I am not all of sudden adopting a new slang vernacular. Instead, I want to alert you to a stunning jazz album from Roberto Fonseca. The album is called Yo! and fittingly is an exploration of Fonseca’s roots and inspirations. It’s one of my favorite albums of 2013. I hope you take the time to listen. I am certain you will enjoy it.
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While babysitting young Sophie for Gidge, I was watching the snow fall and thinking about the coming Christmas gift-giving. Luckily I come from a family that has never been big on giving lots of gifts. With such a large family, it was pretty much essential that we draw names and set spending limits and focus on homemade gifts. I have always had a strong preference for homemade gifts because they are often so much more creative and fun to give and to get. While reading folks on plurk worrying about how to afford Christmas gifts and all, I thought it might be fun to share some of the things that can be given as gifts.
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Seriously, does anyone really think it is pure coincidence that the CIA confirmed the existence of Area 51 when The Garden opened up its Area 51 showcase? Besides, doesn’t the name Liaison Collaborative sounds like a cover organization for a covert mission? Covert operative liaise while the rest of us hang out. I wonder who it is? Please share all your random and reckless speculation.
So, Gidge wanted to run with the Area 51 idea and I worked with her to make a projector box. She made 11 poses. Her pose selection menu is a prose poem, an ode to sci-fi. The projector has three textures. All of these shots are done in the chrome texture, the differences in lighting come from the windlight.
I noticed when doing my credits for this post that I have two “E” items which had me asking plurk for more. . The first is this cute leather mini from E! (see the exclamation point) which is Eclectic Apparel, the work of Eclectic Wingtips. It comes with a hud that allows you to change the metal findings from gold to silver to black and back. You also can change the upper “belt/sash” portion with several color and print options. It’s sassy and short and just the perfect choice for the new ruffled top from La Penderie de Nicole, which also comes with options, including black with several choices in contrast ruffle lining. Continue reading
It is Easter a holiday, a Christian holiday celebrated on the day of a pagan rite celebrating spring. We are told it is named after Eostre, the goddess of spring. Our source for that is the Venerable Bede who wrote in his book On the The Reckoning of Time “Eosturmonath has a name which is now translated “Paschal month”, and which was once called after a goddess of theirs named Eostre, in whose honour feasts were celebrated in that month. Now they designate that Paschal season by her name, calling the joys of the new rite by the time-honoured name of the old observance.”
You know, he could have been joking. He did a lot of fabricating in his book. I guess, lacking Google, he filled in with imagination what he didn’t have well-sourced. The only thing that is known that several cognates in other languages mean dawn, so it’s possible it could be the dawn of spring. This really is the only early evidence of Eostre. There’s Grimm of course, but he’s closer to our time and is even more certainly inventing as he goes along.
Still, the commercial traditions of easter eggs and bunnies and peeps are harmless fun that make a holiday special for kids who are not quite ready to understand the metaphysical aspect of the day. They also give the holiday secular components that make it part of the unofficial civic religion that people of all and no faiths participate in as part of being here in this society. That is how Easter works for me. So, of course I am wearing an Easter bonnet, courtesy of Gidge who sent it to me. Thanks, Gidge!
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Just because I am on the hunt for the 15 missing letters to help solve the Room 326 Hunt doesn’t mean I have to dress down. Some of the places you travel to along the way are quite elegant and deserve a little care spent on my appearance. Besides, I have wanting to wear the Tulip dress from E! Eclectic Apparel for Collabor88 almost all month. The Tulip dress is a chic little strapless number with a grosgrain black ribbon highlighting the empire waist that leads to a front pleat dress. The pleat’s soft folds convey the idea of a tulip giving the dress its name. Continue reading
E! That’s what I am wearing. My sweater and skirt are from E! Well, not really, but every time I wear clothing from Eclectic Apparel, I have to double check the name because I forget the real name and think of it as E! I mention this because I bet I am not the only one, so dear readers, please remember that E! stands for Eclectic Apparel so you can remind me next time. The funny think is I always remember Eclectic as the E! is there to remind me, but then I am stuck for Eclectic What. It’s a short list of options, but I always run through them. I won’t list them since that only will reinforce my mixed up memory.
There’s nothing mixed up, though, about the Eclectic Apparel sweater and skirt that were recently released for the October FaMESHed showcase. Just in time for the nippy weather, here’s a gorgeous heavy knit sweater with a high neck and long sleeves and an adorable wool pleated skirt. Both are elevated beyond the usual with unique details such as the buttons on the long, exaggerated rollback sleeves and collar and the lace-up, self-belting waistband on the skirt. Eclectic Wingtips, the designer, also graced us with 20 color options for the sweater and 8 colors for the skirt. Everyone will be able to find their ideal colors with that variety.
I took a peek around at some of the builds rising up around where we are working on It’s Only Fashion’s SL9B exhibit and am so impressed. A favorite among my neighbors is a beautiful woodland scene. I don’t know if it’s finished since it’s pure scenery now, but it’s so lovely. If even one-fourth of the exhibits are this beautiful, you would be well-advised to visit SL9B and explore. For my exploration I put together a top from E! and a skirt from Tee*fy. The top has delicious eyelet detailing that gives it a romantic femininity. The skater skirt from Tee*fy is a lovely romantic floral, though the skirt is also made in many other prints – including some very mod prints.
Notice that the skirt is lined on the inside. If it were left alpha as many mesh skirts are, I could not have shot this picture – and I really wanted to capture the feeling of this place.
Essential is the word for Médecins Sans Frontières MSF (Doctors Without Borders) who, because they are independent of any government agenda, go where they are needed without fear or favor. One of the places they go is Cameroon where they provide critical work fighting drug resistant HIV, Buruli ulcers and cholera. You can help support this work with an expedition to Culture Shock.
One of the complaints my friends from Africa have voiced is that too often, all we hear from Africa is war, famine and disease. We don’t hear about the vibrant culture and the joy of Africa. A Cameroonian poet Emmanuel Fru Doh wrote about this in his poem Telling Africa. I think it is important that while supporting this essential work of MSF, we remember that the people they serve are more than their diseases, that they have a rich cultural tradition and a long history. That link will take you to a collection of Cameroonian poetry – a small window into the wider panorama of life there.
I spent far too much shopping this weekend with so many new releases and events that I decided to take a break and go for a walk at the fabulous Noweeto Grasslands. I thought the lizard tote from Celoe would love to go for a walk with me.