Oooohhhh... Great Journeys

A few weeks ago I found myself with time to kill in the "city" that I grew up in. I went over to a bookstore that has long been one of my favorites, Toadstool Books, and happened upon one of the most beautiful series of books I've ever seen. Great Journeys by Penguin Classics is a collection of 20 wonderful tales of voyages and tours across the globe. The stories are from all over and span not only countries but eras. Each book is short, around 100 pages, and costs $10. What a great concept.



Now lets talk about how gorgeous these books are, because that is why they caught my eye. I love the old typeface with those fancy serifs. I love that each book has a simple color scheme. I just love the whole thing. I really would like a poster of all the covers for the studio, but perhaps I can mount my Great Journey's collection on the wall. The design is done by David Pearson Design (check out his site here - check out the beautiful Great Loves series too) and the lovely illustrations are by Victoria Sawdon.

I have this big habit of spending $$$ at the bookstore and then not reading all that I buy so I just let myself start with one. I chose "Adventures in the Rocky Mountains" by Isabella Bird and hope to follow up with "Escape from Antarctica" by Ernest Shakleton.

Check out all the great descriptions of the books here on the Australian Penguin site or here on the US site.

A Roman Wrap Up

Big news. I have finished all design matter for the stationary show. Cards, Note Pads (oh yes there are going to be very pretty note pads coming your way... I'm such a list maker), Calendars, Prints, Order Forms, Postcards, Business Cards, Line Sheets = in the bag. Now I just wait for Eric from UPS to drop it all off. Now I also need to bribe friends over here to help me stuff hundreds and hundreds of buyer kits... any takers? I'll supply Champagne I swear.
It's nice to see 5 months of Stationary Show planning come to an end... though now I need to start planning something else, a wedding. Which has been anything but fun up to this point, except the dress part. That has been fun :)
So I had bought this funny little book which is a guide to all the gelato in Italy. It was hard to get my hands on cause it was out of print, but it really does have quite a lot of info about Gelato in it and is written in a very cute way. I was going to do a whole list of the top places to get Gelato in Rome but... I'm too burnt out. I am, however, launching a new pattern and part of the new line on the website tomorrow. Loire Valley - she is very pretty. I leave you with a glimpse at my display and Mr. Man The Buyer here.
PS. How good was Gossip Girl last night? Sooooooooooo good.

Speaking of Magazines....

A few months ago I was interviewed by Blythe Copeland of Boston Magazine for the Spring Issue of Boston's New England Travel magazine, which just came out yesterday. The girl who does Places I Have Never Been needed to pick a favorite New England travel destination, (see, people don't think I actually go anywhere - but I do). I spoke to Blythe right after Sasso and I can back from a trip to the Berkshires, a favorite area of ours. It was so nice to see all the details I mentioned to her in the article, I'd forgotten most of them - like how much I liked the mushrooms at Mezze (they were very good). I talked about what we do when we travel - and that is eat great food, be it a hot dog or a 4 course meal.
The article also made me realize why people have headshots taken. Here I've got Sasso's glasses on... we are on the beach in Cabo... the sun is setting... a great memory - but not the most flattering picture. I'm just not all that photogenic - and I'm ok with that. My ladies Jsutt and Leeees take some very nice pictures, I might need to take some lessons from them. Next thing you know Sasso will come home and I will be playing ANTM in my studio.
Oh, you can read the full article online here.

Inspiration: The Last Page

Seriously, the last page is almost ALWAYS my favorite page of the entire magazine. It's so nice when a mag doesn't just fill the final page with ads, but considers it a little goodbye treat to the reader. Here are a few top favorites of my Mag Shelf:


1. Gourmet July 2007 My favorite food magazine by far. How can you beat their food photography?! Their last page is always a few simple recipes on a theme, here is one of my favorites. The Art of Reduction includes 5 different fruit syrups to slather on ice cream or mix with some soda water and vodka for the perfect summer (warm weather will eventually get to Boston this year, right?) cocktail. Here is the recipe for my favorite.


2. New York Magazine The Crossword Puzzle This is like, one of the only crossword puzzles that I can complete and I look forward to it every week. It does rival, however, their Approval Matrix which I always read first. Check out this blog which is a brilliant look at the Matrix. (As a disclaimer, NY now has a new last page, which appeared after the crossword called Artifact, but I can't quite figure out what the deal is with it, so I'm just ignoring it for now. )


3. Vogue March 2008 My favorite last page by far. Vogue's Last Look always has one amazingly designed and amazingly expensive object accompanied with just a small text blurb. These objects have influenced many a PIHNB pattern, including the upcoming Galway, Ireland pattern. Here is last month's Last Look. Mmmmmm a $7,950 Balenciaga bag.


4. Domino April 2008 I'm a big list maker, I love them. So naturally I'm a big fan of Domino's "10 Things That Make Me Happy". Since you've probably seen most of the April 2008 issue on other blogs (Drew's office was absolutely everywhere) I'll share the last page. I think Zoe Ryan and I would be great friends because I have almost everything she likes on my wish list, including the Girard dolls.

5. Sherman's Travel Fall 2007 I found this magazine at Logan Airport a few months ago and immediately loved it. It has everything that I love about the Time's travel section, but just more of it. I've totally given up on Travel + Leisure and CN Traveller, I just can't take the "Top 100 Hotels You'll Never be Able to Afford to Stay In" articles anymore. ST always ends their mag with a little blurb/photo about something fantastic. In this issue it was a balloon ride (including a light champagne breakfast) over Myanmar's Bagan Valley... imagine that!


6. Elle March 2008 I love Elle dearly. I do. I love chopping it to bits and filling my sketchbook with collages from her pages. Elle's last page always is an interview with some interesting person. This past issue talked with one of my favorite people: Rainn Wilson aka Dwight Schrute from The Office. I love Dwight Schrute and I think Rainn is hilarious. See him here at the Emmy's with Kanye West and in my favorite Office outtake here.

Inspiration: Magazine Round-Up

Last night I was laying on the couch indulging in a repeat of Gossip Girl when Sasso came home from work. He said, "Would you like to go through these magazines and throw out the ones that you don't want... there are like 2 issues of Elle right here." I became a bit irritated because:
1. I was in the middle of watching the debacle that was the debutant ball (what an evil grandmother that Serena has).
2. I have a hard time parting with magazines and it shall not be done on a whim.
3. There weren't 2 issues of Elle, it was an Elle and a Vogue - 2 very different things.

I have a magazine addiction and I am well aware of this as is the postman who crams them all into my P.O. Box. This year I let ALL my subscriptions run out cause it got out of hand and then I renewed after giving careful thought to each. (My theory is if you are going to pay $4 for one issue you may as well pay $12 for 12 issues) Subscriptions now include:
• Sherman's Travel
• Lucky + Domino
• Elle
• Vogue
• New York (a weekly)
• Gourmet
• Vanity Fair
• Wired + Rolling Stone (I get these for free for some reason and never end up reading them so I don't think that they REALLY count.)
But there are some new ones that I want... like Portfolio (Oh I love this business magazine), Departures (if only I too had a Amex Platinum card... someday), Home Companion, City, Art on Paper and the biggest guilty pleasure of all: Us Weekly (I just can't do it, I mean it is like over $100).
Much of the inspiration for the Places I Have Never been series comes from articles and fashion spreads that I read, clip + save. As you can see I don't throw away magazines lightly, what if there is an idea for a pattern nestled inside there?!
I thought that I'd do a few posts about some of my fav clippings and stories from my favorite magazines. Above you can see the stack I collected from around the house, many in their delivery bags. I think weekend might be one of reading... What are your favorite magazines? I'm always looking for a few more....

The Orchid Thief

I first heard of the book The Orchid Thief via my friend Kevin while we were hanging around MassArt's beautiful printmaking studio. For some reason I filed it in the back of my mind for later reference. Later, while perusing the book cellar at (my favorite bookstore) Brookline Booksmith, I picked up The Orchid Thief and recalled Kev and my conversation about the book and decided to give it a go.
Susan Orlean writes of "Orchidelirium" otherwise known as the craziness that orchids cause, or "orchard fever" if you will. The story circles around the orchard community in southern Florida and John Laroche, a sly guy who tried to steal protected orchids out of a the Fakahatchee swamp, state park. It is definitely a great read, I never knew there was so much scandal and intrigue going on in the Everglades area. Orlean tells a great story and filled my mind with inspiration for the Fakahatchee print.
I kind of wish I was in the Everglades now, mosquitoes and all. March is the time of year when I'm ready to throw the towel in on the "cold weather". Yesterday I laid in bed, fully awake and just dreading getting out from under the warm covers and being exposed to the cold air (our house is a sieve when it comes to heat). I just laid there and thought... why do I actively choose to live somewhere where I am cold at least 5 months out of the year. I have no answer, perhaps laziness at not wanting to pack up and move. But at least we don't have big snow banks like our families in VT and NH do. Well not yet, just when you think it is over there is always one freak mid-April snowstorm lurking.... yes the mosquitoes and alligators of Fakahatchee don't sound half bad right about now...

Gaugin's Tahiti

I may have been an art history major for 3 years... but I think everyone has heard Paul Gauguin, though I could be wrong. Just in case I am, Gauguin was a leading post-impressionistic painter. His work lead to the progression of Modern Art as well as Primitivism. He was good friends with Van Gough (the guy that cut off his ear) and lived in France until he moved to... Tahiti.
Gauguin left France in 1891 for the simplicity of Tahiti where he planned to live out his final days. He soon became disenchanted with Papette claiming that it was too "European" and later moved further out of the city to a more remote location. His Tahitian pieces are exotic (imagine seeing these in the early 1900's) and use wonderful color combinations.
"Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going?" is said to be the cumulation of his entire career. At the paintings completion Gauguin planned to kill himself, having finished his masterpiece, but he survived for a few more years. I've had the pleasure of viewing the piece in person quite a few times (we had many a class dedicated to just this piece, and lucky for us it was on view a block away at the MFA Boston) and it is quite extraordinary. The 12 ft long piece is meant to be read left to right, showing the circle of life from the beginning to the hereafter.
You can really get a sense of what it was like for Gauguin living in Tahiti by reading his journal "Noa Noa". The book is illustrated with beautiful woodcut illustrations showing the flora, fauna and people that surrounded Gauguin. You can read how Gauguin wanted to live like a local, the process of his work and more. Check out a few pages online from google books here.

And I'm Off!!

Oh man, am I looking forward to this little vacation. Lovely news, tonight I got to attend the PINE banquet and our 2008 Wall Calendar won a Pinnacle Award. She was very excited and loves to be entered into these design/printing beauty pageants, well actually it was our lovely printers that entered her into this one. None the less, holding that crystal award is as close as I'm ever going to get to getting an Oscar so I'll take it.
For some viewing pleasure - while away I'm winning millions at the slot machines - I thought I'd wrap up the book inspiration posts with some more mentions.
• Textile Designs by Susan Meller and Joost Elffers : When I was designing patterns for Fresh I always turned to this book to spark my imagination. It's really well organized and has some surprising finds.
• Earth from Above 365 Days by Yann Arthurs Bertrand : I saw this outdoor exposition of large scale photographs of abstract overviews of the earth in Paris in 2000. They are really extraordinary. See more of Yann's work here.
• You Are Here by Katherine Harmon : This book of unique maps is really interesting. It will have you thinking of maps in a totally different way. Again, very concept driven which I love. It has me thinking of doing a patterned map of the US...
• A Year in Japan by Kate T. Williamson : This is a great sketchbook of Williamson's year in Japan (duh). I love her graphic drawings, especially of her lunches. I love when people draw what they eat.
• Sabra Field: The Art of Place by Tom Slayton : Sabra is one of my absolute favorite artists. Her graphic depiction of the world around her is so vibrant. When you see her prints in person not only the colors, but the way that she uses gradients will amaze you. A dream of mine is to go work with her on her Tuscany trip. I just need to sell a few calendars...
Speaking of calendars, thanks to Holly at Decor8 for including our Places I Have Never Been calendar in her beautiful calendar round up. Pass on that kitten calendar from Borders and pick up one of the beauties she lists here.
I'll be back on Wednesday, rich with all my Vegas winnings, (more likely achy with a sunburn from the supposed hiking we are going to do). Keep your fingers crossed for me.

Currently Imagining: Eldon's Africa

I remember finding "The Journey is the Destination" in the summer of 1997 in my local bookstore. I had just graduated from high school and was waiting out the months until I left for art school in Boston. I picked up the book and still haven't put it down.
The Journey is the published journals of photojournalist Dan Eldon who was stoned to death at age 22 by an angry mob in 1993 while working for Reuters in Somalia. Dan left behind 17 black journals full of collages, text and photography which his mother, Kathy Eldon, posthumously published.
I had never seen anything like this book before. The story was unbelievably sad, but the journals were bursting with life. I couldn't believe all this man had done in such a short life and how well he had documented it. I then started keeping my own black canson collage journal which continued on for a few years. Something I always think I'll return to but sadly never do.
I think everyone should own this book, so order one here. But you can also see many, many, many pages of Dan's journals at www.creativevisions.org. I'd never seen many of these pages, and one great thing is to look at the progression of his work from the time he was in 6th grade until the end. There is another book about Dan called the Art of Life which I haven't checked out yet, but am interested in seeing what it holds. Learn more about Dan at daneldon.org (above images from the creative visions website).
Below are a few pics from the Red Sox parade yesterday. It was "wicked" awesome. And I can say this... from 10 ft away David Ortiz is even hotter than he is on my high-def tv. Seriously, I think we had a moment and I got lightheaded.

Currently Imagining: The South of France

Turns out this week I'm going to post a lot of the little art driven travel books that inspire me. Things are a little too busy, plus we have the Red Sox parade today, for me to get my act together to do otherwise. But this will be fun nonetheless.
Sarah Midda's South of France... I believe I got this in college and it was instantly a favorite. Midda is a British illustrator who's work has all the things that I love: style, detail, facts, color and concept. I love concept (in case you couldn't tell from the whole "Places I Have Never Been" thing).
Other things I love about this sketchbook:
• It has lists – tons of them actually (I’m a big big list maker).
• Midda draws unconventional maps of gardens with color-blocked keys
• She includes some amazing collages, one in particular is just about eggs (see above)
• One whole page (73) is a charatcer's gesture drawings
• Interesting factual monthly pages, such as the one above. They include such things as: “dragged to beach for last swimming days of the year” as well as "14th of September 1927: Isadore Duncan dies in nice – strangled when her scarf becomes caught in the wheel of car in which she is passenger."
• She draws an entire chart of olives on pg 94. Brilliant
Midda also has a book about gardens and abc's for adults. You can pick it up here from Amazon and see a few more scans of the book here.
Every time I pick up this little sketchbook I'm inspired more, I'd love to talk to Midda about it. I think we could have a nice chat over a "spot of tea". 'Til then I will be devouring her pages, well - after I go cheer on the Sox with thousands of other people.

Currently Imagining: Jaipur

Well, well, well. What a morning. I was quite tired after staying up to watch the Red Sox sweep the World Series (and drinking a bit too much champagne) last night. We also watched a few idiots down near Fenway topple a car and antagonize the horseback police. And then to hear discussion about "Would they really give up Mr Mike Lowell for, of all people, A-Rod?" (please, no).
I pressed "snooze" seeing that my Palm (also my alarm clock) had posted a little note that it had updated its self for daylight savings time. Smart little palm. Then Sasso got up and realized that it was not 9, but 10. Apparently my Palm did not get the memo that daylight savings time was pushed back a week this year because of an energy bill.
Since I am a bit behind today I thought I'd write about what I'm working on now. There will be a pattern based on the city of Jaipur released in a few weeks. It's all about kite racing and emeralds and blue + white pottery and the pink city. One big resource for this coming pattern was the book "Rajastan" by Pauline van Lynden. An absolutely beautiful book filled with amazing photos of texture, textiles, architecture and more. I first ordered the book I thought I'd take a look and send it back, it was $65 after all. But once I laid eyes on it I knew it was going to stay on my studio's bookshelf. On Pauline's website I see that she is working on a book about the South of India. I can't wait for that, I'm sure it will be just as great as "Rajastan".

Kouyou = Autumn

As noted in the previous post, Kouyou means "red leaves" or "changing colors" and is the name of the Japanese foliage season. The Shodoshima kouyou pattern is the cover of the 2008 calendar, but an enlarged version fills the month of September. I always think of September as fall + folliage, but in reality it was almost 80 degrees in Boston last week and the trees that fill the park outside my studio are still green. (I know this foliage season has been pretty slow here in New England because of all the warm temperatures... maybe Al Gore has something to that global warming thing, huh).
Daniel Altman's NY Times article was the best resource, (and most inspirational one), that I found when researching Kouyou. He says the most popular trees are "the Japanese maple, whose leaves turn bright red, and the ginkgo .... whose leaves turn yellow", but there are more species of trees that change color too. That is why the Kouyou season lasts so long, different trees change at different times in different areas. Places that Altman points out as perfect Kouyou viewing spots are the Daisetsu volcano group on Hokkaido and Kanakei Gorge, a valley on Shodoshima Island - this is the valley that the Shodoshima pattern is about.
Apparently foliage viewing is a low-key event in Japan. Not here though, growing up in NH, the traffic backed way up once foliage season started. "It's all those damn leaf peepers," we'd say! Well I've seen 27 1/2 folliage seasons and it still does not cease to amaze me. Infact, I'm even a bit excited for my afternoon drive to NH tomorrow to go visit family. I'm taking Route 2 out of Boston to lovely Route 63 to Hinsdale and I'm hoping that the foliage is in full bloom up there. Yes, since moving to Massachusetts I've actually become a leaf peeper in NH. Ironic, I know.
The top image is from flickr and is by darrenawayagain, he has some AMAZING photo groups of Japan. He's quite talented. See more photos here too. Next year I'm planning to go to Marrakech to visit Maryam, but these pictures have already got me thinking about my next big trip... hopefully to Japan!

Miss Marrakech

Well here is Miss Marrakech. You can see how she started as just little baby sketches on the left until she grew into the fine young lady, (that crashes my powerbook), that she is today. It has been one big busy week here at JHill Design. A week full of running around, printing and printing, meetings, and lots of alka-seltzer. I'm not a big fan of this kind of week. Not at all. Though I did get to enjoy the season premiere of Ugly Betty, (LOVED it), with some wine and a Sasso cooked dinner. This weekend I doing Open Studios in J.P. which is why it is 11:00pm and I am matting prints, (I always think I'm more prepared than I am). A great surprise though was the link from dooce.com to our note cards. Apparently Miss Heather is a fan and I can say we are a fan of her as well. If you are not a dooce reader check it out at www.dooce.com.

My Marrakesh, (actually it's Maryam's)

I finished the Marrakech pattern sometime ago, and wouldn't you know it as soon as I completed it I stumbled onto what could have been the most inspirational site yet... My Marrakesh. It is written by Maryam and let me tell you... she has one hell of any eye. Maryam writes about Morocco, Marakech, decor, design, fashion, art, travel, riding camels, designing guest houses, and so much more. She also posts BEAUTIFUL images, just check out this one of the slippers in her post about shopping in Marrakech. Delicious, huh?
I'm so excited to read her posts about Essaouira because I'm working on a pattern for that imaginary vacation next. She is also planning on launching her"Peacock Pavilions Shop" online which will, no doubt, be totally amazing. I don't get to read this blog as often as I should, so I just moved it to the top of my blogreader. I suggest you do the same.

Currently Imagining: Cabo

In the last 2 years many of Sasso + my family members and friends have moved all over the country. It was somewhat of a mass exodus from New England, the kind that makes you go… “Wait why is everyone leaving and I’m still here? Do they know something I don’t?”
So lately most of our trips have been visits to St. Augustine, San Francisco, New York City and soon Portland, (as Sasso says, we are very lucky that everyone moved to some kick-ass places). But alas, we are going to be doing some traveling this fall and I AM SO EXCITED.
One of our trips will be 8 lovely days in Cabo San Lucas with some good friends.
Right now I’m imagining Cabo because I'd like to do a pattern about it before I leave. I’ve been doing some research and I picture riding in a small boat amongst the migrating whales, taking a surfing lesson, riding mad-max style through the desert in dune buggies and of course sitting on the beach.
I’ve been reading Steinbeck’s “Log of the Sea of Cortez” which has been really great. It seems like everyone, their uncle, or their husband has been there recently and had a good time. I’m not big on touristy vacation spots but I think this maybe what we need. Leave a comment or send me an email with any Baja tips and expect to see a Cabo print not too far off. Then I can go there and see if I was right on or totally off base.
Images from top: hanging out with the whales from sogonow.com, the "Log from the Sea of Cortez", the beach, and dune buggie-ing at wideopenbaja.com.

"The Book"

"Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil", (henceforth to be called MGGE), was my first introduction to Savannah that I can remember. It was written by John Berendt and spent 216 weeks on the NYT best seller list; then in 1997 Clint Eastwood made it into a movie. MGGE has become so iconic that Savannah locals simply refer to it as "the book". First I saw MGGE the movie, (in college my roommate Erin worked at a video store so I saw almost every movie released in the late 90's), and then I read the book. I loved that I could see Savannah's drooping trees, old mansions and Lady Chablis in the movie, but the book is absolutely amazing (there is a reason that they give MGGE tours in Savannah to this day). In the end I suggest you see/read both of them, but in the book is always better.
One passage from MGGE that truly inspired the Savannah print is on page 28, "The streets were lined with townhouses of brick and stucco, handsome old buildings with high front stoops and shuttered windows. I entered a square that had flowering shrubs and a monument at the center. A few blocks farther on, there was another square. Up ahead, I could see a third on line with this one, and a fourth beyond that. To the left and right, there were two more squares. There were squares in every direction. I counted eight of them. Ten. Fourteen. Or was it twelve? 'There are exactly twenty-one squares,' an elderly lady told me..."
"the thing I like best about the squares, " Miss Harty said, "is that cars can't cut through the middle; they must go around them. So traffic is obliged to flow at a very leisurely pace. The squares are our little oases of tranquility."
How great is that? It took a little bit of design ingenuity to get 21 squares in the background of the Savannah print. The other inspiration is on page 10, "You mustn't be taken in by the moonlight and magnolias."
But I want to be taken in Mr. Williams! I want to see the bird girl statue and the guy that walks a "ghost dog" and see the man with the flies on strings and visit Bonaventure cemetery and see where Jim Williams shot Danny Hansford, (though apparently when you take a tour of that house and ask about the murder they get a bit peeved).
For now I may just have to make myself a mint julep and reread "the book" again.

Adventures on the Wine Route

As previously noted I am quite the bookworm and reading is one of the main ways that I research the "Places I Have Never Been" collection. To learn about the Bordeaux region of France I picked up Kermit Lynch's "Adventures on the Wine Route: A Wine Buyer's Tour of France". There is a chapter per region, and though it was a bit over my head because of my lack of wine knowledge, (I know there is red and white and that white is generally chilled - or that is how I like it), I still very much enjoyed the book.
Lynch talks about Bordeaux being "a land of facades", the biggest one of all being the name chateau, because "many chateaux are nothing but dilapidated sheds in which wine is produced, (reminds me of how loosely the term "luxury condo" is thrown around here in Boston).
Lynch writes of "wine factories", the négociant (middle man) system of Bordeaux, and the lack of female wine makers except for the wonderful Madame de Lacaussade. Some of Amazon.com's reviewers panned the Bordeaux section of this book, saying that the rest of the book was much better. Once I get through it I will let you know.

Shimmering Blues

I was casually reading one night when this quote reached out and grabbed my attention: “At India’s southernmost tip, three bodies of water come together in a breathtaking display: The Bay of Bengal from the east, the Arabian Sea from the west and the Indian Ocean from beyond the horizon. Viewed in bright sunlight or by the glow of a spectacular sunset, each shimmers in its own shade of blue before merging to create a unique color.” What great writer of travel literature put this on paper? Well, I don’t know. In fact I cut it out of a Indian travel advertisement in Travel + Leisure some time ago. Obviously crafted by a copywriter with a great flare for words, it really struck me. I mean can you imagine actually seeing shades of blue combining into one? It is like an artist’s dream! I collected as many perfect “melding sea blues” as I could find for my sketchbook. I wish I had written down where everything came from because I still think the ceramics with silver flecks are pretty amazing.

Driving Over Lemons : An Optimist in Andalucia

As previously mentioned, the Andalucia pattern started with the spine of a book on a shelf at the BPL. Said book, “Driving Over Lemons: An Optimist in Andalucia”, (which has been re-released as “Driving Over Lemons: An Optimist in Spain – I guess not enough people were as enarmored with the word Andalucia as I was), is written by Chris Stewart who happens to be the original drummer of the band Genesis. Stewart left the band before they went big and eventually ended up living in Andalucia, Spain.

The book is entertaining with lots of great descriptions and there is one in particular that had me imagining fields of orange trees and white blossoms falling like snow:
“In Spring the blossoming of the orange trees takes you unawares. At first only a pale haze becomes apparent across the dark green of the leaves. This is the green of the flower-buds. Then all of a sudden the buds are transformed into exquisite white five-petalled stars, radiating from cream-yellow pistils and stamens. The scent is delicate and heady, and when each tree becomes a mass of white flowers an almost tangible mist of orange blossom hangs in the air”.
Mmmmm... I can imagine how sweet the air must be. Each tree blossoms for about three weeks scenting April, May and June. Some blossoms are blown off the tree, collected and dried for tea, and the others get to grow into bright oranges.

Stewart wrote “Driving Over Lemons” in 1999 and the sequels, “A Parrot In The Pepper Tree” and “The Almond Blossom Appreciation Society” about his farm life in Spain. I have yet to read the sequels, but I think they could be the perfect summer read while relaxing in my hammock.

Andalucia, what a lovely name...

It was the spine of the book that started me imagining Anadlucia, Spain. I was in the Boston Public Library, (this was at a time when I didn’t have an a/c in my office and at times during those July heat waves I would find refuge in the chilly BPL), browsing for a new read and I saw the book “Driving Over Lemons: An Optimist in Andalucia.” I thought:
1. that was a funny title
2. Andalucia is a beautiful name
3. what a nice cover design the book had and that always gets me
So I picked it up and took it home to read. We’ll talk about the book later, (I loved it), but my favorite part was when the author, Chris Stewart, describes the three weeks that all the orange trees are blossoming. Seems pretty magical and I’m sure very fragrant. I could just picture white blossoms falling backed by bright orange oranges.