Funky Friday ~ September 25th

[bakery shop window, Flushing, New York]

It's Funky Friday - time to make plans for a wonderful weekend! Wherever you are, whatever you do, make sure to make the most of every day.

Funky Friday ~ September 18th

This is a picture of the Miss Portland Diner that I took several years ago and manipulated using Photoshop Elements. Pretty darn funky!

Enjoy the day & have a fabulous weekend! I am off to Massachusetts tomorrow for my cousin's wedding. "All you need is love, doo ta doo doo..."

Some of my favorite quotes

Imagination is more important than knowledge.
~ Einstein



Think like a queen. A queen is not afraid to fail. Failure is another steppingstone to greatness.
~ Oprah Winfrey



Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.
~ Melody Beattie



Evolved individuals know that people who are not intuitive can be dangerous to work with, since they are guided solely by the current appearance of things that are in reality, changing. Evolved individuals seek out others who have intuition and vision - a form of intelligence that comes from cultivating the instincts, observing the direction of change, apprehending the evolution of ideas.”
~ Lao Tzu



To live content with small means... To seek elegance rather than luxury, and refinement rather than fashion... To be worthy, not respectable, and wealthy, not rich... To study hard, think quietly, talk gently, act frankly... To listen to stars and birds, to babes and sages, with open heart... To bear all cheerfully, do all bravely, await occasions, hurry never... In a word, to let the spiritual, unbidden and unconscious, grow up through the common... this is to be my symphony.
~ William Henry Channing

My take on Julie & Julia

Yesterday I went to the movies. Think that's not a big deal? It isn't, really, except it was the first time I'd stepped foot inside a movie theater in about 5 or 6 years. I have been watching all my movies on DVD and totally ignoring the fact that theaters existed. Until now. I was supposed to meet a friend, but she never showed up. I have to thank her, though, because without her prompting I probably would not have gone, even though I had heard from several people that Julie & Julia is a fun, uplifing movie, and I was keen to see it.



What no one had mentioned was that it was shot at Silvercup Studios in Long Island City, Queens. I used to live near there in Sunnyside, Queens, so a lot of the New York images were so familiar to me. They brought me back to that time when I lived in New York. And that was fun for me.

But what I also enjoyed were the shots of Paris (I've never been, but that city resonants with me), the interior shots (I would just die to have an apartment like the one Julia Child and her husband had in Paris), and the vintage clothes. I used to wear lots of vintage clothing when I was in my 20s, and I even sold it for awhile, and so I was tickled to see all the period fashions in the flashbacks to Julia's life. But what I thought was quite clever was the way they had the modern-day Julie wear vintage pieces. And her pins! In just about every scene, she was wearing some sort of funky little pin. Whoever styled the clothing for this movie really did a good job of creating a personal style for Julie. I'd love to know how she dresses in real life! But even if this was simply the work of one designer's imagination, I got a big kick out of it and thought it really worked for the character.

Of course, no discussion of Julie & Julia would be complete without a mention of blogging. You probably know already that Julie was a blogger. I won't tell her story here -- you need to go out and see it on the big screen -- but it does bring home the point that blogging can lead to big things, in the same way it led to big things for Petite Anglaise. We think we're just chatting to ourselves -- but who knows! Maybe one day the world will be reading our words.

For a peek at the movie, and a link to various cooking blogs, check out the movie's website.



[Note about photos used here: Before today, I had never used any photos but ones I had taken myself. However, on the movie's website they included photos that could be downloaded as wallpaper, so I decided it is probably OK for me to use those photos to talk about (promote) the movie.]

New Etsy shop! Maine Coast Vintage

[collectible miniature teacup available at Maine Coast Vintage]

No Funky Friday post today. Instead I want to talk about a couple of new things: For starters, my new Etsy shop is finally getting off the ground. It's called Maine Coast Vintage, and you can find it here. I've only listed 4 items so far, but stay tuned -- there are more to come! I am a lover of vintage and antiques, especially vintage china and glass. I also like what I call "interesting junk." Perhaps the dollhouse furniture from the 1930s falls into that last category! I've had it in my own collection for years, but now I've decided to add it to my shop. It's shabby but it's really cute!


[vintage dollhouse furniture, circa 1930s]

Also, it is truly a new season here in Maine, with temps this morning only in the 50s, and let's not even think about how low it went last night. I'm borrowing a nice Nikon camera from a friend on Monday and must try it out before my cousin's wedding, so expect to see some new outdoor shots soon. Until then, I am dipping into my archives for a few pics from last September.


[hydrangea & pine, North Fryeburg, Maine]


[potted flowers, North Fryeburg, Maine]

I am going to quickly mention September 11th...


[Tiles for America, Greenwich Village/NYC; December 2007]

I can't quite believe it's been 8 years. I lived in NYC on that fateful day, and it was partly due to that day's events that I left Queens and moved to Maine. However, rather than dwelling on the past, I'd like to take a moment to express appreciation for my life. I feel blessed to be an American, I feel so much appreciation for my life in Maine, and more than anything, I am very grateful for all of my wonderful friends and family members. I also appreciate you folks in blogland who take the time to stop by and read my words. Thank you!

OK, folks, it's Friday. Time to rock the weekend! Keep it safe but have a good one!

Old bottles, a president's home, and the lovely NH mountains. Can you dig it?

What a fabulous weekend! It was beautifully clear and cool here in New England, and my friend D invited me to her summer "cottage" for some R&R.


We had fun playing catch with her 2 dogs and a tennis ball. The little lab was always eager to fetch.


The big dog had to be in the mood! They were both very amusing to watch.



And then there was our bottle hunt. D had seen some old bottles along a stone wall that runs around her property, so we decided to go digging to see what we could find.

And what a load of bottles we uncovered! Many were shattered, unfortunately, but we came away with a good haul of intact bottles, along with bits of china, 2 rusted clocks, and part of a bicycle. We set up our treasures outside on the patio.






Later we managed to get some of the bottles cleaned up and then laid them out in the sun to dry.


I've been a scavenger from way back, so I really enjoyed uncovering these treasures. In fact, I may take up bottle digging as my new hobby!

After a hard day of digging, a gal needs a nice glass of wine. Relaxing on the porch watching the moon rise over the mountains is the ultimate experience!




Pictured next to my wine glass are a couple of the many wild turkey feathers I collected during the weekend.


Of course, a visit to D's is never complete without some discussion of history. Presidential history, to be precise.


You see, D is the great-granddaughter of the U.S. president, Grover Cleveland.



And the property I was visiting is the site of his summer home in the NH mountains.



[former summer home of Grover Cleveland, aka the big house]

D's house is the former caretaker's cottage.

[caretaker's cottage, now a summer home]

D's house sits behind and slightly up the hill from "the big house." The big house is where Grover spent one happy summer after he had left office. Unfortunately, Grover passed away not long after acquiring this house in the early 1900s. His wife continued to summer there after she remarried, and when she passed on, the caretaker's cottage went to D's family and the big house went to the president's wife's children from her second marriage.

I could go on and on about this house that D owns. The porch! The view of the mountains! The family memorabilia! I did take many photos of the outside of both houses and a few inside hers.


[huge ferns this year, due to extremely rainy summer]


[fading hydrangeas on the bar table]


[painting of D's house]

In fact, I took so many photos that I think I will do another post this week about the Grover Cleveland summer property.

Whatever you did this past weekend, I hope you had as much fun as I did! Sending out a big thanks to D for having me at her home!

Funky Friday ~ September 4th

Isn't this the cutest little cottage you've ever seen?
It's located on an island in Maine. I'd love to have a funky little place like this to retreat to! Since I don't, I'll be hanging out at home this weekend. Oh, I am going to see the new Julia/Julie movie on Monday, so that should be fun. What are you up to this holiday weekend? (Monday is Labor Day, for those of you who live outside the U.S. and may not be aware.)

I hope whatever you've got going on you have a safe & happy weekend!

Change is in the wind...

The days are growing cooler and shorter here in Maine. A new season is just around the corner. Change is in the air...



A change came o’er the spirit of my dream.~ Lord Byron

I've been going through a lot of changes during the last two years...


The universe is change; our life is what our thoughts make it.
~ Marcus Aurelius

And now I can feel that I am on the verge of a really big one.

Observe always that everything is the result of a change, and get used to thinking that there is nothing Nature loves so well as to change existing forms and to make new ones like them.
~ Marcus Aurelius

I'm not sure if I'm staying or I'm going... not sure if I'll be self-employed or working a full-time gig... not even sure what my address will be next month. But I do know this: Change is good. And whatever happens, I will be making the best of things as summer turns into fall, and I begin a new chapter of my life.