Happy Halloween

Styling is by Becki van der Oord of Installations Antiques, Houston Heights. Photo by Annie.

Here's looking at you, Babe and wishing you a safe and fun Halloween.

Bag Lady

Oh, merci, Tall Husband!

These bags are only a small sample of my collection. I hang the surplus neatly in a closet.

My worst fear has come true...I'm a bag lady! I cannot throw away a bag. And why should I? Some of the best designers in the world design bags for big names in the luxury goods industry. Even my paper grocery bags are wonderful and I use them to schlep things between houses, preferring them to a suitcase. A Tiffany's bag is great to carry lunch in. A Cartier bag lends panache to a door knob. The tiny Chanel bag holds my pencils or a small jar of fresh flowers on my desk. I love bags!

Are you a bag person too?

To learn about better bags for a better planet go to www.reusablebags.com.

Ivory Tower

The old Oriental Textile Mill's tower and smokestack in the Houston Heights

Towers have always fascinated me. Some how, I've often lived near one; from the time I was a young teenager, where I spent my summers in an old tower, reading my favorite writers, to a tower near my home in a small village in Germany. Now there is another tower in my life: A short walk from The Bunny Bungalow in the Houston Heights there is this 114-year-old magnificent tower that once overlooked a mattress factory, then the Oriental Textile Mill moved into its building. Today, the old building is home to three upscale businesses: Textile, a restaurant; Krafts'men, a wholesale bakery and Installations Antiques; but the tower is vacant.

On all four sides of the tower are ornate clocks and, as you can see in the photo, there is also a bell at the very top. I have yet to visit the tower but I have fantasies. The neighbors could always use a clock with the correct time, plus the sound of a distant bell would be welcome, I'm sure. When I'm not winding the clocks or ringing the bell, wouldn't that tower be an inspiring place from which to blog?

Note: This building is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

A Splash of White

Click on Photograph to enlarge.

My favorite splash of color around the house is white. It's so serene, almost magical. What's your favorite?

Next Project

Images from Country Living Magazine's Shop

Finally! I found a stencil that Tall Husband and I both love. It's called Twigs & Berries from Country Living Magazine's on-line shop. The stencil will replace the wallpaper border in the dining room of The Bunny Bungalow. The border went well with the style of the previous owner's furniture and color scheme but is too ornate for our taste and style. I'll do some before and after photos to let you know how the project goes. I also ordered stencil creme in Mother Earth. Doesn't that sound warm and cozy?

I owe a big "thanks" to Kelley over at Home in the Heights for this find: she did a posting on a Texas Hill Country home with a link to Country Living Magazine, which took me to their site and to their shop. So of course, I subscribed to Country Living and bought all the Caromal Colours stencils and supplies I'll need for this project. Thanks, Kelley; we've been searching for two years for the right solution to the dining room border. Tall Husband is hoping it won't take me another two years to complete the project!

Wow Weekend

Lavender arrangement by floral designer Felix Hernandez of Behind the Garden Gate, Houston
Felix knows all about the wow factor.

My twelve-going-on-twenty-one twin granddaughters searched for things with that wow factor this weekend. It's so invigorating and interesting seeing the world through the eyes of youth.

Rocks in My Heart

This sweet little book, Everybody Needs a Rock, was in my Cheerios this morning. A kindred soul has found her way to me. Ms. Byrd Baylor, assisted by the charming drawings of Peter Parnall, sets out the rules for choosing a rock. She clearly knows that rocks are really magic and that they must feel just right in one's hand. Which brings me to some of my favorite rocks. (Click on each photo to enlarge and read notations.)

One must have old, interesting containers for rocks. (See the dark rusty thing above, it's not a rock; it is the rusted trigger from a hand gun, found in my backyard. I wonder about the story behind that!)

The rocks that have been carved into hearts are sweet Valentine gifts from Tall Husband. (Oh, I know that the little French perfume bottle isn't a rock but it feels great in the hand. Besides, it has sentimental value: it belonged to my daughter when she was a student in Paris. If I remove the cap, I can inhale Misha's wild and heady girlhood.)