A World-Class Read

It is true: "The world is a book, and he who stays at home reads only one page." We just returned from two weeks in Scandinavia which let us read chapters on Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and Finland. We concluded with a day-long survey of St. Petersburg, Russia. I give God's magnum opus five stars!

The trip gave me material for many blog posts illustrating and describing our very interesting world, but let me begin with a teaser, highlighting gracious interiors and exteriors found in each of these countries. 

Denmark

Denmark was the home of Hans Christian Anderson, the beloved children's storyteller whom they call  their most famous citizen.

 The bachelor author of "The Emperor's New Clothes" and "The Little Mermaid" just to mention two, never owned his own home, but lived with various families who befriended him. Here is a glimpse into the sitting room he inhabited near the end of his life. (And, we thought our gallery walls were the latest in design!)

Also in Odense, Anderson's home town, we visited The Funen Village--a reconstruction of 25 buildings which date to the 18th and 19th century. Again I smiled when glimpsing a kitchen from that era. The open shelving and skirted base cabinets reminded me that there is  "nothing new under the sun" (Ecclesiastes 1:9). This looks like Brooke Giannetti has been here, right?

Look, too, at the chevron pattern on this door from 1631.

Hm, and we think we are so avant-garde. :)

Leaving Denmark, we flew to Bergen, Norway where we began our tour of the gorgeous fjords by bus, boat, and train.

Norway

These islands of the midnight sun provided me with plenty of inspiration, inside and out...

from the famous Scandinavian interior design in restaurants (Don't you love the tile backsplash, hanging pots, and shiny heating pendants?)

to public garden design. (The pleasing combination of purple and green must be universal; I saw it in window boxes, sidewalk planters, and gardens all over Scandinavia.) 

 

From Norway we went by a bus to Sweden where we visited life-long friends. (Believe it or not, this motor coach trip was nearly the most pleasant transportation of our entire trip.)

Sweden

In Gothenburg (Goteborg on the map), our friend's home gave us a glimpse into private Scandinavian design. (I will blog on our special weekend in Gothenburg in a later post, including photos of a Swedish wedding!)

Leaving Gothenburg, we spent several days in Stockholm. Besides the palace and the Nobel Prize museum, a highlight for me was seeing the fantastic design store, Svenski Tenn, the collaboration of a designer/art teacher (Estrid Ericson) and a well-known architect, urban planner and designer (Josef Frank). 

Providentially, the beautiful store displaying their exuberant design work was only steps from our hotel! Saving the best for last, Bill let me leisurely enjoy the store's every vignette on our last morning in Sweden's capital. (A whole blog on the design center to come!)

From there we took an overnight cruise east to Helsinki, Finland.

Finland

The most memorable interior in Helsinki had to be the Temple Square Church, often called Rock Church. Begun in 1930 and completed in 1969, the cavernous sanctuary was hewn out of bedrock, with slender windows circling the space.

 The light leads the eye upward to the copper wire ceiling.

The combination of rough stone walls and copper dome produce unbelievable acoustics; consequently, conservatory students perform here each day at noon. 

After touring, shopping, and drinking tea in Helsinki, we took another cruise ship to our final destination, Saint Petersburg, Russia.

Russia

We went Saint-Petersburg primarily to see a single painting, Rembrandt van Rijn's "The Return of the Prodigal Son". The canvas is housed in The Hermitage, which is the museum/palace of Peter the Great and Catherine. The opulence of these buildings literally drops your jaw. I do believe Versailles pales in comparison. However, my interior was humbled by the message of the painting. Rembrandt visualized for us the Father's warm, forgiving embrace of his filthy, tattered prodigal son who had come home from wallowing in a distant country's party-scene. 

Thus, our journey opened fresh pages of the world's book to us, but let me conclude this first travelog by suggesting you open the pages of The Return of the Prodigal Son by Henri Nouwen. The short, profound book by the Dutch-born Catholic priest, who gave up his teaching post at Harvard to be a care-giver for the profoundly handicapped, tells the meaning of Christ's parable as revealed through the details in Rembrandt's painting. Nouwen saw himself in both the prodigal son and the elder brother, but  was moved to accept the Father's loving forgiveness. He invites us to do the same, and then to extend the same heart to others.

Celebrating Summer

Celebrate summer with me. 

At our house, a sunbonnet wears a chartreuse bow.

Budding hydrangea blossoms repeat the lime green theme. 

In the backyard, the pots are in their bursting with blossoms.

Beside the fence, wild flowers shoot spikes of pink into the sky. 

A rocking chair beckons me to sit soak in the sun's warm rays.

It's midsummer; savor the season with me.

People Over Pretty

I like to think of myself as a stage setter, arranging tablescapes and rooms to make for happy family times. This fourth of July was no exception, but rather than show you my center piece or describe my menus to you, I will share my most prized memories from the week. These involve people, not food or flowers.

Here are a few of my favorite photos from the week:

Our youngest daughter and her family arrived first, and we took a walk in the drizzling rain at Mount Gretna,
capped off with hamburgers and ice cream at The Jigger Shop.

 Tuesday found us singing "Jesus Loves Me" while Great Grandma played.

Oregon Dairy's playground and farm animals were a hit in the middle of the week.

By July fourth, everyone was here to enjoy the swimming pool.

The kids enjoyed trying water pistols and showing the grandparent's new swimming skills.

THE highlight of the week was a visit to an Amish farm on Friday.

My husband's patient even hitched her horse to their buggy and gave us all buggy rides!

As the week progressed, all the adults tried to make each child feel special. Baseball games provided an opportunity.

Our first grandchild surprised all of us by routinely getting a hit on the first pitch!

Our second oldest grandchild, was so excited about his hit
 that he carried the bat on his way around the bases. 

Our third grandchild was so happy about his home-run, that he gave himself a spontaneous two-thumbs up!

Then our adorable 20-month old watched from the sidelines.
At the next reunion, he will be in the middle of any game which involves a ball.

We will have to wait and see how our youngest two grandchildren take to baseball.

It was work to keep everyone safe, fed, and happy...but now the house is sadly quiet. I would love to have a little boy come down from upstairs or up from downstairs to retrieve these toys that were left under the furniture.

These two figures were abandoned under a table, evidence of one of many make-believe games.

 Alas, it is not to be. I will have to live on my mental snapshots of priceless memories. They are more indelible than fading flowers or left-overs.

Clothing for Women of a Certain Age

I am no svelte model. My husband wishes I were, but alas, I am half-a-foot too short and 20-or-so-pounds "sterling" too heavy. However, after years of dressing myself and way too much time in front of dressing room mirrors discarding way too many options, I happened upon a few styles that minimize the negative and optimize the positive.

If I have your attention, let me introduce you to a few of my favorite designers.

I am an Oska groupie. I never thought of my style as "artsy", but I do love the edge of this German company. I chuckled when I read how Stefanie Schmitz (Design) described an Oska fan, "I see the Oska woman as a mature personality, who is individual and authentic in her attitude towards life. Humanity and a sense of culture make up her values."  Now, I could not tell you what it means to be "individual and authentic in your attitude towards life" nor how "humanity and sense of culture" could "make up values", but unfortunately, I do understand the "mature personality" bit.  Oh phooey, I don't care if the style is mature; I think it's cool!

My second go-to clothing company is PLANET. Lauren Grossman, this woman's apparel designer, describes her clothes as "inspired, soft, and flowing" with a Japanese aesthetic. I don't know about you, but I don't think only the mature woman would appreciate this style.

Finally, clothes by J McLaughlin are a bit more classic than pieces by Oska or PLANET, but they are timeless and make the wearer look timeless.

Sometimes you can find these designers' clothes on sale on the internet. If you do find something you like by any of these companies, on sale, in your size, snap them up. They launder and wear well. And, even if Madison Avenue uses young, beautiful women to model the three brands, take my word for it, they make even a middle-aged "broad" look and feel great.

Dinner Party for Old and New Besties

A grin spread across my face this morning when I read Mandi Smith T's "Interior Design Musings: Thinking Outside the Box". In this post, Mandi encourages creative living this summer. Her third of five suggestions is: "Host a dinner party and invite two couples you've never invited to your home. Don't stick with your besties on this one - step out." This is precisely what we are doing this evening.

From: InteriorDesignMusings.blogspot.com

First, we wanted to invite Bill's first and "bestie" partner, Dick,  and his wife, Ruth. Since Dick's retirement, we see them far too infrequently. As we were thinking about who else to include, we decided on two colleagues and their wives who have been fun social friends at various functions over the years. Profesionally, Dick and Bill worked with Alan and Brian daily, but we have never had them in our home for a meal.

I always tell myself to keep such an evening simple, but then when I scour food blogs and pull out possible table cloths and placemats, pottery and china, I usually end up using my best china and silver. After all, why not use it? I use the pottery everyday, and it is fun to enjoy the gifted finery.

That's how I ended up with my tablescape for this evening. As a base, I am using a ecru spread crocheted by my husband's aunt. What a treasure this gift of love is. I have never used it on a table before, but if Carolyn Roehm can repurpose matelasse spreads and wool paisley shawls, I can enjoy this handmade treasure in my dining room.

For china, I am using my husband's grandmother's plain white with gold banded china. No wonder brides are often encouraged to select a plain table service. Like a little-black-dress, classic white china is fabulous for any occasion and with any color scheme.

With tablecloth and china chosen, I next decided on the flowers. Thinking about the room as a whole, I decided the ecru spread with white flowers would play off the dining room's color scheme.

Daisies, azaleas, and spider mums fill in my brass footed cooler.

Three limes added to the foliage give a hint to a menu item to come.

I love arranging flowers, but they can be pesky at times. Last night quite late, I began the arrangement. When it was done, I placed it on the table and gave it the sight-line test. Oops, it was too tall to see over. So I began again. By this time the oasis had too many holes, but I managed to cut several inches off the stems and get the flowers into a semi-pave form.  The arrangement isn't my best, but it will pass-with-a-push.

What to serve is always a debate. Yesterday, I spent hours pouring over cookbooks and blogs, before arriving at a menu. Here's what's cookin':

Appetizer--Tomato juice cocktails, snowpeas filled with herbed cream cheese, cherry tomatoes stuffed with guacamole, and cucumber slices topped with humus.

From:  LifeasaStrawberry.com

From: www.epicurious.com

From:  The domesticanofJune.blogspot.com

Bread and salad course--homemade bread compliments of an Amish farm in Gap, PA. This soft yeast-flavored bread is so much better than anything I could bake, that it is worth a 10 mile hike to buy it!  It will be the perfect compliment to the lettuce, blackberry, pear and feta salad.

From: Goodlifeeats.com

For the main course, I will serve broiled halibut with lemon-herb topping over rice pilaf and carrot soufflé served in individual ramekins.

From: CookingLight.com

For dessert, I a serving key lime tarts with a dollop of coconut Italian gelato.

From: BarbaraBakes.com

Actually, the whole menu, flower arrangement, and color scheme derived from this dessert. On Wednesday, I had lunch with Anna in DC near the White House. We splurged and shared a yummy key lime mousse topped with coconut sorbet.  The combination of flavors was amazing, so I borrowed the idea and improvised.

From: www.chirinka.com.

Hopefully, our new "besties" will enjoy it as much as I did.