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January 21, 2007
Libby Poppins
Recently I was compared to Mary Poppins. I can't remember which points were made in support of the argument and I guess overall I'm not necessarily against the idea. Maybe it's that she has that bag that can hold everything. Or that she always has a solution for the problem. I like coming up with clever ways to fix things and solve problems, so I suppose we could be similar that way. And I guess because when it rains I always pull out my huge black curve-handled umbrella. But I can't "fly" and birds are certainly not that friendly with me, and I don't know any chimney-sweeps (although I wish all of these things were true of me...). And goodness knows I would hope that when you hold my hand you would feel grand.
Anyway, call me Mary Poppins if you like, I have no problems with that (with one exception: just after the comparison was made, I saw this mock trailer someone created called Scary Mary-- the horror film that would result if Mary Poppins went bad. I would hope that I don't reflect any of these characteristics...).
I didn't realize it at first, but Nanny McPhee is a newish version of a Mary Poppins-type story. I have to admit I only saw it because Colin Firth is in it. But I was surprised to find that I really loved it! I had it's share of fairly well-acted adorable kids, a terrifically self-absorbed candidate for step-mom, a FANTASTIC set, and Emma Thompson (who I had forgotten all about since loving her character in Much Ado About Nothing). It is the set that has stuck with me the most since watching the film a couple times. Oh man. Those super-saturated and vibrantly colored walls, chipping paint, heavy woods, rich velvet upholstery, and earthy tiles. But the best part was the children's room. It was this loft/attic space with dormer windows. The beds were lined up on either side sort of like in Annie. There was a huge red-orange stained-glass piece behind the top landing for the stairs and old fashioned trinkets and toys lying everywhere. There were mobiles hanging from the rafters and ribbon wrapped around the wrought-iron footboards. Each bed was covered by a different antique quilt or blanket. I love old quilts. There was a log-cabin design, a geometric box design, and woolen blankets. My favorite one was a little granny square crocheted blanket. I loved the old funky colors and warm earth-tones. I couldn't get a enough of it so I went out and bought yarn to make my own.
This is a picture of the blanket in the movie.
And here's a look at how mine is going. I'm stoked about it. I am happiest when I am "making."
So Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious. That pretty much says it all.
Posted by libbystokes at 05:39 PM | Comments (3)
January 01, 2007
The Rambling House
All are welcome.
Driving down to Los Angeles from Monterey I listened to a beautiful little snippet on NPR about "Rambling Houses." Here is a portion of the NPR article by Jacki Lyden:
"In recent years, in County Kerry, a tradition known as the 'rambling house' has been revived. In times past, a rambling house was regularly organized to provide residents of a province or even a small city a venue for entertainment: song, recitations, stories, and jokes."
I love the idea of the Rambling House so much. I decided that it would be a great model or reference for establishing a community meeting of friends, artists, writers and theologians. And not just as a model, I wouldn't think twice about
Here are some pictures from the County Kerry house from the article:
Posted by libbystokes at 07:28 PM | Comments (1)