Quote

"To live content with small means; to seek elegance rather than luxury, and refinement rather than fashion; to be worthy, not respectable, and wealthy, not, rich; to listen to stars and birds, babes and sages, with open heart; to study hard; to think quietly, act frankly, talk gently, await occasions, hurry never; in a word, to let the spiritual, unbidden and unconscious, grow up through the common - this is my symphony."

-William Henry Channing

I choose this image to match the quote because of its simplicity and being what one needs to be nourished. The plate is a modist banana leaf covered with delicious wholesome indian food. Elegant and wholesome. 

Nature on the way

I found this cool little puff flower thing on my walk home from the library. I'm not sure what it is but it was rather cool looking.

I'm also rather excited that my peppers are growing. I'm adding more to the garden this weekend. I'll be planting fall squash such as pumpkins and acorn. 

One of our little carrots. I hope the root starts getting larger soon. Right now its all top.

Amazing living spaces

I bring to you rooms of majestic inspiration. It all seems like something out of an excellent book. So relaxing and beautiful. I hope you enjoy!

Pumpkin Tattoos

A nice assortment of pumpkin tattoos for you to enjoy!

Pumpkins return

More pumpkins! Yay. Really I love this tea pot. It's so cute and looks so perfect on the block of wood. I'm still on my pumpkin kick and I'm messing around with some pumpkin recipes. Here are some more tea related pumpkins.

Tea Cups

There are several different styles of tea cups. The two very basic differences are the ones with a handle and the ones without. For tea I prefer the ones without a handle. Usually these cups are smaller and not having a handle allows you to grasp the cup in your palm and feel the warmth. Feeling a warm cup in your hand is very soothing and I would suggest warming the cup before you even put tea in it by pouring hot water on the cup. In general I like to warm up my tea wear before I use it by pouring hot water over it.  Anyways bellow are some examples of tea cups without handles.

The Bee tea cup is from http://www.etsy.com/shop/FaithAdamsCeramics?ref=seller_info

The second type of tea cup is the one with a handle which I prefer to use for Turkish coffee. You can really find some beautiful tea cups such as some below. 

The tea cups with handles are much more fancy and have a lot of detail. I feel that this shows a reflection in the tea culture of the areas that the different tea cups tend to be found. The handled tea cups are most common in the west, middle east, and India where as the ones without handles are often found in China, and Japan. I get a great sense of Wabi Sabi from the non handled tea cups where as the handed ones are more decadent and prestigious. Tea in Japan and China seems to be more ritualized or more closely tied to religion/ philosophy of the region. These areas having been deeply steeped in concepts of nature and chi being an unseen force. The idea of nature is continued in the style of the cups. In India the tea culture was largely influenced by the british which I feel had a large impact on the style of cup. 

In general I love both styles for different reasons and use.  

Pumpkins

During this beautiful time of spring I find myself thinking about pumpkins and fall. Spring is great with all the flowers blooming and the fat bumble bees buzzing around. But I cant get my mind off pumpkins and halloween/ fall stuff. Fall is the perfect time for warm beverages and snuggling. My two favorite things. Anyways to tide me over I present to you a collection of warming fall inspired images.

Ahhhh so cute and relaxing. I just love the whole feeling of fall and wish I could live in it forever. The two skeleton paintings are from http://www.etsy.com/shop/gossamerfaery?ref=seller_info
I think I'm homesick for fall.