The World Examining Works

Old Things

 

This is the kitchen sink in which Stompy and Leo and Bunny and a lot of Claudia's  dolls' clothes are taking a bath in the hopes of rendering them less depressing and clean and bright enough to be handed on to the next generation --who probably don't want them. Oh well, I can't possibly just chuck them out. Even after spending five years in a basement, they retain a certain charm.

The basement is full of all sorts of other things too. Every diary I ever wrote from the age of 13 --too cringe-making even for me to read. Family memoir with lots of facts wrong --probably.

The dolls, undressed and wrapped now in dryer sheets, look blank and bereft. I put the old 'antique' filter on them.

I have a most eccentric friend who goes to tag sales and buys up boxes of old photos of other people's relatives who then get displayed in her hall.

Clearing out stuff is such a complicated thing  -- one has endlessly to weigh the sentimental value against the dire twin diseases of hoarding and clutter. And the things we hold on to, not because we want to but because someone else would be hurt if we didn't......

Two possible solutions would be to send for American Pickers and trade this junk in for moolah, or else for everyone to acquire a vast storage locker and deposit all their stuff into it.

Anyway, a very vexed question altogether and mildly depressing.

Flowers Again/ Tappan

 

 

A very giant sunflower next to some oddly pointed brickwork.

The first thing I do when I go to someone else's house is wander round and pick flowers. Bobby said, "What are those white flowers?"

Hmm.......mint that has grown and grown.....

Kitchen, late afternoon.

The excitement of a good book.

 

 

Henry's World

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It is good to have someone to give things to.

Food is an endless source of entertainment.

as is trying to match the rug

and pondering the flashlight possibilities at Lowe's.

A Party

 

 

First there were cousins.....

...to help open the presents...

...and sample the cake

Then there was the king himself...

who lost interest in his crown

 

the better to get down to eating....

 

 

 

A Random Collection of Things

 

 

Hard to get organized in these overly-busy days before Christmas.

So, as ever, a lot of time spent wandering around looking for simplicity. Here a rather tasteful collection of white pottery on eau-de-nil colored shelves in a vitrine.

A royal pine wreath at Union Square.....

.....and some ghostly root vegetables at the same place.

A seasonal cut-paper window decoration near the English shop on Hudson Street.

Late afternoon winter trees on the day of the first snow.

Last, some poor unwanted gourds set out by the curb --

Gosh, it's getting chilly.

 

 

 

Jane in Winter, my little Christmas story here

Leaf Peeping in Tappan

 

The ghouls are about in  Rockland County....

They have invaded a front yard near my son's house.

The heavy dew made the street look almost wet and the sun was a blessing.

Shakespeare's 'sere and yellow leaf'. No one says sere anymore in the same way they seldom use seldom and whilst.

Henry's Blessing

The back yard . Henry in a dress and wearing a ring from 1923. Cousins.

The service itself with two splendid poems.

Then lunch in the garden under a tent.

 

And what  point is a party without ice cream cake and presents?  

Couldn't resist......!

A young gentleman of my acquaintance aged two weeks.....

Winter Light

Very early in the morning, this East-facing house catches the sunlight. 

The wire bicycle on the window-sill echoes the patio furniture.

Blurred photo. Colors correct for the season.

In the summer I pulled weeds from round these particular stones.

The sage peeps through the snow.  

Town and Country

How festive and frosty in the Meatpacking district.

How cold the late afternoon winter sun in Tappan. 

In the morning, the sun rises behind the derelict building...

 ... and etches the maple tree branches.