I am rather in love with this painting of the Women's Regatta in Venice by Gabriele Bella, 1730-1799 (click on for a larger view). I had no idea that women were accomplished rowers, though it does on reflection make a certain amount of sense. If one lives on the waters and the canals, or course […]
Tearing Up The Canals: The Women’s Regatta in Venice, 18th Century Read More »
I posted a few field drawings of my mother Jeanette Snyder yesterday, and wanted to add some more of them because I think they are charming — and remind me of the days when field researchers lugged heavy tape recorders, cameras, and note books, just in case all that heavy technology failed, leaving only the
More Field Drawings: Darjeeling, India 1964. Tibetan Lhamo Performances. Read More »
I have been working through my mother Jeanette Snyder's papers — including a cash of drawings, and strips of contact sheet photographs (many that were never developed and for which the negatives disappeared many years ago) on her research of the Tibetan Lhamo in 1964. She rote a wonderful article "The World Beneath the Tents"
Bittersweet: An Afternoon Under the Tent Watching the A Ice Lhamo Perform Read More »
It is easy to forget that Easter so focused on the Son, is also about the Mother and in 20th century mystic and author Adrienne Von Speyr‘s brilliant work Handmaid of the Lord, Von Speyr examines the significance and importance of Mary’s life: “Her first Yes to the angel, her first joy at conception, her
Reading Adrienne Von Speyr on Easter Morning Read More »
Quite a while ago I wrote about attending a conference in which one of the novels we were discussing was Emil Zola’s terrific novel, Au Bonheur Des Dames (The Ladies Delight.) The novel, set in the late 1860’s, centers on the invention of the department store (based on the historical store Bon Marché in Paris). The owner Mouret
Fiction and Family Meet At the Bon Marche Read More »
A wonderful way to celebrate Flannery O’Connor’s birth and death, is to listen to this very rare and wonderful recording of her reading “A Good Man Is Hard To Find” — one of her best short stories. It is so different from reading this story to yourself, hearing instead her wry, deep Georgia drawl reading
Happy Birthday Flannery O’Connor Read More »
There is something fabulous (and enviable for this writer) at the fertile co-creative spirit between an author and a book illustrator. Over the years, author Marly Youmans has worked with artist Clive Hicks Jenkins to create stunning books — old school style with beautiful original color artwork for the covers, and lovely black and
Clive Hicks Jenkins and his Evocative Book Illustrations for Youmans’ Maze of Blood Read More »
This last week we traveled from Tucson to Omaha (oh my stars — this little lizard doesn't enjoy cold and biting winter!). On our way back, we were stunned by the record snowfalls that had occurred in our absence. From northern Colorado all the way down to almost southern New Mexico we were engulfed in
Shivering in the Pecos Mountains and the High Plains. Read More »
“In the end, he thought, a neat labyrinth or an untidy maze was a simple place. You reached its heart and were devoured by the beast, or you reached its heart, and the spot was bare and pulseless. Maybe the beast and the blankness were the same. Maybe it was the emptiness that had teeth
An Early Review of Maze of Blood by Marly Youmans Read More »
My childhood Christmas experience was populated with these lovely vintage Swedish Christmas postcards. They are actually quite small — too small to put into a US post, which is probably why my mother never sent them out. But she saved them from her childhood and so they became a part of mine. Every Christmas they
God Jul! Our Vintage Swedish Christmas Cards Read More »
