I just finished reading Julia Child’s autobiography My Life In France. It is a love story, an ode to France and a tale of someone finding their passion later in life (she was 37 when she first started cooking French food!). In this age of precocious talent (American Idol finalists at age 17, people writing best selling novels at age 23 or starting hedge funds that make millions by 25 etc etc) I think it is easy to forget that you can be successful at any age, and make a change in your life at any time.

And, of course, if you love France, the book is a love poem to France, Paris, French culture, so it’s doubly delicious. In one section of the book, they go to the French Riviera, and I couldn’t resist posting this hotel there, the Miramar Beach Hotel.

I don’t usually succumb to coffee table design books, only because I simply don’t have room for them. But this one I couldn’t resist. The interiors are delicious and the gardens are haunting! Only $29 on Amazon. com. I paid some $45 for it in an actual bookstore (sigh). I’ll post some pictures from it soon, I promise.

We’re stuck in the airport, with chaos reigning at air traffic control in New York, but here in the Raleigh Durham airport, folks are friendly, the husband bought me peanut m&ms AND a decaf coffee. So I’m feeling pretty thankful for a lovely holiday, lots of memories (who knew my mother was a bocce master???) and amazing meals.

My lovely mother in law sent me the photo above (from Better Homes and Gardens website) thinking that I would like it and she was right! I love the light, the tray table coffee table and the color of the wall above the mantel.

I’m finally catching up on almost a month of blog reading (I’ve missed everyone!) and thought I’d share a few photos from Christmas.

This is a snap of our stockings (made from a vintage quilt by my mom (the original Martha)). This is in the kitchen (explaining the pans in the top of the shot). The licencse plates are our old Vermont plates, the cow has been in Nova kitchens since I can remember and the two faux orange plants are from Pottery Barn and are left over from our wedding decorations.

A shot of the tree!

And, finally, the DONUT MAKER (we found it in the SkyMall Magazine) we gave my father. Every year in Vermont we used to go to the Dummerston Apple Pie Festival and sneak into the basement to get hot, freshly made donuts. We hoped this contraption would give us a memory or two of our old hijinks. It certanily wasn’t like the pie festival or like going to Donut Planet or the drive in at Dunkin’ Donuts, but it sure was fun.

Found via lovely Camilla Engman (my favorite name: Camilla) the book Taking Things Seriously is a wonder cabinet (kunstkammer!!) of seventy-five objects that have been invested with significance and transformed into totems, talismans, charms, relics, and fetishes.

And, speaking of taking things seriously, I’m in a serious mood.  School has started back up. I’m taking a class on the material culture of revolution, the history of glass and the history of textiles. Delicious.  More later!

In writing this post, I realize that I’m drawn to this naturalist style of display in magazine spreads. One of my favorite layouts from Martha Stewart Living from my notebook:

If my childhood was boiled down to a couple of influential books, A Practical Guide for the Amateur Naturalist would top the list (others: The Flowering of American Folk Art, The Scarlet Pimpernel, The Tamarack Tree, The Witch of Blackbird Pond). The first two really informed my “design eye” and curiosity about the world and the last three really informed my sense of what bravery and being “grown up” would mean. What were your favorite childhood books?

Gerald and Lee Durrell’s book is a beautifully illustrated guide to becoming an amateur naturalist and encourages readers to explore the world of nature first-hand. The book mixes practical tips (such as what to pack in a naturalist’s daypack, how to take plaster casts of animal tracks, how to garden for wildlife, and how to use a hand lens) with detailed information about a wide variety of habitats (chaparral, grasslands, desert, tundra, deciduous woodlands, coniferous woodlands, tropical forest, mountain, ponds, streams, wetlands, cliffs, dunes, shores, oceans and more).

I loved the photographs in this book and would spend hours pouring over them. I also converted an old bag of my mother’s into a specimen bag and ran around the woods picking up rocks, plants and generally getting dirty. I guess somethings never change. The book is out of print but available on Amazon.com and Abe Books. If you have young children — I’m sure you won’t be disapointed!