I Do Love Hats

How stylish, yet how simple the lines and color. The top photo is my favorite.



Hats by Claudia Schulz via Designers Block. Photos by Trevor Brady

Happy, Happy Day

Rick Warren's Inaugural Invocation

Let us pray.

Almighty God, our Father, everything we see and everything we can’t see exists because of you alone. It all comes from you. It all belongs to you. It all exists for your glory.

History is your story. The Scripture tells us, “Hear O Israel, the Lord is our God. The Lord is One.” And you are the compassionate and merciful one. And you are loving to everyone you have made.

Now, today, we rejoice not only in America’s peaceful transfer of power for the 44th time. We celebrate a hingepoint of history with the inauguration of our first African American president of the United States. We are so grateful to live in this land, a land of unequaled possibility, where the son of an African immigrant can rise to the highest level of our leadership. And we know today that Dr. King and a great cloud of witnesses are shouting in heaven.

Give to our new President, Barack Obama, the wisdom to lead us with humility, the courage to lead us with integrity, the compassion to lead us with generosity. Bless and protect him, his family, Vice President Biden, the cabinet, and every one of our freely elected leaders.

Help us, O God, to remember that we are Americans, united not by race, or religion, or blood, but to our commitment to freedom and justice for all. When we focus on ourselves, when we fight each other, when we forget you, forgive us. When we presume that our greatness and our prosperity is ours alone, forgive us. When we fail to treat our fellow human beings and all the earth with the respect that they deserve, forgive us. And as we face these difficult days ahead, may we have a new birth of clarity in our aims, responsibility in our actions, humility in our approaches, and civility in our attitudes, even when we differ.

Help us to share, to serve and to seek the common good of all. May all people of goodwill today join together to work for a more just, a more healthy and a more prosperous nation and a peaceful planet. And may we never forget that one day all nations and all people will stand accountable before you. We now commit our new president and his wife, Michelle and his daughters, Malia and Sasha, into your loving care.

I humbly ask this in the name of the one who changed my life, Yeshua, Isa, Jesus [Spanish pronunciation], Jesus, who taught us to pray:

“Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen."

President Barack Obama's Inaugural Address

... This is the source of our confidence - the knowledge that God calls on us to shape an uncertain destiny.

This is the meaning of our liberty and our creed - why men and women and children of every race and every faith can join in celebration across this magnificent mall, and why a man whose father less than sixty years ago might not have been served at a local restaurant can now stand before you to take a most sacred oath.


So let us mark this day with remembrance, of who we are and how far we have traveled. In the year of America's birth, in the coldest of months, a small band of patriots huddled by dying campfires on the shores of an icy river. The capital was abandoned. The enemy was advancing. The snow was stained with blood. At a moment when the outcome of our revolution was most in doubt, the father of our nation ordered these words be read to the people:

"Let it be told to the future world...that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive...that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet [it]."

America. In the face of our common dangers, in this winter of our hardship, let us remember these timeless words. With hope and virtue, let us brave once more the icy currents, and endure what storms may come. Let it be said by our children's children that when we were tested we refused to let this journey end, that we did not turn back nor did we falter; and with eyes fixed on the horizon and God's grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future generations.

Rev. Joseph Lowery Inaugural Benediction

God of our weary years, God of our silent tears, thou who has brought us thus far along the way, thou who has by thy might led us into the light, keep us forever in the path, we pray, lest our feet stray from the places, our God, where we met thee, lest our hearts, drunk with the wine of the world, we forget thee. Shadowed beneath thy hand may we forever stand -- true to thee, O God, and true to our native land.

We truly give thanks for the glorious experience we've shared this day. We pray now, O Lord, for your blessing upon thy servant, Barack Obama, the 44th president of these United States, his family and his administration. He has come to this high office at a low moment in the national and, indeed, the global fiscal climate. But because we know you got the whole world in your hand, we pray for not only our nation, but for the community of nations. Our faith does not shrink, though pressed by the flood of mortal ills.

For we know that, Lord, you're able and you're willing to work through faithful leadership to restore stability, mend our brokenness, heal our wounds and deliver us from the exploitation of the poor or the least of these and from favoritism toward the rich, the elite of these.

We thank you for the empowering of thy servant, our 44th president, to inspire our nation to believe that, yes, we can work together to achieve a more perfect union. And while we have sown the seeds of greed -- the wind of greed and corruption, and even as we reap the whirlwind of social and economic disruption, we seek forgiveness and we come in a spirit of unity and solidarity to commit our support to our president by our willingness to make sacrifices, to respect your creation, to turn to each other and not on each other.

And now, Lord, in the complex arena of human relations, help us to make choices on the side of love, not hate; on the side of inclusion, not exclusion; tolerance, not intolerance.

And as we leave this mountaintop, help us to hold on to the spirit of fellowship and the oneness of our family. Let us take that power back to our homes, our workplaces, our churches, our temples, our mosques, or wherever we seek your will.

Bless President Barack, First Lady Michelle. Look over our little, angelic Sasha and Malia.

We go now to walk together, children, pledging that we won't get weary in the difficult days ahead. We know you will not leave us alone, with your hands of power and your heart of love.

Help us then, now, Lord, to work for that day when nation shall not lift up sword against nation, when tanks will be beaten into tractors, when every man and every woman shall sit under his or her own vine and fig tree, and none shall be afraid; when justice will roll down like waters and righteousness as a mighty stream.

Lord, in the memory of all the saints who from their labors rest, and in the joy of a new beginning, we ask you to help us work for that day when black will not be asked to get back, when brown can stick around -- (laughter) -- when yellow will be mellow -- (laughter) -- when the red man can get ahead, man -- (laughter) -- and when white will embrace what is right.

Let all those who do justice and love mercy say amen.

AUDIENCE: Amen!

REV. LOWERY: Say amen --

AUDIENCE: Amen!

REV. LOWERY: -- and amen.

AUDIENCE: Amen! (Cheers, applause.)

END.

Transcript courtesy Federal News Service

Italian Apartments

A new painting by Robert Weil.

Petal Palettes

It is always a treat for me to see pages from Bloom magazine.



Color palettes from Kris's Color Stripes from the new issue of Bloom magazine.

Stamps

I wonder what the stamps are covering?

Industrial Settings

Forget the products what interest me are the wonderful industrial settings of these photos by Guido Barbagelata. The above wall is the best of the four shots.

The delicacy of the glass is a nice contrast to the industrial setting.


Guido Barbagelata via Desire to Inspire.

A Perfect Hat

The Selby.

Christian Liagre

The house of Christian Liagre on the Ile de Re from ‘La Vie en Rose’ published by Pavilion.

The red entry way has always intrigued us. The home is now showcased in the new book Maison--Christian Liaigre by Herbert Ypma, Christian Liaigre.

Image from Tim Clinch Photography.

Ludwig Design

"For a Universe of One's Own" by Ludwig Design who specializes in period properties-houses, gardens and parks. From the looks of their web site they certainly fill the bill. So in keeping with the images of recent posts on 18th century fashion from Revolution in Fashion by the Koyoto Institute or the paper fantasies of Isabelle de Borchgrave enjoy the images from Ludwig Design.

"Cigars, cigarettes, tiparillos?"

These pieces are the best part of what is on the mantle. What fun it would be to play with them. I wonder what other pieces come in the set?

The skirt is what interest me in this photo. It appears that the applicated flowers are on different layers of the skirt.

Once again a yellow and blue image attracts my interest.

The detail of the coat is the important part of this image. Even though it is not a true black dot on a white field it would not be thrown out of my closet.

I wonder what is in the three green boxes under the table?

We saw a snake displayed on a book page like this once; on the opposite page was a rendering of the snake. We walked to the Charleston Museum to see the exhibit because of the snake. We had no idea how many miles away the museum was from our hotel. Good thing or we would not have made the trip.

This room reminds me of Thomas O'Brien's apartment that was shown in the next to last issue of House and Garden. How nice to have a chest that has drawers on different sides.

The blue pencils and the books under under the column, the coral on the stand and the two books on the right are the stars of this image. The little red books have the most wonderful marbalizing on the edges of the paper.

Ludwig Design via Desire to Inspire.

Solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God

The LORD bless you and keep you!
The LORD let his face shine upon
you, and be gracious to you!
The LORD look upon you kindly and
give you peace!

Numbers 6:24-26

Happy New Years