping - I hope to discover Vanves on my next visit. (More on that later!)
The "Best" of Paris: Some favorite dining and eating places in Paris according to David Lebovitz
La Galerie Dior — This new fashion exhibit is on my Paris to-do list.
Home is a Cup of Tea — This is lovely.
I am really eager to see this movie this summer.
The Audrey Hepburn Guide to Paris because “Paris is always a good idea.” — AH
Calatrava Revisits His Iconic Milwaukee Design, 20+ Years Later
“The tulip is the loveliest of all flowers. So whoever despised the tulip offends God immeasurably.” — Alexandre Dumas
"No winter lasts forever; no spring skips its turn. April is a promise that May is bound to keep.” – Hal Borland
“April is the cruelest month…” — T.S. Eliot, The Waste Land
READING: Dreaming in French: The Paris Years of Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy, Susan Sontag, and Angela Davis by Alice Kaplan — “…brimming with the ferment and yearnings of youth and shot through with the knowledge of how a single year—and a magical city—can change a whole life. No one who has ever dreamed of Paris should miss it” (Goodreads).
WATCHING: The Hardy Boys Mysteries on YouTube (We skip the Nancy Drew episodes.) — I read all the books and never missed an episode of this TV show when I was a pre-teen. I was (and maybe still am a little) obsessed with Shaun Cassidy.
LISTENING TO: The Godspell Soundtrack — It’s a Holy Saturday tradition while I prep my contributions to our family Easter dinner. The music inspired by the Gospel of St. Matthew will stick in your head like an endless, looping prayer and reminds me of Father Naus’ annual midnight Godspell Mass at Marquette.
ENJOYING:
Art in Bloom at the Milwaukee Art Museum — After a two-year hiatus, Art in Bloom was back this year. Despite the attempt to stagger tickets, it was very crowded on Friday and, honestly, I wasn’t as impressed by the floral interpretations of the art inspiration pieces as I had been in the past. Still, it was really nice to be back at the museum.
Longer days and tiny signs that spring is indeed arriving, slowly but surely.
LOOKING FORWARD TO:
The end of the third, and worst, COVID-19-impacted school year — There are six weeks left including a few Mondays that I hope avoid with my remaining four and a half flex days. Never before have I felt so burned out nor have I questioned my impact more than I have this year. Earlier this week, I received my annual Wisconsin Department of Employee Trust Funds summary along with a letter that congratulated me for officially reaching retirement eligibility. Although I do plan on staying for 2-5 more years, I feel a sense of relief knowing that if I want to leave, I can. And while five years seems like it might no longer be the goal, I am encouraged by the fact that if I can make it through two more, I will be fully vested. I do tend to keep things light here on the blog, but, since the Currently posts also serve as a mini-journal to which I refer often, I want to be honest about not only the celebrations, but also the challenges.
Better weather — While it is well established that I love snow. I’m not a big fan of two or more inches in the middle of April. Temps in the 30s and wind chill factors on Easter Sunday were especially challenging, but I did take the long way into work on Monday to enjoy (hopefully) one more beautiful, snowy morning.
Planting and landscaping — This is totally weather-related, but I am so eager to plant pots for my porch and deck, to freshen our garden beds with new mulch, to take down or prune some old tree, and perhaps plant a few new ones. It will be wonderful to spend time outside enjoying the fruits of our labor. We are even discussing a new outdoor space that may appear in my “Currently Planning” features soon.
