for these wounds

agitated by salt

with your verbal assault

but you’ll never yell louder

than the screaming in my head

honey, now you’ve made your bed

and you’ve got me seein’ red

you aren’t as big 

as you think you are

you were nothing more

than my bell jar

My lovely mother in law hung my bridal bouquet up to dry out whilst me and my new husb went on a lovely 3 week honeymoon in Bali. Mmmmm Bali.

Anyway, my bouquet is now sitting pretty in a lovely ivory jug**.

After reading The Art of Handmade Living by Willow Crossley (review here) I fell in love with bell jars and all the lovely things you can display in them. Then I saw the bottom left pic below and it got me thinking about other ways to show off your beautiful bouquet.

If it were my time again I’d definitely research the options before the big day (don’t worry, I’m not pining for wedding number two!). If you are yet to say ‘I do’, bear in mind that there are different drying techniques which all give different effects.

*It might be. Just saying. The vodka luge may have helped.
**My jug was a bargain from The Range. If you’ve never been there you’ll love this amazing homeware and craft centre!

I was determined, I really was. I did my research, tested as much as I could and decided to limit myself to only one fragrance when I visited Les Salons du Palais Royale in Paris. Unfortunately, the lure of Serge Lutens was more than I could bear and Fourreau Noir was amongst the damage. At least I didn’t inexplicably find myself leaving that store with one of their limited editions bell jars.

On first application, Fourreau Noir immediately brought about a wave of nostalgia. Wafts of sweet tobacco swirl and swirl around lavender and incense.  Months later, it finally dawned on me that this actually smells of my dad. Dad was a lover of fougère colognes. In fact, he would douse himself with so much cologne that his clothes would still smell of whichever scent he wore after it was laundered. He also smoked. Fourreau Noir reminds me of how he would sometimes smell, a kind of lavender scent weaved into smoke. I usually dislike (to put it mildly) the smell of secondhand cigarette smoke and don’t even get me started on cigar smoke. But, I am strangely compelled to fresh tobacco and sometimes the lingering scent of cigarette smoke on clothes.

Post-purchase, I’ve come to learn that Fourreau Noir means “black sheath”. Now I’m pretty sure that references a black dress or clothing material, but the first thing that came into my mind was a black leather sword sheath. Although I think the latter would be more appropriate, I can definitely see the allusion to a black dress. Fourreau Noir after all calls out for a more dressy occasion. Its melancholic character almost deems it impossible for it to be worn on a bright sunny day. Although that said, I’d happily wear it just pottering around the house. There’s also a sweetness to Fourreau Noir that makes the dress allusion appropriate, though the “candied fruit” aspect common in many of Serge Lutens fragrances is played down here. Instead, sweetness comes from myrrh and tonka beans, that becomes more prominent after the initial smoky phase. Almond is also listed as a fragrance note but that has always been a note that eludes me.

I cannot of course speak about the Serge Lutens exclusive line without any mention of the bell jar glass falcon. I simply adore it, the look of it, the act of dabbing on scent from the stopper, the substantial weight of the glass bottle… I could go on for quite a while. But of course, on the flipside, it definitely makes it a stay-at-home scent since travelling with it is virtually impossible. Being a worrywart, I’m also alarmed how I can still smell the scent up close even when the stopper is completely jammed into the opening. In fact, there’s enough of the scent to fill up any small enclosed space where I store the bottle. Is the precious juice actually slowly evaporating away? Also, has anyone noticed sediments settling at the bottom of the jar?

Speaking of juice, I find the actual colour to be quite fascinating. It mostly appears a warm amber but in dim lighting, it takes on an autumnal-leaves olive brown. Quite appropriate really, as I find myself often reaching out to it in cooler months or nights. Despite its dark nature, Fourreau Noir to me is a pretty straightforward scent that only brings out blissful memories. And on that note, cue in Swing Out Sister, a band I absolutely love but has sadly and quite unjustly in my opinion faded into music limbo. There is often a longing in their music that reminds me very much of Fourreau Noir.

And you…
You are so complexly wound up,
so tightly packaged and sealed.
You are a clam, and I am so god damn tired of trying to shuck you.
No amount of prying could ever open you up.

I refuse to lie here, bare, tangled with you
when you aren’t wrapped up in me.

http://s91.photobucket.com

My latest obsession is the cloche, or bell jar.  How is it that I’ve overlooked these simple and charming accessories before now?

The French developed the glass cloche (or bell jar) to serve as individual green houses for tender seedlings and young plants in the garden.  Their purpose was to protect an early garden plant from harsh weather elements.  They come in various shapes and sizes, but the most popular is probably the bell shaped cloche.

http://nordingarden.blogspot.com/

Not only functional, cloches make wonderful accents for your home and garden.  Use them as a food cover for your next gathering, highlight beautiful flowers and fruits indoors, showcase your favorite collectibles, or use during the holidays with your favorite keepsakes.  They are almost magical, and so much fun to arrange and rearrange.  Why not have several?

http://romantichome.blogspot.com/p/cindys-home.html

I acquired my first cloche this week from one of my favorite garden shops, Annie’s Garden Shed in Lutz, Florida.  They’re selling like hotcakes at Annie’s and now you know why.  Haven’t decided what to fill mine with yet . . . oh the endless possibilities.  But, you can be sure this won’t be my last one.

“I have never had so many good ideas day after day as when I worked in the
garden.”  ~John Erskine

The Whimsical Gatherings team was so excited to finally design a wedding at The Reserve at Bluebird Hill this past July!  This property has gorgeous landscaping and amazing places to add decor; an outdoor ceremony pergola, an outdoor seating area with a fireplace, and a super cute dressing area for the bride.  We can’t wait to return to this venue next year for one of our 2013 brides and get the chance to work with Jan & Lauren again!  We hope you enjoy the photos captured by Jennie Andrews Photography.  This couple was a ton of fun and not the first time we’ve worked with this family as the bride’s sister was a 2011 Whimsical Gatherings client!  To see more from this special day, check out Jennie’s full blog post or click on a photo below to be taken to our Facebook album.

If you are planning a corporate event, soiree, vow renewal, wedding, or holiday party, email carrie@whimsicalgatherings.com to discuss details!

“Like” Whimsical Gatherings’ Facebook fan page & subscribe to our blog.

If you tweet, follow us @WGatherings

All of the photos above were captured by Jennie Andrews Photography.

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The mystery over a massive eyeball discovered on the Florida coast continues.

Scientists now seem to disagree over whether the mysterious eyeball belongs to a massive swordfish or a giant squid.

The eyeball, discovered by a Florida beachcomber, has left scientists around the region stunned and puzzled over its origins. The plate-size eyeball is in near pristine condition and remains under study by the state’s agency tasked with studying such specimen.

While the story seemed ripe for conspiracy theories, in a statement released through the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s Facebook page, the commission confirmed the story, saying the eyeball is currently under study.

via Swordfish or giant squid? Mysterious eyeball continues to puzzle scientists | The Bell Jar.

Related articles

• Giant eyeball found on beach, posing mystery for marine biologists (cosmiclog.nbcnews.com)
• Giant Eyeball Mystery Almost Solved: It’s Not a Squid’s (news.softpedia.com)
• Florida eyeball: Washed up eye belonged to a swordfish or giant squid, experts … – Daily Mail (dailymail.co.uk)

The bell jar has chosen me
my youth lies drenched in formalin
Though buds, my wings
it’s time to flee.

©Reena Prasad 5th october 2012

Here are my two favourite banned books by women, published a century apart, and equally controversial for their honest exploration of women’s roles as wives and mothers, sexuality and suicide:

1) Kate Chopin: The Awakening (1899)

Quotes:

“Even as a child she had lived her own small life all within herself. At a very early period she had apprehended instinctively the dual life—that outward existence which conforms, the inner life which questions.”

“She was fond of her children in an uneven, impulsive way. She would sometimes gather them passionately to her heart; she would sometimes forget them…”

“…she had resolved never again to belong to another than herself.”

“Her arms and legs were growing tired. She thought of Leonce and the children. They were part of her life. But they need not have thought that they could possess her, body and soul.”

“He did not know; he did not understand. He would never understand.”

~Kate Chopin, The Awakening

Kate Chopin’s The Awakening tells the story of Edna Pontellier’s spiritual and sexual awakening–and her tragic decision to take her own life. When it was published, the book was considered scandalous for its honest portrayal of a woman whose desires and actions conflicted with social norms expected of middle/upper women in the 1890s (source 1, source 2). The novel was allegedly removed from library shelves in Chopin’s home town of St. Louis. It remained out-of-favour and out-of-print for more than a century in the U.S. Sadly, Chopin never wrote another book.

It has also been challenged in more recent years. According to the American Library Association, The Awakening was challenged for not portraying “christian values” by a parent at a US school in 2006.

Despite the furor around the book, Kate Chopin was not considered a social reformer in the traditional sense–but her words, her story, were revolutionary for the time:

“Her goal was not to change the world but to describe it accurately, to show people the truth about the lives of women and men in the nineteenth-century America she knew…She was among the first American authors to write truthfully about women’s hidden lives, about women’s sexuality, and about some of the complexities and contradictions in women’s relationships with their husbands.” ~Bernard Koloski, editor, katechopin.org

2) Margaret Atwood: The Handmaid’s Tale (1985)

Quotes:

“The moment of betrayal is the worst, the moment when you know beyond any doubt that you’ve been betrayed: that some other human being has wished you that much evil.”

“A rat in a maze is free to go anywhere, as long as it stays inside the maze.” 

“I believe in the resistance as I believe there can be no light without shadow; or rather, no shadow unless there is also light.” 

~The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood

In The Handmaid’s Tale, Atwood creates a dystopian fictional world where women’s only function is to breed.

Need I say more?

For its allegedly offensive language, anti-Christian overtones, violence and explicit sexuality, The Handmaid’s Tale has earned the mantle of being one of the most-challenged books of our time. “It was listed on the American Library Association’s 100 most frequently challenged books from 1990-2000 and 2000-2009, challenged because it was claimed to be anti-Christian and pornographic” (Source). It has been challenged by Canadian parents and banned (temporarily) in several US schools.

How does Atwood respond to this continuing controversy? She says the details of the story are not figments of her imagination, they are actually based in reality. In The Guardian, Atwood writes:

“I made a rule for myself: I would not include anything that human beings had not already done in some other place or time, or for which the technology did not already exist. I did not wish to be accused of dark, twisted inventions, or of misrepresenting the human potential for deplorable behaviour. The group-activated hangings, the tearing apart of human beings, the clothing specific to castes and classes, the forced childbearing and the appropriation of the results, the children stolen by regimes and placed for upbringing with high-ranking officials, the forbidding of literacy, the denial of property rights: all had precedents, and many were to be found not in other cultures and religions, but within western society, and within the “Christian” tradition, itself.”

Sometimes, truth really is stranger than fiction…

Related articles

• 11 Books You Should Read If You’re A Woman In Your 20s (thoughtcatalog.com)

“I felt very still and very empty, the way the eye of a tornado must feel[.]” – Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar

I’ve reached the crest* of my depression once again. My recovery happens in the snap of a moment or gradually but when it does, I feel relief as when waking from a bad dream. If only I could just remember that one important truth of everything passes, every slump and rut I find myself falling into could, at the very least, be more bearable.

Then again, sometimes I embrace that kiss of hopelessness, returning to it over and over despite being always left for dead in the wilderness of my insecurity**. Like a destructive love affair, I am misery and loneliness through it all but when I am set free, I feel not a glad independence but a slow and subtle panic — now that the fog has lifted, what next?

The question can be as paralyzing as I allow it to be — so I suppose it is godsent that I have a cup of coffee beside me and a mountain of assignments due tomorrow. Lethargy, be gone.

*Crest….trough….wave….geddit?
**Stemming, of course, from an undeveloped/underdeveloped sense of self — does this explain most insecurities? I don’t know.

P.S. A sort-of downside to living in Vancouver/unpolluted country is taking for granted how beautiful the sky is here after you get used to it. (Commence re-appreciation of the sunset.)

and static electricity

someone found in the pocket of their jeans.

I am a feather boa

wrapped around an oval mirror

that has more fingerprints than reflections.

I am dirty sneakers

with rips around they eyelets

from pulling the laces too tightly.

I am a Mason jar full of marbles

that sound just like my laugh.

I don’t know.

I am. I am. I am.

This home is a mix of industrial, playful, and robust elements. But there are also ethnic influences in the Latin inspired room with an old hacienda door, cacti, parrots, and bright floor tiles. A decorating trend, that pops up in each inspirational home, is the collections of keepsakes on display under a bell jar, in a shadow box or in a glass box.

The kitchen is robust, and I love the leather grips and wooden details. The wall with a collection of plates is a picture in itself. I’ve got one of those plates with a hummingbird from Loveramics myself, but they keep intriguing me. You can get the “flutter” collection at Kleuroptafel.nl

Walking through the 101 woonideeën house was a true colour parade. You really need to have guts to combine these colors, but naturally 101woonideeen pulled it of. Another inspiring idea is the ombre fuchsia walls in one of the rooms. The yellow couch in the living room is on trend, as are the green walls and wire lamps.

Trends to watch: 1. colours yellow, green and pink, 2 insects and butterflies, 3 glass display boxes and bell jars for collections, 4. leather grips, 5. wire lamps

Related articles

• Home impressions: Glamourous pastels (30smagazine.wordpress.com)
• Home impressions: Coastal living, red and white (30smagazine.wordpress.com)
• 10 Hot Interior Home Trends spotted at Maison et Objet (30smagazine.wordpress.com)
• Woonbeurs 2012 scoop: Wrap spaces kitchen (30smagazine.wordpress.com)

Flipping through the October issue of Country Living we spotted these cloches. They labeled them bell jars, but technically they aren’t. Cloches have a smooth, round top and bell jars tend to have a small knob or handle like feature at the top of the jar so you can lift it up. For decor purposes though, they offer the same look and will look great in your home. You can fill them with coastal accessories like we did or just cover food with them. Either way a cloche with bring a new, fun decor twist to your home. Come on down to the shop and pick one up and take advantage of our sale that’s going on right now too! Can’t make it down to the store? That’s fine! Call us at (949) 497 – 3202 or email us at service@tuvaluhome.com, we’d love to talk to you and figure out a way to get you what you want. Happy Friday!

don’t fiddle with what’s true

the little that has reached you

has better things to do

than talk through a haze

that extinguishes praise

by the hour.

~

You’re like the Venetian

who slowly went blind

pursuing masked women

in search of sublime;

we’re all wearing charms

to cover the scars

of betrayal.

~

Extend your reach.

You’ve nothing to teach.

~

I’m not here to rattle

the bars of your cage

that turtleneck you wear

will not cover signs of age

you’re reaching the end

of the lie that we tend

that we’re dying.

~

On your murals of pity

the paint never dries

while the studio grows smaller

kills the light in your eyes

I’ve broken my jar

I’ve taken my pay

I am going.

~

The lamenting of boredom

it may see you through

I think you’ll be chasing

a mask yet or two

I’ve a song in my heart

that sings of a spark

it is bringing.

~

Shatter the glass.

Be done with past.

~~~

© Elaine Stirling, 2012

Once again, there was a substantial piece of furniture I wanted – a chest of drawers with great carved detail, but I’m right at the end of a pay cycle so at $45, even that was too much. However, I did snag this chair. It has surprisingly modern lines but a very old-fashioned seat cover. It was only $8! I’m hitting Jo-Ann tomorrow for fabric inspiration but I’m thinking a modern floral or even geometric.

I also found this bell jar which I am waaaay too excited about! I have no idea what they retail for but I suspect more than $6! I can’t decide if I’m going to sell it, use it at home, or use it to stage the booth I hope to have soon at the antiques mall. Decisions, decisions.

In other news, here’s my latest project. It’s a small dry sink with a copper liner (is that the right term)? I’m going to do a longer post on this piece soon as it had some unique challenges.