Pattern On Bark

I took this picture of some tree bark and just love the pattern it makes. I believe it is from a Sycamore tree. I love the texture and color, maybe I can incorporate this into a future design!

In Focus: Healdsburg, CA

Last month I was in Healdsburg, CA: "A small town for all seasons." We had a great time. Luckily, a lot of the smoke from the forest fires cleared for our stay and we had nice weather. It was cool at night, warm in the day. Good for grapes.

The town has a beautifully landscaped town square with places to sit and socialize and of course places to shop! In the summer there is a concert series downtown too. There are all sorts of restaurants and cafes and it seemed to me that you really couldn't go wrong wherever you stopped in. I really like the architecture, a lot of places had pretty greens, earth-tones, and aluminum in their designs. It's just so different from things on the east coast and that newness really appealed to me.



We had a nice lunch and good beer at Bear Republic Brewing Company. I know, we should've been drinking wine in wine country. We did that too. There are so many wineries, it's like shooting fish in a barrel. I mean really, how can you go wrong? Instead of driving around to the vineyard tasting rooms we checked out in-town tastings. We really liked Lake Sonoma Winery, the man who helped us was so nice and taught us a lot. I'm a bit of a newbie at wine tasting.

I was absolutely in heaven because I was able to go antiquing. Oh boy, there are some good spots on the south end of town! I cleaned up and even found an old toy printing press! I cannot wait to get that sucker working. It's in mint condition with all of the original pieces and idea book.


Overall, Healdsburg is a fun, chic place to visit, relax, and imbibe. Cheers!

The Letter S Part Two

In June I posted about finding the letter S on the side of a building and I've done it again! I found this S walking along Harvard Street in Brookline holding back some shutters. Love it!

You Should Be Watching Mad Men

If you're not, you should be watching Mad Men. Season two kicked off last night on AMC and I was not disappointed. About the show from the AMC site: "Set in 1960s New York, the sexy, stylized and provocative AMC drama Mad Men follows the lives of the ruthlessly competitive men and women of Madison Avenue advertising, an ego-driven world where key players make an art of the sell."

It's my favorite show for so many reasons: the writing, the characters, the time period, set design, plot lines, and the outfits! I really can't say enough about the brilliance of the show. My jaw drops at some of the dialogue, at the same time it's refreshing to hear a conversation that isn't edited or politically correct (and on TV so it's OK, I don't get too offended).

I'm so excited to see where the stories go. It's such an interesting time in American history, taking place at the crossroads of the '50s and '60s with big generational changes going on. I can't contain my excitement! Oh, and Don Draper = heart flutter even though he is...well...not the best guy. He's just human and we see many different sides of him. That's another thing about the show, the writers make it very hard to despise a character even if they can be dispicable. For all things Mad Men check out these videos and their blog. And tune in next Sunday at 10!

If you're looking for a challenge in the meantime check out the Mad Men Fan Quiz. I got a 100%!

Black and White Nature Photography

As mention a few weeks ago, one of my new obsessions is black and white photography. These are some more shots I took of things in nature. I'm really attracted to unique patterns and textures.

Brookline Murals Part 5: Zaftigs

The final installment this week is the Zaftigs mural at 335 Harvard Street along the side of the restaurant. This is the biggest of the five murals featured and has a lot of fun things going on. The mural was painted in 2007 to celebrate Zaftigs' 10th anniversary. It was inspired by Steve Lipton and Danny O. and painted by over 80 people! It depicts all sorts of things in the Coolidge Corner area including a C line train, Irving's Card and Toy Shop, Brookline Booksmith, Coolidge Corner Theatre, and the S.S. Pierce Building. Nanny Fanny (Zaftigs mascot) makes appearances all about. Curious George even makes an appearance! I love how the trees are depicted on the left side of the mural. Photographing the murals for these posts has been very fun and forced me to look at these paintings in a new, more appreciative light. It's easy to walk by and think they look nice, but to take a second closer look made me realize just how much work and intricate detail was put into these.

Brookline Murals Part 4: Four Seasons

Today's mural, Four Seasons, is at the northwest corner of Harvard Street and Coolidge Street and was painted in 1996 by Yetti Frenkel. I love the colors used in this mural along with the animals.




This mural is great to pass by in the dead of winter, the bright cheeriness reminds me that yes, spring will come again.







The picture of this raccoon made me laugh because the other day Will had a raccoon caught in a squirrel trap. Hopefully I will have pictures of that soon. Apparently it was so big it was really stuffed in there. I helped brainstorm how to get it out without attacking Will, I was worried it could be rabid. This involved putting sticks in the trap, then from the car using some long tree trimming things to unlock the door. Well, Will put in the two sticks, then went for a run, and when he came back the raccoon was gone! He was able to somehow open the flap door and sneak out. Oh those crazy raccoons! He may look innocent but don't be fooled...

Brookline Murals Part 3: Alter Brothers

The third installment in this week's feature is the Alter Brothers' mural at the north east corner of Harvard Street and Fuller Street by Kupel's Bagels (they have good half moon cookies, mmmm).



This black and white mural depicts the inside of a butchery looking out. It was painted by David E. Levine and on the top left part of the mural I found the date 1956, I don't know if that is when it was actually painted though.



Parts of it look like it's still in great shape, but the left side is having some issues. Looking "out" at the mural you can see other Brookline landmarks like Rubin's Deli. I appreciate this mural more after I photographed it. Honestly, the butcher man with the big head kind of creeped me out for awhile.