On the Eve of 2010...

I hope you have a lovely night!

I will be a tiny speck in the picture below...
St. John's Harbour.
xoxox

it's coming...
it will be here first in North America!
i am a time traveler for a moment.
i am hurtled alone, air rushing noisily past my ears, into the next decade...
a New Year.
i wasn't finished with the old one...

And what of the past year?
where will she be stored?
in the freezer.
files of history, with faded ink and faded dreams.

Oh regret of lost time is a reckless pursuit.
it marches onward into the horizon and waits for no person.
like carrying water across an endless desert in your small hands.
we all die of thirst, some leaving a mark, others not.

i wish for you a fountain.
a good book.
a leather bound journal and a heavy, beautiful pen.
a camera.
an abundance of love, food and peace.
something to trust in.
hope for.
all the best that a new year, a new decade, can offer...

xo

Rise

Such is the way of the world
You can never know
Just where to put all your faith
And how will it grow

Gonna rise up
Burning black holes in dark memories
Gonna rise up
Turning mistakes into gold

Such is the passage of time
Too fast to fold
Suddenly swallowed by signs
Lo and behold

Gonna rise up
Find my direction magnetically
Gonna rise up
Throw down my ace in the hole

by Eddie Vedder

Birthday Wishes...

I love you forever...
xo

Good Monday Morning!

Photo by Andrew Ryan

These little beauties are everywhere in my backyard.
I leave birdseed and water for them every morning and now they are a feature.
It makes me feel giddy to see them waiting in the trees.
A wonderful gift.

:)

To the rest of us...

Feel free to post this and award it to those worthy of not making the TimesOnline 50 world's best design blogs...

sigh

Hectic days are done
Making Christmas memories
Time for a wee nap

I hope your Christmas Day was as full and wonderful as mine.
Happy Boxing Day!

A Selection of World Wishes

Gesëende Kersfees
Rehus-Beal-Ledeats
Gezur Krislinjden
Idah Saidan Wa Sanah Jadidah
Feliz Navidad
Shuvo Naba Barsha
Vesele Vanoce
Boas Festas e Feliz Ano Novo
Gun Tso Sun Tan'Gung Haw Sun
Kung His Hsin Nien bing Chu Shen Tan
Pace e salute
Mitho Makosi Kesikansi
Sretan Bozic
Prejeme Vam Vesele Vanoce a stastny Novy Rok
Glædelig Jul
Vrolijk Kerstfeest en een Gelukkig Nieuwjaar!
Jutdlime pivdluarit ukiortame pivdluaritlo!
Gajan Kristnaskon
Cristmas-e-shoma mobarak bashad
Hyvaa joulua
Joyeux Noel
Nollaig chridheil agus Bliadhna mhath ùr!
Froehliche Weihnachten
Kala Christouyenna!
Mele Kalikimaka
Mo'adim Lesimkha. Chena tova
Shub Naya Baras
Kellemes Karacsonyi unnepeket
Gledileg Jol
Selamat Hari Natal
Idah Saidan Wa Sanah Jadidah
Nollaig Shona Dhuit
Ojenyunyat Sungwiyadeson honungradon nagwutut. Ojenyunyat osrasay.
Buone Feste Natalizie
Shinnen omedeto. Kurisumasu Omedeto
Sung Tan Chuk Ha
Natale hilare et Annum Faustum!
Linksmu Kaledu
Meri Kirihimete
Merry Keshmish
Gledelig Jul
Feliz Navidad y un Venturoso Año Nuevo
Maligayan Pasko!
Wesolych Swiat Bozego Narodzenia or Boze Narodzenie
Feliz Natal
Pozdrevlyayu s prazdnikom Rozhdestva is Novim Godom
La Maunia Le Kilisimasi Ma Le Tausaga Fou
Sretan Bozic
God Jul and (Och) Ett Gott Nytt År
Sawadee Pee Mai
Noeliniz Ve Yeni Yiliniz Kutlu Olsun
Srozhdestvom Kristovym
Naya Saal Mubarak Ho
Chung Mung Giang Sinh
Nadolig Llawen
Cestitamo Bozic

A very Merry Christmas is wished for the world!
and a time of peace for those who are not celebrating Christmas.
Much love...
xoxox

Handmade Gifts

I have spent hours, and hours, making presents and can't share them with you until after Christmas. Just in case one of the intended is watching! The new age way of looking in closets, under beds, in drawers...

When I was younger I would never give homemade things because I worried that people would consider me cheap...My world has changed so much since then! Thankfully! I now know the value of the things I create and, more importantly, I don't worry about those who would be so unkind to consider a gift unworthy. With the surge in appreciation for homemade and handmade items I hope to see Christmas less exploited. I hope it becomes filled with gratitude, love and ease (and less hectic shopping!).

Do you create gifts for people in your circle? Is there anyone who you wouldn't give a handmade present to? Do you like receiving handmade gifts?
xoxox

What's in a name?

I have changed the "Title" of my blog.
It is now "Fit to be Seen"...It seems to better follow the direction I am heading in...
I believe that if you already subscribe or follow, the title will still show up as "Beauty and Old Things", but if you follow from now on it will show up as "Fit to be Seen"...I may be completely wrong here! Let me know if I am wrong and you know how this actually works! So I'll leave it to you...Change the name with me, or not.

What do you think of the new blog name?
xoxox

B.S.T. #20

Beautiful Simple Things #20

Living in a part of the world where
~*Wishes*~
can come true...

:)

This is one of the funniest things I've seen. Ever. :) Or maybe I'm in one of those strange moods where the weirdest things are hilarious! I'll let you decide...
Let me know if you find it really funny too, or not. :(

A Pictorial Guide to avoiding Camera Loss

Wonders Never Ever Cease

These were sparking from the middle of a field as I drove by.
I was rapt...

People on the road today were none to kind about my scoping out the scenery.
Silly Humans!
Stop and smell the snow for "God's" sake.
I mean really for His sake.

Christmas is about so much,
but I'm pretty sure driving someone off the road to get to Wal-Mart isn't what was intended.

I had a ~*wonderful*~ morning out in the snow.
These are a sampling...But I am really anxious to get the film developed!
I made a neat filter that looked amazing through the viewfinder!

So if you are hurrying and being a nasty driver on this last weekend of shopping before the Big Day...
Remember...
a donkey's pace will do.

xoxox

xoxox

Oh my goodness. I just had the best breakfast I've had in years. A breakfast sandwich made by me with potato scallion bread smeared with hummus, slice of ancient cheddar and an egg with pepper, an nectarine and dark coffee with a splash of soy. Just thought I'd share because it was that good!

Out into the wild for photos now. Both digital and film...Will share of course. It's snowing! Yay!

Soft, fluffy flakes slowly tumbling to Earth. Perfection.
xoxox

Christmas Tree Vote

Jillian of The Life & Times of The Plume is having a Christmas Tree picture contest. I've entered. Can you guess which is mine? (scan without reading the names, because the "Andrea" above mine may give it away if you know my name is Andrea and not CrowNology!) Go over and vote for the tree you like the most! I love the "Christmas Wish" tree with all the Peace Symbols over it. There are some funny ones, and some really lovely ones, and one's with cats too! Something for all!
xoxox

Dreaming the Future

Dreams for 2010...

New York, Paris, Iceland

Fully functional Studio

Photography classes and practice

A silversmith to teach me the basics

A fully stocked Etsy Shoppe

A renovation free home

Perhaps a little pedestrian for "Dreams" ...

Maybe I should dream about more worldly things coming into my life.

But, no.

This, half of this, would more than do...

xoxox

Are we there yet?

When is it the "holidays" in your home?

I've just finished hanging lights in the windows and on an outside Maple.

I have a tiny Christmas tree (2ft) in my bedroom because I still have plastering and painting to do on the main floor of my home.

I was lucky enough to find a lot of vintage glass bulbs in the weekend's flea market flurry.

I did a sweep of the markets before any other looking to find them.

So cheap too. I spent about $8 and have 50 or more...Photos to come.

I am making Christmas presents tonight, listening to CBC's "Wachtel and The Arts" upstairs and Christmas music downstairs, drinking espresso (after 10pm!) and dancing about feeling happy.

I hope you are happy and dancing too!

xoxox

"My Precious..."

My version of those Christmas bulbs catching every blogger's eye...

I gathered twigs and branches
and herbs and seeds
and grasses and tiny dried flowers
all fall.
I had no idea what I was going to do with them...
Photography has given me new eyes
and I am falling in love with the minutia of my world.
The small pieces that were oft over looked.
With camera to eye they become looked over and precious.
So, like the fallen hobbit, I was constantly grabbing and hording "my precious..."
My camera bag the coffin of the dead flora.

So when I saw these I knew...
This is what the hording was for.
You really should see them from the original makers, (Land-Rich) click the link under the photos above. Mine have less in them because I liked them that way but the ones after the jump are sublime. A word rarely used...

xoxox

Kreativ Blog Award

I have been given a Kreativ Blog Award from Guillemette whose blog GREY LEMON is one of my favourites...Not only because it is in French with a translate feature, which helps because I am trying to learn French...But also because it features interesting art and cultural items.

La règle du jeu: Dévoiler 7 confidences et nominer 7 blogs.

So here are...

My 7 secrets revealed...

~ I am a lover of feet. I love my feet. I love to draw and paint feet. I love photos of feet. Such hardworking and under appreciated things are they. Which leads to...
~ I root for the underdog. I always hope the least likely will win and so one day I root for one team, the next day someone else...Luckily the party I vote for, in Canada, is always the underdog!
~ I am a perfect mix of my parents. Mostly their bad qualities! And in some ways I am more like my step-parents!
~ I have skeletons in my closets...They play dress-up with my vintage clothing. They sometimes dance across my floor playing their xylophone rib cages and doffing their feathered hats. They are loud. They have made me a light sleeper.
~ I had to leave a beautiful, sweet, tender cat behind when I left a controlling relationship. I still cry about it, 12 years later...(the ex brought him, Bailey, to the SPCA. I feel he must have been adopted because he was fixed and healthy and beautiful and orange...But deep down I know I may be wrong...)
~ I feel old. Creaky. I am not old. Or creaky.
~ There are so many things that I will never see and it bothers me a lot. I watched "Out of Africa" (LOVE), a couple of nights ago, and it opened a hole in my soul...The sights, the time period. I may get to Africa but I will never see enough.

My 7 Nominations for the Kreativ Blog Award...

Meg from The Wild and Wily Ways of a Brunette Bombshell for her honesty and writing.
Nancy*McKay ...Tea and a Little Photography... for her Haiku and beautiful photos.
Tia Bailey of 1000 beautiful Things for her inspirational, ethereal fine art photography.
Inhae of My Milk Toof for her creativity and light hearted creations.
She of Speaking for Herself because she calls herself "she", and is enigmatic and honest.
Jenny of Wikstenmade because I love her creations and the way she photographs them.
Tena of Shrink to Fit because she is brave, creative and a friend.

Sometimes I ignore awards because of time constraints, or other, but I felt like taking this one on. And so I have no issue if those I nominated above respond as I sometimes have...Do take a peek at the blogs though they are lovely, and the woman, phenomenal.

xoxox

pssst...hey santa,
if you are reading...
i want a hippo for christmas.
please...
xoxo

Snowed Under!

Snow much to do... ;)

Taking a little break to prepare for Christmas. I have many things to make! I've been neglecting those who have left comments and have been absent from my usual visits to those blogs I love.

Not gone for long, just a few days and until then...
Much love...
xoxo

B.S.T. #19

Beautiful Simple things #19

Snow stopped falling at midnight

Alone

for tonight I am happy this is so

Cocooned
in woolen warmth

...as the branches in the snow

I walk
~crunch crunch crunch~
~crunch crunch crunch~
singular sound
except
the wind
whispering
whispering
whispering
in a voice I recognize as my own...

What exists but tonight anyway?

Photographer's Sight

I've been struck with "Photographer's Eye"...
I think I made up the term but we think of the same thing so often probably not.

I was driving today to get somethings for the on-going (un?=as in never ending) renovation of my home. I couldn't concentrate on the road.
It was as if my eyes were drunk on the possibilities before me.
There was a light layer of ice covering all the dead grasses and weeds on the sides of the road...Oh Wow. So beautiful. Why did I leave my camera behind?

I think a photography class
should be a requirement in
all educational programs
because
it makes you see the world
rather than just look at it.
~Author Unknown