Top Five Friday: John William Waterhouse

Everything in creation has its appointed painter or poet and remains in bondage like the princess in the fairy tale 'til its appropriate liberator comes to set it free. 

~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood were such liberators.  And they set many princesses ~ and princes ~ free with their brushes.  My original intent for today’s Top Five Friday was to pick five of my favorite paintings from within the entire body of work of the Brotherhood.  But that is an impossible task.  There are too many to whittle to just five!  So over the next few weeks, I will highlight one member of the Brotherhood and choose the top five of his paintings.  Today we look at John William Waterhouse, who is easily one of my favorites.

J.W. Waterhouse was born in Rome in 1849, one year after the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood was founded by William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais and Dante Gabriel Rossetti.   But he is linked with the Brotherhood through his paintings, especially those painted from 1884 onward.  The subjects of most of that period are the same ones that inspired Rossetti, et al: King Arthur, Greek myths and legends, princesses and fairy tales.  As such, he is considered a “Modern Pre-Raphaelite.”

Waterhouse lived only 68 years and painted right up until his death from cancer in London in 1917.  You can find out more about his life here at JW Waterhouse, or by reading Peter Trippi’s Waterhouse or Anthony Hobson’s JW Waterhouse.

And now to the paintings!

Ophelia – Blue Dress (1905)

There are many renditions of Ophelia, but this is one of my favorites for the sheer brilliance of the colours and the despairing expression in her eyes.  The detail in the hem of dress, the folds of the skirt and the stream behind her ~ ominously dark and grave-like.

Confession: I’ve always wanted a dress just like this one.  Any seamstresses out there?

Gather Ye Rosebuds While Ye May (1909)

My second favorite Waterhouse, again for the sharp colours.  The natural setting, the beauty of both the women and the flowers they are picking, and the gentle stream behind them [so different from the dark one in Ophelia] all lend an air of peace to the scene.  You are sure that the ladies have just had a picnic by the stream, and once their bouquets are picked, they will head home, each to her own restful cottage.

Miranda - The Tempest (1916)

I can feel the wind tear at my hair and hear the waves pound the shore whenever I look at this painting.  Waterhouse captured the movement and passion of the storm that rips at Miranda’s dark red hair.  In fact, quite a few of Waterhouse’s female subjects are gripping their long, dark, wind-blown hair.  [Again, love the dress.]

Mariana in the South (1897)

Taken from Tennyson’s Mariana in the South, the colours, the dark melancholy of the subject and the sheer length of her hair are what draw me to this painting and make it one of my top five.  Granted, she’s kneeling, but her hair is still really long!  I can only get mine to grow to the small of my back.

She, as her carol sadder grew,

         From brow and bosom slowly down

Thro' rosy taper fingers drew

         Her streaming curls of deepest brown

To left and right, and made appear,

         Still-lighted in a secret shrine,

         Her melancholy eyes divine,

The home of woe without a tear.

~ from Mariana in the South

The Crystal Ball – with skull (1902)

Even with tackling just one painter for this list, it was still difficult to pick just five of Waterhouse’s paintings.  But I had to highlight The Crystal Ball but I have a print of it hanging in my dining room.  Red is my favorite colour, and it’s the accent colour in my dining room, so this print went really well on the latte coloured walls. 

The detail here again is amazing: the tiled floor, the gilding on the chair and the scrollwork on her dress ~ which again I would love to have.

Some have interpreted the figure as weaving a spell with the aid of a crystal ball, spell book and skull.  But I take away a meditation on mortality and spirituality.  Something along the lines of et in arcadia ego.

That is the beauty of art, whatever the medium: the artist paints and the viewers [or reader] takes it in, mixes it with his or her own life experiences and philosophies and sees a message written just for them.  The artist can view this personal interpretation as an annoyance: an obstacle to the message they are trying to convey.  But aren’t we also re-interpreting the subject when we paint/write/act/play?

What about you?  What do you see when you look at these paintings?  What other Waterhouse paintings inspire, excite, calm or enthrall you?

Oremus pro invicem,

~ Mikaela

Next Friday: The Top Five Paintings of Dante Gabriel Rossetti

Top Five Friday: Flowering Shrubs

God made rainy days so gardeners could get housework done.

~ Author Unknown

Unless of course, the gardener is also a writer.  Rainy days are for writing and reading ~ ahem, I mean research.

Today marks the beginning of a new feature here at La Belle: Top Five Fridays.  Every Friday, I will showcase top five lists in the following arts categories: Food, Gardening, Writing, Music and the Visual Arts.

This week’s top five comes from my love of flowering shrubs.  I love these five show stoppers mostly for their vibrant colours and/or their spicy scents.  Flowering shrubs are a Godsend to the gardener: they not only provide colour, but structure as well.  And they bloom every year and need minimal care. 

All links will lead you to Nature Hills Garden Catalog.  I chose to link to them because they are an organic seed and plant catalog, but I have not actually purchased any plants from them as all the flowering shrubs I have were passed down to me.

Top Five Flowering Shrubs

Lilac

Photo Credit: M. D'Eigh

Ever since I was a little girl, the lilac has been my favorite flower.  If someone brings me a bouquet of lilacs, I know they really know me!  Their very scent heralds the onset of Spring.  Best advice I’ve received about lilacs: wait until they finish blooming and then prune them.  Pruning helps them produce more blooms the following year.



Photo Credit: Adam Hickmott



Hydrangea

These luscious, voluptuous blooms are the divas of the garden.  We currently have three mountainous shrubs on the northeast side of the house and they range from lavender to a rich violet-tinged blue.  They make a grand tabletop statement bunched in a large bowl or in a short vase.  Just make sure you get them in water pronto.  I waited too long once and only 3 of the 6 blooms perked back up when I finally placed them in water.  [Don’t ask.]



Peony

After the bold hydrangeas, I love peonies for their bright pink colour and mesmerizing scent.  Maybe mine are just quirky, but their heavy little heads are forever bowing and scrapping to some unseen garden royalty.  I come out in the morning, and there they are, dragging the ground in shame, bit of dirt between their petals.  I’ve tried peony brackets, but they simply love to bend to the ground.  If any gardeners out there have any advice, I’d be most grateful!  Bowing and scrapping notwithstanding, peonies make a wonderful addition to the garden.  And you can divide them and share with a fellow gardener.

Photo Credit: M. D'Eigh

Rhododendron

“Rhodies” are the back up singers in this band of diva-ish shrubs ~ but they give you a lot bang for you buck.  Ours live between the Hydrangeas and are also currently in the front of the house, facing southeast.  The shrubs which fast true east fare a little better than the one that faces more south.  Not sure why this is.  But we plan on re-planting them somewhere else and putting in boxwood.  As you can see from this picture, the blossoms are strong in colour, but delicate in shape.  Sadly, one big thunderstorm with heavy sheets of rain washed away all the rhodie blooms. 



Photo credit: Simon Howden

 Lavender

Silly me.  I always thought lavender was an herb, not a shrub.  But these little ladies can get pretty big!  And they bloom year after year.  Bees and butterflies love it ~ and so do I. Especially stuffed in little lacy pillows or in a container of homemade bath salts.  The lavender flower also makes a nice “bow” on a boxed gift. 

What are your top five flowering shrubs and why?

Oremus pro invicem,

~ Mikaela

The Writer's Journal: Journaling to Woo the Muse

. . .the finished poem will never be as magnificent as this half-formed vision of it.

~ Linda Bierds, from The Writer’s Journal

My first journal was brass-locked and lavender with tiny blue flowers all over it ~ complete with tiny brass keys ~ that Santa brought me when I was in the fourth grade.  When I re-read my old journals, I only noticed the gaps between entries big enough for both Paul Bunyan and Babe to walk through.  Such a lack of consistency reeked of laziness and indifference. I bowed my head in shame at each missed date – oh the mortal sin of it all!

Turns out, most writers are sinners.  And in this regard at least, that’s not such a bad thing.  Your writing process should help you, inspire you, save your inky rear end when you get stuck.  If you’re chained to it, it becomes a brick wall instead of a ladder. Writing is a fluid art ~ sometimes what worked for you last year is old and tired this time around.  And journaling is just one of many ways to woo the Muse.

In “The Writer’s Journal,” Sheila Bender asked forty writers to explain how journaling affects their writing process and to share excerpts from those journals to illustrate.  The various forms of journaling that are highlighted are as diverse as the authors themselves: Janice Eidus [The Last Jewish Virgin] uses letters to “bear witness to [her] life and thoughts.” (p. 68); Ron Carlson [Betrayed by F. Scott Fitzgerald] writes bits and bobs on “envelopes, folded memos, torn slips, wedding announcements, rodeo programs and such” (p. 38) and keeps them in a shopping bag that escaped being thrown out in the garbage more than once.

A shopping bag?  And I thought my bag of various notebooks was disorganized!

To see how others writers write is at once stimulating and comforting and a fascinating read.  Now I know that when I don’t touch my journal for days, I’m in good company.  And that my system, however quirky or slightly insane it may seem to other writers, works for me.

At least for today.

Oremus pro invicem,

~ Mikaela

What works for you?  Typing in random thoughts on the computer? Writing letters to a friend?  I’d like to hear what your writing process is!

Food Meme: Food from Apple to Zucchini

I was 32 when I started cooking; up until then, I just ate.

 ~ Julia Child

One of the great aspects of the 2011 Blogathon was getting to “meet” the great community of bloggers that participated.  Some had been blogging for years, other were brand-spanking new.

Bookworm has been blogging since 2009 and just recently began a series called  Civil War Sundays where they talk about different aspects of the war.  It’s fitting that they began the blog posts this year ~ the 150th anniversary of the war.

Another blog post Bookworm did recently was a Food Meme ~ one I haven’t seen before.  I love memes and haven’t participated in one in awhile.  No clue who started it, but here is my contribution:

A is for Apple: What’s your favorite variety?

Hands down: Granny Smiths.  Great in pies, cobblers and in my favorite kitchen appliance: the juicer.

B is for Bread: Regardless of nutrition, what is your favorite type?

Shameless of me, but my homemade French bread, recipe courtesy of Southern Living.

C is for Cereal: What is your favorite kind currently? (just one!)

Not a huge cereal fan, but if I had to choose, probably Cream of Wheat.  Does that count?

D is for Donuts: You might not currently eat them, but what kind do you fancy?

Before I became dairy intolerant, custard filled.  Sigh.  Now I don’t really eat them, but Paul’s Bakery in Fredericksburg has THE best doughnut holes EVER.

E is for Eggs: How would you like yours prepared?

When I could eat them? Fried.  In bacon grease.  Over easy.

F is for Fat Free: What is your favorite fat free product?

Kale?  I don’t do processed.

G is for Groceries: Where do you purchase yours?

Farmer’s Market in the summer, Whole Foods, then Trader Joe’s.

H is for Hot Beverages: What is your favorite hot drink?

Regular: chai tea.  Alcoholic: hot mead. 

I is for Ice Cream: Pick a favorite flavor and add a fun topping.

Coconut milk-based ice cream: coconut with Framboise.

J is for Jams or Jellies: Do you eat them? If so, what kind and flavor?

Pumpkin butter.  Ahhh.

K is for Kashi: Name your favorite Kashi product?

Crackers? Maybe?

L is for Lunch: What was yours today?

Ha!  Lobster roll [CT style] from The Lobster Truck with a dill pickle and an Arnold Palmer.  That and 73 degree weather and a nice breeze ~ can this day get any better?!

M is for microwave: What is your favorite microwave meal/snack?

I don’t microwave if I can help it.  Cooking with gas, baby!

N is for nutrients: Do you likes carbs, fats, or proteins best?

Proteins. Love kale, spinach and anything made of meat – in moderation of course.

O is for oil: What kind do you like to use?

Safflower for cooking.  Olive oil for everything else.

P is for protein: How do you get yours?

Chicken and greens.  Tough being a foodie who is both egg and dairy intolerant.  

Q is for Quaker: How do you like your oats?

With coconut milk, butter and brown sugar.  Or in a cookie with raisins.  Whaaaat?

R is for roasting: What is your favorite thing to roast?

Mwhahahaha.  Oh.  We’re talking about food.  Ummmm ~ red peppers?

S is for sandwich: What’s your favorite kind?

Pulled pork with homemade slaw.  The P.O.R.C. mobile has a fantastic sandwich ~ not to mention to-die-for chocolate truffles on a stick!

T is for travel: How do you handle eating while traveling?

Again, before food intolerances attacked me, I would try to find the local mom and pop places and ask for the local favorite.  Now I also look up Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives to see which places were highlighted before I travel.  I also google the nearest Whole Foods.  What can I say ~ I like my food organic!

U is for unique: What is one of your weirdest food combos?

Hmmmm.  I'll have to think about that one.  Or ask someone I've fed recently...

V is for vitamins: What kind do you take?

B Complex, Antioxidants, Flax Oil, C, E, Carotene, a dietary supplement and one other herb that’s supposed to be good for stress.

W is for wasabi: Yay or nay?

Just a pinch.

X is for XRAY: If we xrayed your belly right now, what food would we see?

Ewwwww!!  Probably lunch; possibly yesterday’s potluck dinner: fresh fruit salad [ala moi], Chinese chicken pasta salad, tomato and corn salad, sweet potato soufflé with pecans and brown sugar [Oh. My. Gosh], broiled asparagus, and green tea with raspberries.

Y is for youth: What food reminds you of your childhood?

Fried chicken [mom still makes the best], bigos [sauerkraut with kielbasa, chicken and beef], chicken and dumplings, boiled custard [there is a reason we only make it at Christmas!]

Z is for zucchini: How do you prepare it?

I don’t.  I hate it. We grew acres of it when I was a kid.  But I tolerate it in bread. ;)

What about you?

Oremus pro invicem,
~ Mikaela

Reading for Writing: Top 10 Writing Blogs and Books to Improve Your Skills

Lists are the butterfly nets that catch my fleeting thoughts...

~ Betsy Cañas Garmon

I admit it.  Sometimes I read to avoid writing.  I troll Amazon looking for yet another book that is sure to turn me into a Hemingway or a Flannery.  I devour volumes of poetry and inhale sheets and sheets of poetry handbooks.  I follow several “writerly” blogs and use their creative prompts and heed their hard-won advice.  And of course, I assimilate works of the great authors and poets in order to learn their techniques and imbibe their amazing gift for word imagery and nuance.

All these resources are great places to go for inspiration, knowledge, and the honing of one’s craft.  For your research pleasure ~ in alphabetical order ~ here is a list of the top 10 blogs and books [it was tough to pick just 10!] that I have found both helpful and entertaining in becoming a better writer.

Can Poetry Matter – Dana Gioia

Nothing speaks for eloquently to the role and place of poetry in modern life today like this essay.

Confident Writing – Joanna Paterson

Even though I’ve never met her, and have only been reading her blog for the past few months, I feel as if I know Joanna personally.  Writing style can say a lot about a person, so I know that she’s warm, friendly, generous, empathetic, courageous, and a great writer to boot.

Poetic Asides – Robert Lee Brewer

A Writer’s Digest blog with more useful tips and prompts.  Has weekly poetry prompts on Wednesdays.

Poemcrazy – Susan G. Wooldridge

“It’s impossible to teach anyone to write a poem.  But we can set up circumstances in which poems are likely to happen. . . .Playing with words, we can get to the place where poems come from.”

WordCount – Michelle Rafter

Michelle always has tips that are useful right now for freelance writers.  And she throws a great Blogathon!

Write Anything – Various

A great blog with tips, creative writing prompts and Fiction Friday.  I haven’t participated in that yet, but maybe today!

Writing Forward – Melissa Donavan

Whether it’s how to improve grammar, word choice, editing advice, or creative writing prompts, I always learn something.

Write It Sideways – Suzannah

Writing advice from an accredited teacher.

Write to Done - Leo Babauta and Mary Jaksch

From the A-List Bloggers Club.  These articles are spot on and will heat up your writing!

Writerly Life – Blair Hurley

Another great source for writing prompts and writing advice.  I love Blair’s writing style: it’s open and easy to read ~ I feel like she’s right there in the room with me, encouraging me to keep at it.   Must read: Writing Bullies

Finished reading?  Great.  Now we take the plunge and marry the knowledge we’ve gleaned with the talent we possess and go create.

So. . .what are you waiting for?  What am I waiting for?  Let’s write!

Oremuc pro invicem,

~ Mikaela

What writing blogs do you read every day?  What books on writing or poetry do you recommend?  I’d love to hear!

Word Count Blogathon Wrap Up and News

You must stay drunk on writing so reality cannot destroy you. 

~ Ray Bradbury

The blogathon is over and I missed a few days.  All in all, however, I reached my goal: writing every day.  It may not have been published here, but I wrote something, somewhere, almost every day.  And that is a great discipline to have as a writer.  Many thanks to Michelle Rafter for hosting ~ I'm looking forward to next year's!

In other news, I have had a family emergency and have been on and off the road and without internet access since last Saturday.  So while I will keep on writing [three poems and one new song in the last week, by the way!], I won't be publishing until at least Monday when I go back to work.

Have a great weekend and I hope to "see" y'all here again soon!

Oremus pro invicem,

 ~ Mikaela

Word Count Blogathon Day 29: Organizational Harmony: The Key to Creativity

Ring the bells that still can ring

Forget your perfect offering

There is a crack in everything

That’s how the light gets in.

~ Leonard Cohen

Perfection.  The enemy of the possible.  I've said it before; I'll say it again.  Holding yourself to an impossible standard is a waste of time and creative energy.  However, holding yourself to no standard is an equal waste of time and creative energy.  At least I have found this to be true in my own life.  The day to day minutia takes over like kudzu and one day you wake up and can't find your desk.  That leads to silly excuses like: "I'll clean it off tomorrow and then I'll really write!"  But tomorrow comes, and you look at the stacks of paper and books and just feel overwhelmed.  And you use that as an excuse not to write.

At least that was the scenario I lived with for a long time.

My tolerance for clutter and chaos is pretty high.  My brain works like a mind-map, not an outline [although I do love outlines], and it is always coming up with creative ideas and considers having to think about organization and rules and filing systems is a waste of time.  But even I, the queen of living in well-orchestrated chaos, have my limits.  And about a month ago, I reached it.

So I hired a professional organizer to come in and make sense of the garbled sheet music that is my boudoir / home office.  After our initial meeting, I knew Alejandra was just the conductor I needed to make my life harmonious and in key again.

Once the dust settles [ahem!]  I will let you know how it goes and whether my creativity did indeed get a boost!

Oremus pro invicem,

~ Mikaela

Word Count Blogathon Day 28: Summer Reading List

The worth of a book is to be measured by what you can carry away from it.

~ James Bryce

Summer is almost here.  Actually, here in Virginia it has felt like summer for a few days now: thunderstorms, humidity [or “humisery” as my yankee friends like to call it] and lovely, baking, ninety degree weather.  A small price to pay, in my opinion, sweet iced tea, fried chicken, and being able to enjoy the changing seasons.

School’s [Almost] Out!

Viewing the calendar in semesters and three months of vacation becomes a habit after living that way for over twenty-two years.  And even though I have been out of school for [cough, ahem] years, I still feel the rush of “Summer’s here!  Relaxation!”  Growing up, that translated into multiple trips to the library. 

I will never forget Linda at our local library.  She always laughed and commented on the enormous stack of books I took home every other week.  It was always at least a foot taller than me.  “Are you really going to read all of those books in two weeks!?!”  Some I would have to renew, but most of them I devoured in a few days.  I don’t know if my family was a burden or a blessing to those sainted librarians: we were always checking out almost half the library!

The “List”

Sadly, the days of three month vacations are over [unless you’re lucky enough to be French].  But it is still a great excuse to read more!  And my library cup runneth over with un-read volumes that I have been meaning to crack open.  Most of them will improve my mind and some will give it a little rest.  Both are important to do.   Here’s a partial list.

Love and Will by Rollo May

Love’s Executioner by Irv Yalom

Can Poetry Matter? by Dana Gioia

Interrogations at Noon by Dana Gioia

The Habit of Being: Letters of Flannery O’Conner by Flannery O’Conner

Harry Potter Series by J.K. Rowling [as a refresher before the last movie installment!]

The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton

Gone with the Wind, 75th Anniversary Edition by Margaret Mitchell

Beauty and the Beast by Marie Le Prince de Beaumont

The Lady in the Palazzo: At Home in Umbria by Marlena De Blasi

What do you plan to read this summer?  Any books you would like to recommend? Do tell!

Oremu pro invicem,

~ Mikaela

Word Count Blogathon Day 27: The Pre-Raphaelites at the Delaware Art Museum

The aim of every artist is to arrest motion, which is life, by artificial means and hold it fixed so that a hundred years later, when a stranger looks at it, it moves again since it is life. 

~ William Faulkner



Wilmington, Delaware.  I must confess I have never been a fan.  To be fair, all I’ve ever seen of it was as a nine year old and it just wasn’t that exciting.  Now however, I find I have one big reason to fall in love with Wilmington:  The Delaware Art Musuem’s Pre-Raphaelite Collection

Rossetti's La Bella Mona, 1875

As friends and faithful readers know, I am the uber fan of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood.  I lost count of how many prints I own; my personal library has several books on the art of the Brotherhood, as well as some detailing their soap opera-like lives.  I even own note cards with Waterhouse’s  The Soul of the Rose on the front.  But even I did not know that the largest collection of Pre-Raphaelites in the United States was only a few hours drive north.

Gas may be over $4 a gallon, but I think a road trip is in order soon!

Do you know of any museums in your area that harbor great collections?  Do share!

Oremus pro invicem,

~ Mikaela

Word Count Blogathon Day 26: The Abbey's 51st Poetry Party

A poem should create a momentary enchantment.

~ Dana Gioia

Don’t you just love parties!? I do ~ especially poetry parties!  And Christine Valters Painter over at Abbey of the Arts is hosting her 51^st Poetry Party!  Here’s how it works:



photo courtesy of Abbey of the Arts



Christine picks an image, suggests a theme and title and you write a poem or poetic reflection in response.  If you have a blog, post it on your blog and then post the link at the Poetry Party.  Then tomorrow, Christine will pick a random name and that lucky poet will win a space in one of her courses: Eyes of the Heart: Photography as Contemplative Practice and Water, Wind, Earth & Fire: Praying with the Elements .

My poem inspired by the tree image is below.  What poetry or poetic thoughts does the image bring to your mind?

Oremus pro invicem,

~ Mikaela

The Old Maple

© 26 May 2011, Mikaela D’Eigh

The tree stands tall

And old –

had already sunk its roots deep into the heart

when we arrived thirty odd years ago.

Who knows

how long

it stood watch over lilac, pine, barn and cow,

its trunk full of secrets and memories.

How it comforted

            brothers –

one blue, one gray, lying beneath its shade,

leaving only bullets and bones behind.

And the rain

            silent, sad

that mingled with mother’s tears

when Flanders’ fields kept back her sons.

Then, ah peace!

A child, small

there found Austen and Bilbo

among the wide and changing leaves.

And solved mysteries

            with Nancy

and the Twins and the Boxcar Children

while cradled in its strong and loving arms.

I stand now before it

            a woman grown –

my life thick with experience and history

my heart full of secrets and memories.

This tree, this land

            strong, solid --

brings the comfort as of old friends,

and keeps me grounded and alive.

Word Count Blogathon Day 25: The Art of the Thank You Note

If a fellow isn't thankful for what he's got, he isn't likely to be thankful for what he's going to get. 

~ Frank A. Clark

Do you know where ill-mannered people come from?  They come from one of two places:

1) Ill-mannered parents ~ they taught their children to be rude by displaying their own lack of manners.

2) Indifferent or Frazzled parents ~ these parents either did not care or were “too busy” to teach their children any manners.

There are the rare exceptions, who despite being raised properly, choose to become rude as a form of rebellion.  But my point is this:  good manners start at home.  And unless you want to help fill the world with nasty boorish bums, it would behoove you to: 

1) Learn manners yourself

2) Teach them to your children

Traditionally, a child who learns the good habit of saying “Please” and “Thank you” is not likely to forget it.  It is after all, a habit ~ something that becomes second nature to us and that we are able to do almost without thinking.  Opening doors or not allowing them to slam in the face of the person walking in behind you is another good habit that a child will remember long after you are not around to check on him.

Thank You Notes

One of the manners I was taught as a child that is still very much with me is the lovely duty of writing thank you notes.  My own mother taught me to write a thank you note right away and to let no more than a week go by before sending them out. 

Here’s what Emily Post has to say about it:

Handwritten notes are warmer and more special than other forms of thank-yous. The rule of thumb is that you should send a written note any time you receive a gift (even a ‘thank you’ gift) and the giver wasn’t there to thank in person.

She goes on to say that today you can get by with an email if the gift giver is a close friend, but in my opinion, if your best friend gave you a gift or welcomed you into her home, even more so should you send her a handwritten note!

Stationery for Children

This is also a good habit that children should definitely be encouraged to learn.  And to make learning it more fun, stationery stores have a huge selection of children’s stationery.  Here are a few of my favorites:

Tiny Prints is an online stationery store with hundreds of designs, both for adults and for kids.  These are a couple of my favorites for kids:



Pirate Ship from Tiny Prints



Notice that they have stationery for both girls and boys?  Boys need to be taught the art of saying thank you; it is an art that will serve him well throughout his life.

The Stationery Studio is another online stationery store.

Sweet Cupcakes from Tiny Prints

The Dandelion Patch is online and is also located in Leesburg, Virginia.  It is a great store with a wonderful atmosphere.  And the Leesburg Outlets are nearby too!

The Papery has several locations.  They have a fair selection of Crane Stationery [one of my favorites!] and an amazing collection of invitations that you can personalize.

Roaring Lion from Tiny Prints

Some say that such manners are out-dated.   But I don’t think any acts of love and kindness, no matter how small, are ever out of style. 

Do you?

Oremus pro invicem,

~ Mikaela