hither by thy help i come.

"Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

"Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him."

--- Colossians 3:12-17

+++

O, to grace how great a debtor
Daily I'm constrained to be!
Let that grace now like a fetter
Bind my wandering heart to Thee.

the resurgence of the gentleman.

Oh, Mad Men, you are truly the gift that keeps on giving. As if your booze-fueled, interoffice romps weren't enough, you are changing the landscape of America's previously barren wardrobe. Thank you for nudging 20-somethings firmly in the direction of all things dapper, sartorial, and well-groomed. I am so terribly grateful.

The latest illustration of Don Draper's far-reaching, womanizing arm can be found in the New York Times. The Fashion section has a piece this week on the generational gap between tie-shirking baby boomers and today's tailored youth. I'm smitten with the slide show accompanying the article. No ugly sweater parties here!




“There’s a sense that this return to style, or to a consciousness of how you look, is an attempt by young men to recover a set of values that were at one point very much present in American society and then lost."

By all means, gentlemen. Find them again!

the washington ballet.

The Washington Ballet has published a beautiful new book, Wonderland, to commemorate 10 years with Artistic Direct Septime Webre and to raise funds after recent budget cuts from the city.

I've been itching to see Webre's Washington-specific re-envisioning of the Nutcracker, which will return to The Warner Theater this year, but these images make me want to rush out for season tickets. They're absolutely charming.

pop art is for everybody.

"What’s great about this country is that America started the tradition where the richest consumers buy essentially the same things as the poorest. You can be watching TV and see Coca-Cola, and you know that the President drinks Coke, Liz Taylor drinks Coke, and just think, you can drink Coke, too. A Coke is a Coke and no amount of money can get you a better Coke than the one the bum on the corner is drinking. All the Cokes are the same and all the Cokes are good. Liz Taylor knows it, the President knows it, the bum knows it, and you know it."

--- Andy Warhol.

let the wild rumpus start.

But the wild things cried,
"Oh, please don't go -
We'll eat you up, we love you so!"

And Max said, "No!"

shindig!

Let's form a band called The Mod Squad. It'll sound like this:



. . . & this:



And our one hit wonder will be called "My Dress Is Micro-Mini (Your Tie is Oh-So-Skinny)."

I honestly believe we can reach at least the Top 10 in the UK.

i wrap myself in the robes of your whiteness which is like midnight in dostoevsky.

Am I to become profligate as if I were a blonde? Or religious as if I were French?

Each time my heart is broken it makes me feel more adventurous (and how the same names keep recurring on that interminable list!), but one of these days there’ll be nothing left with which to venture forth.

Why should I share you? Why don’t you get rid of someone else for a change?

I am the least difficult of men. All I want is boundless love.

Even trees understand me! Good heavens, I lie under them, too, don’t I? I’m just like a pile of leaves.

However, I have never clogged myself with the praises of pastoral life, nor with nostalgia for an innocent past of perverted acts in pastures. No. One need never leave the confines of New York to get all the greenery one wishes—I can’t even enjoy a blade of grass unless I know there’s a subway handy, or a record store or some other sign that people do not totally regret life. It is more important to affirm the least sincere; the clouds get enough attention as it is and even they continue to pass. Do they know what they’re missing? Uh huh.

--- from Meditations in an Emergency, Frank O'Hara.

the girl in the grey flannel suit.

Oh, J.Crew. You are an endless source of inspiration. All hail the soft, warm charm of cashmere in the fall.


More at J.Crew.com.

et j'ai le mal d'amour, et j'ai le mal de toi.

Dis, quand reviendras-tu,

Dis, au moins le sais-tu,
Que tout le temps qui passe,
Ne se rattrape guère,
Que tout le temps perdu,
Ne se rattrape plus.

kodachrome. they give us those nice bright colors.

Today, I spent my lunch break with some coworkers at the National Geographic Museum for their exhibit "Kodachrome Culture: The American Tourist in Europe." I am in love with the 1950s at the moment, and this did not help. Ice cream colored cars on German highways. Cheerful old gossips in Belgian shops. French beaches, Italian cafes, & Spanish bullfighting. Irish farms, English pubs, & Dutch florists. And all of it is red & yellow & green & the brightest of blues. Oh, Kodachrome, you magic, by-gone thing!

Let's move. Let's just move to this place - Etretat, France, 1959 - and spend the rest of our lives in tan skin & butter-yellow swimsuits. It'll be perfect.

stationery.

I already have excessive amounts of stationery that I rarely get to use, but that isn't stopping me from coveting George Washington's Mount Vernon collection from Crane & Co. I wish I had a place for it in my life!


Why can't we combine the convenience of modern communication with the beauty of sending real notes? Wouldn't it be so much nicer if every email you sent out had a cover of Royal George Peaches, May Duke Cherries, or Sugar Loaf Pineapples?


Or maybe was prefaced by Martha Washington's attractive script and words of wisdom? "Steady as a clock, busy as a bee, and as cheerful as a cricket."


Sheer loveliness.

throw your dreams into space like a kite.

"I will not be just a tourist in the world of images, just watching images passing by which I cannot live in, make love to, possess as permanent sources of joy and ecstasy."

--- Anais Nin

clothed from head to foot in song.

The Truly Great

I think continually of those who were truly great.

Who, from the womb, remembered the soul's history

Through corridors of light where the hours are suns,

Endless and singing. Whose lovely ambition

Was that their lips, still untouched with fire,

Should tell of the Spirit, clothed from the head to foot in song.

And who hoarded from the Spring branches

The desires falling across their bodies like blossoms.

What is precious, is never to forget

The essential delight of the blood drawn from ageless springs

Breaking through rocks in worlds before our earth.

Never to deny its pleasure in the morning simple light

Nor its grave evening demand for love.

Never to allow gradually the traffic to smother

With noise and fog, the flowering of the Spirit.

Near the snow, near the sun, in the highest fields,

See how these names are fêted by the waving grass

And by the streamers of white cloud

And whispers of wind in the listening sky.

The names of those who in their lives fought for life,

Who wore at their hearts the fire's centre.

Born of the sun, they travelled a short while toward the sun

And left the vivid air signed with their honour.

--- Stephen Spender

we listened to it twice, 'cause the dj was alseep.

No, this is how it works:
you peer inside yourself,
you take the things you like
& try to love the things you took.

And then you take that love you made
& stick it into some- someone else's heart,
pumping someone else's blood.



And walking arm in arm,
you hope it don't get harmed.
But even if it does
you'll just do it all again.

ciao, bella. salute, mon cher.

Let's all dress like Europeans tomorrow. Tousle your hair, iron your clothes, wear sunglasses no matter the weather and shoes that make strangers stare.

[More at Sartorialist, whose book you should already have on pre-order.]

happy birthday to a country once called a "magnificent spectacle of human happiness."

There is no better place in the world than Washington, D.C. on the 4th of July. Crowds push toward the metro stations, families pour into parks armed with lawn chairs and waterbottles, yuppies head to their office buildings to see the view from the rooftop, and when dusk begins to fall, the air is think with anticipation and humidity.

And then pop BOOM fizzle! Fireworks shoot up, spread their lightening arms out wide, and dive back down to rain over the monuments. This year I watched the display from the Iwo Jima Memorial in Rosslyn, and even though the fireworks always feels too short, it was beautiful while it lasted.

"The second day of July, 1776, will be the most memorable epocha in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward for evermore."

--- John Adams to Abigail Adams, July 3, 1776.

[He was off on the date, but right where it counted.]

Hope your holiday was wonderful.

to catch a thief.

Tomorrow I am leaving to spend Easter weekend in the French Riviera. I am expecting picnics, sunny beaches, and even a little jewelry stealing, just to complete the Hitchcockian experience. Bon voyage!

blue skies & mimosa blossoms.

Spring is coming. This week it feels right around the corner, & the promise of a world in bloom has me craving color.


My spring wishlist:
+ a green watch
+ a yellow trench
+ navy skinny trousers
+ a turquoise necklace
+ pink tennis shoes
+ a white bag
+ light blue sunglasses

the speckled sky is dim with snow.

Back in Georgia, March roared in like a lion in winter. My mother took these pictures so I could share the rare sight of snow in our yard, despite being a hemisphere away. To you, it's just a generic suburbia, barely dusted in white. But to me, this is home & that thought fills my heart.

be my rock of refuge.

Praise be to the LORD,
for he showed his wonderful love to me
when I was in a besieged city.

In my alarm I said,
"I am cut off from your sight!"
Yet you heard my cry for mercy
when I called to you for help.

Love the LORD, all his saints!
The LORD preserves the faithful,
but the proud he pays back in full.

Be strong and take heart,
all you who hope in the LORD.

Psalm 31:21-24