Paris Parfait

Summer's last gasp

The last hortensias (hydrangeas) from our garden (in vintage French pharmacy bottles and a Dame Jean jug).

Fruits and herbs.

Chilies and dried spices in antique apothecary jars.

Hidden delights.

An antique post box.

Baker's vintage dough cutters from Paris.

Nambe candlesticks from Santa Fe (a gift from my daughter); a Dutch Arts & Crafts pewter candleholder and modern Moroccan-inspired votives on a Mexican silver tray from Sevilla, Spain.

Hope you enjoy these last days of summer!

P.S. It still amazes me that people who profess to be leaders can be so disingenuous. Our forefathers surely would be shocked by the distinct lack of truthfulness in current American election campaigns. We deserve better than men with no reality-based ideas or solutions of their own making vague, empty promises and platitudes.

Dance card

Dance card, 1910, Paris (available here).

I don't know about you, but my dance card has been pretty full lately. As one might expect, there has been some clumsy stepping on toes; some missteps; at times, even the wrong tempo! But my favourite season is just around the corner and September is bound to add many uplifting melodies to the mix.

Hope you are dancing merrily through these last few weeks of summer!

Madaba mosaics smoothed by time

Sixth-century Byzantine mosaics uncovered in the Church of the Virgin, Madaba, Jordan. Click photos to view detail.

The church was built on top of a Roman temple. Excavations that began in the 19th-century continue to reveal more delicate mosaics, preserved by the shifting sands of time.

Another passageway awaiting further excavation.

Part of the excavation site.

Another section of the church awaiting excavation.

Another Byzantine mosaic reclaimed from the rubble.

A mosaic being restored at the Madaba Institute for Mosaic Art and Restoration, located near the church.  The institute teaches students how to repair, restore and create mosaics.

An artisan works on a jigsaw puzzle-like mosaic.

The church and the school are on the itinerary of our next Journey to Jordan November 7th-15th. A couple of spaces are available, should you be interested in joining us. Read more about the trip here.

A reader's alcove

As a child, I dreamed of a home with big bay windows with cushions, where I could read and gaze out the window. The reality of our canal house in the Netherlands is a bit different, but I can still recline on cushions, read and dream (and look out the glass door to the garden).

This little alcove/reading nook in our home features treasures collected while living and traveling abroad. The wool rug is handmade by women from the Bani Hamida Women's Weaving Project in Jordan. It took six months for several women working with the Jordan River Foundation to hand-embroider scenes from The Arabian Nights for the tapestry. Different sections were then hand-appliqued onto a raw silk background.

The charcoal linen daybed is from a Dutch department store. The pillows are a mix of modern and vintage. The vintage Moroccan wedding blanket is one of several I've collected through my friend Maryam's Red Thread Souk.  The Moorish table at left is circa 1903 and the Syrian mother-of-pearl inlaid table is from 1905. Both were purchased from Liberty of London's 2011 Arts & Crafts Exhibition. The vintage 'winged" chair is from Barcelona. The antique wooden mosque model (next to the chair) is French.

At left are early 20th-century framed Lehnert & Landrock images taken in Tunisia and Egypt. The  modern black and silver bowl is from Morocco, via Paris and is filled with antique silver bracelets and necklaces from the Middle East. The antique hand-embroidered Palestinian headress is on a vintage French hatstand. The alabaster bowl is from Cairo.

An English silver Arts & Crafts bowl holds five handmade wooden hearts and an antique Arabic seal.

The hand-carved and stone-studded seal from Jordan can be worn as a cocktail ring.

Years ago, I found this circa 1903 Liberty of London hand-painted vase on eBay! Its value has increased dramatically.

A jumble of Jordanian, Palestinian, Bedouin, Moroccan and Yemeni jewelry in a hand-painted and signed ceramic bowl.

A 200-year-old Bedouin silver and Italian coral necklace draped over a French wrought iron sculptor's model.

This traditional cross-stitched Palestinian woman's wedding hat is from the 19th-century. It is rimmed with heavy silver coins, most dating back to the Ottoman Empire. The hat's design includes lucky talismans, numbers and flowers. Such hats are increasingly rare; most are in museums. I was fortunate to purchase this one from an antiques dealer in Amman.

Click photos to view detail. Our house is very much a work-in-progress. More pictures soon.

The kindness of a stranger

Tibetan refugee at a rug-making center in Kathmandu, Nepal.                                  Photo © Tara Bradford

 

Tuesday was a very bad day for me, for reasons too ridiculous to mention. Then the most incredible thing happened.

I went to a dentist's office to make an appointment to sort out a broken tooth and lost filling, but the receptionist was struggling to find an available appointment. Plus I wasn't even registered as a patient! But a woman in the waiting room - with whom I'd had a brief conversation before the receptionist came out - gave up her appointment, so the dentist could see me right away! My eyes welled with tears at this unexpected kindness from a stranger.

After the dentist's work, I remain in considerable pain, but it's temporary. And the thought of that woman's kindness still makes me smile. Isn't it amazing how a random act of kindness can have such a big impact on another??!!