Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious

People refer to me as Mary Poppins because of all the stuff I carry in my handbag. You need a band-aid, an Advil, a Sharpie, a piece of gum? How about a flashlight, a recipe, or a doctor referral? I’m your Go-To Girl!

Right now, I’m carrying my Perlina straw bag that I picked up at Loehmann’s last summer. Straw is a great neutral to carry during the summertime. Today you will find:

• A blue mesh pencil case with my favorite calligraphy fountain pen , black Zig calligraphy dual felt tip pen, Staedler rollerball liquid point pen, a Cross mechanical pencil, mini Mars plastic eraser, and a Scotch paper cutter ( can take on airplanes)
• Techno nerd toys: my cell phone, iPod, and recently I added a GPS. My cell phone is where I keep books I’m reading, dictionaries (English, Italian, Spanish) , my shopping lists, my favorite recipes, my entire address book, measurements of the rooms in my house, games, etc. etc. etc. My iPod has my music and family photos, vacation photos, and portfolio photos of my artwork. Now that I have a big girl camera, it doesn’t fit in my purse any longer.
• Wallet
• Comb
• Handkerchief
• A tin box with chewing gum
• Keys with a tiny halogen flashlight dangling from the keyring
• A small freebie Laura Mercier makeup bag with a lipstick, lipgloss, earbuds for my ipod and cell phone, dental floss toothpicks, pillbox with Advil, Bufferin, and generic allergy medication, band-aids, and my spring/autumn color palette book which I got when Schnee did my colors.

When my kids were younger, I carried a little gold mesh pouch with more first-aid items in it.

If your eyes are the window your soul, then maybe your purse is a keyhole to your soul.
What would we find in your purse?

Thank you, Relyn, for inspiring this post!

A Weekend in Connecticut

Oma’s cat scan came out clear. We still don’t know what’s wrong, but I am relieved that we got good news on this test. The other good news is that she appears to be feeling better every day. Thank you to everyone who sent well wishes and stories about Oma. I think they had a very positive effect on her! I will definitely be writing posts about her amazing quilts and her home town of Lübeck, Germany, but I have to transfer the photos from another computer before I can tell the full story. Watch this space!

In the mean time, I have some photos from my trip to Connecticut on hand. About a month ago, I visited a small town close to the New York border named Kent. It is along the Housatonic River., which inspired Robert Underwood Johnson’s poem “The Housatonic at Stockbridge”

Contented river in thy dreamy realm
The cloudy willow and the plumy elm:
Thou beautiful! from ev'ry dreamy hill
What eye but wanders with thee at thy will.

Contented river! And yet overshy
To mask thy beauty from the eager eye;
Hast thou a thought to hide from field and town?
In some deep current of the sunlit brown.

Ah! there's a restive ripple,
And the swift red leaves
September's firstlings faster drift;
Wouldst thou away, dear stream?

Come, whisper near!
I also of much resting have a fear;
Let me tomorrow thy companion be,
By fall and shallow to the adventurous sea!

Well okay, it wasn’t September, instead it was May. If I was more talented I would write the May counterpart to the poem. I would not speak of the restive ripple and the swift red leaves, instead I would wax on about how the perfectly still waters reflect bright green juvenile leaves…

…and how the fishermen cast their flies (can you see them? they are about 3 pixels wide)

…and how nature always balances a perfect palette.

I will leave that poem for someone else to write.

Everywhere, the blossoms were at their peak:

We don’t get to see enough dogwoods here in California:

The coffee shop in town has a bulletin board where townspeople can purchase coffee futures for each other:

I fell in love with a basket shop with this shelf of Nantucket baskets:

Which is your favorite? Mine was this purse (or pocketbook, as they say on the East Coast):

It turned out to be just a tad too small to house all the electronics I tote around everywhere - a blessing, given that I don't need another purse, or another hole in my head.

When I had to make a U-turn, I pulled into a random driveway and saw this flanking the left side of the driveway:

and this on the right side:

On our way to visit Bard College, my daughter and I saw this farm:

We city slickers are not accustomed to seeing this!

We both liked the cow with the white face:

We visited my sister-in-law in Westport. Her one-year-old
Weimereiner, named Daisy, loves my daughter.

When we drove off, Daisy bid us good-bye.

We’ll be back, Daisy!