marieDee muses

Illustrator: William Meade Prince

2011-12-05T20:06:00.001-06:00

Until recently, our library basement held a treasure of old books that were either duplicates of holdings or not suitable for the collection for other reasons. Some were disintegrating and therefore even more attractive to some collectors.....like me. One of the books I rescued for a small donation was the following English literature textbook from 1949.

Some of the more striking illustrations in the book are by William Meade Prince. Have you ever heard of him?

My favorite from the book: Bonny Barbara Allan

And every stroke that the dead-bell gave,
It cried, Woe to Barbara Allan!

And Gulliver.....

The horses of the army, and those of the royal stables, having been daily led before me, were no longer shy, but would come up to my very feet without starting. The riders would leap them over my hand as I held it on the ground; and one of the emperor's huntsmen, upon a large courser, took my foot, shoe and all, which was indeed a prodigious leap.
Jonathan Swift, Gulliver's Travels

To many a youth and many a maid
Dancing in the chequered shade;
And young and old come forth to play
On a sunshine holiday,
Till the livelong daylight fail

L'Allegro by John Milton

William Meade Prince was the Southern, less famous Norman Rockwell.

His way with words is almost as impressive as his way with the paintbrush. In his autobiographical love letter to his first home of Chapel Hill, North Carolina, he wrote this memory of revisiting an old house he used to frequent as a child:

When I entered that old house again after being so long away, it was pretty much as it had been, but the most familiar thing about it was the smell, the personal and particular fragrance some old houses have and never lose--of leather-bound books and linen packed away in lavender, and polished furniture and woodsmoke--and, intangibly, the presence felt of people, young and old, long gone.

William Meade Prince in The Southern Part of Heaven

Rockwell's cover illustrations for the Saturday Evening Post and Boy's Life have been admired by almost every American. Prince's covers for Country Gentleman have been overlooked (or forgotten) by almost every American. Of course, Norman Rockwell drew the everyman, the person we can still relate to today. We can often see ourselves in his illustrations.

What do you think? Was Prince every bit as good as Rockwell? Why is he not as celebrated?

Cover images from http://www.saturdayeveningpost.com/2010/11/13/art-literature/delightful-art-william-meade-prince.html

Central Park and the Plaza Hotel

2011-11-03T13:55:00.000-05:00

We arrived, a van full of international students and I, in NYC just after the big NY/DC snowstorm. We just had to visit Central Park with its blanket of snow.

We were frozen after a few hours in the park! You can't tell from the photo, but the guy from Brazil in the back didn't have a heavy coat. The rest of us did, but we were freezing anyway with the low temps and the cold wind.

So we went to the Plaza Hotel to warm up.

And visit the Eloise area.

What happy memories from our trip to NYC and DC, 2009!

Experimenting with photographs

2011-11-01T10:29:00.000-05:00

Me with International Students in NYC

One of my favorite places in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The Egyptian temple behind me was donated to the U.S. when its original location was to be flooded at the completion of the Aswan Dam.

And on a lighter note, a demonstration of the BIG

piano keyboard at the famous FAO Schwarz toy store.

Tomorrow, the Plaza Hotel!

Learning to use updated Blogger

2011-10-31T14:46:00.000-05:00

Playing with the blog....trying to design something more appealing than what I've had for so long. I want to post pics of the house, my travels, my family history and other topics. Here we go!

Vacation Memories

2011-07-12T14:51:00.000-05:00

Stay-cation, 2011

Too hot to travel, so I seem to be settling for a stay-cation during my time off work. There's still time for an impulsive change of plans, but for now I'm hanging out at home, working on a few projects, and remembering some wonderful trips from the past!

Eureka Springs, AR, May 2010

Washington, D.C., Dec. 2010

Ellis Island, December, 2010

Flowers......May, 2010 in Eureka Springs, AR

Excuse me while I fail to keep up...

2010-05-31T12:17:00.000-05:00

...with blogging. I'm ready to update but don't want to take time right now to fix the layout....just want to share a few things I've done. (PLEASE IGNORE THE DATE ON THE PHOTOS. They were taken today.)

This is Villa Dumais, where my husband and I serve the food, shelter, medical, and affection needs of many cats. Although I put my foot down (too gently it seems) that we would have no pets here, we have gone from being visited by one rough-looking tom, from time to time, to adoption by the tom's paramour (Mama Kitty, who is still with us)and her adorable kittens to a host of cats who seem to love the way my husband feeds and cares for them...enough to stay and attract others along the way.

The house was built in the late 1920's and is the rare Mediterranean-styled home in our area. We loved it from the minute we saw it and, when it went on the market, we bought in spite of our age and the threat of a money pit to jeopardize our retirement. (That seemed far in the future at the time.)

I love old homes, and I love to tinker around with things. My dreams were big, bigger than my abilities, but that's what dreams are supposed to be, arent they?

We've done things here and there, periods of frenzied activity broken up by long stretches of discouragement and lethargy. But all that is for a therapy blog, and this is my attempt to document the latest efforts in our quest!

As summer neared in mid-May, I felt the need to retreat, and I found a cute, nicely decorated place in Santa Fe via Home Away. I couldn't get away from work at that time and, as time passed, I decided to use the money I would have spent on a trip and, instead, make my own retreat in our upstairs guest room, bath, and adjoining flat roof. I enlisted help, but we still haven't finished after my week away from work.

My husband told me not to do anything to the flat roof, since he has a worker coming to redo it. I held off of everything except for sweeping it, using a large basket to cover the spot where a whirly vent used to be (had been patched with black plastic and duct tape), and adding a couple of plants. This is still in progress, by the way!

Hare a couple more photos from the unfinished bedroom.

Lamplight and scented candles.....

2009-11-15T15:21:00.000-06:00

The living room at Villa DuMais has been cluttered and downright junky for months, as I had no inspiration/motivation to clean and straighten. Yesterday, however, I was successful in removing the carved pedestal legs from the antique dining table we replaced and scooted through the French doors into the living room to make way for the replacement table. I plan to use the pedestal legs as a base for a long sofa table.

My success in detaching the legs from the table top was just what I needed to energize me to remove other junk from the room: paint cans, grout mix and tools used to grout the scored concrete front porch; bentwood dining chairs removed from the dining room months ago; a large ottoman that I intended to reupholster but have now decided to replace with a seating arrangement of two chairs with a small tea table between.

When I cleared out the excess furniture and other clutter, I had room to use the bonus piece of furniture that came with our craigslist dining set. I didn't think I needed the drop-leaf tea service table. With a little encouragement, I would have left it with the sellers. It sat in our hallway for months, serving as a kitty "apartment" right outside the master bedroom, until I brought it into the living room today. It looks great!

I'm satisfied, at least for now, with the furniture arrangement, but that's only the beginning of a long list of projects that will need to be completed before the room is properly decorated. Today, though, we have enjoyed the room "as is." I turned on all the lamps, lit candles, and settled in.

If I can keep the energy and inspiration flowing, it might be possible someday to say "ta-da! This is the vision I had when we bought this home. I love it and hope that you do, too!" For now, I continue to say "This home has so much potential ...just maybe not in our lifetime...."

Are "bleeding heart liberals" born or made?

2009-08-28T00:29:00.000-05:00

I don't know, but I think I already was one at an early age.

Is it because my mother became ill and died before I turned four, giving me the bitter taste of loneliness and abandonment, that I am sensitive to others' pain? Certainly not everyone who experiences that kind of loss responds in the same way.

I remember as a second or third grader, I think, that names were drawn in the classroom for the giving of Christmas gifts. The little boy who drew my name told me right away, and he began describing what beautiful gifts he was considering getting me. I knew that he was poor.....poorer than my family, which was probably below middle class itself, consisting of three generations of kin (eight or nine people in a three bedroom, one bath house). I knew that I would not be getting the diamond rings he hinted at, but I was not prepared for the present I unwrapped that day at school: a card of "bobby pins", just plain brown hair pins from the five and dime store! I remember feeling so sorry for him; empathy for his disappointment overshadowed my own.

Sometime during those elementary school years I received a similar gift from my alcoholic father living a state away, who sent a box of cosmetics to me....the only gift I ever remember getting from him. There were powder puffs and face powder in faded boxes, rouges and lipsticks and, yes, hair pins. The items didn't look used at all, just looked as if they had been sitting on a drug store shelf or storage room for a long time and were discarded or sold for almost nothing, just to be gotten rid of. But I felt sorry for him and not myself, because his sending it told me that he wanted to please his little girl but just didn't know how.

The only time I remember seeing my dad was sometime before the receipt of that gift; he died when I was in ninth grade, a virtual stranger to me, the short visit and the gift the only contact after the age of three when my mother returned to her family to escape his violence when he was drinking.

My sister once said, as she observed my concern over a bag lady we passed by on our way to church one rainy Sunday morning, that I was like my father, that he would have wanted to help her right then also. Perhaps that empathetic nature contributed to his alcoholism; the drug reduced the pain he felt for himself and others. I don't know...but I've heard from several others who knew him that he was the nicest, kindest man when sober...but a mean drunk!

So, who knows? Are sensitive, bleeding hearts born or made? Perhaps I'm one because of my genes or prenatal environment, when my mother might have been suffering verbal and physical abuse, or because of losses and other experiences of childhood. Since I took my religious instruction and experiences seriously, I might need to attribute my liberal bent at least partially to those influences.

Reflections on the contribution of religion to my world view will follow in a later post. UPDATE: I will not continue this thread for the time being.

I don't post much, I know.....

2009-08-17T00:02:00.000-05:00

but I find so many fascinating places and things to read in the "net-iverse" that I have little time left to indulge my own desire for expression here.

I'm also thinking that one's blog should have a theme. Look at my few posts here: they run the gamut from deep theological thoughts to hair color frivolity! Maybe I should do as others I've seen....have more than one blog! One for decorating, crafts, design...another for political and social rantings...another for family and personal themes....and let facebook serve for my more frivolous day-to-day musings.

As I've begun to leave comments on some of the (mostly) decorating blogs that I follow, I feel a need and desire to post on the topics I enjoy in them. What will I decide? I don't know. For now, off "to sleep, perchance to dream." Goodnight!

My Hair....what will I do?

2009-07-17T18:29:00.000-05:00

After a few times of catching my reflection from a little distance and having a beauty "advisor" suggest I try a shampoo to accentuate grey, I decided on a whim to color and highlight my own hair!

A good friend tried to help me, but I was stubborn and didn't follow all her directions; I ended up with.....not-so-flattering hair. Tomorrow I go to a professional for remediation, so I have been looking for hair color and styles I like. It's difficult to separate the beauty (and youth) of the women whose photos I have found from the style they're wearing. I haven't found many examples of older women who are ordinary looking, but I will post a few that I like and might look good on me. My hair is already quite short, so my options are limited even more.

Here is a beautiful example of how an updated style can improve a woman's look:

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Vacation Memories

2008-07-02T15:28:00.000-05:00

Last June, I had a real vacation....one that involves going away from home, staying in a condo, relaxing, and seeing the sights! This is the view from our condo one morning when a hot-air balloon came by. Wyndham Resort, Pagosa Springs, Colorado - 2007.

2008-04-14T12:40:00.000-05:00

Illuminated from Within

Backlit yellow bloom

the awakening garden cheers.

Her glory not achieved

from her own need to please

but by the One who created her

to turn invisible rays

into stunning beauty.

Like her, I effortlessly reflect

the glory of my Creator

when the Spirit is invited

to illuminate from within.

********************************************************

(Photo from http://abbeyofthearts.com/blog/, where you, too, can

enjoy and/or participate in a weekly Invitation to Poetry.)

Ghosts of Christmas past....

2007-12-21T10:23:00.000-06:00

Sometimes when I'm a little too harsh with myself, or feel unloveable, I remind myself of this sweet little girl, and my "scrooge-iness" is transformed into visions of God's grace and unfathomable generosity.

When I began to blog, I wondered if perhaps this writing about oneself so much is unhealthy, if it reflects too much self-focus? These thoughts, from Phillip Yancey's Soul Survivor, address that concern:

"Why do we do it, we writers? 'Of making of many [blogs] there is no end,'...........Yet we keep at it, cranking out more and more words, with the potential to bring harm as well as comfort. I think we do it because each of us has nothing else to offer than a living point of view that differentiates us from every other person on this planet."

*******

"Every writer must overcome a kind of shyness, putting out of mind the fear that we are being arrogant by thrusting ourselves upon you the reader, and egotistical by assuming our words are worth your time. .....In another context, Simone Weil presents a kind of answer: 'I cannot conceive the necessity for God to love me, when I feel so clearly that even with human beings affection for me can only be a mistake. But I can easily imagine that he loves that perspective of creation which can only be seen from the point where I am.' That is all any writer can offer, especially a writer of faith: a unique perspective of creation, a point of view visible only from the point where I am."

Well, this is where I am, for better or worse. Have a merry and blessed Christmas.

John Killinger's Book.....

2007-07-31T11:30:00.000-05:00

The God Named Hallowed: The Lord's Prayer for Today, impressed and humbled me when I discovered it almost twenty years ago in a friend's personal library. The book has since become mine, and I have used quotes from it over the years in several different contexts. One passage that was especially well received when I shared it in a presentation on worship is the following, concerning the first two words in the model prayer:

For Jesus to call God our heavenly Father was to make the most audacious theological statement that could ever be made. Think about it---the God who created the world and cast the nebulae in space; the God who heard the prayers of the first man and woman on earth and who sees the intricacies of the future; the God whose majesty is seen from the highest mountain and who inhabits the jeweled depths of the darkest ocean........ our Father. (emphasis mine)

The God who fashioned the giant sequoia tree and plants the tiny seed of pearls in all the oysters;....the God who imprisoned energy in coal and whispered the secret of relativity into the ear of Einstein ---our Father.

The God who set the oceans rocking and shaped the crescent beaches of distant islands; the God who blessed the world with language and then confounded it with many tongues; the God who ordained the very existence of mortality and then raised up Christ from the coldness of death---our Father.

If it doesn't make shivers run up and down your spine, then you have not properly understood. To think that the God of all this depth and power and resourcefulness should be our Father, the one with whom we are privileged to live in an attitude of intimacy and relationship, is enough to stagger the mind, to make it recoil though sheer insufficiency. "Our Father." It is confession, praise, triumph, unbelievable fortune, overwhelming good news! Who could ever have hoped or dreamed that the God of the universe, the God of ALL universes, should be our Father?

To worship in that spirit of awe and gratitude is a worthy goal, in my opinion. What do you think?